As we enter the season of advent, we think of Jesus this cute baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, in a stable in a place with a nice name, visited by the shepherds and the wise men and angels. The Christmas cards we have been brought up with show that it may have been snowing outside, and if we use our imaginations we can see cows and sheep admiring the baby as he lies peacefully in his manger with a smiling camel looking on. The story almost has this kind of fairy tale presence about it.
What we should remember is this was a real place.
The smelly stable attached to an overcrowded house.
The Roman occupied Middle East.
Unwed teenaged parents
The real hard times, babies slaughtered at the whim of a King.
The young couple fleeing to Egypt to escape the very likely death of their first born son.
Directly following this part of Matthews’s gospel, we read of Jesus slightly older eccentric second cousin talking about someone who is to follow him. Let’s read from Matthew 3:1-12.
The passages I wish to focus on are the verses 7 through to 12. These verses tell us some thing of human nature and the character of this person John the Baptist is speaking of. We will also have a little look at the history of the temple briefly.
1) So John spat the dummy at the Pharisees and the Sadducees, these people who thought for all intension purposes that they had it right with God. These people who knew the law, who knew the scripture, who had sound doctrine, they had it all written down and everything, the two groups didn’t see eye to eye on many points but that didn’t matter they were all descendants of Abraham and that is what mattered.
God had given them the nod they were alright with him.
Or were they?
John the Baptist, who as a matter of fact was not a Baptist but a Jew, saw them coming and let strip “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do you think you can say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father. etc etc etc.”
What these well dressed, well spoken, very clever, middle class men that John was addressing with extremely good family credentials had was really good CV’s. What they didn’t have was hearts that were in the right place, it was not well with their souls. They ponced about saying the right things, wearing the right robes talking about their ancestors and riding on their coat tails.
It’s a little like me saying well I’ve got a very nice uniform with the matching tie and red epilates, I have the right qualifications to be a Salvation Army Officer, One of my Grandfathers was a Church Steward in the Methodist Church, and my surname is the same as James Moffatt and he interpreted a Bible into English and well we might be related however distantly and he had a great relationship with God and with that kind of stuff and my well polished black shoes I’ll be alright with God also.
What John knew about these bods was that they looked good but under the façade was viper’s venom coiled and ready to strike, ready to cause death and destruction. These were very direct and judging words. Think of which other Biblical Character is described as a snake?
Like these men we need to be producing fruit in keeping with repentance, to be examining our lives, our actions, to be checking our souls and asking is it right with my soul – is my relationship with God right?
If not, why not? Also like LV Martin your Fisher and Price dealer if it’s not right it needs putting right, Mr Martin can’t put it right but there is one who can.
2) Who is it that John the Baptist is speaking of – there are absolutely no points for getting this answer right.
What does John say about this person? Well he compares himself to him saying. “I do this with water but he is going to be more powerful.”
Now the listen to this next bit, he comments about this person sandals and states that he not fit to carry them. So what?
Power point cat, Have you ever wondered what happens when a cat puts its head in a pair of shoes.
We’ll back in those days carrying the master of the houses sandals was the most menial, the lowest, the scummiest job that could be done in a household, to carry sandals was the pits. This job was given to the lowest ranked servant or slave.
Think of this no cars, public transport was by animal, animals left a fairly good trail behind them, waste was not always well disposed of, you would have walked in some pretty ripe material in the course of a day. These servants no doubt developed very good immune systems or died.
Jesus said this about John the Baptist, “Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist…” (Matthew 11:11b)
And here we have John the Baptist saying this “well I am that low in comparison to this coming person that I am not even good enough to carry his sandals.” Why would he say that?
3) Because he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Now this is no mean feat. Until the second chapter of Acts, God had placed his Holy Spirit upon people so that tasks could be carried out, so that a builder, Kings, Judges and Prophets could carry out their duties with his aid and direction.
We now know and many of us have experienced the Holy Spirit at work in our lives and changing us as we seek to lead lives worthy of God being with us, relying on his direction putting off our old selves and being lead by God’s Holy Spirit.
William Booth in his April letter of 1869 in The East London Evangelist wrote this. He was referring to the winning of souls for, and the living in the will of God.
“I desire to give a few brief practical hints...And, first and foremost, I commend one qualification which seems to involve all others. That is, the Pentecostal baptism of the Holy Spirit (Ghost). I would have you settle it in your souls for ever this one great immutable principle in the economy of grace, that spiritual work can only be done by those who possess spiritual power. No matter what else you may lack, or what may be against you, with the Holy Spirit (Ghost) you will succeed; but without the Holy Spirit, no matter what else you may possess, you will utterly and eternally fail.”
What the / our God anointed and appointed Founder of The Salvation Army realised was that he could only live for God if God was living in him. Interestingly this can happen in all our lives.
What John the Baptist was saying was that, Jesus was to bring the Power of God into the lives of those who would live for him.
John went onto say “His winnowing fork in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Interesting comment this, but once again why and what is all this about? We need to find out about this, so let’s bounce back in history to the time of David. Prior to the temple being built. Let’s have a look.
Where was the temple built? What was on the original site of the temple? Let’s have a look at 1 Chronicles 21:18.
“Then the angel of the Lord ordered Gad (A mans name not a typo) to tell David to go up and build an alter to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” There are then some details about the purchase of the site. What follows in 1 Chronicles 22:1 is David saying “The house of the Lord God is to be here, and also the alter of burnt offering for Israel.”
Back to John the Baptists words, “His winnowing fork in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
What we see in Johns words are prophecy about the messiah, about the Lord God himself coming and taking charge. This person who we know was and is Jesus was to bring the Power of God into the lives of those who would live for him.
He was to come in Power and purify the lives of those who would follow him; he was to fulfill the Law and the prophets. This baby born in a common stable was to be the King of Kings, he came so that we could have life in all its abundance, free from the chaff.
Many seem to think that this picture of chaff is of those who have turned their backs on God and last week I spoke on just this. This is one picture,
another is this; each grain of wheat grows surrounded by chaff by waste.
Like the wheat, as we grow in our humanness we coat ourselves with this tuff exterior, to the stage were we are surrounded by past hurts, past joys, we can become our possessions or they can become our identity, we wallow in the knowledge that we have sinned and no great and powerful God could forgive that sin, or clear away our exterior, could he?
He could.
Is your life caught up the waste of your past? Those traits that are peculiar to your family, those beliefs, and those fears that are holding you back, the past you have made for yourself, those things you’ve done wrong, the things that you would give up if, or maybe when - maybe a new years resolution.
Why is it we hold fast to these burdens, when there’s one / a saviour who can take this waste, who can separate the useful in our lives from the useless on his threshing floor? Burning up those burdens / these burdens for all time in his unquenchable fire.
There is so much more to than this season of Christmas, much more to this Christ than we can really comprehend.
As we enter this time of Christmas, take this opportunity to break off that chaff that stuff that has played its part but is no longer of any consequence, time to shake of that dross?
As the music team come to play I ask you have you had enough of doing this alone, battling in your humanity for some kind of break through!
As John the Baptist said, Jesus was to bring the Power of God into the lives of those who would live for him.
Jesus still does, is it now time to allow Jesus to be the Power behind your living.
