“The Kingdom Of God Has Come Near”
Matthew 3:1-12
January 6, 2013
Happy New Year! New years are interesting: in some respects, they are no different than any other time of year; in other respects, we invest meaning in the turning of one period of time to another. It feels like a new beginning. It is why we make New Year’s resolutions – we use it as the starting line to change directions. It is a time of discernment, fortification, and embarking on endeavors we really value. Though I wonder if, in our American culture, it has come simply to be a time to renew efforts to lose a few pounds – New Year’s resolutions are nothing new.
Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), from the Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 1
Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God's help, I do humble entreat Him, by His grace, to enable me to keep these Resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to His will, for Christ's sake. [I will] remember to read over these Resolutions once a week.
Resolved, That I will do whatsoever I think to be most to the glory of God, and my own good, profit, and pleasure, in the whole of my duration; without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriads of ages hence. Resolved, to do whatever I think to be my duty, and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general.
Resolved, Never to lose one moment of time, but to improve it in the most profitable way I possibly can.
Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.
Resolved, Never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life.
Resolved, Never to do anything out of revenge.
Resolved, Never to speak evil of any one, so that it shall tend to his dishonour, more or less, upon no account except for some real good.
Resolved, To study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly, and frequently, as that I may find, and plainly perceive, myself to grow in the knowledge of the same.
Resolved, Never to count that a prayer, nor to let that pass as a prayer, nor that as a petition of a prayer, which is so made, that I cannot hope that God will answer it; nor that as a confession which I cannot hope God will accept.
Resolved, To ask myself, at the end of every day, week, month, and year, wherein I could possibly, in any respect, have done better.
Resolved, Never to give over, nor in the least to slacken, my fight with my corruptions, however unsuccessful I may be.
Resolved, After afflictions, to inquire, what I am the better for them; what good I have got by them, and what I might have got by them.
Resolved, Always to do that which I shall wish I had done when I see others do it. Let there be something of benevolence in all that I speak.
Perspective. Today is all about perspective.
Read Matthew 3:1-12
This is a great text for a new year. It has punch, it has characters, and it has a profound point: “repent, for the kingdom of God has come near.” It is all about having the right perspective.
Matthew 3 takes place approximately twenty-five to thirty (30) years after the holy family’s flight to Egypt to escape from King Herod. They fled from Bethlehem, awaited news of King Herod’s death, and then returned to Nazareth. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, that gives a clue that Matthew was not writing a biography. You could not write a biography and simply skip the individual’s childhood. No, this is where the gospel begins to take shape.
John the Baptist is one of the great characters in Scripture. He is fun to describe from the safety of two thousand years. He must have been quite a jolt to the status quo during the course of his ministry. Matthew wrote, “John wore clothes of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.” He looked like a homeless guy or a survivalist of the Unabomber vintage. Can you picture him walking into the sanctuary? Or, imagine he started his ministry by gathering crowds out by the Tijuana River. He gives a great sound-byte, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” He must have been a charismatic figure to have drawn the kinds of crowds that came out to see him.
We do not know how long John had been on the scene. He had been around for a period of time because he was drawing crowds. He had been doing ministry long enough togain the attention of the religious leaders who were coming out to see him. Even so, what is it about John that Matthew included him in the gospel about Jesus? Matthew relates this story about John for four reasons; all of which have to do with perspective.
1. It happened.
First, Matthew records this episode because it happened. Strange as that may sound, it is important in an age of doubt, deconstruction and textual criticism to state it specifically: John the Baptist was a real person. He had a real ministry. The themes and words of John reported in Matthew (and the other gospels) were also reported by historians outside of the Scriptural witness. As we would see and hear on television crime dramas today, “That puts John the Baptist at the scene.” And, if John the Baptist was a real person, we can trust Matthew’s report that Jesus was a real person and not a mythical caricature.
In other words, Matthew’s record of John the Baptist makes the point that God’s redemptive activity takes place within history. God exists beyond time, but acts within time. God’s activity takes place during the moments of our lives. God is not separate, distant, or directing things from some ivory tower removed from the messiness of day-to-day life. No, God is active in the midst of time, in the midst of the problems and anxieties of the day, and in the midst of the relationships we have with one another and the world around us. God has integrated fully into our experience. Later, in Hebrews, the writer would say,
Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death. For it is clear that he did not come to help angels, but the descendants of Abraham. Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested. (Hebrews 2:14-18)
We all have days when we feel alone. We all have days when we feel like God is far away and does not know what we are going through. Those are the days it is crucial to remember these accounts from Scripture: God knows exactly what we are going through because he lived it. God knows our frame and is able to help us because “he himself was tested by what he suffered, [so] he is able to help those who are being tested.” What a word of comfort!
Perspective. As we start 2013, remember: God is working in time; in the moments of our lives – then, now, and as we look ahead.
2. Fulfillment of Prophecy
Second, Matthew frames John’s ministry as a fulfillment of prophecy. The words from Isaiah were written five hundred years prior to John’s birth. When Matthew was writing this teaching document – after the resurrection – he looked back and saw how John the Baptist was exactly as Isaiah’s predicted.
Why is this important? It is important because we often do not see God’s hand at work, except looking back. John’s presence and ministry caused confusion, consternation, and a myriad of hopes among the Jewish people. He was perceived as trouble: a prophet or a man from God. It was tough to get a handle on him. There was a messianic undertone to his ministry, but it was not clear to the people of the day when to expect the Messiah to arrive. It appears to have been unclear because Matthew recorded John proclaiming one “who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals.”John understood his role as the voice crying out in the wilderness, the people did not. Looking back, Matthew got it.
Looking back with eyesto see God’s hand at work is essential to faith – it is how we have confidence in the hope of things we do not yet see fulfilled. Do we expect to see prophecy fulfilled? Are you looking with eyes to see where God has been at work or are you looking to find ways to complain about God’s absence?
Perspective. As we start 2013, are we yearning for the kingdom of heaven to come near? Or, are things OK enough we hope God will not shake things up too much? Can you live this year trusting and acting on the hope that God will be faithful to the promises he made long ago?
3. The message was important: Repent.
Third, Matthew relates this account because of what it meant in context: John called the people to account.John’s message was a word of judgment.Jesus’ ministry was about to begin; the kingdom of heaven had come near. John called the people to wake up to the ways in which they had strayed from the covenant relationship with God. In other words, look at what you are doing. Look at how you are living. You know this is not how God has called you to live; repent, and start preparing yourself to live as a citizen of the kingdom of heaven.
John’s harshest barbs were directed at the religious leaders and the religious community. “You brood of vipers,” he declared. “Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” It was a rhetorical question because they had come to judge John, not receive him. Still, John presented them with a word from the LORD, “Bear fruit worthy of repentance.” He told them they could not take comfort in their identity as Jews, as if that relieved them of any accountability for their behavior. The covenant relationship with God was a relationship, and they had broken that relationship.
They could not hear – understand, that is – what John was saying. Could we?
One of our members has me reading stories by science fiction author Robert Heinlein. I am not much of a science fiction guy, but every now and then there is something in there that connects with me in a profound way. In a short story entitled “Life Line,” an inventor created a machine that can predict with certainty the life span of any individual. He presented his finding to a large conference meeting of scientists; they reject his premise, interrupt with catcalls, and declare him a fraud and hoax. One respected scientist stood up and encouraged the audience to hear the inventor, no matter how ridiculous is the point he was making. The inventor responded, “Was I wise to come? Is there anyone here who has an open mind, who can stare a bare fact in the face without blushing? I think not. Even that so beautiful gentleman who asked you to hear me out has already judged me and condemned me. He seeks order, not truth. Suppose truth defies order, will he accept it?”
Suppose truth defies order, can we accept it?
I like order. Disorder makes me uncomfortable – and I like to be comfortable. Preserving order always feels like a good thing; but is order a good thing at the expense of truth?
Do we dismiss the message with the messenger? Do we discount the validity of prophetic voices because they do not look like us, act like we think they ought, or say things that make us feel bad? Are we willing to be challenged with the truth – even when it calls us to repent?
Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives. Truly I tell you, he will put that one in charge of all his possessions. But if that slave says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and if he begins to beat the other slaves, men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and put him with the unfaithful. That slave who knew what his master wanted, but did not prepare himself or do what was wanted, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know and did what deserved a beating will receive a light beating. From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded. (Luke 12:41-48)
Make no mistake, friends: we have been entrusted with much. Much will be demanded. We must be prepared. We need to do as God wants. In light of that judgment, are there things in your life from which you must repent? Are there things you need to give up, to change, or to begin doing in order to faithfully serve? We have been called to proclaim Jesus to this community, and to pray to God for this community. How are we going to do that?
Perspective. In 2013, are we willing to defy order to pursue truth? Are we willing to share the gospel at the risk of offending our neighbors? Are we willing to give up the things that we hold secure so that we can follow where Jesus is leading?
4. Looking Forward: A Foretaste
Finally, Matthew recorded John the Baptist’s ministry to point eyes forward to the ultimate realization of God’s plan. “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” That took place after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension: we call it Pentecost. “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
John saw the present clearly from the perspective of eternity. He saw his message, his ministry and even his identity within the larger narrative of God’s redemptive activity. He understood himself to be a living, tangible symbol of God’s sovereign will at work. He was not the final step of God’s plan; he pointed and looked forward to the one who was coming. He lived and proclaimed expectant hope; he urged people to prepare.
When we celebrate communion, the eternal perspective is something that is remembered and anticipated.We come to the table aware of our need to repent of our sinful ways and to prepare our hearts to serve God faithfully. It is a repentance of good news because we know God is full of grace and mercy. We “do this in remembrance” of Jesus, but we also partake in the meal understanding that it is a foretaste – a looking forward in the assurance of hope – to the banquet we will share when God’s kingdom comes in its fullness.
Perspective: In 2013, will you live now resolved, “Never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life.” Will you live now and in the days ahead as a representative of the eternal kingdom of heaven?
Conclusion
Perspective.
When Matthew showed us John the Baptist, he did so to teach believers that God is real and acts within time. He showed us John the Baptist to remind us that God fulfills prophecy; that is, God is faithful to his promises. Matthew showed us John the Baptist to call us to account; a word of judgment to repent and return to our covenant relationship with God. And he showed us John the Baptist in order to point our eyes forward and heavenward.
Our God is a scandalous God. He does not live within our expectations. He shatters the status quo. He does unreasonable things. He is not safe. He does things for his own purposes, which is not the same as making things easy or nice for us. He invites us to the adventure of faith: taking us on a journey we cannot navigate by ourselves, showing us his grace in remarkable ways, and surprising us along the way. Through the hard times and pain comes hope. God’s love is steadfast and sure, it endures forever. God loves us so much that he gave his only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
So, in 2013, together let us be resolved to live with a holy perspective.
Amen.
8:30 Prayer, Invitation, Communion
10:00 #409 Wild and Lone the Prophet’s Voice
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