Scripture
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 17He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.” 18John used many such warnings as he announced the Good News to the people. Luke 3:16-18
Observation
I’m really glad that Luke clarified John the Baptist was preaching “Good News to the people” because we need to understand that the Good News involves “such warnings”. An extreme example of this would be: “Here’s the Good News, if you pull this red tab when you jump from the plane you will land safely on the ground. The warning I must give you is that if you don’t pull the red tab you will be broken into a million little pieces when you hit the ground. Either way the ground is coming at you fast and it’s up to you how you want to meet it.” This may seem obvious, but far too often the Good News of the 21st Century does not include the important warning. We must make it clear that whether you believe in the power of the red tab or not all of us will make a choice on how we will respond to it. Now, not being from an agrarian society I had no idea that the winnowing fork example John used would have a similar effect on his audience as the parachute example I used. Whether they liked it or not, Jesus was coming to do some sifting. Chaff is the loose, outer covering on wheat that must be separated in the threshing and winnowing process of harvesting grain. Jesus is described with, ironically what looked like a pitchfork, tossing the grain in the air to let the chaff blow away and be burned as fuel leaving only the pure and desired grain behind to be cared for in His barn. It turns out the Devil isn’t the one running around with a pitchfork looking evil. No, he’s just trying to convince people they aren’t evil and that there’s no such thing as hell and that Jesus is just too nice a guy to actually judge anyone. The question every person should be asking is which pile will I end up in? The chaff or the wheat? It will all be determined by whether or not we repent of our sins or we repeat our sins.
Application
It turns out Hell is a real place and is a real part of telling others about the Good News. We have had a such pendulum swing from the “hell-fire and brimstone preaching” of old to the “Jesus is your best friend” preaching of late that we pretty much skip right over these passages of Scripture. Believe me, I get it. There are some whacked out preachers that enjoy scaring people into Heaven by dangling them over Hell. Yet, I can’t skip over the warning of Hell taught in scripture or I’m not truly presenting the Good News. Francis Chan writes in his book, “Erasing Hell”, “In my desire to distance myself from sadistic Christians who revel in the idea of wrath and punishment, I may have crossed a line. Refusing to teach a passage of Scripture is just as wrong as abusing it. I really believe it's time for some of us to stop apologizing for God and start apologizing to Him for being embarrassed by the ways He has chosen to reveal Himself.” Chan goes on to write, “It's incredibly arrogant to pick and choose which incomprehensible truths we embrace. No one wants to ditch God's plan of redemption, even though it doesn't make sense to us. Neither should we erase God's revealed plan of punishment because it doesn't sit well with us. As soon as we do this, we are putting God's actions in submission to our own reasoning, which is a ridiculous thing for the clay to do.” Luke writes later in his Gospel that Jesus says, Therefore, “be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man” (Lk. 21:36). Jesus came the first time to save, but He’s coming the second time to judge the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. As it says in John 16:8-11, let’s allow the conviction of the Holy Spirit to sift and refine us through repentance now, so that when Jesus returns, we are gathered into His barn rather than burning in the “never-ending fire” John the Baptist describes. The Good News about Hell is that we don’t have to go there. That’s why Jesus came, died, and rose again! That’s why He sent the Holy Spirit lead us in His ways.
Prayer
I’m pulling the red tab on my parachute. I’m seeking to live a life that is quick to repent. I don’t want to wait for the sifting at the end of the age, I want to invite the sifting process of repentance now. I’ll start by repenting for “playing it safe” when it comes to presenting the whole Gospel. By pretending the flames of Hell aren’t as hot as they once were I’m not doing anyone any good. I’ve just finished reading Revelation and the Hell described there is not a place I want anyone to end up in. Thank You Jesus that I don’t have to share old news or bad news, but Good News that You have came to bring salvation to all who will repent and believe. Holy Spirit, I invite Your work of conviction in sin, righteousness and judgement so that I will be ready for Christ’s return!
Comments