The Gospel According to John 1:19-34 [NLTse]

19 This was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Temple assistants from Jerusalem to ask John, “Who are you?” 20 He came right out and said, “I am not the Messiah.”

21 “Well then, who are you?” they asked. “Are you Elijah?”

“No,” he replied.

“Are you the Prophet we are expecting?”

“No.”

22 “Then who are you? We need an answer for those who sent us. What do you have to say about yourself?”

23 John replied in the words of the prophet Isaiah:

“I am a voice shouting in the wilderness,
‘Clear the way for the Lord’s coming!’”

24 Then the Pharisees who had been sent 25 asked him, “If you aren’t the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet, what right do you have to baptize?”

26 John told them, “I baptize with water, but right here in the crowd is someone you do not recognize. 27 Though His ministry follows mine, I’m not even worthy to be His slave and untie the straps of His sandal.”

28 This encounter took place in Bethany, an area east of the Jordan River, where John was baptizing.

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world! 30 He is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘A Man is coming after me Who is far greater than I am, for He existed long before me.’ 31 I did not recognize Him as the Messiah, but I have been baptizing with water so that He might be revealed to Israel.”

32 Then John testified, “I saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove from Heaven and resting upon Him. 33 I didn’t know He was the One, but when God sent me to baptize with water, He told me, ‘The One on Whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is the One Who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I saw this happen to Jesus, so I testify that He is the Chosen One of God.”

One of the things that’s maybe different for me as a pastor than for most of you is that I spend most of my time with Christian people: People who have received Jesus of Nazareth as their Lord and Savior, people who are living their lives in fellowship with God, people who are trusting in His Word, and who are looking to Him to save… Most of you are working with, going up and down the halls with, standing in the check-out lines with people who are trying to save themselves, living their lives far away from God.

Because of this, one of the things that I get to see that’s a little bit different from what all of you see out there is that living knowing our sins are forgiven, living knowing that God has adopted us into His family, living in the hope of a better life to come in the new Heaven and the new Earth that Jesus is going to bring with Him when He comes back for us: I get to see that that isn’t enough for all God has planned for us – His children – here in the world.

I get to see many committed Christian people having trouble in their marriages. I get to see many committed Christian people struggling in their attitudes towards unsavory friends and co-workers. I get to see many committed Christian people losing the battle against putting too much focus and hope in the political scene. I get to see many committed Christian people overcome by their own desires and temptations, whether addictions or sinful habits or old, pre-Christian patterns of dealing with people: Unforgiveness, perfectionism, the need to be in control, etc… I get to see many committed Christians who are trying to live abundantly, and failing; people who have been washed and cleansed of their sins and are living in friendship, as sons and daughters of God, but who don’t have the power, don’t have the strength, don’t have it in them to overcome…

And then there are others – many committed Christian people – who are very capable, incredibly capable, who seem to be succeeding and overcoming this world. But I get to see that many of them are doing so by adopting the world’s ways and the world’s standards. They are more aggressive, more dominating, better arguers than those brothers and sisters and others around them. Some get their way by making people feel sorry for them. Others manipulate to get what they want. And, of course, many of these truly believe that what they want is what God wants. But I get to see that they seem to be succeeding and overcoming in this world because they are living and practicing ways that are very, very different from Jesus’ way: The way Jesus overcame the world.

The Bible shows us a power in Jesus Christ that all the powers in the world could not overthrow. We never see Him forcing Himself onto people. We never see Him arguing with people so that they’d believe Him. (We see Him arguing against what was false, but there is not a sense in His debates that He believed debate to be a way to bring His opponents into the Kingdom.) We never see Him fighting. We do see His zeal for God. We do see His willingness to stand firm, immoveable, for Kingdom causes. We even see His willingness to let those whom He loved around Him suffer when it would bring God glory. Of course, we see His willingness to be beaten, to be ridiculed, to be mocked, and even to die so that righteousness could be seen, and so that God’s purposes would be accomplished. Through it all He’s never the victim. Through it all we see Him victorious: Always the strong one; always overcoming.

King Jesus expressed (and still expresses) His power by serving even the “least of these” in His Kingdom. Jesus expressed His power by letting Himself be sacrificed, giving up His Own life so that those around Him might more fully live! Jesus expressed (and still expresses) His power through love. He makes His power known through joy. It is Jesus’ Own resurrection power that is His peace. We see Him showing God’s might through patience. He demonstrates His mighty nature through kindness. He shows the life and power that brought all creation into being through His generosity. He lives out the power that is able to forgive people’s sins by acts of faithfulness. The Lord Jesus Christ shows His power to be so superior to the power of the Evil One by being gentle. He shows us the authority He has over everything in Heaven and on the Earth through acts of self-control.

Such meek and lowly expressions of power! So contrary to the ways and standards of the world!

It reminds me, of course, of another group of Christians I get to see on a regular basis, being a pastor: Christians who are maybe wonderfully talented, and others who maybe are not; some who are very intelligent, and others who aren’t so much; Christians around us who have so very much to give, and others who are clearly lacking, and perhaps even need a lot of help themselves. But it is brothers and sisters around us in this church and in this community who are living not according to their own abilities and power but according to the abilities and power of the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist said, “When God sent me to baptize with water, He told me, ‘The One on Whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is the One Who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’”

My friends; my brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ: Being washed and cleansed through John’s baptism with water is only the beginning – Commencement – of all that our Father wants for us now that He’s drawn us near to Himself through Jesus’ cleansing work on the cross. We need the Lord Jesus to baptize us with the Holy Spirit! For the sake of our marriages, we need the Holy Spirit. So that we might be godly dads and moms, and to help us raise our children to know God as their loving Father, we need the Holy Spirit. To be godly and obedient children, we need the Holy Spirit. To be hard-working, trustworthy, employees we need the Holy Spirit.

We need the Holy Spirit so we might be truly merciful, and so we might know how to truly help others in their times of need. We the Holy Spirit to stand against temptation and show people God’s righteousness with joy and thanksgiving! We need the Holy Spirit so that we might forgive others and seek one another’s forgiveness. We need the Holy Spirit to know the Father’s love, because it is the Holy Spirit Who pours the Father’s love into a person’s heart.

Perhaps you believe the Lord Jesus baptized you with the Holy Spirit when you first trusted in Him, or perhaps you had some marvelous experience when the Lord Jesus baptized you with the Holy Spirit. Praise God that you’ve received Jesus’ baptism! But He desires to baptize you again and again and again! Once filled with His Spirit we can’t help but pour ourselves out into the lives of others in acts of goodness and kindness, and sharing the good news about Jesus with them as we do. So we need to be re-filled, again and again and again! As Ephesians 5:18 says, “Keep being filled with the Holy Spirit.”