Sermon Tone Analysis
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Years ago I was approached by a man on the street who was “witnessing” to people.
He came up to me and the group of people that were with me, around 7 or 8 in total, and he attempted to lead us to Christ.
We were already believers in Christ and we tried to tell him this, but he still went ahead and “witnessed” to us.
In less than 5 minutes he gave us the “gospel” handed us a card with a prayer on it and told us to repeat that prayer and we would be saved, and without waiting for a response he moved on to the next group of people.
I have always wondered if he counted our group in the number of people he “won” to Christ that day.
Is this an example of effective evangelism?
Is this an example of a method that will produce genuine belief in Christ?
Probably not.
Can God uses this to bring people to faith in Christ?
Do we find this kind of evangelism happening in our circles today?
Have you ever heard a preacher give the “gospel” in his closing prayer and then ask people to repeat a prayer?
Can God use this to bring people to faith in Christ?
Is this the method that Christ used when he was on earth?
Did Jesus just ask people to pray a prayer?
What did Jesus require of people in order for genuine faith to occur?
In John 3:22-36 I think we find a key component to genuine saving faith.
Jesus has already highlighted this idea when he gave the gospel to Nicodemus in vv.
19-20.
Jesus highlighted the need for repentance as essential for genuine faith to occur when he gave the gospel to Nicodemus.
And I think this theme is carried forward in this final paragraph of John 3.
The main idea that we need to understand and that we need to help our unsaved friends understand about genuine faith is this:
God will not accept as legitimate a belief that does not result in obedience to Christ.
Obedience is not the same thing as belief.
You do not get saved through the work of your obedience, but real faith- real belief in Jesus as the Son of God will result in obedience.
If you say you want to believe in Jesus, but you have no desire to come out of the darkness of your sin, have you really come to Christ?
Have you come to the light?
What we continue to learn here at the end of John 3 is that:
God will not accept as legitimate a belief that does not result in obedience to Christ.
How do we know that?
I think we find three reasons in vv.
22-36 for why genuine faith must result in obedience to Christ.
I. Belief in Christ should result in becoming disciples of Christ (vv.
22-26)
There are two key words here that we need to highlight:
Disciples (used 2x’s)
Baptized (used 4x’s)
In five verses these are the words and ideas that seem to be most important.
Let’s look at the text.
After his conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus and his disciples- leave the city region and head in the the countryside of Judea.
And Jesus tarried with his disciples.
Literally, Jesus went out into the countryside and spent much time with his disciples.
(We cannot dwell on that thought, but it says a lot about what real disciple-making looks like).
And as he is spending much time with the disciples He is also baptizing people.
This is water baptism by immersion.
Apparently, people found out that Jesus was camping out in the country with his disciples and they came to him and were baptized.
Why is this significant?
New information: John the Baptist was also in the same area and he was spending time with his disciples in the countryside and he was also baptizing.
There is a comparison here between the ministry of Jesus and the ministry of John the Baptist.
And what is highlighted is that both we baptizing.
Why?
Why is this specifically pointed out?
Why not emphasize their teaching, or Jesus’ miracles, or some other aspect of their ministry, why highlight the act of baptizing people?
A brief aside- to help people know that this was early on in the ministry of Jesus and John because John had not yet been thrown into prison.
The first conflict that is introduced in this narrative is a debate or a discussion that between John’s disciples and the Jews/ a Jew (textual variant).
The debate was over the matter of purification or ceremonial washing.
The debate did not focus on the relative merits of John’s baptism as compared to Jesus’ baptism, but was distinctly in relation to the Jewish purification rites.
The point is that John’s ministry is being attacked by the traditional practices of the Jewish people.
The validity of John’s ministry is being called into question- by the traditional Jews.
This did not settle well with John’s disciples and it apparently it caused them to further evaluate the durability or the validity of John’s ministry- especially in light of the rising popularity of Jesus.
So, John’s disciples come to him and they say, Rabbi (teacher), you have to do something.
On one side we are being attacked by the Jews, and on the other side- do you remember the guy that you baptized beyond Jordan, Jesus of Nazareth?
You bore witness of him- that He is the Son of God.
Behold, LISTEN, CONSIDER THIS! ALL MEN ARE COMING/GOING to Him! John, what are you going to do about it?
Jesus is even baptizing the ones coming to him.
Again, the idea of baptism is brought to the forefront.
John’s disciples are concerned that people are going to Jesus and Jesus is baptizing them.
Why would that make them so concerned?
They are almost panicking.
They make the statement “ALL men come to him.”
Is that a true statement?
No, just read v. 23- “and people were coming (to John) and being baptized.”
So this seems like exaggeration brought on by resentment.
Why?
What is going on here?
In order to understand the panicked resentment on the part of John’s disciples you need to understand what it meant to become someone’s disciple in that day.
The word “disciple” used 2 x’s in this paragraph comes from the Greek word: μαθητής.
μαθητής is used over 250 x’s in the NT.
Most notably it is found in the Great Commission in Matt 28
The history of the word “disciple” came out of its use during the Hellenic Period (500-300 BC).
It came out of the relationship between the Greek philosophers and their students.
Hellenic Period (500-300 BC)
During those times a μαθητής was:
Learner
Learned from a master or teacher
Committed
Imitators- diet, dress, the way they walked
Devotion (almost religious in Greek culture- a μαθητής NEVER switched maters- ever)
Fellowship (continued after the teacher died) μαθητής formed Koinonia
The Period Between the Testaments
(Post Exilic Background to Christ’s Ministry)
The Jewish mind was tremendously influenced by Greek Culture and thought.
The followers of the Talmud (Jewish written tradition) were named the “Talmeed”
After the tradition of the Greeks with the Philosophers and their disciples, the teachers of the Talmud had their disciples called the Talmeed.
This is the beginning of the Rabbi position in Jewish history.
The teachers of law and the Talmud were the Rabbis.
This also is the origin of the existence of Jewish schools of thought (i.e.
Hillel, Shami, etc.)
The Talmeed Described
Learners and listeners
Had to have a teacher- no rabbi hopping- ever!
Passing along the teachings of the rabbis to carry on the oral traditions.
They were imitators
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