John 1:6f
Every once in a
while someone sends me a story they’ve found on the Internet. Now, careful researchers will tell you that
you have to be, well, careful about what you find online; some of what’s there
just isn’t true. With that in mind, I’m
sharing the following story I was sent.
I don’t know if it’s true but it makes a point.
It seems that at
an unnamed American university there was a professor who was an atheist. Now, I can tell you that not all professors
are atheists bur it such stories they often are. Anyway, this professor delighted in
challenging the faith of his young students.
On the first day
of the new semester the professor stood before a class of freshmen and said, “I
don’t believe in God. I know some of you
do, so I propose a little test.”
With that he
stepped up on a wooden chair and declared, “If there is a God, let him knock me
off this chair in the next ten minutes.”
As the minutes
ticked away the professor repeated his challenge.
Most of the
students, only recently out of high school, squirmed uncomfortably in their
seats, especially those who were believers.
But there was a student who was older than all the rest. He was an ex-marine who had been in some
tough spots on the battlefield and felt he was there in that class only by
God’s grace.
When the professor
announced there was only one minute left the ex-marine stepped forward and
kicked the chair out from under the professor.
The professor went sprawling onto the floor. Looking up, he shouted, “What’s the meaning
of this?”
The ex-marine
answered, “God was busy, he sent me.”
Whatever you may
think of that story it does remind us of an important point: God almost always uses human agencies in
carrying out his work, especially when that work involves our salvation.
John—the Gospel
Writer—follows his profound introductory words with the simple statement,
“There was a man sent from God whose name was John.” Of course he was speaking of John the
Baptist.
Luke takes great
pains to tell us the Baptizer’s history.
He was born into a priestly family, his mother was named Elizabeth and
his father was Zacharias. Luke, who was
probably a physician, tells us that John’s birth was miraculous because
Elizabeth was well past childbearing years.
He also tells us that Elizabeth and Mary, the mother of Jesus, were
related. Consequently, John, who was
about three months older, was also related to Jesus. Although the term doesn’t mean quite what we
mean, Jewish people would have said they were cousins.
But John the
Gospel Writer doesn’t tell us that. He
sums up the matter by saying, John “was sent from God.”
We actually know less about John’s life before
the beginning of his ministry than we do about that of Jesus. After telling us about the circumstance surrounding
his birth Luke leaves us with this comment, “John grew up and became strong in
spirit. Then he lived out in the wilderness until he began his public ministry
to Israel.” (Luke 1:80)
Some have
suggested John lived with the desert sect called the Essenes but not even that
is certain; if he did, his message and ministry was ultimately different than
theirs. What is certain is that when he did appear on the scene he did so with
a clear sense of purpose.
He had a mission,
a mission that was of singular importance--"He came as a witness, to
testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him."
It was a
life-consuming mission. One of the most
popular religious books this past year has been Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life. John lived such a life; he came to testify to
the Light so all might believe. He
carried out that mission with such faithfulness that to this day he is known as
Christ’s forerunner. John had the
privilege of actually ushering Jesus Christ onto the stage of world history.
The significance
of that act is found in verse 9: “The true light that gives light to everyone
was coming into the world.” What is
meant by lighting every person? The
Light Christ brought was not intended for only one people, only one culture,
only one place; this is biblical universalism.
Christ came for all; all need him.
John’s work would be to say, “The Light is coming—soon, very soon.”
Naturally, John
attracted attention. His costume and
diet were austere. Elsewhere were told, “This very John had his clothing made of
camel's hair, and wore a leather belt around his waist; his food was dried
locusts and wild honey.” [The
thought of eating an insect that looks like a grasshopper on steroids may be
repulsive but locusts were on the kosher diet list for Jews.]
His message was cutting and sometimes
shocking.
He called everyone
to repent and be baptized—everyone, even the Jews. That was shocking because baptism was the
means by which Gentiles entered the Jewish religion; Jews might undergo ritual
washing but not baptism. Calling his own
people to baptism was, in effect, saying, “You’ve got to see yourselves in a
whole new way. Whatever you may have
clung to before as a basis for receiving salvation is of no consequence.”
He graciously
accepted as sincere the penitent Roman soldiers who came to him, simply telling
them to prove their sincerity by changing their behavior toward the week and
oppressed.
Yet, when
religious leaders came requesting baptism—apparently without that same
sincerity—he said to them, “You sons of snakes, who warned you to flee the
wrath to come?”
No wonder he
inspired both curiosity and confusion.
Apparently, some
even began to ask if he might be the great prophet Elijah, returned to earth to
call the people to get ready for the coming of the Messiah. Some people took literally a prophecy found
in Malachi about Elijah’s return. Others
wondered if John might be the Prophet—the one Moses predicted would come. And, some even dared to suggest he might be
the Messiah. How did John respond to all
this speculation? Listen.
19. Now this is the testimony which John gave
when the Jews sent priests and Levites to him from Jerusalem, to ask him,
"Who are you?"
20. He
frankly admitted, and did not try at all to deny it; yes, he frankly admitted,
"I am not the Christ."
21. So
they asked him again, "What are you then?
Elijah?" And he answered,
"Of course, I am not."
"Are you the prophet?"
He answered, "No."
When pressed he
did offer an answer, one drawn from imagery found in the writings of the great
prophet Isaiah.
Then they [envoys
from Jewish leaders in Jerusalem] said to him, "Who are you? Tell us, so that we can have an answer to
give to those who sent us. What have you
to say for yourself?"
23. He
said, "I am a voice of one shouting in the desert, `Make the road straight
for the Lord,' as the prophet Isaiah said."
John was saying,
“My whole ministry is to point beyond myself, to draw attention to
Another.” What did John say about this
one who would soon follow him? He said
that he was unworthy to untie his sandals.
Untying a person’s sandals was the job of a slave. John was saying, “I’m not even worthy to be
this man’s slave.”
When asked
to justify his baptizing so many people, John essentially said, “You think this
is something? Just wait.” John
seems to suggest that the envoys were missing the point. He stops answering them directly and turns
the focus of the dialogue. More
important than what he was doing was the fact that there was already One whom
the Pharisees did not know, One who was far more important than John. He would soon be coming.
Just how would he
come? Maybe John wasn’t even sure. He probably never expected it to happen the
way it happened.
One day Jesus
simply showed up to be baptized. From
the accounts in the other Gospels we know that John resisted at first, feeling
unworthy to baptize the one he recognized as his spiritual superior. Only after Jesus assured him of the propriety
of the action did John comply. John the Gospel Writer doesn’t tell us about
that sacred moment; instead, he lets us see the spiritual impact of the event
on John the Baptist. John becomes even
more convinced that Jesus is the one who will carryout God’s plan.
He is so convinced
that he urges two of his own followers to consider Jesus.
I want to pause in
this review of the Baptizer’s career to ask a question: Why did John the Gospel Writer include this
story of John the Baptist? I think the
answer has two parts, one concerns the Apostle John’s immediate situation and
the other concerns his long-term purpose.
à To begin with, John the Gospel Writer may
have been answering some of John the Baptist’s faithful followers who were
feeling that they were being disloyal to consider the claims the Christian
preachers were making about Jesus. John
the Gospel Writer treats John the Baptist with utmost respect. He identifies him as being sent from God, a
man with a powerful ministry. But he
adds that John the Baptist always looked beyond himself, pointed to a Greater
One who would come. Even John the
Baptist knew that One was Jesus of Nazareth.
à
John the Gospel Writer’s other purpose in mentioning John the Baptist may have
involved the Baptist as a model for those who are on mission from God to call
others to believe in Jesus. For the
remainder of this message I want to focus on some ways he’s a model for us in
this way.
If
you’re on mission from God to call others to believe in Jesus, be careful you
don’t fall into the trap of self-promotion.
We’ve already seen
how John refused to allow the slightest confusion about his identity. Years later the Apostle Paul would write that
those who had been transformed by Christ should not think more highly of
themselves than they ought to think.
John tried hard to keep others from thinking more highly of him than
they ought to think.
John’s refusal to
be caught up in self-promotion is seen in another way. Apparently Andrew and John were not with the
Baptist when he made his startling announcement about Jesus being the Lamb of
God. So, when Jesus again passed by,
John repeated his testimony—“Look, the Lamb of God.” This time John (the future Gospel writer) and
Andrew heard.
John must have
known what would happen. His disciples
began to follow Jesus. His words seem to
have had the effect of relinquishing his claim on his disciples so they would
be free to follow Jesus. There were many
teachers in that day, each with his own band of followers. They tended to hold onto those followers with
great tenacity, their success was judged by the number of disciples who flocked
to hear them. Sometimes teachers became
jealous of the success of another teacher.
Paul would be the object of such jealousy. Yet, John practically sends his disciples
away. Obviously he had other disciples
but these two were among the most memorable and may have been the most
promising.
The next time we
encounter John in the Gospel is in chapter three. Jesus is becoming better known and he is
attracting more and more followers. The
Gospel reports a conversation John had with his followers about this
phenomenon. It begins as a theological
discussion.
23. John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim,
because there was much water there; and people were coming and were being
baptized--24. for John had not yet been
thrown into prison.
25.
Therefore there arose a discussion on the part of John's disciples with
a Jew about purification.
26. And
they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the
Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, He is baptizing and all are coming
to Him."
27.
John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing unless it has
been given him from heaven.
28.
"You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, 'I am not the
Christ,' but, 'I have been sent ahead of Him.'
29.
"He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the
bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the
bridegroom's voice. So this joy of mine has been made full.
30.
"He must increase, but I must decrease.”
In an age such as
ours those words must sound especially remarkable. The International Standard Version gets at
what John is saying, “He must become more important, but I must become less
important."
Can you imagine
how John would react if he could surf through some of the religious programming
available today? What would he say as
evangelists and pastors were greeted with thunderous applause as they stood in
the spotlight on stage or as they were whisked away to luxury hotels in stretch
limos?
You and I may not
face those dangers, but we can still get caught in the trap of
self-promotion. We can promote our
church, our denomination instead of Christ.
We can undercut the witness of another Christian because she is not from
our group.
Like John, we need
to put Christ first.
If
you’re on mission from God to call others to believe in Jesus, you have to make
sure people know who Jesus is and what he has done for us.
As I reviewed this
passage I discovered that John the Baptist had an amazingly succinct, yet comprehensive,
understanding of who Jesus was and what he would do in the world.
1. He declared Jesus to be “the Lamb of
God.”
We may not know
all that John had in mind when he used that term but what seems clear is that
Jesus would somehow deal with the problem of sin. The use of the word “lamb” probably hints at
a coming sacrifice; again, John may not
have understood all that Jesus would do but he wanted to clearly state that
Jesus had come to deal with the world’s greatest problem.
In our day it’s hard
to convince some people they have a sin problem. But once we do convince them, we had better
be prepared to point them to Jesus as the answer.
2. He declared Jesus to be the chosen one to
carry out God’s purpose.
John doesn’t
explain all of how he knows this but it’s clear he does. Jesus had a purpose, he accomplished that
purpose. He could accomplish this
because he was God himself.
When we tell
others about Jesus we may have to make it clear he was not just another
religious teachers who said a lot of lovely things. We will have to make it clear that he was
truly unique, singular. He was the Son
of God.
3. He declared Jesus to be the one who would
bestow the Holy Spirit.
John the Baptist’s
Jewish audience would have known that the Messiah was expected to usher in the
age of the Spirit. John says that the
Christ would give the Spirit.
Part of calling
others to believe in Jesus is assuring them that Christ will be present in
their lives to do his transforming work.
He does this work through his Spirit.
If
you’re on mission from God to call others to believe in Jesus, you should
expect to see people radically transformed.
When John the
Baptist called on people to repent he called them to a new way of living. Baptism was crossing the threshold into a new
life. He expected new attitudes and new
behavior. There would be a reordering of
their lives.
Sometimes it seems
we’ve stopped expecting lives to be transformed by people coming to
Christ. Even worse, we not only don’t
expect people to change, we pessimistically suggest that some people can’t
change. We need a new vision of what
Jesus can do.
Conclusion
As far as we know,
John the Baptist performed no miracles.
As far as we know,
John the Baptist wrote no books. Oh,
some suggest he may have actually written the Revelation before it was edited
by Christians but the only scholars who take such claims seriously are the
handful of scholars who make such claims.
John never did any
of those things yet Jesus said of him, “John was a lamp that burned
and gave light…”
John’s task was tougher than ours. Still, we are called to give light by calling
others to believe in Jesus. Will we do
the task as well?
