Great Still

Greater Still

Introduction

Each year I somehow always get caught off guard and fall behind in my plans for the season. This year is no different. Somehow, I get dates mixed up. I get weekend plans mixed up. I think there are more weeks in December than there are. This season is also a busy time of year. We have rushed schedules to get all the plans accomplished and get all we can out of the season. However, it is often easy to accept this is what the season is. It is just a busy time of the year where we get together with family and celebrate Christmas. We get some time out of school or off work and then we start the new year over. Let us reflect this season not just on what we can see and plan and do, but what greater things may be ahead for us when we abandon worldly ways and commit our hearts and lives to following Jesus.

Trouble in the passage

As I was thinking about John the Baptist and his preaching in our passage, I got to thinking they probably were in the same boat we are. They accepted his message and decided to try and do right. This is the plan they had and that was the extent of what they thought was possible. This was in fact the extent of what was possible in their lives based on everything they had seen or heard about God.

They had to turn away from the world and turn back to God and repent. Each of them asked what should they do and John in turn told them. Share what they have to share. Don’t take more than what you are required to. Show by your actions you are truly committed to turning your life to God.

Yet, I can’t help but wonder if they also had that nagging feeling of, yes I can do this and yes it will help my relationship with God, but is that all there is to life, to suffer through until the end? You see of the person who managed to get ahead in life, not by honest means but by wordly ways, it meant a return to the hard life where you struggle to just get by. For the solider it was the same, go back to the meager pay you may receive and accept that alone as how you survive.

In their hearts, John’s message had convinced them it was right but it meant, accept that life will always be hard and unfair and you will just have to accept there is nothing more. However, as we said last week, John was preparing the way for someone much greater. John was preparing for a better alternative to life that meant something could be different. Someone was coming who could make life and the possibilities much greater still than what they could manage on their own. Now that they had turned their hearts and committed to repenting of the worldly ways, the savior of the world needed to bring in a greater life than what they had.

Trouble in the world

Ironically, our own journey into Christianity can often look just like this crowd. When you think of it, you were convinced at one point of your sinful nature and how this broke your relationship with God. You also were convinced that you needed to turn your life over to God and follow His ways instead of the worldly ways you may have been taught. Perhaps this is where you are stuck at today.

Wavering between I am trying my best to repent of my sins in the past and working to follow Christ’s ways. Yet, my life does not feel much different other than a realization of the ongoing struggle in my soul. It feels as if you are struggled and working all on your own and you may be wondering if this is just what the rest of life will be like.

When we get stuck in this way, we wonder if there is something better than this ongoing struggle where we get worn down. While we know eternity is at stake, is there nothing but this ongoing wrestling against the sin of the world?

We too know when we abandon the world’s ways, then we may face troubles from this. When we go against the normal, then we may lose friends or family who think we take this Christian life too serious. So if we didn’t have enough issues on our own in trying to live like Christ, now the world may reject us or fight against us.

Sin is like that. If it does not work directly in temptation then it tries indirectly to wear you down. In other words if direct temptation does not work, then temptation will come from other places that may make you second guess. In other words, it is one thing if it is just my personal life choices that are affected, but it is harder when it affects my family too.

Just like that crowd who accept John’s teaching, we wonder is there something greater than this life struggle against sin?

Grace in the text

The answer is yes. This crowd and all others before them struggled on their own strength to change. Yet, even John knew the Messiah would bring in something greater than just repairing their broken relationship with God. The Messiah was someone who promised something much greater than a life of struggling on their own against sin.

His promise was to bring in the Holy Spirit that would make all the difference in each person’s life who committed to following God. In the Old Testament, you only hear brief moments when the Spirit of the Lord came upon people like Samson or hovered over the arc of the covenant. Here is something new that the people had never seen or heard of. This new baptism with the Holy Spirit was a new offer of grace that had never been extended. No longer would they be on their own in their struggle against sin. Yes the Holy Spirit can separate those areas of their lives where sin continued to bring them down. Yes, the Holy Spirit came to help them live new lives this side of eternity. The Holy Spirit came to empower them in their struggle against sin and the temptations of this world. No longer where they alone in this struggle. No longer were they alone in sorting through what was good and what was not. Now the Holy Spirit would come into their lives and personally empower them and guide them.

God’s grace came in a personal way to save them and give them a greater life this side of eternity.

Grace in the world

In returning back to our own lives, the same is true still today. When we make that commitment to turn away from sin and follow God’s ways, then God sends the Holy Spirit into our lives. Maybe we don’t understand it or recognize this but the promise is there.

There is comfort in knowing we are not alone in that struggle against sin. There is peace in knowing God has not left us alone in this struggle. The more we go against sin, then yes the more sin may try to throw at us, but the one who fights for us is always greater than anything in this world. In other words, while sin may try to convince us there is no alternative, God says there is and gives us a way.

In this Christmas season, we often are moved to give to others. In other seasons like Thanksgiving we are moved to remember to be thankful for what we have been given. In Easter season we celebrate Christ conquering sin and death by dying on the cross and rising from the grave. In some ways these are seasonal reminders we have where we can reflect and see God’s grace working in us and around us.

Truth is, the evidence is there but we don’t always see it because sin tries to blind us. We sometimes let our guard down and think we are safe against sin and then we get the harsh reality of how weak we are on our own strength. This too is God’s grace at work. You see the Holy Spirit may let you make wrong choices, but this does not mean the Holy Spirit abandon’s you. God did not give up on that stubborn crowd gathered around Jesus, shouting crucify him. God did not give up on disciples who abandoned Jesus and fled when he was arrested.

The promise of the Holy Spirit is the promise of a greater life possible in front of you. There is simply the step of turning to God and letting the Holy Spirit guide you into this greater life. While the lure or temptation of sin and the world still remains, you are no longer alone in this struggle. While the images we see of evil running free in this world may be troubling, we may also see where God too is moving and changing people’s lives. God is still greater than anything in this world and the promise is to carry you away from the world’s ways and into a greater life as a disciple of Christ.