Sermon Tone Analysis

*The Greatest!*

*Mt 3.1-6*

 

* The greatest player in the history of hockey, Wayne Gretzky, is commonly referred to as “The Great One.”

* Great Lakes

* Great Smokey Mountains

* Great Danes

* Steven Covey, having already written a best-seller entitled, /The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People/, has recently added, /The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness/

* Jim Collins has written a similar book, /Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t/

* Tom Brokaw, making reference to American adults who answered the call to service and sacrifice upon entering the second World War, entitled his 1998 volume, /The Greatest Generation./

* Muhammed Ali, heavy weight champion of yesteryear, speaking of himself, said, “I am the greatest!”

* In the world’s eyes, such things as being born into a famous, wealthy, or influential family bring a certain measure of greatness simply by heritage.

Earning a great deal of money is another mark of the world’s greatness, as are academic degrees, expertise in some field, outstanding athletic ability, artistic talent, high political or military office, and other such things.

* By those criteria, however, even Jesus Christ was not great.

Though He manifested surpassing wisdom and power.

He was born into a quite ordinary family, His father being a simple carpenter.

Even after He was grown, Jesus did not own a business, a herd of cattle or sheep, a house, or even a tent.

He said, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (Matt.

8:20).

He had little, if any, formal education, no political office, no artistic accomplishments—in short, almost no marks of what the world considers greatness.

* In this message, we going to look into the Scriptures and see /God’s Greatest Man, Man’s Greatest Need, and God’s Greatest Gift./

* *

*The Identification of God’s “Greatest Man” (1; cf.

11.11)*

* /In those days/ serves as a transition between chapters 2 and 3.

It was a common literary phrase, indicating the general time in which the events being described occurred.

Nearly thirty years had elapsed between Joseph’s taking the young Jesus and His mother to Nazareth and the beginning of John’s public ministry.

Only Luke (2:39–52) tells us anything of Jesus’ life during the intervening years.

Apart from that brief account, Scripture is silent.

* /John/ was a common Jewish name in New Testament times and is the Greek form of the Hebrew Johanan (see 2 Kings 25:23; Jer.

40:8; etc.), which means “Jehovah, or Yahweh, is gracious.”

/Baptist/ was an epithet given him because baptizing was such an important and obvious part of his ministry.

* */Cf.

Luke 1.6-7…11…13-17…67,76…80/*

* *Raised by Godly Parents (Lk 1.5-6)*

·        Exemplary—/righteous…walking…blameless/

·        Spiritually speaking, parents, if you claim to be followers of Christ, then you’d better be exemplary ones before your children!

·        Children would probably be better off having dead beat parents who staked no claim to Christ and Christianity, who disbelieved the Bible, than have parents who are professing believers but live hypocritically.

·        If our spiritual temperature were to be taken, the worse reading possible would be “lukewarm,” mediocre.

·        Empty—/they had no child…Elisabeth was barren (7a)/

·        Elderly—/well stricken in years (7b)/

* *Traveled a Godly Path*

·        *v.

4. *Separation & Simplicity

·        He claimed to be God’s messenger, but he did not live, dress, or talk like other religious leaders.

Those leaders were proper, well-dressed, well-fed, sophisticated, and worldly.

·        His clothes were practical and long-wearing, but far from being comfortable or fashionable.

·        John’s very dress, food, and life-style were in themselves a rebuke to the self-satisfied and self-indulgent religious leaders of Israel—the scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, and priests.

It was also a rebuke to most of the people, who, though they may not have been able to indulge in the privileges of their leaders, nonetheless admired and longed for the same advantages.

·        John’s purpose was not to turn the people into hermits or ascetics.

He called on no one, not even his disciples, to live and dress as he did.

But his manner of living was a dramatic reminder of the many loves and pleasures that keep people from exchanging their own way for God’s.

·        */Separation + Simplicity = Surrender/*

·        I am sure that most of us think of John as somewhat weird when we read about him.

He was certainly unique, and this was probably a factor in the way he seized men’s attention, even though he performed no miracles (John 10:41).

·        John surely exemplifies “separation” in a very dramatic way.

Now we are not all called to wear a hairy garment, nor are we required to live in the desert and eat locusts and wild honey.

But we are all called to be a unique people, to be distinct from the world.

John is a man who knew how to stand alone, something most of us know too little about.

·        May we learn to live in the world, and yet avoid worldliness.

Let us seek to prepare men and women for the return of our Lord by teaching about sin, and by calling on men to repent of their sin and turn to Christ for salvation.

Let us be like John in finding our joy in pointing others to Christ, rather than seeking the spotlight ourselves.

* *Served a Godly Purpose (Lk 1.13-17)*

·        */Restoration of God’s People (13-16)/*

·        */Introduction of God’s Son (17)/*

·        John’s primary place of ministry, like his primary place of training, was *in the wilderness of Judea*.

By the world’s standards and procedures, the coming of a king, or of a great person of any sort, is proclaimed and prepared for with great expense, pomp, and fanfare.

Even the announcer dresses in the best suits, stays in the best hotels, contacts only the best people, and makes preparations for the monarch to visit only the best places.

But that was not God’s plan for the heralding of His Son.

·        John the Baptist was born of obscure parents, dressed strangely even for his day, and carried on his ministry mostly in out-of-the-way and unattractive places.

·        All of that, however, was not incidental or circumstantial.

It was symbolic of John’s ministry to call the people away from the corrupt and dead religious system of their day-away from ritualism, worldliness, hypocrisy, and superficiality.

John called them away from Jerusalem and Jericho, away from the cities into the *wilderness*—where most people would not bother to go if they were not serious seekers.

John brought them away, where they were freer to listen, think, and ponder, without the distractions and the misleading leaders they were so accustomed to following.

In such a seemingly desolate place, they could begin to see the greatness of this man of God and the even greater greatness of the One whose coming he announced.

* *He Maintained a Godly Perspective (Mt 3.11; cf.

Jn 1.27)*

·        */In Life—Humility~/Meekness. /*John knew his position and his task.

He never sought or accepted honor for himself, but only for the One whose coming he proclaimed.

As a child John no doubt had been told many times of the angel’s announcement of his birth and his purpose, a purpose from which he never wavered, compromised, or tried to gain personal recognition or advantage.

·        */In Death—Martyrdom.

/*Willingness to suffer and die for the cause of Christ.

·        Imprisoned by Herod (Mt 4.12)

·        Beheaded by Herod (Mt 14.3-12)

* Every believer can pursue and obtain “greatness” in the eyes of God.

Being raised by Godly parents, while a definite benefit, it is not prerequisite.

If you purpose in your heart to travel a godly path, serve a godly purpose, and maintain a godly perspective, you can become GREAT!

*The Proclamation of Man’s Greatest Need (2-3)*

* *The Message—Repent!*

* /Repent/ means more than regret or sorrow (cf.

Heb.

12:17); it means to turn around, to change direction, to change the mind and will.

* It does not denote just any change, but always a change from the wrong to the right, away from sin and to righteousness.

Repentance involves sorrow for sin, but sorrow that leads to a change of thinking, desire, and conduct of life.

* *2 Co 7:10 *For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.NKJV

* This message of repentance must have been startling news for Jews who thought that, as God’s chosen people—the children of Abraham, the people of the covenant—they deserved and were unconditionally assured of the promised King.

* Knowing what they must have been thinking, John later told his listeners, “Do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you, that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham” (3:9).

* God was not interested in His people’s human heritage but in their spiritual life.

“What the King wants from you,” John was saying, “is that you make a complete turnaround from the way you are, that you be totally converted, totally changed.”

* God calls for radical change and transformation that affects the mind, the will, and the emotions-the whole person.

* John’s message was straight from the Scriptures.

John’s preaching first called attention to man’s sin and then pointed to God’s salvation in Jesus Christ.

It was hardly “seeker-friendly.”

Its aim was not to entertain men nor to win man’s approval.