Sunday
12/14/14 Freeville/Homer Ave UMC’s
Sermon Title: “Faith will grow
in some”
(“Signs He is coming” series: Part 3 of 5)
Old Testament Scripture
Lesson: Psalm 126
New Testament
Scripture Lesson: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
Gospel Lesson:
John 1:6-8, 19-28
Once again
brothers and sisters, friends, welcome on this Third Sunday of this Advent
Season. This season where we wait, we hope, we dream, and we anticipate the
coming of the Messiah, or as it is pronounced in the Hebrew the “Mashiach.”
Not only are we preparing for the birth of Christ the Messiah or “Mashiach,” which most Christian Churches
celebrate on December 25th, but we also await his triumphant second
coming to earth.
As we walk through the gospel stories leading to Advent
then, I have been giving a sermon series on certain signs or indicators that
Christ or “He” is coming. Whether we are looking towards Christ’s birth, the
beginning of his ministry on earth, or his second coming, we are given signs
and indicators that “He” is coming.
In
the first week of this series, Jesus said “Watch Out!” “Stay Alert!” regarding
his return or second coming to earth. Last week, we read through the narrative
from the gospel of Mark about John the Baptist, who was a “messenger” who
prepared the way for the Messiah, or the “Mashiach.”
In this third installment of this “Signs He is coming
series,” I want to talk about the idea that when Christ talked about his return
to earth, that when we read about the events that happened leading up to and
including the birth of Christ, and or when we read about the events leading up
to Jesus beginning his earthly ministry, that “faith will grow in some.” You
see Jesus’s promised birth, and the events leading up to and including this
promised birth did and will continue increase faith in some.
In this way, in this Advent season of waiting, hope,
dreaming, and anticipation, just like Jesus’ birth, just like his triumphant return,
and just like his earthly ministry of Jesus, all of this will cause faith to “grow
in some.” Yet, faith will not grow in some.
Today we have yet another gospel narrative then of John the
Baptist, in the gospel of John. It is important to realize that John the
Baptist is discussed in all four of the gospel accounts that we have in the
Bible. While John is a messenger that prepares the way for the Christ, as we
discussed last week, John is also called to grow faith in people. While he is
not the Messiah, or “Mashiach,” while
salvation cannot be sought in him, he seeks to convince people that Jesus is
coming. Some will believe John the Baptist then, and some will reject him and
in his ministry. In this way, “faith will grow in some.” For some will reject
this “messenger” who “prepares the way” of the Lord, and some will repent and
be baptized.
It
is interesting to note that historically speaking, baptisms generally only occurred
for converts to the Jewish faith. In fact, the historical figures that were
associated with baptism in the Old Testament or the Hebrew Bible were Elijah, prophets,
and the Christ would baptize when he came. This is evidenced when the Jewish
leaders from Jerusalem, which were priests and Levites, asked John the Baptist,
“Who are you?”
They then asked him are you Elijah? Are you a prophet? Are
you the Christ? You see because according the Pharisees the only ones who could
baptize people into the Jewish faith biblically speaking would be a prophet,
Elijah, or the Christ. So John the Baptist they said, “Which one are you?”
So
the notion that many were not awaiting the coming of the Messiah or “Mashiach,” is simply not true, as the
priests and Levites asked John the Baptist who he was. A scripture that lead
the Pharisees and Levites to make these inquires of John the Baptist was taken
from the Book the Malachi 3:1-3 in the Old Testament. This scripture says:
“See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me,
and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of
the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure
the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a
refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of
silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and
silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness.”
Since John the Baptist claimed to be
preparing the way for Jesus, and since he was baptizing many, the Pharisees and
religious leaders naturally asked him then, are you Elijah? Are you a prophet?
Or, are you the Christ? Why do you baptize John, the said?
When John the Baptist is pressed
further about who he is by the Pharisees and Levites he then quotes the book of
Isaiah 40:3, when he says, I am a
voice crying out “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”
So Jesus says “Watch out!” “Stay
Alert!” John is a messenger who “prepares the way,” but do people believe him,
or do they reject him? It would seem the answer here, as it still is today, “that
faith will grow in some.” Some rejected John the Baptist though, and yet others
were suspicious. For those who believe and were baptized though, they believed
that the Christ would come, as he did. As John the Baptist would the baptize
Christ or the “Mashiach,”
himself.
John
the Baptist then, came to plow the field of people’s hearts and souls, and he
came plant the fields. Jesus would them come and grow the faith that John prepared.
In this way when we look at the Psalm 126 reading for this morning it says in
verse 1, “When the LORD changed Zion’s circumstances for the better, it was
like we had been dreaming.” Then verse 2 says, “Our mouths were suddenly filled
with laughter; our tongues were filled with joyful shouts.” If you believed
what the John the Baptist was preaching, if you got baptized by him, you might
feel this joy and hope of the coming of the Messiah.
For
many at this time longed for a Messiah as Psalm 126:4 says, “LORD, change our
circumstances for the better, like dry streams in the desert waste.” Come “Mashiach,”
many said! O come, come Emmanuel, many said! John the Baptist claimed to be the
one preparing the way, and as a result “Faith grew in some,” but some would
reject John’s message of the coming Messiah.
John’s
connection to God, his faith, and the Holy Spirit working in him, caused people
to rejoice and to celebrate, for He is coming. The Apostle Paul encouraged the
church in Thessalonica or the Thessalonians, in 1 Thessalonians to “Rejoice
always. Pray continually.” Paul encouraged the Thessalonians to seek God’s
will, to follow the Holy Spirit, and to not brush off “Spirit-inspired
messages,” as John the Baptist this morning has quite a “Spirit-inspired”
message.
Looking
at this morning’s gospel reading from the gospel of John more closely, John was
called by God to prepare the way for the Messiah. In fact in John 1:7-8 the
text says concerning John the Baptist:
“He
came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through
him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the
light.”
As John the Baptist was calling people to repent of their
sins, to be baptized, and to prepare their hearts and minds for the coming of
the Messiah, he was questioned by the Pharisees and the other religious
leaders. They wanted to know on whose authority he was preaching, teaching, and
baptizing, and John said he was preparing the way of the Lord.
You see at Christian Churches all across the world this Advent
and soon to be Christmas Season, we preach about John the Baptist, the birth of
Christ, the miracles, and etc., but does any of this grow our faith? Does any
of this change us in our hearts and our minds, as hear this year after year?
Advent and Christmas then, are seasons of spiritual renewal
and rebirth. We like John the Baptist are preparing the farm fields of our
hearts and our souls for the growth of the seeds of the Messiah to grow in a
mighty tree of faith and love. So this Advent and soon to be Christmas season,
like the hundreds that have preceded this one, like the dozens upon dozens that
have occurred in this very church, “Faith will grow in some?”
It is my hope that the power and the transformation that we
can experience through Jesus Christ will change us all this Advent, this Christmas,
and forever. That faith in this place will no grow in some, but instead faith
in this place will grow in all. That we will trust the God of the universe with
our lives, our hearts, and everything we have, as He shows us daily his power
and his majesty. It is my pray in this season of Advent and soon to be
Christmas, that you grow in your faith, that you grow closer to God, as we all await
the one who will change the world forever, Jesus the Risen Christ. The one who
taught us a new way of living, loving, and being.
I
want tell you a short story about Hope, as so much of this Advent Season is
about hope. This story is called, “Where’s the Pony,” by author unknown. Here
is how it goes: “There
were once two identical twins. They were alike in every way but one. One was a
hope-filled optimist who only ever saw the bright side of life. The other was a
dark pessimist, who only ever saw the down side in every situation.”
“The parents were so worried about
the extremes of optimism and pessimism in their boys they took them to the
Doctor. He suggested a plan. “On their next birthday give the pessimist a shiny
new bike, but give the optimist only a pile of manure.”
“It seemed a fairly extreme thing to
do. After all the parents had always treated heir boys equally. But in this
instance they decided to try to Doctor’s advice. So when the twins birthday
came round they gave the pessimist the most expensive, top of the range, racing
bike a child has ever owned. When he saw the bike his first words were, “I’ll
probably crash and break my leg.”
“To the optimist they gave a
carefully wrapped box of manure. He opened it, looked puzzled for a moment,
then he ran outside screaming, “You can’t fool me! Where there’s this much
manure, there’s just gotta be a pony around here somewhere!”
So
my brothers and sisters, friends, do we head the words of John the Baptist this
morning? Do we believe in what he said and did, do we have hope in the coming
of the Messiah? Will our faith and hope grow, or will we reject John the
Baptist’s message, and reject the Messiah or “Mashiach.” As these scriptures
have preached for centuries now, through hundreds upon hundreds of Advent
Seasons, in churches like this one, faith grew in some, but not others. Will
your faith grow in this season of Advent? Will you put your hope in the
Messiah? The one who is coming to deliver us and teach us a new way of living,
loving, and being Come Lord Jesus, Come! Amen.
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