Changing Directions
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Matthew 3:1-12
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SERMON: Changing Directions
This is the second Sunday of Advent. Advent is a four-week period in which we prepare for the coming of the Lord. We prepare not only for his coming as a baby at Christmas. We also prepare for his coming into our lives today, and we prepare for his coming again at the end of history.
Every year during Advent, we have a scripture dealing with John the Baptist. The reason is simple. John the Baptist was the person whom God chose to prepare the way for Jesus' coming. The prophet Isaiah said:
The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.
Matthew tells us that John is the person about whom Isaiah was speaking. John came to prepare the way of the Lord. He came to straighten the pathways that Jesus would travel. And so it is natural that we would think about the ministry of John the Baptist during Advent. Advent is the season in which we prepare for the coming of the Lord. John the Baptist was the person that God chose to prepare for the Lord's First Coming. John's ministry was an Advent ministry.
John the Baptist was a strange bird! He didn't preach in synagogues. He didn't wear fine robes. He didn't blow-dry his hair. He didn't eat lunch with movers and the shakers. He didn't drink tea with synagogue ladies. He didn't wear a Rolex on his television show. He didn't fit today's notion of a successful religious leader.
Indeed, John didn't even go where the people were. He didn't have a big tent. He didn't go from city to city with revivals meetings. He went where the people were not. He went to the desert near the Jordan River. If you wanted to see him, you had to go out into that great empty land.
It was dangerous country. Travelers were advised to put their affairs in order before going into the wilderness. They were advised to carry food and water. Maps were crude; roads were primitive. John the Baptist didn't make it easy.
John wore clothes of camel's hair and a leather belt. Those held special significance. The prophet Elijah had worn camel's hair and a leather belt many centuries earlier. The Jewish people believed that Elijah would come again and would usher in a great new age. John's clothing proclaimed that he was the New Elijah who had come to usher in that new age. John had come to prepare the way of the Lord.
John preached a message of repentance. We tend to think of repentance as feeling bad about sin –– feeling guilty. But repentance is more than feeling bad –– much more. Repentance is doing something positive –– changing –– turning around and facing in a new direction. The genuinely repentant person doesn't just feel bad. He or she also tries to begin living a positive life.
You would think that nobody would come to listen to a preacher way out in the desert –– a preacher who wore crude clothing –– a preacher who told people to repent. But they came to hear John the Baptist! People sensed something special about him. They could tell that he was speaking for God. It didn't matter that he was asking hard things of them. They knew in their bones that he was right. They came by the thousands. They confessed their sins, and John baptized them in the River Jordan.
A strange part of this story has to do with the Pharisees and Sadducees. These religious leaders came to John for baptism, but he rebuked them:
You brood of vipers!
Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Bear fruit worthy of repentance.
It seems strange that a preacher would strike out like that at people coming for baptism. Preachers love to see people come for baptism. Baptism represents a new beginning! We would never turn people away from baptism. But when the Pharisees and Sadducees came to John for baptism, he said:
You brood of vipers!
Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Bear fruit worthy of repentance.
Why was that? Why did John the Baptist rebuke people who were coming for baptism? He rebuked them because they needed to repent, like everyone else, but they had not come to repent.
–– They thought of themselves as righteous, not needing repentance.
–– They were like the A-student who takes a magazine article to class for extra credit. They had not come for baptism because they felt a need for it, but to get their ticket punched.
–– They had no interest in changing the direction of their lives
–– They thought that they were O.K. already.
–– They were just touching one more base.
–– Coming to John for baptism was just more of the same –– one more religious observance for an already observant people.
But John knew the hardness of their hearts and was not about to baptize people who didn't really believe that they needed to change. He said:
Bear fruit worthy of repentance.
In other words, recognize your need for repentance and forgiveness. Change the direction of your lives. When you have shown me that you are serious about repentance, I will begin to take you seriously.
–– But the Pharisees and Sadducees could not repent, because they didn't believe there was anything wrong with them.
–– They couldn't repent, because they were quite happy with themselves just as they were.
–– They couldn't repent, because they had no interest in changing.
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What does this story about John the Baptist have to do with us?
–– Perhaps it tells us to stand humbly before God –– leaving behind the pride that would separate us from God.
–– Perhaps it reminds us that we too have need for repentance and forgiveness –– that we are not all right just as we are.
–– Perhaps it reminds us that God calls us to change the direction of our lives –– to take seriously the claims of faith on our lives.
John's was a ministry of repentance and baptism. I heard a story that I would like to share with you about baptism –– a story about baptism that became a story of repentance–– of turning around –– of changing directions. It is a story of God working in people's hearts to produce genuine change.
It is really the story of two baptisms. In the first instance, a church leader whose daughter had a new baby, approached the pastor to ask him to baptize the baby.
The pastor asked a few questions and determined that the baby's parents lived elsewhere and were not active in any church. He explained baptism to the church leader, and suggested that the parents have the baby baptized in a church in their own town –– a church where they could realistically promise to be active themselves.
The pastor thought he had made his point well, but he discovered later that the church leader had gone behind his back to members of the church board, who voted to support the baptism. The board's decision put great pressure on the pastor, who decided to go ahead with the baptism in spite of his reservations.
That Sunday, when the baby was to be baptized, the pastor asked, "Who stands with this child?" the church leader's family stood, signifying their commitment to raise the child in the Christian faith. It was an inspiring sight to see the whole family pledging their support to the baby.
But then another woman came the pastor. Her daughter was not married but had recently had a baby. Shouldn't her baby be baptized too? The pastor presented the matter to the board, who had some concerns about the mother's commitment. However, they approved the baptism.
On the appropriate Sunday, the new mother nervously brought her baby down the aisle. When it came time for the question, "Who stands with this child?" the pastor nodded to baby's grandmother. She alone would stand in support of this tiny child.
But then, the pastor saw movement out of the corner of his eye. And then he saw the church leader stand –– the one who had forced through the baptism of his grandchild. And then that man's wife stood –– and then another person –– and another and another. And then the whole congregation standing.
Isn't that a beautiful story! Think about those two baptisms, and consider the church leader's part in each. In the first instance, he wanted something and used power to get it. He got what he wanted. The pastor baptized his grandbaby!
In the second instance, that man was moved to the depths as he saw the vulnerability of the young mother and her baby. He was no longer demanding to get something, but was instead offering to give something. The needs of a helpless baby had produced a kind of repentance –– a change in the direction of his life.
When God calls us to repentance, he calls us to change the direction of our lives.
–– To do that, we must first be willing to admit that we are not moving in the right direction.
–– Then we must accept the fact that it is important for us to go in the right direction.
–– Then we must be willing to let God help set the direction for our lives.
Today, I will leave you with a question. How would God have you to change your life? What would he have you do differently? What is your need for repentance? What part of your life have you kept off-limits from God?
Then I will leave you with a challenge. Let go and let God direct your life. Let God change you as he will. Let him steer you in the right direction. Then you will discover how the architect of life can take the broken pieces of your life and make them beautiful. Bring God your repentance, and let him change your life!
–– Copyright 2004, Richard Niell Donovan