Baptism in View of the Coming Wrath
Luke 3:7 He then said to the crowds who came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance. And don’t start saying to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones. 9 The ax is already at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
10 “What then should we do?” the crowds were asking him.
11 He replied to them, “The one who has two shirts must share with someone who has none, and the one who has food must do the same.”
12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?”
13 He told them, “Don’t collect any more than what you have been authorized.”
14 Some soldiers also questioned him, “What should we do?”
He said to them, “Don’t take money from anyone by force or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”
15 Now the people were waiting expectantly, and all of them were questioning in their hearts whether John might be the Messiah. 16 John answered them all, “I baptize you with water, but one who is more powerful than I am is coming. I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing shovel is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with fire that never goes out.” 18 Then, along with many other exhortations, he proclaimed good news to the people. 19 But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and all the evil things he had done, 20 Herod added this to everything else—he locked up John in prison.
The question John the Baptist asked the crowd coming to be baptized by him was, “Do you understand why you are to be coming here to be baptized?” And John himself answers the question by saying, because this is “a baptism … for the forgiveness of sins.” (Luke 3:3). It was a baptism for forgiveness for the most well-respected, behaved and sincere Jew, to the worst and most sinful among them.
And that is true of your baptism as well. St. Paul said, “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word.” (Eph.5: 25-26).
Sometimes members here and elsewhere will say something like, “But pastor, you do not know how sinful I have been.” That may be true, I may not know. But Christ knows, and the baptism he commanded doesn’t pick and choose which sins or what degree of sinfulness baptism will cover, cleanse, and forgive, just like his death his on the cross was not limited to certain sins and certain sinners. Baptism and his cross cover all sins and all sinners. This is how you can avoid the coming wrath of God. “Why are you coming to be baptized? Why are you baptized?” For the forgiveness of sin
But John asked the question because he knew that some were coming to his baptism unprepared. They were missing something essential: Repentance. John was insistent on repentance. Without repentance, God’s forgiveness in Christ cannot penetrate the heart and soul. This why the apostle Peter would say, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven.” (Acts 2:38-39).
What is repentance? Our Lutheran Confessions say, “Such repentance teaches us to acknowledge sin – that is, to acknowledge that we are all utterly lost, that from head to foot there is no good in us, that we must become altogether new and different men.” (Smalcald Articles, The Third Part, Article III. Repentance: 35). This does not mean you must actively identify each and every sin you have committed and conjure up some sort of self-created penance. For one thing, that would be impossible. Plus, it would turn repentance into a human work in order to gain forgiveness, as the Catholic Church teaches.
But true repentance “is not active … or manufactured repentance. It is a passive contrition, true sorrow of heart … and the sensation of death.” (SA, Third, III, 2). The difference between a true repentant person and one who is not can be compared to two men who have fallen out of a plane. The one realizes he is falling, falling to his death and cries out, “Save me for I heading to my death!” And the other who is unconscious and unaware of his falling and his certain death.
For this reason, when sin raises its ugly head, we must not justify it, we must not love it, we must not blame our sin on others who may have mistreated us, been unkind to us, or treated us terribly, we must not excuse our sin because life has been rough or unfair. Our sin is our sin, and there is only one appropriate response: repentance. “Because of my sin, I have earned death, eternal death. Lord, have mercy.”
It is in this repentance that the good news of baptism does its amazing and comforting work. It says to you: your sins are forgiven. Baptism has washed away your sins. The message of forgiveness in your baptism is announced to you every Sunday. And it is to be believed. The certainty of forgiveness, and of life and salvation, surpasses the certainty of death. Your baptism puts death to death. You have more than a parachute; you are soaring upward on the wings of an eagle!
Repentance is not a one-time thing. Martin Luther says, “In Christians, this repentance continues until death. For through one’s entire life, repentance contends with the sin remaining in the flesh. Paul testifies that he wars with the law in his members [of his body] (Rom. 7:14-25) not by his own powers, but by the gift of the Holy Spirit that follows the forgiveness of sins [Rom. 8:1-17]. This gift daily cleanses and sweeps out the remaining sins and works to make a person truly pure and holy.” (SA, Third, III, 40).
And that brings us to a crucial point that John the Baptist makes in our text. It has to do with the evidence of true repentance. Because he knows he is dealing with many who are coming to him with false repentance, he challenges them: “produce fruit consistent with repentance.” And then he adds, “And don’t start saying to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones.” It is easy to say, “I am a son of Abraham. I am a real Israelite; my religious heritage says so.” Or, in your case, “I am a Christian, I am a Lutheran; look at my religious habits or the religious habits of my family.” John is basically saying, “Okay, prove it. Not by your words, not by your heritage, not by your label of Christian or conservative Lutheran; not even by your religious rituals or habits.” You need to “produce fruit consistent with repentance.”
This really hit those who heard John, including those who were truly repentant. Those who were not repentant challenged John or easily dismissed him as some sort of fanatic. They were more than glad when he got thrown in prison by Herod, and then beheaded.
But the truly repentant naturally asked the question, “What then should we do?” “What fruit is to be seen in our lives?“
This reminds me of man who became a Christian back in college. He was quite wild before his conversion. And when he became a Christian, he was so excited with his new-found faith in Christ, that he wanted to share his joy with his friends. So, he threw a party, with plenty of alcohol for everyone! Well, he was one who needed to be instructed in what “fruit consistent with repentance” meant! I believe he eventually received such instruction.
John answers the question “What then should we do?” generally, and then more specifically. To the crowd at large he says, “The one who has two shirts must share with someone who has none, and the one who has food must do the same.” In other words, give to those who are truly needy.
Here in our country, there are not many who are without clothing or food, but there are some. But there are tragedies like the tornadoes on Friday and Saturday that took maybe over 100 lives in six states and destroyed hundreds if not thousands of homes and businesses. Outside of our wealthy country, you can find many who are lacking food and clothing. But in our country, and throughout the world, there are many who are denied the right to life, who do not even get a chance to be clothed or fed because their life is take from them before they leave the womb. Also, in many places in the world, Christians suffer simply because they are Christians; they are persecuted, their lives and the lives of their families are threatened. They could use our help. Also, there is spiritual starvation taking place, where people are deprived of biblical teachings, of truth, and of the gospel of Christ itself.
Advent season and the upcoming Christmas season are great times to give those in need. There are organizations that we can support with our dollars to help feed and clothe the poor, to protect the lives of the unborn, to support persecuted Christians around the world, and to help communicate and spread truth – the truth of God’s word in a world of starving for truth. We have our synod, our seminary, and our college. We have our missions at home and abroad. We have our Lutherans for Life group. We have medical missions in the Ukraine and Africa, and our orphanages in India. There are excellent Lutheran podcasts and other media efforts that communicate to thousands God’s truth and the defense of that truth. Most of you are aware of our synod’s new Center for Apologetics and Worldviews that in its short history has put together several conferences and published excellent articles. Some of you support Voice of the Martyrs that helps persecuted Christians around the world. There are always opportunities to help those in need. Take your pick, or find some others.
We are to give where we can and as we are able.
But John also gives some specific instructions regarding the fruit of repentance. “Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they asked him, ‘Teacher, what should we do?’ He told them, ‘Don’t collect any more than what you have been authorized.’ In any vocation dealing with money and wealth, be honest, fair, and not greedy. “Some soldiers also questioned him, ‘What should we do?’ He said to them, ‘Don’t take money from anyone by force or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.'” If you are in a position of authority, do not abuse your authority, do not lie, do not steal even though it would be easy for you to do so, and be content with what you earn.
To put it another way, the Christian in whatever vocation or vocations he has, will conduct himself in a way that very often will be at odds with the way many are behaving in those same vocations. You are set apart. You don’t go along with the crowd.
There is much that could be said here. But instead, I will give you a homework assignment. Turn to page 37 in the Hymnary. There you have the Table of Duties which is actually part of the Small Catechism. Go home and read that this week. There you find plenty of fruits you can bear in keeping with your repentance. These alone will keep you well-instructed, busy, and by them you will be blessed.
Toward the end of our text, we read the people “were questioning in their hearts whether John might be the Messiah.” And his response was, “I baptize you with water, but one who is more powerful than I am is coming. I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” In other words, “There is no comparison between the coming Messiah and me. I am not even worthy to perform the lowliest of services for him. For the Messiah who is coming (and in our case, has come) has an existence before and beyond this world that only God can claim.” That means you have two options as you think of the Christ who has come and is coming again: Either you come in repentance in which case your baptism brings you the gift of the Holy Spirit and forgiveness of all your sins, or you ignore the gravity of your sins, do not repent, and receive a baptism of fire, you will receive the wrath of God.” Brothers and sisters, listen to John: live in repentance, bring forth the fruits of repentance, but above all, savor and rest in forgiveness.
Amen.
Podcast: Play in new window
Subscribe: RSS