Christmas Certainties in an Uncertain World: God Knows We Need to Change (Repentance)
Gettysburg Presbyterian Church
David C. Wright
Luke 3:1 - 14
November 29, 2009

We live in a time of great uncertainty.  The future of our economy is uncertain.  The housing market, unemployment rate, deregulation of electric utilities, and questions about the stock market are giving many an unsettled feeling right now.  It is uncertain where health care reform is going, and some in this room are in real need of health insurance.  There is concern and uncertainty about the effects of global warming and there is pressure on all of us to think and live “green.”  The threat of global terrorism hangs over us, and no one seems to know how we will ever get out of Iraq and Afghanistan.  Our relationships with major powers like Russia and Iran are deeply troubled.  On top of all that, some of you are struggling with difficult marriages, illness, career problems, and unsettled futures.  We live in a time of great uncertainty.
Into this uneasy time, Advent brings some certainty.  We’re going to be talking about four “Christmas Certainties” during this season.  The first one is entitled, “God Knows We All Need to Change.”  It’s about our need for repentance.  It may not be a pleasant topic, but it is a certainty!
          Repentance was the central message of John the Baptist.  Let’s begin reading in Luke 3:1,2.  “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.”  Luke starts the story by placing it squarely in real human history, in Judea during the reign of the Roman Emperor Tiberius.  This was also a time of great uncertainty, as Judea was an occupied territory of Rome, always on the brink of rebellion, ruled by a Roman governor because their own Jewish rulers were unable to keep the peace.  False messiahs promising national liberation came and went.  And grinding poverty was the norm.  Into this time of national and spiritual uncertainty, John came on the scene.
          He went into the all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, and make his paths straight.   Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth:  and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’” (Luke 3:3-6)
          In ancient times kings sent agents ahead of them to prepare when they planned to visit to a city.  They would instruct the local rulers to level and grade the roads into town to prepare the way for the coming visit of the king.  Isaiah foresaw that someone would also precede the visit of the Messiah to the world and prepare the way for his coming.  That was John.  But he wasn’t preparing roads for a regal procession, which was a fairly straightforward task.  He was preparing the hearts of the people to receive the Messiah and his spiritual kingdom.  How on earth do you do that?  Listen to what John did.
          John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Bear fruits worthy of repentance.  Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.  Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”  (Luke 3:7-9)
          Now my first reaction to John’s message is that he would have benefited from taking a Dale Carnegie “How to Win Friends and Influence People” course!  People walked long distances from the cities and rural areas to the wilderness so they could hear John preach and be baptized by him.  Instead of thanking them for coming, he responded with some pretty harsh language.  “You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”  The image is that of a moving brush fire, with snakes slithering hurriedly away from the advancing danger!  Why did John talk to them like this?  Everything John did and said was designed to convince people to repent in preparation for the coming of the Messiah, who was bringing judgment.
          Now we don’t usually talk about judgment at Christmas.  We’re more comfortable talking about the helpless little infant in the manger.  But judgment is an important component of Jesus’ coming.  You see, God has plans and purposes for our world.  When we sin, we are opposing God’s plans for the world.  For example, if we rob or kill someone, we are thwarting God’s plan of peace and joy for that person.  That’s pretty obvious.  But we also oppose God’s purposes for others when we speak harshly to them or about them, when we refuse to share generously with the poor, and when we obsess about unimportant things instead of putting our energy into the things that matter to God.  When we do any of these things we set ourselves in opposition to God’s purposes for the world he loves.  Therefore God stands opposed to us.  And it is a frightening thing to know that God is against you!  God will not allow us to thwart his plans for the world.  That is what judgment is really about.
          Now the Jewish people in John’s day thought they were exempt from God’s judgment because of God had a covenant with them- that God would be their God and they would be God’s people.  But John, by insisting that everyone be baptized, made it clear that they were not exempt from judgment.  You see, baptism was usually reserved for Gentiles converting to Judaism.  Gentiles were thought of as “unclean” by the Jews and baptism symbolized that they were being cleansed of their sin.  By calling Jews to be baptized, John is making it clear that everyone needs to change, everyone needs to be cleansed, everyone needs to repent of their sins- if they are to avoid God’s judgment and be ready for the coming of the Messiah.
          So what do we mean by repentance?  Theologian Hendrikus Berkhof defines repentance as “the shocking awareness of a radical failing which cannot be undone and the admission that God is just in his judgment.”  Let me repeat that.  Repentance is “the shocking awareness of a radical failing which cannot be undone and the admission that God is just in his judgment.”  To repent means to change your mind, change direction, or turn around.  It means to re-think your situation and plan anew.  It’s that “re-thinking our situation” which trips us up initially.  Most of us can admit that we fail sometimes, or that we occasionally behave inappropriately, but it’s much harder to admit that we are shot through with sin.  We would prefer to change the Prayer of Confession to something like, “Lord, be merciful to me, a miscalculator!”  We want to believe that we’re basically good people with a few minor flaws, not sinners in dire need of repentance.
          In a Peanuts comic strip, Lucy says, “You know what the whole trouble with you is, Charlie Brown?”  “No,” says Charlie Brown, “and I don’t want to know!  Leave me alone!”  Then he walks away as Lucy shouts after him, “The whole trouble with you is you won’t listen to what the whole trouble with you is!”  And that’s our problem, too!  We don’t want to hear or think about what the whole trouble with us is.
          Repentance means we admit the whole trouble about ourselves- that we often live in opposition to God’s intention for us.  And that our hearts are bent toward self-centeredness and self-indulgence.  And that we are helpless to change the evil in our hearts.  Our sin is serious enough that we need a Savior.  We just can’t fix the problem on our own.  Although it’s very hard for us to admit this truth about ourselves, it is the starting point for repentance- admitting that we are sinners in thought, word, and deed.   Repentance means taking responsibility for our sin, which requires courage.
          In John Grisham’s book, “The Testament,” we find Nate O’Reilly, a disgraced corporate attorney plagued by alcoholism and drug abuse.  After two marriages, four detox programs, and a bout with dengue fever, Nate comes to the point of repentance.  Grisham writes, “With both hands, he clenched the back of the pew in front of him.  He repeated the list, mumbling softly every weakness and flaw and affliction and evil that plagued him.  He confessed them all.  In one long glorious acknowledgment of failure, he laid himself bare before God.  He held nothing back.  He unloaded enough burdens to crush any three men, and when he finally finished Nate had tears in his eyes.   “I’m sorry,” he whispered to God.  “Please help me.”  As quickly as the fever had left his body, he felt the baggage leave his soul.  With one gentle brush of the hand, his slate had been wiped clean.  He breathed a massive sigh of relief…”
          Wow!  You can see how repentance can be wonderfully freeing for us!  The baggage of our sin can be lifted form our souls.  But admitting our sin, as Nate O’Reilly did, is just the first step to repentance.  The second one is turning away from sin and toward God’s plan for us.  Listen to how John the Baptist put it.  “And the crowds asked him, ‘What then should we do?’  In reply he said them, ‘Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.’  Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, ‘Teacher, what should we do?’  He said to them, ‘Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.’  Soldiers also asked him, ‘And we, what should we do?’  He said to them, ‘Do not extort money from anyone by threat or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.’” (Luke 3:10-14)
          As you can see, repentance is very practical.  Average people are told to share with those who have less.  And to share radically!  I’m guessing everyone in here has more than two coats.  Have you considered giving away all your extra stuff?  The basic idea here and elsewhere in Jesus’ teaching is that we should live simply and give the rest away to those in need.  That is radical sharing, and we need to be moving in that direction because it is a sign of a repentant heart.
          To tax collectors, who were notorious for exploiting their countrymen as they collected taxes for the Romans, John said to stop enriching themselves at the expense of their vulnerable neighbors.  Repentance has implications for our work and business practices.  Are you absolutely fair and honest in your business dealings?
          Soldiers were often underpaid in those days.  To supplement their income, they often extorted money from innocent citizens.  John tells them to stop this and be satisfied with their wages.  Don’t let greed lead you into sin, he says.
          Now, you can be a member in good standing in this or most other churches and it doesn’t really cost much.   But being a church member in good standing doesn’t make your soul right with God!  Repentance is required to do that.  And repentance is costly, but it is the only way to prepare your heart to follow Jesus.  And we need to practice it daily.
          A Jesuit priest in East Los Angeles has developed a unique ministry.  He has put together a team of physicians trained in tattoo removal, who painstakingly remove the tattoos of former gang members who are trying to escape that life.  The tattoos prevent these gang members from getting jobs, puts them in danger on the streets, and mentally reminds them that the gang still has a claim on them.  Having those tattoos removed is a sign of repentance.  In order for gang members to begin a new way of life, they have to renounce their old way of life, which they are doing with the radical step of having the tattoos removed.  Only then are they ready to begin their new life.
          Sin has tattooed itself onto our souls.  Many of us are keenly aware of that fact and can’t forgive ourselves for some of the stuff we’ve done.  We’d really like to be rid of it, but we can’t quite manage it.  Others of us think that repentance is a good idea in theory, at least for someone else.  Of course, Bernie Madoff, who bilked investors out of hundreds of billions of dollars and contributed to this deep recession, needs to repent.  And so do terrorists and brutal dictators.  But what about good Presbyterians like us?  According to the Bible, Lou Nyiri and Ron Hankey and even Phyllis Dowd all need to repent.  And I certainly need to repent- to admit my sin, turn to a new way of life in Jesus Christ, and take action.  And so do you.  That’s a certainty in an uncertain world, and it’s the beginning place for a new, freer, more fulfilling way of life.  Will you admit your need for change, and ask for God’s forgiveness and power to make the changes you need to make?  Will you repent?

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