"Advent and Repentance " 2013

Isaiah 40:3-8           Matthew 3:1-8

Isaiah 40:3-8

A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.

 

Matthew 3:1-8

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’” Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance.

 

  "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee the wrath to come?

          Repent for the Kingdom of heaven has come near.

                   Bear fruit worthy of repentance."

 

These are the very strident and severe threats of John the Baptist,

                 that stark figure crying out in the wilderness wasteland

                        with some very tough, in-your-face aggressive preaching.

 

And maybe it’s me,  but somehow, John’s message of  “flee the wrath”

     and "repent or burn"  hardly sounds like the right sort preaching

            that will help get us into a jolly and merry Christmas spirit.

    So why do you suppose John’s revival preaching comes up every year

       as the gospel reading  on the second Sunday of Advent?

 

It doesn’t seem like John the Baptist is all that ‘Christmassy’,

                and I don’t recall ever seeing John the Baptist depicted

                        on a Christmas card or included as a holiday decoration,

                                    or locust and honey  served as a Christmas season treat.

 

So how in the world   can John’s harsh preaching and call to repent

     possibly help us make ready  for our Christmas celebration?

 

    Actually, there is a bit more going on during the season of Advent

            then just preparing for a wonderful Christmas celebration,

                             because the focus is really

                                    on preparing  spiritually  for the coming of Christ…

… which was   very much the ministry and message of John the Baptist.

 

According to Matthew’s gospel, vs. 1-2

            In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

 

Notice that John’s ministry is happening in the wilderness.

            That is important because all through the Old Testament

               the wilderness was the place where God ministers to his people;

                                        where God has prepared them to receive his blessings,

                                                and set the stage  for God to fulfill his promises.

 

Moses encounters the burning bush in the wilderness,

            then the Israelites spend the next 40 years in the wilderness,

                where God gave the 10 Commandments, sustained them with manna,

                      preparing them to live as God’s people in the Promised Land.

* When God is up to something, it often begins in the wilderness.

 

    The Isaiah passage that we read earlier,  was written to the people

           suffering and discouraged during the Babylonian Exile.

 

    It was a message of hope and encouragement about God’s promise

            to bring them home by clearing a path through the wilderness.

vs. 3-4

            A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed.

 

Through Isaiah, God promises the people,

            there is no valley deep enough, there is no mountain high enough,

                       there is no wilderness remote enough

                                         and there is no desert inhospitable enough

                                      to keep your God from coming to you

                                          and bringing you hope,   of rescue and salvation.

 

The voice in the wilderness is a call for the people to get ready,

     and not to let anything  get in the way or interfere.

*           Prepare by removing any obstacles to receiving God’s blessing.

 

The writer of Matthew tells us that John’s ministry

            was in fulfillment of that ancient prophecy of Isaiah

                        to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord,   vs. 3

            This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’”

 

So how did John prepare the way for the coming of the Lord?

  By his bold proclamation, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.

                           … deal with the obstacles in your life, all that standsà

                                      between you and a life faithful to the Lord your God…

            … which is the point and purpose of repentance…

                        …which is literally,  'to turn and go the other direction.

 

That is a call for us to examine our lives and our living;

            our values, our priorities, our behavior, the words we speak,

                        our relationships, our integrity, our walk with God,

                                    our commitments, and our use of time and resources …

…and if we’re are not headed toward God & becoming more Christ-like,

       then repent, turn around,

             and don't keep going further away  from where we want to end up.

 

    Repentance

            is not a matter of sitting around feeling guilty or ashamed.

Repentance is turning to receive the blessings God intends for us…

                   … and it is living out an appropriate and faithful response

                           to God’s wonderful gift of grace, compassion and love.

 

During this season of Advent

            the point is to consider what we are doing with our lives,

                             and if our relationship with God through Christ

                                 is really all that it should be  and needs to be.

 

Living a life  consistent with an authentic relationship with God,

               that was the main issue between John and the religious leaders

                        who got a sampling of his unrestrained hell-fire preaching.

vs. 7-8

            But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. 

                And what a rude and unpleasant experience that must have been.

 

                 I say that with some certainty because

                        I knew someone like John the Baptist one time, named Al.

    He was the chief buyer at my biggest account,

        and he was a very committed and fundamentalist Christian.

 

His religious fervor was kind a joke among his colleagues,

            and one time, when we met over a business lunch,

                 I mentioned that I had gone to church that past Sunday,

                                    … thinking it might earn me a few points with him.

 

    But that turned out to be a very bad move,  a big mistake,

            because then he wanted to hear all about my faith & church life.

 

I really just wasn't all that religious or involved at the time;

            and so, the shallowness of my faith pretty quickly became clear

                        as he began to question & challenge the authenticity of my faith.

As it turns out, he wasn't all that impressed that I'd gone to church.

 

Now I had grown up in Christian family and church youth group,

            and I would still manage to attend church now and then.

I'd even had some pretty neat religious experiences along the way,

                         but I just didn't let all that religious and God stuff  

                              get in the way of that things I wanted, and wanted to do.

 

But Al got more pushy and he condemned my easy-going lukewarm faith,

  as he vigorously attacked & challenged my comfortable Christianity.

 

       Then quoting a bunch of Bible verses, he pointed out the disparity

            between my life style, and what I claimed to believe…

… he took it upon himself to show me the way, and get me right with God.

 

So I tried to defend myself by pointing out and explaining to Al

    that there is a lot more to life than just practicing religion;

                             that some of my life was devoted to God,

                                    and some to my career and some to other things of life--

   --- then I said that Jesus was one of    many  priorities in my life.

 

I talked about balance, of not wanting to be a fanatic or strange,

            and I pointed out that compared to other people we both knew,

                that I was moral as any of them,  if not more moral than most.

 

And I thought I was making a pretty good case, for being a Christian        

     without becoming overly religious or excessively weird.

 

But then he asked me a question  to which   I didn't like the answer:

          'what had my being a Christian, ever really cost me?'

                                    'was my faith really the same as the Christian martyrs,

                                          who gave their all, even their lives for Christ?

--- ‘was my faith real or just a comfortable façade?

              and was I in fact,   even playing on the same ball field?

 

Al was relentless & judgmental in attacking my faith & my commitment.

            He was offensive, obnoxious, insulting, pushy and fanatical --

                                    -- and that was the last time I ever paid for his lunch.

 

But, however barbed and offensive his attack was, 

            Al did start me thinking … and as I thought more about it,

                        my best arguments sounded shallow and hollow even to me.

And I had to admit, that Al was not entirely and totally wrong.

 

Truthfully, he was kind of a jerk,

          but my easy-complacent Christianity  was really the problem.

 

There were several areas of my life that I held back from God's rule

           at times I did knowingly stray from faithful obedience to God

                 and I certainly wasn't disciplined or consistent in  my faith.

 

In truth, my walk with God, my desire to know and relate to God

            my whole level of dedication and Christian service

                        was more about convenience, comfort & fitting into culture.

Walking in faith with Jesus was just not much of a priority with me.

 

I still disagree with Al's legalistic approach to the Christian life,

     but I also know God used his harshness & fierce judgmental attack,

            to shake and challenge my  slovenly  spiritual  complacency…

…  causing me to question more deeply and examine my spiritual life

            and in time,  to seek a closer and  more genuine walk with God.

 

Reacting to Al did cause me to become more active in my church life;
            to give more, more generously of my time, my money and talent,

                        and to take my spiritual journey with God  a lot more seriously;

                                    which in time, even led me to serve God    here with you.

 

Being offended & insulted that day did help deepen my spiritual life

        because God used Al to get my attention, and forced me to listen.

 

That is the point of Advent,  to examine our lives honestly & critically;

            our values, our priorities, our goals, and our spirituality

                        thereby preparing us for Christmas, for the coming of Jesus.

*   Advent is about  moving us toward

          being capable of receiving more of God's promised blessings.

 

So, does a call to repent make us feel uneasy or uncomfortable?

               Is it really the call to repent that disturbs us,

                   or maybe,   it’s actually   the inadequacy of our response.

 

This day, let us attend to the voice crying out in the wilderness.

            Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

                        Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.