It has been a while since I’ve written a blog, and especially a blog in the “Man With a Mission” series. During the holidays I finished reading the first five books of the Bible and decided to begin the New Year reading through the books written by the Apostle John: his gospel; the short New Testament books of 1, 2, and 3 John; and the book of Revelation.
John begins his gospel in a truly profound way. He introduces Jesus as “the Word”, who was with God and who was God, and who became flesh and dwelt among us. Beginning in John, chapter 1 and verse 19, he begins to speak of the ministry of John the Baptist because is intricately tied in with the coming of Jesus.
Most modern day parents find out about the coming of a baby from an over the counter test or a visit to the doctor. If we’re so inclined, we can even know whether we’re having a boy or a girl long before the baby is due. Not many of us however have found out about our child’s coming through a visit from an angel!
Not so for John! His was a very unique birth announcement.
His parents Zechariah and Elizabeth were a righteous and godly couple, but they had not had any children, and what’s worse, they were getting up in years. Things, however, were about to change!
Zechariah, a priest in the temple in Jerusalem, was fulfilling his priestly duties when an angel appeared to him with this amazing birth announcement:
“Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife . . .will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John.”
That wasn’t all the angel revealed. The angel then gave Zechariah the blueprint of God’s plans for this son. He said:
“(Your son) will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. . . . and be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah . . . . to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Wow! How many of us long for our children to have such purpose in God’s kingdom! I know I do. Zechariah and Elizabeth must have been filled with praise to the Lord for their son.
The footnote in my Life Application Bible says this about John’s mission:
“John’s role was to be almost identical to that of an Old Testament prophet – to encourage people to turn away from sin and back to God. John is often compared to the great prophet Elijah, who was known for standing up to evil rulers. . . . In preparing people for the Messiah’s (Jesus) arrival, John would do “heart transplants”. He would take stony hearts and exchange them for hearts that were soft, pliable, trusting, and open to change.”
The beginning of John’s ministry is recorded for us in Luke’s gospel, chapter 3. John, who knew his mission, finally received his marching orders.
Luke 3:1-2 “In the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar – when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Itumrea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene – during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, son of Zechariah in the desert. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”
In John’s gospel, chapter 1, verses 19-27, John, who had been traveling around encouraging people to be baptized in preparation for Messiah’s coming, was approached by some priests and Levites from Jerusalem. They asked him who he was.
Verse 20 tells us this: “John did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, ‘I am not the Christ (the Greek word for the Hebrew word Messiah)’.”
When they questioned him further he declared his purpose with the words of the prophet Isaiah, chapter 40, verse 3:
“I am the voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.”
When they asked him then why he was baptizing, he replied that while he baptized with water, there was one already among them who had not yet revealed himself. This One, referring to Jesus, who would come after John, was so much greater than he that John wasn’t even fit to untie His sandals.
The very next day John had the privilege of turning the attention of the crowds to the One whose coming he had been preparing them. When Jesus came toward him, John said:
“Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me. I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel”.
Then John gave this testimony:
“I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘the man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is He who will baptize with the Holy Spirit’. I have seen and testify that this is the Son of God.”
From that point on, many of John’s disciples began to follow Jesus.
So, put yourself in John’s place. Before he was even born, God had a ministry in mind for him. When John grew up and began doing what the Lord had called him to do, he was successful at it. People responded to his message and began following him to hear more. Many were baptized as a sign of repentance for sin in preparation for Messiah John said was coming.
And then Jesus, the Messiah everyone was waiting for, came on the scene and suddenly John became the number 2 guy.
Have you ever been part of a successful ministry and then found it eclipsed by an even more successful one?
Maybe you faithfully led the women’s or youth or choral ministry at your church for years and when you finally passed the leadership baton to someone else, the ministry exploded. It grew to the point where the room in which it met could no longer hold the number of people who wanted to come.
Undoubtedly you rejoiced over what God was doing – but did you also, maybe just a little, wonder – so how come that didn’t happen when I was in charge?
We know that John’s followers felt that way because we read about it in John, chapter 3, verses 22-30.
Jesus and his disciples were in the Judean countryside where people were being baptized. John the Baptist was also baptizing in a different area and people were constantly coming to him still to be baptized. As he was doing so, an argument erupted between some of John’s disciples and a Jewish man. John’s disciples came to him and said of Jesus:
“Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan – the one you testified about – well, he is baptizing and everyone is going to him.”
Can you hear the disappointment in their words? Maybe even whining or anger? These loyal disciples of John’s can’t bear to see people deserting their beloved master. After all, before Jesus came on the scene, everyone was flocking to John!
John doesn’t let their discouragement become his because he knew his mission. In John 3, verses 27-30, he clearly spells it out for his friends.
“A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but am sent ahead of him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine and is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less.”
How did John resist the temptation to anger, resentment and disappointment as people who had previously flocked to him now began to follow Jesus?
#1 John clearly knew his God given mission.
There was no confusion in John’s mind about who he was and what he had been appointed to do. Undoubtedly his father Zechariah clearly communicated that to him from the time he was a boy. His God given mission was to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah the prophet to be “a voice” calling others to repent of their sins in preparation for the Messiah’s coming, because through Messiah, “all mankind will see God’s salvation.”
John did exactly that, directing those who came to be baptized to the One who would come after him, but who would surpass him.
#2 John had clearly communicated his God given mission to his followers – pointing them to Jesus.
John never misled his followers into thinking HE was the Messiah. He never pretended to be something he wasn’t. He knew who he was and who he wasn’t, and when they came to question why others were deserting John and following Jesus, he clearly said: “I told you I am not the Christ, but I am sent ahead of Him”. John was content to be the person God made him to be and to fulfill the mission God had given him. He wasn’t envious of the position of another. Quite the contrary.
#3 John’s joy was in Jesus.
John clearly said he had come to announce the coming of Jesus, as the friend of the bridegroom announces the coming of the bridegroom for his bride. Now that Jesus had come, John’s joy was full and complete and his mission accomplished.
#4 The measure of John’s success was that Jesus become greater, while he became less.
John had joy over a mission accomplished. People were leaving him to follow Jesus. God had called John to point to Jesus and that is exactly what John did. Now that his mission was completed, John’s name and ministry would begin to fade into the background because the focus would be on the greater One - Jesus, Son of God, Messiah.
There did come a time when a seed of doubt entered John’s heart. Imprisoned by Herod, unable to see for himself the impact of the ministry of Jesus, John sent his disciples to ask Him: “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect another?”
Gracious Jesus, anxious to encourage his faithful follower, sent John’s disciples back to him with these words:
“Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.”
Can you imagine how this gladdened the heart of John? Taken out of the ministry picture himself, John must have rejoiced to have this confirmation that Jesus was the Messiah John had long awaited.
And then Jesus gave the highest of praise for John. In speaking to the crowd which had gathered around Him, He said:
“What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No. . . . But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written: ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you’. I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John.”
John was the “good and faithful servant” Jesus speaks of in Matthew 21.
How would it feel to have a clear picture of what it is the Lord has created you for and to fulfill the mission He has for you?
John had a clear and unique mission, given only to him, and he faithfully fulfilled it.
The Lord has given you gifts of time, talents and treasure, which He wants you to use in your field of ministry.
What are they?
To what ministry field do you think He has fitted and called you? Working with children? Women? Men? Youth? The elderly? Widows? The poor? The mission field in a foreign nation?
How do you think He would have you use what He has given you to expand His kingdom? To direct others to Jesus? To make Jesus greater?
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