John 3:22-4:3 Joy or Bitterness; life or Death?
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John -4:3 “Joy or Bitterness; life or Death?”
December 10th, 2006
kingdom
of
God
will have some people in there that receive the same grace when we didn’t expect it, it also shows that God gives rewards according to His own grace, and not our achievements. We are so prideful to think that we deserve what others have; yet God gives according to His desire and the common good (1 Corinthians 12:7). Romans 12:3-6 reminds us that God gives these gifts out for the common good, and that we aren’t to think too highly of ourselves in the process. In the center of all of this is our call to spiritual service of worship. It is impossible to worship in a spirit of bitterness and jealousy, and it is impossible to have joy without biblical worship. If we are still people of need, we will never be enthralled with our God. The next two verses highlight this reality perfectly.
Read MorePreached @ Harambee Church by Pastor Michael Gunn on
“He must increase, I must decrease.”
Intro
How easy is it to be jealous and bitter of people that have things we want? Whether you are a pastor and you’re jealous of those with larger churches (and of course we piously say that the reason those churches are bigger is because their pastor is a sell out), or you are a common laborer bitter toward anyone with money and success that you are so sure they got because they were born with a silver spoon in their mouth, jealousy and bitterness are a real part of human existence and one that the Spirit of God needs to knock out of our being. Bitterness and jealousy are nothing more than discontent magnified. They are symptoms of a failure to gain our identity and our joy in Jesus.
It amazes me how cleverly John put this book together to tell his story clearly and with the vision for us to believe and worship his God, Jesus Christ. Our passage comes off the heals of a passage defining what being born from above is, and then turns to how bitter jealousy can rob our joy, right before he goes into an incredible story of worship in chapter 4. Let’s enjoy the feast!
From the Head…
The Seed of Discontent (John -26)
Both Jesus and John were conducting the same ministry, baptism unto repentance. While the other gospels don’t show Jesus’ ministry as running parallel with John’s,[1] John fills out some details of Jesus’ early ministry. It is also a piece to clearly show (since there may have been a question early on) that Jesus’ ministry was far greater than John’s.
The issue at hand is the fact that John’s disciples were becoming jealous of Jesus and His ministry. After all, they were doing the same thing and John’s church was getting smaller, while Jesus’ was becoming a ‘Mega-Church.’ He was succeeding and they weren’t. John was a failure, and Jesus was fast becoming the successful one. They didn’t like it, and furthermore they were arguing with certain Jews about what they were doing. Why didn’t anyone argue with Jesus and His guys? The argument was over what John’s baptism. After all, Jews didn’t need baptism, only converts or those being commissioned for a greater ministry needed baptism. The problem here is that John’s disciples weren’t concerned with truth or doctrine, only what they liked; or better yet: whom they liked. It is here that John Calvin comments that, “They had devoted all of their attention to a person and his outward appearance and were much less concerned about doctrine.” How easy is it to connect to a charismatic figure and not care about the message, as long as it agrees with our own way of thinking? People go to church for all of the wrong reasons. We forget that we come to corporately praise and honor God through prayer, the reading and preaching of the word, and singing. It really isn’t about the style, the carpet color, or whether or not the preacher is hitting other people’s sins hard enough. The fact is, we judge and gossip about the people we are bitter against. Our jealousy consumes us, and we no longer have the joy of our faith, nor the impetus to worship God, because we are no longer content.
An Attitude Toward Contentment (John -28)
In John’s reply comes the attitude that leads to the key to contentment. “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven.” There you go. We judge others based on their God given gifts, and we are jealous instead of excited that they have been given those skill sets, that opportunity, that job, etc. Instead of recognizing that every good gift is from above, we fail to be happy with what God has given us, and we become bitter in what we don’t have. John had already told them that Jesus’ ministry is greater than his own. This is why Jesus tells us a parable of the laborers in the vineyard (Matthew 20) that He paid equal sums even though they did an unequal amount of work. While He is talking about how the
The Key to Contentment (John -30)
John gives us an image of Jesus as the bridegroom and the church as the bride, but he shows himself as the ‘friend’ who waits for him. This concept of “friend” (shosben) at the wedding, is a bit like the best man, and has a unique place at the wedding as the liaison between the bride and the bridegroom. He arranged the feast, he would send out the invitations, and he would guard the bride to make sure no false lover would come in. He would only open the door in the dark as he heard the voice of the bridegroom, and would with joy open the door and allow the lovers to consummate their marriage. When this task was over, his job was over, and he would silently fade away, knowing that he did what he was called to do. How many of us are, “Full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice?” See, the key to contentment for John was His contentment in the bridegroom’s voice. He saw Jesus as that bridegroom that brings forth joy, and his contentment was in Christ, and not the fleeting joys of a large ministry. Thus he was able to decrease, while Jesus increased, both publicly and in his own life.
The Reason For Our Contentment (John -36)
Jesus is from above, thus he knows more than anyone else could possibly know about heaven and God. His word is true, because He testifies in first person account of everything that He says and does. Our joy either comes from Him or it doesn’t come from Him. John gives us a clear path to life. “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” This is straight reality. If you choose Christ, you choose life, because His words are life. If you reject Him two things happen, first you will not see life, which has the idea of experiencing it, and secondly God’s wrath remains on you. Note, he doesn’t say God’s wrath will come upon him, but that it “will remain on him.” According to Romans 1:18ff, we are not judged because of our individual sins, we are judged because of the sin, which inhabits us, and the fact that we reject God for our own devices. We aren’t ‘going to be’ under judgment, we are under judgment. Death and destruction is a sure fire sign that this isn’t the way it’s supposed to be. I don’t think we reject Jesus because what He says is untrue, but because He has the gall to tell us what to do. We simply reject authority of any kind telling us what to do. We don’t like the light because it is an alternative way of thinking. It invades our own way of thinking, and it is simply not acceptable. God offers salvation to those who wish to accept it, but as we saw last week, unless we are born of the Spirit, we will continue in our unbelief and the wrath of God remains upon us.
…to the Heart
Do we attend church to hear Jesus’ voice, or to get something out of it for our own personal development? Is your joy a result of your life’s pursuits, family or financial status, or is it the result of a vibrant love affair with Jesus? If we are trying to gain joy through others, we will never be able to love others with a pure heart. Only God can fill that role, because when we feast off of Him with no desire to use Him, He fills our hearts infinitely (see John ; -39; John ). We are created to worship Him, and we are created to give Him honor and our joy becomes complete as we do so.
[1] They all assume that Jesus started His ministry after John was arrested (Matthew 14:1-12; Mark ; -29; Luke -20). This however is no reason to believe that Jesus had no ministry prior to John’s arrest. First, in John, Jesus is not operating at full strength yet, and doesn’t have His full complement of disciples, which He chooses later as seen in the other gospels. Prior to this calling many followed Him as they were called to “come and see,” rather than “come and follow” which occurred later. Also Matthew 4:12 indicates that after hearing of John the Baptist’s arrest “He withdrew into Galilee,” which would only make sense if Jesus was already doing ministry, especially if it was the same as John’s. Jesus’ ministry of the gospel of the kingdom began after John was imprisoned, but Jesus began a portion of His ministry while John was still doing His.
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