December 15, 2024
Pastor John Hering
Luke 3:7-18
Luke 3:7-18
7 So John kept saying to the crowds who came out to be baptized by him, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Therefore produce fruits in keeping with repentance! Do not even think of saying to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ because I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones. 9 Even now the ax is ready to strike the root of the trees. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is going to be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
10 The crowds began to ask him, “What should we do then?”
11 He answered them, “Whoever has two shirts should share with the person who has none, and whoever has food should do the same.”
12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized. They said, “Teacher, what should we do?”
13 To them he said, “Collect no more than what you were authorized to.”
14 Soldiers were also asking him, “And what should we do?”
He told them, “Do not extort money from anyone by force or false accusation. Be satisfied with your wages.”
15 The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might be the Christ. 16 John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But someone mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing shovel is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor. He will gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
18 Then with many other words, he appealed to them and was preaching good news to the people.
The landscape full of trees we see around here was much different years ago. In the las 100 years wildfires have been cut by 90%. The government spends about $6 billion on tree management so that today about 33% of the area in American is covered by trees. With so many trees you can easily estimate that there are lots more acorns, apples, lemons and limes growing as well. When you plant a tree from which you expect to get fruit, it is saddening to see a tree that doesn’t. That happened to us when we planted a peach tree in our front yard. It had a couple of years of producing preaches, but then the termites got it and we cut it down and threw it away. Today I’m going to talk about trees because John and Baptist did. While I don’t really know much about trees, what I do know is that we enjoy seeing trees that are healthy. So does God. The message from God’s Word on this 3rd Sunday in Advent is straight forward: It is God’s will for you to
Joyfully Produce Good Fruit
With God working on your Roots
If we were living back in the days of John the Baptist and went with the crowds to visit him, what would we have seen? We heard it in last week’s gospel reading,
“the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. 3 He went into the whole region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”
John was doing his ministry where there weren’t many trees. I would imagine if there were trees, they were pretty barren and sickly. That is, except for those trees growing close enough to the river to have some access to the water. As John watched the people coming toward him it would have been easy for him to compare the crowds with the trees around him.
“7 So John kept saying to the crowds who came out to be baptized by him, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Therefore produce fruits in keeping with repentance! Do not even think of saying to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ because I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones.”
A sick person cannot say to his doctor, “Leave me alone. I’ll be fine. Besides, my great, great grandpa used to be sick and he got better.” Neither could these people that John compared to trees say, “We’re related to Abraham so we’ll be fine.” No! To make a tree healthy and fruitful you have to get to the root system. If the tree isn’t getting the nutrients it needs through its roots it will die. John makes the comparison:
“9 Even now the ax is ready to strike the root of the trees. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is going to be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
It does people no good to say, “But, my grandpa was a pastor in Chicago, I’ll be fine.” Or “My mom and dad started the church in Oklahoma City, I’ll be fine.” Or “My dad served on the synodical council so I’ll be fine.” People without faith in Jesus and who do not follow God’s commandments are people who are bearing no fruit, or bearing fruit that is rotten because it doesn’t have the support of God’s Word through the roots. How ridiculous for a person to say, “My tree doesn’t need any roots because I’m going to come up with my own way of feeding it through it’s leaves.” Nope! It won’t work in God’s kingdom.
And before you get too excited pointing your fingers at everyone else, remember how you started out! You were born with a spiritual root system infected by sin. Every person born is rotten spiritually without the ability to produce fruit that is pleasing to our holy God. There is only one hope! Repent and believe in Jesus. Last week we talked about this repentance. It is a blessing from God for us to repent. That means God’s Word was used by the Holy Spirit to work on our roots, or in the comparison for today—to create faith in our hearts so we can repent. We know our roots were sickly and detestable, and in desperate need for the spiritual water and nutrients of his promises of love. We can say to God, “I’m sorry. Because I’m a sinner I sinned. I need help! And thank you Lord for sending Jesus to be the Savior for my sin. Thank you Lord for revitalizing my roots through the means of grace (Word, Baptism, Lord’s Supper). Thank You God For Working on my Roots!”
John the Baptist’s entire ministry was centered on revitalizing spiritually dead roots. And just like I can’t change the roots of a sickly tree, I have to rely on the water and nutrients to do that work. Likewise, we rely on the power of the Word that point to Jesus to do its work in the hearts of people. That’s what John did for the people “who came out to be baptized by him.” John pointed the people to the coming Savior, Jesus, who was their source of spiritual nourishment and absorbed through their roots of faith.
Let’s apply this to our lives. More than once you’ve heard people complain about members who don’t come to church, and maybe even been called, “Dead wood.” Not much compassion, right? While John did call some in the crowd, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?” he was talking to people who had rejected God’s plan of salvation and had no roots to work with. When working with people who have sickly roots, wouldn’t it be a better approach for us to help prevent it from happening in the first place? How about we focus on what Jesus has done for us first, absorb his love and grace for us through our spiritual roots and then look to help others to do the same! How about an attitude that says, “I need God’s Word with its Ax and its healing nutrients to strengthen my roots, then I want to Join Jesus on His Mission to go and help others to see the kingdom of God is close to them as well.” That would be a Tree Joyfully Producing Fruit because God has worked on your roots, and then you can confidently join in his mission
With God Guaranteeing Your Fruits
There is no guesswork on how this happens. John the Baptist made it so clear, “8 Therefore produce fruits in keeping with repentance!” The fruits of repentance come from changed hearts. Changed hearts come from those who do not reject the good news about Jesus, but believe in their Savior and want to thank God for his grace, forgiveness and amazing love. The people in the crowds that heard this were all too eager to produce these fruits of repentance.
“10 The crowds began to ask him, “What should we do then?” 11 He answered them, “Whoever has two shirts should share with the person who has none, and whoever has food should do the same.” 12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized. They said, “Teacher, what should we do?” 13 To them he said, “Collect no more than what you were authorized to.” 14 Soldiers were also asking him, “And what should we do?” He told them, “Do not extort money from anyone by force or false accusation. Be satisfied with your wages.”
Do you find it interesting that Luke records examples from John that have to do with the 7th Commandment? I do. There is a quote that is attributed to Martin Luther that sheds some light on this when he said, “There are three conversions necessary to every man: the head, the heart and the purse.” It helps us understand that you can tell the health of the tree by viewing the fruits hanging on the tree. It also points out that we need God to give us guidelines so that our actions match our changed heart.
How would you like to have fruits of repentance that are perfect? Look again at the suggestions John made to the crowds. He looked at people and didn’t give them extra-ordinary commandments to follow. He simply spoke to those in the crowd that were greedy or selfish. He told them to share what they had with people in need. To the tax collectors, who were famous for charging more than required and pocketing the extra cash, he told them “Collect no more than what you were authorized to.” And to the soldiers who were known for raising one hand in violence, and the other hand for a bribe, he told them “Do not extort money from anyone by force or false accusation. Be satisfied with your wages.” Very simple, very natural, and very much in harmony with God’s commandments. But, here’s the thing. Just like you don’t force an apple tree to produce good apples, it happens naturally. Likewise, God doesn’t force us to produce fruits of repentance, but he guarantees that trees who have their roots in Christ will produce good fruit in keeping with repentance. Jesus said the same thing,
“I am the Vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him is the one who bears much fruit, because without me you can do nothing”
John 15:5
St. Paul further explains that the guaranteed good fruits we bear are from God himself:
“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance so that we would walk in them”
Ephesians 2:10
So, I just have to ask. How do you feel right now? Do you feel obligated? Do you feel helpless? Do feel like you just can’t produce good fruit? I hope not! But, if you do, stop feeling and start believing! Believe God has richly blessed you from your roots to your branches (your whole life) in Jesus Christ. God doesn’t make outrages demands of you, but to joyfully offer your God-Guaranteed fruits as a way of showing your thanks and trust in him that will Fill Your Life With Joy.
There are more trees growing than there ever has been in the history of the world. Not just cedar, oaks and apple trees, but people. Just like in the world the tree business is an important one, so also in God’s world. If John the Baptist were here today and you would ask him, “What should I do?” What would he say to you? Maybe he would say, “When the doors of this church are open to come and worship Jesus, be here in God’s Word.” Or he might say, “When you see a government official, give him the respect he deserves.” Or he might say, “Love and respect marriage” or “Be a good manager of the blessings God has given to you,” or “Defend your neighbor’s reputation,” or “Be content with the blessings God has given to you.” Do this and you will Enjoy the Lord God working on your Roots to produce God-guaranteed fruits and your life will be Filled With Great Joy! Amen!
