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This Week's Sermon THE SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT 09 December 2007 "Stripping Down to the Basics" Matthew 3:1-12 LSB Series A Pastor Philip G. Meyer Soli Deo Gloria!

My son turned me on to a program on the Discovery Channel called Man vs. Wild with a British survivalist named Bear Grylls. On his program Grylls gets down to basic survival activities such as hiking through the Sahara desert, gutting a camel and using the carcass for shelter at night, drinking liquid gathered from the camel's innards, covering himself with the camel's hide. In nearly every episode he eats disgusting kinds of creatures, bugs especially. He usually says that said bug is "a good source of protein" and could keep a man alive. Then he takes a bite and usually has to choke it down, but he proves the point. Grylls' adventures might be called Stripping Down to the Basics. John the Baptizer might be called the original Survivor. John's dress and lifestyle exemplify this. Basic stuff. Garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist. Locusts and wild honey for food. He could probably give Bear Grylls some important tips about surviving in the Judean wilderness.

John's lifestyle in the wilderness parallels his preaching activities. John got down to the basics of the Christian faith, but what are the basics of the Christian faith? How would you answer that question? For many people the basics are no different than they are for any other religion, namely, be good, do good. But that is an obvious oversimplification. Other religions do not give us different paths to the same destination. No, for Isaiah himself said that there is only one path, the way of the Lord. It must be a well-worn pathway, a beaten-down track, a familiar well-known way.

In football, teams must practice blocking and tackling, "Xs and Os" is what that is sometimes called. Diagrams lay out the plays, but unless the blockers block and the tacklers tackle, the team won't win. It's the same with basketball. There is ball handling, guarding, getting position for rebounds, shooting free throws. In baseball it's hitting and fielding, running the bases, pitching. Neglect the basics in any of these sports and your team won't likely win. That's why athletic practices take place. Teams have to practice the basics.

It's the same with playing a musical instrument. Hours upon hours of practice. If you are a pianist you'll spend hours practicing scales and other exercises. I read that Vladimir Horowitz, arguably the greatest classical pianist of the 20th century, practiced eight hours a day. Why would the greatest pianist of his age practice eight hours a day? Because he was the greatest pianist of his day! "Practice makes perfect," we say. Getting down to the basics. Practicing the basics on a regular basis leads to success.

What are the basics of the Christian faith? What are the Xs and Os of Christianity? What are our practice exercises? Why does one practice it? How does one practice it? Luther distilled it very well in his Ninety-Five Theses:

1. When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, "Repent" [Matt. 4:17], he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.¹

Why do we repent? So that the Lord can have straight paths to our hearts. What keeps him from getting to our hearts? Sin. Unrepented sin. Sin keeps Christ out. The more we sin the harder for Christ to come to our hearts and lives. So, John's call to repentance speaks of the basics. Repent so that Christ can have unobstructed entry into your heart.

Two kinds of people came out to John. The first group consisted of people who genuinely confessed their sins and received forgiveness. The other group consisted of the pretenders. These people said the right words but didn't actually change anything about their lives. Matthew identifies them as the Pharisees and Sadducees. "We don't need to repent. We're OK. We have Abraham as our father." The famous German poet/writer/philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said that there is nothing on the outside of man that is not an expression of what is on the inside, and nothing on the inside that is not expressed in what is on the outside. He also said:

"Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows their image." [Source: Brainy Quotes]

"Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." (Matthew 3:10, ESV)

When the right spotlight of the Law shines on us and our lives we scurry out of the light, like the creepy, crawly bugs you hope don't live in your house. John shined the light of the Law on those who came out to hear him. Some of them repented and some of them continued in their denial, hoping that their descent from Abraham would be enough to spare them the coming judgment. Without repentance and forgiveness there is only hell to pay. No good fruit equals judgment, and the Scriptures make it clear that no one has in himself the good fruit God demands. Man cannot plead good works because he has none. The wheat is gathered but the chaff is burned up. It is good for nothing. Is your life chaff? Worthless, good for nothing? What chaff crowds Jesus out of your life? What worthless activities do you pursue? Do you really repent of those things? When will such chaff be burned up? When will such judgment come? One never knows when God will clean his threshing floor, whether sooner or later, but it will happen.

Repentance is only for sinners. Do you see yourself as a sinner? Can there be any doubt? And if there are no doubts, then why don't you repent? You can't have Christ without it. Advent is a tough season of the year because God calls for repentance at a time when our culture is headed the other way. There are no crowds at this Jordan! But there are plenty of crowds at the mall, the basketball games, the restaurants, the parties. But you are here, aren't you? I trust that you are here to "Prepare the way of the Lord, to make his paths straight."

How do you repent? Repentance is stripping away everything that keeps Jesus out of your heart and life. It means admitting to yourself first of all that you are a sinner and that you stand condemned before God because of who you are and what you have done. The sad situation in our culture is that there are fewer and fewer people who are willing to admit to any kind of sin at all, save that of being intolerant of every other sin. Repentance is stripping away everything that keeps Christ out of your everyday, out of your heart, the location of your fondest, most treasured desires. Repentance is turning around and going the other way.

Repentance, Confession, and Absolution all go together. Again, Luther:

³²Therefore, when I urge you to go to confession, I am simply urging you to be a Christian.²

^{15Note, then, as I have often said, that confession consists of two parts. The first is my work and act, when I lament my sin and desire comfort and restoration for my soul. The second is a work which God does, when he absolves me of my sins through a word placed in the mouth of a man. This is the surpassingly grand and noble thing that makes confession so wonderful and comforting.3}

Repentance is also acting in concert with your confession. Sorry is as sorry does. True repentance bears fruit, godly fruit. It seeks the welfare of the neighbor as of higher good than one's own. Repentance is more than mere remorse. Everyone can have "buyer's remorse," that is, sorrow that things have turned out the way they have, but only one who is convicted by the Law and who is truly terrified by his sins can have true repentance. The Apology of the Augsburg Confession instructs:

²⁹We say that contrition is the genuine terror of a conscience that feels God's wrath against sin and is sorry that it has sinned. This contrition takes place when the Word of God denounces sin. For the sum of the proclamation of the Gospel is to denounce sin, to offer the forgiveness of sins and righteousness for Christ's sake, to grant the Holy Spirit and eternal life, and to lead us as regenerated men to do good. 30 Christ gives this summary of the Gospel in the last chapter of Luke (24:47), "That penitence and forgiveness of sins should be preached in my name to all nations."⁴

There you have it all stripped down to the basics, the Xs and Os of the Christian faith. You have our Lord's own summary of the Gospel in the wide sense. He directs you to this activity as the very breath of your Christian life. Without it you are dead even while you live, but with it you are alive in Christ.

John called for repentance in preparation for the arrival of the Christ. This Christ has already come, yet he comes again in our age. He comes also to you. How shall you receive him? By frantic activity that centers in everything but repentance? Or by preparing by confessing and being absolved? And by proving that you have repented also daily by your actions.

It's hard to strip away all that isn't necessary in this season, to get down to the basics again, but here in the Divine Service, in Word and Sacrament, it happens. Here in the quiet hours spent in preparing hearts and minds through Confession and Absolution sinners prepare for Christ. They examine their lives in light of God's Law, confess their sins, and receive again Christ's own Absolution. This is the path that the King will take to your heart. This is the path that pleases him. This is the path by which he blesses you.

"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matthew 3:2, ESV)
This is more than just Law, it is also purest Gospel. The Kingdom is at hand! Christ is here already in grace and mercy. He comes in Word and in Sacrament to forgive and to renew. He comes to save. "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord!" The Kingdom is near. The King himself is here now to forgive you! Repent and return to your Baptism! Confess you sins and receive Christ's own Absolution spoken through the mouth of his servant. Receive Christ's forgiveness in his body and blood at the rail.

That's "Stripping Down to the Basics" of the Christian faith. That keeps the pathway open for Christ to travel and allows God the Holy Spirit to work in you, producing the good fruit that God desires.

¹Luther, M. (1999, c1957). Vol. 31: Luther's works, vol. 31 : Career of the Reformer I (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed.). Luther's Works (31:25). Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
²Tappert, T. G. (2000, c1959). The book of concord : The confessions of the evangelical Lutheran church (460). Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
³Tappert, T. G. (2000, c1959). The book of concord : The confessions of the evangelical Lutheran church (458). Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
⁴Tappert, T. G. (2000, c1959). The book of concord : The confessions of the evangelical Lutheran church (185). Philadelphia: Fortress Press.