Not the preacher, but the preaching

Sermon for Advent 4

Philippians 4:4-7  +  John 1:19-28

As I mentioned last week, we’re going to spend some time today focusing on the preaching of John the Baptist, as we always do on the 4^th Sunday in Advent, because as we use this season to prepare our hearts and arrange our lives for Christ’s Second Advent, so the whole purpose of John’s ministry was to prepare the hearts of his hearers for Christ’s First Advent. Not for the Advent of His birth, obviously, but for His Advent, His “coming” onto the scene to begin His three-year ministry, which would lead up to His death and resurrection, which was the fulfillment of His first Advent. The truth is, we need the preparatory preaching that John offers as much today as the people in Israel did back then.

When a preacher steps forward into the limelight, as, for example, just about any televangelist or mega church preacher you’ve ever seen, they tend to focus on themselves, don’t they? Or even if they don’t, their hearers focus on them—how they’re dressed, how cool or hip they are, how charismatic, how “real,” how fiery, or how brilliant. They tend to draw attention to themselves. They often attempt to sell themselves, almost like a used car salesman, as they personally benefit from their “ministry.”

That certainly wasn’t the case with John the Baptist. Now, he was certainly different. He stood out from everyone else by living alone in the desert, by wearing his camel skin clothing and leather belt, by eating locusts and wild honey for his diet. And his preaching was certainly bold, and his baptizing was novel, and it got people’s attention. But as soon as John got people’s attention, he immediately pointed them away from himself, unlike so many preachers today.

I’ve used the example before of a road sign. You’re supposed to notice the road signs, especially the warning signs along the road. They’re supposed to get your attention. But only for a moment. Only so that you get the directions or the message that the sign was put there to communicate. Then you forget about the sign and focus on where the sign was pointing.

So it was with John. He got people’s attention for a moment, and then pointed away from himself. That surprised people. It surprised the priests and Levites who approached him in today’s Gospel. They thought he must be claiming great things for himself, gathering a group of supporters for himself with some cunning political aim. So they came as an official delegation sent from the Pharisees to ask him, Are you the Christ? They didn’t believe he was, or else they would have been out there listening to him, confessing their sins, being baptized, and doing what he said. No, they had come to challenge him, whoever he was claiming to be.

If John had wanted a following for himself, he could have said “Yes, I am!” But the Evangelist John makes it very clear to his readers that John never made such a claim about himself. He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” Well, then, they figured, he must be making some other great claim for himself, if he’s out here taking it upon himself to preach and to baptize. “What then? Are you Elijah?” Some of the Jews wrongly interpreted Malachi’s prophecy that “Elijah will come” before the Christ, thinking that the man who had gone up into heaven in a chariot and a whirlwind would descend from heaven again. And he said, “I am not.” John wasn’t that Old Testament Elijah, although, as Jesus tells us elsewhere, he was the one referred to figuratively in that prophecy. “Are you the Prophet?” they asked. THE Prophet whom Moses wrote would come from among them, referring to the Christ. And he answered, “No.”

“Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” Luke gives us more of Isaiah’s prophecy that was fulfilled in John the Baptist. He writes, The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough ways smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ” That was John’s job, to straighten the road ahead of the Christ. That’s all. Not to make a name for himself or gain glory for himself. He was a voice, a voice that would carry out the work of a figurative road construction crew.

John wouldn’t do any plowing or bulldozing or repairing of roads. But with his voice, with his preaching, he would do that to men’s hearts by turning their attention to the Lord’s imminent arrival. Now, if you know that the Lord is coming soon, then there is no time for business as usual. He’s coming up the road. So consider how you live. Consider where your heart is, what your heart is focused on, what it’s attached to, what your desires are. Consider the works you have done and are doing. Are they works of obedience? Works of kindness and generosity, focused on the benefit of those around you? Or are they works of which you should be ashamed? Consider the plans you’re making for today and tomorrow and next year and beyond. Is this how you want the Lord to find you when He comes?

Where there are valleys—unrepented sins against God’s commandments, a heart and life that are engaged in shameful deeds—let there be repentance and a confession of sins to raise the valley up. Where there are mountains and hills—pride in how good and decent you are, and how lucky God is to have you in His family—let there be recognition that God doesn’t see you nearly as highly as you see yourself, and let there be repentance and a confession of sins to bring the mountain down, so that it’s level with everyone else. Where there are crooked places and rough places—sinful habits and harmful behavior and a haphazard treatment of God’s Word and Sacraments—let there be repentance and confession of sins to make your heart and your life straight and smooth for the coming Lord. And you will see—all flesh will see—the salvation of God.

Why? Because when God comes, when the Lord Christ comes and finds penitent hearts, neither secure in their sins nor proud of their own decency, then He can announce the good news, the Gospel, that He is the One who would pay (or now, has paid) for all sins on the cross. Then He can invite the weary and heavily burdened to come to Him and find peace and rest and forgiveness and salvation. But if He comes and finds people secure in their sins, or indifferent toward the things of God, or proud and arrogant, then He has nothing to offer but Law and accusation and condemnation.

So John was sent to get the people ready, as all ministers are still sent to get the people ready before Christ’s Second Coming. And we, like John, point away from ourselves. As John wore that strange camel skin garment, so we wear this strange clothing, these vestments, when we’re carrying out our ministry. Always remember why: only to draw your attention for a moment, like a road sign, so that you may see Christ in the preaching office He gave us so that we might preach Him and not ourselves.

“Oh,” the world says. “That’s all you are? A nobody? A voice? A road sign? Then why should we listen to you?” As the envoys said to John, “Why do you baptize, then, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” Why do administer this new Sacrament? John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water. But there stands among you one whom you do not know. It is he who comes after me, who is already ahead of me, whose sandal straps I am not worthy to untie.”

Why do I baptize? Why do I preach? So that you may not be destroyed due to your ignorance of who Jesus is. You dismiss Him at your peril. You think He will come and deal with all the other sinners out there, but you—you must be safe, because, well, you are you. No, it doesn’t work that way. There’s only one way to be safe and ready for the coming of the Mighty God, who comes with vengeance against His enemies. “I baptize with water.” It doesn’t hurt, although it does kill the Old Man. I baptize with water, not with destruction, not with consuming fire. He will do that when He comes, if He doesn’t find you already washed in a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Well, you here have been baptized. That’s good! That was a first and very important step. Now continue to listen to the preaching of the preacher who doesn’t matter, but whose preaching does, turning your attention from the preacher to the Christ who is preached, so that you may live daily in repentance and faith, doing works of kindness and generosity and love at all times, and rejoicing while you’re doing it. Isn’t that how you want the Lord to find you when He comes? May God mercifully grant it, for Jesus’ sake, by the power of His Holy Spirit. Amen.