The faithful witness of John

John 1:19-34

Prayer

In the heart of Sydney, in a little suburb called Abbotsford, there lives the sweetest old lady you’ve ever met, her name is Jan

Besides the fact that shes in her late 80’s still pushing the lawn mower around her house, she would be one of the first people to meet the new folk who walked through the doors of church. She would always have something to say that would uplift your heart and the way she spoke about her life and family, you could hear the depth of love she has for everyone she’s come across.

Now I’ve never watched Jan interact with people outside of church, and I’ve never seen her share the gospel. But I can tell you that from her chat at church which is so full of God’s word as she always elevates people’s hearts to see the beauty of Jesus in whatever situation they talk to her about.

That In my opinion Jan is a great witness of a life lived for Jesus.

Which leads me to ask this morning, what does it mean to bear witness to Jesus?

Maybe your a Christian who has wondered what it means for you to share your faith of Jesus with others?

Or maybe your no a follower of Jesus yet, and you have seen all these hypocrates telling you about how great Jesus is but there is just something not connecting

Well, I believe that this passage today gives us insight into the question, because John Chapter 1:19-34 speaks of the faithful witness of John the Baptiser.

Who demonstrates that faithful witness of Jesus is born from two key ideas

First John shows that

1 - Scripture Reveals Jesus

and secondly John also shows that

2 - The Spirit Reveals Jesus

Scripture reveals Jesus

An important context of this scene is one of confusion and anticipation.

We see confusion from the characters that are mentioned.

Firstly, John the Baptist, who is in all honesty, a bit of a stange guy, he lives in the wilderness and he eats locusts. But for all of his strangeness, John is very popular. Infact so popular that all of Judea and Jerusalem have been coming out to see him. Which means that John has become a bit of a somebody.

But there’s a bit of a problem. You see, at this time, there have been a number of men rising up claiming to be a somebody. Acts 5:36 tells us that a man named Theudas rose up and claimed to be a somebody, after him was Judas the Galilean, each man rising to fame, yet amounting to nothing.

Therefore it is a fair question of anybody to ask, who is this baptiser named John?

So of course Jewish leaders sent priests and levites to investigate, which is fitting because priests and levites are the rightful people to perform such baptisms for God’s people.

Now the anticipation is revealed by the series of questions and responses between the representatives and John.

End of verse 19 they ask John “who are you?”

to which the author emphasies

He confessed, did not deny but confessed,

as if he was accused of being a somebody. So John responds to say “I am not the Christ.”

For John knows exactly question that the Jews were actually asking, for they clearly wanted to know if he was like the others, claiming to be the Christ.

For the Jews are expecting God to arrive one day, they are certainly looking forward to it, looking forward to the new exodus from the oppression of Roman rule, to be brought into the presence of God, to live in God’s forever kingdom.

But... John’s not the Christ, so they ask

Are you Elijah? are you the Prophet?

Both names or titles are equally part of the anticipation of God’s people, as they look forward to the day of God’s dwelling with man. The anticipation of Elijah comes from the final words of Malachi, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes

And it’s interesting that John infact says no to these names, because on the literal level of the question, Elijah was taken up to heaven and John is not him. So it is true when John says no to both the questions,

However, Jesus himself will later confirm in the book of Mark chapter 11 that John is indeed the Elijah who is to come. Not the literal Elijah but the Elijah of Malachi who is revealed to be John the Baptist, a type of Elijah the prophet.

Which is a common technique of scripture to make us think deeper about how we understand God’s revelation of himself and his plans.

Because John is rightly not Elijah, however, John himself must have felt the irony of his words when he appeals to quote from the book of Isaiah where John says I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.

Somewhat Ironic as John was doing exactly that which the returning Elijah was to do. John was calling God’s people to prepare for the day of the Lord.

Which is the beauty of John’s faithful witness, for John appeals to the scriptures to answer the questions of the priests and Levites. For John is in effect handing over to God the discussion. John’s appeal to scripture is no passive agressive comment, shrugging off the questions, like you and I might if we were feeling uncomfortable in a conversation.

John’s appeal to scripture is for both John and the priests to seek God’s revealation of who John has been sent to be. For if John were wrong about his interpretation, then all the better for John to be corrected by the priests and Levites.

See John’s not using scripture against these guys, as we ourselves sometimes use against each other. Rather, John is hoping that God’s words in scripture will shape their understanding of who John is, that they would know who John is bearing witness to.

Alas, we unfortunately see the confusion of the Jewish priests and how little they have understood God’s word, for they hone in on the behaviour of John and what he is doing rather than seeking to clarify his use of scripture they ask.

Why are you baptizing?

A question which John must have felt a deep sense of sadness for these guys as they have failed to recognise that now is the time of scriptures fulfilment. Now is the time of the new exodus, the time of leaving sin behind to live forever in the kingdom of God.

You see, John really cares for these guys, he’s not against them, he continuously puts his life on the line to help them see that God’s promises are all coming true.

And so John replies not with a “do you guys even know your Bible?” kind of comment which is something that you and I might say. But rather with an appeal to the true Christ who stands among the Jewish nation. Presenting himself as a humble servant of the one who is sent from God to redeem the world.

Then our author records this little geographical comment that emphasies the location of God’s people crossing into the promised land after living in the dessert for fourty years.

Which further shows the sorrow that John the Baptiser must have felt as he just witnessed the priests and levites of God’s people display a profound lack of trust in the redemption plan of God as is revealed in his word.

And so a key takeaway from this first scene of John’s witness of Christ, is that scripture is not our weapon to battle others with. It’s not our weapon to shame people with.

Scripture is God’s revealation of who he is.

See, John didn’t win any argument here. There were no points scored for his use of scripture. Rather, John placed God’s authority into the conversation for all groups to benefit from.

And showing the deep humility of John, who, we ought to remember is possibly the most famous guy in all of Israel, humbly saying that even he is unworthy to untie the straps of the one who stands among them.

This is great witness to the people who were supposed to lead God’s people to God. No appeal to his own authority, no appeal to his popularity, simply a humble and true witness of God’s activity revealed in God’s word.

Then our author fastforwards us to the next day,

which reveals a significant element of what it means to witness Christ

The Spirit reveals Jesus.

Verse 29: The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

You see our author is putting these two scenes together because the confusion and anticipation of God’s people is now made clear.

Jesus is here, the Christ, the Lamb of God, that is him! He is here with us now.

And the important context of John’s words here is that the very thing that one does after being purified in Jewish culture, is to offer a sacrifice for their sins in the temple. Because, while the water washed you of your sin, the sacrifice would pay the cost of it.

The 2 go hand in hand

So when John declares that Jesus has arrived, in the setting of him baptising others, he is saying that here is the sacrifce of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Here is your offering, essentially leave your goats and birds at home, God has now given you the perfect offering.

Which is what Jesus truly is. For Jesus will go on from this moment to live three more years until the day he is put to death on the cross, when he will die for the sins of the world. Not his own sins, because Jesus lives the perfect life, rather he will die for everyone elses sins.

Offering himself as a sacrifice to make payment for the sins that we have committed.

Which is really why John is out by the River Jordan because he is saying that the new exodus is here, God has provided the sacrifical lamb that is need to live through the judgment of God.

Now, I love how forthcoming John is about his own lack of awareness of who Jesus is.

Twice he says that I myself did not know him, verses 31 and 33.

Essentially affirming to all that, there is no setup here. No game being played, but only the revelation that came from God through the sign of the Spirit, being like the Dove.

That the Spirit that would decend and remain, on he who baptises with the Holy Spirit.

Essentially, It’s not John who worked out who Jesus is but only that God reveals to John who Jesus is.

Which is a point not to be missed. You see, John for as faithful as he was, living as a voice crying out in the wilderness for all his life, John was not able to identify Jesus until God revealed Jesus to him.

For Jesus is revealed by the efforts of God, not the efforts of John. John was simply living faithful to his task.

Which for John the Baptiser is captured in his purpose statement of verse 31: I came baptising with water that he might be revealed to Israel.

See the reality for John is that he is not the most important person in the world. A point he would agree with. Rather, Jesus is the most important person. Because for all that John has doen for God and for others, it is God who does what is most needed.

Which is that our relationship with God be made right. For what we most need in life is to have our relationship with God made right that we would be free from the cost of our sin.

John knows that he is not the one to make everyones relationship with God right, because John knows that only God does that by revealing the truth of who he is through the Spirits work in our lives.

The only thing John can actually do is point at Jesus and say that is the lamb of God.

To which we must reflect on what this means for us to be a faithful witness of Christ.

You see, we are much like John. If you are someone who has witnessed Jesus at work in your life, someone whom the Spirit has decended upon, and you’ve been baptised in the name of Christ. Then you have just as much of a story to tell that reveals God’s work through his Spirit to you.

Which means that like John we to bear witness to Jesus, by appealing to the truth of Jesus in Scripture, relying on God’s Spirit to reveal Jesus to the hearts and lives of others.

For we have no ability to take away the sins of the world, or make ourselves a sacrifice for others. We can’t do that, it’s not our role. Jesus has done it for us. That’s God’s job,

Our job is to behold the lamb of God, bearing witness to his work helping others to see Jesus, which we do by humbly recognising that we are unfit to even untie Jesus’ sandals. Recognising that it is not our strength, our influence, our power that makes us special. Rather is it only the saving work of Jesus who takes away the sins of the world. Who takes away your sin and mine, as we continually turn to the cross, seeking forgiveness in his name.

Because a great application of this passage is seen in the context of John’s minsitry and the ministry of the Jewish leaders. Because John is very popular, he has influence, just as do the Jewish leaders.

However, the difference in the two leaders, was that John simply trusted God to work through his Spirit as revealed in God’s word.

The others, trusted in their own understanding of God’s word and had no desire to trust in the work of God’s Spirit to reveal Jesus.

And one reason for that is the fact that for them and for us we all love to be a somebody. If you were a Pharasee, you were a somebody, people paid you respect and you lived an esteemed life.

And let’s not kid ourselves either, we love to be somebodies too.

Look, A long time ago, I had the very humbling experience of discovering that I was a terrible witness of Jesus, because I was trying hard to be a somebody.

Out with friends at a party, I was very much being the extrovert loud guy in the room, in what can easily be summed up as a typical university party behaviour. To which I was very much a leader of at the time.

The next morning, to my great shame and sorrow, as I was opening the fridge I found a note on the fridge door. That simply said “Joe, you taught me about Jesus in primary school...”

And you know what, that note hit me hard.

For I knew exactly the activities of last nights party were all far from gloryfying Jesus. For they gloryfied me. It was clear that I was trying hard to be a somebody, I had put myself infront of Jesus and elevated my own following, all because I wanted to be a somebody.

Thankfully God’s mercy is great and his forgiveness is real.

Which means that we not longer have to live trying to be a somebody, rather we can live that others would see the glory of Jesus, who takes away the sins of the world. For we have nothing to offer anybody but simply the words of scripture in the hope that God by his Spirit would reveal himself to others.

Which is exactly what John shows us. For God made John to be a somebody in Jerusalem, but what he did with that was to give attention to the greatest somebody to ever walk this earth.

Therefore let me encourage each of us this morning to know that bearing faithful witness to Jesus, is to live your life as God has set before you in such a way that Christ might be revealed to those around you. Which means you need God’s word and Spirit to be at the center of your life.

And if you are new to hearing this message of Jesus, then please reach out and ask questions, you can turn to those around you, or find me after the service, and together we can seek understanding from God’s word and ask him for his Spirit to work in our lives by praying together.

Let’s pray.