Thoughts From Luke - Day 10

                                   Luke 3:3-14,19,20

John the Baptist went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁴ As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
    make straight paths for him.
⁵ Every valley shall be filled in,
    every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
    the rough ways smooth.
⁶ And all people will see God’s salvation.’”

⁷ John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸ Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. ⁹ 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.”

¹⁰ “What should we do then?” the crowd asked.
¹¹ John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”
¹² Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”
¹³ “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.
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.”
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, ²⁰ Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison.

     John the Baptist was a rock star. People came out from everywhere and loved to listen. He looked and dressed crazy, his eating habits were bizarre, and he called people names like "brood of vipers." Yet, he got away with it. In an age where people are criticizing Christians for imposing our morality on them, how could John get away with it? C.S. Lewis in his book The Abolition of Man gives 8 commandments that he says are common to all religions. Taking care of the poor, honesty, and not stealing are common to all of them. It's like when God created us and put morals or the law in our hearts (Rom.2), these are some laws that are in there and although when we hear them told to us, we are convicted, we aren't offended by them. So then, why was John the Baptist imprisoned and beheaded? It was when he started speaking about sexual morality. When he told Herod that it was wrong to steal his brother's wife and marry her, that was offensive.

     Today, it's kind of the same thing. If we talk to people about being kind, helping the poor, being a good parent, honoring your parents, etc. we get no objections and could draw a crowd. Look at someone like Joel Osteen. But when we say that living together before marriage, sex before marriage, homosexuality, transgender, same sex marriage is wrong, just like 2000 years ago, we will get flack. It's nothing new. Why is that? I don't know really. Somehow our sexuality is so entwined with our emotions, persona, psyche, soul - that to tell us to change our behavior in this area results in tremendous resistance. Somehow losing some money by being honest, losing some material goods by sharing, doesn't compare to giving up a person that we are attached to or love. Somehow giving up a behavior is easier than giving up a lifestyle. Somehow we were created for personal attachments and we know that lying, cheating, stealing are bad for human attachments. But giving up a human attachment??? That's tough. That's where the opposition begins. That's where people have to ask,"Am I willing to put myself under the control of God, even if it hurts and doesn't always make sense?"
     So in a sense, people's issues aren't with morality, people's issues are with humbling yourself before God and saying I submit my life to You. It's a control issue. We can maintain control of our lives in areas like lying, cheating, stealing, sharing. But to give it all up like the rich young ruler was asked to do... that's surrendering control. That's losing your leverage. And even if you do a bunch of humanitarian, good, selfless deeds, John the Baptist would say that all it did was prepare you to hear how to get to Heaven when Jesus arrives. We must receive Jesus. We must surrender to His Lordship of our life. Jesus comes to you and doesn't say straighten up sexually and follow me. He says are you willing to give your life to me and do whatever I tell you to do? That is the issue.

Lord, I'm thankful for my Christian upbringing that made the paths level for me to follow Christ when He was introduced to my heart. Help me to do the same now for my kids and grandkids. Help me to preach Christ, not behavior modification. Amen