Teaching Tips: Luke 3.1-20

In the past year we've had a great reminder of the role of teachers.  Teachers have adapted and adjusted and they've done more than they even thought the had within them.  We all can find ourselves in a teaching role sometimes.  John the Baptist was a teacher.  If you can teach where John taught you can teach anywhere!  John gives a new meaning to remote learning.  Today we learn how John did his teaching and what it means for us.  Some of you are Sunday School teachers; some of you are career teachers.  All of us are in a teaching role sometimes.  We can imagine John with a big beard as he introduces Jesus.  John's teaching tips for us are crucial.

Hear from God.

 We need to know what we have to say.  

            ²during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas,the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

 We remember Zechariah, a priest.  John is his son.  We remember when John was in Elizabeth's womb that he leaps when Mary comes to visit.  Now John is a grown man celebrating the presence of Jesus.  This is a time when religious leaders were very harsh and in control.  If you were expecting to hear from God, where would you go?  Most people in that  time period would probably go to the Temple.  You could see the Temple; it stood out high above, tall and ornate.  If you wanted to hear from God you'd go to the Temple.  John is in the wilderness, the last place we'd think he'd be.  There's nothing there.  This is when God speaks to John.  God is able to speak into us regardless of our circumstances.  God speaking to us gives us the authority to speak to others.  This is why John had a tremendous boldness.  His boldness didn't come from a group project or out of academia.  For those of you who teach regularly, you understand we need to be hearing from God.  This week we've learned about the importance of the pipeline as it shut down.  John has a pipeline to God.  Nothing can keep us from God other than our own hearts.  God speaks to John in an environment like this, in the wilderness.  God can speak to you and I this way too.  It's important to have an openness to hear what God needs to say to us.  People heard from God and they wrote it down.  This is how the Bible was formed.  

Teach what God says.

                        ³And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 

They're in the Jordan valley.  This area is a region along the river.  Today we have dams and the ability to control water.  Traditionally nobody built along a river because they didn't have dams.  This area was flat but they didn't build there, so John is in the middle of nowhere.  Where's the most difficult place to preach?  Go to where the people are not?  People are flocking by the hundreds and thousands to hear John.  Why?  Here's his message: the baptism of repentance and forgiveness.  To repent is to change our thinking about something.  What we are doing and thinking may not be God's best for us.  Our response is to repent.  Forgiveness is God's response to us.  Jesus came to bring us forgiveness.  We cannot bring forgiveness into our lives ourselves.  God is the only one who can forgive what's inside us.  We can recognize we are not on the right path.  There's lots of things we are not capable of doing.  Baptism is an outward symbol that reflects inward change.  The important part is what's happened in your heart.  Baptism celebrates this outwardly.  John is preaching a baptism for Jews.  Baptism is a sign of conversion, a conversion to follow Jesus.  Why was this controversial?  John is preaching to a Jewish audience.  Jews were born as children of Abraham.  Preaching this to ethnic Jews is to say you need to be converted and baptized.  John is saying they cannot trust the fact they were born a Jew.  There has to be a conversion experience.  We all need forgiveness.  John calls to repentance.  They missed the mark.  We'll never get to the right place if we're going the wrong way.  

This is difficult for men, maybe it's hard for women too, I don't know.  If I'm going the wrong way John is saying to stop and turn around.  Men do not like this!  We want to find another way.  God says to stop, you're going in the wrong direction.  When God speaks to us the response for us is to stop, turn around and go in the direction God says.  It's not about our cleverness or our abilities.

Make much of Jesus.

                        ⁴As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”

 John recognized he was in a unique position.He is the voice of the one crying in the wilderness.  God must increase and I must decrease.  John says he is just a messenger pointing to truth.  Jesus is the One John points to.  "Prepare the way of the Lord," are unique words here.  This takes us to Luke 2:11 where the angels say this same thing.  Jesus is here.  He will make the path straight.  "To prepare the way," if you're building a road, a new road, you have to cut down trees and cut through all the mess that's in the way.  The Romans built roads where they wanted to and they were straight.  We all try to rationalize our own behavior.  John says, stop, there's a straight way to Jesus.  The way to go straight to God is to confess your sin and repent.  We can say, "God, I'm wrong.  I've chosen my own way."  This is how we make much of Jesus, we say, "God, I need You."

Be bold.

 We need boldness when we teach.  We need to know what we have to say is true.  Do you want to put spice in your teaching?  Let's read verse 7:

                        ⁷He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 

 That is the ultimate greeting for first time guests!  A viper is a venomous snake that harms people by biting them and injecting venom.  He's calling them people who want to harm everyone.  In Matthew and John, John the Baptist is talking to the religious leaders but here in Luke John speaks to the crowds, to everyone.  He asks, "Why are you here?"  "I didn't invite you."  If you're looking at training the greeters, we can ask, "Who told you to come here?"  Why is John being so harsh?  He's here to baptize people.  If you just came here to see the show and not to repent, why are you here?  If you're not serious do not come out here!  What boldness!  How does this apply to us?  There's a point where we say if we are willing to follow God or not.  There's a punch to this, a spice.  If we're not willing to follow God we are wasting our time.  We are not here to be liked, but to lead people to the Kingdom of God.  This is a harsh message.

Give people good news.

                        ¹⁸So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people. 

Despite what may be trending today, the good news is that we have sinned gone our own way, and there's one way to the Father through His Son, Jesus Christ.  This is a harsh message.  I'm not saying we need to adopt John's style but if we have to choose between watering down what we have to say and speaking truth, we need to give Good News.  The good news in all of this is we don't have to stay where we are.  We are not doomed to be trapped forever in our own sin.  This is the power of the cross.  Jesus came to set us free, to release captives, to give sight to the blind, to set us free.  We can feel better when we stop going our own way, reach out to God and ask God to make us whole.  We have the opportunity to respond.  We want to see you walking with God.  Please reach out to us through our church app or call our office.  Can you pray, "God, I don't want to keep going how I'm going."  

Sermon by Dr. Scotty Carpenter.  Sermon Notes by Jeni Martin Johnson.

Children's Sermon by Janet Smith

My daughter Kinci came home for Mother's Day this past weekend.  Sunday afternoon I was driving her to the airport in Charlotte and we chose to go on 85.  We were trying to make her flight on time but we encountered an issue on route 85.  There was construction even on Sunday.  We had to merge many lanes into one lane and people were not being kind about it.  It seems like they're always working on this road. As soon as it's done there's another place that needs to be worked on.  There's a highway in our pastor's sermon today.   God told John to prepare for Jesus, to make a highway.  He didn't mean to build a literal road but to get people ready to learn about Jesus.  John asked people to be sorry for their sin and to live how God wants them to.  It's the same for us today.  When we do this we will be ready.  This week let's be aware of our sin and our need for forgiveness.