Aiming for Second Place

This weekend at Eastbrook Church I concluded our “Life Verse” series with a message on my life verse, John 3:22-30, where John the Baptist says, in reference to Jesus: “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

You can listen to my message at the Eastbrook web-site here. You can also follow the RSS feed for Eastbrook sermons or follow Eastbrook Church on Twitter or Facebook. My message outline is included below:

He Must Become Greater

John the Baptist’s growing vision of Jesus

• Jesus’ greatness – “He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie” (John 1:27)
• Jesus the unique Son – Jesus’ baptism as a defining moment (Mark 1:9-11; John 1:32-33)
• Jesus the Savior – “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)
• Moments of questions and confusion – “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” (Matthew 11:1-6)

Our growing vision of Jesus

• Seeing His greatness in comparison to us
• Seeing Him as the unique Son
• Seeing Him as the sacrificial Savior
• Growing through moments of questions or confusion

I Must Become Less

John the Baptist’s appropriate self-assessment

• Jesus’ commendation of John – “more than a prophet…among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:-9-11)
• Human commendation of John
• §  Pharisees mistake John for the Messiah or Elijah (John 1:19-28)
• §  Herod mistakes Jesus for a resurrected John the Baptist (Mark 6:14)
• John’s “appropriate smallness” (John 1:19-23)
• §  Not the Messiah, not Elijah, not the prophet
• §  “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”
• John directing people to Jesus (John 1:29-37)
• §  The Rabbi worth following
• §  The Lamb who saves

Our appropriate self-assessment

• Not insulting ourselves – we have things that commend us, like John
• Living as an example before others
• Living into “appropriate smallness”
• Directing people to Jesus as Leader and Savior