Bear Fruit In Keeping With Repentance

Bear Fruit In Keeping With Repentance

Matthew 3:1-12

     Can you feel it?  The pace is picking up.  Our lives are becoming a little more hectic.  There are things to get ready, a few more gifts to buy, a couple more decorations to put up.  All of this excitement tells us that Christmas is coming soon.  It is a great time of the year.  Just as all of the preparations tell us a something special is coming, so our Gospel Lesson for today tells us about another indicator that was sent by God to get people ready for the coming of the Messiah. Our Gospel Lesson tells us about John the Baptist.  He was a special messenger, sent by God, to prepare people for the coming of the Promised One.  John’s message was simple yet the impact of his message and the way he presented it made a big impression on the people who heard him.  As we look at John’s message today, may it touch us so that that we are moved to heed his admonition to bear bruit in keeping with repentance.

     The message of John the Baptist was the same message that had been proclaimed by the prophets of God for centuries.  “Repent, for the kingdom of God is near.”  Repent means to have a change of heart and mind that leads to a change in actions.  It is a change from a heart that loves the world to a heart that loves the Lord.  It is a change of a mind that is controlled by sin to a mind that is controlled by God.  It is a change from actions that are selfish, to actions that are self-giving.  It was an old message but there was a new sense of urgency to John’s message because the Messiah, the Promised One, was about to make His presence known.  John would have the privilege that no other prophet had before.  He was going to be able to point to someone in the crowd and say, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”  In other words, He would be able to say, “Look, there He is.  He is the one who will sacrifice His life for your sins and mine and the sins of the whole world.”  Crucial to his message though would be the call to repentance.  Everything about John was designed to help people to understand the urgency of that call to repentance.

     His appearance was quite different.  He wore clothes made of scratchy camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist.  He ate locusts and wild honey.  This was very different from the soft, flowing robes that were commonly worn.  His wardrobe and his diet suggested the basic necessities.  In the same way, his message called for the basic necessity of a relationship with God.

     Even his location sent a message to the people about repentance.  He did not speak in the temple or even in the local synagogues.  He spoke in the wilderness near the Jordan River to show that a relationship with God did not depend on a particular location or ritual.

     His message rocked the traditions of the Jews.  Their religious life centered on the traditions and the sacrifices and keeping the Law as they interpreted it.  Their good performance of all the prescribed actions left them with the feeling that they were somehow right with God because they had done not only all that the Law required but in many cases they had gone beyond the requirements and therefore deserved praise from God and from man.  All of this meant nothing to the strange looking prophet preaching in the wilderness.

     One thing is certain, John caught people’s attention.  They came from all around to hear him and be baptized by him.  Even some of the Pharisees and Sadducees came out to see what the fuss was all about. 

God gave John the gift of discernment to see what was really in their hearts and he directed some of his message to them specifically.  Before they could protest he attacked their faith in their heritage and traditions. He said, “Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father, ‘for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children from Abraham.” Being children of Abraham would mean nothing if they were not willing to acknowledge their sinfulness and repent.

     He had already mentioned that true repentance also means bearing fruit in keeping with that repentance.  Along with the change of heart and mind, there needs to be a change in your actions.  He didn’t hold back anything.  He proclaimed in no uncertain terms that true preparation for the coming of the Lord involves repentance.  He baptized those who came in true repentance as a sign of the washing way of their sins through the mercy of God.

     As we look at John the Baptist today, we have to ask ourselves a few serious questions.  What would you do if John the Baptist came to you today with this same message of repentance?  What if someone dressed in very stark, unusual clothing came in and said, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.”  What if he looked you in the eye and said, “Repent sinner!”  What would you do?  Would you resist his message?  Would begin to make excuses and think to yourself, “Who does he think he’s talking to?  I’ve been a member of the church all my life.  I come to church every week.  I give my offerings faithfully. I have given the best years of my life to this church.  Who does he think he is telling me that I’m a sinner?”  He should be talking to those other people.  They’re the ones who are the real sinners.”

     John, I think, would look you in the eye and say, “Don’t think you can say to yourself, ‘I’m a Lutheran.’  I tell you that out of these stones, God can raise up as many Lutherans as He wants”  The big question is, “Will you repent?”  Are you then bearing the fruit of repentance in your life? 

     The real power to bear fruit in keeping with repentance comes to us through the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit works through the Means of Grace, the Word and the Sacraments, to change hearts and bring them to repentance and then comfort them with the Good News of forgiveness and salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Repentance begins with and acknowledgement of our inherited sinfulness and the sins that result.  When you are confronted with the will of God and you see the huge gap between God’s expectations and your performance, you are moved to sorrow and regret for your sins.  Bible translators have encountered many challenges in trying to bring out the meaning of repentance in other languages and cultures.  A tribe in Guatemala describes repentance with a word that means, “it pains my heart.”  A culture in West Africa was even more precise.  Their word for repentance literally means, “it hurts so much I want to quit it.”  That is what God’s law does to you.  It exposes your sin so that you are sorry for the offence against God and you want to quit it.

     It is then that the Holy Spirit works through the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to assure you that God loves you in spite of your sin.  In fact, He loves you so much that he sent His only Son into the world to give His life as the sacrifice for your sins.  Through His perfect life and His suffering and death, you have been made right with God.  By faith, which the Holy Spirit works in you through the Means of Grace, you receive the blessings of Christ’s sacrifice.  Your sins are forgiven and you are assured of God’s continued love for you and your place in His heavenly kingdom.

     It is the Holy Spirit then who also empowers you to bear fruit in keeping with repentance.  You are strengthened and directed to live a God-pleasing life that is determined to serve the Lord and His purposes by serving those around you.  In that way you are not only preparing your heart for the time when Jesus comes again but you are also helping others to prepare their hearts for Jesus coming.

     There was an urgency to John’s call to repentance.  The urgency is still there because we do not know when that that day will be when Jesus comes again.  You are simply called to be prepared.  By faith, you are prepared.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit, you also are empowered to bear the fruit of repentance every day of your life as you wait patiently for all the prophecies to be fulfilled.  Amen

Rev. Gerald Matzke

Zion Lutheran Church

Painesville, Ohio

The Second Sunday of Advent