Today I am excited to start this new series. The Holy Spirit has been giving us messages
about the coming of the Lord in one manner or another. First, we taught about Joseph on how we are
to live in a pagan world. In Daniel we
learned how to pray in a godly manner for the godly and for the people of the
world. Now in John we will learn how to
confront careless living among the people of God and what to share with the
world at large in our present time and the reality of Jesus coming at any
time. Through the life of John we will
learn how to prepare our world for the coming of the Lord.
Our scripture we will look at today is
where John is described as the one to prepare the way of the Lord. Listen to what Jesus says about John the
Baptist. In Matt 11:9-10, “Then
what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a
prophet. 10 This is the one about whom it is written:” ‘I
will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.
John was an amazing man he was
definitely a unique man. He was very
much like Elijah. He wore camel skin
clothing and ate wild locust and honey, a very unusual diet. John was also a man who had a special call of
God. Over the next Three Sundays we are
going to examine nine characteristics that made John who he was. Today we will look at three characteristics
that John displayed and a great list that we can emulate, copy and exhibit.
Characteristics of John
1.
Self denial: The definition of this term is the denial of
one's own interests and needs; self-sacrifice, or an act or instance of
restraining or curbing one's desires. In
the Christian sense Self-denial is saying “no, to ungodliness and worldly
passions and living our lives within the righteous framework God has
established. Self-denial requires that
our desire to obey God overrule our destructive desires to find satisfaction
outside of what God has for us.
In Matt 3:4,
John knew that the only way to serve God is make sure that the world did not
influence him but that he influenced the world.
Jesus said that if you are not willing to deny ourselves and follow him
that we are not worthy of him. Matt
16:24 – Then Jesus said unto his disciples “If any man will come after me, let
him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” This is done by submitting yourself to God
and resisting the devil and he will flee from you. When you deny self you are following the
advice of an old Christian native leader who said, you have two wolves in your
life a good one and bad one. The one you
feed is the one who will rule you.
Basically, what you feed your life is what will eventually show up. Denial of yourself, leads to purity, power
and perspective. When you read your
Bible, pray, go to church and share your faith you are exhibiting God in your
world. Jesus said that friendship with
the world is being an enemy of God. Now
I am not advocating a John’s lifestyle where you live in the wilderness, eat
exotic food and pray all day. What I am
advocating is a lifestyle where your first priority is God, His will, desire
and goals. Talk about the Egyptian
prayer movement of the 3rd and 4th century.
2.
Courage. Matt 3:7, 14:4, John demonstrated
courage. A definition of courage is the
ability to do something that frightens oneself.
A second thought is strength in the face of pain or grief. He spoke fearlessly to the religious leaders,
the Romans, the common people and the King who was Herod. This courage would eventually lead to his
death. Courage is being willing to do
something no one else wants to do. It is
being able to overcome your natural fear and do what needs to be done. Courage in the things of God is realizing you
are doing God’s work, in God’s way, in God’s will, in His power, and
wisdom. Being courageous is not being
afraid. It is overcoming your fear and
being willing to do what is right, truthful, honest and fair. It means confronting evil when no one else
wants to. It means being God’s person
who stands in the gap. I love what
Wikipedia says about courage. Courage is
the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty. This is what John did. We have all four of these things working in
2020. These need to be courageously confronted. People need the church to be the church. The devil is coming in like a flood today but
the Lord is raising up His church to be a standard against Him. One of the sevenfold mission of the church is
to act as a restraining and enlightening force.
We are reflecting the light in this darkness. We are the light on the hill and the lamp in
the house. John Wesley called us the
candle in the darkness. This world is
dark and deadly. It will take courage to
confront the darkness and evil of this world.
One man said, evil will overcome the good if good men will not stand. We
need to courage to walk in love. Love
does not allow selfishness, greed, and foolishness to prevail. James puts it this way. If you rescue someone from a path of self
-destruction you are saving them from a multitude of sins they will inflict on
themselves and others. You are standing like Eliezer between the
living and the dead. Here are some
things to think about. “It takes a great
deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our
friends.” Success is not final, failure
is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” Be brave to stand for what you believe in even
if you stand alone.”
3.
Obedience: Matt 3:15, John did what he was asked to
do. In the Bible it means to "to
hear," "to listen and then do.
Obedience is the supreme test of faith in God and reverence for Him. He learned the truth of 1 Sam 15:22, that
obedience is better than sacrifice.
Andrew Murray states in his book in the School of Obedience that God is
looking for someone to simply obey. God
is looking for a willing vessel. When
you obey God the supernatural happens.
Talk about Len Lindstrom calling out people to be healed of
deafness. The Bible says that Jesus
learned obedience by the things he suffered.
The Centurion teaches us a lesson about obedience when he stated that he
is a person of obedience. When he is
told to do something by a superior officer he does it. Jesus called this real faith. God is not looking for a debate on his will
what he looking for is someone who will say, “Yes Lord us me.” The problem with so many today is that we
have been taught that our autonomy and independence is a right. My greatest discussion with people is about
their rights and when someone violates it.
I have bad news for you. When you
became a Christian you surrender your rights to the Lord. You said, Yes, to God and no to you. Joab disliked David’s request to do a census
but because David was the King Joab did it.
There will be many times you will not understand, or even like what God
wants but if you do it you will prosper.
From Joseph’s life we learned that by obeying those who were in charge
of him he prosper and eventually was promoted.
You need to be faithful where you are because in obedience we learn
patience, trust and endurance. John did
and Jesus called him the greatest of all.
I thought this was an interesting point to close on. John called himself the least and Jesus
called him the greatest. A great lesson for us to learn here is that if you
want to be great in God’s kingdom, learn to be the servant of all. If you want be first choose to be last. Close with Saint Francis going to town and
the young student who wanted to know his secret. Talk to children, a woman, helped a beggar,
help a merchant load his cart and help
washer woman with her clothing, bought supplies and came home. We learn self denial, courage and obedience
in the everyday things of life. In the
decision we make and the people we touch daily.
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