Convictions of Christ's Forerunner

We're doing a verse by verse study through the Gospel of John and as we continue, in our series through this book. we come to John chapter 3 verse 22. And my goal this morning is to cover verses 32 or 22 through 30. Thus far, in John's Gospel, we have seen a growing number of people that are beginning to follow Jesus and the numbers are only going to grow greater.

Back in John 1, we saw two of John the Baptist's own disciples who left John the Baptist and began to follow Jesus and one of those two disciples. Of John the Baptist was Andrew, who went and found his brother Simon and brought him to Jesus. Then we learned about how Jesus found a guy named Philip, and then how Philip reached out to Nathaniel and gets him to become a follower after Jesus. We learned back in John 2:23.

That many people were beginning to believe in Jesus because of the signs that they saw him doing when he was in Jerusalem. and among those people who were taking a special interest in Jesus was a man named Nicodemus who came to Jesus by night in order to speak with Jesus and to learn more about him. And that's what we have been seeing thus far in. John chapter 3.

Today we're gonna see Jesus ministering in the Judean region and in verse 26 of our text this morning, we're going to hear some men observing that, and I quote, all are coming to him, unquote. And that's a wonderful thing, right? Yet we will observe this morning that the men who are voicing this observation that all are coming to Jesus, are unhappy with this development. And guess who these men are.

Of all people, they are disciples of John the Baptist. The forerunner Of Christ. And when they say to John the Baptist in verse 26, behold, all are coming to Him. They are uttering those words as a complaint.

They're jealous for their leader, John the Baptist, and they're bothered that people seem to be abandoning him and going after Jesus instead. And this morning we're gonna see John the Baptist respond to their complaint in a way that I think will prove instructive for all of us. His words will help us to think rightly about what our mindset should be as we engage in ministry to others and how to go about engaging in ministry in a way that is absorbed with Christ. Rather than self absorbed with Christ and not characterized by the jealousy.

That seems to have a grip on John the Baptist disciples and our passage today. And I, for one, can use this instruction. Couple of weeks ago, Pastor Carlos read in his sermon from Philippians. Chapter 1 verse 27 where Paul speaks of some who proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition.

Rather than from pure motives. And I never hear those words being read. Or I never read these words in Philippians without being mindful of my own natural tendency towards selfish ambition. Even when I'm engaging in the work of ministry.

I've been in the ministry for over 30 years now, and I will have to admit to you that I still have yet to preach a sermon. That has not been tainted in some way. By traces of selfish ambition. And selfish motives.

Beyond that, there have been times. Even in my ministry when I have felt feelings of jealousy or pride. Or fear Which all come from a place of selfish ambition. And this passage that I've spent the last week or so in has been a huge help to me personally, and I believe it'll be a help, for you, as well.

Now, we're gonna focus most of our attention this morning on verses 27 through 30. but let's take some time to at least just read through verses 22 to 26, where the stage gets set for the things that we're gonna hear John the Baptist say in verses 27 through 30. Observe what the text says starting in verse 22. After these things, in other words, after Jesus' time in Jerusalem for the Passover.

And his conversation with Nicodemus that has now come to a close, Jesus and his disciples came into the land of Judea, and there he was spending time with them and baptizing. So Jesus has left Jerusalem, he's gone out into the broader region of Judea, and we're told that Jesus is spending time with his disciples and baptizing. Now John is gonna clarify in chapter 4, verse 2, that Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples were. But John's language here in verse 22 clearly indicates that Jesus' disciples were baptizing with Christ's approval.

And in his name. Now observe what is said in verses 23 to 24. John, speaking of John the Baptist, was also baptizing near I know. Or in I know near Salim because there was much water there and people were coming and were being baptized, for John had not yet been thrown into prison.

So John the Baptist, as most of us know, will eventually be thrown into prison and he will be beheaded. But at the present moment, John is in the region of Aon, which was in the Judean region near the Jordan River, and there's plenty of water there, and he's a baptizer, so that's the first thing he would look for whenever he went to any location is where's the water for me to baptize? So he's here, and we learn in verse 23. That John the Baptist is actually continuing to experience success in his ministry.

In verse 23, it says, people were coming and were being baptized. Literally, we could read this in this way, people were continually coming. And being baptized. The picture here is of a steady stream of people who are coming out to where John the Baptist was, and they're hearing his preaching, they're responding to his preaching, and they're being baptized by him.

So there's great reason for John the Baptist disciples to be encouraged, right? But observe what happens in verses 25 and 26. Therefore, there arose a discussion, and this word translated discussion can mean argument or dispute. On the part of John's disciples with a Jew about purification, and they came to John and said to him, Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, he is baptizing.

And all are coming to him. Now we don't know the details of this dispute. But that therefore, at the beginning of verse 25 suggests that it evidently arose as a result of both Jesus and John the Baptist ministering and baptizing in the same general area. Their proximity to one another brought this dispute.

About So we learned, I think, 3 things about the dispute in this passage, even though there's a lot we don't know. First, John tells us that the dispute had something to do with the matter of purification. Second, this dispute involved a Jew or a Judean man that John the Baptist disciples are initiating a dispute or argument with. And 3rd, this dispute came up because Jesus and John the Baptist are baptizing in the same region.

The commentator Ramsey Michaels suggests. That quite possibly this anonymous Jew or Judean man had come to John's disciples with news of Jesus' success in the region, perhaps even with an account of his own purification by Jesus through baptism. We know that this dispute has something to do with Jesus baptizing or his disciples baptizing. Because when John the Baptist disciples come to John the Baptist regarding this dispute, the first thing as you look at the text that they voice is a complaint about the fact that Jesus is baptizing and that everyone is coming to Him.

John the Baptist used to be the only baptizer in town, but now Jesus' disciples are baptizing in an area close to where John the Baptist was engaging in ministry, and the closeness of their ministries to one another is evidently creating tensions with John the Baptist disciples primarily because. They seem to feel that they are on the losing end. Of the competition with Christ ministry. In fact, notice how they exaggerate their complaint in verse 26 about people coming to Jesus saying all.

are coming to him. They're saying everyone is coming to him. This is clearly an exaggeration. Because in verse 23, the text tells us that people were still coming to John the Baptist.

But to these disciples of John the Baptist, it feels like everyone is coming to Jesus now. With the result that fewer and fewer are coming to John the Baptist. They probably also have noticed that even the fewer people that are coming to John the Baptist usually end up leaving John the Baptist and going off to follow. Jesus, which is exactly what John the Baptist wanted.

But all of his disciples, John the Baptist disciples, are not quite on board with that yet. Anyway, they come to John the Baptist with this complaint, which sets up for us a powerful moment in which the heart of John the Baptist gets revealed for all of us to see. As one commentator says, the words that are going to come from John the Baptist. In the coming verses.

Form surely one of the greatest utterances that ever fell from human lips. There's almost nothing in ancient or modern literature so utterly devoid of self. As what John the Baptist is going to say in these verses. Essentially, John the Baptist utters.

What we're gonna call 4 convictions that every one of us here at Cornerstone should have as well. These 4 convictions are a huge part of what made John the Baptist and his ministry great in God's kingdom, and they can make our ministry great, especially in moments when we're tempted. To the small minded sin of. Jealousy.

Four convictions that John the Baptist expresses, which explains. Why he harbored no spirit of rivalry with Jesus. Number 1, essentially, John is going to say in verse 27, those who come to Christ and to me have been given to us by God. Those who come to Christ and to me have been given to us by God.

Listen to what John the Baptist does in verse 27. John answered and said, a man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven. John the Baptist disciples have just said all are coming to him, and John immediately answers that statement by saying, a man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. At the very least, John is clearly saying that those who are right now coming to Jesus have been given to Jesus, from heaven.

Which is John's way of saying they've been given to Jesus by God. John the Baptist looks at the people who are coming to Jesus, and he sees them as God's gifts to Jesus. And John is not jealous of Jesus for the gifts of people that God is giving to him, nor is he jealous of the opportunity that Jesus now has to minister to them. John is at least saying this, but his statement here is broad enough to even include the smaller number of people who are still coming to him.

And his statement here indicates that he viewed the people coming to him as gifts from heaven. As gifts from God to him. In prior days, the thousands of people who were coming to John. Were given to him from heaven.

And even now he views the smaller number of people coming to him as gifts from heaven. Putting the two thoughts together, here's what John is saying. He's saying the greater number of souls who are now flocking to Jesus have been given to Jesus by God. And the fewer souls who are still coming to me have been given to me by God to point them onward.

To Jesus. God is the one controlling these things. And I will allow no spirit of rivalry to darken my outlook on the few who are still coming to me. If God wants to give me, John the Baptist is saying, 10 people, and he wants to give Jesus 1000, that's God's choice.

And I'm OK with that. We really ought to strive to think the way John thinks and expresses here. In connection with. Ministries that we are involved in.

And whatever church we're a part of. I've noticed over the years that some of the deepest conflicts. Within evangelicalism can occur between churches and ministries that have the most in common. Primarily because they're often fighting over the same constituency.

So there's a desire on the part of one ministry to find any fault. They can with another ministry so that they can maintain everyone's allegiance to themselves. And we should be careful not to get caught up in this thing. Beyond that, if thinking about us here at Cornerstone, if God wants Cornerstone to have a few 100 people and another church to have.

A few 1000. Then let's recognize God's sovereignty in that. Let's prize the gift of a few 100 souls that God is giving to us, and let's rejoice over the thousands of people that God may be giving to another ministry and pray for that ministry. Even closer to our present moment.

I gotta admit my mind went here, looking at this passage. If God wants to take some of our own people. And send them to other churches in other states. Then let's let him do that.

I've talked to on the phone with some of these pastors from other states. Who are receiving our precious people and they are happy as clams. To be receiving some of our precious flock, and sometimes when I'm on the phone with them, I am tempted to envy them. But what John says here reminds me that such people are gifts from God to those other churches.

And those whom God keeps bringing to us are gifts from God to us. There's a second conviction that John the Baptist utters in this passage, a conviction that explains. Why he harbored no rivalry with Jesus. Number 2, basically he's saying there's only one Christ, and it is not I.

There is only one Christ, and it is not I. John the Baptist continues in verse 28 and says, you yourselves are my witnesses that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent ahead of him. This conviction That John is uttering might seem like a no-brainer to us, but it is profoundly significant for John the Baptist to state this out loud to his disciples. We've already seen back in chapter one how that in the early stages of John's ministry, there were actually people who thought that John the Baptist might be the Messiah.

So much so that when people would come up to John and say, who are you? John would answer first by saying, I am not the Christ. We see that in John 1:20. In my 30 years of ministry, no one has ever mistaken me for the Messiah.

So when people have come up to me to ask who I am, I've never felt the need to say, my name is Milton Vincent and I am not the Christ. But people did mistake John the Baptist for the Christ. Imagine how much of a heady experience. This would have been for him and how much of a stumbling block this would have been for a lesser man than John the Baptist.

We learned from Luke one that the birth of John was announced by the angel Gabriel, who came from the presence of God in heaven to announce his coming birth to his father. And Gabriel promised that John the Baptist would minister in the spirit and power of Elijah as the forerunner of the Messiah. Gabriel also said that John the Baptist would be filled with the spirit from his mother's womb. Who else do was filled with the spirit while in the womb of their mother?

We also learned in Luke 3:15, you can write this reference down, that people were coming out to John the Baptist, and Luke 3:15 says that 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 or the Messiah. Additionally, Jesus himself speaks high praise about John the Baptist in Matthew 11:11, saying, truly I say to you, among those born of women, there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist.

How would you have handled all of those accolades? And credentials without letting it go to your head.

How would you have handled so many people having a messianic opinion? About you We become so proud about so much less. Than what John the Baptist had. And John the Baptist handled it beautifully.

He repeatedly told people, I am not the Christ. He, he squashed that as quickly as he could. And he kept pointing them to Jesus, who was the Christ, and here in verse 28, John is reminding his disciples of how often he said this. And what John the Baptist is saying here in verse 28, I think is instructive for all of us.

While it has never happened that someone has explicitly mistaken any of us in this room for the Messiah. There are ways in which. We might allow people to put messianic expectations on us. And there are ways that we ourselves can put messianic sized expectations on other people.

Like on our spouse, or on a pastor, or on a friend. Expecting them to be to us what only Christ. Should be And when we do this, we put them on a pedestal. And we place a burden of deity on them.

And we put them and ourselves in grave danger. So in our ministry to others, we need to do more than tell people who Christ is. We must make sure that they know that it's not us. And that we won't allow them to put us in a place that only Christ should have in their life, and we must be forever pointing to Jesus as the ultimate meter of their needs.

I know of a former member of Cornerstone. Who began, he was dating a gal and he began to perceive that his girlfriend loved him more than she loved God. And that she was putting him in the place that only Christ should have. In her life, and there are some men who would be flattered.

By such high esteem from a woman, but this brother was troubled by it. He knew that if he allowed this woman to put this burden of deity upon him, she would eventually either crush him with her expectations or crush him with her angry disappointment. After several failed attempts to address the problem, he broke off the relationship with this gal, and he told her why. She was heartbroken.

But in the weeks that followed, thankfully God did a good work in this young woman's heart and rearranged her priorities, and in time God brought her and this man back together again. And they have been married now for virtually half a century. With their priorities. Where they should be and with Christ.

As both of their Messiah. In contrast to that earlier this year, the romantic comedy Marry Me. Came out starring Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson. And in that movie, the gal sings to the guy that she loves, saying the following.

Listen to the lyrics of this love song. You make me feel like I'm in heaven. I'm coming out with my confession like church. I'm down on my knees.

I have fallen for you. You've showed me the truth. I'm born again. I'm feeling renewed.

You showed me the way. I'm baptized in you. This is the stuff that passes for a love song nowadays. And it's all wrapped in messianic language imposing on a human relationship a burden that only Christ can fulfill.

Amen. If you are single. And anyone starts expressing such sentiments to you as what I just read. Run for your life.

Or preach Christ to them. Because such a person is imposing on you a messianic burden that you will never be able to fulfill. John the Baptist didn't fall into this trap and neither should you. Don't let yourself be anyone's Messiah and don't let anyone be your Messiah other than Jesus, and that includes anyone running for political office.

Don't look to anyone in the church to be your Messiah either. I can make a pretty good brother in Christ to you all, but I will make a miserable Messiah. I perpetually feel that I'm about one year away from being a good pastor, and I appreciate your patience. With me, but I will never make a good messiah.

If you are married and if you give your spouse the chance, your spouse can become a pretty good spouse to you, but they will never be a good messiah. Don't let anyone other than Jesus ever be your Messiah, and don't let anyone make you their Messiah either. We learned this from John the Baptist when he says to his disciples, you yourselves are my witnesses that I said I am not the Christ. But I have been sent ahead of him.

When John the Baptist would meet anyone, he would view himself as a forerunner of the real Messiah. He viewed himself as simply God's messenger to prepare the way for Jesus, and we should do the same. God brings us into people's lives. He brings people into our lives.

Not so that we could be their Messiah, but so that we could be Jesus' messenger. And speak to them and point them to the one true Messiah, Jesus Christ. This is what John the Baptist did. And that brings us to yet another conviction that John the Baptist utters in this passage, which explains why he harbored no spirit of rivalry with Jesus.

Let's word it this way, 3, those who come to Christ are his bride, not mine. Those who come to Jesus are his bride, not mine, is basically what John is saying. Listen to what he says in verse 29. 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. In this verse, John the Baptist is stating how he sees Jesus and how he sees everyone coming to Jesus and how he sees himself in all of that. John sees Jesus as the bridegroom. He sees those coming to him as his bride, and he sees himself as the friend of the bridegroom.

In fact, notice that John the Baptist sees himself as not just a friend. But as the friend of the bridegroom. In other words, John the Baptist sees himself as the best man. And he sees his ministry as similar to the role that the best man plays at a wedding.

Back in John's day, the best man had a very important role to play. In the wedding festivities, he served the bridegroom, and it was his job to make sure that everything went as planned and that the groom would ultimately be united with his bride, and the best man would do all of this, never expecting to be the focus of attention. Even in our culture today, I've noticed that. And maybe you've noticed this too, that weddings are not about the best men.

Have you noticed that? have you ever received a wedding invitation that announced who the best man would be? Have you ever seen a wedding invitation featuring a photo of the best man? And giving him a central place on the invitation.

That never happens and there's not a best man on the planet. That would want that because the wedding is not about him. The wedding is about the groom and his bride, and the best man does everything he does in service to the groom and his bride. Never expecting.

Center stage. And here in verse 29, John the Baptist declares that as the best man, he's Jesus' best man, he rejoices because of the bridegroom's voice. In other words, when he hears Jesus speaking to those who are coming to him, as he is receiving them and teaching them and pledging Himself to them, John rejoices. In such moments.

In fact, notice the exuberance of John's language here. He says the best man rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. And then he says upon hearing of many now coming to Jesus, so this joy of mine has been made full. Evidently, John the Baptist is not merely coping.

Well, with the fact that many are now coming to Jesus instead of him, he's rejoicing greatly. And his joy is being made complete as he witnesses this. What is frustrating John the Baptist disciples is his own dream come true. Nothing makes John the Baptist happier than to hear the news of people coming to him, even if that means that fewer people.

Are coming To John himself. John the Baptist's words here teach us that the church. Is Christ's bride, not ours. The people in Christ Church belong to him, not to me or to anyone else.

Therefore, none of us should ever use any ministry as an opportunity merely to gain a following for ourselves. Or to win people's affections to ourselves. Any pastor or church leader or ministry leader or member of any church who uses their ministry platform merely to win people's allegiance over to himself or to herself is treading dangerous ground and violating a sacred covenant between Christ and His church. As John Calvin says, and I quote, those who win the church over to themselves rather than to Christ, faithlessly violate the marriage which they ought to honor, unquote.

Christian ministry is not a forum for us to build our own little kingdom and to attract followers for ourselves. Whatever gifts you may have. Have been given to you by God. And God has given those gifts to you so that you can use those gifts to bring Jesus' bride to him.

Or to bring them closer to him, and to help. Jesus' bride fall more and more in love with Jesus every day. In fact, I think one measure. For each of us in our respective ministries that would be good to ask is, are the people under my ministry falling in love with Jesus more and more each day, or are they falling more and more in love with me?

There's a 4th conviction that John the Baptist utters in this passage, a conviction that Serves to explain why he harbored no rivalry in his heart with Jesus. Number 4, let's word it this way, Christ's cause must increase even if it means my personal ministry decreases. Christ's cause must increase even if it means my personal ministry decreases. Listen to what John the Baptist says in verse 30.

He must increase. But I must Decrease. Notice that word must use 2 times here in verse 30. John saw the increase of Christ's ministry and the decrease of his own.

Ministry. As a part of God's necessary sovereign plan, so he says he must, Christ must increase. But I must. Decrease.

These things are necessary, he says to his disciples. Now we all love this verse, don't we? It's a great slogan to put as a decoration on your wall. It's a lovely sentiment.

Until you actually find yourself experiencing some decrease. In some way in your life, like John the Baptist is. John the Baptist once commanded crowds of thousands. People used to flock to the wilderness to hear him and to be baptized by him, and to receive counsel from him, yet now his numbers are fewer and his ministry is smaller because of Jesus.

In John 1:37, 2 of his John's disciples leave John the Baptist and began following after Jesus, and the numbers started dropping from there. The rise of Jesus' ministry meant the decrease of John the Baptist ministry. When you read the other gospel accounts, you learn that ultimately John the Baptist ministry will grow smaller and smaller and smaller until at last he is thrown into prison and has only an occasional audience with Herod and his wife Herodias. John could have been discouraged.

By that, but we learn in Mark chapter 6. That John remained faithful to preach God's truth. To Herod and to his wife. And we all know how that turned out, right?

Herod enjoyed listening to John the Baptist preach, though he was very convicted and troubled by what John would say. But Herod's wife despised John the Baptist and held a grudge against him, and she grabbed the earliest opportunity to have his head cut off in order that he might be silenced for good. This is how John the Baptist ministry came to an end. In prison Ministering or preaching to two people.

While at the same time, Jesus' ministry was on the rise. But John the Baptist was faithful all the way to the very bitter end when he was only preaching to an audience of two unrepentant people. While Jesus was preaching to growing thousands. Such faithfulness shows the greatness of John the Baptist.

As much as did his preaching to thousands at the height of his ministry. So what about you? Perhaps you wish you could minister to more people than you do. Or to different people than the ones that God seems to be putting right in front of you.

Or perhaps you wish the circumstances of your life and ministry were different than they are now. Perhaps once you were more involved in different Christian ministries or ministries in the church, but now your ministry is primarily to your spouse and to your children. In your home Perhaps you labored as a care group leader to prepare for a meeting that you thought would be 30 people. Who would show up, but only 8 people showed up.

Perhaps she prepared a lesson to deliver to 25 people, but only 5 showed up. The true measure of your greatness in God's kingdom will be seen and how faithful you are in such moments. And ministering to those fewer people. That God is putting in front of you.

Will you be as faithful in your ministry to them. As you would have been if more had shown up. Perhaps you wish that you could do more in the way of ministry than you are doing right now. Perhaps someone else has the ministry that you wish that you had.

Fair enough. Are you being faithful though with the opportunities that God has. Given to you. Will you be faithful with the little now?

Like John the Baptist was all the way to the end of his ministry. It, it's easy for me and for all of us to talk and think about this concept, he must increase, I must decrease. But we should all appreciate that this concept is especially hard. On those.

Who once had a larger and wider ministry than they do now. And we ought to appreciate that just as John the Baptist went from ministering to thousands to ministering to two unrepentant people who ended up having him killed. The commentator FF Bruce expresses, I think, the true measure of John the Baptist's greatness. When he says, and I quote, It's not easy in this world to gather followers around oneself for a serious purpose, but once those followers 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. And I agree with that statement by FF Bruce. I would only add, and I think if John the Baptist were here. He would.

Say that actually, it's not a measure of my greatness. It's a measure of the greatness of Christ. That I would happily yield all of my followers to Jesus, the way that I did. Because as we've seen in our passage today, what enabled John to have this perspective were the four convictions that we've been studying and all of them are centered on Christ.

Saying those who come to Christ and to me have been given to us by God. There's only one Christ, and it's not me, John says. Those who come to Christ are his bride, not mine. And Christ's cause must increase, even if it means my personal ministry decreases.

That's where we're gonna end today, but next time we're gonna pick up in verse 31, where John the Baptist launches into a mini sermon on Christ, the supreme greatness of Christ to these disciples of his that are fuming. With a spirit of jealousy and rivalry. But let me ask you a question based on our passage. Today, in our text here, we see men who are actually jealous of Jesus.

Jealous of the fact that more people are coming to Jesus than those who are coming to them. These men are actually caught up in a rivalry with Jesus, believe it or not. And before you shake your head at them, let me ask you a question, which I know is gonna strike you as strange. Are you ever guilty of being jealous?

Of Jesus Are you ever guilty of being jealous? Or in rivalry with Jesus. Think before you answer. You probably hear that question and want to immediately say, I would never be jealous of Jesus.

I would never be in rivalry with him. But are you sure about that? Did that every time you reject Christ's rule over your life and willfully disobey him, you are in that moment betraying a jealousy of his right to have the rule over your life. That you are competing with him over who gets to sit on the throne of your life.

And you are begrudging him that throne. Did that every time you give way to the sin of pride. As one theologian put it, you are contending with Christ for supremacy. Did that every time you do something for your own glory, you are in that moment, jealous of Jesus' right to receive all the glory.

Do you realize that every time you try to make another person bend. To your own selfish purposes, you are in that moment betraying a jealousy of Jesus' ownership of that person. Did that every time you try to make something all about you, you are in that moment revealing a jealousy of Jesus, right, to have everything be about him. Did that when you complain and become bitter about your circumstances, you are betraying a jealousy of Christ's sovereign right to ordain your circumstances in any way he pleases.

For his good and for his glory. Did that when you strive to have the preeminence in your relationship with others, you are betraying a jealousy of Christ and his right to that preeminence. Did that when you live to please yourself, you're betraying a jealousy of Jesus, right, for his pleasure to be the focal point of your life. Did that if you refuse to believe in Jesus, and instead you're believing in yourself as your own savior, you are betraying a deep seated jealousy.

Of Jesus. Being jealous of his power and his authority and his approval from the Father. To be your one and only savior who gets all the glory for your salvation. Oh, let's not kid ourselves.

We fallen human beings have a deep-seated jealousy problem. When it comes to God and to His Messiah. In fact, in Matthew 27:18, Pililate himself, who was no man of great spiritual discernment, Pilate himself perceived that the Jews had handed Jesus over to him because of what? Jealousy It was Lucifer's jealousy that of God that brought about his downfall.

It was Eve's jealousy of God that led her to partake of the forbidden fruit in the garden because she wanted what God had. She wanted to be like God, knowing good and evil like God did. And this jealousy in the heart of Eve lies at the root of all of our sin, a jealousy of God. And his messiah, a rivalry.

With them So let's call our sin what it is fundamentally. It is jealousy, jealousy of God and his Messiah. It is rivalry with God and with his son Jesus Christ, which means that these disciples of John the Baptist are right now in a very dangerous place as they complain to John the Baptist about everyone now going to Jesus. And they were blessed.

These disciples of John the Baptist were blessed to have a man like John the Baptist speaking. To them, the Christ absorbed convictions that he speaks to them in our passage today. In order to set them straight. We've been thinking vertically, in the past few moments.

Let's think horizontally, just for a couple of minutes here real quick. How do you respond When a person goes to someone else for ministry rather than you. How do you respond when someone else is given a more desirable place of ministry than. What has been given to you.

How much of self are you letting get intertwined? Into your Christian ministry to other people. How much do you seek after credit? For good things that happen.

If a suggestion or idea came from you and people seem to have forgotten that it came from you, do you feel like you need to remind them that, yeah, that was me, that, that came from me? How much do you strive to elicit praise from people? When you do something good or great, do you try to draw attention to what you've done in the hopes of drawing praise for yourself from people? Do your own lips praise you or are you content to let others praise you?

And when others do praise you, do you direct all of the praise? To Christ At the other extreme, how do you respond when someone so loves you and is so grateful for your ministry to them that they seem to be putting you in a higher position than they ought. And giving you a place in their life that only Christ should occupy. These are some questions to think through.

One of the things that I have seen is that one of the great problems. Even in Christian ministry is the sin of selfish ambition and jealousy, and such sins are among the great destroyers of ministries and churches and relationships and what's the solution? Here's a solution To be absorbed with Jesus Christ. And with him being glorified.

And that also happens to be the path to true greatness in God's kingdom. Your greatness in God's kingdom is not primarily measured in how you minister when you get the roles that you want. Your true measure will be seen in how you respond. When you are maybe overlooked.

For some role that you wanted. Your true greatness will be seen and how you respond when someone walks right by you to cry on someone else's shoulder. How do you respond in such moments? Are you faithful with?

The ministry that God has given to you. Do you remind yourself in such moments that your life and ministry are all about Jesus? And pointing people to him, are you OK decreasing so long as Christ is increasing, even if he's increasing through the ministry. Of another person Imagine a congregation crazy enough.

To think and live and minister. In the same spirit. That we have seen. That John the Baptist ministered in our passage today.

Imagine what God can do with us, if all of us here at Cornerstone are so caught up. With Jesus that we care not about who gets the credit for anything so long as all of the glory and all of the credit redounds to Jesus. Imagine a congregation full of crazy people. Who really mean it.

When they happily say Christ. Must Increase. And I must Decrease And I'm OK with that. Let's pray and ask God to help us to Live and operate and minister in this spirit.

Lord, I am the most arrogant man that I know. And my heart can be so petty. And Such little things can knock me off my game. And those little things are things that would bother me because I am walking in selfish ambition.

And I'm not in those moments absorbed with the supreme greatness and the gravitas of Jesus Christ. Deliver all of us, Lord, from. The pettiness of selfish ambition. From jealousy and from pride.

And deliver us from such sins, Lord, by removing the scales from our eyes and leaving us enraptured with the beauty and the glory and the gravitas of Jesus. Such, Lord, that we live for him. And it's not about us. It's not about what people think about us.

It's all about Jesus. And glorifying Him, there is such lightness of being and freedom. When we're absorbed with Christ in this way. When we're absorbed with ourselves, we become small and puny and behave in ways that are so unbecoming.

But we become the fullest and the freest version of ourselves when we are orbiting Christ and living for Him in His glory. And we're thankful for a man like John the Baptist. A man filled with the spirit, and we actually get to see in our passage the way a spirit-filled man thinks. And speaks In a way that is utterly Christ absorbed, make us.

As absorbed with Christ. As that spirit-filled man was. And if there's any in this room this morning, Lord, that have never looked to you and surrendered their lives to you and believed in you, Lord, I pray that they would set down their rivalry with you, Lord Jesus. And believe in you as the Lord and the Savior, the King.

And the Messiah that they need. Be gracious to them, Lord, and save them today as they look to you in faith. We ask all of these things in the name of Jesus, and all God's people said,