The Other Half
Isaiah 40:3-4
Today I want to talk to you about something you might not expect
Pneumatic tires, shock absorbers, asphalt roads, and springs.
You might be asking yourself.. "What is he talking about, they didn't have pneumatic tires, shock absorbers or springs 3000 years ago!"
Well what I really want to talk about is…
The other half of the Christmas story
Now some of you are confused and some of you are thinking… here we go again… some strange idea from his weird mind.
What is the other half of the Christmas Story??
Well, what is the first half?
The first half is… For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Some of you are confused because you think that is the WHOLE Christmas story…. The baby in the manger.
Actually… the whole Christmas story can be summed up in two verses…
Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost
AND
John 10:10 I have come that they might have life, and have it MORE ABUNDANTLY
The scripture tells us that the mission of Jesus was two-fold… but the church is guilty of telling one part and hardly ever mentioning the second part.
And that gives a skewed understanding of our faith… that it is just “pie in the sky, by and by.”
And people don’t think they need it now.
Like this picture… they think “I’ll worry about the pie in the sky later… right now I am much more interested in the ‘real’ things of this life.”
But listen… we do people a great disservice if we only talk about eternal life and leave out the other half… ABUNDANT life.
Abundant life is JUST AS IMPORTANT TO GOD AS ETERNAL LIFE
He sent His only Begotten son for BOTH
There are verses in the OT and NT that talk about the abundant life God wants to give us
In Malachi 3:10 God says, “I will open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”
HOWEVER… Though God is gracious and generous and wants every one of us to have eternal and abundant life…
There are some requirements
To receive the ETERNAL LIFE… we must
A
B
C
And to receive the ABUNDANT LIFE there are some things we must do
But before I get there… I want to teach you a short bible history lesson
Back in the days of the biblical kings, and long, long before there were pneumatic tires, shocks and asphalt paved roads
Kings still had to travel throughout their kingdom for various reasons.
However, kings and queens were basically spoiled brats… accustomed to being pampered and having the soft life.
One of the times when they were not so comfortable was when they had to travel.
Because their carriages had NO pneumatic tires,
NO shock absorbers,
NO springs, and
NO smoothly paved asphalt roads.
Roads were dirt or cobblestone, and they required constant maintenance.
Over time the rains would wash the dirt out from under the stones and they would drop down and create potholes
Or the stones would break or crush and make a hole.
When it rained again there would be puddles, which would further destroy the road.
If neglected long enough, they would become quite rough.
They were alright for everyday use. People learned to ride or walk around the holes.
But when the King was coming… these roads would not do.
So, whenever he was about to travel he would send a herald ahead of him with the news of his corning and the warning to "Prepare the way" ... level up the road, fill in the ruts, cut down the bumps. Get the road ready for the king to pass.
Each person was responsible for a stretch of the road (usually right by their house) ... sort of like highway clean up today… except that in that day it was not voluntary.
If the road had a high place… which would shake the King like a speed bump… you were to bring take up the stones, level the spot and replace the stone, making it smooth.
If there was a low place… put dirt under the stone and make it smooth.
If this was not done… If your section of road was not prepared, you would be punished.
There is a story of a king who was riding through a town and the road had been prepared and smooth. But he came to one spot where the road had not been fixed and there was a large pothole. The king stopped the carriage, and called for the local officials. When they got there they discovered the section was assigned to a certain man. The man and his family were called for. When they got there the King decided to punish the man by having him lie in the hole while the carriage passed over. However, the man was too large and so his wife was placed in the hole. Unfortunately she too was too large. One by one his children were tried until one was the right size. The king ordered the driver to run over the hole and child. The weight of the carriage crushed his ribs. Luckily his lung was not punched and the child recovered.
The next time the king passed through… every inch of the road in that town was perfectly prepared.
Why do I waste time with this lesson?
Because just as people of bible days had things to do to prepare for the coming of the King…
There are things we must do if we want to have the ABUNDANT life that God wants to give to us
And believe it or not… the things we have to do to have abundant life… are the exact same things those people had to do to prepare for the king.
We understand how those people in Isaiah's day prepared for the coming of the king
lifted up stones, filled in with sand, replaced stones
took shovels and hoes and worked the dirt roads to get them smooth
take some off here, build some up there
cut the hedges, clean the streets, clean the yards
take out curves, make the road straighter
BUT. .. how do WE prepare our life to receive or experience abundant life?
The same way ... except in the bible, the king was physical, and the preparations were physical…
and our preparations are spiritual
1. "Make straight, in the desert,
The other day, Donna and I were driving to Lockhart and when we passed Brown’s Creek Church, and went down the hill to the swamp, Donna looked off to the right and saw the old bridge which is about one foot off the water.
I explained that was the old road to Lockhart and it meandered back and forth across the present road… I showed her where.
She asked why it was so curvy.
Why is it?
Do you know why most OLD roads take the course they do?
They start as paths… foot paths or horse paths. And they take the path of least resistance because they don’t have any heavy equipment to move the trees or the high places or the ditches.
From foot paths… along came the first cars. They just followed the old foot paths… making them wider, but still following the path of least resistance.
So… roads were very curvy.
Why do we not use that old road today?
Because everyone knew how much more enjoyable it would be if the road were straightened out.
And it is better.
Listen… there are some WAYS in your life that are just as curvy and are robbing you of the joy you could have
ABUNDANT LIFE
If you would just straighten them up.
Listen to that very important word MAKE straight
Do the work necessary to make straighten out that way in your life
It won’t just happen.
People could not just start driving straight on the Frank Hill stretch
There were too many things in the way
There are things in your way too
Things that keep you from walking the straight way
You have to MAKE your way straight if you want to have ABUNDAY LIFE
2. Every valley shall be lifted up.
In that old Lockhart road, there were some holes, some trenches
And they made travel very difficult… and sometimes impossible
There are some sins in your life like those potholes
They are the sins of omission.
Omission is when we don't do what we should.
These are the areas where you know you are not what you should be
These are the areas where it is not what you are doing wrong ... but what you are not doing.
This could be church attendance, or tithing, or witnessing, or prayer, or Bible study, or helping someone in need, or going to a brother or sister caught in sin, or using your talent for the Lord,
The potholes in our life… the voids, the things we don’t do
They get there the same way the road gets crooked
LAZINESS
It is easier NOT TO DO the right thing
We have to examine our "way"..... and see if there are any areas where we are not doing what we know we should.
Sins of omission are just as serious as sins of commission.
Which brings us to the third way to Prepare our hearts for Christmas ...
3. "Every mountain, hill and uneven ground shall become level.
This is the area of COMM--ISSION ... the sins that we are guilty of committing.
Here we are guilty of what we DO!!!
These are the things that must be removed from our lives.
So I ask you… which picture represents your life??
Level straight road…. Rolling along is happy and good
POTHOLES of omission?
Bumps of Commission?
