John: The Groom

This passage is probably not somewhere that we tend to camp. We love to dwell on the truths of the first half of chapter 3, and the compelling story of Nicodemus in his pursuit of eternal life.

This bit isn’t so loved.

Yet,

This bit contains within it such wonderful truths that are connected with what has gone before. This passage reinforces and summarizes much of what we’ve covered in recent weeks. It is amazing truth that we need to hear!

We need to hear this again and again and again. We need it driven into our bones! We need to bleed this Gospel truth because it is the only hope we have.

If you’re here today and you aren’t a practicing Christian, then this is great news for you, because this is the best news you could ever have! We want to introduce you to your creator and the one who could be the one who saves you from the mess you have made of life.

If you’re here today as someone who is a casual Christian, maybe your faith isn’t a big part of your life and you have pushed it to the side a bit, today is your opportunity to be reset! To have your faith rekindled by coming to Jesus. To have Christ break through the walls you have been putting up in your heart.

If you’re here as a believer today, I have great news for you! You will be confirmed in your faith. You’ll be reminded that your struggles and temptations, and our sinful messy lives are not a barrier to Jesus. You can be refreshed in the truth and revived by your gentle savior.

I’ve divided the passage into four parts for us to look at. We can draw 4 big applications from this text that will help us take hold of Jesus for life.

1. Go to Jesus (v22-26)

This passage flows on from where Jesus was having a discussion with Nicodemus about eternal life. Nicodemus was like a mix between a bible college professor and a politician, yet Jesus had to teach him about eternal life. Jesus taught him that the way to eternal life meant being spiritually reborn and putting your faith in Jesus the Son of God.

This all happened up in Jerusalem after a religious feast called Passover. But then Jesus and his disciples head out to the next stage of their mission:

John 3:22–24 NIV

After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized. (This was before John was put in prison.)

So Jesus takes his budding crew of apprentices out into the country side to spend time with them. Presumably he is teaching them and preparing them.

But seemingly Jesus is teaching the general public too, because they are baptizing people. If you remember, baptism is a ceremonial washing - an outward sign of being cleansed by God on the inside. Some kind of misitry had to be taking place in order for all these people to be coming to be baptized.

If you’re familiar with the timeline of Jesus ministry, you would know that John the Baptist was put in prison pretty early on. So the author Apostle John (don’t confuse the Johns!), drops a little note here to explain this for us. This was before J-t-B’s imprisonment.

SO they’re out there, each group minding their own business - Jesus and his disciples baptizing over there, and J-t-B’s crew over here.

But there’s a few issues that come up.

John 3:25–26 NIV

An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”

So some of John’s disciples get into a theological debate with another Jewish guy. Given that he is described specifically as a “Jew” it’s pretty safe to say that he represented the prevailing view of the religious establishment.

What are the details of this debate? We don’t know other than it has something to do with baptizing. Jewish people of that day practiced many rituals around cleanliness. Not for hygiene of the body, but for hygiene of their souls. But the baptisim of John was a pretty new concept, so they were probably having a worldview clash.

Perhaps they were trying figure out of they should sprinkle or dunk people? Or perhaps if they should baptize infants or not...

Anyway, the detail are unimportant to the story. It seems that whatever went down, it prompted the disciples of John to take stock of their situation.

The new teacher in the area, Jesus of Nazareth was attracting a crowd, in fact it was a sizable crowd! An he was baptizing just like they had been doing.

You can almost sense the incredulity! He comes to John and says “Look Teacher, I know you had lots of nice things to say about that other teacher, but he is stealing all our thunder. He’s muscling in on our turf! We’ve always been the ones attracting the crowds and doing the baptisms. He hasn’t even got the manners to go an do it in a different region, he’s just up the road!”

Even though this disciple is making something of a complaint, or raising his concern, he announces a good turn of events.

This is the way it’s meant to be!

John’s Disciples see this as a problem - but this is great news!

John had announced in chapter 1 that Jesus was the Lamb of God who was anointed by God’s Spirit. He said that Jesus was a higher rank than himself. So, it’s a good thing that people were going to Jesus!

What’s so bad about another prophet announcing God’s Word? What’s wrong with people being convicted of their need for spiritual cleansing?

Even if it wasn’t Jesus, we should never be distraught that there is more of God’s work among his people!

You know what it’s like I’m sure! Have you ever said “I go to this new church” to someone and they ask “Why is there a new one, don’t we have enough churches already?”

The simple answer is no. There are non-Christians, so there’s not enough churches. Even if everyone in this region were Christian, we wouldn’t have enough buildings and leaders and bibles for all of us!

But that’s part of the reason that we as a church are desiring to equip more and more of us so that as people come to Jesus we can be ready to build them up in faith. We need disciplers and servers and musicians and administrators. We also need more elders who can watch over the flock!

I am only 1 man. I love you guys, but there is a limited number of people that I can genuinely care for and engage meaningfully with. This is a limitation of personality, but also just by virtue of the fact that we’re limited beings with limited abilities.

I need men who will shoulder the responsibility with me. Men who have come to Christ and been cleansed by him, who are broken sinners like me, but who are relentlessly pursuing a holy life and willing to serve God’s church in Christ-centered leadership. We need men who would help us all continually follow Jesus.

But let’s ask the question: what if God does not give increase? What if God keeps us humble by ensuring Flooding Creek stays about the same size while we spend all this time and effort to train and equip one another for the work of ministry?

What if a new bible-teaching church sets up 15 min down the road in, I dunno, Stratford? Imagine they get a cracking start and it just seems like everybody in town is talking about them. They’re packing out their meeting place and people are becoming Christians left right and center.

Let’s imagine what that would be like… What would we do? We could complain… why didn’t they join us… we were in the area first… they’re encroaching on our turf...

Or, we could say “Wow, look at what God is doing! Jesus is saving so many people, it seems like everyone is going to Jesus!” That would be fantastic news, even if it felt like our church community got the short end of the stick.

I would like to think, that instead of being bitter, we would see the power of God at work and get on His programme. Maybe we would send our most gifted people out to serve there. Maybe we would close down what we’re doing so that we could be part of what God was doing over there. We want to see Jesus Kingdom increase, not our own! We want people to come to Jesus, not to Flooding Creek.

Something less out-there, and more likely for us is that we will see people move away. It can feel like wasted energy equipping people only to have them move to another church, or their contract isn't renewed so they move away, or defense posts them out. We can become bitter because we feel like we’re sitting here spinning our ministry wheels while God is doing something elsewhere.

But it’s not about us. Whether God works on this side of the Jordan or that one, we only hope that people would come to Jesus. It may very well be that we see little growth here, but we equip people to serve God in all kinds of places wherever they go.

As kids grow up and go to uni in the city, they are equipped to help people meet Jesus there.

As people move to other towns they are Godly influence in their communities.

As people go to other churches, they are equipped to use their gifts and strengthen God’s church all across Australia.

We only hope that everyone may go to Jesus, and it matters little if we have to give way in order to make that a reality.

The ministry of J-t-B was important, but his was a prequel to greater things. He did his part, and let Jesus take center stage. I hope we as a church can do the same!

It is true that one one day every one will bow to Jesus, and confess that He is Lord. But now, we hope and we pray that everyone would come to Jesus willingly for cleansing and renewal. And we ask that God might use us for that goal.

I belabored that application a bit, but I though it was important to flesh it out in our context. Moving at a quicker pace, lets look at the other 3 applications that help us take hold of Jesus.

2. Rejoice in the Bridegroom (v27-30)

John answers the concern of His disciples with the attitude that we have been talking about: An understanding that his ministry was all about Jesus, and his job was to take a back-seat.

John 3:27–28 NIV

To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’

John had his job to do, it was given by God in heaven, and it was not up to him to try and compete with Jesus for crowd numbers or prestige or whatever. John recognized that he had run his course, having been sent ahead of the messiah, but now he fades.

He uses the metaphor of a wedding to describe the hand-off:

John 3:29–30 NIV

The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom 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. He must become greater; I must become less.”

In ancient Jewish weddings the Friend of the Groom, what we might call a best man, had a bunch of work to do. He didn’t just have to remember the rings and make a toast! He was usually involved in organizing and running the wedding. He basically had the groom’s back, ensuring everything was in place for the big event.

But here’s the thing, the wedding is not about the Best man. The best man is a support. He can scurry about and make all the preparations, but he is looking forward to the coming of the Groom! He’s eagerly doing all he can to help his mate tie the knot.

How stupid would it be if the Best man tried to make the wedding all about himself? No the joy he has is not from being the center of attention, but from enabling the Groom to marry his Bride.

John was the best man, he had to get things ready, but it is his joy to get out of the way and let the wedding take place.

You see, John uses imagery here that calls our minds to the Marriage of Jesus Christ. While it is a metaphor here, it speaks to the spiritual realty that Jesus was like a groom coming for his Bride.

In the Bible the Church is described as the Bride of Christ. The Church, all true believers throughout time and space, form a collective body. We are the Bride of Christ.

When Jesus came into the world as a man, it was as if he were coming to rescue his Bride. He came to rescue us.

But we’re filthy. When you think of a typical bride, it is usually a woman who has spent days and weeks and month preparing for the marriage. She has beautified herself, and prepared herself, and adorned herself so that she is ready for the big event. They will come together and be joined in an indissoluble union and she want to be the best she can be, at least outwardly, for this big moment.

But us, this bride the Church is a mess.

It is full of messed up people.

It is full of hypocrites and sinners and degenerates.

Christ came into the world to get his Bride, the Church, but she is messed up. She is damaged goods.

Why would he want us?

He didn’t come to retrieve us because of anything we have to offer. We’re not pretty, we’re not beautiful. The church is made up of people like you and me that have such deep hurts and shameful pasts.

Jesus came to save His church because he loves her.

Jesus comes to save us because he set his love on us. Out of His own desire and choice he came to claim a people for himself.

He came to save us from the depths of our sin and our guilt and our shame! He came to free us from the muck and the mire which clings to our souls!

Jesus had to come to save his Bride from the predicament she was in so that she could be prepared to join him in an everlasting union!

He did that by coming to die in her place. The bride, all of us, deserve to die. We have sinned against God, and now our guilt stands against us. God is storing up wrath against sin. Yet He loves his people, and desires to save them. He sent Jesus to die in our place - to suffer in our place, to pay the penalty for our sins.

And in doing so, he cleanses us from all our sins! He paid for them all! He wiped them away!

So there is good news for us! Despite our state, as sinners and hypocrites and degenerates, the Groom Jesus will wash away all the muck, and cloth us in the beautiful white robes of his own righteousness!

1 Corinthians 6:9–11 NIV

Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Rejoice at the coming of our Bridegroom Jesus, because it means our cleansing!

But like J-t-B, don’t insert yourself in the center of the story. Although we are the object of our Lord’s affections, he is still the preeminent one. We are happy to take a backseat to Jesus. It is our joy to serve him, it is our joy to see Him become greater and greater

3. Accept God’s Truth (v31-33)

Our third application calls us to accept God’s truth. We must accept the Groom who came down from heaven, and the message He has for us.

John 3:31–33 NIV

The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful.

John is doing a little comparison here to drive home the point that J-t-B was a mere man, where as jesus was the Son of God, come down from heaven!

Jesus is above all. As good as John was, he was still a mere mortal man.

Jesus speaks out of personal experience - he testifies about what he has seen and heard. But as has been mentioned a few times in these early chapter of John, there will be many who aren’t interested in what Jesus has to say.

“5 min in Heaven” style books are super popular! People are fascinated by the idea of being able to peak beyond the veil and see what lies beyond. You should be very careful with those books, their spiritual value is dubious.

But!

Two thousand years ago there was a someone you can definitely trust who did come down from heaven! He had alot to say, as one who had insider information on how the spiritual world worked!

He even wrote a best selling book to share everything he needed to say about what he knew. The Bible!

Jesus was with the father from before the foundation of the world! He rescued Israel out of Egypt! He come down from the father in the incarnation, to be born as an infant.

As one who knows the truth about everything, we must listen to Jesus. We must accept the truth he has to offer.

There’s no such thing as my truth and your truth. We can have different perspectives on life, but there is objective reality. There is only one truth. And we need to accept the truth that Jesus brings.

We don’t get to pick and chose the nice part about what Jesus says. Or to change what we think God is saying to make us feel more comfortable. We are recipients of this truth, not it’s editors.

But what if we don’t like what Jesus has to say?

What if we think it’s untrue?

What if we’re not openly opposed, but we’re just not interested?

Well, I have news. And it ain’t good.

If you won’t accept the message of Jesus, you are calling God a liar. That’s what it amounts to!

When you reject the scam email claiming to give you a fortune from a Nigerian prince, you are calling them a liar. You don’t trust them.

What person would reject the gift if it was true?

When you hear the message of Christ and reject it, you’re saying, “I think God is untrustworthy” or, “I think that God is lying.” A fearful place to be!

Accept the truth, because it is true!

4. Believe in the Son (v34-36)

God sent the Son, and gave him the abundant Spirit, and put everything in His hands. He is the key and center, believe on him

John 3:34–36 NIV

For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.

The one who God sent: Jesus.

He speaks God’s words, when we hear Jesus, we hear God. One and the same!

God anointed Jesus (messiah) with the Spirit. Jesus has unlimited HS!

He is God incarnate in every way - and he has the power of God - esp. the authority of God.

Two options for life. Believe or Reject.

Rejecting is rejecting the author of life, the kind redeemer, the loving groom.

Rejecting is asking God to let you pay for your own sin. God’s wrath lays on you.

Accepting is receiving and trusting. Loyalty.

Now what?

Take hold of Jesus:

Go to Jesus,

Rejoice in His arrival,

Accept God’s truth from Jesus,

Beleive in Jesus, Son of God.

Lead into Communion

References:

Carson’s Pillar Commentary on John.

Hutcheson’s commentary on John

Hendrickson’s commentary on John

Sermons by Richard D. Philips,

Sproul, R. C., ed. The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version. Orlando, FL; Lake Mary, FL: Ligonier Ministries, 2005.

Phillips, Richard D. John. Edited by Richard D. Phillips, Philip Graham Ryken, and Daniel M. Doriani. 1st ed. Vol. 1 & 2 of Reformed Expository Commentary. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2014.

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