Third Sunday in Advent

Third Sunday in Advent

Year A

Scripture Text: Isaiah 35:1–10; Psalm 146:1–10; James 5:7–11; Matthew 11:2–15

A sermon for the Third Sunday in Advent, Year A  •   Download PDF 

Welcome to this sermon for the third Sunday in Advent in year A of the preaching lectionary. This is December 11, 2022, when I am actually preaching it but you may be listening to it at some point in the future. You may even be listening to it a few days early but at any rate, today is a sermon for the third Sunday in Advent. Our readings today are from Isaiah 35:1–10, from Psalm 146, from James 5:7–11, and what I’ll be reading from today — although speaking about each of those lessons — is the Holy Gospel of Saint Matthew, chapter 11:2–15.

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” 

As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, 

“‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’ 

Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

This is the gospel of the Lord. Praise be to Christ.

Let us pray. Lord Jesus Christ, give ear to our prayers and lighten the darkness of our hearts by your gracious visitation. Open these same hearts, unstop our ears and our minds that we might hear your Word. May your Word have its way with us even as I ask now, Lord, that you would have your way with this preacher — you Lord, who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, forever one God. Amen.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father in the Lord Jesus Christ.

I’m struck by the words of Isaiah. He says to those who have an anxious heart, be strong, fear not. Be strong fear not here's a message for Advent. Be strong. Fear not. This is the same message that was given to Joshua by Moses when he was to take the people into the promised land the promised land. Only be strong be of good courage and fear not. The same message Isaiah gives to the people of Israel in the same message is there for us to hear today. Be strong. Fear not.

We enter into Advent as we journey towards Christmas, and it is a dark time. Not only is it darker outside, we see the light get darker. That time that we expect it to be sunshiny is now dark and cold and damp — at least where I live it is. This is a time when funeral homes are particularly busy, when pastors are busy conducting funerals. I was told once by a maker of caskets, fine caskets in Graham, North Carolina, at the Mastercraft Casket Company, Bill Simpson told me that there is a routineness to death, they they know how many deaths there will be per week in a given county. They've been able to plot it and it only deviated from that one small time (I think it was for two years, he said, when Medicaid was, or Medicare was, instituted, it changed for a little while but then it settled back into that average number of deaths except between Thanksgiving and New Year's. During that time it steps up. It gets to be a very dark time in people's lives. People start dying. Sometimes they take their own lives. Sometimes they take the life of a family member. Or sometimes they just decided after a long time of illness and suffering that now is an acceptable time to die and they just give up. And to that Isaiah speaks to us.

He says be strong, fear not for this can be a dark time for Christians too. Life happens to us, and it doesn't take a break from happening to us just because we're fast approaching Christmas or a new year. Life still happens and so we have to be told to be strong, fear not. It doesn't come to us naturally. We're human beings, after all, and we feel weak and we become afraid — by finances, by health, by politics, by the situation in a particular city or county that we live in. These are tough tough times. Be strong. Fear not. 

He also says that God is coming to save us. He's going to come on the Highway of Holiness and save us there. This speaks particularly to John the Baptist who was told to prepare a highway in the wilderness to prepare a way for the Lord to come and save us. In the midst of this message is a particularly interesting passage in the psalm today. In Psalm 146 it says, “Put not your trust in rulers nor in any child of the earth.” And yet I find that we do quite the opposite. Many of us do exactly the opposite of “put not your trust in rulers.” Now, we're a ways away from the next presidential election but I can tell you this: that they're already gearing up to get you to put your trust in them. 

I don't care which side of the aisle you're on or if you're in that particular political bent that just doesn't want to be bothered by either side of the aisle. I don't care; you still put your trust in their system. You put your trust in their promises. It's startling how often the promises are not kept, that the promises are completely forgotten, that the promises can't be kept. And we'll blame it on the other party. 

Put not your trust in rulers. Don't put your trust in politicians. Don't put your trust in presidents or governors or even mayors or senators or congressmen. It doesn't matter. Don't put your trust in them. 

There is one you may trust — but it isn't one of these guys. Why do we trust in rulers? Why would we even do it? Well, because we want them to make our way easier. We want them to make our life easier by getting more money out of them. We want to get more goods out of them. We just want life to be easier. Don't trust them. Don't do it for a minute. They can't be trusted and we should know better.

Oh, we should know better because we've lived through it. I've been voting since Nixon/McGovern and it hasn't gotten any better. You can't put your trust in these guys. Why do we keep doing it? Because we want things to be easier. We want things to be, for lack of a better word, better. We want more money left in our pockets.

Now, these are natural things, of course, but this is not the way the world works. Why do we keep putting our trust in these people? We shouldn't put our trust in any child of the earth. You shouldn't put your trust in your parents or your children or your family or your pastor. You shouldn't put your trust in people. You should put yourself in the providential hands of God alone. “Happy are those who have the God of Jacob for their help,” the psalmist goes on. “Happy are those whose hope is in the Lord their God.” Why? Because he gives justice; he gives food to the hungry; he sets the prisoners free; he opens the eyes of the blind; he lifts up those who are bowed down; he cares for the stranger; he sustains the orphan and the widow. This is why you can trust in the Lord. 

But it's also why you should fear him, why you should love him. Happy are they whose hope is in the Lord their God, not in rulers and not in any child of the earth. And yet I find people posting things on social media that say ridiculous nonsense like, “Repost this post by seven o'clock this evening and by seven o'clock in the morning you'll receive seven blessings from the Lord.” It's so patently ridiculous. It's nonsense. You're not going to post something on Facebook and get a blessing because it's not the way it works. If it were Facebook wouldn't be asking you to advertise all the time, to give them your money. All you'd have to do is post there and expect to receive a blessing.

This is not any different from a lot of the prosperity preachers that we hear on TV and the internet. If these people are telling you to speak a bold word, to just speak a word of faith, to just believe it, believe it into existence, run away. Don't put your trust in these children of the earth. They are not the ones in whom you can have hope, nor is their false prosperity gospel. Don't believe it for a second. There's too many of them on TV and if they tell you to speak a word of power, to speak a word of faith, or to just believe more, run!

There is only one in whom you can believe and put your trust, and that is the Lord your God. So what are you supposed to do in the meantime, because life is difficult, times are hard? Be patient.

We don't want to hear it. That's why we're going to post something by seven o'clock tonight so that we'll get seven blessings by seven o'clock in the morning. Craziness! 

Be patient. Be strong. Be of good courage. Fear not. Put your trust in Go. Well, how long do I have to do that? Until the coming of the Lord. That's the way of life in this world. We have to trust in him. We have to be patient. We have to put our hope in him until he returns. 

Well, you say, it's been 2,000 years that we've been waiting on him to return. Well, here's good news for you: you're not going to have to wait 2,000 years. You're not going to have to wait a thousand years. You're not going to have to wait a hundred years. I might not have to wait another ten years. All we have to do is be patient until his coming or our deaths. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

I heard a preacher once say that the coming of the Lord for you might be one heartbeat away. You just never know. I might not make it to the end of this sermon recording before I drop right before you. It's possible. Be patient. Establish your hearts. The coming of the Lord is at hand. There he is on the Highway of Holiness. He's not there by you speaking boldly a word of faith for some trinket you want. He's there on the Highway of Holiness. He's not there for you to speak a word of faith he's there for you to have faith in him coming on the Highway of Holiness.

That Highway of Holiness is the very one that John was making level. So, how did he make it level? Did he tell the Pharisees and the Sadducees and all the other people who came out to the Jordan River to just speak a word of power, just speak a word of faith, just believe harder? Is that what John said? And he's the one who prepared the way for the Lord to come on the Highway of Holiness. 

This was not his message. His message was, “Repent.” Turn back to God. That was John's message.

So Jesus asked his disciples, What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? That's what a lot of these prosperity preachers are; they're reeds shaken by the wind. Somebody challenges their message; somebody says, “Well, do you believe that Jesus is the only way to go to heaven?” and they begin to be a reed shaking in the wind. They begin to just quiver and waver and change their positions, and “I can apologize later for buckling now under this moment of pressure in the spotlight.” Did you go out to see a man dressed in soft clothing, living in mansions. That's where all these prosperity preachers live, you know. They live in mansions. They're dressed in soft clothing and they’re reeds shaken by the wind. They are not strong; they're not fearing not.

Only one thing speaks to them and that's the almighty dollar. Don't let them get through to you. You should be awaiting the Lord on the Highway of Holiness. The way has been prepared before you in this Advent season once again. Be strong. Have hope. Fear not. Be patient. Life demands these things. The way has been prepared before you for the coming King. 

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