John, Jesus, and the kingdom of heaven

2nd Sunday of Advent

            Billy Graham was a young evangelist at the time he arrived in a small town.  He was to preach a sermon at the Baptist Church.  Looking for the post office, Billy asked a young boy for directions.  After that, Billy told the boy, “If you’ll come to the Baptist Church this evening, you can hear me telling everyone how to get to heaven.”  “I don’t think I’ll be there,” the boy answered.  “You don’t even know your way to the post office.”  Maybe not.  But Billy Graham has told thousands upon thousands of people how to get to heaven.  It’s something we think about.  We think a lot about going to heaven.  We think of going to be with God for all of eternity.

            That’s fine.  But do we think much about God coming to us?  As our gospel reading shows, John the Baptist did.  He thought about God moving toward humanity.  His ministry was about preparing people to be expectant for God’s movement toward them.  He told them to prepare for the Lord’s coming into their lives.  John didn’t say how God would be moving toward humanity exactly.  One was coming after him, he was sure about that.  He connected that coming one with the kingdom of heaven coming near.  The kingdom of heaven, understand, is not a geographical realm.  You can’t find this kingdom on any of the maps of world history.  The kingdom of heaven is rather the presence of the reign of God.  God’s reign was coming near, John told his people.  This was God’s movement toward them.  The one coming after him had to do with this movement of God toward humanity.  Oh, John doesn’t identify the coming one in today’s gospel lesson.  But he knows who he is in the verses that follow.  John will baptize Jesus to inaugurate Jesus’ ministry and signal the beginning of inbreaking of the kingdom of heaven into the lives of humanity.  John’s ministry, as Matthew tells it, is all about preparing the people for this great movement of God toward them.

            Of course, how do we prepare for the coming of God into our lives?  I know.  Maybe we should work on our credentials, you know, the stuff you put up on the walls of your office.  I’ve got my college degree, my seminary degrees, my ordination certificate, three certificates for Clinical Pastoral Education.  Some of you, I’ll bet, have certificates thanking you for your work with the church or some other organization that supports the Christian movement.  Anyone here have one of those long chains of Sunday school perfect attendance pins?  There you go!  Maybe you could have those ready to display.  What I’m saying is, if God is moving toward us, maybe it would be a good idea to show God all the good we’ve been up to.  We could at least go digging for our church membership certificates.  We’ve got some record of our belonging to the church of Jesus Christ.  So, we’re good, right?  We are all Christians, members of the Presbyterian Church (USA).  So, we’re ready for God’s coming, right?

            Not so fast!  John says that belonging is not the way to prepare for God’s advent into our lives.  Don’t get John wrong.  Belonging to the people of God, worshiping with the congregation, being in fellowship with other believers are all of positive value.  But showing God our degrees, certificates, awards, or our church membership certificates isn’t the way we get ready for God’s coming.  What was it John said?  He said, “God can make good Christians from the pebbles on the street,” or words to that effect.  What does that mean?  It means that we can’t be ready for God’s coming by shouting, “I’m a member of First Presbyterian Church.”  To be ready for God’s coming, something more is needed.  Consider:  What do you do when important company is expected?  You do things that show you want them to be with you.  President George Bush (the elder) came to Beeville, where I lived years ago.  He’d go to a ranch not far from town on the day after Christmas to hunt quail.  He never came to my house.  But imagine that you got word that the President of the United States was going to be here in North Texas, and, if you really wouldn’t mind, he’d like to stop to visit you in your home.  What would you do to get ready for the coming of the president?  You would work to show the president that you wanted him in your home.  You might bone up on current affairs, so that you could engage in a meaningful discussion with the president.  You’d prepare yourself to make the president welcome.  John the Baptist announced God’s movement toward humanity.  John’s call for readiness is as valid today as it was two thousand years ago, for God may come into our lives at any unexpected moment to save, to direct, to call us to some kind of ministry.  What should we do to get ready?  Do those things that show we want God in our lives.  We’d want to make sure our lives were going in the direction of God’s will.  If you’re like me, my life it isn’t always in sync with God’s purpose for me.  People like us need to repent.  We need to take a U-turn and go in the direction of God’s will.

            Well, how do we know will of God?  We study scripture, and with that foundation observe in the world the direction God is headed.  Our study of scripture helps us to be expectant and confident in the future God has in mind.  Have you noticed how future expectation affects the present?  What you believe will come to pass has an impact on how you view things right before you in the present.  Some time ago, Bev and I opened a portfolio of investments.  Just recently, our investment representative suggested that we move some maturing certificates of deposit to the mutual fund side of our portfolio.  We are investing for the long term.  In other words, we believe that our investments will be sound in the future.  What we believe about the future has an impact on what we do today.  So we invest our money according to what we believe will happen in the future.  It is the same thing when it comes to investing our lives.  If we had the strong conviction that God moves toward humanity in a way that empowers them and calls them to action toward God’s own purposes, and if we were convinced that God’s purposes will be done at the end of human history, that would give us a powerful vision for the present, would it not?  It would!  If we were convinced that God was in the business of loving his creation, his people, our vision for ministry would include being a part of that.  If we were certain in our hearts that God is offering forgiveness and reconciliation through Jesus Christ, the one who came after John, if we were certain as well that God’s reconciling purpose would be fulfilled at the end of human history, that belief would become our operating vision for the present.  We would become committed to the same business of reconciliation.  We would proclaim it in classroom and pulpit.  We would pray for the grace to forgive others as freely as God forgives us.  We would become agents of reconciliation in the world, if we truly were certain that God was going to accomplish this at the end of history.  If we were certain that the inbreaking reign of God would come in all of its fullness at the end of history, we would be seeking evidence of God’s reign in our present life.  Not only seek it, but also become identified with it, become a subject in it, become an activist for it.  What we believe about the future creates the vision that directs our present lives.  Are you looking for signs of God’s reign?  If you are, it has changed your life so that you are heading in the direction of God’s will.

            John can point us toward the way.  John points beyond himself to one who is coming after him.  John’s preaching prepares us for the coming of God into our lives.  John preaches that the coming one will bring judgment.  But wait a minute.  The one who came, Jesus Christ, came to save people from their estrangement from God.  He came to reconcile people to God.  The coming one brought wholeness into human brokenness.  John preaches that the coming one will bring judgment to the world.  What about that?  Actually, Matthew has such an image of judgment in chapter twenty-five of his gospel.  All the nations will be gathered before the Son of Man, and he will separate people the way shepherds separate sheep from goats.  He will tell the people at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”  He will tell them that they are the ones who fed him when he was hungry, gave him something to drink when he was thirsty, welcomed him when he was a stranger, gave him clothing when he needed them, took care of him when he was sick, and visited him when he was in prison.  The righteous will be surprised at this judgment, for they won’t remember ever being in Jesus’ presence.  But it was when they ministered to those in need, that they ministered to Jesus himself.  Mother Teresa knew that.  She told Time magazine that the poor people were God’s greatest gift to her.  Why?  “I have an opportunity to be twenty-four hours a day with Jesus,” she said.  In this same scene in Matthew 25, those who failed to minister to those in need—that is, to Jesus himself—will not be granted entrance into kingdom of heaven.  Why not?  Perhaps because they never recognized its presence in the first place.  They never saw God’s reign around them.  They never wanted anything to do with the kingdom of heaven.  Perhaps that’s why, at the end of human history, they will get for all eternity the very same thing they wanted in life.  If it is true that what we believe about the future creates the vision that directs our present lives, it is also true that our choices in the present affect our future.  John points into the direction of where God is going.  Jesus takes us the rest of the way.  In the person of Jesus, God is moving toward us, making it clear what direction he is going, bringing into the world the kingdom of heaven.

            Now, just where is this non-geographical kingdom of heaven exactly?  You can see it, if you look.  Look at people who, by their activity, demonstrate that the reign of God controls their lives.  See those who know the values of the reign of God, and live by them.  See those who minister to others as if they were serving Christ directly.  Chuck Colson tells a story about the some special kids at Shively Christian Church.  Youth Pastor Dave Stone taught some kids in his summer Bible camp about Jesus washing his disciples’ feet.  Pastor Stone divided the kids into groups and sent them out to act as servants.  One group, not knowing what kind of a project to engage in, stopped by neighboring Shively Baptist and asked their pastor if he knew someone who needed help.  The pastor directed them to the home of one of their older members.  The kids spent two hours mowing the lawn, raking the yard, and trimming hedges.  At their parting, the woman they helped called the group together and thanked them for all they had done.  “I don’t know how I could get along without you,” she said.  “You kids at Shively Baptist are always coming to my rescue.”  As they reported all this back at the church, Pastor Stone interrupted their narrative:  “Shively Baptist!  I sure hope you set her straight and told her you were from Shively Christian Church.”  “Why, no, we didn’t,” the kids answered.  “We didn’t think it mattered.”  Can you see it there?  There’s the kingdom of heaven.  Sue Kinsler was familiar with North Korea, for she had visited there many times to help feed the hungry.  One day Mr. Lim, a high government official, challenged Sue to help provide protein-rich soy milk for one hundred thousand children!  She was shocked, for she didn’t have the means to do that much.  She was about to give Mr. Lim a piece of her mind when, according to a published report, she heard the voice of God saying, “I am putting the lives of one hundred thousand children in your hands—why are you angry?”  Sue responded in obedience.  Others have joined in the effort so that hungry people in North Korea are being fed.  There’s the kingdom of heaven.  A confirmation class ends and the pastor asks the class who is ready to become a disciple of Jesus Christ.  The young people commit themselves to begin a life of discipleship with Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  There’s the kingdom of heaven.