DETRIMENTAL COMPETITION-II—John 3:22-36
A DETRIMENTAL SPIRIT
Attention:
Welcome Competition:
The shopkeeper was dismayed when a brand-new business much like his own opened up next door & erected a huge sign which read BEST DEALS.
He was horrified when another competitor opened up on his right, & announced its arrival with an even larger sign, reading LOWEST PRICES.
The shopkeeper was panicked, until he got an idea.
He put the biggest sign of all over his own shop...It read...‘MAIN ENTRANCE!’
A little ‘healthy’ competition is always welcome!
While Christians & the Church have ‘the market’ on truth, the Church can invite grave difficulties upon herself when they become competitors among themselves...When their competition becomes detrimental to God’s desire.
While empowered & triumphant in Christ, the Church & individual Christians within the church, can allow their privilege in Christ to turn into entitlement & deserving. This breeds a Competitive spirit which is Detrimental to the Christian faith.
Likewise, biblically doctrinal(truth) understanding is vital to your growth as a Christian!
*Verses :25 & 26 form the hinge/focus around which this passage flows.
John the Baptist pointed out the weakness/detriments/absurdities/incompatibilities of competitive ministry.
A competitive spirit can be detrimental to Christian ministry.
cf.—Php. 1:15-18—“Some indeed preach Christ even from envy & strife, & some also from good will: The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; & in this I rejoice, yes, & will rejoice.”
“The last thing...Jonah wanted...was for [the city of ]Nineveh to repent at his preaching; but” his... “message[from God]...produced repentance in spite of his ill intentions.”—MNTC
Local churches can operate & function as if they are in competition with other churches in the area. Any true church’s ‘competitive edge’ is supplied by Christ Jesus Himself! Together, we must be defenders of the faith(1Pet. 3:14-16; Jude :3-5).
We are always best served, & the Good News is best served, & the Kingdom of God is best served, by those who preach Christ from good will, rather than from envy & strife.
When is a competitive spirit detrimental to Christian ministry?
9 detriments of a competitive spirit to Christian ministry.
(And these all center around ‘me,’ ‘my,’ & ‘mine’!)
We have seen previously that,
A competitive spirit is detrimental to Christian ministry when...
1. Your LAND/AREA is Best(:22-23)
Today, we will also find that,
2—A competitive spirit is detrimental to Christian ministry when...
Your IMMERSION/Baptism is Best(:22b, 23b-24)
Explanation:(:22b, 23b-24)
:22—“After these things Jesus & His disciples came into the land of Judea, & there He remained with them & baptized.”
:23b—“Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there. And they came & were baptized.”
:24—“For John had not yet been thrown into prison.
The events the apostle John describes here take place prior to John the baptist’s imprisonment(future) by Herod Antipas(Mk. 6:17-28; Lk. 3:19-20 & 9:9; Mat. 14:3-4). “...& this circumstance shows, that these things were done before that journey of Christ into Galilee, mentioned in Mt 4:12,13.”—John Gill
Mk. 6:17-28—“For Herod himself had sent & laid hold of John, & bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife; for he had married her. For John had said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” Therefore Herodias held it against him & wanted to kill him, but she could not; for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just & holy man, & he protected him. And when he heard him, he did many things, & heard him gladly. Then an opportune day came when Herod on his birthday gave a feast for his nobles, the high officers, & the chief men of Galilee. And when Herodias’ daughter herself came in & danced, & pleased Herod & those who sat with him, the king said to the girl, “Ask me whatever you want, & I will give it to you.” He also swore to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom.” So she went out & said to her mother, “What shall I ask?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist!” Immediately she came in with haste to the king & asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” And the king was exceedingly sorry; yet, because of the oaths & because of those who sat with him, he did not want to refuse her. Immediately the king sent an executioner & commanded his head to be brought. And he went & beheaded him in prison, brought his head on a platter, & gave it to the girl; & the girl gave it to her mother.”
“Herodias was the daughter of Aristobulus(the son of Herod the Great) & niece of [Herod] Antipas(her half-uncle). On a trip to Rome, Herod[Antipas] had fallen in love with” Herodias. “In order to marry her he had divorced his first wife, the daughter(Phasaelis) of Aretas-IV, the king of Nabatea...” Antipas had also “persuaded Herodias to divorce her husband,” who was Herod Philip—not Philip the Tetrarch(per Josephus).—NAC
*John the Baptist’s boldness is a testimony to the sanctity of marriage, along with the resulting recognition in God’s design, that divorce is not to be undertaken for light & trivial reasons such as ‘falling in love’ with someone else!
“And there He remained with them & baptized”—
“And they came & were baptized.”—
“They”(many?) “came” to Jesus(:25-26) & John & were “baptized” there. It seems that neither Jesus nor John sought out those desiring baptism. We are not told from whence those to be “baptized” came.
Baptism obviously, by virtue of the word itself, employs immersion in water.
*I cannot understand why some choose to sprinkle or pour when they could just as easily immerse...But some do. Their reason is tied to an erroneous doctrine(no basis in biblical fact) that ‘infant baptism’ is valid!—No one would immerse an infant or young child, because they would very possibly drown!...therefore no immersive baptism!
*On the other hand, I cannot understand why some adamantly refuse anything but immersion, when a circumstance regarding the safety of a person may disallow it—i.e., permanent ‘Medical’ condition.
The important thing in any baptism was & is, that those who “came” were in fact, “baptized”/immersed—fully given/committed—to God’s plan/design!—Acceptance of that design was followed by personal repentance.
Such a baptism was & is, a public testimony of a recognition of one’s own sinfulness, understood by means of both Jesus’ & John’s preaching, coupled with a compulsion to personally repent(turn away from sin—from that which displeased God).
Baptism simultaneously pictures spiritual cleansing—thru the use of water(1Pet. 3:21-22)
1Pet. 3:21-22—“There is also an antitype which now saves us--baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven & is at the right hand of God, angels & authorities & powers having been made subject to Him.”
Baptism does NOT wash away sin!
Baptism IS a first step in the process of sanctification!
Both Jesus & John preached with & baptized under, the same message. Both messages were in view of, directed toward, & fully seated in Messiah’s arrival & power...
Mat. 3:1-2—“In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, & saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”
Mat. 4:17—“From that time Jesus began to preach & to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
BUT we must note:
Baptism by John—was fueled by a person’s personal acceptance of the PROMISED Messiah’s impending/imminent arrival.
Baptism by Jesus—on the other hand, was in recognition that Jesus Himself was the promised Messiah!
Jesus & John’s ministries were NOT parallel ministries!...Rather they were convergent ministries!
Both called for personal repentance! John's was driven by human ability, while Jesus' was driven by God’s ability!
Lk. 3:3-9, 15-18—“And he-(John)- went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet-(Isa. 40:3-5)-, saying: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled And every mountain & hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough ways smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’” Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? “Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, & do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down & thrown into the fire.”.....“Now as the people were in expectation, & all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not, John answered, saying to all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit & fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, & He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, & gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.” And with many other exhortations he preached to the people.”
You can & should declare your new-found commitment to Christ publicly. You can openly picture that repentant commitment thru demonstration, by having pronounced over you, the name of the Father, & the Son, & the Holy Spirit. You can then have your ‘old man’ declared stone cold-dead.
You can be poured, or sprinkled, or immersed with water, declaring that same ‘old man/old woman’ officially buried & ‘done away with.’ Thru those actions you will be effectively ‘immersed’ into Christ’s death & burial(Rom. 6:3-4; 1Cor. 11:26).
You can then stand—in a pool of water or without—having been declared a ‘new man/new woman’ & new creation in Christ, having been raised ‘from the dead’ in the likeness of Jesus’ resurrection, & empowered to walk in newness of life(Rom. 6:4)!
By your choosing such a public, pictorial alignment with God thru Christ, the believer is enabled & encouraged to tap into God’s power for the process of sanctification thruout the remainder of their life on earth, till Christ comes back!
Baptism is about openly, freely, & pictorially, aligning yourself with the Self-existent, Eternal, Revelatory, Trinitarian God of creation & salvation thru Jesus...And thereby, aligning yourself with His body, the Church!
Those who were Baptized into John’s ministry— openly declared that John the Baptist was the herald, harbinger or forerunner for the arrival of the promised Messiah, whom John himself had(1:29-34, 35-37) & would identify as Jesus of Nazareth.
Jn. 1:29-34, 35-37—“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, & said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ “I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.” And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, & He remained upon Him. “I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, & remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ “And I have seen & testified that this is the Son of God.” Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him speak, & they followed Jesus.”
Yet even though some people hear the truth with their ears, they may not hear with their hearts!:
Isa. 29:13-14—Therefore the LORD said: “Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths And honor Me with their lips, But have removed their hearts far from Me, And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men, Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work Among this people, A marvelous work & a wonder; For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, And the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden.”
Jer. 12:2d—“...You[God] are near in their mouth But far from their mind.”
Ezek. 33:30, 31—“As for you, son of man, the children of your people are talking about you beside the walls & in the doors of the houses; & they speak to one another, everyone saying to his brother, ‘Please come & hear what the word is that comes from the LORD.’ “So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, & they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain.”
Acts 19:1-7—“And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” So they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said to them, “Into what then were you baptized?” So they said, “Into John’s baptism.” Then Paul said, “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.” When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, & they spoke with tongues & prophesied. Now the men were about twelve in all.”
How did they miss the promise of the Holy Spirit(cf.-Jn. 1:33 above)?
“Came”[See :22, 26, 31]—paraginomai—1)To be present, to come near, approach; 2)To come forth, make one's public appearance. Strong—To become near, i.e. Approach(have arrived); by implication--To appear publicly.
From—para—Preposition—1) From, of at, by, besides, near. properly--Near; i.e. (with genitive case)--From beside, At(or in) the vicinity of, To the proximity with, Beyond or opposed to, On account of.—&—ginomai—1)To become, i.e. To come into existence, begin to be, receive being; 2) To come to pass, happen; 3) To arise, appear in history, come upon the stage; 4) To be made, finished. Used with great latitude(literal, figurative, intensive, etc.).
“Baptized”[See :22, 26]—baptizw—Verb—1) To dip repeatedly, to immerse, to submerge(of vessels sunk); 2) To cleanse by dipping or submerging, to wash, to make clean with water, to wash one's self, bathe; 3) To overwhelm.
Argumentation:
Mat. 3:1-6—“In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, & saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths straight.’” And John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; & his food was locusts & wild honey. Then Jerusalem, all Judea, & all the region around the Jordan went out to him & were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.”
*Rom. 6:3-14—“Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, & your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”
6:5—We do not ‘partially’ bury anyone!—descriptive of the mode(immersion). But we also do not ‘partially’ set someone free!—descriptive of the new life(an actual changed life)! So we have the picture(baptism/immersion) fleshed-out or detailed by the reality.
Acts 2:36-47—[Peter to those who had witnessed the audible & visible arrival of the Holy Spirit to the apostles]—“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord & Christ.” Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, & said to Peter & the rest of the apostles, “Men & brethren, what shall we do?” Then Peter said to them, “Repent, & let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; & you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you & to your children, & to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” And with many other words he testified & exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; & that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine & fellowship, in the breaking of bread, & in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, & many wonders & signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, & had all things in common, & sold their possessions & goods, & divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, & breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness & simplicity of heart, praising God & having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”
What we should do & what we want to do is give saved people a ‘proper’ immersion into & identification with the Kingdom of God. But what is ‘proper’ to being immersed in the Kingdom, can be personally interpreted variably & can become a source of conflict. Into what do you immerse people?
Illustration:
The ‘Immersion that is Best’ is the one by which a person immerses him or herself into the very death & resurrection of Jesus!...The one by which a repentant person accepts & is accepted into the family of God!
An Initiation—The Masonic ‘church’(lodge)/There are certain set procedures, rites, which must be performed in order to become a member of any type of fraternal order—The specified rites are termed an ‘order’/It is built around secrecy, exclusivity, & specificities determined by men/By means of one’s ‘immersion’ thru those rites, a person becomes a member of the fraternal order/BUT these also 'throw a little 'Jesus' in there' & tote the Bible around like an enshrined object misses the reality of true 'immersion' into Christ!/These see their IMMERSION as Best
A membership—Boat Club—Usually there are certain financial commitments--Obviously boat(of specific use or size--Wooden, Sail, Power, Fishing, Pleasure, etc.) is required/Fees & support are required, Your presence at meetings is required etc./The present members banter around their reasons as to whether to accept you as a member/All you want to do is find some camaraderie among other boat people/Your IMMERSION AS Best
* All believers Immersed in Christ hold to the 5 ‘solas’(in one form or another)—
Scripture alone(The Bible alone is our highest authority...it is the source of revelation from God & as such holds unique authority for Christians),
Faith alone(salvation comes to every individual Christian only by their personal faith in Christ Jesus),
Grace alone(We are saved by the sheer grace of God alone...salvation is unearned & is a gift of God),
Christ alone(Christ Jesus alone is our Lord, Savior, & King...the only mediator between God & man),
God’s Glory alone(We live for the glory of God alone...the ultimate goal of life is to ascribe glory to God).
*Becoming part of a local church is an open & public declaration of one’s trust in Christ, & all that is tied to that Name! The physical act of baptism does NOT accomplish the trust! The physical act of baptism is merely a function of the trust that is already there! And that manifestation at the local level ‘may’ require a ‘fine-tuning’ of belief doctrinally.
Application:
*We should not trust our physical immersion over the 'immersion' of others, because all truly immersed(the saved) belong to the very same Kingdom of God!
?In YOUR mind, Is YOUR IMMERSION/Baptism Best?
?Is YOUR spirit Detrimental to Christian Ministry?
CONCLUSION:
Visualization:
In your declaring ‘BEST DEALS’, ‘LOWEST PRICES’, or ‘MAIN ENTRANCE’ are you aiding the ‘health’ of the overall, universal Church Christ died for?
Action:
A competitive spirit is detrimental to Christian ministry when...
2. Your IMMERSION/Baptism is Best(:23-24)
1. Your LAND/AREA is Best(:22-23)
Pt. 2 only!/ presented 03/19/2017am to:
FBC Cbelle
206 Storrs Ave. SE(Ave. A)
Carrabelle, FL 32322
