Decrease, the Character of the Kingdom

"The character of ministry is not measured by how many follow this minister but by how many follow Jesus." ~ Adam Powers

Adam is a seminary classmate of mine and also a fellow intern at St. Paul's Presbyterian Church. Today he preached a great sermon in our second service on John 3:22-36 which you can listen to here (I would highly recommend it). The above quote is my favorite from his whole sermon. He was focusing on how John the Baptist shows us we will have true joy when Jesus increases and we decrease. Ministries, pastors, authors, etc. are all great things but they are not measured by how many people follow them but by how many people follow Jesus because of the impact of their ministry. John the Baptist's joy was made complete when he saw people going to Jesus (not to him). This was his joy because that is what his ministry was all about, pointing to Jesus.

It reminds me of what the first question of the Westminster Short Catechism says: "What is the chief end of man? The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." There is one end, singular, but two things are intimately bound up in it: glorifying God and enjoying Him. We cannot have one without the other. Pointing to Jesus will be our greatest joy. When we glorify Him we, like John the Baptist, will find our joy complete.

By His Grace,
Taylor