A Listing of Exhortations!

Text:  St. Luke 3:7-18

Theme:  “A Listing of Exhortations!
Third Sunday of Advent

December 13, 2015

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Denton, Texas

Rev. Paul R. Dunklau

+In the Name of Jesus+

7 John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 9 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

10 “What should we do then?” the crowd asked.

11 John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”

12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”

13 “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.

14 Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”

He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”

15 The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah. 16 John answered them all, “I baptize you with[a] water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with[b] the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” 18 And with many other words John exhorted the people and proclaimed the good news to them.

The light on our Advent Wreath deepens and intensifies this morning.  Three candles now burn.  Today’s candle is unique in that it’s the only one that is pink. 

If expectant parents know ahead of time that the child to be born is a girl, they may choose pink as color of choice for the nursery.  If a boy, it’s likely blue.  Pink is the color for breast cancer awareness, the Susan B. Komen Foundation, and the race for a cure.  Traditionally, though, pink was/is the color of joy.  On the wreath, it’s set against the three purple candles that traditionally signified repentance, sorrow over sins, and even royalty.  The reason the third week gets a pink candle is the word of God to Paul that he delivered to the Philippians.  Philippians 4:4:  “Rejoice in the Lord always!  I will say it again:  Rejoice!”  That short verse has shown up in the lectionary for the Third Sunday of Advent for years.

It sort of disrupts all the things we’re “supposed” to be concerned about all the time, doesn’t it?  “Rejoice in the Lord always!”  Doesn’t that leave less time for fretting?  Yes.  As a matter of fact, it does.  So God grant to you a little Christmas before Christmas on this day when a pink candle and a word from God is all you need.

But wait!  There does not appear to be much “pink” – or much joy! – in today’s Gospel reading from Luke.  In Luke 3, we get sermonizing from John the Baptist, the great preacher of Advent.

You’d think he’d start off with “Fellow redeemed!  My dear sisters and brothers in Christ!  With joy I greet you! ” or something appropriate like that.  Instead, his listeners get this:  “You brood of vipers! (“You band of baby snakes!”) Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”

Here’s a modern paraphrase:  “So, you’ve changed your mind.  You’ve repented.  You have a new beginning with God.  Great!  Now, start acting like it!  You’ve got the word; you have the thoughts and maybe a handful of good intentions. Now give me the deeds!”

Then he headed them off at the pass.  Anticipating that they might be offended at the seemingly harsh, “inappropriate”, and not-very-politically-correct introduction, he counters an argument that his listeners surely had in mind:  they are Israelites, the chosen people!  You can’t talk to us like that!  John declares: 
“Don’t tell me that you have Abraham as a father.  God can take these rocks and make children of Abraham.”

Even we Americans could use a good dose of John the Baptist!  As wonderful as American nationalism and patriotism may be, they do not come at point number one.  Point number one, in any recognizably Christian understanding, is the Kingdom of God – and the Kingdom of God is not the 48 contiguous plus Alaska and Hawaii. Just before that verse on joy, Paul said to the Philippians:  “Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there.”  Jesus Himself said:  “The Kingdom of God is within you.”

John goes on: 

The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

“Faith without works is dead,” declare St. James. Without action, there is atrophy.  Without production, there is destruction.  If there is no good fruit, then the tree WILL be cut down and burned.

John the Baptist cannot be accused of telling people what their itching ears want to hear.  You can fill stadiums with people if you have a Pepsodent smile and keep telling them what they WANT to hear. 

John told them what they NEEDED to hear – and that was, of course, the truth. 

The good news here, the pink part, and the joy of it all is that THE WORD OF GOD FROM JOHN HAD ITS DESIRED EFFECT.  “What then should we do?” asks crowd. Good crowd!

Gifted with repentance, with a new beginning, and a fresh faith in God, this is EXACTLY the question that needs to be asked.

Yet more joyfully, John responds with specific answers.  He has an exhortation for the wealthy:  give away that extra coat!  He has an exhortation for the tax collectors:  don’t charge more than the rate.  He has an exhortation for the soldiers:  no extortion, no lying, and be content with your wages.

This is what is so awesome and joyful about John’s preaching:  it’s honest; it’s urgent; it’s practical; it’s visual; it’s down-to-earth; it’s about taking action that make it crystal clear that something has changed in your life!

Yet it’s so hard, twenty-one centuries later, for us to get a grip on this.  The kind of Christianity that seems to work nowadays is pretty much limited to the kind that makes you feel good.  We all want to “feel good” about ourselves, about our opinions, our politics, our country, our selves, and our God.  If we feel good or feel right, we’ve convinced ourselves, we will act right.

John the Baptist, in his preaching, turns it completely around.  “You don’t feel your way into the right action,” he seems to be saying; “You act your way into the right feeling.”

We can forgive the crowd for wondering if this dynamic and somewhat bizarre preacher might be the Messiah.  John quickly put those notions to rest.  Being Messiah wasn’t His job description.  His job – better:  his calling! – was to point to the One who was.  Here, again, are the last words of our text:

 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. And with many other words John exhorted the people and proclaimed the good news to them.

I conclude with this observation:  I’ve seen many pictures of Christmas trees on social media this year.  I haven’t seen snapshots of the national Christmas tree in Washington or that massive thing in Rockefeller Center in New York City.   Postings have not included that lovely tree in the middle of the ice rink at the Galleria in North Dallas.

No, instead the pictures are the ones that individuals and individual families have put up and decorated in and around their homes. They’re not the biggest trees; they’re not put up to win any contest.  But people took action to put them up and decorate them.  Now they experience and share the joy of those actions.

There are hints of John the Baptist in this!  He proclaimed the good news with a list of practical applications.  He shared the Gospel of Jesus, the Messiah who was yet to come, which gives us a lively, active faith.  And therein lies the joy.

Color the day pink!

Amen.