THE ROYAL PURPLE BLOOD OF CHRIST: LIVING THE WITNESS OF THE “GENUINE GOSPEL” IN 2021
Luke 3:1-18: LIFEWAY WINTER QUARTERLY 2020/21 SESSION 6
Do you know Mr. Johnson? Many Texans do… Mr. Johnson knows every farmer and rancher in the state and he knows every child that has ever worked in the fields and has taken the time to “shake” Mr. Johnson’s hand. Mr. Johnson loves animals (cattle and horses) and makes himself readily available to them in their pastures and paddocks- he also loves to roam through the farmers’ fields and make himself at home oftentimes masquerading as “Mr. Wheat” trying to hide out and fool his hosts. Mr. Johnson is a pest and wears out his welcome very quickly! Mr. Johnson is worse than irritating relatives, tax forms, burnt toast & cold oatmeal, complicated algebra word-problems, and expensive trips to the dentist… Annoying Mr. Johnson is known to farmers and ranchers as “Johnson Grass” one of the “10 Worst Weeds in the World”! Wilted and dry (like my sense of humor) Johnson grass when eaten in quantity can kill cattle and horses from its build up of hydrogen cyanide, and can cause “bloat”. The grass reproduces quickly and spreads easily and can devastate farmers’ cash crops when it takes over a field. The only thing to do with “Mr. Johnson” is get rid of him!
Our sin is much like Mr. Johnson; it easily comes but refuses to go away. As Bible Scholar Jim Denison often states: “sin always takes you further than you want to go, keeps you longer than you wanted to stay, and costs you more than you wanted to pay.” Paul tells us: “the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23)”. Unlike with Mr. Johnson we in and of ourselves are powerless to get rid of sin- we need help, we need something, someone far outside of ourselves to cleanse us, redeem us, refine us and develop a genuine life within us instead of a “masquerade of hypocrisy that leads to the judgment of death and ultimate destruction.” We need God’s grace and forgiveness- we need REPENTANCE. Enter the good news of Luke’s Genuine Gospel in chapter 3 of our lesson today! As we’ve stated earlier: Luke’s Gospel and message of evangelism centers on the gift of Christ given from Heaven, the receiving of Christ by those who believe and call upon His name, and then proclaim His Kingdom and salvation in word, deed, attitude and the demonstration of a transformed life. Chapter 2 centered on the message of Christmas- the gift given of Jesus Christ Our LORD in all the fullness of its meaning. Chapter 3 will look at the crucial middle part of Luke’s Gospel message… the receiving of the gift of Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit- specifically our role and responsibilities and Father God’s response to our reception through the Spirit. Some questions we will want to consider are: What does it mean to have integrity? What is genuine repentance? How can I discern if I am living genuinely or if someone else is genuine and telling the Truth biblically? How do I change? What is the difference between change and transformation? What role does change play in our transformation and vice versa? Let’s take a look!
Luke starts Chapter 3 much the same way he starts 2: contrasting the WAY the message of the Gospel comes; the Gospel comes not through the “gloriously” powerful and earthly or even the “religious” but the common and the weak ordained from heaven. Tiberius’ reign as emperor was a drastic low point in Roman History after Caesar Augustus. He was a “dour and sour” man who ostracized those he lead and mid-way through his reign he abandoned his palace in Rome for the Island of Capri where he spent the remainder of his life caught up in sexual addiction and appetites immersing himself in Egyptian pornography. The religious leaders had their governmental powers usurped and so instead became occupied with putting religious rules and burdens on the people which Rome allowed them to control. The point Luke wants his listeners to consider is does the Word of the LORD come through such power hungry people or through those submitted to God? John was raised in a devout home as a Nazirite by Zechariah and Elizabeth in obedience to the Prophecy they received concerning him and as a result God moved powerfully in his life and gave him a powerful prophetic message of the Kingdom. Have you seen a time in your life where your costly obedience to God resulted in a powerful witness? The good news of the Gospel is delivered in the wilderness and hard places of life – the desert “beyond the Jordan” and in order for the message to be effective the messenger most often has to enter those hard places with the people so that it might be heard. John did just that and so must we! We must testify from our wilderness!
John’s message as “one who prepares the way” is explained through Luke’s quoting of Isaiah 3:6, and 40:3-5. Again, it shows the unique collaboration between the heavenly and the earthly, the spiritually glorious and the common in Luke’s Gospel. In the ancient world glorious kings and V.I.P.S did not just show up. A messenger or herald would announce long beforehand that they were coming then the local leaders and community would go and “prepare the way” for them: making the rough road smooth much like the farmer kicking out “Mr. Johnson” to make room for “Mr. Wheat”. Look at the “over the top” preparation scripture mentions for Messiah: filled in valleys, leveled mountains! (You want a literal picture of this consider the destruction of Ancient Pompeii by Mt. Vesuvius or the great California forest fires and mudslides of 2006 where whole mountains of the Coastal range flattened!) How important was King (Messiah) Jesus?! Luke was telling us that there are NONE like Him, and the miraculous, wonder-filled, providential preparation for His coming could only be accomplished by the Hand of God. (It is interesting to note a similar motif at the end of Luke and the beginning of Acts where Luke shows us that only JESUS {Son of God and Son of Man} could prepare His disciples for the birth of His Church and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost! Now, how is the Church with the Spirit preparing for Jesus’ second and FINAL COMING!? The Acts of the Early Church were the start- are we the finish?) Luke contrasts this greatness of the King and the power of the Holy Spirit with the lowliness and humility of the messenger; in verse 16 John assigns himself the position of the lowest slave of the household whose job was to untie the sandals off the stinky feet of the master! Yet, in the ancient world, it was Caesar’s slave who also rode in his chariot behind Him and held the victory wreath of his glory over his head before spectators of thousands! Such is the commonality (humility) and gloriousness of John’s message and the Mission of the Church- OUR MISSION TODAY AND NOW! The joy and burden of God’s glory and His redemptive message (the Gospel) has been entrusted to us with all the heavenly resources we need; it is our mission it is our life!
Luke now takes this collaboration of the glory and the common between “messenger and King” and applies it to what it means to receive the gift of Christ through repentance. Luke shows us the contrasting collaboration between change and transformation, and also the cleansing water of our devotion and the refining consuming fire of the Spirit! Let’s take a look.
John does not mince words with the crowds that are coming out to hear him preach. He calls them a “brood of vipers” which is what Jesus calls the Pharisees in Matthew 12 and 23. The word Luke uses for crowd is (ochlos vs laos in the Greek) which means this was a mixed group of people from different backgrounds, but with the same incident recorded in the other Gospels John’s remarks are most likely directed at the religious leaders in the group. “Brood” (a family of snakes) is important because snake begets snake; Luke’s point theologically is that one sinful generation produces another and one group of imitators, pretenders and hypocrites produces another. Because of the Fall we are all offspring now of insurrection and rebellion without Jesus. Without Him we all exist in a “fallen sinful” state since Adam and integrity and genuineness does not come naturally there must a willfulness and intention to move towards being honest, authentic and a desire to change that is the first step of repentance and turning around to a different path- to seeking Jesus’ path (see Jn 14:1-6). Verse 7 shows that John sees the people going through the right motions but for all the wrong reasons. Outward changes of behavior and piety will not bring about a changed heart but a transformed heart will bring evidence through changed behavior and good spiritual fruit (see Galatians 5:16-26) that shows God has been at work through the Spirit. Matthew addresses spiritual fruit in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (see Mt 7) but his emphasis is recognizing the fruit of others; Luke’s emphasis is recognizing the fruit we ourselves are producing. Verse 8 let the people know that they couldn’t rely on their “religious upbringing” (as Sons of Abraham) Jewish pedigree or good deeds to escape judgment and please God; just as the Gospel message of salvation by grace through faith is universal to all people showing no favoritism, so is God’s judgment and demands. Their lives must reflect genuine change brought forth by an act of transformation that the Holy Spirit would enact in them. John wanted the people to take the first step and allow the coming Messiah and the Holy Spirit to do the rest. Judgment is coming swiftly and trees (lives) that do not produce fruit that is consistent with spiritual transformation through Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit will be cut down and burned.
The message John delivers in Luke 3 is very similar to the message Peter delivers in Acts 2 at Pentecost and so is the response but it is even more so here with the phrase “What shall we do?” repeated three times. In verses 10 and 11 we have the first fruit of compassion, of mercy. Good fruit takes care of the neighbor. Pleasing spiritual fruit for God should be fruit that our neighbor eats from you and me on a daily basis! Our words of proclamation about Christ mean little if our neighbors are not being fed the good spiritual fruit of our lives and our witness is invalid and our repentance is not genuine if our daily spiritual fruit basket is rotten. Do your neighbors know that you are there to help them and meet their needs? Are you putting the needs of others in front of your own? Is the fruit of our lives making others sick or helping them get well? That’s the point John wants them to examine and move away from selfishness and towards mercy (see Micah 6:8). People will eat of our fruit- good or bad!
The next two are more specific and have to do with justice and fairness. Good fruit does not take advantage of one’s neighbor. It treats them fairly, follows the law, shows discretion and does not abuse power for one’s own self-centered, selfish gain. Tax collecting and soldiering were dubious professions in ancient occupied Judea. People in these positions as long as they paid their regular tribute and quota to their Roman overlords had freedom to treat people however they liked and demand whatever they wanted monetarily or in service from the peasants. They were despised as traitors to their own people and were ceremonially unclean. Did Luke think that God would turn away anyone who genuinely repented of their sin? Absolutely not! Not even hated tax collectors and soldiers! To receive the Gift of the Gospel- of Christ people must have a willingness and desire to change. John’s Baptism with water was an expression of that change and a symbol of the people wanting to be cleansed…
BUT a willingness to change, and our efforts to change are not enough… We cannot save ourselves. Luke now contrasts and collaborates the earthly desire and people’s willingness to change (John’s baptism with water) with the Holy Spirit’s refining baptism of winnowing fire! I’ve always liked and disliked the hymn: I have Decided to Follow Jesus. I like it for its beauty and simplicity of human devotion and wanting to change and follow Jesus- “no turning back, no turning back!” But our devotion is not enough, Salvation is a gift from heaven from God not out of our heart but out of His, not on the basis of our strength, but His sacrifice, not out of our desire but the Spirit’s transforming power! Submissive devotion must have the active power (dynamis) of the Holy Spirit’s Deity to make it anymore than a futile human effort. It’s much like my “scientific” daughter’s explanation of “physical” versus “chemical” change. Matter that is changed from one state to another can go from a solid, to a liquid or a gas or somewhere in-between. Scientists can constantly manipulate physical changes in matter, however when a “chemical change” happens it is irreversible! Chemical change is permanently transformative. You cannot separate flour, eggs butter and sugar once they are baked into a cookie! We can enact changes in behavior all day long but our devotion can wax and wane and never truly be what it needs to be; we need more than change… We need transformation and that is the glorious renewing and refining work of the Spirit. His Fire refines, His Fire is the spiritual chemical change- catalytic transformation of our soul and it is the gracious work of God brought about by the coming of the Son and the leaving of the indwelling Spirit. That is the work of the triune God and that is what John was preparing the people for.
It’s been a hard week for all of us. Our nation is in chaos, but our lives don’t have to be. What things as Christians do we need to repent of? And will we have the willingness to change, submit to the Spirit, trust Him and allow Him to do a lasting transformative work in our lives? When we do, not only will we escape judgment but our neighbor will see Jesus, and the Gospel message will be proclaimed by our lives. God will be glorified, our neighbors and we will be blessed and the genuine integrity of our witness will be established. Like John in the desert we have the Mission to speak the Genuine Gospel of Peace into the vitriol of our nation’s wilderness; not “red” or “blue” but the Royal Purple Blood of Christ. Will you accept the Good News, repent, and live the “genuine Gospel today?” Know I am praying for you. Do not be discouraged, do not be afraid. God is at work! Love to you all and all the best! Darrin.
