This morning I felt I should read from Matthew 3, which is all about John the Baptist's ministry, and the Baptism of Jesus. I must say I haven't devoted much time to reflecting on John's ministry, but today I thought it appropriate. Here are the verses I am thinking about this morning - Matthew 3:1-2,5-10 NIV:
[1] "In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea [2] and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
[5] People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. [6] Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
[7] But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? [8] Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. [9] 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. [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."
As I read these verses this morning I saw two different responses to John's message of repentance. There were those people that heard his message, were convicted by his message, decided to change (repented), asked forgiveness, were baptized for forgiveness and then lived their lives differently. Secondly, there were those Pharisees and Sadducees who came and saw no need to heed John's message. They relied on their present understanding and refused to change their minds. Worse yet, they might have said they were going to change their minds, but then never did. In other words they produced no fruit of repentance, they did not change their minds and actions.
So my question this morning is which response do we have to this opportunity to change our minds and ways that we have been presented? That we are in a time of transition, of change, of the birthing of something new is clear. We hear the phrase "New Normal" and that is tossed around both in the secular world as well as the Body of Christ, so I think we all agree that things will be changing. John's message was a preparatory message to a season of change that was going to blow over the Jewish people, and His call was one to turn back to God.
In this present situation, we weren't really given a clear call to change, or repent, but the impact of this time has certainly produced that in our lives. We have been given an opportunity to stop what we were doing, to look to our relationship with the Lord, and see where things need to change. As churches we have had to stop most everything and revisit what we were doing, how were were doing things, and now as we look at reopening, we have a chance to do the same, to look hard at our ministries and see what things need to change! The question for us all is whether we will produce the fruit in keeping with repentance, or will we go right back to what we were doing before?
Another question is whether we have even turned to the Lord in this season, or have we just turned to comfort foods, comfort TV shows, comfort drinks, whatever we needed to do to get through this time? We have changed our activities because we have been forced to change them, but have we changed our hearts and minds, and our plans for our futures?
Repentance is about change that we decide to make, not change that we have been forced to make. God is after our hearts and minds turning towards Him, not our obedience to authorities.
These questions and thoughts have certainly got me thinking this morning. My prayer is that I come through this time, changed, renewed, and repented of past wrong focus and pursuits, and that I am instead more focused on the Lord and His purpose, His plan and my relationship with Him.
Amen!
May the Lord speak clearly to our hearts today, to help us see the opportunities for change in front of us! May He bring clarity to opportunities for repentance! May the Lord help us all to embrace His word fully, and help us to produce good fruit!
Sam
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