Prayer: May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Kinsman. Amen.
Sermon: People of God, you may be familiar with Leo Tolstoy’s short story entitled: “Where Love is, God is.” The story is about a man named Martin, who after losing his son to an illness “gave way to despair so great and overwhelming that he murmured against God.”[1] He wanted to die; he became hopeless. He had nothing to live for. One day an old man confronted Martin’s view of life. He said that the reason Martin despaired was because he wished to live for his own happiness; to which Martin replied: “What else should one live for?” The old man answered: “For God…He gives you life and you must live for Him.” What Martin discovered as the story unfolded is that in the gospels you will find how God wants you to live.[2] In the gospels, Martin will be restored.
As we navigate the gospel of Matthew this season, we too will find restoration; we too will find how God wants us to live. And what we discover this morning as we look to chapter three of Matthew is that the way to begin this life of restoration is by living the life of repentance.
The bringing in of a new world order will require a new way of life; a life of repentance. Martin Luther stamped his distaste for the abuses of the church in the 16th century in his 95 theses. But how often do we remember Luther’s first thesis; the one who made the top of the list. It reads as follows:
“When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said ‘Repent,’ He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.”[3] Continue reading “Advent Sermon: Matthew 3:1-12; The Gospel of Repentance”