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Sermon Date:	December 9, 2007 (Redeemer, Sanford)
Sermon Text:	Matthew 3:1-12
Church Calendar:	2nd Sunday in Advent
Delivered By:	Rev. Brian Roberts

"Making Crooked Paths Straight"

Can you remember what it was like to experience this time of year as a child? Now, you children are building your memories and experiences right now, but you parents and grown-ups: can you remember back to what it was like to live through this time of year as a child?

I remember that the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas was great! There were all kinds of Christmas parties. There were lots of cookies and sweets, it seemed like, everywhere. We would get to put up the Christmas tree and hang lights on the house. At church the Advent Wreath would get set up, and decorations would appear.

Grandma and Grandpa or other family would come and visit. And that meant that I got to sleep, camping style, on the floor. Even school was better, because there were so many different and fun activities going on.

But then somewhere along the line, after I grew up, something happened. It started to change. Somewhere along the line, this time of year became more work and less fun.

Christmas parties became something that had to be fit into an already busy schedule. Cookies and sweets became temptations, AND you had to worry about calories. At some point, I began to worry about BUYING the Christmas tree and when to set it up.

“And when are we going to find time to decorate the house and hang the lights? And maybe we’ll just skip the lights again this year. And, oh yeah, the in-laws are coming, which is going to change the routines even more. Of course, somehow the Christmas shopping has to be taken care of. But, there have been a lot of expenses this year, and there isn’t much left over for gifts.

“And then, the church needs to get decorated. And the kids need a costume for the play. And won’t it be great when the Christmas season is over?”

Does any of this sound familiar? Do you experience any of this stress or tension, in similar ways? What happens to us as we grow up? What changes?

It seemed so simple, as a child, to celebrate and enjoy this time of year. And now, it seems so busy, and complicated, and – well, sometimes – even intrusive. It is like the simple, easy pathway to the joy and fun of Christmas has become all crooked.

And then, Mr. Advent shows up today – John, the Baptist – with his strange clothes and weird diet – hanging out in the desert, telling us to shape up – to get the right attitude about all this: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight.’”

But, here’s the thing. Preparing the way of the Lord in this time of Advent is really not about putting up decorations, or buying and giving presents, or going to parties, or making sure that you slow down and enjoy all these things.

Preparing the way for the Lord to come to us is about seeing our sinfulness. It’s about seeing our arrogance, and selfishness, and our self-righteous attitudes and how that flies in the face of a holy, righteous, and perfect God.

Preparing the way for the Lord to come to us is about seeing how undeserving we are to be given anything from God. Preparing the way for the Lord is about wanting to change, wanting to be a better person. It’s about wishing for a sense of peace and contentment, in spite of the stresses in life, whether it is illness, or problems at work, or struggles at home. It is about hoping for a more meaningful life.

In God’s eyes, THIS is being prepared. This is a heart that is ready to meet the Lord – because THIS is a heart that is ready to RECEIVE God’s forgiveness. THIS is a heart that says “I need to get out of the way and God needs to lead the way.”

It is a never-changing, constant characteristic of the human race, that if we don’t think we are totally wrong, if we don’t think we are totally at fault, if we don’t think we are totally to blame, if we don’t think that we are totally guilty – then we don’t think we need forgiveness.

In fact, we, human beings, are offended when someone forgives us for something we don’t believe we did wrong.

But to know that we sin, to know that we are guilty, to know that we are to blame – well, THAT is repentance. And, repentance opens the door of our lives to God. It opens the door of our lives to His forgiveness, His love, and His power.

“Repent…” says John, the Baptist, in today’s Gospel lesson. “Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him.”

Well, THAT is what we are doing right now, right here in this building. That’s why you got up this morning and came to this place. It is – once again – to repent of our sinfulness, our brokenness, and our failures to be the perfect people God created us to be.

You came to this place because God’s Word has lead you to “Prepare the way for the Lord,” by trusting in the forgiveness of sins through the suffering, crucifixion, and death of Jesus Christ on the cross.

In this way, through the power of the cross, God makes a straight path right into our hearts for His love, and grace, and salvation. And now – you repentant people of God, forgiven and dearly loved by Him – the Lord sets you on a blessed path of life.

It’s not your path, it is God’s path. St. Paul reminds us of this in 1 Corinthians 6, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”

Day by day, God places the bricks of His love and forgiveness in the pathway of our lives. He takes the bricks of His grace and His power, His plans and His purposes and He places them before us as we walk in His ways.

He takes the bricks of faithfulness and humility, bricks of patience and goodness, of kindness and joy, and God builds them into a strong and solid road for us to walk upon.

“Therefore,” as St Paul says, we “honor God with our bodies,” not so much by WHAT we are doing, but by doing it with God’s love and power and to His glory.

And yet, too often, we are tempted to go off on our own. We are tempted to take different paths, to go different ways. Our selfishness gets hold of us, and we imagine that we can build a better happiness, or find more excitement, or deeper satisfaction on a separate path.

And we end up making our paths crooked.

Time Magazine, back in the ‘80s wrote about the many old brick alley ways in the city of Chicago. They were alleys paved with bricks dating back to the 1800s. The author recalled how he once lived overlooking a brick alley near Chicago’s downtown Loop. That was before the alley was stolen. “Every three nights or so,” the author said, “somebody would take about 50 bricks. It stopped only when the city paved over the alley with asphalt.”

The article goes on to say that “Each day bricks from abandoned buildings and old alleys in Midwestern cities are pilfered, sold, and shipped out of town on boxcars. Ultimately they end up in Sunbelt states, where there is great demand for used bricks. “They’re advertising homes built with Chicago bricks.”

Our lives are sometimes like that. We run off and steal bricks. And, we place them in the pathway of our lives. We take the bricks of selfishness and pride, of greed and discontentment.

We find bricks of laziness and irresponsibility, of anger and moodiness, of demands and control, and a thousand more like them. And we use them try to build better paths for our lives. But all they do is make our lives crooked and difficult. Because this is exactly the temptation that always lies near our sinful hearts. WE want to be the masters of our own lives. Jesus can be our Savior, but we want to be in control of our lives.

However, each one of our desires tries to deconstruct that pathway that Jesus sets us on, and we end up building a new, crooked, fragile way of life.

But Christian friends, let me remind you (and myself) of something you already have learned from Christ, something that you already know. We, Christians cannot hang on to our sinful behavior and yet invite the Lord to come to us.

We cannot belong to the Lord and continue to live an immoral or selfish life. We cannot attempt to construct and walk the pathways our lives and yet have a straight path for the Lord to come to us.

A straight path is a heart that is fully given to God’s way. A straight path desires that God’s way IS our way.

When we want to follow God, THAT is the straight path. When we want to live by His will, THAT is the straight path. When we want to hear God’s Word in everything, THAT is the straight path.

Can you remember what it was like to experience this time of year as a child? I think it was better, because our lives weren’t so crooked. I think it was better, because in our child-like faith we had yet to try to build our own better paths to happiness.

But Christ has the solution for crooked lives. So, let’s get ready for Jesus to come to us once again.

Let’s prepare His road. Through repentance, throw off all those crooked choices, crooked attitudes, those crooked priorities, and crooked behavior. Let’s receive the gift of forgiveness that straightens out our lives.

And let’s use the power of Christ’s love and grace to KEEP the pathways of our lives straight.

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near…Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him.”

Amen.

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