RUN REPENT AND REJOICE
Luke 3:7-18
Suppose I began my message this morning by saying,
“Hello you bunch of snakes, why did you come this morning? Hoping to make a few brownie points with God?”
Well that is similar to what John the Baptist told his crowd.
When John saw the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said to them, "You brood of Vipers
(or you bunch of snakes!), who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"
John had lived in the desert and was very familiar with brush fires which caused the snakes to slither away from the heat.
He was saying the only reason these hypocrites came for baptism was to do one more religious act to try to avoid the fire of hell.
They had something in common with today’s “Christmas Christians.”
Listen to this statement written by Vincent Carrol, a newspaper editor.
“To the many holiday Christians who long ago stopped attending church with any regularity, Christmas somehow doesn’t seem complete without dipping a toe into the cultural waters of their youth. They attend Christmas services in part for the same reason that they wear a Christmas tie or hang a wreath on the front door: It’s part of the total holiday experience. But if they no longer practice their faith with much conviction, they still respect its memory. And, after all, it is just possible that a child was born in Bethlehem who changed the world, and it’s never a bad idea to hedge one’s bets."
Are we here this morning to hedge our bets? Or are we here to prepare our hearts for the return of the Lord?
Each Advent season does two things — it remembers the first time the Son of God came into the world, and it looks forward to the second time the Son of God will come into the World.
We need to realize that we are not just preparing to celebrate the birth of Christ.
As important as God’s incarnation is to the faith of the Christian church, John’s message is not about a baby born in Bethlehem and laid in a manger.
His message is about opening our hearts and minds to the fact that in the person of Jesus Christ, God has come among us, and invites us to become members of his kingdom.
It is a message that states that God has acted to redeem us from sin and to restore us to a new life in relationship with God.
That’s why our reading ended with the statement that John preached “the good news” to them.
It certainly didn’t start off that way.
It was more like, “I’ve got good news and bad news; here’s the bad news first.
John knew that the Pharisees and Sadducees weren’t coming to be baptized because they were sorry for their sins.
He knew instead that they wanted to be baptized because that was the thing to do if you were a religious person, and keeping up such appearances was a full time job for these leaders.
They didn’t seriously think that they needed baptism because after all they were Abraham’s children!
Didn’t that mean they had a free ticket to heaven? Weren’t they God’s chosen people?
We too could come to worship with that same attitude couldn’t we?
We could come to church not because we want to confess our sins and hear God’s word, but out of some sense of obligation to family or tradition.
In the process we may even trick ourselves into believing that heaven is ours by virtue of our goodness and church attendance.
We are deceitful, just like the serpent in the Garden of Eden, if we outwardly live the life of a believer without really obeying God.
So my first point is we must RUN…from our sinful ways.
You are not “born” a Christian by being born into a Christian home.
You must repent of your sins and exhibit a changed lifestyle of righteous living and integrity aligned with God’s purpose.
“Produce fruit in keeping with repentance” is John’s way of saying there should be evidence that our hearts have been changed by Christ’s love and forgiveness.
When we REPENT, we turn from a sinful lifestyle and show remorse for what we have done.
But what does it exactly mean to show remorse over sin? It doesn’t mean to be sad that others are offended by our sins, or sad that we got caught. That’s regret, not remorse.
To show remorse means to change our mind about sin. It means that we no longer view sin as something that is fun and exciting, or something which can’t be helped and isn’t that harmful any way.
It means that we see sin for what it is – something that damages our relationship with God and with others.
Saying that we are sorry for our sin but refusing to avoid that sin shows that we really haven’t repented.
Repentance involves a decision to stop whatever we have been doing wrong, and to start doing what God tells us to do.
Good actions are not the basis for salvation, but a manifestation of it just as fruit is a natural outgrowth from a good tree.
Many people just repent and then begin standing on the promises while they are sitting on the premises.
James tells us that we show our faith by our works and faith without works is dead.
This is exactly what John was preaching, and he did it with a tone of urgency in his message.
John put it this way in our text. “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.”
(There’s that danger of fire and destruction again), and it brings an immediate response from his hearers.
The crowd asked John,
“What should we do?”
Then John tailors his message to his congregation…and steps on some toes!
“To all of you who have more clothes than you need, give some away.
And whoever has plenty of food should share with him who has none.”
I command you, says the Lord, to open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy, and to the poor in the land. (Dt. 15:11)
“Tax collectors, don’t collect any more than is required.
Soldiers, don’t extort money, and don’t accuse people falsely.”
“He has shown you, o man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you: but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8.
Being religious — knowing your Bible, praying daily, going to church, all of that is good, but it doesn’t show God’s mercy to a hurting world.
Sometimes it seems that because our salvation is freely given by God’s grace through faith, we forget to ask what we are to do to respond to that grace.
Freely, freely you have received, freely freely give.
God gave his one and only son to be born in our world of sin and he gave his life on the cross so that the penalty of our sin would be paid.
Giving is God’s way and that is the way our fruit of repentance is manifested too.
Forgiveness shows itself in gratitude, and gratitude’s most natural expression is generosity.
In fact it is a very good righteousness barometer.
After hearing this message, the people begin to wonder if John is their long-awaited Messiah.
John says, “Whoa, don’t mistake me for him.
My baptism just represents your desire for repentance and cleansing from sin.
His baptism will empower you with the Holy Spirit.
It includes the fire of refinement.
I preach judgment,
but he will administer it!
I’ll tell you to get your act together and throw some water on you.
He’ll heal you from the inside out.
I’ll tell you to stop sinning.
He’ll give you the means to do it.
I’ll point you to do what is right.
He’ll make you righteous.
What hope is there for us to stand before a God who demands perfection?
John the Baptist, whom Jesus called the greatest man ever born of a woman (Matt. 11:11), said that he was unworthy to even untie the Messiah’s sandals.
While none of us deserves to stand in God’s presence, Jesus came to make it possible.
You see, when John encouraged us to produce fruits worthy of repentance he was not telling us to produce fruits worthy of forgiveness.
Nothing we do can ever earn God’s forgiveness.
God does not forgive because we are sorry for our sins and have somehow been able to do more good deeds than bad ones and thus tip the scales in our favor.
God forgives because Jesus died for us.
While God does want to us to feel sorry for the sins that we commit he doesn’t want us to fall into despair over them.
He wants us to know and believe that he has provided the solution.
That is the good news we REJOICE in.
The coming of the Lord at Bethlehem, or at the Jordan river that day,
or at his final appearing someday in the future is something to be celebrated with great joy
and anticipation.
“He knows when you’ve been sleeping, he knows when you’re awake. He knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake”, is a song that all boys and girls know. And it begins with a warning to watch out for Santa’s coming!
We know for certain that Christ is coming, so how do we prepare?
We RUN from sin and REPENT and share the good news of forgiveness.
We give to the needy and show mercy and share everything we have.
We wait for the coming of Christ to bring peace on earth goodwill toward men.
Salvation is his final word.
“The Lord has taken away our punishment” Zephaniah tells us.
He is mighty to save.
He takes delight in you.
Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice!
Oh yes, the Saviour is coming to earth, so what do we do?
We sing…
Oh Come, Oh Come, Emanuel!
