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Decrease For Increase
What happens when your success becomes your greatest spiritual threat? In this message, Pastor Chris Hufton unpacks one of the most counterintuitive truths in the Christian life, that the path to more of God runs directly through less of self. If you want revival, real revival, it starts here.
Related Sermons
Small Group Guide
Small Group Discussion Guide
"Decrease For Increase" — Pastor Chris Hufton
1. SERMON RECAP
Pastor Chris Hufton preached on the paradox at the heart of the Christian life: the very blessings that come from following God in humility can become the seeds of pride that pull us away from Him. He walked the group through three movements — restoring our first love, learning to decrease so Christ can increase, and recognizing how pride quietly starves our hunger for God. He challenged everyone to ask whether they would still serve, give, and follow Jesus if they received no credit, no applause, and no visible reward.
2. KEY SCRIPTURE
John 3:30 (NLT) "He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less."
3. ICE BREAKER
What is one area of your life — completely ordinary, like cooking, driving, or a hobby — where you secretly think you are better than most people, and why?
4. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Point 1 — Revival begins where first love is restored
Pastor Chris opened by pointing to Revelation 2, where the church at Ephesus was busy and active but had drifted from their first love for God. He noted that success itself can become the thing that distances us from the One who produced the success. Where in your own life have you noticed busyness, routine, or comfort slowly replacing genuine love and hunger for God — and what was the first sign you noticed it happening?
Point 2 — He increases when I decrease
Pastor Chris used the image of John the Baptist at a wedding — the friend of the groom who is genuinely glad to stand in the background and celebrate someone else's moment. He challenged the group to examine whether they are asking God to increase their plans or to increase His presence and purpose in their lives, even at personal cost. How does the idea of genuinely celebrating God's work through someone else — with no credit coming back to you — sit with you, and where do you find that most difficult to live out?
Point 3 — Pride kills hunger
Pastor Chris read through the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18 and pointed out that the Pharisee was actually doing impressive things — fasting twice a week, tithing faithfully — yet left unjustified because his spiritual disciplines had become a source of self-congratulation rather than a means of drawing near to God. He also warned that being easily offended is one of the clearest signs that pride has taken root, because offense almost always begins with thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought. In what ways can spiritual disciplines, good habits, or even church involvement become something we use to feel superior rather than something that softens and humbles us before God?
5. APPLICATION CHALLENGE
At some point this week, perform one act of genuine service for another person — something specific and hands-on, such as helping a neighbor, covering a task for a coworker, or quietly meeting a practical need for someone in the congregation — and tell no one about it. Do not post about it, mention it in conversation, or reference it in next week's group time. At the end of the week, sit quietly for ten minutes and honestly ask God whether doing the thing in secret felt different from doing it when others would know, then write down one sentence about what that reveals about your current heart posture.
6. PRAYER POINTS
- Pray that each group member would have the honesty and courage to ask God to reveal areas of hidden pride, self-sufficiency, or spiritual routine that have replaced genuine love for Him.
- Pray for a deepening hunger for God's presence that is stronger than the pull of comfort, recognition, and distraction in everyday life.
- Pray for persecuted believers around the world who choose to follow Jesus at great personal cost, and ask God to use their example to recalibrate the group's own sense of what faithful discipleship looks like.
7. MEMORY VERSE
Galatians 2:20 (NLT) "My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
Daily Devotional
Returning to Your First Love
Revelation 2:4-5 — "But I have this complaint against you. You don't love me or each other as you did at first. Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first."
On Wednesday I talked about how revival isn't a power-up moment — it's a return. A return to the thing that started all of this for you: genuine love for God. The church in Ephesus was busy. They were working, serving, showing up. But Jesus looked at all of it and said, you've lost something essential. You can fill every seat, lead every ministry, check every box, and still be drifting from the one thing that matters most. I've had to ask myself honestly — am I doing this because I love him, or because it's become habit? Because it's expected? Because I'm good at it? God isn't impressed by our activity when our hearts are cold. He wants us back at the beginning, when we first realized how desperately we needed him and how completely he loved us.
Lord, I don't want to just be busy for you — I want to actually love you. Bring me back to that place where my heart was fully yours. Restore what has drifted.
Less of Me, More of Him
John 3:30 — "He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less."
John the Baptist said these words without flinching, and I think that's what makes them so striking. He wasn't reluctant. He wasn't martyring himself reluctantly. He was genuinely glad to step back so Jesus could step forward. On Wednesday I used the image of a wedding — the friend who gives a speech and makes the whole thing about himself. Nobody wants to be that guy. And yet, if I'm honest, how often do I take what God has done in my life and quietly let it become a story about me? The promotions, the growth, the answered prayers — these are his work, not mine. Every time God increases something in my life, it creates a new opportunity for pride to creep in. The only way to stay clear is to keep saying it, keep meaning it: he must increase, I must decrease. Not as a slogan. As a daily surrender.
God, I give you back the credit for everything good in my life. Forgive me for the moments I've taken your glory as my own. Let my life point to you, not to me.
Crucified With Christ
Galatians 2:20 — "My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
This verse is not just poetry — it is a description of what decreasing actually looks like in real life. When I talked about this on Wednesday, I meant it practically. Would you serve God if nobody thanked you? Would you keep going if there were no platform, no recognition, no likes, no one watching? The people I've met in Cuba, Uganda, Nigeria, Malaysia — they answered that question with their lives. They serve Jesus when it costs them something real. My old self wants credit. My old self wants comfort. My old self measures worth by what others see. But the life I'm called to live is no longer mine to manage for my own benefit. Christ lives in me — and that means his agenda, his purposes, and his glory come before my own preferences every single time.
Jesus, thank you for giving yourself for me. Help me to actually live like my old self has been crucified — not just in words, but in how I spend my time, my energy, and my attention today.
When Pride Replaces Hunger
Proverbs 16:18 — "Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall."
On Wednesday I said that the paradox of following God is that obedience leads to blessing, and blessing can quietly lead to pride. The Pharisee in Luke 18 was fasting twice a week and tithing faithfully — and it was killing his hunger for God because it had become fuel for self-congratulation. I watch this happen. I've had to watch for it in myself. The moment my spiritual disciplines become a measuring stick I use to look down on others, they've stopped being tools of humility and become monuments to my own ego. Pride doesn't usually announce itself. It creeps in through comparison, through comfort, through forgetting who gave you what you have. When I notice I'm less desperate for God than I used to be, that's the warning sign. That's the moment to go back to Joel 2 — to rend my heart, not just my routine.
Lord, I don't want to be the Pharisee who does all the right things with the wrong heart. Keep me hungry. Keep me honest. Show me where pride has quietly taken root.
Rend Your Heart, Not Just Your Habits
Joel 2:12-13 — "Even now, declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning, and rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love."
This is where I want to land at the end of the week. God's invitation is not complicated, even when it is costly. He is not asking for a better performance. He is not asking you to fast longer or pray louder or look more spiritual on the outside. He is asking for your heart — torn open, honest, and turned toward him. The whole point of decrease for increase is this: when I get myself out of the way, God has room to move. When I stop protecting my reputation and start protecting his, something shifts. I've seen it in revival rooms in Africa. I've seen it in prayer services here at home. The people who walk out lighter are not the ones who performed the best — they are the ones who came in most willing to let God have all of them. That is the invitation today.
God, I come back to you with my whole heart, not just my habits. You are gracious and slow to anger, and I trust you with everything I've been holding onto. Have all of me.