eFollowingJesusJan4 - Fruit or Fire? (read Matthew 3:7-12 - printed below)

   John never studied under Miss Manners.  With unbridled rage he glared at the most religious people and castigated them as "a brood of vipers."  Outrageous, rude, John could easily be dismissed as a maniac.  But he spoke the truth.  A smug piety that is "right," priding itself in knowledge about God, misses the heart of a humble, compassionate faith - and is downright dangerous, to the self-righteous and to those they ostracize by their piety.

   Mere descent from Abraham, or any other earthly status, is nothing compared to a living, vital faith. "Bear fruit!"  Fruit refreshes; fruit nourishes; fruit is what the planter intended.  God intends for us to be full of love, humility, not rotten with arrogance or a judgmental spirit.  Faith issues in a changed, beautiful life.

   How important is this fruitfulness?  John, ominously standing not far from Sodom and Gomorrah, threatens us with fire - a vivid image of the ruin that even religious folk can vanish into.  Yet, the Spirit's fire can refine and purify... so will I be consumed? or a torch for God?

   Lord, let me hear John's harsh words as if they were directed at me, not somebody else.  Forgive my hard, judgmental spirit; let me be fruitful for you.

James

james@mpumc.org

Here is the full text of Matthew 3:7-12 - 7: But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8: Bear fruit that befits repentance, 9: and do not presume to say to yourselves, `We have Abraham as our father'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 10: 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. 11: "I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 12: His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."