“Making Much of Christ” (John 3:1-36)
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Let me tell you a story about a famous American yachtsman. In 1992, Michael Plant set out on a solo crossing of the North Atlantic Ocean, sailing from the United States to France. But two weeks into the voyage, Michael Plant and his sailboat disappeared. People were puzzled. Plant was an experienced sailor. In fact, his seafaring skills were considered among the best in the world. And his sailboat, the Coyote, was state-of-the-art. Everyone in the sailing world knows sailboats are not supposed to capsize easily. They are built to withstand the strongest pounding the sea can offer. And they are built with more weight below the waterline than above it. But when the Coyote was found, it was upside down in the water. So what happened? When the Coyote was built, an 8,000-pound weight was bolted to the keel. No one knows exactly why or how, but when the Coyote was found, the 8,000-pound weight below the waterline was simply missing. No weight below the waterline meant no stability. And the result? A very capable, experienced, and respected man lost his life at sea.[1]
John Piper once asked a very simple but profound question at a conference. (“Getting to the Bottom of Your Joy,” Passion 2011) He asked, “What’s at the bottom of your joy?” “What is the feeder of your happiness?” All of our joys have a foundation. What does it mean by that? Let me give you an example. One day I asked my daughter Grace about her future. I said, “Grace, what do you want to do when you grow up?” She said, “Either a teacher or a pastor.” I asked, “Why?” She said, “Because that makes me happy.” So I asked, “Why does that make you happy?” She said, “Because I can boss them around and tell them what to do!” Well, there you go! If we keep asking “why,” eventually we get to the bottom of what makes us happy. At the bottom there are only two possibilities of our joy: making much of me, or making much of God. Self or God.
Nicodemus
In today’s passage, we meet two people. Nicodemus and John the Baptist. And they show us two very different lives. One has self at the bottom. The other has God at the bottom.
First, we meet Nicodemus. The Bible introduces him as a Pharisees, a leader of the Jews (v. 1), and the teacher of Israel (v. 10). In other words, Nicodemus was serious about God. He was a good man, a moral man, an educated man, an experienced man, a respected man. He had credentials. Above the waterline, Nicodemus looked like a perfect example of what it means to live as one of God’s people. But Jesus saw what was underneath. Jesus saw below the waterline. And Nicodemus himself knew that something was missing. He was thirsty. Why? Because there was self at the bottom. Because self at the bottom could never satisfy his heart made for God. Blaise Pascal rightly said, “There is a God-shaped hole in the heart of every person which cannot be satisfied by any created thing but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ.”
So Nicodemus came to Jesus at night. And Jesus said to him, “You must be born again.” Here Jesus was saying, “Nicodemus, you need something new at the bottom. Now God is not at the bottom. You are at the bottom. You must exchange yourself at the bottom with God.” So, to be born again is to experience this exchange at the bottom – an exchanged life! It is no longer I at the bottom, but Christ is at the bottom.
The default setting of the human heart is self. We naturally make much of ourselves. That is why the new birth is necessary. The story of Nicodemus is really our story. Nicodemus is the old you. Nicodemus is the old me. Wen Jesus first says, “You must be born again” in verse 3, he uses a second person singular. But in verse 7, Jesus says, “You must be born again,” using the plural form. And again in verses 11 and 12. In other words, Jesus is not speaking only to Nicodemus. He is speaking to all of us. Nicodemus represents us. His story is our story. You and I must be born again. We must experience this wonderful exchange. Self at the bottom must be replaced by Christ at the bottom. And this is important. It is possible to worship God, pray to God, sing hymns, read the Bible, do many good and religious things without this exchange at the bottom. Jesus gives us a sobering warning in Matthew 7. There will be people who come to Jesus at the final judgment saying, “Lord, Lord, didn’t we preach? Didn’t we serve? Didn’t we do great things in your name?” And Jesus will say, “I never knew you.” The Message version puts it very strongly: “All you did was use me to make yourselves important.” The question is ranking. So what’s at the bottom of your joy – Making much of me or making much of God?
John the Baptist
Today’s passage invites us to look below the waterline. And then, it introduces us to another person – John the Baptist. John shows us what it looks like when God is at the bottom of our joy. How do we know what is really underneath? Oftentimes, storms in life reveal what’s below the waterline. John the Baptist was a rising star. Everyone was talking about him, and many of them came out to be baptized by him. But then, all of sudden the storm came. Jesus began his public ministry. And John’s ministry began to decrease. John’s disciples noticed it. They came to him and said, “Rabbi, the one you testified about – he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him!” They were upset, anxious, jealous. But, John said to them, “I am not the Messiah. I am not the Bridegroom. I am the friend of the bridegroom, his ‘best man,’ who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:29-30). There it is. What’s at the bottom? Making much of Christ!
William Barclay describes the role of the bridegroom’s friend in Jesus’ time as follows[2]:
The “friend of the bridegroom” had a unique place at a Jewish wedding. He acted as the liaison between the bride and the bridegroom… And he had one special duty. It was his duty to guard the bridal chamber and to let no false lover in. He would only open the door when in the dark he heard the bridegroom’s voice and recognized it. When he heard the bridegroom’s voice he was glad and let him in, and he went away rejoicing, for his task was completed.What a beautiful picture of the Christian life. The joy of a best man! The joy of making much of Christ, the Bridegroom! This is the new birth, new heart, new exchange! John the Baptist is the new you, the new me. When we are born again, myself being made much of, ceases to be the bottom, and God becomes the bottom for the first time. God becomes our source of all our joys. Then, so naturally, we treasure him, savor him, enjoy making much of him!
How Can This Be?
Our Christian journey is a journey from making much of self to making much of Christ. It’s a journey from the life of Nicodemus to the life of John the Baptist. It takes a miracle. We need the new birth. “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked. And today we ask the same question. “How can we be born again?” Jesus answers, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life” (vv. 14-15). Jesus points Nicodemus to the cross. It is not enough to be educated. It is not enough to grow up in the church. It is not enough to try harder to become a better person. Instead, we must look to Jesus – the One who was lifted up on the cross. In Christ, there is new life.
Blaise Pascal gives us a beautiful picture of this. Pascal was one of the great minds of his generation. He was a mathematician, scientist, philosopher and inventor. At only nineteen years old, he invented one of the world’s first mechanical calculators. He became wealthy. He became famous. He became respected. But something was missing. He was thirsty. There was no joy. Then, on November 23, 1654, Pascal got a horse carriage accident, but miraculously he was saved. He saw this as a warning directly from God. That night he quietly examined his soul and had a powerful encountered Christ. He wrote these words in his journal:
Pascal always carried this note in his coat for the rest of his life. That night Jesus became the bottom of his joy.FIRE. God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of philosophers and scholars. Certitude, heartfelt joy, peace. God of Jesus Christ. God of Jesus Christ. “My God and your God.” . . . Joy, Joy, Joy, tears of joy. . . Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. May I never be separated from him!”
So let me close with the question we began with: “What is at the bottom of your joy?” “What is below the waterline?” May we experience this exchanged life, putting Christ at the bottom of our joy, by the power of the Holy Spirit. May we say with joy: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Gal 2:20, NIV) Amen.
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