Bear the Fruits of Repentance!

Bear the Fruits of Repentance!

Matthew 3:1-12 Over the course of the last twenty some odd years of my preaching ministry I have preached this text at least six or seven times because the ministry of John the Baptist is always part of the Advent season.  And the challenge:  for me as the preacher-- and you as the hearer-- is how we can we hear these familiar words in a new way? 

What struck me this time around (in a way that had not occurred to me before) is how violent these words are!  Wrath to come! Brood of vipers!  An axe laid to the root of the trees!  Burning with unquenchable fire! 

There is no other way to hear and read these words than to understand that something desperately important is being communicated by John’s message and Matthew’s record of it—something with eternally important consequences.  And of course, it is!

The Kingdom of heaven is at hand!  That is the way that John the Baptist began his preaching and that is the way that Jesus began his preaching and that is the way the apostles began their preaching:  the Kingdom of heaven is at hand! 

It is John the Baptist who points to Jesus and says:  here in his presence, the kingdom of heaven is at hand!  Here in his presence is your purpose on earth! Here in his presence is your eternal future!  Here in his presence is the way to God!

And hearing these words in a brand new way, our response cannot help but be:  Lord, show me what I must believe and do to take my place in your kingdom!  The Bible says:

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 

            The very first of Luther’s 95 Theses said that the entirety of the Christian life is found in this word:  repent--a change of heart and mind that results in a change of direction in life.  To repent means that we turn away from sin and we turn in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ. 

And that we do this, not just at the beginning of our life of faith, but that we do this again and again throughout our lives.  The call to repentance was the complete content of John’s ministry because he was the one called by God to point the way to the Messiah who would open the kingdom of heaven to all believers.  The Bible says that John was the one:

spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness:  ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’”

            When you begin reading in Mathew’s Gospel the thing that is going to leap out at you is how much Old Testament is quoted in his writing—and there is a reason for this.  He was writing to a primarily Jewish audience and he wanted to make sure that they understood that Jesus was the Messiah that God had been promising to his people all the way back to the Garden of Eden.

They knew the Messiah would have a messenger who would go before him to prepare his way and with the arrival of John the Baptist, that man and that message had come.

This is important for us to understand as well!  The faithfulness of God in keeping his word and fulfilling his promises can be trusted and counted on down to the smallest detail.  We can trust in his Word—and John and Jesus are the proof! 

From the moment God promised Adam and Eve that the Seed of a Woman would crush Satan, God was patiently, wisely, powerfully working out every detail of our salvation so that we could enter into his kingdom and with the arrival of the Messenger and the Messiah, that moment had come.  The Bible says that:

John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.

            Have you ever wondered why, in the midst of such a momentous message as, “Repent!  For the Kingdom of heaven is at hand!”, that the Holy Spirit inspired Matthew to write down fashion and food details about John the Baptist? 

It’s because the people were expecting that Elijah the prophet would come again to usher in the messianic age.  Hundreds of years before this moment, Elijah had prophesied in the same wilderness, dressed in the same clothing, eating the same food, speaking the same stern message of repentance.  So closely did John resemble Elijah that when Jesus was asked about it later in his ministry he said that Elijah had indeed come!

The point is this:  Elijah and every prophet up to and including John had one ministry and that was to bear witness to the Messiah-- and Elijah and every prophet up to and including John had one message and that was to repent!  And many people took that message to heart.  The Bible says that hearing the message of John:

Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

            From this point on in our lesson, even though there are many, many people around John—they are divided into two, distinctively different groups:  those who take his message to heart and repent of their sins—and those who do not. 

That division continued in Jesus’ ministry and the apostles’ ministry and still continues today.  The only thing that really divides the family of man is their relationship with Jesus.  Here we encounter the first group who know that they are sinners, and know they need forgiveness, and so they confess their sins and are baptized with water.

Each week in the words of the Creed, along with the whole Christian church on earth, we confess that we believe in one baptism for the remission of sins.  We heed the words of our Lord Jesus Christ when he says that we are to make disciples of all nations by baptism and teaching.  And so we come to the waters of Holy Baptism, men and women, young and old (for we are all Adam’s children without distinction and need Christ’s forgiveness) and we are baptized.

The Bible says in Romans chapter six that in Baptism we are buried with Christ in a death like his and raised with Christ in a resurrection like his so that we can walk in newness of life.  Newness of life!

That is what the people wanted who came confessing their sins—a new life in the Kingdom of heaven.  They knew that they were sinners and they knew that they needed forgiveness.  But there were others there who didn’t—and that was the second group around John—many of them very religious people.  The Bible says that:

when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

            There was nothing wrong in and of itself in being a Pharisee or Sadducee.  There was nothing wrong with being a physical descendant of Abraham.  In fact, they should have been leaders and examples to the people of God.  But they were not!

Their religion was merely in external things:  keeping the details of the law and going through the formal motions of worship—none of it from faith in the Savior, none of it from personal sorrow over their sins.  It was merely outward, like their connection to Abraham.

And so then, from this point on in Jesus’ earthly ministry, the Pharisees and Sadducees are emblematic of those whose religion is for show—whose piety is external—whose worship and obedience have nothing to do with a changed heart.  And in this external religion, they are enemies of Jesus, under the wrath of God.

There is a warning here for us.  The Lord hates outward piety and religious acts that do not flow from sorrow over sins and faith in Jesus.  What the Lord wants from us is what he wanted from the Sadducees and Pharisees: the fruits of repentance that show themselves in a changed life before the day of grace comes to an end.  The Bible says that:

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. 

            Those who believed John’s message and repented of their sins and trusted in the Messiah were children of God.  Those who didn’t were a brood of vipers.  That was the judgment of God upon them at that moment.  So it is in the world today.  So it is even in the visible church.

But even for the brood of vipers it was still not too late.  So long as they lived and breathed, there was a day of grace for them to repent of their sins and trust in Jesus.  But it was a day of grace that would come to an end.  John said:

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

            For many people during this Advent season their hearts and minds have already moved to baby Jesus in the manger.  We love that image of Jesus and we should!  He is the Savior of the world born into our flesh to die for us poor sinners!  How can we not love baby Jesus?!

            But he is also the risen and ascended Lord who will come again to judge the world and this picture that we have in John’s preaching, of Jesus as the Judge of all is also true.  For those who are his fruitful people, he will gather us to himself like a farmer putting wheat into a barn.  But for those who are not, the one who was the Baby of Bethlehem and the Suffering Servant of the Cross and the Risen Lord will himself cast the unrepentant and unbelieving into the unquenchable fire of hell.

That is what is at stake in the Advent season—eternity itself! That is why John uses words in his preaching like:  Wrath to come! Brood of vipers!  An axe laid to the root of the trees!  Burning with unquenchable fire!  The Holy Spirit uses these stern warnings because he wants us to repent and look to Christ for salvation-- and in this way, look forward in faith to being gathered unto the Lord.  Amen.

Wake Up!

Wake Up!

Romans 13:11-14 If you attend the adult bible class you can almost count on the fact that sometime during that hour, a timeline will be drawn on the dry erase board.  It reaches back to Adam and Eve and stretches forward to Christ’s second coming with the cross in the middle.  We find our own lives on that timeline somewhere between Christ’s first and second coming—each day moving us closer to his return in glory. 

That progression of salvation history to the second coming of Christ is what Paul is talking when he says that:  The hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.

Because Jesus will once again enter directly into human history at his return in glory on the last day, we understand that his return grows ever closer with each passing day.  Christ’s return is closer than it ever has been!  But why does Paul when he says that salvation is nearer to us now than it was in the past?  Aren’t we saved right now?

Yes we are!  But there is still more good news to come with our Lord’s return.  Right now, we have forgiveness for our sins and the strength to resist the devil and the promise that when we die our souls will go to be with the Lord.  We are saved!

But we also know about ourselves that:  our faith is not all that it should be.  We give in to temptation.  Our bodies die.  We live in a world broken by sin.  We have to walk by faith-- not by sight.

  But there is a day to come when the fullness of Christ’s redeeming work will be ours.  We will lay aside our sinful flesh forever.  Our bodies will rise from the grave never to die again.  Evil will be punished- the devil will be cast into the lake of eternal fire- and there will be a new heaven and a new earth unstained by sin just like there was in the beginning where God and man will enjoy perfect fellowship forever. 

This is Christ’s salvation that Paul is talking about that is getting closer and closer and we need to be ready and awake and prepared to meet that new, eternal day.  And so Paul says:  the hour has come for you to wake up from sleep. 

Paul used the word “sleep” to describe spiritual complacency.  We’re unaware of what’s going on around us—we’re cozy and comfortable with the way things are—we’d just as soon stay where we are right now.

The consequences of hitting the snooze alarm and going back to sleep may not be all that big a deal when it comes to our earthly responsibilities--but when it comes to our spiritual life and eternity:  the world is going to end- and spiritual complacency is deadly- and so we need to wake up because Paul says:  The night is far gone; the day is at hand.

For all who have come to faith in Jesus Christ, the dark night of sin and unbelief has come to an end--and so it is time for us to wake up, get out of our comfort zone, and get to work preparing to meet the Lord when he comes again. 

The rest of this lesson from the Bible deals with that very thing—what the “work-day” of the Christian looks like as we prepare to meet the Lord.  Paul says:  Let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.

Paul’s message is exactly the same as that of John the Baptist and of Jesus and the other apostles and the whole Christian church down to this day and this pastor:  to prepare for the day of the Lord we need to repent of our sins and be renewed in our faith in Jesus—casting off the works of darkness and putting on the armor of light.

We are going to look at some of those works of darkness that we are to cast off in more detail in just a few moments-- but suffice to say, works of darkness include everything that flows from our sinful nature as it is tempted by the world and the devil.

These works are not “freedom”—they are not legitimate lifestyle choices—they are not things about which Christians may agree to disagree.  They are darkness—that is, they flow from spiritual darkness and need to be confessed as such and repented of. 

As we cast off the works of darkness we are to put on the armor of light.  Throughout his letters Paul uses the image of armor so that his readers could visualize the spiritual equipping the Holy Spirit does for those who are Jesus’ disciples. 

There is the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness and the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. 

Just as the works of darkness much be cast off again and again, so the spiritual armor of light must be put on again and again as we hear God’s Word and receive his sacraments and are renewed in our faith by the power of the Spirit.

We would not be ready to meet the Lord when he comes if the Holy Spirit did not equip us for the spiritual battles we face as we wait for that day.  We are fighting against spiritual forces of darkness and evil in which we are to have no part.  Paul says:

Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.

            Each of the sins mentioned by Paul—which are representative rather than exhaustive of spiritual darkness—were prevalent in his day—they were part of the culture and Christians were forbidden from taking part in them.  They are still part of the world in our day and Christians are still forbidden from taking part in sin.      

            Paul puts orgies and drunkenness together because both are representative of sinful excess and extravagance.  It is not so much the sexual element of an ancient orgy that Paul is thinking about (which was certainly there and will be examined in more detail later) but about the excessive eating and drinking and carousing that went on—all of it offered up as worship to some pagan god.

Now this may seem far removed from our place and time—but is it?  When people are mauled by an crazed mob of shoppers trying to get some bargain—when holy days like Easter and Christmas and Thanksgiving can only be celebrated by many of our fellow citizens with shopping baskets filled with cases of beer—when we entertain ourselves with filth on TV—we should have no doubt that there is a god who is being worshipped with this sinful excess and extravagance-- and it is not the true God.

The same is true when it comes to the sexual morals of our nation and its citizens.  Divorce, children born out of wedlock, couples living together, and pornography have risen dramatically over the last several decades.  The culture around us is saturated by sexual images produced to sell some product. 

And it’s not only the actions of so many in our nation that have become corrupt—it’s their attitudes—hearts filled with quarreling and jealousy.  Politicians try to gain the upper hand over their opponent by stirring up class warfare.  Marketers make it their goal to instill in us envy for that which is new and improved.  And our common life is marked more and more by rudeness and hatefulness and coarseness.

The words that Paul writes to us are not ancient history—they perfectly describe our culture and in contrast to the prevailing custom—Paul says that we are to walk properly as in daytime. 

The word that is translated as “properly” means dignified and decorous.  In other words, just because we live in a culture that is filled with moral filth does not mean that we have to wallow around in it.  We are to have nothing to do with the spiritual darkness of the world around us but we are to live our lives in the light of Jesus Christ. 

It doesn’t mean that the Christian has to be stiff or uptight or a prude—but it does mean that our lives as Christians are to be demonstrably different than the unbelieving world around us--shaped by the Holy Spirit rather than the world around us.  

Paul says that we are to:  Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.  When we were baptized, we were clothed in the righteousness of Christ—his death became our own and we were raised in the power of his resurrection so that we could walk in newness of life. 

We are baptized just once—but the power of God’s promise made to us in baptism goes on and on throughout our lives so that we can put Christ on again and again, laying hold of his righteousness by faith and turning away from sin and praying for the help of the Holy Spirit so that we make no provision or place for sin in our lives.

This may mean that we have to abstain from alcohol—it may mean that we have to avoid some TV or movie that would incite lust—it may mean that we have to get a new set of friends who will encourage us to live as Christians—it may mean that we have to cut up the credit cards so that we are not constantly overspending—but whatever the sacrifice—what is it, compared to being prepared and ready to meet the Lord when he comes again?

As we wait for that day, God calls us to wake up from spiritual complacency, put off the works of darkness, and walk in the light of Christ.  Amen.

The Coming of the Son of Man

The Coming of the Son of Man

Mathew 24:36-44 On this first Sunday in Advent, when we hear the words of our Lord:  you must be ready for the Son of Man—we cannot help but think of all the preparations that need to be made before Christmas gets here.  In our minds Advent and Christmas go together.  And to an extent that is true, especially as the season progresses.

To welcome our newborn Savior and King—to understand who it is that sleeps in that cradle and what he has come to do—we do need to be prepared.  But of course those necessary preparations are something completely different than buying and decorating and baking and wrapping.  To be ready to welcome Jesus we need to be prepared spiritually.

We need to be ready to meet him as he continues to make himself present among us in Word and Sacrament—so that we understand that it is his voice that is heard in this place and his real presence received at this altar.  We need to be ready to meet Jesus whenever the Lord may call us home and we need to be ready to meet Jesus when he comes again to be our judge.

This Advent call that we hear today to be ready to meet the Lord is necessary because it is entirely possible to do everything on our to-do list over these next four weeks and still not be spiritually prepared to stand before the Lord.  The busyness of life can overwhelm and drown out the one thing needful.  It has happened before.  Jesus says:

Concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heave, nor the Son, but the Father only.  As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage…

Eating.  Drinking.  Merrymaking.  Parties to attend.  Sounds like the next four weeks, doesn’t it?  Oftentimes we think of ancient people of being somehow different than we are.  But they were just like us.  We think of their lives as being far removed from our own.  But they really weren’t.  They liked to eat and drink and have fun.  They had husbands and wives and children and friends.  There was daily work to attend to and I’m sure that they thought that there was more to do than there were hours in the day just like we do.

It’s not unique to us that the rhythm and busyness of daily life can lull us into spiritual sleep.  That’s what happened to the people of Noah’s day. 

From the creation of the world to the time of Noah the people of the world were caught up in their own lives to the exclusion of God who no longer showed up in their to-do list, so busy were they with the hustle and bustle of life.  But the way that they were living—busy with life but blind to God-- did not please the Lord.  The Bible says that: 

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually and the earth was filled with violence. 

Sounds eerily familiar, doesn’t it.  Eerily modern.  I bet that if you asked the people about their lives at the time they would have thought that everything, for the most part, was fine.  Sure, there were some bad apples.  Yes, there was crime.  No, they didn’t have a lot of time for God because after all, they were busy with necessities of life.  But that’s just normal, isn’t it?

God thought differently about their lives.  God regarded their lives as wicked.  He saw no goodness in their souls because he didn’t live there.  The Bible says that God was sorry that he made man and it grieved him in his heart.  But God also loved man and wanted to call them back to himself—he wanted them to turn from their sins and to return to him in faith.

And so God sent Noah to them with a message of judgment and salvation.  Noah preached for decades all the while he was building an ark as the instrument of God’s salvation.  But in the end, no one but Noah and his family believed God’s message—no one but Noah and his family were ready to meet the Lord’s judgment.  No one but Noah and his family were saved.  Jesus says that the people of that day continued living just as they had before:

until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

Now this is an incredible statement because it shows just how blind and deaf we can become to the Advent message calling us to spiritual preparation.  There were decades of preaching.  Judgment was promised.  There was a giant boat being built.  Salvation was offered.  And yet so busy were they with daily life that they never gave any of this a thought until the day that Noah entered the ark and the door was raised and the drops of God’s judgment began to fall.

What about us? Can we honestly say that the world of today is any better than Noah’s day?  Is it possible that God is pleased when he looks upon the world we live in, filled with violence and sexual immorality and crass materialism?  Are our lives different than the people of Noah’s age, consumed with the day- to-day?  Are we less busy and more open to the call of God? 

God’s message hasn’t changed.  There is a judgment coming that is more terrible, more encompassing than even the flood.  The world as we know it will be destroyed by fire and every person will stand before a righteous judge whose standard will be the holiness of God. 

But there is also a way of salvation!  Jesus Christ is the enduring ark of salvation, made not of gopher wood but of the flesh of his virgin mother and from the church goes out the message:  forsake your sins and come to Christ and be saved! 

Will we listen or will we delay?  God grant that we would listen for the return of Christ will come suddenly and with a terrible finality.  Jesus says that when the he returns:

Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left.

            I would bet that as the people of Noah’s day went about their daily lives, with Noah building an ark in their midst and calling them to repentance—more than a few of them said to themselves:  “He’s right!  My life is on the wrong track!  I have been ignoring my relationship with God”.  But they always found a reason to wait just one more day to turn from sins and receive God’s salvation until that day there was not another day.

That’s the way it will be when Jesus returns—suddenly and finally while people are living as they always have.  All of the warning signs are there for those who have the faith to see them for what they are.  Signs that are just as clear as nails going into boards being shaped into a boat.  And the call to turn from sins and turn to Christ still rings out from the true prophets of God. 

But life goes on as it always has (and always must) until the day of Christ’s return for no one knows that day or hour—not the angels in heaven—not even Jesus as he walked the earth.  The only question for us as we go about our daily lives, making a living and doing chores and enjoying life, is whether or not we have heeded the signs and listened to the Lord and repented of our sins and trusted in Christ for salvation. 

That is the preparation that must be done now because the blast of the trumpet and the appearance of the Lord in the clouds will be immediate and final and those who have delayed will be destroyed.  Now is the time to get ready for the coming of the Son of Man!  Jesus says:

Stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.

            If you have ever had your home or shop or vehicle broken into, you know what a sickening, helpless feeling that is.  Why didn’t we hear them?  Why weren’t we more proactive in protecting ourselves?  Why weren’t we ready?  We are outraged that someone has taken what belongs to us and we want to do everything in our power to make sure that it never happens again. 

That is how we react when our material goods are taken but there is coming a day when our souls will be required of us.  That may be the day of our death.  That may be the day of our Lord’s return if he comes before we die.  But on that day the one thing that truly, eternally matters will be handed over to God and Jesus asks every person:  What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?  We do not know when that day is, when our soul will be required of us.  Jesus will come at a time when we do not expect him just as a thief in the night and the time to be prepared will be over. 

The question for us is this:  are we spiritually awake and ready for that day?  Will we hand our soul over to the Lord and say:  Lord, this is yours!  You have created and redeemed it by the blood of your Son and by the power of Holy Spirit made it your own in Holy Baptims?  Or will it be taken from us by force of judgment and condemnation and cast into the eternal, terrible fires of hell?  Eternity is what is at stake and that is why Jesus says to us:  You must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

This morning we have heard the call of Jesus to be ready for his return.  We know that it will be certain but unexpected.  We have been warned that others have turned a deaf ear to this call in the past and we know our own tendency to get caught up in daily life to the detriment of our soul. 

And so how do we get ready to welcome the Lord as the babe of Bethlehem and the One who is present among us in Word and Sacrament and our Judge on the last Day?  We repent of our sins.  And we turn in faith to Jesus Christ to receive the forgiveness he won for us on the cross.  We come to church and listen to what Jesus has to say to us receive his body and blood in Holy Communion.  We put flesh and bone on our faith by doing those good works he has planned for us to do. 

God grant us a day of grace and the Spirit’s help so that we can be prepared to meet the Son of Man!

Great Is Your Faithfulness!