MATTHEW 3:7-9
But when he (John the Baptist) saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptising, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
TO PONDER
For the first 11 years of my life, I was very much surrounded by a very Christian society: over 7 years as a Missionary Kid in New Guinea and then over 3 years on a farm in South East Queensland. Just about everyone we knew went to the same church as us. Although I knew that there were other religions, my only experience of a religion was Christianity.
However, many years later, living in a very multicultural society in Sydney, I was exposed to many different philosophical ideas of the meaning and purpose of life. Since I was still a member of a Christian church, I was now being challenged to share my faith with non-Christians. Although I felt completely out of my depth in being involved in this evangelism work, the challenge I really faced was the question, 'are all religions valid, and if not, which one (or ones) are the correct ones?' Just because I was brough up a Christian, did that automatically mean that Christianity was the right religion for me? Or for anyone else for that matter? I knew Muslims, Jews and Buddhists who were rusted-on adherents to their faith, as much as a cultural connection as a religious connection. As with Christianity, each was claiming an exclusive path to salvation, so all couldn’t be correct. This led me to have a closer look at my own beliefs to check the foundation of the Christian faith.
Two factors led me to remain a Christian. The first was the fact the God himself entered his creation, took on our humanity and rescued us from the disaster we were headed for. No other religion offered that. This was the intellectual reason for remaining a Christian. The second reason was that God kept intervening in my life to show me he was real and that I was precious to him. This was the experiential reason for remaining a Christian.
Let’s now look at our reading for today. The Pharisees and Sadducees were the most committed people in keeping the religious rules of the day. They were also born into religious families (claiming Abraham as both their religious and genetic ancestor). But John the Baptism challenged them that this was not going to get them into God’s family. He called them to give up on relying on rule keeping and family inheritance for acceptance by God (this is the repenting part) and start living as true children of God (producing the fruit associated with this repentance).
From Galatians 5:22-23 we learn that the fruit God is looking for is love, joy, peace, patience, kindheartedness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. You might notice that these are all relational, and have nothing to do with rule keeping.
Keeping a set of rules may be difficult, but not impossible. The Pharisees and Sadducees felt quite snug in their ability to keep the rules. However, producing the fruit to the level of God’s standards is impossible for us, especially if we try with our own ability in an effort to look good to God. It is only as we acknowledge and repent of our utter failures to live to God’s standards and ask for His help through the Holy Spirit can the fruit be produced in us.
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, I admit there is no way I can live up to the standards you require of me. I accept you love, mercy and grace to me and ask your help in surrendering my life into your plans and purpose for me. Through your Holy Spirit please produce in me the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindheartedness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control so that other may see your transforming power in my life. Amen
Today's devotion written by Charles Bertelsmeier, LifeWay Epping