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He must increase i must decrease4/28/2023 ![]() We get the setting in the opening few verses and then everything begins to focus on the humility of the minister and the exaltation of Christ. ![]() Now we come back to that passage, let me read it to you and set it in your mind, verse 22. He had every reason to think more highly of himself than he ought to think because of his privileged calling and responsibility, and yet He makes the statement…He, meaning Christ, must increase, He must be exalted, and I must be diminished. The greatest man, the most privileged man with the greatest ministry of anyone who had ever lived in human history, and that covers a lot of folks, he was empowered, he was popular, he was influential, and yet it is from this man who reached even in the redemptive sense the absolute pinnacle of human elevation, it is from this man that we learn this great lesson of humility…He must increase and I must decrease…which that phrase, that axiom, that maxim coming out of the mouth of John the Baptist speaks of his true spiritual humility. He had the greatest calling, be a prophet, he actually had the greatest responsibility to not prophesy about a future Messiah, but to point to the Messiah who had arrived, namely the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world. ![]() In Matthew 11:11 Jesus said he was the greatest man who ever lived. There hadn’t been one in 400 years before Him, the last and the greatest. Remember now, John the Baptist was the forerunner to Jesus Christ, the last Old Testament prophet. Now all of this comes into clear focus in this passage of Scripture that focuses on John the Baptist. The path of humility, the path of exalting Christ is the only path that any faithful minister would desire to pursue. I don’t have any desire in my life to be a graceless minister. God gives grace to the humble, but rejects the proud. And who wants to be a graceless minister? Why do I say that? Because James 4 records that God gives grace to the humble, but resists the proud. People who elevate themselves in ministry are graceless. But where there is true ministry, in the Spirit, Christ will be all in all, Christ will fill all, Christ will be the blazing sun and the ministers will be diminished. They see themselves as the ones to draw attention to. There are many evangelical churches where the focus is inordinately on the minister, on the preacher and the pastor and there are many cases where that’s the way the pastors want it. But Roman Catholics aren’t the only ones who elevate ministers and diminish Christ. They’re like stars, we said, who shine in the darkness only until the sun rises and then they fade completely out of view. ![]() Where Christ is exalted, the ministers are diminished and they’re lost. We talked about that last week in particular because everybody in the world was paying attention to the Pope and the cardinals and where Christ is diminished, the ministers are elevated. And you can see a perfect illustration of the Roman Catholic Church. We mentioned last time that as the church apostatized, as the church defects, as it falls into false doctrine as becomes more heretical, Christ is diminished and the ministers are elevated. He was the ultimate model of a humble minister. In a sense, obviously, He hid His own glory for the glory of the Father. This is consistent with what Peter says in 1 Peter, “Humble yourselves, be clothed with humility,” as he’s writing to shepherds and ministers.Īnd the greatest model of this, of course, is the Lord Jesus Christ in Philippians 2 who though eternally equal with God, thought it not something to hold on to but humbled Himself, took on the form of a slave and became obedient. The decreasing of the minister and the increasing of Christ. And that is exactly what John the Baptist is saying and that is the first law for all who serve in ministry. Me, on the other hand, I must be diminished. In fact, if you kind of go a little deeper into the original language, what it says is that one, literally, that one being referred to Christ in this passage, is of necessity to be enlarged. He is to be exalted, I am to be diminished. It’s a very important axiom, a very important maxim for ministry, He must increase, but I must decrease.Īnd I told you last time, that those words basically established the first law of ministry…the first law of ministry is humility. This is about fading recognition of the preacher and the increasing glory of Jesus Christ. This is about Christ increasing and the minister decreasing. We keyed this passage with verse 30 where John the Baptist, who is the speaker, I believe, through this whole section says, “He must increase, but I must decrease,” and that’s kind of been the title we’ve used for these two messages, last week and this week. Now, we’re going back to John 3 and we’re going to be looking at verses 22 to 36 which we began last week…which we began last week.
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