April Q&A: What John The Baptist Really Was

We answer two listener questions about John the Baptist and what his ministry tells us about preaching today. We also challenge the idea that sharing the gospel belongs only to pastors, and we trace how John’s message spread without modern technology. 
• how our monthly Q and A works and why we invite questions 
• why John the Baptist is not a pastor in the modern sense 
• what a pastor does beyond preaching and why shepherding matters 
• why John fits the role of evangelist and forerunner 
• how Isaiah’s prophecy frames John’s purpose and message 
• how people found John in the wilderness through word of mouth 
• why too many voices today can create confusion about Scripture 
• why every believer is called to speak using 1 Peter 2:9 and Romans 10 
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Transcript

Was John A Preacher

Pastor Versus Evangelist Explained

John Prepares The Way For Jesus

How Word Spread In The Wilderness

Every Believer Is Called To Speak

Send Questions And Share

Josh 0:01

Got questions about Jesus? Well, that's what this video is for. Here at Mission Scent, we have a QA that goes along with our weekly services. And then at the end of the month, we answer the questions that have been sent in to us. And today we have two questions. Number one, was John the Baptist a preacher? Alright, so I'm gonna answer this in this way. If you're talking about was John the Baptist a pastor in the way we think pastors, the answer to that would be no. We the word pastor we have comes from this word presbyteros, which means to be like a shepherd. Okay, that's why a pastor, there's so much more to being a pastor than just getting up Sunday morning and preaching a sermon. It's counseling with people like throughout the week, it's answering questions that people have, it's it's setting the tone for the church, and so everyone is on the same mission, the same vision. It's all of that and it's all encompassing. It really is a full-time position. What we see in John the Baptist is what we would actually refer more to an evangelist. An evangelist is someone who proclaims the word of God, who preaches the word of God, but doesn't necessarily shepherd all of the people within a congregation. So it would be like, yes, a preacher, he is preaching the word, but all believers, according to 1 Peter 2 9, are called to be royal priests. Like you're all believers are called to preach. But what we see with John the Baptist is just that. He's just preaching the word of God. He's not shepherding people, so he's not a pastor, he is, he is more of what we would call an evangelist. And the reason he is doing this is a fulfillment of a prophecy we see in Isaiah that one will come in the power like Elijah to make straight the way of the Lord. So John comes before Jesus to prepare people for the coming of Jesus. He's he's got one message: the Lamb of God is coming, get ready, repent, and get ready to follow after the one who is coming. Now, the second question we have deals with John the Baptist again, and it's this if John is out in the wilderness, how do people know where he is? Legit question because back in the first century they don't have things like this, right? You can't just go on Facebook or go on YouTube and and and I would argue honestly, it was probably better back then because now we have so many voices in our ears at all times. And let's be honest, some of us give contradicting ideas of what scripture is saying. Now, how did they know? People said stuff. The the people would have gone out into the wilderness, they would have heard his message, they would have come back to the city, and they would have told their families, they would have told their friends, they would have told the people at the market, and eventually it would have gone all the way to the religious leaders in the temple, and that is how people knew John was out there doing what John was doing. It's just word of mouth. Honestly, it's the same thing as today, right? Now, yes, like I said, we have all these other technologies that can do this too, but at the end of the day, it still boils down to just like we were looking at with all believers being part of a royal priesthood, the same thing, right? It's if you are a follower of Christ, you are called to be a mouth. In Romans 10, Paul asks this question. He goes, How are they to believe in whom they have never heard, and how are they to hear if there is no one there to preach? See, too many times as Christians, we think it's just the pastor's job to preach, and that can't be any more wrong. Yes, it is the pastor's job to preach the message and preach the gospel because the church exists so that we are all equipped to leave on Sunday and perform the mission Monday through Saturday. But that's everyone's job. And if we did that a little better, I think that things might look a little different. So hopefully, this answered those two questions. As always, you can always text in questions uh throughout the month that that you have as they come up because we love being able to dig deeper into the why we believe what we believe. So we thank you, we love you, and we can't do this without you. Hey, you can start right now by hitting share.