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PRAY…
PRAY…
It has been said that whenever you have 2 Baptists in a room you will probably find 3 opinions.
Opinions on just about anything and everything.
Baptists have been known historically as people of the book (meaning the Bible), but we are also well-known to disagree with each other.
Now, that is not just because we are an obstinate belief system.
We believe that each and every follower of Jesus Christ has equal standing before God.
Therefore, each and every opinion seems to have equal weight.
Thus, disagreements are common.
If your opinion and my opinion are different and equal, then how can we come to terms?
Unless it is a clear teaching of the Bible we are disagreeing over, there is plenty of room for disagreement.
But we are also called to be unified in our love for one another.
So when we disagree, we must be charitable.
We must be loving.
We must seek the betterment of even those we are in disagreement with.
But how do we do that?
In the way our current culture is working, disagreement is akin to war.
To disagree is to hate.
To hold an opinion that is the opposite of another is to think the other is not worthy of life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness.
I am not saying this with joy or glee.
I find this tendency to split over every little thing to be sad.
I am of the opinion that this current attitude, if continued unchecked, will result in the death of this nation.
Setting this country aside for a moment, this attitude is killing churches.
Again, let me say that there are many clear teachings of Scripture, on these there is no compromise.
Yet, the attitude of having a church your way or going to go find another one is what I am talking about.
In the passage before us today, the first Baptist, John the Baptist, is going to give us an example of how to respond to disagreement.
An example that could change the way we react in the church and in the culture.
Let me remind you once again that the Gospel according to John is a unique book in the New Testament.
While it does chronicle events in the life of Jesus, it does it differently than the other 3 Gospels.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke all tell the events like a reported.
Outlining the time and place and order of events.
John, on the other hand, writes for a slightly different reason.
John writes so that we may have life by believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
So, as we approach each passage in the book, we need to ask ourselves, how does this story help me believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God?
In the last 2 weeks, we looked at an encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus.
Jesus makes it very clear that unless someone has been born from above, they cannot know the love of God fully.
Jesus came to provide the way for us to be born from above.
And we can know that we have been born from above if we are characterized by the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives instead of the deeds of the flesh.
Now, we are going to go back to someone we left back in chapter 1, John the Baptist.
We know from the other Gospels that he will lose his head fairly early in the ministry of Jesus.
But this Gospel writer doesn’t tell us about that.
Instead, we will see the Baptist point to Jesus above all else.
So, let’s jump in at verse 22.
John writes so that we may have life by believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
So, as we approach each passage in the book, we need to ask ourselves, how does this story help me believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God?
In the last 2 weeks, we looked at an encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus.
Jesus makes it very clear that unless someone has been born from above, they cannot know the love of God fully.
Jesus came to provide the way for us to be born from above.
And we can know that we have been born from above if we are characterized by the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives instead of the deeds of the flesh.
Now, we are going to go back to someone we left back in chapter 1, John the Baptist.
We know from the other Gospels that he will lose his head fairly early in the ministry of Jesus.
But this Gospel writer doesn’t tell us about that.
Instead, we will see the Baptist point to Jesus above all else.
So, let’s jump in at verse 22.
The setting
1.
The setting
1.1.
So we have John the Baptist doing what his name would imply, baptizing.
Apparently, not too far away, Jesus is baptizing also.
We see in 4:2 that Jesus actually didn’t baptize anyone, only his followers did.
Do you see the potential problem right out of the gate?
1.2.
You might remember that the Baptist had baptized Jesus.
You might also remember that some of the Baptist’s followers left John and followed Jesus.
Now we have 2 baptisms going on.
To be clear, these were not the kind of baptism we see after Jesus’ resurrection.
This was, most probably, a baptism of repentance.
A sign that someone was plunging themselves all in to following God.
1.3.
The baptism we practice as a church is believer’s baptism.
We get that example from the Great Commission and the book of Acts.
There we see that baptism is a sign and a symbol of a change of the heart.
It is a sign that the old life of sin has been crucified with Christ and buried and that the new heart has been raised to walk in newness of life.
But these meanings had not been given yet at this point in John’s Gospel.
So, some folks were being baptized to follow John the Baptist and his teachings.
And others were doing the same for Jesus.
1.4.
Finally, from these 3 brief verses, we see that the Gospel writer, John, knows what happened to the Baptist because we read in verse 24 that the Baptist had not yet been put in prison.
It’s like the Gospel writer is saying, I know what happens to him, but I want you to know what he said before he died.
Let’s move on to verses 25-26.
2. The argument
The argument
2.1.
They begin by arguing about purification.
We don’t know what the argument was exactly.
And it really doesn’t matter.
Apparently, there was a difference of opinion between those who followed Jesus and those who followed John the Baptist.
And they are discussing it.
2.2.
But when John the Baptist’s followers come to talk to him about it, purification is not even in the discussion any more.
Now it is about the fact that Jesus is baptizing and drawing more people to him.
I just want to be crystal clear on this.
The Gospel writer makes no attempt to explain what the initial disagreement was, but sides have been drawn and now it is about who has more followers.
Do you see the change?
A small disagreement that now has people taking sides.
2.3.
I have seen this happen in churches.
Small disagreements turning into big arguments and both sides trying to drum up support for their side.
We can see it happening here, very early in Jesus’ ministry.
And we continue to see it today.
So the stage is set.
The argument is engaged.
Now let’s look at how John the Baptist deals with the argument.
3. A change of focus
A change of focus
3.1.
If this were a current event, we would expect the party that was feeling slighted, namely John the Baptist and his followers, to march right over and tell Jesus and His followers a thing or two about proper etiquette.
You shouldn’t outdo the one who got you started.
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