Luke 3: 1-2

 Muhhamed Ali once claimed, “I am the greatest.”  We call that boasting, but it is not boasting when someone else says that about you.  Jesus in Matthew 11:11 “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist.”   For such a great man most people don’t know very much about him.

Luke is, of course, a biography of Jesus Christ.  However, in the first half of chapter 3 the focus shifts off of Jesus and on to a man who has come to be known as John the Baptist.  I imagine that most everybody in America has probably at least heard of John the Baptist.  But I would also guess that very few know much about the man, and even fewer would know anything about his teachings.  Hopefully that won’t be the case for you when you walk out of here today. 

John 3:26  They came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan--the one you testified about--well, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him."
27To this John replied, "A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. 28You yourselves can testify that I said, `I am not the ChristJ but am sent ahead of him.' 29The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30He must become greater; I must become less.

Pastors are known for using various methods and techniques in developing sermons to help make them more memorable.  I’m sure if I had ever taken a course on hermeneutics, which is the science of ‘how to write a sermon,’ I would have probably learned some of them.  But we didn’t use a lot of hermeneutics in my Phys Ed classes, so I graduated without even knowing what that word meant. 

I have, however, since that time read a few books and learned a little bit.  And I learned that one method that is frequently used by some preachers to help the listeners remember the main points of the sermon is called alliteration.  Alliteration is where you make all of the main points start with the same letter of the alphabet thereby helping it stick in your memory.  I don’t do that very often but for some reason I decided to try that this week.  There are four main points that we will notice about John the Baptist’s ministry in this passage, and the points all start with the letter ‘D’.  We have the date, the dude, the decree and the disclaimer.  We will cover the first 3 this week and save number 4 for next week as we transition our focus back to Jesus.

So here we go.   Lets start with the date.  In typical fashion, Luke wants to make very certain that we understand he is reporting actual historical fact and so he works hard relating the events he describes to the current world events.  In verse 1 of chapter 3 Luke sets the date by correlating John the Baptist’s ministry to 5 different world and national leaders (READ). 

Luke 3:1,2  In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas

Tiberius was the successor to Caesar Augustus.  He became the Roman Emperor on August 19^th, in the year 14 AD.  That would put the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in AD 29 and according to verse 23 Jesus was about 30 years old at that time.  Having set the emergence of John’s ministry against the world background of the Roman Empire Luke then moves to the local rulers. 

He next mentions the fact that Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea.  His name, of course, will come up again later in Luke’s biography.  Pontius was governor from AD 26 to 36.  Just before Herod the Great died, the Herod who ordered the murder of all the male babies in Bethlehem after the wise men came to him seeking the birthplace of Jesus Christ, he divided his kingdom up into 4 sections.  Two sections were given to friends, one of whom Luke mentions here, Lysanias. 

The other two sections were given to Herod’s sons.  Herod Antipus was commonly just referred to as Herod.  He ruled over Galilee and Perea from His father’s death until AD 39.  That means He was the ruler throughout most of Jesus’ life over the territory where Jesus spent most of His time. The last section went to Herod’s brother Philip, who established and built the city of Caesarea Philippi.  He named it after both Caesar, in order to earn brownie points with the Roman Emperor, and himself because, hey, if you’re going to build a city, why not name it after yourself? 

In verse 2 Luke moves from political leaders to Jewish leaders (READ 2a).  The numero uno leader of the Jews was the high priest.  Throughout history he was both the political and religious leader of Israel.  He was a direct descendant of Aaron, the first high priest who was placed in office by God Himself.  And he held that office until he died, whereupon his oldest son would succeed him.  This meant, obviously, that there could only be one high priest at a time.   But Luke mentions two.  Someone might well ask, “What’s going on here?”

The problem was Rome.  They wanted their own man in that key position but ran into a lot of resistance from the Jews when they tried to meddle with the office of high priest.  The compromise was to get Annas out and put in his son.  The only problem was it appears his sons were idiots and Rome placed in office then removed from office all four of his sons in a matter of several years.

Caiaphas was the son-in-law of Annas.  He seems to have been a much more shrewd man.  He worked with Rome well enough to stay in power but he stood up for the rights of the Jews strong enough to stay in their favor.  So officially with Rome Caiaphas was the high priest and the Jews had to submit to that in order to work with Rome.  But in their hearts all Jews still revered Annas as the real high priest.  That’s why after He was arrested you see Jesus being taken to Annas first and then to Caiaphas.

So that’s the date, the setting.  That’s what was happening in the world.  Now on to the dude, which of course, would be John the Baptist.  This text doesn’t actually tell us much about him except that he was the son of Zacharias. When the angel told Zacharias that John would be born he included the statement, “he will drink no wine or liquor.”  Normally that prohibition was part of what is called a Nazirite vow.  It also included not cutting your hair, including your facial hair.  That was the vow Samson was under and it is likely, although we can’t be dogmatic about it,  that John followed that same custom. 

We also find out a little more about him from some of the other gospels.  We are told that he lived out in the desert.  Apparently at some time he moved away from his parents house and lived as a hermit out in the desert.  Since Elizabeth and Zacharias were old when they had John it is probable that they died when he was still a young man.  Otherwise he would have had to stay home and care for his parents.  Chances are it is when they died that he moved out to the desert. 

The other gospels tell us that he wore a garment made out of camel hair.  That would have been mighty itchy and uncomfortable.  And then, to make matters worse, his main food was honey and locust.  For those of you who don’t know, a locust is like a big grasshopper.  I’m thinking I would never have a problem with excess weight if that were my food.  How many different ways can you eat grasshopper?  Grasshopper kabobs.  Grasshopper stew. Grasshopper patties. 

So basically John was this longhaired, bushy bearded, camel hair cloaked, grasshopper breath freak preaching in the wilderness.  That’s the dude, now lets move on to his decree.  What was his message?  What did he preach?  Look at verse 7 (READ).

Luke 3:7-9 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? 8Produce 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. 9The axe 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."

As I was working on my degree from Moody Bible Institute almost every class had a least a part of it that focused on evangelism.  Here at the church we have gone through several programs that encouraged us with good ways to evangelize our friends and neighbors.  I have read numerous books on the subject such as “Friendship Evangelism” and “Becoming a Contagious Christian.” 

Not once in any of that material has any author ever recommended starting out by saying, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee the wrath to come.”   Somehow I am pretty sure that would not be a technique that you find in Dale Carnegie’s book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”  If we compare this passage to the other gospels it helps us to understand it a little better:

Matthew 3:1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea 2and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."

5People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. 6Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

 7But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

8Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10The 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.

By putting Matthew and Luke together we can get a pretty good idea of John’s message.  It seems to me to have three basic components:

Tons of people claim to be Christian today.  Multitudes would say they are alright with God.  But we need to understand that being an American does not make you a Christian.  Going to church or growing up in a church doesn’t mean you are saved.  Taking part in religious rituals such as infant baptism, catechism and even communion, those things do not make you Christian.  The Pharisees were extremely religious people.  They were in church all the time.  They gave lots of money.  They went through every religious ritual they could.  But religious activity never substitutes for genuine repentance.  John made sure in his preaching that people understood- no substitutes were accepted. 

Luke gives us a few examples of John’s answers. 

Luke 3:11 John answered, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same."

John is saying here that true repentance will change how you look at other people and your possessions.  You will develop a love and compassion for those in need.  You will be willing to share what you have instead of greedily grabbing for more.

When some of the student leaders in my youth group approached me about doing this 30 hour famine to raise money to feed hungry children I almost said ‘no.’  In my mind I was thinking, “we are already asking for so much money from the congregation.  Building project, BUMP.  But then I thought, if I take DJ and the boys out for one meal, even a cheap spot will run us 20 to 25 bucks.  Can’t we skip one meal out in order to feed a starving child for one month?"

Look at the next 3 verses.

True repentance will change the way you live.  John didn’t tell these guys to quit their jobs and become full time missionaries.  He said do your job well.  Work with integrity.  Don’t abuse your power. 

The fruit of repentance is a changed life.

We looked at the date, the dude and the decree.  As I mentioned we’ll save the fourth ‘d’--the disclaimer--for next week.  But one final thought:

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

The date may have changed.  It is now 2006, but did you know you have been called to be ‘a voice crying in the wilderness.’?  

I’m not saying you have to be a longhaired, grasshopper breath freak.  But like John we have all been called to preach the gospel to our friends and neighbors and coworkers.  Not in formal messages but in the way you live, in your everyday conversation, maybe by inviting them to church with you.  We have all been called.  And may we all be as bold as John the Baptist.