Religious Not Welcome

Who would think it?  The religious not welcome at a revival! That is the very thing we find in Matthew 3.  When the Pharisees and Sadducees make their first appearance in Matthew's Gospel, we see the sneers on their faces.  We hear the boos from the crowds gathered there to see John.  We know the Gospels and we know how the story ends.  We know that these religious leaders are not the good guys.  But those who witnessed these religious leaders come to John did not know the end of the story. They most certainly did not see the religious leaders as bad men.  Sure the Sadducee's were the party of power and privilege.  They associated with the upper classes and had a liberal religion that didn't often win the favor of the crowds.  But to say they were bad men might be strong.  And the Pharisees, they were beloved.  Men who were the very ideal of holiness to their generation.  Yet, John tells them to repent and calls them a brood of vipers.  How can this be?  The answer was simple.  They relied on their genealogical status to make them right with God.  They thought biological descent was the key to their salvation.  But John tells them to look at their deeds.  He says produce fruit if you want to know you are God's children.  And maybe the religious need the same lesson today.  Maybe we need to know our assurance is not about having a branch on the evangelical family tree.  Maybe we need to know that our assurance is about the fruit of our faith, the obedience that shows in our lives.