John 1:8
�He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.�
The text this week continues the theme of looking at the life of John the Baptist as this relates to his work as a forerunner of Jesus Christ.
As I think about this in the life of John the Baptist, I am reminded that we are all to be Baptist�s. No. I don�t necessarily mean the denominational brand of Baptist. Although... What I mean is that John�s purpose was to prepare people to receive the coming Savior. That should also be our purpose. We should endeavor to prepare people to welcome the coming of Jesus into the personal world of their own lives. This was the task of the John, the Baptist. His job was to prepare the world about him for the coming of Jesus.
This is not the same thing as thumping people over the head with our Bibles. Too much of that type of thing is done. It means presenting a picture of what the Lord has done in our own lives so that others might be receptive when we attempt to share the Gospel Message with them.
Sometimes we let our culture and preconceptions get in the way. I just mentioned the Baptist denomination. Now, I could take the time to explain that the Baptist churches are not really a denomination. We are independent, individual churches each accountable to the Lord. Sometimes we gather together in �conventions,� �fellowships,� and �associations;� but, we retain our independent status as local assemblies, each singularly accountable to Jesus Christ.
That is one of the hallmarks of the Baptist churches. Rightly speaking there is no such thing as a �Baptist Church� in a denominational sense. There are only individual Baptist churches.
I could spend a whole lot of time tracing the lineage of the Baptist churches throughout history. I could affirm that the Baptist churches are not part of the Protestant heritage; they preceded the Reformation. I could spend pages studying the word �baptism� from the Scripture. I could note that the etymology of the word, and the very definition of the Greek word translated �Baptize,� means to submerse rather than to �sprinkle,� or �pour.�
But, in doing all of this very religious sounding talking and study I would have left out one important thing. Do you know what it is? It is simply the truth that Jesus Christ died in time so that we might live in eternity. How can I leave something like that out! That is the purpose of the churches which Jesus founded. We are to be a people who relate that message to others.
There is a popular automobile commercial being aired right now. The benefits of the automobile are touted. Then the star of the commercial says, �There is something left out.� That something, we are told, is, �A Great Deal.� They do add this to their sales pitch.
Theological stances are important. But, there is something left out when we major on these. The �Great Deal� is that Jesus Christ died in time so that we might live in eternity!
Don�t misunderstand. I know that doctrine is important. I know that we need to teach, preach, and learn doctrine. That is part of the Great Commission given by Jesus. But, we do not need to teach every single nuance of the Kenosis of Christ in order to lead a soul to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
What we need is less ego inflation by the Christian and more soul agony over the lost condition of mankind. Rather than spending our time, reaching out to the world, explaining the theological ramifications of the spiritual superiority of the pre-tribulation, pre-millennial, rapture of the Church, we need to be more interested, than we generally are, in proclaiming, as did John the Baptist, that there is a Greater One than us Who is in the world. The Gospel Message is that Jesus Christ died in time so that we might live in eternity!
Yes. Doctrine is important. There is a need for churches to teach doctrine to their people. But, the unsaved are not part of the church. They may be members; but, they are not part of the church of the redeemed of the Lord.
Doctrine is the �meat of the Word.� (see I Corinthians, chapter three) Ephesians 2:1 tells us, �And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins...� The person who is not yet saved is dead in a spiritual sense. He is dead to the things of God. That is why we need to pray that the Holy Spirit would convict the unsaved hearts that they might be quickened (made alive) unto the salvation of God.
I have been to many funerals. I have never yet seen the deceased given so much as a hamburger and fries. The deceased is dead to all the good food of this world. Likewise is the unsaved dead to all the good things of the spiritual world.
We need to reach those about us with the message that Jesus Christ died in time so that we might live in eternity! That is our call to spiritual arms. That is our rallying cry. That is our rational for service to God as long as we are in this world! Shout it forth! Jesus Christ died in time that we might live in eternity.
Build up the people of God with the doctrine of God. Just consider the truth that they are not the people of God until they respond to the message that Jesus Christ died in time that we might live in eternity!
If we are to be true to Christ, that must be our primary focus. That is our foundation. So it was with John the Baptist.
There were some things that John just didn�t seem to care about. Speaking of him, in the negative, we see that �He was not that Light...�
The first thing I note of John the Baptist is that he didn�t really care where he went.
When I was released from service in the Viet Nam war I was given a piece of paper on which I could request my next duty assignment. I thought, �Well, there�s a real nice post just 45 miles from my home town. That would be a great place to finish out my enlistment.� But, the army had a better idea. I was assigned to a post about one thousand miles from Linda�s, and my, home town.
This wasn�t my first choice. Then we found that there was no housing on this post. We finally found a place we could afford. It was and 8 x 40 trailer. It was ten miles from the entrance gate to the post. It had electric lines passing over the trailer which meant we could not use our radio. Since we could only afford one car, Linda was trapped out in the country in a small trailer court (about ten units) where she knew no one and could not even use the radio.
One the bright side, there was a small abandoned church near the trailer court. At least we thought it was abandoned. Still, we did walk down to investigate. The door was unlocked so we went in to look around. The floor was dusty but there were song books in the pews. We figured the place must be in use; so, we decided to go there the next Sunday.
The next weekend we approached the church in our Sunday-go-to-meetin� best. It was clear that we were the outsiders. The pastor and his son, who played the piano, came in. A man, I later found that he was the entire deacon board of this church, in coverall overalls, came in. An elderly gentleman and his wife, some twenty-five to thirty years his junior so I incorrectly assumed her to be his daughter, came in. There was also another elderly lady who sometimes attended. Her health keep her home most Sunday�s. And we came in. That was the entire crowd.
When they took up the collection they used an old �King Edward� cigar box as an offering plate. Hey, at least it had my name on it!
After a few weeks the pastor and his son left. We went for a few weeks without a pastor. Then, the deacon found a young man and wife to pastor. As we were without a pianist, Linda volunteered me to play our little cord organ. I protested, �No. I can only play this thing by the numbers. And I�m not too good at that!� So, I became the one-handed (I could only play with the right hand after I studied where the notes could be transferred into numbers so I�d understand them!) church organist who did not read music.
Then one Sunday, as the new pastor ended his sermon, he said, �This will be my last Sunday here. I�ve found a real church to pastor.� And he left.
We went a few more weeks with just the Sunday School service. Linda then said, �Ed has some theological training (I had been to college for two years, at this time, studying for the ministry.) he could preach today.� Lack of preparation on my part was never a problem for Linda! After the message, the deacon board came to talk with me. He said, �You got the job.� And I was called to the church as pastor.
I began to knock on doors and we picked up a few members. We still had no pianist. But our organist had, thankfully, retired from that job.
Then, one Sunday a young man came roaring up just before service on his motorcycle. He went up to the piano and began to play. His music had a hint of �country� in it. But, he was good. Real good. He was also a Christian young man. He became our pianist.
The church began to prosper. One time we had a �Singspiration.� At this sing-a-long we had at least 200 people in the church building. There were more people sitting on cars in the parking lot (an empty lot where the grass didn�t grow all too well!). The former pastor and his wife, who had left to find a �real church� even came by to fellowship with us!
We even added a Sunday evening service and a Wednesday Bible Study.
I went where I didn�t want to go. I did what I was not really prepared to do. And, God blessed. Why? Because God is the One Who is in charge!
John was willing to go where God had sent him. He didn�t go to the big city to find the big crowds for his preaching audience. He went where God told him to go, out in the wilderness, and God brought the big crowds to him.
Another thing John really didn�t care about was his reputation. Now, that�s a touchy point. We have to guard our reputation. It must remain pure if we are to be used of God. But, John didn�t really care what people thought of him. His concern was that God use him. He went ahead and preached the coming Christ and let happen whatever might happen.
John didn�t care whether his ministry saw great throngs of people or small crowds of sinners coming to repentance. As a matter of fact, he would have rather saw the small number coming to repentance than a large crowd which did not. He was in the work to see God�s majesty rather than man�s praises. At one point John even said, �He [Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease.� (John 3:30)
In the eyes of John the Baptist, the real glory was to see the exalted Christ rather than the greater glory of John.
In all this John was raised to a position of prominence; but, this was the blessing of God. Not always is our prominence seen among men, as was the glory that God placed on the message and life of John the Baptist. But, God sees and God knows those who are faithful to the task which He has given. That is a better glory for it is eternal. John received both because of the importance of his message. He spoke of a coming Messiah.
We need to speak of a risen Savior. That is our task. We don�t need to build up ourselves. We do need to exalt the Christ of Calvary before men where and when we are able!
John also did not consider himself to be the master of his message. John could have talked about rebellion from Rome. That was a popular subject among many of his day. John could have talked about how to deal with the ills of society. John could have talked about how one might improve his own self image.
What John did do was talk about the need for repentance. This is not a popular message unless the Holy Spirit of God is working on the hearts of the listeners.
We need to learn that our public speaking is not anywhere near as important as our private prayer. We need to be talking to God, studying His Word, and listening for His leading. Our own intellect, plans, strategies, and programs are not able to withstand the wiles of the enemy. Satan is a real foe. Satan is a strong foe. Satan is a resourceful and vicious foe. We are unable to stand against him. But, Satan is also a defeated foe when we place our lives under the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
John cared so little about the results of his message that he even stood up to the ruler of the land where he spoke. This landed him in jail. Read the story of John the Baptist in Mark 6:14-29 and you will see that his message cost him his life. Yet, he would not recant the truth which God had given him to speak.
John was not the innovator of his message. He preached what God had said. To move beyond the Words which God has given is to move into the occult.
God is described many times in the Old Testament as a �jealous God.� This does not mean that God has an ego problem. It means that God is worried, in a sense, about the leading which His creature, us, chooses to follow. To follow God is to find life eternal. To follow any other spirit is to be lost in one�s sins. Heaven is a real destination. But, so is Hell.
Many are being rescued today from the chaos which is New Orleans after the hurricane, Katrina. Many souls need to be rescued from the lie that rejects the message that Jesus Christ died in time so that we might live in eternity. This idea of the spiritual reality is an important concept. We do not have time to read the works of a self-help guru, no matter how right he may be in many areas, and to neglect the Word of God.
Our major must be on what is important. What is important is the fact that God gave us a Message in His Book. It is a message that is for our betterment. To neglect this message is to walk the way of Cain as he left the ways of God. Our way leads, inevitably, always, to doom and destruction in the spiritual world. The Way of God leads to life eternal. If that sounds narrow it is because it is narrow. One God. One Way. One Jesus Christ Who died in time that we might live in eternity. All else is to ultimately fail!
While we consider the life of John in the negative, we also need to consider that his life was dedicated to the need. �...but was sent to bear witness...�
John did not simply one day decide that he wanted to be the forerunner of the Messiah. This was God�s choice upon his life.
There are many in the ministry, some even doing good work, who were never called of God to the task. That�s sad. But it is a fact. It is to the glory and love of God that souls are saved even in such a ministry. The important part is the message that Jesus died in time so that we might live in eternity. The man is not important so long as he gives forth this message. We are thankful for His blessing even in situations such as this.
Some are called to work in a laundry so that they can be a witness to the others who work there. The callings of God are of His volition. They are not of our parents, our own motivations, or even our pastor�s. God calls whom He will into the ministry of the pulpit proclamation of His Word.
Pastor, examine yourself because, if you are not in His will you are out of His will.
The important thing about the callings of God is not the direction of that call. It is the response of faithful foot soldiers who accept His direction as the Commander of the Army of the Redeemed.
I had several different jobs while stationed with the U. S. army in South Viet Nam. Or, as Linda once put it: �You mean, in a war zone, you couldn�t keep a steady job?� But, the reality was that I was still in the army in each of these positions. It was the army�s choice of where I was to go. It was not my own. My real job was just to go where the army said to go.
John the Baptist did not seek the job; he sought the Lord�s will and the Lord�s will was for John to become the forerunner.
John did do something that all of us need to do. Whether we are ministers in a pulpit, or manicurists in a dog pound, we can all bear the witness of the fact that Jesus Christ died in time so that we might live in eternity. No minister who is failing to bear witness to that fact is in the Lord�s ministry - or the Lord�s will! Neither is any Christian who fails to bear witness in the location which he finds himself in the Lord�s will if he does not bear witness to that fact.
Again, there are three ways to look at this word, �bear.� Be forewarned that one of them is looked at phonetically!
One of these ways is �To give birth.� This is not the meaning of the verse, obviously. As I said last week, using the same illustration, I do not believe that this does violence to the verse. But, it is not the meaning of the verse.
By not doing violence to the verse, I think this illustration covers the same ground as did John in his preaching. John, as the forerunner of Christ, was preparing the world for a new Voice which would preach righteousness. This Jesus did.
This we can do with our witness of the fact that Jesus died in time that we might live in eternity. The purpose of our Christian witness is to lead another person into the New Birth experience. We are edified as we see the Power of God at work. The person who experiences the New Birth is edified by the Love of God at Work. The entire church is edified as yet another person is now able to speak of the Love and Power of God - Jesus Christ died in time that we might live in eternity.
Following this same theme, we might note that John was willing to be used to simply give birth to the message and let another raise up the work. John did the work of a mid-wife in that he brought the attention to the One Who came in the Name of the Lord. John simply said, �I will.� Jesus said, �I Am.�
John the Baptist was also willing to bear the load of the work. A barge will bear a large load. The load is not part of the barge. It is put onto the barge so that the load might go to where it is needed. So is our message that Jesus died in time so that we might live in eternity. The message is not of ourselves. The message is laid upon our hearts with bands of love. We are to carry the message to where it is needed - out into the world at large, and persons in particular. It is easy to stand in front of a crowd and preach. It is necessary that we be willing and able to stand in front of one person at a time and tell the same story: Jesus died in time that we might live in eternity.
The third use of the word �bear� just sounds the same. Bare means to expose something. We remove old wallpaper and lay the wall bare for the purpose of adding new wallpaper. John was willing to expose the truth to a world in doubt. He said, �You are sinners in need of repentance.�
Now, that isn�t a real popular message. But, it is an important message. People need to be told that there is a Heaven to gain. But, they also need to be reminded that there is a Hell to shun. We live in a time when it is becoming increasing unpopular to share the Gospel Message. Does this mean that we should shut up shop and stay within the confines of the four walls of our church building? Of course not! We carry an important message. Jesus Christ died in time that we might live in eternity.
People need to hear this. People need to be informed of this! But, most people will reject this unless we present the message of God�s love in an attitude of love. We need to approach the sinner with compassion. We also need to approach the sinner with courtesy. Most importantly, however, we need to approach the sinner after we have been in prayer. Our message will not be accepted if we do not allow the Holy Spirit to work His convicting power upon a heart.
We need Bible study. We need to be grounded in the faith. We also need to be in prayer that we will be submissive to the will of God. We also need to be in prayer that we will experience the power of God in convicting the hearts of those to whom we share our message that Jesus died in time that we might live in eternity.
John the Baptist allowed the will of God to control his own will. We need this controlling influence. We can not allow our hurt feelings, at the taunts which will come from the world at large, to obscure the message that Jesus died in time that we might live in eternity. We can not allow our disgust at some of the practices of the unsaved to obscure the message that Jesus died in time that we might live in eternity. We can not allow a superior, snobbish, supercilious, and often hostile toward the sinner, attitude to obscure the message that Jesus died in time that we might live in eternity.
The �Love of God� still means just that. It meant just that when Jonah went to Nineveh, and it means just that when we go into our own �Nineveh�s.� Even when we don�t really feel like it, we must let the Love of God shine through our lives toward those with whom we might disagree. It is the message of God that Jesus died in time that we might live in eternity. It is our commission to project that message into a world of sin.
Necessity is the reason that we must project this message. It is the reason which motivated John the Baptist. �...of that Light.�
The important part of John�s message was that repentance was needed from the darkness of sin.
Sin does bring darkness. We are often ridiculed by some because of our faith. The claim is made that we are blinded to the truth because we hold to our old and outmoded faith system. The truth of the matter is that those who reject the spiritual are blinded from the reality of what actually exists.
Let us never forget that this present physical world system is a created thing. There was something here before our natural processes came into being. That �something� was �Someone� - God. To fail to consider His reality and actions is to leave most of the equation out of the sum of knowledge. We look and see that a + 2 = ?; but we are not allowed to consider just what �a� means. From this stems confusion.
Consider the creation of the world. We are told that there can be no supernatural influence because natural laws are all there is and all there ever will be. But, as the progression keeps going back, trying to find the genesis which would exist without Genesis, the spiritually blind scientist will argue that sometime, back in the primordial soup of the stuff of the �Big Bang,� the laws of physics were somehow different.
What? Those laws are as they have always been and always will be, but they were different then? Now, that reasoning takes faith!
God existed before, and was the creative agent of, the natural laws. I can not explain or understand that because I have no frame of reference. But, I can trust it because of faith in the spiritual laws of the Spiritual God.
The natural man cannot understand how Jesus died in time that we might live in eternity. It is a mystery to his blinded faith eye. But, he can accept it. It is our job to take him the Message and let the Light of the Word illumine his spirit that he may believe.
That is why it was an important prerogative of John�s message that the truth of God be allowed to shine forth. He said, �Listen to me; but, follow Him Who comes after me. In Him is Truth, and Life, and Light.�
We need to do the same. We need to let the Light of the Truth of Jesus Christ shine forth into the world. Don�t expect everyone to understand the obvious: Jesus died in time that we might live in eternity. Just let the Light shine upon their sin darkened lives and allow the Holy Spirit to give them the operation of sight.
The bottom line, of course, is that the important Person in John�s message was Him Who was to come. John preached Jesus coming into the world.
Our task is to preach Jesus died in time so that we might live in eternity.
What about you? Have you accepted Jesus as your own Savior. He really did die in time so that you might live in eternity. You don�t have to understand it all. It is important that you accept it! Jesus did die on a Cross, on purpose, so that you could have forgiveness from your sins, a relationship with God, and an eternal home in Heaven. He did all the work. All you must do is to accept His sacrifice on faith. �Jesus, I don�t understand. But I do accept on faith that you died in time so that I might live in eternity. I accept your gift of salvation.�
Won�t you do that. Just accept Jesus as your Savior.
Do it today.
He really did die in time that you might live in eternity.