Prepare the Way

How many of you have family and friends that do not know the Lord?
How many of you have friends and family that don’t go to church?
How many would like to see that change?

These were the questions I asked our congregation this past Sunday.  To all three questions hands went up all over the building.  I would be willing to guess that we all could answer these questions with uplifted hands. But the motivation behind the question was this, "Are we willing to make the changes necessary to make it as easy as possible for these people and Christ to meet?"  This is the question that came to my mind as I read Luke 3:4-6. 

"As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

I believe that God wants to see that change."

 

If all flesh is going to see the salvation of God, we are going to have to prepare the way.  Both as individuals and as congregations, we are going to have to look at who and what we are and we are going to have to identify areas where we are deficient, and our areas of excess, areas of waste (wasted time, wasted energy, wasted resources), and areas where we are making it more complicated than it needs to be.  And then we have to do whatever needs to be done to fix those areas.  I was careful to make it clear that if we did these things does that mean that family members and friends were going to get saved. Making these changes will do little to change people, but what it will do is make the way easier for Christ to change them.

 Before Christ came on the scene, people only knew what they had known. Religion, rules, ritual and repetition. To many, faith was lousy and lifeless.  It was useless and unfulfilling, and many had parted from the faith; at least as it was practiced in their day.  The sentiment back then is not much different than it is now. Most people view Christianity in the same way the Jews of Christ’s day viewed Judaism, and they have little desire to enter into that faith. "Who needs religion, rules, ritual and repetition?" "Who wants a faith that is lousy and lifeless?"  "Why waste your time with a faith that is useless and unfulfilling?" So what happened to change people's minds? What made the difference?  What made people want to follow this once shunned faith?  Christ!!!!!!!!!!

Christ made the difference.  When he showed up their whole view changed.  When Christ showed up religion changed to relationship, rules changed to revelation; ritual changed to revival, and repetition changed to rejoicing.  People suddenly saw the salvation of the Lord, and wanted it.
 What was once lousy became lovely.  What was lifeless became life changing.  What was useless was unstoppable.  And what was unfulfilling became undeniable. If we are going to change peoples’ minds and thus their lives Christ is going to have to show up.  And that means we are going to have to prepare the way for him.

 If all flesh is going to see the salvation of God, we are going to have to fill every valley, bring low every mountain, straighten the crooked path, and smooth the rough places.  What does that mean?

Obviously it isn’t literal; God does not expect us to build a physical road.  But it does mean that we have to make it as easy as possible for Christ to get to the people.     Unfortunately too many churches in our day make it difficult for Christ to get to the people because of what we do and how we do it.  We have too many deficiencies, too many excesses, we wander, and sometimes we make it rough. 

Sometimes church is rough.  I mean we make it rough for people to sit through a church service.  If you have ever experienced this you know what I am talking about.  I have been to many church services in my life, and many are fabulous.  The presence of God can be felt, the Spirit of God is active and I have left feeling more focused on my purpose and calling; ready to do it with my whole heart, mind, soul and strength.  But there have also been those ones where you leave glad it was over.  I left scratching my head wondering what just happened.  It seemed as if I had been trapped in the twilight zone for hours, only to reemerge from the service in the same place I had entered.  None the better, and in fact maybe a little worse off.  There were so many things that detracted from God, and more his ability to reach me.  Whether it was the antiquated music played on out of tune instruments, the bad singing, poor teaching, disconnected preaching, uncomfortable seating, out dated décor, all these things and more serve as hindrances to Christ than helps. 

We should want to make it as easy as possible for Christ to reach people.  He shouldn’t have to compete with us, and our goofiness.  He is already competing with the world, and the world does things with excellence.  Look at the music of the world, the décor of the world, it is modern, attractive, pertinent, and we must be too.  I know that as some read this their religious spirit is rising up in them with a "Bless God" attitude.  "We shouldn't want to bring the world into the church."  All I can say to that is, "What do you want to bring then?"  We are called to win the world to Christ.  As churches we are not called to win the won.  I would argue that the reason that the church is so ineffective, is because we have built sanctuaries for the saved, instead of for the lost.  We are more concerned with keeping Christians happy than winning the lost.  It is this mentality that is hindering Christ from reaching the lost.  Members of your congregation are not going to invite their worldly friends to these types of services. The world is not going to come and sit through these services week after week.  And if it is too rough, they may not even stay until the first altar call.  If those in the world are going to see Christ, we are going to have to smooth out the rough places.

 

Others are missing salvation because the church is not focused.  We tend to wander. We are here then we are there, but there is really no purpose or direction to what we are doing.  We are wandering crooked paths hoping to run into someone instead being deliberate in reaching people.  We spend more time with fellowships and fundraisers than we do ministering to the needs of the people.  We spend more time talking about theories than speaking to their lives.  If you can’t speak to their needs and do it in a timely fashion they will not come back.  The world will not waste time coming to church just to walk away with nothing.  And even when we do get to the people we lead them down the same crooked path of wandering.  Especially in this day and age people don’t have time to wander.  They want to know that their time is being used effectively; that they are making a difference with their time.  We have got to streamline what we are doing.  We have got to be focused and purposeful in everything we do.  Be conscientious of people’s time and get the most bang for our buck while they are here, and do what we have to do to connect them to Christ.  We are hindering Christ when we meander down a crooked path.

 Our mountains also make it difficult for Christ to reach people because they keep us from moving forward.  When Moses and the children of Israel came out of Egypt the came to Mt. Sinai, and God showed up in a powerful way.  He spoke to them.  He manifested his presence to them.  He gave them revelation from his own hand. The result was a people content to camp out around the mountain.  They circled it day after day, and it kept them from their intended destination.  God is trying to get people to him, but we can’t get them there because we are too busy camping out where we are instead of moving towards our intended destination.    We focus on what God did instead of what he wants to do.  We get content with what we have experienced instead of realizing there is more.  We raise up sacred cows, that we refuse to let die, even if doing so might allow more people to connect with Christ.  When we would rather travel around the mountain than move people closer to their destiny, then we hinder where God is trying to get his people.  We need to stop going around the mountain.  In fact we need to level the mountain, in order to make it easier for those following to get to the promised land.  

Lastly there are the valleys.  The places where the land is deficient.  When you are in a valley all you can see is the valley.  And when a church is deficient all people can see is the deficiency.  When we are unable to minister to their need, all they can see is how you can’t minister to their need. 

If we can’t meet their needs, or the needs of their children, or their teens then they will not stay.  And if they will not stay, they will miss Christ.  We have go to start taking a long hard look at who we are and what we are doing, and start identifying these areas of deficiency.  We can not put our heads in the sand and pretend that they aren’t there, because they are.  And when we identify them we have to fill them in.   It all boils down to preparing the way for Christ.

 

When you think of your family that don't know Christ; when you think of your friends that don't attend church, realize that these people are the world.  The world is our target.  Bringing the world into the church is exactly what we need to do.  This does not mean bringing the world's message into the church, but it does mean bringing in some of their methods.  When someone from the world enters into your church, it should feel somewhat familiar.  It should not feel strange and awkward.  If it does then you have already made it more difficult for Christ to reach them because they are already guarded.  The more areas that we fail to deal with, the less likely that worldly person will see salvation.  We have got to be mindful, and make it as easy as possible for Christ to reach them.  That means we have to be diligent, and prepare the way.