Are You Ready To Meet The Real Jesus?
- Ray Befus, Jr
- December 20, 2009
Ray Befus Luke 3:1-16 Are You Ready to Meet the Real Jesus? 20 December 2009
Christmas is almost here, and by every measure, Christmas is a big deal—from house-cleaning to shopping, from parties to family reunions, from music to outdoor decorations, from television specials to parades, from church services to meals at missions, Baby Jesus is getting a lot of attention! It’s kind of interesting, because Baby Jesus doesn’t get a lot of attention from the Gospel writers. Altogether, the Gospels contain 89 chapters of information on Jesus life, death and resurrection and, only 4 of those 89 chapters focus on Jesus’ birth. The Gospel writers had some interest in the birth of Jesus, but their main focus was on the adult Jesus’ words and works. Some church watchers in our world suspect that all the attention we give to the baby Jesus is self-serving. A baby diety doesn’t put any demands on us; not like an adult king. Baby Jesus just coo’s and giggles and lets us carry him wherever we want to go. We can put a baby diety to work fulfilling our agenda—getting his blessing for our pursuit of personal health, wealth, and happiness. This cynicism toward our fixation on Jesus as a Baby finds humorous (and crass expression) in a scene from Will Ferrel’s comedy Taladega Nights, a satire on the strange mixture of southern culture, big track racing, and Christianity in Nascar. Let’s watch as winning Nascar driver Ricky Bobby, leads his family in saying grace over dinner. Video Clip—Taledega Nights, “Dear Baby Jesus”
I want to dedicate this message to Ricky Bobby, his stone cold foxy wife, and all of VN’s Nascar fans. Turn with me in your Bible’s to 3, the first 16 verses. This isn’t the Christmas story; that’s Luke chapter 2. This is the story after the Christmas story. Luke 1-2 record Jesus’ entrance into the world as a baby; Luke chapter 3 records Jesus’ entrance into the world of adults as a man—a passionate leader, a profound teacher, a ANE revolutionary what changed his world and is still changing ours. Luke, chapter 3 (and the chapters that follow) reveals the real impact and significance of Jesus‘ birth. If you want the cooing, cuddly baby Jesus (sometimes celebrated as a sentimental icon) that’s Luke 2. Luke 3 introduces us to Jesus as he is, the Jesus who is still calling us to trust and follow him today. In Luke 3, John the Baptist is preparing people like us to meet the adult Jesus, the real Jesus. It’s a provocative story and is fitting for us, for someday we’re going to meet the Jesus of the Christmas story, and he’s not going to be a Baby. What better time than Christmas—the celebration of his birth—to align our lives with Jesus, our Savior.
READ Luke 3:1-6. Now I would bet that all of you, at some time in your life, have had to prepare for something big, a large event of some kind. Just a month ago, some of you prepared a wonderful Thanksgiving meal for family or friends. Our family (mostly Carol) has spent the last several months preparing for our youngest daughter Kristin’s wedding (last Friday night). Preparations were all-consuming. Now, we’ve all got just a couple days to prepare for Christmas 2009! Luke 3 introduces us to John the Baptist, the last of the OT prophets, the man God commissioned to prepare the way for Jesus’ adult entrance into the world. John was the man with the full-time job of preparing for the launch of Jesus’ adult ministry. John’s main concerns weren’t with decorations or cosmetics or the logistics of the guest list. John gave little thought to invitations and entertainment. John wasn’t interested in menu selections or media coverage. John’s focus was the condition of peoples’ hearts. His concern was whether people were ready for Jesus. Would people who met Jesus be ready to receive him, trust him, follow him, serve him? In fact, John was convinced that the people around him were not adequately prepared to align their lives with the coming King. They needed to make some very personal and practical decisions, or they were going to miss Jesus altogether.
John was an unusual character. He took his job so seriously that he adopted a very spartan lifestyle, a very limited diet, and a very narrow social life. He wanted to stay sharply focused on the job God had given him—preparing peoples’ hearts to receive Jesus. John took his preparation responsibilities so seriously that, if he could have, John would have filled in valleys, leveled mountains, repaved roads to make sure everyone was ready to meet Jesus and respond to his mission (cf. Isaiah 40:3-5). John is convinced that folks just aren’t ready, aren’t tuned into the reality of what God is about to do through Jesus. Some people are living in valleys of despair; others are living like they’re kings of their little mountains; others have lost their way traveling down rough roads that lead to dead ends. Hearts are not humble, soft, receptive; many hearts are hard and full of pride. The context of Luke 3 lets us know that John’s listeners are very religious men and women, but they are largely preoccupied with making a living, taking care of business, getting ahead, hanging on to what they’ve got, securing their financial future. They attended worship meetings, but their hearts were far from Jesus. Imagine that . . . in the First Century!
John realizes that he’s got a tough job and a short time table. So, John begins advertising meetings and gathering crowds. His main venue was the Jordan River. John was a riverbank preacher. Most meetings began with preaching and ended with baptisms. In this particular meeting, he cuts right to the point and calls his guests, a “brood of vipers” (v. 7). It’s time to get serious. You’re in trouble. You need to humble yourselves and get a grip on the truth. You’ve got to take responsibility for your slippery attitudes and slimy perspectives. You value things that have little value to God and are in pursuit of things that God has no interest in. The description “brood of vipers” isn’t a compliment! John is comparing his listeners to creatures who go through life in ways that are hidden, sneaky, full of deceit, and evasive. And, if you threaten these people and their lifestyle, they’ll rise up, hiss at you, and strike back at you. They may attend church on Sunday and act as religious as the next guy or gal. They know how to fit in. Externally, they look like they are on the up and up with God. They know how to dress, how to converse, and where to sit in order to fit in on Sunday mornings. But its a self-protective strategy, a religious game, a sort of camouflage they use to cover up the truth about their lives. On the inside of their lives, they’re not seeking God. They know it and God knows it. These people may have heard about the baby and the innkeeper, that shepherds and the wise men, but they aren’t ready for the adult Jesus. And, John the Baptist knows it.
So, John challenges his listeners, “When, from time to time, your conscience does bother you about some wrong that you’ve done, some selfish decision, you blow it off by saying, oh well, ‘Abraham is our father. Our Jewish heritage will cover this” . . . which is the equivalent of saying in today’s world: I can be greedy, I can lie from time to time, I can cut corners or even steal from the company, I can use my influence and power to further my own interests . . . I come from a Christian family, I was baptized as a kid, I go to Sunday meetings at Vineyard North. It’ll all work out. I take communion. I’m good with God”. John, the man in charge of preparations for Jesus’ grand entrance, says, “No, you’re just being deceitful: you’re being deceitful in your heart. You’re being deceitful with other people. You’re being deceitful with God. And, it all stops today. It’s a new day. It’s time to stop living like a snake in the grass. It’s time to humble yourselves and come out into the open with God. This is the negative side of John’s message. But he flips it over and gives some positive direction as well. Yes, you’ve got to stop being deceitful and living a sneaky, hidden life. Positively, you need to turn around and start living for God with a whole heart, with honesty of spirit, with no tolerance for compromise. On the negative side, stop sneaking around and hiding the truth. Positively, open your heart in humility to make room for the real Jesus. Come out into the light and prepare yourself to begin trusting and following the real Jesus. This is what John means by “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (v. 8). Show us some humility and love.
John is unusually direct. He serves the truth, straight up. John was a tough character, and this seems to be a message he gave at every meeting: the messiah has come, and and you’re not ready. If you don’t start preparing your heart, you’re not going to be ready to align your life with his kingdom. You’re going to miss the opportunities coming your way. Your hearts are far from his heart. Believe it or not, the text says that despite the shocking in-your-faceness of John’s message, the people actually responded positively. People cried out, “What should we do then? (v.10). Clearly, the Spirit of God was speaking through John, so his over-the-top challenges, instead of offending them, cut them to the heart, and in one voice they were crying out, Okay, you’ve got us. We have been deceitful before God and we want to change. Our lives are full of contradictions, but we want to welcome the Messiah. So now, what shall we do? Now you might think that with that kind of response, John might take an offering! But, no, John gives them some very pointed and practical challenges that will reshape their daily lives, their attachment to their stuff, their careers, their thinking about work and money and retirement. There is nothing mystical, or private, or institutional about John’s challenges. John’s response calls these sneaky people out into the light and challenges them to make some very specific changes in the way they’re going through life. Two thousand years later, with Christmas only a couple days away, if we want to know how prepare ourselves to welcome Jesus into our lives and homes and careers in a fresh way, we can hardly do better than John the Baptist’s counsel. I think that you’re going to see that John’s counsel is unusually fitting for a Christmas overcast by economic loss and uncertainty.
First of all, John the Baptist addresses the whole crowd: If you have two coats—not four coats or eight coats (if you’re living close to the line but still have more than you need)—then find someone to whom you can give your second coat. Give the coat you don’t need to someone who doesn’t have a coat to wear. And then John continues, “if you have any food in your kitchen—pantry, second refrigerator, freezer in the garage that you don’t need—then you share that food with someone who has no food. In so doing, John says, you will prepare your heart to welcome the real, adult Jesus. You will be aligning your life with his mission. You take the initiative to seek out someone—a couple or even a family—and you give them the clothes and food that you don’t need. This isn’t an institutional responsibility (church or government); this is what you do personally when you get serious about aligning your life with Jesus’ life.
John’s counsel might seem counterintuitive to us. How does giving away our hard-earned money or physical goods to the poor help us prepare our hearts to receive Jesus in a fresh way this Christmas? How does a practical, physical act like giving away clothes or food we don’t need, produce a spiritual result? Think about this: You go to a closet that’s packed/stuffed/overflowing with clothes and shoes, hats and purses—whatever—and you give away the stuff you don’t really need. So maybe in 21st Century America, between working and hunting and going to football games, you really do need a couple coats. Just give away the clothes you don’t need. Bring it to a Single Mom’s Servefest or to a Good Will store. There’s a lot of empty space in your closet now, right? Physically, there’s a lot more room in there. You go to your pantry, or your second refrigerator or freezer in the garage, and you give away what you don’t need. You’ve now got a lot more room in your pantry, refrigerator, or freezer. You’ve got more room in your closet and your pantry. John wants his listeners to understand that there is something spiritual going on here. This is more than a metaphor. When you compassionately share your stuff, when you free up space in your life, you give God more room to move in your life. When you limit your spending to meeting your own needs and, you give the extra to people in need, you’re inviting God to do more in your life within the space you’ve freed up for him to move.
Some of you have experienced this in your life already. When have you felt most in step with the Spirit, closest to the Lord Jesus, most full of God’s presence, peace and joy? Isn’t it when you’ve generously invested yourself in something that hasn’t been about you and what you want? Haven’t you felt the deepest intimacy with Jesus when you’ve been giving to others the way he gave himself to you? I’ve experienced this dynamic. There have been seasons of spending and saving in my life that have brought me little sense of God’s nearness or joy. But, yesterday was different. ILLUS: Project Forgotten Child. That’s how people who take international missions trips say they feel. That’s how the men and women who serve in our monthly food pantry express their experience. Maybe you don’t know anyone who really doesn’t have a decent coat. Well, you could stop in just one Saturday morning this winter to serve the poor, and you just might meet someone who doesn’t have a decent coat or gloves or boots. When we take personal, practical steps to be generous with the poor, we feel a stirring that is truly spiritual. We connect with God. God moves into the space we’ve made for him!
Next, John the Baptist addresses the tax gatherers, because they’re standing together in the crowd (birds of a feather): “Teacher, what should we do? (v.12). John, interestingly, says they are not to collect a penny more from anyone than they are truly required to pay. This was an almost incomprehensible challenge. Every tax collector overcharged their constituents and clients and pocketed the money. Everyone did it. Overcharging was a given. It was normal. It’s what “you had to do to make it in that economic climate”. Overcharging wasn’t personal; it was just business in the real world! So John says, “If you want to open your heart to Jesus . . . if you want to stop the religious play-acting and you want to prepare yourself for the coming Messiah, then you make a decision this very minute that you will never again overcharge a customer or over-bill a vendor. You tell God that because you want to honor him more than you want to get rich, that you’re going to do your business differently—honestly and honorably—from this day forward. In so doing, you will be demonstrating a profound trust in God’s ability to provide for you. And God will convert your commitment to doing business honorably into increased spiritual activity and blessing in your life. John tells these well-to-do businessmen, “How you interact with your clients and corporate supervisors, vendors and customers has a direct bearing on aligning your life with the real Jesus . . . the real Jesus we celebrate each Christmas. It’s startling, isn’t it, how direct John the Baptist is? But, you can read the Sermon on the Mount: Jesus own teaching on honesty and honor and fairness in the marketplace is just as direct and clear. Challenging economic times tempt everyone in the market place. We’re tempted every day to cut corners, to shade the truth for supervisors and customers, perhaps even to steal from the company. John would say to us, “Don’t go there. Don’t ever start sneaking around, hiding behind deception, hissing from the shadows, taking a bite out of your vendors or customers. You, who are preparing your hearts to meet the real Jesus . . . you play it straight. Don’t bend the rules, don’t over-bill or overcharge. Trust in God’s provision for your life, and he will convert your decisions into spiritual fullness, inner strength and peace, and daily provision.
Finally, John gives one more very direct challenge: this time to a group of soldiers. These are tough guys who typically grow hard over time, doing a tough, thankless job. But the soldiers sense the Spirit stirring within their hearts too, so they want to know, “What should we do? We’re soldiers—not usually given to religious sentimentality” (v. 14). How do we prepare our hearts for the coming of the Messiah? John replies with three practical decisions: “Don’t extort money from people, don’t accuse people falsely and, be content with your pay”. These challenges don’t sound all that spiritual or mystical, do they? Not like singing Christmas carols and lighting candles, tithing, reading through the entire Bible, or registering for a Vineyard conference? John puts his finger on three real-life issues in every soldier’s daily life. These men wielded unusual power and influence. They carried knives, swords and spears and rode on horseback among unarmed populations who walked about on foot. First century soldiers could pretty much take whatever they wanted—property, sex, money, clothing, food. They could destroy lives and careers with their false testimony, and no one had the power to challenge their word. They were men with power. So, John the Baptist says to these soldiers: If you want to align yourselves with the real Jesus, God’s Savior, the promised King . . . don’t ever abuse the power of your position. Jesus is the all-powerful God. But he has come to earth to live among us as a servant, doing only what his Father is doing. So if you want to prepare your heart to meet Jesus . . . if you want to align your life with the real Jesus—not the baby of stained glass windows and Christmas cards—decide today that you will never power-up on people. If you want to live in partnership with Jesus, use your power to serve others. And, oh yeah: decide to be content with your income. If you mix greed with the pride that comes through power, you’ll miss Jesus . . . you may not even recognize him when he’s standing right in front of you, speaking to you.
These people asked John the Baptist, “What do we need to do to prepare our hearts to meet Jesus?” and John gave it to them straight. Compassion among the poor, honesty and honor in business, and servanthood among the people with whom we work and live. God’s Spirit stirred so powerfully in many of them, that they walked down into the water of the Jordan River to ask John to baptize them. They wanted to declare publicly, by being baptized, that they were dying to an old way of life and rising again to live a whole new life. They were beginning the journey of aligning their lives with Jesus’ mission.
Christmas is only a couple days away. We’re preparing our homes, preparing food, preparing decorations and gifts. This is a great time to prepare your heart, to open your mind, to begin aligning your life with the Lord Jesus and his mission. It’s the perfect time to begin trusting and following Jesus. For many of you, John’s challenge reaffirms financial practices and lifestyle choices you’ve already made. Your heart is open wide to Jesus, the poor, and the people in need around you. For others, you’re feeling the Spirit of God stirring within you—just like the tax collectors and soldiers did. You’re getting the message that it’s time to leave old self-protective attitudes and self-serving practices in the past. It’s time to decide to open your heart to the real, adult Jesus. What will you do?
Here at Vineyard North, we’re inviting everyone to align their lives with Jesus’ mission by taking a second look at participating in children’s ministry. We’re appealing especially to singles and empty nesters to join in Jesus’ mission to bless the children. Yesterday’s participation in Project Forgotten Child will just be an exercise in sentimental tokenism, unless we—as a church—decide to open our hearts and community life to these children and their families . . . and become someone’s Christmas miracle. So that’s what many of us are going to do. We’re going to sign up to welcome and love and serve these children in our Kids Church ministry. We’ve already invited these forgotten children and their families to our Candlelight Carol service tonight, and we’re inviting them back for a special Sunday morning of ministry next Sunday morning. And, we’re going to be sharing our extra coats and food with them . . . and including them in our church life. What will you do? You can watch from the river bank, or you can seek out Lori Crossman, our Chidren’s Ministry Coordinator, this morning and ask her the question the tax collectors and soldiers asked, “What do you want me to do?”
