‘TIS THE SEASON
JOHN 5:35
I. The Season of John the Baptist
A. The Ministry of John the Baptist
1. He was a burning and a shining light
2. Several words can be used for light
a. Luchnos – a portable lamp or luminary.
b. phōs – light, source of luminousness
3. A light shining in the darkness lighting the path to the true light – Jesus Christ.
4. John 1:6-8 There was a man sent from God; his name was John. This one came as a witness, to bear witness concerning the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
B. The Initial Reaction to John’s Ministry
1. “You were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.”
2. Rejoice – literally “jump for joy’
3. When John first appeared among them, they were fond, and even proud of him; they gloried in him that a man of such uncommon endowments, and of such exemplary holiness, was raised up among them.
4. John the Baptists message resulted in his being extremely popular.
5. John’s message “The King is Coming” was met with great joy and elation.
6. They rejoiced that he professed to be sent to introduce the Messiah.
7. Mark 1:5 And all the land of Judea, and those of Jerusalem, went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.
8. Matthew 3:5 Then Jerusalem and all Judea went out to him, and all the region round about Jordan.
9. The Jews were attracted to John “like moths to a candle” (Bernard)
C. The Rejection of John’s Ministry.
1. “You were willing FOR A SEASON to rejoice in his light.”
2. In the original, for an “hour” - denoting only a short time. They did it, as many others do, while he was popular, and it was the “fashion” to follow him.
3. The interest in the Baptist was a frivolous, superficial, and short-lived excitement.
4. Bengel says, “they were attracted by his brightness, not by his warmth.”
5. They were willing, like children, to play in John’s light without stopping to seriously consider its meaning, but when he bore testimony to Christ they blasphemed him. (Matthew 11:18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He has a demon.)
6. The prospect of a King overthrowing the Romans and bringing glory To Israel was exciting and enticing. But to follow the carpenter was another issue. When John the Baptist pointed to Jesus Christ as the Messiah his popularity stopped.
Transition: The shallow adulation and transitory merriment that the people showed toward John the Baptist echoes the world’s celebrations during what is known as advent or the Christmas season.
II. The Season of Christmas
A. Traditionally the fourth Sunday before Christmas day, which is the Sunday nearest November 30, marks the beginning of Advent and the Christmas Season. Christmas is a very special time of the year. It is a holiday that both children and adults enjoy. Songwriters have called it “the most wonderful time of the year” and “the season to be jolly”.
B. The General Acceptance of Christmas.
1. There are numerous reasons why people delight during the advent season.
a. Merchants enjoy the season as the largest profits of the year are made during this time.
b. Parents and grandparents look forward to the family gatherings.
c. Wide-eyed children eagerly anticipate unwrapping the colorfully wrapped gifts laid under the tree.
d. Everyone delights in the joyful and merry Christmas melodies and the vividly sparkling festive lights and decorations.
2. Very few find the celebration of the birth of a babe in a manger in Bethlehem offensive. To be sure there are some but by most “for a season” the world celebrates.
3. Tim Gorski, an atheist and pastoral director of the North Texas Church of Freethought says that Christmas is not just for Christians but for atheists too. He states that Christmas is all about stopping to make the time for what we sometimes think we don’t have time for. Things like being jolly. Peace and goodwill towards all. Generosity. Caring. (What Does Christmas Mean For Atheists? December, 1997, The North Texas Church of Freethought by Tim Gorski, M.D.)
C. The Rejection of Christ.
1. Just like those who followed John it is but for a season. As long as the world can keep Him the babe in the manger they will celebrate.
2. Illustration - A ten year old girl went with a group of family and friends to see the Christmas light displays at various locations throughout the city. At one church, they stopped and got out to look more closely at a beautifully done nativity scene. "Isn’t that beautiful?" said the little girl’s grandmother. "Look at all the animals, Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus." "Yes, Grandma," replied the granddaughter. "It is really nice. But there is only one thing that bothers me. Isn’t baby Jesus ever going to grow up... he’s the same size he was last year."
3. Remember that as soon as John pointed to the True Light Jesus Christ, he was rejected. Even so the world readily accepts the babe in the manger but refuses the risen King of kings and Lord of lords.
4. Many want to see Him just as the sweet and gentle babe, harmless and cute, in whose honor we set aside a special day in the year. Nothing more.
5. Many would be superficial followers of Christ. But as with John the Baptist when the realities of the message and call of Christ is fully considered few choose to follow.
D. The Message and Call of Christ
1. He declares that He is the Only Way to God
a. John 14:5 “Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
b. Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
c. The captain of the ship looked into the dark night and saw faint lights in the distance. Immediately he told his signalman to send a message" "Alter your course 10 degrees south." Promptly a return message was received: "Alter your course 10 degrees north." The captain was angered; his command had been ignored. So he sent a second message: "Alter your course 10 degrees south--I am the captain!" Soon another message was received: "Alter your course 10 degrees north--I am seaman third class Jones." Immediately the captain sent a third message, knowing the fear it would evoke: "Alter your course 10 degrees south--I am a battleship." Then the reply came "Alter your course 10 degrees north--I am a lighthouse." In the midst of our dark and foggy times, all sorts of voices are shouting orders into the night, telling us what to do, how to adjust our lives. Out of the darkness, one voice signals something quite opposite to the rest--something almost absurd. But the voice happens to be the Light of the World, and we ignore it at our peril. Paul Aiello, Jr.
2. He calls for absolute surrender and a separated walk.
a. Matthew 6:24 “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon”
b. Matthew 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any [man] will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
c. Illustration - If God has called you to be really like Jesus, He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility, and put upon you such demands of obedience, that you will not be able to follow other people, or measure yourself by other Christians, and in many ways He will seem to let other good people do things which He will not let you do. Other Christians and ministers who seem very religious and useful, may push themselves, pull wires, and work schemes to carry out their plans, but you cannot do it; and if you attempt it, you will meet with such failure and rebuke from the Lord as to make you sorely penitent. Others may boast of themselves, of their work, of their success, of their writings, but the Holy Spirit will not allow you to do any such thing, and if you begin it, He will lead you into some deep mortification that will make you despise yourself and all your good works. Others may be allowed to succeed in making money, or may have a legacy left to them, but it is likely God will keep you poor, because He wants you to have something far better than gold, namely, a helpless dependence on Him, that He may have the privilege of supplying your needs day by day out of an unseen treasury. The Lord may let others be honored and put forward, and keep you hidden in obscurity, because He wants you to produce some choice, fragrant fruit for His coming glory, which can only be produced in the shade. He may let others be great, but keep you small. He may let others do a work for Him and get the credit for it, but He will make you work and toil on without knowing how much you are doing; and then to make your work still more precious, He may let others get the credit for the work which you have done, and thus make your reward ten times greater then Jesus comes. The Holy Spirit will put a strict watch over you, with a jealous love, and will rebuke you for little words and feelings, or for wasting your time, which other Christians never seem distressed over. So make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign, and has a right to do as He pleases with His own. He may not explain to you a thousand things which puzzle your reason in His dealings with you, but if you absolutely sell yourself to be His love slave, He will wrap you up in a jealous love, and bestow upon you many blessings which come only to those who are in the inner circle. Settle it forever, then, that you are to deal directly with the Holy Spirit, and that He is to have the privilege of tying your tongue, or chaining your hand, or closing your eyes, in ways that He does not seem to use with others. Now when you are so possessed with the loving God that you are, in your secret heart, pleased and delighted over this peculiar, personal, private, jealous guardianship and management of the Holy Spirit over your life, you will have found the vestibule of Heaven. G. D. Watson, in Living Words
