This is a copy of my talk given at Ayia Kyriaki and Saint Luke’s in the Anglican Church of Paphos on Sunday 8 December 2024. The Bible reading was Luke 3:1-6.
Prayer
Heavenly Father,
I thank You for Your word.
By the power of Your Holy Spirit,
May You speak to my heart,
And change my life.
In the precious name of Jesus I pray.
Amen.
Introduction
We all have our heroes, don’t we? Each of us have people whom we admire and wish we could know them personally. I’m thinking of Royalty, Presidents, sportsmen and women, musicians, film stars – even celebrities! If you could entertain any one from the past or present in your home, who would it be?
How would you entertain them? How would you prepare? I don’t know exactly what preparations you might make, but I know that many of you wouldn’t have any special visitors in your home without having a good clean, perhaps hiding a bit of clutter and rearranging a few things.
In ancient times, when a king was to visit a city, a messenger would go ahead, telling the people to get ready. Hundreds of years before Jesus, Isaiah (40) prophesied that there would come a man who would be that messenger. But did we expect that messenger to be part cave man, dressed in camel skin who ate locusts for breakfast?
The message of John was simple, but not easy. His instructions were clear, but difficult. All of humanity would see the glory of God, and the time to prepare for it was now. It would be, vs3, a message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Luke writes that all of humanity is going to see the salvation of God. In Isaiah we’re told that all of humanity is going to see the glory of God.
The salvation of God and the glory of God are none other than Jesus Christ! Have you ever thought that every man or woman, every boy or girl ever conceived is going to see the glory of God? Every member of the human race is going to behold the salvation of God. It’s an amazing thought but it’s true – if my understanding of scripture is correct.
There is coming a day when everyone is going to acknowledge and see and know the salvation of God. I don’t mean that everyone will be saved.
Jesus is coming for His bride and those who don’t know Him will spend eternity without Him (hell) but all will see/know the salvation and glory of God. The question that begs an answer then is this: Are you ready? Are you ready for the return of Jesus? I believe that our Heavenly Father longs for fellowship and intimacy with you, but there are some things you must do. Let’s read verses 4-5:
As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth.
I have four points to make from those two verses:
- Raise The Valleys
If a king were coming to town, people would get busy preparing the road along which the king would travel. Part of their work would be to fill in the low places: the valleys – you might want to think of them as potholes.
Every one of us has parts of our lives that are not what they should be. The fact is that we just don’t measure up to God’s standards of perfection, and, you know what, there is no shame in both recognising and acknowledging that we’ve all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.
Could it be that when John preached that we need to raise the valleys, he was saying that we all have areas in our lives that are in decline; where we have fallen short and are living far below God’s best for us? These low areas may come about as a result of the neglect of our spiritual lives, the neglect of our family lives, the neglect of our relationships, disobedience, unconfessed sins, failure, hurt, unforgiveness … the list goes on.
In preparing the way for God to come, these areas must be dealt with. We need to recognize them and admit that they are hindering God’s purpose in our lives and preventing us from preparing the way for others to trust in him.
- Level The Hills
Not only do the low places have to be built up and filled in, but the high places must be levelled. Boulders and rocks in the way must be broken or removed. Could the mountains and hills speak of the hard, resistant areas in our lives we must deal with before the Lord can work through us?
Things like pride, unbelief, resistance to the Holy Spirit, self-will, self-righteousness, a critical spirit and other such things. These are obstacles to the knowledge and presence of God that prevent Him from working through us in all His fullness.
I imagine that most of the time we can’t even see the high places in our lives. Pride in all its various forms is a very deceitful thing that we may see in others but not in ourselves. Yet these things can block and hinder God’s deeper work within us without us ever realizing it. Might it be that we need be brought to a place of brokenness, submission and humility before the Lord? Only then can we make a highway for the Lord in our hearts that is clear of obstacles and hindrances so that we can prepare his way for others.
- Make The Crooked Paths Straight
There’s only one way to keep a road or path straight, and that is to maintain focus. How often do we continue on our journey of faith and then realize that our priorities are out of sync with what the Lord wants for us? How often have you become overwhelmed by life only to realize that you’re not headed in the direction God really wanted you to go? If we could look back on the roads we’ve taken in life I think we’d find one bend after another as we’ve chased after this thing or that thing, slowly meandering toward something that we’re not really certain of.
There’s only one solution for this problem, and that’s to realize our purpose for being here. When Jesus walked the earth, He encountered people and problems every day that could have distracted Him from His purpose, but in every instance, He told the people that He was headed for the cross. That’s why He came, and He never forgot it.
That’s a challenging thought for us, too, isn’t it? Whatever we might do in life, however we might change our course; God is headed in one direction. He’s not going to bless this turn and that turn while you chase after everything that comes your way. He is going to stay on track and gently (and not so gently) prod you along the path He wants you to travel.
In Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus said: Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Robert Frost in his poem ‘Road Not Taken’ wrote:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both …
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.
- Make The Rough Places Smooth
When the low places are built up and the high places brought down, the final part of preparing a highway is to flatten the rough and bumpy surface of the road to make it completely even and smooth. Might the uneven areas of our lives speak of the inconsistencies in our Christian living – the ups and downs, the hot and cold; the rough places where we still need further refining to make our lives smooth and straight?
It is the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives to produce in us the consistent qualities of Christ like character and behaviour. But we must ask Him to deal with the jagged reactions and responses of our selfishness and replace them with the even responses of the Spirit-filled life.
Conclusion
I don’t know whether Jesus is on your list of people you’d like to invite to your home to spend time with, but I know that you are on His list. More than you are aware He wants to enter your life. Today He stands at the door of your heart, like He stood at the door of the Laodiceans in Rev 3:20:
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
This is a sad picture of the King of kings, standing outside the door and knocking, hoping and wishing the people would let Him in! These were no group of unbelievers – they were members of one of His churches! His very own people had shut Him out!
The artist, Holman Hunt (1827-1910), inspired by this verse, painted this well-known picture, which he called The Light of the World. When it was first displayed it received poor reviews. Someone said to Holman Hunt that he had made a mistake: ‘You have forgotten to paint a handle on the door.’ ‘Oh no,’ replied Hunt, ‘that is deliberate. There is only one handle and that is on the inside.’
On 5 May 1854, John Ruskin, the artist, and critic, wrote to The Times and explained the symbolism at length and brilliantly defended it as ‘one of the very noblest works of sacred art ever produced in this or any other age’.
Jesus, the Light of the World, stands knocking at a door, which is overgrown with ivy and weeds. The door clearly represents the door of someone’s life. Jesus is standing at the door and knocking, awaiting a response. He wants to come in and be part of that person’s life, but the handle is on the inside …
In other words, we have to open the door to let Jesus into our lives. Jesus will never force his way in. He gives us the freedom to choose. It is up to us whether or not we open the door to him. If we do, he promises, ‘I will come in and eat with them and they with me.’ Will you let him in?
John preached “the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.” It’s not an easy message, is it? In fact, it’s a message that is sure to upset those in our churches and those who are not. It’s a message that is politically incorrect; it is a message that is sure to turn many away because they will count the cost.
But it is the message of Advent; of preparing ourselves for the coming of the Christ child in a manger and of looking to the skies for his coming in Glory when, and this is where repentance is so important, when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. May each one of us be ready and prepared for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ this Advent and this Christmas season. Amen.
COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER The text contained in this sermon (except where stated) is solely owned by its author, Revd Paul A. Carr. The reproduction, or distribution of this message, or any portion of it, should include the author’s name.
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