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Five Revolutionary Words John 1:14-28McKay Caston | Creekstone Church

INTRODUCTION.Eddie Johnson

played basketball in

the

NBA from 1981 through 1999a prolific18-yearprofessional career. In addition to scoring almost 20,000 points, Johnson is best rememberedfor hitting the game-winning three-pointer as time expired for a 95-92 Houston Rockets win over

the Utah Jazz in Game 4 of the 1997 Western Conference Finals.

Today,the well-respected, 55-year-old,6foot, 8inch Johnson lives in thePhoenixarea wherehe is a sports commentator for Fox

and is known for his involvement in community service.

Yet in 2006, his good name evaporatedwhen the national sports media reported that EddieJohnson had been accused of sexual battery and burglary. His face was all over the news. Andalthough Eddie Johnson had committed those crimes, it was not the Eddie Johnson who lived inPhoenix. The perpetrator, who eventually would be found guilty and serve a life sentence, wasanother former NBA star with the same namea player nicknamed

Fast Eddie

Johnson. Itwas a case of mistaken identity. But by the time

the report had undergone a correction in thepress, the innocent Eddie had received thousands of hate calls, emails, texts, and had been

condemned on blogs and online forums

all across the web. All Johnson could say was,

I amnot

Fast Eddie!"

Have you ever been the object of mistaken identity,

or been mistaken about the identity ofsomeone else? It happens to us all of the time. Ithappens when we mistake a spouse, a child,aparentor friend for Jesus. You know what I mean. When we place upon someone else anexpectation of sinless perfection, or expect sinless perfection of ourselves. Some of us want tobe wanted and need to be needed. We want to be able to fix peoples problems. Some of us aresuper ambitious, wanting to be great, be praised, and be recognized

as important, successful,smart, talented. Whatever. But the good news is that there is only one Jesus. There is only oneChrist. And its not me and its not you. And this really is good news.

Can you see how powerfulit would be if we could get our identity issues straight? On onehand, we would be able to experienceGods grace in such a real, personal way that it wouldlead to a life of freedom, humility and confidence. And being recipientsof grace, we also wouldbe able to extendgrace to others, allowing grace to flow not only tous, but throughus.

That is why we must learn to cry outthe five words from our passage that will revolutionizeour lives.Are you ready? Here they are. Five words, and they serve as our BIG IDEA.

BIG IDEA:

I am not the Christ.

I am not the

anointed rescuer of God. I am not the Savior.We are not the heroes of this story. Noah isnt. Moses isnt. David isnt.

Nor are Peter, PaulorJohn. Only Jesus is. And so our big idea is simple, but powerful and super-practical.I am notthe Christ."In fact, I want to share a number of practical, real-world implications with you...

EXPOSITION.But first let's look at John 1:14-28, where the five revolutionary words are revealed.Now, if you

were

with us last Sunday then you

remember

that the apostle John began with aportrait of Jesus as the eternal God entering into this world to be the light of graceandtruth fora world ofungrace, deception and sin. John called it the darkness. You alsorememberthat theauthor of this gospel, the apostle John, is not the same John that is mentioned in chapter one.The John in chapter one is Jesus

cousin, who was known as John the Baptizer. Now, manyfolks today know him as John the Baptist. However, calling him John the Baptistis a bitconfusing for folks new to the church, because Baptist as a denomination, like Presbyterian,

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Lutheran and others,

wasnt established as a denomination for another 15 centuries. CallingJohn

he Baptist

makes folks think that maybe Peter was Pentecostal and Paul wasPresbyterian. But Jesus

cousin, John, did baptize folks, something that well look at moreclosely a bit later. But first, lets pick up in verse 14, which is a natural transition from last weeksintroduction of Jesus as the eternal,incarnate son of God.)

14

The Word became flesh

and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory,

the glory

of the One and Only (or as some translations say,

the only begotten),

who came from theFather, full of graceand truth.Now, there is so much we could say about this versean entiresermon or even series of sermons. Yet for our purposes it is enough to realize that Jesus did notcome into existence at his physical birth, but was the pre-existent God when he entered theworld as a human person. The focus for us is

on the testimony of John the Baptizer about thisJesus.

15John testifiesconcerning (Jesus). He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'He whocomes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.

16

From the fullness

of hisgrace

we have all received one blessing after another.Literally, the Greek reads we have

received grace upon grace. Have you ever been to a cafeteria where the servers just pile iton?

We love that. No skimping! You are going to leave full

and satisfied. That is

what Jesus

has

done for us

and

continues to do for ushe heaps grace upon grace. Undeserved favorupon undeserved favor. It never runs out!

17For the law was given through Moses;grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.The point

is not to disparage the law of God or Moses, but to show how Jesus is not a mere law

giver.Jesus did not come primarily to show us how to be good little boys and girls. And he didn't cometo condemn those are not. Rather, he came to obey the law of Godin our place and then to becondemned for those who have failed to obey it. So, Jesus came full oftruth. The truth that weare sinners and need a savior.

And

along with the truth, he came full of grace

by being that sin-bearing savior for us.)

18No one has ever seen God,but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has

made him known.

19

Now this was John's

testimony when the Jews

of Jerusalem sent priestsand Levites to ask him who he was.

20

He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, "I am notthe Christ.

(Evidently, John was a uniquely gifted orator, fully sold out to his mission ofproclaiming the need for repentance in preparation for the coming of the Christ. His using theterm Christ here is significant, because Christ is not a name, but a title. The title Christmeansanointed or one who has been specially chosen and set apart by God for a unique,redemptive task. It might help to know that the title Messiah, or

messhiah, is the Hebrewwordfor the anointed one, while Christ, or Christos, is the Greek word for the

anointed one. So, the

Christ would be the long-awaited Messiah who would be the Rescuer of Gods people. And so

John confesses freely,

I am not the Christ.

21[So] they asked him, "Then who areyou? Are you Elijah?"He said, "I am not.(Remember inthe Old Testament there was a prophecy that one like the prophet

Elijah would be sent by Godat the time of the Christ)"Are you the Prophet?

(In Deuteronomy, there is a prophecy that atrue prophet would come and fulfill the role of the ultimate prophet, or spokesperson for God.Thatwould be Jesus) [So] John answered,No.22Finally they said, "Whoareyou? Give us

an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about

yourself?Buthimselfwasnt Johns focus, was it.23John replied in the words of Isaiah theprophet, "I am the voice of one calling in the desert,'Make straight the way for the Lord. Johnwasnt the hero, just a herald; not the messiah, only a messenger.

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Now some Pharisees who had been sent

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questioned him, "Why then do you baptize ifyou are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?

(These Jewish folks who questioned Johnwere students of the

Hebrew

Bible, the Old Testament. There was expectation of God sending aDeliverer, like he had sent Moses to deliver the Israelites from the oppression of theEgyptianPharaoh. And they were familiar with baptism. For them, baptism was a ceremony ofritual cleansing

that

had been practiced as far back as the formation of the Jewish priesthood.For example, when a priest was ordained, another priest would pour water over the candidate

as a sign of ceremonial cleansing. And yet the one who performed this ceremonial cleansinghad to himself be a recognized, ordained member of the priesthood. Of course, Johns father,Zechariah, was a priest, meaning that Johnthe Baptizerwasa priesttoo, and at just over 30years old, John had recently himself been ordained in the manner that priests had beenordained for two thousand years.

But his baptism was only ceremonial and preparatory,representing the true cleansing provided through the sacrifice of the one who would becalledthe lamb of God,Jesus.)

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"I baptize with

water,"

John replied, "but among you stands one you do not know.

27

He isthe one who comes after me,

the strings of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.

28

This allhappened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan,

where John was baptizing.And so with

remarkable conviction and humility, John openly and freely confesses,I am not the

Christ.

Saying that gave him a freedom to be who he was without having to be someone hewasnt. He didnt have to fit into anyone elses mold or meetanyoneelsesfalseexpectations. Ifyou and I can embrace thosefive words, I am convinced that our lives really will be

revolutionized.

ILLUSTRATION TO SET UP APPLICATIONIf you are a student of history,then you probably have seen the photograph of President JohnF. Kennedy in the Oval Office standing with his hands on his desk, facing the window, lookingdown,

intensely contemplating

his next

move in the Cuban Missile Crisis, which

was a 13-dayconfrontation in October of 1962 between the United States and theSoviet Unionover ballisticmissiles that the Soviets had deployed in

Cuba, just 90 miles off of the US coast. And in Octoberof

62

more Soviet ships were on their way to Cuba carrying nuclear warheads. So, President

Kennedy authorized a naval blockade of the Soviet ships. And as the moment of confrontationdrew near, the world waited to see whetherSoviet leaderNikita Khrushchevwould turn his ships

back or if he would have them press forward

through the blockade, which very possibly, evenlikely, would

launch the worlds superpowers into a full-scale nuclear

war.Thankfully,

negotiationsbetween Kennedy and Khrushchev prevailed and World War III was averted.

When I consider the immensity of pressure that Kennedy faced,making decisions that

were in conflict with top military advisors, knowing that he was standing ontheprecipice ofnuclear war, I am thankful that serving as President of the United States is not a role to which Ihave been called. I love my job, and it brings me great joy to confess freely,

I am not thePresident!

It also brings me great joy, relief and freedom to confess,"I am not the Christ!"

Now, I told you that I wanted to share some revolutionary implications of being able tothis. So, I have four things that sayingI am not the Christwill mean...

1) We can't

save ourselves.

There is NOTHING we can do to save ourselves from the eternalcondemnation our sinful rebellion against God deserves. Nothing. On the surface this soundslike terriblenews, but I assure you it is gloriousnews! You see, the Bible does not offer us a setof instructions about how to save

ourselves by being reconciled to God with good behavior.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikita_Khrushchevhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union

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Although,

moralistic religion has misinterpreted the Bible that way.

And

many of us grew up inthat kind of context, which was long on moral expectations,

but short on grace. But the gospel isnot a set of instructions about what we must do. The gospel is the

proclamation about whatJesus has already done as our sin-bearer and righteousness provider! This means that ourstruggle to be forgiven, accepted and loved. Is. Over! This is huge!

Saying,

I am not the Christ

means

this:

2) Our sin does not

ruin our testimony. It is the reason for our testimony.

In EvangelicalChristianity, we say that when we or someone else really blows it that we have "ruined ourtestimony. But to say that a moral failure ruins my testimony is to say that my testimony as aChristian is about my goodness. But that actually is the oppositeof a Christian testimony, whichfocuses NOT on my goodness, but exclusively on Gods grace to me in Jesus. I am not theChrist! Jesus is!

And so my sin does not ruin my testimony; it is the reason for my testimony!

Now, this is not an excuse for my sin.Just a reality. And believing that God's grace is greaterthan my sin actually empowers me to experience genuine, spiritual transformation, because itsets me free from the powerlessness of religious moralism

and unites me to the One who isable to produce authentic, and even beautiful spiritual fruit in and through me.

Understanding this is especially important for parents.Because if we even imply to ourchildren that Christianity is essentially about good behavior, then we have destroyedthe truemessage of the Bible. Christianity does not say the good are in and the bad are out; it says thatthe humble are in and the proud are out.Meaning, the self-righteous who refuse to humble

themselves before the cross are the ones who are

out.But those who are willing to admit that

they need grace, and grace alone

that their only hope is the

mercy of God demonstrated atthe crosstheyare the ones who arein.So my sin does not ruin my testimony. It is the reasonfor my testimony. Thats number 2.

Saying,

I am not the Christ

also means

this:

3) There

are no great people, only a great Savior.Jesus later will claim that no man eclipsedJohn's greatness. And yet, this John saw himself as unworthy even to untie the strings on Jesus'

sandals, which in that culture

was the role of a common servant. John is saying,

Im

not evenworthy to be a servant of Jesus." Its like ranking high school football teams. There might beaclear, dominant number one. But compared to any professional team, there really is nocomparison. Its the same way with humanity and Jesus. So, it

behooves me to believe that

Imnot the Christ. Jesus is.

So, dont turn any human leader, pastor,or a boyfriend, a spouseor a coach or even a

parent or a child into your Jesus. And here is a very practical reason

reason why: there is noway to love someone whom you expect to be sinless and without struggles. You will continuallybe let down and discouraged. But when I recognize that they are not the Christ, then I can lovethem, not as a reward for their goodness, but asan expression of grace. So, maybe we shouldlower the bar of expectation and see what happens! Maybe we will experience more peace;maybe they will experience more grace. You see, there are no great people; only a great Savior.

Saying,

I am not the Christ

means

this:

4) The expectations of others no longer have to control me.And isnt that thewaythatmany of us live. We dont ask, who am I and what am I called to do? Rather we ask,who do they expect me to be and what do they expect me

to

do? For some of us, we areexpected to be the Christ. We are expected to intervene in our extended familys problems andbe the fixer. And when we either try and fail, or refuse to endure the pressure of being

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someone's savior, they tell us how disappointed they are in us. So, when we forsake our trueidentity

and calling

in Christ for an identity defined

and validated by the

expectations

of others,we will live in perpetual fear of not

disappointing people.

But being the servant of the messianicexpectations of others is not who Jesus has called us to be.SinceJesusis the Christ, I dont

have to be. I wonder if this is how David felt when he took off Sauls

armor in

preparation for hisbattle with Goliath. Finally, the extra weight was removed and he was free to use hisslinginstead of Saulssword. The good news is that Jesus came to bear the burden

as Savior for us.

So, know who you are NOT. "I

am not the Christ."But also,

know

who you ARE.

Walter McMillian was convicted of killing 18-year-old Ronda Morrison at a dry cleaner inMonroeville, Alabama in 1986.Three witnesses testified against McMillian, while sixwitnesses, who like McMillan were black, testified that he was at a church fish-fry at the time ofthe crime. Although a case of mistaken identity, McMillian was found guilty and held on deathrow for six yearsall the while claiming his complete innocence.

An attorney named Bryan Stevensondecided to take on the case to defend McMillian onappeal

and with Stevenson's representation, in 1993, McMillian was exonerated and set free,

but not without emotional scars. One of those scars being early-onset dementia.

Stevensonreported that, "Many of the doctors believed [the dementia] was trauma-induced due to his nearexecution."

So even after McMillian was free from prison and fully

exonerated,in his mind he was stillcondemned.

He was free, but now

living

in the psych ward of a mental hospital. When hisattorney would visit him, McMillian wouldcontinaullytell his lawyer,Please help! Please, you'vegot to get me offofdeath row.He justcouldntbelieve that he had been set free.

Of course, for us, its even worse, isnt it?After all, McMillian was wronglyconvicted, but weare rightlyconvicted! And in the same way that McMillan struggled to believe that he was free,many of us who profess to be disciples of Jesus are living the same way. Although the cross

tells me that I have been

fully exonerated, in my mind I am still condemned.

This is why we need to hear the gospel proclaimed to us over and over and over. Becausein our spiritual dementia we forget who we really are in Christ. And so we need to be freshlyremindedand convincedthat in Christ we really are fully forgiven, perfectly accepted asrighteous and dearly loved sons and daughters of the Fathernot just tolerated, but treasured.Because of Jesus, I am not condemned. I have been set free as a recipientof immeasurablegrace.

I am not the Christ. But Jesus is!