John, Only a Witness (1:6-8)

Introduction

Witnesses for Christ, His Life, His light, His salvation – are weird. Maybe you don’t like weird. Maybe you would prefer words such as strange, peculiar, or bizarre. More likely you would not prefer any of those words. Of course, if I were to describe John the Baptist to you, you may agree with me that John the Baptist, at least to our modern-day sensibilities, seemed a bit odd.

John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness and proclaimed a baptism for the forgiveness of sins (). To the mass of people who flocked out to the wilderness to listen to him, he declared “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (). To the religious leaders who came out to check on him he cried out, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” ().

You must at least agree with me that John the Baptist was not likely winsome. He probably wasn’t considered to be the best at developing tolerant and comfortable relationships. He likely came off as socially awkward. After all, add to his brash statements the fact that he “was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey” ().

So then, you may agree with me that at least John the Baptist seemed weird – or at least whatever equivalent word you might prefer. But, you’re probably not willing to lump your post-modern, tech-savvy, chic self with the likes of John the Baptist. He may have been weird, but you’re not.

This type of thinking is similar to a young Christian, college student at Vanderbilt University. Tish Warren wrote an article in Christianity Today back in 2014, by the title of “The Wrong Kind of Christian.” She starts the article by writing, “I thought a winsome faith would win Christians a place at Vanderbilt’s table. I was wrong.” She goes on to describe what she believed to be a winsome, appealing, and appropriate Christian presentation.

Christianity Today. I thought I was an acceptable kind of evangelical. I'm not a fundamentalist. My friends and I enjoy art, alcohol, and cultural engagement. We avoid spiritual clichés and buzzwords. We value authenticity, study, racial reconciliation, and social and environmental justice. . . . despite some clear differences, I held a lot in common with unbelieving friends. We could disagree . . . and remain on the best of terms. . . . Then, two years ago, the student organization I worked for at Vanderbilt University got kicked off campus for being the wrong kind of Christians.[1]

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship was put on probation in 2011. “We had to drop the requirement that student leaders affirm our doctrinal and purpose statement.” InterVarsity allows anyone to be a member but asks key student leaders to affirm its doctrinal statement, in which it outlines key Christian doctrine. But, and here’s the key, while it didn’t mention sexual conduct specifically, beliefs about the authority of Scripture “could potentially constrain sexual activity or identity.” Their lack of compliance with Vanderbilt’s expectations resulted in their removal.

This is not unique to Vanderbilt and InterVarsity. Only this week, the Iowa City Press-Citizen published an article describing a fight "for the right [of a Christian group on campus] to ask its leaders to be Christians."

Iowa City Press-Citizen. The university stripped Business Leaders in Christ . . . of its official recognition in 2017, because the group denied a leadership position to an openly gay student . . . The students asked the school to cut them some slack, to allow them to do the same thing they've been doing for 25 years without any trouble, and the university said no . . . They weren't even allowed to encourage their leaders to be Christian."[2]

We may not want to look around too much because when we do we don’t like what we see. But, just in case you haven’t been paying attention, the last decade has brought with it a sexual revolution. In the 1960’s, the sexual revolution “transformed a repressed, highly heteronormative culture still suffering from the entrenched, patriarchal mores of Victorianism and Freudism into a society of “free love.” Today, the new sexual revolution, is about the “right to be free from all societal influences that compete to exploit our most cherished instincts . . . The sexual healing movement does not seek to inhibit sexuality by reinstating prohibitive morality.”[3]

Maybe some of you feel like these battles are far from you. Maybe you’re just resigned to the fact that they don’t dramatically impact you and you’re okay with that. Maybe you could coast through with little impact on your life. But let me inform you, our teens are in the midst of it. From the youngest to the oldest of our teens, this sexual revolution and the demands of a transgendered nation are not just on the fringe of their lives but in the midst of their closest relationships.

And don’t think you can keep up. For those of you who may like to try, let me encourage you to read through the glossary that was compiled by “Gender Nation.” This glossary is full of terms to assist in better understanding and accurately identifying terms of the sexual revolution. We are told to avoid identifying gay people as "homosexuals." “Homosexual is an outdated clinical term referring to queer people that is considered derogatory and offensive.”[4] Instead we are to use the term “queer.” While “queer” was once used as a pejorative, it has been reclaimed and is preferred by many in the LGBT community.

How possibly could someone keep up with all of society’s cultural taboos or ideas of ethics? If you are a believer in Jesus Christ that holds to any semblance of historical Christianity and Biblical convictions, you look just about as weird as John the Baptist. Maybe we need to give up on our desire to be liked by our culture. Maybe winsome shouldn’t be the first adjective that describes our cultural engagement. After all, a light in the darkness is always going to be rather conspicuous.

Purpose Statement. We, who are not the light, are to bear witness to the Light, so that others may believe and have life.

Before acknowledging who John the Baptist was, let us first acknowledge who he was not. I’ll start by having us first look at . John was in the wilderness and some of the Jews sent priests and Levites to ask John, “Who are you?”

John 1:20–21 ESV

He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”

He was not the Christ. It is possible that there were some who had mistakenly identified John the Baptist as the Messiah. Both John, the author of this gospel, and John the Baptist are quick to dispel any thought that John the Baptist was the Christ. John the Apostle clearly establishes that he is not the light but came to testify about the light.

He was not Elijah? John the Baptist was the fulfillment of . “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes” ( ESV). Even Jesus says in Matthew, “if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come” ( ESV). And again, later in Matthew,

Matthew 17:12–13 ESV

But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.

ESV).

And yet, when the religious leaders asked John the Baptist if he was Elijah, he said, “I am not” (). They very likely had in mind the passage in Malachi. It begs the question, why did he say he wasn’t Elijah? Wouldn’t that have been a strong witness to the coming of Christ? The answer to that question likely further reveals an important characteristic of John the Baptist. Either (1) he was not aware of his fulfillment of Malachi or (2) in consistent fashion, John undermined the significance of his own ministry to more fully focus on Jesus as the Christ.

He was not the Prophet. In Deuteronomy there was the promise of a prophet, like Moses, who would speak the words of God (). If John is not the Messiah and he’s not the fulfillment of the Elijah that was to come, maybe he was this prophet like Moses. John responds with a “no.”

He was the voice of one crying in the wilderness. While John is quick to deemphasize himself and acknowledge that he was not the Christ, Elijah, or the prophet; he does at least acknowledge that he is not just any typical preacher. After pressing him further, he admits, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said” ( ESV). Matthew, in his gospel, makes this same connection ().

He was sent by God as a witness. Let us go back to verse six. “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him” ( ESV). He was sent by God. He fulfilled the Old Testament’s promise that a prophet would come and declare the coming of the Messiah. Both John’s conception and birth were miraculous. Even angels were involved with the announcement. He was the first true prophet to appear in 400 years. God ordained that he would prepare the hearts of people to accept the coming Messiah. John the Baptist was an amazing man. Even Jesus acknowledged, “among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist” ( ESV).

We are sent by God to be a witness. While John the Baptist had a unique role and was clearly one of the best men throughout history, he may not be quite as distinct from us as we may want to think. The ultimate truth, which is necessary for mankind to hear, is that in Christ we have life. God has so ordained that this message would be communicated through witnesses. John the Baptist was the first, or prototype[5], witness for Christ. Yet, in a simple way, he’s just a model of what every believer ought to be – a witness to the life of Christ.

God could have chosen to reveal Himself without the aid of human effort. He is light, he is self-illuminating. “Nobody needs to label or to describe light; it speaks for itself. . . . The risen Christ is His own best witness.”[6] “Light is a thing which witnesses for itself and carries its own evidence along with it . . . Christ’s light needs not man’s testimony, but the world’s darkness does.”[7] God could have designed another method to spread the light of the Gospel but instead He chose to use people to be witnesses to the truth. Similarly, the apostle Paul writes in Romans.

Romans 10:13–14 ESV

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

Romans 10:17 ESV

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

For mankind to believe in Christ and the salvation He offers, they must hear the truth. The only way for them to hear the truth is for us to tell them about it. In the same way that John was sent to bear witness to the truth, we are sent to bear witness to the truth. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” ( ESV). And again, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” ( ESV, cf. ).

The early church grabbed a hold of this reality, and it would do us good to consider their testimony. In the first volume of the History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon wrote concerning the early church, “It became the most sacred duty of a new convert to diffuse among his friends and relations the inestimable blessing which he had received, and to warn them against a refusal . . . to the will of a benevolent but all-powerful Deity.[8] Tertullian, the second century Christian apologist claimed that Christians had “filled every place among you—cities, islands, fortresses, towns, market-places, the very camp, tribes, companies, palace, senate, forum, — we have left nothing to you but the temples of your gods.”[9] Notice the places in which witnessing was taking place, cities, fortresses, market-places, companies, palaces, forums. “The main work of witnessing was done not in the formal atmosphere of church meetings but in the informal settings of day-today living . . . And it was done not by the clergy. There was no clergy class for a century or so after the apostolic era. Witnessing was carried out by ordinary believers. . . . John is a role model of what a Christian witness should be.”[10]

The Greatest Commandment? Just a moment ago I read passages which the church has titled “The Great Commission.” At times, we have misunderstood this term – especially the word great. We have turned the “Great Commission” into the “Greatest Commandment.” The problem with doing so is that the greatest commandment was established by Christ and reiterated by the apostles – that being we are to love God and love others. The emphasis on great in this commission is that the commission itself is great in that it is immense and huge. Our commission to be witnesses is great in two ways: (1) we are to be witnesses to the entire world, and (2) we are to be witnesses until the Lord returns. This commission is great because it requires our going to the whole world and it requires that we follow it until the end of time. “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” ( ESV). Nineteenth-century bible teacher A.T. Pierson used to say, "Witnessing is the whole work of the whole church for the whole age." He added, "A light that does not shine, a spring that does not flow, a germ that does not grow, is no more of an anomaly than a life in Christ which does not witness to Christ.”[11]

To what end, or purpose, are we to witness? The end of verse seven answers that question. “He came as a witness . . . that all might believe through him” ( ESV). This may appear obvious at first glance, but our practice may prove that we’ve missed the point at times. The purpose of our witness is not to secure our spiritual self-esteem, not to simply fulfill an obligation, not to build relationships, not to appear righteous, but that other’s may believe.

I fear, too often – and I say this primarily having felt great personal conviction – that our witness, and at times, our Christian lifestyle often has more to do with obligation or relationship building that it does with pursuing belief in others. I’d like to acknowledge in just a moment the necessary divine work in someone believing, but we must first embrace our God given role in articulating and verbalizing the actual Gospel message – not cloaked in religious clichés or intentionally softened due to its inherent offensive nature.

Articulate the Gospel. God is the creator and a such deserves and demands our obedience. We are sinful and by nature are hostile to God and reject Him. Because of our sin we are separate from him, damned to live throughout eternity in a literal physical hell. Yet, due to his abundant compassion and love, he offered Christ as a payment for our sins. Christ died for our sins. He was buried and rose again, defeating sin and death. He was our substitute. He took our place. Therefore, if we repent of (turn from) our sins, and turn to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we are saved. If the gospel message is never verbalized, then we have failed to do our part in being witnesses.

Belief is a divine work. With that said, we must never think that the salvation of mankind is primarily dependent on our ability to convince someone or articulate the gospel presentation perfectly. We must always remember that belief is always a divine work. “It is not in the power of men to prove the truth of the gospel. Here comes the testimony of the Spirit . . . our witness rests on that of the prophets and apostles, sealed in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.[12]

The Necessary Humility of the Witness. While God has chosen to spread the light of the gospel through people, it is important that these people do not think of themselves more highly than they should. They are sent by God to do a specific purpose. They are not the light, they are merely reflections of the light. John the Baptist was quick to deflect any praise or adoration. “John bore witness . . . He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me” ( ESV). “Even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie” ( ESV). John goes on to say in , “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. . . . He must increase, but I must decrease” ( ESV).

Purpose Statement. We, who are not the light, are to bear witness to the Light, so that others may believe and have life.

Dietrich. Christ has conquered, but history continues seemingly unchanged; mankind still stands in ignorance of God and in revolt against him. The great trial in which God is in turn the Accused and the Accuser goes on to the end of time, when the final judgment will take place. Here the witnessing function of the church comes in. She stands "between the times," between Christ's victory on the Cross and the final consummation so that men may hear and believe, and believing have life.[13]

Boice. The verb martyrein, which is found thirty times in the rest of the New Testament, occurs forty-seven times in the Johannine corpus – thirty three times in the Fourth Gospel, ten times in I and III John and four times in Revelation. Thus, the Johannine books account for three-fifths of the occurrences of the verb in the New Testament.[14]

Boice. “According to John witness is clearly an event, not a relationship, a deed rather than a thing.” At the very least John wishes to call attention to this aspect of testimony.[15]

Dietrich. The Cross is the objective testimony, for all time, of God's judgment and God's forgiveness. In raising his Son from the dead, God puts his seal on this testimony and testifies that Jesus of Nazareth is the Lord and Saviour of mankind : he is now for all time the faithful witness, witness to the defense of his fellow men before God; witness to the defense of God before the unbelieving world.[16]

Spurgeon. How very different is the style of this verse from the one that precedes it! How grand, how sublime, are the Evangelist's words when he speaks of Jesus! How truly human he becomes, how he dips his pen in ordinary ink, when he writes: "There was a man sent from God, whose name was John." Yet that was a noble testimony to the herald of Christ. John the Baptist was "a man sent from God."[17]

[1] Tish Harrison Warren, “The Wrong Kind of Christian,” Christianity Today (blog), August 27, 2014, https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2014/september/wrong-kind-of-christian-vanderbilt-university.html.

[2] Aimee Breaux, “D.C.-Based Firm Bankrolls Another Religious Freedom Lawsuit against University of Iowa.” Iowa City Press-Citizen. August 6, 2018. Accessed August 9, 2018. https://www.press-citizen.com/story/news/education/university-of-iowa/2018/08/06/university-iowa-faces-another-lawsuit-religious-student-group/918353002/.

[3] Alexander Katehakis, “The New Sexual Revolution is the Sexual Healing Movement,” Psychology Today (blog), April 14, 2015. Accessed August 9, 2018. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/sex-lies-trauma/201504/the-new-sexual-revolution-is-the-sexual-healing-movement

[4] R29 Editors, “The Gender Identity Terms You Need to Know,” Gender Nation (blog), June 1, 2018. Accessed August 9, 2018. https://www.refinery29.com/lgbtq-definitions-gender-sexuality-terms

[5] Craig Keener, The Gospel of John: A Commentary (Peabody, Mass: Hendrickson Publishers, 2005), 391.

[6] Merrill Chapin Tenney, “Topics from the Gospel of John, Part III: The Meaning of Witness in John,” Bibliotheca Sacra 132, no. 527 (July 1975): 241.

[7] Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume (Hendrickson, 1994), 1916.

[8] Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. 1 (B. F. French, 1830), 224.

[9] Tertullian, “The Apology,” ch. XXXVII in Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian, vol. 3, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Christian Literature Company, 1885), 45.

[10] MacLeod, “The Witness of John the Baptist to the Word,” 306.

[11] David J MacLeod, “The Witness of John the Baptist to the Word: ,” Bibliotheca Sacra 160, no. 639 (July 2003): 305.

[12] Dietrich, 278.

[13] Dietrich, 277.

[14] James Montgomery Boice, Witness and Revelation in the Gospel of John (Exeter [England] : Paternoster Pr., 1970), 24, http://archive.org/details/witnessrevelatio00jame.

[15] Boice, 25.

[16] Suzanne de Dietrich, “‘You Are My Witnesses’: A Sudy of the Church’s Witness,” Interpretation 8, no. 3 (July 1954): 277.

[17] Charles H. Spurgeon, Spurgeon’s Verse Exposition Of John, The Expansive Commentary Collection (Independently published, 2017), 8.

John, Only a Witness (1:6-8)

Introduction

Introduction

John’s Identity (and ours)

John’s Identity (and ours)

John’s Function: Witness to the Light

John’s Purpose: Belief in the Light

Additional Quotes