"The Bridegroom" Sermon: John 3:22-36

“The Bridegroom”
[John 3:22–36]
December 14, 2008 Second Reformed Church

What is Christmas about? Is it about Christmas carols and hymns? Is it about children and Santa and presents? Is it about angels and shepherds? Is it about Rudolph and Frosty? Is it about candy and family and friends? It is about going to church? Is it about measuring the health of the economy? Is it about there being more money in the offering plate? What is Christmas about?

Last week, we saw that John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus – he prepared the way for His Coming. Let us remember what John said about himself and about Jesus:

“And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, ‘I am not the Christ.’ And they asked him, ‘What then? Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ ‘Are you the Prophet?’ And he answered, ‘No.’ So they said to him, ‘Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?’ He said, ‘I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of the Lord,” as the prophet Isaiah said.

“(Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) They asked him, ‘Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?’ John answered them, ‘I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.’ These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

“The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and he said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the whole world This is he of whom I said, “After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.” I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water that he might be revealed to Israel.’ And John bore witness: ‘I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God’” (John 1:19-34, ESV).

We’re told in this morning’s Scripture that after these testimonies about himself and Jesus and what occurred at the baptism of Jesus, John and his disciples went into the Judean countryside and continued to baptize.

And we’re told that a Jew, or some of the Jews – in fact, the very ones who had questioned him about who he was – were now questioning John’s disciples about what he had said and done. “Rabbi John, do you see what has happened? You testified about this Jesus and baptized Him back at the Jordan, and now everyone is going to Him and His disciples to be baptized. You’ve got to have noticed how small your congregation has gotten; they’ve all left you and started following Jesus. What are you going to do about this?”

The Jews asked him, “Rabbi John, you were the talk of Israel, everyone flocked to you to hear you and be baptized by you. And now this Jesus that you testified to and baptized has taken your followers away. Does that really seem fair? Don’t you think you should do something about this? You’ve got your reputation to think of.” They were trying to get John to sin through envy.

But John didn’t sin. Instead, John said, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.” John said, “Everything a person has and is is given to him by God.” Jesus’ biological brother, James, would write the same thing, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17, ESV). John is saying, “God has given and gifted to each person according to His Will; it is not for us to be envious of others, but to be faithful and obedient with what God has given to us.”

Do we understand? God has given each of us everything we have and made us everything we are, and the question we need to ask ourselves is, “Are we being faithful?” We ought not to look at others and be envious and wonder why we are not like them.

John gives us the cure for envy as we continue in our text: John explains to the Jews that he already told them that he was not the Christ, but he is the forerunner of the Christ. John told them that the ones who follow the Bridegroom are the bride, so it is right that Israel follow after Jesus, because Jesus is the Bridegroom and those who follow Him are the bride.

John explained that when you go to a wedding, the friends of the Bridegroom rejoice as the Bridegroom is lifted up – as the Bridegroom is the center of attention. Weddings are not about the friends of the Bridegroom, they are about the Bridegroom. So, the joy the friends experience increases as more and more attention is paid to the Bridegroom and less to the friends of the Bridegroom.

In the same way, you and I are filled with joy when Jesus is more and we are less. Our joy in Jesus increases as we make much of Him. John Piper uses the example of a telescope: when you look through a telescope, it helps us to see something for what it really is. When we look through a telescope, our attention is not on the telescope, but on being able to see more of what the thing is that we’re looking at. So it is with Jesus: we are Christ’s representatives, but our joy is not found in drawing attention to ourselves, our joy is found in making Jesus more clear to everyone else. This is not about us; it’s all about Him!

John said that in focusing on the Bridegroom, “Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.” The commentator, A. W. Pink, explains it this way:

“‘This my joy therefore is fulfilled’ (v. 29). How precious is this! Joy of heart is the fruit of being ‘occupied with Christ!’ It is standing and hearing His voice which delights the soul. But again we say that the all-important prerequisite for this is a cessation of the activities of the flesh. His voice cannot be heard if we are rushing hither and thither in fellowship with the fearful bedlam all around us. The ‘better part’ is not to be like Martha – ‘cumbered about much serving’ – but to ‘sit’ at the feet of the Lord Jesus like Mary did, hearing His word (see Luke 10:38-42). Notice, too, the tense of the verbs in John 3:29: ‘standeth and heareth.’ The perfect tense expresses continuous action: again and again, daily, this must be done, if our joy is to be filled full. Is not our failure at this very point the explanation of our joyless lives?

“‘He must increase, but I must decrease’ (3:30). Blessed climax was this to the lovely modesty of John, and well calculated to crush all party feeling and nip in the bud any jealousy there might be in the hearts of his own disciples. In principle this is inseparably connected with what he had just said before in the previous verse. The more I ‘decrease’ the more I delight in standing and hearing the voice of that blessed One who is Altogether Lovely. And so conversely. The more I stand and hear His voice, the more He will ‘increase’ before me, and the more shall I ‘decrease.’ I cannot be occupied with two objects at one and the same time. To ‘decrease’ is, we take it, to be less and less occupied with ourselves. The more I am occupied with Christ, the less occupied I will be with myself. Humility is not the product of direct cultivation, rather it is a by-product. The more I try to be humble, the less shall I attain unto humility. But if I am truly occupied with that One who was ‘meek and lowly in heart,’ if I am constantly beholding His glory in the mirror of God’s Word, then I shall be ‘changed into the same image from glory to glory, even by the Spirit of the Lord’ (II Cor. 3:18).” (The Gospel of John, 148-149).

John explains further, beginning in verse thirty-one, telling the Jews that Jesus came from Heaven, whereas John and the Jews came from earth. Jesus came from Heaven and has all authority, so the bride belongs to Him. Paul explained it this way, “They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen” (Romans 9:4-5, ESV).

Jesus, Who is God, and has all authority, came from Heaven, first to the Jews. So John tells the Jews that he is not envious of the Christ and that Israel is going to be baptized by His disciples, because that is the way it is supposed to be. The Gospel is not about John, it is about Jesus.

Even so, we know that most of Israel did not believe in Jesus – more of the Jews rejected Him. John said, “no one receives his testimony.” Of course some did receive Jesus, so John means, compared to the whole population of Israel, no one received His Testimony.

But, John says, those who do receive Jesus “set [their] seal” – they confirm – they believe – “that God is true.” They believe that Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of the Coming Savior. They believe in Him whole-heartedly. And, John explains, this makes good sense because Jesus speaks the words of God, because God the Holy Spirit has fully indwelt Jesus – without measure. Each Christian in indwelt by the Holy Spirit and He gives us gifts and graces as it pleases Him, but Jesus received all of the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit. Whereas each Christians receives a measure of the Holy Spirit, Jesus received the Holy Spirit without measure. Why? Because “the Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.”

The trap of envy that the Jews set before John is really all about the question of Who Jesus is. If Jesus is the Savior, God Incarnate, the Perfect God-Man, then there is nothing to envy. Instead, John, and we ought to find ourselves bowing before Him, doing everything we can to draw attention to Him, spending every moment learning more about Him, focusing on Him, finding our joy in Him.

Paul answers the question this way: “[Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth of in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross” (Colossians 1:15:20, ESV).

The testimony of John and all the Scripture is that Jesus is God Who came to earth in human form on that first Christmas. John, and we who believe in Jesus Alone as Savior, are friends of the Bridegroom, and Jesus is the Bridegroom. And the more we are focused on Jesus, the more we are centered on Jesus, the more time we spending knowing Him and worshiping Him, the greater our joy will be and the smaller our problems will seem.

Well, the economy is so bad, I’m cutting back on my giving – everyone is getting smaller gifts from me this year. But I better get what I want, or Christmas will be ruined. I’ve worked hard and I deserve to get what I’m expecting. God knows how hard I’ve worked, and I’ve been suffering a lot physically this year, so I expect everyone to be generous and really thankful to me this year. And I hope so-and-so is busy and can’t make it to our Christmas party, or Christmas will be ruined. So-and-so is so annoying; everything has to be about so-and-so – never lets anyone else be the center of attention.

Advent is a season of preparation: what are we preparing for? What is Christmas about?

Christmas is about the Bridegroom. It’s about Jesus. It’s all about Jesus.

Let us pray:
Almighty God, as we prepare to celebrate and remember Your Coming to earth in the flesh, we ask that You would help us get our eyes off ourselves. Help us to focus on You and help us to tell others that Christmas is all about You. And may our joy increase in You as we celebrate You as the Bridegroom. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.