John the Baptist is the perfect example of humility when it comes to the use of titles. He didn’t use one and neither did he allow anyone else to cause him to place a title on himself. The Pharisees sent priests and Levites to John’s place on the Jordan River where he was baptizing and asked him,
“…Who art thou? And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet? John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose” (John 1:19-27).
What’s interesting about John’s deflection was that he immediately turned the praise and glory over to the Messiah, Jesus Christ, saying, “…there standers one among you, whom ye know not; he it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose.”
John was even about himself in the least, his life was about pointing people to the coming of the Messiah, the Holy One of Israel.
This is reinforced later on after Jesus’ ministry had begun and Jesus’ disciples were baptizing more of the repentant than John himself.
“John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:27-30).
So John knew what and who Jesus was, and what and who he himself was. He had no need of self-inflation and saw himself as he really is, as man of flesh and blood while Jesus was from above. John continued,
“He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all. And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony. He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true. For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:31-36).
John was all about reality and all about proper perspective. Unlike Satan who is want to puff himself up, to magnify himself as something he is not, John took the opposite route.
The amazing thing is that since John chose the path of humility, this led to Jesus Himself bragging on John. Jesus said, “And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted” (Matthew 23:12), and because John humbled himself, Jesus exhalted him, saying concerning John,
“What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he (Matthew 7:7-11).
So you see this pattern of humility that was established here, and the reward for that humility, that God Himself and His Son Jesus Christ will bestow honor on the person that is humble.
Jesus gave a parable about humility when he told the story of where one should sit at a wedding feast,
“…He (Jesus) marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them, When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” (Luke 14:7-11).
I find today so many people in the “Church” seek for titles and position. They seek to be promoted, to rise in the eyes of men. Jesus did not teach us this, rather Jesus taught that the greatest among us would be the least. His own disciples argued among themselves about this very matter and Jesus had to set them straight,
“But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:25-28).
The greatest position of leadership in the Church is really as that of a servant. John the Baptist embodied this because he sought entirely to point people to Christ. He bragged on Christ and diminished himself, and so Jesus bragged on John in return because he was humble.
Jesus made it clear over and over again that He was not instilling a hierarchical system of people over one another, rather we would all be brethren.
“But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted” (Matthew 23:8-12).
Leadership of the Protestant persuasion may avoid terms such as Rabbi, Master, and father (though Catholics and Anglicans/Episcopalians still do), but many in leadership dance around Jesus’ command for us not differentiate ourselves from others by using the words that come in Acts and onwards, such as Pastor, Teacher, Elder, Deacon, Bishop, Archbishop, Evangelist, Apostle, Prophet, etc.
Where is the humility that Jesus speaks of when he implies not to use a title, and that He Himself would exalt the humble? Where is the humility that greatest prophet of all time exhibited when he would not exalt himself in any way but instead pointed to Jesus?
Please know that it’s not without effort on the part of men to give us a “canon” with a book of Acts and epistles of Paul that flout everything that Jesus taught. Paul called many of those he considered under himself his own children that he birthed, making himself a spiritual father in spite of the fact that Jesus said not to do so.
“My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you” (Galatians 4:19).
“O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged. Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels. Now for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged (2 Corinthians 6:11-13).
“Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved” (2 Corinthians 12:14-16).
“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope;
Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Timothy 1:1-2).
“But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state. For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel” (Phillipians 2:19)
“To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour” (Titus 1:4).
“I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds…” (Philemon 1:10).
So while Jesus appointed no titles during his ministry accept to the 12 apostles, and even then he humbled them relentless, what we see happening after His ascension into heaven, especially as reflected in the entirely suspect Book of Acts, is that titles became important again, at least from and English bible perspective. What I mean by that is during the reign of King James who commissioned the Bible that now bears his name, he insisted on using titles and terms for what in the original greek were somewhat vague terms or leader with the words they, the Anglicans, and the Catholics had already put in place in their bloated demonic hierarchies that posed themselves as the Churches of Jesus Christ. James said, “no bishop, no king” to the Scottish presbyterians because they wanted to remove the leadership hierarchy, to take away the bishop’s rule, but instead James who saw it as his divine right to rule the church had to insist on keeping that structural system that had already been in place for centuries within Catholicism. His Archbishop, who also oversaw the development and translation of the King James Bible, also was power hungry and insisted on the same.
And we see in our modern day that people who get power within their realms of what calls itself the Church, hang titles upon themselves and walk in the power commensurate with those titles, often making those “under” them their servants and sometimes slaves, extracting from them the money, energy and time for themselves that should be put toward ministering to God first, then others, and by others I don’t mean these self appointed leaders with their titles. The greatest among us are supposed to be servants to all, not all servants to them.
But this is where positions of power corrupt absolutely. We expect this to happen in the world, but not among God’s people, where the teachings of Jesus are so plain as to how we should engage with one another. After Jesus left, however, even in what calls itself the New Testament (sans the Gospels and the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ as well 1 John) we have lots of titles being thrown around even though Jesus was against it. And to what end? To create a demonic power structure that Jesus never intended.
If one wonders why I do NOT trust in any way the Book of Acts (as an accurate depiction of what the apostles did because I believe according to Matthew 28 and Mark 16 they actually obeyed Jesus and went to all the world to preach the gospel rather than Acts bogus telling of them holing up in Jerusalem and sending others to do it) or the epistles of Paul, this is another example of why. Jesus was just so plain about servant hood and not adopting a role with a title.
I think what’s most important, that is for anyone that God uses as a leader, is to just let the Father through His Holy Spirit and by Jesus Christ do His thing in you. If God has made you a leader, as he did with John the Baptist, nothing can change that fact. No title is required. What God sets forth to be done will be done in your life as long as you remain in agreement with it. You won’t have to prove anything to anyone or hang some phony title on yourself to achieve respect. God’s Word in you will create respect in His people for God’s Word, and as a consequence you will get respect from God Himself. Do not care about what other people think about you and most certainly don’t try to set yourself up as somebody. If you do, you may find God working to humble you Himself. I would say you don’t want that.
Sit yourself down in the lowest room and let Jesus bring you up from there. Stop setting yourself in the highest places.
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