A Tempting Offer?

February 22, 2026

Matthew 4:1-11

            I think that everyone here knows that I am a songwriter.  I started writing music (or should I say started trying to write music) when I was a senior in high school and pretty much all of those early efforts were truly abysmal.  I continued writing when I got to college and truthfully, the results weren’t a whole lot better.  But when I got to college, I started really learning about how music is constructed and this newfound knowledge gave me the ability to analyze music, to take some of the big hit songs and to see how they were constructed and to find out what made them “tick”; what made them the hits that they were.  And so, I bought dozens of books of sheet music across multiple genres and started learning how successful songwriters constructed their hit songs.  Lennon and McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Barry Manilow, Paul Simon, Carole King… all of these artists contributed to my understanding of the craft of songwriting and while I have never reached the heights that these giants of the songwriting profession have, through what I learned from them, I have been blessed to write a few songs that have been played, literally, all over the world.

            And though none of these songwriters whose music that I studied have a clue as to who I am or how much their work impacted me, I am indebted to each of them because I learned how to write songs by studying the works of those who knew what they were doing and were doing it at the highest level.  And regardless of what your discipline is, be it music, or art, or business, or faith, we learn best by learning from those who know what they are doing… and are doing it at the highest level.

            Our story today brings us to the temptations of Jesus.  Jesus has just been baptized by John.  The Spirit descended on Jesus in the form of a dove and a voice from heaven declared Jesus to be God’s Son, who God loves.  And then, immediately on the heels of these miraculous events, the Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  And for clarity, the Greek refers to the devil as διαβόλου  (Dee-áb-lows) which the Topical Lexicon describes as “A single, personal, supernatural being who stands in absolute opposition to God and His redemptive purposes. He is neither a mere force nor an impersonal principle but is consistently portrayed as a conscious, strategic adversary with intellect, emotion, and will.”

            I think that there may be a tendency to imagine this confrontation between Jesus and Satan as being the physical discussion that the Bible seems to describe.  But I think that the idea of a guy with horns, a tail, and a red suit appearing to Jesus in the wilderness actually does a disservice to the depth of the message of this story.  Hebrews 4:15 tells us that Jesus was “tempted in every way, just as we are”.  And so, the temptations of Jesus would have been subtle, just as the temptations that plague us tend to be subtle as well.  It’s not that Satan appeared to Jesus and conversed with Him, it’s that Jesus had an idea, and that He had to wrestle with that idea in order to determine what His faithful response should be.  And just like the songwriter or the artist who studies the works of the masters in order to know how to achieve a desired result, Jesus goes directly to God’s word; no discussion, no argument, no negotiation, just the Word of God, refuting the lies that Satan uses to cast doubt on the goodness or the faithfulness of God.

            And so, today I first would like to look at the three temptations of Jesus and help us to understand how each of these temptations spoke more deeply than just the simple acts of miraculous manufacture of bread, or of the protection of angels, or the resisting of a very tempting offer.  And then, we need to talk about how these temptations affect us and how we are to face temptation.

            In the first temptation, Jesus is starving after fasting for 40 days.  I get hungry if I miss lunch!  And so, the devil makes his first suggestion.  “If (or in the Greek this word can also mean ‘since’) you are the Son of God, why in the world are you hungry when you have the power to turn these stones into bread?  After all, if your Father really loves you, he wouldn’t want you to be hungry now, would He?  The wording in the Greek indicates the fact that the Devil is neither questioning, nor denying, the Sonship of Jesus.  Osborne says, “He is not challenging the truth of [Jesus’ Sonship] but trying to tempt Jesus into using His Sonship selfishly, [centering] on His elevated status rather than the humble path set by God”.  [1]

            You see, at its essence, this isn’t a temptation about satisfying hunger, it is a temptation about self-gratification.  It is every temptation that we ever have when we need or want something, and don’t receive it.  And when this happens, sometimes we may go about obtaining what we want in our own way, almost always without regard for how our actions may affect others.  In the human pursuit of… stuff, other people may be disadvantaged, marginalized, exploited… Why do we think poverty exists?  Or hunger?  Or crime? Or discrimination?  These things are the collateral damage that is the result of the human pursuit of self-gratification.  But God’s plan would never permit these kind of things to happen.  God asks us to trust Him that He will provide for our needs and do so in ways that would never harm others.  Platt says, “All of us have desires that are built into us, desires that are good – needs in our bodies and cravings in our souls.  But God has also created us to look to Him as a good Father, who satisfies those desires.  That was the point in the Garden of Eden, wasn’t it?  Satan suggested to Adam and Eve that God was withholding good from them, so they decided to fulfill their desire apart from God’s will”.  [2]  But where Adam and Eve failed, Jesus succeeded.  And He succeeded by turning to scripture, responding to the devil that “humanity doesn’t live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God”.

            In the second temptation, the devil tells Jesus again that if, or since you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from the highest point of the temple because scripture promises that God will protect you.  The devil was referring to the northeast corner of the temple mount where from the top of the wall to the Kidron Valley below was a drop of about 500 feet, Josephus described that height as “dizzying”.  If Jesus had jumped from that height and landed lightly on His feet, it certainly would have garnered some attention.  But God’s plan for Jesus to be made known did not involve a spectacular display of His power. Instead Jesus relied on reaching people through loving care on a one on one basis. 

            And like stones to bread, this temptation is about more than just attracting attention.  This is a temptation to question whether God is really present and active in our lives.  The temptation is to ask God to prove Himself.  Jesus’ temptation story closely parallels the story of the Israelites traveling in the wilderness for forty years, and in Exodus 17 there is a story about the Israelites complaining because they didn’t have water.  Of course, God provided when Moses stuck a rock, causing water to gush forth from the rock, but before God provided the water, the people had asked, “Is the Lord among us or not?”  And truthfully, when you are human the temptation to ask this question can arise a LOT.  There are so many times in our lives when things aren’t going our way that we may want to ask God where He is.  And you know what?  That is perfectly OK.  It’s something the writers of the Psalms did all the time.  What isn’t OK is to demand from God proof of His existence, or of His provision, or of His protection.  Jesus’ simple response to the devil came from Deuteronomy 6:16. “Do not put the Lord your God to the test”.  If we truly trust in God, then we have no need for Him to prove Himself.

            In the third and final temptation, the devil takes Jesus to a high place and in a moment, shows Him all the kingdoms of the world and all of their earthly glory and offers it all to Jesus if Jesus will bow down and worship him.  And we need to think about this temptation for just a minute because God has already promised Jesus that all of this will be His, so what exactly is it that the devil is offering to Jesus?  Well, God’s path to Jesus’ glory goes through the cross.  Jesus knows that He will have to suffer horribly and face an excruciating death on the cross.  And that Jesus’ glory will come as a result of His redeeming of humankind through His death.  What the devil is offering is the glory without the sacrifice.

            How often do we face the temptation to cut corners?  To take a shortcut or to compromise on some key issue in order to accomplish what we need to accomplish?  This is such a common temptation that it actually has its own axiom, “The end justifies the means”.  So much of humanity is perfectly OK with choosing morally questionable ways of achieving what it believes to be a good result.  But God calls us to follow Him, to trust that His ways are right and just, and to honor and obey Him in all that we say and do.  “Worship the Lord your God and SERVE Him only”, Jesus said.  No cut corners, no shortcuts, no rationalizations, just devoted service.

            Now, at this point we may just be thinking “how are we to go about doing all of this?”  And the answer is: we won’t.  We are going to be tempted and at times, we are going to fail.  And the point of today’s story is NOT for us to try to memorize scripture so that we can defeat Satan just like Jesus did, we can’t defeat Satan.  We can’t live without succumbing to his lies and his temptations.  But the Good News is that we don’t have to, because the victory over sin and death has already been won by Jesus.  And it’s not a matter of following His example so that we can overcome temptation; it’s that through following HIM we are forgiven of those failures and reconciled to God.  Jesus has already defeated Satan, and Satan knows it.  And so, Satan does what he can to try to interfere in our relationship with God by creating doubt in us.  Does God really love us?  Is God really present and active in our lives?  Will God really see to it that our needs are provided?  Does God really have our eternal best interests at heart?  And even though every one of us knows in our hearts that each of these things is true, it doesn’t mean that, when things sometimes become difficult, we won’t be asking these very questions.  But when we do ask these questions, we, as believers, know that we can turn to Jesus for strength and forgiveness not only because He has promised us strength and forgiveness, but also because we know that He has experienced every temptation that we have, and we know that He understands on a deeply personal level the extent of the difficulties that life sometimes throws at us, the depth of the grief that will sometime befall us, and the challenges that we face as Satan uses temptation to try to derail our faith.

            My dear friends, though sin remains and will continue until the day that our faith becomes sight, don’t let the lies of Satan discourage you.  God has forgiven us and tells us truthfully that as far as the east is from the west, He has removed our sins from us.  And all that remains for us to do is to love Him and to serve Him with all of our hearts.

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[1] Grant R. Osborne, Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: Matthew, Pg. 132

[2] David Platt, Exalting Jesus in Mattthew, Pg. 69

Shining Like the Sun

February 15, 2026  (Transfiguration Sunday)

Matthew 17:1-9

            I think that it is just such an amazing thing that Jesus chose to pick disciples who were really rather ordinary.  You know, sometimes the disciples understood things, sometimes they didn’t, and sometimes they could be downright dense.  Immediately prior to our reading today, Jesus had asked the disciples “Who do you say I am?”.  Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God”.  Yea Peter!  He nailed it!  Jesus even declared Peter blessed for his Spirit inspired recognition of Jesus’ divinity.  Yes, Peter finally got it!… or did he?  Because in the very next verse Jesus tells the disciples that He must be killed and on the third day raised to life.  And Peter, momentary hero of ten minutes ago, rebukes Jesus and Jesus has to say to him “Get behind me Satan”.  And I honestly believe that that is a metaphor for the life of all believers, because when all is said and done, we also are very much like the disciples… sometimes getting it and sometimes… not so much.

            And so, not at all unlike us, Peter had a good start.  He had grasped the concept of Jesus’ divinity, not a small thing.  And he had made a bold and courageous decision to drop everything and to follow Jesus.  But there is still a lot that Peter doesn’t understand… and won’t understand until after the resurrection.  But in today’s story something is going to happen that will profoundly affect how Peter, and also James and John, perceive the divinity of Jesus.  And if we are to understand today’s story, it should have a profound effect on our perception of Jesus’ divinity also.

            So, let’s try this morning to put ourselves in the shoes of the disciples, and walk with them as Jesus invites them to take a walk with Him up a rather large mountain.  Though the Bible doesn’t identify the mountain, tradition states that it is very possibly Mount Tabor, and while they may not have hiked all the way to the top, especially since there was a Roman Garrison there, the mountain is nearly 2,000 feet high and so, this wasn’t an insignificant climb.  As Jesus and the disciples reach their destination on the mountain, Jesus is suddenly, and to the disciple’s complete surprise, transfigured.  The word used in the Greek is actually metamorphosis.  Jesus was momentarily changed into something completely different.  The earthly, human, Jesus was gone, replaced by the Jesus who was now being revealed in His heavenly glory.  The glory that had belonged to Jesus since before the foundation of the universe.  The glory that Jesus had set aside so that He could come to earth to become Emmanuel… God with us.   

Our text tells us that, “His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.”  Way back in Exodus we read the story of how, after Moses met with God, he had to veil his face because the glory of God just reflecting in his face was unbearable for others to see.  And yet here, the disciples aren’t seeing a reflection, they are actually seeing the glory of God… in person.

            But as if this shock to the disciples wasn’t enough, suddenly they found themselves witnessing a conversation between Jesus, Moses, and Elijah.  Just the other day Dave Harris asked me how it was that the disciples KNEW that it was Moses and Elijah with whom Jesus is speaking.  And, the Bible doesn’t answer that question, but I’m thinking that maybe Moses bore a resemblance to Charlton Heston.  In fact, Matthew doesn’t even tell us about the content of their conversation, but when Luke tells his transfiguration story, he tells us that the three of them were speaking of Jesus’ upcoming departure.  And the word that Luke used that we translate “departure”, is ἔξοδος (Exodus).  Yes, that Exodus.  The Bible uses the same word to describe the redemptive act of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection that it does to describe Israel’s redemptive act of their escape from Egypt.  In both instances, the word ἔξοδος means “the way to be followed”.  The way for the Israelites to get to the Promised Land was through the wilderness.  The way for Jesus to complete His task of saving humanity was through the cross. 

            Peter, probably stunned beyond words at this point, suggests putting up three booths or tabernacles, one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.  I’ve heard commentators say that this comment from Peter may have been a bit tone deaf on his part, as if Peter completely missed the point of what was going on, but if we look at the original story in Exodus that this story mirrors, Peter’s response is a solidly Biblical one as the Israelites of Moses’ day had built the tabernacle to house the presence of God.  Let’s not forget that Moses was the revered law-giver and that Elijah was the most important and revered prophet. And so, Peter’s idea wasn’t necessarily a bad one.  But Peter’s suggestion is truncated by the appearance of a thick cloud and the voice of God Himself saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”

            And hearing God’s voice, the disciples were absolutely terrified.  Matthew chooses the Greek word ἐφοβήθησαν (f-o-be-thee-san) which, according to the Topical Lexicon describes “crippling terror”, but that word isn’t sufficient to describe the disciple’s condition, so Matthew adds the word, σφόδρα  (s-fo-drah), which means “exceedingly”.  The best 21^st century translation of this might be “frightened out of their wits”. 

And then Matthew presents us with an absolutely amazing picture of who the God we serve is.  As the terrified disciples open their eyes, the cloud is gone… the voice is gone… Moses and Elijah are gone… Jesus is no longer shining like the sun… and then,  Jesus gently touches the disciples, and tells them to get up and not to be afraid.  The creator of the universe in all of His glory stops everything so that He can comfort His beloved disciples.  David Schmitt says, “Jesus came not to overwhelm us with His majesty but to touch us with God’s love.”  [1]

            And so, today I would like to ask three questions.  The questions are, what does the transfiguration mean to Jesus?  What does the transfiguration mean to the disciples?  And what does the transfiguration mean to us?

            The story of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane makes it abundantly clear to us that Jesus, though resolute, approached His crucifixion with great anxiety, going so far as to ask God to remove this cup from Him.  Yes, Jesus is fully divine, but He is also fully human, and therefore subject to the same emotions and feelings and apprehensions that we are.  In the transfiguration, God gave His beloved Son a reminder of the glory that awaited Him; the glory that He once held, but relinquished… for us. 

Duncan tells us that, “The transfiguration was a reminder of the Father to the Son of His love.  Notice that the words in the transfiguration are the same as the words of the Father to the Son in the baptism. – The Father publicly announces again to the world, this is My Son and I love Him.  And in the very manifestation of Christ’s glory, the Father reminds Christ of the glory which is set before Him, as the Son begins to plunge Himself into the suffering which will lead up to His suffering at the hands of the Romans and of the Jews and eventually His crucifixion.  And Hebrews 12 verse 2 tells us that it was precisely that glory set before Christ which enabled Him to despise His suffering and to endure it on our behalf, because of the glory that was set before Him.  And so, this transfiguring event would have been an encouragement to the Son in His suffering. [2]

By the time of the Transfiguration the disciples had been following Jesus for nearly three years.  They had seen a seemingly endless stream of miracles from Him, culminating in the raising of Lazarus from the dead.  As we read the gospels we see in the disciples the dawning realization of who Jesus really is.  And the miracles alone were sufficient to inspire Peter to declare Jesus to be the Son of God, but the transfiguration brought Peter, James, and John

 to a completely new level of understanding.  And the best way to describe that understanding is to use Peter’s own words.  2 Peter 1:16-21: “For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.  He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’  We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.”  While the disciples still would not understand fully until they were filled with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the transfiguration would become a critical component of their faith and of their message.  Seeing Jesus in His full heavenly glory, confirmed for Peter, James, and John without question the reality of Jesus’ identity as the Son of God.  This sure knowledge energized them and gave them the strength to face the persecutions and trials that they also would eventually face.

The impact of the transfiguration on us will be highly dependent on how we understand the event.  If we view it as just another Bible story it probably won’t mean much to us.  But if we look deeper and recognize just how central this event is to our faith, then the impact should be significant; perhaps even life changing.  Simply put, if we can comprehend even a little bit the divine authority that the disciples saw present in Jesus, then we understand that there is no possible way that any human action could have directed the events of the crucifixion.  The only possible answer is that Jesus chose to suffer and to die on our behalf. 

Duncan says, “You’ll never understand the cross until you understand that the glorious Christ of the transfiguration is the Christ who was crucified on the cross.  When we look at the cross through the eyes of the gospel writers, and as the gospel writers describe to us how the mob looked at Christ, we see a condemned criminal; – a victim.  But that is not how God the Father sees His Son on the cross.  God the Father sees the glorious Son rendering Himself up voluntarily for the salvation of His people.  That is the Christ who died and until you see that Christ, you will never appreciate how much sin deserves to be punished, and you’ll never appreciate how much grace has been shown to you in Jesus Christ.” [3]

When we understand the depth of what Jesus has done for us, the words of the Father to the disciples speak eloquently to us as well.  “Listen to Him”.  That’s what the Father said to Peter, James, and John, and also to us… “Listen to Him”.  When we listen to Him, we learn.  When we learn from Him, with the Spirit’s help, we understand.  And when we understand Him, we follow Him.  Jesus paid an awful price in order that we may be reconciled to God.  And yet, it was a price that He chose to pay, and to pay willingly, and lovingly.  Because God wants His beloved children to be by His side.  God wants us to be recipients of His extravagant love and His incredible Grace.  That, my friends, is the very essence of the Gospel.  And most of all, God wants us to recognize the depth of the love that He has for us, and He calls us to respond to His love, first by loving Him in return, and then by loving all who bear His image.  I’d like to close with a quote from David Platt.  “The more we behold Christ, the more we become like Him.  The more we fix our attention and our affection on Him, the more our lives begin to resemble His.”  [4]  And so, let us Listen to Him… and follow Him… that we all may grow to be like Him.

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[1] David Schmitt, 1517.org,, Matthew 17:1-9

[2] J. Ligon Duncan, FPCJackson.org, The Confession and the Cross of the Kingdom Part 4

[3] Ibid

[4] David Platt, Exalting Jesus in Matthew, Pg. 224

Not Abolishing, Fulfilling

February 8, 2026

Matthew 5:13-20

            You really can’t preach a sermon on Matthew 5:13 these days without explaining how important salt was in the first century.  Salt was used for seasoning, yes, but it was also used as a preservative.  In the days before refrigerators, unless you were wealthy and could import ice, and yes they did do that, salt was the only way to keep food from spoiling.  But salt is useful for much more than that.  Salt also tenderizes and cleanses.  It is used in medicine and is used in pottery.  It was used for fertilizing and for bleaching.  And anyone who survived the ice storm of a couple of weeks ago knows that salt is pretty good at clearing sidewalks too.  So important was salt in the ancient world that it was used as a form of currency; people were literally paid with salt.  Have you ever heard the saying that someone “wasn’t worth their salt?”  That’s where that saying came from.  Nowadays you can buy a container of salt at the grocery store for about a buck and a half, but in the ancient world salt was quite literally worth its weight in gold.  Seriously, a pound of salt for a pound of gold.

            And so, Jesus begins today’s reading telling his followers that they are the salt of the earth.  And as the salt of the earth, we have great value, and we also are more than just seasoning.  It’s not just that we make the world a little more interesting, or a little nicer, or a little more honorable.  As salt to the world, we are also healing and preserving.  We are fertilizing and cleansing and clearing the way for others.  Last week Matthew talked about character; about how God blesses those who love and care for and look after one another.  But today, Matthew talks about taking those aspects of our personality that we talked about last week; about being humble before God, mourning over sin, adopting God’s priorities, thirsting after justice, striving for Christ-likeness, and working to bring reconciliation, and making all of these things an active, functioning part of our day to day lives.

            And next, Jesus says something really interesting: “But if salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again:” And the first question that comes to my mind is, “Salt is a mineral, how in the world can it become less salty?”  Well, here is where we find that there are actually two different ways that salt can be made less salty.  The first way is obvious if you think about it.  People really haven’t changed much in the last 2000 years, and if salt was as valuable as gold, you can bet every penny in your wallet that there were going to be some ancient merchants were going to find a way to surreptitiously boost their profits, and they did.  These unethical merchants would mix salt with impurities, like chalk, or sand, or crushed limestone, things that looked like salt but weren’t.  And by adding these impurities they allowed themselves to make more money by selling an adulterated product.  But there is a lesson to be learned here, and that lesson is that WE can’t allow impurities to dilute our message.  Helping others to understand that our faith is all about loving others as Jesus loved us must not be tempered by messages that distract from that ultimate goal.  We aren’t called to judge or to condemn or to enforce morality, we are called to love, and that must be the pure, uncorrupted, essence of our message.

            The second thing is even more interesting, and possibly even a bit perplexing.  When Matthew reports Jesus as having said, “Losing its saltiness” the word used in the Greek is μωραίνω (Mo-ríne-ooh) and this is actually the word from which we derive our English word “moron”.  And so, what this verse is actually saying is, if salt is made foolish, how can it be restored?  And thinking first about the merchants who were doctoring their salt, I would agree that it would be pretty foolish to add so many impurities that it no longer tasted like salt or functioned as salt, but I think there is more to our story than this. 

Scott Hoezee says, “To – have a shaker of salt sitting next to the stove but never to put any into the pot, is foolish.  What’s the sense of having it there if you’re not going to [use it]?  You may as well toss it out the window for all the good such unused salt will do for your dinner!  Salt has a definite purpose and if you won’t use it for that purpose, then the salt becomes foolish to have around.”  [1]  And in the same way, it would be foolish for believers not to share the saltiness of their faith.

            Jesus’ message here is clear.  The believer is not to separate oneself from the world, the believer is to infuse the world with love and compassion and grace.  We, as believers, are actually called to season the world with the salt of the Gospel.

            Next, as Jesus so often does, He repeats his thought from a slightly different perspective.  “You are the light of the world” Jesus says.  And as salt makes better the things that it seasons, light makes the world better as it drives out the darkness.  And so, not only are we to be salt, making the world better with the wonderful seasoning of the Gospel, we are also to be light, driving out this world’s darkness and replacing that darkness with the light of God’s love and grace.  Osborne says, “The kingdom people must make a difference in this world.  Since believers are salt and light, they must be visible and change the nature of the world around them.” [2]

            Now next, Jesus says that “A city on a hill cannot be hidden”.  I have driven back and forth to Ohio multiple times and there is a place on the Pennsylvania Turnpike where the view is absolutely stunning.  As you are driving through the mountains you come around a curve and from your vantage point high up on the side of that mountain you see an enormous valley down below.  And in the middle of that valley a small city sits on top of a hill.  I have enjoyed this view many times and I have never lost the sense of wonder that I feel when I see it.  And that little city on the hill can probably be seen from about 20 miles in any direction.  It’s stunningly beautiful and it’s also impossible to miss. 

            And to the world, our faith should be just like that… stunningly beautiful and impossible to miss.  A life that is loving and gracious and compassionate will be noticed.  And the believer that exhibits these qualities can be a living example of the Gospel without ever once saying a word.  St. Francis of Assisi is reputed to have said “Share the Gospel… use words if necessary”.  While there is no proof that he actually said that, the thought is right on the money.  When we love as Jesus loved, the world WILL notice.  And our loving witness has the capacity to change lives, the capacity to introduce others to Jesus, the capacity to have an eternal impact on those who we meet.  And so… the last thing that we want to do is to be hiding that light!  “No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a bowl”, Jesus said.  That would be the equivalent of making salt foolish, wouldn’t it?  And so, the Gospel is absolutely made to be shared.  But more than that, it’s also made to be lived.  And it’s made to make a difference.

            So, how do we accomplish that?  Verse 16: “In this way, let your light shine before others so that they might see your good works and give glory to your Father, who is in heaven.”  And I can’t point out strongly enough here that those good works are not the source of our salvation.  God alone saves us and sustains us.  But the new heart that is formed within us as we draw closer to God becomes a source of love and grace and compassion towards others.  And it is this transformation of the heart that is the subject of the last part of our reading today.

The Jewish leaders emphasized obedience to the Law, and so zealous were our Jewish brothers and sisters to follow that law that the leaders devised literally thousands of pages of interpretations of the law in an attempt to guide the people through any possible eventuality.  The Mishnah was a collection of 613 Mitzvoth or interpretations that every good Jew was required to follow… well… religiously.  The Talmud was an even larger collection of interpretations.  During Jesus’ time these rules of the Talmud, what we usually refer to as the “oral law”, were memorized by the priests and scribes.  But when the Talmud was eventually written down it was more like an encyclopedia than a book, encompassing multiple volumes.  The Babylonian Talmud had 2,711 double sided folios which would amount to about 5,000 pages in a modern book.  And all of this was written in the interest of avoiding ambiguity, in the interest of trying to provide guidance for every possible circumstance.

But in the process of doing this the priests and scribes inadvertently ended up teaching a faith that was based on behavior.  Your faith became a matter of what you did and how you behaved in certain circumstances.  And everything mattered.  What you ate and drank, how you washed your hands, what you could wear, how you could travel, who you could associate with, do business with, or be friends with, how you worshipped, how you did business… the rules about all of these things had to be observed meticulously or you would be rendered “unclean”.  And uncleanness meant that you were excluded from the community, from your family, and from worship, and therefore, excluded from God’s presence.

But excluding His children from His presence is the last thing that God wants to do.  And so, in today’s lesson Jesus said, in essence, “nope, that is not what it’s all about.”  Jesus spends the entire Sermon on the Mount teaching us how God is interested not in how we behave but in who we are.  It’s not that behavior doesn’t matter, it does, enormously, but our behaviors need to be coming from the right place.  And that right place is a heart that loves God and loves others.

At this point in Jesus’ ministry, it looked to many of the first century Jews like Jesus was abrogating the Laws of the Hebrew Bible, but Jesus made it abundantly clear that He was doing nothing of the sort.  Verse 18, “For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”  Where the Mishnah and the Talmud failed to interpret the Law properly, Jesus’ status as the Living Word of God means that His every interpretation, along with His every teaching and His every action illuminates the Old Testament Law perfectly.  This is why you will often hear me say that every verse in the Bible must be understood in the light of the life, the teaching, and the example of Jesus.  If something in the Bible appears to us not to be consistent with those three things, it’s not the Bible that is wrong, it is our understanding of what it is that the Bible is trying to teach us.

Jesus invites us to follow Him.  And He asks us to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us and to guide us and to transform us into people who love as Jesus loved.  And once He has begun to accomplish that in our lives, then He calls us to love others so that they may see His love exhibited in our lives and in our actions.  My dear friends, please don’t lose your saltiness.  Please don’t hide your light.  Rather, let us all be that beautiful city on a hill that shows the world what the love of God is all about.

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[1] Scott Hoezee, CEPreaching.org, Matthew 5:13-20 Commentary

[2] Grant R. Osborne, Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: Matthew, Pg. 52

It’s Not What We Do, It’s Who We Are

February 1, 2026

Matthew 5:1-12

            If we are to really understand today’s reading we will first need to know what Jesus meant when He said the word “Blessed”.  And it’s not that we don’t know what “blessed” means in modern English, but the word had a somewhat different application in the ancient Greco-Roman world and because this word dominates our reading today, I think it is a good idea for us to see how this word was used in the original message to its first century audience. 

In the Greek, the word is μακάριος (mah-kár-ee-oos) and according to Warren Wiersbe, μακάριος was not a word that was applied to humans, because it described a kind of joy that was only enjoyed by the gods.  In the English we usually translate this word “Blessed” but you will sometimes see it translated as “Happy” or “Fortunate”.  But none of these words really capture the original meaning and intent of μακάριος.  Paraphrasing Help’s Word Studies, μακάριος describes a believer in an enviable or fortunate, position because this person is a recipient of God’s favor.  A favor that extends or increases the gifts to that believer of God’s grace or God’s benefits.  In other words, the blessedness of the believer is not due to anything that the believer does but is entirely a function of what God does for the believer.

            And so, what Jesus is saying here isn’t that a person will be lucky or happy if they are poor, or if they are in mourning, or if they are hungry.  None of those things really make any sense anyway, do they?  No!  But in these words, Jesus is actually beginning to describe a way of living that is completely different from that to which we are accustomed.  In fact, the entire Sermon on the Mount is a description of this different way of living.  A way of living that is contrary to the ways of this world, and a way of living in which the foundation for every action of the believer… is love. 

Brian Sauvé expands on this idea when he says, “God would have you live an abundant, blessed, glorious life—a life wherein you would be what it is that you were made to be, namely, human. Which is to say, a living, technicolor image bearer of God himself, a partaker of the divine nature, an imitator of God, a beloved [child].”  [1]

            So, let’s take a look at what Jesus is saying today.  In the first four blessings of which Jesus speaks, He is describing the character of the believer.  To be “poor in spirit” describes our attitude towards ourselves.  If a believer has a proper understanding of who they are before God, and because of that understanding they walk with humility, then they are “poor in spirit”.  Warren Wiersbe says, “To be poor in spirit means to have a correct estimate of oneself.  Poor in spirit is the opposite of the world’s attitudes of self-praise and self-assertion.  It is not false humility, it is honesty with ourselves; we know ourselves, accept ourselves, and try to be ourselves to the glory of God.”  [2]  So, what Jesus is saying is, God’s children are embraced by God when they approach Him with humility and reverence.

            To be in mourning describes our attitude towards sin.  Akin says “Mourning, in this context, is an act of repentance and sorrow over our sin and [our] sinful condition.  We see God for who He is.  We see ourselves for who we are [and] we are heartbroken.”  [3]  We mourn because we understand the fact that our lives fall short of our call to Christ-likeness and yet God, in Christ, forgives our failures and calls us His own.  So, what Jesus is saying is, God’s children are comforted by God when they grieve over their own sinfulness.

            To be meek is to set aside one’s own priorities in favor of following Jesus’ priorities.  In modern times we tend to associate meekness with weakness or timidity, but in the Greek the word is πραεῖς (pra-ous) and this is a word that the Greeks used to describe a horse that had been trained.  πραεῖς isn’t weakness, it is power under the control of a master.  When we choose to allow God to control our priorities then, and only then, are we able to love God and to love others as God has called us to do.  So, what Jesus is saying is, God’s children are adopted by God when they submit their lives to Jesus and begin to live according to His loving example.

            I doubt that I need to explain what it means to hunger and thirst for righteousness, but I would point out the fact that those who live in the desert probably have a much greater understanding of thirst than we do.  In the arid desert, water is life and the need to find water in the desert to drink is deeply compelling.  Our text is telling us that we must have within us a deeply compelling desire to see justice and righteousness prevail.  We must not acquiesce to the world’s unrighteous and unloving ways of doing things.  Understanding the fact that justice is nothing more than love put into action, we must live lovingly in order that justice and righteousness may be accomplished through our actions.  So, what Jesus is saying is, God brings fullness and satisfaction those who align themselves with Him in the desire to see justice and righteousness abound.

In the next three blessings Jesus speaks to the believer’s relationships with others.  To be merciful means to understand that sometimes love requires forgiveness.  Akin says, “Mercy is a grace that flows directly out of the previous four beatitudes.  The person who knows [their] spiritual bankruptcy, grieves over [their] pitiable condition, submits [their] will to God’s will in all things, and longs for Godly righteousness shows mercy to the poor and needy because [they] know [themselves] to be poor and needy.” [4]  The simple truth is: a failure to show mercy is a failure to love.  So, what Jesus is saying is, God will show abundant mercy to those who show mercy to others.

To be pure in heart means to be passionately engrossed in our quest to become Christ-like.  Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.  Who can understand it?”  To have a pure heart is something that we will never accomplish on our own, but the Good News is that God is faithful to purify the hearts of those who draw near to Him and seek to do His will.  So, what Jesus is saying is, God holds close those who actively seek His goodness.

The peacemakers are those who not only seek resolutions to strife and divisions among people, but also those who are involved in the process of reconciling people to God.  Among God’s peacemakers, evangelism is a high priority because ultimately there is no peace without the Prince of Peace.  God is deeply concerned over the relationships that His children have with one other and God is grieved when His children fight or hurt one another, or when they disadvantage one another.  And so, we are called always to be reconciling and always to be agents of God’s peace.  So, what Jesus is saying is, those who join with God to bring reconciliation and peace become a treasured part of God’s family.

Perhaps the hardest thing to accept in all of today’s reading is the command to rejoice when we are insulted or persecuted.  And yet, insults and persecutions are almost unavoidable because the person who chooses to follow Jesus does so by turning away from the ways of this world.  To a world that chooses expedience, a world that cuts corners or cheats in order to enrich themselves, righteousness is a threat.  The world does not want to be reminded that their actions are unrighteous and so the world will respond to righteousness with threats and intimidation and sometimes violence. 

And even beyond that, living simply and faithfully is a rebuke to the excesses of a consumer culture.  Walking humbly with your God is a rebuke to the world’s self-aggrandizement and pride.  Living lives of compassion and empathy will rebuke the world’s cynical way of using people for personal gain.  And if you are vocal in your pursuit of justice you will rebuke all of the ways in which the world exploits and marginalizes people and all of God’s creation.  So, what Jesus is saying is, when you share in the persecution that the prophets and that Jesus experienced, you CAN rejoice because you know that you are being welcomed into God’s Kingdom.

The Sermon on the Mount is most emphatically not a call for people just to be  better behaved.  The Sermon on the Mount is a call for believers to become something completely different.  A call to allow the Spirit of God to lead us to live lives that resemble the life of Christ.  Jo Anne Taylor tells us that, “Throughout the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is teaching us the way of discipleship. This is more than stewardship of our resources. It is a commitment to become as much like Jesus as possible, and to let that transformation show through our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, and our witness. . [5]

To a first century society steeped in the ideas of cleanness and uncleanness, to a first century society who guarded behavior as if good behavior was all that God was asking for, to a first century society that hadn’t yet figured out that to have love in your heart would produce all manner of goodness and righteousness, Jesus’ words were revolutionary.  And in fact, His words are still revolutionary today.  The hungry?  Feed them!  The naked?  Clothe them!  The refugee?  Accept them as one of your own!  The sick?  Heal them!  The imprisoned?  Free them!  The marginalized?  Speak for them and defend them!  And every one of these actions is driven by love!  When we love as Christ loves us, to see another person, ANY other person hungry or naked or sick or unwelcome will be every bit as unacceptable to us as if it was we who were hungry or naked or sick or unwelcome.  That’s what it means to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

When we are followers of Jesus, when we seek to allow the Spirit to transform our hearts into hearts that look like God’s heart, then love will be at the very foundation of everything that we do.  Our quest is NOT a quest for goodness or righteousness.  Our quest is a quest for Christ-likeness.  Our quest is a quest to BECOME a person who is driven by love for God and love for others.  And while we know that this journey will not be complete until the day that our faith becomes sight.  Just look at how incredibly beautiful that journey will become when our lives are illuminated by… and reflect the love, and the light that is in Jesus. 

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[1] Brian Sauvé, RefugeUtah.org, A Kingdom of Blessedness

[2] Warren Wiersbe, Be Loyal, Pg. 46

[3] Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Christ in The Sermon on the Mount, Pgs. 7 & 8

[4] Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in The Sermon on the Mount, Pg. 10

[5] Jo Anne Taylor, PastorSings.com, How Blessed Are You

Come and See

January 18, 2026

John 1:29-46

            When we get right down to the essence of today’s Gospel reading, what we find is John the Baptist doing some evangelizing.  I know, it doesn’t really look like that’s what he is doing, but it is  John isn’t handing out tracts or asking people to pray Jesus into their hearts…  He doesn’t have a slick evangelism campaign or a fancy sanctuary with big video displays and rocking music.  But let’s look again.  What does he do?  He said to the gathered crowd, “Look!  The lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.”  It wasn’t flashy, it wasn’t overbearing, it wasn’t eloquent, he was simply introducing people to Jesus.  And then after he did that, he gave a very simple testimony.  He told the people that he had personally witnessed the dove that came down from heaven when Jesus was baptized, and that he had been told that when he saw that dove, the person on whom that dove rested would be the Messiah. 

            So, please be kind enough to allow me to recap.  John introduced Jesus to the people around him and then explained to them why meeting Jesus matters.  And in John’s simple, direct, no-nonsense, approach, we find a blueprint for how we can be sharers of the Gospel also.  Introduce people to Jesus.  And then tell them why it matters.  But the story continues…  Our text tells us that on the next day when John saw Jesus again, John once again declared Jesus to be the Lamb of God.  It’s not just that John was introducing people to Jesus, John was consistently introducing people to Jesus.

            And after John introduced Jesus to two of his own disciples, something really interesting happened.  These two disciples left John and began to follow Jesus.  Jesus turned around, saw them following Him, and asked them what did they want.  They replied, “Rabbi, where are you staying?”  And this may seem like an odd response to Jesus’ question.  But Chelsey Harmon gives us a little bit of first century background on this answer when she says, “When you become someone’s disciple, you live your life with them. You stay where they stay. You do what they do. You follow them where they go. You learn to be like them. ‘Where are you staying?’ becomes a question about asking to become a disciple.”  [1]  Jesus responds to John’s disciples by saying “Come and see”.  And for anyone who has been introduced to Jesus and told why that introduction matters, Jesus’ response is a response to all of us.  “Come and see”. 

            And so, these two disciples of John’s did follow Jesus to “come and see” and they spent the afternoon with him.  Our story doesn’t tell us what Jesus said or did during that afternoon, but what those two saw and heard was enough to convince them to become His disciples.  One of the two disciples, who we find out is Andrew, goes to his brother Simon and tells him that “we have found the messiah”.  And then Andrew takes Simon with him to “come and see” for himself.

            It’s interesting that the other disciple of John goes unnamed, but many theologians suggest that the other disciple is none other than the apostle John, the author of this Gospel.  Everyone who has read John’s Gospel knows that the author remains anonymous throughout the Gospel, referring to himself only as “the disciple whom Jesus loved”.  With this in mind it’s not hard to understand why there are those who presume the apostle John to be the unnamed disciple.

            I read a few verses past the lectionary selection today because these next few verses are actually part of the same story.  The next day Jesus decides to leave Bethany beyond the Jordan and head to Galilee.  On the way He sees Philip, and Jesus asks Philip to follow Him.  Philip follows Jesus also, but not before he finds Nathaniel and tells him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”  When Nathaniel answers Philip with his famous (or is it infamous) response “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”  Philip responds to Nathaniel, saying, “come and see”.  It is perhaps helpful for us to know that Nazareth was the quintessential backwater town.  Archaeologists estimate the population of Nazareth to have been between 200 and 400 people, so, to the more sophisticated city dwellers Nazareth was considered to be a backward and insignificant town with inhabitants who were viewed as being unrefined and uneducated.

            Throughout our reading today we have this recurring theme of believers asking others to “come and see”.  This simple introduction makes no attempt to convince anyone of anything, it makes no attempt to offer an intellectual premise or a religious apologetic, makes no attempt to appeal to emotion or belief, it simply invites others to see for themselves and to draw their own conclusions. 

            And so, when we stop to think about this, if we were to choose to share our faith, (which we are called to do!) what skills would we need in order to be able to do this?  Well, according to today’s story, all we need is our own experience of Jesus.  We don’t need a degree in theology or philosophy, we don’t need extensive Bible training, we don’t need to memorize multiple verses of scripture, all we really need to do is to ask others to “come and see”, and perhaps to tell them why Jesus matters from our own perspective. 

            Klink says, “The mission of the church can be simply stated in Jesus’ first statement to His interested followers; “come and see”.  God has returned to broken humanity in the person of Jesus, all life hangs in the balance, and we are blind to the state of disrepair.  The only thing we can do is come and see Jesus”.  [2]

            Many of you have heard me talk about my friend Roy Williams.  Roy was a gentleman with whom I worked almost 50 years ago, and he is one of the best friends that I ever had.  We worked together, we traveled together on several occasions, we visited each other’s homes, we attended sporting events together, and I was one of the groomsmen at Roy’s wedding.  Roy is also the man who is responsible for me having given my life to Christ.  You see, Roy was just the most joyful person I had ever met.  You never saw him without a smile on his face, and his humor and his kind demeanor were irresistible.  Everybody that I worked with loved him.  And Roy was never shy about telling anyone that asked that the reason for his joyful attitude was his relationship with Jesus.  He was never preachy, never overbearing, I never heard him focus on sin or judgment, he was just loving… all the time, and he was relentless in giving glory to God for what God had done for him in his life.  Roy didn’t preach.  He just suggested that people should “come and see”.

            If it wasn’t for Roy’s influence and Roy’s persistence, it’s entirely possible that I would not be standing here today.  It is because of Roy’s faithfulness to the task of sharing his faith that I began to ask questions and that I began to read and study the Bible.  And he had this impact on me in spite of the fact that I do not recall him ever having quoted a Bible verse.  I don’t remember ever having a discussion with him about the whys and the wherefores of faith, all that I remember of his witness is the love that he showed to everyone around him, and his gentle persistence in asking people, myself included, to “come and see”.

            I did not make an immediate commitment to become a follower of Jesus, in fact, Roy doesn’t even know that I became a follower of Jesus.  I moved to New Jersey from Boston right about the same time that Roy graduated from college and accepted a good job in hospital administration somewhere in western Massachusetts, I believe.  Sadly, we lost track of one another and I have never been able to locate him.  But his fingerprints and his influence are all over the messages that I bring every Sunday and his example of being a loving and joyful follower of Jesus is something that I have tried to make a part of my own life too.

            So, why am I telling you all this?  I’m talking about this to help us to understand that sharing our faith may not be exactly what we think it is.  Sharing our faith may not be as frightening or as intimidating as we may think.  Because, at its core, sharing our faith is all about us being ourselves.  Or more accurately, being the people that God has created us to be.  It’s about taking the gifts that God has given us and using those gifts in a way that invites others to “come and see”.  Roy’s gift was a gift of hospitality, a gentle, kind, and engaging personality that drew others to himself and presented him with opportunities to give glory to God.  My gift is music, and God has given me the privilege of using music to glorify Him and the ability to write songs that ask others to “come and see”.  And so, this morning I ask, what is your gift?  What do you genuinely enjoy doing?  And how can you take your gift and use it to give others the opportunity to “come and see”?  How has God equipped you to reach others with the Good News of the Gospel.  Is your gift a gift for baking? For gardening? For hospitality? For crocheting or knitting? Could you lead a book group or a music listening group or an art appreciation group? Could you organize a game night or a dinner party or a night out.  Using your gifts in a non-church, non-religious, no pressure setting can very well open up opportunities for conversation and give YOU a chance to ask others to “come and see”

            Mark Havel says, “One of my favorite one-liners from [the theologian and author] Shane Claiborne, [is] that the Gospel spreads best, not by force, but by fascination.  When we demonstrate our salvation – not explain it, not prove or try to make sense of it, but demonstrate [it] – with acts of love and grace and mercy; with acts of justice, peace, welcome and hospitality.”  [3] That is when we become effective witnesses, that is when others will be open to our invitation to “come and see”..

            This is what sharing the Gospel is actually about.  It’s about showing the love of God to others by allowing HIS love to shine through us in our day to day lives.  It’s about using the gifts with which God has blessed us to love and care for others so that, through us and through our actions others are given the opportunity to “come and see”

            There is nothing more important that we can do with our lives.  No gift that we can offer another that is greater than the invitation to “come and see” Jesus, to find out what He is all about, and to be led by Him into an eternal kingdom that is anchored in love and acceptance and grace.

            My dear friends, the light of God shines oh so brightly, and it shines in your life.   Don’t hide that light.  God has given it to you for a reason.  Just as God gave that light to my friend Roy in order that he could be a beacon that led me to Jesus, let us be the light that leads others.  Let us be the ones who are asking others to “come and see”.

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[1] Chelsey Harmon, CEPreaching.org, John 1:29-42 Commentary

[2] Edward W. Klink III, Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: John, Pg. 156

[3] Mark Havel, CrossOfGrace.org, “Come and see, go and show”

This Is My Son

January 11, 2026

Matthew 3:13-17

            John the Baptist asked Jesus a pretty good question.  “Why in the world are you asking to be baptized by me? It’s me that should be baptized by you.”  John the Baptist had a pretty good sense for who Jesus was.  After all, I’m sure that John’s mother had told him the story about how he had leapt in her womb when her cousin Mary, pregnant with Jesus, entered her house.  I am sure that John’s mother had told John of the prophesies about John being born to announce the coming of the Messiah.  And indeed, John had been about his baptizing ministry for a quite a while now, long enough to have acquired a bit of celebrity.  But now, in the middle of a long line of people waiting to be baptized, stands Jesus, the one who John believes… to be the Christ. 

            What would you do if you found yourself face to face with Jesus with Him asking you to baptize Him.  I would imagine that my response to that would have been pretty similar to John’s… I would imagine that I would have been deeply perplexed, just as I am sure that John was.  John was preaching a baptism of repentance from sin, and he knew that Jesus was. in no way, in need of repentance.  So, the reasoning behind Jesus’ request seemed incomprehensible to John, as it likely would have to me as well.  But Jesus said to John, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.”  I really like Jo Anne Taylor’s take on this as she paraphrases this passage, “’Trust me on this one,’ Jesus says to his cousin John. ‘Even if it seems weird to you, just trust me. God has a plan in mind, and this is part of it.’  So, John is obedient, and baptizes Jesus, and righteousness is fulfilled.” [1]

            And there is so much to talk about here today that I hardly even know where to start.  But let’s start with the obvious.  A few weeks back we talked about John as he sent messengers from his prison cell to ask Jesus if Jesus was the one, or if John and his followers should be looking for someone else.  We discussed how Jesus was not meeting John’s expectations, leading John to wonder if maybe Jesus wasn’t the Messiah after all.  Jesus’ straightforward answer to John was, in essence, don’t look at your expectations, look at what is happening around you.  In today’s reading it appears that John is already having his expectations tested.  Instead of Jesus reinforcing John’s message about repentance and judgment, Jesus has come humbly, asking to be baptized in order to fulfill all righteousness.  Scott Hoezee quips, “It’s like John had been predicting Sylvester Stallone but instead Mister Rogers showed up.”  [2] 

And this is the first part of our lesson today.  When God shows up, humans tend to expect a bombastic scene with thunder and lightning and booming voices from heaven, and yet, time and time again in the Bible God approaches humanity with gentleness; a quiet, reassuring voice emanating from a burning bush, a still, small, voice on a mountain that wasn’t found in the thunder or in the earthquake, a gentle request for water from a Samaritan woman at a well…  Like John, we also are called to lose our expectations of who we think God is in order that we may receive Him as He truly is, a gentle persuader of willing hearts.

And at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry this gentle persuader is the One who John encounters.  In our Old Testament lesson today, God speaks of His Servant Jesus as One who will, “will bring justice to the nations.” Saying, “He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets.  A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.” This is far from the thundering voice of judgment that it appears that John expected, and that frankly, I believe that we often expect also.  Yes, there will come a time for that thundering voice of judgment.  But now is not the time for that voice.  Now is the time for repentance and reconciliation.

Which brings us to the second part of our lesson, which is the way that Jesus identifies with us.  The Voice translation of the Bible reports the voice of God speaking through Isaiah about Jesus in Isaiah 53:12 saying, “Because he exposed his very self— laid bare his soul to the vicious grasping of death— And was counted among the worst, I will count him among the best. I will allot – My servant, a share in all that is of any value, because he took on himself the sin of many and acted on behalf of those who broke My law.”  In acting on our behalf Jesus frees us from the penalties of sin and restores us to fellowship with God.  Jesus’ willingness to participate in John’s baptism of repentance is proof of Jesus’ willingness to identify with us fully and without reservation so that His righteousness may be found in us as well.

But there is more to this than just Jesus identitying with us in our sin.  Chelsey Harmon says, “It is Jesus’s purpose to be united with God’s (His) people. Jesus represents and identifies with us in every way. Not only that… he will – show us how to live: [show us] how to represent him and [show us how to] identify him in every way. John’s baptism was a call to repentance and righteousness, so for the one who needs no [baptism for] repentance, – Jesus proves that righteousness goes beyond the “negative” act of repentance and includes the “positive” outworking of faith in doing what is good and right in the eyes of the Lord.  In other words, righteousness is more than what we don’t do, it is also shown in what we do do.”  [3] And so, In Jesus’ act of identifying Himself with us, He also models for us the life that we are called to live.  And part and parcel of that call is the call not only for us to be baptized, but to REMEMBER our baptism, and to LIVE our baptism.

Now, for many of us, asking us to remember our baptism is somewhat of an odd thing to ask because many of us were baptized as infants; I know I was, I’ve seen the pictures.  But in the Presbyterian Church we don’t re-baptize when someone becomes a believer because baptism is not about anything that we do.  Baptism is entirely about what God does for us.  It is God who has taken the initiative to call us and to claim us as His own.  And though we may not remember our actual act of being baptized, we do know the meaning of our baptism and we carry that meaning with us throughout our lives. 

And so, today, I would like to take the baptism of our Lord and expand on its meaning as it relates to us.  Let’s take a quick look at the three things that happened immediately after Jesus emerged from the water.  First, the heavens were opened, second, the Spirit of God descended upon Jesus in the form of a dove.  And third, a voice from heaven declared that “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”  But how many of us know that in each of our baptisms three very similar things happened?

First, the idea of the heavens opening is a common theme in the apocalyptic literature of the Bible, always denoting a divine action of some sort.  The heavens open when God acts on behalf of humanity, and our baptism is God acting on behalf of US.  And so, in a very real way, the heavens opened when WE were baptized because when we were baptized, God made a personal commitment to us to be our God; to love us and to care for us, and, through His Spirit, to influence our decision to choose to love and serve Him.  And so, yes, the heavens were indeed opened when you were baptized.

Second, we know from the story in the book of Acts that God gives His Holy Spirit to us as a gift.  A gift that teaches us and guides us; a gift that calls us into God’s presence and reminds us always that we belong to Him.  And so, even though we didn’t have a dove descending upon us when we were baptized, we DID have the Spirit of God descending upon us and becoming a part of who we are; a part of us that will guide us into a loving relationship with the God who created us and who loves us.  And a Spirit that guides us into a life of love for others, as the Spirit teaches us to love others as Jesus loved us.  And so, yes, the Spirit did indeed descend on you when you were baptized.

Lastly, what exactly do we think that God declares when we are baptized in His name?  When we are baptized, God declares that we are His children.  In the act of our baptism, God promises His love to us and promises us that we will share in Christ’s righteousness… that Christ’s righteousness will become our very own, not through anything that we do, but through the gift of God given through Jesus as a result of the work that He did on the cross. 

Karyn Wiseman says that “In [Jesus’ baptism], we get a clear sense of who Jesus is as God acknowledges Jesus from the heavens as “my Son”. It is a profoundly important moment as Jesus is about to encounter the testing in the wilderness and the beginning of his public ministry. We hear the affirmation of Jesus and witness the preparatory act for completing the tasks before him. [BUT} we also hear God who says to anyone being baptized, “I love you,” “You are mine,” and “I am pleased with you.” Powerful affirmations to receive from our Creator.”  [4]  And so, yes, God DID indeed speak to you when you were baptized.

I would like to do something a little bit different today.  Please open your bulletin to the section on reaffirming our baptism.  There is no need to stand for this, but please follow along and read the parts that are in bold print as we remember and reaffirm our baptism.

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[1] Jo Anne Taylor, PastorSings.com, Fulfilling All Righteousness

[2] Scott Hoezee, CEPreaching.org, Matthew 3:13-17 Commentary

[3] Chelsey Harmon, CEPreaching.org, Matthew 3:13-17 Commentary

[4] Karyn Wiseman, WorkingPreacher.org, Baptism of Our Lord

The Logos

January 4, 2026

John 1:1-18

I spent a couple of years working as a store manager for a flooring store down near Long Beach Island.  I became friendly with one of our customers who invited me to see the home that he was building on LBI and to see the floors that we were installing.  This gentleman had purchased two adjacent beachfront homes, torn them both down and in their place, he had built one house with ten bedrooms, ten and a half bathrooms, and a wraparound porch with steps that led directly down to the beach.  (Must be nice, right?)  I don’t remember the square footage anymore, but the place was huge. In my conversations with this gentleman, I found out that he was in advertising and that he is the person who came up with the design that is on the can of a VERY popular beverage.  He told me that, if he had never done any other work in his life, he could have retired comfortably just from the money that he was making from his design of that soda can.  I’m not going to do any advertising here today, but that soda can is instantly recognizable to a very sizable portion of the world’s population.

In the advertising business, they call that a “logo”.  And researchers state that the average American can recognize up to a thousand businesses by their logo alone.  Whether it’s the little polo player on the breast of some of our shirts, three stripes on a sneaker, or a couple of golden arches, logos effectively identify brands and help to promote the sales of merchandise for those brands.  But a logo should do more than just identify a brand.  A logo should represent something about the product itself, about the quality of the shirt, or the comfort of the sneakers, or the convenience of the fast food, logos are intended to represent the brand and all that that brand stands for.  And in many instances logos can be quite effective in doing that.

Our Gospel lesson today begins by talking about “The Word”.  But John doesn’t even give us a hint as to who or what this “Word” is, until verse 2 where the pronoun “He” is attached to “The Word” and we now know that “The Word” is indeed referring to a person.  Now, in the Greek the word from which we translate the English word “Word” is Λόγος (low-gose).  And in ancient Greek, Λόγος had a meaning that was quite similar to our modern usage of the word “Logo”.  It’s more than just a word describing a person or an object or an idea, Λόγος also was a word intended to convey the character of that to which it represents.  And here, that is certainly the case as the Λόγος will be described in some detail in John’s prologue.

In ancient literature stories often began with a prologue that gave listeners a little background information to help them to better understand the story that was about to be told, and often also to introduce us to the main characters.  Fans of Shakespeare will recognize the prologue to Romeo and Juliet, “Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.”  Of course there is more to this prologue, introducing the main characters and the substance of the story but you get the point.  And so, John has chosen to do exactly this; to write a prologue that introduces the main character in his story and that fills us in on a few details that will become important as his story unfolds.

And so, what exactly is John telling us about this Λόγος?  John begins by explaining to us that the Λόγος existed before time began, with John’s opening words “In the beginning” echoing the opening words of Genesis and the creation story.  The Voice translation of the Bible renders this verse as, “Before time itself was measured the Λόγος was speaking”.  John tells us that the Λόγος was WITH God and that the Λόγος WAS God…  So important is this idea to John that he repeats it, saying “He was with God in the beginning”.  John then tells us that all of creation was made through the Λόγος and this also is so important to John that he repeats this as well.  “Without Him nothing would have been made that was made”.  Even though the doctrine of the Trinity did not yet exist at the time of this writing, the prologue to John offers powerful support to that doctrine.

Next, in our reading, John declares that the Λόγος is full of light and that that light is the light for all humankind.  If we walk into a dark room and turn on a light, the room isn’t dark anymore, is it?  Light and darkness cannot exist in the same space.  John tells us that “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.  And the word that John chooses that we translate as “overcome” is κατέλαβεν  (Kah-táy-la-ven) which, according to Helps Word Studies means to “grasp something in a forceful manner; to apprehend or to comprehend something in a way that makes it one’s own.”  And so, the darkness is unable to grasp or even to understand the light; the light makes no sense to the darkness.  A world that has rejected its creator is a world that is in darkness.  The Λόγος brings light and understanding to that world.

After a brief explanation that John the Baptist is not himself the light, the author John continues, explaining that the true Light that gives light to everyone was among us, but that even though the world was made through the Λόγος, the world did not recognize Him.  The Λόγος came to those who He created and they refused to receive Him.  It is the single greatest tragedy of our creation that so much of the world fails to… or refuses to… recognize its creator.

But there is good news, and that news is that some will recognize their Creator, and those who do will be given the right to be called Children of God.  But John has something this is really important to say about this.  He says that this right comes not from the lineage of our birth, nor from any of our own actions, nor from the works of any other human, but only by the will of God.  Those who believe do so because God has made it possible for them to believe.  God calls His children to see Him, to know Him, and to follow Him.  And those who answer that call become children of God; not slaves, not acquaintances, not subordinates, children… actual members of God’s family.  With all of the rights of family members, and also all of the responsibilities.

As we consider this mystery of why some of the created should not recognize their creator we have to ask ourselves how did this happen?  And there is one thing that stands out.  And that is the fact that the will of the creator in our lives can sometimes be inconvenient.  God calls us to care for others when our preference is to take care of ourselves.  God calls for generosity of resources and of heart when our preference is for retaining those things for ourselves.  God calls us to lives that are loving and compassionate when our preference is often to be self-centered.  God calls us to live in loving community, recognizing the image of God that dwells in each and every one of our neighbors; He calls us to inclusion when our preference is to exclude those who don’t look like us, or talk like us, or worship like us, or love like us.  Desmond Tutu once said, “God’s dream is that you and I and all of us will realize that we are family, that we are made for togetherness, for goodness, and for compassion.” [1]

The Λόγος came to us for three specific reasons.  First, the Λόγος came to show us WHO GOD IS.  Jesus IS God.  In His every action, His every teaching, His every example Jesus lived as Emmanuel… God among us.  Through His love, His compassion, His inclusivity, and His fairness, we get to see exactly who God is.  We get to see what God cares about, what God loves, and what grieves God.  Through the life of Jesus, we come to know the creator of the universe in an intimate and personal way;  Remembering that Jesus said to Philip, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father”.

Second, Jesus came to teach us what God expects of us.  All of that love and grace and compassion that Jesus showed to the world?  That is who God is teaching us to be.  Bit by bit the Spirit molds us and shapes us into people who are learning to live in ways that exhibit Christ-likeness – in our day to day lives.  Lives that show love and grace and compassion to our neighbors; each and every one of whom is one of God’s beloved children.

Lastly, the Λόγος came for redemption.  Jesus faced every temptation that we face and understands on a deeply personal level just how difficult life can be.  And though we are called to be Holy, just as He is holy, God does not expect the impossible from us.  What He does expect is for us to trust Him to restore the relationship with Him that we were intended to have from the very foundation of the universe.  Jesus came to bear the burden of our sins and to set us free not only from the penalties for our sins, but also from slavery to sin as the Spirit guides us into new life.

But how does this all happen?  In the next verse John tells us that, “The Λόγος became flesh and lived among us.  We saw his glory, such glory as of the only born Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.”  And as is so often the case, there is more to this passage than meets the eye.  In the Greek, the word that we translate as “lived” is ἐσκήνωσεν (Es-kay-nó-sen).  And the word actually means tabernacled.  It’s like saying that God pitched His tent in our campsite.  Brueggemann, Cousar, Gaventa, and Newsome say, “[This] seeing of the divine glory is made possible by the incarnation of The Word, who ‘tabernacled among us’. – [This] recalls the theme of God’s dwelling with Israel, in the tabernacle of the wilderness wanderings and the Temple at Jerusalem. In the humanity of Jesus, the Christian community has beheld the very divine glory Moses wished to see, that unique and specific presence of God that hovered over the tabernacle as a cloud by day and a fire by night”. [2]

We have been blessed and privileged to see, in the person of Jesus, the divine Λόγος, the glory of God Himself.  And we have discovered the fact that this glory is not a glory that is about grandeur or mastery.  It is instead a glory that is based on selfless love and tender care.  Brueggemann, Cousar, Gaventa, and Newsome again, “To behold God is to be a recipient of wave after wave of the divine generosity ([or] grace) and to experience God’s faithfulness to the ancient promises ([or] truth).  ‘Seeing’ includes but goes beyond mere sense perception; it has to do with becoming children of God, with discovering the divine benevolence and reliability’” [3]

            The Λόγος became flesh and lived among us.  God Himself, in His great love for us, became fully human so that we may know Him exactly as He is.  The ancient church said, “The Son of God became the son of man so that the children of man might become children of God.”  Humanity rejected its creator, but the creator neither rejected nor abandoned humanity.  On the contrary, the Λόγος chose to leave His heavenly glory to become fully human and to die on a cross, in order that humanity may be reconciled to the God who loves us beyond measure, and who calls us to love beyond measure in return.

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[1] Desmond Tutu, God’s Dream

[2] Brueggemann, Cousar, Gaventa, and Newsome, A Lectionary Commentary Based on the NRSV Year A, Pg. 80

[3] Ibid, Pg. 81

Unto You This Night

December 24, 2025

Luke 2:1-20

            “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”  These are the words spoken by the angels as they announced the birth of Jesus.  But this announcement wasn’t made to kings or royalty.  The angels didn’t hover over the temple or make this announcement to the high priest or to the Sanhedrin.  The angels didn’t appear to the wealthy merchants or to the Biblical scholars.  They came to the shepherds.

            When the twenty-first century English speaking world thinks about shepherds, there is a tendency to view them in the light of Jesus’ description of Himself as the Good Shepherd.  We think of one who knows their sheep by name, who protects them from fierce predators, who brings them to good pastures to eat, who brings them to safe water to drink, and who seeks and saves the sheep who become lost.  In ancient times though, shepherds were not viewed in quite the same rosy light. 

            In ancient Israel, Shepherds were known for being unconcerned about whether they were leading their sheep to graze in areas that might have been other people’s property.  Those of us who were fans of cowboy movies and the wild west when we were kids, know well of the difficulties that existed between ranchers and sheep farmers.  You see, cattle and sheep both eat grass but when sheep eat grass they eat it down to the roots and cattle don’t do this.  When sheep graze in a field they exfoliate the field; the grass will not grow back because they have eaten the roots also. 

This is why the cattle ranchers hated the sheep farmers and why the ancient Israelites resented the shepherds who trespassed on their lands.  But there was more.  The reputation of shepherds was so poor that a shepherd was not permitted to be a witness in a court of law.  And worst of all, the nature of the shepherd’s job made it impossible for a shepherd to be ritually clean according to Jewish law.  And if you were not ritually clean… you were a sinner.

            And so, shepherds were perpetually unclean and their unclean condition separated them completely from the Jewish community.  They were not permitted to worship in the temple or in the synagogue.  They were not permitted to live with or to eat with their ritually clean neighbors.  In short, the shepherds were outcasts.  They were the insignificant, the unimportant, the looked down upon, the marginalized. 

            Until Christmas Eve. 

The appearance of the angels declaring the birth of Jesus to the shepherds was revolutionary in ways that we can only begin to understand.  To his first century audience, Luke’s statement that the first announcement of the birth of the messiah was given to shepherds would have been shocking… unthinkable.  And now, understanding just how revolutionary this act was, the message that this sends to us today becomes something quite different from what we may have originally thought that it was. 

            And I have another thought.  Who thinks that if Joseph and Mary had been wealthy that there may possibly have been found room for them in the inn?  Those who understand the ancient ways of hospitality know that to turn away a guest; any guest, would have been a giant breach of the unwritten rules of hospitality.  You see, in ancient thought, any visitor could potentially be God in disguise and so visitors were always treated with extreme respect.  And yet here, when God actually DID appear as a visitor in the form of the unborn Jesus, hospitality was denied.  Nazareth, Joseph and Mary’s home, was a backwater town; small and unimportant.  We get a glimpse of Nazareth’s reputation in the first chapter of John when Nathaniel asked, “Can anything good come from Nazareth”.  The master of the inn almost certainly recognized the Nazareth accent in Joseph’s voice.  And so, Joseph and Mary were turned away almost certainly because they were nobodies and possibly also because they were from Nazareth.

            Since we were all children the story has told to us of how Jesus was born in a manger and laid in a feeding trough.  This manger wasn’t the pretty little wooden structure with gentle animals milling about like we see on fireplace mantels and communion tables and sometimes front lawns.  It was almost certainly a cave, hollowed out beneath the inn, filled with animals indeed, but also filled with the accompanying things that anyone who has ever been among farm animals knows all about.  It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t clean, it wasn’t warm, it wasn’t pleasant smelling, and it certainly wasn’t befitting a king.

            And yet, here lies the whole point of the Christmas story.  The announcement to the shepherds, and the lowly birth, send us the message that Jesus is entirely one of us.  The simple truth is, if Jesus was willing to be born in that manger, in the cold and the filth and the smell, then there is no heart into which He will be unwilling to be born.  God comes to even the least of us with humility and accessibility.  He comes to us not as a king demanding fealty, but as a humble servant, earning our faithfulness with His love and His devotion to His beloved children, every single one of them.

            Tonight, we hear the story once again.  But tonight, perhaps we understand just a little bit better what this story has to teach us about the depth and the inclusivity of God’s love, about His willingness to meet us where we are, and about how His grace and His forgiveness extend to all who will choose to follow Him; no matter who they are, no matter where they are from, no matter what they have done.  The greatest of gifts to be given this night is the gift of redemption.  The gift that God Himself gives that reconciles us to Him and makes us all actual members of His family.  My dear friends, this Christmas Eve… tonight, let us all open that gift of redemption and dedicate ourselves to the God who announced Himself to the humble shepherds and choose birth in a lowly manger.

When You’re Not Really Sure

December 21, 2025

Matthew 11:2-11

            When I was in high school I was convinced that I was going to become a professional trombone player.  My goal was to play trombone in Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show Orchestra.  And so, while I was busy pretty much neglecting all of my academic subjects, I was practicing my trombone six hours a day.  Needless to say, I never did become a trombone player in the Tonight Show Orchestra.  When I got into college I became really interested in songwriting and so I switched my major from instrumental performance to composition.  After I graduated, I actually ended up signing a recording contract with one of the major record labels; and I was certain at that point that I was destined to become a rock star.  Needless to say, I didn’t become a rock star either.  The contract fell apart when the gentleman who signed me passed away unexpectedly.

            I’ve spoken before about that period in my life when I misplaced my faith for a year or two.  As you might well imagine, this record deal falling through was a part of that process.  I just couldn’t understand why God would abandon me in my pursuit of rock stardom.  You see, at that time I already considered myself to be a Christian and I really thought that what I was doing was that I was claiming God’s promise that He would do “whatever I asked in His name”.  It came as quite a shock to me when He didn’t.  And I seriously doubt that I am alone here.  In fact, our story today is about someone else whose faith wavered when God didn’t meet his expectations.

            Now, I need to approach today’s story just a little bit backwards because there is something from the end of today’s reading that will be helpful for us to keep in the front of our minds as we look at the beginning of today’s reading.  Today is the second Sunday in a row that our story revolves around John the Baptist.  And in the end of our reading today, Jesus talks about who John the Baptist is.  When Jesus describes John in this passage, He says that “among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist”.  Not Moses, not Elijah, not David, no one.  And so, we are talking here about a man of extraordinary faith, a man who dedicated his life to God’s plans and purposes is a way that few in all of history have ever done.  And so, when we think of John the Baptist, we tend to think of him as the stalwart of the faith that we read about last week, and the martyr that he was.

            But in today’s story, John has been arrested and imprisoned by King Herod.  And as he is languishing in prison, according to Josephus, for more than a year, it appears that John has developed some doubts.  John the Baptist, possibly the most faithful person who had ever lived, according to Jesus’ own words, reached out from prison, to ask Jesus if Jesus is the one, or if maybe John and his followers should be looking for someone else.  And so, the question that presents itself is WHY is this person of incredible faith and commitment suffering from a crisis of faith?

            Why is this person who had the privilege of seeing Jesus’ power up close and personal, who saw the dove descend on Jesus and heard that voice from heaven, who personally witnessed miracles, and who was fully aware both of the miraculous nature of his own birth to elderly parents, and also to the fact that he had been born for the specific purpose of preparing the people for the coming of the Messiah, why is it that he is all of a sudden asking if Jesus is the One, or if there is someone else?

            And I think that, for us to understand this, we need first to take a look at John’s theology; what did John say that expressed what he believed?  In looking at his preaching, we see a heavy emphasis on judgement.  “The axe is at the root of the trees” John said, “and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”  He said, “He who is to come will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire”.  And he said that, “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”  John ended up in prison because of his uncompromising rebuke of Herod for having married his brother’s ex-wife.  Given John’s words and his tenacious refusal to temper his message of judgment for the king, might it be reasonable to think that John was expecting that the Messiah would bring justice and swift and final judgment on the sinners and the evildoers of his day?

            In our Bible study on The Chosen last Sunday, our study guide said, “We humans have deep-seated, fleshed-out ideas regarding what we think God should be doing for us, which means we also tend to measure His character, power, and love, by our own circumstances”.  [1]  And so, when circumstances in our lives don’t meet our expectations, we could conceivably find ourselves questioning God’s goodness, or God’s faithfulness, or God’s love.  And if those kinds of questions can arise for us, then there is no reason why those questions couldn’t have arisen for John the Baptist as well.  And it appears that they did.

            And so, how did Jesus respond to John’s question?  Jesus didn’t admonish him for a lack of faith.  Jesus responded by sending a message to John, reminding him that the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the mute speak, and that even the dead are raised to life.  All of the Old Testament prophecies that spoke about how the coming Messiah would do all of these things would have been thoroughly familiar to John the Baptist.  And Jesus is pointing to His actions as the fulfillment of those prophecies.  Jo Anne Taylor tells us that, “Seeing is believing. Believe what you see. The problem isn’t with the kingdom, it’s with our view of it. John’s disciples were looking for the wrong thing. John was expecting military power and swift judgment, but Jesus came offering forgiveness.”  [2] 

            The message that Jesus sent to John was a message that asked John to set aside his expectations and to place his trust completely in God and in God’s plan.  This is a message for us as well.  People cannot; must not; allow their expectations to prevent them from seeing God’s plan in action.  Our text today tells us that Jesus said, “Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”  Osborne tells us that, “[This] means that God’s blessing rests on those who make a decision for Christ and stick with it.”  [3]  God blesses those who trust Him and believe that His plan is right and just even when there appears to be evidence to the contrary.  Even when our expectations aren’t being met, we need to believe with all of our hearts that God’s plan is good and just and right, and perfect… even for us.

Prior to last week’s Communion Sunday, we had been reading an Affirmation of Faith, a part of which comes from Romans 8 and says, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  The Bible tells us over, and over, and over again that God loves us and that God cares for us.  In that same 8^th chapter of Romas we read, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”  If we are to believe what the Bible is telling us here, if we are to believe that God is who He says He is, then we need to trust Him implicitly.  We need to trust that His plan and His purposes ARE indeed designed with our own best interests at heart, even when we don’t understand what it is that God is doing and even when His plans don’t meet our expectations.

            Back when I was claiming that passage about God doing for me whatever I ask, I was seriously missing the context of that promise.  Because the promise contains the presupposition that we are living and acting within God’s will and trusting in Him to do THROUGH us things that will glorify Him and work towards accomplishing His purposes.  My Friends, it is this to which we are called.  It is so easy for us to forget that our lives are not our own.  That we have been called to something greater than personal achievement.  We have been called to something of eternal significance. 

            And that call is for us to live lives that glorify God and that make His name known.  When I was praying for rock stardom, that wasn’t a prayer that was designed to glorify God.  My quest to pursue a career as a singer/songwriter wasn’t designed to glorify God.  And not that it couldn’t have, but clearly, that wasn’t in keeping with the plan that God had for me and for my life.  It took me years to come to the realization that the path on which God has led me is a good one.  But that is the result of age and experience, and certainly not a perspective that I held as my fondest dreams crashed and burned around me.  But the fact that I was angry about that lost opportunity did prove one thing… that I was worshipping God not for who He is, but for who I wanted Him to be. 

            Brueggemann, Cousar, Gaventa, and Newsome tell us that, “[Jesus turned] out [not] to be the kind of Messiah John expected”… “[He] would prefer to wait for another in hopes of finding a leader more to [his] liking.  Jesus alone, however, defines His own messiahship”.  [4]  As we strive to grow into our faith, abandoning our expectations of God and allowing God to be exactly who He chooses to be is one of the most difficult things that we will ever have to do. 

            Platt says that “The reality is that even for those who seem to be the most faithful, faith is sometimes hard, particularly when the burdens of life feel heavy.  But the good news is that even in our doubts, the God whom we seek to be sure of is certain to meet us where we are.  He desires to assure us of His faithfulness”.  [5]  And we can take comfort in the fact that we are not alone in our occasional doubts because the person that Jesus described as the most faithful person who ever lived had them too.

            God’s loving plan for us is for us to be by His side for eternity.  Everything that He does is geared towards that purpose… to give us the JOY of belonging to Him and worshipping Him and loving Him and BEING loved by Him… forever.  Whatever challenges that we face in this life are designed specifically to prepare us for that eternal life with Him.  Let us trust in His plan.  Let us trust in His love.  And let us be faithful to follow wherever He leads.  Because where He is leading… well… that’s where we want to be, isn’t it?

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[1] Dallas Jenkins, Amanda Jenkins, Douglas S. Huffman, The Stronghold of the Chosen, Pg. 15

[2] Jo Anne Taylor, APastorSings.com, “When Seeing is Believing”

[3] Grant R. Osborne, Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, Pg. 414

[4] Brueggemann, Cousar, Gaventa, and Newsome, A Lectionary Commentary Based on the NRSV – Year A, Pg. 26-27

[5] David Platt, Exalting Jesus in Matthew, Pg. 144-145

Produce Fruit in Keeping with Repentance

December 7, 2025

Matthew 3:1-12

            I learned something really interesting this week.  I never knew that, in ancient times, scrolls were enormously expensive.  In our world where books are commonplace and often inexpensive (I’ve bought books on Kendal for 99 cents) it is hard to imagine that, in the first century, just the parchment and ink required to produce one copy of the Book of Romans would have cost about $3,000 in today’s money, and that is not counting the expense of the scribe who had to write out the entire book by hand.  And so, in ancient times, Biblical scrolls were incredibly valuable not only for their content but also for the expense involved in producing one.

            Now, as hard as this may be to believe, and it is not one of the commonly told stories of the Bible, the nation of Judah LOST their copy of the Torah.  They lost it.  In 697 BCE Manasseh became king of Judah.  And Manasseh was a terrible king!  He reigned for 55 years, the longest of any Jewish king and he led Judah away from the worship of the one true God.  Manasseh profaned the temple by putting idols in it, and while the temple in Jerusalem was supposed to be the only center of Jewish worship, Manasseh allowed multiple sites throughout his kingdom to be used for worship and he allowed, and even encouraged the worship of Asherah, and Baal, and Molech.  During his reign the Judahites worship of these idols included the use of temple prostitutes and the sacrifice of children.  During Manasseh’s reign the temple fell into a state of serious disrepair and the Torah was entirely forgotten.  And again, it’s not like things are now… A few months back I bought 8 Bibles to use for Bible study for about 5 bucks apiece and all of you have bibles sitting in the racks on the pew in front of you.  So, we are accustomed to the ready availability of books, but, given the expense of producing those ancient scrolls, it appears that the temple only owned one copy… and it was missing.  After Manasseh’s death, his equally terrible son Amon reigned for two more years before Josiah became king.

            When Josiah became king, he decided to begin repairing and restoring the temple and during the first phases of that repair the high priest found one of the lost  Torah scrolls, presumed to be the scroll of Deuteronomy.  The high priest sent the scroll to Josiah to be read, and upon hearing its words, Josiah tore his garments, a Jewish sign of grief, because he realized that neither he, nor his people had been following God’s law.  Josiah was deeply concerned that God’s judgment would fall on Judah and so he sent priests to ask a prophet of God what would be the result of Israel’s unfaithfulness.  The prophet answered that Judah would indeed be judged for their sin, but because Josiah’s heart was responsive and he humbled himself before the Lord, this disaster would not happen in his lifetime.

            The Tyndale blog describes Josiah’s response, telling us that, “[Josiah] took his place of authority beside the [temple] and renewed [Israel’s] covenant in the Lord‘s presence. He pledged to obey the Lord by keeping all his commands, laws, and decrees with all his heart and soul. He promised to obey all the terms of the covenant that were written in the scroll. And he required everyone in Jerusalem and the people of Benjamin to make a similar pledge. The people of Jerusalem did so, renewing their covenant with God.” [1]  After this, Josiah worked tirelessly to purge Judah of every trace of idol worship.  He demolished and desecrated the places where the idols had been worshipped, removed the idols from the temple and purified it, and killed all the prophets and priests of the idols.  Worship of the one true God was restored in Judah and Judah remained faithful to God for the rest of Josiah’s reign.

            In today’s reading, Matthew introduces us to John the Baptist.  Our reading begins with a quote from Isaiah, saying of John that he is, “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’” And then there is a curious description of John himself.  We are told that John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and that he had a leather belt around his waist. And while it may seem odd that we are given this description, we need to understand the context into which Matthew writes.  His Jewish audience would have been familiar with the Old Testament prophecies that stated that before the coming of the Messiah He would be preceded by a prophet who would come in the spirit and power of Elijah.  Now, after Moses, Elijah was considered to be the greatest of Israel’s prophets.  Every Passover, at the table of every Jew who is celebrating the Passover, even to this day, there is left an empty chair and place setting for Elijah, in anticipation of his return. 

            Those of us who attended Sunday school as children remember the stories we were told.  We remember the stories of Moses parting the Red Sea, of David and Goliath, of Daniel and the lion’s den…  Well in the same way, Jewish children would have heard stories of the great prophet Elijah.  In one of those stories, Elijah sent a message to the evil king Ahaziah.  When Ahaziah asked who had sent the message he was told that it came from a man who was wearing “A garment of hair and a leather belt around his waist”.  Ahaziah knew right away that is was Elijah.  And so, this description of Elijah would have been well known to Matthew’s Jewish audience, and his listeners would have instantly recognized the connection with John’s choice of wardrobe.  In describing John’s clothing, Matthew is actually making a powerful statement here about John’s purpose.

            In Jewish thought, John’s appearance, John’s methods, and John’s message, all spoke clearly of his role as the One Calling in the Wilderness; the one who would make straight the way for the Messiah, and John quickly became a rock star.  Our text tells us that, “People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan.”  And people were responding to John’s message too, they were confessing their sins and they were being baptized and there was a growing anticipation about the arrival of the Messiah, and that anticipation was amplified by John’s words as he spoke of the One who is to come. 

            And so, even the Pharisees and Sadducees came out to see John.  Now, we have to realize that, at this point the Jewish authorities had not yet encountered Jesus and that the animosity that would develop between Jesus and the authorities still lay in the future.  Because the predominant opinion of the Jews at this time was that the Messiah would come as a conquering hero who would overthrow Roman rule and establish an everlasting Israelite monarchy, it is not in the least bit surprising that the Jewish authorities WOULD come to see John, almost certainly with the idea of placing the Sanhedrin’s stamp of approval on John’s message in anticipation of the coming of this conquering Messiah that they were all expecting.

            So, try to imagine their shock and their surprise when they were greeted by John with the words, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?”  Wait a minute!  What did we do to deserve this?  What the Pharisees and Sadducees didn’t yet know, was the fact that Jesus came to do and to be something that was just about as far removed from what they were expecting as it could possibly get.  John was not preaching a message of freedom from the Romans; he was preaching a message of freedom from sin.  John’s message was “Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven has come near”.  And it is in that word “Repent” that we find the essence of what John was teaching.  In the Greek, “repent” is translated from μετανοέω (meta-no-wáy-o) and according to Help’s Word Studies, it means to “think differently after”.  In other words, to be affected by an event in such a way as to change both your thought processes and your actions.  In its Biblical context, repent means to become a different person, to become a new creation. 

            And John emphasized this when he told the Jewish authorities that they needed to “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”  Osborne tells us that, “Both the leaders and the Jewish people as a whole believed they were right with God as long as they kept ritually pure.  [But] they were missing two things – repentance… and the new lifestyle that [would result from that repentance].  This follows naturally from the command to repent, since that in itself connotes a changed life.  Moreover, “fruit” refers not only to good works but [also] to good character.” [2]  In other words, as you have heard me say so often, it’s not about what we do, it’s about who we are.

            When Josiah’s high priest found the book of the law and had it read to Josiah, Josiah’s response was the perfect picture of repentance.  We saw in Josiah’s story this morning not just remorse over the fact that Judah had strayed from the Lord’s commands, but a full-fledged, even aggressive, change of heart.  Josiah, and the whole nation of Judah turned away from their previous way of doing things and became a people who lived faithfully.  It wasn’t just that they changed the way they thought.  They changed who they were.  And in the process, they taught us what it means to repent; to think differently after. 

            Matthew finishes this section by talking about the urgency of John’s message.  “The ax is already at the root of the trees”, John says, “and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”  Are we producing fruit in keeping with repentance?  Are our friends and families producing fruit in keeping with repentance?   Are our co-workers and those who are in our sphere of influence producing fruit in keeping with repentance?  John’s message is critical to each of us individually.  It is an urgent call to repentance and to new life in Christ.  But John’s message is NOT intended only for us.  John’s message is a message to the whole world.  It’s a message for our family and for our friends, it is a message for our co-workers and for those in our sphere of influence.  It is a message that the time for repentance is now.  The day to turn with all of our hearts to God, to live according to the ways that He directs us, and to BE the people that He calls us to be… is today. 

            N. T. Wright tells us that, “The God who came to His people in Jesus will one day unveil His kingdom in all its glory, bringing justice and joy to the whole world.  How can we get ready for that day?  Where do the roads need straightening out?  What fires need to be lit, to burn away the rubbish in His path?  Which dead trees will need to be cut down?  And, equally important, who should be summoned, right now, to repent?” [3]

            My dear friends, I am not a fire and brimstone preacher.  I believe with all my heart in the all-pervasive love of God and I believe the Bible when it tells me that it is God’s fondest desire that every single one of His beloved children be saved and that none should be lost.  But I also believe with all my heart that God is holy and just, and that justice requires a reckoning for sin.  The Good News is that the price for our sins has already been paid and that for those who are in Christ Jesus; for those whose lives ARE producing fruit in keeping with repentance, there is no condemnation.  We have been made right with God by the work that was done by Jesus on the cross.  But for those who are not in Christ, for those who are still following the ways of the world, God’s forgiveness remains a gift that is standing right in front of them… unopened.  And my friends, it is up to us to teach them all how to open that package of God’s forgiveness. 

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[1] Tyndale House Publishers, King Josiah’s Reaction to God’s Law, https://www.tyndale.com/sites/tyndalebibles/king-josiahs-reaction-to-gods-law/?srsltid=AfmBOoomXX8xXAB26szbHLiewxEkSkuxDqLkXvgCz0N-WBYhjjHnLaSp

[2] Grant R. Osborne, Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: Matthew, Pg. 114

[3] N. T. Wright, Matthew for Everyone, Pg. 14