December 14/15/16, 2013  Advent 3
Sermon by Pastor Paul G. Eckert
Sermon text - Matthew 11:1-11
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    CHRISTMAS - LET THERE BE NO DOUBT!  I said
Christmas, but let’s start out with Easter.  At the first Easter, instead of
expecting Jesus’ resurrection, all of Jesus’ disciples first wondered
about it.  But one of them, Thomas, became infamous for his doubting.
When told of Jesus’ resurrection he said, “Unless I see the nail marks
in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my
hand into his side, I will not believe it.”  But later, when doubting
Thomas finally saw the risen Jesus, he said, “My Lord and my God!”
He no longer doubted, but believed the truth of the resurrection.
    Let’s move on now from the doubting that took place at the first
Easter and come to our present season of the church year and say,
CHRISTMAS - LET THERE BE NO DOUBT!
I    WAS DOUBT PRESENT HERE?  (1-3)
    1. Jesus was carrying out His ministry.  (1)
After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went
on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee.
        a) That ministry included teaching His disciples for three years so
that they could do the preaching in the future after the first Easter.
        b) That instructing was not only 12 students and 1 teacher, but
learning also took place as the disciples traveled with Jesus and heard
Him preach to many people as He carried out His ministry on earth.
    2. John had met consequences in his ministry.  (2a)
When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, ---.
        a) Why was John in prison?  Matthew 14 tells us, “Now Herod
had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because
of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, for John had been saying to
him: ‘It is not lawful for you to have her.’”  John was arrested, and
finally beheaded, because he spoke against marriage being dishonored.
        b) Could that happen today?  What if your pastors spoke against
marriage being dishonored, said that according to God’s Word the
sexual relationship belongs only between husband and wife, that same-
sex or unmarried sexual relationships are wrong, a sin, in God’s eyes?
Could it come to us being arrested, put in prison, because we’re not
politically correct?  As things are in our country now, who knows.   
        3. But did John here also really have doubt?   (2-3)
When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his
disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who was to come, or should
we expect someone else?”
        a) It is possible that with this question John did not doubt but
wanted his disciples to find out for themselves and be convinced.
        b) But it is also possible that John did doubt, maybe because he
thought if Jesus were the correct one something more would have
happened already.  Doubt can come into our lives too.  Right?
    4. Do we need encouragement?  (3)
“Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone
else?”
        a) I’m sure our problem is not doubt about who Jesus is.
        b) But might the emphasis in some of our homes be that
Christmas is about expecting a Santa Claus and presents, and Jesus is
forgotten? 
        c) Do we need encouragement to let there be no doubt as to what
we are celebrating in Christmas, that this Christ child is our Savior?
II    SHOULD THERE HAVE BEEN?  (3-6)
    1. There should have been no doubt.  (3)
“Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone
else?”
        a) John knew Jesus well.  They were the same age.  Their
mothers knew each other.  John had baptized Jesus in the Jordan River.
        b) Maybe John just wanted reassurance when he was in prison.
    2. Jesus provided Biblical physical proof.   (4-5a)
Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and
see:  The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have
leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, ---.”
        a) Jesus could have answered simply with, “Yes, I am.”
        b) Instead here He referred to promised miracles publicly done.
    3. And He pointed to His good news.  (5b)
-- the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.
        a) The good news is the forgiveness of sins that promises heaven.
        b) That, like the miracles, had been foretold in the Bible from the
beginning.  Jesus reminded John that He was doing what was foretold.
    4. Jesus does the same for us.  (6)
“Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.”
        a) Do we, like John, want to be reassured as to what we believe?
        b) Then open your Bible.  Look at what Scripture foretold.
        c) Jesus fulfilled it all.  The baby in the manger is the right one to
celebrate as our Savior.  Don’t ever fall away from Him.
III NOW LOOK CLOSER AT JOHN.  (7-10)
    1. He had been firm in his preaching.   (7)
As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the
crowd about John: “What did you go out into the desert to see?
A reed swayed by the wind?” 
        a) John wasn’t wishy-washy, giving what people wanted to hear.
        b) His message, even if it brought consequences like being put in
prison and death, was the truth and what the people needed to hear. 
    2. His concern was not for himself.  (8)
“If not, what did you go out to see? A  man dressed in fine
clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces.” 
        a) John’s message was not to make himself rich.
        b) Rather he called people to repentance so that they could be
rich, the wages of their sins paid by Jesus who would die for their sins.
    3. John himself had been foretold.  (9-10)
“Then what did you go out to see? A prophet?  Yes, I tell you, and
more than a prophet.  This is the one about whom it is written: ‘I
will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way
before you.’”
        a) John himself was the fulfillment of God’s Word.
        b) This prophecy is from the Old Testament, Malachi 3:1.
    4. His message is still needed by us.  (10)
“This is the one about whom it is written: ‘I will send my
messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’”
        a) Are your Christmas decorations all set?
        b) Do you need more preparing to get ready for Christmas?
        c) Let our real preparing be to heed John’s call to repentance for
our sins and to welcome our Savior into our hearts and homes.   
IV LOOK CLOSELY AT OURSELVES.  (11)
    1. John was the greatest prophet.  (11a)
“I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not
risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; ---”
        a) Isaiah, Jeremiah and so on were great prophets.
        b) They could write about Jesus’ coming.  But John was greater
in this way that he actually saw Jesus and could prepare His way.
    2. Yet Jesus says that we are greater.   (11)
“I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not
risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in
the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
        a) John was dead, beheaded, before Jesus completed His
ministry.  He didn’t live to see Jesus’ crucifixion or resurrection.   
    b) You and I know all those details, have the rest of the story.  We
wouldn’t rank ourselves on the level of John.  Yet, with what we have
seen and know, in that sense we can be called greater than John.
    3. Let John’s preparation continue with us.
        a) Heed John’s call to repentance.  Don’t defend your sin or
excuse it.  Be truly sorry whenever violating God’s holy revealed will.
        b) Then go to the One for whom John prepared the way, the One
who humbled Himself the first Christmas so that He could be sacrificed
on a cross for all of our sins and arise to prove His victory for us.
    4. And look forward to fulfillment.
        a) In Heaven we’ll see John.  And John will have his head on.
        b) And you and I will have glorified bodies too, without sickness
or problems.
        c) Let all of that be what we are really celebrating this Christmas
season and always.

    Yes indeed, CHRISTMAS - LET THERE BE NO DOUBT!