Sermon Notes, December 16, 2018
Rev.
Garry McGlinchy
Pastor Garry continued on the third
Sunday of the Advent season with his sermon titled A Thrill of HOPE: The
Generosity of HOPE. The scripture basis
was Luke 3:7-18, where John the Baptist is preparing the way for the
Messiah. He urges the people to produce
fruit in keeping with repentance.
The Jews in the time of John the
Baptist were proud of their heritage of Faith. They treated it as if it was their
salvation. They assumed that if they
kept certain rules, they would go to heaven. They boasted about being children
of Abraham. But John makes it very clear
that their assumption was absolutely incorrect. The faith we inherit from our
families runs deep. But it’s not our heritage that saves us. Heritage and family trees do not qualify
anyone for automatic entrance into the Kingdom of God. They must live lives of repentance, and not
rely on their ancestry to save them. Heritage
is not their salvation. If He wanted to,
God could make rocks His children.
Faith is not merely an identity; it is
a way of living. And faith must bear
fruit. The people ask John, “What should
we do?” If the things we’ve depended on
won’t bring us to the kingdom of heaven, what will? The answer is a simple one, a lesson taught
to 3- and 4-year-olds everywhere: don’t be selfish; don’t take advantage; share
what you have. “Sharing is caring.” These are not complicated issues, but it seems
an easy lesson on generosity is harder to live than it is to say.
Economic inequality existed in the
kingdom of Rome. Wealthy Romans lived comfortably,
while those who were not wealthy or were not citizens struggled. There are stories that some would abandon
their infants on the side of the road in the hope that someone would take them
in to serve as slaves. Later, there were
stories that the early church rescued some of these very children. Some people lived in absolute luxury while
others lived in absolute poverty. It took many slaves and servants to build the
Roman Empire. In order to have the
wealth that existed, others had to go without.
John the Baptist redefined what the
kingdom meant to the people. The kingdom
of Rome said “Do what you must to live a wealthy life, even if it means owning
a slave, disregarding your neighbor, or treating someone poorly.” The kingdom of God is saying “Look out for
your neighbor. If you have more than you
need, share with those who are going without.”
Give out of your excess to those in need.
The people around John the Baptist
needed to hope in something besides material comfort. So do we. We all know someone who has to have some
special thing with them everywhere they go to bring them comfort. We need to be free from the external desire to
hoard in order to love our neighbors as ourselves.
Justice is not about getting ahead,
but about making things right. Making
things right never comes at the expense of others. But it may come at the expense of excess for
ourselves.
The kingdom of God rewrites the rules
and gives hope to a future where we can be united in love for God and neighbor. We talk about the joy of giving during this
season, but we often lose that joy in our own need to be better. It doesn’t take long to figure out that
people are not happy just because they have more stuff. People who are generous have more joy. They realize that everything we have is God’s. We need to have more joy and compassion. The obsession for getting more isn’t new; it’s
been around for centuries. However, the
community of faith is a level playing field.
When we learn to live with open-handed generosity, we learn to be more
dependent on God. We love and care for
one another. It isn’t enough to belong to a family of faith, we must be
people of faith, illustrating God’s generous love by being
generous. He was generous with us,
giving His Son to free us from our sin.
As you go out into God’s creation this week, share
Hope, Love and Peace with those you come in contact with
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