When I was a kid, I so looked forward to Christmas. Every year I’d get toys and they might break within a few weeks or a few months, but man, it was so fun and I was always in eager expectation of getting toys and electronic games like the excitement of the handheld baseball game I got and my brother got a football game from Mattel Electronics and it was so cool, you know, it was so cool having a radio shack in Clay Center so we could get those, you know, you wouldn’t believe how amazing 80s and 70s electronics were. Why are you looking at me like I don’t know what I’m talking about? And that Christmas came and I was a little older and I was, you know, maybe Colin’s age, my youngest son, maybe fifth or sixth grade and I was so looking forward to opening these presents and especially the electronics and I opened the presents and yes, it came from Radio Shack, but it was an alarm clock and I was like, that is not fun.
That’s just making me more responsible. That’s telling me I don’t get to sleep in. My expectations that Christmas were shattered and I was not as grateful as if I would have had a two dollar toy.
Now, this season we’re talking about, this is a season of expectation. An expectation of the Messiah is what we’re specifically looking at today. The season of expectation for this Messiah brings a time when God sends his only son to earth and everybody has ideas today as they did back then on who they want Jesus to be.
John the Baptist was trying to tell everyone about Jesus. We heard the first part of Luke’s testimony about John and today we’re going to look at this second part and see what it has to do with being an expectation of the Messiah. Will you stand as you are able? Our gospel lesson today is from Luke 3, 7 through 18.
He said, therefore the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, you brood of vipers, who warned you to free from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance and 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. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees.
Every tree therefore does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. And the crowds asked him, what then shall we do? And he answered them, whoever has two tunics should share them with him who has none. And whoever has food is to do likewise.
Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, teacher, what shall we do? And he said to them, collect no more than you are authorized to do. Soldiers also asked him, and we, what shall we do? And he said to them, do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusations and be content with your wages. As the people were in expectation and were all questioning their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ.
John answered them all saying, I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with fire and the Holy Spirit. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquestionable fire.
So with many other exhortations, he preached the good news to the people. The word of God inspired by God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.
Amen. You may be seated. Luke 3.15 is kind of the crux of this whole sermon series, this whole season of Advent, where it says the people were waiting in expectation.
They thought John had eloquent words and they wondered if he was going to be the Christ. Christ is just an interpretation of the Greek word for the Hebrew Messiah. So they were in expectation of the Messiah.
And just like so many people have different ideas of who Jesus is today, so they had different ideas of who the Messiah is and what the Messiah was due to when he was coming. They wanted a Messiah who was going to free Israel from Roman rule. A Messiah who was going to conquer and put a king on the throne that would rule forever in the line of David like it was prophesied.
But they didn’t fully understand the prophecy and they added to it and they had an expectation that was actually less than what God had in store for them. You see, we, like those of the world, get confused on who the actual, who is the actual Messiah. We expect a Santa Claus Messiah to do our will.
We expect a Messiah that we can go to and say, hey, clear this path before me, or hey, I don’t like this in my life, take care of it, or hey, do this for me, or hey, smite this person. Don’t pray that. God sent a Messiah that John was trying to tell them was different just because John had eloquent words.
He was saying there’s so much more to this Messiah. In fact, you’re my disciples, but, and you come for me for baptism, but, and you come to me to hear the words of the one who is to come, but I’m not even worthy to tie or untie his sandals, which was the job of a servant. I’m not even good enough to be a servant.
That’s how awesome this Messiah is who is coming. Now, what John is getting at here is something that we need to remember is so important as a follower of Jesus Christ that is dropped at almost every level of Christianity today, that the importance we have with Christ is something that is almost a bad word in a lot of church circles today, and that is holiness. Holiness, sanctification, and John is saying bear fruit, bear fruit that is worthy of repentance, and that holiness and sanctification, holiness means to be set apart for God.
Sanctification means basically the same thing, a process of being set apart for God throughout your life. Last week, we talked about how we were in expectation of a Savior. John said the words in all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
Of course, it’s the Savior in the manger, but as the Messiah, we got to recognize it’s important for us to be in expectation this season of the Messiah who Jesus was that is so much bigger than everything we have. One of the things that’s pretty cool to do is when you’re, with this sermon today, I felt like there is so much to talk about that we’re going to be here for a couple more hours, but what’s really cool is when you light Advent candles, you can give some of that to Bruce, and he can just read it and take care of it so you understand. Thanks for doing that.
Malachi 3, 1 through 4 is what we heard during the Advent candles. This talks about a refiner’s fire, and the fuller soap, and how he will purify the people like silver, and that’s what John was talking about. John told the people to expect a Messiah who baptizes with fire.
Now, that sounds a little daunting. Baptized with fire. I mean, we think of fire as destruction.
We think of fire as something that burns something up, and we think that’s really not where, we’re not a cult where we walk on coals of fire to try to prove how cool we are. John is talking about fire that comes with the Holy Spirit. Remember at Pentecost, how did the Holy Spirit come down at Pentecost? Tongues of fire.
A flame came down, and tongues came and lit on everyone coming from that same flame to represent the fires of the Holy Spirit. Paul kind of connects it like this. Before we get into Paul, let’s talk about being purified by fire.
When that gold or that silver gets to its boiling point, it burns off the bad stuff, and the gold turns to liquid, and then what can you do with that liquid? If you are the one doing the refining, what can you make that liquid? Whatever you desire. It can become a sword. It can become a plowshare.
It can become something that is used, and God uses, turns, when we get to that point, if you think of it like that, when we get to the point, instead of being so hard, and we say, you know, inadvertently, we say, God is not big enough to take these impurities out of me. It can’t happen. It’s buried too deep inside of me.
It’s who I am. It’s how I view everything in life, and so it just needs to be accepted as it is, but the cool thing is God loves us even when he sees those impurities in us, but in the process of holiness, something amazing happens. I know I’ve shared this book with you before, but it’s like my favorite book.
Maybe we should take a year and just study all the theology that’s in here. It’s amazing. It’s called The Theology of John Wesley, Holy Love and the Shape of Grace.
Now, when we’re talking about holiness, and we talk about the holy love, he talks about in here how Wesley talked about holiness as pure holiness is like that unquenchable fire that none of us can stand before God or we will be burned off, but it’s holy love that he does that as a fire for our, because he loves us. The holiness is because God loves us, and God wants us to be in his presence, and the shape of grace means that if we allow God to bring us to that critical point where he can burn off all the impurities within us, those things that are buried down deep, those things that only come through prayer and fasting and worshiping and devoting our lives to God and trusting in God, trusting in God for everything within our hearts and the struggles we’ve faced in life, then the shape of grace means that God doesn’t just leave us like that, but he has this grace that comes along and reshapes us. Shapes us into a sword or a shield or something for his glory.
Shapes us into a holy fishing pole so we can fish for disciples. God has a great shape for us with his grace that he pours into us every day of our lives. That purification by fire is allowing God to get us to that critical point where God doesn’t burn us up, but he burns up the things within us that we hold on to so tightly.
We say, that’s me, but it doesn’t identify you. These things within us, these temptations we have, these things don’t define us. We come to the point we’re only defined by who God says we are, and God says we are his children.
God says that through Christ we’re pure and spotless. Now, one of the earliest times, not the earliest, but one of the the prophecies for a Messiah that came along that the people really looked into was in Deuteronomy, and it was about Moses, and Moses was coming to the end of his ministry, and it said, the Lord will send a prophet like Moses. What’s one of the biggest miracles Moses did that we can remember? Parting of the Red Sea.
How did you know that? Everybody said that. Moses was able, through God, to put that staff down, and the sea parted, and the Israelites were able to go through, and then without the Israelites there, without God’s presence there, the waters came crashing down. And when that happened, the people saw Moses do amazing things.
I mean, there were all the plagues and the what happened when he threw his his staff down, turned into a and ate the other snakes, and showed God’s power over the power of the other magicians, and it says in Deuteronomy 18, the Lord will raise up a prophet for like me from among you for your brothers. It’s to him you shall listen. And then you get to the very end of Deuteronomy, and they were in eager expectation of a Messiah, of a new prophet, of one who had come, and of course there were some great leaders that came after Moses, like Joshua, and Caleb, and some strong people, but at the end of Deuteronomy they realize this, and there has not risen a prophet in Israel since Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.
None like him for all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to the servants, and to all his land, and for all the mighty power, and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the side of Israel. They realized that none had come along like that, so they were still looking for someone who had signs and wonders like Moses, and it never happened until Jesus came, and he came with those signs and wonders, and he came able to baptize with the Holy Spirit after he completed his mission on earth, and he died, and he rose again, and he ascended into heaven, and then he sent out his Holy Spirit, and that Holy Spirit doesn’t just live like in the Old Testament on a certain prophet here or there, but can live within everyone who calls on the name of the Lord, and the salvation will come, and with that Holy Spirit, that is where we can produce the fruit. Okay, Paul says it like this, Now if anyone builds on a foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become manifest, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what the work of each one has done.
If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. We all have had things, and we all have things that we need to, instead of praying, God, clear this path for me.
Maybe it’s time to start praying, God, send me the fires of heaven. Bring me your holiness. Work from within me.
Take away from me that which would distract me from you, that which says, I don’t have time to do your will, that within me that says, God, you need to do my will, instead of me getting on my knees and saying, God, help me to do your will. And then in Ephesians, Paul says this, for we are his workmanship. We are his workmanship, meaning he built us.
When we let God take us to that boiling point where he can work on us, do the tough work that the Holy Spirit can do within us, then we are created in Christ Jesus for good works, which means those good works are not salvific. It’s not like you can work your way to heaven. Those good works are a result of being in Christ Jesus, and those are the works that God prepared before him that we should walk in them.
That’s what the fires do. They allow us to do good works for God. John said it like this, what should we do? The crowd asked.
He said, whoever has two turnips, share with one who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise. Tax collectors, now tax collectors were known to take extra to have extra profit, and he said, be happy with your wages. Don’t gouge people.
Don’t treat people like they are there to serve you and give you money. Verse 14, soldiers asked him, and what shall we do? He said, do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be content with your wages. Now these soldiers were probably soldiers that worked for Herod’s court.
They were probably Jews as Herod was there, and they were Jews extorting from other Jews for their own profit, and all these people came, and John spoke to them this good news. Kelly Chirillo told a story about how they were driving through Arizona’s Coconino National Forest during our family road trip in the summer of 2022, and they found ourselves unexpectedly and unnervingly close to an active wildfire. Plumes of smoke alerted us to hot spots where fine crews worked to contain the blaze, and they said, we occasionally saw flames spreading among the Ponderosa Pines near the roadside as we traveled.
We gazed sadly at the forest that was completely blackened, now populated by only charred, barren trunks. It looked like death, and the fire certainly brought danger and loss, but for a Ponderosa Pine Forest, fire can also bring life. What looks like destruction can actually be crucial to the ecosystem’s life cycle.
As low intensity fires clear out the underbrush and enrich the soil with nutrients, our ecosystems, our ecosystems are similar. In fact, the wildfire’s intense heat and necessary to release some seeds from the resin coating and activate other seeds from their dormancy. The source of destruction can also be a catalyst for new life.
When we let the Messiah purify us, we can have new life and be a new creation before God. Spend time with the true Messiah and let his fire purify you during this season of expectation. Let’s pray.
Almighty God, help us to seek you and your will. Help us to trust in you and know that you are God and we are not. We open our hearts to you, we love you, and we give everything we have for you.
Cleanse us, renew us, make us yours in Jesus’ name, amen.