Matthew 3:1-12
December 5, 2005
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.
If you ever were a Boy Scout, “Be Prepare” means you would have a match to light a campfire to keep warm. Advent is a time for us to prepare the way of the Lord.
We start the season of Advent by searching for the perfect Christmas tree. I read recently that for a few extra dollars there is a new genetically designed tree that is grown to look like a perfect Christmas tree. I remember one year our family went searching for that perfect tree at a tree farm. After looking far and wide and thinking that the next tree would be more perfect than the last, we finally got out the bow saw and cut one down to take home. We somehow manage to tie all nine feet of branches onto our seven-foot car, leaving sap on the top of my car, got it home, decorated it with strings of twinkling lights and adorned it with home-made and sentimental ornaments.
With the tree decorated, we spend the next several weekends as well as many evenings shopping to fill the empty spaces around the Christmas tree. We plan elaborate parties. We dress up for those special dinners when guests come over. We take our children to see The Nutcracker on Friday and The Messiah on Sunday afternoon. We are preparing for Christmas.
Our churches prepare too. Every place of worship from small, country churches to large, hallowing cathedrals has been preparing for this season. Bright, red poinsettias grace our worship space. Candles of several colors—three purple, one pink, and one white—are ready to be lit, counting down the weeks to the Savior’s birth. I have 50lbs of sand in my car trunk for the luminaries that will light up our sidewalk on Christmas Eve. Our choirs are practicing and rehearsing special numbers for Advent Sundays This is Advent and we are preparing for Christmas.
John the Baptist
Our preparation seems to be well organized and our decorating is almost done. With a festive spirit, we are preparing our homes and our houses of worship for Christmas. Some of you are planning to dress up in a red Santa suit ready to say, “Ho, ho, ho.”
But today, our holiday joy comes to a screeching halt as we are come face to face with a man dressed in camel’s hair proclaiming a message from the wilderness. “Repent, for the kingdom of God has come near.” “Bear fruit worthy of repentance.” Hypocrites are not welcome. Curious minds merely wanting to see what is going on need not come. People with prestigious titles are not enough. People bearing bad fruit will be burned with unquenchable fire.
John the Baptist has come to fulfill the prophecy written in Malachi and Isaiah. The kingdom of God is drawing near. The voice of the one crying in the wilderness is proclaiming, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” John the Baptist is calling us to prepare for Advent but it doesn’t sound anything like what we have been doing for the past couple of weeks!
John the Baptist’s message is not easy to swallow. It is one thing to be asked to repent of our sins. But it’s something else to hear a group of people being called a “brood of vipers.” It’s something else to visualize people being punished by flames and fire. Most of us prefer not to ponder about the possibility of God’s wrath and punishment especially at Christmas time.
Transforming Fire
John preached about cutting down trees like the way we cut down our Christmas trees that bear no fruit and throwing them in the fire. He talks about the time when the wheat is separated from the chaff and burning the chaff in unquenchable fire. Fire is often associated with hell and damnation. When we think of God tossing sinners into the fire, we picture a devil dressed in red with horns sticking up on top of his head. The devil has a pitchfork in his hand, ready to poke and prod the fire and those burning in it. The fire is a symbol designed to scare us, to keep us from sinning.
But fire can also be a symbol of cleaning too. I can remember sterilizing a needle on the range before removing a splinter on my finger or my Mom used to hold a freshly dressed chicken over the gas range to burn off the little feathers. What a terrible smell that makes!
Fire is not just a symbol of punishment; it’s also na reliable sign of the presence of God. God speaks to Moses out of the burning bush; a pillar of fire guides the people of Israel through the wilderness after their escape from Egypt; and when Moses goes up Mount Sinai to get the Ten Commandments from God, it looks like to those below as if the mountain itself is being devoured by fire.
I don’t mean to minimize the danger of fire. Any Boys Scout would know how to care for a safe fire. As firefighter Doug Manguiat might say, “There is no safe fire; it can still burn and kill.”
But when it comes to God’s own fire, the fire of God’s presence, the fire that wants to speak to us, guide us, instruct us, it can be the fire that saves us. It is the fire of a potter who wants to make useful vessels out of damp clay. It is the fire of the jeweler who wants to refine gold from rough ore. It does not have to be the fire of destruction; it can also be the fire of transformation.
God’s fire lights us up and changes us, melting us down and reforming us more nearly to the image of God. It is the fire with which Jesus himself baptizes us, inviting us into a bright, hot relationship with him.
Preparing with Fire
On one level, preparing at Advent by putting up the Christmas tree, decorating the house, and shopping for gifts gets us ready for Christmas. All of these festivities are fun and gets us into the holiday spirit. Most of the world whether they are Christians or not do this.
But for Christians who are on another level of reality, preparing for Christmas includes preparing with fire. Offering God thanksgiving and adoration at Christmas without repentance is like taking out your plastic wrapped artificial Christmas tree already decorated from last year and say, “I’m done with the tree!” Where’s the preparation?
The reason why we are reading this Matthew 3 passage in Advent is that repentance is just as important, if not more important than praise. John the Baptist preaches, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.” The Greek word, “metanoeo” means literally “to change one’s mind.” Our understanding of the meaning of Christmas requires us to have a “change of mind” from how the rest of the world thinks about Christmas. It’s a lot more than finding that perfect Christmas tree.
John the Baptist goes even further and says to the multitudes to “bear fruit worthy of repentance.” It’s more than just a change of mind, it’s a changed life. God desires us to change our ways. He is calling people to repent and be baptized into a changed life.
Like Adam and Eve, we try to fool God by blaming others, by claiming that we couldn’t help ourselves or we were tricked into it. God knows us too well to be fooled. God knows what we are about and loves us anyway. It is not that God doesn’t care whether we do right or not. God cares deeply. But God knows the difference between the deed that is wrong and the person who is not a lost soul for having done the wrong. God condemns the sin but loves the person who did it too much to brand him a sinner forever. God may be disappointed in some of the things that we do; but God is never disappointed in who we are, fallible, imperfect people struggling to know the difference between good and evil and to believe that Christ died for us.
There’s a story of an angel walking down the street of a nearby town. In the angel’s right hand was a torch and in the left was a bucket of water. “What are you doing with that fire and water?” a passerby asked. The angel replied, “With the torch, I’m going to burn down the mansions of heaven, and with the bucket of water, I’m going to put out the fires of hell. Then we’ll see who really loves God.” Whether we think that we are living lives worthy of mansions or lives as corrupt like ghettoes, God is using fire to transform us by changing our lives in repentance.
Prepare the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight. The Lamb is coming. He is not to be feared. He is to be welcomed. He does not come with a fire of destruction. He comes with a fire of transformation. His fire melts and molds us into faithful disciples. He does not come to fill us with anxiety. He comes to calm our anxious souls. He comes to baptize us with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He comes to gather the wheat into the granary and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire. He comes to ignite a fire within us.
It is never too late to change our hearts. God does not give up on us. Despite where we are or what we are doing. God’s hand is still upon us. No matter who we are or what we have done. God can change our lives. He can wipe away our sinful desires and selfish ways and replace them with fruit that is worthy of repentance.
Prepare the Way of the Lord
I am thankful for the transforming fire of God. I am thankful that his fire burns away the chaff in my life. It makes a clean sweep of my mind, washing away my sin and filling me with grace. His fire touches my lips, enabling me to sing his praises. As Christians, preparing for Christmas first includes the repentance of our sins.
When you really think about it, we do not have to do anything to prepare for Christmas. The 25th day of December will arrive whether we are ready or not. Still, we spend hours preparing for our annual traditions.
We do not have to do anything to prepare for Christ. Christ is coming again whether we are ready or not. But as hopeful souls, we can prepare the way of the Lord to come into our lives.
We prepare for the coming of Christ by turning away from the world and returning to the ways of Christ.
We prepare for the coming of Christ by sharing his all-consuming fire with others.
We prepare for the coming of Christ by confessing our sins, repenting, and opening ourselves to a changed life.
We prepare for the coming of Christ by allowing his flame to touch us once again, transforming us from the inside out.
We prepare for the coming of Christ by going into the wilderness and being reminded that God is with us.
Prepare the way of the Lord for his transforming fire will bear fruit worthy of repentance!
Let us pray. God of the prophets, you sent your messenger into the wilderness of Jordan to prepare human hearts for the coming of your Son. Help us to prepare for Christ’s coming. And to hear the good news and repent, that we may be ready to welcome the Lord, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.