God In The Manger: REPENTANCE Matthew 3:1-12 John s message turns our mind to Christ. A sermon preached by Rev. Dr. William O. (Bud) Reeves First United Methodist Church Fort Smith, Arkansas December 4, 2016
With all the shopping going on this time of year, stores have to take extra precautions about shoplifting. Still, some shoplifters get away with stolen merchandise. I heard about one department store that received a note a few weeks after Christmas. The note said, I stole from your store, but I know it s wrong. I am a Christian, and I can t sleep at night because I feel guilty. Inside the envelope with the anonymous note was $50. Then the P.S. at the bottom of the note said, If I still can t sleep, I ll send you the rest of the money. That shoplifter came clean almost. Advent is a time to come clean before God. Not just almost, but all the way clean. Christians for centuries have designated Advent as a time to prepare our lives spiritually for the birthday of Jesus, to make room in our hearts for him to dwell. It s part of the plan that God has put together for our salvation. God s plan starts with a radical act of love and grace that we are calling God in the Manger. Jesus was born as God in flesh, Emmanuel, God with us. This gift of God fulfills our hope for a Savior. We shared the good news of hope last week. Today our response to God s grace involves REPENTANCE. That s where the grown-up John the Baptist comes into the Advent story. Last week we told the story of John s birth, when his father Zechariah spoke the prophetic word of hope. When John grew up, he called the people of God to repentance because the Messiah was on his way. Jesus was already alive, of course; he was almost as old as John. But before Jesus could begin his public ministry, John had to prepare the way. And he did, like this: Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven has come near. 1 John the Baptist was an eccentric character, wearing the rough clothing and eating the simple diet of the desert. He lived that way because that was how the prophet Elijah in the Old Testament lived, and John was self-consciously fulfilling the role of Elijah. Why? Because the Jews believed that a prophet like Elijah would arise before the advent of the Messiah. Everything about John pointed to the dawning of a new age his appearance, his baptism of people for
the forgiveness of their sins, his challenge of the religious authorities. Something big was about to happen! John saved his most passionate proclamation for the religious leaders of the day. When the Sadducees and Pharisees came out into the wilderness to hear him preach, he said to them, You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. 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. 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. 2 Having the proper family background or even having the right religion is of no help before God if your heart is not right with him. You need to repent. Why bring up something like repentance in the middle of the holiday season? This is the feel good time of year; we don t need to be reminded of our sins and shortcomings. We ve got parties to attend, decorations to put up, gifts to buy. Who has time for repentance? Repentance comes in January, after we have overindulged at Christmas. I m not trying to dampen anybody s holiday celebration. But you know as well as I do that our celebration of the coming of Christ has gotten way off base. How can we find an authentic celebration of Advent and Christmas? How can we make it real again? How can we get beyond the shallow trappings of the cultural Christmas and approach God in the manger of Bethlehem? I think it has to do with repentance. So let s look today at what John the Baptist called fruits worthy of repentance. I d like to call them the positive practices of Advent. Doesn t that sound better? I believe these positive practices will make your Christmas fuller, deeper, and better. The first positive practice of Advent is to center on Christ. The whole point of repentance is not just to feel bad or guilty or to turn away from something. The Greek word in the New Testament is metanoia; it means to turn your mind around. It really means to turn
toward something more than away from it. Repentance means to turn away from sin, but even more to turn toward Christ to center our lives, to focus on him. Arin Ahmed was 20 years old when she got on a crowded bus in Jerusalem a few years ago. She looked like a typical teenager tight blue jeans, short shirt, backpack except Arin knew she would never make her destination, because her backpack was filled with explosives. She was on a suicide mission, until she got cold feet and a warmed heart. She began to look at the other passengers on the bus, and she could see that they were more than just hateful Jews. They were grandmothers and children and fellow students and fathers returning home from work. Suddenly she thought, How can I do such a thing? She got off the bus and ran back to the car where two of her accomplices were waiting and told them she was canceling the suicide mission. They were furious, but they let her in the car and drove back to their hometown of Bethlehem. (Isn t that ironic?) A few days later Arin and her accomplices were arrested by Israeli police. But because she had changed her mind, she got a visit from the Defense Minister himself. He wanted to find out more about her. Why did she change? How many want to change, but can t? How could more suicide bombings be prevented? In their interview, Arin begged for the mercy of the Israelis. She said, Mr. Minister, what will become of me? I have no future. I don t want my whole life to be ruined because of this. I m at the beginning of life. I changed my mind. 3 That s what repentance is changing your mind, a mental revolution, turning from sin and toward Christ. It is a battle in which the powers of sin are deposed and Christ is put on the throne of our heart. It is the inauguration of the Kingdom of God in our lives. We can t totally separate ourselves from the culture of Christmas that has grown up around us, but we can keep ourselves from getting caught up in the frenzy by keeping our focus on Christ.
Once we are centered, then we can simplify our celebration. That s the second positive practice of Advent, the second fruit of repentance. Christmas has become so commercial and so complicated and so important to the economy that we cannot even do it in four weeks any more. Christmas has to start early in November to allow the proper promotion to take place. In the Christian year, the season of Advent ends and Christmas begins on Christmas Eve and lasts for twelve days until Epiphany. But because we have been promoting Christmas since Halloween, when the time really comes to celebrate Christmas, we are sick of it. If we hear Little Drummer Boy one more time, somebody is going to get hurt! This is not a new problem, of course. Charlie Brown lamented the commercialization of Christmas way back in the 1960 s in the Peanuts TV special. Even his dog Snoopy entered the commercialized Christmas decorating contest. Eventually the Peanuts gang found the true meaning of Christmas when Linus stepped to the center of a bare stage and under the light of a single spotlight began to tell the story, In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed Just because it s not a new problem does not mean that we don t need to deal with it. We can simplify our celebration of Christmas. It s not that complicated, or else it wouldn t be called simplifying. Try this: Don t buy so much stuff that you spend half a year paying off your credit balances. Show some restraint in your personal consumption of food and beverages. Use the old Christmas decorations instead of buying the newest trend in outdoor lighting. Carve out some time for family time, devotional reading and prayer as we approach the Christmas miracle. These are ways we can center and simplify and show the fruit of our repentance. The third positive practice or fruit of repentance is to serve somebody. One of the most powerful ways we can center on Christ and simplify our celebration is to serve someone in need. Do something for someone else. This is a season of good will, and we are
right on target with activities in the church like helping needy families and many other things we do. In serving God s children, we are serving Christ. This is a great way to repent of the materialism and self-absorption that create a barrier between us and God. If we get used to doing that during Christmas, it can become part of our yearround discipleship. What better witness to the love of God can there be than to help a child of God who needs it? I read a great story several years ago by a woman who found a new way to celebrate Christmas. Her husband Mike hated Christmas not the true meaning of Christmas, but all the commercial aspects of it: the overspending, the overeating, the frantic rush of the holidays. So she was looking for something unique to give him that wouldn t be just another gift bought in desperation. Their son was a wrestler, and his school team had a non-league match in December against a wrestling group from an inner-city church. These kids had no uniforms, no wrestling shoes, no protective headgear nothing. The school team from the suburbs in their spiffy uniforms just demolished the kids from the ghetto. Mike told his wife that he wished at least one of the church team kids could have won. He was afraid that such a poor showing would destroy their confidence even to try to compete. That s when Mike s wife got the idea for his Christmas present. That afternoon, she went to a local sporting goods store and bought an assortment of wrestling headgear and shoes and sent them anonymously to the inner-city church. On Christmas Eve, she placed an envelope on the tree, with a note inside telling Mike what she had done for him. He loved it! His smile was the brightest thing about Christmas. Each Christmas from then on, Mike s wife would give that kind of gift, helping someone in difficulty and putting the envelope on the tree for Mike. It was always the last gift opened, and their three kids looked forward to that moment as much as their own presents. I can witness to the power of that kind of gift. One of the few Christmas gifts that ever made me cry was the year my daughter-in-
law, who is an optometrist, wrapped up a card telling me that my gift was an exam and treatment and a new set of glasses for a little boy whose family couldn t afford the eye care. It was the best Christmas present I got that year. But Mike s story doesn't end there. A few years later he developed cancer and died. When Christmas rolled around that year, his wife was so wrapped up in grief that she barely got the tree up. Her three kids, who were now young adults, were all home, and after they had all gone to bed, she still placed the envelope on the tree in Mike s memory. On Christmas morning, when she saw the tree, next to her envelope there were three more. She said, Each of our children had placed an envelope on the tree for their dad. The tradition has grown and someday will expand even further with our grandchildren standing around the tree with wideeyed anticipation watching as their fathers take down the envelopes. Mike's spirit, like the Christmas spirit, will always be with us. 4 As you come to the Lord s Table today, think about these positive practices of Advent. Center on Christ. Simplify your celebration. Serve somebody. These are the fruits worthy of repentance. This is the true spirit of Christmas. Let this mental revolution take place in you. Practice a positive Advent. And you will know that the Kingdom of heaven has come near. You will see God in the manger. 1 Matthew 3:2. 2 Matthew 3:7-10. 3 Suzanne Fields, When a Suicide Bomber Fails, www.townhall.com, July 1, 2002. 4 Charles Middleton, PreachingToday.com.