Action: Philippians 4:4-7; Luke 3: 7-18
When I was a kid, we used to play a game called “Truth or Dare.” It’s pretty self-explanatory from the name. Basically, you go around the group and each person chooses whether they want to answer a question truthfully or be challenged by a dare. I played the game once and ONLY once in my life. The first time around I chose truth, and I came out easy. The second time around I chose dare, and the snot-nosed little kid next to me dared me to lick a toilet seat. Now I have done many dumb and gullible things in life; however, this was most certainly not going to be one of them. There was no way I was going along with all this foolishness.
I flatly refused the dare, got kicked out of the “teacher-forbidden” group game, and happily went over to the swing set by myself. We’re not always too keen on that idea of dares in society. Usually dares challenge us to do something way, way outside our comfort zone, and for the most part, we are all creatures of habit. In today’s Gospel lesson, it is almost as if John the Baptist gives the listeners a dare: “Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God.” Those are the words we hear in verse 8. It’s a dare—prove it! But it’s also more than a dare. It’s a call to action for us to show how faith has made the difference in our lives. Without evidence of Christ at work in us, what good are our claims of being faithful? Isn’t that the very thing the non-religious world so often indict us for—failing to live our lives reflecting the faith we claim?
John the Baptist spares no abruptness and does not mince his words for this accusation in his day. He calls the assembled folks a “brood of snakes.” Some translations have this as “brood of vipers.” Now, in my own personal life, I never greet folks with the phrase, “You brood of vipers!” (unless I’m walking into a room full of lawyers). John goes on to graphically describe how the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to violently chop down the trees producing bad fruit and burning them up in the fire. In the modern age, we’ve lost that fire and brimstone, and I don’t necessarily miss it because churches were far too good at the scare tactics, but not so good at the follow up. John, though tells the people that their actions must align with the faith they claim to have, in essence he dared them to live the truth they professed.
What does this look like? John gives them a few examples. For instance, if you have two shirts, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with the hungry. When the soldiers who policed the streets asked what they should do, John advised to stop taking bribes and falsely accusing others. To the tax collectors, John said to collect no more taxes than the government requires. And by that one hopefully you realize that most of these instructions didn’t really stick. They didn’t stick then, and they don’t really stick with us now. If we’re playing truth or dare, the truth is we don’t really like the dare, the challenge, or the call to action.
The people with two shirts stopped and thought, “But I like both shirts…I don’t want to give it away.” The soldiers weren’t happy because how were they supposed to live on the cheap Roman pay without getting their bribes? The tax collectors weren’t happy because their careers and finances did better the more money they collected. Honesty and truth didn’t really pay off for them at all, and now this is what this man is telling them? They really were a brood of snakes just as John the Baptist said.
They were more than ready to claim that they followed the Messiah, but when that following cut into their comfort, their faith didn’t stand the test. I think, in a way, John knew that the people didn’t have the heart to act on what they said they believed. That’s why John said Jesus was ready to separate the chaff from the wheat. The wheat could be used to make the bread of life, but the chaff is just the husks on the outside that provides no useful material for food.
We cling to so much chaff in our lives instead of using the wheat to make something nourishing and filling. John warned the people that looking to their heritage and history would not save them. Being children of Abraham was not the point of grace needed. Business as usual was not going to work, for John challenged their entrenched corruption of heart and practice, and Jesus later flipped the tables in the temple. But the Gospel winds up with an odd last verse. It says that John used such warnings to announce the Good News. He talks about God ready to chop people down with an ax and throw them into the fire as a way of announcing Good News?
But the truth is that is what all of the Christmas story revolves around—the Good News of a loving Savior. John came to challenge hearts and minds to create a fertile ground for Jesus’s teaching. It’s much like decades ago in revivals. The visiting preacher would come in and go to town preaching on hellfire and brimstone. By the following Sunday, everyone was really happy to have their regular preacher back for a bit of relief.
Even the very first announcement of Jesus’s birth brings these same words, for the angel said to the shepherds, “Behold, I bring you good news of great joy.” In spite of all the dire warnings, the terrifying examples, and fiery sermons, at the very core of our lives both the truth and the dare are whether we are willing to live our lives according to this good news of great joy. For it’s not just the grace of Christ that we celebrate, but it’s also the example of how Christ lived on this earth. No one will believe the claim that you’re saved by Christ if you don’t live the example of Christ here on earth. As John the Baptist challenged, the people then and now need to prove their faith by how they live.
Now, you will not find God’s grace in your works and how you live, but to carry on with John’s analogy, a tree which produces bad, bitter, and nasty fruit cannot be a good and healthy tree. Likewise, a person who lives bringing suffering, misery, hate, and cruelty to others cannot possibly be following what Jesus taught. The hymn says, “You’ll know that they are Christians by their love.” You show your faith by living as the example of Christ. Philippians, I think, sums it up best: always be full of joy, let everyone see that you’re considerate, pray instead of worrying, ask God for what’s needed, be thankful, and live in God’s peace.
Every day we can be bombarded by challenges, the roughness of the world, and even the very snakes that John preached at and against in his life. But in it all there is still good news of great joy for all the people. That is a gospel truth—that we can rejoice in the Lord always, as Philippians says. And as we rejoice in the truth of God’s Good News—a Savior for us—may we also be challenged, no, actually, may we be dared to live our lives demonstrating our faith by living Christ’s example in this world.
Worship Video: https://www.facebook.com/fccmacon/videos/376405607576568