Sermon for 12/7/11 "Pointing to the Christ"

Sermon “Pointing to the Christ” Our Advocate, speak on our behalf before the Father, pleading the cleansing of sins, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Just who do you think you are? That question has rung in my ears more than once. How about yours? Who do you think you are, some sort of expert? I remember once, long ago, when I worked as a bill collector, in a position of considerable authority in the office, that I picked up the phone and was greeted by someone who immediately said he didn’t want to talk with some peon, he wanted me to give him to someone in charge of something. Though I could have helped him considerably he refused to talk with me, assuming that nobody who was in a position to help him would ever answer the phone. But when we talk of spiritual matters, when we talk about Jesus and his work, people might ask us who we think we are. What kind of authority do we have? Why are we able to make up this rule that says Jesus is the only one who can forgive sin? Why are we able to come up with this dogma that says everyone is guilty? Our unbelieving culture always brings up the idea that these forceful distinctive statements of the Christian church were made up by a bunch of power-hungry men who wanted to oppress women and everyone else they could bring under their control. Who do we think we are, anyway? Who did John the Baptizer think he was? He was the one pointing the way to Jesus. He was the one announcing that salvation was coming from God, and was coming in the person and work of Jesus. He was the one saying that Jesus was coming to cleanse people from sin and to give them the Holy Spirit. He denied being the Christ. He even denied being a prophet who was worthy of honor. He simply said he was pointing the way to Jesus. So who do we think we are? May we be found as the people who point the way to Jesus, the one who has redeemed us from sin. May we be found as the people who look to Jesus who lived a life of perfect righteousness, a life which we can look at and say definitively that we could not live. May we be found as the people who ask Jesus to guide us through life and even through death, because he is the one who has been through life and through death without any sin. May we be found as the people who ask that God’s will may be done, not our own, knowing that it is God who is the perfect judge, the perfect creator, redeemer, and sustainer of all. May we be the people who are found to look to our Lord for his loving kindness. May we be the people who confess our sins to our Lord, not so we can seem more holy, but so that he may put his holiness into our lives. May we be the people who do works of righteousness, not so we can profit, but so our neighbors can profit. May we be the people who are found faithful, walking in the way Jesus walked. May we be the people who walk in love, fulfilling the commandment to love one another. Who do we think we are? Not the Christ, but people who wish to look to the Christ. May his word abide in us richly, building our lives up in this precious faith, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.