The Second Sunday in Advent
What Then Shall We Do?
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!
Amen! In today’s Gospel, God wants you to concern yourself with the question,
“What then shall we do?”
Dear Christian friends,
God Actively Works While His Word is Preached to You
“The Word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. And
[John] went into all the region… preaching.” Through John’s preaching God was
doing what God loves to do: God was drawing people to Himself. God was
performing the divine miracle of attracting people to John’s preaching so that
God could give these people the gifts of repentance and forgiveness through
John’s preaching and through John’s Baptism. God was acting through John’s
preaching because God says, “I will draw all people unto Myself” (John 12:32).
God was acting through John’s preaching because God says, “No one can come
unless the Father draws him in.” (John 6:44). So John is mouthing the Words,
but the Lord is doing the work. As a result of the “Word of God [that] came to
John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness,” God beckoned and led, poked and
pushed “the crowds that came out.”
It certainly was not John’s gentle approach to preaching that brought them out.
“Every one of you is a snake,” says John. “You are each filled to the brim with
a deadly poison that will destroy everyone around you,” says John. “Do not tell
me about your good name and reputation because your name and reputation mean
nothing,” says John. “You will be judged like all others. You better start
looking like you believe something, because God is looking at you. If God does
not see what He wishes to see in you, you will, without doubt, feel the sharp
axe of His condemnation at your own feet.”
John’s harsh, brutal preaching was a calculated act of love. John must tear the
people’s attention away from themselves so that he may point them toward the
Christ who had come to them. By calling the people vipers and dead branches,
John was announcing to them that they had nothing to give to God in trade for
their lives. Do not bother inventorying your life to find a way to gladden your
God! You have nothing to give! Vipers produce only poison; dead branches grow
no fruit; if any person is to be saved, it must be the work of God and God
alone!
That is how John preached. All the while, God was busily at work in and through
John’s preaching. Even while a river of fire flowed from John’s lips, God was
nevertheless calling and gathering “the crowds that came out.” This rough
preaching was the preaching that God Himself had promised through Isaiah,
saying, “All flesh shall see the salvation of God.” In order for you to see
God’s salvation, God must first tear your eyes away from yourself. That is why
John so lovingly screeched, “You brood of vipers! Bear fruits in keeping with
repentance.”
God’s Word Powerfully and Miraculously Creates in You
the Desire to Do Stuff
“And the crowds asked, ‘What then shall we do?’” These Words—“What then shall
we do?”—these Words show evidence of the miracle that God had performed through
His Word—even the rough-and-tumble Word preached by John!
• If God had not miraculously unstopped their ears through the power of
His Word (Isaiah 32:1-3, 35:3), then these people would have remained
deaf—cold, stony, unmoved. Thus it is written, “The hearing ear and the seeing
eye? The Lord has made them both!” (Proverbs 20:12)
• If God had not caused these people to see the viperous poison and the
barren fruitlessness inside them (Psalm 38:2-3); if God had not opened their
lips (Psalm 51:15), they could never have asked, “What then shall we do?”
• God repeatedly declares in His Word that He—He alone—gives (Acts 5:31)
and grants (Acts 11:18) repentance to His people. When the people asked in
today’s Gospel, “What then shall we do?” they were giving evidence that God had
begun a good work within them. “What then shall we do?” is really the voice of
a child that has been born by the power of God’s Word.
• Essentially, the question “What then shall we do?” is a confession of
faith. “What then shall we do?” is a confession of faith because this question
could not be asked unless God first begins to create your repentance and your
faith!
What Shall I Render to the Lord for All His Benefits to Me?
(Psalm 116:12)
“What then shall we do?” This is a good and faithful question for all God’s
Christians to ask—including you.
1. Do NOT ask “What then shall we do?” as if the question should mean,
“What then shall we do to be saved?” Both right now and forevermore, you are so
completely and unassailably saved by God that words can hardly express the full
extent of your salvation!
a. As you heard from the prophet Isaiah, quoted in today’s Gospel, God
promises you that “All flesh shall see the salvation of God.” With these Words,
God is promising you that there is no one for whom Christ Jesus our Lord did
not die. But rather, Jesus is the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the
[entire] world” (John 1:29)—including yours. As God likewise declares in
another place, Jesus is “the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for
ours but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2, NIV). Simply
stated, God so earnestly wants you to know and never doubt His salvation that
He has poured out the blood of Jesus to forgive all people.
b. If the universal blood of Jesus is not enough for your confidence and
joy, God happily gives you further assurance! Just as He gave to those people
who went out to hear John, God has also given to you “a baptism of repentance
for the forgiveness of [your] sins.” Stated another way, God has given you a
personal connection to Jesus in Baptism, so that you may be doubly sure and
certain beyond any doubt that you personally possess the benefit of Jesus’
death and resurrection!
2. So the question “What then shall we do?” has nothing to do with how you
shall be saved. Salvation is a done deal for you, fully accomplished by God!
The question “What then shall we do?” really needs to be asked in the sense of
“What shall I give to the Lord for all His benefits to me? (Psalm 116:12) How
shall I now respond to this indescribable gift that God has miraculously poured
into me through His Word? God’s Word is living and active (Hebrews 4:12) inside
me and it creates in me a desire to respond with thankfulness and praise. What
then shall we do?”
God gives you a good and happy answer to this question in today’s Gospel:
And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” And he answered them,
“Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food
is to do likewise.” Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him,
“Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are
authorized to do.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he
said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false
accusation, and be content with your wages.”
All of these Words from God boil down to this: Be good to the people in your
life. Treat them well. Be a good mom and a good dad; a faithful wife and a
caring husband. Conduct your business honestly and avoid seeking an advantage
over others. Above all, be content among them.
A Burning Fire, Shut Up in My Bones (Jeremiah 20:9)
You can take that the wrong way, if you wish. When God tells you to be kind and
good to the people in your life, you can take it as law and obligation and
demand, if that is the way you want it. You will also condemn yourself in the
process.
On the other hand, you can take it as a blessing and gift when God tells you to
be kind and good to the people in your life. Think of the people in your life
as given to you by God—given to you so that the living and active power of His
Word does not need to remain shut in your bones (Jeremiah 20:9) or bottled up
inside of you. An air tank or a hot water tank has a pressure release valve. A
good pond has an overflow or a spillway. In the same way, you have the people
whom God has placed in your life. Just as an overflow or a spillway the water
in a pond a place to go, the people in your life also give God’s Word a place
to go as it comes into you and does its good work within you. God’s living Word
does more than neutralize the viperous poison of your sin—giving all of your
sin and its effects to Jesus. God’s living Word also produces within you “fruit
in keeping with repentance,” as you heard in today’s Gospel. The question, “What
then shall we do?” really just looks for the fruit that God produces, and
perhaps wonders a bit what shape the fruit might be.
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