Journeying With John - It’s a Trip (JWJ-04)
A Man Sent from God
John 1:6-8
This morning I want to talk with you about the greatest man who ever lived. Do you know who that is? It is not Jesus. That is a good answer - but He is, after all, God. Do you know who the greatest man was who ever lived? His name is John, John the Baptist. I say that because that is what Jesus said.
Matthew 11:11 “Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist!”
I want to talk with you about the greatest man who ever lived, and then I want to tell you how you can be greater than that.
Our series is entitled “Journeying With John, It’s a Trip.”
Open your Bibles with me, if you will, to the Gospel written by the Apostle of Light, the Apostle of Life, the Apostle of Love. We discovered last week that biblically it is appropriate to refer to John using those three terms. John and this first chapter.
There are not many people that the Bible gives us as much detail on as John the Baptist - yet his ministry probably only lasted about 6 months. He was unlike anybody else in the Bible - would strike fear in the average pastor now-a-days. They say that nothing strikes fear in the heart of a pastor like a wild eyed Charismatic woman who introduces herself as an intercessor that God has called to his church (that will scare even the most hardened of us) - but I think John the Baptist would have sent even the best of us looking for cover.
He was crude, strong, yet humble. His diet was very weird and his wardrobe very limited. He had godly parents (Luke 1:5-6); a supernatural birth (Luke 1:7) and was filled with the Spirit (Luke 1:15). The spirit of Elijah was on him and he was the for-runner of the Lord (Luke 1:17). He would not have lasted one Sunday in most churches in the West. Yet Jesus calls him the greatest man who ever lived. So I want to talk with you this morning about A Man Sent From God.
John 1:6-8 - Read - Pray.
There are a number of things I want to encourage us from John - I believe these are amongst the reasons Jesus said he was the greatest man every born. I also believe that these keys are exactly what you and I need as we pursue God. Are you ready. If we are you pursue God we need . . .
1. A Clear Sense of Divine Call
Our passage reads, “There was a man sent from God.” (John 1:6)
John himself describes himself in Isaiah’s words; “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord!’” – John 1:23
John understood that he was not simply here on this earth to make a living and get by in life. He was here with a distinctive and a divine call.
You see my friend, when God wants to do a thing, He equips and He calls a man or a woman. Every child of God is unique and has a unique calling on his or her life.
There was a man sent from God - an ordinary man. God did not send and angel dragging a banner behind him or a fiery chariot blazing a message across the skies. He sent a man, an ordinary man. That is what He always does.
When God has a task He wants done, He seeks a man to do it . . . or else He leaves it undone:
Eph. 4:1 “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.”
Precious believer - its time to walk your call, walk your call.
I’m just a teacher, or I’m just a plumber, or I am just a stay at home Mom - you are never just an anything. You are what you are and do what you do by the call of the sovereign God of the universe.
Now this is important and I would hate for you to miss this. What made John the Baptist special was not that he had a special call - what made him special was that he was John the Baptist. It is not your call that makes you special. God made you special and put a call upon your life.
God has endowed each and every one of His children with the gifts, talents and abilities they need in order to fulfill a unique and a divine calling. Inside of you may be a preacher, a prophet, a singer, a dancer, a teacher.
God forgive us. While we spend time looking for better programs, God is looking for better people. “While men look for better methods, God looks for better men” (E. M. Bounds).
1. A Clear Sense of Divine Call
2. A Costly Commitment to Obey God
Here is what stands out - a lifestyle of costly obedience. You see, there is no such thing as instant costly obedience -
Many people have come to substitute lip service for obedience, or worship for obedience, or fulfilling a ministry for obedience.
Jesus said, “If you love me you will obey my commandments.” The thing that marks God’s children is obedience.
Faith cannot make up what lack of obedience lost.
Right confession cannot nullify what wrong living creates
Whenever you talk obedience, you talk cost - there is not such thing as obedience that is not costly - but disobedience is costlier still.
All over the world obedience costs way more than it does here - but if the church struggles to obey at this low cost entry level - how will we fair when the chips are down?
We were speaking about this at study the other night - how will you fair under persecution? You know who will fair well? It is the people who are faithful in church now. Watch the people that are faithful week in and week out, who pursue their ministry week in and week out - who obey the Lord now. They are the ones who will stand.
David “I will not offer to the Lord my God that which has cost me nothing.”
“For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him.” Phil. 1:29
Obedience does not cater to the mind-set that wants to be pampered.
Obedience becomes the natural outflow when my focus is on Christ and not on myself.
Costly obedience . . . is forfeiting our right to ourselves. It is choosing to surrender our wills to God’s will for us. It is relinquishing the right to try to control our world and the people in it. It is turning away from deciding how we will bless ourselves and allowing God to determine how He will bless us through submission to Him.
Live for the Kingdom
1. A Clear Sense of Divine Call
2. A Costly Commitment to Obey God
3. A Genuine Sense of Humility
John did no miracles and nor did he command great congregations. You would not find him in an Armani suit or at the tables of the rich and famous. John did not heal the sick, raise the dead, or feed the hungry crowds. He did not walk on water, or cast out the demons. So why did Jesus call him the greatest man who ever lived?
Humility
One of the reasons was his humility. “I must decrease that he might increase.”
John lived with this purpose in mind - the glory of God.
There is no greater power on this earth than a humble person pursuing their ministry and seeking to glorify God.
Humility is the center of our spirituality. Without humility we will receive nothing from God.
Without humility, we disqualify ourselves before God.
Without humility we make ourselves inaccessible to God.
Psalm 25:9 “He leads the humble in justice, And He teaches the humble His way.”
Humility keeps your heart tender and pliable before God so that you are always willing to say, “Lord, not my will, but Your will be done.”
In other words, it removes selfishness as a motivation for the things you do. This is called dying to self. It is a putting to death of the tendency of your flesh to motivate you to serve your own interests
Humility Releases Grace - James 4:6 says “God gives grace to the humble but He opposes the proud!”
“A great definition of the Christian grace of humility is found in the union of the highest self-respect with the uttermost abandon of sacrifice in service. A man who knows his own superior worth, and is yet willing to serve his inferiors in Christian love is a humble man……genuine humility leads the strong to serve the weak. It never underestimates its own worth, but in utter unselfishness it is ready to sacrifice its own claims at any moment for the general good. Genuine humility loses all its self-conceit with out losing its self-respect.” Hastings
So if that is what it is how do we do it? Now this is very hard because, we live in the age of complete self-expression. This is an age where you are not really free unless you can do what you want, when you want, and as often as you want. Anything that stops this self-expression is not only unfair, it is probably un-healthy as well as cruel and should not be allowed. It is hard because it would seem to be humble is to let yourself be un-noticed and un-rewarded.
When you are humble . . .
1. You will be highly regarded
2. You will enjoy His presence.
3. You will be delivered by him
4. You will be lifted up and exalted by Jesus
5. You will be great in the kingdom of God
6. You will receive more grace to live the Christian life
“But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’" James 4:6
1. A Clear Sense of Divine Call
2. A Costly Commitment to Obey God
3. A Genuine Sense of Humility
4. A Glorious Message of Hope
John pointed to Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” [John 1:29]
There is an arrogance in self righteousness that thinks it can live the sinless life, and there is a pride in false humility that expects to live the sinless life. But there is a richness in true humility that recognizes its need of Christ and that, when it fails, reaches to Him because he is our hope, He is our righteousness, He is our forgiveness and our way forward.
Matthew 11:11 “Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
There is no greater power on this earth than a humble person pursuing their ministry and seeking to glorify God.
Acts 1:8 “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
After years of service in South Africa, the famous missionary Robert Moffat returned to Scotland to recruit helpers. When he arrived at the church one cold wintry night, he was dismayed that only a small group had come out to hear him. What bothered him even more was that the only people in attendance were ladies. Although he was grateful for their interest, he had hoped to challenge men. He had chosen as his text Proverbs 8:4, "Unto you, O men I call." In his discouragement he almost failed to notice one small boy in the loft pumping the bellows of the organ. Moffat felt frustrated as he gave the message, for he realized that very few women could be expected to undergo the rigorous life in undeveloped jungles. But God works in mysterious ways.
Although no one volunteered that evening, the young fellow assisting the organist was deeply moved by the challenge. As a result, he promised God he would follow in the footsteps of this pioneer missionary. And he remained true to his vow. When he grew up, he went and ministered to the unreached tribes of Africa. His name was David Livingstone! Moffat never ceased to wonder that his appeal which he had intended for men had stirred a young boy, who eventually became a mighty power of God.
Precious believer - there was a man sent from God. God is still looking for men and woman who will follow Him. When God wants to do something great - He still uses humble men and women. This morning God is looking for those who, like John the Baptist, will have . . .
1. A Clear Sense of Divine Call
2. A Costly Commitment to Obey God
3. A Genuine Sense of Humility
4. A Glorious Message of Hope
God is looking for a generation of John the Baptists - will you be that man or that woman this morning who says, “Here am I, Lord use me.”
Will you pray with me please.
Amen!
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