An ax is laid to the root of the trees

There is recorded in the New Testament, the story of a remarkable preacher called John the Baptist, who was without doubt, one of the strangest and most peculiar preachers in the Bible and in all church history. Yet, one of the most powerful.

John was strange in the way he lived, strange in the way he dressed and strange in what he ate. You can read his biography in St. Matthew's Gospel chapter 3. More than his personal oddity was his shocking preaching style, especially strange to those accustomed to the silky, inoffensive and politically correct language of modern society. John spoke of God's wrath with obvious reference to God's judgment and eternal punishment on those who, though professing to be religious, devout and morally superior, in truth lived no better than others.

We are hard pressed to remember the last time we heard a Gospel sermon on judgment and the threat of a literal hell in the style of the great Jonathan Edward's sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God."

According to the Bible, such a threat looms especially over professors of religious faith who show no evidence of a transformed life. This is a dangerous theme for preachers who would rather ignore preaching the coming judgment than risk losing a body in the pew.

There are other things about the preaching of John the Baptist even more astonishing. For example, in John's welcoming remarks to the very religious Pharisees who came out of the city to hear him, he said in Matthew 3:7, "Brood of viper! (You snakes in the grass) Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"

What an insulting way to connect to a new congregation and introduce a sermon. Yet, it was effective. Great crowds followed John and many turned from their sin and hypocrisy to serve God in sincerity and truth. A phrase by John in verse 10 is especially striking: "And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

The only certain way to permanently remove a tree is to chop out the roots " not just trim off the branches. A tree stump with the roots intact will simply grow new branches. It is hard to miss the point. You can't cut down the ancient tree of human sin and selfish ambition with a butter knife. Christian faith requires a narrow and passionate intent to fully imitate Christ. The message of the Christian church has been greatly diluted in modern days. Oftentimes, the impression we leave is the Gospel merely requires adding religious activities to our ordinary routine and then we can enjoy our sins with heaven thrown in. The result of such false impressions is shallow professing Christians who are no morally different than the nonreligious.

Another preacher in the Bible named John wrote these words, "If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world " the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life " is not of the Father but is of the world." (1 John 2:15-16)

n Pastor Gene Holman of Living Word Fellowship is a member of the Carson Valley Ministers' Association.