Preparing the Way
Audio Recording
Sermon Outline
Speaker: Rev. Scott Strickman
Sermon Series: Advent
Luke 1:57-80 (ESV)
57 Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. 58 And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. 59 And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, 60 but his mother answered, “No; he shall be called John.” 61 And they said to her, “None of your relatives is called by this name.” 62 And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. 63 And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And they all wondered. 64 And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. 65 And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea, 66 and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For the hand of the Lord was with him.
67 And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,
68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people
69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David,
70 as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
71 that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us;
72 to show the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
73 the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
74 that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.
Sermon Outline
Advent is about preparing the way for the one who comes to us in peace and leads us in the way of peace.
1. A Dead End
v71 that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us
v79 …those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death
vv70, 72-73 as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old; mercy promised to our fathers… remember his holy covenant… the oath
2. A Prepared Way
vv65-66 these things were talked about… “What then will this child be?”
v64 immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed
vv76-77 …the prophet… you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins
3. The Way of Peace
v78 because of the tender mercy of our God… shall visit us…
v79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death
v79 to guide our feet into the way of peace
Prayer of Confession
Blessed are you, O Lord, who have visited and redeemed your people. We admit our need for the forgiveness of our sins. We have ignored your word. We have wandered from you. We have followed the ways of our hostile world. We have done what we ought not do; we have not done what we should. We remember that you are a merciful God. We hold to your promise of forgiveness. Thank you for visiting us. Thank you for giving us Christ, our light. Thank you for opening the way of peace, and for guiding us in it. Amen.
Questions for Reflection
Reflect on a time you were lost. How did you experience it? What did you feel? What thoughts went through your mind? What did you want or hope for?
How often do you feel God’s presence?
What should you do when God feels distant?
Why is instruction in God’s way of salvation important? Why do we need God to teach this to us?
How does the announcement that God forgives sins make peace possible?
How does the birth of Jesus begin fixing the various problems our world experiences? What specific problems are addressed given who he is and why he came?
How do we follow Jesus in the way of peace? What should we be doing? How does he guide us?