“Pointing the World to Jesus” (John 1:6-8, 19-28) Series B Advent 3, Dec. 11, 2011

1.             Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  When he preaches repentance, John the Baptist points us to Jesus.  In our Gospel lesson for this day we learn that John was sent by God “as a witness, to bear witness about the Light, that all might believe through him” (John 1:7).  He baptizes with water in order to “make straight the way of the Lord,” who shall redeem His people from their sins (John 1:23).  John’s whole ministry was to point the world to our Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  The message is entitled, “Pointing the World to Jesus,” let he who has ears to hear, let him hear.   
2.             Of the many saints commemorated by the Christian Church, Nicholas (d. A.D. 342) is one of the best known.  December 6^th has been the day that the Church observes the festival of St. Nicholas, which we celebrated this past week. Known for his generosity and his love of children, Nicholas is said to have saved a poor man’s 3 daughters from slavery by tossing into their window enough gold for a rich dowry to enable them to get married, a present that landed in some shoes or, stockings that were hung up to dry. But there’s more to the story of Nicholas of Myra. He was also a delegate to the Council of Nicea in a.d. 325, which battled the heretics who denied that our Lord Jesus is fully God, equal to God the Father. He was one of the authors of the Nicene Creed, which affirms that Jesus Christ is both true God and true man. In fact, Nicholas was particularly zealous in standing up for Christ.  During the Council of Nicea, Nicholas got so fed up with the heretic Arius, who taught that Jesus was just a man, that he walked up and decked him! That unbishoplike behavior got him in trouble. The council almost stripped him of his office as bishop, but Nicholas said he was sorry, so he was forgiven.
3.             St. Nicholas was a lot like John the Baptist in our Gospel lesson this morning.  He was someone who flew off the handle when he heard someone minimizing the name of Christ. Maybe we can battle our culture’s increasingly Christ-less Christmas by enlisting St. Nick in his original cause. The poor girls’ stockings have become part of our Christmas customs. So should the St. Nicholas slap. Not a violent hit of the kind that got the good bishop in trouble, just a gentle, warning tap on the cheek. This should be reserved not only for nonbelievers, but for heretics (that is, people in the church who deny its teachings), Christians who forget about Jesus, and people who try to take Christ out of Christmas. 
4.             As I said before, both St. Nicholas and John the Baptist remind us that they themselves aren’t so important as the message that they came to proclaim of Jesus Christ and Him crucified on the cross for the forgiveness of your sins.  John 1:6–8, 19–28 says,  “6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.”         
5.             John 1:19 says, “19And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” This is the first incident in the life of John the Baptist which John gives us in his Gospel record. We find out about his birth in the Gospel of Luke, but here the record of John the Baptist begins when a delegation from Jerusalem comes to question him. They come out to ask him, “Who are you?”  In this question there’s a subtle temptation because this offered John an opportunity to make something of himself. In John 3:30 we find his response when his disciples wanted him to make something of himself. He said, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” What a statement that is! That’s a statement that every believer should make.  A statement that I’m sure St. Nicholas would make as well. And every believer should live it too. “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Either Christ is primary in your life and takes first place, or you (that is, the selfish “I”) will be on top. You can’t have both. He must increase and I must decrease, or else it will be the other way around. 
6.             Then John 1:20 continues saying, “20He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”  You see, the priests and Levites from Jerusalem suggest that John the Baptist might be the Messiah. But he makes it very clear that he’s not the Christ; he’s not the Messiah. They’re looking to the wrong man. So, if he’s not the Christ, what great person is he?  John 1:21 says, “21And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” Notice how brief and matter–of–fact John is. If he’s not the Christ, he must be Elijah. If he’s not Elijah, he must be “that prophet.” They are referring to a prophet “like Moses” who had been promised back in Deuteronomy 18:15. John gives an emphatic “No!” He’s not the predicted prophet of Deuteronomy.
7.             John 1:22-23 continues, “22So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”  Notice that John is a voice. You see, Christ is the Word! John is the voice! A voice is all that John wants to be and that St. Nicholas wanted to be. Both of them along with you and me have a grand message to give, a message much greater than we are. And notice the grand message that John gives, “Make straight the way of the Lord.” In other words, “Get ready for the coming of the Lord.” John means that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. It was at hand in the person of our Lord Jesus, you see. And he tells them to “Make straight the way.” This would be the same as telling them to get the crooked things out of their lives, to deal with the things that are wrong. This we need to do also. 
8.             And what are the crooked things in your lives?  It may be that you fail to bear the name of Christ in your everyday life.  That you live as a Christian on Sunday, but the rest of the week you hide your faith and act more like an unbeliever for fear of being found out by the world.  Or maybe you continue to use pornography and defile your body by committing adultery in your heart and with your eyes.  You indulge yourself in too much alcohol and lose control of your body and your speech because of it.  You fail to honor those in authority over you that God has placed into your life as your leaders.  You sin when you don’t help your neighbor when he or she is in need.  Or, have you considered that when you curse, swear, or use God’s name aimlessly that you’re taking God’s name in vain?
9.             John the Apostle says in 1 John 1:6, “⁶If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” We need to get our lives straight.  But, we can’t do this on our own.  The way our lives are straightened out is when we take our sins to Jesus, as we are taught in 1 John 1:8–9, which says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  If you confess your sins to Jesus and repent of them our Lord Jesus will forgive you and give you eternal life because He bled and died on Calvary’s tree for you!
10.             Both John the Baptist’s and St. Nicholas’ purpose in life was to point the world to Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  That includes your sin and my sin.  And from this flowed John’s calling as a believer, teacher, preacher, catechizer, prophet and more.  But, in all that John did for Jesus, none of it could ultimately save him from his sins, since he like you and me, was conceived into sin.  Nothing in John’s divinely given purpose could save him from his own sin.  He, like the rest of us would need Jesus to take away our sins.  Thanks be to God that our Lord Jesus has come to take away our sins and that He promises to come again to take us to our heavenly home.  Amen.  Please pray with me.   O Christ, prepare a royal highway in my heart, that I may receive You in steadfast humility and joy. Amen.