Matthew 3:1-12    NT p. 2 or 1180

[1] In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming,

[2] "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near."

[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.' "

[4] Now John wore clothing of camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.

[5] Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan,

[6] and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

[7] 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?

[8] Bear fruit worthy of repentance.

[9] Do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.

[10] Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

[11] "I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

[12] His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

[NRSV]

1 Timothy 1:12-17   NT p. 195 or 1473

[12] I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he judged me faithful and appointed me to his service,

[13] even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief,

[14] and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

[15] The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - of whom I am the foremost.

[16] But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience, making me an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life.

[17] To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

[NRSV]

LET US PRAY:

INTRODUCTION:

A husband and wife were having some problems at home. They had argued and now they were giving each other the silent treatment. It lasted all weekend long, it was miserable. On Monday, the husband had an important appointment and had to be at the airport on time to catch a flight. However, he didn't want to be the first to break the silence. He was just too stubborn to do that. But he needed his wife's help. So, he finally wrote on a piece of paper, "Please wake me up at 5.00 a.m." The next morning the man woke up, looked at the clock and discovered it was 9.00 a.m. He completely missed his flight. He was furious. And he was about the hunt his wife down and read her the riot act for not waking him up. But then he noticed a piece of paper on the bed. There, in his wife's handwriting was written: "It is 5.00 A.M., wake up!" (1)

What can you say? This couple had some serious problems didn't they. They needed help. But what they needed most was reconciliation. And that is exactly what we all need.

As we come to this Third Sunday of Advent, we hear the familiar voice of John the Baptist bearing down on us once again. Weird Uncle John is out in the wilderness shouting out his message of repentance and reconciliation. That's not what we want to hear right about now, is it? What we want to hear are those sweet, heart warming stories of how Christmas and the birth of the Christ Child changed someone's life. We want to hear the how someone's heart was melted.

We want to feel the warm fuzzies of Christmas. We don't want to hear some Bible thumping, wild eyed crackpot standing on the corner in the wilderness, shouting at us to repent. It ruins the mood. It's like a sour note or a voice cracking while someone is singing "Silent Night." It grates on the nerves.

And yet here he is. He shows up during Advent whether we want him to or not.

He shows up each year as the voice of one reminding us of the purpose of Christmas.

He shows up each year so that we don't get lost in the celebration or distracted from God's purpose.

He shows up each year to help us focus.

He's blunt and to the point. He shouts "Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven has come near."

We don't like that bluntness and yet that's the purpose of the baby we call the Christ Child. That's why the Son of God became flesh and blood. That's why He will die on the cross. "Repent," will be His very first message and His mission for the Disciples.

We don't like John much because of his bluntness. But that bluntness gets our attention. And that's why John is here. To prepare people for the message of the Messiah.

We know John is necessary to the season but we much prefer Paul's way of saying it. In this letter to Timothy, Paul writes: [15] "The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - of whom I am the foremost."

If Jesus came to save sinners, then that means we're sinners because He came to save us. And if we're sinners and sinners need forgiveness and reconciliation. Then obviously, we need forgiveness and reconciliation. And the only way to receive forgiveness and experience reconciliation is to repent and rely on the Mercy and Grace of Christ Jesus.

So, John's right. We'd prefer to hear it in the tones of Paul writing to his protégé, Timothy but whether we hear it in an affirmational way or the blunt way of John, we still need to hear it. And we still need to heed it.

In order to do that we need to RECEIVE IT AND BELIEVE IT; LEAVE IT AND RELIEVE IT THEN WEAVE IT AND ACHIEVE IT.

I. RECEIVE IT AND BELIEVE IT:

First we have to RECEIVE IT AND BELIEVE IT.

That may be the hardest part of all. We don't like to think of ourselves in negative terms. Unfortunately the words SIN and SINNER have some very negative connotations. We don't like to think of ourselves as sinners, yet that's exactly what and who we are. That's the Biblical description of the state of the world.

Paul says, "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." The word "ALL" doesn't leave anyone out does it? The Biblical prognosis is that the is living in a fallen state.

If not, then how do you explain what happened on September 11th? If not, then how do you explain all the other ugly and tragic things that happen in the world when one human being perpetrates something against another?

You can't. If you try you wind up like the characters in Monty Python who walked around saying: "My brain hurts." If you try to explain it away, all you have is chaos and a world without meaning, purpose or hope.

Shel Silverstein was a prolific poet and wrote some pretty bizarre and hilarious poems. One of my favorites is: Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take The Garbage Out! Let me share it with you.

Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout
Would not take the garbage out!
She'd scour the pots and scrape the pans,
Candy the yams and spice the hams,
And though her Daddy would scream and shout
She simply would not take the garbage out.
And so it piled up to the ceilings:
Coffee grounds, potato peelings,
Brown bananas, rotten peas,
Chunks of sour cottage cheese.
It filled the can, it covered the floor,
It cracked the window and blocked the door
With bacon rinds and chicken bones,
Drippy ends of ice cream cones,
Prune pits, peach pits, orange peel,
Gloppy glumps of cold oatmeal,
Pizza crusts and withered greens,
Soggy beans and tangerines,
Crusts of black burned buttered toast,
Gristly bits of beefy roasts . . .
The garbage can rolled on down the hall,
It raised the roof, it broke the wall . . .
Greasy napkins, cookie crumbs,
Globs of gooey bubble gum,
Cellophane from green baloney,
Rubbery blubbery macaroni,
Peanut butter, caked and dry,
Curdled milk and crusts of pie,
Moldy melons, dried up mustard,
Eggshells mixed with lemon custard,
Cold french fries and rancid meat,
Yellow lumps of cream of wheat.
At last the garbage reached so high
That finally it touched the sky.
And all the neighbors moved away,
And none of her friends would come to play.
And finally Sarah Cynthia Stout
Said, "OK, I'll take the garbage out!"
But then, of course, it was too late . . .
The garbage reached across the state,
From New York to the Golden Gate.
And there, in the garbage she did hate,
Poor Sarah met an awful fate,
That I cannot right now relate
Because the hour is too late.
But children, remember Sarah Stout
And always take the garbage out! (2)

The truth is that we are all like Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout. We have all fallen. We've all been separated from God through our own sinfulness. We've all let the garbage of that fall, the garbage of our sins, stink up our lives. And now we need reconciliation.

That's the message of John the Baptist. That's the message of Advent. That's the message and purpose of the birth of the Christ Child. We have to RECEIVE IT AND BELIEVE IT. We can't keep sending the message and the messenger away. We have to RECEIVE IT AND then BELIEVE IT before we can LEAVE IT AND RELIEVE IT.

II. LEAVE IT AND RELIEVE IT:

A. That's the second aspect. We have to LEAVE IT AND RELIEVE IT.

What do I mean by that? Well, once we've RECEIVED IT. Once we've acknowledged that we are sinners in need of forgiveness and reconciliation, we have to move to the second phase, the actual Repentance. Repentance is the only way we can experience the forgiveness that Christ offers. Repentance is the only way we can RELIEVE IT. And in order to RELIEVE IT we have to LEAVE IT at the foot of the Cross of Christ.

You see, Sin has a horrible effect on us. It effects us on all levels. Just like Salvation, sin effects our Past, Present and Future.

Repentance and Forgiveness aren't really about the Past but rather about the Present and the Future. Sin, on the other hand, is about the Past. Sin holds us captive to the Past and doesn't let us live in the Present with any hope for the Future. Sin is the chain the holds us bound to the Past.

Sin focuses on the wrong. It allows a hurt or an action to become the distorted reference point for the rest of our lives. It doesn't make any difference whether that hurt or action was one we caused or one perpetrated against us. It's still sin and it still anchors us to the Past.

I won't ask you to raise your hand but how many of you have something you still feel guilty about? We all do. Sin wants to keep us there in the past, wallowing in the guilt, wallowing in the shame of what we've done. Sin wants us wallowing in the disappointment to ourselves, our parents and even God. Sin chains us to those deeds. Sin chains us to the Past.

Or how many of you have a relationship that is still strained. Maybe you can still feel the scathing words of a colleague. Maybe you can still hear the disrespectful words of one of your children. Maybe you can still hear the voice of a parent or a teacher or a spouse telling you how stupid you were or how worthless you are. Maybe you can still hear that voice saying: "You'll never amount to anything."

A preacher went to visit a family with three teenagers. Mom and the teenagers had all visited the Church but not Dad. As each of the kids came into the family room where they were sitting, Dad introduced each of them. "This here is Frank, he's 17. He's our clumsy one. He trips over the pattern in the tile. This is Judy, she's 15. She's our chubby one, all she does is eat and talk on the phone. She'll be as big as a house before she's 20. And here's Eric, he's our stupid one. He can't even pass his math class."

Now that's a fictitious family but we've all heard parents say things like that. Maybe you've heard things like that. Or maybe you've said things like that. And we wonder why some youth have so many problems. You see, it's not just the sins that we've committed that hold us in the Past. Sometimes it's also the sins that have been committed against us. They chain us to the Past, as well.

B. They chain us to the Past and keep us from living in the Present with any hope of the Future. For when we're chained to the Past, we can't see the present and we can't see the future. We can't even envision a future any different than the Past.

We can't even live in the Present because the Past haunts us so much.

So, what are we supposed to do? That's where John comes in. We're called to Repent. Because Repentance is the only way that we can RELIEVE IT. We have to LEAVE IT at the foot of the cross in order to RELIEVE IT.

Now, I know some of you are sitting there thinking, "Okay, I'll buy that about my own actions and my own sin. I can see how Repentance will help RELIEVE the guilt and pain of my sin. But how can Repentance help with the pain caused by those who have sinned against me?"

That's simple, that kind of Repentance is called Forgiveness. We're called to forgive in the same spirit in which we're forgiven. And when we don't forgive, that lack of forgiveness chains us to that Past hurt. We have to break the chains through repentance and forgiveness. We have to Repent of our lack of Forgiveness for others.

Let me give you an example of what happens when you choose not to be chained to the Past and instead offer Forgiveness.

In 1994, young Ryan Jarvis was playing basketball in his high school gym when another boy hit him in the eye with an elbow. That blow severed the boy's optic nerve and blinded him in one eye. This was, of course, a family tragedy. The boy's life would be permanently affected and his desire to play basketball definitely curtailed.

His dad, Ed Jarvis, had to decide what to do. He could sue the high school. He could sue the family of the boy who had injured his son. Ed Jarvis could have gone on talk shows or raised money for kids suffering from similar injuries. More than 40,000 serious eye injuries resulted from sporting accidents in 1995.

But Ed Jarvis did none of the above. Instead, he invented a face shield to be used by young people playing contact sports. The shield invented by Jarvis, a former food distribution executive, is now the face guard of choice in the National Football League. Tragedies lead some people to feel bitter and resentful. Sometimes they become mired in feeling sorry for themselves. They never move out of the Past.

But sometimes suffering coupled with a healthy dose of forgiveness can produce character and good for the Present and the Future, just as it did in the cases of Ryan and Ed Jarvis. (3)

Jesus came to offer us Forgiveness and Reconciliation. He knew the burden of our guilt and shame. Jesus came to RELIEVE IT. All we have to do is RECEIVE IT and BELIEVE IT.

III. WEAVE IT AND ACHIEVE IT:

A. Once we've RECEIVED IT AND BELIEVED IT; once we've taken time to LEAVE IT at the cross and are RELIEVED of the guilt and shame through Repentance, then we can WEAVE IT AND ACHIEVE IT.

And what I mean by that is that we can begin WEAVING the Good News of our Salvation, the Good News of our Forgiveness and Reconciliation throughout our entire lives. And we can ACHIEVE what God has created us for. Through Reconciliation and Forgiveness we can live in the Present with a hope of the Future. We can live what we believe. We can live what we've received.

One night, Nancy Martin's three-year-old daughter Rolana kept her covers pulled up tight over her face. All you could see were her eyes. And she refused to join her mother for evening prayers. When Nancy asked what was wrong, Rolana replied in a quavering voice, "Today my Sunday school teacher said Jesus came to take our chins away." (4)

Jesus didn't come to take our chins away. Jesus came to take our Sins away and RELIEVE us from the burden that they cause so that we can live the life God intended us to live. Jesus came to change lives. Jesus came to bring change through the gifts of Forgiveness and Reconciliation

B. This is what Jesus can do. John was born into a Christian home. His mother's greatest desire was that he become a preacher. At age six his mother died and he became an orphan as a boy and ended up wandering the streets of London. Later, he followed his sea-captain father in the Royal Navy where he learned navigation. But John didn't like the discipline of the Navy, so he deserted. Caught, he was flogged, and eventually discharged.

He escaped to Africa where he could "sin freely" and sought refuge in a home where a harem was kept. The leader of the harem enjoyed mistreating the young Englishman; she frequently made him eat off the floor like a dog, and several times she lashed him to the bed and whipped him.

John managed to escape to a merchant ship, where he became a navigator again. But his drinking led him into serious trouble. He was beaten, thrown into the ship's hold, then knocked off the ship. The captain harpooned him and dragged him back onto the ship, where he was again dropped into the hold. This time he was beaten, wounded and was near death.

A storm blew in. Not just any storm but one that battered and threatened the ship. John had read The Imitation of Christ, and during this life-threatening voyage, laying there all alone, John came to himself - much like the prodigal Son. Then and there John turned back toward God and gave his heart to Christ. He became a Christian.

Ironically, John's life straightened out and he eventually became a ship's captain himself. And for six years, John served as captain of a slave ship. He gradually came to abhor slavery and later crusaded against it.

John became greatly influenced by George Whitefield and the Wesleys. He married his long time sweetheart and began studying for the ministry and preaching in whatever vacant building he could find. Known as the "old converted sea captain," he attracted large audiences. He was ordained within the Anglican Church, and in 1764 he took his first church.

John Newton would eventually provide the church with some of its greatest hymns of faith ever written, including "Amazing Grace." John Newton's life is an example of the greatness of God's grace and the power of Reconciliation. (5) He WEAVED IT throughout his entire life and ACHIEVED what God had for him all along.

CONCLUSION:

Author Dennis Covington recalls that on long summer evenings when he and his buddies had been out fishing or playing ball, each boy's mother would call him home in a different way. Most mothers would lean out the back door and yell for her child. "Frankie! Danny! Stanley! Come home!" Some mothers had big cowbells outside the back door, and they would ring the cowbell to call a child home.

But Dennis' dad was always the one to call him home. And Mr. Covington didn't just stand on the porch and yell for Dennis. He wandered down to the lake and softly called "Dennis." And father and son would walk home together. As Covington writes, "He always came to the place I was before he called my name." (6)

And that's exactly what God did for us. In Jesus, God came to the place we were before He called our names. He came for each of us. He came for you and you and me. Jesus is "Immanuel - God with us."

But we have to accept Him as Lord and Savior of our lives. We have to RECEIVE IT AND BELIEVE IT; LEAVE IT AND RELIEVE IT THEN WEAVE IT AND ACHIEVE IT. If we don't, then the Good News will be just like this unopened present. We'll have the gift but unless we open it, we'll never know what's inside. It will sit there useless. It will be pretty. I will brighten the room. But it won't do what it's intended to do until we open it up and see what's inside.

It's the same with the Good News of Jesus. We can RECEIVE IT but if we don't BELIEVE IT receiving it is pointless.

We can even RECEIVE IT AND BELIEVE IT but if we don't LEAVE all our burdens at the foot of the cross and let the grace of God RELIEVE us of their burden it's like this unopened present. And what good is an unopened present at Christmas.

If we don't open it and WEAVE IT throughout every aspect of our daily lives we will never ACHIEVE God's plan for us.

Don't let the garbage of your life, or the garbage others have tried to dump on you clutter up your life. This Advent, do a little spiritual housecleaning. Get ready for the guest of honor. Heed John's word. Repent and break the chains that are holding you in the past.

1. Sent by a friend

2. Shel Silverstein, Where The Sidewalk Ends (New York, NY: Harper & Row Publishers, 1974), pp. 70-71.

3. Lectionary Preaching Workbook. CSS.

4. Nancy Martin, Manzanita, Oregon.

5. Gleaned from various sources

6. Dennis Covington. Salvation on Sand Mountain (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Longman Publishing Company), 239-240