“IN THE WORLD”
Second Sunday in Advent
December 6, 2015
Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church
Glenshaw, Pennsylvania
TEXT:
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate
being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his
brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and
Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and
Caiaphas, the Word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the
wilderness.
Luke 3:1, 2 (ESV)
Of the many criticisms leveled against Christians by unbelievers, one
of the most frequently mentioned is the accusation that Christianity
is nothing more than an attempt to escape from the real world. Karl
Marx, one of the authors of The Communist Manifesto, referred to
religion as “the opiate of the people,” suggesting that religion is
really nothing more than something that weak people embrace because
they can’t take the harsh realities of life. I’m not all that sure
that the majority of people in our society today look at Christians
any differently than Marx did almost a century and three-quarters ago.
In the opinion of many we are nothing more than people who can’t bear
the real world as it is so we’ve made up an imaginary spirit-world
where everything is always wonderful and nice and we try to live in
this make-believe world--safely insulated from all of the
unpleasantness that surrounds us.
To make matters worse, some Christians have fallen right into the
devil’s trap of trying to use their faith as an escape from the real
world. The theologians call this kind of misunderstanding a “theology
of glory.” People who espouse this theology think that because they
are Christians they are free from the burdens of real life. They
suppose that because they are forgiven and therefore free from the
curse of sin, they should be free also from all of the consequences of
sin. They sincerely believe that it can’t possibly be the will of God
that anything be less than perfect in their lives. If anyone is sick
or injured or depressed or in any other way suffering, they conclude
that there has to be something lacking in that person: perhaps some
unconfessed sin, or a weakness in faith, or maybe that individual just
isn’t praying hard enough. In the face of this kind of escapism, the
Bible makes it clear that the Christian faith is not at all an escape
from reality; it is reality.
We can see the reality of the Christian faith in this morning’s
Gospel, which describes for us the real world in which the ministry of
John the Baptist took place. This is very important for us because
John’s ministry was the prelude to the coming of the Messiah of God.
And no one is better at relating the Gospel to the real world than
Saint Luke, the historian and physician whose attention to detail
impresses upon us the historical context in which the story of Jesus
took place. There is no vagueness or uncertainty in our text about
when these things happened. The evangelist writes: “In the fifteenth
year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar . . . the Word of God came to
John.” When Luke tells of the Savior’s birth in the previous chapter
of his Gospel, he dates that as well, placing it during the reign of
“Caesar Augustus” (Luke 2:1)--also known as Gaius Octavius. Our God
is not some kind of other-worldly Santa Claus, occasionally dropping
hints here and there about his existence. He is a real Lord who came
into the real world at a particular time and place to gain real
forgiveness and salvation for real sinners.
His life and ministry took place among real people--people like
Tiberius and Pilate and Herod and Philip and Lysanius and Annas and
Caiaphas and John and Zechariah. This is what the incarnation of the
Son of God is all about: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us”
(John 1:14). This is truly amazing--much more than we realize. Just
think of how much conflict and needless stress come our way because of
our interaction with people. How often we long to be free of it all.
How many times have pious people sought to separate themselves from
the sinful world, thinking that this is the way to be closer to God.
And yet God carries out His great act of salvation right in the sinful
world and right in the midst of sinful people, thereby sanctifying
sinners and making them acceptable to Himself.
Knowing all this, it becomes abundantly clear to us that in Christ
God really got involved in our life. The main point of the text
before us is that “the Word of God came to John.” God is not some
kind of far-removed, complacent Being who sits in His heaven oblivious
to what goes on in the lives of His creatures. He has interacted with
His children from the very beginning. That interaction has been
severely hampered, to be sure, by the sin of His children, but God
never turned His back on them. He has constantly made His presence
known in their lives through the means that He has appointed. They
rejected Him and sinned, but He never gave up on them. Even as He
convicted and sentenced them in the garden He promised them salvation
through a Descendant of the woman. He gave them His commandments so
that they might know His will and thereby see their sinfulness and be
brought to repentance. He instituted among them a priesthood with a
whole system of sacrifices designed to teach them that their sin would
ultimately be paid for by the shedding of innocent blood. In all of
this God has repeatedly and consistently shown Himself to be
intimately involved in our lives and concerned about our well-being.
But the ultimate in God’s getting involved in the messy lives of His
sinful creatures can be seen only in the event that the ministry of
John heralded. God Himself entered human history, and He did it not
with a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder or with any other
great and terrible signs; He did it in a tiny Baby lying helpless in a
feeding-troth for cattle. He made Himself vulnerable so that we might
be immortal. He made Himself humble so that we might be glorified.
He made Himself the sin-Bearer so that we might be accepted as
righteous. He died so that we might live. When God became human in
Christ for our sake He did what we are not able to do even when we are
inclined to help others: He actually took our place and made our
misery His own. He became a real Inhabitant of the real world and in
that real world He accomplished the salvation of sinners.
Whether they are believers or not, those who think that Christianity
is an escape from the real world are mistaken. The focal point of the
Christian faith is not a soft, mild, mediocre and inoffensive picture
like the kind that you might find on a Hallmark card. On the
contrary, it’s a picture that is ugly and offensive by every standard
except that of faith. This picture is one of a broken Man bleeding
and dying on a cross. You can’t get any more real than that and this
Man’s empty tomb affirms it. The Savior in whom we trust is not one
who promises us a wonderful life in this world where everything will
always be nice and carefree. But He is the One who says to us: “In
the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome
the world” (John 16:33).
Amen.
May the One who once came as an Infant in Bethlehem prepare you for
His coming again in glory by His Means of Grace, through which He
comes to you even now. May He equip you to be His witnesses so that
you, like the Baptist in the wilderness, may prepare the way of the
Lord. He who calls you is faithful, and He will do it. Amen.