3 He replied, "I will also ask you a question. Tell me, 4 John's baptism--was it from heaven, or from men?"
5 They discussed it among themselves and said, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will ask, 'Why didn't you believe him?' 6 But if we say, 'From men,' all the people will stone us, because they are persuaded that John was a prophet."
7 So they answered, "We don't know where it was from."
8 Jesus said, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things."
Ever like Jesus to “season His words with salt” as He turns the question of the day by the religious leaders back at them. Wanting to know from whence His authority came, His response was to ask them where John the Baptist obtained his power. Not wanting to upset the crowds who venerated John, though the leaders strongly disapproved of his work because John had publically humiliated them and had begun to strip away allegiance from their religious system, they respond to Jesus’ question by stating they did not know where John’s power originated. By this interchange, Jesus implies He was doing His work by the same Authority as John – the God in heaven. We find in Scripture John the Baptist giving us his unedited opinion of these religious leaders to which he spoke:
4 John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. 6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. Matt 3:4-10 (NIV)
We too should take heed to the Baptist’s words in our own lives as well. Are we producing fruit in keeping with our repentance? Jesus echoes these words in John:
4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. John 15:4-6 (NIV)
Jesus gives us a similar command in the Sermon on the Mount:
16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Matt 7:16-19 (NIV)
"Let us work as if success depended upon ourselves alone, but with heartfelt conviction that we are doing nothing, and God everything."
~ St. Ignatius Loyola
“The true secret to all ministry is spiritual power. It is not man’s genius, or man’s intellect, or man’s energy; but simply the power of the Spirit of the God of the Gospel. ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts (Zech.iv.6) It is well for all ministers (and believers) to bear this ever in mind. It will sustain the heart and give constant freshness to their ministry (and lives). A ministry which flows from abiding dependence upon the Holy Spirit can never become barren. If a man is drawing on his own resources, he will soon run dry. It matters not what his powers may be, or how extensive his reading, or how vast his stores of information; if the Holy Spirit be not the spring and power of his ministry, it must, sooner or later, lose its freshness and its effectiveness. How important then, that all who minister (and live) in the gospel...should lean continually and exclusively on the power of the Holy Spirit. He knows what souls need, and He can supply it. But he must be trusted and used. It will not do to lean partly on self and partly on the Spirit.” C H Macintosh, Notes on the Book of Numbers, 1861
“We may be certain that whatever God has made prominent in His Word, He intended to be conspicuous in our lives.” Charles Spurgeon