John #13 I Must Become What?

That you may believe and have life – John #13

John 3:30

On Even Terms

While appearing in London some years ago, Maurice Chevalier was introduced to George Bernard Shaw.

The famous playwright could not place him.

“Chevalier? Chevalier?” he repeated. “What is it you do, young man? I’m afraid I’m not familiar with your work.”

To an actor, this was an unforgivable offense. Instead of being offended, however, Chevalier was relieved.

“I’m glad to hear that,” he said. “I’m not familiar with your work either. Now we can start on even terms.”[1]

Humility Is

Humility is perfect quietness of heart. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised. It is to have a blessed home in the Lord, where I can go in and shut the door, and kneel to my Father in secret, and am at peace as in a deep sea of calmness, when all around and above is trouble. [2]

Well folks we said last week that the thing that separates Christianity from every other religious is that Jesus said

“I AM the way, the truth and the life … no one comes to the father except through me” …

Jesus said “you MUST be born again” …

Jesus said, “apart from me … you can do nothing”

If I can’t be good enough … and apart from Jesus, I can do nothing … then I recognize that, I MUST recognize that I am nothing by myself. I am in essence a zero without Jesus.

So I need to stop trying to BE somebody, to be noticed, to be something BIG … I need to become something less

Now that’s a slogan you won’t hear on a sports drink or athletic company commercial … USE OUR product and don’t be somebody … but well …

Well …

Let’s read

John 3:22-36

IF he is the eternal word of God

Equal with God

God in the Flesh

Living with Man …

If apart from him, I am a zero, I can do nothing

If life is IN and through HIM? …

Then I want you to see 3 MUSTS … that I see here today …

1. I Must Become LESS

There is that word MUST again … I know we accepted the fact that we MUST be born again in HIM … but for many, we will come to him for salvation … but then … “I’ll take it from here”

John reminds us that he is NOT the Christ.

“I am not the Christ

I MUST become LESS

This is not MY church in the realm of ownership. As pastor, it is “my” church in the sense that I have been called here, entrusted with this flock. It is my responsibility, but I am an undershepherd, it belongs to Jesus.

This is YOUR church, in the sense that this is where you belong, this is where you are called to serve God. The body God has called you to exercise your gifts and exert your energy, but you don’t own it or lord over me or the others who serve …

We ALL work for, serve, and are stewards to Christ

So, I must become less

Humility is a word that perhaps we should use. However that word is used way too often

Humility is one of those traits that we often find attractive, something that we seek, yet it is also one of those things that once we think we have achieved it, we no longer have.

Micah 6:8 (NIV)
8 He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Isaiah 66:2 (NIV)
… declares the Lord. “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.

James 4:10 SAYS “humble yourself before the Lord and he will lift you up in due time”

They were asking John, what are we going to do about Jesus? And John said, “that’s a really silly question”. That’s like asking the best man saying “hey everybody is paying attention to the groom, what are we going to do about the groom?”

How dare everyone pay attention, give all the press to the groom.

John said “I am just a friend of the groom …” he said “the bride belongs to the groom, the friend who attends … waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is MINE and it is now complete.

The best man doesn’t get angry when the groom comes in, he is happy because that is what he has been waiting for. He has made preparation for the groom. He attends the groom.

Can you imagine the best man taking over the ceremony? Can you imagine him asking to get the spotlight? “I’m sorry, groom, could you move over a bit, the people can’t see me” Can you imagine the best man wanting the bride for himself?

No the groomsman are all dressed alike, in relatively plain clothing so they don’t stand out, they just stand there and quietly attend the groom.

> how do I become less? (v29)

It says he “waits and listens”

1. Wait for Jesus

Greek – histemi /his-tay-mee/ to cause to stand, to fix or establish, to stand nearby, immovable, steadfast

a. how do you become less? Stay nearby Jesus. You can’t be too big in Jesus’ shadow.

b. I’ll tell you what, there are SOME Christian leaders that almost put Jesus in the background so THEY look bigger by perspective.

c. Don’t draw attention to yourself.

d. And this is a steadfast standing, that means we KEEP standing in his shadow

2. Listen for and to Jesus

Greek – akouo /ak-oo-o/ to be endowed with the faculty to hear, to hear; to attend to; to consider what is being said, to understand what is said

a. If you want to become less, you need to be able to listen to Jesus. HOW, God’s Spirit within you, gives you that ability. If you are LOST, not born again, not indwelt by the Spirit of God, you can’t listen to him. But God’s Spirit came in you, when you gave your heart to Christ and were born again in Christ, and so you CAN hear him

b. but many of us have children who CAN hear … but they don’t always listen. It’s more than just hearing noise, we have to CONSIDER what is being said in order to become less. Jesus Christ speaks to you in his word, in a bible study, from this pulpit, but the reason some don’t become less, is they don’t take into full consideration what is being said.

c. you also have to understand. That is, you have to willing to learn how to do something with what you’ve heard

I become less when I listen to, consider, and understand what God is telling me

3. Full of Joy – Is what John calls himself as he is waiting and listening.

a. You know, now that my children are older, I have the pleasure of watching, with a little humor at the “fun” that some are having with their younger children.

I’ll be in a grocery store and see some little one running rampant up and down the aisles. And mom or dad says “stay by me” … and the little one smiles like “you don’t mean that” and runs off … “now listen to me and stay by me” the less than committed parent says. And that child runs around the GREATER one, the one in CHARGE, until finally the parent has HAD ENOUGH, and grabs the child puts them in the cart. WELL, NOW They are forced to Listen, and now they are standing close, but are they less? NO, because they are NOT full of joy. When you are NOT HAPPY, you are still exerting YOURSELF. You can’t exert your will, so you exert your displeasure, either way you exert yourself.

We were NOT perfect with our kids. But we didn’t let our boys show out in the grocery store. Because we set the rules. You can RIDE IN the cart, you can PUSH the CART, or you can stand at the front with one hand ON the cart, but you will stay here, alright? YES. And now they know what is expected and they want my approval so they are HAPPY … and NOW they have become less and are joyful, because their obedience and pleasure, they know will produce MY pleasure and MY reward.

b. Rejoicing is your benefit of waiting and listening. There is JOY in waiting and listening.

Becoming less is NOT getting what you want, what you are praying for, what you are hoping for

… but in giving Jesus what he wants, what he is praying for, what he is hoping for.

That is JOY. There is NO greater joy than knowing I have pleased Christ

THAT … says John makes me happy, FILLS me up with happiness and completes my purpose in LIFE

OUR PURPOSE is to stay with, listen to and obey Christ.

Even if we doing what Christ told us to do, if he moves on to something else and you keep doing what you were doing … now that good thing becomes something disobedient

c. what I HAVE is not MY MINISTRY, or MY CALLING, what I HAVE is the JOY of obedience and staying with Christ of HEARING his voice, the voice of instruction, the voice of pleasure … that is my joy

I MUST become LESS …

“Humility Gate”

There is a church in Palestine the doorway of which is so low that one must stoop to enter it. This was to prevent medieval raiders from riding their horses into the church and disrupting the worship. The door is called “Humility Gate.”[3]

And …

2. I Must Join HIM’

Die to personal plans – willing to change to do what he is doing

Live to serve him – it is not about “my ministry” but about his call and plans

Do what he is doing

In moving toward this second point, did you read what John’s disciples said, in verse 26, “Rabbi, THAT MAN who was with you on the other side of the Jordan – the one you testified about – well, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to HIM.”

“THAT MAN?” “that man”? THAT MAN, is the one John prophesied and said “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world … who I am not worthy to untie his shoes.”

That man … is kinda like some other phrases I don’t like, “the man upstairs” … “the big guy”.

He is NOT the “big guy” … he is NOT the “man upstairs” … he is not “that man”

… he is GOD! He is not just some guy, he is the Son of God, Savior, Lord, Creator, Alpha and Omega.

We need to lose some of the ambiguous ways that we refer to Jesus. “that guy across the river, the man upstairs, big guy,” those are names of people you might NOT have to differ to,

The Lord of Hosts is his Name,

Lord Almighty,

so I must become LESS

I must JOIN / SERVE HIM

Have you ever been to a Restaurant where you were NOT given what you ordered? “I’m sorry, I didn’t order potatoes, I ordered the veggies” …

But what if they said, “sorry but I already had potatoes and didn’t want to go to the trouble of giving you veggies.

One who waits on or serves one, does what the one they are serving wants.

**What if Jesus comes up to a guy and says … “what are you doing?”

Guy says “I’m digging postholes for a fence”. “it’s going to go around the pool I’m going to put in for you later.”

Jesus “that’s a really beautiful hole you’ve dug there, but there are a few problems.

1) I wasn’t planning on putting in a fence because I wanted an unhindered few of the sunrise,

2) I am not planning on putting in a pool because don’t swim (you know the whole walking on the water thing) but most importantly

3) I’m not building here, my house is down the street and around the corner!

We have got to stop doing for Jesus what we want to do and start joining him.

Or perhaps we are doing what Jesus told us to do, but now that’s over and we want to keep doing it when Jesus is now doing something else.

This is NOT my party.

If Jesus is baptizing on the other side of the river … perhaps … you are on the wrong side … cross the river and

JOIN JESUS.

John said “I can only do what I’ve been given to do”

But they were upset because Jesus was somewhere else, doing something different and maybe going to get credit for doing THEIR thing.

What had been given to JOHN?

How did John JOIN Jesus?

Jesus came FROM Heaven TO earth to reconcile or BRING people to God

We have been called also to reconcile people to God through Christ.

We, like John, join Christ …

As a friend of the groom. What does that mean? John’s listeners would have known

The groomsman, didn’t just wear a suit and stand by the groom.

His job was to GO and bring the bride to the groom.

Who is the BRIDE? The Church, that is the believers who were lost have been found and redeemed. They don’t become the bride because they are with us, but because they come to Christ.

But If Jesus reconciles man with God, by leaving his home and sacrificing his life

We JOIN HIM as we leave our home, our comfort zone, and we sacrifice our lives, to BRING people to Christ.

WE MUST do it, because we are friends of the groom

Correct Use Of The Eyes

A bishop of the early church, who was a remarkable example of the virtue of contentment, was asked his secret. The venerable old man replied: “It consists in nothing more than making a right use of my eyes. In whatever state I am, I first of all look up to heaven and remember that my principal business here is to get there. [4]

I must become less

I must join him

And

3. I Must Make Him GREATER

The fact that I must become less doesn’t mean that I’m supposed to be invisible; nor does it mean that I have an excuse to be an undercover Christian, to join the society of secret Christians.

I said it this way in a message a few years ago entitled “Let Freedom Ring”

“IT is a NOT a secret, let it RING OUT

The church of Jesus Christ is NOT a Secret Society of the Esoteric Elite

It is not a Covert Club, a Furtive Fellowship, or a Clandestine Community

We are not a Private people, a Lonesome League, or an Abstruse Aristocracy of the Theologically and religiously perfect”

Let Freedom Ring

We should be LESS

We should join him

That ME MUST MAKE HIM GREATER

We are not here for US but for HIS Glory

I have a mission

To make him greater

How do I make someone GREATER who is already the GREATEST

How do I make someone HIGHER who is already the HIGHEST?

I do it as I make it KNOWN.

I didn’t MAKE Jack Nicklaus the greatest golfer in history. But I made him greater in the mind, eyes, and heart of my boys when I began to tell of his good deeds.

They didn’t know who he was, didn’t know what he had done.

I must become less and he must become greater. My job is NOT that you should know my name but know his.

There have been some GREAT CHRISTIAN Leaders, and you know them by their exploits but who is greater?

Billy Graham, Mother Teresa, William Carey, Spurgeon, Wesley, Calvin, Luther, Augustine, Polycarp, Apostles, Paul … great? Yes, famous? Yes, but Christ? Greater still.

But how much more people like me and you, people will never know our name, but who cares, make HIM Greater.

Zacchaeus was a tax collector of poor reputation until he met Jesus. He was a little man with a big ego and a big bank account. But when he met Jesus, he gave ½ of his wealth away and he repaid 4x times what he had wrongly taken in taxes. Oh I think he became famous. But don’t you know that everyone wanted to know who is the one that changed HIS life? We never knew another thing he did, but we know his Lord

Make his name great

In Mark 14; A woman came in while Jesus was at a feast. She took a beautiful, expensive jar of perfume and broke it open and anointed Jesus’ head with it. “What a waste” they thought, but nothing poured out on Jesus is ever a waste. What is her name? We do not know! Why because she wasn’t there for her name. Yet Jesus said “wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.” What is to be remembered? She poured out her precious for Christ. She drew attention to HIM. She made HIM great.

You don’t know her name, but you know her LORD

Also in that chapter Jesus sent his disciples “into the city, a man … carrying a jar … say … the Teacher asks … he will show you a room” … and that man gave up his upper room in his house, for Christ and his disciples to share their last meal, the Passover. He sacrificed his OWN celebration that night most likely, for Christ. What is his name? we don’t know.

But after Jesus died and his disciples were frightened, they gathered in that upper room. On Sunday when Jesus appeared to them alive, they were in that upper room

A week later when Jesus showed Thomas, in the upper room

In 40 days later they spent days fasting and praying, together in one place, where? The Upper room. And God poured out his Spirit on them in that Upper Room.

Who was he?

I can’t tell he, he became so much less.

He didn’t put up a sign that said “Jesus ate here, the church was birthed here”

He became less

But OH, his Savior

Oh his Lord

He is so much greater

We live in a world where everyone wants to make a name for themselves and John says “it’s time for you to forget me. I’ve done my job, now it’s about him”

I must become less

I must join him and bring people to Jesus

I Must Make him Greater

I exalt thee

Oh Lord

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[1]Tan, P. L. (1996, c1979). Encyclopedia of 7700 illustrations : A treasury of illustrations, anecdotes, facts and quotations for pastors, teachers and Christian workers. Garland TX: Bible Communications.

[2]Tan, P. L. (1996, c1979). Encyclopedia of 7700 illustrations : A treasury of illustrations, anecdotes, facts and quotations for pastors, teachers and Christian workers. Garland TX: Bible Communications.

[3]Tan, P. L. (1996, c1979). Encyclopedia of 7700 illustrations : A treasury of illustrations, anecdotes, facts and quotations for pastors, teachers and Christian workers. Garland TX: Bible Communications.

[4]Tan, P. L. (1996, c1979). Encyclopedia of 7700 illustrations : A treasury of illustrations, anecdotes, facts and quotations for pastors, teachers and Christian workers. Garland TX: Bible Communications.