03 - The Timing and Effectiveness of John's Ministry
Introduction:
A preacher once had a disagreement with the elders in the congregation.
This congregation was in a large city.
That city contained many congregations of the Lord’s church.
After a disagreement which had nothing to do with doctrine, the preacher left the congregation and began preaching elsewhere in the city.
As a result, many of the members followed him to this new congregation.
This was not because of any religious conviction, because the preacher left over a matter not related to doctrine.
Instead, they were more followers of the preacher than followers of Jesus.
This is what is commonly referred to as “preacher-itis.”
Preacher-itis was a problem in Corinth, where people were saying “I am of Paul,” “I am of Apollos,” “I am of Cephas.”
John the Baptizer had to deal with the same type of problem with some of his disciples.
A disciple is a learner, and so the disciples of John were those who followed John in order to learn from him.
It is not as if they put John ahead or equal to God, he was simply their teacher.
Today we are going to continue our study of the life and mission of John the Baptizer.
The timing of John’s ministry.
The effectiveness of John’s ministry.
The timing of John’s ministry.
Luke has been called a “first-rate historian” by an atheist (Sir William Ramsay) who set out to prove the Biblical account of Luke and Acts false.
That atheist was converted to belief in God because he discovered that everything Luke recorded about names, dates, and places were 100% accurate.
Luke himself proclaims that he had “perfect understanding of all things from the first” and that he wrote in order “that [we] mightiest know the certainty of those things wherein [we have] been instructed” (Luke 1:3-4).
The ASV says that Luke “traced the course of all things accurately from the first,” which implies that Luke did an extensive amount of research.
He was a companion of Paul, who would have been able to relay the personal events which are recorded in Acts.
Luke records the time when John began to preach.
It was in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar (Luke 3:1).
Tiberius began a co-regency (co-reign) with his father Augustus in 12 AD.
Pontius Pilate was the governor of Judea.
Herod the Tetrarch (Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great) was ruling in Galilee.
It was this Herod which later had John beheaded.
His brother Philip was tetrarch of Ituraea and Trachonitus.
This was also a son of Herod the Great.
This man’s wife (Herodius) left him in order to marry Herod Antipas.
Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene.
Annas and Caiphas were BOTH high priests.
One was the high priest, but had been disposed of his position by Roman officials, and was replaced by his son-in law who now served as high priest.
When all of this is put together, John the baptizer began to preach in 26 or 27 AD (depending upon what part of Tiberius’ 15th year this takes place).
Why is this important?
It helps to show the historical accuracy of the Bible.
Remember, this is what has convinced some atheists that the Bible is accurate.
Two atheists together decided that they were going to prove the Bible wrong on historical matters.
They did it separately for two years and then came together—both fully convinced of the Bible’s accuracy.
They both began to believe that the Bible is inspired by God.
It paints the background (especially for those who were closer to the time of these rulers) for the events which would happen later in the gospel accounts.
It helps to answer critics who claim the dates of the Bible are wrong.
Since Herod the Great died in 4 BC and most people say Jesus died in 33 AD, that would contradict the Biblical record which shows Jesus died at age 33 (not 37).
Instead, Luke places Jesus at about 30 years of age in 26 or 27 AD (Luke 23), meaning that his death at age 33 would have been in 30 AD.
Just because most people assume Jesus died in 33 AD (after all, our calendar is based on BC meaning “before Christ” and AD meaning ANNO DOMINI—the year of our Lord) does not make it true.
The man who came up with our current calendar system tried to make year 1 be the year Christ was born, but his calculations were off.
John preached in a time of religious confusion.
When John preached, there were five main “denominations” of Judaism, none of which truly reflected what God’s word had to say in the Law of Moses.
The Sadducees were the ones in control of the Sanhedrin.
They were the richer class.
They taught that there was no resurrection (Matthew 22:23).
The Pharisees appeared to have more pull with the people.
They were what we might call “legalists.”
They made strict laws that God never made, and then condemned any who didn’t follow them (see Matthew 15:2).
They went to far as to say that if, on the Sabbath, you had a small head of wheat in your hand, and rubbed it together, you were guilty of threshing on the Sabbath.
Paul was raised a Pharisee.
The Essenes separated themselves from the rest of society.
They moved to areas and had their own little compounds/ communities, usually in caves.
They did not want to have anything to do with the “modern world” of 2,000 years ago.
It is they who we have to thank for writing and preserving the Dead Sea Scrolls.
These existed during the time of John and Jesus, though they are not mentioned in Scripture.
The Herodians pledged allegiance to Rome and had no problem with the secularization of Judaism.
They would be what we might call the liberal wing of Judaism.
For them, Judaism was more national than religious.
They stood for nothing, but still claimed Judaism.
Some of them, along with the Pharisees, tried to entrap Jesus by asking Him if it was lawful to pay tribute unto Caesar (Matthew 22:15-17).
The Zealots were as anti-Rome as there was in Judaism.
The zealots especially hated tax collectors – Jews who came collecting money from their own people to give to the Roman government.
One of Jesus’ apostles, Simon, was a member of this denomination.
For the Zealots, the idea of another country ruling over them was horrendous, and they were willing to fight to overthrow the Roman power over Israel.
The Zealots were part of the uprising against Rome that led to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.
Truly, John began to preach in a time of religious confusion.
The Effectiveness of John’s Ministry.
John’s ministry was effective (Mark 1:4-5).
John baptized in the wilderness (deserted area) (Mark 1:4).
All of Judea and Jerusalem came to John to be baptized by him (Mark 1:5)
All of Judea and Jerusalem came, confessing their sins (Mark 1:5).
What kind of influence must this man have had to have thousands upon thousands of people come out to the wilderness to hear and be baptized by him?
Jerusalem had close to a million people at that time, according to Josephus.
Truly John’s ministry was effective, to say the least.
Why was it effective?
It was effective because John preached the truth (Matthew 3:2).
John preached “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”
This was part of the message that God, by inspiration (Luke 1:15) had given him to preach.
John preached the need for people to repent of their sins, something which has been true since sin first entered into the world.
Noah preached repentance.
All the Old Testament prophets preached repentance.
John preached repentance.
Jesus preached repentance.
The apostles preached repentance.
John told people they had to truly repent, not just give lip-service to it.
He told the Pharisees and Sadducees to “bring forth fruits meet for repentance” (Matthew 3:7).
He told them that just because they were descended from Abraham did not make them righteous before God (Matthew 3:8).
That was the view of the Jews, as a whole, that they were saved by means of being born into the nation of Israel.
Our preaching to the world can be effective as well if we preach the truth!
“I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16).
The power of saving souls is not found in the messenger, but in the message of Jesus Christ!
We must truly stress the importance of repentance so that people are truly converted, not just people who get wet.
It was effective because John was humble.
John had the opportunity to be a leader, drawing people after himself, but he turned it down.
The people came to him, and asked if he was the Christ (John 1:19-20).
Many attention-seekers would have said “yes” just for the fame and notoriety it would give them.
Instead, John said “I am not the Christ.”
John did not think higher of himself than he ought.
After Jesus, through his disciples, began baptizing people, one of John’s disciples complained that Jesus was taking away some of John’s followers (John 3:24-25).
John was not jealous, but instead he “rejoiced” because the people began to follow Jesus (John 3:29).
John realized that his role was to point people to Jesus, not draw followers after himself (John 3:30).
Our preaching to the world can be effective if we stay humble as well.
Far too many preachers seek to be “well-known” for their preaching abilities or their writing skills.
Instead, ALL CHRISTIANS should seek to be well-known to God because we point people to Christ.
It has been said that we put on Jesus like clothing; there should only be enough of us showing for people to know who we are…the rest they see should be Christ.
When you have religious discussions (IF you ever have religious discussions), do you tell others what YOU think?
Or do you point people to the inspired words of Scripture?
We must point people to Jesus and make them followers of Him.
It was effective because he gave instruction about how people should live their lives.
Jesus once gave a parable about a man who was freed from an evil spirit, but he did not fill himself with anything good, and thus was easy prey when the demon returned with other evil spirits (Matthew 12:43-45).
The application is that even though we may eliminate bad things from our lives, we have to replace them with good things, otherwise we will be very susceptible to the same temptations again.
The person who stops going to bars and drinking must find good things to fill his life and that time, otherwise the temptation to return to his old style of life gets stronger and stronger.
It has been said that those who view pornography on the internet will continue to come back to it unless they intentionally fill their time and mind with other things.
Paul said, “finally brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things” (Philippians 4:8).
We need to continually focus our minds on the good things so that we do not let our idle mind become the devil’s playground.
John did not just tell people to repent, but gave them instructions on what they needed to do after baptism.
The people asked him “what shall we do then?” (Luke 3:10).
John said “he that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise” (Luke 3:11).
Pure religion and undefiled is this: to visit the widows and orphans [people in need] in their affliction (James 1:27).
The publicans asked “what shall we do?” (Luke 1:12).
John said, “Exact no more than what is appointed you” (Luke 1:13).
Thou shalt not steal (Matthew 19:18).
Be content with what things as you have (Hebrews 13:5).
The soldiers (some believe these are Roman soldiers, thus John’s baptism possibly extended to Gentiles as well as Jews) asked “what shall we do?” (Luke 1:14).
John said, “Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely, and be content with your wages” (Luke 1:14).
One of the things God hates is a lying tongue; he also hates a false witness (Proverbs 6:17, 19).
In the same way, we cannot just baptize someone and then let them fend for themselves afterwards.
Without continued instruction and encouragement, people will usually fall away or become stagnant.
We must help to fill their minds with those good things by continued instruction and encouragement.
The failure to do this consistently has been tabbed as one of the main reasons why many congregations slipped into liberalism over the past 20 years.
The Christian’s job is to show people the way to Jesus (through the plan of salvation), but also show them how to get to heaven afterwards.
You cannot just become a Christian and live your life the same way you did before baptism.
God expects you to live a new life (Romans 6:3-4).
Conclusion:
John’s situation was not really that much different than ours today.
We are surrounded by competing denominations, none of which accurately represent what God laid out in His word.
It is our job to call people to repentance, pointing them to Christ.
We must stress to them the importance of baptism, and then continue to teach them what they need to do afterwards.
We must speak the truth of the gospel, because only the true gospel has the power to save souls.
Are you doing these things that will make you an effective teacher of the gospel?
If you are not a Christian, the God of heaven commands you to repent of your sins and be baptized (Acts 2:38) so that He can then add you to His church (Acts 2:47).
When you do that, and continue to live for Him, you can rest assured that you have eternal life in heaven awaiting you!