Sunday December 7, 2008
Advent 2
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
One of the most dangerous things that we can do with the call from John the Baptist for repentance for the forgiveness of sins is to reduce it to something in the past, to think that it doesn’t apply today is a very dangerous idea. And yet I stand before you this morning, and I tell you that this is an idea that has infected a great deal of contemporary Christianity, certainly American Christianity. We delude ourselves into thinking that the arrival of Christ signaled the end of God’s judgment.
God’s judgment is thought of as something that only happened in the Old Testament. And so we think that now that Jesus has come, then everything in this old world is A-OK. And so whether we are allowing ourselves to be sucked into mass consumerism, or addiction, or pornography, or the secularization of the sacred or whatever other idols we create for ourselves, we pacify ourselves of any guilt associated with that sort of idolatry because we buy into the delusion that because Jesus came and died on the cross and was raised three days later, then that must mean that the time of judgment has come to an end.
And so rather than understanding God as He is described in Scripture; as the ever-present, omnipotent, Almighty creator of the universe who sees our every action and knows our every thought, who loves us but also demands perfect righteousness from us, we reduce God to the loving old Man in the sky who just winks and shakes His head at our little quirks and foibles, because after all God wants us to be happy. God wants us to do what we want to do, so we are happy. Or rather than seeing the God of Scripture as He is described in scripture, calling His people to repentance and faith and forgiveness, we have bought into the false notion that God has moved beyond the Gospel and now He is more interested in boosting our self-esteem, or giving us good advice, or making us more financially prosperous, all of which might be good and well, but do nothing to nurture and sustain us in the faith that saves us.
But all you have to do is to look at the news of the last week or so, whether it be the terrorist activity in India or a person being trampled at a Wal-Mart or just about anything else; You don’t even have to look at the news. Just look at the world around you and you can see that this world is far from being A-OK. Just look around you, and by that I would include taking a good look at ourselves, and you can see that there is still judgment that needs to be made. You can see that, dare I say it there is judgment being made, quite possibly in and through some of these tragedies that we see on the news. I know that goes against so much of the thinking in our culture, but we also know from Romans, that God will when it is necessary, give us up to our own iniquities and, in that, allow us to bring judgment upon ourselves.
Indeed, the call from John the Baptist for repentance for the forgiveness of sin is every bit as important and relevant today as it was 2000 years ago. John preached repentance and called for people to prepare the way of the Lord, and indeed the people on the banks of the Jordan whom he was preaching to were awaiting the coming of Christ. And while they may not have received the forgiveness that John spoke of until Christ Jesus came and laid down His life for them, bearing the burden of their sin, in repentance they were still made followers of Christ.
And indeed John says himself that his baptism is merely with water while Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And so the people on the banks of the Jordan who were baptized by John were baptized in anticipation of the forgiveness of Christ Jesus, while in your baptism the Holy Spirit infused you with faith, brining to you the forgiveness that can only come through faith in Christ Jesus and what He has done for you by taking upon Himself all of your sin and death and despair. But that is not the end of the story.
For while those on the banks of the Jordan were awaiting Christ’s arrival, we await His return. And until His return the call to repentance for the forgiveness of sin, and our need to hear it will remain absolutely necessary. It is necessary for when the call to repentance for the forgiveness of sin is proclaimed and God’s people hear it, then the Holy Spirit works through that very call to knock us down from the idolatrous mountains of sin and despair that we build for ourselves.
While the announcement of the coming of the One for whom the Baptist was not even worthy to untie the thong of His sandals, Christ Jesus in Whom we receive the forgiveness that John speaks of; the announcement of His arrival and the forgiveness that He brings lifts us up from the valleys of despair and guilt and sorrow over our sin.
And so while we have most certainly been brought into God’s mercy and forgiveness, our struggle with sin and the devil still remain until Christ returns and makes all things new. For as Paul tells us in Galatians, what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh. And so, while the flesh and sin and the devil are certainly no match for the Spirit, they will continue to oppose the Spirit and so we need to continually here the call to repentance for the Spirit works through that call to oppose flesh, sin, death, and the devil.
As we read in the lesson from 2nd Peter God does not want any to perish, but all to come to repentance. Repentance is the path to forgiveness in Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus is the means by which we are saved from perishing, and the means by which we are raised from the dead as new creations. Peter writes of the waiting that we experience as we await the day of the Lord when Christ will return. He says that this day will come like a thief and the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed. Everything will be disclosed. Every thought, desire and action of your’s, not just to God, who already knows it anyway, but to all. It is the day of judgment.
God does not want this day to catch any of you unaware and for this reason, the Holy Spirit daily comes to you in God’s Word, calling you daily to repentance, nurturing you sustaining you in your faith, maintaining the claim that your Lord Jesus made upon you in the waters of baptism.
And so Peter poses the question "What sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and Godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire?" Does Peter say go out and do as much as you can, or consume as much as you can? Does he say go out and live your best life now or make sure that you are purpose-driven? Does he say go out and do as many good works as you can?
No, Peter says in accordance with Christ’s promise we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home. True righteousness, the righteousness that our Lord demands of us, cannot be found in this old world. True righteousness cannot be found in our best efforts. And so Peter tells us, while we wait for Christ’s return we strive to be found by Christ, not at work, not trying to earn our own righteousness, but we are to be found at peace. And that is why the Baptist’s call to repentance for the forgiveness of our sins is just as relevant today as it was 2000 years ago. For in repentance and confession we hear and receive the declaration of the forgiveness of our sins. And in that we are reminded that we belong to Christ, we belong to the One who bore the burden of our sin by laying down His life for us. We belong to the One who will bring a new heavens and a new earth. And it is only in that promise that we find the peace that Peter speaks of, what Paul calls the peace that surpasses all understanding.
And so, good deeds of love and service to our neighbor are wonderful. But they do not bring us peace or righteousness, but rather they are fruits of the Spirit bringing us the peace and righteousness that can only come through faith in Christ Jesus. They are opportunities presented to us by our Lord to show our gratitude to our Lord who has claimed us as His, branded us as His own and saved us from this old world, so that when Christ returns we will not perish, but we will be found at peace as we come into the new heavens and the new earth.
Amen
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
One of the most dangerous things that we can do with the call from John the Baptist for repentance for the forgiveness of sins is to reduce it to something in the past, to think that it doesn’t apply today is a very dangerous idea. And yet I stand before you this morning, and I tell you that this is an idea that has infected a great deal of contemporary Christianity, certainly American Christianity. We delude ourselves into thinking that the arrival of Christ signaled the end of God’s judgment.
God’s judgment is thought of as something that only happened in the Old Testament. And so we think that now that Jesus has come, then everything in this old world is A-OK. And so whether we are allowing ourselves to be sucked into mass consumerism, or addiction, or pornography, or the secularization of the sacred or whatever other idols we create for ourselves, we pacify ourselves of any guilt associated with that sort of idolatry because we buy into the delusion that because Jesus came and died on the cross and was raised three days later, then that must mean that the time of judgment has come to an end.
And so rather than understanding God as He is described in Scripture; as the ever-present, omnipotent, Almighty creator of the universe who sees our every action and knows our every thought, who loves us but also demands perfect righteousness from us, we reduce God to the loving old Man in the sky who just winks and shakes His head at our little quirks and foibles, because after all God wants us to be happy. God wants us to do what we want to do, so we are happy. Or rather than seeing the God of Scripture as He is described in scripture, calling His people to repentance and faith and forgiveness, we have bought into the false notion that God has moved beyond the Gospel and now He is more interested in boosting our self-esteem, or giving us good advice, or making us more financially prosperous, all of which might be good and well, but do nothing to nurture and sustain us in the faith that saves us.
But all you have to do is to look at the news of the last week or so, whether it be the terrorist activity in India or a person being trampled at a Wal-Mart or just about anything else; You don’t even have to look at the news. Just look at the world around you and you can see that this world is far from being A-OK. Just look around you, and by that I would include taking a good look at ourselves, and you can see that there is still judgment that needs to be made. You can see that, dare I say it there is judgment being made, quite possibly in and through some of these tragedies that we see on the news. I know that goes against so much of the thinking in our culture, but we also know from Romans, that God will when it is necessary, give us up to our own iniquities and, in that, allow us to bring judgment upon ourselves.
Indeed, the call from John the Baptist for repentance for the forgiveness of sin is every bit as important and relevant today as it was 2000 years ago. John preached repentance and called for people to prepare the way of the Lord, and indeed the people on the banks of the Jordan whom he was preaching to were awaiting the coming of Christ. And while they may not have received the forgiveness that John spoke of until Christ Jesus came and laid down His life for them, bearing the burden of their sin, in repentance they were still made followers of Christ.
And indeed John says himself that his baptism is merely with water while Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And so the people on the banks of the Jordan who were baptized by John were baptized in anticipation of the forgiveness of Christ Jesus, while in your baptism the Holy Spirit infused you with faith, brining to you the forgiveness that can only come through faith in Christ Jesus and what He has done for you by taking upon Himself all of your sin and death and despair. But that is not the end of the story.
For while those on the banks of the Jordan were awaiting Christ’s arrival, we await His return. And until His return the call to repentance for the forgiveness of sin, and our need to hear it will remain absolutely necessary. It is necessary for when the call to repentance for the forgiveness of sin is proclaimed and God’s people hear it, then the Holy Spirit works through that very call to knock us down from the idolatrous mountains of sin and despair that we build for ourselves.
While the announcement of the coming of the One for whom the Baptist was not even worthy to untie the thong of His sandals, Christ Jesus in Whom we receive the forgiveness that John speaks of; the announcement of His arrival and the forgiveness that He brings lifts us up from the valleys of despair and guilt and sorrow over our sin.
And so while we have most certainly been brought into God’s mercy and forgiveness, our struggle with sin and the devil still remain until Christ returns and makes all things new. For as Paul tells us in Galatians, what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh. And so, while the flesh and sin and the devil are certainly no match for the Spirit, they will continue to oppose the Spirit and so we need to continually here the call to repentance for the Spirit works through that call to oppose flesh, sin, death, and the devil.
As we read in the lesson from 2nd Peter God does not want any to perish, but all to come to repentance. Repentance is the path to forgiveness in Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus is the means by which we are saved from perishing, and the means by which we are raised from the dead as new creations. Peter writes of the waiting that we experience as we await the day of the Lord when Christ will return. He says that this day will come like a thief and the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed. Everything will be disclosed. Every thought, desire and action of your’s, not just to God, who already knows it anyway, but to all. It is the day of judgment.
God does not want this day to catch any of you unaware and for this reason, the Holy Spirit daily comes to you in God’s Word, calling you daily to repentance, nurturing you sustaining you in your faith, maintaining the claim that your Lord Jesus made upon you in the waters of baptism.
And so Peter poses the question "What sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and Godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire?" Does Peter say go out and do as much as you can, or consume as much as you can? Does he say go out and live your best life now or make sure that you are purpose-driven? Does he say go out and do as many good works as you can?
No, Peter says in accordance with Christ’s promise we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home. True righteousness, the righteousness that our Lord demands of us, cannot be found in this old world. True righteousness cannot be found in our best efforts. And so Peter tells us, while we wait for Christ’s return we strive to be found by Christ, not at work, not trying to earn our own righteousness, but we are to be found at peace. And that is why the Baptist’s call to repentance for the forgiveness of our sins is just as relevant today as it was 2000 years ago. For in repentance and confession we hear and receive the declaration of the forgiveness of our sins. And in that we are reminded that we belong to Christ, we belong to the One who bore the burden of our sin by laying down His life for us. We belong to the One who will bring a new heavens and a new earth. And it is only in that promise that we find the peace that Peter speaks of, what Paul calls the peace that surpasses all understanding.
And so, good deeds of love and service to our neighbor are wonderful. But they do not bring us peace or righteousness, but rather they are fruits of the Spirit bringing us the peace and righteousness that can only come through faith in Christ Jesus. They are opportunities presented to us by our Lord to show our gratitude to our Lord who has claimed us as His, branded us as His own and saved us from this old world, so that when Christ returns we will not perish, but we will be found at peace as we come into the new heavens and the new earth.
Amen
posted by Steve at 6:54 PM
1 Comments:
As I responded earlier when you sent it to me on email-wonderful sermon!
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