Sermon: So They Might See Jesus

The scripture reading today comes from John 3:28-30. I am reading from The Message, where John the Baptist was talking to his followers. John answered, "You yourselves were there when I made it public that I was not the Messiah, but simply the one sent ahead of him to get things ready." The one who gets the bride is, by definition, the bridegroom. And the bridegroom's friend, his best man, that's me, in place at his side where he can hear every word, is genuinely happy. How could he be jealous when he knows that the wedding is finished and the marriage is off to a good start? That's why my cup is running over. This is the assigned moment to him to move to the center while I slip off to the sidelines.

Thank you very much, Hudson. That was very well read. I like that version as well. The sermon title for today is "So They Might See Jesus." My name is Pride. I am a cheater. I cheat you of your God-given destiny because you demand your own way. I cheat you of contentment because you deserve better than this. I cheat you of knowledge because you already know it all. I cheat you of healing because you're too full of me to forgive. I cheat you of holiness because you refuse to admit when you're wrong. I cheat you of vision because you'd rather look in the mirror than out a window. I cheat you of genuine friendship because nobody's going to know the real you. I cheat you of love because real romance Demands sacrifice. I cheat you of greatness in heaven because you refuse to wash another's feet on earth. I cheat you of God's glory because I convince you to seek your own. My name is Pride and I'm a cheater. You like me because you think I'm always looking out for you. Untrue. I'm looking to make a fool out of you. God has so much for you, I admit it, but don't worry, if you stick with me, you'll never know. That's a poem by Beth Moore from her book Praying God's Word. Pride is the great destroyer of all you were meant to be. Pride is the cloak Lucifer wore when he put on his Satan skin. Pride always goes before the fall in Heaven, in the garden, in me, and in you. Pride is untruth, falsehood. It makes you look good when you are not. It fools you in order to make a fool of you. Pride is everywhere today. It's the founding principle of many of the pursuits that we call success. But what is the cure? Is there one? Is there a remedy for pride? 1,000 years ago, Bernard Clairvaux wrote a treatise called On the Steps of Humility and Pride, in which he comments, Christ had all the virtues, but although he had them all, he especially commended one of them to us in himself, that of humility. When he said, "Learn from me, I am meek and lowly of heart," he could have chosen any virtue. For he possessed them all in perfect measure. But Jesus singled out humility as the primary virtue that we are to learn from him. So what is humility? At its heart, humility is a form of self-knowledge. The German philosopher Dietrich von Hildebrand defines humility as the habit of living in the truth. In opposition to inflated self-pride, humility is a reality check of the way things really are. It's a recognition of the truth about ourselves, God, and everyone else. We live in a world that values pride. We idolize people who live above needing others. They are gods among us, or so we are told. But we know better. Pride is the swagger in the stride of those who walk darkened paths. So how do we walk in humility while living in this world? Can we avoid pride? Let's read about a man who was able to rise to great heights without falling to pride. What can we learn from him about humility? Before we turn to the Scriptures, let's just bow our heads. Dear Lord, as we open your Word, we just ask that you would guide us now, open our hearts, send the Spirit to speak to us so that we might hear what you have for us. No matter what words I've prepared, and that you might speak through me. In your name, amen. A humble witness. This was John's testimony when the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him, "Who are you?" He didn't deny it but confessed, "I'm not the Messiah." "What then?" they asked him. "Are you Elijah?" "I am not," he said. "Are you the Prophet?" 'No,' he answered. 'Well, who are you then?' they asked. 'We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What can you tell us about yourself?' He said, 'I am the one— the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, "Make straight the way of the Lord," just like Isaiah the prophet said.' Now they had been sent from the Pharisees, so they asked him, 'Why then do you baptize if you aren't the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet?' 'I baptize with water,' Jesus answered them. 'Someone stands among you, but you don't know him. He is the one coming after me whose sandal straps I am not worthy to untie.' John the Baptist had a clear understanding of his role as a witness to Christ. Despite having his own disciples and hundreds of people who came to hear him and follow him and be baptized by him, John remained humble and redirected attention to Jesus. How did John the Baptist do this? How did he keep a humble heart and not be overwhelmed with pride? He had a very simple strategy: self-knowledge. He knew who he was. He knew his place. He was not the Messiah. He was not Elijah. He was not the prophet promised in Deuteronomy who would teach great things. No, John the Baptist knew his place in God's the larger story. He knew his role: to prepare people for the arrival of the Messiah and then to point people to the Christ when he arrived. And while John the Baptist baptized, he waited for a sign. As he lowered each repentant sinner into the murky waters of Jordan, he watched the sky for a sign. Was this the one? The one? No. Was this the one? The one?

No.

He wouldn't know who the Messiah was until— well, let's keep reading. The passage continues. The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him. Just before we read this, what he does is he tells— he does a little— Mark— John does a little storytelling trick here where he tells you the end of the story and the end of the story and puts the How does he— he puts the beginning of the story in the middle of the story. So he tells you what happened, and he tells you how it happened, and then he tells you what happened again. So you'll notice the beginning of this passage is the same as the end, and in the middle he has this— he explains to you why he knows, or how he knows, to wait and to recognize the Messiah. The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, 'Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I told you about.' After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me. I didn't know him, but I came baptizing with water so he may be revealed to Israel. Did John know Jesus? Yeah, they were cousins. And yet he didn't know Jesus was the Messiah until— is this the one? Yes. And John testified, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven as a dove, and he rested on him. I didn't know him, but he who sent me baptizing with water told me, the one you see the Spirit descending and resting on, he is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God. The next day, John was standing with two of his disciples when he saw Jesus passing by. Back to the beginning of the story. Look, the Lamb of God! The two disciples heard him say this and followed Jesus. John the Baptist knew his own identity. He was preparing the path for the Messiah. And once he drove— once the dove landed on Jesus, John knew Jesus was the Messiah. Behold the Lamb of God. He didn't waste any time. He pointed his disciples straight to Jesus. I've often wondered if it was hard for John to give his disciples away. But when you see the way it's written in the book of John, you know, you know, Jesus walks past and it's almost like John grabs his disciples' shoulders and says, "There he is! Go follow him! That's the Messiah! He's the one to follow! Now get, go, go, and let— and get— just follow him because he is the way." That's humility. That's a clear sense of self. John knew who he was and he knew his mission. First, prepare the way of the Lord. Second, identify the Messiah. Third, give everything to the Messiah. What is your mission today? If you are a follower of Jesus, your role is the same as John the Baptist, but it's different in timing. Today we are preparing for the Second Coming of the Messiah. Will you prepare the way, making straight paths for people to find Jesus? Will you proclaim, "Look, the Lamb of God," and point people to Jesus? Will you give everything to Jesus? In short, will you let the humility of Jesus rule your heart rather than the pride of this world? It's not easy to overcome pride. In fact, it's impossible if you focus on the pride. The best way to defeat a bad habit or destructive character trait is to replace it. Find something better. And focus on that new, pure, good thing. Something helpful, something holy, something like Jesus. One of the most prideful people in the Bible was also the one who wrote the most books of the Bible. Paul fell from a great height to meet Jesus. When he met Jesus, Paul's prideful heart of stone shattered and he was given a new heart and a new spirit. His old calcified heart was replaced with a crucified heart, a humbled heart of flesh. That relied not on itself for strength but on its Creator and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. Once Paul understood the process of going from pride to humility, he wrote what he had learned so we might learn it as well. What he wrote is a prayer, a hope, a strategy for us to follow. Humility takes years. It took Paul a lifetime. He explained the journey out of arrogance and into the life of Christ by reducing it down to one chapter, a chapter that I call the Pride Defeat Cheat Sheet. Paul encapsulated the essence of all he learned about humility into Philippians chapter 2. Let's have a look together. If then there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in the same spirit, intent in one purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look not to his own interests but rather to the interests of others. Adopt the same attitude that was in Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead, he emptied himself, assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity, And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that every knee— at the name of Jesus every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. To the glory of God the Father. Paul calls us to have the same mindset as Jesus. Humility that leads to death, the death of self, leads to life in the kingdom of God. Jesus became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. We don't like the word obedience much these days. Don't tell me what to do. Jesus reveals that doing for others rather than doing for self, it's the way. It's the kingdom way. Being humble is having the same love, the same spirit, the same purpose as Jesus. And that purpose is to lift others up and let God be the one to exalt you. Empty yourself. Dump pride back in the ditch where it belongs and glorify God by serving others. This is the key to the kingdom. Humble yourself, serve, and God will lift you up to fulfill your purpose in his eternal kingdom. Have you ever met somebody who embeds or embodies this love and humility of Jesus? I have. When I was attending Pacific Union College, I had a friend named Terry, Terry Hubert. And Terry had perfect pitch. I sang in a quartet with Terry, and he was the tenor. And anytime he could just tell you your note and his note and their note. And he just, he had perfect recall of pitch, but he carried a pitch pipe anyway because he wanted to pitch us in front of when we were performing. And he didn't want to just have perfect pitch in front of everyone because that looks a little arrogant, doesn't it? And so he'd pull out his pitch pipe and he would pitch us. But there was one song while we were practicing that Terry noticed that for some reason I knew my starting note. Like if he said, "Dave, give us—" He'd say, "Okay guys, let's sing such and such a song," and I would just hum, "Hmm," and he would go, "Hmm, Dave knows his note." Didn't make a big thing of it until we were in concert, and then he says, "Okay, for our next song, we're going to sing da-da-da-da. Dave, give us a C." And I'm, "Hmm." He's like, "Thank you." "Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm. Okay, let's go." And we start singing. He didn't have to do that. He had a pitch pipe in his pocket. He already knew what a C was, but he wanted to lift me up in front of others. And that's what Jesus does. He doesn't have to lift us up, but he chooses to lift us up because he wants us to be exalted in the eyes of others, but not because we're great, but because he just wants to see us lifted up. That's, that's, that was what Terry was like. And that's what Jesus is like. He loves lifting us up. In Psalms, there's this beautiful picture of this. You have given me the shield of your salvation. Your right hand upholds me, and your humility exalts me. God defends us by lifting us up. You have given me the shield of your salvation. Your right hand upholds me, and your humility exalts me. What an amazing way to lift us up. Your humility exalts me. Do you see how humility works in the kingdom of God? Do you see its power? God's shield of salvation isn't a steel plate that he puts between you and the enemy. God's shield of salvation is his right hand clasping yours and lifting you up. And as he saves you, he takes all the strikes of the evil one, even to death on a cross, so he can take you home. His humility exalts you as he lifts you up. When we lift others up by humbling ourselves, we are empowering them to the way God gives power, by meeting them where they are and taking hold of their hand. Paul wasn't finished with his cheat sheet yet. We know what to do now. Have the attitude of Christ. Look at him. Imitate him. Love him. Love like him. But in the next few verses, Paul gives us the how. How do we achieve humility? The secret to humility, Paul says, is obedience. I need to make something very clear right now because it's not worth spending one moment of your life letting pride define obedience. When pride defines obedience, it sounds like "I do" and it looks like work. When humility defines obedience, it sounds like Jesus does, and it looks like grace. God does it all in Jesus. And that's what Paul tells us in this next section of Philippians 2. He very clearly says God does it all. God has done it, is doing it, and will do it in your life through Jesus. Let's finish reading this chapter. Therefore, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Sounds scary, but— for it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose. Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world by holding firm to the word of life. By holding firm. To the word of life. Who's the word of life? Jesus, of course. To hold firm to something, you keep your eyes fixed on it and you grasp it with every bit of your strength. The more you look at Jesus, the more you look like Jesus. And that's what Paul discovered when he was humbled by Jesus on the road to Damascus. God stopped prideful Paul by saying, who are— why are you persecuting me? That question made no sense to Paul. He was serving God with every prideful beat of his heart. "Who are you, Lord?" "Jesus, whom you were persecuting." Oh, ouch! Loud, proud Paul went silent for 3 years. He wandered off the scene to go get to know God again, or maybe for the first time. God through a Jesus filter. God on a cross. And when Paul came back, he had a new message. God humbled himself to save us. God became one of us, a lowly human, and then God died as one of us, a horrible death on a cross for all of us. So hold firm to Jesus, the word of life, and you will shine like stars. Be like Jesus. Humble yourself before the Lord and wait. Wait for him to lift you up. Don't get up before Jesus lifts you up. Let go of pride. Give Jesus your hand and let Jesus be your shield of salvation and let him lift you up. Let his humility exalt you. And when he does, you'll be different. You will shine like stars. You will grow more and more like Jesus because your heart and mind are fixed on him. To conclude our thoughts on humility today, let's have a quick look at what John the Baptist did next, which Hudson read to us so well. After he told everyone who Jesus was and sent his disciples to Jesus, he continued to go to the river to baptize people and to make new disciples. He told everyone, "The Messiah is here! Go find Jesus!" Some of his new disciples came to him and said, "Hey, John, that other guy, that Jesus, he's out doing everything you're doing and more. How does that make you feel?" John's answer is a great example of what humility looks like, built on serving God rather than serving self. You can almost hear John the Baptist laugh as he answers, "You yourselves And can testify that I said, 'I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.' He who has the bride is the groom, but the groom's friend, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the groom's voice. So this joy of mine is complete. He must increase, I must decrease. John was thrilled. The party had started, people. The groom is over there. John's personal self-worth did not suffer because Jesus showed up. He had played his role and he did a great job. He will hear one day, "Well done, good and faithful servant." John the Baptist shows us what happens to the life of someone who lives in humility. We find joy in a plan that includes us but isn't about us. We redirect praise and we know that Jesus is everything. The life and death of Jesus shows us that humility is the heart of the godly life. When Jesus knelt before his disciples and washed their feet, he showed us what God does in the presence of humanity. He humbles himself to lift us up. To become like Jesus is to learn to walk in his footprints, in step with him. In calling us to humility, Jesus calls us to himself. And we, in turn, humble ourselves and serve the world around us, not so we may be praised, so that they might see Jesus and be drawn to him and be wrapped up in him, embraced tightly in his loving arms, just as we are. Will you serve willingly today as we await the return of Jesus? Will you prepare the way for his coming by laying aside the distractions of this life, the mountains and the molehills? So his paths to the heart of others will be smooth? Will you say with John the Baptist, "I must decrease so the world might see Jesus"?