[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:08] Welcome to the collective table where we celebrate the intersections of Jesus, justice and joy. This podcast is brought to you by Oceanside Sanctuary Church. Each week we bring our listeners a recording of our weekly Sunday teaching at Oceanside Sanctuary, which ties scripture into the larger conversations happening in our community, congregation, and even the podcast. So we're glad you're here and thanks for listening.
[00:00:41] For those of you who don't know, I'm Jason Coker. I'm one of the co lead ministers along with Janelle here at the Oceanside Sanctuary.
[00:00:48] And this is sort of our teaching time. The kids go off to their teaching time and we do ours here. And we've been in a series called Prophetic Imagination, and we have a little bit of a habit of having very long preaching series here, and this has been a pretty long one. We have been essentially since about the middle of January, really, asking ourselves, what can we learn about how to live as followers of Christ from these stories, these narratives of the prophets in sacred Scripture, especially the prophets, prophets from Hebrew Scripture, but not exclusively. And so we started out actually with John the Baptist in this series. And Claire preached a great sermon to kick off this series several weeks ago, where she observed that John the Baptist fulfills this kind of stereotypical sort of characteristic of Old Testament prophets, which is that they, they come from the margins, right? He literally comes from the wilderness. And I think she did a really great job of pointing out that that's sort of symbolic of what prophets tend to do. They tend to come to the centers of power, from the outskirts of power. So they come both literally and figure figuratively from the wilderness to say, hey, there's something you need to pay attention to. And so we kick this off with an understanding of the prophetic imagination as being a kind of marginalized imagination that there's. There's something we've forgotten at the center of civilization. We need these people to wander out from the wilderness to remind us what we've forgotten. And we have visited a lot of Old Testament passages during this, this series, but today we're going to return to the New Testament. And this is our second to last installment in this series. Today we're going to go back to read a passage from John the Baptist from the same chapter that Claire started us off on, which is Luke, chapter three. But we're actually going to take a look at the next few passages after the one that she taught us on. So let's take a look at the passage now and read through it. And then I want to share with you what I'm taking from this today. And also, fair warning, this is literally one of my favorite passages in the Bible. I know you hear preachers say that sort of thing all the time, but it is. So I have like eight sermons from this passage, and I'm just going to try to give one today, but that's hard. Okay, so Luke, chapter 3, verses 7 through 14. The text should be up on the screen. If you don't have a Bible with you, that's okay. But we're going to pick it up here in verse 7. This is after the. The announcement of John the Baptist as one crying from the wilderness. Verse 7 says this John said to the crowds, right? There's a crowd gathered. John had sort of created a sort of spectacle at that time. So there are all these people who came out to see him. They heard rumors about this new prophet coming out from the wilderness. And it says, verse seven, John said to the crowds that came to be baptized by him, you brood of vipers who warned you to flee from the coming wrath. This is one of my favorite jokes, that this is really bad church growth strategy. Like to immediately insult everybody who showed up to see you, right? To call them literally snakes and serpents.
[00:04:14] And, you know, who warned you to flee from the wrath, the destruction that's coming. But they're into it actually, right?
[00:04:24] He says, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath in verse 8, bear fruits worthy of repentance.
[00:04:33] 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. And even now, the ax is lying at the root of the trees. And every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
[00:04:56] And the crowd asks him, what then should we do? And in reply he says, whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none. And whoever has food must do likewise.
[00:05:09] Even tax collectors came to be baptized. And they asked him, teacher, what should we do? And he said to them, collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.
[00:05:19] And soldiers also asked him, and we, what should we do? And he said to them, do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusations and be satisfied with your wages.
[00:05:32] Okay, we're going to pause there. I'm going to ask you to pray with me. And then I want to share with you some of what is impressing me about this passage today. God, we thank you so much for today, for this opportunity for us to gather in this time, in this place. We are mindful, as Janelle said earlier, that people have been gathering here every Sunday for almost 100 years.
[00:05:54] And that is humbling to know that we are a part of a tradition that extends farther back than a few years or a few decades or really even just a few centuries, that we find ourselves standing, whether we sometimes like it or not, in a kind of continuous line of people that go back to before Christ, who have come together regularly to ask who they are and how they're supposed to be in the world.
[00:06:37] And that's our question, too.
[00:06:39] Who are we?
[00:06:43] What are we made for, and how are we supposed to be?
[00:06:49] It's our prayer that you would maybe open our imaginations today for some answers to those questions. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:06:59] Okay, so speaking of this place being around for 100 years, you've already heard this today, it's our 150th year at the Oceanside Sanctuary. We think. Thank you again. Something I can't take credit for, but I'll take the applause anyway.
[00:07:14] We think that's kind of cool. And so we're celebrating that several times throughout the year. We're celebrating it today, too. One of the milestones we're celebrating today is sort of our locations, our different buildings in history. And afterwards, if you are up for eating way too much sugar, you can go downstairs to the community room after church and you'll see some pictures from our history that we've printed up to be posters. And at the end of the year, we're going to mount all these pictures somewhere in the building. So there's kind of a visual timeline of the church.
[00:07:47] But one of the things that I love about the story of the history of this church is how many times this church was faced with uncertain futures and then somehow managed for life to spring from what looked like death. And today I want to share with you a story. This is from this booklet, which was put together for this church's Diamond Jubilee. I don't know if you know what diamond stands for, but this was our diamond jubilee back in 1935. So these stories were put together to celebrate this church's anniversary in 1935. And I love this story in this little booklet, so I'm going to read it to you. This is a little like story time then, right? I'm going to read it to just this little excerpt to you was written by Charles Kelly, who's one of the founding members of this church back in the day.
[00:08:41] It says, then in July 1908 came the millionaire boom.
[00:08:48] There Was a certain man who came to Oceanside, joined the church and declared himself to be a man of great wealth.
[00:08:55] He was going to build the finest church in Oceanside that was to be found anywhere on the coast.
[00:09:01] And one of the members purchased the lot next to the original site in order to have room for this great structure. Now, one thing that you might want to know is back in 1908, this church was located on the corner of first and Hill street, which today is coast highway and Seagay's Drive. So it's just right around the corner. That's where this church used to be. It sat on a lot there at the corner that was donated by the founder of Oceanside to this church. So they bought the lot next door in order to make room for this huge structure that this millionaire was going to build for our church.
[00:09:35] He was going to build the finest church in Oceanside that was to be found anywhere on the coast. And one of the members purchased the lot next to the original site in order to have room for the great structure. A pipe organ was ordered and there was in the process of being built. A set of chimes was ordered for the tower. Three stained glass windows were to be installed that would be equal to any in Europe and superior to any in the United States.
[00:10:03] $1,000 worth of furniture was shipped to Oceanside. Architects, contractors and builders were constantly making trips to and from Los Angeles to complete arrangements. The old church was being moved off the lot and was on wheels in the middle of Hill street when lo, the bubble burst.
[00:10:24] The only way the aforementioned man was rich was in his imagination.
[00:10:31] What a predicament for the church.
[00:10:34] Fortunately, all arrangements had been made by the man, none by the church.
[00:10:40] It was a sorry looking woe begone group of church folk that climbed into that little white church on wheels that might decide what to do should the old church be moved back or should some forward move be made.
[00:10:56] Characteristically, they said, go ahead. And a 32 by 72 foot structure was built which served the congregation for exactly 20 years and is still in use as the Methodist parish hall. It's not. This was in 1935.
[00:11:14] The new building was dedicated on December 6, 1908, and was followed with an evangelistic meeting conducted by Grant K. Lewis. At the conclusion of the meeting, there were 45 members in the little church. And the building which had cost.
[00:11:29] Get this.
[00:11:31] The building which had cost $3,000, was practically debt free.
[00:11:39] Just one of the fun little stories from our history.
[00:11:43] Thank you.
[00:11:47] If you go downstairs later, you'll see a Very old, grainy picture of that church that ended up being put on wheels and wheeled out into the middle of Hill Street. We have a picture of it.
[00:11:56] And you'll also see a picture of the building that replaced it. The larger structure that was this church's home for about 20 years before building this place. This place, in some ways 20 years later was the realization of that dream from 1908.
[00:12:13] There was an organ here for a while. It wasn't a pipe organ. It was an electronic one. That's the speaker still up there.
[00:12:22] There are stained glass windows.
[00:12:24] It took 20 years for this church to realize a kind of dream for itself that was begun back in 1908. But eventually they were able to live into that dream. And I think there's something in this passage about different possibilities, different destinies that John is speaking to. And I love the reson dissonance between that story from our history and part of what I think John is getting at here in verse seven. What we see John doing in Luke chapter three is bringing a dire warning for the future of the people of God. As I mentioned in verse seven, he begins with this gathered crowd by insulting them, by calling them a brood of vipers. And then in verse 8, he tells them to live out their identity of repentance. He says, bear fruits worthy of repentance. In other words, there's something about the people of God. There's something about their life, there's something about their calling, there's something about their identity that is resonant with the idea of repentance. That the idea of turning around and deciding to go a different direction should characterize their existence. And further, that that life of repentance should characterize good fruit. That something good should come of that. That that is the intention for their existence.
[00:13:52] And then he says that if they don't live into that purpose that they may lose that identity by God's own hand. He says, bear worthy of, or bear fruits worthy of repentance. But then 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 of Abraham. Even now, the ax is lying at the root of the tree.
[00:14:24] This is very threatening language. It's very judgmental language. If you were raised in a church that told you that if you didn't behave the right way or even think the right way, that God might throw you into some eternal fire. This could even be relatively triggering language.
[00:14:43] Because John is saying to the people of Israel, if you don't get it right, you'll be like that tree that gets cut down and thrown into the fire.
[00:14:54] I think it's helpful to understand that what John is doing is very cleverly using two of the three core tenets of Judaism to call into question the third. And here's what I mean by that. For ancient Judaism, there were three core beliefs, three core tenets of their faith, and they were election, eschatology, and monotheism. Right. So just very briefly, what characterized the people of God at that time is that they believed in a God that was one God over all the universe, its monotheism. We're all fairly comfortable with that idea. But for ancient Jews, this was core to their identity. It was their culture that they believed in one true God. But in addition to that, they also believed that they were the called people of God, that they were the special chosen people of God. That's what's meant by election, that God, the one true God, looked down and said, these are my people. They belong to me and I belong to them. And that sense of belonging was deeply ingrained in their identity. It still is deeply ingrained in the identity of Jewish people today, that idea of election.
[00:16:10] And nothing could separate them from God's chosenness of them.
[00:16:17] And then the third thing that was very important to ancient Judaism was eschatology, right? Sort of fancy theological word which simply means looking towards hope for the future.
[00:16:29] So in ancient Judaism, they were very committed to. To leaning on, depending on, standing on, hope for a good and better future. That's what they meant by eschatology. You were raised in a tradition like I was, a kind of fundamentalist evangelical tradition that was obsessed with reading left behind and talking about, you know, when the rapture was going to happen. Then maybe eschatology means something different to you. That has nothing to do with biblical eschatology. It's just a great way to sell books.
[00:17:02] Pretty trashy books too, in my opinion.
[00:17:05] I mean, not trashy in a good way, but anyway.
[00:17:12] Did I say that out loud? Okay.
[00:17:17] Eschatology for the ancient people of Israel meant that in spite of everything they suffered, in spite of repeatedly being conquered and carried off into captivity, they. That there was a good future for them, hope for them.
[00:17:33] Now, what John does here is he takes two of those core tenants of Jewish identity and he weaponizes them against the third.
[00:17:42] And he does that, I think, for a very good reason.
[00:17:45] What he does is he points to the future eschatology, and then he uses the idea of monotheism, Monotheism, one true God. And he Says, hey, you shouldn't count on your election because you're not living into what you're really called to be.
[00:18:03] This is what he means when he says, do not say to yourselves, we are children of Abraham.
[00:18:10] He's saying, you can't just lean on the idea that no matter what you do or don't do, that you're good, that you have a good future, because that same God that you claim to worship has designed you for a very particular purpose. And if you don't live into that purpose, then there's no reason for you to be elected.
[00:18:31] So he uses this very powerful, very threatening metaphor that all of them would have understood because it was a very agricultural society. He said, you're like trees, and you exist in order to produce good fruit. And any fruit tree that doesn't produce fruit is not good for anything except for maybe firewood.
[00:18:55] So the ax is at the root of the tree. It's ready to cut you down.
[00:19:01] Now, they understand this perfectly. They understand that that's what this threat means. So they say in verse 10, the crowds ask him, what then should we do? Now they understand something by asking this question that we often don't understand. As Christians who are raised to think about the prophetic or prophecy or prophets in a certain way, what they understand is that the future isn't certain.
[00:19:28] We tend to think about prophets and prophecy as like foretelling a destined future, one that cannot be avoided. God has determined that it will happen no matter what. And that is not the ancient Jewish understanding of destiny.
[00:19:43] So they get it. This is what prophets do. They show up and they tell you when you're screwing up. They show up and they tell you when you aren't living into your purpose. Usually what happens is God uses prophets to show up and tell the people of God that they aren't living into their purpose. Moses was amazing because he's the prophet who told God that God wasn't living into God's own purpose.
[00:20:09] That's what prophets do.
[00:20:11] They show up and they say, hey, you're not lined up with what you were made to do.
[00:20:18] And so they hear this and they say, oh, well, what should we do? How should we change?
[00:20:24] And he gives them some highly complicated and deeply philosophical answers to that question.
[00:20:31] No, no, no, no, that's not what he does. In reply, he says to them, whoever has two coats should share one with somebody who doesn't.
[00:20:46] And whoever has food should do the same.
[00:20:49] Verse 12. Even tax collectors came to be baptized. Yeah, even tax collectors. Today, we might say even Lawyers came to be baptized.
[00:21:00] I have a daughter in law school, so that makes that super funny to me.
[00:21:09] Even tax collectors came to be baptized. And they asked him, teacher, what should we do? And he says to them, collect no more than the amount prescribed to you. Verse 14. Soldiers also asked him, and we, what should we do? And he said, don't extort money or use threats or false accusation in order to enrich yourselves.
[00:21:31] John is showing them two possible destinies.
[00:21:36] There isn't just one thing that's bound to happen, no matter what he's saying. Listen, you're at a crossroads. There are two destinies available to you. And the first destiny is you continue to be complicit with the harm that you are bringing to the marginalized and the poor, and you will end up as firewood.
[00:22:01] You'll cease to exist.
[00:22:04] This nation that you thought was so surely held in God's hand and would be protected will actually be burned to the ground.
[00:22:14] That's one possible destiny. The other possible destiny is you repent.
[00:22:22] You stop being complicit in the harm that is being brought to those who are poor and marginalized, and instead return to your calling. Return to what you were created to do, which is verse 11. Provide relief to the poor.
[00:22:41] Verse 12 and 13. Treat people fairly in verse 14. Don't abuse your power.
[00:22:53] That's it.
[00:22:56] It's. It's almost as if that any group of people that any family or any church or any city or any civilization that treats its own people like garbage will one day burn to the.
[00:23:16] But any group of people, any family or church or city or civilization that looks to those who are hurting and provides them with relief, that insists that everybody be treated fairly, starting with those who have been oppressed, will thrive. Will.
[00:23:42] Will succeed, will grow.
[00:23:48] There's religious language for this. We'll be blessed.
[00:23:55] It just makes all the sense in the world that this is how God's goodness works for any group of people who treat those who are lowest with dignity and care and concern.
[00:24:13] Janelle and I have this tree in our backyard. Every sermon I preach at some point comes back to a tree in my backyard. Right, I know. I'm sorry. Usually it's the avocado trees.
[00:24:24] This time, there's another tree in our backyard. And when we first moved into the house, we were fortunate enough to buy our house about 12 years ago. And when we did, the day that we moved in, our neighbor Paul next door, who is a lovely human being, Alex gets that. So he really is a lovely human being. He Just has an opinion about everything at my house. So when we first moved in, he was like, let me give you a tour of the house that you just bought.
[00:25:06] And I was like, okay. And he went around, told, pointed out all the things that needed to be fixed, which was nice. And. And then as we were walking through the backyard, we have a little sliver of a backyard because we're on, like a very steep slope. And there was this, I don't know, tree of some kind. Like, it looked like a. An out of control bush, honestly. And he just, as we walked by, he said, oh, you're going to hate that thing.
[00:25:34] And boy, was Paul right. Like, that tree has been the bane of our existence for years. This tree that is parked exactly where we have a view, the view that sold us on the house. That tree, like, insists on growing faster than any tree that has ever existed in the history of the world. Grows right up in front of the view. And then, you know, we cut it down. We cut like all the branches off, and it just will not die. This is the tree that won't die. It just sprouts up new shoots and it grows again and again and again until Janelle at one point was like, I'm killing this thing once and for all.
[00:26:19] And she like, bought the biggest boring drill bit you've ever seen and was out there like, drilling into the stump of the tree. And then she's pouring like every kind of acid and poison you can imagine down the tree, the holes. Eventually she killed the tree. The point is, this is really the point.
[00:26:43] The point of the sermon is you really don't want to be on Janelle's bad side.
[00:26:53] When I was reading this passage, I was reminded of that tree because we tend to think of Paul's or John's threat, the ax is at the root of the tree, as a kind of permanent threat.
[00:27:09] But it occurs to me that most trees, even if you cut them to their barest nub, will come back.
[00:27:19] It's really not a destruction. It's a starting over.
[00:27:24] And oftentimes what we think of as God's judgment is that it's a starting over.
[00:27:33] You're not living into the purpose that I have for you. So it's time to prune you all the way back.
[00:27:43] And that's painful and usually not appreciated, but oftentimes exactly what's needed.
[00:27:54] And so even that, even judgment from that perspective is hopeful.
[00:28:01] If you've ever had to prune a tree because it wasn't giving you enough fruit, you know that sometimes that's exactly what brings it back to a place of health.
[00:28:14] It's a little bit, I think what happened in 1908 when this church got a little too big for its britches and thought that it was going to have the greatest stained glass in the United States.
[00:28:29] Then it was the bubble burst and it was pruned back, and everybody said, well, what future do we want to live into?
[00:28:38] And almost 100 years later, here we are.
[00:28:46] And the only reason we're here is because over and over again.
[00:28:54] This is just my opinion, by the way, but, you know, I get paid to have opinions, which is a good gig if you can get it.
[00:29:07] Because every time this church has come to the brink of death, it has returned to these callings to serve those who are suffering, to provide a place of safety and fairness for everybody, starting with those who have been treated unfairly and to not abuse its power.
[00:29:37] And if there's any future for me as a Christian, for this place, as a church, for the United States, as a country, it is in finding our identity in that kind of repentance.
[00:29:54] Amen. Would you pray with me? God, we thank you for today and for an opportunity for us to gather again and be reminded of your vision for how we live into our identity as people of God.
[00:30:17] Whatever each of us means by that word, whatever each of us has in mind by the notion of faith, however different our ideas might be about how to follow Christ, we pray today that you would help us to grow into our identity as people who exist for the good of others, people who exist for relief for those who suffer, people who exist to provide a place of safety and fairness, people who exist not to gain power, but to use whatever power we have for the good of others.
[00:31:07] We pray that you would grow our hearts and our minds and our imagination for being people who. Whose identity is built on that. We pray all this in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:31:23] Thank you for joining us for this Sunday teaching, no matter when or where you're tuning in. To learn more about our community or to support the work we do, Visit
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