I have had the immense privilege of studying the book of Luke recently and have been learning a lot about the humility of Jesus and how John the Baptist prepared the way. Crazy great things! Something that especially struck me is found in Luke 3:7-14:
7 He said therefore 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 in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 9 Even now the axe is laid to 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 shall we do?” 11 And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” 12 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 you are authorized to do.” 14 Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”
A couple of things in this passage struck me as fantastic. First of all- John the Baptist, the guy I pretty much always associate with preparing the way for Jesus by just telling people to "repent of sins", talked about bearing fruit and the necessity of it! The "crowds" are coming to be baptized by him, but instead of getting all pumped, he saw that they were just looking for a 'get out of hell free' card. He calls them a "brood of vipers!" (can you picture that at a modern-day baptism?!) and asks "Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?", implying that they were fleeing the wrath instead of running to the Father.
John tells them to "Bear fruits in keeping with repentance". That's the way to avoid the wrath- not by claiming "Abraham as our father" or just getting baptized... it takes much more than that! Look at verse 9- "Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." What does John not say? "...and thrown into the fire, except if you have been baptized." Nope. Nor does he say "...except if you have prayed the 'sinner's prayer'." Ouch. Funny thing is that he is only saying what will later be echoed by many others:
(Jesus) Matthew 7:16-20 "You will recognize them by their fruits... So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire..." Interestingly enough, the very NEXT thing He says on the Sermon on the Mount (according to Matthew) is that there will be many that say "Lord, Lord" that Jesus doesn't recognize or allow to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Only those who do the will of His Father in heaven. Wow.
(Paul) He talks about bearing fruit all the time (Romans 1, Ephesians 5, Galatians 5).
(James) James 2:26- "For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead." Not just inactive... dead. Not just 'passable, but not excellent'... dead.
So... fruit in the life of a believer is more than just a wee bit important. It is essential. I'm not trying to negate Ephesians 2:8-9 (saved by grace through faith), for I wholeheartedly agree that we ARE saved by the grace of God, "not by works." But that doesn't mean that fruit-bearing isn't essential. How should this 'fruit bearing' look in our lives?
Paul gives us a great picture in the oft-memorized 'fruit of the Spirit' passage (Galatians 5:22-23)- "Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." John the Baptist gives the inquisitive crowd a practical picture of how to 'bear fruit' in the life of one who seeks to repent and live for God:
To the soldiers: "Don't extort money and be content with what you have." (paraphrased) Sounds... awfully simple and to the point, yeah?
To the tax collectors: "Collect no more than you are authorized to do." Sounds like... just following the rules, right?! What's crazy about these two admonitions is that it appears (to me) that workers (especially tax collectors and soldiers) were so corrupt in that day that by just doing what you were supposed to do (working with integrity- not cutting corners, taking more than you should, etc), you would stand out so brightly from the crowd. Hmm... sound anything like the world today?
But then my favorite part of this passage comes in his admonition to the "crowd": "Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise." Wait wait wait... So Jesus and Paul aren't the only ones telling us to give... John the BAPTIST was saying it before both of them!
Seriously- just re-read that passage for a third time (assuming you read it the first two times in this post). "Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise." So... if we have food (check) and clothing (check)... we're supposed to share with him who has none?! When was the last time you heard a message preached in the majority of American churches on this passage, much less the Matthew 25 "least of these" passage?
This stuff is not only important, it is life or death for almost a billion people around the world (www.worldhunger.org). If you have food, share it. This not only pleases the social activists around the world, more importantly, it pleases God.
In fact- please don't do it because any of your friends set up tents at your campus or local park to raise awareness. Please don't do this because I'm writing this in a blog. Do it because God said to (and has repeated it many times) throughout Scripture and this is a way to show Him love (John 14:15), the greatest commandment.
As you enjoy your fourth of July cookouts, please remember those who are suffering from hunger in your prayers and then DO something about it.
For His glory...
Luke
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