Matt.  3:1-12          How to See the Signs of Warning       Dec 9, 2007

      This past week, I had a warning light come on inside my car telling me that something was wrong with my airbags.  I took the car up to Foreign Cars Unlimited to have it checked.  They tested to see if it was just an error but in the end, they said they had to replace a sensor in the seat belt.  When he told me the price, I was tempted to ignore it, but there was that light flashing in my car warning me that something was wrong with my airbags. I thought maybe I could fix the problem myself by putting some black electrical tape over the little light so that I could not see it any longer.

      We are all prone to ignore warnings that flash in our lives.  Most of us do not like being told what to do or being told what not to do.  As children, whatever we are told not to do becomes a thing of curiosity for us.  In his book “The Confessions,” Saint Augustine in the 300s told a famous story from his teenage years.  Let me read the story to you……    He stole the pears not because he wanted to eat them.  He stole them because it was forbidden.  Sadly, this attitude often persists into our adult years. We buck up when we are told what to do.  We do not want to head the warnings around us.    But maturity means being able to read the signs around us that are life and death for us.  There are signs and warnings all around.  Do not enter—one way.  No U-turn.  Cigarette smoking is hazardous to your health.  These signs are there for our own physical safety.  Well, the weeks before Christmas, the weeks of Advent are a time of watching for signs.  And one of the signs for which we watch are God’s signs of warning.  Spiritual warnings. 

      In our scripture today, John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness with a message of warning for all those who would hear.  He was a prophet sent by God.  And God is still sending His signs of warning for those who will look and see, listen and hear.  This morning, I want to see how God brings signs of warning into our lives to lead us away from destruction and into the path of true life.

      Our scripture begins in the wilderness of Judea.  This is an area located in the lower Jordan River valley near the Dead Sea.  When I studied at Jerusalem University College in the late 1980s, I traveled in this area.  One day I was with my roommate, and he and I left the larger group to explore the semi-desert area.  However, when we came back to the road, our van was leaving.  Not wanting to spend the night in the wilderness, we had to run down the road chasing the vehicle.  Our driver had not noticed we were missing and now our good friends inside were yelling, “Leave em! Leave em!”  This is where John lived and where people came out of the cities to hear him. 

     What was his message?  It was a message of warning.  He told them to repent.  Many people today think that repentance means to feel sorry for  what you have done.  But repent in the Bible is the word—metanonia.  It is the same root word as metamorphosis.  It means to change.  It means to turn around 180 degrees and go in a new direction with your life.  Johns’ message to the people was that they were headed into danger and they needed to turn around.  Can you think of a time in your life, when people warned you about something but you consistently ignored them?   What happened to you?  Is there some place where you need to turn around right now in your life?   At work?  At home?  At school?  In a relationship?  Are you headed for danger and you need to turn? 

      Now sometimes, it is hard to turn.  Hard to change.  So how can we turn?  John says, “Prepare the way of the Lord.  Make straight his paths.”  In ancient times, the condition of roads was very bad.  We think we have pot holes and bumps today, but in those days roads were rough and difficult and often dangerous in some places.  However when a visiting VIP came to town, the people would prepare the way.  They would go out and fix up the roads.  Make straight and smooth the road into town so that the visiting VIP would have a nicer ride and think more highly of the town.  I read this past Tuesday that Clemson is buying a jet for 1.6 million dollars for their coaches to fly in.  You see, we still give a nicer ride to our modern royalty.  So in ancient times, when you prepared for a coming VIP, you prepared the road.  John said, “Prepare the way of the Lord, and make straight the paths.”    In this season of Advent, we are preparing our hearts for the coming of Christ.  How do we do that?  Make your paths straight.  Clean up.  Get ready.  Smooth out the bumps.  If you want to see change in your life, then ask yourself what you need to straighten out.   

       Now some of us may be thinking, “But I thought you are just supposed to let go and let God.  I thought there was nothing we could do to save ourselves.  Isn’t salvation a gift from God?”  It is true that we cannot save ourselves.  We cannot change our lives completely and fully into all that God has created us to be.  But we can do what we can do.  John says in verse 7-8, “Flee…Bear fruit worthy of repentance.”  Here is a command and a warning.  We have a task to do.  We are to repent.  We are to turn away from the mess in our lives and prepare ourselves for what God is going to do in our lives.  Yes.  Only God can do the full work of new life in us.  But God will not do the work of repentance for us.  That is our work.  We are told to turn and to flee from our sins.  I have heard people with addictive problems, adulterous relationships, or dishonesty at work say, “I am praying about this and waiting for God to change me and make me stop doing this.”  God will not do the work of repentance for you.  You must turn away from that habit, that affair, that situation.  You must do it as an act of repentance.  And when you make the step of turning, then God will begin to bring new life.  We cannot bring new life to ourselves.  But the warning from John the Baptist is that we are to straighten out the road and prepare the way for the Lord who will bring us new life.

       Advent is a time to prepare ourselves.  We are to do what we can do.  God will not do what He has commanded us to do.  The signs of warning are all around us.  They tell us to repent.  To turn.  To prepare.  And the promise is also all around us.  The Lord is coming to us to bring new life.