The Kingdom of Heaven MATTHEW 3:1-6; 7-17
“GET REAL!”
As some boys put the finishing touches on their snowman, the eldest declares...:
1st Boy: This snowman represents the spirit of the New Year. Looking ahead, he strides forward with confidence and determination. He challenges! He imagines! He invents! He calls forth the best qualities of human drive and ingenuity!
2nd Boy: Really? It looks to me likee he's just standing there.
Very inspiring. But while Frosty points to ingenuity as the answer, John the Baptist points to
authenticity. The answer to the human dilemma, it seems, is not to be found in our resourcefulness but in God’s grace-fulness. To access that grace the Baptist challenges us to get real: “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near!” (Matthew 3:2)
Ever wonder what the Baptist’s appeal was? Scriptures inform us that he had quite the follow-ing. Hundreds and thousands of people swarmed around the riverside every time he showed up. Matthew notes that “People from Jerusalem and from all of Judea and all over the Jordan Valley went out to see and hear John.” (Matthew 3:5) Its an image of ever-expanding popularity! Matthew provides us a sample of John's preaching which only deepens the mystery. What was the appeal of a man who told his audience to repent and that they're a bunch of snakes? Why listen to a guy who lives with coyotes and dresses in smelly camel hair, eating bugs and who knows what else?!
What exactly was his appeal? It couldn't have been his outfit! Even camels kept their distance. John's diet was a bit off too. I had a grasshopper once but it came with crème d'mint and ice cream. And locusts? Can you imagine? He must've been a fun dinner guest? Kinda reminds me of Calvin...
Calvin: Ok Susie, I got five locusts, but it will cost you 50 cents to see me eat them.
Susie: 50 cents? I'd pay 50 cents if you ate 50 locusts.
Calvin: That's just a penny a locust!
Susie: Right. I'll give you a nickel to eat those five.
Calvin: Five cents?! What if I have to go to the hospital because of this?
Susie: Oh. All Right. I'll throw in another nickel if you go to the hospital.
Calvin: Not so fast! First, prove you even have two nickels. (Susie refuses and Calvin exits...) ...Man, you'd think the guy eating the locusts would be calling the shots!
Susie: Usually, if you're calling any shots at all, you're not eating locusts. (exits)
(Jungle Cat, p. 117)
In spite of his locust-eating ways, for which he didn't get a nickle, John was a big hit! What was his appeal? Well, for one thing, there was his authenticity. He was for real. Unlike the religious leaders, John didn’t care what others thought of him. They put on religious masks whereas John urged people to take them off. With John, what you saw is what you got..., and what you got was a bit unorthodox, to be sure, but John was for real, and people loved that about him and took his message to heart.
Second, John’s message, blunt as it was, was a message of hope. Quoting Isaiah 40, Matthew points him out saying, “He is a voice, shouting in the wilderness.” (Matthew 3:3) The reference to the wilderness was a familiar one to Matthew's audience. The wilderness is where God's people wandered for forty years, as a result of their disobedience. John's message and call to be baptized pointed to God's willingess to forgive and restore. His words spoke to a hope that things could change....
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John was popular because he was the real thing and because he offered hope to a desperate world. In the words of author and poet, Henry David Thoreau: “(Most people) lead lives of quiet desperation…concealed under what are called the games and amusements of mankind.”
(Henry David Thoreau)
We're no less desperate, no less in need of such hope, today as they were then. Between the pain of growing up in a broken family, abusive situations, and amidst a world that has run amok, shame and despair have never been more commonplace. Pile on the prevalence of divorce, addictions, abortions, sexual compulsions, and depression – emerging generations are gasping for hope.
John Burke, pastor of Gateway Church in Austin, Texas, writes: “We must create a culture of hope in our churches, ministries, and small groups. We must teach, model, and create environments that breathe hope into our hopeless world. ‘For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.’ (Romans 15:4)
If we do not create a context for hope and healing, people will keep acting out of their pain in sinful ways. We all know we were intended for more! But we all need hope, that despite our screw-ups and misguided stabs at life, we can still become all God intended us to be.”
(from John Burke’s No Perfect People Allowed)
That's the third source of John's appeal. His message of hope was totally Christocentric, rooted in the promise that one will come, the messiah,the Christ. who will redeem our screw-ups, transforming us from hopeless sinners into the children of God, as we cling to the pilot God has provided,.
For those damaging the rudders of their lives on the hidden shoals of sin, He provides safe harbor. We serve as shipmates who help connect travelers with the Pilot of our souls. Like the Baptist we can be that beacon of hope that points beyond us, and our current troubles, to the one true anchor!
Where the people of God reside, the Spirit of God resides. The Spirit wants to use folks like you to help those adrift connect. How so? By offering to help where help is needed; by reaching out to those you don’t know following worship; by getting real and risking transparency in small group settings; by praying for those you invite and for opportunities to invite still others. Consider Joe..
“It was a Saturday afternoon when I made a desperate call to Craig, an acquainttance that I had met in AA a few weeks earlier. He was sober and told me to call him if I ever needed help. Boy, did I ever need help. I was in rough shape. I had just about lost hope that things could be different.
He told me about Jesus and others seeking to follow him. I thought that I needed to get well and then come to church. I had it backwards. I needed to come to church to get well.”
(from John Burke’s No Perfect People Allowed)
Just as Joe's friend pointed him to Jesus such was the third appeal of John the Baptist – he pointed his peers...to Jesus! “Someone is coming who is greater than I am – so much greater that I'm not worthy even to be his slave and carry his sandals...!” (Matthew 3:11)
Matthew uses that moment to reveal three vital things about Jesus –first from John, second from Jesus himself and third from the Father. From John we learn that Jesus also baptizes. “Someone is coming who is greater than I am... – he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire!” (Matthew 3:11)
Why does he do that? Contrary to popular belief, it's not to make us feel good...., but so that we'll be equipped to witness and heal and be healed in his name. He baptizes...to equip & sanctify us!
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Second, Jesus reveals that he came not to dominate his arena of influence but to submit himself to pursuing and obeying the will of God the Father. As he tells his cousin...: “Let us proceed, for we must carry out all that God requires.” (Matthew 3:15) In a season in which many Christians pick and choose which passages of scripture to obey, Jesus notes he came to carry out all of what God requires. “And what does God require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8) Humbly serving and showing mercy are at the heart of Jesus mission...
Third, God the Father identifies Jesus further when he declares at his baptism: “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy!” (Matthew 3:17) This affirms what Matthew has shared in his opening chapter: “The child within (Mary) was conceived by the Holy Spirit...” (Matthew 1:20)
Jesus is able to do for us what noone else can because he comes to this world from beyond it, because he is uniquely born of God, filled with the Holy Spirit, and God the Father absolutely adores him, delights in him, celebrates him and encourages us to do likewise! That's what worship's all about!
It reminds me of a standup routine in which a father watches from the bleachers as his son scores a touchdown in a high school football game. He turns to the fellow next to him, and says, 'That's my boy! I used to carry the ball but now I'm too old so my son carries the ball now. That's him there – celebrating in the end zone. I taught him the business. Now look at him go! That's my boy!'
Just then, as the camera zooms in, his son waves and says, “Hi Mom!”
Matthew tells us that this is what God the Father basicly does at Jesus' baptism. Still dripping wet, Jesus looks up to hear his Dad declare,“That's my boy! Taught him the business. Watch him...!”
Jesus in turn, imitates him, and as 'imitating is the ultimate compliment', Jesus compliments His Father in word and deed. And round and round it goes, one delighting in the other..., and we're invited to join the dance. To help us do so with the same joy and delight, Jesus fills us with His Spirit. As John says of Jesus: “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire!” (Matthew 3:11)
In dark and uncertain days hope comes from he who can redeem our screw-ups, transforming us from hopeless sinners into reflectors of his grace, as we get real about our own baggage and let God worry about cleaning up the baggage of those around us. Repentance is the call to get real, to name whatever it is that distracts, discourages or destroys our joy in the Lord, opening ourselves to his...fire.
Many today are sailing through the seas of life with no pilot on board. We’re called to help such sea-weary travelers connect with the Pilot of our soul. Like the Baptist we can be that beacon of hope that points beyond us, and our current troubles, to he who saves..., he who is the apple of our Father God's eye, who baptizes his followers in the fire of the Holy Spirit! And we need that fire! I need that fire! Without it, I'm more frozen chosen than a mercy magnet, and it's the latter I long to be, showing his mercy and grace to those sinking without it, that like a magnet I might attact them to Him!
That's what Alpha is all about – and why we're so excited to offer it to our community – that others may also be set ablaze with the love of God for a hurting world, one wounded soul at a time.
For their sake, and you're own, let's get real.... for “The Kingdom of Heaven is near!” (Matthew 3:2)