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Today I want to point you to this remarkable character, John the Baptist.
What is a missionary? Someone who is on a mission.
- I was in a queue for coffee and as I was standing talking to someone a small boy weaved his way through the forest of legs, trying to get somewhere. (I have no idea where) And my friend made the telling comment “Cor! He’s on a mission!”
- There’s something the little lad was urgent about doing and he was going to make sure it got done!
- That’s a man on a mission!
We are considering the Bible’s greatest missionaries and that attitude characterises all of them. There is a message to be proclaimed, a message of forgiveness and transformation through the cross of Christ – and they are going to make sure it gets done.
What was John’s mission?
To make much of Christ
John 1:6-8 There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John.
7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light,
He was a man <ppt> (not an angel or something we can’t identify with) and this is significant because up to this point in John’s gospel we’ve been reading about the Word, Jesus Christ, the creator of the cosmos. So here we come right down to earth with an ordinary human being – John the Baptist.
Human he was, but he was also “sent from God” and this commission defined all he was and all he did. His missionary activity was a consequence of God calling on his life. So what was he sent to do? Verse 7 tells us …
He was sent to be a witness to the light
When someone is called as a witness appears in a court of law
- they are called because they have seen the incident that took place (like a robbery or a traffic accident).
- When they give their testimony they are expected to highlight the salient features of what they saw – what was the robber wearing?, how fast was the car travelling etc. What they had for breakfast or what was on TV at the time may be fascinating, but it’s irrelevant. They have to stick to the point!
- Furthermore a witness has to speak about what they’ve seen. That’s how other people – especially members of the jury – come to a reasoned view of what happened.
and John was just the same –
- he was sent to see Jesus, the light, he was sent to highlight the most significant things about Jesus, the light, and he was commissioned to speak of the Light so people would see and understand who Jesus was and come to a view of his breath-taking character and person.
John was sent as a first-hand witness to point to the awesomely glorious person of Jesus Christ.
This means making much of Christ (and conversely making little of ourselves!)
We are called to bear witness to the Light! Not to try and shine ourselves!
John was also called
To be the person through whom believing takes root
7 … so that through him all men might believe.
This is the first reference to ‘believing’ in John’s gospel – the first of 98!
- So believing is a major purpose of John (the author)’s writing (Don’t forget John the author and John the Baptist are different people!)
The world will not be able to believe unless there are witnesses – and in just the same way that John the Baptist was sent as a witness, so are we!
John’s mission was also
To make nothing of himself
8 [John the Baptist] himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
Not only does John the author tell us that John the Baptist was not God’s light, but John the Baptist says so himself. (Isn’t it fascinating how John the Baptist had to tell people what he wasn’t!)
John 1:19 Now this was John’s testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was.
20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Christ.”
The other gospels tell us that at this time John the Baptist’s influence was huge! Matthew talks about the crowds who flocked to hear him and Luke retells a conversation where people actually thought John was the Messiah
John 3:2-30 <ppt> You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, “I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.” The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.
How did he do it?
He baptised
26“I baptise with[c] water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. 27He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”
Baptise = to plunge or dunk – so his name (more like a nickname) is John the plunger or John the dunker.
And he had become famous – in fact Luke writes about the huge ‘crowds’ that came to hear him.
He preached.
He preached repentance – a change of heart that results in a change of actions!
To be honest, this causes me some angst. It has a sobering effect on me. Let me tell you why:
If you have ever been vexed by the apparently self-serving, and self-exalting words of some public Christian figures, you should be,
- What bothers me is the way some pastors and evangelists TV and internet preachers, conference speakers and Christian musicians – in fact anyone who publicly represents Christ – speak about Christ but subtly commend themselves.
- They use their Christian platform to advertise their own prowess, rather than to glorify Christ.
- “Look at me!” rather than “look at Him”
I was reading another minister who is concerned about this and he put it this way
A discerning person “would probably complain that many sermons are deficient in solid instruction, Biblical exposition, and Scriptural argument: they are flashy, rather than fleshy; [smart], rather than solid; entertaining, rather than impressive. He would point to rhetorical discourses in which doctrine is barely discernible, and brilliant harangues from which no food for the soul could ever be extracted.”
That was written in 1890! (CH Spurgeon, ‘Commenting on Commentaries’, preface)
We are called to bear witness to the Light! Not to try and shine ourselves!
It was a deeply applicable message
C.f. Let me introduce you to a theorem >>> Fascinating, but useless! Some pure mathematicians would be quite offended if you found some use for what they do. It’s just the purity of thought and logic that fires them!
John’s preaching was grounded. It fed the soul!
Luke 3:10 “What should we do then?” the crowd asked.
Too many Bible studies and sermons lack a ‘so what’ clause >>>
And incidentally – don’t misidentify the groups of people to whom John the Baptist was speaking
- They were not the secularised, unbelieving non-Jews
- these were the card-carrying, bible believing, Sabbath keeping people of his day!
People who had travelled for miles to hear this preacher who baptised people.
- It was addressed God’s people!
- They were the ones asking “What shall we do?!”
- They were the ones who needed the deluge of God’s spirit!
- My friends when we ask that question
- we open the floodgates for God to work! >>>
be generous with your possessions
11 John answered, “The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.”
Selfishness was as much a problem then as it is today!
- If you have a surplus of something and you discover someone in need – give it away!
- you can’t wear two coats!
be honest in your dealings
12 Tax collectors also came to be baptised. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”
13 “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.
True story:
A man, wanting to rob a downtown Bank of America, walked into the branch and wrote “this iz a stikkup. Put all your muny in this bag.”
While standing in line, waiting to give his note to the teller, he began to worry that someone had seen him write the note and might call the police before he reached the teller window.
So he left the Bank of America and crossed the street to Wells Fargo.
After waiting a few minutes in line, he handed his note to the Wells Fargo teller.
She read it and, surmising from his spelling errors that he was not the brightest light in the harbour, told him that she could not accept his stickup note because it was written on a Bank of America deposit slip and that he would either have to fill out a Wells Fargo deposit slip or go back to Bank of America.
Looking somewhat defeated, the man said “OK” and left.
The Wells Fargo teller then called the police who arrested the man a few minutes later, as he was waiting in line back at Bank of America.
Tax collectors could make a fair bit on the side
- c.f. Zaccheus – put right his business dealings
- “Today has salvation (word implies healing, wholeness) come to this house”
- Why? because Zaccheus was dealing with the real issue at last!”
Is there a real issue that needs dealing with?
be content with your income
14 Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely- be content with your pay.”
Soldiers were known for their extortion
- they had the muscle and the weapons
- they could easily issue threats and put on the pressure
- They were using violence and extortion to get money
- A change of heart attitude is needed – be content with what you have!
Is there a real issue that needs dealing with?
He pointed people to Jesus Christ
29The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he [existed] before me.’ … the reason I came baptising with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”
Believing is a mind and spirit experience
- I give assent with my mind
- God ratifies that assent by giving me his spirit
BUT
he preached a baptism of repentance
We preach a message of forgiveness
The cross has now happened. Jesus has paid the price.
[sense if right …] People with something to repent of – come to front and kneel
I & R to pray and call down God’s forgiveness.
“He who honours me, I will honour”
