Luke 1:11- 17 – John – preparing a people for the Lord
Imagine agreeing over the phone to meet a distant business acquaintance—someone you’ve never met in person—at a large business convention. “How will I know you?” you might say.
“Well,” says your colleague, “I’ll be carrying a briefcase.”
“All right - but there will probably be a lot of people carrying briefcases. Not everyone, but a lot. What color is it?”
“Black.”
“That might narrow it down some,” you say, “but not enough.”
“I’m a redhead,” adds colleague.
“That helps, a Redhead carrying a black briefcase, but it still might not be enough. What will you be wearing?”
Your friend says, “A brown blazer. How’s that?”
“Okay,” you say, “But just to be sure, can you wear red sneakers?”
“Very funny,” your friend answers. “I’ll just make sure I have a name tag on my blazer with my name in big bold letters.”
“That should do it,” you answer. “I should be able to recognize you from a distance, and your name on the tag will seal it.”
Now imagine God, several millennia ago, devising the plan to send his only Son to earth to be born as a human infant. If we could have spoken down the corridors of time, we might have asked, “How can we be sure? How will we know him? How will we recognize him as the Eternal, Incarnate Son of God?”
God might have responded, “I will cause him to be born as a Jew, a descendant of Abraham” (Genesis 22:18, Galatians 3:16).
“But,” we might have protested, “Abraham’s descendants will be as numerous as the stars!”
“Then I will narrow it down to only half of Abraham’s lineage, and make him a descendant of Isaac, not Ishmael” (Genesis 21:12; Luke 3:23, 34).
“That will help – now it’s only half the stars!”
“Let him be born from Jacob’s line, then, eliminating half of Isaac’s lineage” (Numbers 24:17, Luke 3:23, 34).
“But—”
“Okay, I will be more specific. Jacob will have twelve sons; I will bring forth the Messiah from the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10, Luke 3:23, 33), but even better, he’ll be from the family of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1, Luke 3:23, 32) and of David, Jesse’s youngest Son (Jeremiah 23:5, Luke 3:23, 31)”.
“Still, that could amount to quite a few people,” we might have objected.
And God could have answered, “Then I will tell you he will be born in Bethlehem, a tiny town in the area called Judah” (Micah 5:2, Matthew 2:1).
“Wouldn’t it just be easier to have someone announce his coming?”
“Okay, I’ll send a messenger, who will prepare the way and announce his coming” (Isaiah 40:3, Matthew 3:1, 2).
Well 2 weeks ago, we learned a bit about that messenger’s parents and how in a miraculous way, God spoke to a Godly man Zechariah through his angel Gabriel. He promised this man that he would have a son – John. Now this was exciting for old Zechariah, because as we learned several weeks ago, he and his wife were old. They’d been trying to have a baby for years and had given up all hope of it. Now their prayers were going to be answered. But there was more. This Baby wasn’t just for their enjoyment – he had a far greater purpose than that. Look at his name - John. This name comes from the Hebrew name “to show favour” or “to be gracious”. In this baby, God was being gracious, both to Zechariah and Elizabeth, but also to the rest of mankind. Because here was the messenger sent to signal the coming of the Messiah – he was to prepare the people for the Lord. God didn’t want anyone to miss out on this Saviour of the world and so he sent a messenger to warn us. How gracious is that! It is fitting that this baby’s name was therefore John.
This evening, I want to look into some of the details of Gabriel’s promise to see what sort of man John would be and I want us to ask the question whether there is anything from his life or character that we should look to adopt in our lives. For those who are counting, there are 7 things I want to look at this evening, but before we do, let’s just pause and pray for some guidance as we open God’s word.
Pray
1. He’d Bring Joy
It is then said in Vs 14 was that he would bring great joy both to Zechariah and Elizabeth, but also to many others. I said 2 weeks ago, that we could naturally imagine that it would be rather exciting for this old couple, to at last be having a baby. They had given up all hope of a child – and it was probably even physically impossible for them to have a child. But where God is active, nothing is impossible. But more than this, John was going to be a messenger to the great king – the one who would come to save all Israel and all Israel would rejoice.
Joy is a characteristic of being saved, of being delivered.
Is 61:10 - I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness,
The Israelites had been under the oppression of others since the exile back in about 600BC. They had been long awaiting the one God had promised – the Messiah, who would come and rescue them. Most people understood this rescue as being political – that the Messiah would overthrow their overlords and bring liberty, freedom and joy. And John was the one who would precede this Messiah. What joy would come from his birth – the people’s bondage would soon be over – a great warrior would soon be coming who would conquer their oppressors. Pity that most people missed the fact that Sin and Death was the ultimate oppressor, not the Roman government. They failed to recognize the Messiah because their minds were distracted by the relatively little problems of their lives instead of looking at the bigger picture. I want to suggest that we are often like these people. We are so consumed by the small things in our lives that cause us grief, that we miss the big picture – that Christ has come and rescued us from sin and death. Instead of living in joy because of the hope that we have, we are consumed by worry and frustration. Why is that – why can’t we look at the big picture and rejoice in our salvation?
2. He would be great
Luke writes that John would be great in the sight of the Lord (vs15). What a fantastic complement. It was a recognition that John was God’s choice and had God’s approval. He was God’s man for the job. But why was he great? We are not told really – But let me suggest a couple of things … he was chosen by God for a purpose – It was a great purpose, yes, but so is that which God has for you. He was set apart for service as we’ll see soon, but so too are we. I think the reason he was great in God’s eyes, was because he obeyed willingly.
It is interesting that this word Great, is the same word that is used of Jesus in verse 32 – here was another man who obeyed willingly. When Gabriel appears to Mary, he says … “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.”
John was great and Jesus was great. But Jesus was the greater. In the use of this word in verse 32, there is no qualifiers. Jesus is Great. It is a characteristic of God – absolutely great. And John testifies to this late in 3:16 – he says “I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”
I wonder how God sees us. I don’t think we can compare with Jesus in terms of greatness, but how about John. He was called to a privileged position in the service of God, but you too have been called to serve God. How do you react to that calling? If we are willing to serve God – even in something as small as serving coffee at morning tea, doing some painting out the back of the church, teaching a Sunday school class – I think that God will be pleased with us. I suggest we should follow John’s example and strive to be great in God’s eyes by obedience and service to him – rather than trying to be great in the eyes of men.
3. He would be set apart
The third thing we can note here is that John was set apart. Zechariah was told that he would never drink any kind of wine or fermented drink. Some people read into this that John was a Nazarite. A Nazarite was someone who decided to consecrate themselves before God for a set period. During this time they wouldn’t eat any fruit from grape vines or drink any of it’s juice (alcoholic or not). They wouldn’t cut their hair and would avoid anything that was dead. You can read all these vows in Num 6. For this period, the person would consecrate themselves before God in worship of him. Now there is no mention of John not cutting his hair or avoiding dead bodies and his actions were not for a limited time, but were for life – so we really don’t know whether this was a Nazarite vow or not. Priests also abstained from wine and spirits before they served in the tabernacle and so it may have been similar to this in that John was called to serve God in a high calling and needed to be alert and coherent for this purpose. We don’t know, but we do know that by not drinking wine, John was being set apart for a special service of God.
We are like John in this regard – we have been sanctified. That is a big word that means being made holy, or being set apart. We have been set apart by Christ’s death.
Heb 13:12 And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.
We don’t need to avoid grapes, raisins, wine, etc any more to be set apart, we are set apart by Christ’s death. Set apart for what? To live a holy life (Rom 4:3-7) and to serve God (2 Tim 2:21). 4B Is this what you are doing with your sanctified life? We need to follow John’s example and be set apart for God’s purposes not our own.
4. He would be filled with the Holy Spirit
Luke continues to say that instead of being filled with alcohol, John will be filled with the Holy Spirit – even from birth. Now I hope you caught the magnitude of this statement. We live in an age when being filled with the Holy Spirit is normal. As soon as we become Christians, God’s Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us. But this was before Christ, before his death, before Pentecost. Old Testament saints didn’t have the Holy Spirit as a matter of course. God only indwelt people with the Holy Spirit for special tasks. But here John had the Holy Spirit since birth – Not even you or I had that privilege.
Not only did God choose him for service. Not only did God set John apart for service, but God equipped him for service. Isn’t it totally amazing how God provides for us in our hour of need.
I want to tell you something really exciting – are you listening. If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord, you have the Holy Spirit. Hear it again… If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord, you have the Holy Spirit. God has equipped you for service. So what are we waiting for. We don’t need to wait for anything more – we don’t need to wait for training to teach children’s church; we don’t need to wait for courage to take up communion; we don’t need to wait for someone to ask us to help with KOGs; we don’t need to wait for a sign from God to welcome new people in church – We’ve got the sign – we’ve got the Holy Spirit.
I’d like to suggest, that if you are refusing to serve God in this church or somewhere in his universal church, then in effect we are quenching the Holy Spirit – we are hindering his work in us and function. Are we hindering the Holy Spirit today? – I hope not. Just like John, we are filled with the Holy Spirit for a purpose.
This word “filled” is often one that is misunderstood. I have a jug here, I’m going to fill it with water. Is it filled with the water? Yes – it is filled with the water. But is it full of water? No – it’s got a heap of other rubbish in it. What if I take some of these rocks out – can I fit more water in? Of course I can. I want to suggest that this is like our lives. When we become Christians we are filled with the Holy Spirit just like this jug was filled with water. Unfortunately, there are many parts to us which contain rubbish. We keep our desires and ambitions to ourself and refuse to give them over to God – they are like the rocks that keep the Holy Spirit from filling us up completely and taking over full control. If we clean out the rocks and hand ourselves over to God, we free up more space for the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately often, we all have a habit of collecting garbage. So we need regular cleanouts. Many of you have probably heard of the baptism of the Holy Spirit or the second baptism. I want to suggest to you that it is just like this – one big cleanout and surrendering to God what space is left. But while big cleanouts are good, what is better is the continuous cleaning out. It’s like your washing up dishes. While it is good to store up all the dirty dishes in a pile and do them all at once, what is better, is to do them bit by bit as you dirty them. Some of just buy dishwashers – don’t we.
So … John brought joy – do we celebrate in that joy? John was great in God’s sight – how does God see us? John was set apart for service – so are we. John was filled with the Holy Spirit for service – so are we.
5. He would call people back to repentance
Fifth thing (vs 16) – his ministry was to bring people back to the Lord their God. John was a prophet and their ministry was calling people to repent – that is to turn from their sin and follow God. 6A Our ministry as a Christian is to do exact this – to bring people back to God or in many cases, to God. We need to be standing up for what is right and proclaiming God’s standards – just like John.
6. He would be compared with Elijah
Next thing was that John would “go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous.” So how was John like Elijah – We are not going to spend much time here … but here are some things.
• Did great things & attracted crowds - 1 Ki 18:20 Mk 1:5
• Dress similar – hairy coat, leather girdle - 2 Ki 1:8 Mk 1:6
• Lived in desert - 1 Ki 17:3 Mk 1:4, Lk 3:2
• Preaching similar – repentance - 1 Ki 18:21 Mt 3:1, Lk 3:1
• Bold & zealous in condemnation of sin - 1 Ki 18:18-19 Mt 3:7-10
• Persecuted & life threatened - 1 Ki 19:2 Lk 3:19
• Ushered in a new period - Writing Prophets Jesus’ ministry
• Had some doubts / depression - 1 Ki 19:3-4 Lk 7:20
• Met with God - 1 Ki 19:11-13 Mk 1:9
What Luke writes here is a quote from Mal 4:5-6. It was the last thing written in the Old Testament. God promised that there would be a prophet Elijah that would come before the day of the Lord and for 400 years, the people of Israel had been waiting. Now the first communication by God in the New Testament, God picks up where he left off and says – remember that promise I made about a prophet like Elijah – John’s the man.
Note here that the focus is not on John being like Elijah for his own benefit or fame. It is on the preparation for the Lord. The focus always has to be on the main even, not the supporting act. John was here to “turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous.” What does this mean? Scholars are not really sure, but it is in part still quoting from Malachi again. It is possible that John’s call for repentance would bring about a positive reaction from the people which would be pleasing to their forefathers long ago who had faithfully followed God. It was a call for people to wake up and be righteous. This is what we need to be calling for in people – We need to be asking for repentance and a lifestyle that would be pleasing to God and those saints who have gone before. I wonder if you are living in a way which would make your spiritual father happy. Would God be happy with your life as you are living it now. How about that person who led you to Christ – would they be proud of the way you are going on in your faith? Like John, we need to call others to this life of purpose as well as living it ourselves.
7. He would prepare people for the Messiah
The last thing about John is that he prepared the way for the “Lord”. The word for Lord here is not the word typically used for the Messiah – that word is Christ. Yes they are the one and the same, but it is interesting that the prophecy is not for just the anointed one, but the anointed one who would and should be Lord over our lives.
John came to prepare the way in people’s hearts for Jesus. He came calling for repentance and faith – not in himself or in his baptism, but in Jesus. What are we preparing people for? Are we preparing them to be friends with us? Are we preparing them to come along to a Youthgroup BBQ on Saturday? Are we preparing them to come along to church or an outreach night? Or are we preparing them for a powerful and lifechanging meeting with Jesus?
This was why John served. It was his purpose in life. What is your purpose? The vision statement of our church is “Being the family of God and bringing others into the family of God” We do the latter, by not inviting them to join a social club but by preparing them to meet with Jesus as Lord. What are you doing in your life, in your workplace or school, in this church, which is helping to prepare people to meet with Jesus? If you don’t know, maybe you need to come and have a chat to Pastor Roger or myself so we can find somewhere that you can fit in this church and serve using your God given gifts and talents.
John the Baptist was an incredible man – A Man who was great in the sight of God. His is an incredible example for us to follow and I’m sure that you, like I, have been challenged by a part of his life …
John brought joy – do we bring the joy of salvation to others? Do we celebrate that joy ourselves?
John was great in God’s sight – Would God say the same about us? – If not, what do we have to do to change that?
John was set apart for service – so are we – so are we serving?.
John was filled with the Holy Spirit for service – so are we – so are we allowing him to use us?
John called others back to repentance and was like Elijah in that he called people to righteousness - – are we doing the same?
John prepared the way for Jesus to come into people’s hearts as Lord – are we boldly doing the same?
