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Read Luke 3:1-20 every day this week. This is the account of the beginning of John the Baptist’s ministry. Each day this week, if possible, choose a different translation and ask God to open your eyes to new revelation from His Word.
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Luke 3:7-14
“John said to the crowds coming out to be baptised by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” “What should we do then?” the crowd asked. John answered, “The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.” Tax collectors also came to be baptised. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?” “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them. Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely— be content with your pay.”
Have you ever heard the phrase “Born with a silver spoon in their mouth”? This is normally used of people who have a wealthy/privileged background and therefore have never needed to work to get anything. Some people consider royalty to be like this and others would consider the children of wealthy business people to be most fortunate. I remember a few boys in school who would boast of the cars their father drove and would say that they didn’t have to study in school because they had a guaranteed job in their parents’ company.
All Jews could be considered very fortunate in a similar way because they were indeed the children of Abraham. What a heritage that was! They could look back with a sense of pride and revel in their unique and privileged position before the Lord.
Picture the scene: There is a crowd of many, many such Jews, who are highly religious and enjoying the exalted position of Pharisee/Saducee. In front of them is a man who lives in the desert, dressed poorly and shouting words that are certainly not in keeping with their ideas and theology. John calls them a ‘brood of vipers’! Can you imagine their outrage? He then goes on tell them that their heritage means nothing and in fact, God could use stones instead of them.
The next phrase is perhaps the most telling of all: “Produce Fruit in keeping with repentance.” We noted a couple of days ago that repentance means a change of mind. I want to say that a true change of mind produces a change of behaviour. If we truly think differently about something then it must be followed by a different lifestyle. That’s what this phrase means. John was saying that for all their words, nothing was evident in their lives. Trees produce fruit. Repentance produces changed lives. If we say we think the same as God does in regard to sin, then we can’t continue to live a life that doesn’t demonstrate that belief. That would be blatant hypocrisy. I dare say that many people consider Christians to be hypocrites because of this fundamental issue. No fruit because of no true repentance.
May we truly understand repentance and in doing so, endeavour to produce the accompanying fruit. God is a loving God, He is a forgiving God, but He’s also a Holy God. May our lives reflect His holiness in all we say and do.
- Read aloud Luke 3:1-20. It’s a good exercise and I believe it will increase your faith as you ‘hear’ the Word of God.
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