June 16, 2024 -- John 3:30 -- Increasing Joy

He must increase, but I must decrease.
John 3:30 ESV

How many words do you speak in a day? How many words do you type  in a day, perhaps for your social media posts, your emails or texts, blogs, or your school work? A quick search shows that the common average seems to be agreed upon at about 6,000 spoken words a day. Now, how many of those words are centred on Jesus? How much of your conversation is centred on you, on your fears, your needs, your desires, your wants and your aspirations?

John the Baptist, speaking to his followers declared that Jesus must increase and he himself decrease. Part of this ought to be an increase in one’s conversation about Jesus. An increase in one’s adoration of Jesus. An increase in praise to the Father, to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

Today is Sunday. The question on the minds of many is: "Why bother going to church?" When you attend church the liturgy is focused on the Trinity—the One God Who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The hymns and songs bring praise and adoration so that our minds and mouths are instructed in the increase of God’s glory and the decrease of our own egotism.

Christians, in worship, do not denigrate themselves. Instead, Christians know their glory is a derived glory, a reflected glory. God alone lives in unapproachable splendor. In Him we move and live and have our being. People, rich or poor, young or dying, well or unwell, fit or crippled, mentally strong or challenged, whatever their state or condition are precious precisely because their very D.N.A. announces the greatness of our God.

Sin has obscured humanity’s awareness of God’s nearness, greatness and reflected glory. Believers know, whatever our life’s condition, our station, that our whole purpose is to have Him increase and we decrease. We decrease in dependence on ourselves. We decrease in our opinion of ourselves. We decrease in view of His radiant divinity. Consequently, in worship, in obedient service to God, our understanding of the value of human life increases precisely because we know we are His. Human beings are created for His pleasure and the more we increase in our understanding of this, the more we understand the inestimable value we have in Jesus Christ, our Redeemer-King.

Then it is life’s chief satisfaction to honour Him. The very thing we were made to do, the purpose of our lives, is expressed in speaking of Jesus, living for Jesus, increasing our faith in Him. The butt end of a screwdriver can be used to drive in nails, but that is not its purpose. It is made to fit the appropriate slot of the screw head and turn. So too, when believers are focused on things, idols, people, anything other than the One, True, Living God, they are not fulling the purpose for which they were made. They are striving to increase their usefulness in a way that will destroy them. However, a believer whose life’s desire and goal is to increase his devotion and love for Jesus will find this is exactly what he was made to do. This Sunday, let that joy be yours.

Father in heaven, thank You for the extravagant gift of Jesus Christ. Spirit of the Living God direct our steps this day to the fullest extent so that Jesus will increase and we decrease. Amen.

https://youtu.be/bhOha4AcoMY?si=nTA6ULOc4SV30_FY “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee” the music starts at 1:35

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