Advent 2C 2024

Text: “8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (Luke 3:8).

You brood of vipers. Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

You have heard that statement at least once every Advent for your entire lives. But have you ever listened to it? Do you really take repentance seriously?

Yes, I know, we are Lutherans. We have rejected the false teaching of the Pope who has said that forgiveness has to be earned by doing acts of penance. But I wonder if that might actually be better than what you and I have turned repentance into.

Think about what repentance usually looks like. Think about the way people typically respond when you point out that what they are doing is clearly sinful according to God’s Word. (And I’m not talking about non-christians. I am talking about believers. I am talking about people within the church who call themselves Christians.) What is a typical response when he or she is confronted with the fact that what he or she is doing is sinful?

Hold on. Let’s not mince words. John the Baptist certainly would not. What is your typical response when you are confronted with the fact that what you are doing is sinful?

Is it not true that the most common response is something along the lines of “It’s okay. God will forgive me”? Isn’t that a pretty normal response when you are confronted with your sin?

Stop and think about that statement. Has the Holy Spirit taught you to speak that way? NO! Those are the words of Satan! “Oh, go ahead. Do it. God will forgive you, won’t He?” Isn’t that exactly what Satan tells you a thousand times a day? Why are YOU speaking like that? How dare you try to use Satan’s words to excuse what you have done? God is not mocked! And that is precisely what you are doing when you invoke Satan’s words to absolve yourself of sin without actually turning away from your sin. What kind of game is that?

Bear fruit in keeping with repentance! That means stop it! Last week you were reminded that anyone who claims to love God, whom he has not seen, but does not love his neighbor who is right in front of his face, is a liar (1 John 4:20). Well, isn’t this another form of the same idea? How can you tell God that you are sorry for your sin and when you are not actually sorry enough to stop? Does that really count as repentance in your mind? God is not fooled. Stop it!

And do not fool yourself, either. Repentance is not the same thing as self-justification. You can pile up whatever titles and offices and positions you want. You can try to dress yourself up as respectably as you can. That is not the same thing as bearing fruit in keeping with repentance. Give up this foolish charade. Your sin has caused real harm. Sin breaks stuff. Start by acknowledging the harm that you have done. Start with the needs of the people whom you have sinned against rather than your own need to prove what a good person you are. You have hurt people. You have hurt them by what you have done. You have hurt them by what you have failed to do. Do you want to tell God that you’re sorry? Start by showing Him how sorry you are by trying to fix it. Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. Then, maybe, you can avoid being cut down in the last judgment. Now, what the Pope teaches really is not any better. Making forgiveness depend upon you is not the answer. That is not what John the Baptist is calling for, for example. And making up all kinds of foolishness for you to do to earn that forgiveness? How in God’s name can the Pope justify that kind of false teaching? Literally! How in God’s name can he let that foolishness stand? Let’s just stick with John the Baptist: bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

By the way, the fruit of repentance does not end with those whom you have wronged. There are countless people who are suffering in this world who you have the ability to help. Show Him how sorry you are by caring about them.

Are there really no widows in our community who are languishing, alone and forgotten that you have all sorts of time to binge watch your favorite TV shows?

Is there really no one in our community who is hungry that you have all this money to go screwing around on your snowmobiles every weekend?

Is there really no one in our community who is struggling to stay warm right now that you are free to fly off on trips to Florida and Arizona and all these fun places? Really?

Oh, I know, we have the angel tree. We do that, don’t we? That makes you feel good, doesn’t it? Do you think for a moment that a bag full of toys once a year is enough fruit to offer on judgment day to keep you from being hacked down like a dead tree? Is that really what it means to bear fruit in keeping with repentance?

I know— a few of our members put in hours and hours to help people who come to us in need of food. And a couple of times a year you and I clean out your cupboards and bring in some of your excess food to restock the shelves of our food pantry. Do you think that a few bags of canned goods and hamburger helper which you gave to someone else to do something with will be enough fruit to offer on judgment day to keep you from being thrown into the fire?

You brood of vipers! What if you brought them in and fed them? I don’t know… what if you tried to provide childcare that they can afford so that they can work and make a living? Or what if you just looked outside these walls and searched them out and found them and just loved them? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

Oh, and do not say, “Pfff. I grew up here; I went to school here; I belong here.” I tell you that, from the stones laying on the ground outside— from the stones in your own fields!— God is able to raise up members for this congregation: True sons and daughters of St. Paul; true sons and daughters of Abraham; true sons and daughters of God, not false ones. Children of God who offer their bodies as living sacrifices— who offer Him all that they are and all that they have— holy and acceptable to God (Romans 12:1) rather than whatever is left over after they get done entertaining themselves. Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

You brood of vipers. This is no game. This is not a casual matter. This is not something to put on your ‘to-do’ list so that, hopefully, you get to it someday. Christ’s first coming is already long behind us. It has been 2,000 years since His first coming. How much longer do you think it can be until He returns? “9 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”” (Luke 3:9).

I don’t know who warned you to flee from the wrath to come, but I am begging you: flee. Because God’s wrath is coming. The little Baby whose birth you are about to celebrate? This season of Advent is also a reminder that He is coming back; when He does come back, He is coming to judge; and more than a few branches within the church will be gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned (John 15:6).

I am begging you: flee. God’s wrath is coming. Repent and flee to the cross. Because the Child who was born that first Christmas “2 grew up …like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2). But the fruit of His life is righteousness. Perfect love for God and love for His neighbor. Perfect humility. Perfect charity. Perfect chastity. Perfect kindness. Perfect temperance. Perfect patience. Perfect diligence.

The fruit of His life is compassion for the sick, the suffering, the sinners. He is still famous for His love for the poor, the powerless, the forgotten. And He was just as passionate about being in His Father’s house as He was for healing the sick and feeding the hungry and raising the dead. There is no doubt that the fruit of His life will most certainly stand on judgment day and beyond.

And more than that, when Jesus went to the cross, He took the fruit of your life, corrupted and poisoned by sin, upon Himself. He takes your pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth where He and they are consumed by the fire of God’s wrath so that you will not be. “11 Out of the anguish of his soul he [has seen] and [been] satisfied; by his knowledge [has] the righteous one... [made] many to be accounted righteous, and he [has borne] their iniquities.” (Isaiah 53:11). The fruit of His life is what you will be judged on if you put your trust in Him. When you stand before the throne of judgment, offer to the Father the perfect fruit of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

The suffering that He endured on Good Friday through His arrest, His trial, and His crucifixion was gruesome; it was horrific; it was practically unimaginable. But what is visible— the outward, physical suffering— as bad as it was, does not compare to the punishment for your sins that He bore on that cross. As the Good Friday hymn expresses it so beautifully, “You who think of sin but lightly nor suppose the evil great here may view its nature rightly, here its guilt may estimate.”

Look at the cross. There you begin to get a sense for the true price of your sin. That is the suffering you deserved. That is the death you deserved. And it is not yours any longer. He has taken it in your place. He suffered the full wrath of God for your sin so that it is not yours any longer.

Not only did he take the full punishment for your sin, His righteousness— the fruit of His life— is given to you by faith, His cross becomes, for you, the tree of life. The angel with the flaming sword is removed and replaced with the angel declaring that Christ is risen and death is defeated. The angel with the flaming sword is replaced by a messenger welcoming you to the Lord’s Table, extending your Lord’s invitation: “Take and eat…. Take and drink.” The tree of life is now replanted in your midst, that you may eat of its fruit and live forever.

Flee from the wrath to come. Flee to the confessional to be washed clean from the guilt of your sins by the word of absolution— the word of forgiveness— spoken by your pastor.

Flee here to this altar and this communion rail to eat and drink the fruits of His cross: His body and blood, given and shed for you there. Until the day He returns to judge the living and the dead, do not neglect coming to receive, in them, forgiveness, life, and salvation.

Every morning, begin your day be fleeing back the promise made to you in baptism: you have been united to Him, which means that His undying life is yours and He lives on in you, continuing to bear good fruit. As you continue, connected to Christ through those Means of Grace, “9your love [will] abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God” (Philippians 1:9-11).

By faith in that promise, He continues to produce in you perfect humility, perfect charity, perfect chastity, perfect kindness, perfect temperance, perfect patience, perfect diligence. Through you, He continues to have compassion on the sick, the suffering, and sinners. Through you, He is still passionate about being in His Father’s house and just as passionate for healing the sick and feeding the hungry and raising the dead. This fruit that He produces within you will also most certainly stand on judgment day and beyond.

So bear fruit in keeping with repentance. True repentance. As Martin Luther pointed out, when your Lord and Master Jesus Christ commanded repentance, His will was for your entire life to be one of repentance. You have been forgiven. You were dead but are now alive. You have been washed clean, inside and out. You have been made ready for the day of judgment. The fruit of His life is now credited to you and He makes your life fruitful, as well.

It’s not about “doing more good stuff.” It’s about bearing fruit in keeping with repentance. “Whoever has two tunics… share with him who has none, and whoever has food… do likewise” (Luke 3:11). It is a blessed thing to be able to provide gifts for people in need through the angel tree and to feed the hungry. Don’t stop there. There are people within these walls who are hurting. Love them. Because the single greatest fruit of repentance is love. There are people outside of these walls who are desperately in need. Love them. There are many who are practically forgotten. Do not wait for them to come here and seek help. God, find them, and love them as Christ has loved you.

It is well past time to restore the true meaning of repentance. Now is the time to ask yourself what the fruit of your life looks like. To be reminded who and whose you are. You are true children of St. Paul; true children of Abraham; true children of God by the power of the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ.

At times the fruit of your life will still look more like trying to understand and minimize the harm you’ve done to others by your sins. At other times, it will be the joyful work of standing along side of those crushed by the burdens of this life and helping them to bear the load; of weeping with those who mourn; of bearing fruit in keeping with repentance in the full confidence that, in Christ, not only will you remain standing on judgment day, you will stand before His throne of judgment “11filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”