John the Baptist was a truly strange fellow.
I can imagine his performance review from the board of clergy examiners.
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Dear John ben Zechariah:
The board of examiners completed their visit and frankly were concerned about several matters pertaining to your person and ministry.
Our initial concern was your choice of location.
It seems to us that conducting religious services in the Judean wilderness is not very sensible.
People have to travel great distances to get there and there is an unacceptable level of danger traversing to and fro said location.
Furthermore, we were concerned about your unprofessional attire. We understand that Elijah wore similar camel hair vestments. But you are not Elijah!
It seems that you are turning religion into a matter of
entertainment and spectacle.
You also failed to treat our examiners in a professional and courteous manner.
When they attempted to enter into the rituals you were performing on people you singled them out for humiliation – referring to them as a "brood of vipers."
The ritual itself leaves much to be desired. If you had completed a degree in theology you would have undoubtedly realized that baptism is reserved for people converting to the one true faith.
Is it really necessary to baptize people who are already children of Abraham?
Finally, we are concerned about the general tone and tenor of your work. Your words are harsh. What these people really need is to be affirmed and encouraged. These are troubling times and your ministry does not do much to help people feel better or cope with the overwhelming pressures of modern life.
Therefore, we respectful request that you cease and desist in providing religious services until we can further examine your credentials and qualifications.
Failure to comply will generate a complaint to King Herod.
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You can imagine that the response to John the Baptist was something along those lines. Indeed, even those who didn’t have an axe to grind with him would have considered him to be truly bizarre. And yet, he is the one that God chose to prepare the people of his time for the coming of the Christ – the Messiah – and his kingdom.
John, who was actually a slightly older cousin of Jesus, was the forerunner – the advance man whose job it was, with his wild preaching and baptisms, to prepare people for the Coming.
And as we work on preparing ourselves for the second coming of Jesus – and to celebrate the first coming on that Bethlehem night – it is imperative that we hear his message again.
Matthew and the other Gospel writers didn’t just include the story of John because they thought he was the kind of guy that everyone should know about – a strange but interesting character.
They were replaying his message for the benefit of their own readers – and for us!
If you are serious about doing Christmas right...
If you are serious about the coming of Christ...
If you are serious about following Jesus you first need to hear and deal with John the Forerunner of Jesus the Messiah.
This morning, I would like to summarize John’s message with five rather quick points. But just because we’re touching on this only briefly doesn’t mean that you should take it all lightly. To the contrary!
The first thing in John’s message that I’d like you to note is that he is calling on you to TURN FROM YOUR SINS.
Look at verse 2 in your Bibles – "Turn from your sins..."
Or some translations simply use the word “repent” – which is very literal – although it’s not too common in everyday usage.
When the coach tells you to run he doesn’t say run to the football goals at the end of the field and then repent.
But that’s what repent means – to turn around – and specifically to turn around and move away from sin. Emotionally, physically, mentally – leave your sin behind and go a different direction.
If you really believe that Christ is coming you will want to get rid of all of the sin in your life. Not that you’ll be capable of doing that on your own; you need to have the Holy Spirit working in your life giving you the strength to abandon everything that
wreaks of sin.
But the point is that if Christ is coming you are not going to want to be around him if you are dressed in sin.
As we learn in D/C (discipleship/confirmation) and I bet that some of our senior adults remember this from confirmation when they were 12 or 13 years old – the catechism question -- “WHAT IS SIN? Sin is all in thought, word, and deed that is contrary to the will of God.”
And if you are going to dinner with Christ... If you are planning on hanging out with the Messiah, the Savior of the world you are probably going to want to change certain things about your life that you know are going to make you uncomfortable in his presence.
It’s not so much that God in his holiness can’t stand to be around sinful people. Jesus proved that to be without merit – rather it’s that sinful people can’t stand to be in the presence of a holy God. Repentance is for our own sake.
Have you ever spilled coffee down your shirt and into your lap -- first thing in the morning when you get to the office? And you have nothing to change into and you can’t go home.
So you’re stuck with that very obvious big brown coffee stain. And everyone you see all day is staring at your clumsiness. Or at least that’s what you think and feel.
You’d give anything to get away. Cancel all of your appointments. You can’t stand to be with people while you’ve got that big stain.
That’s how it is with sin and God.
Secondly, and this is the second dimension of the word “repent” – It’s packed in there, along with turning from our sin – WE TURN TO GOD.
The New Living Translation does a fine job of fleshing out the meaning here in verse 2 – “Turn from your sins and turn to God.”
Repentance isn’t just abandoning those things that are displeasing to God -- those things which hinder our ability to grow in our likeness of him. Repentance is much more.
What good does it do to stop doing something if you don’t do something else to replace it?
You end up with a vacuum and quickly slip back into doing the very thing that you’ve turned from. The point is to turn from sin toward having a healthy life-changing walk with Christ – allowing the life of Christ to grow in us -- allowing our lives to become God-like.
So when we turn from sin we turn to those things which nurture our relationship with God. We pray. We listen to God’s Word. We share in the Lord’s supper.
We give attention to fellowship with God’s people – the church, because it is through them that we have a level of accountability in regard to our repentance. If you’re slipping back into the old ways and if you’re acting indifferent to spiritual matters your brothers and sisters in Christ will gently nudge back the direction you should be going, that is, if you’ve kept in fellowship.
So we turn from our sins and we turn to God – repentance.
Then the third dimension of this repentance that John emphasizes is baptism. And in the message guide summary I wrote “BE BAPTIZED.”
Some of you may like the sound of “get baptized” better but this is really a matter of being.
Look at verse 6, “And when they confessed their sins” (that is, when they made a formal break from their sins – when they repented) Matthew says, “he baptized them in the Jordan River.”
First century readers would have understood that baptism is the visible sign of entry into a new faith. There was a ritual washing for Gentiles who were converting to Judaism. Baptism was the way that you entered into new faith, new life, a whole new existence.
And John, in calling people to repentance, had them go through a ritual washing as though they were coming into faith totally new.
Baptism is the sign of a complete new start.
Now, I’m not going to get into the matter of how John’s baptism was like Christian baptism. There is obviously some relationship. But there are also some differences.
Nor am I going to get sucked into a debate about how much water has to flow in baptism -- or even whether a person can be baptized as an infant.
That’s not the point – and in a real sense the act of baptism itself is not the point.
You see, baptism is only the beginning. Baptism is the doorway into a life of repentance.
This is why I wrote that we need to “be baptized” rather than “get baptized.”
Yes, you need to get baptized before you can be a baptized person but being baptized speaks more on the ongoing nature of repentance.
Whenever it was that you were baptized, what matters is that you own that baptism and continue to live it out. Baptism is the beginning of a life of repentance.
You see, we don’t just repent and turn to Christ and then get baptized. Rather we repent, turn to Christ, get baptized, and continue to repent and turn to Christ. For when we are baptized we are baptized into Christ – we are baptized into a relationship of change, growth, and repentance.
While we only get baptized once, just as we are only born once, we continue to fall back on that experience of baptism to define our lives thereafter. Baptism gives us that starting point that we look back on and bring to bear on the present.
A Lutheran pastor from Canada, Roger Haugen, says it well, “Repentance is the ongoing lifestyle of the kingdom.”
I know this all sounds a little complex. But just think about it a bit. Let it sink in. This isn’t one of those things that you can casually grasp.
Baptism and repentance are deep subjects -- matters that need to occupy or even consume our lives -- permeating every muscle and brain cell and thought and feeling.
Now this was the problem with the religious leaders of John’s day. They came out to get in on the baptism. they were getting in on the surge of popular emotion and the trend of the day. But John was concerned that they were taking the whole thing way too casually – that they had no intention of letting baptism and repentance redefine their entire lives – thus preparing them to meet the Messiah.
They were into business as usual. And you can’t do repentance and baptism and then continue on with business as usual.
So John really lays into them in verses 7-9 – “But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees (that is religious leaders) coming to be baptized, he denounced them. ‘You brood of snakes!’ he exclaimed. ‘Who warned you to flee God’s coming judgment? Prove by the way you live that you have really turned from your sins and turned to God. (Repented) Don’t just say, ’We’re safe –– we’re the descendants of Abraham (or that we’re good church people).’ That proves nothing. God can change these stones here into children of Abraham.’”
PROVE YOUR CHANGE OF HEART WITH A CHANGE OF BEHAVIOR. This is the fourth point on the list this morning.
True, real, genuine, authentic repentance is going to lead to a change in the way that you live – and if the change isn’t starting to take place then you haven’t really repented. And if you haven’t repented then you are not ready for the coming of Christ.
Thus you are in great danger, says John. Time is short. This is #5 on the list -- TIME IS SHORT.
Check out verses. 10-12: “Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever your roots. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.
I baptize with water those who turn from their sins and turn to God. But someone is coming soon who is far greater than I am –– so much greater that I am not even worthy to be his slave. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He is ready to separate the chaff from the grain with his winnowing fork.
Then he will clean up the threshing area, storing the grain in his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire."
The furniture store commercials on TV scream at us – “Come in now! This sale is almost over! Bargains this incredible can’t last forever!”
This is the kind of fervor that John is projecting. Do it now.
The Messiah is coming soon – really soon – and he’s going to separate the wheat from the chaff and there is going to be one hot ag burn as the useless – fruitless and superfluous debris and waste is doused with diesel and torched.
Repent now, says John. And keep on repenting by producing fruit – otherwise you are not going to be ready for the coming. You see, repentance is essential if we are going to be prepared for the coming of Christ and his kingdom.
This is the key point today, REPENTANCE IS ESSENTIAL IF WE ARE GOING TO BE PREPARED FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST AND HIS KINGDOM.
Are you prepared? Are you ready? And I’m not asking if you’ve finished your shopping or sending out your Christmas cards.
But have you repented? Changed your mind and direction? Are you continuing to repent?
Now is the time to get right with God because time may be short.
John the Baptist, dressed in his strange preaching uniform, is calling out to you: “Turn from your sins and turn to God because the Kingdom of heaven is near.”
Let’s pray. I would invite you to silently make these words your own as I say them.
“O Lord our God, good and merciful, I acknowledge all of my sins which I have committed every day of my life, in thought, word, and deed; in body and soul alike. I am heartily sorry that I have ever offended you, and I sincerely repent; with tears I humbly pray, O Lord, in your mercy forgive me all my past transgressions and absolve me from them. I firmly resolve, with the help of your grace, to amend my way of life and to sin no more, that I might walk in the way of righteousness and offer praise and glory to you now and forever. Amen.” (Modified from St. Andrew Service Book)
©2001 by Brad Boydston. All rights reserved. Permission granted for non-commercial use. Permission granted for SermonCentral.com use.
