John 1:7
�The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe� (John 1:7)
The text verse this week continues speaking of the same person as did the preceding verse. Whereas the former verse identified the person of John the Baptist, this verse describes the purpose of John in the scheme of God.
John was to be a witness of just Who the Word, Jesus Christ, was.
John, in other places, is described as a forerunner of Christ. He went before Jesus and prepared the people to accept the Message that Jesus would preach. The interesting thing about John, in all this - being a witness and a forerunner, is that he represents the duties of the members of the churches of the church age.
The first thing we notice, in this verse, about John the Baptist is that he came to be a witness.
This is also the reason for the Christian to be on this earth.
It would have been possible for God to translate the believer directly to heaven, had that been His purpose, at the point of salvation. After all, this had been done in the Old Testament times to both Enoch and Elijah. It is good for us that this did not happen. If it had, who would have shared the Gospel Message with us. We would have languished in our sins! The fact that this did not happen would suggest that God has a purpose for the Christian upon this earth.
This also shows the love which He has for the sinner. He maintained a witness to His love on this earth that others might be saved.
Luke 24:48, gives us these words of Jesus: �And ye are witnesses of these things.� These words followed the testimony of Jesus about His death, resurrection, and saving power. That these words were not given just to the twelve is evident by the incident concerning Stephen. (see Acts, chapter seven) Note that the martyrdom of Stephen occurred after his witness, with background documentation from the Scripture, to these very things.
The witness of the Power and Person of Christ is something that is incumbent upon all who call themselves �Christian.�
It should be noted, also, that the term �Christian� was first applied (Acts 11:26) to a group of believers who had been taught the things of God for a year. We are entitled to the moniker of �Christian� only because of the Word, and the Sacrifice, of Jesus Christ.
Notice, also, that these Christians had been involved in the work and witness, and the training in doctrine!, of a local church body. I can find no place in the New Testament where the Christian is commanded to wall himself up in cubical away from fellowship with other Christians.
The one who feels that he is the only person on the entire earth who has found the correct way, who feels that he is so pure in his own doctrinal stance, is, himself, not following the Biblical standard of conduct. The New Testament teaches the concept of uniting with a local body of baptized believers in a covenant relationship as a local church body.
To any who might view a �net church� as a good substitute for the fellowship of a local body of believers, this sort of endeavor can only be a supplement to the work of a local church. This can never be a substitute. It isn�t just that the early Christians did not have access to the internet in the first century. It is that God wants that fellowship of believers, together, so that they may both strengthen in the faith, and to serve as a brake on unBiblical doctrinal flights of fancy.
The term Christian is not a �brand name� of a certain religious sect. The term, properly applied, belongs only to them who have experienced salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. We are Christians only because of the salvation which was purchased for us by Jesus Christ. It is not an assumed title; it is an awarded condition. Jesus awards to us the right to call ourselves �Christian� only when we accept Him as our Savior.
It reminds me of a time when Linda and I were in a bus terminal shortly after my return from military duty in Viet Nam. I had my �class A�s� on with the medals which I had been awarded. Except for my Combat Infantry Badge they were all of the �I was there and didn�t do anything real bad,� type. There was no real honor, in my mind at least, ascribed to them. All of these type medals were of multicolored stripes.
Then Linda saw one soldier that had a solid color medal. It did look impressive. Linda said, �Why didn�t you try to get one like that.� I told her, �No. I�m really glad I didn�t get that one. I have all the respect in the world for the man who has it. But, that�s a purple heart. I am rather happy that I came home without one.� The purple heart is reserved for those who have been wounded by the enemy in the line of duty.
Some of the medals were simply awarded. Mine. Some of them came earned at great cost. That other soldier�s.
The name �Christian� may be applied only at great cost. But, the glorious thing is that the entire cost was borne by Jesus Christ. He did all the work. He awards us the right to assume that name when we accept Him in salvation.
The simple meaning of the word �Christian�is, �One who is a follower of Christ.�
One cannot follow Christ if that person has not received the new birth of salvation. That is the foundation.
I remember when I was very young (this was a long time ago!) I watched my father build our new house. The first thing he did was to dig a big hole in the ground. I couldn�t understand why he did this.
Years later Linda and I were living in a home. I understood that there was a little path to a little house in the back yard some years before. The people who had owned the home at that time then moved the �facilities� into the house.
The first couple of years we lived in this house, that room seemed to get leaks in the ceiling all too often. We tried patching the roof. We even re-roofed at one point. Then we discovered the problem. When the previous owner, all those years before, had added this room, he had not built a proper foundation. Without a proper foundation, the rest of the structure was unsteady.
Without the proper foundation of the new birth, there can be no true structure of Christianity in a persons life. It is like trying to install siding for a house without first building the house. Can�t be done!
Once, however, that new birth experience is entered into, the new Christian should begin to learn the teachings of Jesus. That is doctrine. Part of the purpose of the church is to teach the doctrines of the church. It is understood, of course, that these doctrinal stances be grounded in the Word of God.
There is even more to this idea of discipleship than simply sitting in a church service and learning as the pastor leads. The new Christian should also be in the Word. Reading the Scripture, and studying the Scripture, is the duty of each individual Christian.
As we begin to learn of Christ, we pay attention to our church services and follow up with personal devotional time.
The term �disciple� is the root for the word �discipline.� As we all know, a discipline can be a course of study. �His studies are in the discipline of geography.� Or, a discipline can be a strict adherence to a project. �He has disciplined his body to reject all impulses to quit when he runs a marathon.�
We should be disciples of Christ in both of these meanings.
Discipline means curbing our natural desires to look at our religious stands from our cultural backgrounds. Things are not right simply because the world around us says that they are right. Neither are those things wrong simply because the world around us says that they are wrong.
We must remember that ours is not a Christian culture. As a matter of fact, ours is an increasing antiChristian culture. The world, for instance, will tell us that all views are valid. It is wrong for us to consider the Way of Christ as the only way of salvation. But, the Bible very clearly says, �Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved.� (Acts 4:12) The world will tell us that this is a narrow and bigoted message.
The world is wrong. Remember, the culture of the world is not founded on the Message of the Bible. The culture, at large, is founded in humanistic reasoning. We cannot expect culture to give us guidance in faith.
Also, we cannot impose our value system into our faith system. That is a function of the Holy Ghost via the preserved Word of God.
I have used this illustration several times: I sat in a service where an evangelist spent much of his time trashing any musical form which was not opera. God could not bless the use of the gospel music of Ira Stanky, or the great hymns of Charles Wesley, according to this man, because they did not use the form of opera.
It turned out that this man�s wife was accomplished at opera. It was very easy to see that his �theology� was based upon his cultural circumstance rather than on the revealed Word of God.
This cultural leading is also an influence on our very view of Scripture. Scripture would present a picture of a Word that was preserved by God. Evolutionary culture would say that our Scriptural records have altered over time. Large schools of Biblical background, preachers, whole denominations and ministries have lain down at the alter of the culture of intelligencia, giving up trust in the very basis of our faith, rather than base their faith view on the Scriptural Message.
Being grounded in a faithful view of the Scripture, and accepting that Word as our rational and reason in life, will lead us to a new outlook and lifestyle which accepts the things of God rather than the pronouncements of boastful �authorities.� Brethren, the only Authority we have, along with the interpreting and illumining power of the Holy Spirit, is the preserved Word of God!
The text verse also gives us a view of the rhetoric which John used in his message to the people. John was used �...to bear witness of the Light...� The Light, of course, was the Person of Jesus Christ.
The purpose of our witness is to speak, and live, that which we know of Jesus Christ. We who have found salvation in Him have a duty to spread the simple Message that Jesus Christ died in time so that man might live in eternity.
This is the true Message of the evangel. And, I might note at this place, while we can not all be �evangelists,� we each should be evangels. The evangelist is one who goes from church to church teaching, and building up those churches, with his god-ordained assistance, in the faith. Each pastor, while tending to the flock at his particular assembly, is an evangelist in this sense.
But, the task of the evangel is to speak of the common salvation to his own private world of personal contact. Each person has a differing means of completing this God-ordained task. Some are called to personal work with individuals, some are called to use �friendship evangelism� to draw others to the Master, some are prayer warriors - although this is the task of each Christian, some are specially equipped to take part in this ministry. Some have been blessed materially and are called upon to provide for the work of the ministry. None of these is superior. None of these is simply the task of one part of the body. We are all called to take part in each of these missions. It is just that some of us have more gifting in a particular area. We work in all and allow God to use what He wishes in His work.
We have this idea that there is a laity and a clergy divide. There is, to some extent. Though the �clergy� are called upon to spend time in study and prayer to build up the body, they are not excluded from interacting with their own personal world. The �laity� are called upon to be a Christian influence in the world. This does not exclude them from the need to study and pray in the Word. Both are individually accountable to the Lord of the Harvest for their work in the fields. Neither is positionally above the other in the churches of the Lord.
We must also never forget the need to teach sound doctrine to those who have accepted Christ as Savior. Doctrinal teaching holds the members of the churches to a purity of faith which insures the purity of the evangelic message. Without sound doctrine we are all prone to move further from the relationship with Christ which is the core of our faith.
It might be interesting to note, also, that the word �bear,� could - in the English - also refer to �giving birth.� I don�t believe that it is a long stretch, or doing violence to the verse, to consider this as part of our mission. The message of John the Baptist was to prepare persons for an encounter with �Him who should come after.� A large part of our Christian life is to prepare others for this encounter with the Lord of Glory.
We are not called into the churches to sit in the pews in our �Sunday go to meetin� clothes.�
We are not called into the churches to simply feel superior to those who do not do so. We are called into the churches to prepare ourselves to go back out into the world of sin with the Message of the Evangel. Each of us has a task in this work.
A woman does not give birth every day - at least not the same woman. Neither does each Christian spend every single moment in seeing the salvation of souls. But, each Christian prepares himself so that God can call upon him to be a spiritual �mid-wife� in the birthing of those babes in Christ.
My grandson has recently learned to walk. That is part of the natural progression of a child. We should also see to it that these new reborn babes in Christ are shown the doctrinal meat of the Word which will allow them to grow into adult Christians and see the process begin again.
�To bear� could also be �to carry.� I think this was the real meaning of this verse in relation to the message of John the Baptist. He carried forth a message of the Christ who was to follow him onto the scene of history.
May we also be cognizant of the fact that we carry the Holy Spirit within our lives as we live those lives in the day-to-day world of the present history in which we live.
He, this Spirit, is in our lives for a purpose. Too often we forget His presence in our lives and forego the lifestyle to which we�ve been called. This is an affront to the Spirit and a sin against God.
�And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ�s sake hath forgiven you.� (Ephesians 4:30-32)
Somehow the above Scriptural admonition has not been heeded at all to many churches. We allow favoritism and fraternalism, church �politics� and church pettiness, cliques and clacks to destroy the fellowship of the body of Christ in the local churches. This is not of God. This is a detriment to the work of calling the lost to a saving knowledge of God.
The Spirit is within us to energize our witness of Christ. We are not able to win the lost by our own power; that is the Work of God. All of our strategies, plans, and even our knowledge of the Scripture is useless unless we realize that the Work is of God. We need to pray for His convicting power upon those to whom we witness.
We also need to pray for His convicting power upon our own lives so that we may confess and repent of the sin which impedes our being fit vessels of His Work.
The Holy Spirit of God will direct our lives into Godly lives if we will allow Him to influence our actions and attitudes.
While the message of the evangel must always be our burden, we must be fit vessels to promote that message. While it may be true that the parched person in the desert may overlook the condition of the container as long as it contains water, most people will not accept a message, no matter how soul parched, when the bearer of that message is filthy from the sins and attitudes of the carnal Christian.
John the Baptist had a message of the redemption that was in Christ. �...that all men through him might believe.�
That is also the purpose of the Message which God has committed unto us. We need to be often in prayer and the study of His Word that He might speak to us. But, we need to be often in prayer and the study of His Word that we might speak to others.
There is a Biblical principle stated in John 15:26 - 27. �But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: and ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.�
The primary thrust of this verse is a pre-authorization of the writings of the New Testament. But, what are those writings? They are the story and doctrine of Jesus Christ.
I believe that a secondary application of these verses applies to us of the body and churches of Jesus on this earth. We are to bear witness of the power of Jesus Christ to save our own souls. We are to tell others of this Grace.
But, notice that this Message is contingent upon having been with the Master. Are we saved to then forget the Work of Jesus? Of course not. Are we saved that we have no further need to fellowship with Him? No! Of course not!
We should, of course, be in His house for worship service so that we can build up others, and be built up by them, in the faith. But we also should be in His Word daily. Read that Word. Think on that Word. Study that Word.
Spend some time each day with the Lord in prayer that you might fellowship with Him. In doing so you will become better equipped in this Word and Work of His.
We need to pray that the Lord will convict others of their need for the Savior. I think it is best for us to not pray like a shotgun but, rather, like an arrow. We need to pray specifically.
Praying for the needs of the nation and the world is good and commendable. But we need to pray for those we know need Jesus; we need to pray for them by name. Pray that Jack will get the water he needs. Pray that Jill will not fall and spill her bucket on the way down the hill. Pray for Mary and her garden. Pray for Miss Muffet that she�ll not lose her daily provisions when the spider scares her. Pray for your friends daily needs. But, do not forget to pray for the convicting power of God to touch their souls so that their eternal need will be met.
We need to pray for missions workers, by name! This is part of our part of taking the Gospel Message into the world.
We do need to pray, and give supplies when and where we may, for those who carry that Message in our stead. In doing so we can become spiritual partakers in their good works for the Lord.
We need to pray that more workers would be sent into the fields.
We need to pray for the safety of those who so labor. There are currently places in this world, and there will be more as the time of His return draws near, where the physical safety of these servants of God is in peril. We need to pray for their safety that they may continue to give forth the Words of Life.
May we ever remember that no man can come to Jesus except through the Work of the Holy Spirit. This simple fact shows the need of the Christian, every one of us!, to be a prayer warrior for the Lord.
As we look about to see our answered prayers we are reminded of the power of God to change lives and encouraged to submit ourselves further to him.
As we look about to see our answered prayers we are reminded of the power of God to save souls. We see the manifestation of His love to call sinners to repentance.
In this we are built up in the most Holy Faith. All of this, looking for the eternal welfare of others, will build up our own souls. This is an even more personal manifestation of God into our own lives.
What about you? Have you, personally, ever felt the redeeming love of Jesus Christ in your own life? God considers your soul to be eternally important. He, honestly, does love you. He really does. That is the entire purpose of the Scriptural record.
�But these [the Scriptures] are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.� (John 20:31)
Don�t you think that it is time that you responded to His love?
Do it today. You will never regret that decision!