John 3:22-36_He Must Increase
Passage: John 3:22-36
Sections, Scripture Passages, Quotes:
John 3:22-36 – He Must Increase
“There is truth embedded in the language. To win, we sometimes have to crush those underneath us. And this can move from language to reality when our ambition causes us to compete with those we are called to serve.” – Jon Tyson
v/22-26 – The Controversy – “All are going to Him”
When we compare ourselves with those we perceive to be better than we are in any given area of life, the comparison produces a sense of inferiority and insecurity (cycle of despair). When we compare ourselves with people we perceive to be inferior to us, we are filled with a sense of superiority. The people around us become constant reminders of how good we are and how well we are doing, and judgment and pride creep in….Living by comparison produces a fragile soul. – Jon Tyson
Comparison is the thief of joy – Theodore Roosevelt
v/27-30 – The Call – He Must Increase, but I must decrease
(27) Know all of life is a gift
(28-29) Rejoicing in others
(30) Live a life of “decrease”
“Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Matthew 16:24-25
“those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.” – Galatians 5:24
v/31-36 – The Choice – whoever believes….whoever does not
He is contrasting ‘the one from above’–Jesus–with ‘the one from the earth’. This doesn’t mean John the Baptist; he, after all, was ‘sent from God’. There are plenty of people whose life and teaching are ‘from the earth’, and a good many of them were competing with Jesus and John, and with the early church, for the ears, minds and hearts of both Jews and Gentiles. So too, today: who do people trust? Who do they listen to and follow? – NT Wright