Sermon Transcript — December 7, 2002
Well here we sit as people that God has called in a time close to the end. We take for granted the fact that living God’s way is going to bring us rewards. Eternal rewards and short-term rewards as well. In fact, God’s way of life brings blessings to us. It doesn’t necessarily bring us physical blessings or physical health per se, but if we dedicate ourselves to becoming more and more like our new Father, we are going to have blessings of a spiritual and blessings of a relationship nature with God and with each other. And so our lives will be blessed and God the Father will bless us.
We are going to have experiences and blessings in this life that we otherwise would not have had. With that being said we were not called just to have a nicer life. We were not called now as the first fruits just so that we can be blessed and so that we can be in God’s kingdom a little ahead of the rest of humanity. God has a meaning for you. God has a purpose for you. He has a reason for handpicking you as one of his first fruits, and I want to talk to you today about that reason.
In studying through the gospel of John recently, I realized that there are three people in the gospel of John named John. Three people that have similarities in their calling, in their purpose and in their mission. I want to tell you the story of these three Johns today. These three Johns can help us gain a greater sense of our calling, a greater understanding of why you and I have been put into the body of Christ at this time.
The first John that is mentioned in the gospel of John is John the Baptist. Now I don’t know about you, but John the Baptist is somewhat of a distant, faded character in the Bible to me. He is not well-known to me, maybe to you. I don’t see a lot of reference to him, not a lot was written about him and nothing that I’m aware of was written by him. Yet this individual had quite a big job. Let’s look over in John the first chapter and verse 1.
John 1:1. "In the beginning was the Word…"
And it begins here talking, the apostle John is talking here about Jesus Christ, but down in verse 6, he says…
Verse 6. "There was a man sent from God, whose name was John."
So we see this man, a human being sent from God. He was handpicked; he was chosen. He was actually talked about in advance. He was predestined for something. So he was sent from God and his name was John. The name John means "gift of God." "Gift of God" is something that God gives and it was a rather popular name back then as it is today. This individual was told or his parents were told the name in John. And it says in verse 7 this man came for a reason, he came for a purpose. He wasn’t just put on this earth to have a nice life. He was sent by God and came for a reason, and the reason it says was that we has to be a witness to bear witness of the light of this Word that we read of in the first part of the first chapter here. A witness of this light. Now notice the next phrase. Maybe this has alluded you as it has me until I read it again this week.
Verse 7. "…that all through him might believe."
All through John the Baptist might believe. Now often times we skim over John the Baptist and think well here’s small figure, he’s sort of popped up before Jesus Christ and then was beheaded and we don’t hear anything about him, but we actually find that God ordained him to help all humanity believe in Jesus Christ, and it’s through John the Baptist that all people believe. Do you realize you believe in Jesus Christ through John the Baptist? That’s what that verse says. I had to stop and think about that. Here’s a person I don’t even know. I sort of brush off. I want to get right to what Jesus Christ did and said, right into what the apostles wrote, but I believe in Jesus Christ because of him is what the Bible tells me, that all through him might believe and have faith in Jesus Christ.
So you see you and I all and all the other saints down through time have come to believe in Jesus Christ through this John number one we might say. John the Baptist. We don’t know him. I don’t know John the Baptist; I never met him. He never talked to me. He didn’t really write much in the Bible and so I wasn’t expecting to find out that I came to have in Jesus Christ through him, but in fact as we will see in a moment we did.
See others before us knew John the Baptist, before the disciples knew Jesus Christ they knew John the Baptist. Bible commentators and theologians speculate that all of the disciples of Jesus were previously the disciples of John the Baptist. They were taught about the coming Jesus Christ. They were informed about him. They developed faith, and when you see Jesus Christ later on in the gospels come by and say follow me there was a done deal. They were primed and ready; they were taught; they had the faith; they had the belief; and they were excited about the opportunity. Some definitely did, perhaps all did. In verse 35, if we notice in John 1:35, we see as the story unfolds…
John 1:35. "Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples."
So here’s John and a couple of his disciples were standing with him…
Verse 35. "And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God!"
There he is. There’s the one I’ve taught you about. There’s the one you have developed faith in. There’s the one that you have come to believe in through me. There he is and it simply says in verse 37…
Verse 37. "The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus."
These were two of the disciples that became Jesus’ disciples. Right there. He said, oh, there he is and they followed him. And Jesus passed by others up at the lake and they followed him and he passed by a tax collector and said follow me, and he followed him. It was through him in one form or another whether it was directly his disciples, the Bible is not definite on that as far as what I can see, but in some way it was through John the Baptist that all might believe.
In turn those disciples of Jesus Christ would become teachers themselves and would have disciples and so it began with a prophet and the prophet taught apostles and the apostles taught called out church members. See and one builds upon another. One person’s work builds upon another. This is the story of the work of God through humans down through history.
The personal background of John the Baptist is, well, not very well known. He had initially, it seems, as an unknown person we know about his birth and we don’t know anything about him and then finally we find he is living in an uninhabited area sort of stays out of populated areas as the Bible would indicate. He lives a simplified lifestyle. He is not from an elite social class at all. He doesn’t seem to have any formal socialized education that we know of. In Matthew 3:4 we get a glimpse of John the Baptist where it says…
Matthew 3:4. "And John himself was clothed in camel's hair…"
I would not assume being clothed in camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waste was necessarily the chic style of the day in Jerusalem because it’s noted here that this guy was different and he tells what he was clothed in and his diet wasn’t refined like the wealthy. It simply says…
Verse 4. "…and his food was locusts and wild honey."
I wonder how many people accepted the invitation to come for dinner. So John was in the wilderness, which is in an uninhabited, unpopulated area, a slight population, and he was living in basic clothing and what you would call hunting and gathering for food. He would go out and he would hunt the locusts and he would gather in the honey. It was more of a subsistence type of simplified lifestyle if we were to take that this is the major part of his diet and wardrobe and things like that.
But here this individual had a big job, a huge, huge job. He was announcing a big change in religion. A huge change in theology from what all the people in that area had been used to for hundreds and hundreds of years. He made a big announcement. The Messiah is coming. That Messiah that you’ve been thinking of and hearing about and expecting, he’s coming. And then he’s here. The Messiah, he’s over there, that’s him, that’s the Messiah. No more focus on the temple. No more focus on animal sacrifices for absolving sin or an attempt at a reconciliation with God. John the Baptist came and baptized people. Instead of killing animals now be baptized for the remission of sin and pointed to Jesus Christ as someone, a high priest much higher than the one at the temple. Huge changes were taking place, and it was John the Baptist’s job to announce them. The Messiah is coming and the Messiah is here. Back in John 1:22.
John 1:22. "Then they said to him, "Who are you…"
Well that was that my question. Who are you John the Baptist? I don’t know you. They didn’t seem to know him either. He was not a well-known person around town it would seem.
Verse 22. "…they said to him, "Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us?"
They had to go out and find him.
Verse 22. "What do you say about yourself?"
God chose an individual, hand-picked him who was somewhat unsophisticated by societal standards, somewhat different than the mainstream of society and people are asking what do you say about yourself. And he said, verse 23…
Verse 23-26. "I am 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Make straight the way of the LORD," ' as the prophet Isaiah said. Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. And they asked him, saying, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" John answered them, saying, "I baptize with water…"
Baptizing with water is dealing with a negative. It’s dealing with sin. Baptizing with water is for the remission of sin—the end of which is death and John dealt with that. But he says…
Verse 26. "…but there stands One among you whom you do not know."
Referring to Jesus Christ.
Verse 27. "It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me…"
See Jesus Christ would come and not only absolve us from the penalty of death, but bring us life. He was the life and the light bringer through the Holy Spirit and through living with the mind of Christ we could receive good benefits. We could receive sonship within the family of God. We could receive blessings far, far greater than anything being done through animal sacrifice or even through baptism. And he said this individual, notice John’s focus here, John the Baptists’ focus. This individual…
Verse 27. "…is preferred before me whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose."
So he came preaching repent of your ways, repent of your deeds, show fruits of a new way, God’s way in your life. Look to Jesus the Messiah instead of to any other institution, look to Jesus the Messiah, instead of any man made codes or religious systems or things that do not measure up to the spiritual renewal that the Messiah brought. We talked about him perhaps teaching the disciples. He probably baptized the disciples. We go to Matthew 3:1. Back in Matthew 3 one more time, verse 1.
Matthew 3:1-2. "In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"
This is a huge message, new message to them. In verse 5…
Verse 5. "Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him."
So they had to come out to him from Judea that minor district of the Roman Empire and from Jerusalem they had to come out to him. And in Matthew 3:6…
Verse 6. "…and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins."
Verse 13. "Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him."
What a huge event. This man of insignificance as far as the society would render him is going to be baptized, and he’s going to baptize Jesus Christ.
Verse 14. "And John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I need to be baptized by You…"
I am nothing. I am sin. I am human. I need to be baptized by you…
Verse 14-15. "…and are You coming to me?" But Jesus answered and said to him, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness."
Wow. Can you imagine Jesus Christ saying "us" to you? Let it be so for us this is fitting. This is the work that you and I are doing. You and I, John the Baptist, you and I, we’ve got some work together and this is what we need to be doing now. Wow.
Matthew 3:15-17 "Then he allowed Him. When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
A fascinating statement when you come to think about that. Find another statement to human beings made personally by God the Father. And when was it done? It was done right when everybody present had just been forgiven of their sins and were sin free, and the Father right then states to them…
Verse 17. "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
John the Baptist had a part in that. I’m sure he was probably just shaking. What a tremendous introduction as it were to the Son of God beginning his ministry. Monumental message John had. Began baptism. And it all came from and by a simple man. All the glory for this went to God. We heard John saying, I’m not worthy to loose this man’s sandals. Not me Lord, I need to be baptized by you. Christ and God the Father got all the credit.
The second individual that we read of named John in the gospel of John is relatively unknown, unknown to us as far as who he was or where he was from. What he did for a living we don’t know. We don’t really know much about him. We don’t know about his family or really anything. In fact, this John lived most of his life without being in any sort of spotlight, but there was a reason for him. There was a work that he needed to do. This work was of major, major importance to you and to me and to people back in his time, and there was a day when this John stood up and he fulfilled the special mission for which God called him. This John was the apostle John. He wrote the gospel of John. He wrote I, II, and III John, and also penned the book of Revelation as it was revealed to him by Jesus Christ. We don’t know a lot about him. Tyndale Bible Commentary states we can gather some things about him, some information about him from the manner in which he told his story. And that’s about all you can figure out about the apostle is to read the way he wrote and some of the things he said and try to figure out who this man was and you can’t find out much about him.
We do know in John 19:25 that he was very well respected. He was close with Jesus’ family in fact. It says…
John 19:25. "Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother…"
What a tragic day this was. Just a huge, another big, big event of a sinister nature.
Verse 25. "…by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene."
I would say Mary was pretty popular name back in that time.
Verse 26. "When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by…"
Now who was the disciple whom Jesus loved? Well, it was John, the disciple John who became the apostle John. That tells us some little something about him. It tells us something about Jesus, too. That Jesus had a close friend and there’s nothing wrong with having a close friend or close friends that you have an affinity to like David and Jonathan, more than others, but Jesus did not ostracize or restrict or cause other relationships to be clipped. No, he loved the world so much he died for it, just as his Father loved the world. He had perfect love for everyone.
But these words and other statements where John is called the disciple whom Jesus loved meant that there was a relationship and a respect between them that was special. And perhaps because of this…
Verse 26. "He said to His mother, "Woman, behold your son!"
Well known to the family, well trusted by Jesus Christ, maybe a quiet man, but certainly a loving man.
Verse 26-27. "…behold your son! Then He said to the disciple, "Behold your mother!" And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home."
We assume by then Joseph had died and Jesus’ mother Mary had been a widow and now he’s proving for his mother, perhaps in her old age, certainly someone to look after her. So this John had a unique purpose. And what was his unique purpose? Just to write another gospel. We’ve already had three; why do we need another one? Well it just so happens that John wrote his books at the end of the first century—the very end of the first century. Most of the other apostles if not all of them were dead.
And you know some of the issues that the church had had down through that period of time even were addressed in the book of Revelation with the seven church eras. Christianity under Jesus Christ had been very controversial and many had come into the group and deceived and tried to take away many. Paul addressed some of that; Peter addressed some of that; James addressed some of that. And we find that there was even another type of gospel or twisted perversions. Gnosticism had been wrapped up with some of the true Christian message and people were leaving and taking other groups with them, other ideas and ideologies. Syncretism and all were getting mixed in. And this was just in the middle of the first century.
By the time John finally penned his works, there were wholesale departures and a lot of just false, flagrantly false statements going around about Jesus Christ, about Christianity, about sin and righteousness. There were movements on the one hand that said Jesus was a mere man. He was not the Son of God; he was just a mere man and now you might read John 1, the introduction, and show how that Word came from God and was God.
Another big philosophy that had grown up was Jesus was just an apparition of the true Messiah. He wasn’t really human, but you saw him like he was human, but he wasn’t really. He looked like he was there. He wasn’t really on the cross; he was really somewhere else. And so you sort of say that he couldn’t have been human. Well, John had to address that as well and talk about eating and physical things and show the humanity of him. There were many issues that he had to deal with.
There were issues of sin versus righteousness and the law versus grace. And John very carefully through I John, II John, III John goes back and succinctly puts down and clarifies what the relationship of law and the commandments and the children of God and that nature is all about. In Galatians 1:6, the apostle Paul, you don’t have to turn there, but the apostle Paul said…
Galatians 1:6. "I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel…"
You’re turning to a different gospel, which is not another gospel, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. We can see that this is going on in Galatians. The works of John, the gospel of John that we’re reading here was written forty years after that. Paul is addressing a situation here that took place forty years before John wrote the gospel of John. That’s a long time. So by the time John was writing heresy was rampant, the church had been ripped up. There were all types of ideas out there, and John stepped into the gap. He stood up, and he clarified the facts about Jesus Christ. He set the record straight about who he was, where he can from, what he did and why he did it. You can read all of that in the gospel of John.
He certified also there that he was an eyewitness of Jesus Christ. That he was the Son of God. He clarified the law. Righteousness, sin, salvation in the first, in the three epistles that he wrote. He was inspired to describe the future transitions of spiritual and physical government that will take place through the book of Revelation, an extremely important individual as far as his contributions. The apostle John made huge, huge contributions. All this from a little known person. All this from an individual that the Bible does not say hardly anything about, and in the end, God and Jesus Christ get all the credit for all the work that the apostle John did.
Now let’s talk about John number three that’s mentioned in the gospel of John. I’d like to read to you about this third individual named John. In John 17:20, Jesus Christ is praying the prayer of his life as it were in the garden of Gethsemene just before he was crucified the next day, and he’s talking to his father. And in doing so he says in John 17:20…
John 17:20. "I do not pray for these alone…"
He’s not praying for John the Baptist, John the Baptist was already dead. He’s not praying only for the apostle John and the other apostles. He’s saying I don’t pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. That’s John number three. Those who will believe in me through their work. We have the first John through whom faith in Christ came to all people. We have the second John who is one of the apostles who through their word taught those who would come after them. All other people.
Now we’re just following a thread here. One to two and now we come to three. And number three are those that Jesus said are those who will believe in me through their word. That is you and me. We are John number three. Pardon me if I personalize it a little bit for you, but that’s what hit me this week as I was reading this book. The work that God is doing is not over. It has not been over for 1,900+ years. Verse 21 says…
Verse 21. "…that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us…" notice "…that the world may believe that You sent Me."
There is more belief that’s still coming from John the Baptist. That belief went to the apostles. Jesus here says we’re going to believe through the apostles word and then he says that the world may believe. Our job is to continue as John number three, as it were, in line each one of us in spreading and teaching the faith about Jesus Christ and the family of God in their mission. In Ephesians 2:19.
Ephesians 2:19. "Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners…"
We’re not somehow different than this crowd we’ve been reading about—the disciples, the apostles, and John, and Jesus Christ. We’re not different; we’re not strangers and foreigners. No, we’re fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. Verse 20, notice this carefully.
Verse 20. "…having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets…"
Notice how this foundation works. Prophet. John number one was the prophet. Apostles. John number two was one of the apostles. You built on the foundation of them as it were. We fill the role of John number three in the continuation. Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.
Verse 21-22. "…in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also…"
The third in the series of teachers. The third in the series of as a witness and an example, a living example of Jesus Christ, the living Jesus Christ that lives in you.
Verse 22. "…in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit."
See the work did not end with John number two. Work didn’t cease in the year 100 A.D., and we’re just sort of sitting back having a nice life ever since, you know, other people were called, and it’s nice to have known the truth. No. Oh, no. We are John number three. This is a continual work of God that will continue until Jesus Christ comes back. Now I use the name John because John means gift of God. It says in the Bible that you were predestined, you were chosen before the foundation of the world. Your life is a gift of God. Your repentance was a gift of God. That’s what the Bible says. It’s a gift of God. Your forgiveness of sin was a gift of God. The receiving of God’s Holy Spirit is a gift of God. Our eternal life is a gift of God. How much more do we need to understand that we are gifts of God? And in that sense, I know I’m sort of using the analogy here that we’re all sort of like John number, but in that sense we are.
How many of us were given names and terms from the Bible, mine just happens to be John and that’s sort of irrelevant and yours is, too, but in this congregation we have many individuals named from people or things in the Bible. I’ll read them to you: Sara, Rebekah, Jasmine, Mary, Marie, Daniel, Danielle (the feminine version of Daniel), James, Micah, Rachel, Teresa, which is feminine derivative of the name Terash, Sara, Peter, Pedro in Spanish, Pierre—French for Peter. Joann, which is short for Joanna, Paul, Pauline, which is the feminine of Paul, Telippa, Jacob or the French, feminine form which is Jacqueline. We have Ethan, Hunter, Ruth, Dawn or Zorra, which is Serbian for Dawn. There’s Martha, there’s Susan from the name Susannah, Andrew, Jerome, which is a derivative of <inaudible>.
There’s Clay, Aaron, Amy, Jade, David, Joel, Joshua, Michael or the feminine version Michelle. There’s Abel, Seth, Deborah, Elizabeth, Lucille, which is a French word translated "light," a term found in the Bible. There’s Stephen, Stephanie, which is the feminine form of Stephan. There’s Zachary from Zacharias. There’s Joseph, Timothy, Autumn, Nicial, which is a derivative of Nicholas. There’s Philip, Rebecca or Becky. Stasia, which is short for the word Anastasia, which is the Greek word "resurrection." There’s Darian, which is a feminine of Darius. There’s Romeo, which is the Spanish word for Roman, which is a term used in the Bible. Theirs is Rio, there’s John, there’s Shawn, which is Celtic of John. And there’s Bogden, which is Serbian or Russian, meaning the same thing as John—the gift of God. So these are just some names that you can find by opening the pages of your Bible. And with all that said they’re irrelevant. They are. What our first names are are largely irrelevant, but at the same time where our names may be irrelevant, whatever our parents named us, our calling is relevant. It is highly relevant. Our calling is to be as it were a John number three.
We turn over to Matthew 5. I’d like to share this calling with you and the crucial importance that it has to God and to the work of God. In Matthew 5:14, Jesus is going to talk to us about our calling and purpose.
Matthew 5:14. "You are the light of the world."
You are the light of the world. That’s a job. That’s a calling. That’s a purpose.
Verse 14-15. "A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket…"
What he’s saying is I’ve lit the lamp. You are light, and I did not light you and put you under a basket. I didn’t hide you somewhere. I didn’t make you an example and then stow you away. That’s not my purpose for you.
Verse 15. "…but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."
We have a calling, brethren. We have a mission given to us by Jesus Christ to radiate godliness so that people will glorify God. Not because of anything we are or that we do, but this is an important job that God has given us. Now it can appear that the opposite takes place during winter. I know on my block the neighbors are getting lighter and lighter at night, and we’re the little dark spot on the street. And I know it can seem that way, but on the surface, you know, the holidays seem pretty good because you have first of all Jesus has talked about in giving and love and peace. And when we’re not participating people say, what’s the matter, aren’t you a Christian? Don’t you love Jesus?
We can get into little battles about the fine points in their mind of the timing or the origins or things like that and you can stay all day trying to argue that with a carnal mind. But the reality is our real light, our real example is brilliantly bright. And that’s the point that he is making here. It’s blinding light, stabbing out of darkness. If you have ever been in a dark room where you are trying to see and all of a sudden a huge maybe million-watt candle powered light goes off right in your eyes it hurts. Bright light actually hurts and that’s what you were called to do. Hurt. Hurt people’s eyesight. We should stand out with that type of contrast is what Jesus is saying.
The real example is in that stark of a contrast, and he’s saying I called you to get you up on the hill and get people to be uncomfortable as it were. Painfully bright. But what is the real difference here? Well, it’s righteousness versus unrighteousness. It is law versus lawlessness. It is love versus human selfishness. And we are in a society that is just driven by human self-centeredness. Everything about our society is that way. It’s hard for us to see it because we are part of our society. We are here; we understand how it works. To us it’s just another day the stock market is up, the stock market is down. Things are for sale; things aren’t for sale, and you know, people are doing this and people are acting this way and entertainment is like this. We get used to it.
Just last week I was sent a letter that is supposedly written by Osama bin Laden, and he takes the United States to task for some of its wrongs and tries to explain why it’s fine for him and his people to attack this country and beside the fact that we support Israel, the Israelis, beside the fact that we’re not Islamic, he gets into some material and says, you are hypocrites, which he explains and is accurate about in some areas. Double standards. It’s one standard for you Americans. It’s another for third world countries that you’re sort of sucking dry and taking advantage of and people are hurting out there. Your legal system works one way for you, but, hey, when it doesn’t work for you, you sort of change it for internationals. And it doesn’t work for them.
And then he says, you know, you break all the commandments of God is what he points out. Adultery and fornication right from the White House, oval office on down through the congress. Homosexuality, he gets into murder and stealing and thievery. He brings us up on charges of usury as a way of life. You know making these real high extreme card like rates, interest rates and taking advantage of people. It just goes on and on and on. Really showing a contrast of what’s right and what’s wrong. Not that he is the example of what’s right because his example certainly is not a stellar one by any means. But it’s interesting to see someone from another culture sort of open the book on you and say, hey, you are corrupt down to your bones.
When Jesus is saying our light and our example should be in stark contrast it should be. We shouldn’t be drifting along and just sort of almost like the rest of society around us and, you know, receiving our rewards and going after what we want just like them only we’ve got some sort of a FDA stamp, you know, on our skin like the old days when they used to have that Grade A1 or prime or whatever it was. We shouldn’t be that way. He’s saying there should be a bright difference between us.
This work of the John number three as it were is still very important today just as it has been ever since John number two died around the end of the first century. In Matthew 28:18, let’s see these three one more time. Here Jesus Christ is talking about the work, about the commission.
Matthew 28:18-19. "And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples…"
That’s what John the Baptist did. He went and made disciples. That’s what John the apostle did. He went and made disciples, and when he died, the baton is passed to those who came after, to make disciples and Jesus Christ now expands it and says your job is to make disciples of all the nations as the church, the body of Christ has spread out around the globe, we now have lights. We now have examples. We have people doing the work of God all over the world, and our job and our calling is to do this wherever we are—bigger and broader than before.
Verse 19. "…baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…"
Now notice the next verse.
Verse 20. "…teaching them…"
Teaching them. That’s akin to what John the Baptist did, what the apostle John did. That’s our role. Every one of us.
Verse 20. "…teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
We’re not at the end of the age, brethren. We’re not there. We’re all looking for it. We think maybe we see the buds coming out on the trees, that it might be coming up, but the end of the age of Satan and man is not over. The next age is the age of the kingdom of God. It’s not here, therefore, Jesus Christ is still with us doing that work just like he was with John the Baptist. Just like he was with the apostle John. He’s doing that work now and he’s still with us doing that work.
The chairman of the council’s recent letter stated this:
"God is intervening in the lives of people all over the world influencing them and leading them at this very moment."
Somewhere someone right now is studying, thinking, praying or being influenced by circumstances to consider changing his life to align it with God’s. It almost gives you goose bumps. This work of God is still going on. The work of John the Baptist and the apostle John is being done now by another John as it were if we want to categorize ourselves as the one now to pick up that baton and it’s happening.
He gave an example in Malaysia and said when we unexpectedly discover how God is working in the lives of people around the world. What an encouragement it is to know that Jesus Christ is hard at work along side us doing the things that we cannot accomplish on our own. This is a monumental message. It’s a monumental work. We are simple people and yet God gets all the credit because we are simple people. None of us really are that well known. Paul said, you know, you see your calling brethren, not many wise are called, not many noble, but God has called the week and the base things, and why? Well, we’re here to do a work. He has chosen the things of the world which are not to bring to nothing the things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence.
We have looked at the lives of three individuals named John, one of them is you. And in doing so, we see there is a purpose to each of our lives. The end result of the lives of all three of these Johns is found in I Peter 1:3.
I Peter 1:3. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…"
That is who gets the glory for everything. It’s not you or me. It’s neither of the other Johns. It’s nothing human.
Verse 3. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you…"
This is an end result. And you can combine that with other scriptures such as Revelation 5:10 that says we will reign with Jesus Christ for 1,000 years here on this earth. The work doesn’t end. We just get better tools. We get better bodies, and we go back to work again as a group, as a unit. And so with that as our goal what should we concentrate on in the meantime knowing that we having this calling, we have this work, we do not want to let down and shirk our calling. What should we concentrate on?
I’d like to give you three points. They’re simple and they’re short. The first one is brighten your light. If I can inspire you to do nothing more than that that is what Jesus Christ indicate our calling is all about. Brighten your light. In other words, increase the contrast between yourself and society. Increase the righteous quotient in your life with God’s help living in you and decrease the selfish, sinful quotient. Make the contrast greater.
Remember Sampson. Sampson was called to be different. He was called to do a work. He was called to be unique in his own time and his own way, but Sampson sank back into his human nature. Sampson sort of thwarted the very thing, the calling, that he was called to do by sinking back into his own selfish, carnal human natures and tendencies. We must model the character that we preach. You can’t speak that which you are not. You can’t speak of that which you are not. You cannot tell people, including your own children, what to do if you are not doing it. So we must model the character that we want others to emulate, including family members, people in the body of Christ, children. God said that we must first do and then teach. And people have a keen sense for hypocrisy. Young people especially. Just very, very keen in detecting hypocrisy. Saying one thing and yet doing another. And yet people, all people I think honor and appreciate and respect one who is genuinely a person of high character, godliness. So we need to set an example. We need to be a bright light throughout the day.
The second point is teach and share. Teach and share God’s truth. You might think well I’m not a teacher. Oh, yes you are. You were called to teach, and you have been teaching. If you would stop and just think back in your lifetime the friends you’ve had at school that asked about why you are why you do the things you do. The people at work. The neighbors. Others who are curious about why you are unique and different. Why you’re such an outstanding employee or a friend. Oh yes we have opportunities to teach, and we also have opportunities to teach children right in our own household. Right in our own household. It’s very important that we teach our children. Every child who grows up and becomes baptized and marries and has a family and has children who grow up and their lives are blessed, all of these individuals are first fruits in the kingdom of God, co-rulers with Christ, and they also are workers to set an example and radiate the happiness that comes from living God’s way of life. In I Peter 3:15 it says…
I Peter 3:15. "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you…"
Always be read to give an answer for the hope that lies within you. That’s being ready to teach, ready to answer, to share. It might be a child. It might be another church member. It may be someone new in the faith. Maybe a neighbor, a colleague or whatever, but this is part of our calling. We need to teach and share God’s truth with others.
Many of you have taught new people and that’s a wonderful thing. And I just love it when anyone has the opportunity to teach others. It was exciting to me recently when one of our deacons, Gary Simms, was invited by his family to give the funeral sermon back in Iowa to a hundred people who none of them new anything about the truth even though he was a family member grieving, too, he got up and gave them a sermon about the truth. Now not always do events like that come about, but when they do whatever form they come we should be ready, and it says…
Verse 15. "…with meekness and fear…"
Or deep respect. It’s not us. It’s not you. It’s not me. It’s God and Jesus Christ who get the credit.
The third point is do this work diligently. Do your work and be diligent about it. Be diligent about being an example and a teacher. Jesus mentioned some back in Mark the 4th chapter that are ones who hear the word, but the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, the desires for other things entering in choke the word and it becomes unfruitful. It reminds me again of Sampson who called to make a difference, but he got off into personal pursuits. He got off into chasing some foreign women of a foreign god and that sort of entrapped him and bundled him up and he never really got around to doing what God him for.
We shouldn’t allow ourselves to miss out on being successful in what God has called us for. John the Baptist was successful. Imagine if John the Baptist said I’m too busy catching locusts. I don’t have time to tell anybody about Christ. What if the apostle John at the end of the first century when all the heresy said, ah, nuts to those guys. I was there; I don’t need. I need to be old and rock in my rocker. He may not have even been able to pen his own words. Some people say that they were actually written for him as he had to speak them. Quite a lot of discussions by theologians about that, but nevertheless he got it done. He didn’t say, oh, I’m old and tired. He got it done. He didn’t say, oh, I’m in prison I can’t do anything here.
And so you and I need also to be diligent in getting our work done. You know the challenges that face us today are aspects of character. Character erosion in trying to prevent that because all around us character is just <inaudible>. And materialism, self sufficiency, the busy lifestyle, the business that just grows and grows. It can choke out the word of God. It can choke out the calling that we’ve all been called to do.
So in closing, we have been given the privilege of participating in the work of God. Laborers of the gospel. Examples of godliness. Ambassadors of the gospel and of the kingdom of God. Our job is important. It’s crucial. It’s essential. It’s vital. The world needs it and Jesus Christ is working right along side us. Let’s be strong in living our faith and sharing it with those that we have opportunity to.