Sermon 20091213 11:30 William M. Howard
The First Baptist Church of Jefferson, Maine
Exhortations and Rejoicing
Zephaniah 3:14-20
The Future of Jerusalem
3:14 Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!
3:15 The LORD has taken away the judgments against you, he has turned away your enemies. The king of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; you shall fear disaster no more.
3:16 On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands grow weak.
3:17 The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing
3:18 as on a day of festival. I will remove disaster from you, so that you will not bear reproach for it.
3:19 I will deal with all your oppressors at that time. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth.
3:20 At that time I will bring you home, at the time when I gather you; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says the LORD.
Isaiah 12:2-6
(Songs of Praise)
12:2 Surely God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid, for the LORD GOD is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation.
12:3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
12:4 And you will say in that day: Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known his deeds among the nations; proclaim that his name is exalted.
12:5 Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be known in all the earth.
12:6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
Philippians 4:4-7
From the jail cell
4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.
4:5 Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.
4:6 Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Luke 3:7-18
3:7 John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
3:8 Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.
3:9 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."
3:10 And the crowds asked him, "What then should we do?"
3:11 In reply he said to them, "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise."
3:12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, "Teacher, what should we do?"
3:13 He said to them, "Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you."
3:14 Soldiers also asked him, "And we, what should we do?" He said to them, "Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages."
3:15 As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah,
3:16 John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
3:17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."
3:18 So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.
So ends the reading of the Word. Praise God.
We have 12 days to go until Christmas and these passages aren’t even coming close to talking about those days in Bethlehem.
Luke, you know, the very well educated doctor who accompanied Paul on the ministry travels, gets the divine inspiration to write the story of John the Baptist and how John was the messenger. Well, he was doing a great job of bringing the message of repentance and baptism by water to express the revering of God.
And, everyone was coming to him. The spirit was in John and he exuded that spirit. They trusted him and they let him bring them underwater and pray over them. Once baptized, folks changed. These changed folks would talk with others. It was a new spirituality unlike anything people had experienced before. This was new and this was evangelism. People were different. Their lives were different. The way they talked. And I dare say the way they walked. The way they did their work and the way they played. Who could resist to be changed.
So, who came? The low life of the times. Not just the poor. But the rich. How did they get rich? They got rich by deception, by theft, by racketeering, by threat, by extortion, by being bad. Who were they? Roman soldiers. Tax collectors. Cheating merchants. And others.
John, when he was asked, “What shall we do?” John says share what you have to those who have little. Share your clothes. Share your food.
He had started by saying to them that don’t fall back on the fact you are decedents of Abraham. This is all about a new way. In the time of Abraham, they sacrificed material things such as grain, oil, and spotless animals. What did they sacrifice these things for? They sacrificed for the forgiveness of sins by God. That is what was done.
What is the good news? What is the gospel? Hey, it was and is the sacrifice of the person who going to come.
John, the Baptist, is the messenger of the Gospel. And he is inaugurating these folks into the process of the true savior who is coming.
Again, who came to be baptized and forgiven by baptism and repentance? Everyone came that was in the realm of society.
John was one busy dude. To think he was like some kind of hippy living in the wilderness and folks were coming out to him. This is so cool.
With all this going on and with all these people and with all the new and different attitudes, certainly John the Baptist must be the messiah? Nope, he is not.
3:16 John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
3:17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."
3:18 So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.
Pretty simple language. Was John just talking about wheat? He was talking about people. He was using an analogy or better yet a metaphor.
First he refers to himself as baptizing with water and the guy who is coming will baptize with fire. John baptizes with wet cool cleansing water and the one who is coming is baptizing with cleansing fire, the fire of the Holy Spirit.
Wow. The Bible is talking about simple water versus unquenchable fire. Unquenchable fire…Can’t be put out. No matter how much a fire department tries, or how big the extinguisher, the fire can not be put out….forever. It can never be put out. The Holy Spirit will always be there.
The passage ends with:
3:18 So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.
Exhortation: a speech or written passage intended to persuade, inspire, or encourage
What would he say to you? What would be his exhortation to you? To us?
He is preparing the way of the Lord. Repent the sins, the transgression, the debts, the trespasses, the wrong doings, the gossip, the mean words about someone, the anger, and I am sure you are thinking of your own dirty secret.
These words in the Bible are exhorting you by the very story Luke wrote for us to hear and read.
Christ is coming in Christmas and He is coming again. Prepare yourself.
As we prepare for this Christmas season, prepare you heart with the love of Christ. May we be able to look upon Him with repentance in the Baptism of His Holy Spirit and rejoice.
Amen.