SERMON NOTES Advent III, St. Francis Church (December
14, 2003)
Fr.
John Spencer
“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? 8Produce
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. 9The 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.
11John answered, "The man with two tunics should share with
him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same."
12Tax collectors also came to be baptized. "Teacher,"
they asked, "what should we do?"
13"Don't collect any more than you are required to,"
he told
14them. 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."
15The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in
their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ.[1] 16John answered them
all, "I baptize you with[2] water. But one more powerful than
I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will
baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 17His 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." 18And
with many other words John exhorted the people and preached the good news
to them.” (Luke 3:7-18)
John the Baptist preached the gospel, the “good news.” Yet he started his sermon saying,
“You brood of vipers”! How
many of you would go back to HIS church?
The good news of the gospel is a two-edged sword. First, we get the bad news. The bad news is that
the wrath of God is coming.
John the Baptist preached repentance and told his listeners
that they should produce fruit in keeping with repentance. When the crowd asked him, “What
should we do?” John had specific instructions for them.
The gospel’s “good news” is actually “bad news” if we aren’t
prepared to take action, the actions of repentance and amendment of
life. The good news of
forgiveness comes after the bad news of our sin. Repentance – a turning away from our wrong path into
God’s right path – requires change.
While John is preaching the gospel of sin, repentance and
forgiveness, Jesus is “in the wings.”
Jesus comes after John and preaches the same message in even
stronger terms. John says, “I
am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the
Lord.’” (John
1:29)
How do we prepare for the coming of Christ? For what do we prepare?
We prepare for Christmas, the celebration of Christ’s birth
in the manger. We also prepare
for His return to earth as Lord, Savior and King. When Christ returns as king, He will come also as the
judge – the judge of EVERYONE.
(Nicene
Creed, Apostle’s
Creed). In order to
prepare for the coming of Christ as Lord and King, we must prepare for His
judgment.
The coming judgment will judge us on our relationship with
God and on the way we have fulfilled His purpose for us.
What is the purpose of our existence? God made us for Himself
and our purpose as individuals is communion with God.
Although we were created for communion with God, there is a wall
between us and God, a wall that inhibits that communion. The wall that has grown up between
us and God is sin.
Before sin entered the world, Adam and Eve communed with
God. God came to the Garden of
Eden in the evening and spent time with them as a Father with His
children. Adam and Eve looked
forward to this time with their Father and came running when they heard the
voice of God in the garden in the evening.
After sin entered the garden, Adam and Eve hid from God. When God came in the evening to walk
and talk with them, Adam hid under a bush.
Since the time of Adam and Eve’s sin, God has been clearing
away the wall between God and man.
In Jesus Christ the remedy for sin is put before us. Just as the veil in the temple, the
veil that separated the dwelling of God from the community of man, was torn
at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, so too the wall between God and man was
broken down by the same event.
The good news of the gospel is that God’s remedy for sin in the
death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is ours as a free gift, accepted by
us as we repent and turn from our sin.
A visible, tangible enactment of our restored communion with
God is found in the sacrament of Holy Communion, the Eucharist.
Why are we Anglicans so insistent on having Holy Communion
every Sunday? Holy Communion,
the Eucharist, is our central act of worship as Anglicans. In this life and on this present
earth this sacrament (Holy Communion) is the closest we will ever get to
perfect communion with God. In the Eucharist we are given a foretaste of
heaven and of the kingdom of God. In the Eucharist we come as close
as is possible, in this present world, to a reunion with God, a restoration
of the relationship Adam and Eve had with God before sin entered the world.
Who instituted the Eucharist, the Holy Communion? We all know the answer. Jesus first celebrated this
sacrament at the end of His last meal with His disciples before His crucifixion. The Eucharist is not something that
we have chosen, but it is something that God has chosen for us. We celebrate it in obedience to
Christ.
Our communion with God in the Eucharist is perfect not
because WE do it, but because HE does it.
Not all of you have children, but most of you have
parents. How many of you have
had trouble getting along with your parents? You are their “flesh and blood,” yet there are times
when you can’t communicate, times when you are not in communion with them.
This is true of all our closest earthly relationships. We can’t maintain perfect communion
with our parents, our children, our husbands or wives, or our
siblings. How are we to have
the perfect communion with God that He desires, if we can’t maintain
perfect communion in our earthly relationships?
THERE is GOOD NEWS!
We don’t have to do it on our own! Christ, our great high priest, comes to us in Word and
Sacrament in the Holy Eucharist.
In the sacrament of Holy Communion, we take the life of the Son of
God into ourselves. Because we
have the life of the perfect Son within us, we have perfect communion with
the Father.
We are not even wholly responsible for taking in the life of
Christ. Christ comes to us in
the sacramental act of worship not because it’s something WE do, but
because it is something HE DOES.
In Jesus Christ, God has opened to us the gate of perfect communion
with Him.
Many people spend their entire life searching for ways to
grow closer to God. Here, God himself has given us the way, and the
means. Do we want communion
with God on our terms, or on God’s terms? Are we willing to accept the way God has given us to be
in communion with Him, or do we still insist on looking for our own way to
grow closer to God?
Read the
5th and 6th
chapters of the Gospel of John.
Jesus says, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of God and drink His
blood, you have no life within you.”
52* The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying,
"How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" 53 So Jesus said to
them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son
of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; 54 he who eats my
flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the
last day. 55 For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56*
He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. (John
6:52-56).
You say, “I see plenty of people walking around, talking,
seeming perfectly alive, who have never taken communion.” What you see is dead corpses
walking and talking and one day even the apparent life they have will
vanish in physical death.
There’s life – and then there’s REAL LIFE. Mankind in his sin – you and I in
our sin – is a dead corpse that walks around upright. Unless we take the life of Christ
into us now, someday the dead corpse is all that we will be.
We need to partake of the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ –
we need to take part in the sacrament of communion – to partake of
Him. Sounds gross, you
say? Sounds like cannibalism?
Do you know that cannibals won’t eat just anyone? Cannibals will eat only those whom
they respect and admire, people whose qualities they want. It’s sort of as if they believe
that those qualities will “rub off” on them.
We celebrate the Eucharist – we eat the body of Christ and
drink His blood – in order to participate in His life and to have His life
within us? Are we prepared for
this kind of intimacy with Jesus Christ? Do we want to take the life of Jesus Christ into
ourselves? Are we ready for
this perfect communion with God our Father and His Son Jesus Christ?
The Gospel – the Good News – is
·
Not
about doing stuff
·
Not
about being religious
·
Not
about saying the right things
It IS about a relationship. It’s about the restoration of perfect communion between
us and God. As we obey the
Gospel – repent of our sins, accept His forgiveness and turn from our own
ways to His ways – we are restored to communion with God.
How long have you been “hiding under the bush”? How long have you stayed away from
the presence of God out of fear or shame for your sins? Are you ready for perfect communion
with God?
PERFECT COMMUNION.
It doesn't get any better than that:
Jesus Christ ABIDING IN YOU, AND YOU IN HIM.
Are you ready for this step?
Are you REALLY ready to sit down and commune with him? Are you ready for this kind of
relationship with Jesus?
You see, there's a great big
difference between knowing ABOUT God and KNOWING God.
I know a lot about George
Bush. I know his wife’s name;
I know that he’s a recovering alcoholic; I know that he has twin daughters. I know a lot of things about
him. But I don't KNOW him.
A lot of people spend their
whole life learning ABOUT God and never get to KNOW Him. For many people, perhaps for some
of you, that is how your relationship with Jesus Christ is: You know an
awful lot ABOUT him, but YOU DON'T KNOW HIM.
Do you know the living LORD
as well as you know your mother or father, your husband, your wife?
How would you like to be in
perfect communion, perfect personal harmony, with
·
the
one who created atoms and hung the stars –
·
the
one who keeps every planet spinning in its course –
·
the
one who created hydrogen and oxygen –
·
the
one who became a man for your sake –
·
the
one who suffered on a cross for your sake –
·
the
one who literally rose from the dead for your sake?
·
the
one who is coming back to judge every person who has ever lived - YOU AND
ME –
·
THE
ONE WHOSE JUDGMENT IS RIGHT, AND FAIR, AND PROPER, AND TRUE.
Do you want the plastic Jesus, do you want the wooden Jesus, do
you want the paper and ink Jesus, because they are safe, and controllable,
and still?
Or do you want the REAL
JESUS, the one who is more ALIVE that you are? Do you want just the baby in the manger, or do you want
the Lord, King, Savior and Judge – the Jesus Who lived among us, was
crucified, died and rose again?
If we have this Jesus; if
this life of Christ is in us, we can’t put out the light. It will shine and give light to us
and to others around us. This life of Christ in us is like a “good infection”
that spreads from us to others.
It’s like the flu bug.
Catch the
bug!
Hope you
die from it and are raised into its new life!
PRAYER:
“Lord Jesus Christ, creator of all worlds, and righteous judge of all men:
come to us now, sit us down at your table, and bring us into perfect
harmony and communion with you, for only in fellowship with you can we
understand our fellowship and communion with each other.” AMEN.
Interpretation
and suggestions are by Ruth Holmes, who is solely responsible for them. Don’t blame Fr. Spencer!)
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