MPC
31st December 2017.December 31 - Matthew 11:1-20 - "What Makes You Great?"
MPC
31st December 2017.
Peter Kutuzov
It's safe to say that life wasn't easy for John the Baptist.
Now that's pretty much par for the course if you're an Old Testament prophet, and John's no different.
He speaks truth to power; he tells King Herod that it's not ok that he's with his brother's wife... who - awkwardly - is named Herodias... and so he ends up where most people who anger dictators end up... in prison.
And the funny thing is that he doesn't reach out to Jesus right away. John doesn't seem to get desperate just yet.
And given the message he preached, you can understand why. John had great expectations of his cousin Jesus.
Here's what John expected Jesus to do:
I baptise you with water for repentance.
But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
John thinks Jesus is going to ride in with fire and the fury of God on King Herod and anyone else who refuses to repent.
Which might be why John hasn't kicked up a fuss about being in prison. Because he thinks he'll get out soon.
He's read the Old Testament prophecies that those who oppose God and his messiah will be destroyed, and the Messiah that they predicted would come is here now.
So what DOES trigger John? What DOES get him anxious is what he hears Jesus is up to.
Because his disciples have been visiting him in prison and telling him what Jesus has been up to. And John's concerned.
He's wondering: Jesus, where's the judgement? Where's your army? Are you really the guy?
I mean, I know we had that moment where I baptised you and the Holy Spirit come down on you and everything... that was pretty convincing... but... so far I'M the guy standing up to Herod! You're just swanning around with your little sermons on the mount, being all popular.
Where's the fiery revenge on Herod who's got me rotting in prison?
So in verse 3, John's concerned enough that he asks his disciples to go to Jesus to ask him, "Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?"
Now you need to consider the embarrassment of asking this question for John.
Jesus WAS John's message.
Questioning whether Jesus was the one would be like Ed Sheeran deciding that music was dumb and telling people not to listen to it ever again.
Or George Clooney saying that he wonders if instant coffee might really be better.
John had devoted his whole life to Jesus being the Messiah...
Now he's wondering, "Was I wrong about EVERYTHING?"
Was my life's work... for nothing? You gotta give the man credit, he was willing to ask the question.
I've been talking you up. I've had your back. Lots of my disciples are now following you around... what gives? Where's the judgement?
And Jesus' response to John's disciples is interesting.
He uses a book of the Old Testament that John knows really well to sharpen John's focus.
He says to tell John what they see and hear. The blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear...
This is classic Old Testament. But not just classic Old Testament. It's all material drawn from the book of Isaiah. Which is an Old Testament prophet that we know John knew really well.
John may well have known ALL the Old Testament well, but he definitely knows Isaiah because he quotes from it all the time.
And so when Jesus quotes it, he knows that John will get where it's from. It's like when someone starts saying a line from your favourite book or movie, you can often finish it.
Now, I'm taking a risk here, but your job is to complete the line.
Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were...
... perfectly normal, thank you very much.
What about one with just one word to intro? "Luke... "
Or, one that's actually FROM Isaiah: "We all like sheep have gone astray... "
And this is exactly what Jesus is doing with John.
When Jesus tells John to look at what he's doing, the things that he points out are things that you find in John's favourite book: Isaiah.
You can see it there:
29:18 In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.
But what Jesus deliberately leaves OUT for John, and the bits that John knew all too well, were the bits of Isaiah that JOHN loved to quote.
The next couple of verses say:
20 The ruthless will vanish, the mockers will disappear, and all who have an eye for evil will be cut down- 21 those who with a word make someone out to be guilty, who ensnare the defender in court and with false testimony deprive the innocent of justice.
All the things John was expecting... hoping... that Jesus would do. But not the bit Jesus points out.
And so what he's saying to John is, "Hold on!" Yes, judgement is coming, but it's not coming in quite the way you were expecting. Its full weight isn't coming just yet.
Remember the OTHER bits of the prophecies. The healing, the love, the restoration.
You'll get your justice, John. But not quite in the way you were expecting. Make sure you get both bits of the prophecy. I'm going to do both healing AND judgement. Justice AND mercy.
Have you ever had a John the Baptist moment like that? Where you were SURE that God was going to do something in a certain way. That you felt you really KNEW what God's plan was, but it doesn't turn out that way?
Maybe it was painful for you. The loss of a loved one. A broken heart, or not even having anyone who might break it.
Or embarrassing. Losing a job. Failing a test.
Was it really discouraging for you, when something that you THOUGHT God was going to do, he DID NOT do?
John felt that.
Did it make you wonder whether God is really faithful? Whether he's even there? Whether your faith is really even something worth holding on to?
The bible has all sorts of examples where tough times... unexpected tough times... tough times that don't make any sense for someone God loves to go through, happen to Christian people.
And if we're not prepared for that. If that is unthinkable to us. If that makes us forget the cross, and heaven and that our God is permitting evil now only to wipe away every tear on the last day, then when the suffering comes it won't just hurt, which life does, it will wrench your soul.
Now, remember this is all happening publicly. Everyone's watching on.
And it makes John look really dumb.
You can imagine some of the snide comments from the onlookers.
"Jesus took John to school!"
"I always said his theology was off."
"Get rekt." as young Zach Begg would say.
But Jesus is having none of it. Straight away he turns to them and says, "So, who did you go out to see? You ALL went out to hear John. Who did you go to see?"
A reed shaken in the wind? Someone who just goes with the current trend? Did you go just to be told what you wanted to hear?
Or did you go to see someone dressed in fine clothes? Was it John's impressiveness that meant you went out to the Jordan?
No, that's not why you went. You went because he's a PROPHET. Because he spoke God's truth, even if it lands him in jail. Don't you run him down now. Don't pretend like you're better than him.
Why is it so easy to criticise? Taking down someone else is a great way to feel better about yourself? Is it because we think we'll feel a little bit greater, if we can point to the smallness of someone else?
And here's where we see something magical about having Jesus rule your life. About building your life around him, instead of building a bit of Jesus into your life.
As you elevate HIM to be the focus, HE lifts you UP.
He's not like the crowds. Having a laugh at John's ignorance. He's not like that guy at work who's always making little comments that put you down. He's not like us, when we put people down.
As John elevated Jesus to be the focus of his whole life. His whole ministry. As he made his life about Jesus, not himself... he actually ended up being elevated himself.
Look at verse 11. To the crowds, Jesus says, "Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist."
Did that surprise any of you when we read it? It still surprises me.
Why John? He really is a nobody... politically, financially, in terms of honour... any currency you can imagine really.
You've got Abraham, founder of Israel! David, slayer of Goliath as a boy! The great king of Israel. Solomon, wisest man in the world, richest man in the world, everyone came to him for insight. According to Dan's talk last week he's just a first century hipster. Why is John the greatest?
In August this year, after Roger Federer won his first round match in the US Open, 7 year old Izyan Ahmed, a keen young tennis player, managed to get a hold of a press pass and was even allowed to ask a question in the post-match press conference.
"I wanted to ask you, Switzerland is really cold, right?"
"Sometimes", says Roger.
"If that's so, and so there isn't too much livestock, then why do they call you the GOAT?"
At which point the room erupts into laughter, because all the reporters know that Federer is called the GOAT, because he's the Greatest Of All Time.
Izyan got the laughs from the crowd and the smile from Roger he was looking for. And Roger politely says to him that some fans call him that, but he doesn't call HIMSELF that.
And John IS like Federer in a bunch of ways, in that he doesn't draw attention to himself, he studiously points out how great someone else is, but he IS the greatest to have come along so far.
Except... it's not obvious why John deserves the title, but it's clear that Federer does.
In what sense, was John the greatest?
Well if you want to know what John was the greatest AT, we need to remember what sport John played. What business was he IN?
According to Jesus back in verse 9, he's a prophet. His job is predicting and pointing towards God's plan for the universe that will be fulfilled in Christ. He's in the knowledge business.
Which helps us understand the reason that Jesus says that John is the greatest in verse 13 and 14.
Because all the Prophets and the Law prophesied (that means they predicted and pointed towards God's plan that would be fulfilled in Jesus) until John.And if you are willing to accept it, he (John) is the Elijah who was to come.
All through the bible's history, the Scriptures and the Prophets told people what God was going to do. What to expect from him. What his plan was, not just for Israel but for the universe.
And as time went on - the picture of what God was going to do - how he was going to complete his great plan for everything got clearer and clearer. The prophets gave more and more information. All the way until... John. The last prophet before Jesus. The only prophet who could look at Jesus and say, "It's HIM! HE'S THE GUY!"
John was the greatest man born of a woman up until that moment, because he could point towards Jesus as the King of the world more clearly than anyone else had been able to before him.
John's the Greatest Of All Time! Because he had the immense privilege of being that day by the Jordan river given the job of pointing at Jesus and saying, "Look, it's the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world."
Abraham couldn't do that. Didn't know about it. David couldn't do that. Or Solomon. Or even Isaiah.
I feel pretty good about myself when I recognised Thomas Broich, a football player for the Brisbane Roar in a cafe and pointed him out to my friends.
That privilege... to see a person walking around... who was God in skin... the key to the story of the whole of space and time... and to be the one guy who KNEW that it was HIM.
To be the one guy who could POINT HIM OUT... that privilege, was John's.
Which is where you come in.
Because you are someone who could potentially believe what John says about Jesus, repent (which just means to turn away from your sin and back towards God) and bow the knee to King Jesus.
Are maybe you've already joined his kingdom. If so, you're mentioned here. In verse 11.
Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
If you hear about the gospel. The good news that the one who died for your sin is now king. And if you come to know and trust that on the cross, God brought judgement and justice on one hand, and yet also said, "It's not going hurt you. Over my dead body."
If you know... that God's great plan for the universe was to bear the punishment for sin himself, and rise again, and so bring healing, light and life to the people of earth."
Then YOU are greater than John the Baptist.
Because He had no idea about that stuff.
You could be the newest, least knowledgable, most sinful, stupidest, least eloquent Christian in Brisbane... but if you know that Jesus died for your sins to make you friends with God, you're greater than John the Baptist.
He didn't know. Had no IDEA how God was going to save his people, bring justice, bring healing. But YOU do. YOU have that privilege.
Like John, you recognise him for who he is. Better than John did.
What makes you great? For Christians it's so different from the rest of the world.
It's none of those.
It's two things:
It's the privilege that you have of living this side of the cross, and God having shown you that Jesus is the king who died for your sins. You know him.
And not only that, it's the privilege that you have, of the job of pointing him out to anyone who don't know him yet.
To know who Jesus is, and to point him out.
It's not a greatness that you earn, so you can never un-earn it. It's a gift that you receive.
And it's not a greatness that only some Christians have. Every Christian can point out Jesus as the saviour and king. And it's our privilege to do it.
It's what John the Baptist, the other kid of Christmas, the greatest man to that point, had. He knew, and could point to Jesus. If you're Christian, then you have that privilege to an even greater degree than John.
And THAT's what makes you great.