Sunday Gathering - John 3 : 22-36 - Erica Lugg - Sermon Only

doesn't it look great in here today I kind of think this is how it should be every week

so we need some volunteers of people that will come and tie ribbons every Saturday but it's great

to see the building looking like this and it's great to see you all today we're in John's gospel

so if you want to turn with me to John chapter 3 we're going to be reading from verse 22 to 36

and just as a bit of a recap we remember right back at the beginning actually Nick would you

right back at the beginning um andy introduced the gospel to us we looked at jesus being the

word um and this kind of cosmic thing that happened that he was there in the beginning

he was there before the beginning he's always been there um and then we looked at the beginning

of the story of john the baptist and the beginning of his disciples uh we went to the wedding water

turned into wine and then the very next week we went to temple jesus where he's zealous over his

church over over us his people um and then last week uh we had remind me people what did we have

last week yes and what was the scripture that we all know come on what did we have like it's only

last week folks and it is the most famous scripture in the bible i absolutely do want you to say it

yes the fact that i was pausing is your cue roland what did we learn last week the most famous thing

that we learnt last week?

That's the bit where you all went,

whoever believes in him.

Who is whoever believes in him?

I was actually using the one

where it says whoever believes in him.

Yeah, that kind of way.

I would like it in French, Ali,

if you wouldn't mind, please.

We're going to speak it in French.

Lovely, well done, thank you.

For God so loved the world.

So that's where we ended off last week.

And we're going to look at John's Gospel 22 to 36.

So I'm going to read that really quickly.

So then Jesus and his disciples left Jerusalem

and went into the Judean countryside.

Jesus spent some time with them there baptizing people.

At this same time, John the Baptist was baptizing at Enon near Salem.

I'm hoping I'm pronouncing that right.

Please don't judge me.

Because there was plenty of water there

and people kept coming to him for baptism.

This was before John was thrown into prison.

A debate broke out between John's disciples

and a certain Jew over ceremonial cleansing.

So John's disciples came to him and said,

Rabbi, the man you met on the other side of the Jordan River,

the one you identified as the Messiah,

is also baptizing people

and everybody is going to him instead of coming to us.

John replied, no one can receive anything

unless God gives it from heaven you yourselves know how plainly I told you I am not the Messiah

I am only here to prepare the way for him it is the bridegroom who marries the bride and the best

man other translation says friend is simply glad to stand with him and hear his vows therefore I

am filled with joy at his success he must become greater and greater and I must become less and

less he has come from heaven and is greater than anyone else we are of the earth and we speak of

earthly things but he has come from heaven and I've lost my place and is greater than anyone else

he testifies about what he has seen and heard but how few believe what he tells them anyone who

accepts his testimony can affirm that God is true for he is sent by God he speaks God's word for God

gives him the spirit without limit. The father loves his son and has put everything into his

hands and anyone who believes in God's son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn't obey the son

will never experience eternal life but remains under God's angry judgment. Amen. I really am

enjoying John's gospel and I particularly like the human side that we see popping up as we go along

and we have this amazing interaction with Nicodemus and the proclamation of the simple

gospel Cornelius mentioned last week about the bronze snake and just by looking and and how we

it's symbolic of the cross by looking at it that's how we're born again and so I like the human side

of it but I'm also really challenged because you see humans pop up and behave in ways that

humans are really good at behaving so I'm sure because I identified a lot with this passage as

we went through and I'm hoping that you will as well. So he's baptising in a place called Enon

which means many waters because there was lots of water there that's your first thing

but that many waters is also really symbolic of cleansing and preparation and the Bible tells us

that it's near a place called Salim which means peace. So right at the very beginning you've got

a picture that's being painted John's disciples are baptising at this place of cleansing at this

place of preparation and at this place of peace and I see in it this picture of cleansing and

peace this wonderful harmony and right in the middle of that place of cleansing and peace

an argument begins any of you ever been in a family situation where it's all been quiet at

Christmas and everybody is behaving very beautifully and there's harmony between everybody

and then suddenly an argument begins what topics are we not allowed to have around the meal tables

Politics.

Yes, don't talk about which side of the fence you're on

because what is a calm and beautiful place of peace

will disrupt into an argument.

What's the other thing we're not supposed to talk about

at the dinner table?

What is it?

Religion.

Yes, religion is the other one, isn't it?

Lovely place of calm and peace.

You start talking about religion and an argument begins.

So it makes me smile.

It highlights to me that we're talking about real human situations.

Place of cleansing, a place of peace,

It's a place of preparation for Jesus and an argument begins.

I was out at Crystal Peaks the other day

and I went into one of these shops that's got lovely candles

that smell really nice and they play that whale music.

Oh, that sounds like a seagull, doesn't it?

But you get what I'm trying to say.

It was so lovely and it smelled so nice

and I walked in and the lights were dimmed and what have you

and I'd only been in there a minute browsing around

and a two-year-old came in and wanted a stuffed giraffe

and mum said no and in that moment

that was no longer a place of peace, lay on the floor, stamped her for, I want the giraffe,

I want them then. And it just made me think that we're really good at, because we're human,

we're really good in this place of peace. This argument erupts, this debate between the John's

disciples and a certain Jew, I love that, certain Jew, about ceremonial washing. Now just to get a

bit of context here. Baptism and washing wasn't something that was new to the Jews at this point.

Jewish people were really familiar with washing practices. They were very familiar with ritual

baths. They were very familiar with cleansing before worship. These are things that they would

do regularly. So this wasn't something that looked particularly brand new. But what was it that

caused this argument? Well, John was talking about something different. He was talking about an

internal cleansing he was talking about a repentance he was not saying this is about

outward washing but this is an inner thing and he was pointing the way to Jesus so again in my mind

and forgive me if I've done a little bit of creative license here in my mind I wonder whether

the argument because I can hear myself here full disclosure I wondered whether the argument about

whose way was better any of you ever had an argument with somebody or should we let's not

call it an argument let's call it a debate because that sounds about whose way was better anybody

come on let's be honest whose way is better mine of course mine of course okay so that's what I

think was going on again the really human thing and maybe John's disciples the reason that they

were a bit agitated was because maybe deep down they didn't understand why things had to change

because we've always done it like that now let me ask you a question ever had that feeling in you

when things change and you're thinking to yourself we've always done it like this anybody yeah whose

way is the best way mine always and so I just wonder whether there's a little bit of irritation

a little bit of issue there and and they go over to Jesus to John in this state and then I love this

verse and I'm going to read it with a bit of a voice because in my head this is what's going on

rabbi that man who are they talking about jesus if you go back to chapter one they knew his name

they knew his name so they make a point of saying that man that man that you met on the other side

of the jordan the one you identified as the messiah is also baptizing and everybody is going

to him instead of coming to us. Now what kind of language does that sound like to you? Why

do we get defensive? Insecurity. Insecurity and fear. To understand this, we need to kind

of have a bit of an idea of what it meant to be a disciple back then. When you followed

a rabbi, basically you gave your whole life to them. You walked with them, you learned

from them your whole identity was wrapped up in the rabbi if your rabbi was doing really well

then guess what you were also really doing very well if the crowds were gathering you felt

significant if people were coming if you felt like you belonged John was a big deal and there

was an awful lot of momentum around John and crowds gathering lives were being changed so

when when the I've got a bit of fluff on my finger that won't go away when um so these disciples are

getting their significance and their sense of worth and their identity and sense of value from

what John is doing so when people start going to Jesus instead for them it must have felt like a

loss of identity any of you ever felt that not quite sure who you are um circumstances change

and suddenly the footing that seemed really clear,

you're not sure about anymore.

And I can be harsh on them in my mind,

but I see it in myself.

I want to feel significant.

I want to know that I matter in this life.

I want to know that my life has purpose.

And so if there's that loss of identity,

if the disciples are going or the crowds are going to Jesus,

you can imagine the disciples are beginning to feel a little bit insecure.

that man well they knew his name but immediately distancing himself themselves from Jesus the one

you identified what's happening there what was that blame John this is on you you're to blame

I love this bit everybody is going to him instead of us everybody what everybody like the king of

England or the, I mean, who? Have you used language like that? Yeah. Everybody is going to him instead

of us. We all do that. Everybody doesn't listen. Nobody listens to me. Everything in my life is a

mess. Everything is going wrong. Is everything going wrong in the world? No. But don't we use

language everything is go we use these big exaggerated things when there is fear and

insecurity and I really am speaking to myself this morning I said to Nick Nick said go for it

preach this morning I just I actually just want to go home because everything about this makes

me feel insecure and a little bit fearful I go through self-doubt working it through in my head

When I go home tonight, I will analyze absolutely everything that I say today because of self-doubt

and insecurity and vulnerability. And the reason I can be really open about that with you today is

because what? I'm in a room full of people that also understand what it means like to feel

vulnerable, to feel self-doubt, to feel afraid, all of those kinds of things. And insecurity makes

small stuff seems really massive and it exaggerates and amplifies threats. And do you know what it

does for me, it justifies what I feel. Insecurity and fear also says that there's only so much

significance to go around, and I'm not going to get any of it. That's what it does.

Because I felt insecure, because Cornelius, you had slides last week, didn't you?

You did. And when Chris Simpson preaches, he has slides. So because I feel insecure and a little

bit fearful. I have a slide. I have another slide. Do I? No. There we go. I knew that

would have that effect. That's what I was hoping for. I wanted you to go, ah, and then

it would build my significance, you see? My sense of self. That's me there. Obviously

staring into the distance, thinking about something else as usual. That's my younger

sister. I absolutely love her face in that. I don't know what she was thinking about,

but it's probably, I don't want to be part of this family. The reason I show you this,

let's go back to the other one of me, because I love that. I look like a rabbit. Go back.

There we go. I think I was probably about nine there. When I was seven, I grew up in Ghana.

And when I was about seven, Ghana went through a lot of turmoil. They had several revolutions that

went wrong, not went wrong, but failed revolutions. So there was a lot of military presence, a lot of

shooting, a lot of drama. And just before my seventh birthday, I think it was, Nick will tell

me, 1979, the 4th of June or something, there was a successful revolution. And there were

machine military men all over with big machine guns they were roadblocks I remember going to

school on the way to school with dead bodies at the side of the road that had been shot overnight

that was where I grew up and I you when I was thinking about this I was thinking all the million

things in my life that I could think about millions of things including stuff that's

happened this week that's made me feel insecure and fearful and all of that this is the one thing

that popped to my mind. I remember imagining at this age, or a little bit younger, that

my dad would only be safe if I was with him. Now when I think about it, I think utterly

bonkers. But he was, there was no fuel, and he was a pastor. He would go walking out to

the different churches, sometimes late at night. We would hear the gunshots, and I would

imagine that somewhere out there, my dad had been shot. That's what was going through

my head and so in my insecurity and fear I came to the conclusion don't ask me how I did it I don't

know but I came to the conclusion that the only way that he would be safe it was if I was joined

to him at the hip anywhere he went I had to be near him otherwise he would die going to school

was an absolute nightmare for my parents for a very long period of time they would dress me in

the morning and as quickly as they were putting the clothes on I was taking them off there was

no way I was going to go to school because if I went to school what was going to happen

my dad was going to die I remember them shoving me into a car we had carpool systems in those

they shoving me into the car slamming the boot of the car telling the driver to go go go go go

with me locked in there going ah get me out and amazingly my dad didn't die as a result of my

trying to save him but I the reason I bring this up because it was because I wanted I wanted you

to know and to see that how insecurity and fear has the capacity to grow and it causes different

things in us. And even though the reality isn't true, insecurity and fear makes it true in our

lives and then therefore it changes the way we respond to things and changes the way we react

to things. And what I see in these disciples is that in their conversation with each other,

their insecurity and their fear as they talked with each other those things began to find space

in their lives and suddenly what they were talking about felt very very real it didn't matter how

many times people said to me your dad will be fine you don't need to be there other people were with

him in my head that was the reality and that was what had grown in my life so you can imagine the

disciples are going through all of this and what they're coming to John for is comforting and

reassurance. They want John to say everything is going to be okay and he does something really

incredible. He doesn't dismiss them but he doesn't agree with them either. He says a person can

receive only what is given them from heaven. In other words, guys you didn't earn this, you received

this as a gift. It was given freely to you. You don't have to compete for it. You don't have to

worry that if it's given, it will be taken away. You don't have to worry that you're going to lose

it or that you'll drop it or circumstances will take it away or anything. If it's been given from

heaven, it's a gift given to you. You've received it. Don't need to fight for it. You don't need

to compete for it. And immediately you get this shift, this perspective change. And then he goes

on to say this you yourselves know how plainly I told you I am not the Messiah he'd already

reiterated that at the beginning of John's gospel he'd made it clear he wasn't the Messiah

and so he comes in again says I'm telling you plainly I can't fix this for you I can't make

you feel better maybe they wanted him to go and have a quiet word with Jesus to go and move on a

little bit he says I can't do anything because insecurity and fear is an issue of the heart

and it takes a savior to deal with it might this might seem like a silly story but this

insecurity and fear lasted for me for a number of years and I had to in the end have ministry

and prayer about it because of what it had done to my life and John was saying he's saying

disciples, listen to me. What you're reflecting here is the insecurity and fear in you, and there

is only one person that can deal with that, and who's that? Jesus, the Messiah. He says, I'm not

the Messiah. What you're asking me to do is above my pay grade. I don't have the capacity to deal

with that in you. I don't have the capacity to deal with your sense of worth or your sense of

identity, that is only something the Messiah can do. As I was preparing this, I just felt, I wanted

to say, and maybe it's not for in this bit, maybe it's for later, I don't know, but I just wanted to

say that some of us need to hear that the people in your life are not your Messiah. Maybe you have

attached yourself, like I did with my dad, attached myself to somebody or something, wanting them to

smooth your ruffled feathers wanting make to make you feel validated or secure and i just want to

say this morning that that person that situation is that that's not your messiah and all that will

happen is in time they will disappoint you it will disappoint you because it cannot deal with what is

going on inside you who can deal with that there's only one i just felt that i know that in my own

life. We're asking human beings to only do what Jesus can do. And that's what John was saying.

He's saying, guys, I can't do any of this. I can't fix this for you. I can't do this. This is

above my capacity. There's only Jesus that can do that. And then he goes, the other word that I

thought came to my mind as I was thinking about that was actually, some of you maybe need to hear

that you're not the Messiah either.

What's that, an amen, I heard.

Okay, all right.

Need to hear that you're not the Messiah.

We hear the term Messiah complex, don't we?

And sometimes we can think it is imagining

that we are amazing.

But I think it's more subtle than that.

I think it's a bit like, it's up to me to fix this.

A bit like I had with my dad.

It's up to me to hold this thing together.

if I don't step in it won't be okay. It looks like responsibility and it looks like care but

underneath it's often insecurity trying to take control and I recognised this in myself when I

was seven. Genuinely believed that it was only safe if I was there with my dad and it sounds

ridiculous but I utterly believed it. It was a messiah complex and in my mind I wasn't being

difficult. I just felt that someone had to have control and in the absence of any other suitable

person, the responsibility fell on me. Which when I think about it, my poor mum and my older siblings

in the absence of any other suitable person. So some of you need to hear that that person

that you are going to, that relationship that you're going to, to get that

the significance or insecurity stroked away it's not going to work it's only Jesus that can do that

and maybe we need to also look at ourselves and think to ourselves actually in situations and

circumstances am I the one that wants to be the Messiah Jesus is able to do it on his own and we

don't think we're overstepping we think we're helping but sometimes what looks like care is

insecurity trying to take control and we just have to ask the holy spirit to to prod us what

is it that motivates us and because before we realized which we're not just involved we're

central um and i just really felt i wanted to to bring that out this morning we have to check the

motivations of our heart which part of our heart which part of our body is the most deceitful thing

above all things the heart it'll tell you it's got responsibility and care but if it is meeting

a need in me if it is meeting a need in terms of I it is dealing with my insecurity and fear

I have to go back to Jesus and not to that so John doesn't fix the situation he changes their

perspective and he gives them a completely different lens and he says this the bride

belongs to the bridegroom who does the bride belong to in other words this was never about you

in the first place. There is only one person at the centre of the story and his name is Jesus.

He is the only one who carries things and it isn't you. He says the friend stands and listens

close but not central, certainly involved but not carrying, present but not responsible

for the outcome and that's the shift when we recognize that actually we are the friend

at the wedding and not the bridegroom who is responsible for everything going well today

well i was thinking about the wedding afterwards but thank you but yes you're right jesus thank

you dylan yes who's responsible for it the bridegroom the bridegroom is responsible we

get to be part of it. We get to enjoy. We get to enjoy the ride. We get to enjoy the

event. We get to enjoy being part of it but not being responsible for it. And he goes

on to say this. John says, he must become greater and I must become less. To me, this

is the crux of the thing. The way I deal with my insecurity and fear, the things that debilitate

me, the things that make me shrink back, the things that make me controlling, the things

that make me all those things that I don't want to be. The feeling inside me that I don't want to

have is to allow the Holy Spirit to become bigger in me. He must become greater. That doesn't mean

to say, it doesn't mean that Jesus is little and somehow I need to worship him so that he grows

bigger. He is big, bigger, biggest. Huge, hugest, hugest. Large, larger, largest. Are those the right

words. He's all those things. He's bigger. But it talks about the space in my life. I don't want

insecurity and fear to dominate what I do and who I am and how I live. And the only way to do that

is allow Jesus to become bigger. I have to own up and say that sometimes my insecurities and

fears arrive in the middle of the night. Anybody else know that feeling? Yeah. Arrive in the middle

that I can be sleeping perfectly well

and suddenly, insecure and fear, boof.

And then guess what I do?

I wake Nick up.

And I say things like, should I be worried about that?

And he'll say things like, no, and not now,

and certainly not with me.

Maybe we can talk about this this morning.

And sometimes if it's a particularly difficult night,

I can wake him up several times.

I know you said don't be worried about this,

but should I be worried about that?

No.

No, you don't need to be worried about anything, Eric.

You just need to go to sleep

and you need to let me go to sleep and all of that.

I don't even know what I was trying to say here.

But the challenge as I've been preparing this is actually, Erica,

I can't use Nick as my Messiah.

He's going to remind me when I wake him up in the middle of the night.

Who are you going to, Jesus? Who are you going to, Erica?

The way to deal with it is to ask the Holy Spirit to be big in my life.

He must become big.

That's the antidote to insecurity and fear

is to allow the Holy Spirit to grow in my life.

And I also want to say as well

that we need critical friends around us

who will say,

Erica, that sounds like insecurity or fear to me.

What are you going to do about it?

Because I could there there you.

I could go, oh, I'm sorry.

Are you all right there?

I didn't actually ask your consent.

That's fine.

I'm going to be worrying about that now tonight.

Don't worry at all.

I'll give you permission.

Thank you, that's too late now, I've done it.

I forgot where I was going with that.

Yeah, we need critical friends amongst us

that will say, actually, that sounds like fear to me.

I don't want to validate your fear.

I don't want it to grow in your life.

Why don't we take it to Jesus?

Why don't we allow him to become big?

Because if he is filling the space in us,

then there's no room for the insecurity

and the fear and the self-doubt

and the feeling like we're so fragile

and we're so vulnerable we're going to fall over we need to we don't need to validate that we need

to challenge one another and say what about Jesus in that what about Jesus in this situation

I don't know where I am but I'm sure it's somewhere how do I know whether insecurity is what

is speaking Bible says very clearly in John 3 we've just read the scripture that there's earthly

language and there's heavenly language by what we speak we can tell what's going on if it is about

me if it's about not being fair if it's about insecurity if it points at me then it's insecurity

and fear speaking but if it's saying things like which I'm somewhere on my notes here if it's saying

things like Jesus is enough Jesus can sort this out I can give this to Jesus he is trustworthy

all those things are the language of heaven we can tell out of the abundance of the heart

the mouth speaks what you say will tell you whether or not you are living in a place where

you're trying to deal with it yourself or whether you're actually allowing Jesus to fill up that

space in you. Jesus is greater. He is enough. That is a bit of a mantra. He is enough for me

in the middle of the night when I wake up in that moment and suddenly I get that overwhelming

whooshy feeling. Any of you ever had that? He is enough for me. He is enough for me when I am

wobbling or uncertain. He's enough. And I don't want to live with the thoughts and the feelings

that go with insecurity and fear. I want to be like John and say, actually, I'm not worried

about Jesus at all. I'm not worried that he's baptising over there. I'm not worried that all

the disciples go over to him. I'm not worried about any of that. In fact, I'm actually joyful

about his success. I want there to be joy in my heart and I realise that unless I allow Jesus to

fill that space in me, that won't be my language. I can trust him. I've been given enough. You're not

my Messiah. Nick, you're not my Messiah. Your circumstance is not your Messiah. You are not the

Messiah either. It is humbling to find a situation and go, actually, I don't know what to do about

this but jesus does i realize i'm running out of time very quickly let's stand together i wonder

if the musicians could come back just really want us to stand and be honest um maybe as we've been

looking at the disciples of john maybe you've recognized something of yourself in them maybe

you can see where insecurity has crept into your heart maybe it's led you to retreat or to control

or to compare or exaggerate or feel uncertain.

Or maybe, as the disciples did and they said,

that man, and they called him that man instead of Jesus,

actually distance yourself from Jesus and from other people.

Or maybe like me, you recognise that you've looked to someone else

or something else to give you peace, to make you feel secure.

And you know the disappointment that comes when they can't be enough.

Or maybe you recognize the times you've tried to find your value in being needed

or being the one to hold things together,

carrying things that were never really yours to carry.

Just wonder if we could just take a moment to be honest before God.

We bring these things to you now.

You see us fully.

You see the places where we feel afraid and we feel insecure,

the places where we try to hold things together,

the places where we step in because we're afraid of what might happen if we don't.

And the places where we've tried to find our significance in other people or in what we do instead of you.

We bring those things that we've been gripping tightly, things that we've been trying to control.

Forgive us for our misguided thinking that other people, situations and places are the source of our peace.

and father if our insecurity is distancing us from you forgive us we draw close to you this morning

we know you lord jesus are the only one who is meant to be the source of our joy help us to see

you clearly at the center the bridegroom the one who holds all things please come and take up that

space in us the space we filled with fear with striving with the need to be needed and would

you fill it with your presence with your peace with your sufficiency and where insecurity has

taken root would you bring freedom through your ever-increasing presence in our lives Lord God

be greater in us grow in us I pray that you would be increased that we would decrease

In Jesus' name, amen.