GREAT IN THE SIGHT
OF THE LORD
Luke 1:15
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: HOW THEY GOT SAM TO CHURCH
1. The story is told of a small church where the small congregation had tried for years to get the biggest “sinner” in town, Sam, to come to church.
2. Sam the sinner would have nothing to do with the church. He wouldn’t even come on Easter or Christmas.
3. One day the small church building caught fire. Being the days before fire engines, the town’s folk all pitched in to for a bucket brigade.
4. From the local stream, all the way to the church, they formed a human chain. Passing along the buckets of water, they desperately tried to extinguish the flames.
5. The pastor of the church was so engrossed in the struggle, that is was several minutes before he noticed that Sam was standing next to him, passing along the buckets. 6. The pastor looked at Sam with sweat rolling down his brow and said “Well it look’s like we finally got you to come to church, huh Sam?”
7. Sam handed the pastor another bucket and said “Yep, I guess your right. But pastor, this is the first time the church has been on fire!”
B. TEXT
“Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord.” Lk. 1:13-15.
“I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he” Luke 7:28
C. THESIS
1. Jesus said there was no greater prophet in the Old Testament period than John. That’s an astounding statement when you think about such greats as Moses, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Daniel, and Samuel!
2. What made John so great? I want us to look at FOUR marks of greatness in John, so that we can make our lives great too.
3. The title of this message is “Great in the Sight of the Lord.”
I. GREAT IN HIS VISION
A. RECOGNIZED THE TIMES
1. The Bible says that the men of King David's time, who assembled to make him king, were those “who understood the times and knew what Israel should do” 1 Chron. 12:32. This great complement applied to John the Baptist as well.
2. John the Baptist entered a world of great change.
a. The near-Eastern cultural tradition that had dominated for 3000 years, was giving way to the pagan Greek influences.
b. The Jews who returned from Babylonian captivity withstood the influence of the Persian, the Egyptian, and the Greek empires.
c. The Sadducees controlled the high priesthood and didn't accept the supernatural. The Pharisees controlled the synagogues, but became too legalistic and theological hair-splitters.
e. The Romans had begun to rule this area of the world and to maintain order. It was time for a great change.
3. Onto this stage came John the Baptist. He was a trailblazer, a spiritual pioneer. He had no prophetic model like Samuel or Elijah. No prophet had arisen for 400 years.
4. “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keeps the law, happy is he” Prov. 29:18. No man lives beyond his vision.
5. John the Baptist got a clear vision of what he was supposed to do to make things different. Many of us don’t have a clear vision of the purpose of our lives and so we don’t achieve the alteration we’re supposed to bring.
6. ILLUSTRATION.
a. A Vietnam veteran who had been a pilot came back to the States and rejoined his family. He was listless, depressed, unmotivated. Problems developed in his home life. Finally, he went to see a counselor.
b. After visiting, the counselor summarized, "The problem is, you lack a vital center around which to arrange your life." Do YOU lack that vital center of Jesus’ kingdom?
7. HUMOR
a. A Polish man with poor eyesight decided to have his vision tested. An optician showed him a wall chart with the letters J A N U S Z N O S A C Z and asked him if he could read it.
b. “Sure I can read it,” the man replied, “In fact, I actually know that guy!”
B. KNEW HIS ROLE
1. Someone has defined greatness as "living your life for a cause greater than yourself." ARE YOU DOING THAT? This is one of the traits that made John the Baptist great.
2. His father Zechariah was one of the sons of Aaron who served as priest in the Temple. What a high calling! But John saw an even greater need; the people of Israel must be turned back to their God.
3. He knew who he was & what he was supposed to do.
“When the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was, He … confessed freely, "I am not the Christ." "Who are you?...What do you say about yourself?"
4. John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "I am the voice one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all mankind will see God's salvation'" Jn. 1:19-23; Lk. 3:4-6.
5. John's mission was to go before Christ and plow the hardened ground, bringing the people of Israel to repentance. Then Christ could come and plant the seed.
6. We live in the "Last days," just before the second coming of the Lord. Ours is the time of HARVEST! Many of the parables of Jesus instruct us to go into his vineyard and work, or to invest his money, or to harvest his wheat.
7. We don't have to do as much thinking about God's will for our lives; it's very clear. Jesus is coming back and we must gather in the harvest before the judgment falls.
8. How was John so clear on his mission? Because he was…
II. GREAT IN HIS PRAYER LIFE
A. HE DISCIPLINED HIMSELF TO HEAR FROM GOD
1. The Bible tells us that he broke from his culture, probably early in life, and withdrew to the desert areas of Judea, along the Jordan.
2. He suffered in the food and clothing department; he lived off the land eating locusts and wild honey and wearing clothes made of camel's hair , like Elijah, 2 Kings 1:8.
3. The apostle Paul, when he was first converted, also went three years into the desert. What was the result? These men heard from God!
4. Now you and I don't have to eat bugs and go live in the woods to hear from God! But God does want us to seek his face, to know his will for our lives and to hear His voice.
5. Sometimes it takes turning off the television, the iPod, Facebook, the radio, and the computer, and getting some lengthy QUIET TIME with God.
6. Normally the blare of our culture drowns out the still small voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to us.
7. BUT SOME ARE OF US ARE HARD OF HEARING
a. A man with a deaf wife checked into a motel. The wife woke him up in the middle of the night with a headache and asked him to go to the car to get some aspirin.
b. Groggy with sleep, he pulled on his robe, and trudged out to the car. He found the aspirin and turned toward the motel. But he couldn’t remember which room was his.
c. After thinking a moment, he returned to the car and honked the horn until all the motel rooms lit up...all but one.
d. It's his wife's room, of course. He locked up his car and headed toward the only room without a light on.
8. It’s possible that God can be speaking so loud that most people hear Him, yet we won’t! God says, "Be still and know that I am God." We must get still to hear from God!
B. OUR PURPOSE? FROM GOD’S MOUTH
1. We can't really know what God wants us to do unless it's revealed to us from God. The revelation of his call came to John suddenly; “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar…during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert.” Luke 3:1-2.
2. Of the Prophet Isaiah, it says, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings….And they were calling to one another: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined!
For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for." Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
3. Once Isaiah got a personal revelation of the reality of God and dealt with his own personal issues of sin, THEN he began to hear the voice of the Lord and received his calling from God. This is God's pattern for us to follow.
4. Mark this down; You can never be great FOR God, unless you HAVE a great God!
III. GREAT IN HIS COURAGE
A. HE SPOKE WITH AUTHORITY
1. His vision of God and his knowledge of his purpose gave him the ability to speak God’s message with authority. D. L. Moody stated, “I may be only a common man, but I pledge from this day forward to have an uncommon devotion to God!" His devotion made an incredible impact on his generation; ours can too.
2. Mark 1:5 tells the impact of his preaching; “The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.” This was quite a feat, people travelling many miles into desert country to hear a ragged man yell about judgment, but the attraction was the anointing of God on him!
3. Let’s don’t neglect to get the anointing of God on us. Simple prayer for God’s presence will make a lot of difference when you go to witness to someone!
B. HE REBUKED PEOPLE IN SIN
1. He rebuked the religious leaders (Sadducees and Pharisees) when they came to hear him. That’s a sure-fire way of becoming unpopular! He called them"You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?” Matt. 3:7.
2. John also rebuked King Herod, telling him it wasn’t lawful he should have his brother Philip's wife.
3. What gave John such courage? He knew he had been entrusted with authority to speak for God. Christian, so have YOU! Jesus said, “As the Father has sent Me, so send I You.”
4. Jesus said, “Whoever acknowledges Me before men, I will also acknowledge him before My Father in heaven” Mt. 10:32. He went on to say that if we’re “ashamed of Him before men,” He’ll be ashamed of us before His Father(Mk. 8:38).
5. Let’s be courageous in our faith and unashamed to speak openly of our Savior, Jesus Christ!
IV. GREAT IN HIS MENTORING
A. THE 1ST CENTURY IMPERATIVE OF MENTORING
1. One of the greatest things about John was his mentoring. He gathered about him the most hungry and sincere seekers of God and taught them what he had learned.
2. When Jesus appeared on the scene, John pointed him out and said, "Behold the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world." Taking a cue from him, Andrew, the brother of Peter, who was one of John's disciples, immediately followed Jesus and became His disciple. Many of John's disciples became Jesus’ followers.
3. We’re not only to tell the good news, but to make disciples. Jesus's said, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (28:19).
4. The apostle Paul gives his command concerning discipleship, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others” 2 Tim. 2:2. Paul states the principle of multi-generational discipleship.
B. 21ST CENTURY MENTORING
1. Ours is a generation that has finally rediscovered mentoring. We all ought to mentor someone else, to leave our impression of Christ on someone else.
2. We don’t have to sing good, or preach good, but we can all make one person!
3. One of the things that made John great was that he trained others who were to follow after him. Many of the early Christians had been John's disciples.
4. Isaiah prophesied that he would “pave the way” for Christ. John did this by mentoring many of the people that eventually formed the early church. What a great legacy!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. This is the true story of a soldier who was at Pearl Harbor. On the night before they were attacked by the Japanese imperial fleet, he and about 12 of his buddies went to a Bible study. He was asked to quote his favorite Scripture from memory. Although he had gone to church all of his life, he froze and couldn't remember a single one. He had to say, "I'm sorry, I just don't know any verses."
2. He went home that evening, spiritually whipped. He thought, "Here I am. I've grown up in church and I can't even remember a Scripture verse. I'm still a baby."
3. Little did he know that on the next day the sirens would be raised high, and he would go to his battle station. He said, "I looked overhead and there was smoke all over the harbor, and those Japanese planes were flying all over us."
4. He continued, "I grabbed my gun, but all we had in them was fake ammunition. But in panic, I grabbed my gun and fired into the air at the planes. I was firing blanks for 15 minutes.
5. And while I was there God spoke to me. God said to me, "That's exactly how your life is; your life is full of blanks. There is no power, no effectiveness, no salt, no light, just blanks. And there's a real enemy all around you bombing you a shooting you, but you have no power!"
6. The soldier said, "On the deck of that ship, I looked to God and said, "If You will let me live through this, I'll get out of this baby carnal Christian stage, and I'm going to grow up and become Holy Spirit-filled so that I will no longer fire
blanks in my life!"
B. ALTAR CALL
1. Wouldn’t you like for God to speak about you like you did about John the Baptist? To say that you were great in the kingdom of God? We can be!
2. But it means we need to repent, to seek the face of God, to get a revelation of how great God is, to get a vision of what he wants us to do, to be courageous, and to mentor the next generation.
3. How many of you need a new revelation of God? A new vision for your life? A new courage to stand up for Jesus? Let’s come to the front and draw near to God; let’s make new commitments to Him!
