Jesus Must Win

Text: John 3:22-36.

Date: January 5th, 2025

Introduction

Being new-ish parents, there really is no manual. I remember asking parents what its like to have kids and they had a hard time telling me. Well, you get a lot less sleep, you clean up a lot of fluids you don’t want to, and you have a sixth sense for when your baby is gassy or thirsty or tired, or just mad.

Something no one really tells you is this- once you have a kid, you’re no longer the main character. It’s no longer about you any more. I thought I bought a nice couch and TV so I could watch movies and relax, but no I was just furnishing Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. It’s all theirs now- and that’s okay.

Yes, Bree and I get to do the things we love, play music and games and movies together. But at night after they’re asleep and we get that precious 1.5 hours of free time, we usually find ourselves talking about our kids.

I have learned that I am not the most important person in my life. But, I have given that up for something so much greater.

No one told me that becoming a dad that I would give up so much of what I thought made me, me. I liked to go to concerts and play video games all night. But on Tuesday night for new years eve, we strapped a sparkler to an RC car and my son was so happy he screamed, and then we went inside and watched the Australia’s new years countdown which happened at noon. I wouldn’t trade all the concerts and video games in the world for just that night.

I gave up what I thought made me, me to get something better.

Maybe for some of you, you realized that when you got married, or when you had to take care of a loved one. Priorities have to change, and you find that the cost of loving something is sacrificing yourself.

Jesus says the same thing about becoming a Christian

Luke 14:27–28 (ESV)

Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?

In our main text today (John 3:22-36), we are going to come across John the Baptist who still has followers. But, he has to do something about that because Jesus is here- so he does his best to convince them to leave them and follow Jesus. It’s a painful to turn to people who love and trust you and tell them, I’m not who you should be following.

John the rabbi, the teacher who could teach them so much, gives up his students and directs them to Jesus instead. You’re not a teacher if you have no students, and so John gives up what makes him, him in order to gain something greater.

He says this later in the text that Jesus must increase and he decrease.

But, this is also true for all of us. You, too must decrease, so Jesus can increase.

Let’s Read:

John 3:22–36

[22] After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing. [23] John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized [24] (for John had not yet been put in prison).

[25] Now a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over purification. [26] And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” [27] John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. [28] You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ [29] 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. [30] He must increase, but I must decrease.”

[31] He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. [32] He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. [33] Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. [34] For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. [35] The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. [36] Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (ESV)

1. You Must Decrease

John 3:22–30

[22] After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing. [23] John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized [24] (for John had not yet been put in prison).

Setting the scene: After Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus In Jerusalem in chapter 3, Jesus and His disciples go into the countryside to baptize people. Now, since the crowds were still there from passover, the harvest, as brother Peter would put it, was ripe. What better time for a rabbi to teach and baptize his followers?

But, kind of awkwardly, that put John and Jesus in the same area. The Aenon was an area of springs, (plenty of water there), so by no coincidence the two baptizing rabbis of the time ended up in the same area.

What is so cool about this story is that Jesus is in the story, but He is in the background of this story. This whole story revolves around a conversation between John the Baptist and his own disciples who still followed him. If you were watching this in a movie, you would have the camera focused on John and his students, and then way in the background all blurry is Jesus baptizing His own followers.

It’s kind of a funny scene, imagining the disciples of John confused with the awkward situation.

It’s unclear why people were still following John at this point. Perhaps there was a certain stubborn loyalty around following him. Jesus tells us John is the greatest man ever born, so yeah I would guess leaving him would be difficult. But maybe this is a case of new disciples who just haven’t heard the news.

What is John to do? Well, like we discussed a few weeks ago, John knows who Jesus is. So here we get this second explanation from John about why everyone should follow Jesus, instead.

[25] Now a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over purification. [26] And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.”

We have two groups of people who have followed John out into the wilderness at these springs. One- his disciples and two- Jews who were looking to be baptized or discipled by John. If you were one of these people you might feel like you missed out on the party. “All are going to him.” Maybe you’ve been brought here by a friend who told you how great John was, but the messiah right over there.

They start arguing here about baptism. The disciples who love John are trying to sort out what to do with all these people who came out here. “Do we baptize them? Or does John’s baptism do something different than Jesus’ baptism? Should I get baptized twice?

Finally they break away to ask the authority here- what should we do? If you notice, they aren’t asking a question here. But- the implication is, who should be baptizing these people?

This is John’s time to either hold on to what he has or to give it up.

He gives it up.

[27] John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.”

Jesus is gathering disciples because God is giving Him disciples. Don’t despise someone for being successful.

John could have done the same thing. “Yeah, well I’d have a lot of followers too, if I were the Son of God.” But he doesn’t- he says that’s because God gave Jesus all the followers.

John doesn’t play into their support of him.

Recently I was part of a church of around 250 people or so. We had a big church move down the road and our members would kind of roll their eyes because they were getting so popular. Some of our youth went to their youth. Some of our people left to be members there, but really maybe only 2% of our congregation. [Their complaints] [My response]

Within a mile radius of our church, there were approximately 20,000 people living. Combined our two churches weren’t making a dent in that population.

John’s disciple’s are prideful for him, but John isn’t.

[28] You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ [29] 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. [30] He must increase, but I must decrease.”

The Messiah is standing over there, go get Him. He is telling his disciples that he is not enough for them.

If you are a Christian, you need to hear this. You aren’t enough for your spouse, your children, your friends. They don’t need you as much as they need Jesus.

Oftentimes we get scared to talk about Jesus because we don’t want to lose friendships. This is what it looks like to say “He must increase I must decrease”.

This is the Christian life- to decrease in order to increase Jesus.

In order to truly live for Christ, you have to trade out yourself for Jesus.

My money was mine, now i submit it to Jesus. My spouse found her joy in me, now I want it to be Jesus. My kids think I’m a superhero, but they have to know their dad is a sinner who just likes them needs Jesus. My pride was once in myself, but now it must be Jesus. My self worth was once in how I looked or performed, but now it is in Jesus. My joy was once in my glory, but now it is in Jesus.

When you set out to become a better Christian you are going to war. In war someone has to lose.

Every day as you grow in holiness, Jesus is taking over more and more territory. Ephesians 2 says that we were once children of wrath, following the prince of the power of the air. You- your body, your soul, was once enemy territory. Every day, as you grow in holiness, a war is fought, and your former self must lose. The things the sinful man once loved must perish in his arms, and the casualties must grow. One day, when He appears we will be like Him. Defeated and Holy.

Are you ready to become lesser so that Christ would be known greater?

2. He Must Increase

John says they have to leave him. But why is Jesus worth following?

[31] He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all.

His disciples say “why should we stop following you”?” John says “I’m from earth, I don’t know what heaven is like.”

[32] He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony.

Jesus is the expert on Heaven, since He is from Heaven.

John says it: v31 He who comes from Heaven is above all.

You need to know this: Christianity is not an uninformed religion. Yes, we don’t see God and have faith in Him, but that doesn’t mean what we believe is subjective. We believe an a real, verifiable historical Jesus. The bible is full of real historical events, and is by miles the most studied and critiqued ancient text that we have ever found.

Just to read one verse you see on the screen we have scholars in every area, archaeologists to discover fragments , paleographers to decode the handwriting, codicologists to study the materials and dates of the parchment, textual critics to compare that fragment to other copies, biblical language scholars to translate the text, historians to inform the translation, archivists to preserve the work. You need hundreds of real scientists, real scholars, real experts to get to the book you have in your hand today.

Yes, we have a faith, but we don’t have blind faith.

No one should trust Jesus because He was really smart and kind and a charismatic. Cult leaders have followers for those reasons. John says- I trust Jesus because He is from Heaven. Look at His miracles. The apostles would say- look at His resurrection. Everything He says is true, not on the strength of His argument, but because of His nature. Jesus is from Heaven. Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus God made flesh. E

[33] Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true.

sphragizo - (sphrageezo)

to mark with a seal, or to approve of.

This same word is used in Ephesians 1:13 “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,”

To rephrase this verse- whoever believes in Christ (His teaching and works), certifies that God is real.

John says that following Jesus is the way to place your faith In God.

[34] For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.

Finally we get the last word on the reliability of Jesus. “Spirit without measure”. You might find a very spiritual teacher, John says, but they are spiritual to a measure. But Jesus has the Spirit without measure. Your KJV will say giveth, here, which speaks to an active ongoing pouring of the Spirit to Jesus. Even as John is talking, Jesus has a constant flow and re-flow of living power.

When you follow Jesus, you aren’t just following a teacher or prophet, but you are following the fullness of divinity- the fullness of God. He is worth following because He’s the real deal. Jesus says finding the kingdom of God is like this:

Matthew 13:44

[44] “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. (ESV)

In HIS JOY, the man sells all he has to buy it. This man counted the cost- and found that selling everything he had would be a bargain to gain the kingdom.

[35] The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. [36] Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (ESV)

What I want us to thing about before we go there is this: am I ready to do the same?

“Preach the gospel, die, and be forgotten.” - Nikolaus von Zinzendorf, a bishop in the Moravian church. Reportedly, this was the instruction he would give missionaries going to the field

Why should I seek to preach, die and be forgotten? Because my testimony will not save any souls. My story might end up being a good one, Lord willing, but the testimony of Jesus is better.

John the Baptist does his very best job here of what? Telling them- I’m not important. Jesus is.

Whether you’re a Christian or you’re just getting to know Jesus- if your goal is Jesus then you must do the same: Decrease, so that He may Increase.

Optional:

Why does God want our worship and adoration?

"I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed. It is frustrating to have discovered a new author and not to be able to tell anyone how good he is; to come suddenly, at the turn of the road, upon some mountain valley of unexpected grandeur and then to have to keep silent because the people with you care for it no more than for a tin can in the ditch; to hear a good joke and find no one to share it with. The Scotch Catechism says that man’s chief end is 'to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.' But we shall then know that these are the same thing. Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him."

C.S. Lewis