3rd Sunday of Advent
Luke 3:7-18
"God Works in the World!!"
God works in our world in wonderful ways when we least expect or as it goes unnoticed by the majority of people. with signs of God’s love but most go unnoticed. As Christmas approaches we excited about this dramatic sign which shows us God’s love. Yet, baby Jesus or way world, the Christmas sign is not the only way God reveals himself to us. His signs of love are all around us, in the in the people who touch our lives, in or encouragement we receive eve from in all sorts of subtle and yes even dramatic ways revealing his love for us today.
Let me demonstrate with the following: "The mall was shoppers. They were it seemed racing every which way in the halls and stores. Cashiers struggled to stay ahead of the growing lines of impatient customers. Amid the havoc, nobody noticed that on elderly woman hod dropped her packages near an exit door and was having a rough time getting then together. Nobody, that is except a plain looking teenage boy who came over, wordlessly reassembled her purchases, and then lifted the packages in his lanky arms saying, ’I can get them to your car.’
’Thanks’ she answered in a loud voice and winked. The boy smiled. Nobody saw them as they headed out the exit, but in a crowded shopping mall something very good had happened."
That teenage boy was a ’Christ-figure’ to that elderly woman. That teenage boy was a sign of God’s love for that elderly woman amid all the rush of shopping. That teenage boy was salvation for that woman in that circumstance of dropped packages. That teenage boy was for that woman a very dramatic sign of God’s love for her as the Christmas event is a very dramatic sign of God’s ’s love for the entire world. That is what I mean by God’s love present in signs today. Only we don’t see those events as signs of God’s love, but we should. This morning we are going to look at God’s signs of love in our world, how God keeps repeating the Christmas event even today with his signs of love.
In our first lesson, Zephaniah is telling the people of Israel that God is in her midst. God has driven out the enemies, he has given strength to Israel’s hands, has brought love into the land, God has ruled and will continue to rule over the land. Yes, God was with that nation of Israel. God had come, God was in her midst. In the same way as God was with Israel, God is with His people today. "God is with us because we are his people, his children through the event of Baptism. Zephaniah tells the nation to rejoice to sing songs, to be exceedingly happy with all of their heart that God is in her midst. God coming into our midst is a joyous time a time to celebrate, to make merry. The Christmas event is a reminder in a very dramatic way that God came into this world as one of us, and that He continues to come into this world on a daily basis. This is good news or is it?? Is it good news that God is coming or does that news frighten you?? Do you fear God because you know His presence while bringing good news also brings a judgment, a time of accounting into our lives??
In our gospel lesson, John the Baptist shows us very clearly the judgment side of God’s presence in our midst. The Christmas event is a sign of good news, but at the same time it can be a sign of judgment for us. It all depends where you are in your relationship with Jesus. Are you playing games with him trying to pretend you are really righteous and good, saying you don’t need his saving grace because you haven’t been that bad?? Are you. playing the game of being good on the outside, but inside there is a well of hostility toward God and others?? Or, Or are you honest with God saying that the only way you can come into His presences is through the forgiving love of His Son Jesus Christ?? God’s presence in our lives can either be the bad news of judgment or good news of grace, it all depends on where you are in your relationship with Jesus.
Two different examples, the first the bad news of judgment, then the presence of God as good news as grace.
" A mine worker was trapped in a cave-in. When he was rescued, he was brought to the hospital where the doctors informed him he didn’t have much time left. He was dying. A pastor who had been visiting with the man in hopes to enlighten him with the good news of Christ was called to the hospital. He addressed the dying man saying, ’ I know and you know that you are dying. Do you want to repent now and ask God for his forgiveness? Do you want to be honest with God now??" The man answered, "Pastor, I have told you many times that I am not afraid to die." The pastor answered," You are not afraid of standing in front of God’s presence as you are, alone, without the benefit of Christ’s cleansing and forgiveness? You mean you can stand in front of God and have him look into your heart, your life without the redemption of the cross of Calvary?" The man looked at the pastor and said softly, I didn’t realized what it really meant to be in the presence of God. God’s presence for me will be a time of judgment n time of revealing all the events of my life." At that time, he began to cry and turned to the pastor and asked for Christ’s forgiveness in hi s life.
"A pastor tells of hunting red fox with a pack of hounds The hunt went on a long time and as I was looking for the hounds, I heard baying and I ran toward the sound and an incredible sight greeted my eyes. There on the side of a cliff, I saw this beautiful red fox stretching out on the edge of the cliff licking his paw. The hounds were jumping, barking, trying with all their might to climb that cliff to reach that fox. The fox laid contented on that cliff as peaceful as could be. For the fox was in his den, he was in the place of protection, he was in his refuge, his secure home. He was cradled in that ledge even though all the noise, the chaos,the judgment as it were of those hounds was upon him, he was secure."
As the good news of Christmas, as the event of God being with His people comes to us again this earth, we as children of God, we as children of God cradled in the arms of Jesus Christ have no fear, have no uneasiness, because we know the presence of Christ is our refuge, our strength, our safety as we stand before the throne of God. As God’s children we have experienced God’s presence, God’s hand of love many times in our earthly journey, so that final presence, that final judgment will be of no consequence because Christ is holding us securely in His arms so God the Father sees only the forgiveness of his Son as it is wrapped around our very lives.
Yes, the presence of God is felt many times in our lives through His Son as he protects us from all the chaos, all the baying of the hounds of illness, sorrow, loneliness, heartache, personal hurts, despair, and guilt. In many different ways, God’s touch has been and will continue to come into our lives. That touch of &God will come in many different ways through either other people, or events, or whatever. I believe that God continually comes into our lives with salvation or release, deliverance or courage, healing or strength as we turn over to him even our everyday events. A few events in this past week brought that home to me again very dramatically. As you know, we had taken what I thought were slides pictures for the Christmas program. We finished them on Sunday, then Diane brought them to Harlan to be developed. She called Monday saying they weren’t slides but prints . We hod gotten the wrong film. But she checked further and the prints could be made into slides if the prints were good. She had them developed. I prayed that they would all come out, because I didn’t have the time nor energy to retake all the pictures. The prints were developed and they were great. The slides came out good too and you will see them next Monday evening. I was delivered. Now that might not. Seem like a big deal, but to me it was. I didn’t need the pressure of having to take those pictures again, especially now that the weather had gotten colder.
But that was not all. Also, this last week, I hod gotten a personal amplifier to wear when a talk to more than one person. I used it this morning in Sunday School. However, I had to get used to it and the first time I wore it outside the house was to confirmation class. I worried about how it would work, if it would detract the attention of the students, but again it all worked out. It became comfortable for me, the students didn’t mind it and my voice didn’t hurt or become hoarse as it had been doing. I was delivered again, released again. God had acted through the modern miracle of technology. I firmly believe that in all of these events God was acting. Sure it happened through some common ordinary events, like film developing, and wearing some new piece of modern technology, but that is how God acts, through the process of time, through the events of natural life.
Isn’t that how God came to earth at Christmas through the natural process of child birth?? God continues to act today in the same way, through the simple down to earth events in life. God acts through events, through people, through numerous ways which are to many to name. God’s hand is all around us, but we needs eyes to see it and a faith to accept it.
Paul reminds us of God’s actions in his letter to the Phillipians when he says, "Let all men know your forbearance. The Lord is at hand. Have no anxiety about anything."
Yes, have no anxiety about anything ,films being developed, personal sound systems working, . . whatever is a burden or worry turn it over to God in prayer and then somehow it will work out. It will work out according to God’s timetable, and God’s way and in that we need to have faith and patience. We need to have the confidence that God will indeed act for our own benefit, our own good.
And that brings us to the final part of this sermon a question which needs to be answered. In our gospel lesson John the Baptist has been telling people about the coming of the Lord in their lives and then the people ask him What then shall we do? What is our response to the Lord’s coming?
God is coming, has come and will continue to come in our lives. In a few short weeks we will experience that great coming again in the Christmas event, what shall we do?? How shall we respond?
An old story which you might have heard tells us very clearly what our response to God’s coming shall be.
It is a poem by Edwin Markham , "How the Great Guest Came."
"A old cobbler named Conrad had a dream that the Lord was coming to visit him. So he washed the walls of his small shop and his shelves until they shined. He decorated his shop with holly and fir. He put milk and honey on his table to offer to his special guest. He sat down and waited.
As he was waiting, he saw a poor barefoot beggar walking in the rain outside his door. He felt sorry for the man and invited him and gave him a pair of shoes. His clean floor was now dirty from the rain and mud.
As he was about to clean it up, he noticed an old lady who was bent over carrying a heavy load of firewood. He invited her in to sit and rest, shared some of his food with her and walked with her, helping carry some of the wood.
When he returned to his shop, he thought of all that needed to be done. He began to clean again and hoped he had tome to find more food. Just then a knock at the door. He answered hurriedly and it was a small child crying lost and cold. He picked up the child, dried the tears, gave her something to drink, the cup of milk and walked her to her home down the street and around the corner.
He hurried back to the shop. He was too tired now to clean or find more food but he still waited. Evening came and he began to wonder if the Lord had forgot.
Then he heard a soft voice break the silence in that shop, ’Lift up your heart, for I kept my word. Three times I came to your friendly door, Three times my shadow was on your floor. I was the beggar with bruised feet; I was the woman you gave to eat, I was the lost child on that homeless street."
Conrad smiled to himself, put his feet up on the table and settled back in his chair to pray and talk with the Saviour so fair. "
amen
