Two verses jumped out at me today in my morning devotions:
Matt 3:8 & 10 (in reference to the Pharisees & Sadducees) Produce fruit in keeping with repentance…The 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.

Col 2:23 Such regulations (vv20-22) indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

John the Baptizer and Paul are saying essentially the same thing here. Our religosity (heritage, traditions, community status) is totally useless in our pursuit of righteous living. Living righteously (which is best descibed as "us being in right-relationship to God") is manifested in a life of fruit-bearing. A fruit tree that produces rotten fruit (or no fruit at all) is failing at its created purpose regardless of how much the orchard-owner hails it as the best fruit-tree around. The proof is in the pudding. Taste and see! The righteousness is visible. (Now, this needs to be balanced however by texts calling for a secret righteousness like Matt 6:2-4 "So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.") Bear fruit! And as Paul puts it excellently, this fruit-bearing is a life of restraint from sensual indulgence. I need to evaluate my "religious acts" against these texts. Are my rituals and rules and titles causing me to bear fruit or to wither? As an Anglican I need to hear this particularly. I need to honestly ask if such-and-such bears fruit, or if it is just an exercise in going through the motions. Bear fruit!