Blurred Vision
Toward the end of the day, my contact lenses start to dry out, making my vision blurry. I know that my lenses are drying out when I notice that I’m blinking a lot more than usual. But blinking a lot doesn’t solve the problem. The best way to regain clear vision is to take my contacts out and put my glasses on. Then my eyes are free and I can see again!
Last week, we looked at John the Baptist’s sermon in the first part of Luke 3. After he preaches, many wondered if he was the Messiah. But he quickly tells them that, not only is he not the Messiah and is only preparing the way for the Messiah, but that the Messiah is much greater than himself.
John the Baptist is trying to get people’s eyes on Jesus, to bring Jesus into sharper focus. He’s washing our contacts so we can see clearly. He wants us to see how great the Messiah is. His God-given role is to point away from himself to Someone else.
The Trellis and the Vine
This is a timely message for this season of our church. It’s easy and even natural to focus on things around Jesus rather than Jesus himself. At the Texas Pastor’s Conference last week, Pastor Garrett Kell talked about the temptation to be doing for Jesus rather than sitting with Jesus. He said it’s scary how much we can get done in ministry without Jesus.
This is true for pastors and church members. Our natural tendency is to focus on the tangible, not the intangible, the temporal, not the eternal, the present, not the future. It’s easy for us to lose sight of the main thing and to make secondary things primary things.
As I said at the end of our member meeting a few weeks ago, a local church is like a vine, a living organism. Vines need sturdy trellises in order to grow and flourish and be healthy and produce fruit. The administrative side of our church is part of the trellis and is important because we need a sturdy trellis holding up the vine. Thank you to the many folks who’re stepping up and stepping in to help strengthen our trellis during this time.
But we must remember that the trellis isn’t the point or the focus of our work as a church, the vine is. Jeramie Rinne says it this way in his book Church Elders, “The organization must always serve the organism. Programs and processes at best provide tools for accomplishing the mission of maturing one another in Christ.” He goes on to say, “My experience has been that elders easily gravitate toward the machine rather than the members, the trellis rather than the vine, giving more conversation and effort to fine-tuning logistics rather than laboring over the development of people.”[1]
As a pastor, I tend to lean the other way and focus almost exclusively on people and word ministry at the expense of logistics, something the Lord is growing me in. But whichever way we lean, as elders or members, we must remember that Jesus died for the vine, not the trellis, and that our focus is “vine work,” or work to strengthen the living organism that is the church.
Like John the Baptist, one of our jobs as elders is to help our church get our eyes on the right thing, the greatness and goodness of Jesus. Please continue to pray that God would strengthen our trellis and nourish the vine of our church so that the truth of Jesus is less blurry and so that his goodness is brought into sharper focus.
The Greatness of Jesus
John came to bring Jesus into sharper focus. The main point of our text this morning is that John came to get our eyes on the greatness of Jesus. Luke continues to draw a contrast between John and Jesus, showing us how Jesus is greater than John. In this passage, we see three ways that Jesus is greater than John. First, we see that Jesus brings a better baptism than John (vv. 15-16). Second, we see that Jesus better than John because he’s an effective judge (vv. 17-20). And third, we see that Jesus is better than John because he’s both substitute and Son (vv. 21-22). The greatness of Jesus is what our hearts long for, indeed what we were made for, and it’s what we see here in this text.
Jesus Brings a Better Baptism
First, in verses 15-16, we see that Jesus brings a better baptism. John’s preaching was so powerful and penetrating that people thought he may be the Messiah (v. 15). But John publicly says that he isn’t the Messiah. In John’s Gospel, he says plainly, “I am not the Christ” (1:20).
John knows his role. He’s not lured into vain self-promotion by the expectations of the crowds. He knows his place and he’s driven to please God, not man.
During the Reformation, followers of Martin Luther began to be called “evangelicals,” but Luther’s enemies called them “Lutherans.” Luther’s supporters later adopted the term for themselves, despite Luther’s protest. He said:
“Who is this Luther? My teaching is not my own, and I have not been crucified for anyone. Why should it happen to me, miserable stinking bag of maggots that I am, that the children of Christ should be called by my insignificant name?”[2]
Professor Dale Davis applies Luther’s remarks to our lives, saying:
“We don’t need to go to that extreme, do we? Well, if you know yourself, it’s a good place to start. Our culture is so bent on how well you can strut, not how quickly you can kneel. And likely you need to keep saying to yourself, like John, ‘I am not the Messiah’ – five important words, for there are people’s foibles and people’s lives and your relatives’ lives and maybe a few church ministries you’d like to ‘fix’. And yourself – or someone – needs to say to you that you are not the Messiah. The lowest place is often the safest place.”[3]
John the Baptist knew that he was nothing compared to Jesus so he didn’t blink when people started suggesting that he might be the Messiah. He humbly and quickly pointed people away from himself to the truly great One.
The More Powerful One
The people think John may fit the profile of the Messiah so in verse 16 John starts outlining what the Messiah will be like. He says that “he who is mightier (or “more powerful,” NIV, CSB) than I is coming.” Interestingly, John doesn’t refer to Jesus as “Messiah,” or “Christ,” but as “the More Powerful One.” This is revealing.
What is John doing? He’s preparing the way for people to rightly understand what kind of person the Messiah will be. He says the Messiah will be much greater than himself, so great that he’s not even worthy to untie his shoes.
Unfastening sandals at that time was the work of slaves. So John considers himself unworthy to be Jesus’ slave. Jesus’ greatness is so great that John can’t even touch his dirty sandals.
Baptism with the Holy Spirit
But then John says that the More Powerful One will baptize “with the Holy Spirit and with fire” (v. 16). John is contrasting his baptism with Jesus’ baptism. He says, “I baptize you with water, but the More Powerful One…will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire” (v. 16). He’s saying that Jesus’ baptism is greater than his.
How so? John’s baptism was about repentance (v. 3). He was calling people to turn from their sins and turn to God and be baptized as a sign of their repentance. His baptism was “with water,” but John say’s Jesus’ baptism will be “with the Holy Spirit.” John, “I baptize you with water.” Jesus, “I baptize you with God.” Do you see the profound difference? The Holy Spirit is God, the third person of the Trinity, so Jesus’ baptism won’t be a symbol of repentance but “immersion into the power and person of God.”[4]
John says that the More Powerful One is More Powerful because those baptized into him are baptized into the very life of God. This is amazing! Those who belong to the Messiah are immersed in and flooded with the power of God. Their life is wrapped up in the life of God. Their weaknesses and sins and foibles and failures are swallowed up by the power of God. Messiah’s people are people who live in God, which is why they have eternal life, the only kind of life an eternal God has.
Baptism with Fire
Those who’re baptized into Jesus are baptized into a new life and become new creatures. That newness becomes evident over time, not all at once. This is what I think “fire” refers to. Some think it refers to Pentecost and the tongues of fire that came down on the believers then. But a baptism of “fire” isn’t mentioned when the baptism of the Holy Spirit is mentioned (Acts 1:5, 11:16).
It seems better to conclude that Jesus baptizing “with fire” refers to his refining work in the life of every believer. Everyone in Christ will by nature of their new nature, slowly start to look more and more like Christ. Jesus’ “fire” will burn away self-centeredness and pride and in their place humility and love will begin to grow.
Those who live in God begin to look like God. This is what Paul is getting at in Romans 6, when he says, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (vv. 3-4).
Those in Christ walk differently than they did before because in Jesus, the old man died and the new man was born. And the new man will enjoy new life in God and experience the (sometimes painful) Refiner’s fire so that he looks more like the God who holds him. Is that you? Are you walking in newness of life? Have you been baptized into Christ?
Jesus is an Effective Judge
The second way Jesus is greater than John is that Jesus is an effective judge (vv. 17-20). In verse 17, John uses a word picture to describe what the More Powerful One, or Jesus, will come to do. He mentions “winnowing,” or the process of tossing harvested grain into the air so that the wind can separate the wheat from the chaff.
John’s word-picture, however, implies that the winnowing process is already complete. He says that Jesus is coming with “his winnowing fork (or shovel) in his hand, to clear his threshing floor” (v. 17). The winnowing process is completed and all that’s left to do is “clear the floor.” He says this is what Jesus is coming to do.
Do you see what John is saying? He’s saying that his ministry of calling people to repentance is the winnowing. Those who respond to his message and align themselves with God’s word are set against those who don’t. The Messiah, he says, will come and sort out who’s who. The Messiah is coming to enact judgment on the basis of the people’s response to John.[5] The “wheat” are the repentant and will be “gathered…into his barn.” The “chaff” are the unrepentant and will be “burned with unquenchable fire” (v. 17).
Jesus comes to sort out the repentant from the unrepentant. And because he’s the More Powerful One, his judgment is effective. Nothing will stop or hinder it. John announced judgment; Jesus brings it.
This is why repentance is so important in determining whether someone belongs to God or not. Our posture toward our sin reveals our loyalties. Those who belong to Messiah, the wheat who’ll live in his barn forever, see sin for what it is, show true remorse, and do whatever they have to do to change because they want nothing more than to love and please their Messiah. Those who don’t belong to Messiah, the chaff who’ll burn forever in his flame, are blind to their sin, don’t own it or grieve it, minimize it and excuse it away, and live to promote themselves.
It can be difficult to discern who’s who, but the Lord has given the church his Word and his Spirit so that churches have the authority to speak on his behalf to those who’re unrepentant, warning them that if they don’t repent, they will perish (eg. Matt. 18:15-20).
How is Judgment “Good News”?
Verse 18 reminds us that when we announce the effectiveness and reality of God’s judgment, it’s “good news.” How can a message of judgment be “good news”? It’s not good because it’s nice or will make everyone happy. It’s good because it’s exactly what every single one of us needs to hear. It’s good because it’s true.
We’re all born under the curse of sin, blinded to our sinfulness, and headed to destruction. But in mercy, God became a man, lived a perfect life, died on the cross, and rose again so that everyone who turns from their sins and trusts in him will be saved.
Jesus died for all who have eyes to see their sinfulness, turn from it, and call out to him in faith. Those who do will “bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (Lk. 3:8) and will experience a new life with God now and everlasting life with God when they die. Those who don’t will remain slaves to sin and will live empty lives without God now and receive everlasting death apart from God when they die.
Herod the tetrarch is an example of the latter (vv. 19-20). He heard John’s call for repentance and rejected it. He didn’t see any problem with his lifestyle. He assumed that marrying his brother’s wife Herodias was no big deal and was offended that someone like John would suggest otherwise. But because John knew how great the Messiah was, he was willing to pay whatever price to follow him, so he boldly proclaimed a message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Friends, how we respond when someone confronts us with our sin reveals our true colors.
Jesus is Both Substitute and Son
The third way Jesus is greater than John is that Jesus is both substitute and Son (vv. 21-22). There are two things I want to focus our attention on here. In these two short verses, I want us to see the glory of substitution (v. 21) and the glory of the Trinity (v. 22).
The Glory of Substitution
In verse 21, notice how Luke mentions Jesus’ baptism almost as an afterthought. Jesus’ baptism is almost incidental to the crowds being baptized by John. During this scene of the movie, rather than zooming in on Jesus being baptized, the camera zooms out and shows us all the people being baptized. Why? Because Luke wants us to see Jesus standing in solidarity with us in the waters of baptism.
But, you ask, why did Jesus need John’s baptism? Wasn’t his a baptism of repentance and wasn’t Jesus sinless and so didn’t need to repent?
In Matthew’s account of Jesus’ baptism, John basically asks Jesus the same question and Jesus says he has to be baptized “to fulfill all righteousness” (3:15). Jesus needed to fulfill all aspects of the law through his active obedience so that he’d have a perfect righteousness to give to us.[6]
Jesus is baptized to show his oneness with us and so that he can give a complete righteousness to us. Jesus, the sinless one, did what only sinners were called to do in order to show us that he came to stand in the place of sinners. As Dale Davis says, “The shadow of the cross falls across the waters of the Jordan. In His baptism Jesus commits Himself to take the sinner’s place.”[7] Jesus was baptized to stand “in solidarity with us and in substitution for us.”[8]
The Glory of the Trinity
The second thing I want you to see is the glory of the Trinity in verse 22. The way Father, Son, and Spirit relate at Jesus’ baptism echoes Genesis 1, where the Spirit hovered, dove-like, over the waters of the earth (1:2). Then God creates by his Word (the Word that would later become flesh).
In Genesis 1, the Father creates through the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. At Jesus’ baptism, the Spirit once again hovers over the waters as the Father’s word goes out, beginning a new creation. As Michael Reeves says, “In both the work of creation (Genesis 1) and the work of salvation or re-creation (in the Gospels), God’s Word goes out from him by his Spirit.”[9]
The Father makes his love known for his Son through the Spirit. It’s no different for us. Paul says, “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Rom. 5:5). We know God’s love only when the Spirit comes into our hearts and does two primary things: show us the ugliness of our sin and the beauty of Jesus. The Spirit shows us ourselves and shows us Jesus.
The Father gets his love into our hearts by showing us Jesus’ bigness and our smallness, Jesus’ goodness and our badness, Jesus’ mercy and our wounds, Jesus’ forgiveness and our sins, Jesus’ light and our darkness, Jesus’ truth and our lies, Jesus’ righteousness and our filthiness, Jesus’ judgment and our danger, Jesus’ love and our need.
John the Baptist came to bring Jesus into sharper focus, to remove our blurry contacts so we can see clearly. Through John, God wants us to see how great Jesus is. Like John the Baptist, our job as a church is to get our eyes on the main thing and then help as many people as we can do the same.
[1]Jeramie Rinne, Church Elders: How to Shepherd God’s People Like Jesus (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2014), 42.
[2]Quoted in Dale Ralph Davis, Luke 1-13: The Year of the Lord’s Favor, Focus on the Bible (Fearn, Ross-shire, UK: Christian Focus, 2021), 67.
[3]Ibid.
[4]James R. Edwards, The Gospel according to Luke, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015), 114.
[5]Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 182.
[6]R. C. Sproul, Luke: An Expositional Commentary (Sanford, FL: Ligonier Ministries, 2020), 87-91.
[7]Davis, 70.
[8]Arthur A. Just, Jr., ed., Luke, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: New Testament 3 (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003), 65.
[9]Michael Reeves, Delighting in the Trinity: An Introduction to the Christian Faith (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2012), 30.