A man told of having some friends over for a barbeque in his back yard, and they’d just passed out marshmallows and long roasting forks ready to make S’mores. At that point, 2 fire trucks raced by and stopped at a house just down the street. He and his friends and ran down the street and found the owners of the house, standing helplessly as their home was engulfed in flames. He said the owners of the house suddenly turned to them in disgust, because – there they stood - holding their marshmallows & their roasting forks, kind of like they’d come to a BBQ.
Today we’re going to talk about S’Mores. They’re a tasty campfire treat composed of graham crackers, Hershey’s chocolate… and (of course) marshmallows. They’ve become so popular that now there are… Smore pies; Smore McFlurry’s; Salty caramel bacon smores; Cookie Dough Smores; Smore Ice Cream; AND Smore cereal.
But what surprised me the most was the popularity of S’Mores amongst Christians. There’s an on-line site that noted that “S’More Jesus is a phrase often used in a religious context, particularly within Christian circles, to express a love for Jesus that is abundant and overflowing, much like the deliciousness of a s'more. It's a play on words that uses the popular camping treat to symbolize a deep and joyful connection with God.”
I even found some intriguing pictures online: “Jesus loves you S’more than you’ll know”; “No one loves you S’more than Jesus”; “Tell me S’more about Jesus”; and the saying we’re using for our sermon this morning “S’more of Jesus and Less of Me.”
Now, that’s a clever phrase. But it’s more than just a clever phrase. “S’more of Jesus and Less of Me” can be a serious issue for some folks. For example, in our text this morning we read that some of John the Baptist’s disciples came to John and they call John Rabbi, and then they say: “(Jesus) who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness — look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” John 3:26
Now, why would they say that? Because they were offended! John was their Rabbi! John has been preaching for a long time now, and he’d always had the big crowds. But now Jesus - He’s stolen the crowds. Those crowds rightfully belonged to John, and it made them mad! How dare Jesus do that!? They weren’t comfortable with the idea that there’d be S’more of Jesus… and less of John.
You know, that’s why a lot of people don’t want to become Christians. They don’t like the idea that once they get baptized there’s going to be LESS OF THEM, because they know that when they’re baptized into Christ… they’re surrendering to Jesus.
ILLUS: There was a man who came to me wanted to be baptized. I did what I often do and asked him a few questions: “Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.” “Yes” he responded. “Do you acknowledge that you’ve sinned in your life and you need to repent of that?” “Yes,” he replied. “Are you willing to confess Jesus as your Lord and Master, and are you willing to give Him control of all that you have?” At that point, I pulled out my wallet and explained that all the money in my wallet belonged to Christ; everything in my savings was His; my home, my car, my clothing – it was all His; and then I asked him if he was willing to do that… and he paused. He didn’t like the idea of letting Jesus have control over THAT part of his life and he said he wasn’t interested in doing that. Until he was ready to surrender everything to Jesus to become a Christian, he wasn’t ready to make that decision.
A lot of folks don’t mind Jesus doing HIS thing over there - they just don’t want Him doing it OVER HERE… in their lives. They’d rather do “MORE OF THEIR THING”… and not less!
Now notice – John’s disciples were annoyed that there was a lot of “S’more Jesus” going on here. But John wasn’t annoyed. In fact John declared: “I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I HAVE BEEN SENT before him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:28-30
What John was saying was this: “It’s not about ME… it’s about Jesus. I was SENT to prepare the way for Jesus. I’ve spent my whole life - my whole ministry - tied to HIM. That’s why I did what I did. Therefore, I WANT there to be S’More of Jesus and Less of Me! He must increase… but I must decrease.”
That’s what it means to be a Christian - to be so in love with Jesus that your whole life TIED to Him. Jesus should be why you and I do what we do… just like it was with John.
Now, the question, of course, is WHY? Why should my entire life be tied to Jesus? Well, in John’s case, it was because he was BORN to live for Jesus. Isaiah prophesied that John was born to prepare the way for Jesus’ ministry. Matthew 3:1-3 tells us “In those days John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!’ It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said: ‘A voice of one crying out in the desert, “Prepare the way of the Lord (for the Messiah/Jesus), make straight his paths.’” Matthew 3:1-3
So, John was BORN to live for Jesus - and we (as Christians) were RE-BORN to live for Jesus. In John 3:3 Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again (Re-Born) he cannot see the kingdom of God."
And how was I reborn? Well, Jesus died for us, and rose from the dead so that you and I could die to our pasts, be buried in the waters of baptism, and rise from those waters to be a new person. We were RE-BORN at that time because Jesus died to purchase us.
And so I Corinthians 6:19-20 tells us that “(because Jesus died and rose from the grave for you) You are not your own, for you were bought with a price (with the blood of Christ). So glorify God in your body.”
Just as John was BORN to live for Jesus, so also we were RE-born to live for Him.
Now, let’s go back to our main quote: “I want S’More of Jesus and less of me.” What does that mean? Well it means sometimes you don’t get your way.
ILLUS: Years ago, my home church had a big beautiful building. They had about 600 people in attendance, and they had this huge ornate pipe organ. It was a thing of beauty. The organ itself looked little bit like this (I showed a picture about an organ with two keyboards, multiple foot peddles and a confusing array of stops to change the sound and tone of the organ). As you can imagine – you had to be pretty good to play this organ. And we had 3 women who were pretty good.
Now, I was told that there were times where at least one of those ladies got bent out of shape with one of the other ones. You see - it was an honor to play that instrument, and (apparently) they were all proud of their skill. So, if it looked like they weren’t getting their turn or enough playing time... they could get kinda mad about it.
Now, why would they get mad? Well, they got mad because playing the organ was all about them. They weren’t playing the organ for Jesus, they were playing the organ for themselves. For the pride and the prestige and praise it would give them. So, if they didn’t get their way… they could be difficult. It was about getting the INFLUENCE, the POWER, and the TURF that they felt they deserved.
ILLUS: Jesus’ own disciples were as prone to this as anybody. The mother of James and John – she came to Jesus and asked for a favor. She asked that James and John would get the honor of sitting on the right and left hand of Jesus in His Kingdom. These were positions of power & influence. Now, she KNOWS Jesus is going to have a Kingdom, and she’s basically telling Jesus – her boys can play the organ better than anybody else.
Now, this wasn’t as bizarre a request as you’d think. Jesus had 12 disciples - but it seemed that He often took James and John (and, well… Peter) places the others didn’t get to go to. Therefore, her boys deserved to get the best seats.
When the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Matthew 20:24-28
Why were those disciples indignant? Well, they felt THEY deserved that honor. They all deserved those best seats. So, they got mad about it because James and John were crowding them out of the attention they felt that they deserved.
You see, even the disciples were guilty of thinking… it was all about them. And Jesus said – “no, no, no, no… it shall not be so among you! If you want Smore of Jesus you’ve got to learn to be a servant of others.”
IF YOU WERE A PREACHER (like me) and you wanted to be the greatest preacher you can be, you’d need to become a servant of the Elders, and a servant of ALL the people in the church.
IF YOU WERE AN ELDER and you want to be the greatest Elder you can be, then you’d have to learn to be a servant of the preacher, and a servant to the people of the church.
IF YOU’RE A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH and wanted to be the greatest member of Christ’s Church then you’ve got to learn to be a servant of the Elders, servant of the preacher, and a servant of everyone else in the church.
Now… do you know how to tell that you’ve forgotten how to be a servant? Well you’ll know when you’ve forgotten to be a servant when you get mad about not getting your way.
CLOSE: You see, it’s not about YOU. And it’s not about ME. It’s about Jesus. It’s all about getting Smore of Jesus… and getting less of you. And once you realize that, you can experience what I talked about earlier in the sermon:
“S’More Jesus is a phrase often used in a religious context, particularly within Christian circles, to express a love for Jesus that is abundant and overflowing, much like the deliciousness of a s'more. It's a play on words that uses the popular camping treat to symbolize a deep and joyful connection with God.
To want Smore of Jesus means that we want to taste more of His goodness. We want more of Him in our lives, and we want to be less concerned with what we get out of this. It’s when we’re willing to make our Christianity less about us and SMORE about Jesus that we can begin to experience a deep and joyful connection with Him.
As Psalm 34:8 says: “taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!”
INVITATION
