This morning we are going to continue to look at just how we are to prepare our hearts and lives for the coming of Jesus Christ by continuing our look at the ministry of John the Baptizer.
Remember, John is set up outside of the City of Jerusalem in the region of Judea, a wilderness area, near the Jordan River. Water, in those days, was very, very precious. A lot of people went out there just to get their daily water needs taken care of. John stayed by the Jordan so that he would have water for his own needs and, also, he would have water for baptizing. As we saw last week, John preached a message of repentance, meaning “a change of mind, a change of thinking, a change of heart, and a change of lifestyle.”
In the Gospel of Mark we find that all the people of the region came to see and hear John. Even the Pharisees and the Sadducees came to where John was baptizing for repentance. That was quite astounding! See, the Pharisees and the Sadducees were leaders of the Jewish Church and they were not very excited about the message John was preaching. Quite the contrary! They were extremely upset that the people were going to see John and that he was baptizing them. That was something these church leaders had never heard of before. They believed and trusted in circumcision. The Pharisees trusted and believed in the Law for their salvation. The Law said that, “You must do and do and do and do until you die!” Hopefully, at the time of your death you had done enough to warrant a spot in the Heavenly Kingdom. As for the Sadducees, they did not believe in an afterlife at all! (That is why they are Sad-you-see!)
So here comes John the Baptizer teaching the people that the Savior was coming, indeed that He was already there! The Messiah, the Promised One was in their midst and was there to do everything for you so that you may die in peace and assurance of your place in Heaven!
John knew the Pharisees and Sadducees very well, so when he saw them coming to where he was baptizing for repentance he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?” Pretty strong words, to say the least. But even Jesus says the same thing to the Pharisees and Sadducees, speaking about the coming wrath of God.
Many people don’t like to see Jesus in this righteous anger. They are okay with Jesus the baby, or even Jesus the Crucified Redeemer, but this Jesus, who overturns the money changing tables and drives the moneylenders out of the Temple using his belt as a whip, this Jesus who called the Pharisees and Sadducees, “white-washed sepulchers, who looked good on the outside but, were rotten and horrid on the inside”, this Jesus is hard for many to take. John the Baptizer tells these leaders to, “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” He said, “I don’t know what is in your hearts, but I can see what is in your lives.”
Repentance is a change of thinking, a turning away from sin and toward God, resulting in changed lives. If lives are not changed, then hearts are not changed. If hearts are not changed, then the way of thinking is not changed, and if the way of thinking is not changed, then there is no true repentance!
These church leaders who, “devour widows’ houses and take advantage of the poor”, had not changed their ways, had not softened their hearts and had not truly repented of their sinful lives. So John warns them, “The axe is already at the root of the trees and every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire!” He is talking here about the “fire that burns, but does not consume.” This is the fire of eternal destruction and damnation. John continues with, “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor, gathering His wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire!”
So here, once again, Scripture very clearly teaches about Heaven and Hell. Very clearly Scripture points out that Hell is a place of torment and suffering with unquenchable fire, burning but not consuming, for all eternity! John did not see any good fruit produced by the Pharisees and Sadducees. He knew they were just there to check up on him. They wanted to make sure John was doing what the Church wanted, even though it didn’t jive with what God wanted.
John also anticipated their faulty defense. So he says to them, “And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you that out of these stones God can up children for Abraham.” John says this because ever since Abraham lived, his descendents always said, “Abraham is our father. God loved him and blessed him and promised him great things and a great nation.” But that didn’t, and doesn’t, make them God’s children, does it? God can make stones His children if He wishes. They had become Abraham’s children by birth, but not by faith. John knew that. They needed to hear that. They needed to know that. They needed to know that the axe was at the root of the tree, the winnowing fork was in God’s hand, and the Kingdom of God was near. We need to know that the axe is again at the root of the tree, His winnowing fork is again in God’s hand, and the Kingdom of God is indeed near!
We gather today because the Kingdom of Heaven is near. Luke says that it is within each of us. It is because God has put faith in our hearts. Left to our own devices, none of us would be here. We are all born with sin in our hearts. We would choose to not look for God or ever be concerned about God. We would choose worldly, unspiritual, ungodly things and be lost forever. But thankfully, by God’s mercy and grace, He chooses us and brings us out of deep darkness and into His brilliant light. God chooses us, and when we accept His Son, Jesus, as our personal Savior, we become God’s children by faith.
Our reaction is that we change our way of thinking, we change our heart, we change our lives. Our changed lives become lives that produce good fruit because of all that Christ has done for us! In the Book of St. John Jesus says, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in My Name!” (John 15:16) We think we are so independent and so important in this life. But our Lord says, “I Am the vine. You are branches on the vine. If you are cut off, you are lost.” We are connected to God as a branch is connected to a vine. In this vital connection we get everything we need. If we think we don’t have everything we need, we should ask Him. Remember though, what we need may not be everything we want. Praise God that he gives us everything we need!
How about the “good fruits” we speak of? What are they? Well, there are all kinds of good fruits. They come from and with the wisdom of God. At this time of the year good fruits abound. But there is a hazard to watch out for. The stores are all decorated for Christmas, indeed some have been that way since Halloween. Homes are decorated with colored lights and people are out shopping, shopping, shopping. It can be very easy to begin thinking that this is all there is. It can become very easy to think that we don’t have enough and need more, and our children need more and our families need more. It is at this time that we need to turn to what God says in His wisdom. He says, “But the wisdom that comes from Heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” (James 3:17)
Notice that list contains nothing materialistic on it. Sincere, considerate, peace-loving, submissive, full of mercy, impartial – these are all characteristics of a true Christian. This is the tree that bears good fruit.
As we hear and understand God’s word and wisdom, they produce fruit in our lives. We don’t have to go very far outside of the doors of our church to find those who are not filled with peace, sincerity or consideration for others. So the Lord tells us that we are to go out and let those fruits be seen in our lives. When we do that, we become as the Psalmist writes in Psalm 1:3, “He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.”
Although John tells us that the axe is already at the root of the trees, we know that the healthy, well-watered tree root is much harder to cut down then a shriveled, dry, dead tree root. The Psalmist says that as believers, we anchor our tree roots in the word of God that tells us that He who is the Water of Life waters us. This life is like a desert or wilderness through which we make our pilgrimage, with God’s word as our source of the Water of Life, and by God’s mercy and grace, we get what we need to make our way to our destination, the Kingdom of Heaven.
Matthew says to us from the Prophet Isaiah and through John the Baptizer, “Prepare the way for the Lord!” Prepare our hearts for the Lord with repentance, a change of mind, a change of thinking, a change of heart, and a change of life that will produce good fruit.
In his letter to the Colossians, the Apostle Paul says a prayer that is most fitting for us this morning. Paul writes, “And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way; bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.”
These past few weeks we have grown in our knowledge of God. So today we are a little more prepared for the coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ. We see our sinfulness and the importance of repentance; of the changing of our way of thinking and our way of living, and so we have become, “As trees who are blessed with the Water of Life.” Therefore, we can and are excited and anxious to produce good fruit. Amen!