Following in the Footsteps of Jesus: Make Room for the Lord

Posted on May 3, 2009 in Sermons | Comments Off

Speaker: Andrew Brown
Key Passage: Matthew 3:1-12
Date: 3 May 2009

In the middle of last year I asked our ministry leaders, ‘what do you think we should have a year of at PBC?’ PBC has had a Year of Prayer, a Year of Fellowship, and a Year of Outreach. I was thinking that maybe that we should do one of them again, when one of our leaders suggested let’s not have a Year of doing anything. Let’s just have a ‘Year of Jesus.’

I have to admit that the suggestion struck a chord with me, because in this often-troubled life, you and I need God. This life (as we’ve been confronted with this week) is not a practice or a trial. It’s not a dummy run. We don’t get a second chance. It’s the real thing and it therefore matters very much how we live. We need to get closer to Jesus –w need to get back to our source -to understand God, to grasp what He says to us and to follow Him much more closely if we are going to make any sense out of this life and to live life with a true purpose. Hebrews 12:2 says “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” So I want to suggest that we spend some time this year ‘Following In the Footsteps of Jesus’ –observing Him, learning from Him –journeying along with His disciples -and applying the things that He shows us to our live.

In particular, what I’m proposing is that we take a look at the Good News of Matthew, which has been one of the most popular gospels since the early days of the Church. Jesus follower, Matthew, a former tax collector, wrote it around about 50-60AD, when the world seemed to be descending into turmoil (sound familiar). Rebellion was brewing in Israel. Christians were being forced to choose whether they supported the Jewish liberation fight or if they supported the Romans. Christianity was starting to spread around the Empire, much to the concern of some Jewish and even Roman leaders, and the Romans were desperately trying to keep a firm lid on the whole thing.

Into this mix Matthew says: 1. We must get to know the story of Jesus because He is the earth’s true king, 2. We must understand what discipleship is all about so we, His Church, can live our lives as part of His kingdom, and 3. We must understand how we can play our part in expanding God’s Kingdom on earth. Matthew’s gospel is all about a message of hope –about how God has invaded our world and how you and I are called to be a part of it.

We’ve already looked at the first part during Christmas, (chapters 1 & 2). Where I’d like us to start is with the preaching of John the Baptist. So would you join me in your Bibles by reading Matthew 3:1-12. [Read].

There have been a lot of apologies made lately. In the last few years the NZ government has apologised to several Maori tribes, PM Kevin Rudd apologised last year to Australian aborigines for the Australian governments handling of them, and not so long ago the Roman Catholic Church apologised to the Jews for their mistreatment over the centuries. There has even been some debate in atheistic circles that it’s now time for God to apologise for all of the pain and the suffering that He has caused us. But have you ever considered that you might owe God an apology? That you might benefit by apologising to God? Have you ever said, “I’m sorry” and meant it to God?

Well in the first verse of chapter 3 John the prophet bursts on to the stage telling the nation of Israel, “Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is near!” Although he was a priest and could have served in the comfort of Jerusalem’s Temple, John wore clothes made out of camel’s hair and leather, and made his home in the desert. From there he preached a message that everyone needed to confess their sins and be baptised to show that they were sorry. Amazingly thousands flocked to see him. Hundreds were baptised. City folk flocked in from the towns of Judea to see this prophet of the desert and even the religious leaders made the pilgrimage out to see him. He made an incredible impact. Jesus Himself said, “There has never been anyone before like him.” And Matthew said that he is the one predicted hundreds of years before by the prophet Isaiah preparing the way for the Messiah.

1. John’s message was that you must prepare to meet the King -and soon!

He had an air of urgency about Him. The people expected the Messiah to come sometime. What was different was that John said, “You must be ready now!”

How like our own lives? We act as if we have forever. We put off and we delay what we know is inevitable. I can’t recall who said it, but his last words were, “Die? Why that’s the last thing I’m going to do!” The truth is that all of us are going to meet God, either in this life or the next. The prudent person prepares ahead for these kinds of things. It’s like buying insurance or saving up funds for retirement. The wise person plans ahead so they will get to know Jesus better.

But what John says is that it’s not about you discovering God. This is not, for instance, about meditation or self-discovery. Some people have the idea that you can go somewhere quiet, like the top of the mountain, sit on the top and be silent. If you meditate there long enough you will find God. “Not so!” says John. Instead God is coming to you!

How many of you remember playing the kids game ‘Hide and Seek?’ What is it that the person who is in has to yell before they come and look? “I’m coming ready or not!” That’s what God says. “I’m coming ready or not!”

And what will that be like? John says that it will be like the coming of a great King. After all this is not a minor person who is visiting. When the Queen visited the Bahamas they completely resealed every road that she was going to travel on. I think they also replanted the trees along the route and painted all the buildings and shacks. What must be we do to be ready for the King of Heaven? The Kingdom of heaven is arriving in a town near you so be prepared, says John, for Him!

But how do you prepare for something of this magnitude?

2. You prepare by humbling yourself, says John. You make a straight path for the Lord in your life. Or as John says “You must repent.”

The original Greek word for repenting (metanoeo) literally means, “to change one’s mind.” It means to reassess your situation and in particular it means that you change your opinion of yourself. You decide that you are a sinner.

Psalm 24:3-4 says, “(3) Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? (4) He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.” So who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who has the right to be in His presence? [Pause] No one. No one!

Because no one at all has clean hands and a pure heart! Lloyd Ogilvie tells of the religious fanatic who was walking up and down Grower Street in Hollywood shouting repeatedly, “You are guilty.  You are guilty. Repent!”  One man stood by laughing and said, “Who told him about me?”

You see deep within all of us there is a sense that we would be in a jam if suddenly “God pulled into the driveway.” Even amongst those of us who look good there is deep-rooted sin.

Nineteenth-century Scottish preacher Alexander Whyte was a well-loved and well-respected man of God. However one day when a woman described him as “saintly,” he replied that, “If you could look into my soul, what you would see would make you spit in my face.”

Now of course we don’t have to get carried away with this. There was a news story recently that Polish Roman Catholics can now plot graphs of their sins with a new computer program designed to help them confess. It is based upon the RC prayer book and poses 104 searching questions to help users track their fight against sin and record the results. Sins are listed under Biblical commandments and arranged according to their “seriousness.” Users answer a questionnaire asking whether they have committed each sin and they get a rating on their progress. (You’ll be glad to know that the files with data like this are password protected).

We aren’t required to beat ourselves up, but we do need to know who we are. We need an accurate assessment of ourselves and this is part of what it means to repent.

3. Which means that you cannot rely upon your credentials. You can’t avoid this kind of spiritual soul-searching with excuses. One needs to be humble in the presence of a King.

For instance, two groups came to listen to John. The bulk of them, the people agreed with John that they were sinners and were baptised to show their remorse, but the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the religious leaders, now they were a different kettle of fish.

Imagine if you will that you are a member of a family that can trace its ancestry back to Aaron and Moses, at a guess for 1,500 years. Maybe even further to Abraham, who was called ‘the friend of God.’ Your family has always been priests. You are one of only 6,000 people in Israel who follows a very strict interpretation of the religious laws. The weight of tradition is on your shoulders. The Temple only exists because of what you and your family have done. You are the crème de la crème of the religious world. You think you know all there is to know about God. Other people look to you for spiritual advice. That’s why you’re checking John out so you can tell others what to think.

But John asks is that good enough for God? Is all you need the right parents, the right pedigree, the right background, tradition and privilege to stand before God? What if your real attitude inside doesn’t actually match the interest you show?

For example, there was a man who frequently used biblical words. He talked about the blessing of the Almighty and the Christian principals upon which he hoped to build his government. He appeared to have an historic opportunity to do the Lord’s will and talked often to the church newspapers about it. He showed them his tattered Bible and declared that he drew the strength for his great work from this source. Hundreds of people welcomed him as a man sent from God. He was outwardly religious and inwardly spiritually bankrupt. Who was he? Can you guess? His name was Adolf Hitler.

Man looks on the outside, but God looks on the inside.

Some years ago a remarkable picture was exhibited in London. As you looked at it from a distance, you seemed to see a monk engaged in prayer, his hands clasped, his head bowed. As you come nearer, however, and examined the painting more closely, you saw that in reality he was squeezing a lemon into a punch bowl! What a picture that is of the human heart! John says stop the game playing. Stop all the acting. Take off the religious mask. Don’t rely upon your pride. You’re not just in with God just because you think you are.

4. Instead make sure that your repentance is more than just words. He says, “Show the fruit that comes of repentance,” because repentance requires action. Genuine repentance is more than just saying, “I’m sorry.” It’s more than just changing your mind. It also mean changing your ways.

For example genuine repentance involves: 1. Accepting responsibility for your sin, 2. Experiencing remorse over those sins, 3. Expressing regret at what you have done to God and others, 4. Asking forgiveness of those you have wronged, 5. Making restitution where possible, and 6. Changing your whole way of life so that you don’t do the same things again.

For the people He was speaking to, John expected them to make very specific changes. They were to be compassionate to the poor (Luke 3:10-11), to deal honestly in their business dealings (Luke 3:12-13) and to be satisfied with their pay (Luke 3:14).

What is it that you need to do to show you have repented and are following God? What is it that you need to change about your life now? What’s the Holy Spirit showing you?

C. Because John’s harshness prepares us for God’s kindness. John’s directness, his very boldness, prepares us for God’s blessing. When you deal with these issues in your life, you make more room for God in your life.

For instance you remember earlier how I talked about playing hide and seek? As children, we would play hide-and-seek. One of the things we all looked for was “the perfect hiding place.” Once we’d found it, we’d be excited as the minutes ticked by, thinking, “They’ll never find me!”
Soon, however, the thrill would wear off. Knees would begin to ache from crouching in that “perfect hiding place.” Staying hidden would begin to become a burdensome task! Before long, we’d begin to wish that our “perfect” hiding place weren’t quite so perfect after all, and we’d feel like crying out, “Someone, please come and find me!”

Today, if you are hiding something from God, consider this question: Is it really worth the effort? After all, the biblical formula for coming out of hiding is so simple—let’s read it together “If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
It’s like the principle that Jesus spoke about when sitting at down at an important event. If you think you’re someone special, and take an important seat, if it turns out you’re not as important as you though, you might be asked to move along seats. But if you humble yourself and sit somewhere humble, then you might just be invited up.

So John’s message is humble yourself before the Lord and He will lift you up. This is positive message actually, not a negative. Now is the hour of the Lord’s favour. Now is the time to act. Not tomorrow. Can you see it? Will you grasp it? The Lord is coming looking for you! You can walk with the Lord, if you want. Prepare yourself for it! Be ready!

Wouldn’t you like to enjoy the personal presence of Jesus, the one who declared that He would never hide His face from us? If you repent and turn to Him today, He will give you His Holy Spirit. So make room in your heart for the Lord.

Let’s pray

The Lord’s Supper (with full confession)

Just a closer walk with Thee…