>> You can also listen to the MP3 audio or download the PDF file for this sermon <<
Dr. Richard L. Strauss
April 20, 1980
We've met a most unusual man with a most unusual appearance—almost hermit-like—with a most unusual message. He was doing a job for God and he was doing it in the power that God provided. He was opposing the hypocrisy and emptiness and shallowness of the religious establishment of his day. He was condemning sin within. Oh, they were keeping the Law for all external appearances but their hearts were not right with God. And he called on them to repent of their sin. He pleaded with him to repent and he promoted righteous living. It was a different kind of a message from what the people of his day had been hearing.
An unusual man with an unusual message, preached in the power of God's Spirit. But he was a man who had a consciousness of divine calling from his father. He learned that he was the messenger who would prepare the way for the Messiah. He lived his life with the expectancy of meeting the Messiah and pointing the way to Him.
That's exactly what he did. We saw it last Sunday night in John 1:29.
"The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, 'Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!'" (John 1:29).
From that point on John's one purpose in life was to exalt Jesus Christ, to magnify Him, to point to Him. It was to turn people's hearts and minds and lives to Him, as the One who could meet their needs and bring satisfaction to their lives.
But that relationship between John and Jesus was threatened. There were circumstances and there were people who seemed to try to drive a wedge between them, put doubts in John's mind, and destroy the ministry to which God had called him.
"They said to Him, 'John's disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but Yours go on eating and drinking'" (Luke 5:33).
Now there's nothing wrong with eating and drinking. In other words, you know, you just can't stay alive very long if you don't eat and drink. But what he's talking about is festivity and hilarity. I don't mean carousing necessarily but I mean just taking part in the everyday affairs of life with an exuberance and a joyfulness entering into everyday living. The disciples of John didn't do that. They withdrew themselves. John was a hermit down there in the desert, clothed in strange clothing and living very much apart from the people of the world. His disciples were doing the same thing and they fasted often. But here comes Jesus entering into everyday life, rubbing shoulders with everyday people, taking part in the affairs of everyday living. And folks just don't seem to understand that. They want to know why this difference of opinion.
I would imagine that some of these people went to John and told him the other side of the story. I can just imagine that after the miracle at Cana in Galilee, some of these folks went over to John, who was preaching near the Jordan River, and said, "Do you know what that One did, who you said was the Messiah? When He was up there He went to a wedding and He entered into the festivities and the hilarity and the feasting of the wedding. He even turned water into wine. He contributed to that part of the occasion. Why, could He really be the One you said He was, John?"
The Lord Jesus Himself said John came neither eating nor drinking in the sense that we're using that term here. But Jesus did. Their styles of life and ministry were different. Somebody was trying to drive a wedge between them and drive them apart.
Soon John was cast into prison for his life and his testimony and his fearless opposition to Herod's immorality. When he got into prison he got even more discouraged because this One whom he thought was the Messiah didn't deliver him from prison. The doubts began to fill his mind because He didn't burn the chaff in judgment as John predicted He would. And He didn't establish His literal political kingdom on earth as John anticipated He would. He became all the more distraught because he got these reports that He was mixing with the people, with people like publicans and sinners. Jesus was living like other people were living and John just couldn't understand it. His heart was filled with doubt.
"Summoning two of his disciples, John sent them to the Lord, saying, 'Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?'" (Luke 7:19).
It's quite obvious there's doubt in his mind. "Are You really the One? I know I thought You were. I know I said You were. I know I told the people of Israel You were. But are You really the One we anticipate or is there somebody else coming who is really the Messiah?" You can see the tension between them and the possibility of a total estrangement. One more link in that chain of circumstances that seems to be pulling John and Jesus apart is found in John chapter 3. That's where I'd like to spend most of our time tonight.
After our Lord finished His initial ministry in Jerusalem after His encounter with Nicodemus in the early part of John chapter 3, He leaves Jerusalem and He moves down to the Jordan River, just north of the Dead Sea. And He begins to branch out in this area of Judea, preaching and baptizing and healing and ministering with His newly chosen disciples. John, on the other hand, leaves that area and moves north all the way up to this area:
"John was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim because there was plenty of water there, and the people came and were baptized" (John 3:23).
The prior verse told us that Jesus came with His disciples into the land of Judea and they baptized. So we have these two men ministering near the Jordan River but in a widely varied area. One up near the north, one down near the South by the Dead Sea. And when as they're ministering, reports of what's happening through Jesus' ministry reach the ears of John's disciples. They hear of Jesus' success and it bothers them. After all, they've committed their lives and their time and their efforts to the ministry of a man called John the Baptizer. And now Somebody else is beginning to minister and crowds seem to be flocking to Him. And the ministry of John seems to be declining somewhat. His disciples are concerned and they seem to be a little jealous.
"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'" (John 3:26).
"He's having unusual success. People are defecting. John, they're leaving you and they're going to Jesus. And in view of the fact that He's a little different from us and He doesn't carry on His ministry just like we do, and He doesn't live His life exactly like we do—do we really want that to happen? I mean, do we want His crowds to get larger than ours? I mean, that's a dangerous thing, isn't it?"
1. John Considered Every Achievement As a Gift from God
You can see that they're disturbed and they're a little jealous. What they're saying may not be purposely designed to excite John to jealousy but in their hearts that's probably what they're trying to do. At least that's what it seems that they're trying to do. But I love John's answer because this provides him an occasion to reveal the attitude of his own heart.
"To this John replied, 'A person can receive only what is given them from heaven'" (John 3:27).
The first thing we learn about John here is that he considered every achievement a gift from God. Whatever God did through his life or through his ministry was of God's doing, not of his. It was of God's grace, not of his power. I like what the great Baptist preacher F.B. Meyer said about this. Several generations ago he wrote the book John the Baptist, and said:
"Whatever success and blessing I had putting words into John's mouth and explanation of that verse are due to the appointment of Him who sent me to preach His gospel and announce the advent of His Son. Every man has his work and sphere appointed him of God. If this new teacher meet with such success we have no right to be jealous of him lest we sin against God who has made him what he is. And if we have not the same crowds as once we had, let us be content to take this, too, as the appointment of heaven—glad to do whatever is assigned to us—and leave all the results to God. It's all of the Lord."
John is saying, "It isn't of us anyway, fellas. What has happened through our ministry was not because of who we are or what we did. It was because of God's grace and power. We ought not to forget that whatever successes we've had, whatever achievements we we've attained, whatever abilities or gifts God has given us, whatever influence we've been permitted to have on people's lives—it has all come about as a gift from God. A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven."
It's very much like what the Apostle Paul said:
"For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?" (1 Corinthians 4:7).
What do we possess that we have not received? Most of us have the idea that, you know, we're responsible for what we've attained in life, for the influence we have on people's lives, or the power we have over certain individuals, or the money we've accumulated. What do we have that we have not received? That's the question Paul asked. That's the question John asked. You say, "Well I worked for what I have. I put in hours and hours and sweat, and toiled for the position I attained."
Oh? Who gave you the abilities, the intelligence, the health, to be able to sweat and toil and work, and use what you have attained to arrive at the position you have today? Who gave you the intelligence and the opportunity to make the money you've accumulated? What have we that we have not received?
Well, I know that everyone has not taken advantage of the opportunities available to them, haven't developed the gifts and abilities they have, haven't worked hard. I know that's true. And you have. But the question is, where did you get the intelligence and the health and the strength and the gifts and abilities to use in the first place? What have we that we have not received?
"A person can receive only what is given them from heaven."
You know, this kind of humility is rare among Christians—even Christians who have a low self-esteem usually have some area of their lives where they're a little bit proud, where they feel like they have excelled. And sometimes they pat themselves on the back and convince themselves that they're really responsible for that area of excellence. John knew that everything was from God. Whether we have the ability or not is from God, so why do we worry about what abilities we have or don't have? Whatever opportunities we have, they come from God. So whether we have them or whether we don't is not something for us to become anxious about. That's from the Lord. What we can't do or what we don't have, or do have or can do it, that's from the Lord.
So God doesn't want us to get swelled up with pride over what He accomplishes through our lives and our ministries. We're just doing what He told us to do in the first place, and using what He's given us. By the same token, He doesn't want us to become anxious and worrisome and discouraged for what does not happen through our lives and ministry, because that too is of Him. Well that's not a license for indolence or faithlessness. He wants us to discover what abilities He's given us. He wants us to develop those gifts and abilities. He wants us to use them faithfully for His glory. He wants us to put Him first in our lives. That's all true, but then He wants us to leave the results to Him. It's so hard to do that. We want to see something happen.
I'll tell you this message is primarily for me tonight, more than for you. It's too bad I have to stand up here and preach to myself and you have to sit out there and listen. But men in the ministry need this even more than others, I think. We're constantly comparing ourselves with, "What kind of crowd did you have yesterday? How many people did you preach to? What's the Lord doing through your ministry?" What we're really looking for is an opportunity to tell somebody what He's doing through ours, you know. That's what we really want. After we listen for a few minutes we get equal time; we have a chance to brag a little bit.
Or sometimes it's the other way around—it's jealousy. We begin to worry about, you know, "Why isn't more happening through me?" I mean, we do need to examine our lives and see where we are. I don't like to see crowds dropping off. There's fewer people in church here tonight than there are on Sunday. That bothers me in the flesh. It bothers me and I have to ask myself, "Is there something that we need to be doing that we're not doing?" I need to ask that question. And I need to find out if my own life is right with the Lord, and whether I'm doing what God wants me to do up here tonight. I need to ask myself those questions. When all that's done and I've honestly examined it before the Lord, I've got to trust Him. I'm not going to go home and worry tonight because some of those seats are empty. God doesn't want me to do that. He wants me to trust Him, to rest in Him, to believe Him—to believe that He's going to do in somebody's heart and life tonight exactly what needs to be done. He certainly doesn't want me to be jealous of somebody about a bigger crowd that we have here tonight. That is sin.
There are a lot of lessons to be learned from this man. He considered every achievement to be a gift from God. "A person can receive only what is given them from heaven."
2. John Saw Himself in the True Light
That's not all we learn from his life. The next thing we read reveals to us that he saw himself in a true light. John was one of the humblest men who ever lived. Listen to what he said:
"You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of Him.' 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'" (John 3:28-30).
The Old Testament Scriptures liken Israel to the bride of Jehovah, and John is likening the Lord Jesus to the bridegroom. The nation belongs to Him. I'm just the friend of the bridegroom, John says.
The friend of the bridegroom had a very special place in an oriental wedding. He acted as the liaison between the bridegroom and the bride before the ceremony. He delivered the invitations to the friends. He directed and supervised the feasting. He brought the bride and the bridegroom together and ushered them into their bridal chamber. But at that point his task was finished.
That was the responsibility of the friend of the bridegroom, and John had done his work. He had brought the bride and the bridegroom together. He had introduced Israel to her Messiah. And in that his joy was full. His job was finished. He saw himself in the proper light. He didn't want more attention than he deserved. He wasn't the bridegroom. He didn't deserve to have the limelight that the bridegroom deserved. He was just the friend.
You know, many of us as believers long for attention. We long for somebody to show some appreciation to us and pat us on the back for a job well done. In a sense, we need that. Most of us need to be more appreciative to other people. But when we long for the praise of men and we get a little bit of it, it really doesn't satisfy. And then we want a little bit more, and more, and more, until soon we find ourselves with a rather exaggerated estimate of our own worth. We have our importance all out of proportion. We begin to magnify ourselves.
John the Baptist had that opportunity—boy, did he have that opportunity.
"The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah" (Luke 3:15).
People were thinking that John might be the Messiah. What an opportunity! He knew he wasn't but he didn't really have to say anything. I mean, that was kind of flattering, don't you think? He could just let that go on a few days. He didn't need to tell. He didn't have to lie about it but he didn't have to tell them yet. He could have let it go a few days.
We kind of do that—not about being the Messiah, but we want people to think that we're very spiritually-minded and we try to project that image to others. Sometimes when things are being said about us in a nice light that really aren't true—we know they aren't true—we don't speak up and straighten them out, do we? We kind of just let that ride. After all, we might as well enjoy it a little bit. We may be very hateful and spiteful and selfish and unkind, uncooperative and unloving people at home. We may be a bear to live with in the four walls of our homes, but out with other believers, we're going to let the image stand. We're surely not going to tell anybody what we're really like and destroy that image. That's particularly true of people like us in the ministry, you know. We destroy that image, maybe our ministries would be in jeopardy. So we have a tendency to just let things ride when people say things about us or go on thinking things about us that we know in our hearts are not true. It's a tremendous temptation. I'm sure John had that temptation. But he didn't let it linger very long. He didn't want anyone to go on with the wrong idea.
"John answered them all, 'I baptize you with water. But One who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire'" (Luke 3:16).
Turn over to John chapter 1 and see it again. The crowds came to him and asked him who he was.
"Now this was John's testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, 'I am not the Messiah.' They asked him, 'Then who are you? Are you Elijah?' He said, 'I am not.' 'Are you the Prophet?' He answered, 'No.' Finally they said, 'Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?' John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, 'I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, "Make straight the way for the Lord"'" (John 1:19-23).
"Just a voice, that's all I am." They recognized him as somebody unusual and a great, great preacher. "No," he said, "I'm just a voice sent to tell you to get ready for the coming of the One who really matters: the Messiah."
We know John as one of the greatest preachers of all time. He just wanted to be known as a voice, a mouthpiece, for God. We see him as one of the Godliest, most holy, dedicated men who ever served God. He just want to be known as a voice. The Lord Jesus Himself said, "Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist" (Matthew 11:11a). John said, "I'm just a voice. I just want to be known as someone who's here to get ready for Somebody else and to call you to repentance and prepare your hearts for the coming of the Messiah. I'm just a voice."
John wasn't very impressed with himself, was he? Not nearly as impressed with himself as some of us get to be. Well, he was impressed with the importance of his ministry but not with his own importance. He knew that he was expendable. He knew God had just laid hold of him to do a job but God could just as easily picked somebody else. He was expendable. God didn't need him. God, in His grace, chose him to that privileged position of preparing the way for the Messiah. That's all he wanted to do: the job God called him to do, and nothing more. He wanted no praise or glory, prestige or preeminence for it. "I'm just a mouthpiece, that's all. I'm just a empty vessel that God has seen fit to take a hold of so that He could tell you something you needed to know."
Well, we get so overwhelmed with our own importance, don't we? And so hurt when we don't get that appreciation and praise and pat on the back that we feel we need so desperately. We want somebody to tell us we did a good job. God says, "I just want you to be a vessel that I can use. I just want you to be empty of self and filled with the Spirit, and realize that I can really use anybody. But I'm willing to use you if you'll give Me the glory."
People like that are the people God takes hold of and uses to do what He wants to do. Are we willing to be that kind of person? John considered every achievement a gift from God. He saw himself in a true light.
3. John Placed Jesus in the Proper Perspective
But I would look like you to notice finally that he placed the Lord Jesus in proper perspective. This is really a corollary to the previous one when we see ourselves in a true light, then we obviously see the Lord in a true light. The two go together and often the second comes first: We have to really get to know the Lord Jesus before we see ourselves as we really are.
As John got to know the Lord Jesus a little bit, he saw himself as he was. And he began to let the Lord Jesus assume greater and greater preeminence, as he began to assume lesser and lesser importance. He minimized himself and glorified the Savior.
John said Jesus "has surpassed me because He was before me" (John 1:30). John said Jesus is the Lamb of God (John 1:29). He said Jesus is the bridegroom; I'm just the friend of the bridegroom (John 3:28-30). But here it is in a nutshell—what an important verse:
"He must increase but I must decrease" (John 3:30, NASB).
In the context of this story, the primary meaning of that statement, I believe, is that Christ's ministry which John's disciples were questioning, must assume greater and greater importance while John's ministry will assume lesser and lesser importance. The crowds will defect with from John and go to Jesus. Jesus will become more and more important to the nation Israel. John will become less and less important.
That's what it means in its context. But, dear friends, the application of that verse goes far beyond that. I'm confident John is telling us beside that, he finds his pleasure and his satisfaction and his joy not in his own life and his own achievement, in his own comforts and his own wealth, and anything of himself. He finds his joy and satisfaction in pleasing Jesus Christ and seeing Him grow and multiply and increase in importance, not only in the nation, but in his own life as he himself decreases in importance. Personal gains. Personal achievement. Personal success. Personal comforts. Personal possessions. These things don't bring him real joy. They don't bring him satisfaction. The one thing that brings him satisfaction is his relationship with Jesus Christ. The fact that He must grow more and more important in his life and assume a larger role in his experience. "He must increase and I must decrease," John says.
In our Christian experience, that same thing must be true if we want to be used of the Lord Jesus in any effective way. He must become more and more important. We must become more and more occupied with Him, less and less occupied with self. Allow Him to assume a greater role in our thoughts, in our acts, in our motives, in our aspirations. And in our own pleasures, assume a less and less role. Now we can try to do that in our own strength. We can try to be humble. We can try to be meek. We can try to be gracious. We can be try to be unselfish. We can try to be Christ-like. I don't know how you've found it in your life, but I found the harder I try the more I fail.
What we really need to do is to get to know Christ, to occupy our minds with Him. Let His Word fill our minds and our souls, grow in His likeness. The more that occurs, the more like Him we become. The more He increases and the more self decreases.
I think I drew this little diagram before for some of you on a Wednesday night. Let me do it again. It looks something like this. This is Christ. This is self. When we meet the Lord we're up here somewhere. We've come to know Him as our personal Savior from sin, but our lives have been lived to this point pretty much for ourselves. They've consumed our time. What we wanted to do in life was really the thing that occupied our attention. What goals and aspirations we have, what we want out of life, how much money we want to make, what kind of job we want, what fellow or girl we want to marry—those were the things that occupied our minds. It was self until we got to know Jesus Christ and realized He is Lord of all, and He deserves to be the Lord of our lives. We began to get to know Him through the Word and through prayer, and He began to assume a greater and greater place in our lives. That's when self begins to decrease, you see. The more of the Lord Jesus, the lesser self. The more occupied with Him, the less occupied with self. The more we live for Him, the less we live for ourselves.
Oh, that's got to be done by an act of our will, there's no question about it. It begins in our minds as we focus our attention upon Him. But getting to know Him is really where it's at. That is the issue.
There's a great old poem by Theodore Monod. You've heard it before; it's been read used many many times. But I can't finish a message on John 3:30 without reading it:
O the bitter shame and sorrow
That a time could ever be
When I let the Saviour's pity
Plead in vain, and proudly answered:
All of self and none of Thee!
Yet He found me; I beheld Him
Bleeding on th' accursed tree,
Heard Him pray: Forgive them, Father!
And my wistful heart said faintly:
Some of self and some of Thee!
Day by day His tender mercy,
Healing, helping, full and free,
Sweet and strong and, ah! so patient,
Brought me lower, while I whispered:
Less of self and more of Thee!
Higher than the highest Heaven,
Deeper than the deepest sea,
Lord, Thy love at last has conquered;
Grant me now my spirit's longing:
None of self and all of Thee!
That's the application of John 3:30 to our lives. He must increase, we must decrease.
Continue to JB-3: Lowest of the Low