3rd Sunday in Advent
Luke 3:7-18
"Signs of Love in Our World"
Zephaniah 3:
14 Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!
15 The LORD has taken away the judgments against you, he has cast out your enemies. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; you shall fear evil no more.
16 On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Do not fear, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak.
17 The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing
18 as on a day of festival. “I will remove disaster from you, so that you will not bear reproach for it.
19 Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth.
20 At that time I will bring you home, at the time when I gather you together; yea, I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,” says the LORD.
Philippians 4:
4* Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.
5* Let all men know your forbearance. The Lord is at hand.
6* Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
7* And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Luke 3:
7* He said therefore to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
8* Bear fruits that befit repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.
9* Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
10* And the multitudes asked him, “What then shall we do?”
11* And he answered them, “He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.”
12* Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?”
13* And he said to them, “Collect no more than is appointed you.”
14* Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Rob no one by violence or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”
15* As the people were in expectation, and all men questioned in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he were the Christ,
16* John answered them all, “I baptize you with water; but he who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
17* His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into his granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
18* So, with many other exhortations, he preached good news to the people.RSV
Grace and Peace to you from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus who is the Christ. Amen
God is in our world in wonderful ways when we least expect or as it goes unnoticed by the majority of people. Signs of God’s love go unnoticed. As Christmas approaches we excited about this dramatic sign which shows us God’s love. 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, or encouragement we receive in all sorts of subtle and yes even dramatic ways revealing his love for us today.
Let me demonstrate with the following: "A lady, during one of the coldest spells of the winter’ noticed an eleven year old boy standing barefoot over a heater grate on a street corner selling his evening newspapers.
"Son, where are your shoes and socks?" asked the lady.
"I ain’t got none!"’ was his reply.
Taking the boy by the ham she led him into a department store and bought him some thick wool socks and heavy shoes.
The boy quickly ran out of the store, but then turned suddenly toward the lady and asked," "Lady, are you God?"
Surprised the woman said with a smile on her face, "No, but I am one of his children."
"Well, I knowed you must have been kin to him somehow," said the boy as he ran off to continue selling his evening papers.
That lady was a ’Christ-figure’ to that little paper boy. 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 presence 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 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 his life.
The presence of God as good news.
Picture of Peace
An artist was commissioned by a wealthy man to paint something that would depict peace. After a great deal of thought, the artist painted a beautiful country scene. There were green fields with cows standing in them, birds were flying in the blue sky and a lovely little village lay in a distant valley. The artist gave the picture to the man, but there was a look of disappointment on his face. The man said to the artist, "This isn’t a picture of true peace. It isn’t right. Go back and try again.
The artist went back to his studio, thought for several hours about peace, then went to his canvas and began to paint. When he was finished, there on the canvas was a beautiful picture of a mother, holding a sleeping baby in her arms, smiling lovingly at the child.
He thought, surely, this is true peace, and hurried to give the picture to the wealthy man. But again, the wealthy man refused the painting and asked the painter to try again.
The artist returned again to his studio. He was discouraged, he was tired and he was disappointed. Anger swelled inside him, he felt the rejection of this wealthy man. Again, he thought, he even prayed for inspiration to paint a picture of true peace. Then, all of a sudden an idea came, he rushed to the canvas and began to paint as he had never painted before. When he finished, he hurried to the wealthy man.
He gave the painting to the man. He studied it carefully for several minutes. The artist held his breath.
Then the wealthy man said, "Now this is a picture of true peace." He accepted the painting, paid the artist and everyone was happy.
And what was this picture of true peace? The picture showed a stormy sea pounding against a cliff. The artist had captured the furry of the wind as it whipped black rain clouds which were laced with streaks of lightening. The sea was roaring in turmoil, waves churning, the dark sky filled with the power of the furious thunderstorm.
And in the middle of the picture, under a cliff, the artist had painted a small bird, safe and dry in her nest snuggled safely in the rocks. The bird was at peace midst the storm that raged about her. 1
The good news of this Advent season is that God comes to earth to shelter us from all the roaring turmoil in our 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.
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 . . 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
Written by Pastor Tim Zingale December 11, 2006
1 Unknown Author
