{"id":30652,"date":"2024-04-10T22:00:11","date_gmt":"2024-04-11T05:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/john-3_9-21-copy\/"},"modified":"2024-03-26T22:00:52","modified_gmt":"2024-03-27T05:00:52","slug":"john-3_22-36","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/john-3_22-36\/","title":{"rendered":"Let Jesus Get the Glory"},"content":{"rendered":"

John 3:22-36\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0(CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is John 3:22-36.\u00a0 I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help, then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

John 3:22-30 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized.
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were constantly coming to be baptized.
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0(This was before John was put in prison.)
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing.
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They came to John and said to him, “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.”
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0To this John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven.
\n29\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The 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.
\n30\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He must become greater; I must become less.<\/p>\n

On verses 22-30:\u00a0 I absolutely love and admire the humility of John the Baptist.\u00a0 Instead of envying Jesus because Jesus was baptizing more people than he was and becoming more popular than he was (v26), John the Baptist displays incredible humility.\u00a0 First, John says, \u201cA man can only receive what has been given to him from heaven.\u201d (v27)\u00a0 In other words, instead of worrying about what he didn\u2019t have, John the Baptist simply focused on what he did have because of God\u2019s grace and was thankful for it.\u00a0 Likewise, may you not worry and fret about what you don\u2019t have but be thankful for what you do have.<\/p>\n

Second, John the Baptist reminds his disciples of something he had been saying all along:\u00a0\u201cI am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.\u201d (v28).\u00a0 In other words, John the Baptist recognized that he had a different calling than Jesus, and that in fact he was sent ahead of Jesus to prepare the way for Jesus.\u00a0 Then to describe more vividly what he means, John the Baptist uses\u00a0a picture from a wedding.\u00a0 He describes Jesus as the groom, the people who are going to Jesus as the bride, and himself as the best man of the groom (v29).\u00a0 When John the Baptist says, \u201cthe bride belongs to the bridegroom\u201d, he is saying that the people don\u2019t belong to him but to Jesus.<\/p>\n

When John the Baptist says:
\n\u201c\u2026<\/em>The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom\u2019s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.\u201d (v29)<\/em>
\nJohn the Baptist is saying that his only role as best man to the groom is to serve the groom until he has his bride, and that now that Jesus has his bride, he is overjoyed.<\/p>\n

Finally, John the Baptist says, \u201cHe must become greater and I must become less.\u201d (v30)\u00a0 You will not find a humbler person than John.\u00a0\u00a0Because John was so humble and secure in his calling, John had joy that insecure people could never have.\u00a0\u00a0 I pray that we would be like John the Baptist: humble, secure in our calling, realizing that we exist not for our own fame but to point people to Jesus, and happy as long as Jesus gets the glory.<\/p>\n

John 3:31-36 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n31\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all.
\n32\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony.
\n33\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The man who has accepted it has certified that God is truthful.
\n34\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.
\n35\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.
\n36\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.”<\/p>\n

On verses 31-36:\u00a0 In these verses John the Baptist is quoted as saying a number of things that reiterate the truths we have already heard from Jesus himself earlier in John chapter 3, including the following:
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jesus is from heaven whereas all other teachers are from earth.\u00a0 Thus Jesus has greater authority than any earthly teacher (\u201cThe one who comes from heaven is above all\u201d \u2013 v31).
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Despite Jesus being who he is, he would be rejected by most (v32).
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0To accept and affirm what Jesus says is to affirm that God is true (v33).
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We also see here in verses 34-35 the dynamic relationship between God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Believe in Jesus, and you will have eternal life and escape God\u2019s wrath.\u00a0 Reject Jesus and you will miss eternal life and incur God\u2019s wrath (v36).<\/p>\n

Father, I praise You for John the Baptist\u2019s example of humility.\u00a0 I pray that like John the Baptist, I would not fret about what I don\u2019t have but focus and give thanks for what heaven has already given to me.\u00a0\u00a0 I pray that like John the Baptist I would be so secure in Your love for me and Your calling and role for my life.\u00a0 May I not play the comparison game but simply be happy to point others to Jesus, because it\u2019s not about me; it\u2019s about Him.\u00a0 May I live to see Jesus\u2019 name lifted up, not my own.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2021 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is John 3:22-36.\u00a0 I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help, then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

John 3:22-30 (NIV)
\n22\u00a0\u00a0After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized.
\n23\u00a0\u00a0Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were constantly coming to be baptized.<\/p>\n

On verses 22-30:\u00a0 I absolutely love and admire the humility of John the Baptist.\u00a0 Instead of envying Jesus because Jesus was baptizing more people than he was and becoming more popular than he was (v26), John the Baptist displays incredible humility.\u00a0 First, John says, \u201cA man can only receive what has been given to him from heaven.\u201d (v27)\u00a0 In other words, instead of worrying about what he didn\u2019t have, John the Baptist simply focused on what he did have because of God\u2019s grace and was thankful for it.\u00a0 Likewise, may you not worry and fret about what you don\u2019t have but be thankful for what you do have.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30654,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30652"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30655,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30652\/revisions\/30655"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}