Advent: God Loves Us Even in Our Doubt

Week of Advent.

Advent's the season leading up to Christmas, the four Sundays leading up to Christmas.

And so I thought we'd start off by just thinking through this idea of being rescued, the idea of being rescued.

So if you were driving down the expressway and you saw a car broken down and you saw a man looking over uh into the hood, the hood's up, he's leaning over the engine, he has a he has his phone to his ear.

What is he waiting for?

He's waiting for help.

Hero, a hero unit, a policeman, you know, somebody, somebody that's me, by the way.

If I'm looking into an engine, I have a phone to my ear because I I don't know what's going on in there.

I would need rescuing.

I would need rescuing.

Uh, do you remember that the movie Castaway?

Spoiler alert, but it has been 19 years, by the way, so I don't feel too bad about it.

So the movie Castaway, uh, we had Chuck, Tom Hanks, there on that island, and he's he's on the island, he's needing rescuing, and he's there with the volleyball Wilson, and they're waiting for something.

Do you remember what they're waiting for?

Do you remember distinctly what rescues them?

The wind, okay.

I'm looking for an object, that's good.

A sail, it was a wall of a porta potty.

That was what they were waiting for.

They didn't know it, they didn't know that was gonna be the rescue, but that's what they were waiting for.

That's what they were waiting for.

All right, a little bit of 80s trivia.

Do you remember uh the name of the little girl, 18-month-old little girl?

She fell into an eight-inch wide well.

Baby Jessica.

Do you remember baby Jessica?

If you were alive, then you remember it.

It was 1987.

She was 18 months old, baby Jessica.

Jessica McClure was her name, and she fell 22 feet down into an eight-inch well in her aunt's backyard, and she got wedged.

She was alive down there, but she was stuck.

She was stuck.

She needed help.

They actually lowered a microphone down to hear her, and she was down there and she knew she was stuck.

That she was down there and she was singing, but she was crying.

And for 56 hours, rescuers worked to get her back up.

You remember that?

I mean, the president called them.

This was national.

I mean, this was huge.

And rescuing requires a point of recognition of need.

That we're stuck.

We're stuck in shame or we're stuck in sin.

We're stuck in guilt, we're stuck in hurt, we're stuck in exhaustion, we're stuck in condemnation.

And rescuing requires some point of need of going, like, I'm at the end of myself.

I need resources from outside of myself.

Now that's what we call repentance.

Now here's the passage in Matthew 3, verses 1 through 4.

Matthew 3:1–4

In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea.

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, for this is he who was spoken by the prophet Isaiah when he said the voice of the one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord and make his path straight.

Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.

So he's a bit of a wild man, wilderness guy.

Then Jerusalem and all of Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him on the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

So a few points to guide us in this.

Point number one is this our hearts may be busy.

Our hearts are busy.

But even our busy hearts reveal we are truly a waiting and a needy people.

So when John the Baptist comes on the scene, it's been 400 years of silence since the last prophet from the Old Testament writings.

400 years of silence.

There's no Bible yet.

And prophets spoke for God.

But the people kept living.

They kept farming and hunting and caring for their family, caring for their, you know, their kids.

They kept getting married.

I mean, for us, this is just us just like us just ordering more off at Amazon and like blowing leaves.

And anybody's been blowing leaves, a lot of us have been dealing with our leaves.

And this is just us carrying on with life.

And into that silence and that busyness of life and heart that these people had and we have comes this really intense, wild man.

And everyone wanted to hear him preach.

Because it's been a long time since somebody spoke for God.

And he begins to talk about repentance for Savior is coming.

Hey, you're stuck and you need rescuing.

This past week, our family decorated for Christmas.

We have our routine as Christy's up in the attic and she's getting down the big plastic bins.

I'm on the ladder, so I'm the halfway man, and I get it like this, and I kind of lean backward and kind of get it through the gap, and then I hand it down to our oldest daughter who she almost falls down as she stacks them up in the hallway.

And we just kind of do this over and over again.

And that's our process.

And then we set up the tree, and I help set up the tree together.

Yes, we're a are we anybody else a fall fake tree?

Just admit that and just go ahead and humble yourself because we know the people who like live trees, you think you're better than we are.

We know that.

It's true.

It's true.

I was like, oh yeah, I don't do fake trees.

We do fake tree.

We're fake tree people.

Love it.

Love it.

So I put my tree together, click a little thing on the floor, lit up.

It was amazing.

Love that.

And then once it's all there, put together and it's lit up, the girls take over ornaments, and then I go and I set up the candles.

I'm the candle guy.

And so I do the candles in the windows and the 57 extension cords to make all that work, plus our normal lamps, you know, because you got to keep everything else.

And so all that's going on, the candles are in the windows.

And I read this week priest Paul Walker, who I listen to all the time.

I listen to this guy preach, an amazing preacher in Charlottesville.

He said this the act of candles in the window is a way to say, we're here.

And it's dark, but we're here, and we invite you in.

Candle lights, a little bit of light in a window to say, hey, we invite you here.

It's us saying, help our house, help our family, help me.

This is repentance.

So John builds off of the idea of repentance from the Old Testament, certainly, and he doesn't know the fullness of the concept of repentance that we get fleshed out with Jesus and Paul.

How could he?

Jesus hadn't taught yet.

Paul hadn't written yet.

And so John comes into this gap and he says, Repent, for wrath is coming.

Now, Paul approaches the same subject when we get Paul's writings and his letters in the New Testament.

Paul approaches the same subject.

He says, the kindness of God leads you to repentance.

Now that was different, and that was an add-on, it built out the concept that John was saying.

And here's a little Bible study tip for us.

This is why you don't isolate passages.

If your only idea of repentance comes from John, this is very fear-based.

Because John's just one piece of the larger story that God is unfolding over time that we have in the scriptures.

By learning the arc of the Bible and the progressive development of a concept, we get the truth.

And we know by Jesus' life and Paul's writing, along with what John says, we get this robust idea of repentance that is by the kindness of God that welcomes us into this, yes, sorrowful, sure, a turning, but also a joyful collapse.

Because Jesus is sufficient for your imperfection and your need for forgiveness and a righteousness beyond your own merit and performing.

So it's not just turn or burn, it's not just turn or burn, but it's also a joyful by the kindness of God.

We get to be a repentant people.

This brings us into verse 7.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he, John, said to them, You brought of vipers.

Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Bear fruit.

And here's this is his point, verse 8, bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

So not for repentance, but in keeping with it, along with it.

And do not presume to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father, for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children from Abraham.

Here's point number two, same old song for us if you've been in our church for a while.

The good news, and this is so good.

I love this.

I say this is everyday news.

This is so good.

We don't have to use our pedigree or our performance to be loved, to be accepted, to be forgiven, or to be righteous before God.

That never gets old.

That is a huge exhale of religiosity and performance outside of ourselves.

And John's saying, Are you showing up here with all your religious performance?

That's never gonna be enough.

How are you gonna degrade that?

How would you ever know?

And this is so good for us because we tend to be a people who dress up pretty good, but underneath that is a heart that is hurting and needy and busy.

And what a relief to know that we don't have to get into forgiveness and righteousness and acceptance with God by our own merit.

But because of Jesus' word for us.

And then John says, hey, because of that, bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

So seminary professor and author Steve Brown, he describes it this way: we will not look to the screens to follow along with me.

You're just gonna follow along with me.

This is one long quote, the next like three or four minutes here.

It's from his book called Three Free Sins.

There's a title for you, so it kind of uh it'll pique your interest.

Here's what he says, and this is so good.

When I read this years ago, I wrote this out on a note card.

It has been, it has been paper clipped in the back of my Bible for years.

He says, number one, you don't have to get any better to get God to love you or to be counted holy in his sight.

That's number one.

He says, number two, you will get better and you won't be able to help it.

Focus on being yourself and living with God, and it'll happen.

Number three, if you get better, hardly anyone will know it.

None of us really know what's in each other's hearts, and we've gotten pretty good at wearing masks that are virtually indistinguishable from the real thing.

So stop worrying about trying to impress everyone.

You've already got everybody fooled anyway.

And then number four, he says, if you do get better, you probably won't even know it.

Not only are you good at fooling others, but the Bible says we're all pretty good at deceiving ourselves.

So relax.

God loves you.

His grace is there for you, and Jesus is calling you to walk with him.

So this brings us into verse 10.

Even now, the axe is laid to the root of the trees.

Every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

So John seems to be thinking about the afterlife here.

People who refuse to repent.

And the idea of fire, when we hear about fire, eternal fire, something in the afterlife of fire, the idea here is the refusal of the grace of God, and in that refusal, there is a disintegration of the self and the soul.

There's nothing more hellish than that.

And a life moving in the grace of God moves further as you are relieved and healed of self-justification.

It's a life moving further into an integration of the self and the soul, where you can receive love and give love.

Not in a justification of yourself, but because you're already loved.

Verses 11 and 12.

John continues, I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not even worthy to carry.

He's talking about Jesus.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit in 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.

Now, verse 12, without the preceding verses and without the rest of the New Testament, is horrifying, right?

Am I in or am I out?

Do I have enough fruit?

And what fruit is that?

And how much of that fruit would be enough?

Well, that's a horrible way to live.

That's why all of us were sort of like laughing and relieved when I read the Steve Brown quote.

And you have to remember, John is leading us into Jesus' life.

He doesn't have Paul's writing.

We take John as a piece of a larger puzzle.

And I like what theologian Fred Craddock says.

I've read this before in our church.

He says this when he comes into this idea of burning and judgment and this kind of thing.

Here's what he says: when repentance and forgiveness are available, judgment is good news.

The primary aim is to save the wheat, not to burn the chaff.

So I think what Craddock is saying is in light of the biblical story, the ark, the New Testament, all of the New Testament, not just this I isolated John the Baptist and what he's saying right here, but in light of John the Baptist leading into Jesus' life, and Jesus' life explained by Paul and his writings, the rest of the New Testament, in light of all of that, that ark, in light of that, even judgment drives us into the grace of God because judgment helps us see that we're not perfect.

And that we need the grace of God.

We need a rescuing.

We're baby Jessica.

22 feet down.

And we just need somebody to rescue us.

Last point, and this jumped out at me this week, and man, this has been so relieving to me.

It's kind of hidden here in the story.

We piece it together later in Matthew.

And here's the point: God loves us in and through all of our doubts.

So John generalizes his Jesus' ministry as one of judgment.

But when Jesus begins to minister, he does it with truth and grace.

He's most judgmental towards the religious.

But to the broken, he's incredibly loving and welcoming.

And Jesus is teaching about the kingdom is not one of division in terms of a judgment.

It's actually a welcoming in God's care for us.

This was so jarring for John, right?

This bold, confident, you know, repent, and people are showing up, and he's so confident.

Everybody's coming to hear his preaching, and he's the guy, but he's saying somebody mightier is coming.

This bold, confident guy.

This was so jarring for him.

He's later in prison because he was a threat to Caesar, and they put him in prison, and he's in prison, and not our prison, watching TV and having a, you know, like that kind of prison.

Like he's in a dungeon prison.

And in comes doubt about Jesus, because he is hearing stories about Jesus that don't match up with what he thought Jesus would be.

And here's what he says in Matthew 11, verse 2.

Matthew 11:2

Now, when John heard in prison about the deeds of Christ, so it's not matching up in his mind, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, Are you the one who's to come?

Or shall we look for another?

I've loved this all week.

Because who doesn't have doubt?

I mean, much less that I'm the one who stands up in front of people and makes like proclamation, right?

And here's a guy making proclamation, and then in his private moments he has some doubt.

Of course he has doubt.

He's like human.

And maybe your doubt is big, like the existence of God, or maybe it's something like, you know, God's timing.

Or God's love.

God's character.

And it's almost ironic to a certain point that this guy has doubt.

This guy.

I mean, this guy, Jesus came down to the river.

And when Jesus came down and John was baptizing, John says, Behold the Lamb of God.

John baptized Jesus, saw the Spirit descend on Jesus.

This was the guy who had doubt.

If he has doubt, don't you think that perhaps you might have some doubt every once in a while?

Maybe.

And can't you just imagine him there in that dark, horrible prison?

Of course he has doubt.

But what I kept thinking about this week is how wonderful it would have been for him to have the rest of the New Testament.

He didn't know Paul's letters about the security we have as the beloved of God that is not based on how much fruit we have or how much belief we have.

But Paul saying, you know what, you are secure as the beloved of God because of Christ finished work for you, not your work for him.

And then in the story, Matthew 11, it gets so good because Jesus responds to him, but Jesus' response to him is not condemnation for his Tao.

He doesn't belittle him.

Jesus answers.

He says, Go and tell John what you hear and see.

The blind receive their sight, the lame walk.

Lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.

And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.

So here's what Jesus says to all of our doubts.

He says, Consider me.

Contemplate me.

Just keep contemplating my life, my love, my ministry, my work, my death, and my resurrection.

Because it's his word for you that is making you his beloved.

Not your word for him.

Let's pray together.

God, thank you for this good word that reminds us of the great repentance we can have.

A sorrowful and joyful falling into your sufficiency.

And also that even in our doubt that you're sufficient.

God, we we confess that there's things we need to repent of.

Things that we have great shame over.

And there's even doubt that we need to repent of and say, I've lived in a life out that area, and I need to contemplate you more.

Just who you were.

And help us cast our eyes on you and you alone.

God, in all our areas that produce doubt and all the areas of our lives that we fall short, increase our trust in you and in you alone.

And give us greater and greater insight of your sufficiency by the entire biblical story.

And we thank you that what you have given us is enough.

That your work is enough.

We thank you for the season as we prepare our hearts for your coming of Christmas.

And it's exactly what we need.

We need more of you.

That at the same time we have enough of you and we always will, the same time we we need to deepen our trust in you.

God, thank you for your goodness to us, even while we are not always perfect.

Amen.