Matthew 3:1-12 Advent Message
Text: Matthew 3:1-12
Grace and Peace to you from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
“The British are coming! The British are coming!” For
those of you who are not history buffs, these were the words that were
attributed to Paul Revere. From my
understanding he most likely did not shout these words as he rode his horse on
April 18th of 1775 to tell of the Colonial militia that British
forces were approaching. Regardless, of
whether or not Paul Revere shouted or quietly spread the valuable military
news, he was instrumental in announcing and preparing the Colonial militia for
the invading British King’s troops.
Some 1700 years
before Paul Revere lived, another man announced another invasion. Living in the
wilderness by the Jordan River, John the Baptist also announced a foreign
invasion. John was not broadcasting the coming of a man-made foreign kingdom,
but the coming Kingdom of God. By sending Jesus into the world, God was ripping
open the heavens. The Kingdom of God was invading the world as Jesus was born
in a manger and as Jesus journeyed towards the cross. God was doing a new thing,
something that he had not done before, but something that was promised long
ago. God was sending his only Son to live a perfect life and then die on behalf
of sinful mankind.
Today for our second
Sunday in Advent we are focusing on John the Baptist. But why him; what makes John the Baptist so
important and why are we focusing on him during Advent? He was and is important because he’s the one
who announced the coming Messiah, thus preparing the way for Christ. Nothing in the history of the world has been
as important as the coming Messiah with the mission of redemption for you and
me. Indeed, John the Baptist is the one
who prepared the way for Christ and his message also prepares us for the
Christ-child this Christmas Season.
Can you imagine
someone saying to you, “You are not a
Christian! You’ve got it all wrong! Your parents, grandparents and ancestors may
have been Christians, but you are not. Quit claiming your spiritual heritage as
a basis of assurance. Repent, for you have gone wrong. You need to begin
again.” That is what John was
essentially saying. John’s ministry was
one where he called religious people vipers (i.e., snakes). His message was scary and it is even
difficult for us to hear today. Yes,
John’s message is not the kind of message that builds a person up. His message
does not conjure up warm Christmas fuzzies.
His message is not one that you or I would print on our Christmas cards.
You see, John’s message is not a message that gives you steps or principles to
work your way up to God. Rather, his
message is the complete opposite. His
message is one that throws you, me, and the original hearers to the bottom. His
message shatters, breaks, and humbles those that hear. His message is one of repentance.
You see, some 1,400
years before John the Baptist’s ministry began, the Israelites originally
entered the Promised Land by crossing the Jordan River (See Joshua 3). It is of no
coincidence that John was calling the people of Israel back out to the Jordan
River. The reason why? Israel had
drifted. They had gone astray and needed
to be completely remade as a people.
They were slothful and spiritually apathetic as they appealed to their
family tree and heritage. Yes, it is
true that their forefathers entered the Promised Land by the Jordan River. Yes, they were surely children of
Abraham. However, John the Baptist was
calling them back out to the Jordan River because the Kingdom of God was at
hand. Their spiritual apathy needed to
be shattered and they needed to go back to the Jordan and do it all over again.
They needed to be turned, that is, they needed repentance.
Creating more
controversy, John spoke to the Pharisees and Sadducees, the religious elite of
the day, and called them to bear fruits of repentance. But wait a minute, weren’t both the Pharisees
and Sadducees already the most moral and upright people of the society at that
time? Weren’t they already displaying good fruit through
their good works? They were displaying outward righteousness, but this was not
what was needed to be prepared for the Kingdom of God. John message of
repentance was not and is not today primarily about calling for more good
works; his message was and is rather calling for the ‘fruit’ of
repentance—confession of sins.
The
real problem for the people of Israel and the real problem for you and me in
the 21st century is not merely that we need to turn away from bad
choices (i.e., repent), though this is good.
Keep in mind that “a person can externally
exert all sorts of energy in order to rid himself of his immoral vices.
He can polish himself up through effective alcoholic treatments from the
doom of alcoholism. He can use effective accountability groups and
internet filters to cut out the seduction of pornography. He can curb the
sourness of his cursing tongue and the entrapment of gossip through carefully
monitored speech. A person can externally rid himself of all of these
moral deficiencies and still be eternally lost; that is damned.” (Paraphrase
of a C.F.W. Walther quote in “Law & Gospel: How to Read and Apply the Bible). Rather
the much larger issue is that we recognize and know that we are turned inward
on self. The problem that each and every
one of us has is not primarily our sinful actions though they are bad, it is primarily
this old sinful nature; it is that we turn inward on self. As we turn inward on self we become self-reliant
and trust in our own righteousness which brings about self-justification. Properly speaking the repentance that John
calls for is not only to succeed in avoiding sin and then do righteous things,
but a repentance that confesses that we have sinned, that we continue to sin,
that we cannot stop ourselves from sinning, and that we actual like to sin
because of the old Adam (our sinful nature) in us. To be sorrowful about our sinful longings is
at the heart of John’s repentance. To
repent and despise the unholy trinity of, “me,
myself and I,” is what this repentance is about.
But
you may ask, “How do we turn away from
ourselves? How do we lament over our sinful
condition and how can we truly be sorry for our sins?” Put bluntly, we can’t. And that, my friends, is the heart of
repentance. Repentance is something that
must happen to us and it is something that happens over and over and over. In fact, it happens as God brings His Word of
Law to you and me each and every time that you encounter His Word in this
church and in your daily lives. His Law,
like a hammer, shatters our attempts at being God. Repentance happens when we are confronted
with the Holy will of God and realize that we have holy un-holy
intentions.
What
this means is that repentance is a gift from God. A strange gift, no doubt, probably not on
anyone’s Christmas list. However, this
strange gift that John the Baptist brought to the Israelites is the same gift
that the Holy Spirit must work in us through the Word. The reason why? It is something that we so desperately need. Our pride and self-reliance, our stubborn
belief that by our own goodness we can please God; these are the things that
need to be continually killed in us so that we can be prepared to continually receive
the Kingdom of God, especially within the context of our Advent season. Repentance
is harsh and painful, but it is a necessary part of God’s plan to have you with
Him forever. Repentance is a gift that
prepares you to receive the greatest gift of all, Jesus, your forgiving Savior
Therefore,
today because you and I have confessed our sins at the beginning of the
service, take comfort! Take comfort for God will not and does not despise this status of brokenness
and helplessness. God does not and will not cast aside a sinner—that
is you who have publicly confessed your sin, you who recognize your sin, you
who have been gifted repentance. For it is in this very brokenness and
fallen-ness that God meets you with His tender Word of Gospel and His Sacraments,
delivering to your ears, to your mouth, to your heart the forgiveness of Christ. Yes, real forgiveness that Jesus indeed accomplished
for you and me when He invaded our world at Christmas
2,000 years ago. Yes, real forgiveness
that cleanses you and makes you white as snow; forgiveness and righteousness
from God that declares each and every one of you as beloved saints who have
full citizenship in the kingdom of God; a kingdom that has and continues to
come to you. [1]
May the peace of God,
which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
[1] Portions of this sermon are indebted to Rev. David Warner’s Sermon, “The Gift of Repentance.” (Trinity
Lutheran Church of Sidney, MT: Dec. 5, 2010).
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