Greater Things

John 3:27-30 "John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. [28]  Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. [29]  He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. [30]  He must increase, but I must decrease."

I realize that the time is short, and you're ready to go to the Fellowship Hall. And I don't mind you looking at your watches while I'm preaching - but please don't shake them to see if they're still running!

It was my original intention to preach, during this blessed 139th anniversary of our Church, on the text of John 14:12 "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do". Yet I should be old enough in the Lord not to assume anything concerning His will. Instead, the Lord led me to the above verses. We'll talk about them instead.

John the Baptist was a great man, a Godly man, the man that God chose to be the herald of the coming Jesus. John's momma and daddy, Elizabeth and Zechariah, were elderly people who had no children. In fact, John's birth to Elizabeth is an almost exact New Testament parallel to what happened with Abraham and Sarah. They, too, had given up on having children, but God intervened and gave them a child. What is impossible with man is simple for God. God even insured that John would be born about 6 months before Jesus (Luke 1.41), and this would carry forward to where John would begin his ministry of announcing Christ 6 months before our Savior entered active ministry.

When John was of age (30 years old) he went out into the wilderness and began preaching the Kingdom of Heaven, repentance, and telling others about the Jesus that was coming. John lived a simple life, a life devoid of the comforts of home. He lived on meager rations, refusing the better traveled path of the city - in other words, he got outside of his comfort zone. John preached, and baptized, and as he preached and baptized people heard about this prophet of the wilderness and came to see what he was about.

John had people coming to see if he was Elijah reborn, if he was a new Prophet, someone come to lead Israel out of her time of terrible suffering. John's disciples jealous guarded their new leader, and when they heard that Someone else was on the other side of the River, preaching and Baptizing, they came and told John about it. They didn't come to praise Jesus, the One who was Baptizing, but came to complain. Jesus was "stealing John's thunder", so to speak. After all, this same Jesus had come to John earlier and submitted to his Baptism. In fact, Jesus demanded that John baptize Him, though John initially refused. And now this "Interloper" is taking disciples away from John, baptizing His own follower, preaching His own message. How dare He!
 

Jerry Vines said: "Our Churches are in serious trouble today. There is virtually no difference between the average Church member and the person who is not a Christian. God meant for the Christian to be different, to live a different kind of life, and to be on a different moral level from those who are not Christians. And yet, there is practically no difference in lifestyles."

How quickly we forget our reason for being, how quickly we forget the reason we started the work in the first place. Many Churches today have forgotten that they are called to minister Christ , to promote Him, to preach Him, to show Him to a lost and dying world. The John the Baptists come and go. As your Pastor I serve, and serve willingly to the best of my abilities - yet my life is but a cloud of smoke in the wind. Here today, perhaps gone tomorrow. This is true of us all, we have no guarantee of life on this earth tomorrow. But we do have this guarantee: Jesus will still be there, if God take my life on the morrow. Jesus must still be promoted, preached, and shown through your lives, else the world will be swallowed up in darkness.

John restored the perspective of his disciples, just as I hope he restores yours today. John said:

John 3:27 "John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven."

All things that we have or ever hope to be, if they be worth having, are given "from Heaven". This Church was established 139 years ago by a man - not a Messiah, but a man - who truly loved the Lord Jesus. He wanted this Church to be a place where, no matter whether there was a vast city around it or whether it was out in the wilderness, would be a light that drew all men to Christ. There are many Churches that start one year and die out the next because they forget the focus of their ministry. They begin to preach power for power's sake, become involved in liberal humanism, are founded because half the members got mad at the preacher and started their own Church - founded because they forgot that Jesus is our reason for existence.

If this Church was started for no reason other than to satisfy some deluded fantasy then it would have died out long ago. I and my wife were blessed to be stationed in England for several years, and during that time we visited countless cathedrals, gold trimmed, massive, so massive they would have engulfed this Church building ten times over. Yet the buildings are but hulls filled with only a handful of people. The building, majestic, the people,  just a few come on a regular basis to Church. The shell is beautiful, but the shell is not the Church. The beauty is that within, the meat, the holy Saints looking upward to Christ, discovering their flaws and failures with repentant hearts. The wife who hears of Him, who applies salvation to her heart by calling on Jesus and goes to share this life saving truth to her family. The worker, who discovers Jesus in the midst of the Church, and shares that wonderful discovery with his friends. The light passed from one newly lighted soul to another, telling the world about the Christ we love.

John was not the Messiah, only the Messenger, and he received his calling from Heaven. Neither I nor you are the Messiah, but we represent Him in this lost world - represent Him in your lives.

John 3:28-29 "Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. [29]  He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled."

John's joy was completed, fulfilled, because he knew he was standing in the place where Christ called him and was serving Him to the best of his ability. The friend of the Bridegroom stands with the Bridegroom. He takes care of things for the Bridegroom, does things for Him. He has the privilege of bringing the Bride to the Bridegroom, because he is His friend. You have the privilege of bringing others to Christ, if you yourself know Him to be your Savior. Do not shirk your responsibility, for the time is short. Soon the wedding bells will sound, and the Bride will go to meet Jesus in Heaven. Do your duty.

Do I have a vision for this flock? Yes, and it is the same vision that your founding father had, the same vision that John the Baptist had. That vision is that we promote Christ, hold up Christ, tell the world about Christ. That we not let the light dim in this place, in this Holy Sanctuary, but that we make Jesus Christ our be all and end all. That we be willing to suffer discomfort if the cause of the Gospel requires it. That we seek out all men, regardless of color, and tell them about this wonderful love of God - a love that sacrificed the Perfect to save the imperfect.

John 3.30  "He must increase, but I must decrease."

That we be willing to decrease, to take less for ourselves, to forget our own whims and petty differences in order to make the Gospel heard throughout this world. To do greater things than our Lord did while He walked the earth, greater things in outreach, greater things in evangelizing, setting a greater standard in Love. You are called to this, you know. For Jesus said:

John 14:12 "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do"

I guess I ended up preaching this verse anyway, didn't I. Okapilco, you are a special assembly of believers. You are the beloved Bride of Christ. Reach out in Love, as Jesus taught, and forsake self. Tell others about Him. Be as John was, though in the wilderness preach Jesus in your lives, so you can draw all men to Him.