Sermon for Preaching class over Matthew 3:1-12

Image borrowed from http://www.bibletimeprophecies.info/App.9B.html

I wrote a quick sermon for one of my classes that has a follow up youtube video.

Here is my notes for the sermon.

Welcome to New City, I am excited that you are all here tonight to receive what the Lord has for each of us. Isn’t it beautiful that we get to sit at the table with God as he is calling us to commune with him? Take some time to gather around your tables and get to know one another.

If you will open up your Bibles with me we will be reading Matthew 3: 1-12 together as a church. When we read this aloud think in remembrance of last weeks sermon that we spoke on in Isaiah 40. We spoke last week about how John the Baptist was a precursor to the Lord Jesus Christ, and he was sent in preparation. Let us read the scripture together.

Who is John the Baptist? For those of us tonight that are seasoned veterans that is an easy question to answer. But I don’t want to forget that Jesus and John were related. Jesus and John were cousins. God orchestrated a perfect picture with family intertwined in the Gospel narrative. When we read the gospels we see time after time the Lords ministry is mirrored to Johns ministry. They are compared and contrasted but there is something that separates them.

We know that John was to prepare the way for the Lord like was mentioned in Isaiah. John was a man that was unlike others, what he wore, what he ate was different. Even the Jews of the day were coming to him trying to catch him in loops like they did Jesus as well, but John was smart. He pointed the Pharisees and Sadducees back to scripture He challenged them to repent, with the idea that they would forget their old ways and turn from them and never go back.

John is calling the Phar and the Sad’s to be cautious for a time is coming where they will be judged. I love the imagery here in verse 10. “We see that 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. “ John was giving them the image that they were accountable to stand up and produce good fruit but God is a just God and will keep his promises and he is prepared to cut you down if you do not produce. What powerful imagery. To often though the Church has used these kinds of verses to scare its parishioners into being faithful and following all the rules carefully. This kind of behavior by the church in fact turns them back into the legalism of the Pharisees that were to be avoided in the example all together. John is calling us into repentance but is not scaring us into faith. As Christians we need to have a healthy balance of fear and respect for God, balanced with the love and the grace that he freely gives.

So as Jesus and John are compared we see similarities like just above, we see Jesus warning a lack of fruitfulness as well later in Matthew 27. And we see how they correct the Phar and Sad’s when approached with the laws. We see both of the men having disciples and followers. But there is one difference and John himself knew it.

John makes it clear in 11 and 12 that Jesus is the one to come. Jesus is the one that is referenced in Isaiah 3:5. John is calling for a greater man, a part of the Godhead, who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Further calling on the name of Jesus. Let us remember to use this as an instrument in our own lives to point others toward that, which will save them.

Amen.

Here is the link to the video.