Luke 3:1- 15 – How to avoid the axe
Have you every traveled on a road which is so pitted with potholes, you are forced to slow down. Some of them are so deep, particularly after rain, that you think you are going to be swallowed up. I’ve got this picture of an African pothole hanging on the wall of my office which I think is a classic picture.
Now I want to ask you a question? What would happen if a king or queen or important dignitary was to visit this African country and have to drive along this road. What would happen to this pothole? Well you could be sure that before the arrival of the dignitary, someone would come out and fill in the pothole and fix it up so that the journey in would be comfortable and smooth.
This is a little like what what John the Baptist did for Jesus. If you’ve got your Bibles there, open them up to Luke 3 and read with me …
Read Luke 3:1-6
Isaiah’s prophecy was that before the Messiah came, there would be one who came from the desert regions preparing the way for the Lord. He would make the paths straight, fill in the valleys, level the mountains, straighten up the crooked roads and smooth out the rough roads. Wouldn’t you like to have a few John the Baptists on the council road crews.
But John wasn’t a civil engineer. He didn’t drive a grader or an excavator. He didn’t have a ticket that allowed him to drive a steam roller. In fact he probably didn’t even know how to use a shovel or a spade. So what’s new you say – he’d fit perfectly into a council road crew. I’m going to get in trouble for that one aren’t I!!!!
John didn’t move dirt, rocks, soil or earth. He moved people. Isaiah is talking about people’s hearts here figuratively. Our hearts are crooked, up and down, rough, bumpy and twisted. John came to straighten us so that we could be prepared for the Messiah.
Why? To tell us how to avoid the Axe. What axe? You say. Read on with me …
Read Luke 3:7-15
God’s axe was ready to strike at the trees. Who were the trees? The crowd who had gathered. Who was in the crowd? The Greek term used indicates that it was probably a fairly mixed bunch. We likely had Gentiles there. We definitely had Jews – they were the ones who claimed that Abraham was their forefather (vs 8). There were tax collectors, there were soldiers. Matthew’s account of the same events say that there were even Pharisee’s and Saduccees. And John here addresses specifically those who are putting their faith and trust in their Godly heritage. The Jews and those Gentiles who had adopted the Jewish religion had incredible pride in their heritage and why shouldn’t they. God had specifically chosen them out of many nations to be called his people. But they were relying on this heritage alone.
It would be like me saying that because my Great Grandparents, my Grandparents and my Mother & Father all did well at their school studies and achieved top marks, that I will also even without studying. No it doesn’t work that way. To do well at school or university, you have to work at it and usually work hard – yourself. John here was saying that those who had come out to hear him, couldn’t rest on the privileges afforded them by their forefathers.
You would have thought that they would know that but they hadn’t learnt their lesson from history. You see, 600 years before, their great, great, great grandparents made the same mistake. They too thought that they could just do anything they liked and because they were descended from Abraham, they would be okay. WRONG. What did God do, he allowed Assyria and Babylon to come and invade them and cart them off into slavery. Their family tree was descimated and only a small remnant ever made it back to Israel. John was warning that the same thing could and would happen if people didn’t sit up and take note. Read it with me again in Vs 8 & 9
8 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. 9 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.”
The people in this crowd had an inflated view of their own importance. God didn’t need the Jews for some sort of little ego trip to show how many friends he has. He is God and created man out of the dust – didn’t He? So he could easily have made people out of all the stones that littered the desert around where John was speaking – Couldn’t He? And surely they would have praised him. God was not interested in excuses and had the Axe raised.
I wonder where God’s axe is today? Is it raised over your life today ready to strike you or is it safe and sound, back in the shed in heaven. Hold on a minute, you say – These words of John are back in the days of the old covenant, we live under the new covenant where we don’t have to fear losing our salvation.
Oh, but I’m not talking about your salvation here. I’m talking about whether God chooses to include your descendants in his family tree. Turn over to Romans 11. Here Paul is writing a letter to Gentiles about the unbelief and falling away of the Jews. He says in vs 11 (Read Rom 11:11- 24). Paul uses an image of a wild olive tree and because of unbelief, some of the branches have been cut off – with an axe or knife. In their place, God is grafting in believers from the Gentile nations. Think about it, who is it that makes up the bulk of the Christian church today – Jews or Gentiles. Gentiles. Most of the Jews, still don’t believe that Jesus is the Messiah and as a result their rejection of God’s one and only way of salvation has doomed them to judgement. The majority of Jews have been cut out of God’s Family Tree. Why? Because of unbelief that dates back to the days of Jesus. Not all Jews rejected Jesus, some accepted him, and so his Family Tree now consists of some Jews and many Gentiles.
But says Paul to the Gentiles in Rome, If you are not careful, you can fall into the same trap as the Jews. You can become proud of your heritage, your religiousity, your knowledge of the law. And you can find yourself under the axe again, ready to be cut out of the future of God’s kingdom.
Where is God’s Axe today? Is it hanging over your head ready to cut your branch out of his family tree. It could happen as easily as you rejecting God’s truth, walking out of this door and never coming back. You may have children to burn, but because you wandered away, they may never have the chance to hear about God and his wonderful free Gift.
A couple of weeks ago, Des Talked about the fact that the choices we make, determine our future. God is saying through John to the crowd gathered and to us as we read this account, the choices that we make about God will determine whether God pulls out his axe or not.
So the question now is - How do we avoid the Axe? When I look at this passage, I see 3 things that John the Baptist says must happen in order to avoid the Axe. Remember here that he is talking to Jews. There were no such thing as Christians then. Being a Jew was the way to go. So John says 3 things.
1. Hear the tough Words
the first step to keeping the axe in the shed is to hear the tough words spoken. “You Brood of Vipers!” Says John John. “Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?”. John was saying in no uncertain terms that these people gathering were sinners full of poison. They were coming to be baptized, but it was with the wrong motive. They wanted to go through the motions, but not have a lifestyle change.
You’ve got to realize that John drew a crowd, because he was seen as the latest fad. He was the latest religious thing and people were gathering around about him because they wanted a piece of the action. They wanted to be seen to be keeping up with the latest religious movement, but they weren’t ready to change their lives deep down. So John challenges them (vs 8) “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” Prove that you mean it by living a life that bears fruit you hypocrites.
They are tough words aren’t they. But I wonder whether they apply to some people here. Yes you are Christians, you are born again, but there is no fruit!!! You come along to church simply because that is the thing to do. You’ve got to look as though you are living a victorious Christian life even if you feel flat, even if you feel lifeless, even if you haven’t seen any fruit for years.
You don’t come to church to learn about God, to pray, to worship, to minister to other believers – you come because your parents make you or because you scared of what others would think if you didn’t. If this is you you and John the Baptist was here today, he’d be saying “You Brood of Vipers, Beware the axe of the Lord”.
If you want to avoid the axe, you have to hear the tough words and examine yourself to see whether the Christian life you are living is authentic and real.
2. Swallow the bitter pill
If our examination shows us up to be wanting, just like the people gathered around John, the second step to avoid the axe is to swallow the bitter pill. What pill? Repent and seek forgiveness. There is nothing more difficult for us, particularly men, than to say the S - word. I saw some people wake up – no not Sex - Sorry. But John the Baptist came preaching baptism of repentance. Matthew records his words as being “Repent for the Kingdom of God is near.”
What is repentance? It is simply turning around. That is what the word means. Simply turning around. It is like a U-Turn – going back the direction you came from. If you are walking away from God, repenting is turning around and going back to where you left him. Last week we heard about Mary & Joseph leaving Jesus behind. They repented when they returned to Jerusalem to find him.
Repentance is our action, it is a choice we make to go back to find God. But repentance is not enough. We need to confess our sins and ask for forgiveness. See in vs 3 - John preached a Baptism of Repentance for the forgiveness of sins. For the people coming to John, Repentance led to another action – Baptism. The baptism of John was modeled on a baptism ritual which was quite common in this day. It was however, only normally applied to Gentiles. It was a cleansing ceremony for Gentile converts and symbolized the washing away of the spiritual filth and grime that came from being a Gentile. In becoming a convert, the Gentile had to renounce all that was evil in their past and be baptized. From then on they were required to fulfill the sacrificial requirements just like anyone else. Forgiveness still came through the sacrificial system, baptism allowed them to have a spiritual bath so that they could get access to the sacrificial system in the temple.
The interesting thing about John the Baptist is that he was baptizing not just Gentiles, but Jews. He was saying, your heritage doesn’t matter, because you have all wandered away. You need to be made right again with God so first you need to repent – turn back to God. Then you need to be cleansed – by Baptism and then you can seek forgiveness of God through the sacrificial system he has inaugurated.
If you have wandered away from God today, you need to swallow the bitter pill of repentance. Come back and find God. Turn your life around. It won’t be easy, but it is necessary. You can’t follow God if you are looking in another direction. Secondly, you need to seek forgiveness. For these Jews, it meant being baptized and then entering back into communion with God through temple worship. For us, in the new covenant, both these steps – cleansing and forgiveness are achieved through prayer. We need to confess our sins to God and 1 John 1:9 says If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
So to avoid the axe, we need to hear the tough words of truth that our lives don’t match our words, we need to respond to that truth and swallow the bitter pill of repentance and confession and lastly we need to change – we need to
3. Live and bear good fruit
Jesus used the same analogy of an axe being used on a tree that does not bear fruit (Luke 13:1ff). Fruit is a mark of a healthy tree. Fruit in our lives is a mark that our walk with God is healthy. How healthy is our walk with Jesus? Have we borne much fruit lately?
John’s challenge to the crowd gathered was to bear fruit that was in keeping with repentance. In other words, you are walking back with God, so bear fruit which would reflect this. What sort of fruit should we be looking for? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Gal 5:22-23) These are the outward actions of an inward walk with God.
Have you been struggling with patience lately? Struggling with being self controlled? Struggling to be joyful in all situations? That is an indication that your fruit is drying up and that your relationship with Jesus is going through a rough patch. Prolonged periods without fruit says Jesus causes the Father to start to sharpen the axe. Scary isn’t it.
John addresses some specific cases as an example to the crowd. He says to the crowd Bearing fruit is being Generous / Sharing – share your belongings, share your food. Give to those in need. That’s what we might term kindness or goodness. A Tax collector came and said – what should we do? I think they knew exactly what they needed to do, but were hoping for John to give them a softer answer, but no – out came the 4x2 – Don’t collect any more than you are required to (vs 13). That’s what we would call honesty and resisting the temptation to steal. To a group of soldiers who asked the same question. Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay. (vs 14). That is what we would call integrity.
By their fruit we will know them. What are you known as this evening? John brought a warning to the Jews living at the time that they needed to watch out for the axe. That warning is as much applicable for us as it is for the crowd that gathered around John. By their fruit we will know them.
Do you need to be scared of God’s axe tonight? If so, hear what you have to do to avoid the axe - 1. Hear the tough words of truth that our lives don’t match our words, 2. respond to that truth and swallow the bitter pill of repentance and confession and 3. change and live a life that bears good fruit.
What is God laying on your heart this evening? Are you bearing the fruit that you should be? Do you need to hear the tough words he has laid before us? Do you need to respond to that truth and swallow the bitter pill of repentance and confession? Do you need to change and live a life that bears good fruit? I want us tonight to just bow our heads and close our eyes and wait on God to hear what he is saying to each of us tonight.
I feel tonight that there are some here that need to do some serious business with God. You’ve heard the tough words he has for you tonight and there is a response that some of you need to make. Are you going to swallow the bitter pill of repentance and confession and seek to live a life for him that bears fruit? Tonight I am going to ask you to make that decision. You need to get your life back on track and it starts here tonight with repentance. While every eye is bowed and every eye closed, I want to ask you to raise your hand if tonight you feel God is speaking to you personally those tough words and you want to turn and begin the journey back to him. Just raise your hands, because I’d love to pray for you.
