The Coming Promise

Luke
3:7 John said 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? 8 Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 9 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
10 And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” 11 In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” 12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” 13 He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” 14 Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”
15 As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 16 John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
18 So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.

The Coming Promise
What motivates us more, a threat or a promise? People are motivated in different ways. In the work place what motivates one might not get the same results out of another. A promise of a promotion will cause one to work harder, but for someone who is happy in their job and doesn’t desire a promotion these promises hold little effect. The promise of a raise might motivate many but a company can’t always afford to offer raises as incentives. To threaten with a lay off or termination ought to propel most to action, but there may me some who want the time off.
What motivates children? Teresa and I found out early in our marriage that we shared different ideas on child rearing. Where she would offer reward to achieve good behavior, I tended to take away privileges for bad behavior. In the store we tend to offer rewards to get our kids to behave, or we threaten them with no TV if they misbehave. We find out early on what motivates each child.
What about the church? What motivated the church to action? What causes us to take what we hear each week in a sermon, read in the bible, are led by the Spirit of God, and put it into action? Let’s see if we can tell how John motivated the people.
Here was this wild looking man, hair and beard all tangled, dressed in smelly camel skins, living in the wilderness, munching on bugs, and preaching a message of repentance. Might we listen to John more if he came to us clean shaven, with a fresh haircut, wearing a clean pressed suit and matching tie, or dressed in his priestly robes? When we do this we are in danger of paying more attention to the messenger than the message. Still John’s appearance had to draw curiosity. What do I mean? John reflected the image of Elijah in the way he dressed and his message of repentance. Where we would look at his appearance as odd, the people were reminded by his appearance of the stories they had heard of Elijah and were drawn to John. In Malachi 4: 5 it says; “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” So the nation of Israel was looking for a prophet to come and when John showed up in the spirit of Elijah, their curiosity was raised to go and see this man preaching repentance.
But how did John motivate the people? Did he use a threat or a promise? By going back and reading verses seven thru nine we can see that this was indeed a threat. 3:7 John said 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? 8 Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 9 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” I have talked to a few people who have told me that they need to have their toes stepped on now and then. So as the crowds began to gather and the religious leaders posed their questions to John of who he was, his verbal attack did not fall on deaf ears. There was already mistrust for those sent to question John, so when he posed his own questions to them the crowds took notice. When one attacks a trusted leader we respond in their defense, but because of the mistrust built by these leaders the crowds took notice and might have even cheered John on.
Still when their trust in Abraham’s lineage for their salvation was questioned, when the religious leaders were put in their place, when told if their lives did not bear fruits of repentance they would be cut off from God, John had their attention! John’s call to repentance was not a matter of ceremony as we see a lot of people who come to the altar just because everyone else does. It is a call to a changed life from one centered on themselves, full of greed, dishonesty, and discontent to one of a moral and ethical relationship with others.
The people’s response to John is found in verse ten: And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” When we find out that our world and everything we believe is turned upside down a lot of times we are left in despair. I know that in my own life when I was at rock bottom that I had no place to look but up, and there was the Father waiting on me to ask this same question. Too many times though we can’t see past the threat, past the despair, past the confusion in our lives to see the Father. We become lost in our own little world falling deeper and deeper into despair till it consumes us and becomes our life. That is not where God wants to leave us and He reaches out to us through His word, through His people, but when we are lost in despair we fail to see Him working. We tend to cry out Lord! Where are you?
When we finally look around us and see the Lord working in the situation we are filled with expectation. As the people came to be baptized they all asked the same question, “What do we do?” At this time we are open and ready to receive but we must be careful what we receive. In this state of suggestion a lot of scrupulous leaders come along and fill us with a doctrine that is not of God. They see a chance to push their own agenda and prey upon those who are open to whatever, not knowing the truth. To some that had not heard this teaching before and asked John if he was the Christ. John could have said; “Why yes. As a matter of fact I am.” I remember the comedian Jon Lovitz played a character on Saturday Night Live that seemed to be open to the power of suggestion, mainly his own, and always finished his conversation with; “Yeah that’s the ticket!” as if to convince himself. Jon’s character was subject to whatever wind was blowing his thoughts around and though he tried to convince himself, the audience was never convinced. If we are grounded in the word and test what others say with the word we will be less likely to blown by the wind of the day that is sent to tickle our ears.
Still not everyone had a positive reaction to John’s message of repentance. When Herod was told to repent he had John thrown in Jail. When the rich young ruler came to Jesus and asked what he must do to inherit the kingdom of God, he walked away when told to sell everything he had and follow Him. He trusted more in his riches than in Christ. When Jesus told those He was teaching to drink His blood and eat His flesh, they walked away rather than stay with Jesus and find the true meaning of Jesus’ teaching. Not everyone is going to respond to the gospel with the statement; “What do we do?” They may become defensive and ask who we are to accuse them, or tell them how to live. We as Christians must develop thick skin when others attack us for the gospel, for they are not attacking us but the gospel. It is not us that they are denying, but the truth. They are choosing to look at the threat as a personal attack and refuse to look ahead to the promise.
John gives us examples of how to treat others. He told us to give to those in need, don’t over burden others in our treatment of them, don’t intimidate, falsely accuse, and be satisfied with what we receive. In this we live the gospel and look forward to the promise, every life that is lived for Christ points to the promise that John alluded to. John told the people that he might minister to them but one was coming whose sandals he was unworthy to loose. Jesus is the promised one and the promise as well. He is the answer to our fears when we ask; “What shall we do?” He is the promise that lifts us out of despair and sets our life on a path that serves Him. He is the promise in our lives and He is the promise in the world today. Some may take it as a threat while others may look at it as a promise.


Brian Davis