2nd Sunday in Advent
Luke 3:1-6
"Law, Grace"
3:1 ¶ In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,
2 in the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness;
3 and he went into all the region about the Jordan, preaching
4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;
6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
Grace and Peace to you from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus who is the Christ. Amen
Our Advent story continues with the story of Elizabeth and John.
John comes preaching in the wilderness. He comes preaching "a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins."
John comes preaching the law. And at the same time, he comes to bring a message of good news. Someone mightier than him is coming into this world.
There are two kinds of religion in the world, a religion of law and a religion of grace. Those who cling to a religion of law are like a young monkey who clings to his mother for dear life as she transports it around.
A religion of grace is like a mother cat who picks up her kittens in their helplessness and carries them.
A religion of law produces a fearful, uncertain clinging to the proposition that if a person’s good deeds outweigh his bad, God will look upon him with favor.
A religion of grace recognizes one’s personal helplessness and inability to find favor with God. The transforming good news is that God for Christ’s sake rescues us in our helplessness. He lifts us out of the old life with its downward pull and motivates us to live by his love and Grace.
John came with a message of both law and grace. The law of repentance and the grace of the one who was coming to forgive sins.
John was unique because he was special.
John was a special child as his existence was foretold early on as it says in Isaiah 40 3 ¶ A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
John was born of special parents for John was of the priestly race by both parents, for his father Zacharias was himself a priest of the course of Abia, or Abijah offering incense at the very time when a son was promised to him; and Elizabeth was of the daughters of Aaron. Both, too, were devout persons--walking in the commandments of God, and waiting for the fulfillment of his promise to Israel.
Elizabeth’s son, John was a special child and child called to a mission even before his birth. A mission to proclaim the coming of the Lord. For this Advent season is a season of proclaiming. Proclaiming the coming of the babe born in the manger.
And John’s job was to make us ready for the coming by proclaiming that we should repent and turn to the Lord.
That word repent is difficult to understand, as the dictionaries say it means, A complete reversal of one’s attitude and values, i. e. a turning toward God or To feel such regret for past conduct as to change one’s mind regarding it or To make a change for the better as a result of remorse or contrition for one’s sins.
As you can see all the definitions contain one common idea, it is to make a change. But change is difficult for us. And it is even more difficult because many of us never believe that we must repent.
We say to ourselves, I’m not so bad. I’m better than that person.
Our text says that "he went into all the region about the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins."
John knew that for the people to get ready for the coming of the Babe, they had to see that indeed they were sinners and needed the forgiveness that the Babe would bring through his life, death and resurrection.
But if you believed that you indeed did not need to repent, then you do not need the Saviour?
So John told the people over 2000 years ago to repent, to get ready for the Saviour, and he is telling us the same thing. Get ready, acknowledge your sinfulness, repent and the forgiveness of the Babe born in the manger will be yours.
A man said.
"Most people repent their sins by thanking God they ain’t so wicked as their neighbors."1
Isn’t that true. We can see the speck in our neighbors eye but not the log in ours. But John is saying to us that all of us fall short of what God expects of us. All of us sin, period. So all of us need to repent and accept the forgiveness of the one born in the manger.
Without John there would be no Jesus. For without hearing from John the Baptist that we are sinners, we would not need the Christ child. For what good is forgiveness without acknowledging that one has something to be forgiven for? John knew we needed the two edge sword of the law and grace. The law convicts us of sin and grace forgives.
Many years ago C.S. Lewis wrote the Screwtape Letters. Screwtape was an assistant devil writing to his nephew Wormwood. Screwtape was telling his nephew how to make the "patient" leave the camp of the arch enemy, the Prince of Peace, and dwell in the camp of the real boss, the prince of darkness.
I would like to share with you another letter, this one written by Twisttape to his apprentice Harshwood as they discuss his training and graduation from devil’s school.
The letter begins:
Dear Harshwood,
I have read the notices that you are about to graduate and begin your work on earth. Glad to hear that your training went well. I see that you will be a graduate with honors. Splendid!
Apply all of your knowledge to the task at hand, for the enemy, the Prince of Peace, God of Love is a resourceful enemy. Just when you think you have him in your grasp or one of this people, he pulls a trick and low and behold you stand empty, you lost your soul for the fires of hell.
I would like to give you one piece of advice, one bit of wisdom as you begin your tour of duty in the enemy’s camp. Throughout my tour of duty, I have learned one thing about these humans which I feel can be so very useful for you.
Humans usually have a very high regard for themselves. They think they are pretty good. They can see the faults, the sins, the evil in another, but they see only good in themselves.
My advice to you my dear Harshwood, is to encourage that thinking. Encourage it for all its worth.
The chief antagonizer, that Christ fellow, wants the humans to see their own sins, but Harshwood, blind their eyes, their hearts, their souls to that sigght. Let them think only of the good in themselves, and you, may dear friend Harshwood, will meet your quota of human beings who will spend the rest of their lives with our master, the lord of the heat and fire, Master Satan.
Let them see that when repentance is called for it is not them who needs to repent. Let them see over and over again that they are really better than the guy next to them in the pew. When the pastor reads about John the Baptist, let them fall asleep, turn to other thoughts, so they will not realize that it is them John is talking to. Let them see that they are indeed really pretty good, no need for repentance, no need for forgiveness, and then you will have them. You will have them because they will see that they do not really need that Christ fellow, and they really need is themselves. Then, then they will be ours.
For you see my dear Harshwood, when these humans see themselves as great, then they are filled with self pride, and they don’t need that Jesus fellow. This is how it will begin. They you will have them in your claws.
Good luck on your tour of duty, my heart goes out to you as you use every trick, every scheme, every evil desire, every good intention, every proud thought to win souls for our side.
Signed
Your admiring friend
Twisttape
Twisttape is right. If the devil, our own thoughts can make us believe that we have no need for repentance, then we will not need Jesus, and we will be in the devil’s camp.
A closing story tells of a man who did repent and found joy in his life.
Not too many years ago newspapers carried the story of Al Johnson, a Kansas man who came to faith in Jesus Christ. What made his story remarkable was not his conversion, but the fact that as a result of his newfound faith in Christ, he confessed to a bank robbery he had participated in when he was nineteen years old.
Because the statute of limitations on the case had run out, Johnson could not be prosecuted for the offense.
Still, he believed his relationship with Christ demanded a confession. And he even voluntarily repaid his share of the stolen money!
"he went into all the region about the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins."
Amen
Written by Pastor Tim Zingale December 4, 2006
1 by Josh Billings
