WHO'S ON STAGE? By Pastor Mark Olson

SCRIPTURE - Mark 1:7-8

And this was his message: "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

OBSERVATION

John the Baptist preached one of the simplest messages ever. Repent and get ready for the Lord’s coming. In this verse John spoke a lesson we all need to heed in our lives. He pointed to someone else who was coming soon and always spoke about that other person - Jesus.

APPLICATION

Accolades are a real potential downfall in ministry. When you devote your life to serving God in ministry, you begin to be more visible - and because of the visibility, people sometimes compliment you, thank you for serving, and even look up to you more than they might if you were not in full time ministry. The natural tendency of my human nature is to accept those compliments and allow it to build my ego. Sometimes that can help my confidence for ministry, but mostly it gives an opportunity for Satan to build a “house on the sand” in my heart where I can begin to think I actually am something ! Ha ! If I’m not careful my “success” in ministry will be the downfall of my ministry ! What a strange dynamic - success can lead to failure !

John the Baptist was a perfect example to follow in this regard. He never talked about himself – he just pointed people to Jesus. Everything about him was pointing to someone else coming soon. And John was very aware that his ministry was going to grow smaller and eventually disappear while Jesus ministry was going to grow and become more and more “successful” (John 3:30 – “he must become greater; I must become less”). John eventually was arrested, spent time in prison and then beheaded – not a real successful end to his life in the worldly sense. How do I feel thinking that someday I might end up as an old man, living in a tiny rented room somewhere, going to a small church and no one even notices me ? Can I deal with that possibility ? Is my love for Jesus and commitment to his work so deep and real that I can deal with my life eventually becoming “nothing” ? Test that thought in my heart and see how it feels. If I don’t like that thought, then maybe I need to examine my heart as to what it is that really drives me to serve God. Is it partly because it gives me a platform to receive praise ? I hope not.

Ministry success (or ANY success) must be attributed to Jesus, accolades must be turned over to Jesus for praise and honor to Him. No matter how much “success” anyone sees in their ministry – full time service, or volunteer - or even in business, or sports or education or whatever, we must always look at Jesus – point to Jesus as the author of our success. Everything I say and do needs to point others to Jesus, never to me or anyone else.

PRAYER

Lord, Help me to point to Jesus in every single thing I say and do and even think. Help me to not allow any accolades to come to me without me turning them back to YOU. I love you and don’t want to try to take center stage in anything. In Jesus name, Amen.