Advent IV: Confessional Address (21-Dec-2014)

This confessional address was given at St Mark's Lutheran Church, Mt Barker, 8.30am, 10.30am.

As we come to confess our sins this week on this last Sunday of Advent, we realise that it has been a terrible week in the news this week: people are dead after a day-long siege in Sydney’s central business district. And just recently in the last few days, we hear about another tragedy in the city of Cairns. Our nation has been ravaged by two tragedies in one week.

But as we come to confess our sins and to receive the absolution, it’s not the time for us to complain about other people’s sins. We might look at these things and think lament about the terrible things that are happening in our country. But what about us? The difference between us and these murderers this week is not that we are better that them, but purely God’s grace. If we’re honest, we know that if we had grown up in different circumstances, we might have committed the same crimes too. It’s only God’s grace that has prevented us, and has withheld more people from committing these crimes.

But these events should also lead us to realise that there is such a need for more people to hear God’s word. Here we are in church today, and everything we say and sing and do is going to be dripping with God’s word—and do we realise it? Do we take it for granted? Do we know just what a miracle it is that Jesus himself is coming to meet us and to speak his forgiveness to us today? Do we find ourselves bored with God’s word and with coming to church?

We know that there are many terrorists who think that are doing the will of God. They don’t know God’s word revealed in the Scripture. Do we know the difference between our ideas, our opinions, our sin and God’s word? Do we think the Holy Spirit is only here when we think that we can feel him, rather than when God speaks? Do we think the Holy Spirit comes from us, rather than from the lips of Jesus into us?

What we are going to hear in a minute—the forgiveness of sins from Jesus himself—is the medicine that God gives to heal every single problem in the world. Jesus and his word, his gospel, the good news of great joy is for all people. Let’s never forget the significance and the power of what we come to do every time we confess our sins and receive forgiveness. Let’s pray…

Advent III: Audio Sermon (14-Dec-2014)

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Advent III Year B [John 1:6-8, 19-28] (21-Dec-2014)

This sermon was preached at St Mark's Lutheran Church, Mt Barker, 8.30am, 10.30am.

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Text: (John 1:19-28)

[John] confessed and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

Prayer: Heavenly Father, send us the Holy Spirit so that by your grace we may believe your holy word and live godly lives here in time and there in eternity, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

When the Jewish priests and Levites asked John who he was, he said: I am not the Christ.

In fact, the text makes a big deal out of this point. We read: He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

At the time, many people mistook Jesus and John. They were doing very similar things. They were very similar in age, and their mothers were related. In fact, it was John who jumped for joy in his mother’s womb, when the sound of Mary’s greeting came to Elizabeth’s ear. John was the jumpy baby, Jesus was the quiet baby.

When John began his ministry, he said: “Repent and believe the gospel.” And when Jesus was baptised and began his ministry, he also said, “Repent and believe the gospel.”

When Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” the first thing they say is, “Some say John the Baptist.” Also, after John the Baptist had been beheaded, King Herod heard about the fame of Jesus and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.”

So you can see that many people confused Jesus and John. But also, they lead quite different lives. John’s life was marked with a certain strictness and austerity. He wore strange clothes—camel’s hair and a leather belt—and ate a strict diet of locusts and wild honey. Jesus on the other hand was particularly known for eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners. Of course, we know that he fasted in the wilderness for 40 days, but his ministry was not marked by the sort of strictness that John kept to. We are never told much about Jesus’ clothing, and we assume that he dressed in a way that was fairly normal at the time. Jesus was accused of being a glutton and a drunkard, and went around healing people, and comforting them, and blessing the children.

Jesus says at one point: “We played a dirge, and you did not mourn. We played the flute and you did not dance.” John was the funeral man—he sang a dirge, a funeral song, but people didn’t listen to him. Jesus on the other hand was the wedding man—he played the flute, a wedding a song, but people didn’t dance, they didn’t listen to Jesus either. Jesus is the bridegroom, and his church is the bride. John is the best man—he gives a speech not in honour of himself but in honour of the couple, in honour of the groom. John doesn’t point our attention to himself, but to the groom. John must decrease, and Jesus must increase. John is Jesus’ forerunner, and Jesus comes and walks in John’s footsteps. But Jesus also brings things that John does not—Jesus brings healing for the sick, sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, resurrection to the dead. Jesus dies for the sin of the world, and rises again from the dead. These are things that John does not do.

And so, it is very important that when the Jewish priests and Levites come to John, that the first thing John says is, “I am not the Christ.” “I am not the Messiah.” “I am not Jesus.”

And the same goes for us. Today we are very conscious of the fact that many people have turned away from the church and have rejected Christianity. And so Christians today have much more of an increased desire to want to share the faith with unbelievers. A lot of the time, these people are members of our own family, and whenever Christians mention anything about their faith, people are very sensitive and sometimes get angry. They don’t want to lose their loved ones, and never talk to them again. But at the same time, Christians love these people in their families, and want the best for them, and always find themselves walking a tight-rope between their love for them, and speaking the truth in love to them. But when someone asks us about the faith, we shouldn’t pretend that we are Jesus.

I remember hearing about a Christian man who was asked, “Do Christians live a much better life than other people, and do many more good things and good works than people of other religions?” Now the man who asked the question was from China, and didn’t know a lot about Christianity, and didn’t know many Christians. But the Christian man replied, “Well—sometimes, I suppose. But people of other religions, like Muslims and Buddhists and atheists, also do good things, and sometimes live a life that is better than many Christians, and are friendlier and kinder.” Anyway, l remember this Christian man telling me that afterwards he was really upset about the way in which he felt that he lost an opportunity to witness to his faith. But, if you think about it, he did. He didn’t pretend that Christians were Jesus—he didn’t pretend that the church was perfect. He spoke the truth, and he answered the question honestly. This answer may have completely surprised the man, and completely blown his worldview.

You see, most of the time, our best works are the works we don’t see. St Paul says, “Your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Jesus is the one who performs the good works through us—the glory belongs to him. So there’s no point in bragging about what you think are your good works, because they are not the ones that God himself holds most valuable. Remember when Jesus tells about the sheep and the goats, and the sheep say: “When did we see you hungry and feed you? When did we see you thirsty and give you a drink?”

So if people say that Christians are hypocrites, and criticise Christians, and say that the church is a mess, then agree with them. It’s true. Christians are continually giving Jesus a bad name, and the church is full of sinners. The best thing to do then is to agree with the true verdict of God—yes, I am not Jesus. I am not the Messiah.

As one of my fellow students at the seminary used to say, “If you find a perfect church, don’t join it, because you’ll stuff it up!”

People think the church is full of sinners. They are right—you are a sinner.

People think religion is for the weak. They are right—you are weak.

People think Christianity is just some other kind of self-help. It’s not self-help—but you do need all the help you can get.

Like St Paul, boast of your weaknesses. This is just as much a faithful confession as any other.

And so John says to the priest and the Levites, “I am not the Christ.”

Then they ask him some more questions. “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” And he answered, “No.”

Our reading today begins with the words, “This is the testimony of John.” By worldly standards, this seems like quite a poor testimony and quite a poor witness to the faith. People are asking John questions, and he’s just giving them one-word answers.

“Come on, John!” we might think. “Make an effort! These people have come a long way!”

You see, when it comes to giving a witness to the faith, people think that they always have to give a great eloquent speech, and impress people with their wit and the clever arguments. But while John makes his one-word answers, the people who ask him are sharpened in their questioning, their consciences are shaped that little bit more.

So they ask, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

John is preaching in such a way that people come to a realisation of their own sinfulness, their own helplessness and their own poverty. But Jesus is the one who then brings the comfort, the forgiveness, the strength and all the treasures of heaven.

But at this point, the Jewish priests and the Levites are not satisfied. The real motivation for their questions is revealed in their last question. They are not simply interested in who John is, but why he is doing what he is doing.

They say, “Then why are you baptising, if you are neither the Christ nor Elijah nor the Prophet?” John answered them, “I baptise with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”

In some texts, it also says, “even he who comes after me, who was before me.” This is the same as when it says earlier in John chapter 1, that John said, “He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.”

So first of all, “he baptises with water”. Jesus is the one who baptises with the Holy Spirit. This happens every time a person is baptised in the church: the pastor baptises with water, and at the same time, Jesus baptises the person with the Holy Spirit. Baptism is not our work, but it is Jesus’ work. Jesus is the one who makes baptism powerful.

But baptising is John’s particular vocation—it is his mission. We also have particular vocations—we might be a part of a family, a husband, a wife, a son, or a daughter, a father or mother. We might work in a particular workplace. We are citizens of a particular country. We are called not to be successful in all these things, but faithful in all these things. We are called to do what we are called to do where we are placed, and to do it to the best of our abilities.

But as Christians live our lives in the world, Jesus is standing among us as one whom the world does not know. In fact, many times, Jesus stands among us and with us as one whom we often do not recognise. Never mind—he is still working. We know Jesus is with us, though we still need to learn daily to recognise him in each and every situation.

You are not Jesus. You are not the Christ. But Christ works through you to his good pleasure. He uses you as his vessel, but the treasure is hidden in jars of clay. The light is kindled in a rusty old lamp. People will see the rusty lamp—don’t pretend to people that you’re not one. People will see the dirty old jar—don’t pretend to people that you’re not one.

John says: Jesus is the one “who comes after me.” John is six months older than Jesus, and Jesus follows in his footsteps, and continues the ministry where John left off. But at the same time, Jesus is John’s maker, his creator, who has now taken on human flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Jesus, the Son of God, was there with the Father and the Holy Spirit creating the world, and so John is not worthy to even untie the strap of Jesus’ sandals.

The same goes for us. Jesus works so close together with us, and wants to dwell with us and make his home in us. Even the simplest things that we don’t even know, Jesus glorifies, and shines his light through us. But at the same time, we are not Jesus. We are completely the opposite of Jesus. We are the sinners he died for. We are the ones he prayed for on the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” If we don’t think we are sinners, then we make ourselves to be the Messiah and we have no need for the real one. As St John says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”

On the other hand, if we do say we have sin, then the truth is in us.

And so, we are weak, but Jesus is strong. We are sinful, but Jesus is perfect. We are poor, but he is rich. We are useless, but Jesus knows how best to make use of us. We struggle, but Jesus constantly succeeds. And despite our differences, Jesus does not reject us. It’s not as if Jesus doesn’t want to have nothing to do with us, but he wants to live with us and rule our hearts and work through us. It’s completely the opposite of what we would expect. He forgives our sins each and every single day, and speaks his own words of forgiveness you’re your ears through the pastors of the church. He gives you his body and blood to eat and drink. He doesn’t do this for people who are perfect like him, but he does this for those who are needy, and are nothing like him, except for the fact that share the same human flesh. As the book of Hebrews says: “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

And so, just as Jesus fills John’s works with the Holy Spirit, he also fills each of our works with the Holy Spirit, each word, each thought, and makes them useful for his purposes, even though we are not worthy to even untie the strap of Jesus’ sandals.

May the Holy Spirit increase in us and grow in us that same humility that belonged to John the Baptist, so that we give a faithful witness to Jesus Christ. Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, let us never for a moment think that we are Messiah after all, and that we don’t need you after all. Forgive us for all those times we have taken the credit for ourselves, when it belonged to you. Send us the Holy Spirit, and make us useful vessels in your service, despite all our failings and unworthiness. Come Lord Jesus, and strengthen us, and make your home and your dwelling in us. Amen.

Advent III: Confessional Address (14-Dec-2014)

This confessional address was given at St Mark's Lutheran Church, Mt Barker, 8.30am, 10.30am.

As we come to confess our sins on this third Sunday of Advent, I’d like us to think about some words from our Gospel reading today where it says about John the Baptist: This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

One of the wonderful things that we believe as Christians is that Jesus Christ is our Lord, that he is the Son of God, and that he is truly God himself, and that he is given as Lord over all things to the church. Every time we gather as a church together, Jesus promises to be here. He says: Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am in the midst of them.

John the Baptist, in our reading, knows that we are not Jesus. But what about us? Do we think we are Jesus? Do we elevate ourselves to be God? Do we carry on as if we, or our gifts, or our talents, or our abilities, or our contributions are the thing which is going to save the church? Do we think that the world and even the church is just run by chance, and not by God’s counsel? Do we think that Jesus is not involved in the life of our church, and that he doesn’t listen to our prayers? Do we despair over things, as if Jesus is not seated at the right hand of God, ruling over all things?

Right from the beginning, Satan tempted Adam and Eve to eat from the tree in the garden of Eden, because he said it would make them like God. But we’re not God—and when we try to be God, or try to do Jesus’ saving work for him, we make ourselves into little false gods, idols like little stone statues. And so we should hear John the Baptist’s message: Repent. For the kingdom of heaven in near. Yes, Jesus—you are right, and I am wrong. You know how to best rule the world, and how best to rule the church. You have provided everything we need, and you have withheld everything we don’t need.

And now, we also come to receive the thing we need so much more than anything else: the forgiveness of sins. Nobody apart from Jesus is able to give this gift. Nobody else has died for it, and nobody else sends to us the gift of the Holy Spirit. But now, as we hear the words of the forgiveness of sins in the absolution today, Jesus actually gives this wonderful gift to us, because he has died and risen from the dead, and he is the only Jesus. So let’s come before him, the one who’s sandals we are not worthy to untie, and receive forgiveness from him, and let him wash our feet clean, just as he did with his own disciples on the night before he died. Let’s pray…

St Mark's Lutheran Primary School Graduation Address [Joshua 1:9] (10-Dec-2014)

This address was given at Cornerstone College, 7pm.

I’d like to read a little verse this evening from the book of Joshua. Normally, in school chapels this year, I’ve often read readings from one of the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. But tonight I’m going to read from the Book of Joshua. And Joshua is the 6^th book in the bible. It talks about things that happened long before the life of Jesus. So let’s read:

Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Let’s pray: Dear Lord Jesus, come and be with us tonight on this wonderful occasion of our school’s graduation. We thank you for the year just past, and we thank you for all those students who are now about to finish their time at primary school, the year 6s, and are about to go on to the next stage of their life. Bless us all tonight with your Holy Spirit—help me to speak well, and help everyone to hear well. Open my lips, and open all our ears and our hearts. Amen.

I’d like to say what I have to say tonight particularly to the year 6s who are about to leave our school. And I’d like to say what I’m going to say to strengthen you and encourage you. And I’d like to say that it’s been a real pleasure and a joy and privilege to spend some time with you in the year 6 classroom this year and talk about different things, and I personally am going to miss you at the school.

As we journey through life—you know—we can’t be everything. We have to go with one or two things and stick with it. God says: Be strong and courageous. Here God tells us something that we should be: he doesn’t give us a huge list. He just gives us two things: be strong and be courageous. Sometimes we feel quite weak—all of us adults often pretend to be stronger than we really are. We like you kids to think that we’re strong, but in actual fact there are many things that we all need help with. And when God says: be strong, he wants to let you borrow his strength. The strength doesn’t come from you, the strength comes from him, and he wants you to borrow it from him. And he also says: Be courageous. Courageous means to have courage. To be brave.

So isn’t this interesting that God wants to give you two things—he wants to give you strength, and also he wants to give you courage. And he wants to let you borrow these things from him.

But he also says: Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed. Now God picks two things and he says: I know that sometimes in the future, you might be scared and frightened of something. You might worry about what’s going to happen to you in the future. He also says, Do not be dismayed. What’s it mean, “dismayed”? Dismayed is when we want to give up, and we don’t think something’s worth doing any more. And so, here God wants us to borrow strength from him, and courage from him. But now, he wants to borrow something from you—he wants to take away the fear, and says: Do not be frightened. And he also says: Do not be dismayed. When you feel like you want to give up, then I promise to come and take that from you, says God.

But let’s listen to our little bible verse once again: Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

God says: I want you to be strong and courageous. And I don’t want you to be frightened, and I don’t want you to give up. But now I’m going to tell you the reason why: for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Isn’t that a wonderful thing? Sure—God is with you, wherever you go. God the Father made you, and so he wants to look after you and protect you, because he loves everything that he has made. But also, Jesus Christ, who is also God, died for you and rose from the dead for you, and always prays for you—he will also be with you, right next to you, wherever you go. And also, the Holy Spirit, who is also God, offers his forgiveness, and his peace, his help, his strength, eternal life, wherever we go. So can you see? The Father, Son and the Holy Spirit is with us always wherever we go, and that’s the reason why we can be strong and have courage. That’s the reason why we don’t need to be frightened, and don’t need to be dismayed and give up.

So let’s remember these words tonight from this graduation. Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. As we finish up our school year, let’s remember that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are always with us, tonight, tomorrow, next week, next year, and throughout our whole lives.

Let’s pray: Dear Jesus, we thank you that you want to encourage us and strengthen us. Help us in all our fears and bless us now and into the future. We place our year 6s into your hands as they leave our school, and all our students and all of the staff and teachers, and we thank you that you promise to be with us wherever we go. Amen.

Advent II: Audio Sermon (7-Dec-2014)

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Advent II Year B [Mark 1:1-11] (7-Dec-2014)

This sermon was preached at St Mark's Lutheran Church, Mt Barker, 8.30am, 10.30am.

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

The sermon text for today comes from St Mark’s Gospel. And we read the words:

Behold, I send my messenger before you face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, send to all us the gift of the Holy Spirit, to me that I may preach well, and to all of us, that we may hear well. Amen.

 Today our Gospel reading focuses especially on John the Baptist. In the Gospel of Luke, when he introduces John, we read this: In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of the region of Iturea and Trachonitus, and Lysanius tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

I have always found this a very comforting passage. Here Luke tells us about John the Baptist, but he tells us about all the world leaders who were around at the time—Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate the governor, king Herod, Lysanius, and the high priests Anna and Caiaphas. Even though these leaders were important and powerful, none were as important as John. And even though Tiberius Caesar, the leader of the whole Roman Empire, was probably one of the most powerful man alive in the world at that time, in God’s eyes human power is not important. Human power seems so insignificant because what is important at this time of history is where God sent his word. And when God sends out his word, then all the power in heaven and earth is there. Even now, we can look back at history, and most people—even those outside the church—know much more about John the Baptist, than they know about Tiberius Caesar. Tiberius is pretty much forgotten, but John the Baptist, who we might think of as an eccentric who lived out in the bush, with strange clothes and strange diet—he is remembered. He is not forgotten.

And St Luke says something very significant. After listing all the leaders of the time, he says: the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. When he says: the word of God came to him, this is the same expression that is used about the Old Testament prophets. Here St Luke speaks of John as the last of the Old Testament prophets, preparing the way for Jesus.

Our reading today comes from the Gospel of Mark. During this church year, we will take most of our Gospel readings from Mark. And today’s reading is actually the first verses of the Gospel of Mark. We read: The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Isn’t it interesting that St Mark begins telling us about Jesus by telling us about John? It’s almost like Mark is going to take us to see a movie about the life of Jesus, but before we go into the cinema, there’s this crazy man standing there at the door taking our tickets. And there might be many people who come along for the screening, and they might be put off by him, and they think: “I don’t know about this. I think I might go and see a different movie.”

But St Mark won’t let you in, unless you first have to walk past this man John the Baptist, hand in your movie ticket to him, walk close to him with all the bad smells that waft off of his clothes. Often it happens to us that we keep our distance from Jesus, because at the entrance of the door of the church, God may have placed there some offensive person that we have to contend with. Sometimes in our families, we have an Aunty so-and-so, or Grandpa so-and-so, who is the local religious person. And this is the sort of person that we might think gives Christianity a bad name. And people say: Be careful of Uncle Jack—if you get stuck with him, he’ll talk about the bible all day. And so what happens is that God does not let us into the door of the church, without coming to the terms that people might think that we’re crazy, just like Uncle Jack. Most of the time, we’d much prefer to hob-nob and drink tea and coffee with those who are respectable in the world’s eyes, people like Tiberius Caesar. What an honour it would be to go to his palace and be treated with a royal feast! Where would you rather go? To visit the Roman Emperor in his palace, or go out and meet John, and eat bugs? And yet, the bible clearly states here that Tiberius Caesar is the nobody that history has forgotten, and that John is the person who prepares the way for Jesus Christ. This is what we read in the Gospel of Mark: Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’

So what is it that John actually says, that prepares the way for Jesus?

We read: John appeared, baptising in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. In Matthew’s Gospel we read where John says: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. What does this mean? The word repent, means to turn back, to turn around, to turn your eyes and your heart around, and to abandon the road that you were walking on previously. Sometimes people often hear the word “repent” and think that God is requiring too much of them. Whatever you think that God is requiring of you, he requires 10 times more of you than you can possibly imagine. Whatever you think that God wants to show you what is wrong with you, remember that there is a 100 times more stuff that you don’t even know about yet. Our whole life as Christians is to be a life of repentance. And to repent means first of all to say to God that he was right all along, and that I was wrong.

Repentance isn’t first of all changing everything bad in our lives. There might have all kinds of good intentions to amend our lives, and we find that we can’t—at least not as we would like. Sin has become like an addiction to us, and not until we breathe our life’s last breath will we be free of it.

First of all, repentance is acknowledging that God has spoken, and I haven’t met the mark. God’s word is perfect, and my words, my thoughts, my life is far from it. Without this acknowledgement of our sin, there’s simply no Christianity. And often this is the missing link for so many people, when it comes to their faith. They like listening to the bible, they like coming to church, they like being with Christians, but there’s one thing they can’t stand, and that is confessing their sins and receiving absolution, the forgiveness of sins. And here in our church, we begin our church services with confession every week. And people are all excited about coming to church, and then they sit down—and they go, “Humph! Why do I have sit through this confession again?” Don’t people know that this all this talk about how much of a helpless sinner we are is going to put off all the visitors? It’s like they’re saying, “Let’s skip this bit in the bible about John the Baptist—I’d much rather just go and listen about Jesus.” King Herod was also interested in Jesus to some degree, but he chopped John the Baptist’s head off.

And yet, surely we know, that without the confession of sins, we simply can’t meet Jesus. Now, we might sense that week after week, all we ever do is confess our sins, but changing our life around never happens as we would like. Maybe we fear the consequences of what God might expect of us—but our good works are the fruit of repentance. Let the tree be planted first, let the tree be watered, give it some time, and then let the fruit grow. People think, “I haven’t turned into the Angel Gabriel yet—this Christianity stuff doesn’t work for me.” Give yourself time, be patient. Everybody will realise what they need to change about their life in God’s time, but it will happen at different times for everybody. What is important that we come to God realising that we are sinners, and that he is right, and that we were wrong.

John says: Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. The direction which people were going in in those days was a direction that was leading them away from God and from his kingdom. They didn’t realise that the kingdom of God was not in their control, it was not in their power. They thought that the kingdom of God could be squeezed completely into their way of thinking and into their imagination. What was actually needed was a completely new birth. Jesus was about to enter into the world and take charge. And his birth and his life and his ministry would be a completely new era in history. It would be a time which was filled with something new—it would not be a time filled with despair and hopelessness. It is a time which is filled with to forgiveness of sins. We read: John appeared, baptising in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

This is what John’s baptism was for. He was preparing the way for Jesus, who would be our Saviour, our Lord, our forgiver. So why does John baptise?

In the Old Testament, there were all kinds of washings. Sometimes of hands, sometimes of feet, sometimes of the whole body. When people entered into the sanctuary, the dirt of the world was not allowed to enter there. Now John was pointing the people to something new. There was going to come a new time, a new era, a new kingdom—and the dirt and the dust of the world was not allowed in this new kingdom. In fact, there is a certain sense in which our whole body needs to be washed, and not just our whole body, but our whole spirit, our soul, our minds, our hearts. And so, John shows this—if only, he says, my baptism would not just wash away what is dirty on the outside, but also on the inside.

So he says: After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptised you with water, but he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit. John’s baptism points to the real, Christian baptism, where Jesus actually uses not just water, but adds his word and sends his Holy Spirit. In the church, a pastor only baptises with water, but the words that the pastor speaks are the words of Jesus. The words of Jesus are the thing that give baptism its wonderful power. It is Jesus who comes here and baptises with the Holy Spirit, and washes us clean not on the outside of our body, but everywhere within us. And Jesus pours us through the Holy Spirit the complete and total forgiveness of every single one of our sins. What a wonderful gift it is that Jesus should enter into our midst and baptise us here himself with the Holy Spirit!

There’s two more things I would like to mention. Today in our church, there are two young women, making their journey from childhood into adulthood, who are going to be confirmed. And there’s two things in our reading that I would like to encourage them with, and not just them but everyone.

It says in the reading: All the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptised by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Isn’t it strange that here there was something new happening, and everyone was interested in it! Everyone went out to be baptised by John. And people are always interested in something that is new and that has never happened before. They had a real desire for something new—they looked at their lives and they realised that there must be more to life than this. And yet, when Jesus dies on the cross, all the disciples has run away, and there were only a few people there.

I would like to encourage you today not to be taken in by the crowd, but to listen with every fibre of your being to the word of God—and to realise that Jesus’ death for you, his resurrection, all those things about Jesus that we might think we have heard before, always have something new in them. It’s easy to get excited about something, but eventually we stop we get excited. Our moods and our emotions change from one day to the next. Who knows what happened to these people in our reading? They weren’t there when Jesus died. And yet, Jesus, and his love and his faithfulness towards you never changes. Hebrews 13 says: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

But the second thing is this: Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. Now how on earth is this little verse an encouragement to us today? This shows us that there is a special calling from God upon people to go against the culture of our day. John the Baptist embodied this like almost no one else. Even though the rest of the world says: I need this, I need that. I need my nice clothes, and I need my nice food—John’s example here shows us that we can very well do without them. When we don’t have Jesus, we have nothing. And when we do have Jesus, we have everything. There are so many pressures in our lives today that can so easily cloud our faith—people think the greatest tragedy in their life is when they’ve run out of milk for the Weetbix in the morning. The Christian faith is not a whole lot of comfortable talk, easy, empty speech—it is a word that cuts right to our heart, and divides our flesh from our spirit, and separates marrow from the bone. It is a word that is sharper than any two-edged sword—let God cut, and let God heal. You need protection in your life. You need God’s angels to come and guard you, but from evil. There is one thing that you don’t need protection from, and that is the holy and powerful word of God.

So as we prepare to receive our Lord Jesus today, and also as we prepare for Christmas, let’s come into God’s presence, not as people who think that we’ve got everything together, but as people who need to be washed clean. And let’s rejoice and be glad in the good news that Jesus is one who has baptised us with his own Holy Spirit, and forgiven us from every single one of our sins. Amen.

Lord Jesus, we thank you for calling us to repentance and faith through your word. Strengthen us with every gift of your Holy Spirit this day, this week, and all throughout our lives, so that we can be faithful unto death and receive the crown of life. Amen.