Greater Than; Less Than (John 3:30)

John 3:30, "He must increase, I must decrease."

Very few verses in Scripture present a better example of humility than this one. Here the Baptist is discussing with the Jews the fact that Jesus and his disciples are baptizing more than John is...typical of what Churches do today...we are never happy when others are doing better than we are...

But in response to this, John explains that Jesus is to increase...What does this mean for us today? John the Baptist came to bear witness to Jesus. He came to prepare the way for Jesus. John was the guy who sort of gave some legitimacy to Jesus' early ministry. People came from all over to hear him preach and, now, he prepares that he must decrease.

John the Baptist is declaring that his ministry is not as important as Jesus' ministry. John is stating that Jesus is to be made much of. John is expressing his desire to humble himself so that Jesus can do what he came to earth to do. Now that the true "light" has come, the "lamp" has no more work to do!

What must we do to Decrease:

We must understand that it is never about us.

JTB understood that. The Jews were coming to him to "warn" him that Jesus was gathering a crowd. His followers were growing. He was gaining influence. They thought that John was going to be upset at that. They thought that John was some sort of insicure prophet. But he wasnt. He understood that his ministry was not his own, his ministry was simply to prepare the way for Jesus. Our life is not our own. Our ministry is not our own. We simply live to prepare the way for Jesus.

We must understand that He is greater than us.

John knew that Jesus was the Son of God and deserved take the back-seat for no one. Jesus was the Light that the world needed to see, and because of that John didnt want to get in the way of that. Although John has an icredible ministry in the area, what was needed was the salvation that Jesus brought and because of that he knew that it was time for him to take a back-seat to Jesus.

We must understand that others are more important than us

Because Jesus (through his disciples) were baptizing others, we must understand that they were finding what they needed. John knew that he was not the answer to their problems...Jesus was. Because of that John needed to let Jesus' ministry grow. We must always understand that we will not always have the answers but we know the One that does.

He must increase.

We must decrease.

When that happens, people come to know Jesus.

Nicodemus

Lessons learned from John 3:1-21.

Nicodemus was a very prominent Jewish Pharisee. He was rich (according to Josephus), and would probably have had much social empact because of his elite status.

He came to Jesus at night in order to talk to him. There could be a few reasons why? 1) Fewer crowds around Jesus at night. 2) Theologians of the day often studied at night, so he could have went to Jesus for theological insight. 3) Embarassment.

I think that he went to Jesus in order not to draw a crowd to himself. This is too often what we do today. We come to Jesus for help whenever it is convienient. We seek safety for ourselves when we go to the Savior. Nicodemus would have had a lot to lose to go to poor carpenter who was often ridiculed because he had no formal education.

We can learn something from Nicodemus here. Although he might have went to Jesus at night in order to save some of his own social status...Jesus still saw him. Jesus still took time out of his schedule for him.

Nicodemus saw Jesus. He sought Jesus. Shouldn't we do the same?

Being Born Again

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. ²He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."

 ³In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."

 ⁴"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"

 ⁵Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. ⁶Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. ⁷You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' ⁸The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

John 3:1-8 (NIV)

What does it mean to be "born-again?"  It is a term that we associate with Christianity.  Moralism.  Church.  But what does it actually mean for us today?  I am currently taking my Student Ministry through the Gospel of John, and in chapter 3 a man named Nicodemus comes to visit with Jesus.

Nicodemus is a Pharisee...a Politician...a wealthy man (according to Jewish historian Josephus) and according to Jesus the "teacher of Israel."  So it seems that he has his act together.  He is wealthy, powerful, and socially he is an elite.  So why does he come to Jesus?  What is he looking for?

Taking this a step further.  He also has a good theological understanding of Jesus.  He calls Jesus, "Rabbi" which indicated that he thought Jesus was an esteemed teacher despite his apparent lack of theological training.  He stated that he thought that Jesus was "from God" or sent from God.  Once again Nicodemus gets this one right... although not in the proper way (Jews thought that if you had power than God was blessing you).  He then talks about the signs that Jesus was doing.  Jesus did indeed use signs as a way to point to his Divinity.  So, so far, Nicodemus has a good grasp on who Jesus is...

But Jesus addresses Nicodemus' need without him even noticing that he has one.  Nicodemus must be "born again."  So what does this mean?

The Need

First in order to understand what it means to be born again we must understand the need for it to happen to us.  We must understand that in our present state we lack something.  We are sinful and needy, and are in desperately in need of a Savior.  

The Miracle

Then we must understand that God calls us to be born again.  God works in our life.  God is the initiator in our salvation.  It is not of our own accord, but because of his Grace showered over us.  This is a miracle.  God does it for us.

The Mystery

The next step is to understand that we cannot understand what has taken place.  This is why Jesus talks about not being able to see the wind but still knowing that it is there.  We cannot understand what is taking place when we are truly born again but is something that actually takes place in our lives.

New But Still Ourselves

Being born again means that a change has taken place in our lives.  We become different.  We are changed from the inside out to be more like Christ.  We become Christian, and live our life for him.  We are still ourself but we are different.  We are in the process of becoming.

Ezekiel 36:26:  I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

We become so much more than we could ever hope to be ourself...we are born again.

Not the Light...

There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He
came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men
might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the
light. (John 1:6-8)

It is an amazing and humling thought to think that God uses people! John the Baptist was chosen by God to introduce Jesus to the world. Jesus was the eternal Son of God who left heaven to come to earth, but he uses a man who lived in the desert, eating locusts and wild honey and wearing camel skins, to annouce his coming to earth...

Is this not a crazy thing? Is this not a humbling thing?

John was not the Light, but he was put here to testify to the Light.

There was a man...

John was a man. A real person. God uses people! He uses us today, not because he has to, but because he chooses to. This should give us a passion because God has given us a purpose.

Sent from God...

Because God sends us, we must understand that we have a mission while we are still on earth. God sends us out to our community to make a difference in the lives of the people around us. We are sent!

He came as a witness...

We are to tell our story of who Jesus is and what he has done in our life. To be a witness is to tell what we saw... If Jesus has made a difference in our lives then we will be a witness to it!

About the Light...

Our witness should not be about ourselves, but about Jesus who is the Light. Jesus comes into the dark world and dispels the light and that is to be our witness. The world is a dark and dreary place that desperately needs to hear about the Light. That is our duty.

That all might believe...

The reason that witness is for all around us to believe. We show and live Jesus out in the real world so that others can believe that He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God who takes away sin.

He was not the Light...

John was not the Light...and neither are we...and neither is our Church...

We show Jesus...that is the Gospel... Jesus is the Light that we show!

But came as a witness to the Light...

This was John's purpose: to be a witness to the Light! Should our purpose be any different? We should be all about sharing Jesus to the lost and dying world that is in complete and utter darkness.

We are witnesses to the light:

1. God sends people
2. We witness
3. People believe

thats the plan...

The Word

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)

What a beautiful way to start a chapter. In the beginning...not an actual time...but eternity...WAS the Word. So, the Word was there in the beginning...the Word was there before time began...the Word was there from the beginning. The Word is eternal.

"The Word was WITH God." So this Word which is eternal is also coequal with the God the Father. The only way to be coequal with something is to be the same.

"The Word WAS God." So we see this Word is not only co-eternal with the Father, and co-equal with the Father, we see that the Word is God.

The introduction that the Gospel of John makes here is an incredibly deep resource of Theological material. John states that Jesus is the Word. Jesus was there from the beginning of time. Jesus is God in the flesh. John doesnt start off his Gospel by stating geneological facts, but instead shows that Jesus is eternal. This concept goes much deeper than the other Gospels because from the very start we see that John is stating that this Jesus-man was in fact the God-man. We dont have to wait to find out, we know from the start.

Its like reading a book, but sort of starting at the last chapter. Jesus is the eternal Word who is co-equal with God the Father because he is God the Son.

In the Beginning:

We serve a God who has always been! He has always been! Our God was there when time began, so He is all-powerful. "Nothing was made that wasnt made in Him." He is the Creator. C.S. Lewis stated that "where can look for help if we cant look to something that is greater than ourselves." Because our God was there in the beginning He can be trusted to protect and guide us in the present.

The Word:

Our God is also the Word. This is a difficult concept for us to understand, because John is directing this term towards the Theolofical climate of his day. People understood this term as a living being. So Jesus not only the pre-existant, eternal one, He is also the One who became a man and lived an actual life. Too many times we forget that Jesus was an actual human being, with feelings and desires and emotions. He was tempted. He knew hunger and thirst and pain. He wept. He was misunderstood by his family and friends. He was betrayed.

...but He was perfect.

Because Jesus lived an actual physical life He knows what it is like to be in our shoes. He is not a cold distant God but an up-close-and-personal God who understands us. He is sitting at the Father's right hand interceding for us, because He understands us.

Was God:

Jesus became a man, but he was always God. When Jesus became a man he just added humanity to his divinity. Jesus became a man...but he was God. Because he was God, when he died he paid the upmost price for us. His death was a death of a man, but also of God. Because he was God, his death actually meant something. Because he was God, when he died he actually accomplished somethign. Jesus was God and when he died he conquered Satan, Sin, and Death.

Because...He WAS God.

As John so wrote some 1900 years ago..."In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

Need nothing be said.