(John 1:22)
�Then said they unto him, Who art thou? That we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?�
In the last several verses we have seen the John the Baptist was humble in his answers to the questions of those sent by the Jewish leaders. They were, of course, curious about just who this person was which was drawing such large crowds. The common people considered John to be a prophet of God. These leaders wanted to see just what was the truth about him.
John had already said that he was not the Messiah. He was not a special prophet. He was merely a man who had received a commission from God and was, as a good Christian soldier, being obedient to that order of his Superior.
Would that more of us today would be obedient to our charge. We have been given the Great Commission. We have our marching orders clearly spelled out in Scripture. Yet, we still tend to sit back and watch the world go by in their sins. We can�t be bothered. After all, it might be embarrassing. May each of us Christians remember that we owe our eternal life in Christ to, in the natural, someone who was not too embarrassed to share that old story of sin and salvation with us.
These were persistent questioners. They wanted more information from John than he had given them. John was the object of the questioners. �Then said they unto him...�
Notice that they directed their words to John. It is always good when we want to find out who someone is, that we go to the source. When we hear that there is a great new singer, for instance, we want to hear that artist for ourselves. We want to see if the �product� is as good as the �hype.�
Sometimes our trip to the concert is a happy chance to enjoy a new talent. Sometimes our trip to the concert becomes a trying time of sitting through an excruciating performance that we can barely endure. In the former case we are appreciative of our friends for �cluing us in� on such an enjoyable experience. In the latter case we wonder just what our friend, who had recommended this performance, had in the way of musical taste.
When we recommend our Savior to someone we can be secure in the knowledge that He never fails to enrich the life of those with whom He come in contact. Jesus is even more, and greater than any words we might use to explain Him. He is the Constant Contemporary. He is the Constant Friend. He is the Constant Enricher. He is a constant source of joy, peace, love, contentment - and more! - to all those that take time to invite Him into their lives.
Beyond this, He is the very eternal salvation of their souls!
Notice, also, that these questioners also dedicated their time to John.
It is always a good thing to dedicate our time to our Savior.
I�m looking at these questioners, right now, as they peppered John with their questions. I�m comparing them to the Christian. We ought to be as earnest with the Lord as they were with John. Actually, we are in a better position than were they. These questioners were simply seeking answers for someone else. We are, at least should be, seeking leading from God.
Do you know that God doesn�t get upset when we return to Him again to seek to clarify the guidance He has given us? He delights in the thought that we would be so interested in His leading, and His purposes, that we would seek to be certain that we were in His holy will!
We ought to be at least as earnest in our seeking of His will and leading as were these carnal men in their interrogation of John the Baptist!
Mark, also, that these questioners dominated the time of John the Baptist. They constantly sought to clarify his answers to their questions.
Once again, this should be our attitude toward the Lord. Many people look at the Christian and think, �Check your mind at the door and enter the church.� This is not the way which God has instructed us to be. II Timothy 2:15 instructs us to, �Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.�
This verse is as much a law of the Bible as is �Thou shalt not kill.� This verse is God speaking to mankind the will of God for man to follow.
Study was a good idea when we were in school if we were to learn the course work so that we could take a test. Study is an imperative when we consider the spiritual realities as we prepare to live this physical life and prepare for the eternal life to follow.
One thing to keep in mind, however, as we study the Bible. We are to consider the truth of the spiritual realities of the eternal states. God is not of this natural world. His Word proceeds from Him so it, too, is not of time. This is one of the reasons why the Scripture has been preserved through this present time of history. The Scripture is above the constraints of history because it is of the spiritual.
As the natural scientist looks at the world he discounts the spiritual. He figures, rightly from his standpoint, that if he cannot see a thing it does not exist. The wrongness comes in when it is considered that, because of the above mind set, the natural scientist is only looking at part of the record. He is not considering the fact that God has acted in, and upon, and in the creation of, the natural forces which man is able to observe with his five senses.
When we realize that God was the Creator of those five senses, and the very physical laws which they observe, we realize that God is above those senses and laws. Those laws and senses are His objects to handle, change, delete and add, as He so chooses.
I moved a paragraph above because it was not where I wanted it to be. I have changed word order, word placement, upper and lower cases, spelling (with the spell check button!) at my whim and choice. I can do that. I am the one sitting at this word processor. You might not be able to see all the changes I have made. That does not mean that I did not make those changes. It just means that they were made outside of your observable limits as you look at this page.
So, often, has God made changes, insertions, other things we call �miracle,� which He calls His sovereign will, in the history of the world. Just because man is not always able to observe these facts does not negate the truth that they have happened. It simply means that God has moved upon a level which is not available to mankind to observe.
We study from an attitude of faith when we study with the realization that the spiritual realm is not always understandable to our physical observations. We study with a faith that God has said what He has said, and He has said Truth!
There is an old saying: �God said it. I believe it. That settles it.� Well, that old saying is wrong. If God said it, it is true whether we believe it or not! The fact that He said it settles it! How foolish it is of us to not accept the revealed, and preserved Word of God!
Look, also, at the objection of the questioners. �...Who art thou? That we may give an answer to them that sent us...�
These questioners were having a hard time. They just didn�t know who John was.
The multitudes had understood John to be a prophet. He had said that he was not a prophet. The questioners considered that John might lay claim to being the Messiah. John denied that he was the Messiah of prophecy. The questioners, seeing that John had come from outside their perceived religious tradition, considered that John might be a charlatan. Still, his teaching had the ring of truth - and the backing of Him Who is Truth, about it.
I am reminded of the old movie, �Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.� Butch and Sundance were a couple of outlaws from the old West. They had robbed trains and always got away. Then a group came after them which did not end the chase. These pursuers kept on pursuing! At one point Butch asked Sundance (or the other way around), �Who are these guys?�
Just who was John? And, who was the One of which he spoke?
The world does not understand our Lord. The world does not understand our devotion to our Lord. The world can not understand because they have not experienced the glory of His Person.
It is our happy task to present the Lord to the world at large that they might understand. We have the commission of God to do so. We have the support of the Holy Spirit to do so. We need only the personal willingness to follow the clear command of our Lord to do so!
That is how the world can find out Who He is.
Look again at the questioners and you will see that they did not understand just what John was. They considered prophet. They considered Messiah. They even considered the reconstitution of an Old Testament prophet, Elijah. But, they did not consider that John was one who came with the same mission as did Elijah; he came to point others to the coming Messiah.
The world has also looked at the Person of Jesus and not understood just Who He is. They have considered Him to be a great teacher. Some have considered Him to be a religious reformer. Many have even considered Him to be a deluded egomaniac. A few have considered Him to be simply a fable.
They are all wrong.
If Jesus were a great teacher He has failed in His mission. The world, even the religious world, has rarely followed the intent of His teaching. Physical wars have been fought in the Name of the Prince of Peace. Few have followed His leading to accept Him as the Way to eternal life.
If Jesus were a religious reformer, He is only one of many. How many religious reformers have there been in history? Large and small movements have come and gone which have attempted to return, they say, the churches to the leading of Jesus. Pseudo prophet and religious seer have attempted to restore what they allege the churches have lost. These have all overlooked the fact that Jesus, Himself, said that even the gates of hell would not be able to prevail against the church He founded. (see Matthew 16:18)
There is not a large need to �restore� the church which Jesus founded. There is a large need to acknowledge Him as the Head of that church and act accordingly!
Neither was Jesus either deluded or a fable. History tells us that the faith of Christianity rose in the latter half of the first century in the land of Palestine among a people who believed that Jesus had risen from the dead. People died because they preached this fact. Other people were offended by the teaching. Those who were dying could have just said, �April Fools. I was only kidding,� and they would have lived. A martyr and a con man are not cut of the same cloth.
Conversely, those who were offended by the message would have only needed to produce the body and the movement would have died.
The fact is that Jesus is Who He said He was. �...I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.� (John 14:6) Jesus is not a religious leader to show us they way to Heaven. He is the Way, Himself. Salvation comes by Him. There is no other way to peace with God.
The questioners had problems because they didn�t consider just what was the message of John.
John�s message was simple. Repent. Live as you should. Follow the coming Messiah.
That is the same message we have in this day. Repent. The word �repent� means to turn and walk in another direction. A person needs to cease following the way of Satan and to begin following the way in which God would have one to walk.
When we honestly follow the ways of God we will be living as God had created us to live. We were created to have fellowship with God. We were created to walk in holiness before him.
But, we can�t do this on our own.
When we were in transport from one place to another while I was stationed in Viet Nam, we normally either walked or rode on a helicopter. The helicopter was an interesting ride. For some reason (In order to make it easier to get in and out in a hurry!), they had taken the doors off most of them. This made the flight a little more interesting than one might have chosen.
What do you suppose would happen to someone who got out of helicopter that was several hundred feet off the ground? Right! They would fall to their deaths. The same thing happens to the person who tries to live righteously on their own. Gravity pulls one down from the safety of the helicopter. The sin nature within pulls one down from the lofty goal of trying to live a holy life.
In the natural, we need something like the helicopter. In the spiritual we need Jesus Christ. A jailer once asked Paul, the apostle, �...what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved...� (Acts 16:30-31)
That�s not a hard message to understand. I think that is why it is so hard to accept. We want to do something. We search out a church creed. We try to perform religious acts. We try to follow the rules. But, all of these deny us the possibility of truly trusting the Lord. If we believe that we can do �it,� then we do not believe that He has already done it!
Salvation, true salvation, comes by a belief and trust that Jesus Christ died in time so that we might live in eternity.
Consider the message of John. Follow the leading of the Messiah. Only in this is there true repentance and true holy living. All else is a rejection of the mandate of God.
Observe, also, the order of the questioners. �What sayest thou of thyself?�
They wanted to hear exactly what John considered himself, and his message, to be.
These questioners wanted to understand the audience of John. Why were they drawn to his preaching?
Have you ever had anyone ask why you go to church? Well, why do you go to church?
I pastored a church once where we had a local businessman begin to attend services. He became quite regular in attendance. Then, he just stopped coming. I wondered why had been done to offend him. I didn�t know why he no longer came to our church. Then one of our regular members said, �He was just coming to build up his gas station�s business. Now he�s working on another crowd.� That�s why some people come to church; it�s a good business move.
Others come because of the people. They just find people they like and come to be with them. Now, that is a good reason. I have found that a real Christian is never really a stranger when he moves to another location and begins to attend a real Bible church. We really are family.
But, the groups we form, and the friendships, should never be our primary reason for attending one of God�s churches.
Some people come to church so that they can feel superior to others. They really do. They hold the attitude of a Pharisee that they are �not sinners like other men.� That is possibly true. They are sinning in another manner!
I have seen some people attend church so that they can �show off� their theological learning. It is a chance for them to shine in the eyes of their friends and neighbors. Can anyone say the word, �Pride?� This is never a proper thing to do. We need spiritual humility. When we begin to value ourselves too highly, we tend to value Christ to lowly!
The purpose of attending church is that we might draw closer to Christ. We need to learn more of Christ; the preaching service is a tool which God uses to assist us in this endeavor. We need, also, to hold our own excesses in check. We tend to go off into prideful flights of theological fancy when we fail to put ourselves under subjection as part of a united body of believers.
We also go to church to help build others up in the faith. They tend to draw strength from us even as we draw strength from them.
But, the primary reason we need to attend church is obedience to Christ. We can not claim to be followers of Christ and refuse to take an active part in the very institution He established.
I also have a sneaking suspicion that these questioners wanted to replicate the ability of John the Baptist. They wanted a fawning crowd for their services as well.
Charles Simpson, a noted Charismatic teacher, told a story about praying for revival in one of his churches. He said that he prayed for revival because the city needed a revival. He also said the Lord impressed upon him whether it would be all right to send the revival to the church down the street, instead of his, since the town needed the revival.
I have been told that the average preacher will inflate the average attendance of his church by about 10% when he talks to others. He will rationalize that there would be that many people in attendance if everyone came to every service. Now, I don�t know if that is true - among other churches than those I�ve preached in, at least!
There is a professional pride among preachers. Shouldn�t be. But, we are human. Well, most of us! This should not be so. We, each of us who takes it upon ourselves to step into God�s pulpit, are simply foot soldiers serving in His Army. We are just the one who occupies the duty station at any particular time.
To get a true picture of our own importance is very simple. Take a simple building brick out into the back yard. Hold it out at about shoulder height. Now, let go of it. If you really are important the brick will stay where you put it. The only way to keep it at shoulder height is to lay it upon another structure or let someone else hold onto it. That is our true importance. We occupy a space until God says it is time to move on. Then God will move His next choice into the spot we filled.
We are not indispensable. But, God is!
I think that these questioners were also interested in finding the authority of John the Baptist.
What was it that was different about John the Baptist? That was a question that begged an answer.
The difference is Jesus Christ. We who are Christians have accepted Him as our Savior. We are not better than anyone else. Often we are worse! We are not smarter, stronger, taller, faster, better looking... We are simply the redeemed of the Lord because we have accepted Him as Savior. It is not our righteousness; it is His salvation.
What about you? Have you accepted Jesus as your own Savior? Why not do so right now? Jesus honestly is �tenderly calling� for you to accept Him. He loves you so much that He went to the cross with you in mind. Honest. That is why He is speaking to you right now. Just answer and accept Him.
Do it today!