"What shall we do?"

Luke 3:7 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? ⁸ 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. ⁹ 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." ¹⁰ "What should we do then?" the crowd asked. ¹¹ John answered, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same." ¹² 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. ¹⁴ 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." ¹⁵ The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ. ¹⁶ John answered them all, "I baptize you with water. But one 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. ¹⁷ His 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." ¹⁸ And with many other words John exhorted the people and preached the good news to them.

 

What do you do when your child runs into a busy street? Do you ignore it? Do you hope that she’ll be OK? Of course not! When you see your child run into that busy street, you yell to her. You give her very stern and direct instructions on how to get back to you safely. You call her back because you love her.

What do you do when you notice that your neighbor’s house is on fire at 2 am? Do you ignore it? Do you let the house burn down because you don’t want to be rude and wake up your neighbor? Of course not! When you see your neighbor’s house burning, you shout, you bang on his door, you call 911. You do whatever you can to save his life.

Our heavenly Father loves us perfectly. He has done everything necessary in order to save us. When we sin against Him, He calls us back because He knows that sin is always harmful to us. At first, sin may seem fun, like playing in a busy street might seem fun at first. But as long as we play in the street of sin, we are in danger of losing our life – our eternal life. So, being the loving Father that He is, God calls us to repentance.

God shouts and warns and wakes us up. And the message isn’t always nice. But it is always necessary. Far worse than dying in a burning building, God wishes to save us from burning for an eternity in hell.

In the wilderness, God sent His messenger, John the Baptizer. Both his clothing and his message were rough. Wild long hair. Unkempt beard. The “Duck Dynasty” boys have nothing on this preacher! His clothes weren’t camo, but camel. He accessorized with a brown leather belt. His diet consisted of low fat, high protein, honey-dipped, sun-baked grasshoppers.

But his message was even rougher and stronger compared to the nicely manicured rules of the Jewish religious leaders. John was an Old Testament prophet, preaching in the New Testament. John was a plow, cutting through the hard dirt, turning over the soil of people’s hearts to make them ready for the gospel seeds of the Messiah. John was the appetizer to the main course. He was the prelude, Jesus was the theme. “He must increase,” John said. “And I must decrease.”

John was a preacher who didn’t pull any punches. John had nothing to lose. He wasn’t on anyone’s payroll. He didn’t have to please any big contributors. He didn’t have to worry about ticking off any long time church members. He wasn’t afraid of offending any visitors to church. He could come out swinging. He laid bare the sins of the people, exposed their guilt and shame. The strength of the message worked. The people responded, “What should we do?”

That was a very appropriate question the people asked. Today, the questions that pop into people’s heads during the worship are: “Where are we going to eat after church?” or “Is this going to be done in time for the Packers’ game?” In other words, John preached a message that meant life could not go on as it had been. Today, most people, though, only want to keep the status quo.  

I’ve seen some stubborn children in my time. I remember one young student who had done something wrong and was waiting in the hallway to speak to the principal. I heard another student counsel him, “All you have to do is say you’re sorry. You don’t have to mean it.” That’s not the kind of pretend repentance John was preaching.

Nor was John speaking about half-hearted repentance. Another young student had done something wrong. This time, he had to bypass the principal and go right to the pastor. I approached the lad from behind, while he was pre-occupied in a conversation with a friend in the school hallway. But as soon as I cleared my throat and he turned and saw me, he immediately started squeezing the tears out of his eyes.

But it isn’t only children who have pretend or half-hearted repentance. How many of you regret your mistakes … only because they are now going to mess up your future. You are sorry … because you got caught. You are sad … because this will ruin your reputation. You are apologetic … so you don’t get into worse trouble. But you aren’t really repentant enough to never do the offensive thing again if you got the chance.

But John preaches a true repentance, one that actually changes how you live. He said to those coming to be baptized: “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 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.” You cannot have a phony repentance, a mere lip-service repentance. That won’t cut it, because then you will be cut down and thrown into the fire. John says that if you are repentant, then you bear the fruits of repentance.

That means, if you are cheating people out of their money, you don’t cheat them any longer. If you are bullying people, you stop bullying them. If you are living together outside of marriage, you move out immediately. If you like to gossip, you keep your mouth shut. If you are addicted to alcohol, you throw the bottles away. If you are doing something against God’s Laws, you stop doing them … immediately. That’s what repentance is. It is not only sorrow and guilt over sins. It is an about face. It is a change of direction. It is making a change in how you live, seeking to do better, living as one of God’s redeemed children.

Whether in the wilderness by John or in our church by your pastor, preaching about repentance is not a doom and gloom message. It is not, “Repent for the end is near.” No, as strong as John’s message was, it was always a message of hope. “Repent for the Kingdom of God is near.” In other words, the focus is not on escaping the wrath of God but being ready to meet the mercy of God. God was coming to His people to save them. He was leaving eternity to enter time. He was taking on human flesh and blood to fulfill His promise of salvation and deliver His people from their sins. It wasn’t mere fear that shaped the people’s responses, but profound hope.

So don’t run and hide. Don’t cover up your guilt. Don’t live a life a sin, just because everybody else is. The message of John the Baptist is startling because we have grown casual and complacent with our sin. John connected what happens in the heart with what is lived out in the life.

We look around us in the world and see evil on the rampage. We wonder what can be done to change everything. The government will make more laws. Society will clamor for more restrictions. But they won’t help. They may curb the violence for a while. But the only way to truly change behavior is to change the heart. That is not done with man-made laws, but with God’s love. Pain must be replaced by peace that transcends all understanding. Pressure must be replaced with prayer. Crisis must be replaced by Christ.

The events of this week leave us asking the ancient question, “What shall we do?” We give people Jesus Christ. He is the only answer to that question.

John’s message is as appropriate for us as it was for the people of old. Connect the heart with lips and lives. Let the faith that lives in your heart make its stamp upon your daily life. Because you were called to be different. You were baptized to become a child of God. You were redeemed from your empty way of life. You were chosen to be one of God’s saints. Don’t run and hide. God is calling you to stand and confront your sin with repentance. Repentance is not just being sorry for what you’ve done in the past. It is also striving not to repeat the sin in the future.

Apparently John managed to get through to at least some of the people. Those who heard his message started to take a good, serious, in-depth look into their hearts and at their live. They looked, some were convicted, and the honest ones concluded: they needed a Savior. One of the great preachers of the 1800s was a Scottish Presbyterian Pastor by the name of Alexander Whyte. For 40 years Whyte served a congregation who loved him, even as he loved them. One day an admiring young lady came to him and gushed, “Dr. Whyte, I just love being in your presence. You are so saintly.” Her comment brought him up short. Whyte looked at her, lowered his voice, and with incredible seriousness said, “Madam, if you could look into my soul, what you would see would make you spit in my face.” That's honesty. It's the kind of honesty some of the folks in the Baptizer's crowd must have felt that day. No longer confident they had the ability to get into heaven on their own, concerned about their eternal destinies, they began to ask questions. They asked, “What shall we do?”

Hopefully you don’t need a wilderness prophet to tell you what to do. Don’t cheat. Don’t bully. Share your stuff. Be honest. Do a good job. You learned those things a long time ago from your parents, or at least in Kindergarten.

But it is much more than that. What shall we do? We go to Jesus. Go to Him with your repentance. He is already coming with His forgiveness. Your repentance will always be partial and imperfect. But God’s forgiveness is always whole and complete. It is forgiveness that comes in the Advent King, Jesus Christ. Forgiveness in the flesh. Forgiveness in the manger. Forgiveness in the wilderness. Forgiveness in the Jordan River. Forgiveness on Calvary. Forgiveness in the tomb. Forgiveness in the font. Forgiveness in the bread and wine. Forgiveness in the absolution. Forgiveness in the Word.

This is why Jesus came. For forgiveness. This is why He was mightier than John. He did the job you nor I nor John could ever do. He won forgiveness for us. That’s why you come to Him with broken and contrite hearts. So He can provide His balm and healing. That’s why you come and admit that you are filthy and covered with sin. So He can wash you again and again in your baptismal waters. That’s why you come to Him weak and helpless. So He can feed you every Sunday with His body and blood. That’s why you come with questions. So He can provide answers. That’s why you come troubled and shaking. So He can provide peace that surpasses all human understanding. That’s why you come dying and damned. So He can provide you life and salvation.

Live through repentance or die in judgment. It sounds so harsh. Well, it is. But death is harsh. Just like you yell to your child chasing a ball in the street or shout to wake up your sleeping neighbor when his house is on fire, so John, your pastor, your fellow members are yelling at you and warning you. Not because we dislike you. But precisely because we love you. Yes, it sounds harsh. But then, death is always harsh. If you continue on your way, physical and eternal death is inevitable. But if you listen and repent, then another death is yours – death to sin and life in Christ.

What shall we do? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repent. Die to your sins. Refuse to live in them any longer. Be made alive again and again in your baptismal waters. Live in the light of God’s mercy. Be forgiven. And live as though you are forgiven. Through the coming Christ. Amen.