Our True Need: the Lamb of God

Introduction

Why do you guys come to church? I’m assuming that for most of you guys, you come to church because you need to please your parents. Or maybe you come to church because you’re bored on Sundays and you have a lot of friends here. But what you guys may not realise at your age, for a lot of adults, the church becomes a place where so many different needs are filled. Imagine your parents, leaving everything behind, all their friends and family and all that is familiar to them, and coming to Australia. What are they going to encounter? A lot of isolation, hardship, and loneliness. And the Korean church solves so many of those issues for migrants. The Korean church creates a sense of community and fellowship that your parents can’t find anywhere else in Australia because it has korean speaking and like-minded people. The church also becomes a place where some people’s financial needs are solved. Sometimes, by going to church, you can form networks and connections with people who can be really helpful in your everyday life: even at our church, we have electricians, nurses, pharmacists, doctors, restaurant owners, supermarket owners, real estate agents, musicians, the list goes on!

But is that the whole point of church? Did Jesus establish the church just so that you can get can get a discount at the korean supermarket? No, we have a much deeper, greater, and desperate need, and that is what I want to talk about today through this passage in John 1:19-34.

We do not know what we need

But before I really get into what John tells us in terms of our true need, John first shows us how often we get it so wrong, and shows us that we often don’t even actually know what we truly need. Let’s read John 1:19–21 together:

“And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.””

Here we see the Jewish religious leaders coming to John the Baptist and asking John who he is. Now, this question of ‘Who are you’ isn’t just a simple question of ‘Oh Hi John, let’s be friends, tell me more about yourself!’. It’s actually an extremely loaded question. Now what do I mean by that?

Think of this scenario: you’ve snuck out of home at night to hang out with your questionable friends while your parents are asleep. You go out and play, and who know’s what you get up to, and then you come back home. You very quietly open the door so that you don’t wake your parents up, and then you turn on the lights. And then you see her: your mum is sitting on the couch waiting for you, with her arms crossed, with her legs crossed, looking at you with a very unhappy face. And then she asks you ‘where have you been’? Do you think that question of ‘where have you been’ has a simple meaning like ‘Oh how was school today?’ No, it’s extremely loaded! She wants to know exactly where you’ve been, who you were hanging out with, what you were doing, why you left at this time of night, how long you’ve been out for - she wants to know everything. And she wants to know because she is about to tell you off.

So why do I say that the Pharisee’s question is extremely loaded? Well, the Jews of the time of Jesus had strong expectations for the Messiah. They really wanted the Messiah and and the Kingdom of God to come quickly. For hundreds of years now, they had been ruled and enslaved by other nations. They were reminded of this painful truth everyday because even though the Jews could now live in Jerusalem again, it was still under Roman Rule, and everywhere they looked they were painfully reminded of how they were still under the oppression and the rule of the Romans: taxes to Caesar, the Roman soliders wandering around the city. So in the face of this suffering and oppression, the Jews of Jesus’ time were desperately wanting their freedom and their own nation, so they were desperate for the Messiah to come to help them and free them, and establish their own country for them by defeating the Romans.

So these Jewish leader have a very clear idea about what they think they need. They think they need to be freed from the Romans, and have their own kingdom, like the days of David and Solomon. They think they need someone with military might to defeat the Romans. But is it what they truly need? Well, not really.

What they think they need is very much shaped by what they want. Their desire for freedom from their Roman oppressors has become their need. And as everyone here knows, what we want doesn’t always align with what we truly need. You may want the latest iPhone, or the latest Nintendo, but that doesn’t always match up with what you truly need.

And even as Christians, we all do this to a certain extent don’t we? We come to church and God, and want certain things and so we pray about those things. We pray for good grades, good friends, good health, wealth, fame, etc. But are those things what you truly need? And if not, how do we even know what we truly need?

Only God knows what we truly need

Well only God knows what we truly need. Let’s look at John the Baptist

In John 1:26, John states "I baptize with water” What does the baptism of John mean? The gospel of Matthew in Matthew 3:11 states ““I baptize you with water for repentance” - so through baptism, John identifies the most important singular need of mankind: repentance for sin. However, John’s baptism does not actually provide repentance and forgiveness. In fact, John himself doesn’t actually know how, or who will bring repentance for mankind. See John 1:33 “I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’” This verse states that John did not know him. But how did he find out? Through the Holy Spirit. It is through the Holy Spirit that God reveals to us our deepest need. Through all the messiness of our lives, through all the difficulties and struggles, the Holy Spirit shows us our first and foremost need, which comes before all our secondary needs - just like how the Holy Spirit landed upon Jesus to reveal to John who the Messiah is, the Holy Spirit lands upon Jesus and reveals to our hearts that He is our deepest and true need. And unlike our other needs, this need is not a what, but it is a who. We need Jesus Christ; more specifically, similar to what we talked about last week, we need to know Jesus Christ. Here, John reveals to us the final member of the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Last week, we talked about knowing God, knowing the Father, and the way you know the Father is through the Logos, Jesus Christ the Son. They are so close that if you know the Son, you know the Father. And you get to know the Son through the Holy Scriptures which talks about Him. But it is the Holy Spirit who reveals Jesus to us, so even in our reading of the Scriptures, we require the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus to us through the Bible (John 14:26).

And why do we need to know Jesus Christ? Why is he our deepest need? John states in John 1:29 “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”. Jesus is described as ‘the Lamb of God’. Jesus is the Lamb of Genesis that was provided for Abraham so that he would be sacrificed instead of Isaac. Jesus is the scapegoat of the Day of Atonement in Leviticus that took on the sins of Israel. Jesus is the Passover Lamb of Exodus that took God’s judgement instead of the firstborn of each family. Jesus is the lamb of Isaiah 53, that was killed and slaughtered instead of us for our sins, even though he had no sin himself. So John 1:33 shows us that if John’s baptism of water only pointed to the need for repentance, then Jesus’ baptism with the Holy Spirit provides true repentance and forgiveness of sins: He completely changes us, he convicts us of our sin and need for repentance, and therefore shows how much we need to know Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, because it is only he that can provide this.

If you have been in church long enough, you have heard this time and time again; you’re probably getting sick and tired of hearing it. Christ died for our sins, even though we were undeserving. And it is easy to understand it just in our heads. But our salvation does not depend on having the right concept in our heads. Christ needs to be your lamb. Christ died on the cross specifically for you and for your sins. Christ was resurrected to secure eternal life for you. It is a wonderful and amazing truth that we are so undeserving of, and this truth can only be yours if you know your deepest need: knowing Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. If this is something that is foreign to you, if this is something that you don’t quite yet grasp, pray that the Holy Spirit would come into your life, convict you of your sins, and point you to the One who can fill and solve your deepest need, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

Witness to others what they need

Finally, we need to be a witness to others. It is not just about our own needs, but also the needs of others. We are called to be a witness to Jesus’ wonderful work on the cross, because Jesus is also the deepest need for everyone around us, even though they may not realise this. And John the Baptist is the one who shows us perfectly how to be a good witness.

What makes John the Baptist a good witness? His absolute and total humility. And this is surprising because John was a great man and had a lot to boast about. But John the Baptist was humble because he knew Jesus: in John 1:34, John states that ‘this is the Son of God’. In the face of the perfection and utter supremacy of Christ, John, despite how great he is, recognises how much infinitely lower he is compared to Jesus Christ. And this is the very heart and attitude he adopts as he acts as witness to Christ.

For example, he says in John 1:27 that he is not worthy to even untie the strap of Jesus’ sandal. This is John saying that he is not even worthy to be Jesus’ slave.

And why is this humility so important? This is because when when we are a witness to Jesus, our job is to merely point to him. Trying to save others with the gospel doesn’t come from within us, it’s not about how great we are, or our own abilities. And this is precisely because salvation and the forgiveness of our sins, our deepest need, cannot come from within us, because with this issue we are completely helpless and powerless; it can only come through Jesus Christ. The less and less we become, the more and more Christ is shown.. People need to see less of us, and more of Christ, because we can’t provide anything for their salvation, only Christ can. That is why John famously says in John 3:30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.” We don’t try to win people over by showing them how great we are, how righteous we are, how holy we are. We win people over by showing them how completely helpless and powerless we are to save ourselves, and the only hope we have is Christ - this points away from ourselves, and points to Christ, by showing how great, wonderful, attractive Christ is. It is pointing people to the greatest help and power that is only found in Jesus, and that can only happen when we realise our complete helplessness and powerlessness to save ourselves.

Conclusion

So make sure you know your deepest need in life - don’t confuse the who for the what. You need Jesus Christ, not other things, as he is the only true Lamb of God, and Son of God, who takes away our sins. And it is only when we truly experience this for ourselves, that we can be effective witnesses for Christ. It is only when we realise our desperate need for the forgiveness of our sins, that we are truly humbled, as we realise our helplessness and powerlessness. And it is this very humility that lets Christ increase in our lives so that others may see Christ in you and we can truly be the salt and light of the world.

Opening Song: This I Believe (The Creed)

Closing song: To Be Like You