Matthew 3:1-12

What are you getting for Christmas? Do you know? I know there are a lot of kids who would love to know where their parents are hiding their stuff. And if the kids found this hiding place, the secrets wouldn’t last long. They’d figure out a way to get a good peak. They’d like to know what they’re getting.

Now, we know that Christmas is not about getting. We know that Christmas is about giving, about generosity and sharing and loving other people. And I think that many of us would be okay if we didn’t really get anything for Christmas. I know that there are some people who say, "Oh, you don’t have to get me anything" but they don’t really mean it. They still want some gift, even if it’s small. But I think, too, there are some who are really okay with not getting anything for Christmas. You don’t need more stuff in your house and you know that your family loves you.

But if you are a Christian, you will get something for Christmas. In fact, if you’re not getting something for Christmas, then something is wrong. If you’re not getting anything for Christmas, then there might be some doubts about your Christianity. But the something that you’re receiving is not made of plastic and it doesn’t have an electrical cord to plug in and it doesn’t come from a jewelry store or from Toys R Us. In fact, what you’re receiving for Christmas, as a Christian, might not actually be something that you’re wanting. Your first reaction on opening this gift might be to want to return it. Because what you’re receiving from the Lord, in His coming at Christmas, is a changed life. It’s new habits. It’s the death of the old self and the resurrection of the new. And that, quite honestly, can be the scariest gift ever.

We saw last week how people expected one thing of Jesus, and He brought another. How the light came into the darkness and the darkness did not understand it. Now this week, we understand better how we miss the Light, the glory of the One and Only. We miss it because we don’t like what He’s bringing. He’s bringing a call of repentance. He’s bringing conviction. He’s bringing expectations for a changed life. Verse 1:

The kingdom of heaven. Oh, those words sounded so good to the people listening. They were tired of the kingdoms of earth. Caesar Tiberius was oppressive, Pontius Pilate didn’t care, and King Herod was crooked. They wanted something better. They wanted the kingdom of heaven, because they knew what the kingdom of heaven meant. It meant blessings and satisfaction. It meant peace and prosperity. It meant safety. It meant comfort.

And John comes saying that it’s almost here. The kingdom of heaven is near. Except that, they wouldn’t be able to see it. They wouldn’t be able to enter it. They wouldn’t be able to receive the blessings unless. Unless they repented. Unless they admitted that their lives didn’t match the life of the kingdom of heaven. That their lives looked more like the lives of the kingdom of earth than of the kingdom of heaven.

So there was some honesty that needed to happen before they received the gift. Some admitting. Some openness. Get rid of the obstacles, remove the resistance. Open up the way for the Lord. Verse 3:

The Lord is coming, and the question is, how will He be received? Will He be resisted or will He be welcomed? Will He have to fight His way in or will He be welcomed with open arms. John came, calling the people to welcome Jesus with open arms, and that means to repent.

The games we play, the excuses we make, the blame that we shift to other people, that’s resisting the coming of the Lord. The idea that we know better than God does how to run this world. The fact that we’ve been Christians all of our lives, we’ve gotten along just fine, thank you, so why try to grow? Why change what we don’t think is broke? Why try to go deeper in our relationship with Jesus? Why look for new ways to serve Him and to learn more about Him and to love Him more? Just go with what we have.

That’s the resistance that John the Baptist was calling us to repent. Jesus is coming. Jesus. The Son of God. He’s coming. Drop your guard, confess your resistance, admit your preconceived notions, give up your selves and welcome the Lord.

And when the people heard John calling them to repent, they did. They dropped what they were doing and they prepared their hearts for the coming of Jesus. Verse 5:

They came and they talked. They admitted their failures. They didn’t try to hide behind excuses, they didn’t try to put a nice spin on their sins. They repented. They let it all hang out there. They were sinners, plain and simple.

And then they were baptized. They used this sign as a symbol of washing, that they wanted the old junk to flow down-river just like the Jordan. That the junk that they’d been carrying around, that they just wanted to get rid of, that it fell off of them like the water and it flowed away and they would never see it again. People came heavy with sin and they left light with repentance.

Well, some of them did. Verse 7:

John saw who was coming and he saw why they were coming and it wasn’t to lay down their lives and admit their failures and repent from their sins. It was stand in criticism of what John was saying. It was to be suspicious of all this talk about a heavenly kingdom coming near. They weren’t coming sorrowful for sins, they were coming proud in their self-righteousness.

Well, John isn’t falling for it. He points to them and calls them deceitful snakes. This type of evangelism isn’t really encouraged nowadays. We can hardly call this friendship evangelism. John is saying it like it is. If there is anyone who knows that they must repent and open up their hearts to the coming of the Lord, it’s these, the religious leaders, the ones who know God’s word the best. They should be at the front of the line. They should have the longest list of sins because they know God’s expectations the best. And they know how much they’ve failed God. They need to be confessing, getting rid of the sin.

And showing that in their lives. Verse 8:

If we have repented, if we’ve been honest about our sins, if we’ve confessed them openly, then it will show. Our repentance, our conversion is more than just about words. It IS about words, it’s just more than just about words. Our conversion, our repentance is us saying the words of confession, and then showing that those words are real, showing that with our lives.

If that’s not happening, if the confession is not verified and confirmed, then what’s the point? Verse 10:

The kingdom of heaven is near, Jesus is arriving, but watch out. Look and see how He is coming.

John gives a little warning. Verse 11:

The baptism that John was bringing, that was symbolic. Nothing was happening when the people came out of the water. They were repenting, they were admitting their sins, but those sins were not yet removed, they were not yet forgiven.

That took Someone else. That took Jesus, coming with a baptism of fire, a baptism with the Holy Spirit coming and consuming and taking control over a person’s life. And when someone is baptized in that baptism, the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire, then watch out. Life is no longer the same. Fruit is produce in keeping with the repentance. People are changed.

This is the gift that we all must receive at Christmas. It doesn’t work to say, "Oh, you don’t have to give me anything. I don’t need anything." Each of us needs something. Each of us comes with our failures, our sins, the parts of our lives that are messy and broken. Each of us needs the purifying, the cleansing that comes from the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire.

And each of us is called to come and admit it. We, each of us, are called to repent. To confess our sins. To speak the words. James 5:16 tells us to:

I would suspect this is not something we do much of, admitting how we were wrong. Especially in the Protestant tradition, we’ve gotten used to admitting our sins to God, quietly, privately. Which is fine, except it’s easier to go back and do the sins again. For some reason, it’s easier for us to sin again if "only" God knows, then if our best friends, our brother, our sister in Jesus, knows. If we confess our sins, if we talk about them with a safe person, we are less likely to go back and do them over again. So, we confess. We repent.

And we are changed. The baptism that most of us have received, here in church, it was a baptism of water, sure. The water didn’t do anything. The water didn’t save. But for those of us who believers, who have accepted the salvation that Jesus brings, that baptism with water was also a baptism of fire, the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

This is Jesus coming at Christmas. But this is not a cute little baby Jesus with chubby cheeks, cooing in a manger, come to make the world happy. This is Jesus, verse 12:

Is this what you want for Christmas? Jesus coming in and clearing out the junk. Taking our Christianity and cranking it up a notch. Moving us out into unfamiliar territory, getting us to serve Him in ways we never thought possible. Digging out old habits we’ve loved for way too long. Creating new habits that seem strange and awkward at first but that grow on us in time. Jesus is coming, bringing Christmas gifts.

Will we accept them? Or will we resist? As He comes into our lives, will He find lots of obstacles and excuses, or will He find that we’ve prepared the way for Him, that we’ve made the paths straight and we’re willing to let Him lead us wherever He wants us to go? Will we repent from our stubbornness, our indifference? Will we accept our Christmas gift, open it eagerly, and find a brand new life inside?