Sermon Tone Analysis
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Tonight, I want to talk to you for a moment about something that I feel is important for our church as we begin to move to a new level that God is taking us to.
First, let me say that I can not take credit for this teaching.
It is taken from the book, “Help!
I’m in Charge” written by Pastor Rod Loy.
He is the Pastor of First Assembly in North Little Rock.
A few years ago, I ran across his leadership podcast called iLead.
Then a few years later he put those messages into book form.
I have been giving all of our leadership a copy of this book for them to read, but tonight I want to look at an amazing story in the Bible that is found in the first three chapters of the book of John.
John the Baptist was an amazing leader who attracted many followers.
But, John made sure to let his followers know that there was someone coming that not even he was worthy of tying His shoes.
The next day Jesus came walking over the hill and John said, “Behold, or there He is, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”
It happened again the next day, Jesus was passing by and John said it again, “Behold the Lamb of God.”
But this time something different happened.
John had two of his disciples with him and they left him to follow Jesus.
It had to hurt.
I’ll be honest.
It hurts when people leave.
I don’t care who you are or who the person is that leaves, it hurts.
Where are only two reasons that people leave.
They aren’t supposed to be here—either for them, the blessing of another church or for the protection of this church.
If that is the case then we don’t want them here.
We bless them as they go.
They are missing God’s will and plan.
We pray for them.
But, regardless, it still hurts.
Now let’s move on to the 3rd chapter.
John is losing more of his followers to Jesus.
Every day, his church is getting smaller and Jesus’ church is getting bigger.
We would see that as failure, right?
But, John embraces the fact his ministry is vanishing, getting smaller every day.
He understands what we need to understand:
It’s not about following me or Pastor Bill or Connect Group leader or the youth Pastor.
It’s not about how big we can build our thing.
It’s not about how many people are in our church or in the youth or how many babies are in the nursery.
That’s not the point.
This world has seen enough of leaders building their own kingdoms, for their own glory.
Christ following leaders love when people who they have poured into, all of a sudden, all they see is their backs as they turn to run after the Son of God.
John didn’t chase them down and say, “Hey guys, remember me?
I’m your leader.”
John wanted to build Christ followers, not personal disciples.
Jesus started baptizing.
As you might imagine, He was pretty good at it.
People came from everywhere to be baptized by Jesus.
And, sure enough, John’s ministry was vanishing.
You know what happened.
This is predictable.
Some of John’s disciples came to him and said, “That man you testified about is going around baptizing.
That’s your gig!
You are John the Baptist.
And everyone is going to Him.” What are they saying, “Hey—we’re losing market share here.
Our ratings are going down.
It’s time to do something.
We’ve got to get creative with our baptisms.
We’ve got to win some of His followers.”
But what did John do?
Look at his response in John 3. Let’s begin at verse 27.
Look at how the King James says verse 30
As we look at the world we live in today there is no doubt that Jesus must increase.
We need more of Jesus.
Our world, our city, needs more of Jesus.
We get pumped up about Jesus increasing.
We can shout with the best of them about Jesus increasing.
But there is a second part to this verse.
It is one that we really don’t like to discuss.
This is the part that we are going to focus on here tonight.
Look at verse 30 again.
John the Baptist said, “He must become greater; I must become less.”
What was John saying, “There must be more of Jesus, less of John.”
I must decrease.
This is not a popular opinion in recent years.
We live in an age of the superstar preachers and hot-shot worship leaders.
We have made our names socially acceptable and politically prominent.
But what John said is still true, “He must increase, I must decrease.”
What this world needs is more of Jesus and less of me.
That should be the motto of every church in the world: more of Jesus and less of me.
John could have told them, “You’re right.
I did get this thing started.
I was baptizing first.”
But he didn’t.
He said more of Jesus, less of me.
And that is what I want my life to represent.
I must decrease and Jesus must increase.
Decreasing hurts.
Decreasing means giving up your rights.
Decreasing means putting Him before you.
Decreasing is a decision.
It doesn’t happen accidentally.
You have to choose to decrease—to become less.
In order for this to happen there are some rights that you have to give up in order for Jesus to increase.
It’s not easy.
It’s a tough truth about leadership: Leaders must sacrifice their rights.
Have you ever heard someone say, “Hey—I have my rights!
Not a leader.
Or how about “I pay my tithe.
I have a right.”
Not a leader.
“I have my rights” is all about me, not about Jesus.
Leaders sacrifice their rights.
Think of a pyramid.
As you rise in leadership, your rights or liberties diminish.
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