Chapter # 3 Paragraph # 2 Study # 2
December 10, 2023
Broadlands, Louisiana
(Download Audio)
Thesis: The "at issue" concept in Author-John's record of Witness-John's imprisonment is the very large difficulty of "making disciples".
Introduction: In our last study we considered the purpose for the coming of Jesus into "the Jewish earth" with His disciples and His engaging in a "ministry of baptizing". We noted that
4:1-3 strongly indicates that Jesus' reason for such activity was to
force the issue of "purification"/"cleansing" (the "at issue" issue in "purification" is the question of how one can become "clean" in respect to "Sin" before God:
Hebrews 1:3) because of two things: 1) it is the very heart of Witness-John's baptism ministry (repentance leads to forgiveness; i.e., "cleansing";
1 John 1:9); and 2) it was significantly distorted by the disciples of Witness-John (the negative reaction these "disciples" gave to Jesus' rising popularity means that there was some form of breakdown in their understanding of John's message).
As the "heart", the real issue is the question of how one obtains a "cleansed status" before God. John's answer was basic, but not comprehensive: he proclaimed the thesis that if one would "repent" (according to the meaning assigned to "repentance" by Isaiah 40:1-3), God would "forgive one's sins", thus, "cleansing one from the filth of 'Sin' so as to be justified before God.
As a matter of "distortion", it is clear from the text that the "disciples of Witness-John" were not sufficiently impacted by their "faith" in the witness of John so as to become attracted to Jesus. The most likely reason for this is the problem of the knee-jerk human tendency to distort the truth revealed from heaven by means of "interpretations" that have their roots in "Judean Earth" theology dominated by "earthly" understanding (as 3:31 directly says).
This morning we are going to take a look at Author-John's reason for including the fact that Witness-John had "not yet" been cast into the prison. Why did John include an issue that had not been a part of his early material?
- I. All Understanding Depends Upon A Sufficient Context.
- A. Since Author-John said absolutely nothing about an "imprisonment of Witness-John" in his earlier material, we must assume that John's imprisonment was such a well-known part of what the general population knew of Witness-John that there would be an almost automatic grasp of the meaning and significance of his imprisonment by Author-John's reading audience.
- B. The major "point" of Witness-John's imprisonment.
- 1. All of what the writers of the other three "Gospels" wrote can, therefore, be legitimately assumed.
- 2. Given that assumption, I am going to use Mark's record of that imprisonment.
- a. Mark 6:14-29 gives us a sufficient "context" for Author-John's reference.
- b. Mark's record contains these pertinent facts.
- 1) Herod had a seriously compromised conscience for murdering Witness-John.
- 2) Herod had imprisoned John because of his "wife" (whom he had seduced away from his brother).
- a) This "wife" wanted to kill John because John had told her current "husband" that he needed to put her away because Herod could not be legitimately married to his brother's wife.
- b) Her motive was her fear that her "husband" would succumb to John's insistence because she knew that her "husband" had a high regard for John and enjoyed listening to him.
- 3) Both Herod and his "wife" were heavily invested in a "status lust" that would override all other issues in their lives.
- a) Herod threw himself a birthday party to which he invited his lords and his military commanders and the influential men of Galilee.
- b) Herodias hated John because she enjoyed being the "queen" of Herod's domain and her lust for that status drove her hatred for John.
- c) When Herod foolishly exposed himself to a "status-lust" issue, Herodias pounced ... and Herod was so dominated by his status-lust that he would not refuse to honor his promise to the daughter of Herodias and ended up murdering John -- leading to his seriously destroyed conscience.
- 4) Herod knew of his "wife's" desire to kill John; so, he imprisoned him as a kind of "protective custody" action.
- 3. Thus, the major point of Author-John's reference to Witness-John's imprisonment is the danger of serving God in the midst of people who are enslaved to the desire to have the good opinion of other men.
- C. The "connection" to Author-John's presentation in our text of John 3:22-36.
- 1. It is clear from the text that Witness-John's "disciples" did not like the fact that Jesus was becoming more popular than their "teacher".
- 2. This translated into this reality: John's disciples did not like Jesus.
- 3. Should they have "liked" Jesus based upon what Author-John told us about the disciples of John that "followed" Jesus and transferred their loyalty from John to Jesus (1:35 and following)?
- 4. So why didn't they?
- a. The short answer: "status-lust" (they thrived by being known to be the disciples of a man who had all of Judea in thrall).
- b. They could have "moved on to Jesus", but they had an inkling that being His disciples might cause them to lose their "status".
- II. The Big Ticket Item.
- A. Witness-John was a true "disciple" of Jesus -- and his imprisonment (and later death) proved this.
- B. But Witness-John's disciples were not on the same page as their "teacher" in terms of genuine faith/commitment.
- C. This is the point of the "problem" of a perceived difference by John's disciples between what their "teacher" taught and what Jesus taught.
- 1. It was not the "teaching", it was the root commitment to "staus-lust".
- 2. But the root commitment caused the lack of understanding of the "teaching".
- D. At issue is one bottom line: the true cost of "discipleship" when God is the one to whom that "discipleship loyalty" belongs.
- 1. John's imprisonment revealed his true loyalty to God.
- 2. His disciples' irritation with Jesus was also "revealing".
- 3. And Jesus was not calling for disciples to meld their "faith" with their other, more deeply held values; He was calling for a commitment to Truth above all other commitments (Note Revelation 6:9-11).
