John was filled with the Holy Spirit from birth yet according to our lesson text he never performed any miracles. The angel told John’s parents when he was born:
For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. (Luke 1:15)
When John was born, an angel told his parents:
And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:16-17)
John made many disciples and he spent his entire ministry preparing the way for the Lord. One day he told his disciples:
You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him'...Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. (John 3:28,29b,30)
We can learn an important lesson from John. He was not “Number 1”. Christ was “Number 1”. Often people do not want a job or even to play a game if they cannot be “Number 1”. Yet John’s attitude was one of joy because he had completed his job of preparing the way for Christ. Everything John had done was for the glory and honor of Christ and he did nothing to promote himself. This is how John compared himself to Jesus:
I indeed baptize you with water unto
repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose
sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy
Spirit and fire. (Matthew 3:11)
John
set a worthy example of the lesson Jesus taught His disciples:
When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." (Mark 8:34)
John lived his whole life denying himself. He “took up his cross”, not in a literal sense, but later we learned that John was beheaded because He was a servant of the Father and of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Christ did not ask John or any disciple to do something that He was not willing to do. He gave us a perfect example in His life and death of everything He said that we must do:
And being found in appearance as a man,
He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the
death of the cross.
(Philippians 2:8)
In our lesson text we learn that Jesus was beginning to increase and John was beginning to decrease. Jesus would become the leader of the movement started by John. The purpose of John’s ministry was to “set the stage”, get things ready, for Christ to begin His ministry.
Thought
question:
Jesus began to teach in the same place where John had been baptizing people. Why would Jesus spend His time where people had already been baptized?
TRUE OR FALSE
1. Jesus went beyond Egypt to the place where John was baptizing first.
2. Jesus stayed for a while where John was baptizing first.
3. John did lots of miracles because he had the Holy Spirit from birth.
4. All the things John spoke about Jesus were true.
5. The disciples of John believed in Jesus.
6. John said that he was not worthy to carry Jesus’ sandals.
7. John was jealous of Jesus.
8. John and Jesus were obedient to death, but God does not require that of us.
Family discussion:
John said that Jesus would baptize with Holy Spirit and fire. What did he mean by this statement?
Match words using all the passages found in our lesson:
9. Beyond ____ Decrease
10. Performed ____Fulfilled
11. Many ____ Believed
12. Increase ____ And Fire
13. Sent ____ No sign
14. Joy ____ Obedient
15. Holy Spirit ____ Himself
16. Take Up ____ Me
17. Follow ____ Of Death
18. Humbled ____ Before
19. Became ____ Jordan
20. Point ____ His Cross
CRACK THE CODE
21. Please crack the code to find a quote from today’s lesson:
B=H G=E V=M C=S P=T W=C Z=R
“BG VLCP JDWZGOCG, HLP J VLCP UGWZGOCG.”