He Must Increase

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What's up guys?
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Welcome back to the Narrow Path Podcast.
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My name is Trey, and I am so excited for today's episode.
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But first and foremost, if this is your first time listening, I just want to say thank you for checking us out.
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And hopefully you enjoy what you hear.
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Uh, for context, we've been studying the Gospel of John.
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Right now we are in chapter 3, and we are a new podcast, relatively new.
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Um, so this is our first study that we're doing, and what we do here is just read scripture and really talk about what it means to walk the neuropath, to follow Jesus with our whole hearts and talk about what scripture means for us in our day-to-day lives outside of Sundays.
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If this is not your first time listening, if you are a returning listener, I just want to say thank you for your continual support.
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I really appreciate each and every one of you guys, and I hope that we can continue to grow as a community as we study through scripture.
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So, like I said, we've been walking through the Gospel of John, and in our last episode, we looked at John chapter 3, verses 1 through 21, and the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus.
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We talked about what it means to be born again, why we need the work of the Holy Spirit, and how God showed his love for the world by sending his son to save us.
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Today we're going to continue in John chapter 3, but the scene shifts a little bit.
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Instead of focusing on a conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, we're going to look at John the Baptist and how he responds when Jesus begins receiving more attention than he does.
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And I think this passage is especially important because it challenges something that most of us struggle with at some point.
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Our desire to be noticed.
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We want people to recognize our hard work.
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We want to know that what we're doing matters.
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We want people to appreciate us and acknowledge what we bring to the table.
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And there's nothing automatically wrong with wanting to be appreciated.
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But what happens when our desire for recognition starts getting in the way of what God is doing?
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What happens when somebody else gets the opportunity that we want it?
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What happens when someone else receives the credit?
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What happens when the person standing next to us starts getting more attention than we do?
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How do we respond?
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Do we become jealous?
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Do we start comparing ourselves to them?
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Do we try to prove that we're just as important?
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Or can we genuinely celebrate what God is doing through somebody else, even when it means we aren't the center of attention?
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That's where John the Baptist gives us an incredible example.
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In John 3, verse 30, he makes a statement that has become one of the most well-known verses in this passage.
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He must become greater.
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What does it look like to make Jesus greater in our lives?
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And what does it mean for us to become less?
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Let's get into it.
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So in in John 3, verses 22 through 26, John begins John begins this section by telling us that Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside where Jesus spent time with them and people were being baptized.
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John the Baptist was also baptizing people in another location nearby.
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And John mentions that this was before John the Baptist was put into prison, which helps give us a timeline of the events taking place.
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Both ministries were active and people were responding to their messages.
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Then in verse 25, it tells us that a discussion arose between some of John the Baptist's disciples and a certain Jew about ceremonial washing.
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We're not giving all the deep details of that conversation.
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But what happens next is what I want us to pay attention to.
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John's disciples come to him and say that Jesus, the man John had previously testified about, is now baptizing, and everyone is going to him.
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Now think about how that statement sounds.
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They're essentially saying, John, remember that man you were talking about?
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He's out there doing what we're doing, and now everybody is going to him instead of us.
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They seem concerned that Jesus is attracting more attention.
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And if we're honest, we can understand why they may feel like that.
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Imagine spending time working towards something, building a ministry, serving in a particular role.
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You've invested your time and energy into it, you've watched people respond to what you're doing.
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Then somebody else comes along the way and suddenly the attention starts shifting towards them.
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That can be difficult to deal with, honestly.
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Maybe you've experienced something similar at work.
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You've been putting in the effort doing what you're supposed to do and trying to make a difference.
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Then someone else gets recognized for their work and you start wondering why nobody seems to notice what you're doing.
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Maybe you've experienced it in school.
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You work hard on an assignment or a project, but someone else receives the praise.
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Or maybe you've experienced it in church or ministry.
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You volunteer, you serve every week, you show up when people need help.
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But then somebody gets the opportunity to lead, teach, preach, or take a role that you really want it.
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And instead of celebrating what God is doing, you start comparing yourself to them.
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You begin asking questions like, why them?
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Why not me?
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What do they have that I don't?
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Before long, someone somebody else's success starts to feel like your own failure.
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But here's something we need to understand.
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Someone else receiving recognition doesn't mean that God has forgotten about you.
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Their opportunity doesn't automatically mean your opportunity is gone.
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Their growth doesn't mean that you're failing.
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And their success doesn't take away the value of what God has called you to do.
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And that's exactly why John's response to his disciples is so powerful.
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They come to him concerned that Jesus is gaining followers, but but John doesn't react the way that we might expect.
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Earlier in John's gospel, he had already made it clear that he wasn't the Messiah.
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He was the one sent ahead to prepare the way for him.
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Now his disciples become concerned about Jesus receiving more attention.
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John doesn't forget his purpose.
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He recognizes that God is doing exactly what God intended to do from the beginning.
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And I think this is a lesson that we need to take seriously.
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Sometimes we become so focused on what we want to accomplish that we forget to ask whether we're making or we're actually seeking God's will.
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We start looking at our plans, our goals, our dreams, and our expectations.
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And when things don't happen the way that we thought they would, we become frustrated.
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We might even start believing that we're being overlooked.
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But what if the situation isn't about being overlooked at all?
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What if God is teaching us to be faithful in the place where He has us right now?
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What if the role we're serving in today is preparing us for something else tomorrow?
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And what if the person receiving the attention right now is simply doing the work God has given them to do?
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We don't always know how God is working behind the scenes.
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We don't know what he's doing in another person's life, and we don't know everything he might be teaching us through our own circumstances.
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But we can choose to be faithful with what he has placed in front of us.
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That doesn't mean we shouldn't have goals.
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It doesn't mean we shouldn't work hard, develop our abilities, or pursue opportunities.
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Those things can be good.
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The question is whether we're pursuing them with the right heart.
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Are we trying to use our abilities to serve God and other people?
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Or are we mainly trying to prove that we're important?
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Are we willing to serve when nobody else knows?
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Are we willing to help somebody else succeed without feeling like we need to receive some type of credit or some type of praise?
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Those questions reveal a lot about what motivates us.
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John then reminds his disciples that he reminds them of something that he had already told them.
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He's not the Messiah.
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He had been sent ahead of him.
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He wasn't competing with Jesus because Jesus was never his competition in the first place.
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John understood that his purpose was to prepare people for Jesus, not to build a following that would be his forever.
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In verse 29, he uses a picture of a wedding.
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He describes Jesus as the bridegroom and himself as the friend of the bridegroom.
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In a wedding, the bridegroom is the one who is getting married.
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The friend of the bridegroom has a different role.
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He can celebrate the wedding, support his friend, and share in the joy of the occasion.
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But the friend isn't supposed to take the place of the bridegroom.
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John says that the friend stands and listens for the groom's voice and he rejoices greatly because of it.
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That's John's attitude towards Jesus.
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He isn't disappointed that Jesus is receiving attention.
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He's glad because the groom has come.
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Think about how different that is from the way we sometimes respond to other people's success.
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We can find ourselves thinking that somebody else is somebody else is getting the opportunity and then somehow we've lost something.
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We can encourage somebody else's ministry.
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We can support what someone else is being called for.
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We can be happy that people are coming to know Jesus even if we're not the one standing in the front of the crowd.
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Because the goal was never supposed to be our recognition.
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The goal is that people come to know Jesus.
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And that brings us to the verse that gives us the episode of this title.
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John 3 and 30 says, He must become greater.
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I must become less.
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John isn't just saying that Jesus deserves more attention than he does.
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He's recognizing that Jesus must take the place that belongs to him.
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Jesus is a Messiah.
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John isn't.
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Jesus is the one who came to save people.
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John was sent to prepare the way for him.
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Jesus is the center of the story, and John understands that his own role is to point people toward him.
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That's why John can accept the fact that Jesus is receiving more attention.
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He knows that his ministry is accomplishing what it was supposed to accomplish.
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Now when we hear the words, I must become less, we need to understand that John is actually what we need to understand what John is actually saying.
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He isn't saying that he has no value.
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He isn't saying that God doesn't care about him.
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And he isn't saying that we should hate ourselves or pretend that our abilities and our gifts that God has given us don't matter.
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Christian humility isn't about believing that we're worthless.
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It's about understanding that we're not God, that our lives belong to Him, and that our gifts are meant to be used for His purpose.
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There is a difference between having confidence in what God has given you and believing that everything needs to be about you.
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You can recognize your ability without making them your identity.
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You can work hard without needing anybody to praise you.
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You can lead without needing to control everything.
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And you can serve faithfully without becoming upset when somebody else gets the credit.
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The issue isn't whether we have value, the issue is whether we're willing to put Jesus first.
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And that raises an important question.
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What does it actually look like for Jesus to become greater in our lives?
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And I think it begins with the way we make decisions.
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When Jesus becomes greater in our lives, his teachings they start carrying more weight in our personal preferences.
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Instead of asking only, what do I want to do?
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We begin by asking, what would it look like to honor Jesus in this situation?
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Instead of letting our feelings make every decision, we bring those feelings before God and allow his truth to guide us.
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That doesn't mean we have to stop having our own thoughts or desires.
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It means we recognize that Jesus has the authority to challenge them.
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Sometimes following him means doing something we don't feel like doing.
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Sometimes it means apologizing when we rather defend ourselves.
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Or forgiving somebody when holding on to the resentment feels easier.
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It means walking away from something we don't we want because we recognize that it's pulling us away from God.
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In those moments, Jesus becomes greater as we learn to trust Him more than we trust our own impulses.
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When everything revolves around us, we tend to view people according to what they can do for us.
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Transactional.
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We want them to notice us, appreciate us, agree with us, and make us feel important.
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But when we begin putting Jesus first, we start learning to love people without always asking what we're going to get in return.
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We become more willing to listen, encourage, serve, and forgive.
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We become less concerned with winning every argument or proving our point and you know just proving that we're right.
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And we we start to recognize that other people aren't obstacles standing between us and the life that we want.
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They are people God called us to love.
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And finally, it this affects the way that we handle recognition.
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This is where John's example really challenges me.
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It's another to believe when when something else is getting attention that we want it.
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It's easy to talk about serving God when people appreciate our efforts.
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But can we keep serving when no, when nobody notices?
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Can we encourage someone else when they're succeeding in an area where we want where we feel like we're falling behind?
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We can celebrate what God is doing through someone else without feeling the need to remind everyone what we've done.
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Those moments reveal whether we're serving Jesus because we love him or because we love what serving him does for our reputation.
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And I think we need to be honest with ourselves about that.
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Sometimes we can do the right thing, but for the wrong reason.
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We can volunteer because we want people to think that we're dependable.
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We can take on leadership because we enjoy having influence.
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We can even do ministry because we want people to recognize us as quote unquote spiritual.
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The activity might look good from the outside, but God cares about our hearts.
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John reminds us that Jesus must become greater and that we must become less.
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Our pride needs to become less important.
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Our need for recognition needs to become less controlling.
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And our desire to have everything go our way needs to give way to a willingness to follow Jesus.
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Think about that.
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As we close today.
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Episodes.
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I want us to think about the example John the Baptist gives us.
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His disciples were worried that Jesus was receiving more attention.
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They saw people going to Jesus and they seemed to think that this was a problem.
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But John didn't see it that way.
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He understood his calling, he knew that he wasn't the Messiah and recognized that Jesus deserved the attention because Jesus was the one God had sent.
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John wasn't trying to build a name for himself.
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He was preparing people to meet Jesus.
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And when Jesus began receiving the attention, John rejoiced.
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That's the kind of attitude we should want to develop in our lives.
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We don't have to compete with everyone around us.
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We don't have to treat somebody else's success as our failure.
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We don't have to make every situation about proving our worth or getting the recognition that we think that we deserve.
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Instead, we can focus on being faithful to what God has placed in front of us.
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So, as we typically do uh after these episodes, I want to leave us with three questions to think about uh in the in-between time for the rest of our days as you're going to work or as you're just spending quiet time, just just reflect on these three questions.
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One, how do I respond when someone else gets the attention that I wanted?
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Two, what is one area of my life where I need to let Jesus have greater influence?
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And three, am I more concerned with people noticing me or with people seeing Jesus through me?
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Think about those this week and for the rest of the day.
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It's possible to spend a lot of time doing good things while still wanting all the attention to come back to us.
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But John shows us a different way to live.
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He understood that his life had a purpose, and that purpose was connected to something greater than himself.
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He didn't need to be the Messiah.
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He didn't need to be the most popular teacher, he didn't need to keep people focused on him.
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He needed to be faithful to his calling and point people toward Jesus.
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That's what I hope that we can learn to do as well.
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Whether you're serving in a church, working a regular job, going to school, raising a family, or simply just trying to figure out what the next season of your life looks like, you can live in a way that points people toward Jesus.
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You don't have to stand behind a pulpit to do that.
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You don't have to stand on a stage to do that.
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You can point people toward Jesus through the way you treat them, the way you handle difficult situations, and the way you respond when you're wrong.
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Thank you for joining me today on the Narrow Path podcast.
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And we will continue to read through John.
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Looking forward to the next episode, and I hope that we can just continue to reflect on this because Jesus must become greater, and we must become less.