Luke 3:7-18 - The Forerunner Prepares Us for Christmas - December 12, 2021

Time is running out. Whether we like it or not, Christmas is only 13 days away. Delivery companies are warning that if you don’t have your gifts shipped by December 15, this coming Wednesday, they may not arrive by the 25th. Every year at this time, you hear people saying things like: “where has all the time gone?” “Christmas really snuck up on us this year.” “I have so much left to do and so little time to do it in.” We hear and maybe even say those things, but, really, the truth is that if we aren’t ready for Christmas, if we don’t get everything done – it’s not because this December was shorter than any other or that God took some time out of our days – if we’re not ready, the only one we can really blame is ourselves. The same is true of preparing to receive our Savior – both at Christmas and in his return in glory – if we’re not ready, we have no one but ourselves to blame. The good news this morning is that God has sent a forerunner, John the Baptist, to prepare us to receive our Savior.

Many aspects of John’s ministry strike us today as odd. He didn’t set up shop in Jerusalem, where the people were, but in the desert, where they were not. He didn’t wear the attire of a priest or a rabbi (he could have, given that he was from the priestly line of Aaron (Luke 1)), he dressed up in camel’s hair and survived on locusts and honey (Matthew 3:4). In spite of the fact that John’s appearance proclaimed desperation, not glory – the people came, hundreds and hundreds of them (Matthew 3:5). But perhaps that makes his greeting to them even odder: You offspring of vipers!

Is that any way to talk to people? I can’t imagine any evangelism book encouraging you to use this line when you’re trying to strike up a conversation about Jesus. Why did John speak with such venom? If he’s trying to bring people into God’s kingdom, why does he call them the children of Satan? It seems odd. It doesn’t make much sense. That is, until you understand John’s audience. He was preaching to people who were practically begging for God to rain down his judgment on them. For hundreds of years – it had been 400 years since Malachi’s last call to repentance – the people of Israel, and especially the Pharisees and Sadducees (Matthew 3:7) – had made all kinds of excuses to avoid true repentance. Now, their time was up. The Lord’s arrival was imminent. And John’s mission was to expose the excuses that prevented the people from being ready to receive their Savior.

Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Therefore produce fruits in keeping with repentance. Who had told the Pharisees and and Sadducees and their followers that God’s judgment was coming? Well, God had, but they had ignored and rejected his repeated warnings. John was really asking: why are you out here for my baptism for the forgiveness of sins? He knew that they didn’t really believe that they needed forgiveness. They had accumulated all kinds of good works: circumcision, washings, fasting, tithing. But their outward actions only served to cover up rotten, selfish, greedy, idolatrous hearts. They were hypocrites (Matthew 23:13-39). They appeared godly, but it was just a façade. That’s why John greets them in such a harsh manner. And that’s why he tells them to abandon their works and instead examine their lives under God’s Word and live according to it. The excuse that they were outwardly “good” people wouldn’t hold up under the fire of judgment.

Next, John set his sights on the empty excuse of heritage: Do not even think of saying to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ Throughout its history, this was Israel’s trump card when God sent prophets to call them to repentance and faith. Like spoiled children they would cry out, “Abraham is our father! We are God’s chosen people! Salvation is ours!” Yet, even as these claims left their lips they continued to live as godless unbelievers. They used God’s grace as a license to sin. John put their false claims in perspective: I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones (these stones being non-Jewish Gentiles, like us (1 Peter 2:5)). God didn’t need them. God didn’t owe them anything. Grace alone was the reason God has picked them to be his chosen people. And if they continued to abuse his grace by their sinful behavior – they risked losing it!

And there was one final excuse that needed exposing. Essentially, the Israelites had spent the last 400 years saying, “Repentance and bearing good fruit…yeah, we’ll take care of that later.” There was always something more important to do than listen to God’s Word. But time had run out. 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. The Messiah was coming and anyone who was not ready would only have themselves to blame. Hypocritical good works, bloodlines and heritage, laziness and procrastination – all excuses, all sins, all exposed by John.

Would John have any reason to call us the offspring of vipers this advent season? In other words: do we cling to any excuses to avoid true, heartfelt repentance and produce the fruits of repentance? Would John see us as hypocrites just like the Pharisees and Sadducees – imagining that our outwardly “good” works of tossing some change into a red kettle outside of the grocery store or being a little kinder to strangers can make up for all the evil we have done? That doing good things for friends and family can replace the necessity of heartfelt contrition and repentance? Or do we ever hide behind the excuse of heritage? I don’t believe any of us have Abraham’s blood flowing through our veins, but we are Lutheran. Do we ever imagine that just because we have the pure Gospel, that because our names are written on a very official looking Lutheran membership directory – that we deserve God’s grace, that God owes us? Jesus will not stop by the church office on judgment day to read our membership list because he can read hearts (John 21:17). Or maybe it’s sheer laziness and procrastination. I can get serious about repentance, about my devotional life, prayer, raising my children to know and fear the Lord, growing in my knowledge of God’s Word later – there’s more important stuff to do now. All of those things are empty excuses. The time is now to repent and produce fruits of repentance. The ax is ready to strike the root of the trees.

It’s not a comfortable place to be, is it? When the Law has pinned us down and stripped away our excuses, then we’re forced to ask with the crowd: what should we do then? John’s response is simple. Notice, however, that the audience is different now. Now he’s speaking to those who did repent and were baptized for the forgiveness of their sins. In fact, from the way the Pharisees and Sadducees responded to Jesus, it would seem that they never did submit to John’s baptism. That’s why John turned the attention away from the hypocritical, showy works of the Pharisees that only seemed good but benefited no one and encouraged the crowd put the repentance in their hearts into action in their everyday lives. “Share your blessings with those in need,” was his advice to the people in general. “Don’t be dishonest as you collect taxes,” he told the tax collectors. “Don’t use your power or authority to extort bribes,” he told the soldiers. In other words, John told the people who truly were penitent and wanted to produce fruits of repentance, be what you are: live and act like repentant children of God.

That’s his guidance to us as well; be what you are – because by virtue of your baptism, whatever else you are, you are a forgiven child of God. Confess your sinfulness and rejoice that Jesus came to save sinners like you. Give thanks that God comes to you through the means of grace to wash away your sins and strengthen your faith – make faithful use of them. And then, be who you are in the place in life he has given you. Are you a parent? Be a godly example to your children and raise them using the tools God has given you: law and gospel. Are you married? Sacrifice your own needs for your spouse’s and keep yourself free from lust. Are you an employee? Don’t steal from your employer through laziness but instead work as if the Lord was your boss – because he is (Colossians 3:23). Has God blessed you materially? Share what he has given you with your neighbors who are in need. It is that simple. If you want to produce fruit in keeping with repentance you don’t have to search for big showy works that so often wind up being empty and rotten. Compare your life to the 10 commandments. Confess those times you have failed to measure up. And then let those same commandments be your guide in how to live a life that produces fruit pleasing to God.

John’s simple yet profoundly powerful message led to some speculation among the people: the people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might be the Christ. John, again with his characteristic bluntness, corrected their thinking. 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. Having prepared the people’s hearts by exposing their excuses he turns to his second job: to exalt Christ. John was not the Christ. He was only the forerunner. He was sent to prepare the way. In case you’re curious about the different baptisms, John is comparing apples to oranges. He’s using the term baptism to refer to two different things. John’s baptism with water was effective as a means of grace to offer forgiveness to penitent sinners by Christ’s authority. In that sense, John’s baptism was no different than ours. But Jesus, the more powerful one, would, of his own authority, pour out the Holy Spirit on his people – a reference not to Christian baptism, but to the miracles of Pentecost.

This mightier one would demonstrate his power in what he came to do: 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. In one sentence, John summarizes the sum total of Jesus’ work in this world. There are two questions that arise, though. Is this law or gospel? Well, it’s both, isn’t it? It’s good news that when Jesus comes he will gather the wheat, the believers, into the barn of heaven. It’s the ultimate warning of the law to know that he will simultaneously burn up the chaff, the unbelievers, in the fire of hell. Second, when is this taking place? I don’t seem to recall Jesus burning anyone up during his earthly ministry. And that’s true. What John appears to be doing is combining Jesus’ first and second coming into one. Which means that this reaping and separating is taking place right now. Right now, Jesus is working through the Law and Gospel to separate the wheat from the chaff. Right now, those who are penitent are being comforted with the message of forgiveness. Right now, the impenitent are determining their own destiny in hell. This world is the threshing floor and Jesus’ judgment is ongoing.

And that’s where our hope and joy are found this Advent: the time is short, but Jesus has already come once as a baby and is coming now to us through the means of grace – and he is the only excuse that God will accept; he is the only excuse we need. His perfect life excuses our sins of spiritual indifference, laziness and hypocritical good works. His innocent death excuses us from ever having to suffer the hell our sins deserve. His glorious resurrection gives us no excuse to doubt that when he returns to clear his threshing floor we will be among the wheat that he gathers into the barn of heaven. That’s why for Christians in Advent, humility and joy go hand in hand.

There’s no question, time is running out. Christmas is 13 days away. But more importantly, our Lord is coming soon. Where do we begin? The forerunner prepares us. We start in the only place we can: with ourselves. We listen to the Law that exposes our excuses for laziness and indifference. We stop hiding behind them. We repent from our hearts. We listen to the Gospel that exalts Christ. We trust him for pardon and for peace. And then…well then, we live as the blood-bought children of God in humility and joy. Amen.