The Third Sunday in Advent
December 13, 2015
Luke 3:7-18
John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” “What should we do then?” the crowd asked. John answered, “The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.” Tax collectors also came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?” “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them. Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.” The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ. John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” And with many other words John exhorted the people and preached the good news to them. (NIV1984)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Imagine for a moment that you are at a point in your life when you are planning on retiring in about four or five years. Since you envision your retirement as an opportunity to finally be able to spend your days doing what you want to do, what you like to do, you purchase a piece of property and begin planting grape vines. But you do not plant just any grape vines. You want your grapes to be special so that you can pursue your passion of making the very best wine possible. So, instead of planting what most people plant, you buy vines that will give you the grapes that you need to make Pinot Noir wine!
Once you get all your grape vines planted then you wait and you wait and you wait. What are you waiting for? Obviously, you are waiting for your grape vines to produce grapes! But you know that there is a growth process that needs to take place— so you cultivate your vines and you prune your vines and you fertilize your vines and you wait. If, however, after three or four years those grape vines never produce any fruit then wouldn’t you agree that from your perspective and for your purposes those grape vines are pretty much worthless?
As we continue looking at the Advent message of John the Baptist, God the Holy Spirit focuses our attention this morning on our life of sanctification— openly living the faith which He has created in our hearts. With that in mind the Advent Imperative that we are studying this morning is: Be Fruitful! As we listen to this imperative John the Baptist gives us both a warning and an encouragement. First, John warns us against living a life of sanctification that is shallow and insincere. Then John encourages us to live a life of sanctification that is marked by heartfelt humility.
Last week we talked about the fact that true Scriptural repentance always includes change. This week John warns us in a very dramatic way that this change can not be shallow or superficial or insincere. This comes out very clearly in the opening verses of our text. Luke writes, “John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father.” For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.’”
Wow! John certainly did not sugar-coat his words, did he! I am sure that in our “politically correct” society today many people would probably demand to know: What gives John the right to be so “judgmental” and so “narrow-minded”? What gives John the right to speak such a powerful condemnation? There are two points we need to factor in here. First, as we heard last week the message that John proclaimed was not a message that he simply came up with on his own. No, my friends, John’s message originated from God Himself. With that in mind I think it is safe to say that the Lord undoubtedly revealed to John that for some of the people who came to him to be baptized their hearts were not sincere. They were simply doing this for “show.” They wanted to be baptized by this powerful and popular preacher so that other people would see what they were doing and look up to them.
Secondly, this condemnation becomes even more understandable when we stop to realize that it was spoken to Pharisees and Sadducees! (See Mathhew3:1-12) The Pharisees were convinced that God had to allow them into heaven because of how well they kept the Law and because of all the “good works” they performed. The Sadducees did not even believe that there was a heaven— or any kind of life after death! Because of their shallowness and because of their insincerity John not only called these people a “brood of vipers,” a “nest of snakes,” but he also warned them in no uncertain terms that their lack of faith— which was evident in the lack of the fruits of faith in their life— their lack of faith would result in nothing but their eternal condemnation.
Is this a warning that we might also need to hear, my friends? The answer to that question is: Yes— at times. Do you remember what John said to the people who were trusting in their heritage and their ancestry? He said to them, “And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.” Sometimes even a child of God thinks that as long as they have been confirmed and as long as their name is on the “official” membership roster of some Christian church somewhere, then everything is fine between them and God. They don’t “need” to go to church. They learned everything they “need” to know back when they were in Confirmation class. They don’t “need” to receive Holy Communion on a regular basis. Their membership in a church is “enough” to gain them access into heaven.
On the flip side of that very same coin sometimes even a child of God thinks that how they live their life from Monday through Saturday is completely up to them. As long as they are in church on a regular basis, as long as they do receive Holy Communion on a regular basis that “makes up for” and “balances out” the unsanctified life they live during the rest of the week. That kind of insincerity and that kind of shallowness would prompt John the Baptist to warn such a child of God today, “The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
What is the goal, what is the purpose, what is the reason for proclaiming such a strong warning against insincerity and shallowness in one’s life of sanctification? Look at verse 10 of our text, “’What should we do then?’ the crowd asked.” With heartfelt humility the children of God will daily ask themselves, “What can I do to let the faith which God Himself has created in my heart be open and evident in my day to day life?” Once again the specifics of how to answer that question can and will vary widely among us just as it varied widely among the people who first asked John, “What should we do then?”
Look at verses 11-14 or our text. The specific details of how God wants us to live a sanctified life of heartfelt humility oftentimes depend on two things. First, it depends on what the good Lord has given to us. Secondly, it depends on what “station in life” God has placed us. If the Lord has blessed us with abundant material possessions then He says: Share! If the Lord has placed us into a position of authority then He says: Be honest and fair! If the Lord has placed us into a position of power then He says: Don’t abuse that power!
How about you, my friends? How does John’s encouragement to live a life of sanctification, a life that is marked by heartfelt humility, apply to you? A very good way to answer that question is to look at those same two points: what God has placed into your care and where has God placed you in life? Has the Lord blessed you with both the ability and the opportunity to help those who are “less fortunate” than you? If the good Lord has indeed blessed you with far more than your “daily bread” then applying this text to your life is easy. Simply remember what John says here in our text, “The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.”
Now when it comes to the “stations in life” into which God has placed us this is where things can really get interesting! As I look around our church family I don’t see any tax-collectors. Nor do I see any soldiers. But I do see children and parents, employees and supervisors, students and retired people. If you are a child living at home, a sanctified life of heartfelt humility could easily include things such as: obeying your parents and not giving them grief when they tell you to do or not to do something, helping around the house so that Mom and Dad don’t have so much to do when they get home from work, striving to get along with your siblings and showing all the members of your family the respect they deserve as a member of God’s dearly beloved family. For parents, living a sanctified life of heartfelt humility would include setting a positive Christian example for your children in both words and actions. This example would include openly showing your dedication to your family as well as openly showing your dedication to your Lord. If you are an employee, living a sanctified Christian life would include things such as: watching the way you conduct yourself at work and doing the very best work that you can— keeping in mind that even while you are at work you are serving your Lord. (See Colossians 3:22-24) Are you a supervisor? Living a sanctified Christian life would include things such as being fair, being helpful, being generous and being patient. Students will want to faithfully use the talents and the abilities God has given to them. They will want to be careful who they hang around with, how they talk and how they treat others. Then there are the retired folk!
If you are retired then you will want to explore the opportunities that you have to humbly serve your God by humbly serving here in His church. “But what can I do? I’m old and I can barely take care of myself! I don’t have a lot of money and I have even less energy!” Any of that sound familiar? I’ve heard those types of questions many many times. Every time I find myself having this type of discussion with someone I always remind them that they still have one of the most precious commodities of all— time. In fact, you may have even more time available to you now then when the kids were living at home and you were working a full-time job! Instead of letting that time simply slip through your fingers like sand in an hour glass what can you do with it? You can pick up the phone and call someone. You can write a letter or drop a card in the mail. You can invite someone over for lunch or give someone a ride to church. You can take your church directory and use it as your own personal prayer list. Note very carefully, my friends, that John’s imperative “Be fruitful!” centers on taking the ordinary parts of our everyday life and using them to humbly reflect the faith God has created in our hearts.
In general, as the saved children of God living a sanctified Christian life of heartfelt humility will include letting our faith be such a natural part of our day to day life that everyone knows— everyone at home, everyone at school and everyone at work, every one of our friends, every one of our family members and every one of our neighbors— everyone will be able to see and to hear and to know that purely by the grace of God we have been adopted by the Triune God! We are His dearly beloved child.
I have never planted grape vines, but I have planted coconut trees. I learned from personal experience that trees do not instantly start bearing fruit as soon as you plant them in the ground. There is a “growth process” that needs to take place. At the same time I learned from personal experience that once you plant a tree in the ground and once you have allowed that growth process to take place you can expect that tree to be fruitful!
In a similar way, my friends, the good Lord has “planted” in our hearts the precious gift of saving faith. That same Lord has given us the spiritual “food” of His holy Word and His holy Sacraments so that we can “grow” in our faith. And now that same Lord daily looks at our life expecting us to bear the fruits of faith.
My prayer then this morning is two-fold. First, I pray that if we need to hear the warning that John the Baptist sounds here in our text that we will indeed take that warning to heart, kneel at the foot of the cross (Pointing to the cross) and ask the good Lord to forgive us for any shallowness or any insincerity in our life of sanctification. Secondly, I pray that we will gather around God’s holy Word and that we will come before the altar of the living God so that we might humbly receive the strength that only He can give to us— the strength we need to follow the Advent Imperative that the Holy Spirit has placed before us today: Be Fruitful! Be fruitful in your life of Christian sanctification!
To God be the glory!
Amen