Devotional 12-21-07

“More of Him and Less of Me”

John 3:27-30: John responded, “No one can receive a single thing unless it’s given to him from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I’ve been sent ahead of Him.’ He who has the bride is the groom. But the groom’s friend, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the groom’s voice. So this joy of mine is complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.”

I’m not sure what got me started thinking about verse 30. Maybe it’s the unending media barrage we’re hit with everyday about this person or that group telling us what great and wonderful things “they’ve” done/are doing. Or, maybe it’s something a little closer to home – as in “me” feeling good about “myself” for thinking “I’m” doing a pretty good job at being a Christian, a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a member of the church, etc. Somehow, it always seems to come back around to it being about “us” and what great things “we’ve” done - doesn’t it? John 3:30 reminds me that I all too often forget that any “good” I’ve done or will do in this life is not me… it’s Christ (in me). It also reminds me that I need to keep losing more and more of “me” so I can gain more and more of Him.

The following contains parts of a sermon, “The Improper Balance”, preached by Senior Associate Dean Willie J. Jennings (Duke University) for the 2003 Baccalaureate of Duke Divinity School…….

He must increase, but I must decrease. These words capture the character of the Christian ministry. We who live in service to Christ must interpret our lives through these words. That crucial exegesis of our lives through these words can never end, because God will never bring it to an end. This exegesis is eternal.

There is a truth in John’s words so basic, so terrifying that we often ignore it. What is that truth? God does not share. God does not share our lives with our family, with our friends, with our churches, with our spouse. God does not even share our lives with us. God in Christ seeks to re-pattern our lives so that his voice and his message become our life. There is no balance here. No Christ and me, fifty-fifty, half and half. Failure forms in our life in trying to find a place for the Messiah’s life in our lives. There is no balance, only a holy imbalance.

God has come into this world to do what we cannot do. We must never forget this. We cannot resist the lure of violence as a power that allows us to get our way. We cannot overcome the horror of death. We cannot drive away the despair in peoples’ lives. We cannot transform this world into a beloved community.

John understood this – Christ must increase. We have no power to transform any life. Christ must increase. And increase he shall - God in Jesus has broken the power of death and has taken hold of all creation as the focus of God’s redeeming love.

All that remains is the decrease. The decrease gives us everything. The decrease is not about taking away, but giving away. It is giving Jesus the stage of our lives to do his work. John the Baptist got it just right. The stage must be set (prepare the way) – all that remains is the decrease.

It is not about you or me. It is about Jesus Christ. We preach and live Christ - not ourselves. We prepare the way for him. All that remains is the decrease. And with this decrease, the one sent from the Father will pour out his Spirit on us without measure. With this decrease, God’s restoring and renewing power will be seen in our lives. With the decrease, the Son of God will be exalted and glorified through our lives.

Although this sermon was given to a graduating seminary class, I think it more than applies to us all. Trying to share our lives with Christ won’t work --- we must give our lives to Him totally (a total depletion of self). The key is in the ‘decrease’. It’s what makes room for Christ (i.e., the less there is of us, the more there is of Him). It takes away the “us” which in turn takes away the pride, the boastfulness and the self-conceit. It allows us to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord. It allows God free and complete reign to work His will through us. I think that when people see ‘Christ in us’, that’s what they are actually seeing… the part of us that has ‘decreased’ enough to have been filled by Christ. In Philippians 1:21, Paul says “for me, living is Christ….”. And as John H. Jowett says about this verse in his book, “The Friend on the Road” – “what is this but making room for Christ in everything?” As self decreases almost to the point of extinction – that’s when we become complete in Christ.

I think we should all strive to be more like “candles”, as in this passage by “Unlisted”…..

“Look at a candle and how it burns. The more the light shines, the more the candle diminishes. What a beautiful illustration of the believer in Christ! The more he learns of the gospel of Christ, the more precious Christ becomes and the less he thinks of himself. One who is truly the Lord’s, shines forth the light of HIS righteousness, grace, goodness, mercy, forgiveness and truth. In so shining, self does not get bigger and more noticeable --- CHRIST does! The glory is not to self but to HIM.”

A hymn by John H. Jowett from “The Friend on the Road”:

“O Jesus Christ, grow Thou in me,
And all things else recede.”

Bob Matthews