Luke 3:7-18 * December 13, 2009 * Advent 3 * Pastor Leyrer

Dear Friends in Christ,

Last week we mentioned that John the Baptist is the premier and preeminent Advent figure and that no Advent season can really be complete without paying attention to him. That is what we intend to do today.

And for good reason. In the Gospel of Matthew (11:11) Jesus says this: “I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist.” That’s quite an endorsement, so before we take a closer look at our text let’s spend just a minute or two reacquainting ourselves with this towering Bible figure.

All of the miraculous events that led up to John the Baptist’s birth are recorded for us in the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke. You may recall that his miraculous birth to the aged couple Zecheriah and Elizabeth was announced by the angel Gabriel, and that everything went according to plan. The final verse of Luke 1 reads: “And the child grew and became strong; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel.” That reference to living in the desert actually provides an interesting link with something that will soon be happening locally, so let’s see if we can’t tie them together.

I would guess most of us have heard about the Dead Sea Scrolls. Some of you may also know that a special Dead Sea Scroll exhibit is coming to the Milwaukee Public Museum toward the end of next month. It will very likely attract record crowds.

The Dead Sea scrolls are a collection – actually a library – of religious writings from the First Century. What makes them important to us as believers is that they are by far the earliest copies we have of many Old Testament books of the Bible. They were discovered approximately sixty years ago in desert caves and the story behind them is fascinating on any number of different levels.

Many scholars believe a certain religious group known as the Essenes was responsible for preparing and hiding the Dead Sea Scrolls, and if you take in the exhibit you’ll undoubtedly hear reference to them. The Essenes were kind of the modern day equivalent to the Amish. They lived a separate existence away from everyone else out in the desert and they were pretty austere in their habits and ways.

Here’s the link between the Dead Sea Scrolls and our text: Some think John the Baptist had at least some connection to this group. Assuming his older than usual parents probably died in his youth, some surmise he may have even been raised by the Essenes and see similarities between what historians know about them and how the Bible describes John’s life and work. While this is an interesting thought, the bottom line is that no one can know because the Bible is silent on this matter.

What the Bible is not silent on, however, is the role John the Baptist played in the desert. He was the forerunner of Jesus; the one who prepared the people to meet their Lord. Our text for today chronicles some of the ways in which he did this. And as we work our way through it we will learn a number of

LESSONS FROM JOHN THE BAPTIST

Three in particular. We’ll enumerate them along the way…

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? ⁸Produce 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. ⁹The axe 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."  ¹⁰"What should we do then?" the crowd asked. ¹¹John answered, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same."

We’re told crowds were coming out of the city and into the desert to see John. They sought him out because they knew he was something special. It had literally been centuries since a bonafide, legitimate prophet from God had been in their midst and they wanted to be a part of what was going on – including being baptized. But from John’s response to them it’s apparent their desire to be baptized had less to do with truly spiritual matters than it did with religious trendiness.

He calls them a “Brood of vipers,” which is not the softest of greetings, so we should explain that John was not just having a bad day. He knew certain things. He knew who he was talking to. And he knew what they needed to hear.

He was addressing people who thought they were right with God by virtue of their bloodline. They were the children of Abraham, the father of the Jewish race, which meant they considered themselves to be the “Chosen People of God.” That meant a lot to them, and apparently they also believed it ought to mean a lot to God.

John confronts their sense of spiritual entitlement and lets them know that a relationship with the One True God is more than being born into the right gene pool or producing the proper pedigree. A true relationship with God has to do with repentance, faith and the life that naturally results from understanding who God is and what He has done for us. And as far as God somehow “needing” them, John says that God could easily replace them with stones.

His stern preaching of the law to these people and his vivid description of the consequences that await those who reduce faith to having the right papers had results. It scared them. They saw their shallowness and sinfulness. And they wanted to change. So they asked John what they should do, and he gave them appropriate suggestions.

Here is something we must be clear about. The law and threats of God’s punishment can change behavior, but it can’t change hearts. For a fuller explanation of what’s going on here we should point out that John did not preach only the law, but (as we are told in the final verse of our text) the good news of Jesus Christ as well. The law exposed their sin, but it was the good news of Jesus, the long promised Savior and “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” which moved them to make the changes.

Nevertheless, central to John’s message is the idea of repentance. The first lesson we learn from him, then, is that the Christian life is a life of repentance.

Martin Luther said that same thing some 1500 years later. That sentiment is the first of his famous 95 theses. So let’s talk about the subject of repentance and the prominent role it is to play in our lives.

Repentance can be defined in different ways, but at its base it is recognizing two things: first who we are, and then who God is.

Who are we? We’re less than the perfect creatures God asks us to be. We look in the mirror of God’s Word and his Law and recognize in short order that we fail. Sometimes we sin on purpose. Sometimes we sin by accident. Sometimes we sin in weakness. Sometimes we sin in ignorance. But we sin. And as Christians, sin makes us sad and sorry, because we’ve been hurtful to the God we love.

The first step of true repentance, then, is sorrow over our sin. But it doesn’t stop there. It moves on. Specifically it moves to the cross. There we recognize God for who He is. Loving, forgiving, caring. “Chief of sinners though I be, Jesus shed His blood for me” writes the hymnist. We’re forgiven. That moves us to live for our Lord with renewed love and energy.

Driven by the message of John, let us ask God for the courage to own up to our personal sins. Then let us repent of them, experience the joy of forgiveness in Christ, and go forward with a stronger resolve to live our lives for Christ before a watching world.

As our text continues we see such repentance worked in the hearts of two particular groups of people. ¹²Tax collectors also came to be baptized. "Teacher," they asked, "what should we do?" ¹³"Don't collect any more than you are required to," he told them. ¹⁴Then 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."

This is a very interesting and instructive exchange. John did not tell the tax collectors (who were about as popular back then as they are today) to stop being tax collectors, as if it was a sinful profession. It wasn’t. John just tells them to be the best and most fair tax collectors they could be.

The same thing with the soldiers. He didn’t say it was somehow sinful to be in the military. He just told them to be the best soldiers they could be and to not take advantage of their position of power over others.

In doing so John the Baptist touches upon a Bible teaching which is also worth reviewing. Theologians call it the doctrine of “vocation.” It’s the recognition that wherever God has placed us in life – whatever our job or vocation or place may be – is also the opportunity to bring Him honor and glory as we serve Him and others.

Practically speaking it means wherever we are and whatever we are in life should never be minimized. We shouldn’t think of ourselves as “just” being a homemaker or a construction worker or an accountant or a receptionist or a student or a teacher or a retiree or whatever title we or the world may hang on us.

Wherever we are and whatever we are, we are, in the words of Martin Luther, “the masks of God” through which He is blessing the world.

That’s the second lesson we learn from John the Baptist: the dignity, importance and the opportunity for each of us to bring honor to God through our vocation.

The last and final section of this text: ¹⁵The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ. ¹⁶John 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. ¹⁷His 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." ¹⁸And with many other words John exhorted the people and preached the good news to them.

John’s final lesson to us is nothing other than the general message of Advent. Jesus is coming. In approximately two weeks He comes to us once more as the Savior born in Bethlehem. But eventually – as John mentions here – He will come again as King of Kings and Lord of Lords on Judgment Day. With that in mind, we must prepare ourselves to meet Him.

How? By applying John’s first two lessons to our lives.

So let us live lives of genuine repentance and joyful vocation. Let us rejoice in our forgiveness and be confident that God has made us who we are and put us where are for a purpose. This is how we prepare ourselves. And this is how we answer the Advent question: “O Lord how shall I meet Thee?” Amen.