So I had this paradigm shift a few years ago. Most of you are familiar with John the Baptist, that prophet, that forerunner, who came announcing the coming of the Christ. His essential message was "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. Straighten out your ways. Produce good fruit, because the ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that doesn't will be cut down and thrown into the fire."
It reminds me of when I was growing up. Both of my parents worked, and they'd make this long list of chores for us boys to do. Of course, we were more apt to storm the banks of Horse Creek or run around the neighborhood (all day long) than sitting around pulling weeds, picking beans, or folding laundry. We were boys! But inevitably, toward the end of the day, one of us would realize, "Mom and Dad will be home any minute!" That sure wasn't a comforting thought.
When I worked in retail it was the same thing. The managers would put the whole store on notice. "Corporate will be here any moment. Man your station, clean your department, face the merchandise." Nobody wanted to get the corporate axe!
The thing is, John was pretty indiscriminate in his preaching. How do you prepare for God to show up? If you have excess food or clothing, share it with the person in need. If you've been double-taxing people, manipulating them for financial gain, or falsely accusing people to damage them... repay them. John even went after Herod, for his illegal and immoral marriage to his own brother's wife. Human nature hasn't fundamentally changed in thousands of years. People are still just as greedy, immoral, and corrupt today as back then.
But here is the game-changer--it's Jesus. Jesus is the "Lamb of God" whose come "to take away the sins of the world." You can repent. You can be baptized. You can call on the name of the Lord, and let God wash all your sins away. If you want to be stubborn about it, you can get the axe... or you can accept God's mercy by faith.
Now just about everyone loves the idea of God's mercy and grace. Tomorrow is the Boston Marathon, and you may be surprised to know that one of Lakeside's finest (Bethany Erwin) is running the race! You can track her progress on the Boston Marathon website by looking up #7409! Speaking of Marathons, have you noticed that stickers people put on their cars? 26.2? 13.1? I want to find a sticker that says, ".1" That's about how far I could run before keeling over!
But I saw this amazing poll: 58% of Bostonians oppose the death penalty for the Boston Marathon bomber. I'd say we're a pretty merciful and gracious nation! We believe in redemption. We hold out mercy even to those who kill, maim. What's amazing, is that God's mercy is wide enough to forgive even Boston bomber, should he repent and believe (of course). Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away sin of world!
But here is the paradigm shift. John the Baptist did just proclaim the forgiveness that would be available in Jesus. He proclaimed the transformation that would be available through the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. But Jesus will baptize you with "fire and the Holy Spirit." In other words, God will both forgive you of sin, but also refine...purify...sanctify...set you free from sin!
Our world only knows a partial gospel. Forgiveness without Change. What John proclaimed is Forgiveness with Change. With God's grace and mercy comes real change. Now let's talk a couple moments about our culture's attitude toward change.
Some Attitudes About Change:
Obviously, many feel change is unnecessary. Our culture by and large equates God's love with tolerance. God loves me just the way I am. I don't have to change, I'm a good person, a loving God would never take an axe to my tree (or any tree for that matter). Of course, the Bible is pretty clear that the law is written on our hearts, that our conscience bears witness, and that even our thoughts accuse us otherwise (Romans 2:15).
Others feel change is a cruel hoax of sorts. Change? I was born this way. I'm Italian. This is genetic. This is my condition. This is just who I am. Now the Bible does teach that we've all inherited a "sin nature" from our earliest ancestor, Adam. Our sin nature desires everything that is contrary to God's Spirit (Galatians 5:17). Those who suggest change is impossible, or that it's cruel to hold out the hope of change, go too far
For some, change is all sweat. There are a lot of "do-it-yourselfers" out there. Change yourself. Make the choice. Muster your willpower. It takes 15,000 hours to achieve mastery. In Galatians 3:3 Paul chides the Galatians saying, "After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you not trying to finish by means of the flesh?" Christianity is not a self-improvement project!
No matter how hard we try, the flesh proves to be an indomitable foe. Author Bob Santos says, "The fiercest, most deceptive enemy a person will ever face is not the devil, but rather his or her own fallen self"
And so we turn to technology. Change is all about technology, behavior modification, legalism, control, human performance systems, drugs and therapies. We need better laws, better government, more/better education, political correctness... We're the most medicated, educated, monitored, surveilled society on all the earth and in all of history. We're the most technologically advanced. Still, our flesh reigns, things are so out of control! In Isaiah 29:14 God says, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; and the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate;"
Last we abdicate change to God. God you fix it. God, you make it right. God bring revival. Heal our land. The words of Isaiah 5:1-7 recently caught my attention. God says, "I will sing for the one I love a long about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit." And God's question is, "What more could I have done for my vineyard, than I have done for it."
The answer is that God sent his son to the vineyard, only for his son to be killed. We religious people can have a form of godliness while denying its power. We can carry on, going about our religion while not recognizing, even crucifying God's messiah. Our religion can be as lifeless, dead and void as any other human system.
When change fails, things get really ugly. We get more desperate than ever before. That longing deep within for redemption, for true love, for holiness, for mercy & justice, it becomes all consuming. I believe that right now, we are witnessing the systemic failure of all-things worldly to produce the change. We're running out of options. Nothing is working. When it comes to hope/change we're STUCK.
When Change Fails, We Take One of Three Tactics:
Tactic #1: We embrace defeat. We lose hope, we go into full retreat, we isolate ourselves, we home-school, we home-church, we build walls and fences and fortresses, we bunker up. We do everything in our power to protect ourselves and insulate us from the danger "out there." We hold on as long as we can! We doomsday prep, we build our ark and await the destruction of the earth. [Bury the Axe]
Tactic #2: We embrace violence. We shouldn't be surprised by the medieval resurgence of violence. When we can't change ourselves or others, we resort to violence. Violence is an expression of our frustration, our fear, our sense of not being able to control evil. We cannot control the evil, so we cut off its hand, its foot, its head. We shoot it, we bomb it, poison it, burn it at the stake, annihilate it. [Use the Axe]
Tactic #3: We embrace tolerance. When you cannot defeat your enemy, you often have no other recourse but to befriend it, accept it, tolerate it. Tolerance is nothing more than a coping mechanism. We humans cannot live in tension indefinitely, so tolerance become the release value. We resign ourselves. We adjust our beliefs, and values, and social mores. [Surrender the Axe]
Do you realize that when John the Baptist came the Jews responded in all these same ways to their Roman Oppressors? The Zealots resorted to murderous violence. The Religious Elite hunkered down, with their sectarian, insular mentality. The Herodians, the Tax Collectors, all capitulated, adopted the Roman system of values.
Waving the white flag of defeat, resorting to violence, embracing tolerance... none of this brings about the righteousness and holiness God desires. We can't fault culture for resorting to these things if we have never held out true gospel, true alternative!
Hope for change is two-fold
First, Change Comes Through "Abiding"
John 15:1-9, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love."
Going back to God's question in Isaiah 5, where God asks, "What more could I have done for my vineyard, than I have done for it." the correct answer is NOTHING! The key to bearing any fruit, whether it's the fruit of repentance or the fruit of righteousness, comes down to ABIDING. God invites us to ABIDE... to REMAIN IN HIM.
Change/Sanctification is all about taking a receptive posture before God. Receiving his grace, his spirit, his teaching, his words, his communion, ministry from the fellowship of believers. Abiding involves faith, confession, repentance, baptism, obedience, receiving church discipline from trusted leaders (if needed). Change is never about straining apart from God, but receiving all from God that's needed.
Abiding enables us to live in victory over sin and bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit. When we Abide in Christ, not only does the lamb of God take away our sins, but his Holy Spirit enables us to do things far beyond our natural human capacity. What kind of things? Galatians 5:25 says the fruit of the Spirit is "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control..." the kind of things laws and human systems can never bring about... the kind of things defeatism, violence, and tolerance never bring about!!
Author Bob Santos says we cannot change... we cannot get unstuck... "We cannot break free from sin by obeying rules, trying harder, praying longer, or giving more. The key to freedom involves learning how to continually draw upon God's grace. This is amazing news for those who struggle. The secret of the Christian life lies not in trying harder, but in learning how to stay connected to the life-giving flow of God's grace." (Bob Santos)
"Abiding-- staying connected to God-- is the secret to a fully fruitful life. Conversely, the presence of spiritual fruit in our lives indicates the reality of an ongoing relationship." God never intended for us to change, to be sanctified, to be made holy, apart from his mercy and grace... nor apart from himself.
Second, Change Comes Through "Discipleship"
Abiding is when I put myself in a posture to receive all God has for me. Discipleship is when I help someone else get in that same posture. Discipleship is the only redemptive alternative to defeatism, violence, and tolerance.
In Discipleship, I don't surrender to evil, nor do I destroy my enemy, nor do I embrace/tolerate evil.... But instead I walk with a person in love. I teach them to abide in grace. I introduce them to the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. I challenge, nurture, and pray for them-- in the hope that they too will abide, and be refined by the fire of the Spirit.
Not abdicating all responsibility to God, and heading for the hills... but rolling up my sleeves, and working in his vineyard, remaining faithful to the task at hand.
ABIDING... DISCIPLING OTHERS TO ABIDE....
God's Promise to ISRAEL... ISAIAH 4:2-6 !!!