{"id":1134,"date":"2022-03-17T13:37:02","date_gmt":"2022-03-17T13:37:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clientsdemoarea.com\/projects\/riot\/?p=1134"},"modified":"2026-06-25T06:28:53","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T06:28:53","slug":"leadership-and-contentment-john-3-19-36","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/riotpodcast.co\/beta\/leadership-and-contentment-john-3-19-36\/","title":{"rendered":"Leadership and Contentment John 3 19-36"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leadership and Contentment: John 3:19-36<\/strong><\/span> is the topic that will be discussing today on RIOT Podcast, a Christian Discipleship Podcast<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This week we are finishing up John chapter 3 by unpacking verses 19-36. In these verses, we will talk about \u201cLight and Darkness\u201d, how John the Baptist handles disputes, why Jesus is the bridegroom and lastly why Jesus as the \u201cwitness of the Father\u201d is important. <\/p>\n

Vs 19-21 Light and Darkness<\/strong><\/p>\n

Light and Darkness is one of the major images John uses in his gospel. We first talked about it in John 1. John answers the question why sinners will not come into the light, it\u2019s because they love darkness! <\/p>\n

Until John the Baptist was arrested by Herod and put into prison, his ministry overlapped with Jesus\u2019 ministry. In our reading of John 3:22-30 we will see that John did not want anyone to follow him, he reminds people that his ministry is to \u201cpoint people to the Lamb of God.\u201d <\/strong> But we will also see a division amongst his followers; they get caught up in comparing John\u2019s ministry with Jesus\u2019 ministry. Let\u2019s read and unpack these verses<\/p>\n

Verses John 3:22-30<\/strong>
\nVerse 25 says \u201cNow a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over purification.\u201d It appears that some of John\u2019s disciples started the argument. It began as doctrinal grounds, the matter of purifying and then it moved on to personal grounds. <\/p>\n

Who is the Jew? Could it be Nicodemus, we can\u2019t say for sure but it is in context with Him. <\/p>\n

Purification was important to the Jews, under the OT law they needed to keep themselves ceremonially clean. <\/p>\n

Without realizing it John\u2019s disciples were putting him into a situation of competing against Jesus. In 3:26 they said all men come to him. <\/p>\n

How did John the Baptist handle the controversy? <\/strong>He first stated a conviction: He said in vs 27 All ministry and blessing come from God, so that there can be no competition. Paul said this as well in 1 Cor 3:1-9 where he said our gifts and opportunities come from God and He alone must get all the glory. <\/p>\n

The next thing John did was paint a beautiful illustration. 3:29 He compared Jesus to the bridegroom and himself only to the best man. In essence he was saying once the bridegroom and bride had been brought together, the best man\u2019s work is completed. <\/p>\n

We never want to upstage the bridegroom; the church is Jesus\u2019 bride. John was content in His ministry, he understood his role. <\/p>\n

The image of the bridegroom would have been significant to the Jewish people. For Jehovah had a marriage covenant with the nation. We find that in Isa 54:5, Jer 2:2, Ezek 16:8, etc. We also find that God has said His people have been unfaithful to their vows and He has temporarily put her away. <\/p>\n

John is saying that this is the beginning of a new covenant, his church, the Bridegroom and one day will come back for them. <\/p>\n

The last verse in 3:30 where John says he must decrease and Jesus must increase, concludes the significance of this word \u201cmust\u201d that is used 3 different times in this section. 3:7 the must of the sinner, in 3:14 the must of the Savior and here is 3:30 the must of the servant.<\/p>\n

The last part of our reading today will be vs 31-36. Here we will see the emphasis on the word witness,(testimony). Keep in mind as we read this that the Greek word translated \u201cwitness or testimony\u201d is used 47 times in his gospel. So why would we heed the witness of Christ, lets read and find out. <\/p>\n

Veres John 3:31-36<\/strong><\/p>\n

Vs 31 tells us that we must heed Christs\u2019 witness because he is from heaven and above all. <\/p>\n

He was God and He came from heaven, he was above all Gods. No earthly messenger or profit came from above only Jesus, We can trust it and rely on his witness. <\/p>\n

Vs 32-33 says that He testifies what the father has said first hand, what He says is truth because He has been with the father, we can rely on his witness) <\/p>\n

In vs 34-35 we see again God gave Jesus the word, He gave him his spirit and he gave him all things. To reject the sons witness would be to rebel against the highest authority in the universe. <\/p>\n

In vs 36 take notice that this is the only place in any of John\u2019s epistles or his gospel that he uses the word wrath. In revelations he uses it 5 times but not in any of his writings. This verse parallels John 3:18 and makes it clear that there can be no neutrality when it comes to the witness of Jesus. Either we trust Him or we reject Him. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leadership and Contentment: John 3:19-36 is the topic that will be discussing today on RIOT Podcast, a Christian Discipleship Podcast This week we are finishing up John chapter 3 by unpacking verses 19-36. In these verses, we will talk about \u201cLight and Darkness\u201d, how John the Baptist handles disputes, why Jesus is the bridegroom and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1138,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[60,8,15,14,67,16,6,3,12,9,10,17,11,4,7,13,5,18,61],"class_list":["post-1134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christian-podcast","tag-apple-podcast","tag-best-christian-podcast","tag-christian-android-podcast","tag-christian-apple-podcast","tag-christian-discipleship-podcast","tag-christian-leadership-podcast","tag-christian-living","tag-christian-podcast","tag-christian-podcast-about-marriage","tag-christian-podcast-for-men","tag-christian-podcast-for-women","tag-christian-podcast-on-pandora","tag-christian-podcast-on-spotify","tag-contentment","tag-encouragement","tag-funny-christian-podcast","tag-righteous-invasion-of-truth","tag-riot-podcast","tag-the-riot-podcast"],"acf":{"photo":"","about_podcast":" Leadership and Contentment: John 3:19-36<\/strong><\/span> is the topic that will be discussing today on RIOT Podcast, a Christian Discipleship Podcast<\/strong><\/span>\r\n
\r\n
\r\nThis week we are finishing up John chapter 3 by unpacking verses 19-36. In these verses, we will talk about \u201cLight and Darkness\u201d, how John the Baptist handles disputes, why Jesus is the bridegroom and lastly why Jesus as the \u201cwitness of the Father\u201d is important.
\r\n
\r\nVs 19-21 Light and Darkness<\/strong>
\r\n
\r\nLight and Darkness is one of the major images John uses in his gospel. We first talked about it in John 1. John answers the question why sinners will not come into the light, it\u2019s because they love darkness!
\r\n
\r\nUntil John the Baptist was arrested by Herod and put into prison, his ministry overlapped with Jesus\u2019 ministry. In our reading of John 3:22-30 we will see that John did not want anyone to follow him, he reminds people that his ministry is to \u201cpoint people to the Lamb of God.\u201d <\/strong> But we will also see a division amongst his followers; they get caught up in comparing John\u2019s ministry with Jesus\u2019 ministry. Let\u2019s read and unpack these verses
\r\n
\r\nVerses John 3:22-30<\/strong>
\r\nVerse 25 says \u201cNow a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over purification.\u201d It appears that some of John\u2019s disciples started the argument. It began as doctrinal grounds, the matter of purifying and then it moved on to personal grounds.
\r\n
\r\nWho is the Jew? Could it be Nicodemus, we can\u2019t say for sure but it is in context with Him.
\r\n
\r\nPurification was important to the Jews, under the OT law they needed to keep themselves ceremonially clean.
\r\n
\r\nWithout realizing it John\u2019s disciples were putting him into a situation of competing against Jesus. In 3:26 they said all men come to him.
\r\n
\r\nHow did John the Baptist handle the controversy? <\/strong>He first stated a conviction: He said in vs 27 All ministry and blessing come from God, so that there can be no competition. Paul said this as well in 1 Cor 3:1-9 where he said our gifts and opportunities come from God and He alone must get all the glory.
\r\n
\r\nThe next thing John did was paint a beautiful illustration. 3:29 He compared Jesus to the bridegroom and himself only to the best man. In essence he was saying once the bridegroom and bride had been brought together, the best man\u2019s work is completed.
\r\n
\r\nWe never want to upstage the bridegroom; the church is Jesus\u2019 bride. John was content in His ministry, he understood his role.
\r\n
\r\nThe image of the bridegroom would have been significant to the Jewish people. For Jehovah had a marriage covenant with the nation. We find that in Isa 54:5, Jer 2:2, Ezek 16:8, etc. We also find that God has said His people have been unfaithful to their vows and He has temporarily put her away.
\r\n
\r\nJohn is saying that this is the beginning of a new covenant, his church, the Bridegroom and one day will come back for them.
\r\n
\r\nThe last verse in 3:30 where John says he must decrease and Jesus must increase, concludes the significance of this word \u201cmust\u201d that is used 3 different times in this section. 3:7 the must of the sinner, in 3:14 the must of the Savior and here is 3:30 the must of the servant.
\r\n
\r\nThe last part of our reading today will be vs 31-36. Here we will see the emphasis on the word witness,(testimony). Keep in mind as we read this that the Greek word translated \u201cwitness or testimony\u201d is used 47 times in his gospel. So why would we heed the witness of Christ, lets read and find out.
\r\n
\r\nVeres John 3:31-36<\/strong>
\r\n
\r\nVs 31 tells us that we must heed Christs\u2019 witness because he is from heaven and above all.
\r\n
\r\nHe was God and He came from heaven, he was above all Gods. No earthly messenger or profit came from above only Jesus, We can trust it and rely on his witness.
\r\n
\r\nVs 32-33 says that He testifies what the father has said first hand, what He says is truth because He has been with the father, we can rely on his witness)
\r\n
\r\nIn vs 34-35 we see again God gave Jesus the word, He gave him his spirit and he gave him all things. To reject the sons witness would be to rebel against the highest authority in the universe.
\r\n
\r\nIn vs 36 take notice that this is the only place in any of John\u2019s epistles or his gospel that he uses the word wrath. In revelations he uses it 5 times but not in any of his writings. This verse parallels John 3:18 and makes it clear that there can be no neutrality when it comes to the witness of Jesus. Either we trust Him or we reject Him. ","content":"

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\r\n

Subscribe to our Newsletter<\/a> for your FREE T-shirt<\/p>","audio":"[powerpress]"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/riotpodcast.co\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/riotpodcast.co\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/riotpodcast.co\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riotpodcast.co\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riotpodcast.co\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1134"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/riotpodcast.co\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3195,"href":"https:\/\/riotpodcast.co\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1134\/revisions\/3195"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riotpodcast.co\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/riotpodcast.co\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riotpodcast.co\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/riotpodcast.co\/beta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}