In Jesus Holy Name December 9, 2007
Text: Matthew 3:1-12 Advent II - Redeemer
“Signs Along The Way: An Urgent Warning”
The Advent season places our feet on a journey to the manger in Bethlehem where God the Creator invaded our humanity. John Gugel, in his Advent devotional “Signs Along The Way”, writes: “Our Advent journey is hardly a Sunday afternoon excursion in the country, but a holy crusade in which we spend time “reflecting upon the spiritual content of our lives. (Signs Along the Way - an advent devotional by John Gugel)
John the Baptist was not out in the wilderness pursuing fame or fortune. He was not seeking public office or popularity. He was an “equal opportunity” critic – every segment of the Jewish population was called to repentance. John was calling for a complete change in life style. In some ways John is like the modern corporate or government whistle-blower. Whistle-blowers are not popular as they expose corruption, unmask lies and tell the truth.
Repentance is an about face from sinful behavior. It is a return to imitating Jesus (Eph. 5:1) It is more than feeling bad about something we’ve done. It is being different. As we turn around, our minds are changed, our vision corrected. As John cries, “Repent” – he points to the carpenter’s son, reminding us that “Jesus has come, not so you can feel different but so you can be different. Produce fruit in keeping with repentance! (Matthew 3:8) (Pulpit Digest p. 48 James Howell)
John cannot make it any clearer. Those who have are to share with those who don’t. If you have two coats, most of us possess more, that is one more than you need, so share it.
As curious people arrive at the Jordan River, John directs his attention to those who felt their religious pedigree would be sufficient on the Day of Judgment. It is not enough to follow in the footsteps of a long line of religious ancestors.
One translation paraphrases John’s message this way. “Don’t think you can pull rank by claiming Abraham as your father. Children of Abraham are a dime a dozen … What counts is your life behavior. Is it green and blossoming.” God is not interested in your religious blood line. What God wants are the fruits that come from repentance.
Often, here at Redeemer, we sing a hymn during advent that describes our spiritual journey.
“As we make or Advent journey, Let us walk as in the Lord.
Pilgrims with a holy calling, Trav’ling, strengthened by God’s word.
Toward a stable, toward a manger, toward the gift of God made flesh.
Spirit, fortify our journey; may this trek our souls refresh.”
Some Pharisees (The Pharisees in charge of the village synagogues had produced a self righteous religion that told people they could earn God’s love by keeping the law) and Sadducees (Sadducees, were in charge of the Jerusalem temple activity – they had sold out to materialism.) both, came down to the river. They were holy men, men of the cloth, respected by the community. John saw something in these men’s heart that troubled him. They had not come to listen … They had not come to repent. They had come to see … and to be seen – but they would not step into the water.
John knew they were as sinful as those standing in line. The only difference was their fine clothes, their leather-bound bibles. John the Baptizer was a leading religious figure of the day. He was recognized by everyone at the time as a true prophet in the O.T. pattern.
The message of John is talking about our relationship with God. If we are to have peace with God, it must begin with repentance. Our repentance must then result in godly behavior. As Paul writes: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which he prepared in advance for us to do.”
One of the most terrible aspects of sin is that it cuts us off from God and one another. Our highest destiny, our deepest desire, is to know and worship God. We have been created in the image of God. God will bring people around us who are on a spiritual quest. There is a spiritual hold within the human soul that wants to be satisfied. As Reggi McNeal writes in “The Present Future” we are to invite people to experience Jesus, not the church. They want to know Jesus.
But this God, whom humans seek to know, is a righteous God, infinite in his moral perfection. He can not be contaminated by sin. The Bible says that God is holy and in Him there is no darkness at all. “ If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth.” I John 1:7-8
The Pharisees and Sadducees liked to look religious but God knew their heart. He knows our sin, the things we did wrong this week, the offenses we gave, the words we used, the things left undone, the evil thoughts that would move us toward evil actions.
The natural human tendency is to stand on the banks of the river and watch those standing in the water being baptized by John. When we began our service, there was a time for personal spiritual reflection. Serious questions were asked:
1) Have I neglected my home or family duties?
2) Have I been lazy, neglectful, easily distracted from time with God?
3) Have I misused God’s name?
4) Have I missed worship by my own choice?
5) Have I caused another to sin?
6) Have I disobeyed my parents?
7) Have I been greedy with God’s blessings? Proud? Jealous?
8) Have I neglected the care for the poor and needy?
John’s message of repentance at the Jordan river, still reverberates across the centuries. His words are signs along the way … on our journey toward the manger. Repent, turn back towards God. Look! Here stands Jesus, the lamb of God who will take away the sins of the world.
Jesus, the son of Mary (He grew up in the home of a carpenter in the little middle-eastern village of Nazareth) son of a Galilean carpenter, a fellow who came from an unimportant village, but was in reality “the visible presence of the invisible God.” He would bring healing to the sick. He took upon himself the sins of all people (objective justification.) The cross of Jesus invites each of us to accept his sacrificial death as payment for our sinful behavior (subjective justification).
Repentance is simply a call for us to reconsider how we have been approaching our daily existence. John is inviting s to find true joy – satisfying life purpose by imitating Jesus.
C.S. Lewis writes, “our faith is not a matter of our hearing what (John or) Jesus said long ago and “trying to carry it out. Rather the real Son of God is at your side. (As you choose to walk with his spirit) (Gal. 5:25) he begins to turn you into the same kind of thing as himself … beginning to turn the tin soldier into a live (human being). The part of you that does not like (the change) is the part that is still tin.” (Divine Conspiracy Dallas Willard p. 20)
The good news of the cross of Jesus, verified by the Easter resurrection of Jesus from death and the grave is well known by us. As Christians we know the good news. Paul phrases it well. “ We have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, just at the right time, when we were powerless, Christ died for the ungodly “(Romans 5:1,6). “The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life.”
One can easily slip into the bumper sticker theology, “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven.” Then you can purchase a little book mark adorned with flowers, bows, green sprigs, and 14 tiny pink hearts with a tassel on top. The message below as you well might expect, “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven.”
Well, it certainly is true that Christians are forgiven. Forgiveness is God’s gift purchased by the sacrificial death of Jesus and accepted by faith. Unfortunately the slogan conveys that forgiveness alone is what Christianity is about. Not true. John calls for the Christian, the repentant soul, to produce fruit in keeping with a turned around life.
The theology of Christian trinkets can cause one to believe that forgiveness works like the scanner in your local grocery store. The electric scanner reads the bar code and totally disregards the content of the package. God scans it, and forgiveness flows forth. An appropriate amount of righteousness is shifted from Jesus’ account to our account in the Bank of heaven and our debt is paid, our guilt erased.
This trinket theology creates a disjunction between faith and life. Forgiveness does not leave human character untouched, unchanged.
“Into our troubled world, into our dark and disordered lives, a Savior has come. Because we, in our sin, could not hope to come to God, God in Christ has come to us, embracing us, redeeming us, claiming us as his own. The Advent of Christ is God invading our world.”
John’s message is a sign along the way towards the manger. It is an urgent warning….not for the neighbor next door, not for the person across the asile. It is a call to each of us to walk down the river bank and stand in the water of baptism, partake of his holy sacrament, and then let the risen Christ live through us.
So, as we approach the end of our calendar year we must ask ourselves, “Am I more like Jesus in December than when the year began”? By God’s grace I pray it has been so.
