Matthew 3:7-10

Matthew 3:7-10

And behold!  While many of the Pharisees and Sadducees were coming to his baptism he said to them, “Offspring of vipers!  Who demonstrated to you all the need to flee from the wrath that is about to come?  Therefore make fruit worthy of repentance and do not presume to say in yourselves, ‘We have Father Abraham.’  For I say to you that God is powerful enough to raise up children of Abraham out of these stones.  And already the ax is being laid before the root of the tree.  Therefore every tree that does not make good fruit is being cut down and thrown into fire.”

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Make sure you understand this passage.  There were some Pharisees and Sadducees coming to John to be baptized.  But that doesn’t mean that John didn’t drive home his point.  Either there was something about them coming that made John suspicious – or more likely John wanted to make sure they heard the warning because they would have a difficult time living up to their testimony through baptism.  The lesson we can get at through John is that motives always need to be checked.  These Pharisees and Sadducees were welcomed, but they needed to make sure they were in it for the right reasons.  John took the time to make sure that they were serious before even getting involved with them!  John risked losing them at the beginning to make sure that their motivation was pure.

Do you see church people today being willing to risk losing someone because they feel the need to stop and even challenge the motivation of a newcomer?  Why is this risky?  what is the reward to this approach?  Why do you think we only hear John doing this with the Pharisees and the Sadducees and not with the general public?

Second Thought:

Now let’s get to the actual message that John tells these Pharisees and Sadducees.  He tells them to stop saying, “We have Abraham.”  He tells them to get ready to bear fruit worthy of their repentance – or change.  This is huge on at least two levels.  First, let’s look at why it is that Jesus gets crucified in the end from a human perspective.  The religious leaders crucify Jesus because He is trying to pull them away from their meaningless ritualistic dependence upon the Law for salvation.  They hate Jesus because Jesus is talking about spiritual change.  Isn’t that precisely what John warns them about here?  John cautions the Pharisees and the Sadducees on precisely what they will be guilty of doing in the end!  Second, this is huge because once more in God’s Word we hear the stress on not just believe but on obedience.  John doesn’t just accept their words of change.  John tells them to bear fruit.  He tells them to actually change.  He tells them to walk the walk.  Then he warns them that those who do not walk the walk should be prepared to be cut away.

Are you bearing fruit in line with your repentance?  Are you willing to examine yourself and change what needs to be changed?  How dependant are you upon things like tradition, feeling “safe,” and doings things “like we’ve always done?”

Third Thought:

I love John’s analogy of the stones becoming children of Abraham.  John clearly understood God’s perspective.  Being God’s child is not about lineage.  It’s not about genetics.  It’s not about attending the right place on Sunday.  It’s not about doing things in a precisely correct manner.  God’s children can come from anywhere!  They can look like anything!  God’s children are those who get their identity from God.  God’s children are those who are obedient to God.  As we hear in Romans 8:9, God’s children are those who have received God’s gracious offer of the Holy Spirit and who walk with God’s Spirit every moment of every day.

Are you a child of God?  How do you know?

Passage for Tomorrow: Matthew 3:11-12