December 17, 2023         Text:  John 1:6-8, 19-28

Dear Friends in Christ,

In small town life you have characters.  By now, most of you know I grew up in Argenta, 45 minutes southeast of here, population around 1,000.  In our town was a mentally challenged young man named Lyle.  His parents owned the local filling station, and the town just took care of him.  They bought him a riding lawn mower and made him an honorary deputy.  My dad’s cabinet shop was next to his parent’s gas station, so Lyle would pop in periodically just to visit.  One day he came in to talk with my dad and he had a citation and a fine for $10.  He told my dad it was because my dad had given him the finger.  Not sure if my dad ever paid the fine, but it has become a part of small-town lore.

John the Baptist barely had a town to live in, he made his home in the wilderness.  But he was known to give the finger.  He used his to point to a Savior, but this didn’t make the locals none too happy because John the Baptist was . . . 

“GIVING THE FINGER”

Ancient Christian art depicts John with an overly large mouth and a hyperextended index finger, pointing to the Lamb of God.  John is an authoritative witness, one who tells exactly what he has seen and heard.  Scripture says that every matter must be established by at least two or three witnesses for it to be considered true.  John lines up seven that testify that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the God, the Savior of the world.  They are John the Baptizer, the Holy Scriptures, the works the Farther does through Jesus, Jesus himself, the Holy Spirit, the apostles, and St. John’s Gospel.

John is sent to give the finger.  John was sent by God to give testimony.  “He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.” (v. 8). John wasn’t the light that gives life to the world.  Nor are we, though we think we might shine a little brighter than the world.

We tend to confuse witness with the testimony, the message with the messenger.  We pay more attention to the person than the office.  Toni and I know a congregation relieving their Pastor of his duties because they don’t care for his sermons or his interactions with the congregation.  How would John fare today with his camel’s hair and leather, picking honey-coated grasshoppers from his teeth and preaching repentance and baptism?

“We do not preach ourselves,” wrote the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians, “but Jesus Christ as Lord.”  The religious leaders of Jerusalem were stuck on the messenger, but didn’t hear the message.  Expectations in Israel at the time of John were higher than a five-year-old a week before Christmas.  John had created quite a stir.  So, a committee was sent to ask, “Who are you?” or more like this, “Who do you think you are?”  Religious institutions don’t care for wilderness prophets.  

It’s time for John to give this call committee the finger.  “I am not the Christ.”  “I am not Elijah.”  Then they ask, “Are you the prophet?”  John could have grabbed a little glory.  He wasn’t the prophet, but he was a prophet.  He uses his finger to point to the Light.  He wants to talk about Jesus, not himself.

This is what witnessing is about.  Witnessing is not “Jesus loves me, this I know.”  That’s boasting – true and holy boasting, but boasting nonetheless.  “Jesus loves you, this I know.”  That is witnessing.  Pointing the finger to the Savior.

Who then are you?  The priests and Levites needed to take something back to headquarters.  John wasn’t going after a bunch of internet followers.  He was using his digit to show the way of Jesus.  Jesus overshadowed him.  Quite a concept, that didn’t fly back then and is even worse today.  He wouldn’t even get into a big discussion about baptism.  He just kept giving them the finger.  Jesus.  Jesus.  Jesus.  He would extend that finger the next day for the crowd as he pointed in the direction of the lone figure coming toward him, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”  

The Church today is still giving the finger in today’s wilderness of sin and terror and death – a voice to proclaim repentance and forgiveness in Jesus’ name – a finger pointing to Jesus.  There is your salvation and forgiveness and life.  There is your Baptism.  There is Holy Communion.  Earlier, the Holy Spirit pointed us to our Absolution of our sin.  We point out all of these gifts to others when we share the love of Jesus with others. 

A small word of warning.  The word for witness is the same word from which we get “martyr.”  You might not lose your head, as John did.  But don’t worry, you have already died in Jesus, you have been baptismally buried into his death.  You are in the ultimate witness protection program, embraced by the death of the Son of God who loved you and gave himself up for you.  No disguise needed.  We can just tell the truth about our sin, and even more about our Savior, the world’s Savior.  Let’s give everyone the finger, pointing people to Jesus. 

Amen.        

December 13, 2023 – Advent     Text:  Acts 2:37-41

Dear Friends in Christ,

It can be difficult to find the gift that fits perfectly, and I just don’t mean clothes which can be inconsistent in their sizes.  Books might be safe, but what kind of book does the person like – fiction, non-fiction, mystery or biography?  Food can make a nice gift, but what if they have an allergy to something, and your gift leads to them having difficulty breathing?  That sure doesn’t fit perfectly.

Last year I did some ladies sweater shopping for someone in our family.  It turned out to be the gift that fit perfectly.  How do I know?  First, they told me.  But secondly, whenever we would see them they were wearing it.  It makes you feel good.

Tonight, as we continue with the theme of “gifts,” we are going to look at a gift that is beyond good, it is eternal.  It is mentioned in our text, “the gift of the Holy Spirit.”  That gift was put on us at our baptism and it is . . . 

“THE GIFT THAT FITS PERFECTLY”

Let’s go back to the birth of Jesus, Luke tells us that he was wrapped “in swaddling clothes.”  Ever wonder what are swaddling clothes?  They have been around for centuries and are still used for babies today.  After the baby has been born, the baby is bathed, maybe some lotion is put on and then they are wrapped in soft cloths.  Both of our boys came to us this way shortly after their birth.  The only thing sticking out was their head.  They were wrapped tightly and what a gift!

Before Jesus was wrapped up as the gift that fits perfectly, Matthew tells us about the work of this same Holy Spirit.  “Joseph, Son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matt. 1:20b-21)

The people in our text it says were “cut to the heart.”  This was a deep emotional wound.  What emotional wound has cut to your heart?  A relationship that is not what it used to be?  A Christmas celebration missing a dear loved one?  Words said, that you still regret years later?  What is deep inside you that still causes a hurt? 

Then they asked the question, “Brothers, what shall we do?”  Peter said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” (v. 38-39)

We need to recognize our desperate state, confess our sins and be washed by God.  The chief blessing of our baptism is the forgiveness of sins.  This gift of the Holy Spirit which fits perfectly is a gracious promise to all people regardless of age or race.  

Many of us were baptized as infants.  When we were brought to the font by our parents, they saw us as the perfect gift.  We were probably wrapped in a nice little package, especially if your baptism was in the Midwest winter.  Our parents and congregation confessed the faith for us.  Our sponsors diligently took an oath of their responsibility.  Then it happened, you were placed by the font and the Pastor took the water and said, “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”  And thanks be to God that fit you perfectly.  Sins washed away.  Called child of God.  On the road to the eternal life that awaits you. 

Can you recall that one Christmas gift that fit you perfectly?  For me, it was either late high school or early college.  I wanted a VCR.  At the time it cost about $200.  But I told my parents one gift would be fine, because that is what I really wanted.  I received it and it lasted for years.  I even learned to program it so it wouldn’t flash 12:00 all the time.

The one gift the Holy Spirit gives is the greatest gift.  While I enjoyed the VCR it did very little for my faith.  Even the one gift that fit you perfectly, unless it was a Bible or devotional book, could not do anything to save you.  But the gift we hear about tonight, the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, would break free of those clothes, he would use his arms to wrap us up in His love as He went to the cross for the gift of our salvation.  Haven’t we said it many times over the years at gift opening – “What a gift, it’s perfect.”  It sure is.

Amen.       

December 10, 2023       Text:  Mark 1:1-8

Dear Friends in Christ,

Just over a century ago, in 1919, a young lieutenant colonel and two hundred and fifty soldiers made the first road trip across the United States.  The caravan traversed 3,242 miles through eleven states in sixty-two days, and average of fifty-two miles a day.  Poor roads, rough pavement, winding routes – the message was clear:  for our nation’s security, to move forces and equipment in case of attack, to say nothing of ease and comfort, there needed to be a better way.  The young lieutenant colonel was Dwight Eisenhower.  Forty years later as president, Eisenhower instituted the Interstate Highway System that allows us to make the same trip in well under a week.

John the Baptist entered a world where the way for the Lord’s arrival was as rough and winding as that first American road trip.  John is the advance man who comes to prepare, to make straight, the way for the greater One following.  As he proclaims a Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, the way is opened and prepared to meet the Lord Jesus Christ.  John the Baptist is . . . 

“A ONE-MAN ADVANCE TEAM”

This one-man advance team is foretold by Isaiah.  He is the last prophet of the Old Testament.  He lives in the wilderness with camel hair clothing and has a diet of locusts and wild honey.  John’s message was urgent and unmistakable.  The long-expected Messiah is coming.  Now is the time to prepare.

This wilderness/desert locale is an appropriate place to begin his work.  In the desert the Lord had molded His people into a nation once they left Egypt.  It was in the wilderness that God comforted Elijah from the fury of Ahab and Jezebel.  The harsh reality of the land stands in contrast to the lush paradise of Eden.  It is a picture of sinful degradation of God’s once perfect creation.

John the Baptist, this one-man advance team, had to let people know that he was not the Messiah.  He deflects attention from himself and directs it all to Jesus.  He is humble.  Jesus is the center and focus of this advance man.  John prepared for Jesus by pointing away from himself to Christ.

That works for us too.  John prepares for Jesus by turning us from our sins to Christ.  John could have reveled in the attention – what a great preacher he was, and how about his faithfulness to God’s calling – after all, he was the one spoken of centuries before as the guy who would be a special messenger for God.  Pretty seductive.  Maybe the advance man wanted to become the star attraction.

We can relate.  We think we are the show.  We walk out of Meijer and we don’t just throw a few pennies in the kettle, we fold up a bill and push it downward…what a good boy I am!  After a little office party imbibing, your co-workers come up to you and tell you that you are the one in the office they have always admired, and you believe it.  People are gracious to complement us on a sermon and we think we are John the Baptist.  Everyone gushes over your Christmas sugar cookies, and you are the next Betty Crocker ready to hand out your recipe with a wink and a smile.  John comes preaching a message of repentance and we think we would have done a good job with that.

None of us though can properly prepare ourselves to meet Jesus.  It is the Lord that graciously calls and comes to us.  No sinner can stand in God’s presence with his own strength or character.  Look at Moses when he saw God, or Peter, James, and John on the mountain with the Lord.  They were overshadowed with His being.

This one-man advance team boldly proclaims a “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”  This is a gift of God.  Many of us can misunderstand and think that repentance is our own doing.  John’s baptism is unique.  One must first be washed to be able to repent and be forgiven.

People from all over came out to John.  They were baptized in the Jordan, confessing their sins.  They were told to turn from those sins and cling to the one that John was proclaiming.  Though they didn’t know His identity yet, they were trusting that their sins were being forgiven by the Christ, the Messiah.  And they were.  Our sins are being forgiven because Jesus took them from his own Baptism by John in the Jordan to the cross.  Our sins of pride are washed away as we trust the Christ and Him crucified.  

The focus today of the Christian Church should always be on the One this advance man proclaimed.  John’s work was completed, and he is numbered with the martyrs who gave their life in service to the Savior.  He enjoys the eternal life that we are looking forward to.

The advance man did his job . . . here comes the King!

Amen.