Living a Life that Matters: Repentance

Luke 3:1-20


What are you looking forward to? Christmas?  The New Year?  Heaven?  Most of us are looking forward to something.  When I think of Christmas time as a child, the one word that I would use to describe it would be anticipation.  I would generally just ask for just one thing for Christmas, and then I’d have to wait and wait.  Christmas Eve was the hardest night to fall asleep, because the anticipation was so great.

So what are you looking forward to?  What are you anticipating? And what are you doing to prepare for it?  As a child, we were told that Santa would know if we’d been naughty or nice, and that our Christmas haul depended upon our behavior.  So we would ostensibly prepare for Christmas by being “nice.”

When we look at scriptures, the Bible works to prepare us for Christmas, for the coming of Jesus Christ.  The entire Old Testament works together to let us know why it was necessary for God to take on flesh and to come to earth.  For me, Christmas isn’t Christmas without reading the account of Jesus’ birth from Luke 2.  But after his introduction, Luke starts with John the Baptist.  And before he ever gets to Jesus’ ministry, he outlines John’s ministry. 

Many churches follow the lectionary, which is a three year cycle of scripture readings.  Usually there are different readings each year for a given Sunday, but some certain times in the year, the readings remain constant over the three years.  In Advent, we always get John the Baptist.  Sometimes it seems kind of awkward an even inappropriate to talk about John the Baptist when the church wants to get to Jesus.  We want the baby in the manger, and instead we get Jesus’ ugly cousin, wearing camel hair clothes eating locusts and wild honey, calling the religious leaders a “brood of vipers.”  To me it never seemed quite appropriate.  But right now I realize that this couldn’t be more appropriate, both for Christmas and for our church today. 
In Luke 3:2-6, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.  Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low.  The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth.  And all mankind will see God's salvation.' "

So I ask you today: Are you ready? Are you ready for him?  John the Baptist had it right.  He was the son of a priest. He knew the words of the prophets.  John indeed knew that it was a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. He knew that the Day of the Lord, which the people of God looked forward to, was a dreadful and scary thing for those in sin.

Listen to the words of Isaiah: Isaiah 13:6-13:   Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.  Because of this, all hands will go limp, every man's heart will melt. Terror will seize them, pain and anguish will grip them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at each other, their faces aflame. See, the day of the LORD is coming —a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger— to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it. The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.   I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless. I will make man scarcer than pure gold, more rare than the gold of Ophir. Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the LORD Almighty, in the day of his burning anger.

Are you ready?

How about the words from Joel: Joel 1:15 Alas for that day! For the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty. Joel 2:1-2a, 11Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming. It is close at hand- a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. …The LORD thunders at the head of his army; his forces are beyond number, and mighty are those who obey his command. The day of the LORD is great; it is dreadful.  Who can endure it?

Or Amos? Amos 5:18-20 Woe to you who long for the day of the LORD!  Why do you long for the day of the LORD ? That day will be darkness, not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him. Will not the day of the LORD be darkness, not light— pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?

Or Obadiah? Obadiah 1:15 "The day of the LORD is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head.

Do you get the picture? This is the background that John the Baptist knew.  And this is the context of Advent.  Of preparation. Of repentance. In our culture, we like to think of God in terms of his love.  And this is right and good.  But sometimes we paint a picture of God that just doesn’t fit with what we know of Him. Sometimes Jesus gets reduced to our buddy and God to a kindly grandfather.  It’s no wonder that some people wonder if the God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament; we have often painted an inaccurate picture of the New Testament God that distorts his love to be a “whatever is fine” kind of God. 

That’s just not accurate.  God’s love is a protecting love.  God’s love is the love that wants what is best for his creation.  And what is best is himself!  Unfortunately for us, we’ve all sinned (remember Romans 3:23 – all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God), and that has left us unworthy to even come into God’s holy presence.

Let’s talk for a moment about God’s presence.  I know that sometimes I have been almost flippant when I talk about God’s presence.  When I talk about feeling God’s presence here, sometimes that takes the form of some kind of warm feeling.  Here is what the prophet Isaiah felt about being in the presence of God.   Isaiah 6:1-5 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:
       "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;  the whole earth is full of his glory."

At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.  "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."

Have you ever stopped and thought of God’s presence this way?  God’s presence is such that unclean people cannot stand unscathed!  If we had any concept of God’s holiness, we would never pray limp prayers.  We would never simply bow our heads.  We would be face down, grieved by our own sin.
When Jesus was talking to some Jews who had believed him, he said,If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free (John 8:31-32).

The importance of this can’t be overstated.  We often put the emphasis on the first part of what Jesus said, that if we obey him, we are his disciples.  But the second part of this is troublesome.  Does Jesus mean that he will then give out some secret information, some secret truth, that finally then we will be able to break free?  No.  Jesus is still talking about himself.  When he later told his disciples that he was going to leave them, and Thomas declared that they didn’t know where he was going, and he questioned as to how could they know the way, Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

We often just stick with Jesus being the Way.  Yes, that’s right.  But he is also the Truth.  While Satan is the father of lies, Jesus is the Truth.  So if you are in Christ, there is no falsehood at all.  If you know Jesus, if you really, really know Jesus, he sets you free.  But to know Jesus includes to hold to his teaching.  And John the Baptist wasn’t the only one who proclaimed “repent!”

When John the Baptist came, he called for repentance. He knew that the Day of the LORD was approaching.  He knew that the need was urgent.  It wasn’t about “later”; it was about today. Knowing Jesus and preparing for Him isn’t about balancing a naughty or nice list; it’s all about entering into the presence of a Holy God.

Repentance is the way.  The way to prepare for God isn’t to just invite God to come alongside us on our circuitous route through sin and mire.  It is to admit to God that this is exactly where we’ve been.  And then to allow God to fill in valleys and straighten the road.

God is saying, “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”   This means that what we do should reflect a repentant heart.  In other words, we who have been forgiven much, our response should be to love much.  I have to say that most of you have been wonderful in your outpouring of love for the families in our church in their difficult time.  Many have been evaluating everything, every word and deed, and have been rededicating yourselves daily to the LORD.  But there are others who have continued to gossip and spread discord in town.  If I wasn’t clear enough last week, let’s go over this again.  Gossip is sin.  If you persist in telling stories, even “concerned information” you are sinning.  Blatantly.  Unrepentantly.  Stop it now!

Proverbs 16:28: A perverse man stirs up dissension, and a gossip separates close friends. This is not what we are here for.  Unfortunately many people look at a small town and look at a church and actually expect sinful gossip.  I don’t expect it, and I don’t approve it.  Gossip is a symptom of a sinful, unrepentant heart.

In Matthew 15:19-20a, Jesus says: For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.  These are what make a man ‘unclean’.

Did you notice that Jesus doesn’t differentiate between the sins of adultery and slander here?  He is saying that these sins are the outpouring of sinful hearts.  If you persist in sinning with your mouth, you are simply showing the fruit of a sinful heart.  The prophets and Hebrews 10:31 remind us, It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Know that gossip isn’t the only sin that we’re guilty of.  In one way, it’s just an easy one to attack, because it has often been the “trademark” of a small town.  If you have sin in your life, it’s time to root it out, once and for all.  To follow Jesus in everything, to know Him, to know Truth, which will set you free.

Every one of us is called to produce fruit in keeping with repentance.  Here’s the cool thing about repentance: when we repent, we are cleansed. Jesus’ death on the Cross sealed that promise for us.  And he gives us the Holy Spirit to help us, to allow us to fully repent, to even know what to repent of.

So what’s next?  After Joel warned about the horrible Day of the LORD, he went on to say this: "Even now," declares the LORD, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning." Rend your heart and not your garments.  Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.  (Joel 2:12-13)

This is important, because it demonstrates what our attitude and posture should be before the LORD.  The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. This verse does more than just say something about God; it describes his character. 

Return with all your heart.  Remember that repentance means more than just quitting sinning.  It means that we stop sinning and turn in the opposite direction.  1 Peter gives us a good picture of this: Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech (see, here’s a good example of what we’ve been talking about; evil speech includes gossip). He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. (1 Peter 3:10-11).


This is how we prepare for the coming of the LORD. Not just for Christmas, but for Jesus’ return. Turn from evil and do good. We’re not just preparing ourselves; we’re preparing others. What do people who don’t yet know Jesus think when they see Christians falling into sin (including gossip)? Our purpose – to live a life that matters, is to live repentant lives.  This doesn’t mean we’re perfect, but it does mean we become the vessels through which God’s compassion and graciousness are brought into the world. 


As we pray, we pray that God will take our sins, and because of his compassion and grace, he will nail them to Jesus' cross and remove them from us as far as the east is removed from the west.  Then, cleansed, we can stand in His Holy Presence, and we can reflect that Presence into the world.

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