Second Sunday in Advent - Series C
December 9, 2012 - Pastor Adam Moline
Malachi
3:1-7b Philippians 1:2-11 Luke 3:1-20
Grace, mercy and
peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our text today is from the Gospel lesson, especially these words, “but he
who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not
worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Thus far our text.
Dear friends in
Christ, Christ is coming. John says so
in our text today. He’s coming and is so
mighty that even the great John the Baptist, the prophet and cousin of Jesus is
not worthy to untie his sandals. Jesus
is coming, and the axe is laid to the foot of the tree, and those who do not
repent will be thrown in the fire.
Christ’s winnowing fork is in his hand, and he is coming and ready to
judge and rule. Repent! For the kingdom is near.
But we aren’t
really worried are we? Relax a bit
pastor – It’s Christmas, we need to lighten up a bit, and just get in the
spirit of things. We’ll be fine, we’ve
been members here our whole life. We’re
safe. Our parents and grandparents were
members here, and our kids will be. We
belong here, and so we know we don’t need to worry about all this “Repent and
Axes at the root” business of John the Baptist.
Right?
Wrong. St. John addresses that directly. “Do not begin 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.” You see, it doesn’t matter if your name is
written in the church record book. It
doesn’t matter if you get buried in the cemetery, or if you donate a ton of funds
to this church or anywhere. What matters
is that you bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And the axe is ready to cut down any tree
that isn’t bearing fruit of repentance, to destroy any person who doesn’t do
what John says, and to throw them into the eternal fire.
Christ is
coming! So repent! If you have extra this Christmas season –
or all year for that matter – share it with the one who has none. Don’t steal.
Don’t hurt. Don’t cheat on your
taxes. Don’t commit adultery, don’t sin
in any way, and love your neighbor as you love yourself.
This is what a
repentant person looks like. That’s how
a repentant person acts. They don’t just
rely upon their church membership. They
don’t just trust the title of Lutheran to save them. They realize they are guilty, they realize
they are sinners, they realize that they need a savior, and they care for their
neighbors.
And as you do
these things, know that in no way does it earn you anything from God. No way does it forgive you, or make you more
holy than anyone else. Only “the Coming
One” can do that. Only He can set you
free. Only He can save you. And get ready he’s coming. He’s coming to be born of a virgin and laid
in swaddling clothes. He’s coming to
grow up, showing you what a true Christian looks like. He’s coming to serve his neighbor. To heal the sick. Give sight to the blind. To make the lame to walk. He’s coming to give all of himself on your
behalf, to give up even his life on a hill far away – nailed to an old rugged
cross.
That’s Jesus. He comes to bear the ultimate fruits of repentance. It’s Jesus, who, though he was in the
form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied
himself, by taking the form of a servant, giving all he had, being born in the likeness of men. He cares for you. He suffers for you. He dies for you. And he gives you hope and promise for your
entire life.
As John says, we
aren’t worthy for Jesus, but he comes anyways.
We are not worthy to untie his sandals, so we care for his other
children, our neighbors around us instead.
We care, so that all flesh may see God – come to set his people
free. Amen.
