John 1:6-13 | True Success

Today we are continuing in our John series and we are looking at what appears to be a sharp turn from the first 5 verses we looked at last week however, we will see that there is still one overall theme.

Last week we were introduced to someone called, the Word.

We uncovered that this “word” is Jesus, and he was with God in the beginning, and he is God.

Now we would expect going into the next section here that we would see more information aboiut Jesus, about this Word.

But instead we get an interesting shift....

John 1:6–8 NKJV

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

Now this passage of scripture is a great example of why all of the 4 gospels are important to read.

We looked during Christmas at the story of Zacharias and Elizabeth, relatives of Mary the mother of Jesus, who found out they would have a son, and he would be the one to prepare the way for the coming Messiah

And we see in Luke 1, the story of this supernatural birth of a child named John

Without reading the other gospels we would miss this very important information about how this child was not just a random son, but he was prophesied for centuries to be the one to prepare the way for the savior.

But we are going to sit on this section of scripture for a little while becasue there is a very important lesson here that I dont want you to miss.

But I want to start with a question....

What does it mean to be successful in the christian life?

What does it mean to be successful in a business or job?

What does it mean to be successful in a church?

These are questions that I personally wrestle with on a daily basis.

As a pastor of a new church and the owner of a new business, what the level of success is that I need to reach is something that drives much of what I do.

But here is the issue, I think what the world determines is the measure of success in the christian life, business, or church is not what scripture tells us.

Let me make this question a little more personal for you....

In the thing that you are trying so hard in your life to be successful in, if someone were to ask you, at what point do you reach success in that matter? What would you say? Would you have an answer

Would have a verifiable, solid goal, to say that once I reach this point, I am successful in this thing?

Now lets go back to our example with John.

The Bible says that John was sent by God, and that his job was to bear a witness of the light.

and then it clearly says that he was not the light, but he was sent to bear witness of the light.

Now in our world today, often success is measured by amount.

In whatever field it is, usually more is viewed as more successful

More money means you are successful in your business

More members means you are successful in your church

More good works means you are more successful in your christian life