Throughout history there have been many controversial characters: kings and queens, presidents and politicians, artists, actors and song writers, scientists and CEOs. What is it that made them so controversial? By what they did or said, they made people uncomfortable, forcing people to have to think, to evaluate why they thought a certain way, what they were doing, why they were doing it, and finally why they believed it to be right or wrong.
I think it’s safe to call John the Baptist a controversial character as he arrived on the scene around 26 AD. Now, calling him a controversial character might not come as much of a surprise. After all, when you address your audience as, “You brood of vipers!” (Matthew 3:7) you’re probably going to ruffle a few feathers no matter when you live or where you live. But it wasn’t so much what he called them, but what he called them TO DO that made John so controversial. He was calling people to look at their hearts and their lives and to evaluate – to stop and think about what they were doing and why they were doing it and what it was accomplishing.
John’s message is still rather controversial today because God calls us to do the same. God calls people to look at their hearts and their lives, to evaluate what they are depending on to be right with him and worthy of his heavenly home. It is a message that calls us to consider what we are listening to, or maybe more accurately, who we are listening to and maybe even most importantly, why we are listening. Are you looking for someone to tell you what you WANT to hear, or are you looking for someone to tell you what you NEED to hear? John the Baptist’s message is still a controversial one, a message that calls us to make some rather important evaluations.
Matthew 3 is the first time that we hear about John the Baptist since when he was born and given that unexpected name of John by his parents Zechariah and Elizabeth. We find John, probably around 28-29 years-old living out in the wilderness along the Jordan River about 15-20 miles to the east of the city of Jerusalem. John’s message is simple and to the point, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 3:2). These words remind us of what we learned last weekend, of the special mission that God had selected for John even before John was born. John was to prepare the way for the Lord’s arrival. Yes, the promised Messiah, the Giver of forgiveness, the Light of salvation, the Path of peace was near. Jesus was about to begin his public ministry, announcing to the world his purpose for arriving 30 years earlier as a baby in Bethlehem. He had come to secure eternal blessings for the citizens of his kingdom. In just three years, Jesus would offer his perfect life at the cross for the payment of the world’s sin. With his death, Jesus would crush the devil’s hope of taking people to hell. For all those who trust in Jesus, they have citizenship in Christ’s kingdom. They live under theirs Savior’s protection and are rewarded with the victory of heaven that Christ has won for them. Yes, “the kingdom of heaven has come near.” What God’s people had waited thousands of years for, was just around the corner – the Messiah Jesus had arrived to save his people from their sins.
Unfortunately, many were unprepared for that kingdom of heaven. Remember, that was John’s mission, to prepare people for Jesus’ arrival. That preparation might be summarized with a single word, “Repent!” Repentance is literally, “a change in mind” or, “a turning.” Repentance is evaluating our hearts and our lives in the light of what God’s will is for us as revealed in the Bible. Repentance is identifying what the prophet Isaiah pictures as the crooked roads and valleys of sin. Repentance is looking for the lack of trust in God’s promises, the lack of eagerness to hear God’s Word, the disrespect for those in authority, the anger, the lust, the jealousy, the gossip, the sinful desires that invade our thoughts, attitudes and actions – anything that is a deviation from God’s will. Repentance is turning to the Lord, admitting that each sin is worthy of God’s punishment. Repentance is trusting the Lord’s announcement that in Christ Jesus, all of our sins have been forgiven, removed from his memory forever. Repentance is turning FROM sin, straightening out those crooked roads and filling in those valleys, fighting those things that we know to be contrary to our Savior’s will.
Now let me ask you, does repentance make you feel uncomfortable? Initially, yes. No one likes to admit that they were wrong or see where they’ve been wrong. That’s uncomfortable. John the Baptist’s appearance, his meager clothing of camel hair and his wilderness lifestyle were a reflection of his uncomfortable message to repent. But as much as we may not WANT to hear John’s message, it is a message that we all NEED to hear. Because only when you recognize your sin do you see your need for God’s forgiveness of that sin. And when you see your need for God’s forgiveness, it is a gracious God who fully meets that need in a way that only he can do.
That’s what we see so many of those people who went out to see John the Baptist doing. They repented! When they evaluated their lives and saw their desperate need for God’s forgiveness of their sins, it was God who issued them that forgiveness through baptism. Through baptism, they were connected to the One John was constantly pointing to – to Jesus. As the Bible says, “Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” (Romans 6:3). Baptism connects people to what Jesus accomplished with his death on the cross – the payment of sin and the purchase of life eternal in heaven. It’s all yours as God has promised and God the Holy Spirit delivers through faith!
Unfortunately, not everyone who went out to see John saw a need for what John was saying. Two groups of self-proclaimed Jewish religious experts came out to see what was going on. You have “the Pharisees and the Sadducees” – two groups of Jews who didn’t have anything in common except the fact that they were Jews and they hated Jesus. They listened to John’s message and their response was something like, “Repent? For what? We’re Pharisees!” They thought they were good enough for heaven. Baptism? Why would they need that? They were connected to Abraham, descendants of the mighty patriarch. They weren’t like all those poor, miserable sinners that John was calling to repent. They though that they didn’t NEED to hear what John was saying. Or maybe more accurately is to say that they didn’t WANT to hear what John was saying.
Have you ever noticed that when the Bible talks about the Pharisees it normally does so in the plural? There are 80 times that the word Pharisee is used in the plural as compared to 6 times in the singular. It’s like they travel in packs wherever they go. Why is that? It reminds me of the warning that the Apostle Paul, a former Pharisee, would give to fellow missionary Timothy when he wrote, “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear” (2 Timothy 4:3). When John did not itch the Pharisee’s ears and tell them what they WANTED to hear, what did they do? They surrounded themselves with fellow Pharisees who told them what they wanted to hear, instead of what they actually needed to hear for their salvation.
That’s probably good for us to remember as we listen to John’s call to repent. There is a little pharisee in every one of us that wants to think, “My sin isn’t really that bad.” And maybe even be tempted to find someone that will tell us what our itching ears want to hear about our sin instead of what our hearts need to hear. Unfortunately, it’s not real difficult for people to find someone who will tell you that you have no need to repent because what you’re doing is not sinful. They will itch your ears and stroke your ego and make you comfortable. Dear friends, we need to be careful to make sure that we’re not simply looking for someone who is going to tell us what we WANT to hear. We need to look for someone who tells us what we NEED to hear which is always going to lead us back to the truth of the Bible.
John’s warning is loud and clear. To those who are simply looking for someone to tell them what they WANT to hear – to those who refuse to repent of their sin John says, “The ax is already at the root of the trees, and everyone who does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matthew 3:10). Sin is a serious matter with eternal ramifications. To continue down the road of sin without repentance is to place your eternal life in jeopardy. But that’s not what John wanted for any of his listeners. That’s not what Jesus wants for anyone. Thus, the call continues to go out, “Repent!”
With daily repentance we find the comfort that Christ came into this world to bring to us. For through repentance the Savior turns to us and we get to hear Jesus say to us over and over again, “You are forgiven! You are a citizen of my kingdom. I will protect you. I will guide you. I will bring you safely to my home. Go and daily, courageously, live as one of my people, fight sin and live for me!” Is repentance uncomfortable? Yes, initially. But the comfort and blessings that repentance gives? Those are eternal. May the call of John the Baptist to repent be one that we welcome as a message that we need to hear, a message that God wants us to hear, a message that turns us to our Savior and the comfort he has come to bring to each of us. Amen.
