Today I drove to Idaho Falls with my wife for the Thanksgiving Holiday. We had a good drive and did a small Bible study on the way over. We read Luke chapter 2 and 3 but what really struck me again was a passage I had read before but God seemed to really open it up to me within my heart. Luke 3:7-16 and says:
7 Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 9 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
10 So the people asked him, saying, “What shall we do then?”
11 He answered and said to them, “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.”
12 Then tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?”
13 And he said to them, “Collect no more than what is appointed for you.”
14 Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, “And what shall we do?”
So he said to them, “Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.”
15 Now as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not, 16 John answered, saying to all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Maybe the reason this passage of scripture stuck out to me so much is because of what would happen later on in the afternoon after we arrived. We played cards with some family members and I was jokingly cheating and trying to win at the card game. I said jokingly, "I am just trying to win." Immediately one of our family members said, "and you call yourself Christian." I immediately stopped in my mind and thought of what the passage of scripture we had read on the drive over and felt very convicted of my behavior.
I realize that my family member was partially joking and probably didn't intend on me taking it to heart, but I did. As I reflect on the scripture I will try to explain what God was teaching me through John the Baptist in Luke 3.
As John rebuked the people he rebuked them for not living a lifestyle that bore "the fruits worthy of repentance". He warned the people not to just say or trust in the fact that they had Abraham as their father. This is really the part that hit me hard, what I believe John was warning the people of, is placing their faith solely on the religion they were born with or that they call themselves by. This struck home as my family member said, "and you call yourself Christian". In continuing to reflect on more of that passage of scripture John tells the people not to say their sorry or just ask for forgiveness but to actually change their behavior.
And even before that he says that the ax is laid to the root of the tree ready to cut down those trees that don't bear good fruit. Wow! If there is a better picture of showing the urgency of a believer to bear good fruit, I don't know what it would be. I believe John might say to me, don't just say your Christian, but rather live it.
I realize that, in context, John is ushering in the Christ and teaching and baptizing people with the baptism of repentance. Many times I have thought of repentance as more of a prayer or an asking of forgiveness and saying I'm sorry to God for my sin. What we see from the man who ushered in the Christ and repentance, was that repentance is a change in behavior as a result of our faith in God.
In verse 16 he says, "but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and Fire." I see this as a great promise today, as a post-resurrection believer. Jesus not only came and baptized but died and rose again so I could live that lifestyle change John was talking about in this passage. The Holy Spirit he talked about is here and lives within me to bring conviction to me and to allow Him to change me from the inside-out.
The following verse is a powerful one as well, in verse 17 he says:
"His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into his barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire."
What is interesting is John says that his winnowing fan is in His hand. In the harvesting of wheat, after the wheat had be broken up by a threshing board, the farmer would take the winnowing fan and clean his threshing floor by using the fan. The chaff would arise and blow away with the wind and the grain would fall at the farmer's feet.
There are a ton of thoughts I have on this passage of scripture but the overall picture God is giving me is that we are not called to be Christian in name only. We are called to have a lifestyle change as a result of our being baptized with the Holy Spirit and Fire. When we recieve Christ and are born again His Spirit begins to change our behavior, while this could seem impossible or unrealistic for a man, are not impossible for Christ and His Holy Spirit. I will never be perfect while on earth but God is purifying my intentions and cleansing my heart as He is describing in the threshing process.
I imagine those tax collectors and soldiers in the passage of scripture were thinking, "man that will be impossible for me to change my habits and behavior after doing this and living like this for all my life". The beautiful part to me are the later verses that describe the One who was coming after John who would baptize them not in water, but by the Holy Spirit and Fire!
What a promise!
I realize also that there are many areas that God is challenging me to change and I have given people a reason to call me a hypocrite, but I hope not to convince anyone God is changing me by telling them with my words but by showing them through the transformation of my behavior through the Holy Spirit and fire for God's glory! I want to be the grain that falls at Jesus' feet!
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