God is calling us to life.
And often I think God has some strange ways of calling us to life.
In today’s Gospel reading we see that He uses John the Baptist one of the most famous characters of the bible.
To call me and you to a new life with Jesus.
Now when I think of life
I don’t automatically think of a burnt out field
a bare garden patch
or a dusty paddock
but these things help prepare for new life.
And likewise for many years when I
confessed my sins to God.
When I told God
I had stuffed up,
I haven’t listened to Him,
instead have I followed the ways of my heart, my friends, the media, other experts
it wasn’t always a good feeling.
In fact I felt liked I was being drained.
However some years ago I realised I was only being drained of things for a short time.
I realised the things that God was asking me to confess,
were the very things that were getting in the road of the relationship God wanted me to have with him.
They were the things preventing me from being fully part of God’s new life.
Gardening teaches us a lot about sin and the new life God calls us to.
At times sin can be like those old strangely weeds in a garden.
Or the stubborn rock.
They can continually affect your garden.
I have learnt if I don’t completely get out the weeds they will come back to haunt me later on.
And sin does the same.
Sins are difficult to deal with.
If I don’t allow God to completely work on my sin.
They prevent us from having the life God wants us to have.
In fact sins in our life encourage us to live in darkness,
away from God and away from others.
So like the burnt out field or bare garden patch.
Confessing our sins actually helps prepare the way for Jesus to be fully part of our lives.
Confessing our sins helps us see, work on and get rid of the things
that hinder our relationship with God and with other Christians.
So what sins are hindering your relationship with God?
What things are encouraging you not to listen to God, not to worship, not to read your bible, to do things differently from how God sees life.
And what sins are hindering your relationship with other Christians?
Consider what you have done
or what you should have done that you haven’t done.
In a few moments you will have the opportunity to bring them to God in prayer,
To tell God you are sorry for them.
To tell God that you need His forgiveness
and tell God you need his help to love Him and others and deal with your sins.
Without God we are destined to allowing sin to dominate our lives and determine how we relate to God and others.
And ultimately they prevent us from experiencing the life that God gives us as a gift.
So we need John the Baptists in our lives.
We need people and things calling us to repent.
To call us to turn to away from ungodly things and thinking.
To things and thinking that is consistent with God’s perspective on life.
Now John the Baptists are not overly attractive.
Listen to verse 6
John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.
Now parents if your daughters a character home like this, dressed in camel’s hair and said look I only eat locusts and wild honey.
What would you think?
We wouldn’t be overly impressed, would we?
We wouldn’t think that such a person is too attractive.
And likewise John the Baptists in our lives are not overly attractive.
None of us like having our faults highlighted.
So what are the John the Baptists in our lives
You could say the whole of scripture…
Everytime I read a scripture passage one of the number of questions I ask is
How is this passage highlighting that there is a problem between me and God and me and other Christians?
Such a question brings to the surface my sins, what I need to repent about and where I need God’s forgiveness and help.
Secondly in scripture we find another John the Baptist tool
In a number of places Jesus says the entire commandments of God are summed up in the saying
We are to love God and love others as ourselves.
So each night a question to ask yourself is how does my day measure up to loving God and loving others as myself?
A third John the Baptist tool is the Ten Commandments, and also helpful is the Small Catechism’s explanation as to what the bible says further about these commandments.
Today I will read three commandments and their explanations
and as I do ask yourself where am I being called to repent.
The 3rd commandment
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
And the bible indicates that we should not despise God’s Word or the preaching of it, but we should regard it as holy, and gladly hear and learn it.
The 5th commandment
Says We are not to murder.
And from the bible we discover that we are not to hurt or harm our neighbour in any way, instead we are to help and support them in every physical need.
And the 8th commandment
Says we are not give false testimony against your neighbour.
And from the bible we discover that this means we are not to not tell lies about our neighbour, betray them, slander them, or hurt their reputation, instead we are to defend them, speak well of them, and explain all their actions in the kindest way.
Do you have anything to repent?
Its not comfortable, is it?
When God’s law is spoken to us.
It is not always attractive especially when we are going against it.
But remember God’s law is highlighting to us what is preventing us from being a good relationship with God.
And not only does God put such tools in our life
God also puts people in our lives, to be John the Baptist.
Whenever a person speaks God’s law or commands to you,
that is God calling you to repent.
Now remember that person doesn’t have to be perfect themselves but simply stating what God is stating.
However repenting, confessing your sins.
Is only preparing the way.
By itself, confessing sins will not give us life.
We need something else to give us life.
Listen again to verse 8
I baptize you with water, but he (ie. Jesus) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
John is highlighting something very important.
If the burnt out paddock or bare garden patch receives no water and sun.
No matter how much you burn or dig life will not occur.
Water is needed for life to occur.
Likewise we can confess our sins until we are blue in the face
this by itself will not create anything new in our life.
Confessing our sins is clearing the way.
It is opening our hearts to receive Jesus and His way.
Because Jesus brings life.
When John says Jesus will baptise you with the Holy Spirit,
He is highlighting that Jesus will give life.
Throughout the Old Testament which many of the original hearers would have known.
The Holy Spirit, God’s Spirit is what creates something new, it is what gives life.
Just about on every occasion when God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit is mentioned in the Old Testament.
There is mention of new life.
So to have life, we need to not just confess our sins,
But we need to be pointed to Jesus.
We need to be guided by God through His word.
God’s word gives us not only His perspective on life,
but a different way to approach life
and opens the door to a life with Christ.
So when we confess our sins our lives are being prepared to receive God’s new life,
But we need God to give us that new life.
You will notice everytime we confess our sins in worship.
We are not left there just as sinners.
We don’t just say that we have sinned.
There is a statement highlighting that God forgives us.
This is God giving us a new life,
another chance,
a fresh start.
And likewise whenever someone speaks to us about issues or things that don’t seem right from God’s perspective.
We should listen to them.
Remember they don’t have to be perfect or too attractive, they just need to be sharing God’s expectations with us and pointing you to Jesus.
Even John the Baptist acknowledged this.
Listen to verse 7
And this was his message: “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie
Now if people don’t point you to Jesus,
to benefit from there comments we may need to explore how they prepare the way for us to receive Jesus.
Measure what they say against God’s word.
I think John the Baptist gets a pretty raw deal.
Often he is thought of as the one who calls people to repent.
Yet he is a more significant role, to point people to Jesus.
John the Baptist was not just about highlighting a persons faults with God
He also points them to Jesus for a new life.
It is Jesus who offers others and us something new, something different, something better.
And as disciples of Jesus
We are also called to be John the Baptists.
Each of us is in relationship with people who need to hear God calling them to a new life.
And this often mean calling them away from the things that are leading them away from God and the Christian community.
And pointing them to Jesus.
Now this may not sound too attractive, but remember we don’t need to be attractive.
And if you already have a relationship with people they are more likely to listen to you than someone they don’t know.
We are called to point them to Jesus and the life he gives.
So as you prepare for Christmas
Keep your eyes focussed on Jesus
Allow Him to highlight your sins
And allow Him to forgive you and help you deal with them so you can have and begin experiencing God’s new life.
The new life that we celebrate in the birth of Jesus at Christmas.
AMEN
