“The Good News”
[Luke 3:7-18]
December 16, 2018, Second Reformed
Church
We continue to hear about the
forerunner of Jesus, John the Baptist, in this morning’s Scripture. In addition, in our text, we hear some of
John the Baptist’s preaching as he speaks to unrepentant Pharisees, the crowds,
tax collectors, and soldiers. And we
hear John the Baptist’s response to the crowd’s wondering if he is the Savior.
We will remember that John the
Baptist is the beginning of the Gospel – showing what Jesus will do in the
visual act of baptizing, and also calling on all people – including Jews – to
be baptized. And we see that John the
Baptist’s heralding the coming of the Savior is prophesied in the words given
by Isaiah to the nation in captivity in Babylon.
This morning, we see, first, that
the Good News is damning to hypocrites.
“He said therefore to the crowds
that came out to be baptized by him, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to
flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not
begin to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father.” For I tell you,
God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the
axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear
good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.’
Luke tells us that John the Baptist
has insight into the state of the hearts of his hearers in the crowd – which
could only have been given to him by God the Holy Spirit – only God knows the
heart and John the Baptist condemns at least some of these people for
hypocrisy.
Matthew specifies, “But when he saw
many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, ‘You
brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in
keeping with repentance’” (Matthew 3:7-8, ESV).
But this may have been a different occasion.
In any event, God reveals to John
the Baptist that some of those coming to him – including some of the religious
leaders – are hypocrites. Outwardly,
these religious leaders and others appear to believe and follow the Law of God
and look forward to the coming of the Savior – the Messiah – but, in their
hearts, they only go to the Temple and take part in the worship service so
people will think well of them – for the free food – to be able to steal from
others – to even mock those who believe the clear teaching of the Scripture.
And John the Baptist calls them a
“brood of vipers” – the children of vipers – because the devil is a liar and
the father of lies – and there have been religious hypocrites in every
generation – people who take the name Christian and take part in worship, but
for them it is merely to be seen, to been thought of as a moral person, to look
for their own advantage – to make connections for their own good. They don’t care about you or me and they
certainly don’t care about Jesus and His Gospel.
So John the Baptist sarcastically
asks them who told them to repent – because he knows it is not real – they are
liars. He tells them to bear fruit worthy
of repentance – if they are truly repentant, their works should prove it.
James writes, “What good is it, my
brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith
save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food,
and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without
giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by
itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:14-17, ESV).
James says, “If you claim to have
saving faith, and you do not exhibit that faith – if that faith is not proved
by good works – if that faith does not make you a person who seeks the good of
his neighbor in every way you can – then that is a dead faith – it is not even
a real faith – it is certainly not a saving faith. You are a hypocrite or self-deluded.”
We know that works do not and cannot
save us, but if we say Jesus has saved us, and we do not respond to that
salvation by doing good works, we are hypocrites or self-deluded – the faith we
claim is dead – it is not real.
And some of them say, “Well, we’re
children of Abraham – our father secured our salvation.”
John the Baptist tells them that God
is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones on the ground. God is not limited or held captive by
biology. Just because you are the child
of a great person of faith, you are not allowed a “get out of hell free”
card. Having a great person of faith in your
lineage can be inspirational, but it does not save you – only a true reception
of Jesus and His salvation through faith alone can save you.
And John the Baptist warns them that
God prunes the trees, and if you are a tree that – in your heart – does not
believe savingly in Jesus – no matter how you may act and hope it looks before
other people – if you really do not believe in your heart – you will be cut
down and thrown into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
The Good News of Jesus Christ is
damning to hypocrites because it reveals the truth about our hearts. If we do not truly believe – if it is all an
act – God knows – and one day it will be revealed to all – in the judgment.
As Jesus says, “No one after
lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a
stand, so that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is hidden that
will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and
come to light” (Luke 8:16-17, ESV).
Second, the Good News causes the
repentant to react.
“And the crowds asked him, ‘What
then shall we do?’ And he answered them, ‘Whoever has two tunics is to share
with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.’ Tax collectors
also came to be baptized and said to him, ‘Teacher, what shall we do?’ And he
said to them, ‘Collect no more than you are authorized to do.’ Soldiers also
asked him, ‘And we, what shall we do?’ And he said to them, ‘Do not extort
money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your
wages.’
We now have some believers coming to
John the Baptist asking what they should do – how they should react to
believing in the Gospel of Jesus Christ – now that they have believed in Him –
and are being baptized, John tells them that their obedience to the commands of
the second table testifies to their piety (cf. John Calvin).
John tells them that if they have
two coats and someone – especially a brother or a sister is unable to get a
single coat – give them the extra coat that you have!
Paul writes, “For I do not mean that
others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness your
abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance
may supply your need, that there may be fairness. As it is written, ‘Whoever
gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack’”
(2 Corinthians 8:13-15, ESV).
God has given some people more so they
would have the ability and opportunity to give to people who have less. And this is not some sort of government
redistribution scheme – this is Christians who have more than they need seeing
– especially – other Christians – especially within the church where we worship
– who have a need – and we are able to fill it based on the bounty we have
received – and we ought to fill it. And
we need to understand that everyone has more than they need of something –
everyone has the ability to share with others – to help others out – to provide
for others in a meaningful way. It may
not be money – it may not be things – but everyone can do something – everyone
can give something. And real joy is
found in giving lavishly.
Similarly, when the tax collectors
ask how they specifically ought to respond – to live out their salvation – John
tells them to be honest. Tax collectors
were assumed to be money-grubbing thieves – and they worked for the Roman
government – who oppressed the Jews. So,
rather than use your power and authority to take more than is required so you
can skim off the top and line your pockets – be honest about what people really
owe to the government and take only that.
And when the soldiers ask how they
specifically ought to respond – he does not tell them to defect. He does not say military bad – guns bad – war
bad – no, the government is given to us to “wield the sword” as Paul says – to
protect its people and punish evil – which continues among us until Christ
returns. However, those in the military
are not to abuse their status. They are
not to use their weapons to extort from others.
They are not to use their rank to take what does not belong to them. The military is a servant of the state and
her people, and those serving should do so for love and honor and be satisfied
when they receive fair compensation.
When we say that their obedience to
the commands of the second table testifies to their piety, what we are talking
about is the second table of the Ten Commandments:
“Honor your father and your mother,
that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
“You shall not murder.
“You shall not commit adultery.
“You shall not steal.
“You shall not bear false witness
against your neighbor.
“You shall not covet your neighbor's
house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his
female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's”
(Exodus 20:12-17, ESV).
John Calvin explains that what John
is doing in the three examples that Luke mentions is to use a synecdoche – that
is, we are to draw a general rule from a specific example.
Here, we have the example of the
crowd, tax collectors, and soldiers, and we are to see the six laws of the Ten
Commandments that refer to humans – our neighbors. We don’t have time to go through the positive
and negative understanding of each of these six laws about neighbor this
morning – but you can read about them in our Heidelberg Catechism – and we understand the summary of these laws,
as Jesus puts it, is to “love our neighbor as ourselves.”
The point being, if we are truly
believers in Jesus, we will not do anything that shows a lack of love towards
others and we will do everything we can to show love to our neighbors.
The Good News causes the repentant
to react by doing everything possible to make the lives of our neighbors – and
especially those in the Church – better – we show love to our neighbors.
Third, the Good News is accomplished
by the Son of God.
“As the people were in expectation, and
all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the
Christ, John answered them all, saying, ‘I baptize you with water, but he who
is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to
untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is
in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his
barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’
The people were not used to hearing such a
prophet – it had been four hundred years since a prophet had come from God –
they wonder if John could be the long-awaited Messiah – but John says he is
not.
John the Baptist came to prepare the
way. John the Baptist came as the
beginning of the Gospel. John the
Baptist came to baptize all kinds of people – Jews and Gentiles – telling them
that all humans are sinners in the eyes of God – and the sins of all people
separate them from God. The only hope is
salvation through the coming Messiah.
The people were impressed with John the
Baptist – and angered by John – but John tells them that compared with the
Savior, he is insignificant. John is not
worthy to untie the Savior’s filthy, dung coated shoes. Can you imagine? It’s similar to my saying that I am not worthy
to clean your toilet. Can you imagine
telling someone that cleaning their toilet would be too great an honor for you?
John the Baptist says that he merely
baptizes with water – a symbolic baptism – and it would be too great an honor
to untie Jesus’ filthy sandals because Jesus will give believers the indwelling
of God the Holy Spirit and He will be the fire within them that purifies them
for the Kingdom – Jesus is the God Who saves and purifies – Who makes
holy. He is the Holy, Holy, Holy God Who
is infinitely superior to John the Baptist.
Jesus Christ is the God Who will take all of humanity and separate them
into the wheat and the chaff – and the wheat will be saved and grow in the
Kingdom, but the chaff will be burned in the eternal fire created for the devil
and his angels.
The Good News of Jesus Christ is
accomplished by the Son of God because He is the Christ and there is no Being
greater than He. But the Good News of
Jesus Christ separates people into the wheat and the chaff – there is no
standing by idly. Everyone must believe
or be damned.
But it’s not enough to say you believe –
there must be evidence of your belief.
And that evidence of your belief or lack of it will show whether you are
a hypocrite or a truly repentant believer.
“So with many other exhortations he
preached good news to the people.”
Let us pray:
Almighty God, we thank You for the witness
of John the Baptist and his preaching of the Good News to the people. We thank You for showing us through John that
we are called to a faith that works – a faith in Jesus Alone for salvation that
leads us to do as little harm to our neighbors and as much good as we can do
for our neighbors. Give us wisdom to
know what this means as we live as Second Reformed Church in Irvington and as
we live among all of our neighbors. In
Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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