Sermon Tone Analysis
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In those days John the Baptist appeared in the desert of Judea announcing, 2 “Change your hearts and lives!
Here comes the kingdom of heaven!” 3 He was the one of whom Isaiah the prophet spoke when he said:
The voice of one shouting
in the wilderness,
“Prepare the way for the Lord;
make his paths straight.”e
4 John wore clothes made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist.
He ate locusts and wild honey.
5 People from Jerusalem, throughout Judea, and all around the Jordan River came to him.
6 As they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River.
7 Many Pharisees and Sadducees came to be baptized by John.
He said to them, “You children of snakes!
Who warned you to escape from the angry judgment that is coming soon?
8 Produce fruit that shows you have changed your hearts and lives.
9 And don’t even think about saying to yourselves, Abraham is our father.
I tell you that God is able to raise up Abraham’s children from these stones.
10 The ax is already at the root of the trees.
Therefore, every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be chopped down and tossed into the fire.
11 I baptize with water those of you who have changed your hearts and lives.
The one who is coming after me is stronger than I am.
I’m not worthy to carry his sandals.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
12 The shovel he uses to sift the wheat from the husks is in his hands.
He will clean out his threshing area and bring the wheat into his barn.
But he will burn the husks with a fire that can’t be put out.”
Into the wilderness
Growing up I loved to spend time in the woods.
Up until I was 14 we lived in a small cluster of 4 houses near my dad’s workplace.
It was a very rural area surrounded by hills and trees.
We had neighbors a little further away.
Growing up I loved to spend time in the woods.
Up until I was 14 we lived in a small cluster of 4 houses near my dad’s workplace.
It was a very rural area surrounded by hills and trees.
We had neighbors a little further away.
This was back in the day before all the electronic gadgets came into our lives.
My brother and I would spend the bulk of our free time in the woods.
We built tree houses and forts.
We knew were all the animal trails were, where all the springs were, where the open meadows were.
In my mind I can still walk those trails.
One of my favorite places is the area around Cook’s Forest.
Any of you ever been there?
There are virgin hemlock trees that survived the deforestation when logging was a huge deal in the late 1800’s.
It is a beautiful area with the Clarion river running through it.
It is a beautiful area to visit.
We’ve rented a camp there a couple of times.
It is a great place to get away from it all.
My family is originally from that area so I grew up knowing the area really well.
The Cook family that originally owned this forested area is distant relatives of mine.
The original ancestor, John Cook went there in anticipation of establishing a canal to travel from the eastern part of the state.
He wanted to prepare the way for people to get to the western part of the state before the railroads came.
When you visit the area, it is like stepping into the wilderness.
In our scripture text this morning we step into the wilderness for a new beginning that is being announced by John the Baptist.
The vast, foreboding wilderness seems an odd place for a new beginning.
Have you ever been in a wilderness area?
We don’t always think of vast, foreboding, desert areas as being a place for new things to begin or grow—yet that is what we see here in the text.
When I think of a desert area, I think of sand and hot and dry.
I imagine I would see poisonous snakes and insects.
There would be cacti and some brush, but nothing really growing that would garner my attention.
In the midst of the wilderness, something new is happening.
We’ve seen it throughout the story of Scripture:
Moses received his call from God in the wilderness.
He was attending to his father-in-laws sheep when God met him at the burning bush.
The people of God being delivered from Pharaoh’s hand and continually being provided for in the wilderness.
They spent forty years wandering through the wilderness until they were permitted to enter into the promised land.
Jesus spent fourty days in the wilderness, praying and then was tempted by Satan.
Throughout the breadth of Scripture God’s hand and provision have been present even in the harshest places, the most barren lands.
In church history, we see mothers and fathers who intentionally travel to places of wilderness to deepen their faith with God; mystics who meditate, pray, and write, who call the church to be who we are supposed to be.
While most of us spend time avoiding wilderness places and spaces in our hearts and lives, it appears that, while seemingly barren, these are the very grounds on which God chooses to birth new life.
Here in today’s text, we are in a wilderness.
We are not in a synagogue, not in a temple, not in a city—but at the edge of a river in a barren land.
As someone with wild hair and crazy clothes cries out, “Something new is happening.
Someone is coming.
Repent!
Be ready!
Be ready for this new thing that God is doing!”
The New Exodus
In those days John the Baptist appeared in the desert of Judea announcing
This passage has sometimes been referred to as ushering in the new exodus.
It takes place in the wilderness.
We read there in verse 1:
This passage has sometimes been referred to as ushering in the new exodus.
It takes place in the wilderness.
This passage has sometimes been referred to as ushering in the new exodus.
It takes place in the wilderness.
In those days John the Baptist appeared in the desert of Judea announcing
In those days John the Baptist appeared in the desert of Judea announcing
b.
It takes place in the wilderness.
We know that the wilderness was a big image in the exodus.
The exodus was from slavery in Egypt.
God had promised them a new home, a land flowing with milk and honey.
i.
We know that the wilderness was a big image in the exodus.
ii.
Moses was called in the wilderness.
Moses was called in the wilderness while working as a shepherd.
He was reluctant to leave his comfort zone and step out in faith.
iii.
The people wandered in the wilderness for forty years.
The children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years because they did not have the faith that God was big enough to defeat the people who were living in their new home.
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