WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.870 I'm going to invite you to the book of John, is where we are going to be today. 00:00:03.380 --> 00:00:06.420 So the book of John, we're going to pick up in verse 19. 00:00:07.860 --> 00:00:12.940 We're in a new series together called Light the Dark, and we're looking in the Gospel of John. 00:00:12.940 --> 00:00:20.280 It's called Light the Dark because the Gospel of John emphasizes the idea of Jesus's light stepping into our darkness and 00:00:20.280 --> 00:00:21.400 it transforms things. 00:00:22.080 --> 00:00:29.080 It transforms our lives, for one, the most important thing I think, in the way that we perceive this world and how we live, 00:00:29.520 --> 00:00:31.920 and how that impacts things around us. 00:00:32.530 --> 00:00:35.070 We're looking at Light the Dark in the Gospel of John. 00:00:35.580 --> 00:00:42.730 As we go through it together, what we're going to find is different stories about Jesus intersecting the lives of others and how it transformed them. 00:00:43.480 --> 00:00:50.700 As you see God transforming the lives of people, you learn about the Lord himself through all of it, his characteristics, his nature, 00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:53.920 his purpose, and really you find your purpose in that. 00:00:53.940 --> 00:00:57.760 And so the Gospel of John is an important book of the Bible. 00:00:57.760 --> 00:01:05.220 We've shared this together, that Martin Luther has even said that if you destroy the Bible but save the book of Romans, 00:01:05.420 --> 00:01:12.600 and the book of John, that Christianity will be okay because those books are so powerful in their teaching, that still gives us 00:01:12.600 --> 00:01:20.000 the idea of how we are to live the Christian life and what the meaning of life is and how God rescues us, saves us, and has a redemptive plan shared 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:20.420 with us. 00:01:20.900 --> 00:01:22.890 And so the Gospel of John is an important book. 00:01:23.460 --> 00:01:25.280 But to start this off, I've got a question for you. 00:01:26.800 --> 00:01:33.580 Apart from Jesus, because Jesus is just the easy answer to this, but who is the greatest person to ever live? 00:01:34.410 --> 00:01:35.640 You ever thought about that? 00:01:36.180 --> 00:01:38.040 Who is the greatest person to ever live? 00:01:38.460 --> 00:01:39.560 You might have already been thinking, "I already know. 00:01:39.620 --> 00:01:41.900 It was Muhammad Ali." Ali said so. 00:01:42.140 --> 00:01:44.540 Or Alexander the Great. 00:01:44.600 --> 00:01:47.800 I mean, it's pretty hard to beat when your title has the word great in it. 00:01:48.260 --> 00:01:52.800 Or maybe you go with someone a little more modern, at least for America, Abraham Lincoln. 00:01:53.380 --> 00:02:00.520 Or maybe you might go with a Nelson Mandela, or even a Mother Teresa, or maybe you want to get all biblical on me and toss out some Moses 00:02:00.520 --> 00:02:01.500 or Abraham. 00:02:02.060 --> 00:02:09.340 But interesting, Jesus said that John the Baptist, in Matthew 11:11, he said, 00:02:09.440 --> 00:02:16.520 "John the Baptist was the greatest person to ever live." And so when you think in terms of who is the greatest, well, Jesus has an answer for that, and he told us it was 00:02:16.520 --> 00:02:21.660 John, which is a pretty wild response if you know anything about John the Baptist. 00:02:22.240 --> 00:02:24.920 John the Baptist is different than the apostle John. 00:02:24.980 --> 00:02:27.130 The apostle John writes the Gospel of John. 00:02:27.480 --> 00:02:30.840 John the Baptist was the one that gave the declaration to the arrival of Jesus. 00:02:30.860 --> 00:02:32.040 He was the forerunner to Christ. 00:02:32.480 --> 00:02:39.400 But when you study the life of John, Matthew 3, when it starts off, very first four or five verses, tells you about John. 00:02:39.880 --> 00:02:46.050 It says that he lived out in the wilderness, and he yelled at people, and he wore camel's hair, and ate bugs. 00:02:46.300 --> 00:02:46.930 That was John. 00:02:47.070 --> 00:02:50.260 And you think when Jesus said this guy is the greatest... 00:02:50.520 --> 00:02:55.780 I grew up a little bit in a few different states, but most of my life lived in West Virginia. 00:02:55.780 --> 00:03:01.610 And I can tell you there are places that you can go in West Virginia where people like John, I think still live. 00:03:01.840 --> 00:03:05.920 But you don't want to go there because if you're there, you're not going to live very long to be around there. 00:03:05.980 --> 00:03:08.480 And John is considered the greatest. 00:03:08.600 --> 00:03:11.340 How in the world is John the greatest? 00:03:11.560 --> 00:03:15.800 That's what we're going to answer today is what made John so great? 00:03:15.820 --> 00:03:17.860 How is John the greatest? 00:03:17.860 --> 00:03:19.440 Why would Jesus say that about him? 00:03:19.720 --> 00:03:27.060 In fact, when you look at John 1:19, you find the Jewish leaders asking the same question. 00:03:27.220 --> 00:03:28.620 I mean, you would probably think the same thing. 00:03:29.080 --> 00:03:33.320 You run across a guy running around the woods, yelling at people, wearing camel's hair and eating bugs. 00:03:33.400 --> 00:03:36.820 Like, this guy needs help, right? 00:03:37.060 --> 00:03:38.580 And Jesus calls him the greatest. 00:03:38.580 --> 00:03:45.700 In verse 19, listen to this, it says in this passage that John is getting so much attention that a group 00:03:45.700 --> 00:03:47.180 shows up to interrogate him. 00:03:47.240 --> 00:03:54.500 And this is where they say, this is the testimony of John, "When the Jews sent priests and Levites to him from Jerusalem and ask, 'Who are you?'" 00:03:55.880 --> 00:03:58.380 The question is, "What makes you so important? 00:03:58.580 --> 00:03:59.800 Who is you? 00:03:59.840 --> 00:04:06.860 Who do you think you are?" John's answer to this question is a 00:04:06.860 --> 00:04:13.340 powerful response because it teaches us something about this idea of greatness that Jesus sees in him. 00:04:13.340 --> 00:04:17.670 But let me you, how would you answer that question? 00:04:19.019 --> 00:04:26.060 When someone comes up, just on the cuff asks you, "Who are you?" Because how you answer 00:04:26.060 --> 00:04:32.720 that question is a little revealing to where you, as a person might derive your worth or significance. 00:04:34.540 --> 00:04:39.560 That's where they come in asking John this question, "Who are you? 00:04:39.580 --> 00:04:40.820 What makes you so important? 00:04:41.660 --> 00:04:44.720 Why should people come all the way out here to the wilderness to listen to your voice? 00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:52.820 So far out of the way and you look nuts, John." Then in verse 20, well, what we find 00:04:52.820 --> 00:04:57.060 is John didn't carry the credentials of the day that would warrant a crowd. 00:04:57.200 --> 00:05:04.360 He says, verse 20, "And he confessed and did not deny." And this is what he confessed, "I'm not the Christ, so if you're thinking 00:05:04.380 --> 00:05:09.480 I'm the Messiah and that makes me important, that's not me." And so they asked, "Well, what then are you? 00:05:09.540 --> 00:05:16.540 Are you Elijah?" And he said, "I'm not." "Are you the prophet?" And he answered, "No." And they said to 00:05:16.540 --> 00:05:17.420 him, "Who are you? 00:05:17.420 --> 00:05:24.920 Tell us, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us, what do you say about yourself?" So 00:05:24.920 --> 00:05:32.100 the Jews being familiar with the word of God, they knew that prophecy had said a Messiah's 00:05:32.100 --> 00:05:32.680 coming. 00:05:32.680 --> 00:05:34.940 And John is saying, "Look, I'm not taking credit as a Messiah. 00:05:34.960 --> 00:05:40.440 I'm not a Messiah." And they knew that scripture had said that Elijah would come as a forerunner to the Messiah. 00:05:40.460 --> 00:05:47.620 And John saying, "I'm not even that guy." Scripturally, we know that John did fulfill that prophecy, but John didn't even see himself in 00:05:47.620 --> 00:05:49.580 terms of the title as the forerunner to the Messiah. 00:05:50.400 --> 00:05:57.840 And they thought, "Well, maybe he's the prophet," because in Deuteronomy 18 it says there's going to be a prophet, and they believed that passage was talking a prophet 00:05:57.840 --> 00:05:59.680 that would declare the Messiah as well. 00:06:00.140 --> 00:06:01.320 And John say's, "No. 00:06:01.420 --> 00:06:04.220 I'm not even that guy." "So then John, who are you? 00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:10.900 What makes you so great?" And then verse 23, John gives his response. 00:06:12.560 --> 00:06:19.800 He says, "I am the voice of one calling out in the wilderness, make the way of the Lord straight as 00:06:19.800 --> 00:06:26.840 Isaiah the prophet has said." What John is saying here is honestly guys, who I 00:06:26.840 --> 00:06:28.180 am doesn't matter. 00:06:29.500 --> 00:06:31.160 It's who he is that matters. 00:06:32.560 --> 00:06:39.780 You can see this the way that he's addressing this passage, he's quoting from Isaiah 40 here, but he's saying, "Look, chapter 00:06:39.780 --> 00:06:42.040 40 here, but he's saying, "Look, who I am as the figurehead in the spotlight, doesn't matter to me. 00:06:42.100 --> 00:06:49.440 I'm just a voice, who you should be looking at is the one that I'm declaring, which is the Lord." 00:06:49.740 --> 00:06:58.600 And when he's quoting from Isaiah 40 here, what he's doing is he's declaring that this one that's coming is God, himself. 00:06:59.100 --> 00:07:01.160 What John is saying is, "You want to know what makes me great? 00:07:03.100 --> 00:07:03.320 Nothing. 00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:04.620 I'm just a voice. 00:07:07.400 --> 00:07:13.080 What is great is Him." And so John points forward. 00:07:13.960 --> 00:07:21.080 When I read this interaction between these religious leaders in John, there's 00:07:21.080 --> 00:07:28.100 a piece of me sometimes that I think the Pharisees in some degree, deserve the criticism 00:07:28.100 --> 00:07:28.760 that they get. 00:07:30.020 --> 00:07:36.360 But I think it's worth just pausing and just reflecting on who these people are that are coming to John. 00:07:37.620 --> 00:07:45.200 Because from this point on, as you go through the gospels, when you see Jesus interacting with the Pharisees, it's often a very harsh interaction between 00:07:45.240 --> 00:07:45.980 Jesus and the Pharisees. 00:07:46.080 --> 00:07:47.160 The Pharisees want to kill Jesus. 00:07:47.720 --> 00:07:51.360 Jesus calls them out and they're a religious way of thinking. 00:07:51.880 --> 00:07:55.540 And the reason he does that is because they're missing the whole point of scripture. 00:07:57.360 --> 00:08:06.040 When we're talking about these religious leaders, these people, according to Israel are considered the most elite, moral, 00:08:06.180 --> 00:08:14.140 well-thought of, do good people in all of Jesus's day, yet, they're 00:08:14.140 --> 00:08:16.900 the ones that miss the significance of Jesus. 00:08:19.280 --> 00:08:26.440 The reason I think that's worth just recognizing as we go through this passage of scripture is I think Christians sometimes have that tendency 00:08:26.440 --> 00:08:34.919 to become that way, where they sort of become this religious elite, these armchair quarterbacks, where they just want to sit back and criticize, but 00:08:34.960 --> 00:08:39.940 they just can't enjoy the goodness of Christ and the interaction of God's community. 00:08:39.940 --> 00:08:45.180 God's community is not a perfect bunch, but yet God still wants to work there. 00:08:46.740 --> 00:08:53.960 When you read this passage of scripture, this is this contrast between John and the religious leaders and they know the Bible through 00:08:53.960 --> 00:08:57.300 and through, but they don't know Jesus. 00:08:59.260 --> 00:09:06.740 That's what John is wanting them to recognize, is, "Look, if you're just looking at me and you're asking this question 00:09:06.740 --> 00:09:08.920 of, "What makes me so great? 00:09:08.980 --> 00:09:09.830 What's my title? 00:09:09.880 --> 00:09:16.960 What's my credentials,' you're going to miss the whole point." They even go a little further in verse 24 and since 00:09:16.980 --> 00:09:23.050 John doesn't have these titles, this credential of what would make him great, then start looking at tradition. 00:09:24.900 --> 00:09:32.120 In verse 24, "And the messenger had been sent from the Pharisees, and they asked him and said to him, why then are you baptizing 00:09:32.120 --> 00:09:34.600 if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet? 00:09:35.180 --> 00:09:42.940 And John answered them saying, I baptize in water, but among you stands one whom you do not know." In 00:09:42.940 --> 00:09:50.180 John's day, there was a practice of baptism but Jews did not get baptized. 00:09:51.200 --> 00:09:57.040 It was not customary, common, or kosher, I guess we could say because they're Jewish people. 00:09:57.540 --> 00:10:01.040 But in John's day, the people that got baptized were Gentile. 00:10:02.220 --> 00:10:09.800 And as an interesting formality to their baptism, that if a Gentile wanted to convert to Judaism, a part of that conversion included 00:10:09.800 --> 00:10:15.440 that they would go into water and they would self-baptize, meaning there was no one there to assist in the baptism. 00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:20.960 They would have to immerse themselves in the water and baptize themselves without any other person's assistance. 00:10:21.260 --> 00:10:27.040 And the reason was is because they were considered unclean people, and the Jewish people were considered clean, so they couldn't touch the unclean person. 00:10:27.440 --> 00:10:32.920 So they would just send that person in the water by themselves to baptize themselves, to show that they wanted to convert to Judaism. 00:10:33.640 --> 00:10:37.280 Now John shows up and he's breaking the traditions here. 00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:44.720 He's saying, "Look, what's about to happen with this Messiah, God's about to make something new take place and because God's about to make something new to take place, 00:10:45.020 --> 00:10:51.580 this isn't just Gentile needs to be baptized, this is everyone needs to align with this kingdom." That's what John's declaration was, "Make straight his path. 00:10:51.900 --> 00:10:59.080 The King is coming and his kingdom and everyone needs to abandon any system in this world that they think they belong to, and they need to embrace this King. 00:10:59.100 --> 00:11:06.540 And so the way you declare that is this whole new thing, is baptism." And when you read in scripture, that's what God's demonstration 00:11:06.540 --> 00:11:08.100 of water has always been. 00:11:08.100 --> 00:11:14.080 When you see it in creation, it says that God created in the beginning, and there's this water, that covers the deep. 00:11:14.180 --> 00:11:15.740 The earth is formless and void. 00:11:15.740 --> 00:11:20.920 And God says, "Let there be light," and then God brings the land out of the water. 00:11:20.920 --> 00:11:25.760 Out of the chaos of the water, God brings forth life and purpose and meaning. 00:11:26.120 --> 00:11:28.140 And so God starts a new thing in the water. 00:11:28.580 --> 00:11:35.720 When Israel was slaves in Egypt, when God brought them out, God brought them through the water in 00:11:35.720 --> 00:11:42.960 from a place of slavery, into a place of new life, a new home, a new beginning. 00:11:42.960 --> 00:11:46.040 And so water is symbolic of God doing something new. 00:11:46.460 --> 00:11:53.480 And now when John the Baptist comes, this declaration of this King, the Messiah, the promise one they have been waiting for, that 00:11:53.480 --> 00:12:01.000 John baptizes everyone to say, "Look, we all need to fall in line with this King, to show our allegiance 00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:08.400 to him." What John is doing by declaring this baptism is he's breaking from the tradition and 00:12:08.400 --> 00:12:08.920 the norm. 00:12:11.160 --> 00:12:18.180 The Jews are asking them the question then, "If you're drawing this crowd, you're giving this voice, you're pointing 00:12:18.180 --> 00:12:23.580 in this direction, what makes you so important?" It's not the titles. 00:12:25.820 --> 00:12:28.000 It's not the tradition. 00:12:29.920 --> 00:12:32.880 We ask ourselves the same question, what makes you so important? 00:12:35.540 --> 00:12:44.520 Our human tendency is to go towards this works-based or performance-based identity, and 00:12:45.140 --> 00:12:46.220 that's what they're doing with John. 00:12:47.560 --> 00:12:48.620 "John, what makes you so important? 00:12:50.120 --> 00:12:56.960 Show me where you have performed in such a way that warrants, that people need to be here," and we do the same. 00:12:58.820 --> 00:13:00.880 What makes you so important? 00:13:02.840 --> 00:13:03.900 Sometimes we think it's titles. 00:13:05.620 --> 00:13:11.950 You'll elevate yourself and position above others because you feel like the place of a title gives you importance. 00:13:12.480 --> 00:13:19.600 Or some of us might say it's because of our intelligence, and so you hope and pray no one discovers the lack of knowledge you 00:13:19.600 --> 00:13:24.520 might have in areas, and you want to put on this facade as the most intelligent person in the room. 00:13:24.640 --> 00:13:26.350 Or someone else might think it's your looks. 00:13:26.420 --> 00:13:31.200 And so you post on Facebook like crazy, hoping you get more likes than everyone else. 00:13:31.930 --> 00:13:37.140 Most of the time we see our value out of our ability to be better than someone else. 00:13:38.760 --> 00:13:42.270 If you don't live up to your standards, you feel like a failure. 00:13:43.780 --> 00:13:50.960 And if you do live up to your standards, you fill yourself with pride, you surrender to what 00:13:50.960 --> 00:13:53.000 you think makes you matter most. 00:13:55.580 --> 00:14:02.720 What you bow to shows what you believe gives you worth, and what you believe 00:14:02.720 --> 00:14:04.700 will determine how you behave. 00:14:06.500 --> 00:14:13.940 But what John does is interesting because John doesn't seem to take pride in his title, 00:14:14.760 --> 00:14:22.680 his position, his traditions, but yet John has incredible confidence, and 00:14:22.680 --> 00:14:25.280 at the same time, he walks with humility. 00:14:27.400 --> 00:14:33.520 That's a rare quality hold both of those positions in life, you're confident yet humble. 00:14:35.440 --> 00:14:36.620 How does it John do that? 00:14:36.620 --> 00:14:43.680 Because when you look at the very next verse, verse 27, what John says is really powerful and interesting here, because these religious 00:14:43.680 --> 00:14:50.780 leaders, they come around John, they're asking the question, "What makes you so great?" And they're looking for him to build himself up and all the amazing things that he 00:14:50.780 --> 00:14:51.530 is. 00:14:52.080 --> 00:14:55.300 Then in verse 27, rather than do that, it's almost like he does the exact opposite. 00:14:55.460 --> 00:15:02.760 Look at this, verse 27, he says, "It is he who comes after me of whom I am not worthy even to untied 00:15:02.760 --> 00:15:09.940 the strap of his sandal." Culturally, what John is saying here is a very 00:15:09.940 --> 00:15:16.960 powerful phrase because in the first century, you can imagine in Jesus's day, the typical attire that you wore on your feet, if you 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:19.820 had things to wear on your feet, was sandals. 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:22.260 You strap those suckers up and you walk the streets. 00:15:22.860 --> 00:15:25.780 But when you walk the streets, the streets in Jerusalem are dusty. 00:15:25.780 --> 00:15:26.370 They're not paved. 00:15:27.160 --> 00:15:29.680 And what else walks the streets with you? 00:15:29.680 --> 00:15:30.280 Animals. 00:15:30.340 --> 00:15:33.380 I mean, you don't travel in cars in these days. 00:15:33.380 --> 00:15:37.040 If you had something to travel on other than with your feet, it was on the back of an animal. 00:15:37.180 --> 00:15:39.800 You might have a cart if you're lucky, to pull you along. 00:15:40.280 --> 00:15:47.320 But when you walk on those roads, if you've been around animals, I know when I first moved to Lehi, Lehi was 25,000 00:15:47.320 --> 00:15:52.340 people at the time, and it seemed like you had to own three horses for every person that lived in this town. 00:15:52.780 --> 00:16:00.220 I remember when the roundup would happen, you would go to the roundup and if you had a horse, you got to be in the horse 00:16:00.220 --> 00:16:01.300 parade in Lehi. 00:16:02.020 --> 00:16:06.630 There was points where I felt like sometimes I was the only guy that didn't own a horses in Lehi. 00:16:06.740 --> 00:16:13.740 But when they would say, "Okay, it's time for the horse parade," they would like blow the horn or something and everyone would go to be in the horse parade, horses would come 00:16:13.740 --> 00:16:18.930 out of everywhere and the streets would just be littered with the remains of horses, if you catch what I'm saying. 00:16:19.340 --> 00:16:26.520 You can imagine in Jesus's day, people own animals and they're an agricultural society and those animals walked the streets with 00:16:26.520 --> 00:16:26.880 others. 00:16:27.120 --> 00:16:32.760 And if you had to take a mile walk that day down the dusty road to get to somewhere, the things that you would be stepping in. 00:16:33.040 --> 00:16:39.160 When you would get to someone's house, if you're like my wife, the rule is you get to the front door, you got to take off your shoes. 00:16:39.460 --> 00:16:46.540 In Jesus's day, when you get to someone's house and you're going to go inside and enjoy things, no one wants 00:16:46.540 --> 00:16:47.840 to touch those sandals. 00:16:47.940 --> 00:16:50.220 You don't even want to touch your sandals to take those things off. 00:16:50.600 --> 00:16:57.640 And so what they ended up doing in households, if they had slaves, this was during a time when there was slavery, the person that was considered the lowest 00:16:57.640 --> 00:17:03.360 slave in the house got the short straw and they had to take off the person's shoes and wash their feet. 00:17:03.780 --> 00:17:10.880 That's what John is saying in this passage, "You want to think about my position, think about what we consider in our society the 00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:13.180 lowest position, and I'm beneath that position. 00:17:14.680 --> 00:17:23.660 I'm not even worthy to take off the shoes of the one who is coming." And 00:17:23.660 --> 00:17:27.400 what John is teaching us without specifically saying it is this. 00:17:29.040 --> 00:17:30.920 Greatness isn't in what you do. 00:17:32.920 --> 00:17:34.200 It's in who you do it for. 00:17:38.100 --> 00:17:40.160 You want to answer the question what makes you great? 00:17:42.600 --> 00:17:43.980 Answer the question, where do you bow? 00:17:47.800 --> 00:17:55.200 And John is saying in this passage, the value of Jesus and this preeminence 00:17:55.400 --> 00:17:56.000 over his life. 00:17:58.680 --> 00:18:06.120 When we talk about humility or the idea of being a servant, I think we often balk 00:18:06.120 --> 00:18:06.500 at it. 00:18:06.700 --> 00:18:10.470 Who wants to become a servant or present themselves as a servant? 00:18:10.960 --> 00:18:15.280 What John is saying is a very humbling statement. 00:18:15.840 --> 00:18:16.840 I don't want to become a servant. 00:18:17.060 --> 00:18:23.180 I want to become great, yet John takes this lowly position. 00:18:26.240 --> 00:18:28.100 What makes humility such a great attribute? 00:18:30.860 --> 00:18:38.180 And you think about it, humility, we don't often talk this way and we refer to God, but humility is 00:18:38.180 --> 00:18:41.150 even a characteristic of God himself. 00:18:41.880 --> 00:18:45.280 I would even say it's very reflective of God's nature to take on humility. 00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:53.050 If you were to skip forward and to read to John 13, and that's the chapter where Jesus washes the feet of his disciples. 00:18:53.260 --> 00:18:59.660 It starts off in verse 4 and 5 John 13, where Jesus washes the feet of the disciples, the position of the lowest servant. 00:19:00.040 --> 00:19:07.140 But what's incredible about that chapter is right before Jesus does that in verse four, in verse three, it says that the father 00:19:07.140 --> 00:19:08.400 has given him all authority. 00:19:10.100 --> 00:19:11.660 All power has been given to Jesus. 00:19:12.920 --> 00:19:19.420 Now, you can think, if I came to you today and I said, "Look, I'm giving you all power and authority in life," what would be the very next act that you did? 00:19:20.600 --> 00:19:25.680 I'm going to guess it would be something that you would think would just be great, that just flexes that muscle before the world. 00:19:25.720 --> 00:19:28.460 Like, all authority and power is given to you. 00:19:28.460 --> 00:19:29.480 What should you do with this? 00:19:29.480 --> 00:19:33.640 Like you rubbed the little geni on the lamp and now it's been granted and you get to make your first wish. 00:19:33.700 --> 00:19:34.220 What are you going to do? 00:19:34.340 --> 00:19:34.980 And you know what Jesus does? 00:19:37.040 --> 00:19:37.560 He washes feet. 00:19:40.540 --> 00:19:41.560 That's incredible, isn't it? 00:19:43.260 --> 00:19:51.120 All of this given unto him, all of the strength, all the power, all the authority to rule king of kings, lord of lords, and what' 00:19:51.180 --> 00:19:52.220 your first act Jesus? 00:19:53.200 --> 00:19:55.060 To serve. 00:19:55.280 --> 00:19:55.500 To serve. 00:19:57.600 --> 00:19:58.020 Why? 00:19:59.060 --> 00:20:00.580 Don't you want to tell people how great you are? 00:20:01.680 --> 00:20:03.650 Don't you want to show people how amazing you are? 00:20:05.280 --> 00:20:07.000 Jesus didn't need to. 00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:09.730 He already knew how great he was. 00:20:11.400 --> 00:20:18.580 I think that's the lesson that we're learning here with John is the world comes and says, "Look, this is how in our world 00:20:18.580 --> 00:20:28.380 that you show people how amazing you are." And John saying, "But I don't get my value from this world." The 00:20:28.460 --> 00:20:35.420 path to greatness, John teaches us, is paved with humility and service. 00:20:38.880 --> 00:20:39.400 Three views. 00:20:41.300 --> 00:20:42.940 What makes John so great? 00:20:43.020 --> 00:20:45.880 There are three views that allowed John to be great. 00:20:47.760 --> 00:20:51.940 John, number one, had a high view of God. 00:20:53.780 --> 00:20:59.140 We could use all kinds of phrases here rather than just a high view, but I'm going to alliterate this with Hs. 00:20:59.140 --> 00:21:06.260 So John, number one, had a high view of God, meaning Christ was premier in his life, he saw the Lord as supreme in his life, God was sovereign in his 00:21:06.260 --> 00:21:06.660 life. 00:21:06.860 --> 00:21:14.160 Whatever you need to say to yourself to say, "Okay, where John bases his worth and value, what takes preeminent 00:21:14.160 --> 00:21:21.680 in his life is the Lord." This is important because we often think if I want to be great, 00:21:22.620 --> 00:21:24.540 I need to see myself as great. 00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:30.770 In order for me to become that great thing that I know that I should be, I need to know that I am great and see myself as great. 00:21:31.620 --> 00:21:32.720 That may be true. 00:21:33.140 --> 00:21:40.260 Maybe in life, you're just thinking, "I'm depressed, I'm worthless." Maybe you do need to see yourself as great or understand 00:21:40.260 --> 00:21:42.480 how valuable you are. 00:21:42.500 --> 00:21:48.960 But the problem that we run into is oftentimes in order to get there, we start in the wrong position. 00:21:50.160 --> 00:21:57.200 What I mean is in our society, if you want to think that you're great, what we often tell you is look deeper within yourself to demonstrate how 00:21:57.200 --> 00:21:58.340 great you are. 00:21:58.560 --> 00:22:02.300 The problem with that is, you didn't make yourself. 00:22:03.740 --> 00:22:10.760 When we can't find that within us, the next step that we often look to as other people, like, "What do other people say about me, or how do other 00:22:10.760 --> 00:22:18.080 people say I need to become great, and whatever hierarchy system they create, then I'll follow that path to demonstrate how great I am." But the problem 00:22:18.080 --> 00:22:21.360 with that is they didn't make you either. 00:22:26.020 --> 00:22:33.140 John has discovered that is value and purpose in life isn't found within him, isn't found within others, but rather it's 00:22:33.220 --> 00:22:34.240 found within the Lord. 00:22:35.240 --> 00:22:43.080 I remember when I was a college student at Marshall University, in my apartment at night, staring, 00:22:43.140 --> 00:22:50.140 looking up at the ceiling and asking that question, "What in the world am I doing with my life?" I was 00:22:50.140 --> 00:22:57.300 just trying to figure out what major I was going to be in college, and what I was even going to do, and showing up for classes the next day, and not really have 00:22:57.300 --> 00:23:03.500 any clear direction of where this is all going, just taking general classes, because I knew I needed to at least have those. 00:23:03.560 --> 00:23:05.540 But still answering the question, "But why am I doing this? 00:23:06.120 --> 00:23:13.120 Why am I doing this?" Staying up at night, like, "How am I even going to decide what I'm going to become when I get older," and just can't figure it out. 00:23:13.180 --> 00:23:20.420 And then I just remember reasoning with myself, thinking, "But if there is a God, and God made 00:23:20.420 --> 00:23:22.720 me, then God would've made me for a reason. 00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:32.680 If I can just figure out who that God is, then I can find out my purpose, and then I could figure out my direction." This 00:23:32.680 --> 00:23:34.840 is where John's at, right? 00:23:36.260 --> 00:23:37.420 How did John become great? 00:23:37.500 --> 00:23:40.680 Well, John had this high view of God. 00:23:40.780 --> 00:23:43.090 And what you see, you see this peppered throughout the scripture. 00:23:43.160 --> 00:23:46.920 Verse 23, remember he said this, "I am the voice of the one calling out in the wilderness. 00:23:47.560 --> 00:23:54.680 Make the way of the Lord straight, as Isaiah the prophet said." What John is saying is, "Look, there's 00:23:54.680 --> 00:24:01.720 the King of Kings who's coming." And he's saying, "Look, let's prepare the path so that when he walks into our lives, we can just receive him 00:24:01.720 --> 00:24:02.580 with open arms. 00:24:02.580 --> 00:24:09.660 He just has the clear road into our lives." He's given this declaration, "Make the path straight for the arrival of this King. 00:24:09.720 --> 00:24:14.990 Verse 27, "It's he who comes after me of whom I'm not worthy, even to untie his strap." It was just elevate. 00:24:15.520 --> 00:24:15.940 You need to elevate. 00:24:15.940 --> 00:24:17.390 You need to understand how great he is. 00:24:17.420 --> 00:24:21.900 This needs to take the preeminence in your life of where you find purpose, and value, and worth, and meaning. 00:24:21.900 --> 00:24:28.980 Verse 29, The next day, he saw Jesus coming to him and he said, "Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." 00:24:30.420 --> 00:24:32.760 And think of how powerful of a statement this is. 00:24:32.860 --> 00:24:39.900 If you're doing our yearly Bible reading, we just read this chapter last yesterday, where Israel celebrates 00:24:39.900 --> 00:24:40.580 the Passover. 00:24:41.580 --> 00:24:48.640 And the Passover is a tradition from Egypt where God takes Israel as slaves under Moses, out of Egypt and gives them this 00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:50.620 identity in him, into the promised land. 00:24:50.620 --> 00:24:52.380 He delivers them into the promised land. 00:24:53.000 --> 00:24:59.640 On the night that he leads them out of Egypt into their promised land, he tells them to sacrifice the lamb. 00:25:00.520 --> 00:25:04.170 Every family needs to sacrifice a lamb, and apply the blood to the doorpost. 00:25:04.300 --> 00:25:08.700 They did that every year, every family responsible for sacrificing this lamb. 00:25:08.760 --> 00:25:09.900 It's a pretty profound story. 00:25:10.160 --> 00:25:17.220 You think about what exactly God did in Egypt, that he takes slaves and he gives them an identity in 00:25:17.220 --> 00:25:17.620 him. 00:25:17.960 --> 00:25:27.600 Now, you think, when Moses comes before Pharaoh and Moses says before Pharaoh, "God said let the people go," Pharaoh's thinking, "God doesn't talk to the slaves." But 00:25:27.600 --> 00:25:34.740 yet God takes what culture would consider the least of these, and gives them this identity, and purpose, and value, 00:25:34.760 --> 00:25:35.640 and meaning. 00:25:35.640 --> 00:25:43.020 And to symbolize the beauty of this, God that rescues them, they sacrifice the lamb and they apply the blood above the doorpost every year, 00:25:43.020 --> 00:25:45.700 to show an ultimate salvation that would come. 00:25:45.920 --> 00:25:53.020 When this ultimate salvation comes, it's this King of Kings, Lord of Lords who identifies himself as the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of 00:25:53.020 --> 00:25:53.400 the world. 00:25:54.120 --> 00:25:59.160 Now, when you think about this lamb, it's no longer each family, every year, sacrifice a lamb and apply the blood. 00:25:59.560 --> 00:26:01.520 It's one lamb for the whole world. 00:26:02.540 --> 00:26:04.780 One lamb, one time for the whole world. 00:26:05.100 --> 00:26:09.000 This is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. 00:26:11.100 --> 00:26:12.160 What's John saying here? 00:26:13.700 --> 00:26:20.120 Guys, it's not about a performance-based identity, but rather it's a grace-based identity. 00:26:21.500 --> 00:26:25.270 This lamb takes away the sins of the world and that includes me. 00:26:27.480 --> 00:26:34.620 That God would talk to me, that God would come for me, that God would see value in 00:26:34.620 --> 00:26:37.910 me, that God gave me purpose in this world when he designed me. 00:26:39.260 --> 00:26:42.000 I don't want your system to tell me who I am. 00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:44.900 I want God to tell me who I am. 00:26:46.320 --> 00:26:52.520 So John finds this grace-based identity, and I think what it does for his life is it gives him tunnel vision. 00:26:54.180 --> 00:26:57.660 I mean, I just want to look at his declaration over me. 00:26:58.160 --> 00:27:00.340 What does he say about me? 00:27:01.980 --> 00:27:06.740 So John has this high view of God. 00:27:08.640 --> 00:27:14.120 Wasn't looking to the world to say something about him, to give him Facebook likes, to tell him that he's important. 00:27:16.190 --> 00:27:17.580 Rather, what does God say about him? 00:27:17.600 --> 00:27:24.680 Verse 30, "This is he on behalf of whom I said after me is coming a man who has proved to be my superior because 00:27:24.680 --> 00:27:30.400 he has existed before me," Meaning, this one who's coming is eternal. 00:27:30.400 --> 00:27:34.160 The reason he is eternal is because he's God. 00:27:34.380 --> 00:27:35.780 God is coming for us. 00:27:37.300 --> 00:27:41.660 John had a high view of God and because of that, John then had a healthy view of himself. 00:27:43.480 --> 00:27:50.620 He didn't start with what makes me so important by looking deeper within me, he started what makes me so important by looking to the Lord, and in the Lord, he finds 00:27:50.620 --> 00:27:52.440 meaning in himself. 00:27:52.440 --> 00:27:55.420 John had a healthy view of himself. 00:27:56.600 --> 00:27:57.960 When you think about what John's job was. 00:27:59.880 --> 00:28:05.280 John was given the job to introduce the world to the most important person to ever live. 00:28:07.960 --> 00:28:15.160 What an incredible calling in this world, to introduce the world to the most important person to ever 00:28:15.160 --> 00:28:15.710 live. 00:28:17.840 --> 00:28:18.060 Wow. 00:28:19.480 --> 00:28:20.230 I want to be like John. 00:28:20.640 --> 00:28:22.090 I mean, could you imagine if you had that job. 00:28:22.460 --> 00:28:24.340 But the truth is, you do. 00:28:25.700 --> 00:28:32.900 You have that same calling in this world because that's your calling too, to declare the goodness of God 00:28:32.900 --> 00:28:39.940 through the way that you live in this world is this higher calling in Jesus, that he calls you his 00:28:39.940 --> 00:28:42.410 own and calls you into this world to be alive. 00:28:43.080 --> 00:28:44.420 It's an incredible thing. 00:28:44.420 --> 00:28:50.470 When you think about John's calling and really, it's the same calling that you have in your life. 00:28:51.000 --> 00:28:58.410 I'm not telling you, so therefore you need to go into the wilderness, and scream at people wearing fur, and eating bugs. 00:28:58.460 --> 00:29:05.680 Your position in life doesn't necessarily change, but your purpose 00:29:05.680 --> 00:29:06.420 in life does. 00:29:09.180 --> 00:29:16.350 It's not about the approval of a man, but rather it's about living for the Lord. 00:29:17.660 --> 00:29:24.060 Maybe you're a stay at home mom, which I think is the most important job in the world. 00:29:24.060 --> 00:29:26.660 You have direct influence to future generations. 00:29:29.760 --> 00:29:38.440 It's not about looking at others to validate the significance of who you are, but the understanding of your role in the light of the Lord, to 00:29:38.540 --> 00:29:45.720 influence others for his kingdom and glory, to see the next generation live in light of God, and to make a difference in 00:29:45.720 --> 00:29:45.960 this world. 00:29:48.120 --> 00:29:55.220 You don't have to look to others for approval in that you look to your King and just ask the question, "God, what can I do to be that light to those around 00:29:55.220 --> 00:29:59.320 me?" Or maybe you're a workaholic dad. 00:30:00.840 --> 00:30:07.210 You struggled with identity and you don't like so much to go into the home because you know at your job, you have title. 00:30:08.440 --> 00:30:10.520 You have position, everyone respects you. 00:30:10.540 --> 00:30:12.140 And I say, who cares? 00:30:12.140 --> 00:30:13.020 They get paid to do that. 00:30:13.240 --> 00:30:15.130 Of course, they're going to kiss up to you. 00:30:15.380 --> 00:30:17.240 They get things for that. 00:30:17.240 --> 00:30:18.330 They get paid to do that. 00:30:18.600 --> 00:30:20.370 They may not even really like you to your face. 00:30:20.580 --> 00:30:27.860 But you avoid home, but the most important role, is the place of influence 00:30:27.860 --> 00:30:28.760 and position. 00:30:29.540 --> 00:30:38.720 A job can be a place you do that too, but to understand is it's not about title, but 00:30:38.720 --> 00:30:44.160 it's about living for the one in his glory, to have a healthy view, a high view of God, a healthy view of self. 00:30:45.440 --> 00:30:49.120 Then John had, I would say, a helpful view of others. 00:30:49.740 --> 00:30:57.000 So you can remember those, a high view of God, a healthy view of himself, and then a helpful view of others. 00:30:58.220 --> 00:31:05.220 If John carried the world's system of value, he would have bowed down to the religious leaders. 00:31:05.320 --> 00:31:07.130 They would have said, "Shut up," and said, "John, why are you so important? 00:31:07.880 --> 00:31:10.080 John, why are you baptizing people?" And he would have said, "You're right. 00:31:10.140 --> 00:31:10.380 You're right. 00:31:10.440 --> 00:31:10.760 I'm sorry. 00:31:10.760 --> 00:31:11.720 I'm sorry, I offended you. 00:31:11.820 --> 00:31:18.600 Let me please you in what I do." But John didn't, because John didn't need their approval. 00:31:21.000 --> 00:31:28.040 John had the confident understanding of who he in light of who God was, and therefore, he had a healthy view of others, where he didn't come before them 00:31:28.040 --> 00:31:31.560 saying, "Please, please show me my worth and value. 00:31:33.140 --> 00:31:34.540 Show me how important I am. 00:31:35.460 --> 00:31:37.320 Elevate me." Now, I know we all need encouragement. 00:31:37.580 --> 00:31:41.460 That's important to encourage one another, uplift each other. 00:31:44.470 --> 00:31:47.590 But the value of who we are isn't found in others. 00:31:49.420 --> 00:31:56.180 It's found in Him and John already had the Lord's calling on his life. 00:31:57.940 --> 00:32:00.260 To him, that position was the most important. 00:32:03.420 --> 00:32:04.400 So how do you become great? 00:32:07.580 --> 00:32:10.140 I would say, that all depends on who you want to be grate for. 00:32:13.560 --> 00:32:21.240 What you bow to determines where you find your worth, or at least what you think gives 00:32:21.240 --> 00:32:21.800 you worth. 00:32:23.600 --> 00:32:26.960 For John, it was the Lord. 00:32:28.880 --> 00:32:37.280 If you ask the question, how do you become great, and you're asking that question because you want other people to think you're amazing, you're 00:32:37.280 --> 00:32:42.480 going to spend the rest of your life as a slave to the opinions of people and never find your soul content. 00:32:44.800 --> 00:32:49.580 Who or what you bow to will determine where you find your greatness. 00:32:50.880 --> 00:32:56.270 Greatness is not found in what you do, but truly to whom you surrender. 00:32:58.340 --> 00:33:05.480 In fact, if you went back to Matthew 11:11, where Jesus calls John the greatest, listen to this, he says, "Truly, 00:33:05.480 --> 00:33:12.580 I say to you, among those born of women, there not one risen anyone greater than John the Baptist." But then Jesus 00:33:12.580 --> 00:33:20.560 goes on and says this, "Yet, the one who is the least in the kingdom of heaven is 00:33:20.560 --> 00:33:26.920 greater than he." I think that ultimately points to Jesus, who is the servant of servants. 00:33:29.280 --> 00:33:36.280 But what Jesus is saying is what makes you great is who you serve, and who better you could 00:33:36.300 --> 00:33:43.510 serve to demonstrate your greatness than the one who created you, because he understands your purpose better than anyone. 00:33:45.620 --> 00:33:47.740 Bow to Jesus, find meaning. 00:33:51.060 --> 00:33:54.400 Miss Jesus, and long for purpose the rest of your life. 00:33:56.460 --> 00:34:03.080 That's the contrasting of this story that you'll see between the religious leaders and John the Baptist. 00:34:04.560 --> 00:34:11.639 Some of the most intelligent people in all of scripture, and yet they missed it because they wouldn't bow 00:34:11.639 --> 00:34:13.580 the knee to their King.