Revealed: Jesus reveals who we really are.

Great people: Abraham Lincoln, Napoleon, Albert Einstein, Harriet Tubman, Johanne Gutenberg, Wright Brothers, Alexander Graham Bell, Aristotle, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, Beethoven, MLK Jr, Martin Luther, Joan of Arc

All sorts of great people have been born. It would be hard for us to pick the greatest…But not for Jesus.

Last week we began our study of the Gospel of John in the introduction…we saw that Jesus is the start for our understanding of God. Jesus reveals God. Today we are going to look at the reality that Jesus reveals who we truly are.

Jesus proclaimed JTB the greatest man born...

Matthew 11:11 NIV84

I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

What made him so great?

Let’s get in our time machine…start up our flux capacitor and go back to the year oh it was around 3 BC I guess…out in the hill country outside Jerusalem....to the house of one of the priests…Zechariah.

Z. was an old man at this point…his wife was old as well. One day he was at work in the temple…lighting the incense…and an angel came to him and he did what any good priest would do…he fell on his face. But the angel raised him up and told him that they were going to have a son.

No way?…yes way!

He was filled with the Holy Spirit

Luke 1:14–15 NIV84

He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth.

JTB was given the spirit of God in order to accomplish a specific purpose for God...From before his birth,

God had a plan for his life

Luke 1:16–17 NLT

And he will turn many Israelites to the Lord their God. He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will cause those who are rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly.”

JTB would need the HS to accomplish what God had called him to. This was a big task, to prepare the people for the coming of the Lord…to turn hearts and minds. How do you do that? How can you get people to change?

You can’t, not spiritually anyway. Sure, you might convince people of something, but we can’t change hearts. But God can; and God would use JTB to reach the people’s hearts.

We see the Spirit work through JTBs life in the Gospel of John.

To have a significant life is one of

Attitude: humility

John 1:19–21 NIV84

19 Now this was John’s testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. 20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Christ.” 21 They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.”

Humility...John 1:19-21

Priests and Levites....these were the temple leaders and their police force....They were always looking for the Messiah

He knew who he wasn't...he didn't confuse invitation or opportunity with his calling

Never confuse an invitation or an opportunity with a calling

That is a good lesson for us…just because someone invites you....just because there’s an opportunity…that doesn’t mean God is calling you to it. Maybe he wants someone else to step up.

Do you know what you were made for?

Followers Made we spend a lot of time talking about that very thing. Some of us may think…well I could have used this earlier in my life, but he can’t be calling me to much now....Remember Zechariah…remember Abraham....well advanced in years when they were given a calling from God.

We are never too ANYTHING for God to use us.

John was humble…he knew who he was…and who he wasn’t; and he acted on it.

John 1:22–23 NIV84

22 Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’ ”

Humility

HE knows who is isn’t....but JTB also knows his calling…to be the voice of Isaiah.

In the OT, Isaiah was the prophet who announced the good news of the end of the the exile…Isaiah announced a new heaven and a new earth.

JTB said I’m not the way…i’m just a director.

Authority: obedience

John 1:24–27 NIV84

24 Now some Pharisees who had been sent 25 questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” 26 “I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. 27 He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”

Pharisees were concerned with order....authority…obedience.

If you aren’t the Christ, you aren’t Elijah, you aren’t a prophet....all who we accept we should listen to; then by what authority do you baptize?

This was a challenge to John's authority. They most likely knew John as his father was one of them…therefore by birth, he shared the status of a priest, but here he was living as a Nazarene. John responds…you are right, I baptize with water.

Obedience... John 1:23-27

The were most likely upset because he was claiming some authority…baptizing people for repentance. And I guess you could say he was, but even bigger he was obeying a greater authority.

You may remember from back before he was born, when the angel said he will turn the hearts of fathers, he will bring people back to God’s wisdom

That authority was in his life and here he was being obedient to it.

In vs 24; “I am the voice....that's what I'm doing...I'm not the one with the authority, I’m just being faithful to what I have been called to.

Obedience reveals authority

In fact this authority that I’m obedient to John says…i’m not worthy to untie his sandals.

Shoes and feet in their world were very offensive things. Pupils of Rabbis had to be willing to do everything that a slave would do…except touch the feet. That was beneath a pupil…only a slave could do that. What John is saying is I’m less than a slave to the one who is coming...

God had real authority over John…but it was his obedience that completed it.

Think of your life…God has authority for sure…but think of the things we give authority…the things we surrender to.

Success...

Love...

Family...

Reputation...

Comfort...

Age...

I think ultimately our surrender to these things are a substitute to surrendering to God. When we walk in the spirit, we are living in obedience to God as our authority…not the law…but to his call on our life.

Humility and Obedience

Knowing your job....and doing your job are certainly steps you can take to be successful in life…in fact you can be very successful if you just focus on these two things…not looking for the next opportunity all the time, but paying attention to where you are right now....

Certainly lead to significance....

*****

But what makes a life eternally significant is

Right relationship

John 1:29–31 NIV84

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.”

Lamb of God

…Abraham and Isaac…Passover

While he baptized for repentance....for parents to turn to their children…disobedient to wisdom…Israel back to God.

Turning back is a wonderful thing. If you think about it, if you are moving away from Jesus…you have to turn around in order to go to him…but turning your will toward God is only part of our issue.

The other part is what about the past? How can we atone for our past mistakes? How can we make up for that?

If I’ve spent a lifetime ignoring God, living to please myself…seeking my own happiness. How do I make up for the sins of my past.

If I owe you a debt, I can pay you back. I can return the lawnmower.

But how can I pay back God? I can’t.

That’s what the Lamb of God is all about. To take away my sins…to serve as the sacrifice for my past. Just like if I was to make a sacrifice I might offer some grain, some oil, a dove, or a lamb. If so, it would be the grain of Gary…the oil of Gary…but if God is making the offering; Jesus is the Lamb of God....God pays the price for us.

He pays in Jesus a price that we owe but can’t pay.

John didn’t know Jesus was this Lamb....but he came baptizing people knowing that God was going to reveal this…John knew God would reveal our saviour…and he was willing to be obedient to Gods call.

Realizing this is what provides for John’s …and our… eternal significance

Right response

John 1:32–34 NIV84

32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.”

Then he acted on it…John announced to the world that Jesus was the Son of God.

John’s greatness was in Jesus....God’s spirit, God’s redemption, God’s call…all those things made John great

Jesus reveals our full potential.

Significance can come from humility and obedience....but Jesus reveals in this exchange with JTB that eternal significance comes through a relationship with God and a faithful response to that God’s work in reaching and redeeming us.

Its because of them that John became who we know as JTB.

Those same things are available to each one of us. God is offering them to every person here.

The choice is…will we receive and doubt that i’m anything more than I used to be?…or will I receive them and believe?

We look at famous people....thinking we could never do that…maybe not…but we could do everything that God calls us to do…if we turn from our own path, accept his forgiveness, receive his power, and follow him.

What is it that you need to turn from and accept what God is looking to do in and through you?

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The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

You formed us in your image and breathed into us the breath of life.

When we turned away, and our love failed, your love remained steadfast.

You delivered us from captivity, made covenant to be our sovereign God, and spoke to us through the prophets.

And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ. Your Spirit anointed him to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to announce that the time had come when you would save your people.

He healed the sick, fed the hungry, and ate with sinners. By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection you gave birth to your Church, delivered us from slavery to sin and death, and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit. When the Lord Jesus ascended, he promised to be with us always, in the power of your Word and Holy Spirit.

On the night in which he gave himself up for us, he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said: "Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me."

When the supper was over, he took the cup, gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said: "Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."

And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ's offering for us, as we proclaim the mystery of faith.

Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine.

Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood. By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world, until Christ comes in final victory and we feast at his heavenly banquet.

Through your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy Church, all honor and glory is yours, almighty Father, now and forever. Amen.

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