Repentance Substitute

Luke 3:1-14

Advent 2

December 6

Albertville MN

Rev. Michael A. Trask

 

A year or two ago, for one reason or another, we tried an off-brand of frozen Pizza. And while I was eating it, I remember thinking, “this doesn’t taste quite right!” It wasn’t spoiled or anything like that, something was simply not right about it.

So I grabbed the package that it came in and started reading the ingredients, which is always an experience in prepackaged foods, and I discovered why it didn’t taste quite right. For there, among the various chemicals that were listed there was something called “Cheese substitute”. Cheese Substitute.

Now why did they have to go and do that? There might be any number of reasons, I’m sure, but it is my suspicion that it is cheaper. They’ve eliminated the middle man. They’ve eliminated the middle cow actually. Just a combination of mysterious chemicals mixed together in a secret process and viola’ you are ready to extrude tons of cheese substitute

Well, I for one am not buying it. I mean, I am literally not buying it! Others, I’m sure have caught on too. For there really is no substitute for real cheese, Cheese will always be more appealing than Cheese Substitute. Because it’s real.

When something is real,. We notice and appreciate it. We like real cheese. We like real wood, real stone, real metal. We like real things. And perhaps most important of all, we like real people. We want the people we hang with to be authentic, truthful, honest and so forth. Getting to know someone is a time to “read the label” as it were. The last thing we want is someone who is false. We want real friendship.

This is where we have something in common with our Lord. He wants those who would be his friend to be real with him. It’s the only way to go with the Lord. There’s no way to pull the wool over his eyes. No way to play him. For he already knows everything about us. He knows our hearts; he knows our minds; he knows what we have done and thought and said. But this is where our Lord is a cut above the rest: in spite of what he knows about us, he would still be our friend; and he would forgive us through the atonement that was made by his Son Jesus. So we can be real with him. There’s really no reason for us not to be.

That is the message of John the baptist. He went into all the country around the Jordan preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. But as he did this, he was flabbergasted by how his people were treating the Lord.

Not many were being real with the Lord. And it didn’t it taste quite right. As he read the label of their lives, he was not finding real repentance. Nope. He found “repentance substitute.” What the people in John’s day were using as a substitute for repentance was their blood relationship to Abraham. Whenever they felt guilty in their hearts, when they should have been repenting of their sins, they instead would simply say “We’re Okay, we’ve got Abraham as our father, anybody who is a related to Abraham is automatically in good with God.”

Do we have repentance substitute in our day? Of course! It sounds like this “I’m going to be okay, I’ve been a Lutheran all my life! My Parents were Lutheran, My Grand parents were Lutheran. I was baptized Lutheran. Most of my friends are Lutheran. I go to church often and I’m good friends with the Pastor. I eat Lefsa, Lutifisk and lingon berries and saurkraut with Spaetzle and bratwurst” Now of course you’re saying “What does this have to do with anything?” And you’d be right to wonder because it doesn’t have anything to do with it. It’s the idea that if you are connected to a church somehow then you will be okay; a sort of salvation by association. John exposed this false way of thinking. It didn’t it well with him.

But the people he preached to knew this. It didn’t sit well with them either. Deep in their hearts they knew they needed what John preached and they came to him by the droves. And he read ‘em the riot act. He’d say things like “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?” And don’t say “We have Abraham as our father, for I tell you out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.” in other words, “you have no special inside track You can be replaced. You are like trees in God’s orchard, and he’s expecting to see some fruit in your life! Every tree that does not bear fruit will be cut down. Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.”

If you repent, your repentance should be real; it should be carried out not just in your words, but in your actions. If you are truly contrite, if you truly regret the sins of your life, you would not only seek forgiveness from God, but also carry it onward and commit yourself to overcoming that sin in your life.

The people then came up to John and said, “What should we do?” He said the man with two tunics should share. To the tax collectors he said don’t collect more than you are required. To the soldiers he said don’t extort money. Do you see how he was making it real for them? It wasn’t a symbolic act with no connection to their every day life, but it was real acts in the real world as they lived their real lives.

It needs to be real for us too. Repentance, very simply put, is you admitting that you have sinned, You asking for forgiveness in the name of Jesus Christ; you receiving that forgiveness; and you agreeing with God that sin has got to go. And finally, you taking steps to overcome it in your life.

You probably noticed that word “You” a lot in what I just said. That might leave you the impression that you are all alone in the process. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. God has given you his Son to forgive you free and clear. God has given his holy spirit to empower you and strengthen you. God has given you everything you need to take these steps. So do it. Bring forth fruits in keeping with repentance.

If your sin is anger, seek to overcome it, denounce it rather than saying stuff like “anger runs in my family” or some such nonsense. If your sin is lust, seek to become more wholesome. If’ it’s a failure to love, seek to love. Chances are you know what you should do and I don’t even have to tell you. Do I?

We can be very real people. We can be very real toward’s God. We can do this because he is compassionate and merciful. Nothing that you have done or are now doing is beyond the reach of forgiveness and salvation that was forged for you by Jesus on the cross. nothing. And that forgiveness can not only make you right in God’s sight, but coupled together with the working of his Holy Spirit it can lead you to start making changes. With his help, what you believe in your heart you will carry into your life and you will be real. You won’t be perfect. You won’t be without Sin. It will be a a process that you’ll always be working on. But you’ll be real. AMEN