Repent!

Second Sunday in Advent

December 9, 2007

Matthew 3:1-12

"In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’"

So, this Global Warming—which I’m hearing so much about and, for the last few weeks, have been praying would find its way to the hangnail of the Thumb—what’s the cure for it? Carbon offsets. With carbon offsets, you don’t have to change your lifestyle—you can still drive your many automobiles, and heat your home with fossil fuels, and everything else, as long as you religiously offset your carbon usage by planting trees or giving money to companies that produce alternative energies.

With that in mind, what’s the cure for the common sinner?

Don’t a lot of people think that the cure for being a sinner is to offset their sins by being more religious? If I pray more, and go to church more, and take Communion more, and give more money, and work at church fundraisers, that will offset my sins with God.

See, if I am more religious, then I don’t have to change my lifestyle. Just like Al Gore, who can keep burning fossil fuels as long as he keeps buying those carbon offsets, I can keep on sinning. I just have to offset my sinning with plenty of religiosity, and I will keep myself from the global warming fires of hell.

Truly, my friends, isn’t this the way that many Christians think?

I’m reading this marvelous book, right now, about life in twelfth century England. A man’s wife died, while they were traveling, and he had to bury her right there, in the woods, on what he called unconsecrated ground, with no priest to bless her body. Because of this, he was afraid that she would go to hell.

Later, he had the chance to unload his guilt onto a priest. The husband was a builder, and he asked the priest that, if he built God a beautiful cathedral, would God consider his work and not punish his wife? And, what did the priest reply? The priest told the husband that God would accept his gift, if the man did his best.

Is that your religion? Truly, it is for way too many, who think that Christianity is a religion of, "Do good things and God will reward you."

Now, that is not to say that we are not to do good things. Indeed, our lesson tells us, "Bear fruit," and, "Every tree . . . that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

Well, there you have it. If you bear good fruit—that is, if you do plenty of good deeds, and being religious must certainly count as a good deed—then you won’t be tossed into hell.

If you think that’s it, then you will find nothing but rotten oranges in your Christmas stocking.

In this discussion, so far, where has been the One for whom this religion is named? In the priest’s reply to the builder, where was Jesus Christ in his answer? God was going to accept the man’s cathedral as payment for his sins? Is that how Christianity works?

God accepts your good deeds—your religiosity—as payment for your sins? You gotta be kidding me. Listen, folks. Let’s get this out of the way, up front: You are not that religious. If I were you, I wouldn’t count on counting my religious achievements on Judgment Day.

The lesson for this Second Sunday of Advent, as we get nearer to the coming of the Savior, does not begin with doing good deeds. That’s the second step. Good deeds are what follows the first step of the Christian faith. And, the first step is summed up on this one word: "Repent!"

John came baptizing, and he preached this message: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Then, he said, "Bear fruit in keeping with repentance." Then, he said, "Every tree . . . that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

So, what is repentance? The word means "to turn around." What we need to do is turn around from our sinning and turn toward God.

When we sin, we turn away from the Lord—we put God behind us—we no longer face His loving face, or hear His commandments, or bask in His grace. When we sin, it is our corrupted idea of what is right that we have before us.

Ponder any of your sins. Go ahead; ponder. I’ll wait. . . .

When you do something that God says is against the Law, you are saying, "Well, God, it’s not against my law." You make something to be right and okay, which God says is wrong and harmful. We do it with the lies we speak, with the sex we misuse, with the money we waste, with the alcohol we abuse. Every time we do what God says, "Thou shalt not," we stick our back into God’s face as we show our love to that practice which He condemns.

Repentance, therefore, is to turn around from our sinful practice so that we put our back to it and, once again, face the good face of God. This means facing God through faith in Jesus Christ.

When the Christian repents of his sin, he doesn’t turn around to God and start to defend his actions by displaying his good deeds: "Yeah, I know, God, how I coveted those toys for my kids so that they would be just as cool as all of their friends, and I spent way more than our family can afford, but, look, I went to church on Wednesday, God—on Wednesday! And, I prayed real hard for my sick friend. And, I put money into the pot of that bell-ringing fella in front of that store."

God is not in the business of offsets. Your good deeds do not balance your sins.

Repentance has, as its foundation, faith in Jesus Christ. And, what is faith? Faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see.

And, when you turn around from your sin in faith to Jesus Christ, what is it that you hope for, which you do not see with your eyes? You hope for forgiveness. With eyes of faith, you see salvation and possess the sure and certain hope of eternal life, and not to be cut down and thrown into the fire.

And, when you turn around from your sin in faith to Jesus Christ, how do you know—for sure—that you will receive that for which you hope? Because, Jesus tells you, John 3:17: "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."

Jesus took on your flesh and blood to accomplish the meaning of the name He was given: Savior. See, what you need is not a heavenly accountant, who can tell you how many good deeds you need to offset your sins. Truly, we all would be embarrassed to hell to learn the oppressive burden of good deeds we would have to do to balance the books.

So, what about good deeds? John preached, "Bear fruit in keeping with repentance"—what does he mean?

The first fruit of repentance is faith in Jesus Christ. And, it is the confession of your sins. And, through these, you receive the forgiveness for which Jesus took up His life in Mary’s womb, and laid it down upon the cross.

Now, having received God’s good deed, performed in the holy flesh of His one and only Son, you are freed from sin’s bondage to go back to your home, and into your world, showing your faith by what you do, and how you speak, and how you react to your family and friends and co-workers and neighbors.

And, when you blow it, in this way and that, every day of your life, turn back around to Jesus. Turn around from your sin and see His smiling face, as He loves to forgive you.

He promises to keep you strong in His Holy Spirit, whom He poured out onto you, generously, in the washing of rebirth and renewal in Holy Baptism—who is constantly turning you around from your sin and back toward Jesus in the message of the Gospel, which lives in you—who brings you, in faith, to Jesus’ altar, where you are fed and refueled for the battle with the flesh and blood of Jesus—the very flesh and blood with which He battled your sin and defeated it.

"Repent!" This is good news, dear Christians, for you know Jesus Christ, the Savior. You know that, when you turn around from your sin—no matter how much you sin, no matter how often you sin, no matter how badly you sin—when you turn your face to Jesus, He will always say to you, "Forgiven!"

That’s why He came into the world. That’s why He died. And, that’s what He lives for.

Amen.