ADVENT 2
PREPARE THE WAY
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.
Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth.
And all people will see God’s salvation.’”
Here is a wonderful promise to all of us who find ourselves in valleys, or facing mountains, or on a walk which has us facing twists and turns which are too much for us, or, in the words of the prophet, for those of us for whom the way is just… rough.
Notice what Luke says in our reading:
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar
He
places his message very firmly in history:
In the fifteenth year of the reign of
Tiberius Caesar, not the 14th or 16th… no, the 15th
year. God’s message is always very time specific. When God has a message for us,
isn't it nice to know that is for now.
So,
this Advent, in the 4th year of the reign of Jacob Zuma, in the 18th
year of the reign of the ANC and in the 51st year of our republic,
God has a message for us.
Timing
is very important to God, ‘to everything there is a time and a season’ and
God's timing is always perfect.
Maybe
that’s all you need to hear this morning: “God’s timing is always right, always
perfect (and is seldom the same as our timing)”
In
Advent, we remember that Jesus will come again… ....but when?
Why
didn’t He return in AD 100, or 1153, or 2011?… I don’t know… I’m kind of glad He
didn’t, because it’s good to be here, now.
Why
did God wait until the time of Caesar Augustus when Quirinius was governor of
Syria for Jesus to be born in Bethlehem?
Why
wasn’t Adam and Eve’s first child Jesus the Messiah, why did the world have to
1000’s of years before the sin of the world was dealt with by Jesus in 33AD.
That
one we can answer to some extent. We
know that the way had to be prepared for the Messiah and that way needed Enoch, .......Noah, .......Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,..................... it needed Egypt and Moses,....................... the prophets,........................ John
the Baptist.
Maybe
we need to hear today that while God’s timing is seldom our timing, God’s
timing is always right, is always perfect.
Luke
goes on…
.......when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea,
Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and
Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene......
God’s
message is always place specific;
Judea, Galilee, Iturea, Traconitis, Abilene – they are all geographic places.
So,
in the 4th year of Jacob Zuma’s reign, when Nomvula Mokonyane is
premier of Gauteng, Sekgobelo Magashule is premier of Free State, Zweli Mkhize
is premier of KZN and Helen Zille is premier of Western Cape…
God
has a message for us at this time and in this place.
Luke
goes on…
.........during the high-priesthood of
Annas and Caiaphas,...........
During the priesthood of Stack, Van Wyk
and Poole (and soon… Killian)................ can you see how specific the message of God can
be?
Luke goes on…
.........the word of God came to John son of
Zechariah in the wilderness............
The
word of God came to (say your name)
son/daughter of (say their names) in Alberton, perhaps in the wilderness in
which you find yourself in Alberton…
Or............. the word of God came to Alberton Methodist Church in its wilderness during the
priest hood of Poole, Van Wyk and Killian… or............ the word of God came to our
nation in its wilderness during the reign of Jacob Zuma.
Whoever
we hear the word of God coming to today, know this, God’s word is for you and for me, in this place and at this time.
And what is that word?....back to Luke:
Prepare the way for the Lord
We
saw earlier that Cain and Abel, Enoch, Noah etc, etc, prepared the way for the
Lord, right up to John the Baptist, until God’s perfect timing for the Messiah
to come. And then Jesus came, and was that the end?
No, ................as we saw last week, that was the beginning of the end, we are now living in
the end times, awaiting the Second coming, awaiting the End.
And
so, after the death, resurrection and Ascension of Jesus, Peter and Paul and
the disciples continued to…
Prepare
the way for the LORD (as must you and I) ......
and so did Augustine… Luther… Calvin and Wesley…
they continued to: Prepare the way for the LORD (and you and I must too).............
And
so did Baker… Robinson… Rogers… Stack… they and the people with them at their
time and their place, Prepared the way for the LORD (and you and I must too)
What
is the word of God for you, for me, for AMC, for Gauteng, for SA, for the world, this second Sunday in Advent… Prepare the way for the LORD.
That work which was begun by Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, continued by Abraham,
John the Baptist, Peter, Paul, Wesley, Rogers, Stack… that work we must
continue.
Now, what
exactly it means to Prepare the way for the LORD–
I think will be different for each one of us.
God’s
specific focus for you at this moment in time might be:
Your
personal spiritual development
Your
marriage
Your
family life
God
might be saying Prepare the way for the LORD right
now in your office, school, community
As
we’ve made plans here at AMC for 2013, we have a number of our ‘usuals’ to keep
our help our people Prepare the way for the LORD –
Disciple, Marriage Course, Griefshare, Divorce Care, Kairos…
For
those of us who might feel stalled in our spiritual walk we are running Richard
Foster's Renovare course for deeper spiritual growth in the New year.
For
our searching and our unchurched surrounding community we are running the Alpha Course, an outstanding evangelism outreach tool.
God
is calling us to continue building on the work of those who've gone before us.......He's asking us to continue to
Prepare the way for the LORD .
Let
us pray.
