Watch video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFuzikIszJQ
Program Transcript
Advent—Rejoice! The One Who Comes is Our Salvation
As we enter the third week of Advent, we are invited to pause and reflect on the deep joy that comes with the approaching fulfillment of God’s promises. This season of waiting prepares us not just to receive Christ, but to be transformed by him. As we consider this week’s readings, we are reminded that to experience the fullness of God’s love, we must first allow our hearts and minds to be changed. Often, that means letting go of the old to make room for something new, something much bigger and more beautiful than we could ever have imagined.
In Philippians 4:4-7, the apostle Paul calls us to rejoice always, regardless of our circumstances. This call to joy is not rooted in the fleeting happiness of the moment but in the deep and abiding peace that comes from God. Paul invites us to release our anxieties, our fears, and our old ways of thinking. In doing so, we make space for the peace of Christ to guard our hearts and minds.
There is a joy in letting go of what no longer serves us. Repentance—turning away from the old and embracing the new—brings a unique kind of joy. It’s the joy that comes when we realize that God’s dream for us is far greater than our own, and that his love has the power to transform not only our lives but the world around us.
When we allow ourselves to be changed, our perspective broadens, and we begin to see the world through the lens of God’s love. The kingdom of heaven that Jesus came to usher in is one of peace, justice, and wholeness—a kingdom where the broken are made whole, and the old is replaced with the new. This is the joy we are called to: the joy of knowing that the One who comes brings salvation and renewal to all creation.
The joy we experience in this season is not a fleeting emotion; it is a deep, abiding joy that comes from knowing that God’s salvation is near. As we prepare our hearts for Christ’s arrival, we let go of what holds us back—our fears, our anxieties, our old ways of thinking—and make room for the newness of life that Christ offers.
As we light the candle today, may it remind us to let go of the old so we can embrace the new. Let us rejoice in the coming of our Savior, who brings peace beyond understanding and joy that fills our hearts as we await the fullness of God’s kingdom.
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Christ leads us into the fullness of joy.
Program Transcript
Advent—Rejoice! The One Who Comes is Our Salvation
As we enter the third week of Advent, we are invited to pause and reflect on the deep joy that comes with the approaching fulfillment of God’s promises. This season of waiting prepares us not just to receive Christ, but to be transformed by him. As we consider this week’s readings, we are reminded that to experience the fullness of God’s love, we must first allow our hearts and minds to be changed. Often, that means letting go of the old to make room for something new, something much bigger and more beautiful than we could ever have imagined.
In Philippians 4:4-7, the apostle Paul calls us to rejoice always, regardless of our circumstances. This call to joy is not rooted in the fleeting happiness of the moment but in the deep and abiding peace that comes from God. Paul invites us to release our anxieties, our fears, and our old ways of thinking. In doing so, we make space for the peace of Christ to guard our hearts and minds.
There is a joy in letting go of what no longer serves us. Repentance—turning away from the old and embracing the new—brings a unique kind of joy. It’s the joy that comes when we realize that God’s dream for us is far greater than our own, and that his love has the power to transform not only our lives but the world around us.
When we allow ourselves to be changed, our perspective broadens, and we begin to see the world through the lens of God’s love. The kingdom of heaven that Jesus came to usher in is one of peace, justice, and wholeness—a kingdom where the broken are made whole, and the old is replaced with the new. This is the joy we are called to: the joy of knowing that the One who comes brings salvation and renewal to all creation.
The joy we experience in this season is not a fleeting emotion; it is a deep, abiding joy that comes from knowing that God’s salvation is near. As we prepare our hearts for Christ’s arrival, we let go of what holds us back—our fears, our anxieties, our old ways of thinking—and make room for the newness of life that Christ offers.
As we light the candle today, may it remind us to let go of the old so we can embrace the new. Let us rejoice in the coming of our Savior, who brings peace beyond understanding and joy that fills our hearts as we await the fullness of God’s kingdom.
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Christ leads us into the fullness of joy.
Zephaniah 3:14-20 · Isaiah 12:2-6 · Philippians 4:4-7 · Luke 3:7-18
Advent Reflection: “I’ve been thinking about…the idea that Jesus is making us whole through our longings, our longings for a world of goodness and peace, and also, our longings for things to be put right in our own lives. Advent is the time we wait for our longings to be fulfilled. And, at the same time, Christmas is a ritual in which we reenact the story of longings being made true and real in the life of the world.” — Micha Boyett
The Third Sunday of Advent, traditionally known as Gaudete Sunday (Latin for “rejoice”), invites us to hold the Advent themes of joy and repentance with our weekly theme of Rejoice! The One who comes is our salvation. As we consider this week’s readings, we’ll notice that love flourishes with a change of mind. Our perspective is broadened, and we’re able to rejoice that God’s dream for us is much bigger and better than we ever imagined. Our call to worship in Zephaniah speaks of the prophet’s hope for this world and its transformation, when disabled people and outcasts have their shame changed into “praise and renown in all the earth.” Isaiah also echoes the prophet’s vision of hope in God’s deliverance for the world, stating the word “salvation” three times in the first two verses. When the brokenness of the world overwhelms us, Philippians 4:4-7 encourages us to rejoice and pray rather than focus on worry. The sermon text comes from Luke 3:7-18, and it’s a truth-telling sermon by John the Baptist that pulls no punches. John names our shortcomings and our self-interests go against God’s dream for creation, which is peace on earth. But he doesn’t leave us with just bad news. He gives us practical actions we can take and assures us that our salvation comes through Jesus.
When Bad News Becomes Good News
Luke 3:7-18 NRSVUE
I have a few good news/bad news jokes for you:
Good news: You baptized seven people today in the river.
Bad News: You lost two of them in the swift current.
Good news: Your women’s softball team finally won a game.
Bad News: They beat your men’s softball team.
Good news: Church attendance rose dramatically the last three weeks.
Bad News: You were on vacation.
Notice that these jokes began with the good news, but when someone tells you, “I’ve got good news and bad news,” most of us will say, “Give me the bad news first.” A 2014 study showed that as many as 78 percent of people want to hear the bad news first so that they get it out of the way and end up with something hopeful to work toward a solution.
Our sermon text today starts off with some tough talk from John the Baptist (the bad news), but it ends with good news, including ideas for our participation in God’s kingdom on earth, the promise of Jesus, and the loving purification of our minds by the Holy Spirit. Let’s read Luke 3:7-18.
More background about Luke’s Gospel
Throughout his Gospel, Luke emphasizes women, marginalized (or powerless) people, and the work of the Holy Spirit. For example, Luke includes stories about women not found in any other Gospel, such as Jesus raising from the dead the widow’s only son at Nain (Luke 7:11-16), the woman caught in adultery whose sins were forgiven (7:36-50), sisters Mary and Martha (10:38-42), and the parables of the woman with the lost coin (15:8-10), and the persistent widow (18:1-8). Luke also emphasizes the responsibility of the rich to take care of the poor more than any of the other Gospels (Luke 3:11, 6:20, 6:24, 12:16-21, and 14:13). As for Luke’s focus on the Holy Spirit, this follows through to the book of Acts, which represents a sequel to his Gospel. Luke emphasizes that Jesus’ ministry is guided by the Holy Spirit, which was evident at Jesus’ baptism, and in the book of Acts at Pentecost.
Another important contextual element of Luke’s Gospel is the underlying tension of Roman imperial power with Judaism and later, Christianity. Authors Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan write that this tension came to the surface as the kingdom of Rome clashed against the kingdom of God, not as a territorial conflict or ethnic identity as much as it was a clash over “a mode of economic distribution, a type of human organization, and a style of world order, social justice, and global peace.” For Rome, peace was attained through victory and the often violent subjugation of enemies; in God’s vision for the world, peace came through justice and nonviolence. Jesus modeled this peaceful, nonviolent resistance to empire, and he was executed.
In our sermon text from Luke, John the Baptist is preaching to the crowds of regular people, not the Pharisees and Sadducees that appear in a similar passage in Matthew. The reading begins with John calling the crowd “a brood of vipers,” reminding them that repentance means more than relying on their genetic connection to Abraham, and then challenging them to bear good fruit. To their credit, the crowd asks, “How do we do that?” John’s response is not anything new. He talks about sharing even if you don’t feel you have much. John also calls out those in power, the tax collectors and soldiers, and admonishes them to stop extorting money, which created poverty for many. Instead, he encourages them to live in contentment with what they have. John ends his sermon by reminding his listeners that he was only the messenger, baptizing them with water, but the One who followed him would baptize them with the Holy Spirit and fire. Interestingly, verses 16 and 17 speak of purification by fire (i.e., “burn with an unquenchable fire”), which is not hellfire but rather God’s love that will cleanse us of anything that is less than what we were created to be. This was John’s proclamation of good news.
Let’s consider four ideas from this passage:
It’s easy to become complacent in your religious activity.
While church attendance and participation in other outreach activities are important and can be an expression of our faith, John points out that membership in a religious club (or heritage) isn’t enough. Episcopal vicar Judith Jones writes, “Although it certainly does fit with Luke’s interest in redefining the people of God, John’s message needs to be heard by baptized Christians as well. It’s as shocking as if a preacher in a liturgical church today were to say, “Don’t presume to say, ‘We’re baptized!’ Show your faith by your actions.”
The good news demands a biblical view of justice.
Barclay’s Commentary writes that John’s message “began by demanding that men should share with one another. It was a social Gospel which laid it down that God will never absolve the man who is content to have too much while others have too little.” John’s comments reveal a viewpoint that sees poverty as a failure of human beings to care for each other more than any fault of those who are poor. The way we earn money and use it shows our values.
John’s suggestions to the crowd were not new, “more like the stuff of kindergarten than the apocalypse,” according to Lutheran senior pastor David Lose. He writes the following:
Fidelity does not have to be heroic. There are opportunities to do God’s will, to be God’s people, all around us. These opportunities are shaped by our context: the roles in which we find ourselves and the needs of the neighbor with which we are confronted. But make no mistake, opportunities abound. John may have come from the wilderness, but the crowds — and we — live in the towns, villages, and marketplace, and these, too, can be places of testing and the arenas in which we offer our fidelity to God through service to neighbor.
For John and for us, repentance, or the changing of our minds, requires us to take action. Lutheran Senior Pastor Karl Jacobson writes that “Repentance here is not just (or perhaps even primarily) about the dialectic of faith and sin; rather, it is about how we are living out the love of our neighbor.”
I share these quotes to emphasize these are not just my suggestions; there is a consensus from different pastors and ministry leaders across the body of believers.
The Messiah will cleanse us by
the loving presence of the Holy Spirit.
Being baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire (v. 16) sounds a bit ominous. However, God’s work of mercy in our transformation means we are cleansed of that which keeps us small and feeling separate from the Father’s love and from each other. Remember, fire is a symbol of divine presence, such as the burning bush before Moses (Exodus 3:2) and the pillar of fire leading the Israelites in the wilderness (Exodus 13:21). For clarity, let’s read Luke 3:16-18 in The Message:
But John intervened: “I’m baptizing you here in the river. The main character in this drama, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will ignite the kingdom life, a fire, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to be burned.” (Luke 3:16-18, MSG)
Being scrubbed clean and forced to let go of unhelpful or wrong beliefs about our value and lovability in God’s sight can be painful. Repentance requires us to die to preconceived notions about God’s expectations and then let ourselves be loved. With that as our baseline, we can properly love others.
Proclaiming the good news includes political considerations.
The passage ends with v. 18 saying, So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news [euaggelizo] to the people. The Greek word euaggelizo was not a Christian word, and in the cultural context of the Roman Empire, it could include good news that also had a political aspect to it. (By political we mean, the actions/policies of government and the complex way people living in a society together relate.) While Christians adopted this term to refer to the good news of Christ, the term itself has social and political connotations both in the past and for us today. In conjunction with repentance, being cleansed by the Holy Spirit of our religious complacency and our tendency to neglect social justice, Christ followers need to consider how these values are reflected in our communities — and how we can be messengers of the good news in the communities around our congregational venues. We can prayerfully consider how our local leaders reflect the nonviolent care of those groups who are marginalized, following the emphasis Luke portrayed in his Gospel account and the responsibility we have for the other as preached by John the Baptist in this passage.
As we continue our journey through the Advent season, we rejoice that Christmas is not only about Jesus’ birth and our sentimental rituals. The stories and scriptures surrounding the birth of Christ are personal and political, and they provoke the transformation of our minds and hearts as we deepen the understanding of our role as citizens of God’s kingdom — God’s dream of peace on earth in its fullest reality. Because of that, we can rejoice in the One who comes as our salvation.
Call to Action: As you move through your world during this third week of Advent, consider the opportunities you have to do good to someone else, and as you watch the news, evaluate government leaders’ words and actions through the lens of the way Jesus cared for those who were powerless. It will lead you to praying for our leaders as we should.
For Reference:
Borg, Marcus J., and John Dominic Crossan. The First Christmas: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus’s Birth. HarperCollins, 2009.
https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/dsb/luke-3.html
https://www.workingpreacher.org/dear-working-preacher/god-is-not-finished-with-us-yet
Bill Vanderbush—Year C Advent 3
December 15, 2024 — Third Sunday of Advent
Luke 3:7-18
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Program Transcript
Bill Vanderbush—Year C Advent 3
Anthony: Let’s move on to our next passage of the month. It’s Luke 3:7-18. It is a Revised Common Lectionary passage for the Third Sunday of Advent on December 15. And it reads,
John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Therefore, bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 9 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” 10 And the crowds asked him, “What, then, should we do?” 11 In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none, and whoever has food must do likewise.” 12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” 13 He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” 14 Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.” 15 As the people were filled with expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 16 John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water, but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
So, Bill, help us understand about this repentance. We just talked about the kindness leading to repentance but tell us about the fruits worthy of that repentance.
Bill: I love what you just said that the Bible teaches it’s the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. And I think you rightly stated, we have perhaps come to believe that it is our repentance that accesses the kindness of God.
But the initiation on his end is grace. I think of Jesus rising from the dead and rather than going and exacting revenge upon his enemies, which it probably is what I would do, would have done. Instead, he just wants to go and hang out with people who want to hang out with him.
Anthony: Yes.
Bill: And that to me is a beautiful picture of the heartbeat of the Father. I think of the grace of God being an invitation to a transformation, not by our works, but rather by our surrender to his work. And probably the best example of this is the parable of the prodigal son. And I think of in the story that Jesus tells there, the son stays away from the father’s house, enduring the hog pen because his actions had somehow — you can see the warping of his identity from a son to a servant or a slave in his mind. I think of it like this, that sin doesn’t change God’s mind about us, but it does change our mind about God, which is why it’s such a bad idea. So, if a person engages, let’s say routinely engages in pornography, their identity is meant to be protector, but over the course of time, it changes into predator.
That’s not what God ever meant for a person to be, and that’s not the way he thinks of us, no matter what we do or have done. So, his perspective of us has got to be the identifying factor that doesn’t just change our perspective about ourselves but influences our behavior when it comes to discovering really who we are.
And who am I as a protector? I guess it’d be the question. I think of the prodigal son: who is he? Is he a son of his father? And he says, no, I’m not even worthy of that; the best I can be is a servant. And so, then he returns home and discovers that his perception of his own identity has no basis in reality.
And I think it’s often that fear keeps us locked in a slavery or servant mentality and robs us of our identity as a son enjoying the father’s house. And the thing about the story that is so fascinating is even when the son tries not to be a son, the father never stops being father. The prodigal was always a son.
So, when you look at that guy’s repentance — I love how Jesus puts it in the story, this guy’s repentance. The way Jesus tells the story, the kid’s not sorrowful at all for what he’s done, as if it was like a bad thing where he did something evil. He only comes home because he’s tired of eating hog food and has no place else to go.
And that’s not good repentance by our standards of repentance. But what he runs into when he gets home becomes the change factor. And I can’t remember who said this quote, but the quote that comes to mind here (I have to go back and find out who to attribute this to), but it’s “only love that cannot be changed by our behavior has the power to change our behavior.”
So, agreeing with the unchangeable love of God, for us is the most powerful form of repentance. What is repentance? Being sorrowful and upset at sin? No, it’s just agreeing with God’s unchangeable love for you and then letting that love transform you. Metanoia, renewing of our mind. That’s ultimately what empowers us to live free from every hog pen in this life.
A lot of people say grace becomes your license to sin. No, grace is the empowerment to walk free from it. So, it’s not that I have a free will, I have a freed will, I have a liberated will and only a truly liberated, freed will can say yes to, to Christ in his fullness.
Otherwise, listen, otherwise what we’ll end up doing is we’ll end up chasing people to God through fear. And so, people come to say yes to Jesus through a fear of hell, not a love for Christ. And that becomes often the foundation of people’s relationship with God.
So, to begin a relationship with God from a posture of fear of ever getting to actually know him, it’s “thanks for rescuing me from an eternity of torment, but I’m super scared of you because I understand that you have the power to cut me off at any moment. I would call a person in that state of mind, I would say it’s like a spiritual foster child. That is, you’re in the house, but you don’t necessarily feel like you’re part of it; I feel like an outsider even though I’m an insider because I know at any moment, Dad could tear up the paperwork and throw me out into the street back out into the system.
And that’s not the way the kingdom of God works. We’ve received the spirit of adoption, and we’ve been bled into this thing. We’re twice as much a child of God as we could ever be a child of any human being. And that’s all his doing. To come to a realization of that, my goodness! That’s what empowers me to live free from sin, the hog pens and all the junk in this life.
And when we see that, then we can walk as the sons and daughters that we not are becoming but have always been.
Anthony: Yeah, and of course it is the Spirit that is revealing and pointing us to truth. That’s what the Spirit does. And I hadn’t planned to ask you this question, but I will.
What’s your understanding of the Spirit? What’s your pneumatology? John says there’s going to be one who comes and baptizes you by the Holy Spirit. What’s the spirit doing?
Bill: That’s a great question. This is a topic that I love talking about because there’s no revelation of union without an understanding of the indwelling Holy Spirit, the person of the Holy Spirit, not some in theory, ethereal fog, third person of the Trinity. And I think of the Trinity is the picture of the human family. We’re not made in the image and likeness of God so much as an individual, but as a relationship, an other-centered, self-giving relationship of love. Father, mother, child, Father, Spirit, Son. Holy Spirit is, he says, the mother heart of God. It’s the comforter, the guide, all the things that I am not in the family as the father protective, provider. My wife is the comforter and the guide.
So, I begin to see that there’s a beautiful picture though, of this indwelling union that we have with Christ that’s revealed in the Holy Spirit. I’ll just pull one aspect of understanding of the Spirit out of — I wrote a book called Reckless Grace many years ago, and it was based out of John 20:23, where Jesus says, whoever sins, if you forgive them, they’re forgiven.
It’s just a mysterious passage of Scripture. And as if we’re brokers of the grace of God. Imagine that. But right before that, the Bible says, Jesus breathes on the disciples and says, receive the Holy Spirit. We always think of the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 like that’s when the Holy Spirit came. But when he said receive the Holy Spirit, he wasn’t just dangling a carrot out in front of them that that was something that was going to happen in Acts 2.
I think that moment of the indwelling awareness of the presence of the Holy Spirit came upon us in that moment. We find ourselves able to be aware of the presence of God through the power of the Holy Spirit, as close as our breath. But then Jesus in Acts 1 says, wait, you go to Jerusalem and wait until you’re filled with power from on high.
So, I see a bit of a distinction between the person and the function. I see the presence of the Holy Spirit is available for every single person that will just turn their affection and attention toward the Lord. Whatever has your attention has your affection. But then the power of the Holy Spirit, the actual power of the Holy Spirit moving through us.
What’s the distinction in that? I think of Jesus with the disciples, who in Luke 9:1, Matthew 10:1 says guys, I give you power and authority, behold, I give you power and authority. And then he sends them out to cast out demons, heal the sick, and do all these amazing things. And if we think that you need to be special in order to do that, just consider the fact that none of those guys were believers because Jesus hadn’t gone to the cross and bled, died for our sins, or anything like that.
They didn’t even know he was the Son of God. They’re just blindly following the statements that he said. That seemed to empower them to do the same thing that he did. And they went out and did incredible things.
So, people say you walk in the power of God, you got to be extra special. I don’t think that’s the case at all. I think it’s a product of surrender.
And so, the 120 that end up in the upper room for 10 days have no idea how long they’re supposed to stay there. They have no idea how long or what’s supposed to happen. And yet when the Holy Spirit falls upon them, what happens as a result of that is a proclamation of throughout the book of Acts the resurrection of Christ, and the forgiveness of sins brings an invitation for every person who listens, who says yes to that, to have an experience and encounter with the Holy Spirit.
You see this in Acts 10, we’re in the house of Cornelius. Peter gets up, and he starts preaching the gospel. Jesus died, he rose from the dead and now offers forgiveness of sin. Boom, the Holy Spirit falls on the room and Peter goes, my goodness, this is happening exactly like us. Those guys didn’t have to wait for 10 days. So, I see that what the Lord invited that 120 into, that they paid a price for, becomes the inheritance of every child of God, every person for free just simply by agreeing with God.
That to me is a beautiful reality. And I’m so blessed to have come across a number of people in my life who have said I think the gospel is more than just for the afterlife; it’s got to be for my whole life. And so therefore we’re going to continue to go after seeing the power of Jesus move through us to impact the world around us. It doesn’t mean that we control it.
It doesn’t mean that we do it apart or independently of the Lord. People say, how do you heal the sick? I don’t I introduced them to the One who does. But that can only happen through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. Often being in a public place and all of a sudden you get this nudge, this impression like the wind that we’re all familiar with, but I can’t really explain, filling the sails of the boat of your life, moving you in a particular direction toward praying for someone, sharing the gospel with someone. The way I say it is “the power of God will move through you as compassion of the Lord moves through you, and when you invite his compassion to move through, you might be surprised what he does to your heart.”
Or the old adage says, break my heart for what breaks yours, right? So suddenly my heart moves with compassion. Now to understand why I’m feeling this overwhelming compassion for a complete stranger or for the situation or whatever, if I will move in the direction of that compassion, then I begin to realize I’m walking in power.
And otherwise, we end up going by duty. I think of Jesus going through (and this is a long answer to a short question, I know), but I think of Jesus saying, “I only do what I see the Father do and say what I hear the Father say.” And I think of him moving through life fully empowered to bring healing to every single person that he ever comes in contact with.
But he doesn’t walk in any town going, let’s go and empty out the hospitals. He goes through town just living in reconciled rest, in the heart of the Father as a demonstration of how to do life as a human being. And what happens?
You got the woman with the issue of blood comes up behind him like he’s walking away from her to lay hold of what he carries. You got blind Bartimaeus who has to call out for him who walked by. And so, the example I look at there is if the need is the call, I will go broke and I will never sleep. I’ll put myself in an early grave trying to somehow go out and fix all the problems.
But I realized, wait a minute. My job is to be loved by God and to live loved in this world, walking in reconciled rest in union with the heart of the Father. And when you walk aware of what you carry, you’d be surprised that people around you will put a demand on what you carry, but they’re not asking something of you; they’re asking of something that goes deeper than just your humanity. They’re putting a draw on the Holy Spirit of God within you so that you’re never without a solution to a problem.
So many things I could tell you to talk about regarding this, but I think of one quick example in the story. A dear friend of mine named Joaquin Evans, when he came to Christ, he pastors here at a church I serve at here in Bethel, Austin, and he came to Christ, and he started seeing incredible miracles happen through him.
He was just so surrendered to the love of God. Couldn’t believe that the Lord would grace him with so much, just so much love, so much grace, so much forgiveness. And he just started giving it away to everybody around him. As he started giving grace away, healing started happening, crazy healings started happening.
A lot of people around him looked at the healing that was happening to him and thought well, God favors him more. He’s got more power than we do. As if the Holy spirit is sliced up like a pie given out in portions, right?
And he knew that wasn’t the case; we decided in the time of prayer, just ask the Lord a question. Why am I seeing more breakthrough than all the people around me who I know love you? They’re saved. They’re even filled with the Holy Spirit. But why am I seeing more breakthrough? And he said, as clear as you could hear an audible voice speak internally, audibly, God spoke to him and says, “It’s because you let me love you.”
It’s because you let me love you. And I realized the greatest definition I’ve ever pondered for “belief” is to offer no resistance. Unbelief is just resistance to truth. And to offer no resistance, to the love of God is to basically say, God you have the freedom to love me, and I teach me how to receive your love.
There’s a good prayer to pray. That’s good language to come to a heart of surrender. Say, teach me how to receive that love. My understanding of the Holy Spirit is that he woos, like the wind of a beautiful hurricane, I could say. It just blows away all the junk that I’ve put up as a barrier between me and the love of God.
Anthony: Yeah, I’m just hooked on what you said about receiving that love and may I not be a barrier in any way to that love. Often, I’m my own worst enemy in that way.
And this is one of the reasons as we transition to our final pericope of the month, I’m struck by Mary. Even though what she was being told was like, “Oh, what?!” There was no hindrance to what the Lord was going to do by the Holy Spirit as the Spirit came over her.
So, let’s talk about that.
Program Transcript
Bill Vanderbush—Year C Advent 3
Anthony: Let’s move on to our next passage of the month. It’s Luke 3:7-18. It is a Revised Common Lectionary passage for the Third Sunday of Advent on December 15. And it reads,
John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Therefore, bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 9 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” 10 And the crowds asked him, “What, then, should we do?” 11 In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none, and whoever has food must do likewise.” 12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” 13 He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” 14 Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.” 15 As the people were filled with expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 16 John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water, but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
So, Bill, help us understand about this repentance. We just talked about the kindness leading to repentance but tell us about the fruits worthy of that repentance.
Bill: I love what you just said that the Bible teaches it’s the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. And I think you rightly stated, we have perhaps come to believe that it is our repentance that accesses the kindness of God.
But the initiation on his end is grace. I think of Jesus rising from the dead and rather than going and exacting revenge upon his enemies, which it probably is what I would do, would have done. Instead, he just wants to go and hang out with people who want to hang out with him.
Anthony: Yes.
Bill: And that to me is a beautiful picture of the heartbeat of the Father. I think of the grace of God being an invitation to a transformation, not by our works, but rather by our surrender to his work. And probably the best example of this is the parable of the prodigal son. And I think of in the story that Jesus tells there, the son stays away from the father’s house, enduring the hog pen because his actions had somehow — you can see the warping of his identity from a son to a servant or a slave in his mind. I think of it like this, that sin doesn’t change God’s mind about us, but it does change our mind about God, which is why it’s such a bad idea. So, if a person engages, let’s say routinely engages in pornography, their identity is meant to be protector, but over the course of time, it changes into predator.
That’s not what God ever meant for a person to be, and that’s not the way he thinks of us, no matter what we do or have done. So, his perspective of us has got to be the identifying factor that doesn’t just change our perspective about ourselves but influences our behavior when it comes to discovering really who we are.
And who am I as a protector? I guess it’d be the question. I think of the prodigal son: who is he? Is he a son of his father? And he says, no, I’m not even worthy of that; the best I can be is a servant. And so, then he returns home and discovers that his perception of his own identity has no basis in reality.
And I think it’s often that fear keeps us locked in a slavery or servant mentality and robs us of our identity as a son enjoying the father’s house. And the thing about the story that is so fascinating is even when the son tries not to be a son, the father never stops being father. The prodigal was always a son.
So, when you look at that guy’s repentance — I love how Jesus puts it in the story, this guy’s repentance. The way Jesus tells the story, the kid’s not sorrowful at all for what he’s done, as if it was like a bad thing where he did something evil. He only comes home because he’s tired of eating hog food and has no place else to go.
And that’s not good repentance by our standards of repentance. But what he runs into when he gets home becomes the change factor. And I can’t remember who said this quote, but the quote that comes to mind here (I have to go back and find out who to attribute this to), but it’s “only love that cannot be changed by our behavior has the power to change our behavior.”
So, agreeing with the unchangeable love of God, for us is the most powerful form of repentance. What is repentance? Being sorrowful and upset at sin? No, it’s just agreeing with God’s unchangeable love for you and then letting that love transform you. Metanoia, renewing of our mind. That’s ultimately what empowers us to live free from every hog pen in this life.
A lot of people say grace becomes your license to sin. No, grace is the empowerment to walk free from it. So, it’s not that I have a free will, I have a freed will, I have a liberated will and only a truly liberated, freed will can say yes to, to Christ in his fullness.
Otherwise, listen, otherwise what we’ll end up doing is we’ll end up chasing people to God through fear. And so, people come to say yes to Jesus through a fear of hell, not a love for Christ. And that becomes often the foundation of people’s relationship with God.
So, to begin a relationship with God from a posture of fear of ever getting to actually know him, it’s “thanks for rescuing me from an eternity of torment, but I’m super scared of you because I understand that you have the power to cut me off at any moment. I would call a person in that state of mind, I would say it’s like a spiritual foster child. That is, you’re in the house, but you don’t necessarily feel like you’re part of it; I feel like an outsider even though I’m an insider because I know at any moment, Dad could tear up the paperwork and throw me out into the street back out into the system.
And that’s not the way the kingdom of God works. We’ve received the spirit of adoption, and we’ve been bled into this thing. We’re twice as much a child of God as we could ever be a child of any human being. And that’s all his doing. To come to a realization of that, my goodness! That’s what empowers me to live free from sin, the hog pens and all the junk in this life.
And when we see that, then we can walk as the sons and daughters that we not are becoming but have always been.
Anthony: Yeah, and of course it is the Spirit that is revealing and pointing us to truth. That’s what the Spirit does. And I hadn’t planned to ask you this question, but I will.
What’s your understanding of the Spirit? What’s your pneumatology? John says there’s going to be one who comes and baptizes you by the Holy Spirit. What’s the spirit doing?
Bill: That’s a great question. This is a topic that I love talking about because there’s no revelation of union without an understanding of the indwelling Holy Spirit, the person of the Holy Spirit, not some in theory, ethereal fog, third person of the Trinity. And I think of the Trinity is the picture of the human family. We’re not made in the image and likeness of God so much as an individual, but as a relationship, an other-centered, self-giving relationship of love. Father, mother, child, Father, Spirit, Son. Holy Spirit is, he says, the mother heart of God. It’s the comforter, the guide, all the things that I am not in the family as the father protective, provider. My wife is the comforter and the guide.
So, I begin to see that there’s a beautiful picture though, of this indwelling union that we have with Christ that’s revealed in the Holy Spirit. I’ll just pull one aspect of understanding of the Spirit out of — I wrote a book called Reckless Grace many years ago, and it was based out of John 20:23, where Jesus says, whoever sins, if you forgive them, they’re forgiven.
It’s just a mysterious passage of Scripture. And as if we’re brokers of the grace of God. Imagine that. But right before that, the Bible says, Jesus breathes on the disciples and says, receive the Holy Spirit. We always think of the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 like that’s when the Holy Spirit came. But when he said receive the Holy Spirit, he wasn’t just dangling a carrot out in front of them that that was something that was going to happen in Acts 2.
I think that moment of the indwelling awareness of the presence of the Holy Spirit came upon us in that moment. We find ourselves able to be aware of the presence of God through the power of the Holy Spirit, as close as our breath. But then Jesus in Acts 1 says, wait, you go to Jerusalem and wait until you’re filled with power from on high.
So, I see a bit of a distinction between the person and the function. I see the presence of the Holy Spirit is available for every single person that will just turn their affection and attention toward the Lord. Whatever has your attention has your affection. But then the power of the Holy Spirit, the actual power of the Holy Spirit moving through us.
What’s the distinction in that? I think of Jesus with the disciples, who in Luke 9:1, Matthew 10:1 says guys, I give you power and authority, behold, I give you power and authority. And then he sends them out to cast out demons, heal the sick, and do all these amazing things. And if we think that you need to be special in order to do that, just consider the fact that none of those guys were believers because Jesus hadn’t gone to the cross and bled, died for our sins, or anything like that.
They didn’t even know he was the Son of God. They’re just blindly following the statements that he said. That seemed to empower them to do the same thing that he did. And they went out and did incredible things.
So, people say you walk in the power of God, you got to be extra special. I don’t think that’s the case at all. I think it’s a product of surrender.
And so, the 120 that end up in the upper room for 10 days have no idea how long they’re supposed to stay there. They have no idea how long or what’s supposed to happen. And yet when the Holy Spirit falls upon them, what happens as a result of that is a proclamation of throughout the book of Acts the resurrection of Christ, and the forgiveness of sins brings an invitation for every person who listens, who says yes to that, to have an experience and encounter with the Holy Spirit.
You see this in Acts 10, we’re in the house of Cornelius. Peter gets up, and he starts preaching the gospel. Jesus died, he rose from the dead and now offers forgiveness of sin. Boom, the Holy Spirit falls on the room and Peter goes, my goodness, this is happening exactly like us. Those guys didn’t have to wait for 10 days. So, I see that what the Lord invited that 120 into, that they paid a price for, becomes the inheritance of every child of God, every person for free just simply by agreeing with God.
That to me is a beautiful reality. And I’m so blessed to have come across a number of people in my life who have said I think the gospel is more than just for the afterlife; it’s got to be for my whole life. And so therefore we’re going to continue to go after seeing the power of Jesus move through us to impact the world around us. It doesn’t mean that we control it.
It doesn’t mean that we do it apart or independently of the Lord. People say, how do you heal the sick? I don’t I introduced them to the One who does. But that can only happen through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. Often being in a public place and all of a sudden you get this nudge, this impression like the wind that we’re all familiar with, but I can’t really explain, filling the sails of the boat of your life, moving you in a particular direction toward praying for someone, sharing the gospel with someone. The way I say it is “the power of God will move through you as compassion of the Lord moves through you, and when you invite his compassion to move through, you might be surprised what he does to your heart.”
Or the old adage says, break my heart for what breaks yours, right? So suddenly my heart moves with compassion. Now to understand why I’m feeling this overwhelming compassion for a complete stranger or for the situation or whatever, if I will move in the direction of that compassion, then I begin to realize I’m walking in power.
And otherwise, we end up going by duty. I think of Jesus going through (and this is a long answer to a short question, I know), but I think of Jesus saying, “I only do what I see the Father do and say what I hear the Father say.” And I think of him moving through life fully empowered to bring healing to every single person that he ever comes in contact with.
But he doesn’t walk in any town going, let’s go and empty out the hospitals. He goes through town just living in reconciled rest, in the heart of the Father as a demonstration of how to do life as a human being. And what happens?
You got the woman with the issue of blood comes up behind him like he’s walking away from her to lay hold of what he carries. You got blind Bartimaeus who has to call out for him who walked by. And so, the example I look at there is if the need is the call, I will go broke and I will never sleep. I’ll put myself in an early grave trying to somehow go out and fix all the problems.
But I realized, wait a minute. My job is to be loved by God and to live loved in this world, walking in reconciled rest in union with the heart of the Father. And when you walk aware of what you carry, you’d be surprised that people around you will put a demand on what you carry, but they’re not asking something of you; they’re asking of something that goes deeper than just your humanity. They’re putting a draw on the Holy Spirit of God within you so that you’re never without a solution to a problem.
So many things I could tell you to talk about regarding this, but I think of one quick example in the story. A dear friend of mine named Joaquin Evans, when he came to Christ, he pastors here at a church I serve at here in Bethel, Austin, and he came to Christ, and he started seeing incredible miracles happen through him.
He was just so surrendered to the love of God. Couldn’t believe that the Lord would grace him with so much, just so much love, so much grace, so much forgiveness. And he just started giving it away to everybody around him. As he started giving grace away, healing started happening, crazy healings started happening.
A lot of people around him looked at the healing that was happening to him and thought well, God favors him more. He’s got more power than we do. As if the Holy spirit is sliced up like a pie given out in portions, right?
And he knew that wasn’t the case; we decided in the time of prayer, just ask the Lord a question. Why am I seeing more breakthrough than all the people around me who I know love you? They’re saved. They’re even filled with the Holy Spirit. But why am I seeing more breakthrough? And he said, as clear as you could hear an audible voice speak internally, audibly, God spoke to him and says, “It’s because you let me love you.”
It’s because you let me love you. And I realized the greatest definition I’ve ever pondered for “belief” is to offer no resistance. Unbelief is just resistance to truth. And to offer no resistance, to the love of God is to basically say, God you have the freedom to love me, and I teach me how to receive your love.
There’s a good prayer to pray. That’s good language to come to a heart of surrender. Say, teach me how to receive that love. My understanding of the Holy Spirit is that he woos, like the wind of a beautiful hurricane, I could say. It just blows away all the junk that I’ve put up as a barrier between me and the love of God.
Anthony: Yeah, I’m just hooked on what you said about receiving that love and may I not be a barrier in any way to that love. Often, I’m my own worst enemy in that way.
And this is one of the reasons as we transition to our final pericope of the month, I’m struck by Mary. Even though what she was being told was like, “Oh, what?!” There was no hindrance to what the Lord was going to do by the Holy Spirit as the Spirit came over her.
So, let’s talk about that.
Small Group Discussion Questions
- The sermon says that “for Rome, peace was attained through victory and the often violent subjugation of enemies; in God’s vision for the world, peace came through justice and nonviolence.” What do you see as global governments approach to peace currently? Do you see tension occurring between these governments and Christians who wish to promote God’s vision for peace on earth?
- John’s view of repentance and emphasis on social justice included practical measures that could be applied by any person regardless of wealth or status, such as sharing resources and the avoidance of bullying or extortion. What practical steps could you apply in your own life to help someone in need?
- The sermon suggests that the four-week period of Advent is similar to Lent as both are times of life change and opportunities to consider how we live personally, nationally, and globally. Would considering Advent as an opportunity for repentance and transformation toward peaceful nonviolent resistance change the holiday season for you?
