The Church in Mission

A message from 2015 as we examined what we state we believe in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

Semper Fidelis

I’m going to demonstrate from the start how connected to the modern world and its vernacular I am by using the word “trending.”  I have noticed some themes are trending within the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

Such as?

What’s in a name?

Traditions or modern connections?

Deflategate.

OK, maybe nobody really cares about deflated footballs anymore, but there is a lot of discussion online and in print about our name and our church names and our traditions.

In April of this year, the Red River Presbytery will bring in an outside consultant to help those who attend the spring meeting in Burleson, Texas take a serious look at ourselves. 

Make no mistake, the discussion has begun.  Many have posted comments or published articles on these trending subjects.  These are well written and professionally presented, but all share one thing in common as they wrestle with names and traditions and other such trending thoughts.

Nobody is talking about the mission of the church!

Changing the name of the building or the denomination or the signs that are displayed in front of them may offer some greater connection in the advertising sense, but without the passion for the mission; they have little effect.

Changing the style of worship may please one demographic and alienate another, but in itself won’t change the Sunday attendance much.

We are looking at the scoreboard and taking our eyes off the ball to only partially malign Blanchard’s and Peals’ thoughts on the matter.  It seems that we are trying to get people into pews and missing the purpose of the church.

We are those who are called out of the world.

We are set apart from the world.

We are sent back into the world.

Sometimes we forget that last part.  We are sent back into the world.

Christians often forsake the mission of the church for some Field of Dreams theology.  If you build it, they will come.  Again, is the goal of the church attendance?

Most of the people in the small towns where I pastor don’t remember the name that we put on the outside of the building.  Here is what they remember:

·       You guys came to my door last spring.

·       You helped us with school supplies.

·       You are the people who took lunches to the kids each week during the summer.

·       You came and prayed with me and my family.

·       You gave away coats for the last couple of years.

·       You helped us when we didn’t have any food.

·       You helped us with our water bill.

·       You challenged me to help others—to serve the Lord.

·       You challenged me to trust God when I didn’t even trust myself.

·       You guys did the Egg Hunt and gave out Bibles and God Loves You wristbands to everyone who came.

·       Now I remember, you are the guys that told every kid in school that God loved them.

OK, so what is the name of our church?

I don’t remember.  I just know that you guys are always helping people and praying with people and even just walking with people as they try to make it day-to-day.

Do you know anything about our history?

No.  I only know what I have seen.

Do you know anything about our theology?

I don’t know anything about anybody’s theology.

Well, what do you think we believe?

God loves you.  Love one another.

That’s a wonderful starting point!

Yes, there is so much more than that, but that is a good starting point.  That connects with people.  That is the church that is called out of the world, set apart from the world, and sent back into the world.

If you want to change the name, fine; but realize that doing so is not the heart of the matter.

If you want to revisit customs and traditions and appeal to different demographics, fine; but realize that is not what makes the difference in making connections.

For all of the things that we may or may not want to change, we nailed it with our Confession of Faith when it comes to the church.  The doctrine and direction is sound.  It is relevant in the current culture.

What it’s not is trending.  We are not looking for so many ways to hold on to our denomination that we forgot to just be the church.

Here’s is what should be trending in the church today.

·       Love, love, and more love

·       Coming to worship and going to the world to witness

·       Being the light of the world

·       Being the God-seasoning of the world

·       Loving one another as much as Christ loved us

·       Putting our pointing fingers in our pockets and walking with those who need more guidance

·       Discipleship

·       And more, much more, but it starts with being the church again.

Let’s explore multiple names and ways to worship and educate and reach those who currently live at the intersection of apathy and ambivalence, but let that be secondary to revitalizing the core mission of the church.

Mission first, new names later.

Into the world with good news and salvation first, paint the sign a different color later.                                       

                                                                

Light of the world now, window dressing later.

We need to be faithful to the mission of the church.  If we will focus here, other things such as attendance, budget, and a full range of ages, ethnicities, and gifts will follow.

So are we focused on attendance or not?

No!  Absolutely not!  We are aware of our attendance and offerings and education but we are focused on our mission.

We are focused on our mission!

God will equip the faithful church with what it needs to flourish.  When we focus on our mission, those things that seem to concern us so much will just fall into place.

We don’t need to out-think God.  We trust him over the worldly patterns that invade that trust.  He will provide the increase if we do things his way.

Let us be faithful to being the church.  Let us be Always Faithful to being the church.

Semper Fidelis!

The Church in Mission
5.28 The church, being nurtured and sustained by worship, by proclamation and study of the word, and by the celebration of the sacraments, is commissioned to witness to all persons who have not received Christ as Lord and Savior.

5.29 Growth is natural to the church's life. The church is called into being and exists to reach out to those who have not experienced God's grace in Christ, and to nourish them with all the means of grace.

5.30 In carrying out the apostolic commission, the covenant community has encountered and continues to encounter people who belong to religions which do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord. While respecting persons who adhere to other religions, Christians are responsible to share with them the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ.

5.31 The covenant community is responsible to give witness to the mighty acts of God in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Where and when this witness is lacking, God is not without a witness. Therefore, it does not belong to the covenant community to judge where and in what manner God acts savingly through Jesus Christ.

John 2 - Part 2

Read John 2

If you are looking for a chronology, John might be difficult for you.  We get a little micro-chronology in chapter 1.  We know this from the words the next day.  From the use of these words we ascertain that Jesus spent 3 consecutive days at or around the Jordan River while John was baptizing.  We might surmise 4 days if Jesus was nearby while John testified about who he was.

John’s sequences don’t always match the synoptics but we must remember that the gospel was spread orally for a decade or two before reduced to writing.  Imagine young Hebrew believers listening to the story of creation and then one of them says, “Tell us the story of David and Goliath.”

Creation and David and Goliath are part of a bigger story; yet stand alone.  All of the intervening history does not have to be told to be enriched by the account of David and this huge Philistine.  In fact, in the telling to a group, someone might ask for the story of David and 5 smooth stones after another story had finished. 

You want chronology, the 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles are your best bets.

Likewise, parts of John are surely chronological, such as those last few days and hours.  Others may or may not be as in the account at the temple courts; yet they do not detract from the full account.

We are told that after, not next or the next day, the wedding in Cana Jesus came to the temple.

Jesus came into the courts during Passover week.  They were surely packed.  The priests were surely making many sacrifices.  Business was good in the courts of the temple. 

This area probably looked and smelled more like a sale barn than what what you might expect would surround the temple which housed the Holy of Holies. OBTW—Jesus was not happy about this. 

People who traveled a long way to bring a sacrifice to the temple surely needed to purchase that sacrifice, but not here.  There were marketplaces and there was the temple.  It was not a two-fer.  They should have never been combined.

Surely, the profitability of the market increased the closer it was to the temple.  You didn’t have to purchase your sacrifice on the other side of town, you could get it at the temple.  It wasn’t actually inside the temple, so what gives?

Jesus didn’t exactly draw a line in the sand but he made him a whip and started driving out these vendors.  He turned over tables, scattered their coins, and gave them a good tongue-lashing.

“Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!”

In my parlance, he broke the vending machine.  Transactions don’t belong in a place of transformations. 

This was his Father’s house and Jesus was passionate about it.  Needless to say, he got people’s attention.  Not all of them were receiving his rebuke.  Some wanted to know just who was he to do this.  By what authority have you disrupted my daily life and livelihood? 

If you have some authority to do this, then give us a sign.

Jesus told them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”

Jesus was talking about the temple which housed his being.  The money changers and surely everyone else must have thought he was talking about the temple that took 46 years to build.

Why would Jesus leave them with this misunderstanding?  Consider why he spoke in parables.  Only those who sought after him were granted the privilege of having eyes to see and ears to hear.

If they knew he was talking about his body, someone might have put that to the test, but remember, his time had not yet come, but it would.

Jesus was not interested in building public support. In fact, he knew what was in the heart of man and those depraved hearts were not needed to testify on his behalf.  His testimony would be enough.  We will see later on how this upset the Pharisees, but having been sent by the Father, Jesus needed no other testimony, especially from the sinful hearts of men.

You have made it through two chapters of John’s gospel.  Keep reading this chapter up to this Sunday, then begin chapter three.  There we will find on Pharisee who was at least interested in finding out who this very special person called Jesus really was.

You will find some very familiar words.

Amen.

The World Turned Right-Side Up for a Moment

Read John 12:12-19

If you have been reading the first chapter of John but not following my messages and updates this week, you might be wondering, “How did he get to chapter 12?”

It’s Palm Sunday, and next week you will get a message of Resurrection.  Those were always headed your way, but this year both will come from John’s gospel.

I just don’t want some of you to think you missed the boat in this alternate format.

As you might have surmised, things have been a little different lately.  I finally picked up my car from Altus.  Yes, this is the car that I hit a building with.  It’s all fixed now.

While I was in Altus, I went to pick up my medicine at the base pharmacy.  I have crossed international borders and entered secure classified facilities with less screening.  One airman took my temperature with a phaser.  It must have been set to mild stun because they let me pass.

They didn’t require me to wear a mask.  I had one in my coat pocket just in case.  I was going to go to the commissary while I waited for the pharmacy to fill my scripts, but it was closed to all but active duty personnel and those who lived on base or worked on base.

So, it was off to the Altus Walmart.  At least I would save a trip to Elk City sometime later.  Altus was more fun that the Walmart I’m used to.  The parking lot was full. You could enter only on the market side.  Shopping carts had been laid on their sides and connected with crime scene tape to make a channeled and theoretically controlled entrance.

Next week they might go Disney on us and put up signs that say, 1 hour from this point.

There were still a bazillion people there, about a third of them masked.  If anyone ever wanted to rob a train or a bank, now would be the time.  A couple people were walking around with face shields.  The Walmart music was from the Dark Side of the Moon album. 

Some of you know that I like both Star Trek and Star Wars.  I didn’t feel obliged to have to choose between the two.  You also might know, that I don’t collect any paraphernalia from either, but I would have loved to have owned a Darth Vader mask to wear in Walmart that day.

And there were plenty of new employees, most of them guarding the entrance with Lysol and hand sanitizer.

As I entered, I reached to grab a shopping cart, and the Walmart employee at the other end of about 45 carts yells, “Those haven’t been sanitized.”  I can see the two jugs of Round Up set aside to spray the carts and, on a shelf, up above them, a can of Lysol and some wipes.

I sprayed and wiped and said, I’m doing the self-service check-in.  I don’t like the self-service check out, but save 10 minutes checking in, that’s another matter.  I think the guy was in shock, but he felt obliged to warn me that you’re shopping at your own risk. 

I was not up for the conversation that would have begun with, “I’ve lived most of my life at my own risk.”  You should be proud of me though; I still had the can of Lysol in my hand but did not do the underarm deodorant thing.  It crossed my mind, but there were enough stressed out people already.

Of course, nothing in the Altus Walmart is in the same place as the Elk City Walmart, so it was Game on!  I think I hit 95% of the items on my list.  That’s not bad considering sometimes you don’t know if you are looking in the wrong place or if it used to be on that 20 yards of empty shelves.

The two paper towel limit is strictly enforced.  Be warned.

So I get my cart full of stuff and head to the checkout.  It’s a full cart.  Realize that when we go to Altus to shop at the commissary, we make a list for a month, so I had a full cart.

Also realize that Walmart must have had 50 extra employees working all over the store, except the checkout registers.  There are three registers open.  All of the self-service ones are open and there’s a unsocially-distanced mob over there, but there are only three regular registers open and lines at each one.

I had one of those obscure thoughts that one way to spread out the people would be to open more registers.  Just when I thought I was going from satire to cynicism as I viewed the Shakespearean tragedy play out as a comedy all around me, an associate came up to me and said, would you like to go to register 4.  We will open it as soon as we wipe down the belt.

What a blessing.  Let the surreal come to an end!

The kid at the register came and wiped the belt and then said, that’s all I can do, I have come out too long.  I guess there was some sort of invisible shield around the register.  So, I put my groceries on the wet, but clean belt that would move them to the cashier.  After the belt had moved a couple feet the part of the belt that had been underneath was now on top. 

I don’t think the cashier quite knew if I was serious or not when I asked if I should wait for the clean part of the belt to come around again.  I think he was wondering, why did hey send this guy to me?

I got my stuff and headed out to the car.  It cost much more than I expected but we had groceries in case everyone was truly locked down, which is an impossibility if you want to continue to have electricity, water, gas, gasoline, and even food, to include feeding hungry people who can’t afford to go to Walmart. 

But I am thankful that Walmart and other places are open and doing their best with procedures that we hope will reduce the effects of the contagion.  I am thankful that our logistical systems are functioning, and most shelves are replenished.  I am thankful that so many people are taking reasonable precautions.

I love proactive but won’t do panicked and one day we are all going to have some stories to tell our grandkids.  We can tell them how the world we knew got turned upside down, at least for a while.

Jesus came into a world that was upside down, wrong-side out, and pretty much living contrary to the ways of God.  Even the religious hierarchy didn’t know which way was up. 

As Jesus went around the countryside, he amazed people with miracles, challenging teachings, and the fact that he spoke with authority.

Not everything he said was easy to understand.  Sometimes he used figurative language such as hyperbole, simile, and extended metaphors.  The disciples often had to have the parables explained.  Their minds were still governed by the models of the world in so many ways.

He used concepts such as being born again and even the teachers of Israel couldn’t grasp what he was saying.  When your world is upside-down, the one living right-side-up seems to be out of place, out of sync, out of touch.

But for a moment, surely less than an hour, the world or at least a piece of it, was turned right-side up.  Jesus rode into the Jerusalem during Passover week.  He had been anointed while in Bethany and was coming into the city as foretold by the prophet, on the colt of a donkey.

Only a short time before, he had raised Lazarus from the dead.  People were excited.  Yes, some were plotting to kill him as well, but this hour belonged to the people who saw and tasted and knew hope for the moment.  They cried out:

Hosanna!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

Blessed is the King of Israel.

In that moment, the blind spoke.  What?  The Pharisees who were surely oblivious to who was coming into town, were talking about how this guy was a wrench in the works.  He was messing up their normal, but they spoke truth as well.  They did not realize it, but they did.

Look how the whole world has gone after him.

They did not realize what they just said which essentially was:

Look, for this time, the world has been righted.  For now, we are right-side up.  In the moment, things are right and harmonious and full of joy.

Hosanna!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

Blessed is the King of Israel.

In that moment, the hearts of the people sought after the Lord.  We know there is more to the story that unfolded over the next few and very full days. 

We know that cries of Hosanna will turn to Crucify Him.  We know that blood must be shed for the forgiveness of sin.  We know there is much that Jesus has to teach his followers in these last days before his death and resurrection. 

Looking forward from this point, he will really turn their world upside down when he washes their feet.  There is so much more.

But for now, the world is right.  The people seek Jesus.  The whole world has come after him.

That’s our commission now, to bring the whole world to come after him.  This time, it’s more than shouting Hosanna.  It’s leading people to the salvation and Lordship of Christ Jesus and cries of Hallelujah as they realize their freedom from sin and death.

Hosanna.  Hosanna in the highest.

Hallelujah.

Amen.

Live Broadcasting - Things are different

Things are different.  Some of you who may have never watched this service on Facebook are having a different experience as well, but it can be worship.

Don’t let it just become viewing.

But it’s different for me as well.  You might think, he just gets up there and talks.  That may be true, but now, I don’t worry about there being a misprint in the bulletin.  Nobody ever points out the misprint before I make a hundred copies, but come Sunday.

What else is different?  There are not a couple phones ringing, even if they are just vibrating on silent.

There are no babies crying.

There are no elders talking during the sermon. 

There are no kids doing coloring sheets.  Normally there about five kids a coloring.

And nobody is coughing.  In the course of any Sunday here in Oklahoma, there are 6 people coughing.

And now that we have 45 gallons of hand sanitizer, I don’t get to see people sanitizing their hands.

And nobody is nodding off during the sermon.

You might think that I just see a sea of people.  Nope, it’s more like a swarm.  At any given time, somebody is going to or coming to the bathroom.  Most of them have younger bladders than mine.

And of course, nobody is checking updates on Facebook, nobody sitting in the pews that is.  I know, you told me that you were reading the scripture while I was preaching.  This ole guy isn’t quite as oblivious as you might think.  You might be scrolling, but I haven’t seen an online Bible yet that lets you like each verse.

And, here’s something you probably don’t see on most Sundays at least from sitting in the pews—that’s the 10 or 12 looks and signals I get from the sound booth.  I don’t know what the signals mean or why he is giving me a look.  OK, it’s not always him giving me the look.  Sometimes I give him one.  I wonder why is he playing that song in the middle of my sermon.  It’s not that I don’t like Waylon Jennings, but it just didn’t seem to fit in just there.

And then of course there are the dozen thermostat changes or at least people hoping that somebody turns the air up or down.  People are fanning with a bulletin and putting on coats at different times during the service.  I have often joked about how sometimes as I walk around the building, I find some thermostats set to heat and some set to cool.  One time after a Wednesday evening, I found one set to heat and one to cool in the sanctuary.

This morning is a little different.  Here we go with apologies to Frederic Austin.  There’s no:

12 thermostat changes

11 looks from the sound booth

10 facebook updates

9 bathroom runs

8 heads a noddin

7 people sanitizing

6 folks a coughin’

FIVE KIDS A COLORIN’

4 elders talking

3 babies crying

2 phones a ringin’

AND A MISPRINT IN THE BULLETIN.

 You know what else is different.  The online broadcast is not just a nice to have.  It has a little more significance now that our personal contact has been lessened.

Our church Facebook page also has increased in value.  Instead of scrolling through your own feed or stalking someone else on their feed, scroll through the church’s Facebook page.  Some of you are watching this broadcast there now. 

You will find not only updates to what’s happening in the life of the church now, but hundreds of messages, most of which were preached in the Burns Flat CPC at one time.  There are some old videos of services, but I don’t care how long this quarantine lasts, you won’t run out of messages to read.

John 1 - Calling Disciples

Read John 1

So briefly, we are getting daily accounts about John the Baptist.  He is out one day baptizing, the next day the Son of God shows up, and now we come to the third day in a row at the Jordan, and then a fourth.  Seldom do we get accounts so chronologically connected.

John is with a couple of his disciples and sees Jesus.  This is the second time in as many days.  Two disciples jump ship right away to follow Jesus.  You can’t blame them.  John pointed him out.  What are you going to do?

The two spend the day with Jesus.  One of them is Andrew who has a brother called Simon.  Andrew tells Simon that he has found the Messiah, and Simon comes to follow Jesus.

Jesus then names him Cephas which we know as Peter.  It means, the rock, but Jesus doesn’t go into that part here.

This isn’t the same story as Jesus calling these fishermen to follow him and he will make them fishers of men, but it’s in the same neck of the woods.

Next comes Phillip who was also from this area.  Nathanael is next.  Jesus reveals to him that he saw him under the fig tree when neither was in sight of the other. 

Nathanael is convinced that this is the Messiah.  Jesus told him, you ain’t seen nothing yet.  I took just a little liberty with than one.   You will see God’s angels coming and going while you are with me.   

Not all of the gospel accounts record everything exactly the same but they bring us to the same place.  Jesus is ready to take his ministry to the lost sheep of Israel.

This is where we will wrap up this first chapter.  Chapter two might give us pause to wonder if the ministry of Jesus was accelerated a bit faster than even Jesus planned, and we will get to that in Cana, but he knew that his Father has nothing but good plans, so get ready for the ministry of Jesus to go from zero to sixty in one chapter.

Even though we are just beginning this study of John, I am going to jump to chapter 12 for Sunday’s message.  We will still celebrate Palm Sunday and Sunday’s message will be about what we see in that triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

We will be back to chapter 2 on Monday and then Chapter 20 the following Sunday.  After that, Sunday messages will be associated with the chapter you read during the week.

Blessings!  See you, or maybe you will see us, Sunday.

Behold the Lamb of God

Read John 1

It’s a new day at the Jordan.  John is back at work.  I imagine that he is waterlogged from the waist down.  The baptism business is good but not the main business that John is about.

He is preparing the way for the one who is so much greater than he is.  He may or may not have seen him growing up.  John jumped in his mother’s womb when Mary, the soon to be mother of Jesus came to visit, but from this part of the text, it sounds like these two did not grow up together.

But on this day, John sees Jesus walking his way.  He has no doubt who is approaching.  He exclaims, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

What powerful words.  This is the one that I was talking about.  This is the one who has come with a divine mission.  This is the one who will do what we couldn’t do from the beginning.  He will take away our sin.

That’s a tall order and there is much more to it than is revealed in this proclamation, but this is a big proclamation.

We don’t get a full sequence of events here.  John knows Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, because the Spirit of the Lord descended upon him. 

How did John know all of this?  John was on a mission of his own, yes, a mission from God.  God told him this is how the Messiah, the Christ, will be revealed to you. 

John was headfirst into baptizing people preparing the way for the Messiah.  He didn’t know how long this assignment would be but he was fully engaged in calling people to repent and be baptized.  Then the very person whom he had been preparing the people for arrived.  From this point forward, John’s ministry decreases—not brought to a halt—and that of Jesus begins and grows.

The Spirit descended upon him and John makes one more pronouncement.

I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.

This could have been considered blasphemy.  Who is this character to call anyone the Son of God?  This guy said he wasn’t the Christ.  He wasn’t Elijah.  He wasn’t even a prophet according to his own words, but now he has proclaimed a man, an ordinary man by all evidence thus far, to be the Son of God.

These two statements are going to be on the final.

Behold the Lamb of God who
 takes away the sin of the world.

I have seen and I testify that
 this is the Son of God.

Today, we consider these statements as basic elements of our faith.  This is an account of Jesus who is the Son of God and who has come to take away the sin of the world.

 

But think of being at the Jordan and hearing these words for the first time.  Many of God’s promises take a long time.  The people knew what the prophets of old had said and how patient God was before what the prophets foretold came to pass. 

So, is this person who is so much greater than John coming today or in 200 years?  Imagine what it would have been like to be among the people at the river at this time. 

Imagine what it would have been like to hear the man you walked a long way to see, hear, and receive his baptism say, “Here he is.  This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  This is the Son of God.”

We were not there.  We did not see, but if we turn ahead in John’s gospel 20 chapters, we find these words.

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

This is the beginning of the ministry of Jesus Christ.  The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world had about 3 years to minister to this lost world before he would die for us. 

Each gospel account varies in many ways and for many reasons, but all of them see the ministry of Jesus begin with John at the Jordan.  Remember these two very foundational statements.

Behold the Lamb of God who
 takes away the sin of the world.

I have seen and I testify that
 this is the Son of God.

Things were about to start happening in the ministry of Jesus whom John had proclaimed Savior and Son of God.

Amen.

John 1 - Part 4

Read John 1

In this part, John speaks to those gathered and then answers some questions from the religious leaders who had been selected to find out what was happening at the Jordan River, somewhere near Bethany.

Realize that if you were reading Mark’s gospel instead of John’s, this is where his story begins.  Mark doesn’t even give us a one sentence Christmas Story.

John testifies that the One who comes after him is greater than he is by a whole bunch.  The One who comes next has been around since the beginning. 

And then John talks about grace and blessings.  Humankind has enjoyed both grace and blessing from the Lord all along.  But God was kicking things up a notch.  The One whose place is at the right hand of the Father had set aside that place for a time and came into the world.

The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth come through Jesus Christ.  This is the first instance in John’s gospel where he refers to our Savior as Jesus Christ.

The grace and truth of Jesus surpassed John and the law.  The glory of God revealed in Jesus Christ surpassed everything and everyone who was now or had come before.

But the priests had some questions.  Are you Elijah?  John said no.  Are you a prophet?  No.

Well then, just who are you?  We have people to whom we must answer.

I am the voice of one calling in the desert:  Make straight the way of the Lord!  Most would have recognized those words in that day.  They were of the prophet Isaiah.

Now the Pharisees stepped up to bat.  Why do you baptize if you are not the Christ or Elijah or a prophet?

John replied, my baptism is only of water.  Elsewhere we get a little more of an answer that this water baptism was for the forgiveness of sins and that the One who came after him baptized with the Holy Spirit.  In one account he charged the religious leaders to produce fruit worthy of repentance.

But in John’s gospel, the focus is on a warning, sort of a heads up.  The One that he is preparing the way for is already here.  He has been among you and you have not recognized him.

OBTW—I am not even worthy to tie his sandals.  For the following that I have acquired—surely the reason that you have ventured from your comfortable places to see me—that following is nothing compared to what is to come.  I am not even worthy to be a servant good enough to tie his sandals.

The religious leaders had been looking for the Christ.  He was here among them but they did not recognize him.  You would think that a 12 year-old kid amazing the teachers in the temple almost 20 years before might have tipped them off, but no.

They only paid attention to the parts of scripture that they wanted to see.  They wanted the King of Kings and they wanted him to fit into their pharisaical box.   In our time we would say that they rejected the full biblical witness and only saw what fit their expectations.

We shouldn’t show too much disgust for them.  We still do this today claiming one scripture over another as it is easier than continuing to search for the full biblical witness given to us.  It is much less work to adopt a doctrine that fits your comfort zone than to let the word of God which is alive and active do its work.

Back to John’s gospel.  Jesus was coming.  John was preparing the way.  He wasn’t fixing potholes in the road.  He was calling people to repentance. 

Those who should have been most prepared to recognize him were not.

This was the state of our fallen and sinful and rebellious world as that day came to an end, but joy would come in the morning.

We live in a different time.  The preparation that we make to receive the Lord is in our hearts.  We don’t get baptized to get ready to receive the Lord.  We are baptized when we receive him, first with the Holy Spirit and publicly with water.  We must have hearts of repentance to receive the Lord when he comes into our lives.  Many have done this.  Many know this joy.

John the Baptizer is not out at the river today calling people to repent and be baptized, but we who have received Jesus as Savior and Lord are here and we are calling.  We call people to repent and believe the good news.  We are commissioned to this task in this time.

We are called in our commission and our discipleship to prepare the way for the Lord to come into so many hearts.

Amen.