Author: admin

Mark:1_1-8-2

The countdown to Christmas is on.  And time is pressing. There is a certain
urgency in the air about getting everything finished before shops close on the 24th of December.  This is the prophet we hear; the voice of one calling out in the desert.  Yes, consumerism is the modern day prophet and it is calling us as a matter of urgency.  You only need to go to the shops to see there are close similarities between the Prophet John the Baptist and the prophet consumerism

TV’s and radios, newspaper adds and junk mail all cry out with a matter of urgency; luring us out into the malls and shopping centres.  ‘Buy now, for the time of Christmas is near’.  We are called to spend money on things we would other wise not buy, purely for the sake of Christmas; the urgency of Christmas Eve.  And it is a message that is very hard to resist, after all, we live in the kingdom of consumerism where the only prophets we hear about, is the profits the companies make.  And many of us don’t even realize we live in this kingdom or if we do, we don’t want to but don’t know what else to do.

I am currently reading a book called ‘Advance Australia Where’, by Hugh Mackey, and in it he spills a lot of ink trying to fathom why Australians are such consumerists.  He calls it the ‘empty-feed’ and goes on to say ‘filling yourself up but not getting enough nutrition – is not just a food issue: it’s a metaphor for many of the things we do in a consumerists, materialistic society where even so-called pleasures often come in sophisticated, packaged and branded forms…like having a swift inhalation of expensive rose essence instead of taking time to smell, let alone grow, the roses themselves.’

Yes, the prophet consumerist is calling loudly and with urgency this Christmas, ‘return to the shops for Christmas is near.’  And so we buy.  Mackey makes an interesting discovery about ourselves saying ‘many thoughtful Australians are now wondering whether they are living as if materialism is indeed one of their core values, and the one they are most successful in passing on to their children.’

John the Baptist called people out into the desert.  Lured them out with a message of urgency.  ‘Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near’.  The people must turn from their unbelief and turn from their sins and be ready for a new Kingdom that was about to come.

This call to repentance by the prophet John is spoken to the people of God, those already in his kingdom and those already worshipping in the temple and receiving forgiveness of sins.  So John’s call to repentance is more than just a call to be sorry, its about being converted; about turning to God, to become once again the flock of the divine shepherd.  He is calling them away from God’s final judgement to conversion and true faith in God Nothing is mentioned about repentance of a particular sin, only the sin of turning away from God by their actions and life style.  Or as Mackey would put it ‘their core values were wrong.’  That is why John the Baptist says to the Pharisees ‘produce fruit in keeping with repentance’

Yes, John is standing in the River Jordan, the same river they had crossed to enter the Promised Land, calling the people of God to a second Exodus.  Calling them to enter the waters once again through baptism to repent or be converted out of their own kingdom of a blasé attitude to God; the once saved always saved faith, to a living active faith with core values based in God’s mercy upon sinners.

Perhaps it is time once again to listen afresh to the words of John.  To listen and act upon his call. ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.’  ‘But I do’ we say.  ‘I repent of my sins, I come to church each Sunday to confess and receive forgiveness.  Surely these words of John are meant for those out shopping this morning; those we point our finger at through the church window.’

No, these words of John spoken in the waters of the Jordan, are calling us back to the waters of our baptism; to remind us of our exodus when God rescued us from the slavery of sin, death and the power of the devil.  (Go and stand by the baptismal font) Let his words ‘repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near’, be God’s word to us; not those out there.

As Lutheran’s we often only understand repentance as confession of sins.  But it is more than this, it is also a call to conversion, or to recommit our ways, our faith, our core values back to the God of mercy; back to the kingdom of heaven.  Back to our God of love, who did not spare his only Son, but gave him up for us all.  Advent, and John’s preaching is about the grace of God and his call to repentance is a reminder that commercialism has no place in the kingdom of God, consumerism and materialism and any other kingdom of this world we care to think of, has no place before God, but seek first the kingdom of God, and all these will be added to you.

And even more so for us now, than those John spoke to, for the kingdom of heaven is not just near us, it is among us.  Yes, the good news for us today is that the kingdom of heaven dwells among us in the person Jesus Christ.  The kingdom of heaven, being Jesus himself; his grace, his mercy and his forgiveness, won for us on the cross, is present among us.  Hidden yes, but with us.  Hidden in the waters of baptism, hidden in, with and under the bread and wine, and hidden in his powerful word, Jesus is present bringing with him the kingdom of heaven; Hope peace and joy as St Paul explains it in Romans.

Yes, the kingdom of heaven makes a difference in this life.  It brings hope, peace, and joy.

This is what we as Christians celebrate this Advent and what we see as giving our urgent attention.  Not running to the shops in time before they close, but running to the waters of our baptism, to remember the day the kingdom of heaven came to us and brought us out of slavery to sin.  The day Jesus saved you.  This is the good news.

Since then, we have the kingdom of heaven, here with us in Jesus, and since we already have everything the kingdom of heaven offers because of Jesus, shouldn’t we treat our commitment to him, and our commitment to mission as being something urgent also?  Perhaps we could reflect on our core values and ask the hard questions, what message are we as Christians, passing on to our children this Christmas?  What are we as a church passing on?

Yes, what a great timely reminder John’s words are.  To remind us that we have a wonderful God who loves us dearly and that this Advent we are reminded of John 3:16 (say together).

Who’s been fishing before?  And how did you go? Catch anything?  If there is one thing fishermen hate, it is missing a fish when it took the bait.  Perhaps we might have fallen asleep or gone to do something else, when all of a sudden BANG!  The fish strikes and takes the bait, but we are not there to hook the fish by jagging the line, and so it just swims off.  I think you would be a very popular person if you could tell fishermen when a fish was about to strike.

Because knowing when a fish will bite is an impossible task, we get so tired of waiting around that we often just walk off, and then to our horror, we miss the bite.  However, there are a number of things you can buy to help us not to miss the bite.  I have brought some along with me.  (explain the use of the reel drag; the bell, and the glow stick).

When you have this gear on, you can then go about doing the important things you need to like preparing food, setting up camp and talking with other fisherman, but you will also be able to keep watch, ready for a strike at any time.

We often feel the same way about Jesus return as we do of fishing.  We get sick of waiting around.  We begin to feel as if Jesus words, ‘keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.’ And again ‘So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.’ are meant for another generation, not us.  After all how long has it been since Jesus first spoke these words?  2000 plus years!

Yes, it is so easy to become tired and even apathetic about Jesus return.  We hear it every year and some Christians even talk about it as if it were to happen tomorrow; but it doesn’t.  Nothing happens and so we are not really sure what do with the ‘keep watch and be ready.’  Do we ignore Jesus’ words and go on with our lives believing the likely hood that he won’t return in our life time anyway?  This would be a feasible option except for one point.  If we believe, and I know we do, that Jesus words are truth and they are the way and the life, then he must return and will return, at any time.

The people in Noah’s day knew what the forecast was, knew Noah was building an ark and that he expected the imminent arrival of rain, yet they refused to believe his words; actually, they refused to believe the word of God.  They lived by sight not by faith.  They couldn’t see a cloud in sight and so rejected the word of Noah as a joke and went about their normal business without a thought to what might be coming.

The question begs to be asked ‘is today any different?’  Do we also live by sight rather than by faith?  A fisherman who is not prepared with the right gear and the right knowledge, looks at the ocean and sees nothing, sees no change; no fish and so leaves his rod and attends to other things saying to himself ‘there is no urgency there are no fish coming today.’  Perhaps we all are thinking this way about the return of Jesus.  ‘He won’t come today, let us attend to other more pressing matters.’

We take a look around see the busyness of life, see yet another Christmas, yet another year coming to a close; we  see no changes, no evidence of Jesus return and act like the unprepared fisherman and go do other things.  We have convinced ourselves Jesus will never return in our lifetime, and so the urgency the early Christians felt, is no longer our urgency.

Perhaps this loss of urgency about Christ’s return is reflected in our shrinking mission budgets and shrinking pool of people willing to become pastors, evangelists and lay leaders.  Perhaps this lack of mission urgency is also reflected in the declining numbers in Church.  Hard questions, but questions we as a church need to be reflecting on.

Jesus says ‘be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him’.  Are you ready?  Are you like the fisherman with all the warning gear in readiness of the bite?  Well, to be ready as a Christian is to have all the right gear; to be fully prepared for the inevitable return of Christ Jesus.  And the good news is that you already have the right gear.  There is nothing more you can do to be ready.  The right gear is given to you in baptism.  On that special day, when the water and the word of God poured down on you head, salvation became yours and you are readied by God himself for the return of Jesus.

Luther writes ‘Stated most simply, the power, effect, benefit, fruit and purpose of baptism is to save.  No one is baptised for the purpose of making them a prince, but as the words say, ‘he who is baptised and believes will be saved’.  To be saved is, as we know, nothing else than to be delivered form sins, from death, and from the devil, and to come into Christ’s kingdom and live with him forever’.

You have the right gear; you have been saved and made ready by baptism.

However, to remain ready for Jesus return, as he asks, is to make use of the salvation gear given to us.  A good fisherman doesn’t leave his gear in his tackle box, no, he puts on the bell, the drag and the light so that he is ready for the unknown time of the bite.  We can make ourselves ready for Jesus return by putting on our gear; baptism and Holy Communion.

In this salvation gear, are given the continuing forgiveness of sins and the strengthening of faith that make us constantly ready for Jesus.   When we confess our sins to God seeking his forgiveness, we make use of baptism’s power of forgiveness.  To come to communion for the body and blood of our Lord Jesus, is to dwell in him and he in us; continually making us pure and holy until that great day when we actually receive the glorious crown of life.

And part of being ready is to check up on each other, to ensure we are all using the right gear and ensuring we have it on in readiness.  When we see one of our brothers or sisters in Christ no longer making use of their gift; no longer confessing their sins, no longer receiving the forgiveness offered to them, perhaps we could go and visit them and remind them that the glorious day of the Lord will come;  And to encourage them to be ready for that day.

And if we see or know someone who has yet to be given the right gear of salvation; someone who is not baptised and doesn’t believe in Jesus, wouldn’t it be important to us, as a mater of urgency, to speak the good news of Jesus to them; to allow God the make them ready also.

Yes, this is what Jesus means when he says ‘keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come’.  When we do all these things we are in deed being ready and keeping watch for his return.  We don’t need to fear this day, or get tired of waiting, for we already know we have the gifts of salvation; baptism and Holy Communion.  It is just a matter of making use of these gifts, just as a fisherman makes use of his gear.

Amen