Whilst we are all unique, I think we could rightly say that John the Baptist was uniquely unique! Surely, there are many things about his birth, his life circumstances and his calling and ministry, that confirm that!
Two unique statements that he made during his public ministry stand out for their significance in our understanding of the Christian life. When he cried out in John 1 v 29 “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”, he shows us the essence of what it is to become a Christian. But in his declaration in John 3 v 30, “He must increase but I must decrease”, he shows us the essence of what it is to be a Christian.
Matthew Henry calls this second statement “a most excellent pattern”; and it is this pattern of the Christian life that we consider in this article. It is significant in three ways:
Firstly, because it shows us what is at the heart of the Christian life – relationship! This is a “He” and “I” statement because the Christian life is a “He” and “I” life! Christian living has many facets, but none more important than my personal relationship with the Lord Jesus.
Second, because it shows us the imperative of the Christian life – “must”! It is noticeable that the NKJV of the Bible has the second “must” in italics. Whilst it was not there in the original, it was inserted in the English translation to emphasise the importance of this twofold “must”.
Thirdly we are shown the direction of the Christian life – it is going in two ways! One of the pop songs from my youth had a line about life, “always moving, but going nowhere”. Sadly, that is a picture of many who profess to be following Christ – and sometimes of us all! William Hendriksen calls John’s statement “his recessional”, in other words, it marked out the time of his stepping away from the limelight, and of the focus of history and Biblical revelation centring on Jesus. But it is more than that, it tells us that the increasing focus of our Christian life must be Christ, whilst at the same time our “self life” should be receding into the background.
It is not long into our Christian experience that we find the difficulties of this “must”. Everything is set against it; the world, the flesh, and the devil, but there are real helps for us in the statement itself. We consider five of them for our encouragement.
1: Start in the right place!
We note the very important order of things – the first priority is that “He” must increase. If we misquote and misuse the instruction and begin by trying to “decrease” ourselves, we find that this is the road to legalism and discipline without purpose – it is a dreary road of drudgery! In contrast, the way of delight is to know more and more of Jesus. We listen to the prayer of Johann Lavater, and must make it our own:
O Jesus Christ grow Thou in me
And all things else recede,
My heart be daily nearer Thee,
From sin be daily freed.
2: Stay near to the means of grace
The Lord has not left us with this instruction without helps! I think we know them well, but often we look for a devotional short cut – there is not one! Only by prayer, reading the Scriptures, hearing good preaching, the church prayer meeting, Christian fellowship, and the Lord’s Table, will we find the grace that we need, through all the means that God has given to us, to press on in the two directions in which we must go!
3: Stay away from the means of self
I think we know what these are too – they are all around! We live in a self-centred and self-serving society. This is why John (the Apostle) warns us not to “love the world” (1 John 2 v 15). We read the slogans: “Go on spoil yourself”, “One life – live it”, “Because you’re worth it”, and even while we are eating our fast food we are still encouraged a decade on from its first appearance, to say “I’m lovin it”!
4: Have no place in your life where Jesus does not reign
The hymns of Frances Ridley Havergal are written from the heart of a woman who exhibited the reality of the outworking of John the Baptist’s great statement. This was her prayer – we note her “everything”!
O come and reign Lord Jesus,
Rule over everything,
And make me always loyal,
My Saviour and my King.
5: Follow the best of examples
The full context of the statement we are considering (John 3 v 22 – 6), it is very instructive. John pictures himself at a wedding as “the friend of the bridegroom” (today we would say he was the best-man). At a wedding, all the attention is on the bridegroom and his bride – not on the best-man! It would be an odd wedding if the photographer was intent on making a full colour album of pictures of the best man, while ignoring the newly married couple! In this, John was a real example. Not only did he speak of the principles of increasing and decreasing, he lived them out! The Scriptures, and Church history are full of larger-than-life examples for us to follow, and often there are exemplary Christians in our church, who by grace continue to live their lives as examples of John’s principle.
Martin Luther famously called John 3 v 16 “the gospel in miniature”. Perhaps we can use his phraseology and call this statement of John – “He must increase and I must decrease” – “the Christian life in miniature”, truly an excellent pattern.
This article was first published by the Evangelical Times.