Ugly Sweater | Week 3 · Rewind

Pastor Bill Bush · Dec 17, 2018 · 70 min watch · 3 min read

Ugly Sweater | Week 3

Big Idea

Quoting the message: Christmas is for us, but it's not about us, end quote. — real meaning comes when we stop competing with Jesus and start serving His mission.

Drawing from John 3 and the example of John the Baptist, Pastor Bill argues that the entire Christmas story — indeed the whole Christian life — is a gift given for our benefit, but its purpose is never centered on us. When we make faith about ourselves, we become frustrated, anxious, and eventually hollow. True joy, meaning, and purpose are found only when we embrace three liberating truths: God is in control, we are not God, and we must continually choose to get out of the way so that Jesus becomes greater and we become less.

Key points

1
1God is in control — panic and frustration arise when we forget that every good thing comes from Him, not from our own management.
2
2We are not God — taking charge of our own spiritual lives through a cafeteria-style faith leads to frustration and eventual falling away.
3
3We must choose daily to get out of the way so that Jesus becomes greater and our self-centered nature becomes less.
4
4John the Baptist found genuine joy in pointing others to Jesus rather than competing with Him — and we are called to the same joy in serving.
5
5Even John the Baptist doubted in isolation, showing that the battle to trust Jesus is ongoing and that community is essential to fighting the lies we believe when we're alone.
6
6Believers today have been given the Holy Spirit — the same power that raised Jesus from the dead — making our potential to live on mission even greater than John's.
7
7Eternal life begins where self ends and Jesus starts; refusing to embrace His love leaves a person with only themselves, which is never enough.

Application

Pastor Bill calls every listener to an honest self-examination: Is your faith about Jesus and His mission, or has it quietly become about you? He frames the choice in three practical commitments drawn straight from John the Baptist — acknowledging that God is in control, refusing to play God in your own life, and choosing daily to decrease so Jesus can increase. The payoff, Bill insists, is not a burden but genuine joy: joy in serving, joy in generosity, joy in introducing others to Jesus. He also urges anyone who has drifted into isolation to get back into community, because lies grow loudest when we're alone. The closing image is simple and memorable: stop wanting the car, learn to want the lawn mower, hop on, and start mowing — because the mission God built you for is the only investment that lasts into eternity.

Take it into your week

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Scripture in this message

From the transcript
“we started the first week with this concept out of John one that Christmas is a mission, it's not a moment”
From the transcript
“pastor Daniel spoke on in John chapter two about how Christmas is a is a mission, not a moment, and that mission is to be the light of the world”
From the transcript
“if we do not embrace what we're gonna talk about today out of John chapter three, you will be a frustrated follower of Jesus your whole life”
From the transcript
“You get in verse 22. It says, then Jesus and his disciples left Jerusalem and they went into the Judean countryside. Jesus spent some time with their baptizing people”
From the transcript
“verse 23 says, at this time John the Baptist was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water there, and people kept coming to him for baptism”
From the transcript
“so John's disciples came to him and said, Rabbi, the man you met on the other side of the Jordan River, I get I love this. The one you identified as the Messiah”
From the transcript
“Verse 27, John replied, no one can receive anything unless God gives it from heaven”
From the transcript
“verse 30 says, he must become greater and greater and I must become less and less”
From the transcript
“Look what it says in verse 29. He goes, first he had just said, I'm not the Messiah. I'm just here to prepare the way for him. And then he says, it is the bridegroom who marries the bride”
From the transcript
“at the end, in verse 36, it says, and anyone who believes in God's Son, here's the for us, has eternal life. Anyone who doesn't obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God's angry judgment”
From the transcript
“it says in chapter seven, real quick, he says he sent a couple of his disciples to find Jesus”
From the transcript
“John's two disciples in verse 20 found Jesus and said to him, John the Baptist sent us to ask, are you the Messiah we've been expecting or should we keep looking for someone else”
From the transcript
“Verse 28, I tell you here he just doubted. He just had to answer this guy's doubts. And yet Jesus' grace and love, he says, I tell you, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John”

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7-day devotional

A personal reading plan from this message — scripture, reflection, and prayer for each day.

Sign in to track your progress through this devotional.

John the Baptist was at the height of his influence — crowds were coming, people were listening, and his movement was alive. Then Jesus arrived, and the crowds began shifting. His disciples came to him with what sounds like a warning: 'Rabbi, the one you were talking about is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.' It's the kind of moment that can quietly unhinge a person. And John's response is remarkable for what it doesn't include — there is no defensiveness, no spin, no subtle self-promotion. He simply says, 'No one can receive anything unless God gives it from heaven.' That's not resignation. That's freedom. Pastor Bill named this as the first liberating truth: God is in control. Every good thing — your gifts, your opportunities, your relationships, even your faith — came to you. You didn't manufacture it. When we forget that, we start managing instead of trusting, and the result is the exhaustion and anxiety Bill described. Today is a good day to trace something good in your life back to its real source. Not your effort, not your timing — but a gift, given from above. That reorientation doesn't shrink your life. It actually makes it steadier.

For reflection

What is one good thing in your life right now that you have been treating as something you earned, when it is actually something you received?

Pray

Pray for the ability to hold your gifts with open hands, acknowledging where they truly come from.

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Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

John the Baptist was at the height of his influence — crowds were following him, his reputation was growing — and then Jesus showed up and the crowds started leaving. What John did next is the heart of this message.

Discussion questions

1
In John 3:27, John the Baptist says, 'A person can receive only what God gives them from heaven.' What do you think he means by that, and why does Pastor Bill see it as the foundation for everything else John says in this passage?
2
John 3:28 has John saying plainly, 'I am not the Messiah. I am only here to prepare the way for him.' Pastor Bill connects the frustration many people feel in their faith to quietly forgetting that same distinction. What do you think that kind of drift looks like in everyday life?
3
In John 3:29, John describes himself as the friend of the groom — someone whose joy is complete simply because the groom has arrived. What does that image say about where genuine joy actually comes from, according to this passage?
4
Pastor Bill points out that even John the Baptist — someone Jesus called the greatest born of a woman — doubted and sent messengers asking, 'Are you really the one?' when he was alone in prison (Luke 7:20). What does that tell us about why community matters for people trying to stay anchored to what they believe?
5
Pastor Bill challenged us with the image of the lawn mower: stop wanting the flashy car, learn to want the tool you were actually built for, and get to work on the mission that lasts into eternity. What would it look like, practically, for a group of people to adopt that kind of posture together?
6
John 3:30 — 'He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less' — is one of the most quoted lines in this passage. Why do you think Pastor Bill frames that as a daily choice rather than a one-time decision, and how might treating it that way change how we approach an ordinary week?

Pray together

Ask God to show us where we've made faith about ourselves, and for the courage and joy to get out of the way so Jesus becomes greater

Made by Rewind AI from the sermon transcript. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

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Go deeper

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Ugly Sweater

Week 3 · 3 messages

Where these passages are preached

John 1 John 2 John 3 Luke 7

Explore related topics

Community and Faith God's Control Jesus Greater, Self Less Purpose Beyond Self Surrender and Trust

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