RESHAPED

The following video transcript has been lightly edited

Recently, I had a chance to go get my daughter, bring her home from college for the Christmas season, her winter break. And as I was with her, I was just thinking about how whenever we are in relationship with someone, it shapes us. And the arrival of any of your children in your life changes your life.

You become a different person in the midst of being in relationship with someone. And that's true about our friends, and our family, and our spouses, and even at work.

What I want to talk about today is how, in Christ's arrival, both in history, in the present through the spirit, and in the future. His promise returned in the future.

Our relationship to Christ is meant to reshape us. And so in Luke 3, John is announcing to a variety of people how they should be reshaped because of the arrival of Christ. The coming of Christ should reshape them. And he talks about it in three different ways. He says, first, that they should be people who delight in God. Second, it should reshape their sense of charity and their character. And then finally, it should put them into the business of renewal.

So let's talk a little bit more. Now, John can be a little bit harsh, and he actually says to the crowd, you brood of vipers, who told you about what's coming? And his challenge to them is that they have neglected God. He says, you think that just because you are children of Abraham that you can do whatever you want.

And that's not the way that God operates. And so they have gotten to this place where they neglect God. You know, in the midst of the Christmas season, and in our lives in general, I think we can get to a place in which we feel entitled, in which we feel safe neglect those around us. We neglect the joy. We get to this sense in which we just feel like, well, it's ours.

And that is also true with God. We can get to a place in which we ignore God. God doesn't make our list of priorities. And yet what God desires for us is to be in relationship with God through Christ, both in the spirit and in the sense that Christ's arrival in the world changes everything. And so for you and I, we want to remember that who we are to be as a people is to be people that delight in God, in his grace and mercy and goodness and creation.

And so how is it that maybe you are neglecting God this season? And what might you do to recapture that sense of wonder and commitment and love because of God as creator reshapes you?

The next thing that John talks about is how we are to have our character and our sense of charity reshaped. So when they hear that God is coming, the people say, what are we to do? And John challenges them. He says, if you have two coats, give it away. And if you have more food than you need, give that away too. And so here, what we see is that the way that God reshapes us when we are in relationship with Christ is that we are to become people of a generous spirit.

We are to be people of charity towards others. You know, I think about having more than one coat and I got lots of coats. I got a whole closet full of coats that don't fit anymore. And then I have the coats that I wear my raincoat and my rain jacket and my fall coat and my winter coat and my ski coat and probably some other coats as well. But when you think about that, you're like, hey, we have plenty. And God's desire for us is, as we have plenty, that with joy, we would give it to others.

Meanwhile, tax collectors and soldiers are also around, and they're like, hey, John, what should we do? And this instruction to them is interesting. He basically says, Don't use your power towards corruption. Don't use your power to manipulate and get more money from people. Rather, just get what's due you, to you. And don't bribe people and don't take advantage of them. Live with character. Be content with the wages you have.

And so these two things go together in such a way in which we are to be people of charity and we're to be people of character. That's how our relationship with Christ should reshape us. Now lastly, I think one of the things we see in Christ's ministry is that that is always to be done out of a sense of joy, not out of a of drudgery and obligation.

It makes me think of George C. Scott's Christmas Carol. And he's visited by the three spirits, the spirit of Christmas past, Christmas present, and Christmas future.

In the midst of it, he sees his life, and he sees what a curmudgeon he is. And he thinks he's going to lose his life, and then he wakes up and he realizes that he still has his life, and it's Christmas Day. And then he says that he's light as a feather and giddy as a schoolboy. He has this sense of joy, and he begins to live his life with charity, and with character And that's what it's supposed to be for us.

So ask yourself, how is it that you might want to be reshaped this Advent season? Is there a place for you to find more joy? Is there a way for you to tap into a sense of peace or gentleness? Whatever it might be, but remember that our relationship to God and Christ's arrival in our life should reshape us into people of generous, charity and character. The last thing that John says is that John says that Jesus is going to set things right. He's going to separate the wheat from the chaff and the chaff will be burned. Now, often when we read things like that, it fills us with fear. And let it not be mistaken, like God is serious about sin and death and evil, and he wants to destroy those things.

But that doesn't mean that he wants to destroy us, because John also finishes with the good news. With exhortation and the good news. That's what he's preaching about. And so it's this reminder to us that God is coming into the world to condemn evil, sin, and death, but to bring renewal, to bring life and grace and mercy.

And so that puts us in the business of renewal ourselves. Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks, says that, They're in the business of serving people. They happen to do it through coffee. Well, I think the people of God, when they properly understand how they are reshaped because of the arrival of Christ in their life, they become people who are about renewal.

Renewal within themselves because there's wheat and chaff in each of us. As well as renewal in the world around us. By giving our extra coats and being generous and acting with character, you and I can be people who are about renewal. And so, this Advent season, what are you renewing within yourself? What are you renewing in your home, in your workplace, in your community?

Because that's your business now. Because of your relationship with Christ, you've been reshaped. And as God arrives in your life, both in the past and in the present and in the future, you are now a person who's in the business of renewal. Our relationships, they shape us. Our relationship with God is meant to reshape us.

And so as you travel through Advent, remember that God's arrival in your life is to bring a sense of delight in God. And God's grace and wonder and mercy. And you are to be a person who joyfully gives and joyfully operates the sense of character. And that your life is now about the business of renewal.

Hey, I hope you're enjoying this series and I hope you're having a great season. And we'll see you next week. Take care.