John the Baptist

We continue on with our sermon series for this season of Advent entitled “The Supporting Cast.” We are focusing on the individuals and people groups within the scriptures that can help us discover who Jesus is even before he began his ministry. This week we will be looking at John the Baptist. Our scripture comes from The Gospel of Mark chapter 1 verses 1-8.

The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, a 2 as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:

“I will send my messenger ahead of you,

who will prepare your way” b—

3 “a voice of one calling in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

make straight paths for him.’ ” c

4 And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 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. 6 John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Please pray with me…

John the Baptist filled a role within scripture that was probably one of the most demanding and involved the least amount of ego. He was given the task by God to be the one who prepares the way for the Savior of all people, Jesus. This was a role as we were able to recognize from both of today's scripture readings that was needed in order to fulfill one of the Old Testament prophecies.

John was born with the Holy Spirit within him. This makes him unique to any person who has ever walked the earth. His role was so important that God wanted to be with him every moment of his life. So that he could pass on to him the knowledge that he would need to reach the point that he would be able to fulfill his calling.

The line that he is most famous for is “repent for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” He says these words in order to prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah in two ways.

The first was to warn them that things were about ready to be different. Someone who is about to enter onto the scene is not just some normal person who was a great teacher but was none other than the Son of Man that was talked about within scripture.

He also, through these words are letting the people know what needs to be done. It is no longer enough to be a good Jew. We must now repent of our sins daily. We must prepare ourselves to be around the Son of God. We must get ready for his arrival.

John the Baptist is also letting the people know that what he does through his baptism of repentance will be nothing compared to what will occur through Jesus; instead of baptizing with water, Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit.

Due to his message and due to him calling out the king for his sin, John would eventually be arrested, imprisoned and killed. What we need to ask today is what can we learn from this man?

One thing that we are able to learn from John the Baptist is that we need to listen to God. John was filled with the Holy Spirit just like those of us that recognize Jesus as our Lord and Savior. The difference between John and many of us is that we do not listen and respond to what we are told by the Holy Spirit. We don’t like what God wants us to do, so we choose not to respond to it.

We are filled by the Holy Spirit. We have the ability through listening to God through the Spirit to act and react in the way that God prefers. It is us that can stop the Spirit from reaching its full potential in our lives and in the lives of others. It is us that can choose not to fulfill the desires of the Spirit.

John the Baptist is given the job of preparing the way. He is given the responsibility of doing this in three distinct ways. He is to offer a baptism of repentance, he is to preach of the coming of the Messiah, and he is to announce the coming of the Holy Spirit. In verse five we are told that he is to preach a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

This is the first step towards the preparation of the coming of the Messiah. Are we not called to do basically the same thing? Are we not supposed to preach that we only have one way to be with God in heaven and that is through acknowledging Jesus as your Savior who died on the cross so that our sins can be forgiven?

We may not all be called to preach it, but we are called to live it. We are called with the help of the Holy Spirit to try to live lives which show that we may be living in this world but not of this world.

The mission statement for the United Methodist Church is to “make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” We do that by living a Christ-like life and by letting others know about the peace and hope that we have received through our Lord and Savior Jesus.

John the Baptist fulfilled his calling. He spoke boldly to anyone who would listen. The people responded by doing what he asked, by being baptized. What if we used the gifts given to us and with the help of the Holy Spirit lead others into an understanding of what God has done for them by having his son Jesus come down and die on the cross for us.

This can be difficult for us to hear and even more difficult for us to do. We are not supposed to wait for others to reach the decision to follow Jesus. We are to tell them and show them the love of Jesus that we have received.

Jim Cymbala, a pastor and author, says in his book “Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire” that he has discovered an astonishing truth. It is that “God is attracted to weakness. He can’t resist those who humbly and honestly admit how desperately they need him. Our weaknesses, in fact, makes room for his power.”

I have a hard time believing that John the Baptist succeeded because of what he was doing. John the Baptist succeeded because he was fulfilling the calling given to him by God and was relying on the Holy Spirit to lead and direct his words and actions.

We as a church are called to do the same. We are called to rely on the Holy Spirit. We are called to pray separately and together for what God wants us to accomplish here. This does not mean that we are going to grow as a church. It is very possible that God will want us to stay the size we are and to continue to serve others the way that he calls us to.

We have a mission as a church to help us fulfill what the Holy Spirit has called for us to do. We need to be willing to be formed more closely into the likeness of God. We have to allow the Spirit to work in us for us to discover what God has created us to do individually and as a church.

We need to develop our understanding of God. We do this to allow us to get to become more acquainted with the nature of God. So that we will be able to tell those around us about the God we know and the God we love. And we are to do this not in our church but in our communities where we become the hands, feet, and voice of Jesus.

Another quote from “Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire” states that “the most mature believer is the one who is bent over, leaning most heavily on the Lord, and admitting his total inability to do anything without Christ. The greatest Christian is not the one who has achieved the most but rather the one who has received the most.”

God has a purpose for each one of us that are here today. That purpose will usually cause us to leave our comfort zone and allow the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us. This can be scary but what I have found is that the more I allow the Holy Spirit to lead me the easier it becomes.

It is not about us. It is about God at work within us. We fail when we in our humanness try to take control and cause a God event to happen in our timing instead of God’s timing.

God may not want you to see success in your time frame. God may not want all of the details to work out in your time frame. What God wants is for you to continue to listen to him and allow him to guide your steps more and more each and every day.

Another way that John was to prepare the way was to let those that would listen know that a Savior was coming. That is what I mean when I say that John had to have no ego. He had to tell the people “If you think that I’m good, you haven’t seen anything yet.”

John the Baptist knows that his job is to prepare the way and that when his job is accomplished, he needs to be ready to step away. We can face a similar situation to where we are called to lead someone a step closer to recognizing what Jesus did for them or we may be called to start a ministry and then leave others to take over. This can sometimes be the hardest calling because you put in the work but don’t always get to see the results. You are called to prepare the way.

When John is put into prison, he believes that this may be the end, but I believe he wanted to be sure. So, he asks some of his disciples to confirm that Jesus is the Messiah. Some say he did this because he doubted, I believe it was more for confirmation than doubt.

John knew that the answer that his disciples came back with would define his fate. If Jesus was the Messiah, then he would never be free again. If Jesus wasn’t the Messiah, then he would be freed and would continue on with his ministry. John had to rely on the disciples to let him know what the outcome would be.

I know of a pastor that with God’s help grew a church of around 75 into a church of around 200. He believed that he and God had plans to allow the church to grow even more. When the final vote took place to fulfill these plans, he thanked God for leading them to this point and asked for his continuous blessing on the church.

The pastor said that he was shocked when he heard the answer. He says that God told him “They will be fine.” It was at that point that he realized God had other plans for him. His job had been to prepare the way.

John also prepared the way by announcing the coming of the Holy Spirit. He did this in a very unique way by stating that he would be “baptizing with water while Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit.”

We can look at the Old Testament in order to see that those listening to John would recognize this as another Old Testament prophecy coming to life. In Ezekiel 39:29. The prophet says that “I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on the people of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord.”

John was letting those that were listening know that he was preparing the way, and that the Messiah was next. Based off of these words those that are listening would be looking for the coming of the Messiah.

We can recognize a couple times during his ministry that Jesus poured the Holy Spirit upon people. Both times it was when he was sending people out to spread the word. Th Holy Spirit also allowed them to remove demons and heal.

The Gospel reading also shows us that the Holy Spirit attracts people. According to Mark when John the Baptist speaks “The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him.”

What we say when we are relying on the Holy Spirit can lead people to come to us so that they can hear what the Holy Spirit wants to say to them. This is why it is important that when we believe we are called by the Spirit to speak out it is important that we do so. It is important that we use the power of the Spirit to spread the word of God.

Peter offers us possibly the best example of this. The Holy Spirit is placed inside those within the upper room, and they come out and people are trying to figure out what has happened to them. It is at this point that Peter is led by the Holy Spirit to speak and after he is done thousands give their life to the Lord. Thousands realize that Jesus is their Lord and Savior.

I am going to offer you the same opportunity today. Jesus loves you as you are. If you do not yet know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, I want to give you the opportunity to make that choice today.