Josh Benner

Tag: gospel

  • Not the Christ, not Elijah, not the Prophet. Who is John the Baptist? Studying John 1:19-23

    Not the Christ, not Elijah, not the Prophet. Who is John the Baptist? Studying John 1:19-23

    John the Baptist is one of the most intriguing people we meet in the gospels. He has a unique role in history as being the forerunner to Christ. In John 1, John the Baptist is being questioned about his identity. He helps clarify who he is by clarifying who he isn’t. 

    Verse 19: And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

    It’s reasonable that they would want to find out who he is. I think it’s important to understand the time in which they lived. For centuries, the Old Testament had pointed forward to one sent from the Lord. 

    People had all sorts of expectations for the type of ministry that this sent one would have. 

    This was fulfilled in Jesus but people didn’t yet know Jesus. So all they had were their expectations and assumptions. What Jesus actually did was not quite what anyone expected. 

    A lot of people expected a great religious teacher. Jesus certainly was that but he was ore than that. But his purpose was to bring freedom not law. 

    A lot of people expected a great king. Jesus is that too, he’s the king of kings. But he did not have the mighty earthly kingdom that people expected. 

    Others expected a great general who would lead Israel to victory and back to a restoration of their land in the face of Roman oppression. Jesus is the one who leads his people to battle evil and leads us to Spiritual victory. 

    And people believed various ideas from those categories. 

    So you suddenly have this man who’s calling people to repent, who’s baptizing. In the other gospels, we see John calling out religious authorities.

    And so people are curious. 

    Maybe he’s connected to the promised savior. Maybe he IS the promised savior. Others might have been skeptical and thought it would lead nowhere. 

    Before Jesus, there had been people who claimed to be the promised savior of the world. 

    Who are you? 

    They ask. 

    The Christ

    John’s first response to the Jewish leaders is given in verse 20: He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

    First thing John confirms. He is not the savior. 

    One thing that’s important to understand. The word “Christ” is not Jesus’ last name. It’s his title. Jesus’ parents were not Joseph and Mary Christ. Jesus is The Christ. 

    Christ comes from the Greek word “Christus” which means “anointed.” It’s the Greek word for the Hebrew word “Messiah.” They both mean the same thing: anointed. 

    The significance of that is that in the Old Testament, various divinely assigned offices such as the king and the high priest would be anointed with oil at the beginning of their term. Some of the Old Testament prophets were also anointed. 

    There are also passages in the Old Testament which were understood as pointing forward to a future deliverer who was anointed. 

    John the Baptist had an important ministry. But he was not the Lord’s anointed, he was not the Lord’s Christ, and so he’s quick to point that out. He’s not the anointed savior. 

    Elijah

    Verse 21: And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.”

    Elijah was a prophet in the Old Testament. Much of his ministry revolved around calling people to faith and proper worship of the Lord. He was obedient to the Lord in his life and ministry. 

    There are several miracles that God does during the time of Elijah’s ministry. Two more things that are noteworthy about Elijah. The Old Testament tells us that God brought Elijah directly to heaven without dying. 

    2 Kings 2:11 

    And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven

    Secondly, the book of Malachi, which is the last book found in our Old Testament concludes with these verses from Malachi 4:5:

    5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”

    So God says that he will send Elijah before the great and awesome day of the Lord. 

    So some expected a literal second coming of Elijah. For those reasons, it’s a pretty reasonable question for the leaders to have asked this of John. But he tells them no. 

    John is not Elijah however it should be noted that John’s ministry is really fulfilling this prophecy about Elijah. John is not a reincarnated version of Elijah or a second coming of Elijah, but he is the one who is sent from the Lord with a divinely given ministry to call people to repentance. 

    But John confirms that he is not Elijah. So they try again: 

    The Prophet

    Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”

    When they ask John if he’s THE prophet, they’re actually referring to a specific passage. Deuteronomy 18:15 tells Israel about a successor to Moses. This passage also came to be understood as pointing to a grater prophet. 

    Verse 15: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—

    They wonder if John is this person. In reality, that passage is ultimately pointing forward to Jesus. But once again, John answers the question in the negative. He is not the prophet. 

     So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

    John isn’t the Christ, he’s not Elijah, he’s not the prophet. 

    So then who is he? 

    He answers that in the following section.

    Who is John?

    Verse 23: He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said

    They’ve seen who John isn’t. This is who he is. He quotes the text from Isaiah 40. That passage is applied to John in all four gospels. 

    Isaiah 40 is a passage talking of a future time of deliverance for the people of God. It’s an incredibly hopeful passage. It talks of God’s faithfulness to his people in spite of their sin. It talks of God’s restoration. 

    The heart of what this is getting at for John is that his purpose is to call people to repentance and preparation for the coming Messiah. And it was John’s job to point us to that messiah.

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  • The American Gospel and the meaning of Easter

    The American Gospel and the meaning of Easter

    Statistically, we know that the vast majority of Americans believe in some form of a higher power. There are relatively few who are atheists. Since people do believe that there is something, and since it’s so easy to think of the majority of Americans as Christians, many simply attach themselves to Christianity.

    But what does it mean? Christianity?

    For so many, we call ourselves Christians but then never pray, or read the Bible, or go to church, or experience fellowship with other believers, or show any actual desire to have a relationship with Jesus. Without these, how can a person be Christian?

    We live in a culture where it is accepted to be a “Christian” so long as we have a faith that is extremely passive, watered down, and without conviction. In the eyes of the world, when we have a faith that actually impacts the way in which we live our lives, we’re labeled as extreme, strange, ignorant, or bigoted. For people who actually have faith, they’re thought of as being “really religious.”

    I argue that to be religious but not really religious is to be religious, not really.

    Contrary to popular opinion, the gospel isn’t that we just need to be a “good person.” To say that this was the basis of the message of Christ is a complete misunderstanding of the New Testament because He never says nor implies that our moral goodness is the thing which will save us. In fact, the point of the gospel is that our own actions cannot save us.

    All of us sin, and our sin separates us from God. But we are saved because of God’s grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. That is the heart of the gospel. That we need Christ. Some might not like that because it’s exclusive. But the gospel is meant to be inclusive. Jesus died for all who will accept His gift of grace.

    Throughout the history of the church, there have been those who have unfortunately distorted the gospel or misused it. We can point to events like the church’s Crusades or her Spanish Inquisition. In modern times, we hear of abuses within the Catholic Church, and radicals like the Westboro Baptist Church who protest funerals. It’s easy to look to these things and to become disgusted with Christianity.

    But if Christ really died and really rose from the dead, the fact that people distort the message doesn’t change the reality that He came to forgive you of your sins. It’s not the message of the gospel that is the problem. The problem is man’s selfish usage of the gospel.

    But why should we be Christians? In our daily lives, we see people who claim to know God but who are hypocrites…

    That’s the point!

    Man is sinful! We are immoral. We were incapable of morally cleaning ourselves up.

    We needed a savior.

    And a savior came, and died, and rose, and lives.

    Some may argue, if there is a God, why does He allow people to tarnish His message?

    It’s because people aren’t spiritual robots. We are willing, moral beings. And there are people who choose to do morally egregious things in the name of the gospel. But that isn’t a shortcoming of the gospel. Like a shinning light, it clarifies the darkness of our hearts and shows our desperate need for grace.

    Some may want to live as Christians, but feel that they can do a better job on their own, instead of through organized religion. But the idea that you can be a Christian apart from church contradicts the teachings of Christ. Certainly, there are bad churches. But there are also a lot of very good, Christ-centered churches. One bad experience, or years of bad experiences are no excuse for someone whose trying to live as a Christian to ignore church.

    In discussions about religion, I’ve often times said that the gospel is either the most important thing in the universe, or it is completely irrelevant. Jesus was the God who died for our sins, or He wasn’t. If He was, we should worship Him. If not, then He is useless to us. The idea that Jesus might have just been a great moral teacher contradicts Jesus’ own teachings. His message revolved around Him being the savior of the world. If He lied about that, He cannot be a great moral teacher.

    So what do you believe? Where do you stand with Jesus? Was He God or was he just some guy?

    Jesus said “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for you souls.”

    No matter what you’ve done, no matter who you’ve hurt, no matter what addiction is suffocating your life, no matter what dark thoughts you have, it’s nothing so great that the risen Lord cannot forgive you.

    But where to start?

    As I’ve already said, I think it comes down to prayer, studying His word, getting involved in a good church, fellowship with Christians. Jesus said that we are to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” If you do that, I believe that God will lead you to truth.

    It’s not a self help message. Belief in the gospel isn’t a promise that you won’t have financial problems, or illnesses, or family issues, or countless other stresses and frustrations. The gospel is that you get God, and no matter what else is happening in this life, His truth will strengthen, and give purpose, and sanctify you.

    Maybe you’ve lived your entire life and said you were a Christian, but you’ve never really had faith. The gift of grace and the offer of salvation is just as real for you today as it is for a person whose never thought about the gospel.

    It’s easy to associate Christianity with a bunch of rules and a list of things that you can’t do anymore. If you truly accept the gift of grace by faith, no sin can separate you from God’s love or from the forgiveness that you have. A true faith in the gospel will also result in a transformed life. Certain things will become less appealing. But acting a certain way and following a particular list of rules is not what makes you a Christian. If it were, you would be earning your salvation which would have made Christ’s rising from the dead pointless!

    However, a person who is a Christian who has faith will have a life that is changed and will naturally live differently. This transformation is what shows that the faith is genuine.

    On the first Good Friday, when Jesus suffered that horrendous death for our sins, the Bible says that two other condemned criminals were also crucified with the Lord:

    39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” 
    -Luke 23:39-42

    Two condemned thieves found themselves condemned with Jesus. Both were guilty. One wanted Christ to work on his terms, the other recognized his guilt, and through faith sought forgiveness.

    All of us our guilty.

    Which thief will you be this Easter weekend?

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    Originally posted April 6, 2012

  • Sermon – Vision 2024

    This week, we have a baby dedication, a baptism and testimonies about the saving work of Jesus Christ. We also look forward to 2024 with a new vision for the church.

  • Sermon: Two kings and some wise men – Matthew 2:1-11

    The wise men come to Herod in seeking the King of the Jews. It’s so much woven into the Christmas story that it can be easy to overlook how bizarre the scene is, but the first people who seek out the newborn Jesus are pagan astrologers. There are different responses to this king. Some will seek him out, others will overlook him, and some will seek to destroy him. How do you respond?

  • Joseph, Mary, and a huge test of faith

    Joseph, Mary, and a huge test of faith

    In the Gospel of Matthew, a young couple named Mary and Joseph receive some truly shocking news. Mary is expecting! Despite the fact that they have never consummate their relationship and that Mary is a virgin. 

    Joseph faced a dilemma.What does he do? They lived in a small village. Inevitably Mary was going to start to show. With the cultural sensibilities of their day, this pregnancy in an unmarried couple would have been scandalous. 

    Mary would make it appear as though either Mary had been unfaithful to Joseph, or that Mary and Joseph together had violated the betrothal custom and conceived a child together. 

    Jewish teaching at the time essentially forbade marrying someone to whom you were betrothed who had been unfaithful. 

    In Matthew 1:19, Joseph initially does not see it as an option to marry Mary. But he doesn’t want to shame her either, so he just wants to try to make the breaking of the betrothal as painless as possible for both of them. 

    There appears to be a sensible course of action until Joseph is greeted with the most unexpected news. 

    An angelic messenger appears to Joseph in a dream. 

    Matthew 1:20:
    But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

    Sometimes the Lord can quickly change our plans. Joseph is told not to fear taking Mary as his wife. 

    The reason he needs to be told not to fear is that the religious and social expectation would be that Joseph would not take Mary as his wife, due to her apparent adultery. 

    For the town gossips in Nazareth, the explanation that Mary is pregnant with a child that has been conceived via divine conception is not exactly the easiest story to believe. 

    It would have been just as hard for someone in the first century to believe this was possible as it is for us in modern times. They knew where babies came from! 

    So to marry Mary is to also have to deal with the social ostracism of marrying an apparent adulteress. 

    But Joseph is told not to fear. 

    Now just because he’s told not to fear taking Mary as his wife, that does not mean that it’s going to be easy. 

    We don’t know a ton about the life of Joseph after Jesus was born. But the gospels give us a few snapshots, and it was hard. 

    In Luke’s narrative, when Jesus was born, there was no room for them. 

    A story that I plan to preach in a couple weeks, but when Jesus was just a baby, the King, a man named Herod hears about this King of Israel who was born and in his jealousy, seeks out to try to have Jesus killed off.  

    The family was forced to leave Judea and go into hiding in Egypt. 

    So we see an inhospitable world, danger, exile. Hardships. Church tradition holds that Joseph was already deceased by the time that Jesus began his public ministry. 

    Joseph is told to fear not. Why? Because he was following the will of God. But again, that doesn’t mean that following the Lord will be easy. 

    The disciples followed the Lord. But they had lives of difficulty and persecution, ultimately leading to the martyrdom of all but one of them. 

    We celebrated Thanksgiving last week. 

    I always think about the Pilgrims who came to this country in the 17th century. They came here in order to live out their faith. And they probably never could have imagined it at the time but they set forth a legacy which has extended into America to this day. The rich religious history that we have in this nation. 

    Was it wrong of them to come? Was it a bad idea to come? No. 

    But half of them died by that next winter. They had lives of hardship. 

    I think of the great missionaries over the centuries. 

    People who were serving a purpose greater than themselves. But the centuries of missionaries who have faced persecution and death for that calling. The work they did, the challenges and hardships they faced. 

    Father Damien was a priest who served a leper colony in modern day Hawaii. He served people who were the outcasts of society. He contracted leprosy himself in 1885. But he continued to serve until he died of the disease four years later. 

    Maria Taylor was the wife of Hudson Taylor, perhaps the most well known missionary of the 19th century. He ministered in China. Maria herself had been the daughter of missionaries. Born in Asia, her parents both died when she was ten years old. She was sent to England to be taken care of by family but married Hudson Taylor when she was 16. 

    In China, they faced opposition, persecution, and financial hardships. Of the nine children she birthed, only four reached adulthood. She died of cholera when she was just 33. 

    That’s so often not what today picture as the Christian life. We want to believe in a prosperity gospel that sells on the lie of just be good and everything in your life will be good. The problem is that it’s not true to reality and it’s not true to what the Bible teaches. 

    Sacrifice, difficulty, hardship.

    Why would anyone want that? 

    Because of the great God we serve. Because of the great savior we have in Christ. Because of the great cost that he paid for our forgiveness. 

    God gives grace. His power is perfected in our weakness. God sanctifies us through our difficulty. As we serve the Lord through challenges, and walk with him, it is also an opportunity to grow with him. 

    The Bible doesn’t teach that just have faith and it’ll always be easy. The Bible teaches to trust in God even when things are difficult. 

    It makes no sense in the eyes of the world. But God is the only thing that truly matters. And if all we have is God, that is all we need. Again in the eyes of the world, that is laughable. It’s worthy of mockery. 

    Why would a good God allow his most sincere followers to suffer so greatly? 

    But it’s a byproduct of doing ministry in a world that is fallen. We have a savior who can identify. Jesus went to the cross. He suffered. He was betrayed. He was mocked. 

    In life, everything that’s truly worthwhile and worth doing involves hardship and suffering and challenges. 

    Marriage is a great blessing. Marriage has its difficulties. It’s difficult seasons. Difficult conflicts. 

    But its’s worth it. 

    Having kids is a great blessing. But it’s hard. You’re trying to civilize a sinful person. Now no one forces you to get married. No one forces you to raise kids. You choose those things, even though they’re difficult. 

    I think of those great missionaries. They had difficult lives. But still they chose that life. They could have walked away. They could have left the mission field. At the first sign of danger or death, they could have given it all up. 

    But things that are worth doing are hard. 

    In life, all of those challenges bring their own blessings, in spite of the hardship. And truly living for God, in spite of the difficulties brings the blessings of knowing God and growing with God and living to the glory of God. 

    It’s not always easy. But it is always worth it. 

    In the gospels, there’s a story of Jesus and the disciples when they got caught up in a tremendous storm. Why were they on that boat? Because Jesus had led them to it. 

    In the Book of Exodus, the Israelites cross the Red Sea. Why were they at the banks of the sea between the water and the Egyptian army? Because that’s where the Lord had led them. 

    God is not always leading us to what’s easy. But he is always leading us to what’s right. 

    Our world has bought into this unbiblical lie that, in this life, you’re always being led to something really great. 

    Not always. Sometimes you’re being led into something really hard. Sometimes people suffer, sometimes people die. 

    It is in eternity and in the presence of God, when everything is ultimately made right and perfected. But in life, there are trials and challenges. The good news is that we have a savior who will be with us through it all. 

    And so Joseph is told to fear not. Not because it’s easy. But to fear not because of who God is.