Hang On! part 2

I wouldn’t call John the Baptist a politically correct person; I mean, he addressed the religious elite of his day as “you brood of vipers!” John the Baptist was saying in essence, “Do you think a little water on your skin is going to make a difference in your life?” Matthew 3:8 “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” 
 
I think it’s so interesting that John’s call on his life was to baptize people, and yet, when the Pharisees and Sadducees showed up to be baptized, he in essence says, “It’s your life that needs to change and a little water on the outside will not make it any better. Show me the fruit of your repentance. Show me that you’ve really changed, because baptism does not save anyone. Baptism is an outward sign that something has changed within and I don’t see any change on the outside.” Then he goes on to say, in Matthew 3:10, “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.” Keep in mind, this statement about the type of branches is in keeping with the idea of the fruit of repentance. John is saying that what really counts are the things going on inside of your heart, not some kind of outward religious action that is just for show (which is what he realized that the Pharisees and Sadducees were up to). If you are really committed to a life change, it will be marked by the kind of fruit you are producing. In other words, a branch that is green and blossoming, producing good fruit, will not be thrown on the fire. You don’t burn green branches. The fire is for dead wood, which does not have enough life in it to bear fruit. 
 
Keeping in mind the idea of bearing fruit that is the result of maintaining the status quo, we see that when Jesus shows up, John does not feel worthy of baptizing Him. Matthew 3:13-14 “Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter Him (Jesus), saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus pays very little attention to what John just said to Him, and replies, Matthew 3:15 “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.”

I have always found His response quite interesting. He was basically insisting that John baptize Him in order to “fulfill all righteousness.” In other words, God’s work has been that of putting all things right, for all the centuries leading up to that pivotal point in the history of mankind. Everything God had been planning and setting in order was coming together right then and there. The point Jesus was making was that God had been maintaining the status quo for all those centuries, fulfilling righteousness, or doing things as they needed to be done, so that, at just the right moment, it would work just as it should.

Baptizing the Son of God is the primary thing John the Baptist is known for. (That wouldn’t be a bad thing on your resume, now, would it?) All those years of living in the wilderness, setting himself apart from society, living on a strange diet, and wearing an odd assortment of clothing, was all a part of what God had asked John to do in order to bear the right kind of fruit, which qualified him to baptize Jesus. John did not give up on his calling - and it paid big benefits. Galatians 6:9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Emphasis mine)
 
I chose the title of this week’s study from that verse. Those who get weary in doing well, those who struggle with the status quo, rarely reap a harvest. But those who, like John the Baptist, do not become weary in the calling God has for them, reap a harvest in due time, at the proper time.

This is where we struggle. We struggle with the proper time. Solomon wanted his reward NOW, even though he had anything and everything his heart desired. I believe that’s a part of what John the Baptist was getting at with the Pharisee’s wanting to be baptized. He said, “I see no fruit in your lives’ and a little water on your skin is not going to make a difference.” We could paraphrase this verse in Galatians to say, “Don’t give up on the status quo, don’t give up on life’s normal routine, because when God decides, you will reap a harvest, just don’t give up.” Our problem is that we want to decide when it’s time to reap the harvest. And if that harvest does not come when we think it should, we tend to give up the routine and look for some other way to make it happen.

Continued tomorrow