Coming up with the little titles for the message that we put in the worship folder each week is one of the hardest things I have to do.

But this week, I was really excited about the one I came up with! The Baptist Model! It’s one of those that raises questions and intrigues, because most of you know I’m a convinced and committed Quaker. What IS this Baptist model, and am I “for it” or “against it”?

Are you on the edge of your seat, or what?

It’s a play on words. Are you impressed? John the Baptist is a model for us. He’s a model for what it looks like to follow Jesus, he’s a model for true humility instead of false humility, he’s a model of someone who changes the world but knows how to direct the attention where it should be, on Jesus.

The Baptist model: a model for you, and a model for me. I love this!

But frankly, not everyone will.

John the Baptist is not one of those people you have over for tea. What are some things you can name for us, some things about John the Baptist? John’s gospel doesn’t give us a lot of details, but some of the other gospels do. What do we know about John the Baptist? [ASK]

John the Baptist has become pretty hip to the more radical sides of Christianity. Musically, DC Talk and their now solo front man, Tobymac, have used John the Baptist as the focus of a couple of their songs, calling people to radical commitment to Jesus, to being “Jesus Freaks”.

So some might be tempted to chalk up my interest in John the Baptist to the fact that I’m young and idealistic. Some might hope that this radical phase will just blow over soon, and we can get back to business as usual.

But I don’t think that’s very likely.

Because, after all, take a look at the radical Jesus Freaks who are a part of Newberg Friends. Look at Bill Cathers. Last week, we heard how his radical obedience to Jesus led him to the jungles of South America, to be with Elizabeth Elliot, Jim Elliot’s widow.

Look at Lloyd Osburn. I had lunch with him this week, and was reminded that his radical faith in Jesus led him to stand strong against the prevailing culture, and be a conscientious objector in World War II. His faith conviction caused him ridicule; he was called a coward, and he lost his job when the company he worked for said they wouldn’t honor leaves of absence for those who did alternative service.

Look at Rachelle Staley, traveling the world and finding homes for orphans who need them.

Look at Josh Reid and Andy Sears, just back this week from Thailand, where they were following God’s leading, trying to find ways to fight human trafficking.

We’ve got “Jesus Freak” radicals all around us, and I don’t think any of us are growing out of it anytime soon.

John the Baptist is a good model for so many reasons. He had a following. In Palestine, he was making a splash…pun intended. People were leaving the confines of careful religion and joining a locust-eating hippy in the desert, because they heard the call of God to repent, to be ready.

But at the height of his power and influence, John the Baptist knows who he is not. He doesn’t sell out and start his own organization or begin the book tour or try and get the equivalent of his own tv show.

No, he’s got the first step of wisdom down: he knows who he is not.

When the bigwigs finally get him on their radar screen, they send the thugs out to ask a few questions. Who are you, Mr. Big Shot Preacher? You must be the one we’re waiting for, the Christ. Or at least the prophet Elijah. You must be something big, or people wouldn’t follow you this way.

John doesn’t fall for their flattery. He tells them, I’m not the Christ, I’m not the Messiah. I’m not Elijah, I’m not a big shot.

He knows who he is not. It’s the first thing that serves as a model for us. We have to recognize that we are not God, we are not the chosen one, we are not all that. The first step toward true humility is knowing who we are not.

But it doesn’t end there, for us or for John the Baptist.

“Who are you, then?” they ask. “Give us something.”

And here is what’s drawn my focus for much of this week. This short answer in verse 23, where John the Baptist clearly outlines his mission, his purpose, his reason for living.

With all of their differences, all four gospels agree on one thing: Isaiah chapter 40 serves as the cornerstone of John the Baptist’s purpose. Isaiah 40, part of the scriptures, words written hundreds of years before the time of Jesus and John the Baptist, Isaiah 40 with its themes of preparation and action and mighty movement of God…Isaiah 40, in Matthew, in Mark, in Luke, and here in John is named as the life mission of John the Baptist.

He knows who he is NOT, and he boldly and clearly and radically names who he IS.

“I am the voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.’”

It’s not just the coincidence of the desert that makes Isaiah 40 the Baptist’s life mission. It’s the themes of God’s action, of repentance, of preparation for the coming of God’s mighty power that make this such a strong foundation for what John the Baptist is doing.

John the Baptist knows who he is: he is the one preparing for the coming of God’s chosen one, Jesus. And he will prepare by calling people to change their unjust and sinful ways, he will prepare by standing against oppression and inequality, he will prepare by moving mountains and building up valleys so that God’s chosen one can march in on a smooth highway.

I had this book as a kid that showed how they made highways.

It sort of blew my little brain. Highways look so simple, just some pavement on the ground. But this book had this picture that showed what they have to do to make a road that will stand up over the years to the speeds and the weight of the cars and trucks that will go across it.

They dig way down, way down deep, cutting through everything, so that they can put layer after layer of rock and gravel, carefully packing each one, finally getting to the top where layer after layer of concrete and asphalt goes into place.

Roads in the ancient world were built with the same struggle, cutting through the hills and building up the low places. When a king or a dignitary would be coming, someone would be sent ahead to prepare the way, to clear the road, to check and make sure the way would be smooth.

It’s the power and promise of how God will make the way smooth that Isaiah 40 speaks of. It’s the radical reshaping of the world as we know it that Isaiah 40 speaks of.

It’s the hope of injustice and oppression and captivity and all of the hard things in the world being leveled that Isaiah 40 speaks of, and it is Isaiah 40 which John the Baptist chooses as his mission.

Listen to Isaiah 40: 3-5. [READ]

John the Baptist prepares for the coming of God’s chosen one by calling people to repentance.

In the other gospels, this is so clearly a wide sweeping repentance. It is rejecting and asking forgiveness for our own personal wrong doing, our sin. But it is also a repentance that moves toward acting justly.

John the Baptist calls people to repent by sharing their food and clothing with those in need. He calls tax collectors to repent by not stealing and taking advantage of the system. He calls soldiers to repent by being content and not using their power to extort money from people.

Preparing for God means turning our backs on our personal wrong choices, and it ALSO means challenging society’s injustices as well.

Preparing for God means making low the mountains of pride and power and oppression, and raising up the valleys of downtrodden people.

This same Isaiah 40 has been claimed as a life mission by others.

Tomorrow we will remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I went to chapel at George Fox University last Wednesday, and I heard again King’s unbelievable “I have a dream” speech, heard King’s anointed voice echo Isaiah 40.

I heard our own Steve Sherwood paint a powerful vision of justice being built in friendships, friendships that cross color lines and socio-economic lines, all as part of God’s vision for mountains to be made low and valleys to be raised up.

I’ve had the words of Isaiah 40, the words of John the Baptist, the words of Martin Luther King Jr. and Steve Sherwood ringing in my ears all week long, and they remind me that we must know who we are!

We are people who prepare for God’s activity in our world!

God is at work, God is leveling the mountains we make in our lives personally and as societies. God is at work, God is raising up. God is standing with, God is embracing those who are beaten and oppressed and discouraged.

It is the coming of God in Jesus Christ that has changed and is changing our world. We are called to the Baptist model…we are called to prepare the way of the Lord and make the paths straight.

Are your own paths straight?

Do you know that you are not in charge, that you can’t call the shots, that you cannot have your own way?

Have you said to God, “I turn my back on my way of running my life, and I let you be in charge?”

Do you know who you are? Do you see your life as a mission, a preparation for God’s activity in you and in the world?

Have you said to God, “I will boldly follow you! I will point people to you. I will stand in the wilderness and I will come against the mountains and hills of injustice and wrong in our world, as a way of preparing for you to come?”

Because our world is a mess, and it needs the people of God to stand up.

We will not make the paths straight on our own. God is calling us to a wholehearted and holistic repentance, both personally and as a society.

When we follow the Baptist model, we know we are not the focus. We are not in charge. We are not all that.

When we follow the Baptist model, we know our job. We prepare the way for Jesus, and we point people to follow him for themselves, without making ourselves the focus.

When we follow the Baptist model, we stand as Isaiah 40 people, willing to stand outside of and at times even against polite religion to be radical followers of Jesus Christ. We recognize it is both our personal lives that need salvation and that God cares about justice in our world, as well.

We need the people of God to stand straight in the wilderness, preparing the way of the Lord!

How will you prepare the way for Jesus?