“Expectation of What is Good"
December 16, 2012
The 3rd Sunday of Advent
His Eminence
Archbishop of Manila
December 16, 2012
The 3rd Sunday of Advent
Zephaniah 3: 14 – 20/Psalm 85/Philippians 4: 4 – 9/Luke 3: 7 – 18
His Eminence
The Most Reverend Archbishop Loren Thomas Hines D.D.
Archbishop of Manila
and
Primate
of the
National Church in the Philippines
and
the Territorial Church of Asia
International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church
This is the Third Sunday of Advent of preparation. Looking forward to a time of great excitement and great joy. As a child, I would remember Christmas as one of the most exciting times of the year. I did not really know why, but yet, there was the excitement of people around, the excitement of the Church, the excitement of the community where everything was built towards the remembrance of Christ and the second coming of our Lord. There were ‘belens’ everywhere. There were proclamations of Christ everywhere. A man, a person or a child would have deeply entrenched within them the awareness of the hope we have in Christ.
In Zephaniah, it says to Israel and to Zion, “Shout for joy, the Lord has taken His judgments against you away.” Here is the most important thing that you and I can have in our life – the awareness that Christ has forgiven us. The sins are gone; the iniquities are gone; therefore, the consequence of those things does not belong to us like the fears and the anxieties. Zephaniah says, “The Lord is in your midst, a victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy. He will be quiet in His love. He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.”
When we reflect what God has done for us, God rejoices. He is so thankful that His Son paid the price that we can be free and that we can have new life. This is something that should be deeply entrenched within our hearts. This is why during these few days of Advent, we have been more silent because meditation is that which brings to our hearts truth. We are so used to things being noisy and flamboyant that many times, we do not open our hearts to receive because our emotions take over.
Last Sunday, we had asked that we do not bring out the music and yet there were those who were singing. When they hear the music, immediately the emotion begins to flow. What about the heart? We must learn to live from the heart, not from the emotions. We must learn to live from the assurance and the confidence that comes with God in our heart. Even in the silence, we have the joy. Even in the silence, we have the peace. We don’t have to be stirred up by something to make us feel good. We feel good because we have peace with God. We have the joy that comes in the assurance that our sins are gone. Our iniquities are wiped away. We have an assurance of hope eternity with God.
God says, “Don’t worry about all these things. I will take care of them. Those people who are against you, I clear away your enemies. I will fix it so that you will not fear disaster anymore.” It may be there for He didn’t say that He is going to take it away, but He says, “You won’t fear because you have that security, that confidence, that peace in your heart.” It comes only because of a relationship with Christ. It comes because we have the assurance that He is with us and He will not fail or forsake us. This is the beauty of our God, the confidence of our God, the love that He has for us and the provision of His love for us and through us.
Philippians 4 tells us that we are to rejoice in the Lord always. It doesn’t say when things are happy or when things are exciting. It says, “Rejoice in the Lord, always.” This includes times of trouble, darkness, silence. It includes those times when emotionally we don’t feel like we are driven. We are pushed, encouraged, and stirred up. We still have that joy and we are rejoicing in God because we know that His peace within us, the assurance of His confidence with us is that which cannot be taken away by circumstances or situations.
Circumstances may seem difficult at the moment. It may seem very hard to handle, but yet within, we have this confidence and this assurance that if God is with us, nothing can be against us successfully. We have this ability when in the Spirit there is this confidence in us. “Rejoice in the Lord always…Let our forbearing spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.” We don’t allow these things to take away our peace, our confidence, but we just hang firm. We stand solid. We do not move because the Lord is near.
It seems as though the world is falling apart. It seems as though trouble is on every side. It seems like tragedy for every moment is taking place. Yet in the midst of all of these storms, peace, confidence, joy, and security is with those who know their God. They know that God can’t allow us to be put to shame. He won’t and He is there to protect. He is there to give honor.
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let your petitions be made known to God.” It is not asking but thanking God because He has already given to us everything. We lack in nothing. We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in heaven. Therefore, whenever there seems to be a need, it should come in the midst of thanksgiving. “Thank You, Father, for the confidence that this trial will not overcome me. Thank You, God, that in the midst of my lack, You will supply my need because You promised. Thank You, Father, that even though my body is crippled and in pain, I thank You for the healing that is mine because Christ bore those stripes for me and by those stripes I was healed.”
Thanksgiving, not pleading, not begging, but giving thanks to God! Giving Him that honor that He has already provided for us even though we have not yet the faith to receive it or we have not yet manifested, but we know it is there. It belongs to us. “This is mine.” In the midst of darkness, I say, “Thank you, Lord. I know that You are my light. I know that You are my hope. I know that You are my strength. I am not going to be anxious about this. It may come for a moment, but when I stop and meditate, from my heart flows that peace. Out of my heart flows that river of living water that brings to me the confidence and the assurance and the peace that comes in knowing God.”
“Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything is worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.” How many times do we dwell on the difficult, the impossible? We dwell on the problem. We dwell on the test rather than dwelling on what is true. The truth is that Christ has delivered us from these. He has set us free. Even though these things seem to hold us in bondage for the moment, they cannot last because He has set us free.
This is our hope. No longer the anxiety, no longer the stress, no longer the fear and the worry, but instead joy and confidence because God is greater than all of these situations. God brings to us a peace and an assurance. Like the Hebrew children saying, “I can walk the fiery furnace and not be burned. I can lay like Daniel with lion and it will not consume me. I can be like Gideon, untrained, unprepared, but yet going to war and coming out victoriously. It is not because of me, but because of my confidence and my trust in God. God will not fail me. He will not forsake me.
“The things that you have learned and you have received and heard and seen in me, practice these things.” Here is our problem. We say we know. We say we believe. Do we practice? Is it part of our life? Is it part of our everyday existence to bring out that which God has given to us? Do we walk that way rather than walk in the anxiety and the fear? Walking in the despair, walking in the need and the want rather than walking in the abundance of His compassion, His love, and His grace and mercy?
“Practice these things.” It is not enough just to know them. It is not just enough to believe them. If you don’t practice them, it means it is not in your heart. There is something wrong and there is something that is not real to you. It will not bring the peace, the security, and the confidence. If you practice these things, even in the midst of the fiery furnace, you will not get burned.
The three Hebrew children would not bow down to Nebuchadnezzar’s idol. They were practicing what they believe. They knew that if they bowed down, they wouldn’t go to the fiery furnace; but they knew also that if they bowed down, they would offend God. They would rather offend Nebuchadnezzar than to offend God. They knew that God would not fail them. The men that threw them in the fire were killed by the fire just at the door of the furnace. The Hebrew children walked through the fire and they were not burned. They did not even smell like smoke.
This is God’s promise, His provision for us if only we believe. If only our faith is so rooted in our hearts, it doesn’t intimidate us and threaten us to be in the midst of this difficult situation – whatever it may be knowing my God that He will not fail me.
This is what the Third Sunday of Advent wants us to recognize. We prepare ourselves by knowing God. We prepare ourselves by feeding our spirit and building confidence in our hearts so that we know that regardless of what may come and what may take place, these things do not destroy us. They will not take away our joy, our confidence.
In the gospel, there were those coming out towards John the Baptist baptizing people. They wanted to be baptized so that they could get away from the all turmoil and the problems. They have heard that, “When you become a Christian, when you come into the kingdom of God, everything becomes beautiful.” They came wanting this baptism so that their life could be good. John addresses them and calls them a brood of vipers. He said, “Who told you that you could flee from the wrath to come?”
We think many times, “If I just believe God, if I just claim Him, then I am okay. I don’t need to worry.” It is more than that. It is more than just a casual acquaintance. It is more than just a casual commitment. God wants the heart. He wants us to worship Him out of the heart and the fullness of the heart – our whole being and all that we are.
John says, “Therefore bring forth fruits in keeping with repentance.” If we have confessed our sins before God, then it is required of us that we bring forth the fruit of that repentance. If we have been delivered, if we believe that He has forgiven us, then we should live our lives accordingly. We should bring out the evidence that we have been set free. We should bring out the evidence that we no longer are in bondage but we have been delivered because of Christ.
What is the evidence of our repentance? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance, worthy of repentance; heart changed and hating sin. This is what takes place when repentance is real. We have a change of heart. Things begin to be different for us because the heart has been cleansed. The holiness and the righteousness of God have been transplanted in us. “He who knew no sin became sin that we might become the righteousness of God, in Him.”
Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who lives, but it is Christ who lives in me.” It should change my life from “I”. “I should not be the center of attention any longer. I should not be the center of my control or my desires. I should not be the center of all my actions.” Things are not done for me. Things are not for me. Things are not building me up. It is Christ in me and the life of Christ is that which I do for others.
Galatian5:22 says of the fruit of the Spirit, the evidence of repentance is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. In other words, this is a disciplined life. This is what happens when we accept Christ, when we die to ourselves and He becomes the Source of our lives. This is the evidence of that repentance. This is the evidence that He is with us. That self-control, that discipline makes us live out the words, the promises, the commitments.
It brings us to a place where that our lives is what which others can depend upon because we are like Christ. We are living out the evidence of our faith. We are living out the evidence of our repentance. “You can depend upon us. We are faithful; we are loyal. Our commitments we keep. We are on time. We are not late.” It is self-control. It is discipline in my life. I keep my commitments. I keep my promises. I keep my fulfillment of my task. I have no excuses. Excuses are not in my vocabulary because I have the choice of setting the course and the direction. Christ in me gives me the ability to bring forth that which is of excellence and ability, that which is of His kingdom and brings forth the hope and help to others.
There were those when John was talking about this who came and said, “What are we going to do?” John said, “If you have two tunics, you give one to somebody who does not have a tunic. You don’t need two. The evidence of your repentance is your concern for others.” The soldiers came and they asked, “What do we do?” John said, “You don’t intimidate, you don’t threaten and go beyond that which has to be. You make certain that you are kind to others. You are considerate, loving and gentle and you have peace.” The tax gatherers said, “What do we do?” John said, “You only do what you have to do. You don’t go beyond that by fraud, by false deception. You only do what is right. That is all.”
This is the evidence of repentance. The evidence that something is taking place within us. John says, “There is a time coming when Jesus will baptize with the Spirit and fire. And His winnowing fork in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor.” This little phrase should shake us because it says that when the heart is not His, and we are mocking the salvation that He has given us, He is going to clear us out of the way of others. He will set us aside.
Sometimes I wonder why people walk out from the Church. Their hearts are not here. God does not want them to pull the Church down so He removes them. They are controlled by their emotions and other things. God will not allow them to stay on the threshing floor. The threshing floor is that which is going to prepare for feeding, for provision, and for life for others. When someone gets in the way, He is going to remove them. They will get angry. They will get upset. They will be offended by something and they will walk away. Not realizing the reason is because they have not lived out and practice their redemption.
What a question for us in our own lives to be cautious with. Remember the fig tree when it didn’t have fruit? Christ cursed it. Do we have the fruit of our redemption? Are we allowing our redemption to bring forth evidence of our peace as Christ? We must build our confidence in Him.
Ahead of us perhaps are some very trying times. If we don’t know God and we don’t have that confidence in Him, and we are not living out and bringing out the fruit of our lives, we may be shaken. We may be intimidated and threatened.
This week in the United States, the most heinous crime they said that has ever occurred has taken place. A 20 year-old boy first kills his mother, and then goes into a school in the kindergarten classroom and kills twenty young children. The crime in the US is continually climbing and becoming more and more gruesome. There had been crimes in the schools before in the high school or college, but now it is now in the elementary. Now, it is down to the bottom.
Yesterday, all day long, the major news networks were digging into this. BBC in London canceled all their programming because they said that this is something that is so shaking to the whole world that this would happen in America. They were trying to find out why the evil. What is going on? What is happening? They were bringing in all kinds of people, even the priests to ask why these are taking place. The general consensus is that number one, they have turned against God. Number two, we have not trained our children showing them right and wrong. We let them do whatever they want. That freedom given to the children causes them to have no rest because inside of them, this battle is going on. Therefore, they think they can do whatever they want because they have never been told by their parents they can’t do some things. They have never been disciplined. The parents just let them do whatever they want.
Why would someone kill a mother? Why would someone kill twenty children, six teachers and kill himself? They have no value for life. Life doesn’t mean anything to them. Ever since they have been aborting children in the United States, the crimes are getting worse and worse and worse. You cannot turn against God and not expect things to go wrong.
Our President is pushing for this same bill to be brought to our nation. Tomorrow, he is pushing to have the Senate confirm what the Congress has already done. If it goes through, you must get ready. We are going to have trouble. We are going to go through major things. The United States was brought up in discipline and order in law. We don’t have that base here. We live in anarchy basically. We don’t really have a tight government. We don’t really have a tight system of law. We just basically do what we want. Look at EDSA and see how the buses stay in their lanes. Go to a stoplight and see how many people will stop even though it is red. How much of our lives are just what I want, never mind anybody else? We start not on a solid foundation. If this law goes through, we may find ourselves in major conflict.
We must get our faith established firm. Regardless what happens, we must be solid, secure and it comes out of our hearts. I share this today not in sadness, in fear or anxiety. But of concern because if we don’t prepare ourselves, when the tragedy comes, can we handle it? This is Advent. This is preparation. Can we face it? Most people don’t understand that this bill came out of the heart of hell. We are doing it because others are telling us that they like us to be like them. Can’t we not be ourselves? Can’t we be Filipinos and have to follow others? Cannot God be the Source of our lives? What is wrong with us? Are we so insecure that we have to follow others climbing others over the cliff?
We put our lives in God’s hands. I encourage you to be in prayer these next few hours before tomorrow. This is why the Bishops are fighting this so strongly because they know the consequences. They have seen the consequences in other countries. They know what will happen to us. They are fearful, they are anxious, they are concerned. We must prepare ourselves because if difficulty comes, can we handle it? Will we be able to hold our head high and say, “God is with me. I can be in the midst of the fiery furnace. I will not get burned.”
The choice is ours. We take our commitment to God so causally. We don’t find ourselves giving of ourselves freely. We don’t find ourselves totally committed to following Him. Just a little activity on a Sunday and we are not in Church. A little this or that and we find ourselves say, “Bahala na, God understands.” Yes, He understands we are not committed.
If we are going to survive, we have to be committed. He is using His winnowing fork. Other Scriptures says, “I will shake everything that can be shaken.” Are we going to be solid? Are we going to be secure? This is the time of preparation. This is the time when we get ourselves ready for that which is coming.
May we be committed to make sure that our lives are walking where it should be with Him. I don’t share this in fear, in anxiety, but out of concern for us. Let us evaluate ourselves. Where are we? If we look at our lives, do our lives reflect Christ in us? Are we committed to what we do? Are we giving our whole being in what we do? Or we just say, “That is good enough.”We want to be what God wants us to be.
We have gone through three Sundays of being solemn so that we can really get it into our hearts. It is not punishment, but it is letting us see because some can’t still get there because they let their emotions control them rather than the heart. It is the heart that is important. It is what God wants us to have. May we be what He wants us to be. May our confidence and our faith be in Him. When things around us go wrong, we say, “I am okay because I have Christ. I won’t be affected.” Let us build our faith and our confidence in the greatness of our God.
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