The View From Here

Matt. 3:7-12

But when� (John the Baptist) saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers!� Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I baptize you with water for repentance but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.

Let me give you a little background on who the Pharisees were. Pharisees were close students of scripture and were detailed followers of the law. They were so detailed that much of their study resulted in additional traditions to the law in order to be able to fulfill it to a greater extent. According to the New Testament, Pharisees used these traditions to focus on the external rather than the internal. They were more concerned with how things looked to others rather than how it really affected them. They were the religious elite. Because of their externalism, they made sure they followed the letter of the law and even some letters that weren’t there. They were caught up more in traditions and how they looked than the motivation behind their actions. As a result, their religion was a facade and nothing more. They drew their assurance from their heritage. In the above passage we see that heritage is not enough. If there is no true repentance and resulting fruit then their heritage matters nothing. They will be the chaff that will be separated from the wheat and cast out because they lacked true repentance.

Repentance is one of those words that Christians sometimes throw around without really thinking about what it means. We find a great picture of repentance in Psalms 51. Please read it. Repentance is turning away from sin and towards God. Repentance is not just for your neighbor. When we think of repentance it is easy to think about all the people we know who need to repent. In fact, the message of repentance is for me. Is this not something that we should be doing every day� I know that I sin every day. It is not a matter of if but when. So then it would make sense that repentance is for every day. If we are to produce fruit in our lives then our days must be marked by repenting of sin and turning back to God. This cannot be a facade that we put up, it must be a true heart change in response to the Holy Spirit. We could follow all the rules that are out there for a Christian to follow and it would not bring us any closer to God. The worst, most public sinner with true repentance is closer to God than a person who appears perfect because they follow the letter of the law when in their heart they hide, even from themselves, the sin that afflicts us all.

Sin is another word that, I think, has lost some of it’s impact. Click here to read a post I wrote a while back specifically about this. Sin is not as simple as we like to make it. We like to think that there is a list of dos and don’ts, clear-cut things that are either sin or they are not. We think that if it looks like sin, according to our viewpoint, then it must be sin. It is true that there are many sins out there that are very visible, but there are just as many that aren’t. Saying, “I love you,” to someone could be a sin if said with the wrong heart intent. The person you said it to may never know, but you know and God knows. If all we care about is how the other person viewed it then we are practicing the same religion that the Pharisees were condemned for. Our cup is clean on the outside but the inside is mucked up with junk.

As Christians it is easy for us to think that we are right. We go to church, we read our bible, we pray, we sing songs of praise, we help people in need; we do everything that we think being a Christian should look like. We are the religious elite. It is certainly a scary thought that many of us are not many steps away from becoming exactly what the Pharisees were: a brood of vipers who lived out their religion as a way to look good but lacking true relationship with God. We look down our noses at others who don’t look like us all the while forgetting who we should be on the inside. We have absolutely no basis to feel good about who we are aside from Christ. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” That includes us! The only thing that separates a believer in Christ with an unbeliever is grace that was poured out at the cross. There should be no swagger in a Christian’s walk because of who they are in Christ. Instead, there should be humility and brokenness. We hide our sins from our fellow believer hoping that no one will guess what darkness hides within us. We can all say with Paul, “I am the chief of sinners!” We do this to the detriment of the gospel because when we hide the sin within we only cover the measure of grace that was poured out on us.

There are many aspects of my life that I live exactly like the Pharisees did. My sin hides behind the facade that I create on a daily basis. Without repentance I can become haughty in my faith. This should not be!

Father, help me not to live my life like a Pharisee. I am so in need of grace that there can be no room for prideful facades. Break me of myself and cause me to fall into pieces in Your merciful hand. Thank you, Jesus, for the undeserved favor you have poured out on me and help me to accept it humbly. Help me to be able to confess my sin to others so that they can see who I really am: a fallen sinner caught by grace.

Brian