ADVENT 2, C – December 6, 2009

SCRIPTURES – Malachi 3:1-7; Philippians 1:2-11; Luke 3:1-14; Psalm 81

Here we go again: another well-known and influential man falling in a scandal! Another in a long line… of athletes, such as Mark McGwire & Rafael Palmeiro; of politicians: Bill Clinton & Elliot Spitzer; of clergy: Catholic priests, & two LCMS pastors in New England; of police: a Norwalk lieutenant and a police officer. Who lives up to his position, to what he has been given?

You know something? You don’t have to despair in the search for true greatness. You have been made great!  You have been given great wealth, beauty, and fame. You have a name that is known in the heavens! Where? In your baptism! You bear the holy and eternal name of the Triune God! The poverty and ugliness of your sins has been completely washed away, and you have been given the beauty of Christ’s holiness and everything that is His!

BAPTISM HAS CHANGED YOUR LIFE!

Has it? What’s on your mind? I don’t mean right now; I mean, how do you think? How do you live? Are you different from those who have no faith in Jesus? Do you love God and so also love what He says and how He tells you to live – and show this by how you live?

“You brood of vipers! Bear fruits in keeping with repentance!” So, you’re a Christian, and a Bible believing Lutheran at that. You’re in church regularly. So what! This doesn’t make you a child of God, any more than being married makes a person a good spouse. Show you love your Lord by what you do! Bear fruits in keeping with repentance!

 “What then shall we do?” the people asked John when he told them to repent. It’s a good question. What shall we now do? What would God have us do? It’s really not deep or complicated. The works that please God and give evidence of your faith are rather ordinary things:

“Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise… Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”

God has blessed you with much. Do not hang onto it or use it only for yourself; provide for any who are in need. Don’t focus on money, and so steal to have more of it. “Thievery is the most common craft and the largest union on earth,” Luther said in his Large Catechism. Why did he say this? Because there are so many ways to steal. Stealing is not only actually taking something that is not yours. It is also:

‡       Shopping on the internet or fooling around when you are supposed to be working, and so wasting the time for which you are paid.

‡       Doing shoddy work because it is quicker and easier, and no one will know. God knows!

‡       Hiding a fault in something you are selling, so that you get more than the item is worth.

‡       Cheating on your homework, or on a test.

Many other examples could be given. Be content with what you have and what you earn! Don’t be greedy during this Christmas season and think about what you can get, but rather think about what you can give and how you can help others, including stores, with what they have. This is what it means to be a Christian. This is how we show that Baptism into the Holy Trinity has changed our lives! If we do this we give glory to God, “who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure,” as Philippians says. Your good works are evidence of God working in your life! If we are not concerned about bearing such fruits of repentance, then “the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." Eternal judgment from God will surely come. Even Tiger Woods, with all his wealth and talent, could not escape being found out. Judgment surely comes! God will reveal all things when He comes as our eternal judge.

God’s examination of and judgment of our lives is something fearful to contemplate. When thinking of this, then, contemplate your Savior, and what God has given you in your baptism! By it God has given you life with Christ, and by it He will continue to bless your life in Christ.

God sent John to “proclaim a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” He is called the Baptist not only because he baptized people, but because of what his baptism proclaimed about God. Baptism is a proclamation; it is not just an act. Baptism is God’s voice, His proclamation of love and mercy in Christ.

Consider who John was baptizing. He not only baptized the ordinary Jewish people who came to him, whom he called “a brood of vipers” because of their sins. He also baptized and so received tax collectors and soldiers. The tax collectors were hated and reviled because they were Jews who betrayed their own people by not only working for the Romans but also by stealing from their own people. The soldiers were Gentiles, pagans who were considered unclean and unworthy. What could receiving them bring John? Only suspicion and the rejection of the people. The tax collectors and soldiers would give him a bad name! And yet, he received them, for he was preparing for the one to come, the Messiah who would raise up children of Abraham from stones.

What did you bring to God when you were baptized? Most of us were baptized as infants. We brought to Him puke and poop and crying in church. Babies are not received because they are cute and cuddly, but because they are sinners who need a Savior. Indulge an infant. Instead of disciplining and training, give in to a child’s desires as he grows. What will you get? A spoiled brat who you can’t stand to have around and who will help no one! God receives us in Baptism because He is good and merciful and will mold us sinners to be like His good and holy Son. In baptism God gives you a new life in Christ, who will then “purify and refine [you] like gold and silver, and [you] will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord.” (Mal. 3) He will bring forth good works that are common, ordinary things, like being content with what we earn and have and so not stealing from others. Because such works are ordinary, we often overlook them and place little value upon them. To God they are precious, however! They are His work in and through us, for “It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philip. 2:13).

‡       It’s like when a child goes shopping for a Christmas gift for Mom. Dad takes him shopping. Dad helps pick out something that Mom would like. Dad pays for it, as the few pennies the child has couldn’t really buy anything. But, Mom loves it and gives her precious child a big hug!

God has blessed you with “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” Your baptism is His proclamation to you of a new life. By your works of repentance, your turning from sinful desires to live a life that is pleasing to God, proclaim to others the goodness of your God and the blessing of His baptism. Live out your baptism, to the praise and glory of your Savior!