Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Isaiah 40:1-5
Pastor: Pastor Berg
Sermon Date:  December 6, 2020

Winter is demanding on our Wisconsin roadways, isn’t it? Even when you’ve lived here for a long time, it usually takes that first good snowfall to remember how to drive in the wintertime. You really have to remember to slow down and sometimes even what you think is slow enough is not. And yet, it’s not only the driving difficulty that increases exponentially because of our winter weather, but the wear and tear on the roads is also magnified. All that sand and salt and sludge that sits on the roads all winter long has a vile effect. Winter’s wrath is manifested when the snow finally melts and our roadways are filled with potholes. It makes for bumpy rides. It’s almost as if winter is at war with our roads and highways.

Never thought of winter at war with our highways before? Think I’m exaggerating a bit? Perhaps. Perhaps my view of winter is different from the Midwest, snow-loving lifers that many of you are. But perhaps I’m not exaggerating. Let’s just imagine for a moment that I’m right. Let’s imagine that winter really and truly was declaring war on us by attacking our highways. Let’s imagine that winter was destroying those pathways so that we couldn’t get where we needed to be. How would you look at winter then? Our perspective would change, wouldn’t it? 

How do you view your relationship with God, especially when you are sinning? Slipping and falling like we could and would on an icy road or highway? Cracking under the pressure like the pavement, battered with ice and salt and sludge? Just a momentary lapse in concentration like the driver on the icy road as he spins into the ditch? Are our sins merely inconveniences on an otherwise smooth journey? Are they merely little bumps or potholes in the road? 

Surely that’s all they are, aren’t they? Just a little bit of a rough patch? We might hope so, wouldn’t we? That is until we look at what God says through Isaiah this morning.  Look at what he says in verse 2. “Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and call out to her. Her warfare really is over.” Warfare? Warfare? Certainly it’s not all as serious as that? Unfortunately, that’s the reality. Warfare is how God describes our relationship with him when we are sinning. Warfare. 

Think of the things you have done this past month or even just last week that “weren’t quite in harmony with God’s will.” Were you ever “short” with your spouse, a little impatient and “snippy?” Were there days when you did not give your children the time they needed and deserved? Were there times when doing what mom and dad said wasn’t what you chose to do? Did you ever neglect your spiritual responsibilities, whether in personal devotions or prayer? We’re all guilty of these things, aren’t we? And yet, we don’t think of them as waging war with God, do we? In fact, it’s in our sinful nature to find excuses for these and all of our sins.

But the truth of the matter remains. When we sin, we declare war, war with God himself. That’s what sin really is–open rebellion against the Almighty! It’s not a small or insignificant quarrel with God, as we like to think–a “minor differing of opinions about how we are to live and act,” a “lover’s spat that will soon pass.” It’s war on our part! It’s rebelling against the will of God. Think about what happens to highways and roadways during war. Just a few potholes? Just a few bumps in the road? I don’t remember reading about potholes, but craters! I don’t remember anything about a few bumps, but instead roads that were impassible!

I think sometimes we go into our preparations for Christmas with lowered expectations. We don’t want to be disappointed, so we don’t expect much. Maybe this year, that temptation is there more than ever. But that’s not the Advent call we hear from Isaiah this morning. Rather than lowering expectations, Isaiah tells us to Expect More Out of Christmas! We do that by preparing the highways! We’re not talking about physical road construction here, we’re talking about preparing our hearts for Christ. It’s like we already sang this morning. “Prepare the Royal Highway, the King of Kings is near.” This highway is where Jesus travels. It’s not a physical highway, but rather the pathway to our hearts. As Isaiah writes, he’s preaching to a people who were about to face the worst part of their history as a nation. As a result of the war they had declared against God, they were going to be banished to Babylon for 70 years. It would be one of the saddest times in Israel’s entire history. The chosen people of God would feel cut off from the Lord. It would be a period where all hope seems lost. But the Lord had not forgotten his people. Hope was not lost. He tells Isaiah to write, “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.” In the original Hebrew, the beginning of this section is onomatopoetic. It means the words sound like what it says, like our English word, “buzz.” Imagine how it must have sounded to those despairing people to hear “Nahamu, Nahamu, ami.” You can almost hear the sigh of relief in the voice of the prophet. “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem.” This message of comfort is for the heart of the Lord’s people. He doesn’t just want them to comprehend it up here, but in here. He goes on, “Call out to her. Her warfare really is over. Her guilt is fully paid for. Yes, she has received from the LORD’S hand double for all her sins.”

Israel’s warfare was over because God had ended it. Her guilt was paid for not because she had served her time in Babylon, but because God took it away. She would receive double from the Lord’s hand, as many as here sins, not double the punishment, but double the blessing! This was God’s message of comfort and hope to a hopeless people in Babylon! And my fellow Advent Christians, it’s God’s message to us today! Expect More Out of Christmas! We stand before God in his house today getting ready. We are preparing for as Isaiah says, “the glory of the LORD will be revealed.” That glory was revealed in that humble infant in the manger in Bethlehem. For it was through Jesus, that our war with God would be ended. It was through Jesus that our sin would be paid for. It was through Jesus that would not only be blessed with forgiveness of sins but a promise of eternal life in heaven. “Comfort, comfort MY people, says your God.” You and I, who sinned against God so many times and in so many ways are still his people! This message is from our God! In spite of our rebellious, warlike lives, God is still our God, the God of unlimited, undeserved love. 

What greater comfort can we find in the whole of Scripture that right here in Isaiah 40? The Lord shows us his loving forgiving heart in Jesus as he pours his comfort into our fearful, troubled hearts. He pours out his love so fully, that our hearts can’t possibly hold it all in. The richness of his love fills it up so it overflows! Lower expectations? No, Expect More Out of Christmas! So how can we respond to this overflowing love? Isaiah has the answer! “A voice is calling out: In the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD. In the wasteland make a level highway for our God. Every valley will be raised up, and every mountain will be made low. The rugged ground will become level, and the rough places will become a plain.”

Are the highways prepared? I think by now we realize that this isn’t a road across the desert from Babylon to Jerusalem. It’s not a road on any map. The highway is the road into our hearts. It’s the way Jesus comes to rule in our lives. Are the highways prepared? Is there some “road-building” that you and I have to do before Jesus can come to us anew this Christmas? Are there concerns about the things in this world that we may need to level out so they won’t block the Savior’s way? Do we need to straighten out our hearts by setting aside the trappings and distractions of this season so we can focus on the one thing needful? Are there craters caused by the war that need to be filled with confession and repentance? Perhaps we need to put out a “road improvement ahead” sign for the next couple of weeks?

But that’s something we long to do, isn’t it? What have we already sung? “Prepare the Royal Highway, the King of kings is near!” Even our world likes to call this “the most wonderful time of the year.” We are here to celebrate the Lord’s coming–his coming to earth as a little Child so he could be our Savior. Those are the tidings of comfort and joy! What joy we have in knowing that we have a Lord who was willing to set aside heaven and all its benefits to humbly be born and live and die so that we might be saved from our sins. Expect More Out of Christmas! Prepare the Highways! Reflect the overflowing comfort that God speaks to you in Jesus. Respond to his assurance of pardon and peace by flinging wide the gates of your heart and offering him gifts that show your joy and delight over what he’s done for you. “Hosanna to the Lord, for he fulfills God’s Word!” Amen.