Who Are We? — Stephen Kaung

John the Baptist Identifies Himself as the Voice in the Wilderness

Will you please turn to the Gospel according to John? John's Gospel, Chapter 1, we will read from Verse 19 through Verse 23. John Chapter 1, Verse 19. And this is the witness of John, when the Jews sent from Jerusalem priests and Levites that they might ask him, Thou, who art thou?

And he acknowledged and denied not, and acknowledged, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elijah? And he says, I am not. Art thou the prophet? And he answered, No. They said therefore to him, Who art thou, that we may give an answer to those who send us?

What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the path of the Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet. Let's have a word of prayer. Dear Lord, we do bow in thy presence, thank thee for thy precious word.

We pray that thy spirit will open thy word to us, that through thy word we may see thee, the living word. We thank thee for this time that we can be together, waiting upon thee, looking to thee to reveal thy mind to us.

We trust thy Holy Spirit to do the work that he sent to do, to glorify the Son. We ask in thy precious name. Identity is very important to life. I remember about a month ago, when I was listening to the news, there was a young man.

I won't say the old man, middle, maybe 40. He did not know who he was. He did not know his name. He did not know his family. He did not know where he came from. He was completely lost. And then I recall, maybe a year or two ago, there was a man found on the beach of New York.

He didn't know who he was. He didn't even know his name. He didn't know his family. He didn't know where he came from. And when people talked to him, he didn't know anything. The only thing he knew was, when he was playing the piano, identity is very important to life.

Now today, if you travel at all, you have to carry your identification card. People want to know who you are, what you are. And if you don't have any identification card, you are not able to travel at all.

What is the greatest problem in adulation? When young people are growing up, what is his or her greatest problem? The greatest problem is, try to find his or her identity. They want to know who they are, what they are.

That gives them security. A sense of being. Without identity, you are confused. There is no meaning to you. And you are completely lost. So you see how important it is to have an identity. And to know who you are, what you are.

John the Baptist’s Calling and Repentance

You know, even at the time of John the Baptist, the same problem was there. After 400 years of silence, God was silent to his people. There was no voice from heaven. No vision, no message. But suddenly, a man came out of the wilderness, and he began to preach.

Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn nigh. It electrified the Jewish community. Many people flocked to him and received the baptism of repentance. So the authority in Jerusalem, they sent their priests and Levites that represent the religious organization.

They sent them to John to ask of him, now, who are you? You know, it was at a time when the Jewish nation was waiting for the Messiah to come. Therefore, there was some supposition. Maybe this man is the Messiah to come.

So they came to John and said, now, John, tell us, who are you? Now, John knew that in their mind, they were thinking of him. Probably he was the Christ, the Messiah. So here you'll find John emphatically denied.

He said, I'm not the Christ. Now, if you are not the Christ, then are you Elijah, the greatest prophet Israel ever had? And John said, I'm not. Now, if you are not Elijah, then are you the prophet prophesied by Moses in Deuteronomy chapter 18, verse 15 to 19, that God would raise up among the brethren a prophet and to that prophet God would give his word and whoever does not listen to him, God will require of him.

The prophet. The spokesman of God. Now, are you the prophet? Again, John said, I'm not. No, he knew what he was not. Then they said, now, if you are not the Christ, and if you are not Elijah, and you are not the prophet, now, who are you?

You have to tell us who are you, that we may report. And John answered and said, I am the voice that cries in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. As the prophet Isaiah said, in Isaiah 40, verse 3, John knew exactly who he was not and also who he was.

The reason was, even before he was born, you remember in Luke chapter 1, how the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah, his father, as he was offering incense in the holy temple, and Zechariah said, your prayer was answered.

You shall have a son, and his name shall be John. He will be great before the Lord. He will ready a people, a prepared people for the Lord. And after John was born, again you'll find, God opened the mouth of Zechariah.

The Holy Spirit inspired him, and he began to prophesy and said, his son will walk before the Lord and will prepare the way for the Lord. Even when John was in the womb of his mother, he was filled with the Holy Spirit.

We knew that. Why? Because when Mary came to greet Elizabeth, John was in the womb of Elizabeth, and he jumped with him, welcoming the Messiah. He was a Nazarite. Even from birth, before birth, no wine, no razor, no touch with death.

He devoted his life to God. Raised in the wilderness, separated from the world, and God called him to come out and preach to the nation. Therefore, he knew exactly what he was not. He did not pretend, like many people who are so ambitious and would like to be what they are not.

He was honest. He knew what he was not. He was not seeking for fame, applause, welcome from the world. He knew he was but. The voice is not important, but the message is important. The voice will come and go, but the message remains forever.

John did not come to bear witness of himself. He came to testify to God's Son, Jesus Christ. That was John. Now, dear brothers and sisters, when you come to this place, you see no sign at the entrance.

You may wonder, who are there? Is it a private residence? It doesn't look like. Because there are many people going in and coming out. What is it? I wonder if it has ever come to your mind. It is not our practice to speak.

We are nobody. We are nothing. But the Bible does say, in 1 Peter 3, sanctify the Lord Christ in your hearts and be always ready to give an answer to He that asks of you on the account of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.

We do not like to talk about ourselves. We do not want to draw attention to ourselves. We preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. But when we are being asked, the Bible tells us we should sanctify the Lord Christ in our hearts and be always ready to give an answer to those who may ask, what is the hope that is in us?

But with meekness. Meekness means without self. No self-pride. No self-consciousness. No self-seeking. No self-confidence. Afraid that we may not be what we aim to be. So dear brothers and sisters, this is what we would like to share this morning.

Beyond Denominational and Political Labels

Who are we? Are we a social fraternity? Are we a religious organization? Are we Catholic? Roman Catholic? We believe in the universality of God's people. But you see no image. No statues here. Are we Protestants?

Now if you know the origin of the word Protestant, then I will say we are not. Because in 1529 A .D. some German princes, they protested against the authority of Rome. And because of their protest, the word Protestants came into being.

So we are not a political organization in that sense. Even though we hold many of what the Protestants hold. Are we independent? What denomination do we belong to? We belong to no-none denomination. We are not creating a new denomination.

Aside from the name of Christ, we have no other name. But are you independent? We join ourselves with the church universal. So we cannot be independent. Are we charismatic? Or non-charismatic? But we believe in the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Following Christ as Disciples

Now who are you? If you want to know who we are, the only way is, you search the scripture. When you read the gospels, you find our Lord Jesus, he came into this world to seek and to save the lost. But to those who believe in him, he called them, come and follow me.

In other words, he came to disciple, not just to save them. That's the beginning. Not just giving his life to them, but he wants to disciple us to himself. That we may be transformed and be conformed to his image.

So his call to all believers is very simple. Come and follow me. Sometimes his disciples will follow him for a while. But they found that it was too hard, and they left. But thank God, there were people who were willing to pay every cost to follow him, because they knew who he was.

He had the word of life, and there's no other place to go. Disciple simply means those who are under discipline. Not under man's discipline, but under the discipline of the Lord. Unfortunately today, we separate believers from disciples.

But in the mind of God, there is no separation. If you believe in him, you follow him. If you accept him as your savior, automatically, you receive him as your Lord. He gave his life to you. You are not your own.

Even the great commission, as we find in Matthew chapter 28. Our Lord Jesus says, all authority in heaven and earth have been given to me. Now go, disciple, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

And teach them all things that I have enjoined you. And I will be with you to the end. In other words, his commission to us is to disciple, more than evangelizing, discipling. Because to be saved is good for us, but to be discipled is useful to him.

One is self-centered. The other is Christ-centered. That's the difference. So we find in the early days, even when our Lord was on earth, there was a people who were disciples. The Pharisees, the scribes, they pride themselves as the disciple of Moses.

Pentecost and the Birth of the Church

But thank God, there was a people on earth at the time of Christ that they were proud to be the humble followers of that humble. And we came to the book of Acts. On the day of Pentecost, 120 disciples of our Lord Jesus were gathered together in that upper room in Jerusalem.

And the Holy Spirit came to this world. In one spirit they were baptized into one body. No longer 12, 120 individual believers, disciples. But with 120, having Christ as the head, and all these 120 members, that's the beginning of the church.

The called out ones gathered together. Where two or three are gathered together unto my name, the Lord said. There am I in the midst of them. The gospel of Jesus Christ began to spread. The world looked at them and wondered.

Gradually, they became to see. I say the world became to see that on earth there was a people so different from all the peoples of the world. Were they Jews? There were Jews there. But they lived and acted more than just the Jews.

The Way of Christ

So gradually you'll find another designation was given to them. If you read the book of Acts, you'll find in Acts 9, verse 2, Saul, the persecutor of the church. He got documents from the high priest to go to Damascus to seize upon those of the way and to bring them to Jerusalem to condemn them.

In other words, you'll find gradually in this world there was a people who live a way totally different from any way that you can see in the world. When I first came to this country, I was met with a group of brothers and sisters, mainly Americans, a few Chinese.

And when I served together with them, oftentimes when we would talk together, some would say, this is not American way. I objected. I said, we are not here to stand on the American way or the Chinese way.

We are people of the way. There is a way of life. Brothers and sisters, those who believe in the Lord Jesus are not just theoretical. Theologians, theories, they have a way of life. And this way of life is totally different from any way you can find in the whole world.

It is neither American, nor British, nor Jewish, nor Chinese, nor German, nor Spanish. You do not see this way in this world. It is a heavenly way, a spiritual way, an on-high way. The Lord said, I am.

If you follow the Lord Jesus, sooner or later, you will live differently. Your manner of life will be changed. You cannot afford to live as the people of the earth. The Christian way of life. But it is real.

It is living. It is powerful. In the early church, but many were repulsed. The Bible said, no one dared even to draw near to them. One to wipe out the people of the world. The world was not allowed to have such a way, such a manner of life, so different from the world to exist.

Just like they want to get rid of Christ, so his followers. In the book of Acts, six times this designation. Chapter 19, Chapter 22, Chapter 24. People. People who live the way of Christ. That's how they were known in the early days.

Antioch and the Name Christian

Then gradually, we find in Acts 11, verse 26. In the beginning, the gospel was preached only to the Jews. When our Lord Jesus came to earth, he was sent to the Jewish nation. So the early disciples, they were all Jews or proselytes to Judaism.

But when the persecution came, because of Stephen, the disciples began to disperse. Now those with Jewish background, they only share the gospel of Jesus Christ with Jews as they went along. But there were people from the Gentile nations.

So they began to share with the Gentiles. And in Antioch, many Gentiles came to Christ. They were converted from idolatry into faith in Jesus Christ, in God. So you find that the church in Jerusalem heard about it.

Thank God instead of sending Peter and John there, they sent Barnabas there. Barnabas was a Jew, was a Gentile. No, he was a Jew. But he lived in the Gentile. He was not a Hebrew Jew, but a Hellenistic Jew.

So they sent him to Antioch to visit the brethren there. And while he was there, he encouraged them to be steadfast in the Lord. Not just believing in the Lord, but be steadfast in the Lord. And then you remember how he also went to Tarsus, to God's Saul, who was converted, to come and help.

And they met with the brothers and sisters for over a year, teaching them, instructing them, helping them. And it was at that time that the world looked at these people again. The world in the beginning considered the believers of Jesus Christ as only a sect of Judaism.

Even the Roman Empire at that time considered Christianity as a sect of Judaism. Therefore it was given freedom as they gave to Judaism. But now the situation is different. There are more Gentiles than Jews in that gathering.

It was in a Gentile city. Most of them are Gentiles. Some of them are Jewish. And they were together. Neither Jews nor Gentiles. Neither Bormann nor Freeman. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision. You know the world always wants to identify.

Because if they cannot identify, they cannot lay hold on you. Now who are you? Finally they gave these people a nickname. Oh, Christ. Because they gathered together in the name of Christ. They sang songs to Christ.

They prayed to Christ. They lived for Christ. They proclaimed Christ. Everything is Christ, Christ, Christ. Not Jews. Not Gentiles. Not Bormann. Not Freeman. Not social status. Not nationalities. Not ways of man.

Not even themselves. Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ. Well, Christ man. You know, that's how you are called Christian today. That nickname sticks. To be a Christian is not that easy. To earn that name Christian was not easy in those days.

Today everybody seems to call himself or herself a Christian. It becomes a name of honor. But what price have you to earn? It was a name ridiculed by the world. The second mentioning of the word Christian is in Acts chapter 26.

Paul was testifying before Agrippa, King Agrippa of the Lord Jesus and Agrippa jokingly, you think by saying a little you will persuade me to be a Christian? Christian was a name despised. You are no good.

You are nobody. You are Christ man. And in 1 Peter, Peter said, if you suffer for the name of a Christian, it was a name despised, persecuted. You have to suffer. Dear brothers and sisters, how much suffering have you experienced by being a Christian?

Christians today are looking for blessing, not for suffering anymore. Are we worthy even as you continue to search the word? You come to the last book that speaks of the last days. And there you'll find another designation seems to come upon those who follow the Lord, who go the way of Christ.

O Christians, they are those who have the word of God and the testimony. They suffer for it. They stand on it. They testify to it. And they follow the Lamb. Wheresoever. These are the people who gather unto the Lord.

And these are the people who prepare the way of the Lord. Brothers and sisters, thank God, we do not find our identity in ourselves. If our identity is in ourselves, we are just a group of great sinners.

Identity in Christ and the Headship of Christ

But dear brothers and sisters, we thank God. By His grace, we find our identity. If we want to speak of ourselves, we have nothing to say but shame. But if we speak of Christ, we have everything to say.

For all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him. And we are complete. Brothers and sisters, we do not gather together as a mixed multitude. Outwardly, you can see Americans, but we are not a mixed multitude.

When God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt to bring them into Canaan, a mixed multitude followed them. They seek for fortune. They seek for blessing. They have no objective. No vision. So whenever any difficulty comes, they are the first who complain, murmur, rebel.

Why? No identification. They do not know who they are. We are neither denominational nor international. We do not belong to any denomination. Nor are we independent. About 40 years ago, God began to give some of us a glimpse.

If you want to see the heavenly vision that God gave to the Apostle Paul, began to shed His light upon some of us. We began to see Christ over all. To the church's body. The fullness of Him who fills all and in all.

And that vision we have no quarrel with the denominations that we belong to before. Not because we are not happy with them. Shall we try to organize something ourselves? No. God forbid. We are not an organization, but we want to be an organism.

We felt led of the Lord to put ourselves under. We do not want to have anyone to be our head. We are willing to be beheaded as it were. In order that Christ may be our head. Our head is not wrong. Our head is not in any association.

Our head is not in any man. But we acknowledge the headship and authority. We are not a democracy. Everybody, free to do what he or she thinks. Just like you'll find in the book of Judges. There was no king.

Everyone does what is considered right in his own mind. We bow ourselves to the authority. Absolute authority. You know one of the strange designation. We gladly submit ourselves. We believe in the oneness of the body of Christ.

We do not want to separate ourselves from our brothers and sisters. We want to stand in the body of Christ as members of that one. We welcome all who are the Lord. We do not question people's background.

We do not even ask what it is in the word of God. We have no creed. The word of God is our faith. All whom the Lord receives, we receive. No membership. If you are born of God, you are born to the body of Christ.

No other way you can enter into the fellowship of God's Son. But to be born. But that doesn't mean because of this. There is no order. No authority. Yes, we are all equal before God. But there is order.

As the body, there is headship. Christ is our head. So dear brothers and sisters, we hope that in a very small way, that you can understand who are we. Again, I say we are nothing. We are nobody. We are not trying to do anything great.

We are not even a ministry. There are many ministries, blessed by God. But we are not. We are just a local expression of what we believe is the body of Christ. Brothers and sisters, we confess that what the Lord has shown us is where.

We do not profess that we have arrived far from it. We are still a people full of weaknesses. We have not yet come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God as you find in Ephesians 4.

Faithfulness to the Word and Preparing the Way

But this is the way we are going. If we are willing to keep the unity, may God enable us to be open to each other. If it is from the Lord, we accept it. If it is not from the Lord, we cannot accept it.

We have to follow the Word. Brothers and sisters, if the Lord has given you something that is from the Lord and is according to the Word of God, we, but on the other hand, we are warned by the Word of God that we have to be watchful, take heed, because we are living in the last days.

Our faithfulness is unto the Lord. We oftentimes feel ashamed because we are not what we profess. But we believe that if we humble ourselves before Him, He is able because He has promised us. He who has called us is faithful, and He so we want to give ourselves totally, absolutely, no reservation.

We want to give ourselves to Him. Pray that He will be able to work out all that He has for His people. That is our prayer. We open our voice. Hopefully, we will prepare the way of the Lord.