The Third Sunday in Advent

December 15, 2024

Luke 3:7-18

A Real Christmas—

A Real Christmas Results in Great Joy!

7John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8Produce 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. 9The ax 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.”

10“What should we do then?” the crowd asked.

11John answered, “The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.”

12The tax collectors also came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”

13“Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.

14Then 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.”

15The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ. 16John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 17His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” 18And with many other words John exhorted the people and preached the good news to them. (NIV1984)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Have you ever sinned against someone? Have you ever consciously or unconsciously said something or done something to hurt someone and/or make them sad? When you realized what you had done, when you realized how much you hurt that person and how much sadness you brought into their heart and life— what did you do? Some people might simply move on acting as though the person they hurt needs to “just deal with it.” Not so for us. As Christians whenever we realize that we have sinned against someone, whenever we realize that we have done something or said something that hurt someone or made them sad— as Christians we apologize and ask for their forgiveness. If the person we have sinned against is also a Christian we pray that we will hear them say, “I forgive you.”

What happens after they say they forgive us? God-willing both of you will be able to work on restoring the relationship that was damaged by your sin. Sadly, some people will say, “I forgive you,” but then follow it up with a whole list of things that you have to do in order to make up for what you have done. As you humbly try to do the things on their list— how do you feel? Do you feel the joy of forgiveness? Or, do you feel weighed down by a seemingly never-ending burden of guilt?

Thankfully, that is not how our God forgives us and that is not how our God expects us to forgive those who sin against us. Last week as we looked at the fact that a Real Christmas is Rooted in Repentance we noted that when John the Baptist “preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” he was very literally baptizing people “for the purpose of the sending away of their sins.” We also noted that when you were baptized with water in the Name of the Triune God, God the Holy Spirit took all of your sins, all of the “transgressions” that you have committed against the God of heaven and “sent them away— as far as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12).

Does God place any conditions on the forgiveness that He has given to you? Does God have a whole list of things that He now requires you to do in order to make up for what you have done? Not at all! Through His holy Word and through His holy Supper our God assures us that all of our sins are completely forgiven! How does that glorious truth make us feel? That is the question that we are going to address this morning as we turn back once again to Luke chapter three and continue looking at the message that the Holy Spirit had John the Baptist proclaim to God’s people. With that glorious truth in mind let’s study our text under the theme: A Real Christmas Results in Great Joy!

In the opening portion of our text the Holy Spirit focuses our attention on a group of people who were the spiritual ancestors of someone who says, “I forgive you,” but then follows it up with the words, “Now, here is what you have to do in order to make up for what you have done!” Luke writes, “John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized 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 ax 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.”

Ouch! Why was John the Baptist being so harsh? Matthew reveals to us exactly why John was being so harsh. In Matthew’s inspired account of this very same event he tells us, “But when he (John) saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath”’” (Matthew 3:7).

These religious leaders of God’s people were known for their self-righteous pride and arrogance. They were convinced that their eternal salvation was already secure! Why? Because as far as they were concerned they were already doing everything that was necessary to be saved! As far as they were concerned they were not only keeping the “list” of what God wanted them to do— that is, everything required in God’s holy Law— but they were also keeping the “list” that they had developed, that is, all the rules and the regulations they had added to God’s Law! In essence, they were convinced that on their own they were indeed making up for any sins they might have committed.

The Holy Spirit has John warn them of their folly by reminding them of the power of God’s justice. Were they counting on their ancestral connection to father Abraham to save them? If so, John cuts through their confidence by saying, “For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.” Were they confident that their “membership” in the “church,” that is, the fact that they were part of God’s Chosen People, was enough to save them? If so, John dashes their hopes by telling them, “The ax 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.”

We would do well to take these warnings to heart, my friends. Satan is very good at trying to convince us that we do not need to be overly concerned about our sins. All we have to do is make sure that we maintain our membership in the church and maybe attend every now and then. All we have to do is at least try to work our way through the “list” of what we think we need to do to make up for the wrongs we have done. That kind of attitude and that kind of outlook would make us a part of the group that John calls a “brood of vipers.”

The second group of people that the Holy Spirit has John place before us is found in verses ten to fourteen of our text. John writes, “’What should we do then?’ the crowd asked. John answered, ‘The man who has two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.’ Tax collectors also come to be baptized. ‘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.’”

The ”crowd,” the “tax collectors,” and even the “soldiers” had listened to John’s powerful message, the message that was centered on “a baptism of repentance for the purpose of the sending away of your sins.” Through that powerful message God the Holy Spirit had worked true faith and true repentance in their hearts. Their faith-filled reaction to knowing that their sins had been “sent away— as far as the east is from the west” not only filled their hearts with great joy, but it also resulted in the desire to openly express that great joy in their life! And so they asked John, “What should we do then?” In reality, they were asking John, “How can we joyfully show our God how thankful we are for what He has so graciously done for us?” The Holy Spirit has John answer that important question in a way that was relevant to each group of people.

To the crowd as a whole John very simply says, “share.” In light of the forgiveness that God has freely showered upon you, look at all the material blessings God has given to you and joyfully share what you have with those who have less. We can do the very same, my friends. This is the time of the year when God’s grace and God’s forgiveness fills our heart with great joy! “Joy to the world, the Lord is come!” Those words easily well up in our hearts and freely flow forth from our mouths! When we follow up those words with the question, “What should we do then?” that leads us to look at the material blessings our God has given to us and ask, “How can I use my earthly blessings to show my great joy over what God has done for me?” The Holy Spirit’s response to us is the same as His response to the crowd so many years ago: Share! Joyfully give to a homeless shelter. Joyfully volunteer at a food bank. Find a charity that focuses on something that is near and dear to your heart and joyfully make a donation. It’s that simple!

To the tax collectors— who were notorious for their dishonesty and their greed— John says, “Don’t collect any more than you are required to.” Note that John does not tell them to quit their job and find another line of work. He simply tells them that in the light of the forgiveness that God has freely given to them, joyfully do your job with honesty and integrity.

That’s good advice for us as well, isn’t it. No matter what kind of job the good Lord has given to us, no matter whether we work with people or with money or with machines, God’s grace and God’s forgiveness, that is, the joy of Christmas, the joy of knowing that the Child of Bethlehem was born to save us from our sin, leads us to joyfully thank Him (Pointing to the cross) by living every aspect of our life in a way that openly displays honesty and integrity.

And to the soldiers, to men whose power and authority could easily be abused, John says, “Be content with your pay.” In light of the forgiveness God has freely given to you live your life in a way that makes it obvious to everyone how joyful you are that your greatest treasure is waiting for you in heaven!

The application of John’s words to our hearts and to our lives today is not a difficult application to make. It’s very easy to tell if someone is not “content” with what the good Lord has graciously given to them. They always want more. They always want something different. They always want something better. We do not want to be that person. The joy that comes from knowing that God’s grace and God’s mercy and God’s forgiveness has been wrapped around us like the softest warmest blanket that there could ever be, causes our heart to overflow with the contentment that comes from the proclamation of the Christmas angel, “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10, 11).

A Real Christmas Results in Great Joybecause a Real Christmas is founded on faith— faith in the Christ-Child. When our faith enables us to remember that the reason the Child of Bethlehem was born into this world was to save us from our sins (Pointing to the cross), when our faith empowers us to remember that repentance is rooted in God’s promise to us that our sins have been “sent away— as far as the east is from the west,” when our faith fills both our heart and our life with great joy— then, my friends, then we are ready to celebrate a Real Christmas!

To God be the glory!

Amen