• John's Tough Love,  Luke 3:7-18   (see below)
  by Rev. Karen A. Goltz
   

• Joy, Philippians 4:4-7, Zephania 3:14-20, by Rev. Susan Miller
   

• Giving Love, Luke 3:7-18, by Rev. Frank Schaefer

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• EXPECTING SOMETHING?   Luke 3:7-18, by Rev. Rick Thompson 
              

• What Should We Do? Luke 3:7–18, by Rev. William A. Palmer, Jr 
   

• Faith with Feet, Luke 3:7-18, by Rev. Thomas Hall

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John's Tough Love
based on Luke 3:7-18
Rev. Karen A. Goltz

Some children were asked to explain what love is.  The responses were rather interesting and quite instructive for us adults.  One said, "Love is when my mommy makes a cup of coffee for my daddy and takes a little taste before she gives it to him, to make sure it tastes okay."  Another said, "Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you've left him alone all day."  Another response was, "You really shouldn't say, 'I love you' unless you really mean it, but if you mean it you should say it a lot, because people forget."  One boy said, "When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.  You just know that your name is safe in their mouth."  And finally seven-year-old Bobby said, "Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen."

Yes, Christmas is the time when we think a lot about love.   And it's also what motivated John's conversation with the crowds he encountered at the Jordan.  It might not sound much like love, but it is nonetheless, because John knew that to announce the coming of the Savior would take a lot of pointed confrontation about sin, repentance, and the fruit of repentance.  He knew that most people don't want to acknowledge their guilt before one another and before God.  He knew that most of us have a lot to be guilty about, and that we all deserve condemnation for our sins.  And he knew that the only way we can receive the true Savior is to recognize our sin, repent of that sin, and turn to a new life offered by the Lord, who went to the cross to pay the penalty for our guilt.

Christmas, with all its trappings of lights, bows, pretty wrappings, and decorations, seems like a time when the evil of the world is being hidden from view.  And for some, that is exactly how they deal with Christmas.  They put on their finest clothes, they clean up their houses, they decorate their lives with false kindness, and they act so sweetly, even towards people they don't like.  Some families spend the whole rest of the year bickering and arguing over petty jealousies and hurts, and yet at Christmas they hide all that under shiny wrappings and curly bows, and treat each other with smiles and hugs and kisses, but only for a day or two.  After the Christmas presents are opened and the decorations come down, they go back to being at each other's throats.  That's not what John wanted Christmas to become.  John wanted the joy and the love of Christ to influence the whole year, every day, every believer, and every church.

Listen to what John says today: "You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Bear fruits worthy of repentance.  Do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor;' for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.  Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."  John is speaking to the inner man and woman within each of our hearts.  John knows that we are trying hard to hide our evil intentions and desires.  John calls his listeners vipers, because their evil hearts have made them deceivers of the highest order.  They follow their own desires easier than they follow God, because since the first sin of Adam our own selfish will has been our master.  John is wrestling with the evil in each one of his hearers' hearts.  It's a fierce struggle he's fighting.  He must speak harshly or we will not listen.  He must shake us free from the polite and non-offensive words we are so used to hearing, so that we might hear and respond to the tough but loving message he brings. [continue]