He Must Increase; I Must Decrease (The Book of John #18)

ATTN: As I watching the Winter Olympics NBC, one of the comments that a commentator made as the scene of hundreds of Korean women drummers beating on the drum in perfect unison, “This is a country that puts the emphasis on “We”, more than “I”. The value is on collectivism rather than individualism. And I think that’s a correct assessment. One of the reasons why at our church, we emphasize the group more than the individual is I’m sure owning to the fact that I grew up in the East. But really because we believe it to be biblical. But even more than the group, there is something else that has to come before all things. And that is God. So, I’d put it this way. These are the questions that different cultures ask. In the west, we are asking:  What’s in it for me? In the East, they are asking: What’s in it for us? But neither is really Christian. Christians are those who are asking: What’s in it for Him? We come to the passage in John 3 where it describes a man who was asking such a question – John the Baptist.  

 

RECAP: But let me rewind and recap a little. For last several weeks, we’ve been looking at the conversation that Jesus had with a pharisee named Nicodemus. He came to see Jesus in the middle of the night and Jesus goes straight to the point and tells him that he must be born again. And we said being born again is having a completely new heart with new loves and a new purpose. And that happens not through our effort but the free-willing Spirit of God. We do not make ourselves born again any more than a baby decides to make himself be born. Then, we dealt with a question of why God doesn’t save everyone. And we said that’s the wrong question because the right question is why does God save anyone? God would have been perfectly just if He let all of us perish since that is what we deserved, but the wonder of wonders is that He decided to save some of us through the only means possible – and that is having His only Son be sacrificed for us. And so men and women of any condition in any era in any place can believe in Him and receive eternal life. But we have also learned that not everyone will believe. And that’s because of what they love. They loved the darkness of the world more than the light of God.

Please remember that all this took place in a conversation with a pharisee, who generally loved the darkness more than the light. And as if to say, “Now that I’ve shown you an example of a person who loved the darkness, let me show you a person who loves the light”, the book immediately turns to John the Baptist. What does he look like? What’s a person who loves God more than the world or more than himself look like? John the Baptist said those famous and awesome words: “He must increase; I must decrease.” How did John the Baptist demonstrate this?  

 

1. By deflecting attention away from the self unto Christ.

Listen to how John the baptist speaks when asked by his disciples about Jesus: 31 He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. 33 Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. 34 For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.

Isn’t that very different from how most of our conversations go? Our conversations are filled with “I’s” John the Baptist is all about “He!” If John the baptist had a smartphone and he was taking a selfie, he would not put himself in the picture. It would be all Jesus. He was deflecting attention away from the self unto Jesus. And this in front of his own disciples who loved and respected him. But at this point he is pointing to Jesus as his superior. That is how he increased the value and reputation of Jesus above himself. And this is highly unnatural!

We are born with greater self-love than any other love. That is why we never need to be taught to love ourselves. The greatest love of all is not learning to love ourselves because we all do that already. When Jesus said, “love your neighbor as you love yourself,” He’s assuming that we all love ourselves. We come out of the womb loving ourselves. It comes naturally. But we DO need to be taught to love other because that’s not natural for us. But as long as we love ourselves more than anything, we are still in our natural state and not born again. When we become born again, our greatest love changes from self-love to God-love – we love God more than anything else, especially more than the self. Our eyes open up to the worth and beauty of God who is so much greater than us. Until then, we are intoxicated with ourselves.

ILL: The Winter Olympics is in full swing now and just look at the faces of the athletes who performed first and they are standing in first place. But as other athletes overtake them in points and replace them in the standings, how crestfallen their faces become. Why? Self-love. They want themselves to win more than anyone else. That’s natural.

Now, to be fair, human beings are the most marvelous of all creations. Even God looked at the humans and realized their potential. (verse) C.S. Lewis: “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”

So, no wonder we are in love with ourselves. We are indeed marvelous and wonderful beings. And unless something drastic happens, we will die loving ourselves and ONLY ourselves – thinking that we are greatest. But being born again means that we see reality for what it is. We see ourselves in respect to God who alone is the greatest being there is – far above and beyond ourselves. As a matter of fact, the only reason we ever thought that we were great is because we resemble the one truly great. He is the original. We are just bad copies. He is the 4k OLED definition TV. We are just Standard Definition black and white TV…

APP: But even for those of us who are born again, the sin residue remains and we gravitate inwardly toward the self. So, we ought to consciously put our thoughts and affections on God. Count how many times you say “I” in a normal conversation. How often you are waiting for the other person to stop talking so that you can get your opinion in since your opinion is so much weightier than theirs…

Introverts: Instead of asking, “What will people think of me if I said this?” ask, “What will people think of Jesus if I said this?”

Extroverts: You tend to speak your mind and you are proud. Do your words and the way you do it bring honor to Christ? Perhaps you should talk less and listen more?  

 

2.By defining success according to God’s definition.

John the baptist elevated Jesus by adapting God’s definition of success rather than the world’s. What was it? In v. 26, his disciples just told him, I paraphrase, “Mr. John the Baptist sir, another pastor named Jesus, well, his church is growing fast while yours is shrinking. He’s getting more followers on his tweets and your followers are dropping out!” What does John the baptist say about this?

27 John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. 28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ This was John the Baptist’s definition of success: Accepting the role God gave you gladly and being faithful to it. John told his disciples that his role is one thing and Jesus’ role is another. He knew he shouldn’t be the focal point. He knew he was just a setup man for Jesus. And as long as he did that well, then his mission was accomplished. In other words, he was a success when he carried out the role that God had given him to fulfill.

Most of us, even Christians, do not have a clear definition of success. We simply assume the world’s definition of success. Bigger, more, and higher is automatically associated with success. But is it? While I was meditating on the Old Testament prophets, this thought came me. Comparing Jonah and Isaiah. Do you remember them? Jonah was the prophet that God called to preach to the Ninevites. But he hated them so much that he went the opposite way, essentially disobeying God. Only when he was swallowed by a fish and spent 3 days in the belly of the fish does he decide to go and do what God told him to do. And when he does, a revival breaks out among the Ninevites. The whole nation turns to God in repentance! And Jonah wasn’t happy because he still hated them. Now, the prophet Isaiah was the opposite. He volunteers for God’s service. When God asks, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Isaiah raises his hands and says, “Here I am! Send me!” But do you know God tells him to? “Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” (Isaiah 6:9) Here’s what I wrote in my journal: God called a reluctant prophet (Jonah) to cause a revival (success in the world’s eyes). God called a willing and eager prophet to cause a decline (failure in world’s eyes). In other words, God called a disobedient prophet to a great success in the world’s eyes, but he called a willing and tender hearted prophet to fail in the world’s eyes. But who was truly successful in God’s eyes? The one who willingly obeyed God’s calling in Isaiah although he would be rejected and his messages not heeded…

APP:  What is the role God wants you to fulfil? Do you know your place? Are you faithful to it? Perhaps your role is to be a good dad to your growing number of children. Perhaps your role is to be a stay-at-home mom. Perhaps your role is to be a para-educator to one child. Perhaps your role is to be a Sunday School teacher to 5 children in your class… If you gladly accept your role and are faithful to it, then no matter what the world says, no matter how you feel about it, you are a success!

Look at the life of John the Baptist. Jesus paid him the highest compliment by saying, “among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.” (Matt 11:11) John the baptist was a great success! But how did John the Baptist’s life end? Penniless. Never married, and died early with his head chopped off because of a dancing teenage girl! That doesn’t seem like success, does it? Not according to world’s definition of success. But he was great success in God’s eyes – because he accomplished the very thing that he was called for. And when his mission was accomplished, God took him home. What a great success story!  

 

3. Altar your source of happiness (v. 29)

Another way John elevated Jesus above himself is by accepting and carrying out his role GLADLY. He did it joyfully and not begrudgingly. V. 29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete.

It wouldn’t bring much glory to Jesus if John the Baptist played the role of being a setup man for Jesus begrudgingly and reluctantly. How would it look if the person who knew the speaker and is introducing the main speaker wasn’t very stoked about the speaker? That’s not bringing glory to the speaker. John, as the setup man, though did it joyfully and gladly. He was happy being a side-kick. He knew he was not the star. He didn’t want to be the star. He wanted the Star (Jesus) to shine and not him. And he took delight in this.

But how? How can he and how can we do this? It is just natural that even if our best friend has it better than we do, we get jealous and unhappy. How many of us congratulated our friends on the outside on their promotion, a new job, a new house, a new car, but on the inside, we were really jealous and we thought that it really should’ve been us? How can we be genuinely happy when someone else gets the limelight? It only becomes possible when we love that person more than we love ourselves. In the Old Testament, when David was anointed the next king instead of the prince of the land in Jonathan, Jonathan rejoiced and gladly gave him his robe and his sword – symbols of kingship. Why? How? Because he loved him more than he loved himself. Unlike his father saul, who clearly loved himself more than he loved David.

ILL: I love my children. Do you know how to really compliment me? Don’t praise me. Praise my children. It would be an insult to me if you said, “Pastor Hong, you are a great man, but your children are trash…” On the other hand if you said to me, “Pastor Hong, you are okay, but your children are so delightful and wonderful,” I would be happy. I love my children more than I love myself and therefore, when you praise my children over me, I’m happy.

John the baptist not only accepted the role and was faithful to it, but he was glad in it. He was joyful for the privilege of being the herald for the greatest news there ever was. And the good news was not himself, but Jesus. Perhaps this is why Jesus’ assessment of John was so high. He completely emptied himself and became one heart with God such that he rejoiced when God was praised and he was not. He knew he would receive the praise of God later for being a faithful servant and that’s all that mattered to him.

APP: What if we loved God this way. What if we loved one another this way? What will it take for us to be happier when God gets the glory at our expense? What will it take for us to genuinely desire other’s well-being over against ours? Is it possible? No. not in our natural strength. We cannot will ourselves to do it. But in born-again children of God, this is expected.

Pray – Let me see your beauty. Overshadow my self-love with love for you. Overshadow my little light with your blinding beaming light. Oh God let me not be preoccupied with myself! Let me not be stuck in a little world where I am the greatest! I want the greatest to be the greatest. Let me be so overwhelmed with your light that I would take my eyes off me, forget me, and be filled with you!