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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, the text comes from the prophet Isaiah, the Old Testament reading. You may be seated.
So though the text comes from the prophet Isaiah, we will also be talking about a certain prophet named John the Baptist, whose coming is talked about in the scriptures this morning. What a remarkable man. Remarkably dressed. But what a remarkable man when you think about the prophecies that were said about him. The angel Gabriel telling his father that John will be great in the Lord’s sight. The angel Gabriel telling John’s father that he will be full of the Holy Spirit.
So maybe what you and I should consider… Maybe we should follow in John’s footsteps. You know, because John’s one mission in this world is to confess Jesus Christ, to tell people about Him so that they’re prepared for His second coming. That’s what you and I do. John was to preach for Jesus’ first coming when He revealed Himself beginning at the baptism in the River Jordan all the way to the cross, to his suffering death on the cross and his glorious ascension. We proclaim Christ. That’s our mission. That’s our vocation in this world. So maybe John should be someone that we emulate.
Well, let’s consider John’s accomplishments. Because we have a lot in common with John. One, we are both called by God, chosen by Him to be His child. God has given us faith. Same as John.
Well, one of John’s accomplishments that he did while preaching and proclaiming was that he garnered rejection from the Jewish people. Now, you and I would not look at that as being an accomplishment, and yet, was that not an accomplishment? Because John was faithful. And what did he get out of it? Rejection by the Jewish people. And ultimately, they rejected him. Not just the message, but they rejected him who bore that message.
The second accomplishment of John the Baptist that he did, that we should probably think about emulating, is that he was rejected by the Jewish leaders. Because John pointed to the one who fulfilled all of the scriptures. And yet that got his rejection by the Jewish leaders.
The third accomplishment of John, I don’t think you and I want to be a part of, but it could be our calling. We never know. Odds are that it’s not. The third accomplishment is John’s faithfulness in proclaiming Jesus got John beheaded. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I want to follow in John’s footsteps because I don’t want those kind of consequences for being faithful. The kind of consequences that I want, which I’m assuming is what you want, you want to be faithful, but you want it not to hurt. Right? You want to be faithful, but you don’t want to offend. You want to be faithful, but you don’t want to garner rejection. I don’t either. And the people that do want to are probably just plain old curmudgeons, mean old grumpy people. Most of us don’t want that.
So then do we want not to be as faithful as John? Interesting question for us to consider. And you consider that last Sunday, the prophet Isaiah proclaimed to us that we are the clay, God is the potter, we are the work of his hands.
Well, if we are the work of the potter’s hands, do you know what I struggle with? I struggle with telling the potter how he should use me. Here’s how you should use me, God, because I’ve got the skill set for this kind of work or ministry and not for this kind of work or ministry. Don’t you know that? We want to make things the way we want them.
Every pastor, and I don’t care what church he’s in, every pastor struggles with the same struggle I struggle with. We don’t want to be the pastor of the church that’s dying. Amen. We want to be the pastor of the church that’s booming and exciting and bold. Out of all the pastors in this country, the vast majority of them are pastors of churches that are very small and that are not growing. Are they less faithful than the pastors of the big, bold churches?
If we want to be like John, think about his success. He didn’t have it in worldly terms. He had rejection. Wait a second. Who did John follow? Jesus himself. The other thing that I like to do, and I think you struggle with it too, is if we don’t like how the potter has made us and we don’t like the use, we don’t want to be used to shovel you-know-what. We want to be used to serve wine as the pot. The other thing that we want to do is customize the cross that God has laid upon our shoulders because it hurts too much to carry that beam. We want to put gel on that. We want to make it lighter out of balsa rather than out of hard oak or cedar that cuts and rips and treads, that humbles us. We don’t want that.
And yet, when you consider the prophet John the Baptist, did he argue with God? But I know I argue with God. Every school teacher that’s ever been trained in any of our Concordias and every pastor that’s ever been trained at any seminary, all are not taught, are not taught, are not taught to embrace suffering of a congregation that’s dying, of a classroom full of difficult-to-teach students, of parents that are unappreciative of sacrifices. We’re taught that if you want to be a success, you’ve got to change the church.
Jesus changed lots of things. And what did he receive in his person for changing things to righteousness and holiness, death and resurrection? We’re not encouraged to embrace that cross. We want to customize that cross for us in bearing it because it is too harsh to bear. Right? That’s why Jesus reminds us through the prophet Isaiah that all flesh is grass, all flowers of the field. We are like that, fading and quickly leaving. But the only thing that endures is the Word of God.
So it’s not really what do you expect in following Jesus. The question that you have to ask yourself is what are you ready to expect? What? We think we’re in the embraced or majority in this country. We’re not. This country’s culture is going further and further away from what we are. And we’re taught by those who are proclaiming and are faithful who they didn’t want this cross laid upon them. They themselves are dying for the Christian faith in countries like Sudan and Ethiopia. They have all the right to argue with the potter. They have all the right to try to customize their cross. But God doesn’t make mistakes with us. He lays the cross He wants us to have, and He shapes us as the pot He wants to use.
So when you think about Jesus and His power, we talked a little bit about this in Bible class this morning. Jesus reveals His power not in a visible way, meaning visible to the human eye. Oh, he does, but not in a salvation way. If he’s going to bring you comfort, he’s going to comfort you not with something that makes your life comfortable, but something that brings your soul comfort, his forgiveness. If he’s going to bring peace to you, he’s going to bring it in a way that’s not visibly seen, so that in the midst of chaos, in the midst of cancer, in the midst of imprisonment, you still have peace because of sins forgiven.
So did John proclaim this kind of comfort? Did John the Baptist proclaim this kind of peace? Didn’t John proclaim the great hope that God gives us? And the answer is yes. But what did that get John? That’s why God gave John the cup that he gave him to drink. You and I may not be called to that same cup to drink it, but you and I have been called to carry crosses. You and I have been made as a pot that God designed His work to be used in proclaiming Jesus. And all of that implies struggle.
When you think about Jesus manifesting His power, He did not manifest His power in a bold, visible, and recognizable manner. He manifested His power by allowing to be conceived in a clay pot. Mary. He manifested his power in allowing to be carried and born in a normal clay pot manner. God allowed that. That’s power. He lived his life among clay pots in this world as one who loves sacrificially. He dies the greatest act of self-sacrifice love, and it doesn’t look loving, it looks judged. It looks like the enemy of God. It looks like the punished of God and the wrath of God, and yet it is the revelation of the love of God.
So when we think about following John the Baptist, we forget that John the Baptist lived out his faith and his life lovingly, as one who trusted not in what he saw, what happened to his person, but what God had done in him in the promise. Enter Isaiah’s beautiful statement, comfort. Peter kind of introduces this, the Isaiah statement of comfort. Because Peter introduces it by asking this question of people like you and me who wait for the coming of the Lord. Right? Peter asks this question, or really proclaims this. He says, be diligent to be found in Him.
Peter doesn’t say, be found in Him. He says, be diligent to be found in Him without blemish or spot. And the only way you can be found without blemish or spot is with forgiveness. It’s the second statement that’s a little more telling because it doesn’t look like. He says, be found at peace. So if my face is contorted with pain and I’m not at peace, can I still have peace? Yes. If I’m dying of cancer and I don’t feel peaceful, do I have peace? Yes. Because the peace of which Jesus speaks and proclaims and gives is not visible peace. It is spiritual peace.
When he says, comfort, comfort my people, speak to her, tell her that her warfare is ended, he is not referring to the warfare that we struggle with in this life that’s visible with our flesh, with this world, and with Satan. That warfare is ongoing and physically seen in our lives, but it is not final. The peace that he speaks for, the warfare that is over is you no longer are at odds with your Creator. You are at peace. He brought the peace. He brought the comfort. He brought the hope. He ended the warfare because He took the bullet for you.
And when He comes to you in this comfort that’s proclaimed and heard, we’ve got truth here. We’ve been given the Word of God. We believe the Word of God. We’ve got truth here. We’re not looking for it. We’ve got it here. And that truth says comfort and peace. And He brings with Him His reward. And He takes care of you like a flock.
And then here’s an interesting statement. He says He will carry the weak or the needy and the vulnerable. To the weak or the needy and the vulnerable, does it look like God is carrying you? Does it feel like God is carrying you? And yet, is not God carrying you according to His promise? That’s the kind of stuff John preached. That’s the kind of stuff Jesus showed us.
He will gently lead you. Does it feel like He’s gently leading you? Sometimes it feels as if He’s shoving you into the flames of the fire. It does not feel gently. How can this statement be true? Because in the end He does and has always led you gently.
So how could John lay his head down and have it severed from his body by that axeman? Because he knew what Isaiah said, we have a future in Him. A future in Him. John didn’t look like he had a future. It looked like that was the end result. Jesus on the cross doesn’t look like He has a future, but we know by faith He did. So you have a future regardless of what it feels like or looks like because what truth God has revealed to you in this comfort.
So what kind of people ought we to be? Living lives of godliness and holiness in this comfort as we await the coming of the Lord. In the name of Jesus, Amen. The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds on Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.
