The metaphor Jesus uses in his discussion with Nicodemus was well known by Nicodemus, the serpent in the wilderness, maybe less well known by us. In the book of Numbers, chapter 21, God's people complain, as usual, and God has had enough. He sends poisonous serpents among the people and many of them die. The people repent, but instead of removing the serpents from the people, God instructs Moses to lift up a bronze serpent on a tall pole, and then when someone is bitten by a serpent, they can look up at the bronze serpent, and live. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son to be lifted on the cross, so that everyone who trusts in him may not perish but may have eternal life. The initiative belongs to God – and the people respond with trust.
And John the Baptist gets it. “I am not the Messiah,” he says, “I am the friend of the bridegroom, the bride is not mine. I am just happy to be at the wedding. Jesus must increase, but I must decrease.” My religion is not about what I am doing for him, but what he has already done for me.
In our baptism in the death and resurrection of Christ, we are reborn from above, reborn of water and Spirit. The ME of the flesh is minimized, and the Christ of the Spirit is maximized. In the same way, as a church, our goal should be that Christ increase, that in every ministry and in every activity, Christ is made known and people are drawn to put their trust in him.
Will our religion improve our lives here on earth? Yes! Good guess, if we live in obedience to the Son, we will minimize bad consequences from our own bad decisions, and our earthly life will go smoother. If we live in obedience to the Son, we will not be dominated by fear, or guilt, or regret, or lack of purpose. If we live in obedience to the Son, we will not be preoccupied with peer pressure, or likes, or self-image. If we live in obedience to the Son, we will develop the gifts you have given us, and excel in the fields you place us. But of primary importance, we will rejoice that God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. And we will look up to the cross, and live.
Gracious God, we thank you for sending your Son Jesus, our saviour. Help us to make him known, and help us to decrease, in Jesus' name, amen.