“What should we do?” (Luke 3:7-18)

Luke 3:7-18

Pastor Tom Johnson, December 13, 2015

A Farmer walked through his field one cold winter morning. On the ground lay a Snake, stiff and frozen with the cold. The Farmer knew how deadly the Snake could be, and yet he picked it up and put it in his coat to warm it back to life. The Snake soon revived, and when it had enough strength, bit the man who had been so kind to it. The bite was deadly and the Farmer felt his life slipping away. As he drew his last breath, he said to those standing around: “Learn from my example not to take pity on a scoundrel” (Aesop's Fable: The Farmer and the Snake).

At first it seems that John the Baptist is as cautious with the crowds coming to hear him preach and be baptized. Politicians are supposed to flatter their audience and supporters. John insults them. “You brood of vipers!” he calls them, “Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” He warns of the Messiah who is coming as a tree farmer to reap the fruit he has planted and cut down and throw the fruitless trees into the fire. John’s charge is a bit abstract: “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” “What shall we do?” the crowds ask. “Share with others what you do not absolutely need for yourself.” Make your surplus useful to those around you. Fulfill the Royal Law and Golden Rule to love your neighbor as yourself.  “What shall we do?” even the ill-reputed and despised tax collectors ask. “Don’t try to collect more from people than you’re supposed to. “What shall we do?” the soldiers ask. “Don’t coerce people. Don’t take bribes. And be content with your salary.”

What makes John’s message unique is that he can be very abstract—bear fruit in keeping with repentance—but he can also be very concrete. He names specific behaviors and attitudes that need to change. What shall we do? We should realize that when we have more than we need, it pleases God for us to provide for the needy and less fortunate around us. We bear fruit that will bring joy to the heart of Messiah when he comes. What shall we who are in positions of power and authority do? We should remember that we are accountable to God and to those whom we serve. It was good news for the tax collector and soldier who began to see their vocations as serving the greater good and not bring harm to their neighbor. God is disappointed by the misuse of power. It saddens him and it brings hardship to others. Money is one of those common threads too. The love of money does seem to be the root of all kinds of evil (1 Tim 6:10). When Christ comes, he will be pleased to see the fruit of generosity and the heart of a cheerful giver.

What shall we do in preparation for Messiah? We should bear fruit that will make this world a better place. We should see our various vocations as a way to serve our neighbor. We should remember that whatever we do—even if it seems small and insignificant—is part of a greater story of how God is working through us. “What shall we do?” is a fantastic question. It reveals the heart of those people who went out into the wilderness to hear John preach and be baptized. They went to the water of the river Jordan ready to have their sins washed away. They listened to the Word of God for strength and guidance to live better lives. They went back to their jobs with a renewed sense of calling. Their work was to be the answer to our collective prayer “Give us this day our daily bread.” “What shall we do?” is a question that is only possible from a mind that doesn’t have all the answers. “What shall we do?” reveals a will that is ready to make a change. “What shall we do?” says “I am teachable. Instruct me. Mold me.” This question—“What shall we do?”—is the true essence of the meaning of repentance—a new behavior—a renewed way of thinking—a change from a path of sin toward a path of forgiveness and salvation.

Charles Spurgeon, a 19th century London preacher, said that “repentance is not just a change of mind, it is the change of the mind itself.” “What shall we do?” says I am ready for life-transformation. I am prepared for God to change the way I speak, act, understand my role at home, in the world, and through my particular vocation. “What shall we do?” is another way of asking for what we prayed for earlier in the service: “Wisdom to see your purpose” and “openness to hear your will.”

John invites us to imagine a world that is less venomous—not so much a family of snakes digging our fangs into one another—where we poison our neighbor in order to accumulate more stuff and amass more power. Instead we bear fruit for God. What shall we do? We learn from his example to have pity on scoundrels. This is the good news—God sends his Son to crush the head of the serpent. He takes away the poison of sin from under our tongues and out of our lives. He takes the bite of death on his heel on the Cross of Calvary. He overcomes death and the grave three days later. He assures us that he comes to make all things new. Through the washing of water, the Holy Spirit, and power of the Word he renews our lives. He comes to give us purpose. He comes to give our diverse vocations meaning. He comes to transforms a brood of vipers into a loving and nurturing family.

And so we pray: “Even so. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”

"He who began a good work among you" (Philippians 1:6)

Philippians 1:3-11

 

Pastor Tom Johnson, December 6, 2015

In his letter to the church at Philippi, Paul gives us hope in a future that represents not our deepest fears but our highest hopes. God will deliver. God is faithful. He says, “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.” “God has started to form excellence in your life; and without a shadow of a doubt, I am sure that he will finish it with perfection when Jesus comes again.” Paul wants to put us into a kind of “grace sandwich”—between two slices of grace—one on either side of our daily lives. The first slice of grace is what God has already done for us and the second is what God will do for us in the future.

In Christ, God has begun a good work in us. In the first Advent, the eternal Son of God became human. In his life, he has begun a good work in us. He lived a perfect, sinless life. He healed the sick, raised the dead, and preached good news. In his death, he has begun a good work in us. He died to destroy death—breaking the power of guilt and condemnation in our lives. He has begun the good work of forgiveness that pours out from the Cross of Christ. In his ascension, he has begun a good work in us. He ascended to the right hand of the Father and he sends us the Holy Spirit. Through Baptism he has begun a good work in us. He has made us “partakers of grace,” cleansed and adopted us. We live our lives with this slice of grace behind us and upon us—this first book end of promise—that God loves us and is at work in our lives. This assurance of the grace of God in our lives should be the antidote we need in a broken world. When doubt arises—when guilt sets in—when confusion overwhelms us—when the lure and things of this world tempt us—we stand firm on the Rock—confident in the person and work of Jesus Christ, “the one who began a good work in us.”

After the terrorist attack and mass killing in San Bernardino, California, one of the greatest cries of desperation was written in large letters on the front page of the New York Daily News. It said, “God isn’t fixing this.” My social media lit up with similar messages. “The victims don’t need your thoughts and prayers. They need your action. We need societal change, not prayer.” This is not unlike the psalmist David who tells us that he was repeatedly asked and challenged by the question “Where is your God?” (Psalm 42). “God isn’t fixing this,” we cry. But why do anything unless our hearts are filled with compassion and our thoughts and prayers result? Remember that Paul was a perpetrator of great evil and death. God transformed his life through the prayers of the saints. And how are we to act, if we don’t do so prayerfully and believe God is working through us? And how are we to change like Paul did without the life-transforming power of the Gospel? And how will we strive for peace apart from the Prince of Peace?

I understand the despair. I also feel the hopelessness. If we are honest with ourselves, our track record is not so good. We appear to be—to our core—a violent species, we humans. We need God to fix this. We need God to act. We need his transformation. I’m sure you saw the pictures yourselves: the evacuated workers went onto the golf course and started to form circles. The victims themselves prayed. Their thoughts and prayers were with those who were shot, their friends, their families, the medical professionals working to save lives, and law enforcement to bring true justice. This is our Advent prayer: “Stir up your power and come! Do something. Visit us in our affliction.” As we prayed earlier in the service in the prayer of the day: “Give us strength in our conflicts and shed light on our path through the darkness of this world.” The good news of Advent and our Scripture is that Christ is with you. God’s love precedes us and draws near us every day. We live in between.

He is the Alpha and Omega—the “A to Z.” We live out our lives somewhere in the middle of the alphabet. What God has begun he will bring to completion. What God started in our lives, he will finish. This is the other slice of the grace of God. We live from grace to grace. God has placed you and me right in the middle of these two book ends—the Son of God who came into the world and the Son of God who will return to make all things new. This is an assurance of God’s grace now based on the certainty of what God has done in the past and what he will do in the future. Jesus has come and he is coming back. And when he comes again in his full glory, he will finally present us pure and blameless. On that day, we will finally appear as we truly are and are destined to be—the holy, radiant Bride of Christ—pure and blameless and ready to spend eternity with our groom, Jesus Christ.

From beginning to end, this is the work of God. From start to finish it is to the glory and praise of God. From the time God entered our lives until his exit strategy, we can be assured that God is faithful and our salvation is secure—I am sure of this, that he who overcame our unbelief will overcome our lingering doubts—he who forgave the sin of our youth will forgive the sin of our old age—he who brought us into the light while we were in darkness will bring us into the eternal light of him who shines more brightly than the sun. I am confident of this. He has begun his good work in you and me. He will finish what he has started—he “will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.” Amen. Come Lord Jesus.