This Changes Everything [PART 8] | What's At The Centre? | Andrew Davies | Sunday 31st May

[00:00:00] How are we all doing today? [00:00:03] You're wonderful. [00:00:04] Very glad to hear it. Maybe that's my filler word. [00:00:08] Someone here is going to have a count of how many times I say it through the course of this morning. [00:00:12] How are we all doing? We okay? [00:00:16] Very glad to hear it. [00:00:17] We've got some fun in store. My name's Andrew. If we haven't had the chance to meet, it's a real privilege to have a few minutes this morning or this afternoon. Now. Wow. Second service this afternoon to open God's Word. [00:00:30] Going to walk through a little bit from John 3. I'm carrying on from where Mike and Mark have been leading us over the last month or two. This is actually part eight in this series. This changes everything. We're going to be opening up John 3. [00:00:44] If you have your Bibles, I'm going to be reading that through together and then responding to it. Today's plan is really simple. I'm going to open the word, read it, look at the issue, look at the issue that sits behind the issue. [00:00:57] Understand what that says to us today. [00:01:01] For those of you alongside me who feel there's something we can respond to, we're going to respond to it, make some commitments. We're going to pray and then have teas and coffees. Is that okay? Is that a good map for this morning? Everyone bought into that. [00:01:16] Good. [00:01:19] What's at the center? [00:01:21] What is at the center? [00:01:25] That's the question we're going to be talking through over the next 30 minutes or so. [00:01:31] I know Mark is traveling the country under his role as GS of the movement, and Mike Devetta is down in Newton Abbott with our church in Newton Abbott leading there. [00:01:43] So we really wish them well. [00:01:45] And so it's my job today to open up John 3 and ask, what is at the center? [00:01:51] Now imagine waking up tomorrow morning and there's something that you've held to be true in your life, something you've built your life on, something that's fundamental to your identity, to how you perceive the world around you. And suddenly you realize everyone's wrong. [00:02:09] This happened in the 16th century, over the course of 100 or 200 years. Copernicus, then Galileo, everybody believed what was presented reality, that the Earth was the center of the universe. [00:02:23] The sun in the morning rises, goes through the sky. We don't always see it in Devon, but you know, and then sets. And then in the evening, the stars and the moon, we see them and it appears again that they cross our sky. And we sit here comfortably in the middle of our universe. [00:02:42] This wasn't just an astronomical belief. It was like a belief of significance, right? A belief of where we were in the world, the fact that we were central. [00:02:51] And then along came these people who had this dangerous countercultural idea that destabilized so much of science and maths. It destabilized religion in that day. [00:03:03] And at first it sounded ridiculous, but then the evidence kept on piling up as new mathematicians and scientists would give predictions that would then come true around where the stars and the moon would be. [00:03:14] And through that method, they saw that the sun was the center of our universe. [00:03:20] And they had to face the realization that the world doesn't revolve around them, that the universe doesn't revolve around the Earth. [00:03:32] Why don't you tap someone on the shoulder and say the world doesn't revolve around you? Choose carefully. [00:03:42] Cool. [00:03:43] Maybe we should stop there. [00:03:48] You see the real challenge here, the real controversy wasn't really an astronomical one, a scientific one. It was this one about who we are, about significance, about if we're not the center, then who are we? [00:04:03] Because being removed from the center, it feels like we lose something. [00:04:06] It feels like we lose value, we lose significance, we lose importance. [00:04:11] And so people resisted it, not because the science was threatening, but because the implication of the science was deeply threatening. [00:04:19] Humanity was being displaced. [00:04:21] But the truth is that discovery did not make humanity less valuable. It just made humanity less central. [00:04:29] I'm going to explore that idea through John 3 today. [00:04:32] Less central, not less loved, not less important, not less meaningful, not less valuable, but less central. [00:04:43] And many of us would have had those moments in our lives. I've definitely had a few where something happens and it destabilizes our sense of meaning, of order, of identity. Things that you held central to your personality sometimes become destabilized. And that's a good thing. That's a process of maturity as we grow up, right? Those of you who have got kids, you see them go through phases where they think everything's going to work out perfectly, and then it doesn't. [00:05:10] They think that everything's going to be brought. They're going to be served on hands and feet, and suddenly they're not. [00:05:18] I can remember one of those moments in my life. I was over in the University of Richmond in America on exchange. I was there for my second year, and core to my identity was that I was a young entrepreneur, a young businessman. [00:05:32] I'd started my first business at university in the UK in my first year. And I went over to the US wanting to learn more and grow, but also having this sense that I was building a business. [00:05:42] I was stretching beyond just the studies. And I remember that moment when. [00:05:47] And I won't say his name because I actually still know him today someone in my class put up their hand and answered a question. And I realized that he had a team of 20 or 30 people in an office down the road. And although he was studying in the same year, the same age as everyone else in the class, he was way beyond where I was with my little thing that I'd started. Because he had staff and he had offices and he had clients. [00:06:10] And it sounds so stupid now, it sounds so petty now, but I remember this feeling of, like the trap door opening from underneath me. I was on the stage of my life, and suddenly I fell right through it. Because something that was core to my identity suddenly got dis. [00:06:28] Something that was core to who I was suddenly got challenged. There was someone there who was further on, beyond me. [00:06:36] The greatest discoveries, like heliocentricity, that discovery. The earth is. The earth is not the center, and the sun is the center. [00:06:44] Often they just don't tell us something new about the universe, something new about the environment around us. They say something new about us and our expectations and our beliefs. [00:06:54] So today we're going to open the Word and we're going to think about the issue, but also the issue behind the issue. [00:06:59] So we're going to read out there. So maybe let's stand to our feet. Let's read the Word of God together. Let's all stand. We're going to do active, active participation today. Let's read this loudly and confidently, thinking about these words as we say them. John 3. 22. We're going to go all the way to 30. [00:07:15] After these things, Jesus and his disciples came into the land of Judea. [00:07:21] And there he was spending time with them and baptizing. [00:07:26] Now, John was also baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was an abundance of water there and people were coming and being baptized, for John had not yet been thrown into prison. [00:07:40] Then a matter of dispute developed on the part of John's disciples with a Jew about purification. [00:07:47] And they came to John and said to him, rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, he is baptizing, and all the people are coming to him. [00:08:00] John replied, a person can receive not even one thing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves are my witnesses. That I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent ahead of him. He who has the bride is the groom, but the friend of the groom who stands and listens to him, rejoices greatly because of the groom's voice. [00:08:26] So this joy of mine has been made full. [00:08:30] He must increase, but I must decrease. Amen. [00:08:35] Amen. Father, as we open your word, as we consider what it has to say, we ask that you would minister to us. May your voice be loud in our ears. In Jesus name. Amen. [00:08:48] Feel free to take your seats. [00:08:50] I pray that as we open this, that it's not words I'm saying that are being heard, but my prayer is that everything that God has got to say to us as a body and you as an individual, me as an individual, that. That rings loudly in our ears as we hear this. [00:09:08] So the discovery that changed astronomy wasn't really about astronomy. It was this thing that changed people's identity of who they are in the universe. And in this passage, the issue wasn't really purification. We hear that there was a dispute around purification. Now I'm really delighted that for the next half hour I don't have to talk about some nuanced issue of pre resurrection purification because he glosses through it. [00:09:32] It's the issue that raises other issues, but it's not really the issue. [00:09:37] I'm sure we've all noticed that in our own lives. Sometimes there's a thing, a problem, something that irks us or something that gets us to react. And actually the issue isn't the issue. There's something else that's going on underneath, right? [00:09:49] There's a presenting issue, but there's something in our hearts that's being prodded. And that's what God wants to deal with. And it's the same here, because the named issue is purification. A discussion arose. Okay, makes sense. But he never goes on to talk about purification again. [00:10:03] Because actually the issue is jealousy, right? [00:10:06] Everyone's going to him. [00:10:08] Now we're getting somewhere. But jealousy, I think, is also a bit of a symptom, because the issue behind that is significance. [00:10:15] They're afraid of becoming less important. [00:10:19] They're afraid of losing influence. Why does that matter so much? Well, I think the issue behind that is that there's a matter of identity. [00:10:27] They've attached their worth to John's movement, but why have they done that? Well, I think there's an issue of worship. They've attached their worth, and now their significance comes from being near the center. [00:10:42] But the real question is who is at the center? [00:10:45] The real issue is Jesus. [00:10:48] The issue that sits behind all of these things is who is at the center they attach themselves to and it's Jesus. The issue is Christ. John's answer isn't, let's work on your jealousy. He's not addressing it in the natural. He doesn't say, okay guys, come on. Different strokes for different folks. Or you know, maybe they, you know, it's a nuance that some people will go after. Or it's a bit of a fad, but let it pay out and play out. Or hopefully you've never heard this in our church. Maybe those were leaving to go somewhere else, they've got something wrong with them or they misunderstood. [00:11:20] He could have addressed all of those natural surface level things, but his answer we read is I am not the Christ. [00:11:29] The issue is about his identity alongside Jesus. He's not Jesus, but he knows who Jesus is. [00:11:37] That one down the road that all of these disciples were leaving to follow. [00:11:41] He knows his part in the story. [00:11:45] You know, we often disguise emotional insecurity like I think these disciples were displaying. We disguise it as something rational, some principle that we're defending, whereas actually what's going on underneath is anxiety and insecurity. [00:11:59] And the challenge that these disciples faced, the disciples of John in that moment, is that they were comparing, they were measuring, they were counting up who was following John and looking down the hillside and seeing who was following Jesus and thinking, we thought we were the cool kids. [00:12:16] We thought we were the ones being pure because of John's baptism. And suddenly there's another guy down there who's attracting away some of our followers and who's got a crowd that looks like it's going to be getting bigger than ours. [00:12:29] Comparison blinded them. [00:12:31] Comparison blinded them from seeing the Messiah. [00:12:35] I think in our modern day lives there's a lot of comparison that blinds us from seeing who he is. We see this in our own lives. Maybe it's in your career. That colleague who's newer in the business but seems just to get every promotion that comes their way seems to get some favor ahead of you. [00:12:51] Maybe the company doesn't now need the thing that you offer, the skill that you offer. Maybe in your family, children that grow and then need to become independent. But sometimes our need as parents to parent them means that we hold on and want them to stay dependent on us because it's part of our identity. [00:13:09] Maybe in church, another church grows, another style of worship connects better with society, whatever it might be. [00:13:16] The temptation is to have competition. That's disguised as discernment. [00:13:25] You know, in this scripture I see tribalism and tribes aren't bad. Our families Are tribes our communities, maybe our workplace, certainly our families. Tribes are created by God. But tribalism becomes negative, becomes a problem in our lives when we are wanting association with that thing more than we are with the kingdom of God. [00:13:46] And we see tribalism all around us right now. [00:13:49] Politically, we see lots of tribalism. [00:13:53] Maybe in your workplace there's tribalism. In churches, there's the danger of tribalism. We know best identifying with your group ahead of identifying with the king of kings. [00:14:09] In fact, think of someone who believes or is belonging to a group, political party, whatever it might be, faction that you really disagree with. Think of them in your mind now, don't look at them if they're in this building. Just think about someone you disagree with vehemently. [00:14:31] And now say out loud after me, they might be right about some things. Okay. One, two, three. [00:14:39] Oh, awful quiet suddenly, isn't it? Go on, let's say that louder. One, two, three. [00:14:46] You didn't know this Sunday would be quite as painful as it is, did you? [00:14:53] Thank you, Wesley. In this nation, is our identity built on economic stability, on growth, on prosperity? Because a lot of that's being questioned right now. [00:15:05] Where is our identity? I think that causes people to flee into silos, into tribes. [00:15:10] And we often pretend those conflicts are about principles, when actually they're about anxiety and insecurity and problems and challenges in our own life. [00:15:18] And tribalism means that we suddenly care more about winning than about being on his side and about him increasing. [00:15:26] In this passage, I also see something else that the cool kids would call main character energy. Anyone else heard that phrase, main character energy? [00:15:36] A few of the young adults are wincing as I'm using that phrase. Maybe you know someone like that, someone who always appears to be the dominant role in their life. You know, if you start talking and you say, oh, we went on holiday to France, camping. Well, they went on holiday to Turkey in an all inclusive hotel. And if you did this job, they did something better. If your hobby is tiddlywinks, their hobby is chess. Like whatever you come up with, they go up and one up you. Right, main character. Can you think of someone who's got main character energy? And if you're not nodding, maybe it's you. [00:16:10] Main character energy. [00:16:13] The problem is, if you are the main character, then criticism becomes existential, Every setback threatens who you are, every comparison becomes painful, every failure becomes really defining in your story. [00:16:31] And we're in a world where so many people want to be the main character, want to be in control. [00:16:39] Let's just go Back to John 3, 27, 27, 30. You know, if we we read this, he instantly says, a person can receive not even one thing unless it has been given to him from heaven. [00:16:54] You're my witnesses, I am not. The Christ immediately steps away from that identity. [00:17:02] When we read this scripture. I think there are three things that we are going to walk through today. The first is that it reveals what's at our center. [00:17:11] The center revealed. [00:17:14] And we see two different responses in this short passage. We see the disciples of John where the center is revealed as their identity is not good, it's not in a good place. [00:17:26] They find themselves wanting to be associated with a successful ministry and missing Jesus, who their ministry should be pointing to. [00:17:35] But also we see John and what's revealed as his center is incredible. He immediately responds with, everything I've got comes from God. [00:17:45] All the gifts I've got come from God. The words coming out of my mouth he's given to me. The breath in my lungs as we sung earlier, are his, and then I'm not. The Christ instantly identifies that he is not the main character. It's his immediate response. [00:17:58] I love people and we've got many of them in this church that wear. [00:18:04] The going gets tough and life is challenging. What comes out of your life is just beauty and humility and joy. I love doing life with people like that. [00:18:14] When the toothpaste tube of your life gets squeezed, you get to see the colors that come out. And there's so many people. I learn from across this congregation that beauty comes out in those hard moments. [00:18:27] The disciples saw a shrinking crowd, but John saw a wedding. [00:18:33] The world says, my increase my joy. But John says, your increase my joy, his increase my joy. [00:18:42] And he refuses rivalry altogether. He reframes everything and he says, the friend of the bridegroom, the one it's all about, the friend of the bridegroom rejoices. The bride belongs to the bridegroom. [00:18:56] Because life becomes really exhausting when you occupy a seat that only Christ can sit in, when you carry the weight that only him can carry. [00:19:05] So a first reading of this scripture, we see the center revealed. What's in the center of the disciples life revealed. What's in the center of John's life revealed? And then we've got to go through that process, all of us today, hopefully, of then saying, okay, what's the center restored? [00:19:22] Because once the true center has been revealed, Christ, it must be restored. [00:19:26] The disciples feared losing the center, but John discovered that joy of leaving it, of walking out from it. [00:19:34] He must increase he must increase and I must decrease. Not resentment, but rejoicing. [00:19:42] His joy becomes complete as Christ becomes central. [00:19:46] Because he had something really rare in that society and in this society he had something rare, which was that it was an identity that was based on Christ, an identity that was based on understanding where he was. Not main character energy, but we could call it supporting role peace. [00:20:02] Not main character energy, but supporting cast peace. He knew where his place was. [00:20:09] He knew that his part in the story was to point to the hero of the story. And that produces freedom in our lives very practically. It produces the freedom to mentor. [00:20:18] It produces the freedom to let someone younger than you or less experienced than you have a go and take over and lead something. It produces the freedom to celebrate each other genuinely without critique. It produces the freedom to lay things down and evolve as seasons change. [00:20:37] Because we can't just look inward, we've got to look upward. We can't just look at what we create out of ourselves. [00:20:44] John's identity was received. It was what was given to him from heaven. It's not the modern version of identity construction. [00:20:53] Invent myself, reinvent myself, Re. Re. Reinvent myself, optimize myself, max myself, improve myself. [00:21:04] None of those are bad in their. [00:21:09] But so much anxiety comes from trying to be savior. So much anxiety comes from being central. So much anxiety comes from thinking you're indispensable, thinking you're always right. [00:21:22] He must increase and I must decrease. [00:21:26] I found in my life that often the people who are least obsessed with being of looking like the influential are the influential ones, the people who shape society. [00:21:36] If you work in the NHS or in hospital, if you're a nurse doctor, just raise your hand really boldly. Put your hand up. Awesome. Keep your hand up. Also keep your hand up. If you work in schools, working in education, put your hand up. [00:21:49] Awesome. Police force, put your hand up. Awesome. [00:21:53] How about if you're a full time carer, either you've got kids or you look after an elderly or a husband or a wife or spouse. Yeah, can we just give everyone their hands up a round of applause? [00:22:10] Not main character energy, but supporting role peace. The willingness to fade in the background and actually create change rather than constantly be talking about it. [00:22:19] It's beautiful. [00:22:22] I was going to say this earlier, but it was too close to the bone. But Ronan, you're on the PA desk mixing the most important part of the worship team. [00:22:32] Those on the lyric monitor, right? [00:22:35] You're not upstairs, not on stage, not creating something, not out supporting role piece. But actually it's the most important role. It creates the sound blend, the volume, it creates the mix. The lyrics get put up at the right time so that those who don't know what they're singing can enjoy and be incorporated in worship. [00:22:55] I work in a really fast paced industry. I work in early stage technology and my Monday through Friday is pretty frantic. And have to go all around the world. We've got offices all around the world, customers all around the world. And the people I work with are smart. [00:23:09] In fact, one of my career goals is always to be the dumbest person in the room and at work. It's true. It's true in many places, it's true here. [00:23:18] And one of the things I've had to learn and really consciously adopt in my life is a realization that I don't need to be the smartest, I don't need to be the fastest, I don't need to be the mentally quickest, I don't need to be the most strategic, I don't need to be the most wealthy, I don't need to be the person who comes up with all the solutions. [00:23:38] My job is just to be. [00:23:40] In fact, often it's the opposite. My job in those rooms is to be stable. [00:23:46] That's one thing I can do, just stand still, let other things happen around me. [00:23:52] I really believe that. And it took me a while to really take that on board and understand that. Because otherwise I constantly felt inferior to people who get to the solution fast enough or look at the problem from another angle and come up with it, or had the relationships to go and network and bring in the finance, whatever it might be. But my job is not to beat them at any of those games. My job is not to be any of those things, it's just to be. [00:24:14] Because biblical theology is that Christ is central and we're all derivative. [00:24:22] Not less valuable, not less chosen, not less loved, just less central. [00:24:27] And that's either liberating or crushing, depending on what feeds your ego. [00:24:33] In that scripture, we also glossed over a phrase that said, and this was before he was imprisoned. [00:24:40] Because the brutal reality of what we see in John's life, it's not just a sense of him getting out of the way and then everything being fine. [00:24:47] He was beaten, imprisoned, hungry. He ended up being executed. [00:24:53] We're not saying that if you allow Christ to be the center of your life, that everything is going to work out perfectly. [00:25:01] But whatever those situations, just as John did, there is a joy, there is a peace, that passes all understanding. [00:25:15] We've been looking at John 3:22:30 this morning and this afternoon. And if we jump back, I think it's interesting to see this in its context. And if we read John 3:1 21, we see a whole discussion. The disciples are saying, jesus, you're a teacher, but who are you? We see these questions around being born again and what that means. And we see John 3:16. [00:25:39] Many of you will know this verse. [00:25:41] But if the disciples of John had only read this a few verses earlier, suddenly the context of what was happening as Jesus disciples were growing in number would have made sense. Because what we see here is Jesus words. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so the world might be saved through him. John 3:16 sets up the context for those later verses by establishing the centrality of Christ, establishing not just in this story, in the universe, in all of our stories, the heroes, the one who accomplished it all, who paid the price, Jesus is the center. We just get the privilege of playing a supporting role alongside Him. [00:26:32] So we've looked with this scripture as a mirror and understood that it reveals where our center is. We've then looked at, he must increase and I must decrease. And how that sets up that we restore him as the center. The center restored. And now I don't think that's enough. We also have to think about the center reflected in our own lives. [00:26:54] I wouldn't want anyone here to weaponize that verse. He must increase and I must decrease. [00:27:01] I wouldn't want anyone to use that as a means to dumb down themselves or someone else to allow mediocrity and passivity and shyness and hiddenness and fear of influence. And fear of influence, sorry, fear of leadership. I wouldn't want anyone to use that scripture as a means to limit themselves. [00:27:23] John was world shaping. [00:27:28] Even today, 2,000 years later, we're looking at his example. [00:27:32] The moon does not compete with the sun. [00:27:34] It just reflects its glory. [00:27:38] The answer is not dimming your light or becoming less. [00:27:41] It's making sure you know where the source is and reflecting that bigger, brighter. [00:27:46] You know, some people in this congregation, some of us need to hear, he must increase, so stop making everything about you. [00:27:53] Some of us need to hear that. [00:27:55] Some of us also need to hear, he must increase, so stop burying what he's given you. [00:28:04] I love that phrase that comes from C.S. lewis and his writings of mere Christianity. [00:28:11] It's not about. Well, he says how you don't think less of yourselves. You should just think of yourself less. [00:28:19] It's not about you becoming dimmer, less bright, less sharp. [00:28:24] It's about you not really minding pride and insecurity. They're opposite sides of the same coin, you know, they both share the same problem. And the problem is self preoccupation. [00:28:35] Thinking about yourself. Lots. [00:28:38] The proud person constantly is thinking, look how great I am. [00:28:42] And the insecure person is thinking, look, look how inadequate I am. But they're both thinking about themselves. [00:28:48] Different conclusions, same subject. [00:28:52] C.S. lewis's humble person is free from both. They aren't constantly analyzing themselves. They're absorbed by something bigger. [00:29:02] When I read those words, he must increase and I must decrease, you might hear, stay small, stay insignificant. [00:29:09] Don't stand out, don't be ambitious, don't dream big. [00:29:14] But that's not what John means. He confronted kings, he led a movement, he changed society, he challenged corruption, he shaped a nation. [00:29:26] He was anything but small. [00:29:30] Because the issue isn't whether you shine or not. It's whether you know the source of the light. [00:29:36] We were singing that song earlier. [00:29:38] Come on, my soul, don't you get shy on me. [00:29:43] I was thinking about it as we're singing it, because again, you can sing it from both of those two places. Either you can have the kind of worldly view, the culture of modern society, which is, there's a lion inside of me. I've got to unleash it. Everything that's in me. I can go, I can shout, I can lead, I can build. [00:30:00] But in the context of this scripture, that's not what it means at all. It means he is the lion of Judah. [00:30:07] Come on, my soul, I've got him on the inside of me. He is central to who I am. And therefore I'm going to lift up a shout. [00:30:16] I'm going to speak to society. [00:30:19] For those students in the room today, I really want you to hear that. Because the decisions you make over the next few years as you come out of university and into the working life, where you set your expectation, your ambition, your horizon, makes a massive difference to the next decades of your life. [00:30:33] Don't aim small. [00:30:35] Dream bigger. [00:30:37] But dream bigger knowing that you've got to reflect his light. It's not about you. [00:30:44] Stir up, stir up those dreams you've laid down thinking you're not good enough. [00:30:51] Think of yourself less. Stop burying what is given you. [00:30:56] Properly understood. John 3 should make people dream bigger because failure becomes less terrifying, criticism becomes less crippling, rejection becomes less defining, and success becomes less intoxicating. [00:31:13] When we think of ourselves less, you can't suddenly are free to swing for, to run for, to chase after much larger things because your worth is no longer hanging in the balance about whether it succeeds at first or not. [00:31:29] God is not calling you to be smaller. [00:31:32] He's not calling you to be dimmer. [00:31:35] He's calling you to stop pretending you're the source of everything you've been given. [00:31:43] We see it's good to read these things in the council of Scripture, right? We see in many other verses. Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Proverbs 4:18 the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until the flower Day. Daniel 12:3 and those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars, forever and ever. [00:32:14] Giftedness, influence, courage, leadership, impact. Those things don't decrease. [00:32:19] Self centeredness, self sufficiency, ego. [00:32:23] That's what needs to decrease. [00:32:26] Not his glory, just when it's coming from us. [00:32:30] Our job is merely to play our part in his story. [00:32:39] Maybe Che Min, you can come and join on keys if anyone else from the worship team is here. Maybe grab an instrument. [00:32:44] Just as we take these last few minutes, we've got a few minutes left. [00:32:50] I want to make this real. In our lives. We've seen that John 3 is a mirror and it reveals what's our center. We've seen that John's reaction restores him as the center. [00:33:04] And we've recognized that actually it's not about dimming our light, but it's about reflecting his glory. That he must increase, I must decrease doesn't mean not pushing, not striving, not doing everything that's inside of you that he's placed there. [00:33:22] We each must travel that journey from revealing, restoring to reflecting. [00:33:28] And part of that, I think, is us asking ourselves some really serious questions. Maybe just close your eyes. As I read some of these questions, what reactions and conversations are informed more by my insecurity than by reality? [00:33:45] Where am I clinging to control or recognition? [00:33:52] In which areas of my life is my desire to be important constraining my horizon? [00:33:59] Where is my need to feel indispensable, stunting broader growth? [00:34:08] What full scorecard am I using for my life? [00:34:11] What am I measuring? That just isn't important. [00:34:23] In our workplaces, you know, we need to focus on being useful, helpful, adaptable, generous in our families, loving those around us to release them into their own growth rather than controlling them into dependence. [00:34:35] In churches celebrating kingdom growth, even when it doesn't look like perhaps our tribe, We've got to recommit to purpose over prominence, obedience over optics over what we see. [00:34:59] So how do we make this real? I've put up a few practical things we can do. [00:35:03] I'm going to read them through. [00:35:06] We can practice gratitude, because when we do that, it acknowledges that he's the source and that we aren't the source. [00:35:15] We can become interruptible. I don't know about you. I struggle sometimes with being interruptible, so busy, so focused on what I've got to do. [00:35:25] We can be interruptible. We can celebrate someone else's success. [00:35:29] Who is there in your week, this week, that you can just get alongside and shout out and celebrate? [00:35:37] You can refuse achievement as your measure, as your yardstick. [00:35:44] You can serve where there is little or no recognition. [00:35:48] What can you do this week that no one else will see, that no one else will acknowledge, but the helps of someone you can spend time with people who can't advance you, people who aren't getting you into a better network, into a new set of friends to upgrade your social life. [00:36:08] And you can talk about others, including Christ, more than you talk about yourself. [00:36:16] But fundamentally, I think we need to ask ourselves some better questions. [00:36:22] Instead of doing a check in and saying, how am I doing? [00:36:27] Ask again, what precedes this passage we read today. Who is Jesus? [00:36:33] Instead of, what do people think of me? What is he doing? [00:36:37] Instead of, am I succeeding? How about am I helping? [00:36:43] And then such a powerful, poignant question. Instead of, how can I be more successful today, which so many people in our culture are asking and answering a hundred times every minute. If you go to YouTube and substack and BBC and wherever you get your news from, how about asking a better question? How can he be more visible through me today? [00:37:09] How about making that our prayer tomorrow morning as we wake up in our families? [00:37:15] How can he be more visible in our workplaces, in our playgrounds and our boardrooms, in the shops where we do life? How can he be more visible? [00:37:24] Because underneath all of these challenges and questions that we've asked ourselves today is this fundamental one, which is, who am I? [00:37:36] Created, not self formed, finite, fallen, fractured, forgiven, Free, not bound, transformed, not trapped, Adopted, not abandoned. [00:37:52] Called, not accidental. [00:37:55] Created by God, known by God, fulfilled in God. [00:38:02] You know, humanity didn't become less valuable when it discovered that the earth wasn't the center of the universe. [00:38:08] And John didn't become less valuable when he realized and acknowledged that he wasn't the center of the story. [00:38:17] The universe makes sense with the sun at the center. [00:38:20] Our lives make sense with the sun at the center.