Convictions of a Christ-absorbed Ministry

Let me have you, turn in your Bibles to John 3. John chapter 3 for our time of study. In God's word this morning. Just so, I've not really explained this up to this point, but I'm not intending to do a series through the entire Gospel of John.

but my intent here is to study John chapter 3 and 4, and to observe two encounters that Jesus has with two. very different people with Nicodemus, a religious lost Pharisee, and the Samaritan woman in John 4, a woman who was quasi-religious and immoral. Two very different people, Jesus engages them both about their condition before God, and we are seeking to learn from Jesus. We're trying to sit next to him as he engages these two individuals.

with the claims of, of Christ. We're at an interesting stage in our journey as a church, and I feel like even in my own development and evolution as a, pastor, I was telling people in the first service, I know I said this years ago, but I think I'm about a year away from being a good pastor. So I'm, I'm getting there. But with our move to Barnes looming before us, coming up later this year, there are some things that I'm trying to wrap my mind around and understand better, things that I'm trying to figure out and learn, and a number of the passages that we've been looking at in recent months and now here in John 3 is my attempt to do that for myself and for us as a church body.

there's a sense in which I would say I'm trying to find fully my voice and trying to clarify what our voice as a corporate body is as we seek to engage the lost not only individually as we reach out to other people, but also corporately when we gather together on Sunday mornings and And what have you. And I just can't think of a, a better way to clarify our voice to that end than to sit next to Jesus and passages like John 3 and John 4 and to listen to him as he speaks to Nicodemus and to the Samaritan woman and to find our voice and the clarity of that in his voice.

We've looked at Jesus' full interaction with Nicodemus. We wrapped that up last week.

and in chapter 4, we're going to soon begin looking at Jesus' engagement with the Samaritan woman. But sandwiched in between these two encounters, are some, is an incident that includes some words from John the Baptist that provides us a wonderful perspective. On how to think about Christian ministry, and how to think about and process those who are coming to Jesus. In fact, it's interesting in John 3:2, Nicodemus is introduced to us with the text telling us that this man came to Jesus by night.

In John 4:7 with the Samaritan woman, it says, and there came a woman of Samaria to draw water, and Jesus was sitting there and begins to converse with her. And by the time he's done conversing with her, she goes out to the people in her town, and she says to them in John 4:29-30, come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done. This is not the Christ, is it? And they went out of the city, and they were coming to him, just a stream of people coming to Jesus.

These types of scenes, Nicodemus coming to Jesus by night and the woman of Samaria coming to Jesus, and now crowds of people coming to Jesus. These are thrilling developments. But it may surprise you to know that not everyone is happy. With this in John chapter 3.

And you might say, well, yeah, Jesus' enemies are not happy with it. Actually, the text that we're going to look at today, of all things, it's some of John the Baptist disciples that aren't happy with this. They're going to utter a complaint in John 3:26, look at the bottom of the screen, they're going to come to John the Baptist and complain to him saying, behold, all are coming to him. And we'll unpack that a little bit in just a moment, but this is a bitter complaint.

That they are voicing to John the Baptist, and John the Baptist is going to respond to this complaint in a way that's going to help us to think rightly about people coming to Christ and our ministry to help people to come to Christ and how to go about doing that in a way that is not characterized by pettiness and small-mindedness, self-absorption, and jealousy. Am I loud to you guys? A little bit. Is there someone up there that can turn me down?

OK. I don't see anyone. Anyway, in Philippians 1:27. Paul speaks of some who were proclaiming Christ out of selfish ambition.

and not out of pure motives. That should strike us as very interesting teaching us that it's possible to engage in ministry and to do the ministry of proclaiming Christ, but to do so out of selfish ambition, out of impure motives, and as a church, especially We think about, us as a church possibly reaching more people, we, we don't, we don't want to just be a church that's proclaiming Christ. We know from Philippians one, that's not good enough. We need to be a church that is proclaiming Christ out of pure motives.

And not in a way that is sullied by selfish ambition. And John the Baptist sets a wonderful example of that ministry, for us. Like, let me, let me just start off if I can. by just sharing with you a moment in my ministry where selfish ambition raised its ugly head., I've been serving as a pastor here at Cornerstone for 22 years now, and the Cornerstone was a church of about 80 people on Sunday mornings when I first, started preaching here back in July of 1991.

And when I became pastor in January of '92, for a number of years, I was the only staff pastor that was here. So a lot of the load of ministry was on, on my shoulders. about 16 years ago, Alvin Davis, a member of our church, just told me over the phone, one day that the Lord was calling him to come alongside of me in the ministry here and to help out in any way that was needful. I couldn't believe my good fortune.

and soon he started showing up at the office and was doing that and proved himself to be a tremendous asset to the ministry here as he proves to be to this day. He made up his job description as he went, and I watched him become more meaningfully involved in the lives of an increasing number of people. It was a few months into his new role. that there was a man in our church at the time who was going through some marital difficulties, and on, on one particular day, I was standing in the office lobby just outside my office talking with Alvin.

This brother in the church, had come home to his wife and his wife announced to him, basically saying, I'm done with this marriage. This brother with a heart full of pent up emotion, turned around and, walked towards his car in the driveway, drove to the church as quickly as he could, pulled into the church parking lot, and approached the door of the office downstairs. He then opened the door. When he opened the door, he saw Alvin and I standing there talking with one another.

As soon as he saw us, this brother made a beeline for Alvin. And he wrapped his arms around Alvin's neck and literally, I'm not exaggerating, he bawled. He sobbed for anywhere from 3 to 5 minutes, just holding on to Alvin, crying into Alvin's shoulder, and it was very prolonged. And I was waiting for him to release Alvin and hug me and cry into my shoulder, and he never did.

He just held on to Alvin. And kept crying. And as I stood there just a few feet away, I found myself battling with an unexpected sin. The sin of jealousy.

And I was asking myself, why is this guy crying into Alvin's shoulder and not mine? How petty is that? This man's marriage is falling apart, and I'm fuming over which shoulder this guy is. Crying on, but I honestly found myself wishing this guy had made a beeline for me.

Battle lines quickly formed in my heart as I toggled back and forth between the sin of jealousy and rejoicing over Alvin's ministry in this brother's life. I've been a pastor here for 22 years and I, without any hesitation would say that that moment with that battle ranks in the top 5 most important moments in my years of ministry. The outcome of that little battle in my heart would have huge ramifications on the road ahead. In the moment, as I'm wrestling with the sin of jealousy, the Lord did not speak audibly, but the basic message that the Lord seemed to give me in that moment was this, Milton, if you want to share the responsibilities of ministry, then you must share the blessings of ministry.

And if you refuse to share the blessings of ministry, then you will have to bear the responsibilities of ministry all by yourself. And Cornerstone will never grow any larger than Milton's gifts. Milton's abilities, Milton's reach. Cornerstone will never grow any larger than the ability of Milton's shoulders.

To handle I decided then and there I just renounced this ugly sin. of jealousy as I stood there and began to genuinely rejoice in the place that Alvin had assumed in this brother's life. And a couple of weeks later, I approached Alvin and said, Dude, I've got some sin to confess to you, and A couple of weeks ago, I felt jealousy in my heart when this moment occurred and this brother came in, but I shared with him how God had delivered me from my small-mindedness and from my pettiness and took me into a deeper appreciation of what it means to truly have a shared ministry.

Over the years, the ministry since then, the ministry of Cornerstone.

Has been spread out increasingly amongst the staff and the elders and the care group leaders, the responsibilities and the blessings of ministry are being shared by an increasing number of people, and that is exactly as it should be. Otherwise, Cornerstone would be a church of 80 people, no bigger than Milton's reach. When our passage today in John 3, we, we're not really reading the text expecting to encounter this lesson, but it's just so here, for us, speaking to our heart on a deep level, but we find John the Baptist experiencing a moment similar to what I experienced about 15 years ago down in the office lobby and John the Baptist handled this moment.

With far more beauty.

Then I handled my moments, and he handled this moment without the slightest whiff of jealousy and small-mindedness. And the reason for that is because John the Baptist was totally absorbed with Jesus Christ, totally absorbed with Jesus and his ministry of proclaiming Christ was never out of selfish ambition, but it was always and only for the glory of Christ. Let's begin reading in verse 22 and we'll, establish the scene. Verse 22, it says, and after these things, Jesus and his disciples came into the land of Judea, and there he was spending time with them and baptizing.

So we got Jesus who's in this region and he's baptizing, or his disciples actually are. verse 23, John, John the Baptist was also baptizing in Annon near Selim. So, all I think you really need to get is they're geographically pretty close to one another right now. And John was baptizing there because there was much water there, and people were coming and being baptized.

So there were people coming to John at this point, and being baptized, for John had not yet been thrown into prison. Therefore, and you might want to mark that word therefore, the idea is because Jesus and John, and their disciples were ministering in close proximity geographically to one another, there arose, we don't know. The exact nature of this dispute. We know the topic, we don't really know exactly what the argument was.

But it arose from the fact that Jesus and his disciples and John and his disciples were ministering and baptizing. In close proximity to one another geographically. Therefore, there arose a discussion or a dispute, an argument on the part of John's disciples with a Jew about purification. Again, we don't know what that is, but we know it's tied to something to do with Jesus because They're going to bring this dispute to John the Baptist, and they don't voice it in a way that we would expect.

We're led to believe that we're about to hear them ask John a question having something to do with purification, but look at what they come to John with. And they came to John and said to him, Rabbi, he, Jesus, who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, he is baptizing, and all are coming to him. That's what they bring to John the Baptist. Notice the exaggeration.

They're not rejoicing in this. Just wherever these disciples are at the moment, this is not one of their most honorable moments. They're, they're fuming over this. Every commentator you're going to read will tell you that they're seized with jealousy.

At this point, small-mindedness, pettiness, and notice the exaggeration that we're, that we're prone to engage in when we're feeling this way. They say all are coming to him. Well, the text has already told us that there were people coming to John the Baptist and being baptized, but they're like, everyone's going to Jesus. And I would imagine if any that were coming to John heard that, they would have been like, well, what are we, chopped liver?

Not everyone is going to Jesus right now. We're here. But in their frustration, they say to John, everyone is going to Jesus. This is a critical moment, John.

The Baptist used to be the only baptizer. But now Jesus and his disciples are baptizing. And again, we know from John later that Jesus was not baptizing, just his disciples. But they represent Jesus' baptizing here.

And they're ministering and baptizing in an area close to John and his disciples. They're invading John's turf. As it were, if someone wanted to view it darkly and cynically as these disciples of John may have been inclined to do in the moment, people used to flock to John the Baptist by the 1,000s and 10,000s, but now, John's numbers are dwindling, and they are only getting smaller. Jesus' numbers, as it were, are growing larger and more and more people are coming to Jesus.

John is not frustrated by this, but his disciples in this particular moment of weakness are, and they come to John and complain to him about this. This is the voice of complaint. He is baptizing, and everyone is coming to him. John is going to respond to this beginning in verse 27.

And in responding, John the Baptist speaks incredibly beautiful words. One writer, FF Bruce says that these words, beginning in verse 27, These words of John the Baptist form surely one of the greatest utterances that ever fell from human lips. You won't find in ancient or modern literature more selflessness than what you find here in these verses. Essentially, John the Baptist gives expression to 4 Christ absorbed convictions.

that we should embrace and give voice to as well. These are the convictions that lay underneath John the Baptist ministry that drove him. These were his compass. It is these convictions that gave direction to his ministry and that Made John the Baptist and his ministry truly great.

What we'll do with the time we have is we're going to unpack these four convictions, convictions of a Christ-absorbed ministry, not a selfishly ambitious ministry, a ministry that is Christ-focused and focused on helping people to come to Jesus. The first of these convictions, let's word it this way. is those who come to Christ have been given to him by God. You want to know the way John the Baptist thinks, what makes him tick?

One of his fundamental beliefs is that anyone who comes to Jesus Christ, they've been given to Jesus by God. John answered and said a man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. John's disciples have just said to John, all are coming to him, all are coming to Jesus. John answers that complaint by saying a man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from God.

At the very least, What John is saying is that anyone that is coming to Jesus, whom Jesus is right now receiving, and having his disciples baptized, have been given to Jesus by God. Heaven here in this passage is a metonym, just another word for God. John is acquiescing to God's sovereign choice. In this matter, and John is more than content with that.

He looks at the people that are coming to Jesus, and he sees the Father bringing gifts, the gifts of people to Jesus, and John is not jealous of Jesus for the gifts of people that the Father is bringing to him. Based on this thought alone, we can take some encouragement, can we not? And the thought that those who come to Jesus. And believe in Him, they are gifts from the Father to Jesus.

That means if you have believed in Jesus, you are A gift from the Father to Jesus. Yes, you are God's gift to Jesus. And he is God's gift to you. And when the Father brings us to Jesus, Jesus says to the Father, thank you for this gift.

In John 6:44, Jesus says, no one can come to me. Unless the Father who sent me draws him, so anyone that actually comes to Jesus, it's the Father that brought them, that drew them. No one comes on their own. Later in John 10:29, Jesus is speaking about his sheep, and he says, My Father's given them to me.

No one just up and decides to be my sheep. No, the Father gives me those who will be my sheep, causing them to be born again, and, and he draws them to me. We can also be encouraged in the thought that the people who come to Jesus through the ministry of Cornerstone now, those who come to Jesus through the ministry of Cornerstone in the months and the years to come, they are gifts from the Father to Jesus. It's not merely about us going and finding people and reaching people for Christ, even though that's legitimate language to use.

It's about us serving as a means for a gift exchange. We facilitate the gift exchange from God the Father to God the Son as the Father is bringing people to His Son. We give the gift of Christ to others, and we play a role in the process of them being brought to and presented to Jesus as a gift to him. And so our ministry should be all about seeing people being given to Jesus by the Father.

Amen. This helps us in the way that we do ministry. There are some ministries that they just want as bigger numbers as possible of those who make commitments to Christ and they will use whatever means to emotionally manipulate people into decisions for Christ. I do believe people should make decisions for Christ.

A decision to call upon his name and to believe, in. Him, but this humbles us. This, this truth that John is giving expression to humbles us and letting us know that no, at the end of the day, this is who the Father brings to Jesus. We don't make this happen.

We have a role to play, and God has called us to play that role. But ultimately, anyone who comes to Jesus, the Father gets the glory for that. He brought them to Jesus. John the Baptist is speaking generically enough also to include himself in this.

He says a man can receive nothing unless it's been given to him from heaven. John is looking at dwindling numbers, and he sees growing numbers going to Jesus and dwindling numbers coming to him. But John's like, what, the people that are coming to me, even though the numbers are less than they used to be, I'm going to receive them. It's the Father bringing them to me, and I'm going to use the opportunity to point them to Jesus.

John the Baptist attitude is if God the Father brings me 100 people that I can point to Jesus, and he wants to send 2000 people to Jesus or 10,000, that's OK with me. That's God's sovereign choice. Our attitude needs to be that if God wants to send 500 people to Jesus through Cornerstone for us to minister to, then We should celebrate the sovereign choice of God. If God wants to send 2000 people to another faithful church, geographically in close proximity to Cornerstone, we should rejoice in that and pray for that church and not give way to the small-minded, petty jealousy.

That We can easily give way to. John has none of this. He's like, Hey, God is sovereign. God is in control of this.

Those who come to Jesus have been given to him by God. That's his first conviction that he expresses. His second conviction is this, there's only one Christ, and it is not I. There's only one savior, there's only one Messiah.

There's only one Christ. And it's not I, John the Baptist says. He says, you yourselves are my witnesses. You guys really know better than to come to me complaining about what you're complaining about.

This is actually consistent with things that I've said to you already, some of which is recorded in John chapter one. You are my witnesses that I said, I am not the Christ. But I have been sent ahead of him. Now it might seem like a no brainer to you and to me for John the Baptist to say, That he was not the Messiah.

but actually this is very significant. John the Baptist had people who actually mistook him for the Messiah. They thought that John the Baptist, quite possibly was the Messiah. In Luke 3, the text tells us that people were gathering around John the Baptist and And there was a feeling of wonder and anticipation about John and his ministry.

And it says in Luke 3:15, the people were in a state of expectation and all were wondering in their hearts about John as to whether he might be the Christ. And in John chapter 1 verse 19, John knew that people were thinking this to such a degree that in John 1:19, Some religious leaders come to him and say, Who are you? And John says, I'm not the Christ. OK., in my 22 years of ministry, no one has ever mistook me.

For being the Christ. I've never felt, hi, my name is Milton Vincent, and just to let, I'm not the Messiah. I like, I've never, there, I've never felt the need to do that. I've never sensed that anyone was like looking at me like, I wonder if this is the Messiah.

but people did mistake John the Baptist for the Messiah. Imagine how much of a heady experience. That would be and a temptation to maybe just ride that. A little bit and go along with that.

Thousands of people coming out into the wilderness to see and hear you preach, and that a part of the reason they're coming out is because they're thinking quite possibly that you are the Messiah. John the Baptist, on top of this sensation he created of people wondering if he was the Christ, he was an amazing man. He was called by God to be the forerunner of the Messiah. Not just anyone would be given that task.

He came according to scripture in the spirit and the power of Elijah, the greatest of Israel's prophets, that spirit of Elijah was on him. John the Baptist's birth, his conception of birth was announced by an angel. And if you Was your birth announced by an angel? John the Baptist, according to Luke chapter one, was filled with the spirit in his mother's womb.

Any of you filled with the spirit in your mother's womb I don't, there's no one else of whom this thing is said. he leaped in his mother's womb when his mother Elizabeth heard the voice of Mary. who was the mother of Jesus. this guy was filled with the spirit when he was a fetus.

And on top of that, he gets high praise. From many people, but he gets the highest praise from Jesus. In Matthew 11:11, Jesus says, Truly, truly this is one of his truly, truly statements. Truly, I say to you, among those born of women, there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist.

He's the greatest that's ever been born of women. That's very high praise. There are many people, I don't know if any of us in this room. could have handled such accolades, could have handled such messianic opinions that people wrongly might attach to us.

But John the Baptist handled it well whenever and wherever necessary. He went about telling people that he was not the Messiah. John was not only faithful to tell people that Jesus was the Messiah, but he also was faithful to tell people that he himself was not. The Messiah.

John did this even at the very height during the heady days of the height of his ministry, which is why now he's not having a lot of trouble in the dying days. The diminishing days of his ministry. Now, there is something I think we can take away from this. while probably most of us in this room have never had someone come up and ask us, are you, are you the Messiah?

I and my family have been wondering about you. Are you the Christ? Are you the Messiah? While that's never happened to any of us in this room, there are ways.

That people can put messianic type of expectations on us, and they can view us more highly than they ought to view us. And sometimes the temptation might be for us. To ride that And go along with that and not attack that and put that fire out of those messianic expectations that others may put on us. Sometimes we may be guilty of putting messianic expectations upon another person, be it our spouse.

or a pastor, or a friend. And when we do that, we put a person on a pedestal, and we place the burden of deity upon them, and we serve them poorly, and we put them and ourselves in grave jeopardy when we do that. In our ministry to other people, we need to do more than just tell people who Christ is. We need to tell them that we are not.

The Christ. We aren't God We aren't anyone's savior. And we need to do this to serve people so that they don't put messianic expectations upon us, and to prevent us from ever doing that to other people. Just real quick, Peter and John, they heal a lame man at the temple.

And in the power of Jesus. And Peter notices this guy's running and dancing around and everyone starts gathering around Peter and John. And Peter notices the look in people's eyes, like they're looking at us funny, like there's something unusual or special about us, and we'd better attack that. So in Acts 3:12, Peter says, men of Israel, why do you gaze at us?

As if by our own power or piety, we had made him walk. Let me tell you who made this man walk, and he begins to preach Jesus to them. He deflected their attention. And their wrongly high opinion of him and John.

And pointed them to Jesus saying, he's the one that you should be thinking these thoughts of. In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul does the same. There were people in the Corinthian church. Some were saying, I'm a Paul, others, I'm a Cephas, others, I'm of Apollo, and Paul could have written, The letter saying, let me show you why you should be a Paul.

Or I'm sure if Paul looked hard enough, he could have found some faults with Cephas and Apollo. And he could have been subtle, like, come on, guys, you shouldn't be this way. I know Peter's got his problems and Apollo has his problems, and get a little dig in here and there to just the candlelight of Cephas and Apollo a little bit to where he's just, keeping everyone looking more highly, thinking more highly of him than they should. He could have given way to that, but he doesn't.

He takes a stand with the other men. That were in this supposed competition, and he cites Apollo as an example, and he says, when one says I'm of Paul and another, I am of Apollo, are you not mere men? What then is Apollo and what is Paul? We're just servants through whom you believe, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one.

We're just servants, and it's God. Who gives us the opportunity, I planted Apollo watered, but God was causing the growth. Look at verse 7. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything.

He's saying, we're not only just servants, we're nothing. We are nothing, but it's God who is everything who causes the growth, and he is the one that all glory should go to. Paul does not lower their estimation of Apollo or Cephas. No, he stands with them and says, let me tell you how to view all of us.

We're nothing. We're all nothing. And we're just servants. And God is the one who does it all.

Paul's like, I don't want anyone viewing me more highly than they ought to, or putting messianic expectations on myself or anyone else. How committed are you? To that. There's a brother that used to attend Cornerstone.

and he was sharing with the men in the man forum, 2 or 3 years ago how that when he and his wife were dating, they were pretty deep into their relationship when he began to notice that she was loving him more than she was loving God. A lot of men would be flattered. By that This man was frightened by that. And after some conversations trying to address that, and it wasn't seeming to be addressed, he broke off the relationship.

She was not happy about that at all. This man was seeking to serve her well and breaking off the relationship, and he was also serving himself well. Guys, when you allow people to put the burden of deity, messianic expectations on you, you might enjoy that for a little while. But if you allow that to happen, that other person will crush you with their impossible expectations, or they will tear you to pieces with their angry disappointment when you show that you are not really the Messiah that they thought that you were.

Fortunately, God got a hold of this. Woman's heart and she changed her priorities and God brought them back together and they've been married for over 40 years. With their marriage and priorities as they ought to be. So think about this.

When you play a role in the lives of other people in a meaningful way, they're going to appreciate you, they're going to love you for that. That, that's OK. You just want to be aware of whether or not they're thinking too highly of you and then be willing to address that and definitely make sure that you're not trying to foster that. anyway, don't let yourself be anyone's messiah.

I can make a pretty good brother to you all. I will make a terrible messiah. I may be a year away from being a good pastor, but I will never be a good messiah to you. Your wife can be a pretty good wife to you, but she will never be a good messiah to you.

Your husband, give him a chance. He can become a pretty good husband to you. He will never, ever be a good messiah to you. Your pastors here can be pretty good pastors to you.

But they will always be miserable failures as messiahs. Don't. Let anyone be your Messiah other than Jesus. Protect yourself from that and don't let anyone make you their Messiah.

This is the way John thought, it just comes out, people come to him and complain and boom, this is what comes out of his mouth. I'm not the Christ. He is the Christ, and I'm not. There's a third conviction that he gives voice to here that explains his inner compass and why he ministered the way he did, why he's not having trouble on the diminishing end of his ministry at this point.

And that is this. Here's the third conviction. Those who come to Christ are His bride, not mine. John says, he who has the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice.

So this joy of mine has been made full. John is explaining, here's how I see this. Here's how I see Jesus. He's the bridegroom.

Here's how I see the people coming to him and being baptized by his disciples. They are his bride. Here's how I see myself. I'm not the bridegroom.

I am the friend. I'll give myself that. I'm not just a friend, but the text says the friend. In other words, in modern day language, I'm the best man.

At this wedding that we're watching taking place as Jesus' bride is, is coming to him. And a wedding is never about the best man, is it? You ever gotten a wedding invitation and they're announcing, who the best man's going to be. You see his picture on the invitation, and the whole focus in the ceremony is, is about him.

and the bride and groom are maybe off to the side. That never happens. It's never about the best man. He's never at center stage.

Back in this day, the role of the best man, the friend of the bridegroom, was to make sure that everything went the way it was supposed to, at the feast and at the ceremony. His job was to get the bride and the groom together. And when he achieved that, He was most satisfied, and he did what he did in service to the bridegroom. One writer says it this way, that as the friend of the groom, quote, rejoices when the bridegroom voices his joy upon receiving his bride.

So also, John the Baptist is very happy when he reflects on the satisfaction in the heart of Jesus, the real bridegroom. That's what our ministry is, as we reach out to the lost their sheep who are not yet of this fold that the father wants to bring to his son. As we minister to people, we know that through our ministry that God is gonna bring souls to His Son. We don't know who those are going to be.

But when we see God bringing souls to Jesus, we look at that with great respect, and we realize those people who are now brothers and sisters of mine, they are Jesus' bride, not my bride. We should think this way in our ministry, the apostle Paul did to the Corinthian church. He says to them, I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy, for I betrothed you to one husband that to Christ, I might present you as a pure virgin. That's how he viewed his ministry.

I'm, I'm playing a role in bringing Jesus' bride to him. This bride belongs to him. More so than to me. John is saying, I'm the best man, I'm the matchmaker, as it were, my joy reaches its fullest fruition.

When I see people coming to Jesus, and when I see or imagine the joy in the heart of Jesus, as he is rejoicing in his bride coming to himself, that's what makes me tick. That's what rejoices my heart, John the Baptist says. There's something so important for us to get here. This is God saying to me, Milton, Cornerstone is my bride, it's not your bride.

The people in Christ Church are Christ's bride, not your bride, or my bride. Therefore, nobody I and no one else in this church or in any other church. should ever use our platform or forum in ministry to Christ bride in order to gain a following for ourselves. Or to win the affections of people over to ourselves.

That's not the role. We can't use. The platform that God has given to us for that purpose. Any pastor or church leader or ministry leader who uses their platform in Christian ministry to merely win people's allegiance over to himself or herself is treading dangerous ground, and he's actually violating a very sacred covenant between Christ and the church.

As John Calvin says, those who win the church over to themselves, rather than to Christ, faithlessly violate the marriage, which they ought to honor. The best man at a wedding does not treat the bride as if she's his bride. ultimately, That bride belongs to the groom. And that's the way our thinking needs to be the ministry, whatever ministry it may be as a pastor or anything else in men's ministry or women's ministry in Sunday school, and the youth ministry and the Ina ministry, any ministry that any of us have in this church, and on behalf of this church is not a forum for us to make a name for ourselves.

It's not a forum for us to build our own little kingdom and attract followers for ourselves or fans for ourselves. Whatever gifts and abilities and opportunities God has given to us, he's given us those things so that we can bring Jesus bride to him. And be used of God to help his bride fall more and more in love with Jesus. Amen.

The real measure of your ministry, and my ministry is our people under our ministry falling more and more in love with Jesus, each day, or are they falling more and more in love with me? The answer should be that they're falling more and more in love with Jesus. John says, this is the way I think. This is what governs me and my ministry.

There's a 4th and final conviction he gives voice to, and that is that Christ's cause must increase, even if it means my personal ministry decreases. In John 3:30, John says he must increase. But I must decrease. This is actually the 3rd and 4th time that we see the word must in John chapter 3 in verse 7.

Jesus says, you must, by divine necessity, you must be born again. In verse 14, the Son of Man must be lifted up. In death and now in verse 30, John the Baptist says, He, Jesus must increase. But I must decrease.

This is not a slogan. On John the Baptist's part, this is not just some meaningless slogan that sounds good. This is a very practical statement of reality for John. John spent his ministry pointing people to Jesus.

John used to have crowds of thousands of people, and now his crowds are diminishing as Christ's ministry is on its ascendancy. Christ's numbers, the people coming to him are growing larger by the day, and the people coming to John, John is becoming so yesterday. He's not the hottest thing going anymore. More and more people are going to Jesus and John is watching his ministry numbers dwindle.

And John says, this is how it must be. Christ must increase, and my ministry must decrease, and I'm OK with Christ's cause increasing, even if that means the decrease of my own personal ministry. Just imagine John the Baptist, the sensation that he was, people mistaking him for the Messiah, even. And then what happened was in John 1, Jesus shows up while John was preaching and ministering and baptizing, and there were two of John's disciples that see Jesus, John points to Jesus, and then those disciples follow Jesus and said, hey, where do you stand?

And they become his disciples. One of those two was Andrew. And with that began the exodus of people that were once following John, who now are more interested in Christ and beginning to follow him. And John, even in this incident in John 3, his disciples are frustrated because they're not always in every moment understanding how this is all supposed to work out.

And I'm sure these disciples who are complaining love God, but in this moment of weakness, they've lost their perspective and they need John to speak perspective into them. But John's ministry is on the decline at this point. And guess what? His ministry will continue to decline.

His ministry will continue to decrease. His audience will continue to grow smaller and smaller and smaller, from 100,000s to 1,000s to 100s to 10s, and his ministry will end with him in prison. And occasionally he'll be brought out of the prison and have an audience of 2. Herod and his wife, who should not have been married.

And what, John's like, this is my audience. I'm gonna preach God's righteousness to them. And how did that go over? His ministry got even smaller because The husband was just listening.

Herod was just listening because he enjoyed listening to him speak. He's like, Oh, I love the way you think. I love listening to you, John. But he didn't do anything.

He never repented. It fell on deaf ears, and his wife, well, she hated John the Baptist so much that he had his head cut off. But all the way as John's ministry decreased from 1,000s to 100s to 10s to 2. John was faithful all the way to the very end.

And he was OK. With that. FF Bruce says it this way, it is not particularly easy in this world to gather followers about one for a serious, serious purpose. But when they have been gathered, it is infinitely harder to detach them and firmly insist that they go after another.

It is the measure of John's greatness that he did just that. Now we know why Jesus and John is so great. Because the greatness of John was not simply seen and how he ministered to thousands. It was seen in how he handled the diminishing, dying end of his ministry.

His greatness was not seen and how he preached, and brought the heat as he preached to tens of thousands. His greatness was seen in how he preached it too. And was faithful. You may wish that you had a ministry other than what you have.

You may have spent hours preparing a Sunday school lesson or whatever, and you're expecting, 89, 1015 kids to come and 2 show up on a particular Sunday. Your greatness. Is seen By the grace of Christ, not by what you do when the room is full, but when you just got two people who showed up. Will you be faithful in speaking God's truth to them?

This is the true measure of, The greatness of John, this is the true measure of the greatness of Christ in us. And may God help us to live and to think, to speak and to minister in this way. Let me close by just throwing some questions at you. how do you respond when a person goes to someone else for ministry, rather than to you?

Maybe they used to go to you. And now, they walk right by you on their way to somebody else whose ministry they now seem to appreciate more than yours. How do you respond when someone else is given a more preeminent place of ministry than you have been given? How much of self are you letting get intertwined in your ministry of Christ?

To other people, yeah, you're proclaiming Christ, you're doing a lot of great things, but how much of self gets involved. I, I'll just tell you guys, every single week, part of the dying process of preaching. I, is weaning self. as much as I can by the grace of Christ to be able to stand up in front of you.

Thoughts come to my mind about will people like me. Will they hate me for what I say? Will they think that I'm a good preacher, or will they not? What will they think about this week's sermon compared to last week's sermon?

All those thoughts go through my head. but I also know that I can't stand up here and even preach to you guys if there's any of self going on. I would curl up in the fetal position and be sucking my thumb up here if I allowed myself to be thinking about me and what you're thinking of me in this moment, but that requires A dying, a weekly slaying of that selfish ambition that just every week, every day just wants to surface. It's a battle.

Pray for those who minister to you. How do you respond when someone else is chosen for some ministry that you wanted? Does that ever happen? You had your eye on something.

I'm qualified. Actually, looking around, I'm the most qualified for this role, way more than anyone else. And then you receive the news that they've not asked you, they've asked someone else. How do you respond?

Are you angry? Are you like, I'm not even going to attend this event? Because you're so upset over it. Your greatness is not merely seen and how you minister when you get that role you wanted, your greatness is on display in those moments where you did not get.

That ministry that you wanted. How do you and I respond when someone is so grateful for our ministry to them that they seem to be giving us a higher position in their life than they're really giving to Jesus? How do we respond? In such moments, to what degree are numbers?

a measure of our success. and John the Baptist case, diminishing numbers were actually the measure of his success. And he was OK with that. What is our role in helping people to come to Jesus?

Are there ways that we might be guilty of mishandling that role and allowing selfish ambition to creep in and affect the way that we're ministering to other people? Guys, as we think about, growing as a church, reaching more people, these are like the kinds of things that we got to think about. And it, it's not enough to just say, hey, we're gonna proclaim Christ and minister for him. We have to be saying, no, we want to do it in the right way.

We don't want to be driven by selfish ambition, and we want to have pure motives, so that we can know the blessing of Christ. We don't want to get to a place where our Christian ministry becomes more about us than it is about Jesus, where whatever numbers we have become our numbers rather than Christ. Numbers, where what we do in the way of Christian ministry is done for the glory of self and the praise of self rather than for the glory and the praise of Christ. We're not just using Christian ministry as a forum to build our own little kingdom, to win allegiance over to ourselves.

Now, we're consumed with Jesus. Imagine, imagine a congregation full of crazy people. who are just all out for Jesus. And our only agenda is who cares who gets the credit for this or that or the other.

I don't care whether I get a ministry, big or small, or I'm asked to do what I really want to do or something else. God, just make me faithful at whatever post I am put at, and help me to give my life to winning people over to the affections of Jesus. Imagine a congregation full of crazy people like that. Crazy about Jesus, and whose ambition is to be used of God.

To influence others to be just as crazy about Jesus as they are. That's the way John the Baptist was in his ministry. And the more absorbed we are in Christ, The more that Quins. That selfish ambition, we see how small minded and petty that really is against the backdrop of the glory of Jesus.

May God help us. To live these things out on the road ahead. Let me ask you to bow your heads. There's a comment or a connection card that's in your bulletin.

I would encourage you to pull that out. Again, if you're a visitor visiting with us for the first time or if there's any way we can serve you or minister to your needs, let us know that. prayer requests, praise items, let us know that. If there's any way that God is speaking to you through this message, encouraging you or challenging you, put that on the comment card so that we can rejoice with you and pray with you about that.

Just put that in the offering bag as it goes by. Let's pray together, Lord, if there's any here today that Maybe they've been looking to other messiahs. They've gone from one relationship to another, one thing to another, bowing before so many different idols thinking this is it. This is what I need.

Lord, may they just come to the end of that journey and realize only Jesus, only Jesus. Jesus is the only savior, the only Messiah. He's the only Lord who will never let them down. And he's the only Lord and Savior who always stands ready to forgive them whenever they let him down.

You are the only Messiah for a reason. Deliver us from idolatry. And help us to deliver anyone around us from ever making an idol of us. And make us a people who point holy and utterly to Jesus.

Lord, just do a work. Look upon us with your grace and mercy and And use us Use us, break us, mold us, shape us, and use us, help us to To be fully absorbed with Christ. And for all things in heaven and earth to be gathered together in Him. We thank you for this opportunity to give of our offerings to you, Lord, receive these funds, do much with every penny that is given, Lord, for the glory of Jesus and for the spread of this amazing gospel that We have been saved by and live in the good of.

Thank you, Lord, for the generosity of those who give to just the ongoing expenses of this ministry. Just bless them as they give. Help them to give as an expression of their faith in you, their love for your work and their willingness to participate in your great work that is happening here and around the world through the missionaries that we support. Help them to be the participants.

Through their giving and through their labor and through their service, and I pray that for me as well. You're a good God, and we just say to you, we love you and trust you. And we give ourselves to you in the name of Jesus, and all God's people said,