John 3:22-36
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Intro/Background
Last week we read the most famous verse in all of the Bible - John 3:16 - and the story that went behind it
Nicodemus, the well renowned Pharisee, came to Jesus in the middle of the night to ask Him questions about life
Jesus told Nicodemus how to have eternal life, he had to be born again
For us to be a part of God’s family, to go to heaven one day, to have eternal life (which is life that starts now and lasts forever), we need to be born again.
Tonight we’re going to talk about testimonies
We’re going to see the testimony of John the Baptist
And we’ll talk a bit about each one of our testimonies
What they are
How you put yours together
And how you can use it to share your faith
Lesson - John 3:22-36.
Verses 22-26
So let’s set the scene here:
Jesus and His posse come into the region of Judea in this town called Aenon. It was near the Jordan River which is the eastern border of Israel (between Israel & Jordan) between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea
Jesus starts to baptize people
Remember that baptism doesn’t save anyone, but it is a public declaration of your faith in Jesus. You’re telling the world that you are putting you old sinful self to death (going under the water), and coming back as a new person, a new creation (coming back up out of the water).
Apparently John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin, was in the same area. He was also baptizing people.
Remember his job was to be the forerunner, or advanced messenger, of the Messiah (Savior)
Even though Jesus, the Messiah, was here and doing ministry, John was still faithfully obeying God’s calling on his life and telling people about Jesus and baptizing them
It says that John hadn’t been thrown in prison yet
The gospel of John doesn’t cover it, but John would eventually be put in prison b/c of his faith by Herod (son of Herod the Great)
He had taken his brother’s wife for his own, and John called him out of it
Herod didn’t like that, so he had John arrested
John would eventually be killed by Herod over this
So while Jesus and John and their disciples are serving God, this argument breaks out between John’s disciples and “some of the Jews” - the Jewish religious leaders
And in the course of the conversation between those disciples and the religious leaders, they find out that Jesus was nearby and had huge crowds following Him
John and his disciples didn’t know that Jesus was nearby.
I’m not sure if the religious leaders told John’s disciples that as a slam. Remember they didn’t like John, he was stealing their thunder, and so maybe they were trying to put him down by pointing out that there’s someone else more popular than him
That’s exactly what they were so jealous about, that John was more popular than the Pharisees. They’re trying to stumble him in that same sin of jealousy
So John’s disciples come running up to him and tell him the situation
Jesus is here in town, and He’s baptizing people too, and He’s got all kinds of people, way more than us, and more people keep showing up!
They’re worried about that. They’re worried they’re not as effective in their work, maybe there’s a bit of jealousy or envy in John’s disciples
Notice how John responds
Verses 27-30
Here we start to get into John’s testimony.
He says, “Remember, you heard me say it yourself, I’m not the Messiah, Jesus is. Why should we be worried that He’s drawing bigger crowds? We should celebrate with Him, like the best man celebrates with the groom on his wedding day.”
How many of you have been in a wedding before as a groomsmen or bridesmaid? What is your role in the wedding if you’re in the wedding party?
You have a special place of honor, but you’re not the main focus. The best man or maid of honor shouldn’t be getting all the attention at a wedding. If they are, something is wrong.
Funny wedding story?
John, even though he was losing all of his followers, was happy about it
“…this joy of mine is fulfilled.”
Think about if you had developed a big following on Instagram or TikTok, and all of a sudden someone else you knew started to steal your followers and like
Not just that they followed you both, they were unfollowing you to follow that other person
It’d be super easy to be jealous.
But John wasn’t he was happy that people were following after Jesus
He even says his mission in life was to decrease so Jesus could increase
There’s a ton of humility there
But also a great lesson for us
When we are born again, remember last week that we talked about that we’re a new creation, we have a new life.
The main mission of that new life should be to point everyone to Jesus. We should say the same thing as John, “I must decrease, Jesus must increase”
Why? b/c He saved us from so much
Again, we talked about it last week during small groups, we have been forgiven of so much by Jesus. We don’t deserve that forgiveness. And we don’t deserve what God did to be able to give us that forgiveness - sending His only Son to brutally die on the cross for us and take the punishment we deserved.
So when we have been forgiven of our sin and find eternal life which gives us purpose and meaning and hope in life, in gratitude we should want to repay that and let the world see Jesus instead of us
B/c then maybe they want to get saved too by seeing how much Jesus has changed your life.
Verses 31-36
John shares how to get eternal life
It’s not about following an earthly man (him), it’s about following the one send by God from heaven (Jesus).
And when we put our faith in Jesus and believe in Him, we can have eternal life
This is all part of John sharing his testimony with his disciples.
So what is a testimony? It’s simply the story of you and how Jesus has changed your life.
We all have a testimony. Whether you grew up in church or whether you have a crazy story and past life before you met Jesus, we all have a story.
John had one of those church kid testimonies.
He was the son of a priest, an angel told his dad that he was going to be born and what he was going to do with his life
He had done ministry his whole life
It’s not this crazy “God saved me from all of this terrible background” story, but it’s still super powerful!
What is your testimony for? Sharing the gospel with others
By hearing the change the Jesus has made in your life, that can encourage others to want to have that same change in their own lives.
To share your testimony with others, you have to think through it ahead of time
You can use a simple method called “Before-Then-After”
You’ll talk about what your life was life before you met Jesus
Then share your “then” moment
“Then a friend invited me to youth group”
“Then my parents explained to me the message of Jesus”
“Then I read the book of John in the Bible and it clicked”
Finally, share what your life has been like after you put your trust in Jesus
“It hasn’t always been easy or perfect, but I have a purpose/hope now that I never had before”
“Life has meaning and it’s not empty like I felt before”
Small Groups
Sample Small Group Questions
Sample Small Group Questions
What makes someone’s testimony about an event seem either credible or incredible?
Why could it have been easy for John to have been jealous of Jesus or sad about him losing his following?
What was it that made John joyful when talking about Jesus’ bigger following?
How can we have the same mentality as John and say, “He must increase, and I must decrease”?
We all have a testimony that we can share with others. We talked about tonight that you can use the simple “Before-Then-After” method to put yours together. We’re going to go around the room and have everyone share a 3 sentence testimony.
Go around the room and have each student share their quick “Before-Then-After” testimony. Have them share just one sentence for each bullet. You can give them a few minutes to think through it and write it down. Start with your testimony first or use the example below:
Before: “I grew up in a family that went to church and talked about God, but at some point in my life I realized that I didn’t know who God was or what He wanted for me if anything.
Then: “So I talked to my parents and they explained to me the message of Jesus.”
After: “Now I have a relationship with God and while it hasn’t always been easy or perfect, I have a purpose how that I never had before.”
If you have a student that really doesn’t want to share, don’t force them to, but use it as an opportunity after small group to talk to them about it. Ask them if they’ve had that “Then” moment and asked Jesus to be their Savior yet. If not, use it as a chance to share the gospel with them!
How can you use your testimony to share the gospel with someone at school this semester?
Prayer Requests & group prayer