Anticlimactic Witness – Part 1

John 1:23-27 He (John the Baptist) said, “I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.” Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, and said to him, “Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” John answered them saying, “I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know. It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”

A week ago, Pastor Kyle preaching on our current Book of John Sunday sermon series, “So That You May Believe” about John the Baptist. He began by pointing out that the questions of who we are, where we are from, and what we have been through in our life to get us to where we are today is really important. It is all part of our story that God can use. Like John the Baptist, this is our calling also.

Isaiah 40:3-5 A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. Let every valley be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; and let the rough ground become a plain, and the rugged terrain a broad valley; then the glory of the Lord will be revealed,and all flesh will see it together; for the
mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

But, also like John the Baptist, our witness for Christ must have a healthy spiritual awareness accompanied with a healthy self-awareness in order to increase our effectiveness in reaching others for the Lord. And the longer that we walk with God, we learn that the greatness within us does not come from us. It comes from our Creator and by His Holy Word. John the Baptist’s and our reality is that we are all no one from nowhere preparing the way in the wilderness of this lost and dying world for someone far greater – the Savior of the world.

John 1:29-34 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water.” John testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

John’s baptism was about repentance and ritual purification. People have asked: If Jesus was sinless, why did He have to get baptized? The answer is in Matthew 3:14-15 But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?” But Jesus answering said to him, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” The Believer’s baptism today is about identification with Christ’s work for salvation. Romans 6:4 explains, we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

Let's continue Pastor Kyle's message on the witness of John the Baptist in the next post.

In Christ, Brian