Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Well, a few weeks ago I began a series that was never intended to be a series.
[00:00:07] Speaker B: I this year decided I was going
[00:00:09] Speaker A: to read personally through the book of John and just enjoy nourishing upon this great gospel.
And as I have been going through
[00:00:18] Speaker B: that book, I've encountered some nuggets, some
[00:00:21] Speaker A: things that have challenged me and spoke to me and impacted my life and
[00:00:27] Speaker B: in a way that I thought, I think I need to share these.
[00:00:30] Speaker A: So this began as that and we've entitled it this Changes Everything. And today we're still. I think this is week four. We're still in chapter one. So we reckon we might be finished by the return of Christ. We'll see how we get on. But we're going to look at two different sections of John 1, verse 19 and 20, and then we're going to look at verse 29, 31. But before I read those to you and introduce what we're going to look at, let me just say there's a
[00:00:59] Speaker B: sub theme that I'm going to put
[00:01:00] Speaker A: this week and that is next slide, the glory of disappearing. So that's what we're going to head towards and I'm going to read through
[00:01:07] Speaker B: these scriptures and we're going to see where this takes us.
[00:01:12] Speaker A: So John Gospel, chapter one, verses 19 and 20. And I'm reading from the new living translation.
[00:01:18] Speaker B: It says these words.
[00:01:21] Speaker A: This was John's testimony when the Jewish leaders sent priests and temple assistants from Jerusalem to ask John, who are you?
He came right out and said, I
[00:01:38] Speaker B: am not the Messiah.
[00:01:42] Speaker A: I am not the Messiah.
What a strange answer to give.
There are moments in scripture that don't comfort you. They confront you.
And this is one of those.
Because this passage is not about the crowds.
It's not about the seekers.
It's not about a whole bunch of things that this could be about. It's about a man called John the Baptist who was facing a pressured moment. And he was facing.
He was facing a number of people that were from representatives of religious institutions of the day, learned people, inquiring people.
And he was asked a question.
And that question is a question that every one of us face, every mature believer, every leader must face this question.
And the question they asked John the Baptist and the question they asked that you will be asked is, who are you?
As this opening scene with this delegation sent from Jerusalem is presenting themselves to John the Baptist, They've got their institutional weight, they've got the authority of society behind them. They've got the religious learnedness and scrutiny that they're able to Bring. And they arrive on the scene. They could have intimidated John the Baptist.
And they don't ask, John, what are you doing?
What's your message?
Or how big is your following?
How many lives have you influenced? They don't ask any of those questions.
They ask, who are you?
This key question I and you must face because your activity is not the main issue, your identity is.
It's not what you do, it's who you are that is the important thing.
When many leaders are asked this very same question, who are you?
They may be tempted to answer with a few things.
The other role that I do is it's got this unusual long title of general superintendent. I got introduced to a church recently as the chief superintendent. I think they thought the police were speaking that morning, but it gets abbreviated because it's so long. And so I'm regularly in meetings now where they will not use my name any longer. They will refer to me as the GS.
What does the GS think? What do you think? And on the minutes, it's the GS.
And I find myself, I allow Nita to call me Mark. Okay, Just in case you're wondering if she's called me GS at home. But there is a sense of, like you get a potential identity from that, that. Who are you? I'm the GS. We might be tempted to use our title. I'm the life group leader.
Who are you? I'm the worship leader.
And we might be tempted to answer with some form of title.
We might be tempted to answer by giving an expository of what we have accomplished, what we've done, what we've built. Who are you? Well, you know, I've been a preacher for years, but that's not what John answered.
We might be tempted to answer by giving an information about the responsibilities we carry. Who are you? Well, I oversee this church and I carry the responsibility to make sure that it's to serve the Lord and so on. But that's not the answer that John gave.
We might even be tempted to answer with the reviews that other people might give us.
Who are you? Well, can I introduce you to some people who will tell you who I am, what I do?
But John doesn't do that.
Before he tells them anything about his role, his impact or his calling, he simply says these words, I am not the Messiah.
He doesn't talk up his story.
He doesn't say, hey, learned religious people, do you remember one of your colleagues, Zechariah?
Zechariah was having the opportunity, it was his turn to go into the holy of Holies and to serve the sacrifices. And when he was there, he met an angel of the Lord. And the angel told him that in his old age he was going to have a son or his wife was going to have a son. And Zechariah just didn't believe it. It was so implausible that the angel actually removed his ability to speak for months. And so when he came out, everyone knew that he'd seen something remarkable, but he couldn't say of what had happened. And do you remember that story? Well, learned religious people, I am that son.
That's what he could have said to add to credibility, to add to a sense of story.
But he doesn't.
He doesn't get other people to share their testimonies of lives impacted by his ministry. He doesn't revel in the attention.
He just says clearly, unambiguously, powerfully, I
[00:07:18] Speaker B: am not the Messiah.
[00:07:22] Speaker A: There are numerous dangers for disciples, Jesus followers, but John here is pointing us to one of the biggest of those dangers, and that is the danger of us thinking and behaving like we are a messiah.
Now, I don't think anybody in this room would ever dare stand up with a microphone and say, I am a Messiah.
We may not even think that we would even allude to that in our lives.
But there are some subtle ways that we live our life like a messiah.
We subtly inflate our significance, exaggerate story to make us look good, make things sound more spiritual than they actually are. So people are impressed by your credential.
We may let people depend on us too much.
We may insist on having the last word in a conversation.
We may enjoy being the center of attention.
And I've seen people over the years who need their ministries more than the ministries need them because they get such a sense of value out of what they do that. That no longer is the secondary thing, but it's the first.
And if you try taking their ministries from them, you watch the reaction.
When other people give their accolades.
These people, they let it feed something deep in the insecurity of their own soul.
But John does the opposite.
What John does when he's asked, who are you?
He shuts down immediately any rumor or any projection that he is the Messiah.
And the thing is, if we don't decisively reject false identity in our lives, people will assign it to us.
And if they assign it to us long enough, we'll start to live like it's true.
And there's a seduction that we face of being needed.
What John did here was he spoke some Very hard words.
Because it's not easy when someone asks who you are to describe who you're not.
But he says, I am not the Messiah.
Because feeling like a messiah can feed your ego, create a sense of control, build significance. And slowly, without saying it out loud, you become functionally like a messiah to
[00:10:31] Speaker B: people that you lead.
[00:10:34] Speaker A: And it shows up like this. Everything has to flow through you, decisions depend on you, bit controlling.
It looks like people look to you before they look to Christ.
Your presence stabilizes everything. This is not leadership, this is misplaced centrality.
But this doesn't just apply to people on stages with microphones, it applies to all of us.
It occurs in anyone who enjoys being the answer to people's questions.
It's fed by something internally that says, I'm being helpful and I'm needed.
I carry something that others don't have. And instead of directing them to Christ, you become the filter through which they relate to him.
One of the things that one of my observations of when things go bad in church is that the church have developed a culture where they're trying to get people to look at them.
They're trying to be the good reputation, they're trying to have the ability to be able to meet the needs of other people. And there's nothing necessarily bad with that other than the church is fundamentally not meant to point people to itself.
What John did here was he stopped. Somebody came to find out about him, but he was wanting to state that his ministry wasn't about him, it was about the Messiah.
And when people engage with anything to do with church, I'm not really looking for people to say, oh, we've joined Rediscover because it's got a good kids work, because it's got a great worship team, because when we get in the new building, it's got a nice building because we've got great car parking. Please God, that would be amazing.
It's none of those things. The reason that we want people to connect to this community is because we've helped point them to Jesus.
And we're not trying to create dependency. We're trying to create an environment where people are empowered to look directly to the Messiah.
So I'll pray with people, of course I will. It's a privilege to pray with people.
But I want you to go away from that prayer knowing that you can pray directly to Jesus as well.
Don't wait for the pastor, don't wait for the leader, don't wait for your life group leader. You can pray as well. You have as much Ability to go to the presence of Jesus, as I do.
Because we're not a priest. This church is not a priest. We're not a Messiah.
And John was saying, don't look to me.
I'm an ordinary man.
I am not the Messiah.
I wonder what else might be something that you need to declare. You're not.
See, in this room, there'll be people that you have a call and a destiny on your life. And the thing that keeps you away from that is your condemnation.
It's that the enemy has got a foothold in your life.
There's something that he is doing in you that is causing you to feel like you could never serve Jesus.
And the enemy has got you locked in that place.
And because the more that goes on, the more you're convinced that you don't have a destiny or you can't fulfill it. And Jesus wants you to say, I am not condemned.
If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. The old has gone, gone, and the new has come.
I am not condemned. Come on, say that after me. I am not condemned.
I wonder what other things you need to declare over your life that you are not.
I wonder what the other strategies of the weakness of your own heart or the weakness that the enemy is exploiting you. I wonder what else you need to say.
[00:14:43] Speaker B: I am not.
[00:14:46] Speaker A: Because as long as we allow those things to compromise our lives, they begin to eat away at who we are.
That's why this was so important to John, made it categorically clear, I am not the Messiah.
John could have started off by saying, I'm a prophet. He was.
I'm a voice of one calling in the wilderness, preparing the way of the Lord. Yes, he was.
He could have said, I'm called an angel announced my birth. Yes, it did, but he didn't use any of those descriptions. He simply declared, I am not the Messiah.
It's important for you to know what you're not in order to know who you are.
There are identity tags, badges that the enemy has placed upon lives in this room.
There are like stickers that he's placed on you, and they've got words written on those stickers that have become the framework of the identity of your life.
And it's not going to require a big thing. It just needs you to recognize that's not who you are. And. And just rip that sticker off and
[00:16:06] Speaker B: say, I am not this
[00:16:09] Speaker A: church.
[00:16:10] Speaker B: It's time to get free.
[00:16:14] Speaker A: If you don't clearly address what you're not, then it will corrupt who you are if you've not clearly said I am not to a whole range of things. I'm not needing to be impressive. I'm not needing to be indispensable. I'm not needing to be right. I'm not needing attention.
Because whatever we refuse to confront will eventually embody within our lives.
I wonder whether you could repeat after
[00:16:40] Speaker B: me, I am not the Messiah.
And that's liberating
[00:16:49] Speaker A: because too many people think that they have to be the perfect representation of Christ and we're filled with his Spirit and he's changing us from glory to glory.
But we're not the Messiah.
You don't have to live a perfect life and die for someone's sins. It's been done. Jesus declared, it is finished.
And now you and I get to live in the reality of that one. If you can say after me, rediscovery is not the Messiah.
We're here to point people to the
[00:17:28] Speaker B: Messiah, not to be it.
[00:17:30] Speaker A: Let's look forward to a few verses later. Verses 29 to 31
[00:17:37] Speaker B: says these words again in the new living translation.
[00:17:40] Speaker A: The next day, John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
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.
I did not recognize him as the Messiah, but I have been baptizing with water so that he might be revealed to Israel.
In this second scene, we see John seeing Jesus and saying, look, I love some of the other translations. Behold the Lamb of God. Fix your eyes, look in that direction. Whatever you're doing, stop it and behold him.
[00:18:28] Speaker B: Look, the Lamb of God.
[00:18:31] Speaker A: I love when John says this. There's clarity, there's authority, and there's revelation.
But it almost feels jarring that he also says these next words, I did not recognize him.
Now, it would be really easy to skip over that because we know he's had a revelation. Why did he say I did not recognize him?
Why put that detail in there?
And we see that John is not completely oblivious to who the person of Jesus is that, you know, he seems to imply his had his suspicions, he's had his thoughts that there are all sorts of strands that have been leading to this moment, but he hasn't been fully convinced.
And now he gets it.
There's a revelation.
Now, I when I think about this, I think there's something in all of us that likes to present that we knew all along.
Like when somebody tells you something do you say, I knew it?
I knew that's what they were. I knew that's what they were doing. I knew that's what was going on. There's something warming about feeling like you haven't been taken completely by surprise.
There's something all of us, that we feel like it gives us some credibility.
I knew that was happening. Why are we so keen to present that we knew what was going on and John could have done that. I knew this was the Messiah.
I knew this is the one that was coming to take away the sins of the world. I knew it. I knew he was the Lamb of God, but he doesn't.
He says, but I didn't recognize him.
[00:20:23] Speaker B: What a strange thing to say.
[00:20:28] Speaker A: See, John is refusing to build his authority on an assumption.
He will only build his authority on a revelation.
There's a lot of parrot fashion faith
[00:20:44] Speaker B: in the body of Christ.
[00:20:46] Speaker A: Someone else has contended and won something.
Someone else has nestled into the word of God and has spent time in the presence of God and the Holy Spirit has taught them things and then they pass it on. And we live on that secondhand parrot fashion faith.
Now. I believe in the preaching of the Word of God. I believe in the roles of leaders within the life of the church to help us grow and to equip the saints for works of service. I believe in all of that. But I also believe that I and this church is not the Messiah. Did I mention that?
Because there is a Messiah.
There is one who is able to
[00:21:34] Speaker B: go with you this week.
[00:21:36] Speaker A: By his Spirit, he is able to reveal truth.
He is able to give you insights and understanding that is beyond reading the room.
I love it when God speaks into a situation and gives divine wisdom, gives divine revelation.
I remember not so long back, a couple of years ago maybe, I was on my way to a difficult meeting.
I knew it was going to be a difficult meeting. And I had a number of people in this meeting with me and they all knew it was going to be a difficult meeting.
And I'm driving a few hours to this meeting.
And on the journey I felt the Holy Spirit speak to me. And he said, I'm going to make a way.
I'm going to do it.
I'm going to make a way where there seems to be no way.
So I walked into that meeting pumped, confident.
I wasn't nervous about a difficult meeting that was to come. I knew that God had made a promise that he will make a way where there seems to be no way.
And I walk into the room and there's A few of my team there, and they're like, have you seen the message?
I said, what do you mean? Have you had a message as well?
And they said, yeah, look at this. And they showed me an email that just come in, which meant that the difficult meeting we were about to have was going to be even more difficult.
And they were looking really worried and concerned about this meeting we were about to step into.
And I said, it's interesting you've had a message.
While I've been driving up this morning, I've had a message as well.
And the message is this. God will make a way where there seems to be no way.
I love it when God gives revelation like that.
Because our confidence and our authority is built upon that revelation.
Not assumption, not I hope it's going to be okay.
Not, please, God, help it, it'd be okay. Sometimes that is the nature of our prayers. But I love it when God gives clarity of revelation.
[00:23:55] Speaker B: But.
[00:23:56] Speaker A: And this is the reality of what John is teaching us here, there are many times in our life when we don't see complete.
We don't have that pump the air.
[00:24:13] Speaker B: God has spoken and said, I am going to make a way where there seems to be no way.
[00:24:20] Speaker A: We have a sense of him leading us, but it is not fully clear.
You see, John, he had loads of experiences that were leading him to the
[00:24:31] Speaker B: conclusion that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.
[00:24:36] Speaker A: But before he fully got there, before the revelation kicked in, and he just knew because he knew, because he knew, because the Spirit brought it alive in him. Before he knew that fully, he was still baptizing people.
He was still doing that which God had called him to do, even though he didn't fully understand the details.
There are so many occasions where that
[00:25:04] Speaker B: has been my story.
And I'm sure you have equal stories.
[00:25:08] Speaker A: There are people in this room and you have a suspicion that God has been leading you on a path. It may be establishing a business, might be planting a church. It might be developing a whole range of possibilities. And you sense that God's leading you, but not everything is fully clear.
And that lack of clarity, it would be so easy to say, I can't do anything until it's fully clear.
But John baptized people when it wasn't fully clear.
I remember a number of years ago just sensing this provocation of the Spirit about planting lots of churches across the Southwest.
And it wasn't much more than that, because I find that when God speaks, he often speaks in questions.
There have been many times in my life where he's invited me into Something where I've not known the reality of what it could look like. But there's a question he asks, and that question is, do you think there could be 100 new churches planted across the Southwest?
God, you can do anything.
But how is that going to happen?
How do we release the resources of that?
How do we get the leaders for that?
How do we get the buildings for that?
How do we do this? God?
And I find that so often when you ask those questions, God just says, get on with it, step out, because I'm going to teach you some things along that journey.
And it's along the journey that you'll find out the answer to those things. John is baptizing people and this revelation comes.
[00:27:04] Speaker B: Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
[00:27:11] Speaker A: It's difficult for us to be comfortable with just partial knowledge.
It's difficult for us to be obedient without full clarity.
But God calls us to walk by faith.
I love there are people in this room that are being faithful day in, day out, even though you've not seen
[00:27:30] Speaker B: the answers to all the questions that you have.
And I love that we can trust God in that.
But John was also waiting on God for clarity.
[00:27:44] Speaker A: He didn't want to just assume.
He wanted revelation.
Second hand revelation was not enough.
I'm sure his mom told him the story of when he was kicking in her womb.
When John the Baptist and Jesus met
[00:28:05] Speaker B: in their respective mother's wombs, I'm sure
[00:28:07] Speaker A: he'd heard some stories around that.
But he wanted his own revelation. He wasn't prepared just to take it from other people.
We need our identity to be shaped by our assignment. And John is not trying to be significant. He's trying to be faithful.
He knows his role is not to be the Christ. His role is to reveal Christ.
Rediscover. Our role is not to be Christ. Our role is to reveal the glory
[00:28:35] Speaker B: of God to the southwest and beyond.
[00:28:39] Speaker A: And when Christ is revealed, and note this, John virtually disappears.
And this is so linked because many people today, they want impact, visibility, influence.
But John just wanted to reveal Christ.
He was not the Messiah, but he
[00:29:06] Speaker B: was now aware of who was.
[00:29:09] Speaker A: John wanted to reveal Christ and then get out of the way.
He knew that if people remembered him more than they remembered Christ, then he
[00:29:19] Speaker B: would have failed his mission, because his mission was to prepare the way.
[00:29:26] Speaker A: So as we conclude, these two texts demand two things from us.
First of all, there's an identity clarity that's required.
Say clearly, I'm not the answer. I'm not the center. I'm not indispensable. I'm not the source.
Don't whisper it vaguely, but say it confidently, this is who I'm not.
And allow the burden of all of those expectations drop off you.
And then secondly, to make a relentless commitment to revealing Christ.
Our role is not to build something impressive.
Our role is to make Christ unmistakably
[00:30:13] Speaker B: evident to those around us.
[00:30:17] Speaker A: John stands in front of the power
[00:30:21] Speaker B: of the religion of his day, and he says these words, I am not the Messiah.
[00:30:29] Speaker A: But then he stands in front of
[00:30:30] Speaker B: Christ and he says, there is the Messiah.
[00:30:35] Speaker A: If our lives don't move people from the first statement to the second, we've missed the point entirely.
Rediscover.
[00:30:44] Speaker B: We're not the Messiah, but we know who is.
Let's make sure everything we do signposts toward him, not us.
Let's make sure this is not feeding us and our ego.
Let's make sure that we humbly serve the Lord.
[00:31:01] Speaker A: Let's make sure that we're not so egotistical that there is a sense of
[00:31:07] Speaker B: us loving what we get from this.
[00:31:09] Speaker A: Let's make sure that we are on our faces, on our knees, serving the Lord, serving His purposes, giving our lives to him and pointing to him and say, look what the Lord has done.
Look what he's done.
[00:31:24] Speaker B: And I believe if we can do
[00:31:25] Speaker A: that,
[00:31:27] Speaker B: there are more and more people who will say yes to him.
If you're able, would you just stand with me? If you're not, just please join us by lifting your hands right across this room. Could we all lift our hands together?
The calling on John was to be a voice in the wilderness crying, prepare the way of the Lord.
There are signs that this wilderness across the UK is changing, this spiritual wilderness. There are signs of life everywhere.
There are green shoots in the desert springing up.
There's a new season that we're a part of.
There's something new taking place in our world.
And in the midst of that time,
[00:32:39] Speaker A: the church is not called
[00:32:43] Speaker B: to gather the attention of the world to look at us, but we're called to point the attention of the world to Jesus.
And I wonder if corporately, we can make a commitment as a church that we will point people to the Lord.
Maybe in your heart you need to decide clearly some statements about your life, about the things that you're not.
You need to nail some of those strategies that the enemy has been exploiting in you for years.
I'm not that.
I'm not going to live wearing that badge. I am not that.
Now, as you just spend these few quiet moments in the presence of the Lord, why don't you begin to think of some of those things that you're not?
I'm not going to ask you to say them out loud because I don't want you to feel like you've got to water them down just in case someone around you hears them.
But I am going to ask you in your mind to declare, I'm not. That I'm not. That I'm not. That.
I pray every lie that the enemy would seek to exploit, to compromise our true identity in you, Lord, will be broken in the name of Jesus.
And some of these badges are deep seated.
They feel like they've got more permanence than a sticker. They feel like they're a tattoo.
Lord, would you come and remove those tattoos? I pray, so the identity is not in any way corrupted by the things that the enemy would want our identity to adopt.
Let freedom come now.
You are a son, a daughter of God. You are a servant of the Most High.
You are loved by God. You are free from condemnation.
You are more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus.
You have within you the spirit of an overcomer. The same spirit which raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you. Quicken your mortal body.
You are a temple of the Holy Spirit.
You are a place of miracles in your life.
Thank you, lord.
And I pray that each of us, not just on Sundays when we gather to sing our songs of worship, but in every area of our lives that will point people to Jesus.
Behold the Lamb of God.
Look, the Lamb of God.
Pray there'll be revelation that will touch your heart afresh.
[00:36:09] Speaker A: If you have been wrestling over a revelation of Jesus and your faith has become a little bit cool and it's
[00:36:17] Speaker B: not something that is living from a place of fire and strength and conviction
[00:36:25] Speaker A: in you, it's all been compromised and watered down.
[00:36:27] Speaker B: Why don't you say as you lift your hands to heaven, Lord, I ask that you will fill my life with revelation that I might know you
[00:36:39] Speaker A: ask
[00:36:39] Speaker B: and it will be given you seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be open to you.
Lord, I pray that revelation will capture every heart and life in this place, even now. Lord, I know there are some people who have come in today and they have been unsure of your significance and whether you are even real. And there's something been stirring in their hearts. They've been in the meeting. Would you come and reveal Jesus to them now, Lord?
Would you give them a revelation that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God, would you come and reveal yourself?
Would salvation come to their lives right now? Would they see you? Would they understand you?
Do what their eyes can't see in the natural Lord, Open the eyes of their heart that they may know you reveal the risen ascended Christ to them. We pray in Jesus name.
If you're in this place this morning
[00:37:36] Speaker A: or online and you've not given your life to Jesus, and you'd like to give your life to Jesus, I'm going
[00:37:41] Speaker B: to ask that you just say yes.
[00:37:44] Speaker A: I want to know Jesus.
I want him to be my Messiah. I want to give my life to him.
If that's you, I'm going to ask you to raise your hand nice and high and when I've seen it, I'll just acknowledge it and lead you in a prayer across this room this morning.
Anyone respond and say lift it high if that's you. So I know that you're not just lifting your hands devotionally, that I'm able to see that that's your respons.
Not seen any hands. So maybe if I've missed you, please lift it a bit higher.
[00:38:29] Speaker B: Lord Jesus, you are the Christ.
I say again, you are the Christ, Son of the living God, and I commission this beautiful church, these sons and daughters of the most high, to go and be ambassadors of Christ. This week, signposts of Christ filled with
[00:38:52] Speaker A: a fresh revelation of God.
[00:38:55] Speaker B: And I thank you that as we acknowledge who we're not and we acknowledge who you are, it changes everything.
In Jesus name, amen.
