The Guarantor of Promises

The Rev. Joseph Winston

December 9, 2007

Sermon

Grace and peace are gifts for you from God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.1
Texans can be proud of many different things because this state is different
from most other areas of the United States. One outstanding example of this fact is
that our great state was once an independent nation. In order to win that freedom,
Texans had to fight with Mexico. This area of the state around Liberty is full of
names of men who did exactly that. In the early stages of the Texas Revolution,
Andrew Briscoe’s Liberty Volunteers fought outside of Gonzales at the battle of
Concepción on October 28, 1835. They next saw action during the early days
of December in San Antiono at the Siege of Bexar where they secured the area
around the Alamo along with the mission itself.
On February 24, 1836, one day after Santa Anna attacked the Alamo, William
1
Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians
1:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:2, Philemon 1:3

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Barret Travis made his famous plea for assistance in the form of men and sup-
plies. Joseph Dunman took this message from Harrisburg and rode into Liberty on
March 2 with a copy of the letter. Answering the call, Captain William M. Logan
and Captain Franklin Harden of Liberty gathered men from the region and they
joined forces with Captain Benjamin Harper of Beaumont. The assembled troops
formed the Third Infantry Company, Second Regiment and led by Logan they set
out for San Antonio. They never made it to the mission because the Alamo fell
to Mexico on March 6. The regiment then joined up with General Sam Houston
at San Jacinto where they saw action in the battle that won Texas’ independence
from Mexico. Even though the war was over, Captains Harper and Hardin had
more work that they needed to do for the new republic. They re-enlisted most of
their troops and marched with the captured forces to the Rio Grande River.
In some ways, we all are beneficiaries of these men and of the sacrifices that
they along with their families made. Without the revolution it is difficult to see
how we would be citizens of the US. The tie to the US changed our dialect and
economy also. Our primary tongue is English and not Spanish. Our legal tender is
the dollar and not the peso.
However, it is difficult, if not impossible, to imaging that any of these changes
are the result of something that either you or I did. No one here decided that we
should be free of Mexico’s rule. None of us set our language or currency.
Now, if we would only remember that we cannot take responsibility for what
was given to us by our forbearers, then everything would be fine. The reality is that
we do not. This is the message that John the Baptizer shouts out to us in today’s

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Gospel lesson.
Because of the writing skill of Matthew, one can almost imagine the scene
surrounding this strange man. Somewhere out in the wilderness along the river
Jordan, John the Baptizer proclaims the surprising message that God’s kingdom
is near (Matthew 3:2).
We have grown so used to hearing the phrase that we really no longer under-
stand the radical message that he gave the world. The way that people looked at
the world during John’s day did not include our modern idea of having a place
where God exclusively exists, a location where God never ventures, and an area
where humanity resides. God lived among His people with His primary residence
being located in the Temple found in the city of Jerusalem. The statement that the
“kingdom of heaven has come near” means the King is on the move. No longer
is the King residing in the palace. He is out in His country, going from one side
to the other, surveying the situation. He is also actively working on improving the
state of all of His people.
In order to receive the King in their house, people had to prepare. This meant
practicing your etiquette: interacting as an inferior to the crown, bowing correctly
before the King and His court, and speaking properly to His majesty. In addition to
minding your “Ps and Qs,” the King of the Universe’s presence requires a purging
of your entire existence since our way of life is so foreign to God as white is from
black. John the Baptizer gives the people a chance to confess what they have done
wrong along with a washing that indicates their newly cleansed state.
Juxtaposed against this image of a man dressed in a camel hair robe and leather

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belt, baptizing people because the King was about to arrive is the picture of the
successful leaders of the Temple who come out to see what is happening out in the
wilderness. They believe none of this nonsense. God is seated in the Temple and
not planning to go anywhere. Because of this unshakable belief, no one, except
for the chief priest, needed to get ready to meet God. That honor is reserved for
only one man who entered the holy of holies but once a year. And if that was
not enough, they are completely and totally sure of their linage. Abraham is their
father.
This understanding of God and the Jewish faith by the Pharisees and Sad-
ducees, while technically correct, forgets the key idea of responsibility. It is God
who has decided to do each of these things. God is present in the Temple be-
cause God has made up His mind to live with His people. These Pharisees and
Sadducees are Jews since that was God’s choice.
To wake up the Pharisees and Sadducees from their wrong belief of God, John
the Baptizer yells out to them, “Do not presume 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” (Matthew 3:9).
This shocking sentence spoken by John the Baptizer does not say that God is
abandoning His promise to Abraham or that the lines of lines of inheritance so
carefully traced from Abraham to the present day do not matter. Rather it reminds
us that we need to look at who is behind the promise. It is God who made the
covenant to Abraham and it is God who upholds the oath in every generation.
That is not all that God has decided to do. God personally selected each one

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of you for salvation.
The complaints really start to flow once people comprehend the magnitude of
God’s control over our lives. Did God want you to exist? Yes. Did God call you
to follow Him? Yes. Did God want your parents to live? Yes. And their parents
before them? Yes. Every aspect of your life and that of your ancestors before you,
which had anything to do with God, was initiated because of a conscious decision
made by God. Your only choice in these matters is to say, “No. I do not want to
be saved.”
The timeless response of humanity against a God that loves us so much that He
personally created us and saved us is to elevate our self-importance in the matter.
In the time of Jesus, this reaction was typically seen in the actions of the Pharisees
and Sadducees. They had no need of John the Baptizer, confession, or forgiveness
since they knew that they were children of Abraham. They conveniently forget
that it was God who gave them life and made them a son of Abraham. Today, we
act in the same way. Researcher after researcher and study after study come to
the same conclusion that we are a Christian nation. The facts back up their work.
The people who are surveyed believe they are Christian because they say they are.
Due to their trust in themselves, these people are not found in churches on Sunday
because they have no need for Jesus, confession, or absolution. They have failed
to remember that it is God who gives them life and makes them a Christian.
Fortunately for us, we do not have to rely on our own actions to save ourselves.
Because if we did, we would never reach God. There are many different reasons
for this weakness but they all boil down to a single fact. We love ourselves so

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much that we forget our neighbors right outside our doors. Jesus is the only man
who cared for others as much as he cared for himself.
Everything that Jesus did for you is a free gift from God for our benefit. We
will see this love for the world first hand in a few more weeks. He will be born, He
will live, and He will die. All of this work, especially His sacrifice on the cross, is
there because He cares for you.
The center of the Advent Season is this present placed in your heart by God.
Every year we come back and listen once again to the accounts how Jesus did all
of this for us because these messages seem to be too good to be true. But they
are not. Jesus came here on earth, lived among us, suffered and died because He
wanted you to be with Him forever.
One hundred and seventy two years ago, many Texan men lost their lives so
that we could live in freedom. This costly sacrifice by these brave men cost us
nothing but the benefits they gave us are invaluable. The challenge for us Texans
is to remember that we are the recipients of a gift given to us by others. We had
nothing to do with it.
The same train of thought holds true in Today’s Gospel lesson. God came to
the father of the Israelites and established an eternal covenant with Abraham not
because he deserved anything but instead because God wanted to give all Jews the
gifts of true life. Their challenge is to remember the fact. The exact issue faces
each of us. Jesus came to us and gave us forgiveness and life. We did nothing to
earn salvation.
“The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and

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minds through Christ Jesus.”2

2
Philippians 4:7.