Episode 1498: Presence

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining me on episode 1, 498 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:00:08] Jem Fuller: I'm Jem Fuller. I challenge you to invest in yourself. Invest in others, develop your influence, and impact the world by using your time, your talent, and your treasures to live out your calling. Having the ability to communicate with kindness, even to yourself, is key.

[00:00:27] And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this, the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. And

[00:00:44] Scott Maderer: it begins with being present at all moments to and with one another, not those of us in the church building, but one another, all people, all of the time, no matter what they look like, act like, vote [00:01:00] like, believe like. Love like no matter what to open our hearts to all. Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:01:12] If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling. In the Inspired Stewardship Podcast, you will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others, and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.

[00:01:40] In today's Spiritual Foundation episode, I talk about Luke chapter 3, verses 7 through 18. I share how this joyful Sunday is about brightness in our brokenness and about changing the world. I also share how it's about making massive change through small seeming actions. [00:02:00] Luke chapter 3 verses 7 through 18 says, John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, You brood of vipers!

[00:02:08] Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Therefore 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. Even now the axe 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.

[00:02:32] And the crowds asked him, What then should we do? In reply, he said to them, whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none and whoever has food must do. Likewise, even tax collectors came to be baptized and they asked him, teacher, what should we do? He said to them, collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.

[00:02:53] Soldiers also asked him, and we, what should we do? And he said to them, do not extort money from anyone [00:03:00] by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages. As the people were filled with expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, I baptize you with water, but one who is more powerful than I is coming.

[00:03:19] I am not worthy to untie the straps of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 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 with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.

[00:03:40] In many churches, this is a Sunday that is formally known as Gaudete Sunday. This is a joyful celebration. You often see colored candles or candles of pink and rose and these light brightnesses in the dark blue or purple that we [00:04:00] use for the pyramids during Advent. And at first glance, this passage makes you go, wait a minute, this is this Sunday of joy and brightness and pink and rose.

[00:04:11] And why are we still hearing from John the Baptist? Shouldn't the gospel reading move from that to something more inspirational? This passage starts with, you brood of vipers. Something seems to be seriously out of sync between a Sunday of music and joy. This passage and the appropriate response to do things seriously out of sync here is, yes, they do.

[00:04:40] Something is seriously out of sync. Something has gone awry astray. Something has moved into a place that it doesn't seem to be something has gone wrong, and that is actually the message of advent. Or this period [00:05:00] of the prelude to Advent. Something has gone wrong, but there is hope. Something has gone wrong, but there's a remedy, there's a cure.

[00:05:10] Something has gone wrong, but something can make it right. Even though something has gone wrong, you will find yourself not far from the kingdom, or the kindom, or both. Here in this moment, that's where joy resides. Not in the denial of the wrongness, not in the denial of saying no, everything's good here.

[00:05:31] Not in the denial of the brokenness that we have inside ourselves, but recognizing that brokenness is not the last word. It's not the defining word. Joy resides in the promise of redemption. After John starts with this, maybe not the best kind of thing to start a sermon with, saying, you breed of vipers, the response is surprising.

[00:05:59] [00:06:00] Instead of the people hearing him looking at him and going no. What are you talking about? Not us. Or pouting or writing him off as out of touch. all of the things that I've seen happen when people are calling out hard truths. Instead, they ask an important question. What then should we do?

[00:06:22] The Greek word in here is S U N pronounced soon in Greek. And it tells us this word when the people study the Greek word and look at it, it's an idea. That is a conjunction and it's an inferential. In other words, it's a word of logical transition. It's like the word therefore, except it doesn't begin at the beginning of a sentence, but rather in the middle.

[00:06:50] It's a transition that's saying, we agree with you. Now what? And the point here is that the listeners are [00:07:00] agreeing with what John. has said, at least to some degree, all that stuff about axes and ancestors and wrath and fruit. They said, yeah, you're right. I can see it. We can see it. We can feel the truth of that.

[00:07:14] We know this is a moment in time where something has gone wrong. There is great brokenness in this moment. There's something wrong in this moment. And what should we do? If all of that is true, what should we do? How do we get on the right side of history? How do we fix what's gone wrong? How do we make something better than what has come before?

[00:07:43] That may seem like it's too big of a question, and it isn't, because John's answer may seem to be small, somewhat mundane, some simple even. Maybe we would lean into it and take it more seriously if he said, [00:08:00] fix all that's gone wrong, make the world a better place, share the gospel, work for justice.

[00:08:05] And don't get me wrong, all of those things I think are important and things that we should be doing. But often times we make things too difficult, too vague, too big. Work for justice, what does that even mean? How do we do that? What does that look like? How do I respond to that in my own way? Sometimes I'm a coach.

[00:08:28] I help people around their time, their talent, and their treasures. And oftentimes I find that the best way to start is to find some small first step. Something doable and yet also something challenging, something new, something that they've never done before, but it moves them in the direction of where they want to go.

[00:08:51] John says, Give away your cloak. Treat your clients fairly. Don't use your power to your own advantage. Don't lie. [00:09:00] Don't grumble. If you think about it, those are simple things, and yet they're world changing things. Thanks. Really, they are. They're world changing because underneath these simple actions about how we prepare for the coming of the Messiah, there's an invitation.

[00:09:18] There's an invitation to be present in the moment. John is telling those listening, those that are shaken by this message from the wild man in the desert, to be present in this moment. He's telling those who are doing okay, to pay attention to those who aren't. He's telling those who are collecting taxes to see those whom they collect taxes from as people with stories and lies and relationships, not simply sheep to be fleeced.

[00:09:50] He's telling the soldiers, the wielders of physical power, to acknowledge that those weaker and more vulnerable have a place in their world too. In [00:10:00] other words, John is saying if you have power. See others as people, not as victims who I can take advantage of with my power. I think in today's world, you can see that this is a radical message, a radical way of reorienting the world.

[00:10:20] It's turning the world to be more honest, but it's starting with a small step. What can you individually do to recognize those around you? Those that are hungry and to give them food, those that are cold and to give them warmth, those that need justice and power and equality and freedom and give them those things, not so that you can hold on to your power, but so that others can come into theirs as well.

[00:10:51] The call here is to recognize that Advent is not a secret for those of us on the inside to hoard and keep to ourselves. It [00:11:00] is an announcement that we live in a way that should be an invitation, a call to a new way of living, a new way of being. And it begins with being present at all moments, to and with the world.

[00:11:16] one another, not those of us in the church building, but one another, all people, all of the time, no matter what they look like, act like, vote like, believe like, love like, no matter what, to open our hearts to all. Thanks for listening.

[00:11:40] Thanks so much for listening to the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode, do me a favor, go over [00:12:00] to facebook. com slash inspired stewardship and like our Facebook page and market.

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