Baptism, the repentance that takes place before it, and
the cleansing and rising to new life that takes place in it, are meaningless if
they are not followed by the bearing of “fruit.”
Lesson Outcomes:
Through this lessons students should:
1. Understand
that John the Baptist is a prophet like the prophets in the Old Testament who
were to prepare the hearts and minds of God’s people for his coming.
2. Understand
that John’s call for followers of God to produce fruit is not just for the
newly converted but for those who have been Christian a long time.
3. Discuss
what it looks like to produce good fruit as Christians.
Catch up on the
story:
The stage has been set for Jesus to appear on the scene
as an adult. We have heard all about his
birth and what people are saying he is and what he is to do. It is obvious to those who have read Luke’s
story to this point that something great and expected is going to come from
Jesus. Before we meet Jesus, however, we
meet John who is called the Baptist. In
the words and actions of John we will get a good idea of what Jesus is going to
do. John, it seems, is the last of the
prophets pointing the way toward Jesus.
John, if you will remember, is the son of Zechariah and
Elizabeth who were at an old age and unable to have children. An angel visits Zechariah while he is working
in the Temple and informed him that he would be the father of a special
boy. This boy will grow up and help
prepare the way for God’s salvation to enter the world.
The Text:
A Voice from the
Wilderness: 3:1-6
John’s own birth was something of a miracle, marking him
as a significant character in the story.
Luke begins this section with John by giving us a bunch of clues to his
actual historical and social location.
Luke has done this in such a way as to make his readers draw a
connection between John, what he will do and what he will say, with the
prophets that Israel has seen before.
Many of the Old Testament prophetic books begin in similar fashion. There is no doubt in Luke’s mind that John is
a prophet who is to prepare the hearts and minds of God’s people for his
arrival.
Luke also tells us exactly what John is up to,
“proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” We are not told much about the actual nature
of John’s baptism, how he performed it that is. This leads us to believe that
what Luke (and John) find important about the event is not how it is carried
out, but rather that what is happening before, during, and after the event.
Baptism was not unknown in John’s day; it would have been
one of the rituals a gentile would need to go through to convert to
Judaism. As such it was seen as an
outward ritual signifying the washing away of sins. Like other similar Jewish ritual washings,
the symbolic action would have been deemed ineffective without a corresponding
change in inward attitude and external behavior. (Marshall, 135). Luke connects John and his baptism within the
general flow of Old Testament prophecy.
He does this by quoting Isaiah 40:3-5.
John is the one whose voice is crying out from the wilderness urging
people to ensure that things are ready for the coming King. At the heart of the quotation is a desire for
the hearts and minds of God’s people to be ready for his coming.
You Brood of
Vipers! 3:7-10
There is no need to understand this section as all taking
place at one time and place. It is
rather likely that there were many opportunities for John to baptize people and
to proclaim to them who he was and for whom he was preparing the way. John obviously had enough popularity and name
recognition that people were coming in waves to be baptized by him.
Verse 7 begins with John announcing to the people what
exactly it is that they are to be doing.
As prophets do, John knows the context of his people, what they will
say, and the difference between what they think they want and what they really
need. John knows these people are
seeking something –repentance and salvation– and they think it can be found in
John’s baptism.
Just what they thought they were being saved from is
different than what we commonly understand salvation. While it is true that many were seeking
freedom from their sin, the sin of the people was also thought of as having
consequences for the nation as a whole: political consequences. For some time leading up to the time of John,
Israel had been ruled by the Romans. It
was common to think that this Roman occupation was a result of Israel’s
unfaithfulness and what was needed was a new Exodus of sorts. If Israel turned and repented, then God would
bring about liberation from the Romans.
It becomes clear, as we look at the passage, that some in
the crowd believed that if they merely received the right kind of baptism they
would be saved from the harsh reality in which they already lived. After all, they were children of Abraham,
God’s chosen people, and God had promised to be faithful to them. Some thought salvation should be secure just
because they are God’s people. John,
however, sees right through this and chastises the crowd. He clearly points out that it is not just the
baptism that will bring about their salvation, but their subsequent change of
action and attitude.
John introduces a metaphor that Jesus will pick up on and
use, that of bearing good fruit. A tree
that should bear a certain kind of fruit but does not is a tree that is not
worthy of the ground it is using. John
says, if you want this baptism to mean anything, then you must begin to bear
the fruit that comes along with repentance.
Repentance without fruit is worthless, it seems!
Then, John sends out a very sharp warning: even now your
tree is about to be cut down. If you do
not get it together the ax will strike the trunk and you’ll be cut down and
used for firewood. There is no need to
press the “thrown into the fire” image here.
John is not making claims about what happens to those who are
unrepentant. The fire pit is a place you
put wood that has been cut down.
What Then Should We
Do? 3:14
Realizing that John is indeed right, the people respond
by putting a question to John, “What then should we do?” In other words, the people are interested in
bearing fruit but they are not exactly sure how this is to happen. What does it look like?
This question, even though it seems so simple and,
perhaps, only suitable for those who are seeking new faith, is for us too. Remember, John is not speaking to the
unconverted here; he is speaking to those who are deeply familiar with the
story of God’s working in, through and for Israel. This question comes from those who are “in”
so to speak. Certainly, most of those
who will attend your group this week are “in” as well. Let this question speak to them too.
To the first group John responds, “Those of you who have
two pairs of underwear give it to those who have none. Likewise, if you have food share it with
those in need.” John is not saying that
just those who have abundance should give, -they should- he is saying that even
the poorest of poor have something to give. If you’ve got more than one pair of
underwear and someone needs some, you should give them a pair of yours. For this first group of people, who were
perhaps the poorest of the poor, bearing good fruit is taking care of the needs
of others.
Luke goes on telling more of the story, showing that it
wasn’t just the poor ones that came but even tax collectors and soldiers
(probably Jewish men assigned to protect the much hated dishonest tax
collectors, or perhaps soldiers in Herod’s army). They came and asked the same question, “What
should we do?” John responds with simple
advice that should not seem too burdensome.
These tax collectors and soldiers were to be satisfied with what they
were paid and were to quit oppressing those from whom they collected
taxes. Often collecting taxes was a
contract job that went to the highest bidder.
Payment was expected upfront and it was left to the tax collector to
recoup his money from the people. This
was often done in harsh and exorbitant ways.
Here, again, Luke places John within the same vane as all
of the Old Testament prophets. John is
calling God’s people to live with justice, righteousness and faithfulness in
relation to their neighbors. The fruit
which John calls us to bear is not just morality as we often understand it (a
list of don’ts), it’s a way of living in relation to those around us that sees
their dignity and humanity and seeks to ensure that others can live abundant
lives. Repentance and the baptism that
signifies it is not just for purity’s sake; it is also always for the sake of
the other.
One Who is More
Powerful: 3:15-17
The people who were gathered to hear John and receive his
baptism are amazed. Something new yet
remarkably familiar is happening through this man. Their hearts begin to stir, and they begin to
wonder if John himself might be the one they are expecting. John realizes what they are thinking and puts
an end to that kind of talk. He is not
the one who is coming. John’s baptism is
not the end; it is but the beginning of what God is going to do. Indeed, John says, there is one who is coming
who is much more powerful and who will bring a baptism that will be like
nothing you have seen or experienced. It
will be a baptism of fire, not water. If
water can wash away dirt and filth (symbolizing forgiveness), fire sterilizes (symbolizing
the transformation of the human heart).
The fire that is coming is the fire of the Holy Spirit. And it is for
this purpose that Jesus came: to pour out God’s Holy Spirit upon people, and
thereby change their hearts.
So What?
For Luke and his hearers John’s “baptism of repentance
for the forgiveness of sins” is a public rite of washing that represents the
opportunity for a new start in life, a renewal of things. Luke is saying, however, that baptism by
itself is worthless unless those who receive it “bear fruits worthy of
repentance” (v. 8). The change in
direction must be validated by changed behavior.
One cannot rest on the fact that one has been “saved” or
that one was born into a Christian family or that one has been a Christian his
or her whole life or for a long time.
What matters is that one responds to the grace and forgiveness that has
been received with a change in direction and behavior. One must now produce good fruit (with the
help of God’s Spirit of course). What
does the production of good fruit look like?
In this current passage it looks like:
·
Giving of one’s surplus to those who do not have
·
Not taking more than you deserve
·
Not extorting money (or anything) from people of
lesser authority
·
Living with justice and righteousness toward
others
In other places it is:
·
Loving your neighbor as yourself
·
Caring for the orphan, the widow and the refugee
·
Living with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians
5:16-26)
It seems apparent that John is demanding from those who have
gathered to repent and be baptized that merely being baptized or being Jewish
isn’t enough. It translates for us today
that things like going to church, being baptized, saying the sinner’s prayer,
aren’t enough. What is necessary is
bearing fruit worthy of the salvation we have received from Jesus Christ. It is a response to the love and grace that
has been given to us that leads us to produce the fruit we talked about
above.
Some of us have been “Christian” for so long and our
lives have been initially changed. We have been saved from all sorts of
maleficent things. Could it be that now
we are guilty of resting on our once received salvation? Do we fail to continue to live into our
salvation by continuing to bear fruit worthy of our repentance?
As we approach our celebration of the birth of Christ at
Christmas, John reminds us that we can never rest on God’s past actions in us
or our own past fruit, but that we must always bear good fruit. We must have
regular practices in our lives whereby we do the sorts of things mentioned
above. We also need to be continually baptized by the Holy Spirit, who empowers
us to bear fruit more and more.
Critical Discussion
Questions:
1.
What
does God look like in this text/Who is God in this text/What is God doing in
this text?
a. God’s desire and God’s call
on our life displayed in this text is the same as it has been throughout almost
all of the Old and New Testament. God is
ultimately concerned that we live in right relationship with him and others. He
is concerned with how we treat one another, especially those who are unable to
care for themselves.
b. God is using John to prepare
the hearts and minds of his people for his coming in the person of Jesus. God does not want to surprise us with his
expectations of us; he always helps us know what it is that we must do or not
do to be prepared for his coming. We can
hear and know what God desires of us if we are willing to listen and obey.
2.
What
does holiness/salvation look like in this text?
a. Certainly, salvation is God’s
gracious gift to us through his Son Jesus Christ. It is the gift of forgiveness
of sins, symbolized by the baptismal washing. It is the transformation of our
lives, through the power of the Spirit. Yet salvation is never a one-way
street. There is always an appropriate
way for us to respond to the salvation we have received. In this passage it looks like producing
fruit, and that fruit looks a lot like seeking to act with the same justice,
faithfulness, steadfast love and righteousness we talked a lot about this
summer. God’s requirement of his people
does not change with the coming of Christ.
Yes, God is doing a new thing, he is becoming one of us, but that new
thing that we celebrate at Christmas is so that we can live in right
relationship with God and with others, which is not a new command.
3.
How
does an encounter with this story shape who we are and who we should become?
a. John’s call to those who
came to seek his baptism is an appropriate call for us today. We may be baptized; we may be Christians; but
are we truly producing fruit that is worthy of our repentance? What this passage calls us to do is to
question how it is that we are living our lives, as individuals and as a
church, to see if we are indeed bearing good fruit. If we are not, and if we persist in not
producing fruit, then our lives and our church will eventually be cut
down. All is not lost, however; we are
constantly called toward this fruit producing life and it is never too late to
change.
Specific
Discussion Questions:
Read the text aloud. Then, read the text to yourself
quietly. Read it slowly, as if you were very unfamiliar with the story.
1. Who
does Luke believe John to be?
2. Luke
tells us that John came proclaiming a baptism for repentance and the
forgiveness of sins. Baptism was a
ritual used when someone converted to the Jewish faith and symbolized the
washing away of sins. So, John’s baptism
was not completely unusual, but it was unique.
Why were so many rushing out to be baptized by John?
3. In
verse 4 Luke quotes Isaiah 40:3-5. What
is that passage about and why would Luke quote it in regards to John?
4. Obviously,
John did not come just to baptize. What
was the role that John and his baptism were supposed to play?
5. It’s
apparent that some in the crowd believed that their salvation was secure
because they were Jews and had Abraham as their father. After all, God had promised to Abraham and
his descendants that he would always be faithful to them. How might we have similar attitudes to some
of those who were going out to see John?
6. After
John warns the crowd, they want to know what it is that they should do. John tells them to produce fruit worthy of
their repentance. What does that
mean? Read verses 11-14 again. What kind of action steps does John tell the
crowd to do?
7. John’s
call to produce fruit worthy of the repentance is not just for those who are
new believers. Those of us who have been
Christians for a long time often fail to continue to produce good fruit. Take some time to quietly examine your life,
are you producing good fruit? After you
quietly reflect, share your thoughts with the group.
8. What
are some of the ways we might produce good fruit as individuals and as a
church?
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