A Credible Lifestyle

Mark 1:6“His (John the Baptist)clothes were woven from coarse camel hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist. For food he ate locusts and wild honey.“

At times we tend to think of John the Baptist as a wild man, one who would have been either an offense or a laughingstock to those he was trying to reach, but in reality quite the opposite was true. He was greatly respected and believed; some even wondered if he should have been worshiped as “that prophet” (i.e., the Messiah) or revered as Elijah

John 1:21 "Well then, who are you?" they asked. "Are you Elijah?" .."No," he replied."Are you the Prophet we are expecting?" .."No."

True and False Prophets :

Deut 18:15 Moses continued, "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.

Deut 18:18 I will raise up a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell the people everything I command him.

Malachi 4:5-6"Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord arrives.6 His preaching will turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise I will come and strike the land with a curse."

His “preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins”

Luke 3:3Then John went from place to place on both sides of the Jordan River, preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven.

His preaching was so effective that not only the common people,

Luke 3:10The crowds asked, "What should we do?"

but also the publicansLuke 3:12Even corrupt tax collectors came to be baptized and asked, "Teacher, what should we do?"

andsoldiersLuke 3:14 "What should we do?" asked some soldiers. John replied, "Don't extort money or make false accusations. And be content with your pay."

evenpriests, and LevitesJohn 1:19This was John's testimony when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Temple assistants from Jerusalem to ask John, "Who are you?",

as well as the Pharisees and the SadduceesMatthew 3:7But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to watch him baptize, he denounced them. "You brood of snakes!" he exclaimed. "Who warned you to flee God's coming wrath?

All came to hear his teaching. Many repented and were baptized.

Far from lacking credibility, John’s style was what was expected of a prophet. Indeed his ministry and message were in fulfillment of those of Elijah (Malachi 4:5-6 above) who himself “was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins”

2 Kings 1:8They replied, "He was a hairy man, and he wore a leather belt around his waist.""Elijah from Tishbe!" the king exclaimed.

Even false prophets mimicked this style to gain credibility.

Zechariah 13:4On that day people will be ashamed to claim the prophetic gift. No one will pretend to be a prophet by wearing prophet's clothes.

The point is, we should strive to package our timeless message of the gospel of Christ in such a way as to gain the greatest hearing and the most true converts. This is not to say that we should dress as John or Elijah did, for that would be bizarre in today’s world. Nor should we flaunt riches, for both styles detract from the message and induce ridicule and blasphemy.

Perhaps the principle is to dress and act as the hearers would expect a credible, sober conveyer of truth to behave. Let us be careful to “adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things”

Titus 2:9-10Slaves must always obey their masters and do their best to please them. They must not talk back10 or steal, but must show themselves to be entirely trustworthy and good. Then they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive in every way.

Attractive (adorn) translates the Greek word kosmeo, from which we get the word "cosmetics." This striking command enjoins us to make the doctrines of the Christian faith attractive to unbelievers by all our words and deeds. As far as physical appearance is concerned, our Christian cosmetics should be attractive, but not to attract people to ourselves. In so far as possible, we should attract people to Christ and His "doctrine." A neat, modest, cheerful appearance will contribute to this goal.