John the Baptist: God Breaks His Silence!
- November 27, 2011
- Speaker: Pastor Aaron Smith
- Series: John The Baptist
- Category: Topical
John the Baptist. A fitting figure for reflection this Advent. After all, many of the assigned readings for Advent focus on the ministry of John the Baptist. As John the Baptist's ministry prepared for Jesus the Christ's ministry, so we are prepared by John the receive Jesus' humble birth into our lives. Yet with the John the Baptist's ministry, God breaks His silence. So, this morning we begin with silence. (20 seconds of silence follow)
Does silence make you uncomfortable? For some, not so much. For others, definitely yes. For many of us, silence is rare. And when silence is rare, silence can be uncomfortable. While we usually have a spoken confession in our worship, last week our confession was a silent one. Did you enjoy the change, a chance to silently admit your sinfulness to God? Or was that silence, that confession, uncomfortable for you? I, myself, have ungone two full days of silence. I took a vow of silence in high school and another one in college. 24 hours of silence. Have you? Yes or no? Could you? Yes or no?
What about God? Have you ever felt like the Lord was taking a vow of silence...with you? Could you nod your head at the Psalmists' words this morning? Could you appreciate his repitition: How Long? How Long? How Long? How Long, O Lord? (Psalm 13) Have you ever felt like the Lord was taking a vow of silence with you?\
You know, it is true. At times the Lord is silent. You see, the Lord has withheld His Word before. 1 Samuel 3.1: "Now the young man Samuel was ministering to the LORD under Eli. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision." Does that sound odd to you? "The word of the LORD was rare in those days." Yet, again, in chapter 28: "And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD did not answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets." Later, in the prophetic ministry of Amos, 8.11: "'Behold, the days are coming,' declares the Lord God, 'when I will send a famine on the land - not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.'" Imagine that - a famine of hearing the words of the LORD! The LORD withholding His Word! Then Malachi gets to work, preaching the word of the LORD then it was committed to writing. Then silence. A long silence. 400 years of silence. After Malachi, there was no prophetic writing for about 400 years. These are called "The Silent Years" and rightfully so. The Lord withholds the prophetic word from Malachi until...John the Baptist.
So, we have seen that the Lord does withhold His Word. But why? Why does God withhold His Word? Here Deuteronomy 8.3 helps answer that question. Moses is speaking. "And he (the Lord) humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD." The Lord withholds His Word for two reasons: that we might learn and grow, and that He might discipline us. And this is something we see in everyday life, even today. Take the withholding of words to learn and grow. Parents do this all the time. Ellen and I do it all the time with our kids. Every Saturday night, we ask them, "What day is tomorrow?" "Sunday!" "What do we do on Sunday?" "Go to church!" "What do we do at church?" "We sing; we listen; we pray." We seek to teach them when it is appropriate to speak and when it is not appropriate to speak.
During the worship service, we speak to God in song and in prayer. During the worship service, God speaks to us through His Word and in His Sacrament. We withhold our words when God speaks to us. Parents teach their children often when to withhold their words and when to let them out - in the library, on the playground, on Christmas morning, in school, at the movies, and in those parking garages where echoes are a delights to our kids' ears! What about the withholding of words for discipline? Well, take my vows of silence. This was self-discipline. This was to cultivate self-control. You see, I had said some things that I shouldn't have. Can you relate? It was better to say nothing at all, yet I chose to speak. Can you relate? So, I decided to take a 24 hour vow of silence. I wanted to think before I spoke. I wanted to stop saying unnecessary things. I wanted my words to be direct, precise, beneficial, necessary. It helped...for a while. So I did it again. You see, God withholds His Word that we might learn and grow to love Him and His Word. God withholds His Word that we might desire it and appreciate it. God withholds His Word to discipline us because He loves us dearly. God withholds His Word that we might receive it.
We must understand John the Baptist and his ministry first in this light: that in John the Baptist, God breaks His silence. What a joy that God finally lets His Word ring loud and clear through this prophetic bridge between the Old Testament and the New Testament! God breaks His silence with John the Baptist...what does this mean?
God desires to speak for His people. God does not speak just to speak. God does not speak for Himself. God speaks for us. God desires to speak to us and with us. God wants to communicate with us - and He does! This is no small thing! We must never cease to appreciate this! Take the girl who has a crush on a guy in her class. She likes him, but does not sit near him in any of her classes. They have no mutual friends. But one day, one glorious day, he talks to her. He knows who she is and talks to her! What does the girl do after that encounter. She runs to her friends and says, "He talked to me!!!" She is excited! She is thrilled! Listen...God has talked with us! He has sought us out and placed His Word into our ears, down into our hearts! Might this be the Advent where we recapture the excitement, the joy, that God desires to communicate with us and He has.
Next, God prepares His people for His activity among them. As we sang at the beginning of the service, John the Baptist prepares the way for Jesus the Messiah. Through the ministry of John the Baptist, the Lord readied hearts and minds for His Son. That is also why we hear so much about John the Baptist in Advent, so that we too are readied to receive the message of the Incarnation. And God always works this way. Remember Saul the Pharisee? What did Pharisees spend their time doing? They studied their Old Testament! They read it. They memorized it. They taught it. They studied it. Years later, Saul would encounter the Risen Jesus on the road to Damascus. Trusting in that Risen Jesus, as we do, Saul - now named Paul - began to re-read his Old Testament in light of Jesus. Jesus was the One spoken of in the Old Testament. What was the first thing Paul did when he entered into a new place? He went to the synagogue and he started proclaiming Jesus from the Old Testament passages! All those years as a Pharisee, with his focus on the Old Testament, was preparation for the activity of God through His apostle Paul to proclaim Jesus! I see God's preparing me as well. I was raised in a home with both parents determined that I should learn two languages - English and Spanish. God was at work through them. He knew he wanted me to pastor in a denomination that was predominantly Anglo. He wanted to use me to preach Jesus to those who spoken Spanish and to disciple them. And here I am. God has done this with you too. How has He prepared you to do His work?
God also knows what we need. We need His word and those in John's day needed it. Yes, God withheld it during those Silent Years. But have you ever noticed how people responded to John's preaching? They received it. They soaked it up. And what was the thrust of his message? Repent! With that focused theme of repentance, people responded to his preaching, got down into the Jordan River, confessed their sins, and were baptized. Remarkable? Yes! So, why the response? God had withheld His Word, so people were ready to receive it when it came. God had been silent, and people began to realize their need for His Word. So, God prepared His people to respond to John's preaching. Maybe you are in a famine for God's Word today. Maybe God has withheld His Word from you, but you don't even know it. Maybe you need to go home today and turn off your phone. Then turn off the TV. Then turn off the music. They turn off the computer. Sit in silence and wait. It is possible that there have been so many words scanned by your eyes and so many words that have passed through your ears, that the sights and sounds have masked the silence of God? Maybe in that silence you will begin to hunger for God's Word because you will realize your famine of hearing the words of the LORD.
For God does withhold His Word that we might grow and learn, that He might discipline us. But God's Word is always near, as He is. As in the time before John the Baptist's ministry, has God been silent? Has He withheld His Word? Is He calling you to hear the silence that you might yearn for His Word? Could a recent famine of His Word be preparing us to receive that word anew this Christmas? Remember, "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Through the breaking of His silence through John the Baptist, God is preparing us to receive His personal Word, His Son. For though at times God is silent. At times God withholds His Word. He is never distant. He is never stagnant. He is near. He is close. He is personal. And He speaks, "Jesus." Amen.
