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Prepare the Way Luke: Certainty of the Truth Luke 3:1-20 Pastor Josh Black August 21, 2016 I Pity the Golden Rule Yesterday, I listened to a game show on the radio. They played a game called “The Sorrow and the Pity.” It was based on Mr. T’s famous catchphrase in Rocky III, “I pity the fool.” The contestants were asked questions that could be answered with a word or phrase that rhymed with fool. For example, if they were asked, “Do you feel bad for the cylindrical piece of wood around which thread is wound?” They would answer, “I pity the spool.” Another question asked was, “Do you commiserate with the concept that you should do unto others as you would have them do unto you?” What’s the answer? “I pity the golden rule?”1 Interestingly, Mr. T once said, “I believe in the golden rule.” But he went on in typical fashion to say, “Whoever has the most gold rules!” His attitude was the polar opposite of the attitude imbedded in Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount (Lk. 6:31). Mr. T’s perspective is the perspective of the world. The more wealth and the more power the better. Forget about others; look out for number one! But Jesus teaches us to humble ourselves and to look to the interests of others. One of the main themes in the Gospel of Luke is that the proud will be brought low. And the humble will be lifted up. How do we learn this lesson? How do we move from Mr. T’s understanding of the golden rule to Jesus’ way? Our text this morning teaches us. We introduced our series in Luke last week. We are going to skip chapters 1-2 for now and save them for Advent. Today, we will consider the ministry of John the Baptist. He prepared the way for Jesus. He teaches us about repentance and the need to humble ourselves, if we are going to understand the gospel. Luke 3:1-202 1In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 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. 5Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, 6and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’” 1 “The Sorrow and the Pity.” Radio Segment, Ask Me Another, Originally aired October 8, 2015, http://www.npr.org/2015/10/08/446613828/the-sorrow-and-the-pity. 2 Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® unless otherwise noted. 2 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? 8Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 9Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” 10And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” 11And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” 12Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” 13And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” 14Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.” 15As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, 16John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 17His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” 18So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people. 19But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, 20added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison. This is the Word of the Lord. I see three main themes in this passage. 1. The nature of the power of worldly rulers (Rulers’ Power). 2. The prophetic role of John the Baptist (Role of a Prophet). 3. John’s proclamation of repentance (Repentance Proclaimed). I’d like to organize my sermon around these three themes.3 RULERS’ POWER (1-2a, 19-20) Let’s start with the nature of the power of worldly rulers. In verse 1-2, John the Baptist’s ministry is set within the historical context of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, Herod Antipas, Philip, and Lysanias, as well as the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas. It’s important to remember that salvation history is set within world history. Like we said last week, the gospel is historically reliable. 3 I see a chiastic structure in this passage: A Rulers (1-2a) B Summary of John’s Ministry (2b-3) C Role of Prophet: Preparing by Baptism (4-6) D Repentance Proclaimed (7-14) C’ Role of Prophet: Pointing to Jesus Baptism (15-17) B’ Summary of John’s Ministry (18) A’ Rulers (19-20) 3 But that’s not the only reason Luke lists these rulers. In verses 19-20 we’re told that Herod was evil and he put John in prison. We also know that he eventually had John killed. And many of the rulers listed in verses 1-2 played a role in Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion. The evil and murderous pride of these rulers is placed in contrast to the humility of John and Jesus. In God’s plan of salvation, God brings down the proud and he lifts up the humble. Mary predicted this in her song in chapter 1. “He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty” (1:52-53). When John shows up on the scene, the mighty rulers are on their throne. And they will take down John and Jesus temporarily. But eventually the so called mighty will be brought down from their thrones. Tiberius died in AD 37. Pontius Pilate was forced from office in AD 36. Herod Antipas was deposed in AD 39. The high priests Annas and Caiaphas were also brought low.4 But Jesus, who humbled himself to the point of death, was raised. King Jesus reigns eternally. He lives forever as our high priest. He’s the true Mighty One, as verse 16 says. God raised him up and will raise up everybody who looks to him in humility. Mr. T was wrong. It’s not those with gold and power that ultimately rule. It’s those of humble estate. This is a reminder to us to not put our confidence in any worldly or political power. And it’s also a reminder to not be discouraged when we see the failure of our political leaders. In God’s economy of salvation, the mighty will be brought low. And the humble King Jesus is on his throne and he will reign forever. ROLE OF PROPHET (2b-6, 15-18) Let’s now consider John the Baptist’s role as a prophet. In the second half of verse 2, we’re told, “the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.” The prophets in the Old Testament were introduced in a similar way. In Jeremiah 1:4, we read, “Now the word of the LORD came to me…” In Ezekiel 1:3, we read, “The word of the LORD came to Ezekiel…” We’ve already been told that John the Baptist is a prophet (1:76). Now we see that his role was similar to the role of the prophets in the Old Testament.5 This would give certainty to Luke’s readers that God’s plan of salvation in Christ was grounded in the Old Testament. And in the same way that the Old Testament prophets called people to repent, that’s exactly what John does. We see this in verse 3. We’ll deal more with what’s involved in repentance in the next point. For now, I want to focus on the reason John was calling people to repent. There are two reasons I see in this passage. Preparing the Way for Jesus First, John was preparing the way for Jesus.

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