Rev. Alan J. Meenan
A coach was offered a position with a football team that had suffered a very bad season with a prior coach. When he accepted the position, the new coach was given two sealed envelopes. He was told that if the season opened badly he was to open the first sealed envelope. This happened, so the new coach opened the first envelope. Inside was a note from the previous coach that said, “Blame everything on me.” It went on to say that in the event that things did not improve, he should open the second envelope Things did not improve, and the coach opened the second envelope. Inside this one, was a note that said, “Prepare two envelopes.”
Scientists make great discoveries and develop inventions by a process of hypothesis and experimentation. It is permissible to fail many times in order to finally arrive at a place of success. Why is it that scientists get away with that, but politicians never do? If politicians hypothesize and experiment unsuccessfully, either they are generally out of a job, or their head is cut off. The punishment depends on where they live and what the year is. Failure continues to be one of the great dreads of our age. We live in an age of frustrated ambition and empty promises. We live in a society, so success-oriented, that it encourages and breeds the fruit of uninhibited self-interest and bold self-assertion. Competitive living is part and parcel of the American life.
Our story today is refreshing in its loveliness. In it, we stumble upon a person. John the Baptizer is assured of a task well done, accepting of his station in life and joyful in celebrating the popularity of another person. His words come as a glad beacon in the dark night of our souls. In John, Chapter 3 verse 30, he utters the words in reference to Jesus Christ, “He must become greater, I must become less.”
Now I want to take that statement and set it against our conditioned life styles. Here is John, the Baptizer, facing ignominy, failure, and defeat yet in it seeing the hand of a loving God. By any conceivable standard, John, the Baptizer, was a solid success. Crowds followed in the wake of his popularity! In verse 23 of this passage, we read, “Now John was also baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water and people were constantly coming to be baptized.” The Gospel goes on to tell us that crowds came to him from Jerusalem, from all Judea, and from every region surrounding the Jordan. This is fascinating. He didn’t beg them to come. He didn’t advertise in the Los Angeles Times or a local radio station. He didn’t announce brief services, short sermons, and special music in order to get them to come. They were not cajoled. They were not bribed. They were not enticed. They just came. Tens of thousands of them just came. John attracted all kinds of audiences. On one hand were the soldiers, publicans and sinners. On the other hand were the Pharisees, the great names in theological circles and the Sadducees, the scientific intelligencia of the day. People of every social class were clamoring to be baptized. People’s lives were being transformed. People were being changed by the power and the grace of God. This was no cheap meretricious revival. These were real conversions. People were turning away from the power of Satan to embrace the service of the living God. By any standard imaginable, John, the Baptizer’s ministry would be considered a supreme success.
Then one day everything changed. Another preacher appeared on the scene, a young carpenter from Nazareth. In a moment, the crowd that once surrounded John, the Baptizer, had gone. John found himself standing on the banks of the Jordan watching the crowd dwindle. Even some of his own disciples left. I wonder what he must have thought, as he watched them dissipate and disappear. I wonder if he thought, with some degree of resentment, that he had sacrificed everything for his life’s work. He had become a hopeless dweller. He had given up comfort, ease and security. He had given up human love. He had given up the possibility of children. Now, all he faced was failure. Even his disciples sensed the injustice saying in verse 23, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—well, he is baptizing and everyone is going to Him.” In effect, they are saying, “It doesn’t seem fair John, after all that you have done and given up, that these people would leave you and go to Him.”
Indeed, John might have been incensed at Christ’s popularity. He might have been disparaging of Christ’s work. He might have belittled his rival’s achievements. He might have been torn apart by jealousy, as thousands of others have done with far less cause. However, even though his heart ached, he stood before his disciples and resolutely declared his confidence in God: “He must become greater, I must become less.”
When I grow up I'd like to be like John, the Baptizer. How is it that he was able to take those lovely words upon his lips? What was it that prompted him to be able to look past the failure and see the hope? John enumerates three reasons for his confidence, and they are a help for us today, as we face the dilemmas and failures in our lives. The first principal is found in verse 27. The authority of heaven precludes rivalry. John said a man can receive only what is given him from heaven. No person can receive more than God gives. This simple principal calls for the final ultimate authority of heaven in our lives. If a new teacher, colleague, office worker or in John’s case, preacher, is winning more followers, it is because God is granting success to that person. Dr. Spence, an American preacher, was once very popular. His church was full. As the years passed, though, the crowd began to dwindle. Right across the road from his church, a new young minister was attracting the crowd. One evening with a small gathering in his church, the doctor looked at his little flock and asked, “Where have all the people gone?” There was embarrassed silence, and finally one of the church leaders spoke up. He said, “I think they've gone across the street to hear the new minister.” Dr. Spence was silent for a moment and then he smiled and said, “Well I think we ought to join them, don’t you?” So he descended from his pulpit and led his little congregation across the street to the new minister. Dr. Spence understood that the authority of heaven precludes rivalry! If we insist, as many within the Christian church seem to do, that only success comes from the hands of God, we will have a Biblical problem. How do we explain Elijah hiding in the cave wishing that his life would be taken away from him? How can we explain Jeremiah’s ignominious death in an Egyptian dungeon, if only success comes from the hands of God? It is a weak and anemic theology, the so-called 'prosperity gospel.' It is not a Biblical doctrine! As Job said, “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.” Many years ago, a beautiful, young woman pinned all of her hopes and dreams upon a certain gentleman in her life. Like so many others, it didn’t work out. I remember looking into her teary eyes, hardly knowing how to comfort her. Through her tears she looked at me and said, “Alan, the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord." She’s got Job’s concept. If you and I were to accept that both success and failure comes from the hands of God, we would be spared such jealousy and resentment. That is why John is able to say, “He must increase, I must decrease.” He must become greater and I must become less. John understood that the ultimate authority of heaven precludes rivalry.
Now look at verse 28. He says there, “You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.'" John understood that the call of God upon his life was for a specific task. He was to be the herald. He was to be the forerunner. He was to be the voice crying in the wilderness. He was not to be the leading person. John realized the limitations of the talents God had lovingly given him. Questions of precedence were of no importance to John, the Baptizer. So often, this is a cancer within Christian fellowship. John’s only goal was to bring glory to his redeemer. He realizes that the person who does the work is of no consequence. The only important thing is that the work is done. The great nineteenth century English Parliamentarian, Lord Shaftesbury, expressed this well. He said, “Perish all things so that Christ might be magnified.”
Lord, where shall I serve today
And my heart flowed full and free.
He pointed to a tiny spot and said,
Tend that for me,
Oh no, said I, not there. Not anyone could see.
No matter how well my task was done,
Not that little spot for me.
But He smiled as He spoke to me tenderly,
Little child, look at that heart of thine,
Are you working for them or me?
Bethlehem was a little place, and so was Galilee.
John, the Baptizer, understood that we are called for a specific task.
Finally, John declares his friendship with Christ. In verse 29, he says, “The Bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine and it is now complete.” What is John saying by referring to himself as the friend of the groom? The friend of the groom had a particular responsibility on the wedding evening. His duty was to guard the bridal chamber. He was to open the door only when he heard the voice of his friend. Once he heard that familiar voice and let the groom in, he went on his way rejoicing. His task was complete. Why? The groom and the bride were together! The lovers could consummate their love. John understood this, and he did not begrudge the groom of the bride. He didn’t say, “I’m not sure if I’m going to let you in after all.” No. It was with a glad heart that he swung open the door to welcome the groom. Then, he happily and willingly faded out of the scene. John introduces Jesus to Israel. Is that not the great task of the church today? In this barbarian age, we are called to introduce Jesus Christ to the people of the world. Once the task is done, we are to fade into obscurity. One of Charles Wesley’s greatest hymns begins:
Jesus, the name high over all
but the last two verses are:
His only righteousness I know
His saving grace proclaim.
'Tis all my business here below,
To cry behold the lamb.
Happy, if with my latest breath
I can but gasp His name
Preach Him to all and cry in death,
Behold, behold the lamb.
John, the Baptizer, relies on what is truly important in life. Unless you are in Christ, it is terrible to see other people achieve the prize on which you have set your heart. It is terrible to live in a world that sometimes deals out devastating disappointments. With Jesus, though, we recognize that we have everything we need in Him. As the gospel song says, “The things of the earth grow strangely dim in the life of His glory and grace. For we recognize we are with Christ.” Ultimately that is the only thing that matters. Arnold Pratter once told a story about his dad. He was a senior on the high school football team. It was the game of the year against their archrival. In the middle of the game, the ball came sailing though the air right at him. He tried to catch it, but it hit his chest, and he fumbled it. The other team picked up the ball and scored a touchdown. Arnold’s team lost 14 to 7. He was overcome with shame, and he thought he let his teammates down. So he waited in the locker room until everyone else had gone home. Then, very quietly, he gathered up his stuff and walked out into the evening darkness. There he saw someone waiting. It was his dad. His father walked up to him, put his arms around him, and said, “Just thought I'd wait and walk home with you.” And together, in the darkness, they walked home. In our world of disappointment and failure, there are times when we feel that we cannot face the world, our families, our friends or our life. We're overcome with shame and discouragement. There stands one waiting for you, and He is eager to place His arm around you and say, “Just thought I'd wait for you so we could walk home together.” His name is Jesus Christ.
A coach was offered a position with a football team that had suffered a very bad season with a prior coach. When he accepted the position, the new coach was given two sealed envelopes. He was told that if the season opened badly he was to open the first sealed envelope. This happened, so the new coach opened the first envelope. Inside was a note from the previous coach that said, “Blame everything on me.” It went on to say that in the event that things did not improve, he should open the second envelope Things did not improve, and the coach opened the second envelope. Inside this one, was a note that said, “Prepare two envelopes.”
Scientists make great discoveries and develop inventions by a process of hypothesis and experimentation. It is permissible to fail many times in order to finally arrive at a place of success. Why is it that scientists get away with that, but politicians never do? If politicians hypothesize and experiment unsuccessfully, either they are generally out of a job, or their head is cut off. The punishment depends on where they live and what the year is. Failure continues to be one of the great dreads of our age. We live in an age of frustrated ambition and empty promises. We live in a society, so success-oriented, that it encourages and breeds the fruit of uninhibited self-interest and bold self-assertion. Competitive living is part and parcel of the American life.
Our story today is refreshing in its loveliness. In it, we stumble upon a person. John the Baptizer is assured of a task well done, accepting of his station in life and joyful in celebrating the popularity of another person. His words come as a glad beacon in the dark night of our souls. In John, Chapter 3 verse 30, he utters the words in reference to Jesus Christ, “He must become greater, I must become less.”
Now I want to take that statement and set it against our conditioned life styles. Here is John, the Baptizer, facing ignominy, failure, and defeat yet in it seeing the hand of a loving God. By any conceivable standard, John, the Baptizer, was a solid success. Crowds followed in the wake of his popularity! In verse 23 of this passage, we read, “Now John was also baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water and people were constantly coming to be baptized.” The Gospel goes on to tell us that crowds came to him from Jerusalem, from all Judea, and from every region surrounding the Jordan. This is fascinating. He didn’t beg them to come. He didn’t advertise in the Los Angeles Times or a local radio station. He didn’t announce brief services, short sermons, and special music in order to get them to come. They were not cajoled. They were not bribed. They were not enticed. They just came. Tens of thousands of them just came. John attracted all kinds of audiences. On one hand were the soldiers, publicans and sinners. On the other hand were the Pharisees, the great names in theological circles and the Sadducees, the scientific intelligencia of the day. People of every social class were clamoring to be baptized. People’s lives were being transformed. People were being changed by the power and the grace of God. This was no cheap meretricious revival. These were real conversions. People were turning away from the power of Satan to embrace the service of the living God. By any standard imaginable, John, the Baptizer’s ministry would be considered a supreme success.
Then one day everything changed. Another preacher appeared on the scene, a young carpenter from Nazareth. In a moment, the crowd that once surrounded John, the Baptizer, had gone. John found himself standing on the banks of the Jordan watching the crowd dwindle. Even some of his own disciples left. I wonder what he must have thought, as he watched them dissipate and disappear. I wonder if he thought, with some degree of resentment, that he had sacrificed everything for his life’s work. He had become a hopeless dweller. He had given up comfort, ease and security. He had given up human love. He had given up the possibility of children. Now, all he faced was failure. Even his disciples sensed the injustice saying in verse 23, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—well, he is baptizing and everyone is going to Him.” In effect, they are saying, “It doesn’t seem fair John, after all that you have done and given up, that these people would leave you and go to Him.”
Indeed, John might have been incensed at Christ’s popularity. He might have been disparaging of Christ’s work. He might have belittled his rival’s achievements. He might have been torn apart by jealousy, as thousands of others have done with far less cause. However, even though his heart ached, he stood before his disciples and resolutely declared his confidence in God: “He must become greater, I must become less.”
When I grow up I'd like to be like John, the Baptizer. How is it that he was able to take those lovely words upon his lips? What was it that prompted him to be able to look past the failure and see the hope? John enumerates three reasons for his confidence, and they are a help for us today, as we face the dilemmas and failures in our lives. The first principal is found in verse 27. The authority of heaven precludes rivalry. John said a man can receive only what is given him from heaven. No person can receive more than God gives. This simple principal calls for the final ultimate authority of heaven in our lives. If a new teacher, colleague, office worker or in John’s case, preacher, is winning more followers, it is because God is granting success to that person. Dr. Spence, an American preacher, was once very popular. His church was full. As the years passed, though, the crowd began to dwindle. Right across the road from his church, a new young minister was attracting the crowd. One evening with a small gathering in his church, the doctor looked at his little flock and asked, “Where have all the people gone?” There was embarrassed silence, and finally one of the church leaders spoke up. He said, “I think they've gone across the street to hear the new minister.” Dr. Spence was silent for a moment and then he smiled and said, “Well I think we ought to join them, don’t you?” So he descended from his pulpit and led his little congregation across the street to the new minister. Dr. Spence understood that the authority of heaven precludes rivalry! If we insist, as many within the Christian church seem to do, that only success comes from the hands of God, we will have a Biblical problem. How do we explain Elijah hiding in the cave wishing that his life would be taken away from him? How can we explain Jeremiah’s ignominious death in an Egyptian dungeon, if only success comes from the hands of God? It is a weak and anemic theology, the so-called 'prosperity gospel.' It is not a Biblical doctrine! As Job said, “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.” Many years ago, a beautiful, young woman pinned all of her hopes and dreams upon a certain gentleman in her life. Like so many others, it didn’t work out. I remember looking into her teary eyes, hardly knowing how to comfort her. Through her tears she looked at me and said, “Alan, the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord." She’s got Job’s concept. If you and I were to accept that both success and failure comes from the hands of God, we would be spared such jealousy and resentment. That is why John is able to say, “He must increase, I must decrease.” He must become greater and I must become less. John understood that the ultimate authority of heaven precludes rivalry.
Now look at verse 28. He says there, “You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.'" John understood that the call of God upon his life was for a specific task. He was to be the herald. He was to be the forerunner. He was to be the voice crying in the wilderness. He was not to be the leading person. John realized the limitations of the talents God had lovingly given him. Questions of precedence were of no importance to John, the Baptizer. So often, this is a cancer within Christian fellowship. John’s only goal was to bring glory to his redeemer. He realizes that the person who does the work is of no consequence. The only important thing is that the work is done. The great nineteenth century English Parliamentarian, Lord Shaftesbury, expressed this well. He said, “Perish all things so that Christ might be magnified.”
Lord, where shall I serve today
And my heart flowed full and free.
He pointed to a tiny spot and said,
Tend that for me,
Oh no, said I, not there. Not anyone could see.
No matter how well my task was done,
Not that little spot for me.
But He smiled as He spoke to me tenderly,
Little child, look at that heart of thine,
Are you working for them or me?
Bethlehem was a little place, and so was Galilee.
John, the Baptizer, understood that we are called for a specific task.
Finally, John declares his friendship with Christ. In verse 29, he says, “The Bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine and it is now complete.” What is John saying by referring to himself as the friend of the groom? The friend of the groom had a particular responsibility on the wedding evening. His duty was to guard the bridal chamber. He was to open the door only when he heard the voice of his friend. Once he heard that familiar voice and let the groom in, he went on his way rejoicing. His task was complete. Why? The groom and the bride were together! The lovers could consummate their love. John understood this, and he did not begrudge the groom of the bride. He didn’t say, “I’m not sure if I’m going to let you in after all.” No. It was with a glad heart that he swung open the door to welcome the groom. Then, he happily and willingly faded out of the scene. John introduces Jesus to Israel. Is that not the great task of the church today? In this barbarian age, we are called to introduce Jesus Christ to the people of the world. Once the task is done, we are to fade into obscurity. One of Charles Wesley’s greatest hymns begins:
Jesus, the name high over all
but the last two verses are:
His only righteousness I know
His saving grace proclaim.
'Tis all my business here below,
To cry behold the lamb.
Happy, if with my latest breath
I can but gasp His name
Preach Him to all and cry in death,
Behold, behold the lamb.
John, the Baptizer, relies on what is truly important in life. Unless you are in Christ, it is terrible to see other people achieve the prize on which you have set your heart. It is terrible to live in a world that sometimes deals out devastating disappointments. With Jesus, though, we recognize that we have everything we need in Him. As the gospel song says, “The things of the earth grow strangely dim in the life of His glory and grace. For we recognize we are with Christ.” Ultimately that is the only thing that matters. Arnold Pratter once told a story about his dad. He was a senior on the high school football team. It was the game of the year against their archrival. In the middle of the game, the ball came sailing though the air right at him. He tried to catch it, but it hit his chest, and he fumbled it. The other team picked up the ball and scored a touchdown. Arnold’s team lost 14 to 7. He was overcome with shame, and he thought he let his teammates down. So he waited in the locker room until everyone else had gone home. Then, very quietly, he gathered up his stuff and walked out into the evening darkness. There he saw someone waiting. It was his dad. His father walked up to him, put his arms around him, and said, “Just thought I'd wait and walk home with you.” And together, in the darkness, they walked home. In our world of disappointment and failure, there are times when we feel that we cannot face the world, our families, our friends or our life. We're overcome with shame and discouragement. There stands one waiting for you, and He is eager to place His arm around you and say, “Just thought I'd wait for you so we could walk home together.” His name is Jesus Christ.
