Category: Devotions

Correction

 

Luke 3: 20 “But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias, his brother’s wife, and all the other evil things he had done, Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison.

Not many like being told they are wrong.

We are not wired to correction.

Some ignore.

Some raise their voices louder than the voice that is correcting.

And some lash out like Herod did.

Ponder: When was the last time you were corrected? Who did that correction? How did you feel?

Luke could think of no greater evil than to reject the messenger of God.

For Luke, he leaves John in prison and moves to Jesus revealing how the messenger can be silenced but not the message.

Jesus took the baton and became the message and in a few years Herod would do the same thing and get rid of this King of the Jews. But Herod was wrong because the message continued to live and lives in new messengers today.

What drove Bonhoeffer to return to Germany to try and topple Hitler’s extermination of the Jews? It was this famous quote he gave: “If I sit next to a madman as he drives a car into a group of innocent bystanders, I can’t, as a Christian, simply wait for the catastrophe, then comfort the wounded and bury the dead. I must try to wrestle the steering wheel out of the hands of the driver.”

 

What would you do if you truly felt convicted about something? Would you try and correct the wrong? Would you be prepared to risk your life to bring that correction?

The rebuke

Luke 3: 19 “But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias, his brother’s wife, and all the other evil things he had done …”

They fell in love (perhaps), but they were already married. So Antipas divorced his wife and Herodias divorced her uncle Philip and they were then free to marry, which they did.

For the Jew, this was unthinkable, appalling and they were angry at what was deemed unholy. Leviticus 20: 21 “If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is impurity. He has uncovered his brother’s nakedness. They shall be childless.”

It is difficult for us to understand this but there was just no way in the Jewish law and culture for a woman to divorce her husband for anything, never mind for loving another.

Herod Antipas had a problem because every Herod wanted to literally be what the name meant. The name Herod means ‘song of the hero’ or ‘warrior’ and it was the title given to several of the rulers of the Roman Empire at the time. But for Antipas he was aiming to be the hero of the Jews, the King of the Jews. His personal life was proving that this would never be the case for he now would be no hero to them, for Yahweh’s hero would never do such a thing.

When John rebuked Herod, he represented the whole of the Jewish people which Herod wanted to lead and be the hero of. Luke says John rebuked Herod for all the other evil things he had done. Jesus called him a fox for his scheming deceitfulness. This marriage was the tip of the iceberg and someone had to represent the people, someone had to stand up and say enough is enough. If John was calling ordinary people back to God then that call had to extend to the very top of society, to the royalty.

The Church needs to find our voice again. We need to represent our communities. We need to be their voice and to stand against injustice no matter the risk. We need to correct our world. We need to make it right again. We need to stand for the vulnerable, the poor and the marginalised. We need to stand for the Bible.

 

The external processor

Luke 3: 18 “ And with many other words John exhorted the people and proclaimed the good news to them.”

The Message: “There was a lot more of this—words that gave strength to the people, words that put heart in them. The Message!”

I came across a new phrase the other day as someone described themselves as “an external processor”. Where have I been all this time not coming across this phrase before?! I just thought the person talked a lot!

Anyway, John continued to speak words of life to these people. His name remember means ‘Yahweh is gracious’ and there are no limits to the grace of God. This was a season of an outpouring of that grace.

They were repenting from their sins and being baptised in the context of messages that gave them life, encouragement and strength. They were an oppressed people being lifted out of their despair into hope that the Messiah was soon to come, he was just round the corner and he would be here any moment.

John continued speaking again and again, story after story, calling the people back to the wilderness to experience God. He was externally processing all that was in him. All that God had imparted into his life as he grew up in the Judaean desert. Here in the dry and dusty climate lived monastic communities, strict Jewish sects and hermits who would educate the younger generation. We don’t know of course what that looked like for him but these are hidden years in the wilderness for John. What we know is when he emerged he came as a prophet with many words.

Not comparing myself to John the Baptist at all but I do remember on many occasions when I pastored my church in Dewsbury that it felt like I was in hiding. My HQ didn’t really know what was taking place there, apart from records sent in, this was pre-social media years (when the world knows a second after the events), but they were exciting years of preparation for all that God has done in me since. No one saw the tears, the periods of fasting, the many challenges, the doubts that needed defeating and the times when I wanted to give up. But also no one saw the gracious moments of knowing God as Provider, Protector and to carve out an experience of His Presence in my life. There were many wilderness years in my life and they were the best.

I truly believe God wants to take us all back into the wilderness at some point, into hiding, into a season when you are out of sight and out of mind. If that is how you describe yourself then this is where God wants you to be. It is here where a narrative is formed within you for the future.

The next season of your life is to externally process all that God has put in you in the desert for the good of people. But to do that you need to have come from the desert in the first place.

 

Are you ready for the burning unquenchable fire?

Luke 3: 17 “His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

John takes a practice that was common in their daily life and teaches a spiritual lesson to the people.

The Winnowing fork = this was used to throw grain into the air so that the chaff might be blown away in the night-time wind when it was most often done.

Chaff = this is the dust/dirt and also the hard coat of the grain which cannot be eaten or processed but which the wind blows away.

Unquenchable fire = nothing was wasted, the chaff was burnt for fuel. John uses the word unquenchable, a fire that doesn’t go out.

Many have used verse 17 for an end-time continual burning of the godless. The Church have re-defined the godless throughout its history. But before we think of screaming eternal torture with flames of fire. Think again.

John gives this cultural picture in the context of Jesus baptising with the Holy Spirit and fire, in the previous verse.

The Church want the baptism of the Holy Spirit (well a version of that at least).

But a baptism of fire, an unquenchable one? Do we really want that?

Let me encourage you today to seek for a baptism of the Holy Spirit and of fire.

Let me encourage you to seek for this continual cultural practice to occur daily in your life and also in intensive seasonal times.

Within your life there must be a constant burning fire that takes the chaff of your life, that which cannot be used and burns it so that you are continually purified. May Jesus baptise you with that fire. May you become more like Him. This is the unquenchable fire we need. A fire that burns. A fire that makes us better people. A fire that does something with our attitudes, our selfishness, our bitterness, our sins. That’s the fire the people of God need. That’s the fire that Jesus brings. This is the fire that John prepares the people for. It is a life-changing fire that never ends whilst we live.

 

 

I know who I am NOT

 

Luke 3:16 “John answered them all, ‘I baptise you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

 

They were thinking he was the one, the Messiah.

There have been so many people who throughout history have been caught up with this moment.

Cult-like figures are born on the adulation of desperate people.

But knowing what you are unable to do will keep you from being worshipped.

John answers, “All I am doing is baptising with water. I am not as powerful as the Messiah. I am not even worthy to be called a slave. He has a better baptism.”

“Is it okay to think of you as the best thing that ever happened to us? Do you mind if we believe that you are the answer to our prayers? Look at all of us here, the crowds that you are pulling, big is better yes? Can we follow you? Will you be our Messiah?”

John said NO where many have said YES.

There are many people who are trodden down by others, slandered and hurt, broken and beaten.

That is not the greatest danger.

It is this: to be promoted higher than you should be and to be praised for what you could never do.

Just because a position is vacant doesn’t mean you have to occupy it. The influence may be greater, the prestige and pay out of this world, you may be head-hunted for it, however, the opportunity of a lifetime may need to be refused until the lifetime of that opportunity is over.

The Church have a message that is being preached far and wide, “This is who you are.” We certainly need that.

We certainly also need to hear this message, “This is who you are not.”

You are not the work, you are the worker.

You are not the answer, you are the sign.

You are not to become greater, you must decrease.

“Look how Amazing and Awesome you are and how your Ability simply Abounds and your Accomplishments are Acclaimed far and wide and Admired and Adored by many!”

If that is said to you today even in your dreams (!!) then make sure you announce “I know who I am NOT!”

Be careful when desperate

Luke 3:15 “The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah.”

 

We cannot fail to be moved with sympathy for these people.

 

Herod the tetrarch was working on the rebuilding of the temple, aspiring to take the title of his father, ‘the king of the jews’.

But no Herod would be their king, only the prophesied Messiah.

 

There had been other rebel leaders who had risen against the Roman oppression and who could have been the Messiah but only brought disappointment.

Simon of Peraea (c 4 BC) and Athronges (c. 4-2 BC) were 2 such leaders who tried to bring down the Romans but failed.

 

So here comes John, charismatic and drawing crowds, even tax collectors and soldiers. Perhaps … maybe … is this the one?

 

When you are desperate for help, then the newest kid on the block, the trendiest most powerful-looking, crowd-pulling multi-gifted man/woman of God could be the real deal and the answer to your prayers! Whether in the first century or 2019 the same applies.

John the Baptist looked like he could have been what they were longing for.

He was certainly close to what they needed.

 

In our desperation for a change in circumstances and in our longing for the divine we can put ourselves in the vulnerable position of chasing after things that look like the real thing but are only signs and messengers of the true.

Change

Luke 3: 14 “Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”

John is calling for wholesale change, the kind that turns society around. True revival isn’t seen in a building of worshippers but amongst the crowds, the tax-collectors and soldiers. It is seen in our relationships, homes and work places.

The soldiers were not told to quit their jobs but to be a different kind of soldier. “Don’t justify your oppressive attacks on people, stealing from them and bringing false charges against them simply because you think you haven’t enough salary.” That still happens today in many countries where corruption and bribery is openly displayed.

Basically, John is saying there is never any reasonable excuse, they did have a choice and they should start choosing right.

If the soldiers stopped their extortion, the tax collectors stopped their exploitation and the crowd cared for one another then this would bring a productivity to their communities that would make them fruitful.

It made sense and it still does. John’s context was one of emergency, an urgency to be different. Not because of what has happened but of what is to come.

If you have a special guest coming to your house today then yesterday you would have spent some time cleaning and getting everything ready.

When people start to change the way they live their lives it isn’t only a signal that something good has happened to them but it does signal that something is about to take place. This truth applies for those inside and outside the Church.

 

Be fair

Luke 3: 12-13 “Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?” “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.”

The Romans governed the land of Israel and the Jews paid for it. Some of them worked for the Romans in collecting the taxes from their own people. These were despised not only because they were willing to work for the Romans but they more often than not became very dishonest in demanding more taxes than the Romans had asked for thus becoming richer than those paying the taxes. They were traitors and sinners, a people doomed to God’s damnation.

But ‘even tax collectors’ want to change. Matthew and Zacchaeus were tax collectors who later found a new life in Christ.

John didn’t say to the tax collector, “leave your job; stop working for the Romans.”

He just told them to stop the exploitation of the people by becoming rich at their expense.

As you go to work today, whatever that is, don’t bend the rules in your favour. When claiming expenses don’t claim what should not be claimed. If you are employed for a certain amount of hours then do those hours and the extra miles. Don’t try and do as little as possible. Don’t try and justify your actions towards you benefiting: “I deserve this.”

“You have to look after yourself” is not in the Bible.

In this way you will signal change. You will be moving towards fruit-bearing, a productivity that God wants you to have and a preparation for Him to move.

Share with the crowd

Luke 3:11 “What should we do then?’ the crowd asked. John answered, ‘Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.’”

The crowd ask the question.

John looks at the crowd and realises that his message of preparing the way for the Lord and of productivity needs to be applied to them.

The crowd asked so the message needs to fit.

The answer is to live not individualistic lives but to live within the crowd, within community.

John doesn’t give a list of rules. He is not like some of their rabbi’s.

He doesn’t say ‘pray more’. He doesn’t say ‘be like me’.

He knows the needs of the crowd. He knows there are the poor living alongside the rich.

So he says, ‘share your clothes and share your food’.

So what crowd do you belong to?

A neighbourhood crowd?

A work crowd?

A leisure crowd?

A church crowd?

If you want to know what you should do then you should share what you have with those in that crowd. Look for the needs and do all you can to meet those needs.

This will make you productive. This will prepare the way.

Keep asking the right question.

Luke 3:20 “What should we do then?” the crowd asked.”

Three sets of people now respond to John’s message in the same way.

It’s a great question.

It is amazing how Luke records this passage.

The next few verses contain truths for every day living.

It indicates discipleship in our very core of our lives. John will go on to apply the message to the area of their life which is most central.

‘How should we apply your message to our lives?’

‘What changes should we make?’

‘What are the action points?’

Throughout our life we need to keep asking this same question.

‘What should I do?’

‘How do I do this?’

‘How do I produce fruit?’

‘How do I change?’

‘How do I prepare the way for the Lord?’

‘How do I make straight paths for him?’

There isn’t anything wrong with our ‘knowing’ but it would appear there is a lot of things wrong with our ‘doing’.

We know so much. We have read every book there is but all that has grown is our minds.

Discipleship isn’t a programme or a book to follow together. Discipleship is to do mission, it is to make disciples, it is to bear fruit.

Perhaps right now whether it is to your ‘John the Baptist’ figure or in prayer to the Lord you can ask:

‘What should I do now?’