Tkay's Blog

Tkay's Blog

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Mathew Part 2 - John the baptist.

Mathew Chapter 3

John the baptist

When I was younger (much younger) I seriously identified with John the Baptist. The only problem is I am about as prophetic as a sack of hammers!

Nevertheless there as some great lessons we can learn from this radical, desert walking prophet of old.

The central theme of Jesus ministry here on earth was repentance and John comes as a forerunner of this message. There is good reason for this: without repentance we have no way of entering the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. John’s message of repentance should be as clear in our Gospel preaching today as it was then “Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is near” Jesus speaks graphically in the Luke 15 parable of the lost sheep about the celebration in heaven when one sinner repents.

What a sober reminder Jeremiah 23:21 +22 have always been …

I did not send these prophets,
      yet they have run with their message;
      I did not speak to them,
      yet they have prophesied.
      But if they had stood in my council,
      they would have proclaimed my words to my people
      and would have turned them from their evil ways
      and from their evil deeds.

When we are HIS mouth-piece and we heed HIS council and we proclaim HIS words to HIS people repentance will be the result!

The other characteristic that stands out for me about John is Humility. I love Mathew 3:3 “a voice of one calling in the desert” I would like to imagine that as a conversation “Who are you John?” we ask. “A voice” he replies. Nothing more - nothing less. Just a mouthpiece to be used by God to get HIS message to a nation and a generation.


The third characteristic is simplicity. John lived a simple life that challenged the religious leaders of day who lived, by comparison, in relative luxury. Here was a man who needed very little but a sip of honey and an occasional grasshopper to snack on.

Jesus likewise said the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. (Luke 9:58)
Paul says I have learned the secret of being content ... (Phil 4:11+12) I am not advocating for a lifestyle of poverty but simplicity where the voices that so easily drown out the prophetic voice of our God are silenced! I love Paul’s language here “The secret”  … a secret is simply something we are without knowledge on … a mystery. Then “content” – to be satisfied! Have we lost the knowledge of what is it means to be satisfied? Or are we simply looking for that satisfaction in the wrong places?

These lessons are simple, not always easy to live out but simple none-the-less.

Repentance, humility and simplicity are the currency of those who would go ahead proclaiming the good news of Jesus death and resurrection.

May our attitudes always be one of repentance. May our language be salted with humility and may our lifestyle and our message represent simplicity. 

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