JOHN 3:22-30

²² After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. ²³ Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized. ²⁴ (This was before John was put in prison.) ²⁵ An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. ²⁶ They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”

²⁷ To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. ²⁸ You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ ²⁹ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. ³⁰ He must become greater; I must become less.”

Wedding

A few Saturdays ago, was my wedding. I married the love of my life, my bright and morning star who starts my day with a smile that outshines a thousand suns. June 14 was a reminder for most married couples of their own wedding.

In every culture, a wedding celebration is a special occasion. From the preparation to the celebration itself are rigorous but gratifying and satisfying stages of a wedding ceremony. During the wedding celebration everybody is happy. Each has his or her own way of enjoying the occasion. Some will enjoy the food while others enjoy seeing and chatting with their old-time friends or relatives.

One of the most awaited parts is the procession of the bride in her mixture of feelings from nervousness to excitement, the thrill of being in the moment of the most important day of the year or even sleepless nights and many other things. The bride is the most beautiful creature of that day in the eyes of the bridegroom and even including the audience.

One day there will be a Grand Wedding Celebration in heaven. Be sure to be part of that wedding celebration.

Revelation 19:6-8  ⁶ Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:
“Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
⁷ Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready.
⁸ Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)

Are you prepared for the Wedding Celebration of the Lamb of God?

All of us should prepare for that. Our passage for today helps us prepare for that Grand Day. 

At any wedding celebration—the preparation is very strenuous, laborious, exhausting, taxing, and tiring. Even with so much preparation, I have yet to see a perfect wedding celebration.

There will always be some kind of unusual event or incident that will occur during the wedding: Food that is supposed to be very delicious may have been overcooked or salty; music that’s supposed to be pleasing sometimes is quietly or softly played; and sometimes too loud (the usual scenario in “probinsya” or countryside); cake that should be so delicious may flop or might get ruined with just one misstep; the throwing of the bouquet may not land on the people, but it can get caught in the electrical wires or chandeliers; the bride’s gown is stepped on by the photographer; the bridegroom forgets to zip his pants; and the parents cannot stop crying as if somebody died.

One picture might show somebody grumbling or a grouch complaining about not being included.; the ring bearer or flower girl taking forever to get from point A to point B.

If you are watched AFV (America’s Funniest Video) or any wedding fail videos on the internet, you would have seen a lot of funny events in wedding ceremonies.

But let’s take a step back and go back to our question earlier—Are we prepared for that Wedding Ceremony of the Church with the Lamb of God?

If you listened to sermons of the past, it’s often mentioned that the Church will be the Bride of the Lamb of God.

The Joy we experience on earth during wedding celebrations is a short-lived experience of joy that points to that Eternal Experience to be at the Wedding Day of the Lamb of God.

If you have experienced that sadness of not being included or invited in the Wedding of your Best Friend or relative, that is also a short-lived experience of loneliness that points to the Eternal Loneliness you will experience when you’re not included at the Wedding Day with the Lamb of God.

Today you can choose. If you want to experience that Eternal Joy, listen attentively.

Our Passage in John 3:22-30 helps us to prepare for that Wedding Celebration.

Jesus wants to spend time with us

 In verse 22 it reads,  ²² After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized.

      Jesus did not bring them to the city.

He chose to have a quiet place where there will be no distraction to have fellowship with His disciples.

Before a wedding, we have what we call the engagement time or the time where a man and a woman date each other to come to know more about themselves. Some couples spend a year or 2 or more years of engagement. They want to familiarize each one’s favourite food, favourite color, favourite music and many other things. They both plan for their future. How many children to have, where to live, when and where to have the wedding celebration.

There are also some who get married without the benefit of engagement or dating time because they were ordered by their authoritative parents to marry that person the parents have chosen.

Can you imagine living with a person for all the days of your life without knowing their personality. You do not know them. You’ve never heard his or her voice or never learned his or her favourite food or colour.

When we arrived here in Winnipeg and stayed in the house of tito Lito and tita Rhoda, we had that strange feeling. I supposed they, too, had the same strange feeling of letting these strangers live in their home. The Dabu family were very nice, really kind, hospitable, and gracious to our needs and they did everything to make us feel at home but still our family behaved to the best of our abilities.

One day we will live with God in heaven. Just imagine yourself living in the house of the mayor of Winnipeg and you will understand that strange feeling of living in the house of somebody you don’t personally know. You will only feel comfortable if you get to know more about the owner of the house, right?

Spending time reading our Bibles will help us know more about our Heavenly Father. Having our personal quiet time will help us to experience more of Jesus’ love for us and that will remove the strange feeling of being a Christian.

If you give more time listening to what Jesus wants you to hear at any worship service, Bible Study, Wednesday prayer meeting, the time you spend listening to his Word will shed light for you to experience His love for you.

      As Jesus shows His love and care for you, you will cherish the day of living with Him in heaven one day.

PHONE BOOTH

In a letter to his friends, hymn writer Wendell P. Loveless told this story:

One evening a speaker who was visiting the United States wanted to make a telephone call. He entered a phone booth but found it to be different from those in his own country.

It was beginning to get dark, so he had difficulty finding the number in the directory. He noticed that there was a light bulb in the ceiling, but he didn’t know how to turn it on.

As he tried again to find the number in the fading twilight, a passerby noted his plight and said, “Sir, if you want to turn the light on, you have to shut the door.”

To his amazement and satisfaction, when he closed the door, the phone booth was lit. He soon located the number and completed the call.

APPLICATION:

In a similar way, when we find a quiet place to pray, or find time to read our Bibles, we must block out our busy world and open our hearts to our Heavenly Father.

Our darkened world of disappointments and trials will then be illuminated. We will enter into communion with God, we will sense His presence, and we will be assured of His provision for us.

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John recorded that Jesus often spent time with his disciples in a quiet place.

Take time to be quiet before God and experience the joy of having Jesus as the Lord of your life.

Not only does Jesus want to spend time with us but…

 2.  Jesus welcomes everyone going to Him

²⁶ They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”      

In Matthew 28 Jesus commanded us to make disciples. Our Lord and Saviour wants everyone to be given the chance to make decision about their eternal destiny.

When the Lord Jesus said that we are to go and make disciples of all nations, in the original language this means ethnic groups. Our failure to obey this command is because we understand the word “nation” like that of a Billy Graham kind of Mass Evangelism. It is a great task to do. Can you imagine yourself evangelizing a nation?

It liken a question of “How do you eat an elephant?” An elephant? How can you do that? Of course, to eat an elephant, you need to make one bite at a time.

Word of mouth

This is basic in the New Testament Strategy. Andrew brought his brother Peter. The Samaritan woman brought her village people. Jesus called Matthew the Tax Collector, after that, many other Tax Collectors were dining with Jesus and following Him.

The business world has discovered this strategy. A person is selling cars. After each sale he asks if the person has any friends who might also be interested. Most of his sales come from such leads.

APPLICATION:

      We can start by praying for one person or two. Pray for that person regularly that one day you will be able to share the gospel to him or her and invite them to TMEC.

When we are at home in our comfortable sofa and are watching TFC or YouTube, during every ad break lift a prayer for that person you would want to be a member of this church.

While cleaning your car or mowing the lawn or waiting for your family, lift up a prayer for that person to have Spiritual hunger and thirst. Before sleeping and after praying for your family and your pastor, ask God to give you opportunities to share to that person about the Good News.

If you don’t know how to share the gospel, approach our BOT and ask when will be the for the next training for sharing the Gospel.

During the Wedding Celebration with the Lamb of God there will also be an awards ceremony.

At the past NBA Finals many of us were cheering for our favourite team, whether it be the Pacers or OKC. We are hoping that our favourite team will win the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy. We do not even want to settle with the idea of being a finalist.

That sure is a momentary picture compared to what happens in heaven during the Wedding Celebration of the Lamb of God. There will be awarding of Crowns in Heaven. Some will be receiving crown after crown after crown. Many will be cheering for those awardees in Heaven.

God is fair! He wants us all to become awardees on that day. You may not experience receiving a championship ring. You may not try to compete. You may not even experience going to the NBA Finals to personally watch the deciding game to see which team of the two finalists who worked all season will hoist the coveted trophy. That doesn’t matter because that is temporary.

Aim for the Heavenly Crowns. All of us have a chance to get one—the Crown of Life. But don’t just settle for one crown. Aim for more.

TMEC’s Mission Statement is Matthew 28:18-20. We need to be reminded of that purpose.

Our Lord Jesus wants to spend time with us. Jesus welcomes everyone who goes to Him.

Jesus will become greater

³⁰ He must become greater; I must become less.”

      John the Baptist’s disciples came to him and reported that more people were going to Jesus.

But John the Baptist said, He[Jesus] must become greater; and I must become less. One of the reasons the author of the Gospel included these words of John the Baptist is to discourage the growing John the Baptist Sect of magnifying John the Baptist instead of Jesus whom John himself was teaching them about.

There were many loyalists of John who did not acknowledge Jesus as the Savior—the Messiah. They formed their own group called the John the Baptist Sect according to scholars of the Bible.

There was a cold war among the followers of John the Baptist and the First Century Christians when both John and Jesus were gone.

This is the reason why we should spend time reading the Bible. We need to search the Scriptures like the Berean Christians. One of the reasons why churches split or have divisions is like that of the Corinthian Christians. They say, “I follow Apollos, I follow Cephas, I follow Paul.” Some say, “I follow Christ.”

I hope we will grow mature in our faith. Follow Jesus Christ instead of the pastor. Let Jesus become greater in you and ask Him to reign in every area, every aspect, and every point of your life. Ask Jesus to search your life thoroughly and tell Him to reign in your life actively. Make sure to allow Him to do just that.

Farmer

There was a Chinese story about a farmer. He was talking while thinking. He was thinking aloud while standing beside a bamboo planted by a stream of flowing clear cold water.

The Farmer said to himself, “How can I bring this cold water to my farm?” Suddenly, the towering bamboo spoke. “Can I help you Sir?” The Farmer looked up and saw the Bamboo and said, “Yes, you are a big help, but it will be very hard for you because I need to humble you down to the ground.

“No problem, sir, cut me down,” said the bamboo.

“You don’t understand. It will cost you your towering height, your loftiness and your life,” explained the Farmer.

“Sir, I want to help you. Go ahead cut me down,” the confident Bamboo insisted.

“This will be hard for you, Bamboo. For me to use you, I need to remove your beautiful branches. I need to remove you pretty leaves. I need to remove your sharp thorns,” explicated the Farmer.

“Sir I am willing to make this sacrifice for you. Do as you wish,” the persistent Bamboo told the Farmer.

The Farmer laid out his ideas. “You know, Bamboo, I am very grateful for your help but for me to effectively use you, you need to know this.

After I cut your towering height down, strip off your beautiful leaves and remove your thorns, I will cut you into two and remove everything inside and this will mean you will die.

Think about that.

And I will come back tomorrow for your final decision.”

The following morning, the Farmer approached the Bamboo and asked him of its decision.

The Bamboo agreed with the Farmers plan.

The Farmer cut down the Bamboo, removed its leaves and thorns, cut it into two and removed everything inside the Bamboo and laid the bamboo on the stream of cold running water.

      When the water flowed through the Bamboo for the first time in its life the Bamboo felt the freshness of water flowing through its body.

      The Farmer was able to water his plants and had a great harvest.

APPLICATION:

This fictional story has a lot of lessons for us to learn.

Are you willing to become less so that Jesus will become greater in your life? Are willing to give yourself for Jesus to use you to bring His harvest to the church?

You need to understand that Jesus needs to cut down our height, our arrogance, our pride. You need to understand that Jesus needs our willingness and availability, our beauty, our talents. You need to understand that Jesus needs to remove the sharp, thorny, and the offensive words from us. You need to understand that Jesus needs to clean the dividing spirit in us so that the freshness of blessing will flow freely through us.

Are you willing to be used by God and experience the freshness of blessing that will flow through you from Jesus the Living Water to the thirsty souls waiting to be harvested?

Let us continue to pray that God would shape us into willing instruments of His grace—ready to extend His love and kindness to everyone around us. Ready to magnify his greatness.

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