Let me understand the teaching of your precepts; then I will meditate on your wonders.              Psalm 119:2

The Extra Mile

Matthew 3:1-2 &11-12

Second Sunday in Advent

December 9, 2007

Matthew 3:1-2 & 11-12 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand…..I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

            John the Baptist is a familiar character that comes up every Advent season as we prepare for the celebration of the birth of Christ. John was really the last of the long list of prophets whose books we read in the Old Testament. John the Baptist joins the ranks of some of the greatest prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Elisha and Elijah. The unique point about John the Baptist is that he is not found proclaiming in the pages of the Old Testament. He is found in the first few pages of the New Testament.

            As we brush up on the Christmas story, you will probably remember that John the Baptist was the long-expected son of Zechariah and Elizabeth. Their story is found in the first few pages of Luke’s Gospel.  Zechariah was a priest and he was chosen to go into the temple to burn incense. When he was in the temple, the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah next to the altar of incense. Gabriel told Zechariah that his prayer had been heard, and that Elizabeth, his wife, would bear a son and they were to give him the name John. Gabriel told Zechariah that his son would go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, and turn the hearts of the people and make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

            Like many of us who so quickly doubt the hand of the Lord in our lives, Zechariah began to list the impossibilities of this proclamation. He stated that this was an impossible task. Elizabeth couldn’t have children, and they were both very old. So Zechariah asked the angel Gabriel for some proof. Gabriel reprimanded Zechariah saying something like, “here I am in the temple of the Lord, standing in the presence of God and you doubt me? You will no longer be able to speak until my words are proved true, because you do not believe my words.” Zechariah exited the temple, and he was no longer able to speak, and soon after Elizabeth became pregnant.  On the eighth day after John was born, they took him to the temple to circumcise him as was Jewish custom. They were going to name him Zechariah, but Zechariah wrote on a tablet that his name was to be John. At that moment, Luke tells us, his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed and he was able to speak again, praising God. John grew up, and Luke tells us that he was very strong in spirit, living in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel.

            John was the final prophet, sent to proclaim that the Messiah was near. In fact, John is prophesied in the pages of Isaiah. Isaiah 40:3 says, A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” John had a very specific calling as the final prophet. His calling was to proclaim that the Messiah was near, VERY near. His calling was to prepare the road for Jesus’ ministry. In the Greek, John is given the title, “John the Baptizing One”. He was called this because, as we see in our text for today, he was in the desert proclaiming to the people to repent because the Kingdom of God was near. John was then baptizing the people in the Jordan River. Verse 6 tells us that the people, having confessed their sins, were baptized by John in the Jordan River.

            John’s message in the desert: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” was basically saying the “Kingdom of heaven is staring at you in the face!”  John is telling them that the active reign and rule of God on earth was about to begin. This is a signal to the people that the reign and rule of God would very soon begin on earth. John was not saying that God had not ruled or reigned on this earth previously, but that the time of the Messiah was at hand. The Messiah was very near.

            Later on in this text, we see the Pharisees and Sadducees have come on the scene. They have come out to the desert to try to figure out what was going on. They have come out to the desert out of curiosity. John has drawn a large crowd and no doubt people are beginning to talk about John in the cities and around the temple. John sees them coming to the desert and immediately rebukes them for coming out with the wrong intentions.

John is basically saying, “Hey! What are you guys doing here? You need to show that you are repentant of your sins in order to receive my baptism. And don’t even think about saying that your ancestry (the fact that you are descendents of Abraham) is what will save you. Judgment Day is very near, and every one of you who do not show true repentance will die.”

We often read these passages of scripture and we condemn the religious leaders for their lack of faith and repentance. We are quick to point the finger and say, hey, you idiots, the answer is staring right at you in the face and yet you still do not believe. However, we are all like the Pharisees and Sadducees that John is condemning in this passage. John condemns them for not showing true repentance. How often in your life have you shown true repentance?

Many of us, myself included, have received a speeding ticket or some other traffic violation at some point in our lives. How long after that ticket is issued are we traveling at the same speeds or breaking the same rule we were ticketed for just days ago? Usually when the ticket is issued we are then very careful the rest of that day or maybe week to obey the traffic laws. However, it doesn’t take too long for us to repeat that same offense, only this time we are more careful in our lookout for the police cars.

Maybe you struggle with taking God’s name in vain or cursing. It flows from your mouth all too easily; “Oh My God!” or you fill in the blank. And sometimes you catch yourself, or someone catches you saying it. You quickly repent for using your creator and father’s name so carelessly, or some other offensive word.  However you find yourself saying the same thing or something worse 30 minutes later when you stub your toe on the corner of the bed.

Perhaps you find yourself struggling with the Sixth Commandment….you know, the one about adultery.  You might be thinking, well, I am not cheating on my spouse.  However, what about that time when you did a double-take at the handsome man or beautiful woman passing by you in the mall or store?  Or checking out the models, male or female, on the covers of magazines while standing in the checkout line and drooling just a bit?  Yes, those are breaking the 6^th just as certainly as the overt acts of adultery we most often think about. And yet we continue to do so…

Maybe you struggle with the sin of laziness. You hate getting up in the morning to go to work or you hate doing those tedious tasks that seem to take too much precious time out of your free time. Maybe you continually drag yourself into church on Sunday morning just so that you can say you “showed up” and to get the pastor off your back, only to spend the hour or so in worship planning the rest of your day.

Maybe your confession to God this morning sounded a little bit like this: Most merciful God, we confess that…oh, I need to pick up milk and eggs on the way home… in thought word and deed by what we have…..did we get a birthday present for Adam? What am I going to get that kid that has everything, maybe a gift card would be ok….we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves….is the office Christmas party on Wednesday or Thursday? Did I say I would bring a salad or dessert?....your present and eternal punishment…that’s right, I said I would bring my famous cheesecake, which means I need to get cream cheese at Stop-N-Shop on the way home….for the sake of Your Son…you know a donut sounds good right now, I hope they have something sweet at coffee hour or I will have to run into Dunkin Donuts on my way to the store….walk in your ways to the glory of your holy….do I need to stop at the ATM?....oh… Amen.

            True repentance is a change of heart. Changing the way that you feel about something, or how you do something. This means that true repentance for using God’s name carelessly, flirting with breaking the 6^th commandment, laziness or whichever sin you particularly struggle with is to completely turn away from that sin, trying your absolute best to turn from that sin and to not do it again. This might mean removing temptation, or running pell-mell away from the temptation. We all know that we fail miserably at this day after day.

            John was preparing the way for someone greater than he. John was preparing the way for Jesus Christ, your Messiah. God has seen you in your pitiful sinful state, failing miserably to reach the marks he established, and he has sent you a Savior in the form of a tiny baby. John was preaching to a crowd that was in search of an earthly deliverance, and even John himself was looking for this earthly deliverance (more on that point next week!). They thought that it would be enough for the Messiah to come and set up an earthly kingdom on earth to deliver men from the perils of evil government.

            However, God has so much more in mind for you. God saw your pitiful, sinful state and He went the extra mile to save you from your sinful condition. He didn’t send just anyone to come and save you from death and sin. God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ. God sent His beloved Son to this earth to pick you up out of your filth and to take on all your sins and bad habits. Jesus wasn’t born in a beautiful palace with servants serving him day after day. Jesus was born in a stable, the home of animals. His first bed was not a pillow top cradle or “sleep number bed” but his bed was a manger—a feeding trough for animals. The angels didn’t announce the birth of the Savior to the leaders of the church but to a band of shepherds out in the hillside —the outcasts of society.

            Jesus didn’t hang out with the elite of society. Take a look at his disciples: tax collectors, fishermen and thieves! Jesus reached out to all people, sharing his love with adulterous women and lepers—the unclean.

            Jesus went the extra mile for you. He lived a life that is worthy of praise and adoration. He kept all the commandments, and he was the model of the perfect life that we should all be living. He then sacrificed himself for you by dying on a tree. He allowed himself to be nailed to a tree to suffer the fate that you and I both deserved. Jesus took all of your sins of disrespect, sensuality, and laziness to the cross. Jesus suffered the punishment of your sin on the cross, and he died for you.

            Your sins were paid for on the cross, and Jesus died for you there on Calvary. However, Jesus’ work was not done yet. Jesus went the extra mile for you, because He rose from the dead three days later, forever crushing sin and death. Death is no longer the end for you and me. Because Jesus rose from the dead on Easter morning, we can now be confident that we too will one day rise from the dead and stand with our Savior on the Day of Judgment. God went the extra mile for you in sending His Son, Jesus Christ to be your Savior.

            So what about all those times that you try with all your might to beat temptation, yet you find yourself right back where you didn’t want to be? Maybe you have tried everything to fight the temptations that hit you day after day, and still find yourself doing those things that you didn’t want to do. The key phrase here is “all your might”. It is not your might that can help you withstand temptation and walk the path the God would have you follow.

            It is God and God alone that can help you in your daily struggles with temptation. God has promised to be present in your life and to strengthen you. God has promised His Spirit to come to you and to strengthen you. The Spirit of God will come to you and give you the strength to withstand temptation when you are in His Word daily. God will give you the strength to fight temptation when you are disciplined and being nourished daily by His Word.

            In Psalm one the psalmist states that the blessed man is like a tree planted by streams of water. The stream of water is the Word of God. Just like a tree or plant that will eventually die if it does not receive proper care and nourishment, your faith will also die if you do not care for and nourish it with the water of God’s Word.

            God gives you the strength and ability to fight temptation by being in His Word daily and studying it. It is only through God’s help that we can fight temptation and win against everything the devil throws our way.

            God went the extra mile when he sent his son Jesus to this world to save you from your sin. God went the extra mile when Jesus rose from the dead forever conquering death and sin. Jesus didn’t just leave this earth after he conquered death and sin saying, alright guys—the rest is up to you. Jesus gave you the Holy Spirit, and His word. God went even further for you to help you fight and withstand temptation. He has given you the Holy Spirit and he has given you God’s word for you to be in daily so that your faith can grow and you can become stronger as you face temptation. God has given you the tools to fight temptation and win against the schemes of the devil.

            God went the extra-mile to save you from death and sin. He went even further when he has given you His word, and the Holy Spirit to help you withstand temptation. It is that extra-mile that God went for you that gives us the ability and the confidence to say with complete assurance that we will be standing with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Judgment Day.

                                                Amen.