Keepers of the Aquarium (John 3:22-36)
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jeremy_1_04-16-2025_133148: [00:00:00] Have you ever realized we don't notice when things are unfair in our favor? Like when was the last time on a drive you hit every single light and it was green? You probably don't remember that, but you do remember the time you were driving and all the lights seemed to be red, right? We have this sense of fairness that we notice when it doesn't go our way, but we may not notice when it goes the other way around.
And actually what we're gonna find today is that this need we have for things to be fair. Also affects the way that we follow Jesus. And in today's passage, we're also gonna go back to our friend John the Baptist. Now, today we're gonna look at John chapter three. Beginning in verse 22. . It says, then Jesus and his disciples left Jerusalem and went into the Judean countryside. Jesus spent some time with them there baptizing people. At this time, John the Baptist was baptizing an anon near [00:01:00] Salem because there was plenty of water there, which I think is a great reason to baptize people, right?
John's like, look, we got plenty of water there, and people kept coming to him for baptism. Now, this was before John was thrown into prison, foreshadowing. A debate broke out between John's disciples and a certain Jew over ceremonial cleansing. So John's disciples came to him and said, rabbi, the man you met on the other side of the river, the one you identified as the Messiah, is also baptizing people and everybody is going to him instead of coming to us.
Now every parent knows this conversation. It's when a kid comes to you and says, look, it's not fair. And here John's disciples are coming to Jesus and saying, look, this is not fair. Jesus is copying John's thing. Jesus is, is [00:02:00] moving in on John's turf, and now Jesus is baptizing people. This is not fair to John.
It's not fair to John's followers. They're struggling with their loyalties not paying off. Look, we believe in John, not in Jesus. We are. We are followers of John. So why is Jesus getting all the attention now? These were also young men who have given their life to John's legacy. They have chosen him as their rabbi, and they're probably wondering, did we choose the wrong teacher?
Did we pick the wrong person? What happens when you question a choice that you have made? Perhaps you've been there, maybe you chose the wrong college to attend, or you chose the wrong career. Maybe you chose the wrong political party, or maybe you just chose the wrong opinion on something, and then you have that moment where you [00:03:00] second guess yourself.
And you wonder if you made the wrong choice. Now, if these disciples viewed themselves as John's disciples, which they likely did, then the success of Jesus would have been a threat to. To them. That doesn't mean they didn't like Jesus, it just meant they were John's disciples. They had hitched themselves to that wagon , and we know what this feeling feels like.
It's when you get invited to be a bridesmaid or a groomsman, but you're not married, right? Or you get passed up for a promotion or when your friend has success and seems to have amazing luck that you don't. Corporately when we watch the Olympics and we see another nation beat the USA, we know what this feels like, but here's what I believe.
Any identity you choose outside of Jesus will eventually diminish any identity, which [00:04:00] means your identity as an American, your identity as a Republican or as a Democrat. Your identity as a wife or a husband, your identity as a mother or a father, the identity that you have from your job, the identity you have from your personality, the identity you get from your hobbies.
All of these things that make us who we are. These are identities that we create, but any identity outside of Jesus will eventually. Diminished, and John's disciples are beginning to feel a little bit of this, but then they have to be really taken aback by what John says next in response to this issue they bring before him.
In John chapter three, verse 27, we read this and John replied, no one can receive anything unless God gives it. From Heaven. You yourselves know how plainly I told you, I am not the Messiah. I am only here to [00:05:00] prepare the way for him. It is the bridegroom who marries the bride and the bridegroom's friend is simply glad to stand with him and hear his vows.
Therefore, catch this line. I am filled with joy at his success. What an incredible line. He must become greater and greater and I must become less. He has come from above and is greater than anyone else. We are of the earth and we speak of earthly things, but he has come from heaven and is greater than anyone else.
He testifies about what he has seen and heard, but how few believe what he tells them. Anyone who accepts his testimony can affirm that God is true. For he is sent by God. He speaks God's words for God, gives him the spirit without limit. The Father loves his son and has put everything into his hands, [00:06:00] and anyone who believes in God's son has eternal life.
Anyone who doesn't obey the son will never experience eternal life, but remains under God's angry judgment. It was a long response that John has for his disciples here, but he's laying out what he thinks about Jesus. Now, you might have heard that last phrase there and go, whoa, angry judgment. This, this sounds a little intense here.
Are we talking about fire and brimstone and hell? But angry judgment is a translation for the wrath of God. And this is the only occurrence in the Greek throughout this whole book of John for the Greek word of wrath. That we find in this entire gospel. And so literally, it's not a, an idea that we hear often, but this is what happens when God leaves us alone.
Without the goodness of God and our lives, our lives inherently begin to devolve. So it's not a punishment per se, it's just the lack [00:07:00] of all that is good. When we choose Jesus, we experience the fullness of life. And John gives a fascinating reason here for why this is true.
We just read it in verse 34. For Jesus is sent by God. He speaks God's words for God, gives him the spirit. Without limit. Without limit. So John here is like the ideal, best man at a wedding. He knows it's not about him. And he's redirecting the attention. But what about John's followers? What does it mean for us?
It's not fair for us. See, most of us, we don't want to be the best man. We don't want to be the maid of honor and even more, we don't wanna follow that person. We wanna follow the real deal. John wouldn't have been able to publish any books on leadership because he loses followers as he follows. Jesus.
I love the way that [00:08:00] Nona Jones has put it. She said, Jesus called us to be fishers of men, not keepers of the aquarium. And here's what I have found is your aquarium will always suffer if you follow Jesus, because you'll constantly be redirecting people to Jesus. Now, there's a popular idea when it comes to our trajectory in life, and Leonardo da Vinci famously put it this way, poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master.
We want to surpass those who came before us. We want to be greater than we often benchmark ourselves against our parents, and we try to do a better job than our parents did with us. But what happens when the pupil and the master. At odds.
I've been waiting for you will be won. We meet again at last. The circle is now complete. When [00:09:00] I left you, I was but the learner, now I am the master.
jeremy_1_04-16-2025_133148: Now I've realized that this works in a strange way. If you follow Jesus, you will never surpass your master, but you will never truly thrive until you submit your life to Jesus. The goal. Isn't to tear ourselves down. The goal is to realize that Jesus is the only thing truly worth pursuing.
When we talk about becoming less, it's not to beat ourselves up or to think less of ourselves.
It's to find that which has the most meaning that which is most true and that is found in the person of Jesus. And as we submit our lives to Jesus, we actually get to thrive the most. I'll see you next week on Rebuilding Faith.
