Luke 3:7-18 (NRSV)
John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him,
“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear
fruits worthy of repentance. 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. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the
trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and
thrown into the fire.”
And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” In reply
he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none;
and whoever has food must do likewise.” Even tax collectors came to be
baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” He said to them,
“Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” Soldiers also asked him,
“And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone
by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”
As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning
in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered
all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful
than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will
baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand,
to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the
chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good
news to the people.
I get a lot of email every day.
My hunch is
that it is somewhere around 200 or 300 emails every day
Although it seems that during this
holiday season, my daily emails have close to doubled.
Of those --- many end up in my spam folder --- but I still
feel the need to at least quickly go through the folder to make sure something
important didn't end up in it.
And then all those other emails --- somehow I have to go
through them --- because who knows --- one may be telling me that I have a
friend in Africa who has recently died and wants to leave me a few million
dollars.
How does one know when we have received something that is
truly special and just for us in terms of a spiritual message?
How do we sort out our spiritual messages --- how do we
separate the spam from the authentic message from God?
In our passage this morning from Luke --- the message from
John the Baptist sounds pretty similar to what one hears on the street corners
of Chicago or any other large urban center.
"This is
the Word of the Lord ---- Repent and Believe!"
I don't know about you --- but when I see one of those
people standing on the street corner shouting out their messages of doom and
gloom --- I kind of chuckle and walk on by.
It seems to
me just like spam email
But John seems to be calling us out in this passage.
YOU BROOD OF
VIPERS! BEAR FRUIT WORTHY OF REPENTANCE!
Despite the hard message from John people seemed to flock to
hear him.
In Matthew's telling of the story it is only the Pharisees
and Sadducees that come out to hear John.
But Luke wants us to understand
that it was "crowds" --- common folk who were seeking John's guidance
Listen how The Message
translates this:
"crowds of
people came out for baptism because it was the popular thing to do"
Even though it was "the popular thing to do", John
demanded something of his hearers.
He expected:
Repentance
Change
Good
works
Most of us don't like people telling us what to do
We don't want a lot of expectations on us
As your pastor I am allowed to make suggestions
But to speak
like John did . . .
Most
of us would not be very happy
Have you noticed the attacks that have taken place toward
the Pope because of his recent messages about financial inequity.
John's message to us seems to be rather simple ----
If we want to
claim to be godly --- then we should be
And he went so far as to explain exactly what that means in
a language that the people of his day could understand.
What should we do? --- the people asked
·
if you have two coats ---- give one away
·
if you are a soldier ---- don't intimidate or
coerce
·
if you are a tax collector ---- don't collect
more than is your due
John simply seemed to be saying ---
God has told us what to do and be
--- DO IT,
and
don't pretend to be something you're not
But John seems to be raising another issue as well
It is the
whole question of faith vs works
John said that we will be evaluated by our fruits and not
our roots
don’t think you
can pull rank by claiming Abraham as ‘father.’ Being a child of Abraham is
neither here nor there—children of Abraham are a dime a dozen. God can make
children from stones if he wants. What counts is your life.
Now, the interesting thing to me is that nowhere is John
asking the people (who had come into the desert to hear him) --- nowhere is he
telling them that they needed to join him in the desert eating grasshoppers.
John was asking his hearers to return to their everyday
lives --- to where they had been planted ---- and to begin to bear fruit!
The interesting thing is it is not an either or question
Its not that
we can be a person with deep roots and no fruit
Or be a
person with fruit but no roots
(Jesus will pick up this theme
with the parable of the sower)
John calls us to develop deep --- lasting --- significant
roots in God
But he also
says we must bear fruit
One of the great Scottish preachers of the past was a man
named George Morrison. He was pastor of
a great congregation in Glasgow.
He once told the story of a dream that he had
In the dream
he died and went to heaven
He was standing before St Peter,
who asked him: "Who are you?"
"I'm Morrison." he said
"Who?" replied St Peter
"George Morrison, the
preacher"
"No record of you here, I'm
sorry" answered St Peter
"It can't be!" protested
Morrison. "For 25 years I have
filled a great sanctuary twice on Sunday morning and every Sunday night, where
I am told that I preached with power and beauty and poetry and brought people
to conviction and conversion."
"I'm sorry, No record of
you." said St Peter. "What did
you say your whole name was again?"
"George Herbert Morrison"
"Oh," said St Peter,
"I do have a notation here. It
says: 'One night he sat up all night long with somebody who was dying.'"
I love that story
In other words, we need to put our faith to work in specific
and costly ways.
John seemed to be set on destroying peoples sense of false
confidence.
To get right with God --- you have to admit that --- you're
not right with God.
But the real crux of John's message was not repentance
It was JESUS
For Luke, the whole point of telling us this story about
John (that we have looked at these last two weeks) was to prepare us for what
was about to happen.
For Luke --- with John's ministry the curtain was just about
to rise to begin the greatest story that the world has ever witnessed
The ministry
The
life, death and resurrection of Jesus
And John wants us to make sure we understand that God has no
grandchildren.
The Pharisees thought that their salvation was secure
because of Abraham
John reminds
them that is not the case.
Abraham's descendants are not God's only children.
Faith is not
inherited
It doesn't matter how devote or faithful your mother or
father were
It doesn't matter if you are a righteous Jew
God's children have one distinguishing mark --- and that is
--- they bear fruit.
Henry Drummond a scientist/evangelist once said to a group
of college students:
“do not touch Christianity unless
you are willing to seek the kingdom of God first. I promise you a miserable
time if you seek it second”
Today we remember Nelson Mandela --- Madiba (father of his
nation)
Mandela spent
27 years in prison because he stood up to apartheid
One of my favorite quotes from him was made a few years ago
at a lecture in Soweto:
"As the years progress one increasingly realises the importance of
friendship and human solidarity. And if a 90-year-old may offer some
unsolicited advice on this occasion, it would be that you, irrespective of your
age, should place human solidarity, the concern for the other, at the centre of
the values by which you live."
Mandela seems to have understood what John was talking
about.
That both roots and fruits must be demonstrated in one's
life.
Mandela said:
“I have walked that long road to
freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I
have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds
that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to
steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the
distance I have come. But I can only rest for a moment, for with freedom come
responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not ended.”
As we continue our Advent journey
John begs us
to: "Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight."
We do that not by resting on our laurels
God has told us what to do and be
--- we need to DO IT, and not pretend to be something we are not
This is message from John is not spam email
He is trying
to get us ready for the greatest adventure that is just about to begin
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