4. "He Must
Increase, but I Must Decrease"... John 3.30
This last passage that we
will be studying from John 3 could very easily constitute a fourth
point for the last lesson..."He must increase...".
It's introduced by the fact that Jesus and His disciples had returned
to Judea from Jerusalem (see 2.13), to an area near where John (the
Baptist) was baptizing, at Aenon (3.13). As you recall, Jesus had spent
some time with Nicodemus trying to explain some spiritual truths,
particularly the fact that he must be born again, as well as the love which God has for His creation, along with the state of condemnation which
rests upon the heads of those outside the Kingdom of God.
Now for Jesus, being "born
again" was not an end in itself, and I trust that every
Christian who reads this study is aware of that fact as well! The
second birth is the required experience for entry into God's
kingdom, as we saw in vs. 3. The kingdom was a state of being, for
John and the disciples, and it should be for us, too. That is,
living our lives for the Lord God, as part of His creation, in the way He
intended for us from day one! But just as with Nick, we have a
decision to make, and "thank you, Jesus!", that decision
can, according to the truth of God's word, result in light and life,
and a testimony of the very works of Lord God Almighty (vs. 21)!
Now testimony is worth
hearing...you can ask any judge in our legal system and he'll confirm
it. The fact is, it's worth hearing the facts, even if sometimes,
they're hard to hear! So we have in this portion of
John 3, three testimonies concerning our Lord, which are certainly
worthy of our attention, the first being that..
(a) Jesus is
controversial, vss. 22-26
As this scripture
indicates, Jesus began His ministry in earnest by baptizing (perhaps;
see 4.2), along with His disciples...just down the river from John
(the Baptist), so that as a result, there came to be a bit of an
overlap of their two ministries. You can well imagine how the
tongues would be wagging today, in similar circumstances! However,
just because the two preachers weren't working together, didn't mean
they were working against one another, but it is obvious that
this was the way some were interpreting it. We read in vs. 25 that an
argument had developed between some of John's disciples and the Jewish
religionists, so they brought the matter to John's attention, hoping
for clarification.
Now, of couse, we know for
a fact that Jesus and John shared the same agenda. They were both
working to the same end...that is, spreading the message of
repentance, and baptizing those who repented. So why all the fuss?
Well, as we're told in vs. 26, it was a matter of
one-up-manship..."My preacher is better than your preacher!" and "Our crowd is larger that your crowd!" John's disciples were afraid that, because of Jesus' growing
popularity, and the fact that He was baptizing more than John, or
that His baptism may be better that John's, they soon could be
pounding the pavement looking for other employment; after all, as it
also states in vs. 26..."all men" were now going to Jesus!
Of course, they were aware of John's earlier testimony of Jesus'
heavenly calling, as we read in ch. 1, but now, Jesus had become the
competition, with a capital "C"! John had given Jesus His
big break into the evangelism business and had even shared his
territory with Him, but now things were starting to get out of
control, from those disciples' point-of-view!
How do you suppose those
well-meaning disciples allowed themselves to get into such a state?
Well, Jesus was no stranger to controversy (remember 2.15?), and
neither is the church...especially when it comes to the effectiveness
of our witness; when it comes to the matter of leading the lost to
Jesus. I know for a fact that many of our pastors wear as a badge of honour, the number of men, women and children they have won to
Christ throughout the years of their ministries; and many Christians
rejoice right out loud about the numbers of people walking the aisles
of their churches! But instead of our rejoicing right along with
them, our teeth are set on edge with all the sour grapes!
These things are not
worldly matters, to arouse our carnal natures, but spiritual
victories, intended to arouse our joy in the work of the Lord! This
is one of the areas where we Christians need to discipline ourselves,
along with those disciples of John, to see that although the Lord's
work can, and does arouse controversy, the church's goal is in
common, rather than in our own particular interests.
There was no room for
prejudice in Jesus' day, and neither is there today, in the area of
the Lord's work. But this seemingly negative result is easily
cleared-up by the next testimony found in this lesson, and that is
that...
To be continued...!
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