The Palestinian sun beat down on the two friends as they listened to John exhort the crowds to repentance. For the past few weeks they had followed John everywhere he had gone, listened to his message, and watched the crowd’s reaction.
At first they were sure that he was the one that the prophets had pointed to. The one who would deliver Israel from the hands of the Romans. This guy even looked like a prophet, that long wild hair, a beard that reached down to the middle of his chest and the eyes, his eyes shone with a zealots rage.
But as he preached he said things like, “I am not the Christ”, and “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.”
Who would it be? Who could be more powerful then John the Baptist? And then today, a day that really had nothing special about it John said, “Behold the lamb of God”. He was the one, the one they had waited so long for the one who was going to change the world, the messiah, the Christ, the son of God. They were so stunned that they just turned and followed him, thinking that he didn’t look so special as a matter of fact John looked more like a messiah should look then this man.
But they didn’t say anything they just followed wondering what they should do next, what they should say, how they should approach him. And then it happened he turned around and saw them following and asked them point blank, “what do you want?”
This is week four of our Red Letter Summer series. For something to be marked in Red Letters means there is a certain importance or significance attached to it. The practice began over 500 years ago when they started marking Holy Days on the Calendar in Red. They were Red Letter Days. And then, just a little over a 100 years ago the first Red Letter New Testament and Bibles were printed with the words of Christ printed in red. I would suspect, although not a hundred percent certain that the majority of bible printed today would be Red Letter editions.
And these are the first words of Christ as recorded by John, obviously not the first words of Christ, simply the first written down in John’s Gospel.
The question is asked in John’s gospel Chapter 1 verse 38, and was asked almost 2000 years ago by Jesus of Nazareth. But it is a question that is timeless. It is a question that remains, the question of the day, the $64,000 question. The question that Jesus Christ still asks everyone who seeks to follows after him. “What do you want?” “What are you after?” And it is a good question.
Jesus Christ wanted to know what these two men wanted, why they were following him and what they were looking for. Notice that he didn’t ask, “Who do you want” but instead he asked “What do you want?”
Were they the legalist who wanted to indulge in conversations about the law? You know the Pharisees? They’re still around today. You know the ones if Christ returned tomorrow they would proudly tell him “We didn’t let anyone call themselves a Christian if they weren’t Wesleyans, or they smoked or drank, or wore their hair too long or went to the movies or danced, or had any fun at all.”
Or maybe they were just ambitious time servers, they were after power and position and were just seeking to use God for their own means, and they’d follow whoever they had to follow.
Or maybe they were fierce zealots who were looking for a political demagogue or military commander to overthrow the pagan Romans and restore Israel to her proper greatness.
Or perhaps they were just humble men of prayer looking for a light to point them toward God and the higher calling. Or then again maybe they were just puzzled bewildered sinners who were stumbling along through life and were looking for a light on the road.
Whatever and whoever they were Christ recognised one thing in them, and that was the fact they that wanted something. And however noble or base their motives were they were after something.
And as we come to Christ two thousand years later we have to recognize the truth of the fact that everyone who comes to Jesus is looking for something. Good, bad or indifferent it doesn’t matter the fact is that you are looking for something.
Everyone of us is striving for something as we plod through this life, from day to day, week to week, month to month and year to year. You are looking for the one thing that makes you tick, the thing that shakes your tree, rattles your chain, floats your boat or scratches you where you itch.
There are those who seek security, you know a house, a job, a family, and when their life approaches those twilight years a pension. And there is nothing wrong with seeking security but it is a low goal. A basic goal of survival.
Others are looking toward their career, the power, promise, position and prestige. They pour their heart and soul into their work. And if it is directed to good it can be a high aim, but often it has a price that must be paid. And if that price is sacrificing family and enjoyment, and sometimes God then it becomes a distorted aim. And of course it is limited by the horizon of time and health.
The thing that most everyone is seeking is peace with God, and when we find that then he directs our aims and points us in the right directions.
If Jesus Christ was to tap you on the shoulder this morning and ask you “What are you after from me, what do you want?” what would your answer be?
Perhaps it’s time that you thought about it, “what do you want?”
Matthew 16:9-10 Jesus said “Don’t you understand even yet? Don’t you remember the 5,000 I fed with five loaves, and the baskets of leftovers you picked up? Or the 4,000 I fed with seven loaves, and the large baskets of leftovers you picked up?”
1) Some Were Looking for Stuff. I wonder how long it was after Jesus started feeding the multitudes that some people only came for the sandwiches?
There are those today who have commercialised the gospel and are trying to make a buck from it. Now you may think that is a new problem but one of the reasons that Martin Luther left the Roman Catholic Church was their practise of selling indulgences, profiting from grace. You could pay now and sin later.
And Paul wrote in Philippians 1:15 It’s true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives.
Paul saw that there were those who preached for themselves. And really if we think of those who preach for monetary gain we don’t have to look very far to find the excesses.
The problem is that we often focus on the major excesses, but if we ignore the Benny Hinns and Joel Osteen, we discover that some of those very people who were hurling stones at the TV evangelists need to examine their own lives.
Some of the TV Evangelists are earning ten time what an average Canadian family makes and probably fourteen or fifteen times what the majority of their supporters make. But if you can’t admire these men for anything else admire their ambition and dedication to the task. If nothing else you have to admit they preach well.
Some of the poorest preachers in the world are preaching for the very same reason that the Copelands and Jakes are preaching for. And the difference between 1.6 million dollars a year and twenty thousand dollars a year is minute if the dollars are the reason why the person is preaching.
The bottom line is not how much you make in marketing Jesus, it is the fact that when you preach to simply make a living, or because it’s a job, or to drive a rolls Royce you are simply pawning the blood of Jesus Christ to make a few bucks. And that applies equally to the millionaires as to the pauper who preaches because he has neither the talent or inclination to do anything else.
And this doesn’t just apply to preachers, there are lay people out there that are just as guilty, they see Christianity as an investment. Years ago I had a friend in Amway and you could always tell when the speaker at a weekend rally had been a Christian because Bruce was in church on Sunday hoping that this was another step to success.
There are people that say “Well if I give God this amount of money then he will double it.” or “ If I go to Sunday school, morning worship, and mid-week services then God will see to it that I prosper.”
What do you want? Be honest, if it’s material blessings you want then at least be honest enough to admit it.
But that’s not all people are looking for, Mark 3:10 He had healed many people that day, so all the sick people eagerly pushed forward to touch him.
2) Some Were Looking for Healing There’s nothing inherently wrong with that. The reason that the sick people eagerly pushed forward to touch Jesus was because Jesus was healing sick people. You’d have to be fool to be sick and see people being healed and not want to be healed as well.
But for some that’s all Jesus is. A healer. When they are sick, or their children or family member is sick they remember that Jesus healed the sick and they begin to pray and they contact Karen and ask to be put on the e-prayer chain.
It kind of reminds me of the story of the two old guys who were talking the day after a hurricane went through and the first one said, “Quite the storm last night.” To which his friend replied, “Yep, God probably heard a lot of unfamiliar voices.” It’s unfortunate that some people only talk to Jesus when it’s storming in their lives.
And I believe that Jesus healed people two thousand years ago, and I believe that he still heals people today. But he is so much more than a healer, he didn’t come to heal our bodies he came to heal our souls. I sometimes wonder how God must feel when we never have time for him until we need a favour.
Jesus came to bridge the gap between us and God, to allow us to enter into a relationship with the King of the Universe, Master of all Things, and there are those who treat that relationship like a giant vending machine. Put your prayers in, pull the handle and wait for a blessing to pop out.
You think of all the people that Jesus healed in the Gospels and we never hear from them again, they don’t appear at the cross, or at the resurrection. At no time in the book of Acts or in any of Paul’s letters is someone described as the blind man that Jesus gave sight to or the cripple man whose legs were healed.
Two things that we should never forget when we talk about Jesus and the accounts of those he healed, he didn’t heal everybody, and everybody he healed eventually died. It wasn’t a forever healing. Although there is a forever healing, and that is the healing of the soul that Jesus offers.
But not everyone who comes to Jesus is looking to become wealthy and or healthy.
Mark 10:37 They replied, “When you sit on your glorious throne, we want to sit in places of honor next to you, one on your right and the other on your left.”
3) Some Were Looking for Power Jesus had just gotten through talking about his crucifixion and what happens? The Sons of Thunder, John and James, want to get dibs in on the power and the influence. Kind of like Ashleigh Brilliant who said “All I want is a warm bed and a kind word and unlimited power.”
Where had they been, had their minds been on vacation? Christ has just finished saying that he would be mocked, and scourged and spit on and killed and they say “ Yeah yeah, oh by the way when you get your power can we be your vice-presidents?” Come on guys give your heads a shake and see if they rattle.
They had come to Jesus believing he was the Messiah but not necessarily knowing what type of Messiah. They obviously pictured him overthrowing the Romans and establishing an earthly kingdom. He was saying one thing but they were hearing another thing. He must of felt like Foghorn Leghorn who said “I keep pitchin’ ‘em and you keep missin’ ‘em. Ya gotta keep your eye on the ball.”
Today there are men and women who come to Christ because it is the political thing to do. And that has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with what people think.
If the reason you come to church each Sunday is because of what people would say if you didn’t then you are looking for the very same thing James and John were looking for.
If you are hoping that people will say, “Oh what a good person, they go to Cornerstone” then you are looking for power and position. In one community I pastored there was a politically correct church, if you wanted to be seen by those who counted then you went to that church. And the only thing some of those people wanted was the political and social benefits that could be reaped from the name of Christ.
Luke 10:25 One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?”
4) Some Were Looking for Eternal Life.
And that’s valid, that’s part of what our salvation offers. However there are a lot of people out there who are taking Jesus Christ as nothing more or less than a fire escape from hell. They don’t want to suffer the torment of hell so they say the magic words and Allah kazzam they are on their way to heaven. And all they have to do is come and sit in church every Sunday to keep the promise current.
Hold unto your seats, Jesus didn’t come just to save you from hell. And Jesus doesn’t want you to accept him just to escape hell. The sincerity of the person who comes to Christ simply to get into heaven can only be compared to the child who performs for his parents so he can receive a candy or some other treat.
Do you remember in the Eighties when Oral Roberts told the world that he had a vision where God told him if he couldn’t raise eight million dollars for medical missions that he was going to die? Jimmy Swaggert responded to that by saying “God is not a terrorist.”
And yet there are many people who come to Christ as hostages under the threat of hell. There is no joy in their Christian life, because even though they have been given the promise of eternal life through repentance and forgiveness they live under the constant fear of losing that which God has given them. And no wonder some Christians are so miserable, they think they are paying a ransom of their fun so they can get into heaven.
If your primary reason for coming to Jesus Christ is to achieve eternal life then your aim is like the person who only wishes to be secure in this life, not wrong but it is low and it is base.
There is more to Christianity then a hell to be shunned and a heaven to be gained. There is a life to be lived, a God to be worshiped, a Christ to be served, a joy to be expressed and a world to be changed.
What do you want ? Eternal life? Ok that’s fair, but there is so much more than that.
John 21:15 After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I love you.” “Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him.
5) Some Were Looking to Love Jesus.
I don’t know why Peter followed Jesus the first time, I really don’t. Perhaps he saw an opportunity to pick up a few extra coins, maybe he knew that Jesus could heal his Mother-in-law or perhaps he saw the opportunity to become more than a fisherman. Or maybe he was looking for eternal life.
I don’t know why Peter followed Jesus the first time, but the second time around Jesus made sure that his motives were pure.
If you are in this for the money then there is a good chance that you will die broke, if it’s a healing you are looking for it will only be temporary. If you’re here for the power and position don’t be surprised if you are humbled. And if eternal life is your only goal, well fear can only keep you faithful for so long.
When it comes right down to brass tacks, right down to where the rubber meets the road the only answer to the question “what do you want?” can only be “Jesus I want to love you and serve you.” no more, no less.
It was John F. Kennedy who said “Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.” Perhaps it wouldn’t be a stretch to rephrase that and say “Ask not what God can do for you, ask what you can do for your God.”
And it’s when we come seeking to enter into that relationship with Jesus, when we offer him our love that so often those other things happen. I truly believe that there is prosperity in the gospels. Not a magic genie in the bottle type prosperity but when grace gets a hold of us it makes us better people, better parents and better employees and those things pay dividends.
The person who comes to Christ and gets their addictions under control, the liar and thief who come to Christ and become honest people, people who can be trusted. The employee who becomes a person of integrity and provides his employer with all that he is paid for and more. And there are tangible benefits to being a changed person.
And Jesus does offer healing in this life and Jesus does offer healing in the next life and that is the promise of eternal life.
And here is the promise, 1 John 4:9-10 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
And so today, as we come to the communion table, Jesus is still asking “What do you want?”
