12.29.2013 John pt. 1 - God Understands! He Gets It!

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Worship:

12.29.2013-Worship from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

Thank You for the time to worship You – to praise You – and as we prepare for the new year – may it be a year of praise. This year is a year where You have drawn near to us – You have crowned the year with Your bounty – given in Your Son, Jesus. We have celebrated His birth and in a few months we will celebrate His death and resurrection. We long to honor You.
We are starting a message on the Gospel of John – it is one of the famous ones!
We won’t do the bit on his birth, because we recently did that. The plan is to be on track for Palm Sunday and Easter and finish it up the week after Easter. There may be a couple of practical sermons between here and there.
The Smith/Cooper small group is going through The Story – it goes through the Bible and takes out the narrative – They tell us there are two levels of story in the Bible – the lower level – the story itself – what happened then. Like the wise men, going to see the baby Jesus – and on the other hand, Herod, a measure of violence. But on the higher level – how the whole story of the Bible is tied to the redemption of God and God’s plans and purposes are fulfilled through each of these stories – and this leads to Christ and what He has done.
There are actually a couple more layers of meaning in the Bible. Remember the first Shrek movie – Shrek is explaining to Donkey what an ogre is like? Like an onion… (they stink?!) No! They have layers.
The third level of story is a layer of nuance – and it is important for our understanding.
For John – there is the story of Jesus’ life – and the higher level – how it is part of the bigger story of redemption – and there is also the people to whom the story is being written and their stories and needs – the nuance of it. John wrote it to strengthen their faith. There are many hints in the gospel that tell us a lot about the people he was writing to.
There is a fourth level – the Holy Spirit inspired John’s message to speak throughout the centuries.
We are going to attempt to look at all four of those levels each week.
Sorry if this is more of a lecture than a sermon…
John was written somewhere between 70 and 90 AD – some say 80… - but there is no way to know that for sure. This is commonly accepted by Bible scholars. John lived longer than many of the other disciples. In the 80s, he was exiled to Patmos – where he wrote the book of revelation. Some say John was in his 80s when he wrote that. The first 50 years of the church was very Jewish. A lot of times we think there was a big separation at Pentecost – but the Christians remained very Jewish – practically all of them were Jewish at the start – and there was this connection between church and Judaism.
In every city Paul enters, the first thing he does is go to the synagogue of that town. Paul even says, I’m leaving the Jews and preaching only to the Gentiles, but still the first thing he does in the next city is to go to the synagogue. But then there is a divide – we see that toward the end of the book of Acts – the Jewish religious establishment is trying to put an end to the Christian church.
John is writing to people – many of which are Jewish people who are being attacked by their family. Imagine if America outlawed Christianity – what would it feel like? Imagine the betrayal. They were a family – a people.
John’s gospel is about conflict – Jesus is in constant conflict with the Jewish leaders. The word Jew is used 70 times in the gospel. In all of the other 3 combined, it is used 15 times – so it is significant. John is often putting Jesus in confrontation with the Jewish leaders.
Next week – we’ll look at Jesus turning the tables in the temples – it is one of the most confrontational things Jesus does – and it is an attack on the Jewish system. And John is saying – this is what my story is about – this is how I am telling it.
3 times in this gospel, he talks about how the followers will be excommunicated from the synagogue – and He highlights those things Jesus said about what He predicted would come.
He is defending the gospel – the gospel and the Christian faith are under attack.
John 21:24 – this is the disciple who is testifying to these things and wrote these things and we know that his testimony is true.
You can have confidence that what you read in this gospel – and in the others – are wholly true – that no matter what comes in from the outside – we know the truth – in our world, we think we can’t say that – but we HAVE the truth – WHOLLY. The Christian faith is the only truth when it comes to the salvation of souls. There is no other name – He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life – it all boils down to Jesus.
He writes it to help us have confidence that we belong to God. And that we will have life because of our faith in Jesus Christ.
John 20: 30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe[b] that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
There are many faith conversations that take place. 98 times he uses the word believe! He is making the emphasis that this is how one gains eternal life.
There is also theological emphasis in the book.
He is making the theological point that Jesus is the eternal son who reveals the Father. 106 times Jesus speaks of God as the Father.
Second – Salvation and Eternal life come by faith.
Third – the Person of the Holy Spirit is revealed.
John opens the idea of the Trinity.
Think of the Jewish people – Shemah – Every morning they would say, Hear, O Israel, the Lord is One…
They didn’t understand the Trinity – so they need to understand it in a greater way – how can three be one?
There are signs and miracles – 7 or 8 – and sections built around those signs – Wedding at Cana – then there are teachings surrounding those signs. Sometimes it is Jesus teaching publicly – sometimes privately – and sometimes in debate with the religious leaders of the day. There are 7 I am statement – I am the bread of life – Light of the world, good shepherd, Resurrection - gate – door – true vine – way/truth/life – Jesus reveals who He is in these statements.
There is a long section where He talks about the death and resurrection – the idea of being glorified – glory – means - Weight – God’s awesomeness – the heaviness of God – and that glory is revealed in the humility of God. And it completely changes how glory is seen – the power and majesty are best seen through the sacrificial service of the cross.
John 1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
WORD – Logos – John uses it because it has specific meaning. In the Hebrew Old Testament – the Word was associated with two things – God’s creative power – That is what the Jewish people would hear – like when God spoke and there was light – all He did was speak and it happened – so when John uses this – that power that comes from God – that is what God did – tremendous power to make everything come into existence. By the word of the Lord the heavens were made – He spoke and it was done – He commanded and it stood fast.
Hebrews – the universe was created by the word of God – Let there be! And it happened.
In Proverbs – they called it Wisdom – How it was there from the beginning with God in creation – it is a concept they didn’t totally get – that is why John explains it.
They understand through this spoken word – that God accomplished all His purposes and plans.
Isaiah 55: 10 As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
The Word is more than creative power and a bridge between the Spiritual divide and the material realm.
The Word is ETERNAL – has always existed – it never came into being because it was already there.
Word was WITH God. With shows relationship – it is eternal and in intimate relationship with God. It stood face to face with God.
It is eternal and personal.
You have something that is eternal – but also something that is a person in relationship with God.
And the Word WAS God –
This is a new teaching.
The Word became FLESH – became a man – entered this world as a human – so what He is saying – that word you believed in is Jesus. He is in every way, shape and form God.
As he goes through the rest of his gospel – he describes them as the words, deeds, and activities of God. If you want to know HOW God acts – look at Jesus.

John 1: 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.
Darkness doesn’t win.
Evil doesn’t win.
Jesus, the light and life, conquered Evil, Darkness, and Death – He secured a complete victory for all of us. For those who are hearing this for the first time – suffering great loss for their families – He said – Look, You have the victory – Christ secured it for You –and your faith will prevail.
We enter a new year this week – and the reality is – we will face many challenges – hopefully not like those who are hearing it for the first time. Many of these challenges will continue. Many of these challenges will be unexpected. If you go back a year – you would not have thought that this or that would have happened. They will catch us off-guard.
In the midst of all of that – You can walk in victory – with confidence that at the end of it all – this faith will stand up and be true.
Here is how he does it. The answers to this are first theological – how do I maintain a strong faith? What actions can I take to maintain my faith?
The first thing is understanding who Jesus is – that is the beginning – the foundation of the victory in this life. You serve the One who is the Power of God – He is on your side. You are serving Him – and all of that power and glory – is behind you.
If God is for me – what can man do to me? I will not be afraid!
If God is on my side – with the power of the creator of the universe on my side – the one I worship and serve – If God is for us, what can separate us? None of it can! We live this year under God’s love – and nothing can take that away – nothing can separate us from that.
Our victory and hope is based on Him and who He is.
Second – He gives life eternal – light and life – he uses those words – if we are to focus on real life – wit is what happens when we focus on what is real. If our answer comes in this world – we don’t really have victory – it is only when we live in the eternal world that we have hope. Even when a person has a considerable amount of possessions – it is not in what we own.
11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
We are now part of His family – He is on our side – He has given us new life – we are beloved Children – just like He said of Jesus – this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
He has experienced everything you have – He understands your challenge – and that has got to be comforting to us – to recognize and understand that God gets it!
We have all had that experience where someone doesn’t get it because they haven’t been through it –but that doesn’t happen with Jesus.
The challenges that you face this year – He will carry that for You – He wants to carry it all.
Lord, thank You for this new year we are entering – we look forward to changes. Help us to understand and to believe and realize that You are entering this year with us – and You promise to be with us in it – the good and the difficult. You will be there with us – offering all that You are to us in every situation we face – without reserve, You long to give us Your help and grace.