All Our Ways are Defined by Christ our King

All our Ways are Defined by Christ our King

John 1:19-28 T Advent 4

 

INI

 

When people listened to John the Baptist,

The road of their heart was paved for Christ to enter in.

The messenger brought sins to light,

And those sins were either loved by the sinner,

Or redeemed by the crucified Savior.

 

When people listen to or see you, what do they see?

Do they see you for who you truly are?

That is, a baptized child of God who wears His name upon your forehead and heart?

Do they see someone who speaks with grace and kindness?

Said another way, do your coworkers, family members, and friends know you’re Christian?

And if they do, do they only know that because you attend a church on Sunday?

 

This is to say, in your actions and words,

Do they see you,

or do they see the one whose strap you aren’t worthy to untie?

Do they see the one who is to come?

Do they see Christ who comes after you?

 

A group from the Pharisees asked John the Baptist the question,

“Who are you? What do you say about yourself?”

Said another way, what is it that defines John?

John isn’t shy about who He is.

He’s not going to just do or say anything to get people to like him.

John’s not out in the wilderness baptizing people to impress anybody.

He doesn’t even particularly care about the opinions of others and how they see him.

The only thing that concerns John is being completely defined in the way of Christ.

He said “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness,

‘Make straight the way of the Lord’”.

 

Pay no attention to me, says John.

Look to Christ.

 

At this point in Advent,

John the Baptist calls us to be defined by Christ in all our ways.

As noted previously, Advent is not a time to prepare for the infant Jesus.

It’s a time to prepare ourselves for the second coming of Jesus.

It’s a time of repentance,

a time to recognize what sort of obstacles we put up to block the Savior from being defined by all our ways.

 

Obviously, that’s easier said than done.

It’s easier to talk about living a holy life than actually doing it.

It’s easy to nod our heads along with a sermon rather than actually living it out.

So, the real honest question is this:

are we afraid to let all our ways be defined by Christ?

 

Let’s continue to look to John the Baptist to learn what having our ways defined by Christ looks like.

We probably would’ve hated John.

He’s not soft spoken.

He won’t bite his tongue to keep the peace.

He’s the kind of guy when he sees unrighteousness,

He will try and draw them to repentance.

 

For example, John called out his adulterating neighbor, King Herod,

For forcibly marrying his brother’s wife.

John was thrown into jail for that, because King Herod didn’t like the voice of the one wilderness, who preached repentance for the coming Christ!

 

We can be selective in the ways we choose to live out Christianity.

I’ll say this, but I won’t openly confess that.

I’ll love these people here,

but I won’t love those people over there.

I’ll hear God’s Word at church

but let the family Bible collect dust on the bookshelf.

I’ll commit myself to a monogamous relationship,

but live with the benefits of married people without the pressure of real marriage.

 

But we must realize, Christ must define all aspects of our lives.

Christ must define how we love our neighbor.

He defines our relationships – boyfriends, girlfriends, and marriages.

He defines who we are as male and female.

He defines the aesthetics of our Christian lives outside these four walls.

 

An example of what letting Christ define our ways addressing a real problem and question all of us have: how do we keep children connected to church?

Once they graduate high school, they’re gone from our grasps,

To whom shall they go?

Christ, who has the words of eternal life?

Or the devil, who has the words of death?

 

Here’s the problem:

Satan runs rampant in today’s ideologies, philosophies, and behaviors –

That shouldn’t shock us, because that’s always been happening.

But the availability of it is alarming.

Children are consuming, or at the least witnessing and being shaped by greed, unholy sex, materialism, self-centeredness, and rebelliousness all day long.

With the help of peers in schools and the phones in their pockets,

Children have the ability to ingest unholy things for a minimum of 8-12 hours a day.

If this goes unchecked for years, even decades, what happens?

 

Their minds, philosophies, how they think and feel is not being shaped by the way of the Christ, but by the way of sin.

There’s no amount of money or strategy that can save them from that.

What is the only thing that can save them?

Christ. So, let’s continue giving Christ to our kids.

 

However, do we think that an hour and a half to three hours on a Sunday giving these kids Christ is sufficient?

Would that even make a dent against the 40-50 hours of unholy consumption that goes on throughout the week?

“Make straight the way of the Lord.”

Certainly, it starts with Sunday’s service.

But going to church once a week isn’t having all our ways defined by Christ.

 

Where’s the only other place kids spend most of their time other than school?

Home.

So take the forgiveness of sins and new life we receive from Sunday home with you.

Do devotions at home.

Talk about the faith with your family.

Live in love towards each other as Christians –

Turn off the T.V. and talk to your family about their day.

Ask them, “How have you seen God working in your life today?

What did you notice was good or bad, right or wrong?

Was there a situation at work or school that maybe you could’ve treated with a bit more Christian love?”

 

Do the small catechism review on the back of the Sacred Life with your families at the dinner table or in the car –

By even the constant repition of these small teachings,

You can reset your kids’ mind on heavenly things.

And then you can talk about and apply these biblical teachings with your kids.

 

Congregation members without kids – pray for the families with kids.

Supply them with support,

Offer to pray with them.

Mentor their kids so that they can hear things from another Christian perspective.

 

“Train a child in the way he should go,

and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” – Proverbs 22:6

When I was a kid, I grew up loving the Razorbacks.

How did I become such a fan?

I watched the games with my dad.

My dad took me to games.

He listened to it on the radio on the way to work.

We would talk about upcoming games and if we stood a chance.

Our ways were shaped by Razorback football.

 

But what if my dad didn’t do any of that stuff?

Would I have been as big of a fan if I just noticed my dad casually looking up scores or watching games?

And it didn’t affect any other aspect of his life?

Of course not.

 

So, if we want our children to remain in the church,

ALL our ways must be shaped by Christ.

They’re learning from us all.

Otherwise, we aren’t giving our kids a fighting chance.

Because Satan’s work cannot be countered with sloth.

 

Truth is, having all our ways being defined by Christ is hard.

The most religious and the most lackadaisical Christians alike struggle,

Because sinful man wants the fruits of forgiveness to rain down from heaven,

Without ever tilling the repentant soil of the heart.

Sinful man wants the comfort of eternal life,

but not embrace the new life Christ brings and remain in sin.

 

But we can’t receive the Christ who brings salvation and new life,

without first listening to His messengers.

That’s why Christ sent John before Him –

not to make friends, but to cause repentance in the hearts of sinners.

 

But God’s messengers realize that sinful man isn’t able to accomplish all the ways of the Christ on their own.

Man’s ways are sinful.

Man’s quest for holiness will fail,

Because man is dead in his trespasses and sins.

And dead people can’t just get up and start living perfect lives.

 

Dead people need someone to come raise them up.

They need someone to bring new life.

They need Christ, the Savior of the world,

Who sends His Holy Spirit to forgive your sins and define your way.

 

But we can’t get to Christ without going through John,

For Christ sent him for a purpose.

At times, we need someone to ruffle our feathers and make us uncomfortable with how we’re living,

So that our repentance may prepare us for the coming forgiveness in Christ.

 

 

This is the challenge of Advent.

Advent is a time of preparation and repentance –

Part of our yearly preparation not resisting all our ways to be defined by Christ.

In this way, we’ll be ready for Christ’s second coming.

 

Jesus came to the world 2,000 years ago at Bethlehem.

He comes to you now in Word and Sacraments, to forgive, renew, and strengthen you in your Christian walk.

And so in the here and now,

we make straight the way of our King to our hearts,

continually repenting and making ready to meet our coming King.

 

INI