He Must Increase, I Must Decrease - John 3:22-30

Humility is a difficult topic because you can’t claim to be a humility expert and still be humble. Isn’t it prideful to think of yourself as a very humble person? In a similar vein, the desire to appear humble is in fact a demonstration of pride.

At some point we’ve all heard someone humble brag. There’s a great scene from the show The Office where the manager Michael Scott shares his weaknesses in an interview. He said that some of his weaknesses were, “I work too hard. I care too much. And sometimes I can be too invested in my job.” Just a brilliant line.

We laugh but we all know that humility is something the Christian must strive for. We should, to the best of our abilities, be humble. That doesn’t mean be passive, unsure, or unconfident.

Our passage teaches instead that authentic humility is giving God the glory he rightfully deserves. That is how one becomes humble and remains humble.

Whenever I think about great examples of biblical humility outside of Jesus Christ, I think of John the Baptist. Particularly, this portion of Scripture that we just read. What incredible humility is on display!

For the record, John the Baptist was not a baptist. He didn’t start the baptist church. Rather, he performed baptisms and that’s how he got his name. I have friends that refuse to call him John the Baptist for this reason, and insist on calling him John the Baptizer.

Nevertheless, John the Baptist displays incredible humility in our passage. Just by way of reminder, Jesus has concluded his conversation with Nicodemus, and has now begun his ministry in a more formal sense, because he's baptizing.

And immediately, Jesus is violating all the unspoken rules of ministry engagement. In case you didn’t know, there are unspoken ministerial rules. I’ll list a few of them for you.

I’ve heard Baptist pastors joke about the 11th commandment: thou shalt not speak ill of nor criticize another baptist! That’s definitely a baptist rule because presbyterians criticize everybody!

But a more serious rule is that you shouldn’t start a church or ministry in close proximity to another one. Often it’s perceived as just being inconsiderate.

Glorifying Christ kills the competitive spirit (vv. 22-27).

But apparently ministry territorialism has always been a thing, because we see this in the beginning of our passage. In verses 22-24, we get some geographic information and the purpose of this information is to let us know that Jesus was baptizing in relative close proximity to John the Baptist.

He was doing what John the Baptist was doing within walking distance! Talk about stealing someone’s thunder!

And then you take into consideration that Jesus was just starting and John the Baptist had been doing the whole baptism thing for a while! John was there first!

This is equivalent to Jesus planting a church right across the street from the church pastored by John the Baptist.

Not only were John the Baptist’s disciples offended but their competitive spirits flared up. Their loyal members of John the Baptist’s church.

But proximity wasn’t the only issue. Their ministry effectiveness or efficacy was challenged. Which ministry team are you on? Team Jesus or team John the Baptist? Obviously, the disciples of John the Baptist were defending him, and therefore it seems likely that the Jew was on team Jesus.

This is what’s going on in verse 25. But they’re arguing “over purification.” In other words they were disputing who’s baptism was better. Jesus or John the Baptist?

They were debating who’s baptism was better at cleansing away sin and unrighteousness. Now remember, the baptism they were practicing was different from the baptism that we practice today. Jesus hadn’t gone to the cross or given the great commission or anything yet. The baptism the church practices today is different.

Their baptism was a preparatory baptism. It was a baptism of repentance and cleansing of sin in preparation for the coming Messiah.

Our baptism is a reflection of being united to Christ by faith. Baptism represents faith in Jesus Christ. Either it’s a faith that’s present or a faith we eagerly anticipate.

But nevertheless, John’s disciples and this Jew are debating who’s baptism was more effective or efficacious: Jesus or John the Baptist?

The competitive spirit was alive and well.

This is nothing new is it? We often have the same conversations within the Christian community today. Which preacher is better? Which ministry is better? This one is more biblical but this one reaches more people?

Do we avoid becoming angry or envious?

Rick Phillips gives a great illustration about a pastor named FB Meyer that’s very relevant to what we’re talking about this morning in his book called The Masculine Mandate:

''God called [FB Meyer] to serve in London at the same time as Charles Haddon Spurgeon, arguably the greatest preacher who ever lived. So, despite his ability and hard work, Meyer would stand outside his church and watch the carriages flow by to Spurgeon's Metropolitan Tabernacle.

Later in his life, it happened again, as G. Campbell Morgan eclipsed Meyer's success. When they spoke together at conferences, vast crowds listened to Morgan, then left when Meyer was to preach. Convicted over his bitter spirit, Meyer committed himself to pray for Morgan, reasoning that the Holy Spirit would not allow him to envy a man for whom he prayed. He was right. God enabled Meyer to rejoice in Morgan's preaching. People heard him saying: ''Have you heard Campbell Morgan preach? Did you hear that message this morning? My, God is upon that man! (pg. 158)''

How incredibly noble of FB Meyer? We shouldn’t look with anger or envy at what God is doing around us. Insofar as they preach the gospel and are faithful to the word of God we should pray for them and be a source of encouragement.

Because all good gifts, including ministerial success, come from the hand of God.

We’re just getting started here at Providence Presbyterian Church, and we’re a small piece of what God is doing in the Roanoke Valley. We pray for more! We want people to come to Christ and grow spiritually, but we praise God wherever he is at work.

This is John the Baptist’s response to the conflict between his disciples and the Jew. He refuses to allow his heart to sow seeds of bitterness, and doesn’t jump into the middle of it and say, “actually my baptism is better because I was doing it first!” Rather he says in verse 27, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.”

In other words, he recognized that the ministry he had been given was a gift from God.

Do you want to get a painful dose of reality this morning? Most churches have expiration dates. They’re not going to last forever. But rather than being upset about that, we should rejoice in how God has worked like John the Baptist.

It’s being kingdom minded. This is John the Baptist’s mentality and we need to pray that it’s ours as well.

It’s looking up and casting our eyes beyond what is right in front of us. When our top priority is God receiving the glory that he rightly deserves, suddenly where or how he receives it becomes less relevant.

All of this is coming from someone who has very strong theological convictions. I do believe that how you do ministry within the church matters. I want Providence to be as Biblically faithful as possible.

But none of that means that we’ve boxed God into a corner and now he must work through this church. God is sovereign and has every right to minister through any church insofar as they preach the gospel and teach the Word. God can even use churches that don't share our convictions.

We don’t determine where or how God works.

This is why we pray for those around us and rejoice over what God has given us right now. This is a gift from God. The mindset that views everything as a gift from the Lord is one that kills competition.

Glorifying Christ is the source of great joy (vv. 28-29).

But it wasn’t like John the Baptist was competing with just another church, or just some random guy. The other person performing baptisms was Jesus Christ.

He was no ordinary rival. But to John the Baptist’s credit he didn’t view Jesus as a rival.

In fact, he acknowledged his inferiority to Jesus Christ by restating that he isn’t the Christ or Messiah and clearly articulating his role in the redemptive history.

He does this in verses 28-29.

“You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ 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.”

John the Baptist’s role was to herald the coming of Jesus Christ. It was never to compete with him. But it wasn’t to just let people know he was coming. Part of his role was to rejoice in the presence of Jesus Christ.

This is why his “best man” illustration is so helpful. The best man at a wedding doesn’t go there to think about himself. He shouldn’t go to his best friend’s wedding and become jealous or sulk.

The role of the best man is to be happy for his friend. To rejoice with him.

But even in ministry there’s a real temptation to compare and wonder, “why do they want to go hear him preach instead of me? Or why do more people want him to baptize them instead of me?”

Comparison and envy are plague ministers. It’s certainly true of ministry, but it’s really true for all of us. No one wants to be a failure. Everyone wants to be successful, because we believe it’ll dictate our reputation, image and legacy. None of us want to be the person that was full of potential but never met expectations.

Consider John the Baptist, by every metric he failed. People left his ministry for Jesus instead. We might have encouraged John the Baptist to get a focus group together in order to determine how to better market himself. Or maybe he needed to hire an outside firm to help him improve his messaging.

This is how we might think about it, but it’s not how John thinks about it.

But success isn’t everything. Making more money, having the biggest ministry, climbing the corporate ladder, retiring early, doesn’t guarantee happiness. You could be successful by the world's standards but be a failure at home. Interestingly, many who achieved so much by the world’s standards are isolated, lonely, and depressed.

But John was willing to practice what he preached. He knew that following Christ is better than any success he could achieve that’s why he was willing to lose people. Success doesn’t ground you or bring you peace, but your relationship with Christ will. Because ultimately, his loss was a win for the kingdom of God.

John wasn’t evaluating his ministry in worldly terms: he was evaluating it through a spiritual lens.

But it’s so hard not to evaluate everything by the world’s standards. You can’t really quantify what God is doing but it doesn’t stop churches from counting attendance, professions of faith, the church’s finances. Too often we think of it as a reflection of spiritual growth or regression.

But none of those things are really accurate reflections of the spiritual condition of a church. People go to church for a variety of reasons that have nothing to do with Christianity, folks are sometimes pressured into professions of faith, one or two people can sometimes keep a church financially afloat.

Metrics often fail to demonstrate the health of a church. The better question we need to be asking is: is the church faithful? Is it faithful to Christ? Is the preaching biblical?

Is the congregation faithful to Christ? Because as we all know, individuals make up the church. Are you a faithful steward of your finances, do you faithfully read God’s word and spend time in prayer privately, do you faithfully read God’s Word and pray with and for your children, are you a faithful Christian witness at your job, is every sphere of your life lived in faithful, humble, submission to Lord?

Faithfulness isn’t just how you analyze church or ministry, it's how you evaluate Christian walk.

Faithfulness was the rubric by which John the Baptist evaluated his life and ministry. He wasn’t worried about how many baptisms he performed, or figuring out what he needed to do to maintain and protect his ministry.

He was just trying to faithfully execute his God-given role. He wanted to be faithful to God. That’s it. This is exactly what the Apostle Paul spoke of when he said: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

Again, imagine the situation here: John the Baptist’s disciples are engaged in an argument with a Jew, people are leaving his ministry in droves and it’s in the midst of everything falling apart he says: “...this joy of mine is now complete.”

Here’s what John is essentially saying: he finds joy in the fact that people are leaving his ministry and flocking to Jesus Christ instead.

How can he say that? Because the great joy he received from the ministry that God had given him was essentially over. But he found great joy in knowing that he fulfilled his calling. He finished the race.

It’s now time for John to step off the stage so that Jesus could take center stage. And he wasn’t resentful, angry or bitter, because he knew his joy was complete.

This is success! Pushing people into the arms of Christ!

When you’re able to look at the world around you with spiritual eyes it increases your compassion for others. You genuinely want them to get what will help them the most. What is more beneficial for someone than seeing Christ as their Savior and putting their faith in Him?

Your desire to see someone receive what’s best for them will kill comparison and competition. John understood that the best thing for everyone was then, and is now, to follow Jesus.

Glorifying Christ produces humility (v. 30).

But this requires a great deal of humility. Often doing the right thing requires humility. That’s why John the Baptist’s words, “He must increase, but I must decrease” are so powerful.

John wanted Jesus’ ministry, relevance, and fame to increase, and his own to decrease.

What a tough pill to swallow? Who here has thought to themselves… I hope I have less influence and sway over others? I hope fewer people listen to what I have to say. It cuts against every natural desire we have.

But John understood who Jesus was. He was the Messiah, the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world! Sending people to Jesus was probably a difficult but glorious thing.

The ministry of Jesus Christ needed to continue to flourish while the ministry of John the Baptist needed to diminish.

Notice the “musts” in verse 30. “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

This is what had to happen in order for God’s plan of redemption to be fulfilled. This was bigger than John. This was bigger than hurt feelings over lost influence. This was about the lost being saved.

John understood this and embraced his prophetic role. He wasn’t anything special, but Jesus was.

One commentator wrote, “Of what use is a herald after the king has arrived?”

John has fulfilled his primary God-given role - to announce the coming of Jesus Christ!

And I think this speaks volumes to how we think about humility. Humility isn’t being passive, small, and weak. True humility is giving God the glory he rightfully deserves. And one way you and I glorify God is by humbly embracing our God-given roles. Christian humility manifests itself most clearly when you accept your God-given roles.

It’s embracing the calling that God has put on your life as a husband, wife, father, mother, daughter, son, provider, nurturer, employee, boss, neighbor, and the list goes on.

And everything begins with you and I recognizing and acknowledging, our sinfulness, repenting of it, and turning to Jesus Christ. In many ways, simply being a Christian is an act of humility. Each week here at Providence we’re reminded of our sin and the glorious hope found in Jesus Christ.

And this is precisely what John the Baptist does! His humility shines forth so clearly because he fully embraced his God-given role as the fore-runner or herald of Christ!

To reject Jesus Christ and your God-given role is great pride because you’re saying to God and the world around you, that you know what’s best.

Is this not exactly what happens when fathers or mothers walk away from their families? They’re simply saying that they reject what God has given them because they know a better way.

But it requires humility to say, “Lord, this is the lot you’ve given me in life and therefore, I’m going to do it to the best of my ability.”

Christ must always be increasing in our lives and we must always be decreasing. This is the not so secret key to humility.