Introduction:
Knowing Jesus' Worth (John 3:22-36):
- Makes Jealousy a non-issue. (John 3:27)
1 Sam 18:7 - "Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands."
Col 1:25 - ...I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was
- Makes me Understand who I am. (John 3:28-30)
- Makes believing in Jesus the only Appropriate response . (John 3:31-36)
Three Reasons Jesus has Ultimate Worth:
- Jesus has ultimate Perspective . (John 3:31-32)
- Jesus has ultimate Truth . (John 3:33-34)
- Jesus has ultimate Authority . (John 3:35-36)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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01:10-01:12
Open up your Bibles with me, please, to John 3.
01:13-01:19
The series we're going through this year is taking us from knowing about Jesus to knowing Jesus.
01:20-01:26
And so far in the first three chapters, we've seen that Jesus Christ has made Himself known.
01:26-01:30
That's the only way we know anything about Him, is He's made Himself known to us.
01:30-01:39
And we've seen that He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and it's our job to make Him known to other people.
01:40-01:43
In turning water into wine, Jesus made known His glory.
01:44-01:48
And as Jesus cleared out the temple from the phonies, we saw His zeal.
01:49-01:53
And last week in Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus, we talked about knowing His salvation.
01:54-01:57
Today we're going to talk about knowing His worth.
01:57-01:58
Knowing His worth.
01:58-02:26
By show of hands, how many people like me are active or, more accurately like me, semi-retired comic book nerds. Show of hands. Okay, a couple of you. Should have went with the other opener. All right, let's try this then. How many of you have seen one of those comic book movies? Raise your hands. Any of the Marvel movies? Unfortunately, if you saw a DC movie, raise your hand, get them up. Okay, today you are an honorary comic book nerd, so the introduction is relevant.
02:27-02:37
This caught my attention, fellow comic book nerds, that several years ago there There was a lady that took a box of comics that she had found in an attic or somewhere.
02:37-02:42
She took it to New Dimension Comics in Cranberry, just up the road, right on 19.
02:43-02:44
And she didn't know what they were.
02:44-02:46
It was just a box of comics.
02:46-02:54
And she thought, "Well, maybe somebody might be interested in these." So she took them up there, and the guy was rifling through this box of comics.
02:54-03:02
And in this old box of comics this woman found was a copy of All-American Comics #6.
03:03-03:09
All right, comic book nerds, everybody go, "Wow, that was so unconvincing." So I'm going to catch you up to speed here.
03:09-03:11
Something that the nerds get.
03:12-03:14
This is all American Comics 16 that was in there.
03:14-03:22
There are estimated 10 to 20 of these in existence, and it is the first appearance of the Green Lantern.
03:22-03:23
How many of you have heard of the Green Lantern?
03:24-03:32
He's the guy with the ring, can do anything unless it's made out of wood or yellow or I don't remember all the rules.
03:32-03:35
They're like, "Well, if he's got a ring, why is he called the Lantern?
03:36-03:38
It powers the ring, obviously.
03:39-03:41
Anyways, that's not important." Here's what is important.
03:42-03:46
They promptly put this comic on eBay for $75,000.
03:47-03:51
See, this woman was carrying around this box of old comics.
03:51-03:58
And I imagine at some point she probably thought about just pitching them, or burning them, or giving them to Goodwill, or whatever.
03:59-04:04
I would have liked to have been there to see the look on her face when she found out what exactly it was that she had.
04:04-04:10
You know, church, people so often fail to see the worth of Jesus Christ.
04:10-04:13
And like this lady with this comic book, it's right there.
04:14-04:14
It's right there.
04:15-04:17
But people just don't see it.
04:18-04:20
They don't recognize Him for who He is.
04:20-04:31
Today we're going to see how knowing Jesus' worth, or should I say recognizing Jesus' worth, with His infinite worth, it is going to absolutely change your life.
04:32-04:36
You just have to recognize how much Jesus Christ is worth.
04:36-04:38
John 3 - are you there?
04:38-04:45
Verse 22 says, "After this, Jesus and His disciples went into the Judean countryside.
04:46-04:57
And He remained there with them and was baptizing." John also was baptizing at Anon near Salim because water was plentiful there and people were coming and being baptized.
04:58-05:01
For John had not yet been put into prison.
05:02-05:08
That last verse, just a parenthetical note of chronology, John wasn't baptizing people in prison, obviously.
05:08-05:13
This had happened before he went to prison, and that's another story.
05:14-05:17
But the point here is this, John went north.
05:18-05:20
So why is this Bible worthy?
05:21-05:21
Here's why.
05:21-05:26
John was preaching and baptizing and getting thousands of people to come.
05:26-05:28
He was ultra successful.
05:29-05:30
So what did he do?
05:30-05:32
He packed up and went somewhere else.
05:32-05:34
Like why in the world would he do that?
05:35-05:37
Why would he leave where he was successful?
05:37-05:39
He did it to make room for Jesus.
05:39-05:40
That's why.
05:40-05:41
No competition.
05:42-05:43
Like, "No, Jesus is here.
05:44-05:47
I'm going to move down the road." With that in mind, look at verse 25.
05:47-05:53
It says, "Now a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over purification.
05:54-06:10
And they came to John and said to him, 'Rabbi, he who is with you across the Jordan to whom you bore witness, look, he is baptizing and all are going to him.'" Now stop right there.
06:11-06:17
A discussion between John's disciples and a certain Jew over purification, probably talking about the act of baptism.
06:18-06:19
That's not the important thing here.
06:20-06:26
The important thing is what this conversation brought to light, and what it brought to light was jealousy.
06:26-06:28
You see that? Jealousy.
06:28-06:47
They're like, "Well, that guy, John, that guy that you were talking about, that you were with earlier, Jesus, but they didn't say his name, that guy, he's baptizing, and everybody's going to him." And like, come on, John, like, okay, preaching and baptizing.
06:47-06:49
Let's be honest, John, that's your thing, right?
06:49-06:50
That's your thing.
06:51-06:53
John the Baptist, it's in your name.
06:53-06:54
That's your thing.
06:55-07:00
So now this guy shows up and he's totally doing all the same things that you're doing.
07:00-07:03
But for some reason, his crowds are getting bigger than yours.
07:04-07:07
And I'm going to be honest with you, I kind of get where they're coming from here.
07:08-07:10
Because you see, it wasn't anything against Jesus.
07:10-07:12
They were just so loyal to John.
07:12-07:14
they spent their lives following John.
07:14-07:16
They were just loyal to him.
07:17-07:19
And they didn't want to see him overshadowed.
07:19-07:24
But what we're going to look at today is John's response to their jealousy.
07:25-07:31
And it focuses, all of the rest that we're talking about today focuses on the surpassing worth of Jesus Christ.
07:32-07:35
So on your outline, we're gonna talk today about knowing Jesus' worth.
07:36-07:38
This will, again, change your life.
07:39-07:40
Knowing Jesus' worth.
07:40-07:41
Write this down, number one.
07:42-07:44
Knowing Jesus' worth makes jealousy a non-issue.
07:45-07:47
It makes jealousy a non-issue.
07:48-07:49
So we're gonna start here.
07:49-07:52
We're gonna talk about what prompted this discussion with John.
07:52-07:55
Today for a few minutes, I'm gonna talk to you about jealousy.
07:55-07:57
Jealousy is a killer.
07:58-08:08
You work so hard to succeed, and then someone else is doing the same thing that you're doing, but they're getting a much better response, and they're more popular.
08:08-08:12
People are talking about them, and they're not talking about you as much.
08:12-08:14
And you're like, "Hey, that's not fair.
08:14-08:15
I was here first.
08:15-08:20
Why should he be getting all the attention?" Sometimes it happens in the workplace, right?
08:20-08:22
Sometimes it happens in your neighborhood.
08:23-08:28
We look at someone that we think is doing better than us and we begin to resent that person.
08:29-08:41
Sadly, we need to talk about this because this is the context of the passage, but sadly this happens in ministry as much or maybe more than in other arenas of life.
08:41-08:43
This jealousy happens in ministry.
08:43-08:44
Why is his church bigger than mine?
08:45-08:46
Why is he making more money?
08:46-08:48
Why is she more popular than me?
08:48-08:49
Jealousy is a killer.
08:49-08:52
You remember, I think about this all the time.
08:52-08:54
You remember Saul and David in the Old Testament?
08:55-09:00
It was jealousy that literally drove Saul insane, murderously insane.
09:00-09:06
You see, Saul was the king and David was this young up and coming guy that was anointed to be the next king.
09:06-09:08
and he was getting really popular.
09:09-09:23
In fact, 1 Samuel 18, verse seven, talks about this song that these women were singing, and I'm not gonna sing it because I don't know the tune, but these are the lyrics of the song that the women were singing.
09:23-09:28
Saul has struck down his thousands and David his 10,000s.
09:29-09:37
Everybody was singing, all these ladies were singing that song, like Saul kills a thousand, David kills 10,000, And it drove Saul insane.
09:38-09:44
It was like everywhere he went, he gets in his chariot and turns on the radio, bam, that's the song that they're playing.
09:44-09:52
And he goes into the store, K-Jeweler or wherever he shopped and guess what song is playing on the radio?
09:52-09:53
This song.
09:53-09:57
He just, he kept hearing this song and oh, I can't stand that song.
09:58-10:03
And it got to the point, you can read this, Saul ruined his life over this song.
10:04-10:10
It drove him to jealousy to the point that he spent the rest of his life as the king trying to kill the next king.
10:10-10:13
All of it fueled by jealousy.
10:13-10:14
It is a killer.
10:15-10:18
And we're all susceptible to it, but I want you to see verse 27.
10:19-10:22
Okay, so you have the context here back in John 3.
10:22-10:30
They're like, "Hey, the guy that you were with, "you know, everybody's going to him, John." Look at verse 27, look at John's response because this is so profound.
10:31-10:36
John answered, "A person cannot receive even one thing, unless it is given him from heaven.
10:37-10:38
That's John's response.
10:38-10:38
What?
10:39-10:41
It's something that John got.
10:42-10:57
Everybody that's involved in any level of ministry should get, and this morning I'm speaking heavily to people that are involved in ministry, which honestly most of the people in this church are involved in some aspect of ministry, whether it's in this church or outside of this church, you're involved in some aspect of ministry.
10:58-11:01
But here's something that everyone in ministry should get.
11:01-11:07
A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.
11:08-11:13
In other words, to rephrase this another way, ministry is assigned by God.
11:13-11:14
Write that down.
11:14-11:16
Ministry is assigned by God.
11:17-11:19
You're like, why have this little ministry that I'm involved in?
11:19-11:23
If you do, if you're involved in a ministry, it's because God gave you the ministry.
11:23-11:24
That's where that came from.
11:25-11:27
And we could spend a lot of time on this.
11:27-11:30
I don't want to spend too much time, but it's important that we get this down.
11:31-11:34
Colossians 1.25, look at what Paul writes.
11:34-11:38
Paul says, "I became a minister." How? Look at the next phrase.
11:38-11:45
"According to the stewardship from God that was given to me." Like, how'd you become a minister, Paul?
11:45-11:46
How'd you become a missionary, Paul?
11:46-11:49
He says, "It was from God.
11:49-11:57
God assigned this to me." He says, "For you to make the word of God fully known." Ministry is assigned by God.
11:58-12:02
God determines the scope of your ministry.
12:02-12:05
If you're like, well, why isn't Harvest a mega church?
12:05-12:07
Because that's not where God has us right now, that's why.
12:08-12:11
Like, well, is that where God is going to have us eventually? I don't know.
12:11-12:12
That's up to Him.
12:12-12:17
Like, why isn't our youth group as big as like, Northways Youth Group or some other church's youth?
12:17-12:21
Why isn't our youth group as big as another church's youth group?
12:21-12:24
Because this is the group that God has entrusted to us right now.
12:24-12:33
Well, why does Beth Moore get to minister to thousands of ladies, and we minister to less than thousands of ladies, because this is the assignment that God has for us right now.
12:34-12:35
Like, well, I'm in small group.
12:35-12:40
Why is this small group so much bigger than my small group?
12:40-12:44
Because God has entrusted a certain number of people that he wants you to pour into right now.
12:45-12:45
That's why.
12:45-12:47
Like, wait a second, Pastor Jeff.
12:47-12:52
What does all this have to do with knowing the majestic worth of Jesus Christ?
12:53-12:53
The answer is everything.
12:54-13:01
Before you got involved in ministry, whatever ministry you're involved in, any level, weren't you motivated to serve Christ in the first place?
13:02-13:05
Because you believe with your whole heart that He is worthy of your service.
13:05-13:06
Isn't that what motivated you?
13:07-13:14
How many people would say, I've got involved in some level of ministry because I believe that Jesus Christ is worthy of my service.
13:14-13:15
How many people would say that?
13:15-13:25
That you start out and you say, even if I only ever bring one person to Christ, I'm going to be so thankful that He used me.
13:25-13:26
Well, what changed?
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What changes is we take a couple of laps around the block in our ministry and we start looking at what God's doing through other people, how God's using other people.
13:37-13:40
And in our pride, we start to think, well, that's not fair.
13:41-13:42
I mean, I should have a bigger ministry than that guy.
13:42-13:45
I mean, I am a way better speaker than that guy.
13:45-13:47
I am way more charismatic than that guy.
13:47-13:49
I am way smarter than that girl.
13:49-13:54
And we start, suddenly, suddenly, we are John's jealous disciples.
13:55-14:02
And we too need reminded what John's disciples need reminded and that's this, you can't receive one thing unless it's been given to you from heaven.
14:02-14:03
That is from God.
14:04-14:26
But you need to get back to the place and I need to remind myself, church, to get back to the place where I'm saying and you are saying, Jesus Christ is worthy of my service and He is worthy to determine how I serve and he is worthy to determine to how many I serve.
14:27-14:28
We're gonna get back there.
14:28-14:34
So it drove John, "John, your crowds are getting smaller." I'm just doing God's assignment, man.
14:34-14:34
It's all him.
14:35-14:37
I mean, Moses understood this, right?
14:37-14:40
You don't have to turn there now, but just drop this down, Numbers chapter 11.
14:41-14:42
They're kind of a funny story.
14:43-14:53
But Numbers chapter 11, there were a couple of other Jews that were prophesying and Joshua goes to Moses, "Hey, hey, hey, there's other people that are preaching in the camp, Moses, you need to stop them because you're the preacher.
14:54-14:55
Everybody knows you're the preacher around here.
14:55-14:58
And we can't have other people preaching here, Moses, because that's your thing.
14:58-15:00
So you tell them to shut up.
15:00-15:02
You remember Moses' response?
15:02-15:12
Moses was like, "I wish everyone was a preacher." Moses says, "I wish everyone of God's people "were full of his spirit and were preaching.
15:12-15:14
"That's what I wish." He got it.
15:14-15:15
He got it.
15:16-15:17
Because it's about God's glory.
15:18-15:19
It's about God's glory.
15:19-15:26
And when you get that in your mind and get it back in your heart to say, hey, it's about God's glory, that kills jealousy.
15:26-15:28
Of course I want the church to grow.
15:28-15:35
Of course you want to impact as many people as possible in your ministry, but let me ask you a question.
15:35-15:40
What if God's assignment for you is simply what you have before you right now?
15:40-15:41
What if that's it?
15:41-15:49
What if the Lord said to you, this is who I have for you to minister to, it's not going to get any bigger, It's not going to get any different.
15:49-15:52
These are the people that you're pouring yourself into.
15:52-15:53
Would you be content with that?
15:54-15:55
Is he worth it?
15:55-15:56
Is he worth it?
15:56-15:59
Or would you just walk away from your ministry and say, "No, no, no, no, no, uh-uh, uh-uh.
16:00-16:07
I deserve more than what I'm getting because I'm worth more than what I'm getting." Well, here's the problem.
16:07-16:12
Let's get our eyes off of our worth and put them on the worth of Jesus Christ.
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And if he says, "Hey, you're spending your whole life You're only ever going to affect this one person.
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Praise the Lord you affected eternity for that one person.
16:20-16:23
Reality is he who's faithful with little is going to be entrusted with much.
16:24-16:27
So let's get our eyes on the worth of Jesus.
16:27-16:34
And like John the Baptist, you'll see even if your ministry seems to be shrinking, jealousy is not an issue for you.
16:34-16:36
Like, oh, this is what God has for me to do.
16:36-16:39
So I'm going to do it with excellence as for the King.
16:40-16:44
Knowing Jesus' worth, number two, makes me understand who I am.
16:45-16:46
Okay, so jealousy is a non-issue, right?
16:46-16:47
We're done with that, right?
16:48-16:50
Jealousy is in the rear view mirror for us forever, right?
16:51-16:51
Great.
16:52-16:56
Number two, knowing Jesus' word makes me understand who I am.
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Look at verses 28 through 30.
16:59-16:59
John continues.
17:00-17:10
He said, "You yourselves bear me witness that I said, 'I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before Him.' The one who has the bride is the bridegroom.
17:10-17:20
The friend of the bridegroom, that's the best man, the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice.
17:20-17:23
Therefore, this joy of mine is now complete.
17:23-17:27
He must increase, but I must decrease.
17:28-17:34
When you understand the worth of Jesus Christ, it will help you finally and fully realize who you are.
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John's illustration here is the best man.
17:38-17:39
The best man at a wedding.
17:39-17:41
Best man at a wedding. Boy, that role changed quite a bit.
17:42-17:44
Today, the best man's job...
17:45-18:04
Today, the best man's job is to throw the bachelor party, stand there at the wedding. Sometimes he holds the rings, and of course the best man's big job is to give the speech at the reception. I've done a lot of weddings. I've heard a lot of touching, great, moving, emotional best man speeches.
18:05-18:08
Something else? I see Erin smiling. She knows what I'm going to say.
18:08-18:16
Aaron and I had the privilege and honor of hearing the all-time worst best man speech ever given at any wedding ever in the history of marriage.
18:17-18:20
And that's not even up for debate. I'm going to paraphrase it for you.
18:20-18:26
This guy, it seemed like he was speaking for like a half hour. I'm sure it wasn't that long.
18:27-18:32
It was so bad. It just seemed like it was that long. But I'm going to paraphrase it for you.
18:32-18:36
Okay, so this guy gets up and he has his glass.
18:36-18:38
and he's wearing this smoker's jacket.
18:39-18:41
Already that was a bad sign.
18:41-18:45
It was like dollar store Hugh Hefner kind of thing happening there.
18:45-18:46
It was bad.
18:47-18:54
So he gets up to do this speech, and the reception was at that castle, you know, where they play the golf.
18:54-18:55
You know what I'm talking about?
18:56-18:57
Shakespeare's Castle.
18:58-18:58
You guys know what I'm talking about?
18:59-19:02
OK, so it was a packed place, and it was a really elegant setting.
19:03-19:04
And the smoker's jacket gets up.
19:04-19:08
And this is the paraphrase, the short version of what he said.
19:09-19:21
He says, "You know, I was really thankful "to be asked to be the best man at your wedding, "because I remember you came all the way "and you were the best man at my wedding, "and I appreciated that.
19:21-19:28
"Of course, my wedding didn't work out so well." Yeah, we kind of know how that turned out.
19:28-19:32
She cheated on me, and our marriage is over.
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And I should have known, I should have seen that coming.
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And I hope that your marriage lasts longer than mine.
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And Aaron and I are sitting there like, "Get the hook!
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Somebody! Get that guy! Unplug his microphone! Something!" A little tip for you, just bonus.
19:51-19:56
If you have to give one of those speeches at a wedding, make it about the people that get married.
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For heaven's sake, make it about them.
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Because here's the thing.
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This guy made the whole thing about him.
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It was all about me and my horrible, no good, failed marriage.
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And boo-hoo me. He made the whole thing about him.
20:12-20:14
And the best man knows it's not about him.
20:15-20:17
That's exactly what John the Baptist is saying here.
20:18-20:21
He goes, "It's not about me. What, you think I'm the groom?
20:21-20:26
You think I'm the spotlight here?" He goes, "It's not about me. I'm just... you know what I am?
20:26-20:28
I'm the best man at the wedding. That's what I am.
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Do you know what that means?
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I'm a big fat nothing.
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Because it's all about the groom.
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In those days, the best man, his job, he did whatever the groom wanted.
20:37-20:44
During the year of the betrothal, he communicated to the bride while the groom was preparing the place, keeping updates.
20:44-20:46
And when the time came, did you know this?
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This is important.
20:48-20:52
The best man's job was to present the bride to the groom.
20:53-20:53
That was his job.
20:54-20:57
It's time. The groom is here.
20:57-20:59
And here is your bridegroom." That was his job.
21:00-21:02
And John the Baptist is like, "That's me!
21:02-21:10
That's me because the groom is here, Jesus Christ, and the bride." "That's the church. I'll get that later." And he's like, "Here you go, groom.
21:10-21:19
Here is your bride, the church, sinners who need Jesus Christ." John says, "I'm not the groom.
21:20-21:27
My job is to just connect the bride to the groom, to bring sinners to Jesus." He goes, "Guys, you're jealous. Let me tell you why.
21:28-21:42
I am joyful because while you're going, all these people are going to Jesus." I'm like, "Yes, this is exactly what I live for, to see people go to Jesus Christ." The best man does his job, but he knows, he knows.
21:43-21:44
It's not the main event.
21:44-21:53
If you're involved in any aspect of ministry, again, and I know a lot of you are in this church and outside, verse 30 has to be like the banner over your ministry.
21:54-21:58
Jesus must increase, but I must decrease.
21:58-22:08
Whether you're the pastor, whether you're the kids teacher, whether you're the small group leader, you have to decrease and allow Jesus Christ to increase.
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Because great ministry doesn't produce disciples of the ministry or disciples of the minister.
22:14-22:17
A great ministry produces disciples of Jesus Christ.
22:18-22:20
And failing at this is an easy progression.
22:20-22:22
It's an easy progression to fail.
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I mean, you see God at work.
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God's blessing people through you.
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And then people start complimenting you.
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And then you start to become proud of your work.
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You start to think, you know what?
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God is pretty lucky to have me on his team.
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I am doing a great job saving people.
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You start to think it is your work.
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And when you start to think it is your work, you become focused on making sure that you are increasing.
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I'm gonna get my name out, my branding, my blah blah blah marketing buzzword whatever I get to increase myself and when you do that Jesus begins decreasing not in person or character obviously just in the scope of your ministry it's more about you than it is about him and if there's ever anybody in the history of the world who might might have had some tiny bit of validation to think this way it would be John the Baptist Because Jesus said, "He's the greatest man who ever lived." Can you imagine if Jesus said that about you?
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Jesus said, "He's the greatest man who ever lived." And more than anyone, John could have thought, "Hey, you know what Jesus said about me? I am pretty awesome." You see, he knew the worth of Jesus, and that made John.
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And that makes us, when we really grasp the worth of Jesus Christ, it makes us understand who we are.
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We're just the best man at the wedding.
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We're like, "Hey, the groom, Jesus Christ, He's the one you have to go to.
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Let's magnify him and us.
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We're just simply content to fade into the background because it's not about us.
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It's not about us.
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Knowing Jesus' worth makes me understand who I am.
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Thirdly, knowing Jesus' worth makes me, excuse me, believing in Jesus, makes believing in Jesus the only appropriate response.
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We're gonna go through this last part quickly.
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John was so sold out on following Jesus, on believing Jesus, he was so sold out because he recognized Jesus' worth.
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Can you say that?
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Yeah, I see how awesome Jesus is.
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That's why I'm so committed to Jesus.
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The only way you're going to follow Jesus from your heart and from your will is when you truly get a glimpse for the awesomeness of Jesus Christ and see his worth.
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And with the rest of John's speech here, he gives us three reasons Jesus has ultimate worth.
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Like, "John, you're awfully serious about Jesus.
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Why is that?" He gives us three reasons that we would do well to embrace.
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Three reasons Jesus has ultimate worth.
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Letter A, Jesus has ultimate perspective.
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Look at verse 31.
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John continues, "Okay, we saw he must increase, but I must decrease." Now John is launching into this.
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Here's why I think Jesus is awesome.
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Look at this.
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It says, "He who comes from above is above all.
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He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way.
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He who comes from heaven is above all.
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He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony.
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Jesus has ultimate perspective.
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We can only speak from earthly point of view.
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And that's something every single person that's ever lived on this earth has in common.
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That's something every single person in this church right now has in common.
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We can only speak from an earthly point of view.
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That's it.
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But this is one more thing that makes Jesus exclusively unique.
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That John points out, Jesus came from heaven.
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And Jesus' point of view spans everywhere and all time, past, present, and future.
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Jesus has this perspective on things that he and he alone has.
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So when Jesus taught about God and heaven and Satan and eternity, Jesus wasn't quoting someone else And he wasn't guessing and he wasn't making it up.
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Jesus was simply speaking what he saw firsthand.
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Like yeah, I saw this stuff go down and let me tell you what it's like, right?
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Do you know what I think heaven is like?
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You know what I think, do you know what I think heaven's like?
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It doesn't matter what I think heaven is like.
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That's your answer.
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I hear that all the time.
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You know what I think heaven's like?
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Do you know what I think heaven is like?
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It doesn't matter.
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It doesn't matter what I think.
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It doesn't matter what you think.
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What matters is, what did Jesus say heaven's like?
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Because that's where he's from.
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He simply spoke of what he saw firsthand.
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I don't know what heaven's like, but I know one person who's been there, and he came to earth and he told us about it.
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And that's one reason that Jesus has ultimate worth, is because he has ultimate perspective.
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Nobody else like Jesus, nobody.
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Nobody's ever walked this earth like Jesus.
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Secondly, Jesus has ultimate truth.
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Look at verses 33 and 34.
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Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true.
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For he whom God has sent, utters the words of God.
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For he gives the Spirit without measure." Receiving Jesus Christ, receiving his words, John the Baptist says here, receiving his words is making your stand.
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You're setting your seal to this.
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You are declaring that I believe that God is true.
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Because when Jesus speaks, it's literally the word of God.
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Because, he says, Jesus has the Spirit without measure.
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That's what the end of verse 34 means.
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God the Father gave God the Son, Jesus Christ.
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He contained, he had, he possessed the Holy Spirit without measure.
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There was no limit.
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What does that mean?
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It means Jesus Christ, 100% full of the Holy Spirit, empowered by the Holy Spirit, 100% of the time.
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Every word from his mouth, the word of God himself.
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And no one else who ever lived can say that.
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As New Testament believers, are we full of God's Holy Spirit?
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Absolutely yes.
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Is every moment of your life driven, dictated, and empowered by the Holy Spirit?
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No.
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There's times that we sin, we make wrong, stupid, foolish, not Spirit-filled choices.
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We're all there.
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We all... not Jesus.
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That's what makes Him unique.
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Totally full of the Spirit.
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Ultimate truth.
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And finally for today, Jesus has ultimate authority.
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Look at verse 35.
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It says, "The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand." The Father has given all things into the hand of Jesus.
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Sounds like the Great Commission, right?
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Before Jesus gave the commission, He said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." John here is pointing out, do you notice that he says, "The Father loves the Son." You understand that this is a whole other sermon series for another time.
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But all of this, all of creation, the church, the bride of Christ, all of this, is God the Father's gift to God the Son, because of how much He loves Him.
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All of this, God the Father is saying, "This is yours, everything in creation.
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Jesus, you have authority over all of it." And this authority that Jesus has makes Him the difference maker when it comes to eternity, because verse 36 says, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.
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Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him." As a callback to the previous passage, this verse really sums up all of John chapter 3.
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I just want you to note one thing here though.
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You notice he says, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.
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Whoever," I was expecting it to say, "Whoever does not believe," but that's not what it says.
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It says, "Whoever does not," what?
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What does your Bible say?
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Obey, not believe, believe, and not even obey.
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You notice in the parallels here, He's saying that believing is not a suggestion.
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Believing is a command to be obeyed or not obeyed.
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In other words, you either believe in Jesus Christ and receive eternal life, or you don't obey the command to believe and the wrath of God remains on you.
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And I gotta tell you, that sure makes it look a little different than it's often presented.
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Like, can I please make a suggestion to you?
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I would like you to strongly consider making Jesus Christ, allowing Jesus Christ to, you know, he's knock, knock, knocking on the door of your life or whatever.
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That's not how the Bible presents the gospel.
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It is a command.
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I am commanding you.
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You must obey the gospel of Jesus Christ by believing in his name.
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That's the gospel.
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You must believe in him because apart from him, the wrath of God is on you.
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But when you believe, when you say, "Yes, God, you're right.
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I'm turning from my sin and I am obeying you.
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I am believing in Jesus Christ." You have the gift of eternal life.
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Where in the world do you get off saying these things?
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Well, Jesus has ultimate authority.
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That's where this comes from.
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It's not my opinion.
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It's the word of the one who has all authority.
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So do you see the worth of Jesus Christ?
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Do you see his incomparable majesty?
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And if you do, you'll recognize how foolish it would be to care more about people knowing you than people knowing Him.
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Because if you meet me and you forget about me, you haven't lost much.
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But if you meet Jesus and you forget about Him, you've lost everything.
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So in light of everything Jesus is, in light of everything Jesus can do, in light of the glorious gospel that He commands us to believe, whatever aspect of ministry you find yourself, Make this your motto.
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Jesus Christ must increase.
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And I, I must decrease.
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Pray with me, please.
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Father in heaven, you know in our pride, we so badly want it to be about us.
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We want our name on the marquee.
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We want people talking about us.
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We want people praising us.
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We want people complimenting us.
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We want people thinking so much of us.
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I pray, Father, for repentance.
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You would grant us repentance, Father, when we become jealous, When we become John's disciples, like John, Father, I pray that we would see ourselves for how we really are.
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We're just the best, man.
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We're just pointing people to Jesus.
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People walk away from us knowing much about Jesus and knowing nothing about us, and we've succeeded.
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Father, grant us the humility that you require to serve you.
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Give us, Father, a glimpse, just a glimpse of the incomparable worth of Jesus Christ.
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May he increase, Father.
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Please, Father, let Him increase. Let us decrease. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read John 3:22-36
What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
What are some ways you’ve seen ministries / pastors draw more attention to themselves than to Jesus? How should you address this if you saw it happening in your church?
Specifically - how can YOU decrease and allow Christ to increase in your life?
BREAKOUT
Pray for one another to grow in humility - that Christ may increase and we may decrease (John 3:30)!