Testifying About God

We are in the middle of a sermon series entitled “Journey with Jesus.” We are spending some time looking at the life of Jesus and the interactions that he had with those around him. Our hope is to allow this series to bring us into a greater understanding of what it means for us to be on a journey with Jesus.

So far, we have seen the importance of recognizing God at work in our lives and have been reminded that we have been baptized for God. You can find these sermons on our You Tube channel if you would like to learn more.

This week we turn towards “Testifying about God.” Our scripture comes from John 1:29-42.

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”

32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.” x

35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” 37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” 39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”

So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.  40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter).

Please pray with me…

Have you ever meant a celebrity out in what we now call “the wild.” Meaning have you ever been just living your life and someone well known shows up in your favorite restaurant or place that you shop?

That is what has happened to John the Baptist in our story for today. In fact, he in some ways has discovered that The Messiah who we know as Jesus seems to be visiting the area or might even be moving in. After all, he doesn’t just see him once but a couple of days in a row.

Not only does he see Jesus, but he we know that he has already been telling his friends about him. We spoke about this a little last week. John sees his job as preparing the way for the coming of the Messiah. He is telling those around him, “he is here.”

(Transition)

The Gospel of John is not like any of the four books that we call the Gospels, those four books of the Bible that specifically focus on the life of Jesus. The other three attempt to lead us into an understanding of Jesus as the Messiah who we should choose to follow through his life and ministry.

John takes a different approach. He focuses on Jesus as the Messiah and uses the life and ministry of Jesus to back up who Jesus is. We see this in today’s text by having John the Baptist pronounce who Jesus is before we have the story presented to us. He calls Jesus “the Lamb of God.”

(Transition)

This idea of Jesus being the “Lamb of God” seems to be related in some way to Isaiah 53 where beginning in verse 5 we are told that

“He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”

We have John the Baptist as Jesus’ ministry is about to begin announcing to those around him of the suffering that Jesus will do for us. John makes that even more clear by adding that Jesus is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

(Transition)

Those of us who are choosing to follow Jesus have already discovered what this “lamb” has done for us. He has given us the ability to be free from the power of sin. He has allowed for us to live lives without the guilt and shame that was originally associated with sin.

This was also a dire need for the Jewish people during Jesus’ day. The Pharisees, the Jewish religious leadership of the day, had developed various laws with the purpose of making sure that the Jewish people did not break the laws given to Moses by God. They were doing this with the intention of having the people be prepared for the coming of the Messiah.

Have you ever set a rule as a parent or discovered that society has created a rule that has done more harm than good? That is what the laws given out by the Pharisees to the people had done to the Jewish community.

These laws had transformed the focus of the Jewish people not on interacting together as a community but as individuals attempting to be a “better rule follower” than those that were around them. This led to an abundance of guilt and shame as the people attempted the impossible task of being without sin.

John the Baptist is stating through calling Jesus’ “The Lamb of God,” that he is the final sacrifice. The people no longer will have to have sacrifices because Jesus will be the last needed sacrifice. Jesus is going to allow for them to no longer have to feel guilt and shame.

(Transition)

He next lets the people know that “The Lamb of God” is the Messiah. He makes this point by saying that “This is the man I stated comes after me and has surpassed me because he was before me.” He wants them to know that Jesus, “the Lamb of God,” is the Messiah.

This would not be an easy point for John the Baptist to get across. This was not the Messiah that the people were expecting. They were not expecting the Messiah to be focused on them and focused on sin. They expected the Messiah to be focused on conquering their enemies.

They were expecting the Messiah to be this fierce warrior who would free them from the oppression that they were under through the Roman government. The Messiah would be a conquering hero that would allow for them to be free in the land given to them by God.

That was not John’s message. John’s message was focused on spiritual oppression. John you could say was making the point that spiritual oppression was much more damaging to the Jewish people than the physical oppression that they were facing.

(Transition)

John the Baptist follows up his statements concerning Jesus by offering his personal testimony on how he knows Jesus is the Messiah. We have him begin with the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus like a dove. The Baptism of Jesus is not specifically mentioned in the Gospel of John, but we have the Spirit descending as a dove in each of the Gospel’s that do mention Jesus’ baptism.

The significance of this occurrence is that John was told by God that this was the sign of the one he was preparing the way for. He is stating that God told him that he will know his job is accomplished when he sees this phenomenon take place.

He wants his audience to understand that Jesus is the one who is greater than him. John is saying Jesus is the one who I announced would baptize with the Holy Spirit. This again would be something that would be difficult for his audience to understand. They would have no idea what it would mean to be baptized by the Holy Spirit.

We are blessed today to receive the understanding through the scriptures of the power that the Holy Spirit offers to us. John’s audience would know of the Spirit of God, but it would usually be viewed as upon a person.

There would have been no one with a greater understanding of the Holy Spirit than John. He is the only person that we can unequivocally state was filled with the Holy Spirit from birth. He had lived his whole life hearing and responding to the Holy Spirit.

(Transition)

If we are willing to admit it many of us find the Holy Spirit difficult for us to understand. We know that we are supposed to have it after we become a follower of Jesus but many of us struggle to sense how the Spirit is at work in us and around us.

That is why spending time with God is so important for our journey with Jesus. Spending time with God, asking for guidance from God is the best way for us to be more likely to be able to fully unleash the power that the Holy Spirit has given to us.

(Transition)

What we have seen so far from our scripture is that John the Baptist tells his audience who Jesus is, the “Lamb of God and the Messiah. He then follows that up by testifying to how he knows this is who Jesus is. The second half of our scripture begins with John reiterating to two of his disciples who the Lamb of God is.

A disciple is a student to the person that they are attached with. We had John saying that there was someone greater than himself out there. He is now once again pointing out to two of his students who this greater person is.

John is basically telling these two that their time with him is done, it is time for them to begin following the one who comes after him, the one who is greater than him. He is releasing his students to a new teacher.

(Transition)

John is showing us what it means to be a humble servant. He is saying to these two that if he was them, he would choose to follow Jesus. He is lowering himself while at the same time raising Jesus up.

That is also what we should do as followers of Jesus. We are to be servants to God. We are to allow God to work through us and then make sure that we give God the credit for what he has done.

The Church of the Good Shepherd belongs to God. I am the current pastor, but it is not my church and it is not your church. We are a part of God’s universal church through being the shepherds of this individual church.

What this means is that it is our job to be the church that God desires for us to be. We are to allow the Holy Spirit to guide and direct us into following the will of God.  We do this through our mission statement.

We follow the will of God through being willing to serve those in our communities. We are called to let those in our communities know about God. We follow the will of God through our focus on loving all people. We are stating to God that we want to follow the example of Jesus and not separate ourselves away from anyone around us.

We accomplish this the way that God desires for us through a willingness to grow in faith together. We are called to become closer to God each and every day. We do this through interacting with each other and being connected to God.

If John, who Jesus calls the greatest of all people that walk the earth, which means he is even greater than Muhammad Ali, can humble himself enough to allow his followers to follow Jesus, we should be able to humble ourselves enough to be willing to discover and follow the will of God for us individually and as a church.

(Transition)

John the Baptist’s announcement to the two disciples leads them to begin to literally follow Jesus. They go up to Jesus which leads to this awkward conversation with Jesus asking them “what they want” and what I believe to be their timid response of calling Jesus’ “Rabbi” and asking where he is staying.

They are announcing to Jesus that they want to become his disciples. Jesus responds by telling them to follow him. Just as John wanted, these two have transitioned from a student of John into a disciple of Jesus.

(Transition)

The end of today’s scripture is where we get to see the results of John the Baptist telling his audience about Jesus, testifying about Jesus, and then showing them Jesus again. We know that one of the two disciples was Andrew and that he was the brother of a man named Simon.

After spending time with Jesus Andrew goes to Simon and tells him that they have found the Messiah. Did you notice that we are back to where our story began. Someone telling someone about who Jesus is.

This is a reminder to us that as we follow Jesus, we will have opportunities to tell people about Jesus. We might at first tell them in general terms until the time is right and then we can offer to them our testimony about what Jesus has done for us. This might lead that person to become a follower of Jesus.

That was the case for Simon who Jesus renames as Peter. Jesus will name Peter as the person whose shoulders his church would be built upon. He becomes greater than his brother who initially introduced him to Jesus.

(Transition)

This may be an example of the sharing of faith within scripture, but our first reading was the first time that people were sent out as a group. We have Jesus sending the twelve out with nothing. They were to one hundred percent rely on God and those that God placed before them.

Jesus sent them out from town to town to spread the good news and to serve those that they would meet. He sent this first group out to fulfill the same mission that we have a church, to spread the good news of Jesus and to serve those around us.

When they returned, they told Jesus about all that they were able to do. They now not only were able to tell those they meant about Jesus but also how they were able to do amazing things due to the power given to them by Jesus.

We get to do the same. The more that we are willing to trust that God will be there for us and help us do what he desires for us to do we also will be able to tell those around us about our journey with Jesus. We will get to testify about how God has given us a Savior and the gifts to be the person that God desires for us to be.

Let us pray…