Sermon Tone Analysis

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Pray

We’re in trouble

– $25 billion could relieve global hunger, starvation and deaths from preventable diseases in five years.

– $12 billion could eliminate illiteracy in five years.

– $15 billion could solve the world’s water and sanitation issues, specifically at places in the world where 1 billion people live on less than $1 per day.

– $1 billion could fully fund all overseas mission work.

– $100 – $110 billion would still be left over for additional ministry expansion.

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We aren’t doing what we’ve been called to do, and probably the reason behind it is we’re suffering from John the Baptist may have been during the scripture.

This text begins with John the Baptist, sometimes called “John the Baptizer” questioning Jesus about His Christ-hood.

Some theologians used to claim that John wasn’t asking for himself, but rather for his disciples.

I subscribe to the other school of thought.

John was likely suffering from one of the following:

John was suffering from a crisis in faith.

How could John be suffering from wavering faith in Jesus?

When many though John was the Messiah, he quickly and vehemently decried that there was One to come (Jesus) whose status would make John pale in comparison.

While in the Jordan river performing baptisms, he said,

Matthew 3:

John knew precisely who Jesus was, and what his own role was in introducing Him:

John 1:19-

Here, he’s referencing

When he saw Jesus coming towards him the next day, he said,

John 1:29

Later, when John went to the place where Jesus was already baptizing people, he made a point to let his disciples know what time it was:

John 3:26

John finally puts a button on it, proclaiming:

John 3;

So, no.

John likely didn’t have a crisis of faith.

If anything, he probably saw himself as Elijah to Jesus’s Elisha.

John misunderstood Jesus’s real purpose as the Messiah

In the first century, many Jews “eagerly looked for the coming of the Messiah, a deliverer who would defeat Israel’s enemies and usher in an era of peace and prosperity for God’s people.

It’s the though of Jesus being the Messiah that likely emboldened John to speak up against Herod.

He probably thought, “even if they throw me in jail, Jesus will take care of it.”So

after thinking all this, I’m sure Jesus’s response had to irk him:

Here, “Jesus’ answer, emphasized a kind, loving, healing Messiah, not the bellicose and judgmental figure of some Jewish expectations.”

I think that’s sometimes our problem.

And I blame the church for a bit of it.

We get so busy trying to encourage folks that we sometimes sugarcoat things, and give people a false sense of who Jesus is, and what He came to do.

So let me make this clear.

He came to reestablish fellowship of man and God.

The same fellowship that was broken in the garden… the same one we’ve so desperately tried to mend through actions and sacrifice since Adam…

He did not come to get you an 8 bedroom house, 6 cars, and private jet.

He didn’t come to wipe out your credit card debt on some quidproquo setup.

If you think these things, it’s quite possible you’re probably asking Him right now, “are you the one who is to come, or should I look for another?”

Now while this theory is strong, the more likely one may be this:

John had a sense of entitlement

I mean, he’s the cousin of Jesus (1st cousin at that), he’s the one God sent to be the messenger, the one that an angel said “would minister in the spirit of Elijah, serving as a prophet and a preacher, and preparing the people for God’s intervention in history.”

ESV“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.

​ ESV “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.

​ ESV And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

All of this, and he still finds himself in prison about to be executed for doing the right thing, all while Jesus, the Messiah, is out performing all these miracles.

John probably felt like he DESERVED to be rescued!

​ ESVAt that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus, and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist.

He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.”

For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”

And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet.

But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod, so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask.

Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.”

And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given.

He sent and had John beheaded in the prison,

Guess what, Jesus knew exactly who John was, and all that he had done.

He even begins bragging about John to the crowds:

In the first century, many Jews “eagerly looked for the coming of the Messiah, a deliverer who would defeat Israel’s enemies and usher in an era of peace and prosperity for God’s people.

It’s the though of Jesus being the Messiah that likely emboldened John to speak up against Herod.

He probably thought, “even if they throw me in jail, Jesus will take care of it.”So

after thinking all this, I’m sure Jesus’s response had to irk him:

:24-

So, knowing all this, and all that John has done in the name of the Kingdom, doesn’t Jesus owe him?

Shouldn’t he get him out?

Why did He leave him there?

Isn’t that the question we ask ourselves?

God, I’ve been showing up to church every Sunday.

Sometimes even on Wednesday.

Why aren’t you helping me?

God, I’m a tither.

I’m not the 97.5% of the other Christians.

SO what’s up?

Why are you getting me that raise/promotion?

God, I’ve been celibate for the last 8 years!

You know how hard that is.

Where’s my Boaz?

Where’s my queen?

You owe me!

Jesus puts it plainly:

​ ESV7 “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? 8 Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’?

9 Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded?

10 So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’

”

​ ESV4 And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.

Basically, Jesus was eluding to the fact that He was indeed the fulfillment of all the OT prophecies - saying do the math yourself.Jesus even goes on to compliment John to others:

Bottom line:

​ ESV11 Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.

Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Here’s the thing, that’s not really the question John was asking.

He really wanted to know, sense Jesus is the Savior, the Messiah, and John has been a faithful servant, is He gonna get John out of prison - out of this death sentence?

Doesn’t Jesus owe it to him to rescue him?The answer for John and every single one of us is this:

God doesn’t owe you anything!

​ ESV7 “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? 8 Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’?

9 Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded?

10 So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’

”

When we pray, give, and serve, it’s what we’re called to do.