“Finding True Greatness”
John 3:22-36
There are certain words we use that have a variety of meanings depending on how they are used. For example the word “fast” carries at least 15 different meanings. It can mean ...
* the speed of a runner ...fast
* to do without food. ... to fast
* permanently dyed .... fast
* fast asleep .. cannot be easily awakened
And the list goes on.
When you think about certain words the word doesn’t carry a very positive meaning. We say the market is down, we say I feel down or I am downhearted. But take the word UP. We use the word UP to describe the market-we say the market is UP .. that’s good. If an individual is up and coming or an upstanding young man-all of that sounds positive.
In today’s world we constantly hear the philosophy being taught that says all of us must focus on moving up, being more than we are now, climbing the ladder of success. Moving higher up. Keeping that in mind the words of John in this passage can be very confusing. John tells his disciples very simply, Jesus must increase and help must decrease. If you want to be truly great then you must follow these principles ....
* if you really want to be something then you must become nothing.
* If you want to go up in life then you must learn to come down.
* If you want more of God then there must be less of you.
Clearly the model for this lifestyle is found in the life of Jesus. The Bible makes it clear that Jesus came “down” into the world and not only did He come down, he came down from the very top.
* He was God, yet the Bible says he wept
* He owned everything yet while here He had no home
* He was the King of Kings but He became a servant
* He was the giver of life but he was crucified on a cross
So why would He do this? Well the reasons are actually simple. (1) He did it to accomplish God’s purpose. He did it to pay the price of our sin debt. (2) He did it to demonstrate God’s love for us.
We come to this passage immediately following the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. You remember Jesus told Nicodemus that he needed to be born again. Notice here the IMMATURITY of John’s disciples. Following that conversation Jesus and His disciples traveled about 50 miles to an area called Salim. It was located along the Jordan river. John the Baptist was at the same place and was baptizing people on the other side of the Jordan river. It was at that point that some of the followers of John said to him, John, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan, He is baptizing and EVERYONE is going to Him.
Sounds almost like a child to me. You know Mama, Daddy, i want a pair of 100 dollar shoes ... everyone’s buying them. I want to go to the party this weekend at the beach ...Everybody is going and everybody’s parents are letting them stay out past midnight. That’s immature. But notice there is also INTEGRITY. They were very loyal followers of John the Baptist. Now this new fellow comes into town and they didn’t like it one bit. To them it was competition. If you’ve got the only place in town where someone can get a certain product then you don’t get very excited when competition comes to town.
Notice how John’s disciples referred to Jesus. They didn’t call Him by name. John knew who Jesus was, the disciples didn’t ... not yet. So they were jealous and they remarked “everyone” is going to Jesus. Now John explains to His followers that he is not the Christ ... he explains that he was actually sent to be the forerunner of Christ. The one who would let others know that Jesus was coming.
Now look at the ILLUSTRATION he gives us. Bride and groom. In that day when the time of the wedding arrived it was the responsibility of the best man/best friend of the groom to take care of a number of the details for the wedding. The best man would be the connection between the groom and the bride. Basically the best man arranged the wedding, delivered the invitations and was the MC for the event. He also had one final duty, when it was time it was his responsibility to guard the bridal room. Often men tried to make their way into the bridal room to hopefully take the bride away. But the best man knew what his voice sounded like and he would know which one was the right one and he would only allow the groom to enter. Then his job was over. He never felt used or slighted. You see his job was to bring the bride and groom together. That was it. And once that job was complete, his job was to simply fade into the background.
John’s disciples would have understood this analogy completely. John’s job was to bring Israel-the bride and Jesus, the bridegroom together. And now that the job was complete, john was happy, he didn’t feel slighted or used and his job now was to fade into the background. To fade out of the picture. John said He must increase, I must decrease.
I want you to write this next statement down. It’s simple but we need to know it. If you want to find true greatness and experience it right here on earth we must do exactly as Jesus did. We must decrease.... He must increase.
All of us at one time or another have wondered Lord why did you put me here? What’s my purpose? But if we just look inside ourselves for answers we will come up with all the wrong answers-why?-because we are looking in the wrong places. We think ...
* I just need to focus on me for a while or
* I think I will just do whatever feels good or
* If it makes me happy it must be the right thing.
All of these responses have one thing in common ...they’re all about us. You see there’s this thing inside of us that says what about me? Look at me. What do people think of me? It’s all about me! To put all of this into perspective you and I must do as John did. Tow things I notice here that seemed to give him perspective. (1) He knew who he was. He also knew who he wasn’t. V. 28. (2) He knew who Jesus was. V. 29.
Now I want us to get a grip here on what this means for Jesus to increase and for us to decrease. Because for this to take place there are 4 things we need to keep in mind.
1. We must remember where we came from. Know the source of your life. Know your roots. V. 27. Never lose sight of how far God has brought you.
2. Remember your calling. Point your life in the proper direction. Think about the moon for a moment. Ever looked up into the sky and seen a full moon. Perhaps orange. It’s beautiful. But you and I know that the moon has no light of it’s own. It’s juts a big round black rock. But when it is in the right position to the sun it has light and it reflects that light and we can see it. You and I have no light in and of ourselves. We are completely dependent on God.
3. Know where your joy comes from. Jesus is the source of our joy in life. You will not find lasting joy anywhere else. V. 29.
4. Learn to base your goals in life on God’s purpose for you. These two things .... His purpose and your goals must always line up.
I had the pleasure of coaching Little league for about 5 years and did so during the time my 3 boys played so I coached the team they played on. On one occasion we were two runs behind in the final inning with a runner on 2nd. And who was coming to bat? Brian. Brian was a slugger. He hit the ball to right center field and it dropped in right by the fence. The runner scored and Brian ran those bases like lightning, rounding 1st, 2nd, 3rd and the 3rd base coach was telling him to hold at 3rd (that was me). He didn’t see me or he wasn’t paying attention so he rounded third and headed for home. I was yelling come back, come back ... he kept running, he slid right under the catcher just as he caught the ball. Looked up and the umpire said, He’s safe. We won the game. The team flooded our of the dugout and lifted Brian up in the air and carried him to the dugout. I asked Brian this week, I said, you ever think about that? He said yeah, all the time. It’s good to be able to recall a good memory like that. But what if as his father and his coach I had said wait a minute I’m the one who coached him, I showed him how to hit, what about me? Pick me up and carry me around the field. That’s what we do sometimes. I mean after all, I just helped him get prepared. He is the one that got the hit. He deserved the credit.
Someone said it’s amazing how much we can get done in life when we don’t care who gets the credit. That’s the right attitude. So give Jesus the credit. He’s the one who deserves it. I must decrease...He must increase.
