John 7:25-36

 John 7:25-36

There is time as in the hour of the day and there is time as in the opportunity. In John 7 Jesus is at the Feast of Tabernacles. He is speaking in the temple courts. The Great Divide is growing between those who believe in Jesus and those who do not.  The opportunity for faith is theirs; they have in that moment the opportunity.  But Jesus tells them, “You will seek Me and not find Me and where I am you cannot come.”  While in their presence Jesus was speaking to these people of the time when he would return to the Father.  They would seek Him, but because they rejected the truth that He was from the Father, and He had returned to the Father, they would never find Him.  The opportunity would be lost.  

We are so familiar with the words of Jesus, “Seek and you will find.”  We hold these words like a no limit credit card that places Jesus at our bidding.  How do we reconcile this promise with this other saying of Jesus that we can come to the point that we will seek Him but we will not find Him?  “Seek and you will find.”  “You will seek and not find.”  The time or opportunity is there and then the time or opportunity is lost.

We become flippant about sin in our life. We do not take seriously the grave warnings of scripture about righteousness. We treat both holiness and un-holiness as matters of little consequence. We fail to seek the Lord when He can be found. As a consequence we spiral into greater depth and darkness, and into an absence from God.  It is only when we finally hit rock bottom we start seeking Jesus.  But we may not really be looking for Jesus, but only for a genie. So wrapped up is our self and our sinful life (shall we use the word Flesh) we don't want to have Him as Master and Lord. We only want Him to be a bail bondsman to get us out of the fix we are in and then we wonder why we can't find Jesus. 

Every dalliance with sin, every dabbling with evil is a potential one-way street to this hopeless destination.  Any individual act of sin is like an on-ramp to a highway to hell.  There are exits where we can turn around, but the longer we drive the less frequent the exits, the longer between exits.  We can even get to the point that there are no exit ramps at all.

So where is the place where we must be to seek the Lord in order to find Him? That place is the cross, His cross and our cross. It is the place where we will recognize the truly monstrous evil of our sin!  It is a place where we have a change of mind and will to turn from sin and self, and to die to these.  In a word it is the place of repentance. We can’t see Jesus without repentance.  We can search till the stars burn out and we will not find Him.  We must renounce ourselves i.e. the flesh, the world's system, and the devil and in repentance we find Jesus.  May we never forget that before there is the blessing of finding Christ there is the repentance moved by the Cross.  

“Holy Spirit, convict me, bring your holy judgment on me, show me where I hold any evil thing without repentance, show me where I must turn from evil. Grant to me, Lord, a true and heartfelt repentance. AMEN

John 7:14-24

 John 7:14-24

Christianity is not a theoretical religion. One of the great struggles with churches is that we have often emphasized learning without the proper emphasis on practice. There is no heroic merit in ignorance. Being dumb is not a virtue. But there is so much more to being a disciple then knowing the body of literature and the doctrines of the Christian faith. Verse 17 forces us to face a very personal and direct question. “If any man is willing to do His will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself”. The immediate context is the lasting fury over Jesus’ healing on the Sabbath in chapter 5. But there is a principle for us, “In the doing there is the knowing.” It is impossible to come to mature and rich knowledge of God if we do not practice the faith. Imagine a situation in which a person might attend class for 60, 70, or 80 years and never graduate and enter the workforce. They may have advanced knowledge of the textbooks and may have even provided some leadership in the school itself, but having never entered the workforce they are all but useless. Sadly that is often the case in the church. Did you ever hear or see a graduation ceremony for Sunday School?

The verb “shall know” is a future middle verb in Greek and it means that as we do the knowledge happens to ourselves. In other words we cannot know unless we do. In one sense we can and will never ‘learn’ enough to ‘know’.   But as we act upon what we have learned we will grow into knowing. A person is better off acting in small steps, even if they haven’t learned much, than to have  80 years of study and learning and never take any action.  No amount of learning alone will produce intimacy with God.  High obedience with low knowledge is infinitely better than high knowledge with low obedience. 

“Lord, grant that I will apply what you have given to me in every interaction of life, AMEN”

John 71-13

 John 7:1-13

Once again we can have a passage of such death that there are meanings, implications, and applications that we might miss with a quick read. Jesus being fully human lived in a world of temptation. Note that these temptations always went to the same issue but in different forms. In the last chapter the people offered to make Jesus the king, Satan had offered Jesus the kingdoms of the world during the 40 days in the wilderness. The people wanted Jesus to provide them with miraculous bread Satan tempted Jesus to turn stones to bread. Now Jesus's brothers want him to go to Jerusalem to show off his power, just like Satan tempted Jesus to leap from the high point of the temple to show off His power.

Jesus's response is to shift the discussion from a show of power to a word about time.  A discussion of submission to the will of God. Jesus says the time καιρος is not at hand. The word means opportunity, the right moment, in regard to timing. A batter can swing the bat anytime he wants, but there is a right time to do it. If he is a little early or a little late his swing is ineffective. But if he swings the bat at the right time, when everything comes together, and the ball flies 450 feet out of the park.

How did Jesus deal with a multi-sided attack from the spiritual forces of darkness and human opposition, and pressure? He looked for the sweet spot; the intersection of the right circumstance, the right place, and the right opportunity or time. That kind of discernment doesn't just happen. It is built by being in the relationship with the Father. Unlike Jesus, we will miss that wonderful sweet spot of time, place and circumstance. But each of those misses is a learning occasion. With a major league pitcher that sweet spot of right timing is incredibly small with a little league pitcher it is much larger. If we want to learn to hit the sweet spot with a big league pitcher we must first learn to get the sweet spot with a little league pitcher.  

Sometimes before the devil draws us into wickedness he will first try to draw us into bad timing. Learning to be mature and discerning God's timing will allow us to find the sweet spot.

“Lord, help me to learn to discern the right time for all that You have for me. AMEN”

John 6:60-71

 John 6:60-71 

Jesus's sermon on the Bread of Life is no warm and friendly motivational talk. Jesus's sermon on the Bread of Life comes to only one conclusion. Either there is a radical and determined commitment to Jesus as the life of God incarnate, the only source of life and salvation, or a full rejection of Him. At the peak of His popularity Jesus demands absolute loyalty and devotion.

When faced with the demand and cost of discipleship people exhibit one of two possible reactions. The first reaction to the cost of discipleship is in verse 66. We see many disciples walk away from Christ. These were not the crowds at large. These were not the general populace who a day before wanted to make Jesus their King. John is specific: “Many of His disciples”!  These were people who had made a commitment to follow Jesus, but now decided to leave Him. Disciples walked away from Jesus.  They came to Jesus and wanted to follow on their terms. Maybe they have political, economic, personal, or religious reform aspirations. Jesus confronts them with the central teaching that He is a center of everything. When Jesus perceived the offense caused by His teaching on the Bread of Life He then took it to the next level.   Claiming He will ascend to the Father.

Here is where we see that Jesus would make a terrible church growth pastor. Many churches today tailor their message to the crowds and work very hard to soften the rough edges. Jesus rather than try to win back those walking away turns to the 12 and asks if they want to leave as well. The grammar anticipates a yes answer. Peter's answer is beautiful. It represents the other possible response to the call to be Jesus’ disciple. It is the answer we must have when being a disciple of Jesus is difficult. “Lord to whom else shall we go, you have the words of eternal life”.   Where would we go is not with Jesus.  There's the old song often sung in campfire invitations, “I have decided to follow Jesus”. One of the lines from that song needs to be repeated; “Though none go with me still I will follow”.

“Lord, to whom else could I go You alone have the words of eternal life. AMEN”

John 6:41-59

 John 6:41-59

This passage is so vast and so deep that it may pull together threads from more subjects and more passages of scripture than any other paragraph in the Bible. Let's focus on only one. Life in the ancient world was hard. It was often a life marked by doing without. A life marked by hunger and famine. These two realities were never far away and any hope of a better life for most people in that ancient world was more fantasy than reality. But in the lives of the people of Israel there was an intersection of hope and daily life, the prescribed religious festivals. At the feast there was more food than on any other occasion.  There was the remembering of God's care in the past, and the promise of His presence and care in the present and future. It is hard for us to understand the importance of these feasts. We live a life where everyday we feast, our intake of calories daily is more than many ancient peoples ever had except on feasting occasions.

Also the feast was a sacred meal, as if the meal were eaten with God Himself.  The meal was exclusive; it was only for people with a covenant relationship with God. Imagine a celebration with the excitement of July 4th, the food of Thanksgiving, the warmth and tenderness of Christmas, and the fun and hopeful anticipation of New Year's all rolled into one. All of this celebrated by people living hard, drab, gray lives of want and near starvation.

On top of all this Jesus takes it up a notch. In this passage Jesus talks about the convergence of the truth God teaches us and the Bread of Heaven, the Incarnation of the Son and the Bread of Heaven, as well as communion and the Bread of Heaven. One could spend a lifetime of study on this passage and all its implications and never exhaust the meaning. But in brief, in communion we enter into a unique moment with God's truth and with God’s Son our Savior. There are two errors, which we must avoid. First is that by frequent or weekly communion the Lord's Supper becomes commonplace and we fail to meet Christ. Second by infrequent occasional communion the Lord's Supper becomes a stranger to us and we fail to meet Christ. But with focus, discipline and our own preparation we can be frequent and special in the celebration of the Lord's Supper.   Any failure to do so is entirely our failure to make the effort to come to Christ.

“Lord, prepare my heart to meet You and the celebration of communion with You. AMEN”

John 6:22-40

 John 6:22-40

This begins what is called, “The sermon on the Bread of Life”, a sermon that is often overlooked but has rich application for us. The clamor to make Jesus King has died down. In the wilderness some might start to plan a rebellion, but in town with Roman soldiers nearby they would be more restrained. Now the people come to Jesus looking for free food. They were not as interested in the sign and the miracles as a free lunch.

This is one of the passages that indicate Jesus would not have made a very good church growth pastor. A church growth pastor would have followed up on the feeding of the 5000 with plans for an even bigger event. But Jesus knows, and we should learn, that men's appetite for food, excitement, entertainment, and self is absolutely insatiable. At the moment when Jesus could have drawn the biggest crowds He turned attention away from what will draw the crowds to the real and fundamental needs of men. “Stop working so hard for what will not last, rather work for what will last” Jesus says. “And what is that?” the people want to know. Jesus says, “Believe in Him whom He (that is God) has sent”.

Jesus was not hostile for large crowds nor did they impress Him. The focus is on teaching people to have faith, to believe in the One on whom God had placed His seal. As disciples there are a great many things that can help move us toward Jesus or into deeper faith. But when any of these become the objects we pursue we have failed. Jesus and only Jesus is our ultimate goal.

“Lord, blind my eyes to anything that would distract me from You. AMEN”

John 6:16-21

 John 6:16-21

The accounts of Jesus walking on the water is a fantastic place to see how each gospel writer emphasizes those things that are most important to him, while offering a complimentary account. One point where they all emphasize the same thing: it's in the words of Jesus: “It is I do not be afraid”. In John's account the storm is not emphasized, remember John was a fisherman and the son of a fisherman he grew up on the water. Matthew by contrast puts more emphasis on the storm, he was a land lover. But all the accounts have this quote, “It is I do not be afraid”. “It is I”, is translated from a phrase, which can mean “you know who I am”. But it also can have a special meaning, that of God's personal Name: I AM. This phrase is used often by John to indicate that Jesus took the personal name of God for Himself. When we are in the presence of God, as they were in Jesus’ presence, we need not fear anything else, even a raging storm. Compared to God nothing else comes close in might, power, or authority. Why worry over such trivialities as storms, kingdoms, nations, political powers, economic circumstances, or even our own lives. 

John mentioned something the other Gospel writers do not. When the disciples were willing to receive Jesus they were immediately at their destination. John doesn't make a big deal of this event, he mentions it almost in passing. Apparently this deeper understanding of Jesus made even this grand moment of ‘teleportation’ pale in comparison. But there is another point we can learn. It is only when they were willing to have Jesus come into the boat that the supernatural happened. The change of the will proceeds the working of the Lord in our circumstances. We do not try to manipulate Him by changing our will. We accept Him and whatever He has for us without thought of what we can get out of it.  In that moment we are trusting Him and that is always best.  

“Lord, grant that I will fear You so much that I will  have no place to fear anyone or anything else. AMEN”

John 6 1-15

 John 6 1-15

When Jesus ran away.

There is an occasion in scripture where Jesus ran away.  The One who went through the Garden of the Olive Press all the way to the most horrific death in the history of mankind had a moment when He ran away.  It wasn’t out of fear, but we see Him on this one occasion running away.  There is a dynamic lesson for us in this moment. 

 

The multitude had followed Him because of the healings of the many sick people He had done. They followed Him out into the wilderness.  They had followed him long enough that He was concerned for their well being.  And so He feeds the crowds of people with as much as they wanted to eat.  In fact, the proliferation of food is so dynamic that after everyone had all they wanted there was food to spare.  In a poor, oppressed and overtaxed, occupied country this was very likely a rarity.  There may have been people there who had never been so full and still had leftovers. Some may not have known anything but scarcity their whole lives.  When the meal was over some of the crowd began to move and agitate to make Jesus their King. 

Let’s face it; Jesus would make a great king. First, there is free, universal, health care that could cure every illness and every disease.   Typical medical care was often ineffective and was not cheap, so miraculous healing for free is a pretty good offer.  Also, having plenty of food provisions for the entire nation was not out of the realm of possibility. If five loaves and two fish could feed 5,000 families imagine what the entire economy placed at His disposal could do. It would be fantastic.   This move to declare Jesus king would of course mean a war with Rome.   But if He can heal the sick, why not combat wounds?  An army travels on its stomach, but with this kind of king provisions for a whole army could be easily carried in one bag.  From the perspective of a person looking for an earthly king no one could possibly do a better job than Jesus.

Being an earthly king was not on Jesus's agenda. The words in John “take him by force” carry certain violent overtones.  The multitude, which may have been turning into a mob, was not concerned with Jesus’s agenda.  He would be made king like it or not. As we read the parallel passages we get the idea that as the tumult builds Jesus dismisses the crowd, but they would not be dismissed, so Jesus sends his disciples away in their boat and He takes off for the hills.  

In describing Jesus's departure some early manuscripts have the word “fled back” instead of the words “withdrew again to the mountain.” Jesus gathered his disciples and told them to get away and then in the chaos and pandemonium Jesus headed for the hills literally. Jesus moves out of the crowd perhaps secretly maybe in a fast walk or even in a trot, but He literally runs away.  Why? There would be no reasoning with this crowd and there would be no opportunity to teach them the difference between an Earthly and Heavenly Kingdom.  There would be no turning this misguided movement into the right direction. Best to leave it all behind and let it settle down.  Sometimes retreat is the best plan.

So, what does Jesus’s running for the hills have to do with us?  When we have a selfish agenda and we are trying to put a “God” sticker on it, when we hope to impose our will on the Lord and get Him to bless what we are doing, the best we can hope for from Him is that He will walk away from us.  How often have we got our plans all laid out and then pray for God’s power and blessing and might to work out what we want?  Jesus will not be used for any agenda except the Father’s!  Jesus is not our personal ATM, valet, or genie!  It is high time that we stop trying to make our agenda something that it is not, by calling it God’s will.  “Thy Kingdom Come Thy Will be done” does not have room for our program.  You want to see Jesus walk away from you in a hurry? Do your own thing and try to get Him to endorse it.

“Lord, open my eyes to how I am attempting to use You for my purposes. AMEN”

John 5:31-47

 John 5:31-47

It seems, at times, that Jesus's words were targeted at the church today but spoken in ages past. Jesus says that the Jews were willing, for a season, to accept the message of John the Baptist. There was a fleeting enthusiasm about John. John was, for a while, a great show and an exciting event. For the Jews he was a fad. Few words describe American Christianity programming better than the word fad. From passing out ear plugs because of loud music volume, to tattoos, un-tucked shirts and particular clothing styles to haircuts that are clones of popular preachers, many leaders in American Christianity are herd animals caught in fads.

In verse 39 Jesus speaks to other churches today, what we might call “study churches”. Exhaustive scripture study is wonderful so long as we understand the purpose of scripture, which is to bring us to Christ. When we study to find proof that we are right and so that we can argue more our pet doctrine more effectively with those with whom we disagree we have missed the point of scripture.  The Holy Spirit did not inspire Holy Scripture so we could bludgeon someone with it but so that we can know and love the Son and share that love with others. It is not to absolve us from the responsibility for careful study but it does address the motivation to study.

Jesus also addresses our insatiable appetite for our own glory in this passage.  The Jews received their “glory from one another”.   It was true of them, it is true of us.  Never in the history of mankind have we had greater opportunity to give full vent to our hubris and self-aggrandizement. People have not changed, we have always been stuck on ourselves. But we live in an age of self-aggrandizement. The appeal for the praise of men is the backbone of our social media driven culture. We actually asked people to like our post. We write things for the purpose of getting a “click”, a “like”, or a “follow”. Pride, self-assertion and self glory are virtues in the social media age.

Anything, fad, Pet Doctrine, praise of our ‘friends’ on our apps that pushes Jesus out of the center of our lives is toxic to our soul. Our fallen nature is attracted to these things and in the moment they can seem helpful or even holy.  But we must return to the core test, the core question: “Does any given activity cause the place of Christ to grow in our lives or to diminish?”

“Grant,  Lord, that my life in every aspect will be built around and upon You. AMEN”

John 5.15-30

 John 5.15-30

This amazing discourse is in response to the attack of the religious leaders because Jesus healed on the Sabbath.  It turns out that Jesus' authority over the Sabbath was just the tip of the iceberg of His power, plans and authority.  Jesus sees Himself equal with God.  Jesus sees the Father at work and joins in that work.  Jesus is the object of the Father’s love.  Jesus has complete access to the Father’s knowledge.  Jesus is the source of life from the Father.  Jesus judges on behalf of the Father.  

We have all heard the saying, “Familiarity breeds contempt”. Something like that can happen to us as we consider who Jesus was and is.  Jesus; God made flesh, was fully human, no doubt.  Sometimes we focus so much on His humanity that we believe we can treat Jesus as a peer and we forget that He is fully God. We began to treat Jesus with familiarity rather than reverence, as a personal spiritual valet rather than God. This manifests itself most clearly and the worship of the church which can at times degenerate into a concert to entertain us, a therapy session to fix us, or a drug to make us feel better about ourselves. Any model of worship that is focusing on us and our wants and agenda is misguided and if it goes on long enough will end up in ruin. We will do well to remember, “He created all things and they were created for Him” that includes the church, worship, and us. Jesus is no genie that is here to do our bidding. Rather we exist to bring Him glory.  As we do that our lives will reflect a pattern of holiness and will be fully manifested in the resurrection of life on the last day.

“Lord, forgive me when I treat You with anything other than absolute reverence and worship. AMEN”

John 5:1-15

 John 5:1-15

Thirty-eight years is a long time. Where were you thirty-eight years ago? In thirty eight years we can establish some very consistent and deeply rooted habits, patterns, and expectations. It is truly wonderful that after thirty eight years of defeat this man was not defeated. Jesus asked this man “Do you want to get well?” The man's answer is neither negative nor positive but an explanation. “Here's the reason I can't get into the Healing Waters”. Reasons and excuses can be similar; they can even be identical twins. The reality was that this man could not get into the waters first.  That was his reason; it may have been his excuse. Jesus asked the man the question to get him to confront himself.

That confrontation involves asking ourselves: “What do we really want?”  The Lord will not violate our freedom and our choice. For example while He wants holiness for us He will not impose it on us. When we plead, “Why am I not able to overcome sin in my life?” We have to ask, “Do I really want to overcome sin in my life?”  “Have I given authority in this matter to the powers of the world, the flesh or the devil so that my will and my wants are bent?” The first step toward holiness is to understand that this is a cooperative effort. The Lord will not do the good for us that He wants if we do not want that good as well. Jesus doesn't do any ice breakers or casual comments. It was the beginning of the core of divine-human interaction. The prayers for holiness or ministry or guidance are nothing if they are parrot talk. lip service, or mindless repetition. The real question with which Jesus consistently confronts us is “What do you really want?” We don't have to be perfect but we have to have a start or at least the start of the desire to start.

“Lord, help me to want or at least begin to want what You desire for me?”

John 4:43-54

John 4:43-54

Six words is all the man got for his trouble. But that was enough. While Jesus was in Cana of Galilee a man came to Him from Capernium this was a 20 mile trip one way. Having heard of, or perhaps seen some of Jesus's power he goes to plead for his boy’s life. Desperation is a powerful motivation and often the precursor of faith. Having pleaded with Jesus to come and heal his son this official gets a less than hoped for response. Jesus rebukes him, and in him all those who are wanting a miracle show. People like Herod; who wanted to sign from Jesus on the occasion of Jesus's trial. Faced with this rebuke what would the man do? The skeptic, the doubter, the show seeker could easily walk away. But this man presses on, his determination shows that  this is not about a show, this is about the word of the Lord.

Sometimes the Lord closes doors and is apparently unresponsive, not because He can't do what is asked or is unconcerned about our situation, but so that we can discover our own motives.  So we can see into our own hearts. We might paraphrase and expand this conversation this way.

Royal official: “Jesus come to my house and do a miracle for my sick son!”

Jesus: “Are you just wanting a show like so many other people and your son just happens to be the convenient occasion?”

Royal official: “Jesus please come down and help You are the only hope for my son!”

Seeing Jesus do a miracle would have been good. Having Jesus heal your son would have been better. Taking Jesus at His word is the best.

One of the challenges we have in our own hearts is to answer this question honestly, “What do I really want?” Are we wanting Jesus for Himself or what He can do for us? What is the deepest desire of our heart? Do we want a faith that exists because we've seen a miracle or do we want a faith that is based on the words and the person of Jesus? The rebuke, resistance, or rebuttal of God has more to do with our own searching of our hearts than God's giving or withholding good from us. “What do I really want?” We must answer that question honestly without religious jargon or artificial rhetoric.

“Lord, help me want You because of who You are.  AMEN”

John 4:27-42

 John 4:27-42

Often in the church there is a resistance to outsiders especially those who are notorious. Many churches say they want to grow, but within there is a subconscious desire that all the new people will be like those already in the church. People who seem different from us, especially those of morally questionable past, are a threat. Pimps, drug dealers, strippers, homosexuals, drunks, etc. tend to make us very uncomfortable. We prefer to see the conversion of nice people who, at their worst, would not worry us. That is perhaps one of the reasons that revival has not taken hold of the American Church recently. We don’t want genuine Revival, we only want mildly renewed interest. 

John makes a dramatic and uncomfortable point in versus 28-29. This woman of noteworthy bad moral character goes to the “men”. There has been a tendency, especially in recent times, to paint this woman as a victim. She is pictured as  an oppressed individual who has suffered at the hands of a patriarchal culture through five marriages and a cohabitation. There is some truth to that. But maybe we have downplayed her culpability a bit too much. Maybe she was a woman of failed marriages because she was so promiscuous. Perhaps she is more of a Messalina (Roman Emperor Claudius’ wife whose promiscuity was famous) then she was a victim. We have heard over and over she was at the well at noon to avoid the company of the women. Maybe she was at the well at noon because she was turning tricks to the very late hour the night before. This woman does not go to family or friends but to “the men of the city” and says, “come see a man who told me all the things I have done”. With whom had she done these things?

The church’s resistance to the notorious may have more to do with our desire to protect our own reputation and sense of propriety than anything else. If I'm sitting with the drunk, the whore, the cheat, the liar or any other vice I must either be convicted  by my sin and repent, or be convicted by my sin and made miserable by my guilt. Wanting neither of these we choose not to be with people like that, people like us. Perhaps the greatest indictment for any church is it has no formerly notorious sinners and it's misted.

“Grant to me Lord the grace of repentance, and the grace to love those who need Your grace. AMEN”

John 4:15-26

 John 4:15-26

People are profoundly religious.  They are also profoundly aware of their moral condition. Our religious inclinations and our moral conscience are bound together. In the course of the conversation Jesus brings to light this woman's moral condition. She was five times divorced and was currently cohabiting with a man outside of marriage. Often we have looked at this passage with an emphasis on pity for this woman. She is seen as a victim, and no doubt she was to some degree. But we should not neglect the fact that she was also a participant and had her own moral responsibilities. There is a dreadful tendency to direct blame to some unidentified and vague “other”.  Jesus would have none of that.  She carried a distinct burden of guilt and it was hers justly. She was not a wholly innocent victim.

Confronted with the reality of the immorality of her life she turns the conversation to a question of religion. Many argue that this is an attempt by the woman to change the subject to take attention off her personal situation and move it onto a discussion of the vagaries of the locale of sacrifice. That may be misguided. She didn’t need to ask questions about where sacrifices should occur.  Every Samaritan knew how Jews would answer this question and every Jew knew how Samaritans answered this question.

What if this question was about “How do I effectively deal with my guilt?” Perhaps she was, by the realization that Jesus was special, was compelled to face the core issue of her life. Confronted by guilt perhaps she wants an answer to the question “How can I become un-guilty?” Sacrifices on Mount Gerizim haven't worked. Would sacrifices on Mount Zion be more effective? Guilt can be a wonderful thing. It can turn us and compel us to find a real solution, not just a cover up. It must never be used as a way to manipulate people, but like any real thing it can have value.  And guilt is very, very real. We are reluctant to be frank and honest with people when they feel guilty. It is easier to patronize them with vague spiritual delicacies so we will not have to get into the nitty-gritty of what makes us feel guilty. We are afraid they will say we are judgmental. But an important distinction needs to be made, we are judged by our own hearts, guilt is just the reminder. A reminder we want to avoid. It is better that we face it.

“Lord, send your conviction on me so that I will always seek Your forgiveness.  AMEN”

John 4:1-14

 John 4:1-14

As is often the case there's a powerful message in a little-noticed phrase of scripture. This one sentence can have very profound meaning for us. In verse 4 John tells us “He had to pass through Samaria”. He “had” to! Jesus is God made flesh what can compel Him to do anything? Additionally Jews who traveled from Galilee to Judea had alternative routes that allowed them to avoid Samaria. Going through Samaria was by no means a geographic necessity. In fact, since Jesus and his disciples were baptizing in the Jordan then the route through Samaria was out of the way. The “had to” was not geography.

What was the compelling force that called Jesus to go through Samaria? The expression of necessity is descriptive of the will of God. What took Him to Samaria was that it was what the Father wanted. Did Jesus know He would encounter this woman there? Did He have a foresight of the universal and positive reception of the people of Sychar? Perhaps He did perhaps not but He was responding to the will of the Father  and that is what we need to take away from this verse.

How did Jesus know this was the will of God? Did He interpret circumstances correctly? Was there an inner conviction? Perhaps a voice, dream, or vision prompted Him? We don't know but whatever the means the message got through and that was because of the closeness of the Son to the Father. In Discerning the will of God more important than all other factors is the intimacy with the Father! All other factors or guides can only be meaningful when a disciple is close to the Lord.

“Lord, prompt me to stay so close to You that in every moment I will understand and know Your will.  AMEN”

John 3:16-21

 John 3:16-21

I killed a roach yesterday and I just don't care. I have no emotions about it one way or the other. Till it served as an illustration I did not think about it at all. In my emotional universe that roach was very far from the center.  As such, what happened to it had no bearing on my life or attention. Yesterday I also received some bad news, not devastating news. It was bad because it was about an organization I cared about but not devastating because this organization is not at the center of my emotional universe. The nearer someone or something is to the center of our emotional universe the more we care about what happens to it. As a parent or grandparent the least little thing that touches our child or grandchild is immensely important.

In versus 16 we see two powerful pictures of the center of God's emotional universe. First is the world,  “For God so loved the world...” We have said, read and quoted this verse so much that we may have lost the emotional power and passion of this verse. The grammar of the word “loved” indicates a supreme act of love that can never be repeated or superseded. These words are more than a doctrinal truth; they are a picture into God's passionate heart. The ‘giving’ here is not just the birth of Christ in Bethlehem but the whole plot of God's plan to send the Son to be our sin-bearing sacrifice.

The second picture of God's heart universe is the description of Jesus as the “only begotten”. Begotten is a word that we only use when we quote John 3:16 and so we may not understand it. Heretics claim that Jesus was less than God, in every heresy of all ages the heretics teach that the Son was made when He was begotten. In this understanding  the heretics are completely wrong. The word translated begotten would better be translated to describe the quality of Jesus as “absolutely unique” and not a sort of “becoming or beginning”.   Begotten also expresses the idea of “only” and “precious”. The love of a Father expressed for Jesus is as the unique and precious Son. Jesus is eternally begotten, eternally passionately loved.

John 3:16 expresses great theological truth about Redemption but that truth is in the two great loves of God the love for the Son and the love for the world.

“Lord, help me to live in the reality of Your Love.  AMEN”

John 3:22-36

 John 3:22-36

We live in a world in which everyone is not only allowed to be but actually encouraged to be narcissistic. We are all told to have or create our own brand, to brand ourselves to be famous, and to make ourselves famous. One person described her career as an “Internet personality”. With the use of social media we can build for ourselves the illusion, or perhaps a better way of saying it, the delusion that our place is at the center of the social media universe. We imagine that our lives are so compelling that people will want to know what we are doing. Our thoughts are so profound people will want to know what we are thinking, and our appearance is so magnificent that people will want to look at us. We think that if we can have our own universe with ourselves at the center we will have all that we want.

John the Baptist was nearly the perfect opposite of this kind of thinking. His statement and vs 30 is profound and ought to be the theme of every disciple’s life. As we are making  new disciples they ought to grow so that they are more and more attracted to Jesus and their focus on us ought to decrease. John wanted to become invisible to be unseen so that all focus and attention would be on Jesus. John's role as the “friend of the bridegroom” was significant but no one believes that a wedding is about the best man. The best man’s real importance is to point to the real priority of the couple's wedding, the couple. John's light would grow dimmer and dimmer Jesus's light would grow brighter and brighter.

Most people do not believe that Jesus was born on December 25th. That date was chosen for the Feast of the Nativity for, among other reasons, because of the winter solstice when the days begin getting longer the light begins to increase. The church also set the celebration of John’s birth for June 24th the summer solstice when the days begin to get shorter and the light decreases.

One of the great tragedies of the last generations is that many in ministry have shifted the focus to themselves and have grown their church as a cult of personality. The very root and center of hell is the attempt to move God from the throne at the center of the universe and take that seat for ourselves.

“Lord, forever keep in awe of Jesus, may I be invisible so I will never distract anyone from looking at Jesus.  AMEN”

John 3:1-15

 John 3:1-15

We are here today because at some point in the past our biological father and our biological mother shared a moment of physical intimacy.  The result of that physical act is our physical presence. While reproductive science has explained much of the event of conception it is nonetheless a marvel and a mystery. For the ancients it was even more mysterious, not having our scientific explanation. In parallel to the wonder of physical birth and conception our spiritual birth is easier to see and experience than it is to explain, it is a great mystery.

Why is it that sometimes a husband and a wife will conceive a child and other times they will not? Why is it that some people will hear the call of Jesus and become disciples and others will not? These are both mysterious. We sometimes treat evangelism and soul winning as a mechanical process. We present the “Roman Road”, the “Four Spiritual Laws”, “The Two Diagnostic Questions” or “The Five Finger Exercise” as mathematical problems that if followed properly will end up making disciples. We fail to consider the unfathomability of the Spirit.

There's a play on words in verse 8 that does not show up in English. The Hebrew word for Spirit and Wind are the same. The sound of the wind was the voice of the Spirit. How easy is it to capture control and direct the wind? Even the advances of science can't fully explain the wind. What voice or message is hidden in the Wind? Why does it blow in one place and not in another? The wind is better known by experience than by the textbook. Better to fly a kite, sail a boat, or watch clouds race overhead than to sit in a classroom and listen to a lecture on meteorology, even if that lecture was a wonderful lecture of great value. Better to live in the reality of the Spirit’s leading, direction and prompting than to absorb the dry intellectualism of a Pharisee knowledge such as Nicodemus had.

“Lord, keep me attentive to the breeze of Your Holy Spirit. Amen”

John 2:12 - 25

 John 2:12 - 25 

The last three verses of this passage exist in the shadow of the temple cleansing and the conversation with Nicodemus. During this first trip to Jerusalem Jesus apparently did a number of signs or miracles. When Jesus performed miracles it was always for the purpose of pointing toward the Father. These acts of wonder and power did not happen for themselves, but had a greater purpose than just the event. We're not told what are how many miracles Jesus did but there were enough to create a stir or a buzz in the city.

It would seem that this would have been a great time for Jesus to have mass teaching or large event in order to gather a following. But we see Jesus doing the opposite. Before long Jesus will leave Jerusalem and Judea and go back to Galilee. Why, at this moment of popularity, did Jesus walk away? There is an interesting contrast in this passage. In verse 23 we see “Many believed in His Name beholding His signs.” Then in verse 24 “But Jesus, on His part was not entrusting Himself to them for He knew all men.”  These people had faith in Jesus but still Jesus did not trust them. The signs excited the people. They were enthusiastic about the show and what they saw. But Jesus puts no confidence in excitement and enthusiasm. These two are wonderful by products of a commitment to the person of Jesus, but they can never be the substance and core of that commitment. The people believed in the signs and were exhilarated by the show but were not ready to take up a cross. They were glad to see the spectacular and receive the benefits.  But to die to self and serve, to give up their agenda was unthinkable. Jesus knew the difference between large crowds of self-interested fanatics and faithful to the point of death disciples.  Jesus rejected the opportunity to have a great following and huge numbers. 

In too many cases the church fails to reject the shallow enthusiasm of the mass crowd. In fact because the “scoreboard” we watch most carefully is the measurement of attendance we often embrace shallow enthusiast. We justify this by saying we will get people to come to grand exciting events and they will mature in their faith later. But this has two problems.  First Jesus’ is pattern was for men to count the cost before they committed themselves to follow. Second in practical terms we rarely see the growth into maturity that we say will eventually happen. Always looking for one more person our churches almost never provide the substance needed for growth. Jesus would have been a terrible Church growth Pastor but He was an excellent disciple maker 11 of the 12 first disciple were faithful till death.

“Lord, protect me from shallow excitement and grant me complete dedication. AMEN”

John 2:1 - 11

 John 2:1 - 11 

After turning the water to wine John tells us this was the first sign Jesus did and He "...manifested His glory and His disciples believed Him".  The disciples would have an imperfect faith. They would misunderstand what Jesus intended as far as His kingdom was concerned. They would have moments of fear and doubt, times of pride and ego, and occasions of denial but at least faith had begun.

John the eyewitness is writing this record of the event 60 to 70 years after it occurred. Sometimes memories are lost, faded or confused. But some occasions are so momentous that we can recall them and dynamic and vivid detail for the rest of our lives. This memory is a recall of a moment where everything changed. It was a instant that meant nothing would ever be the same again. John the author had apparently been a follower of John the Baptist. He had heard the soul-stirring preaching. He had seen the people come in droves to hear the prophet. He was intrigued by the promises and warnings of the coming of God's judgment and the call to repentance. He had also paid close attention to John the Baptist directing his disciples to Jesus.

To this point we have no indication that Jesus had done any of these things. There were no mass gatherings of crowds there were no fiery sermons or calls for a life changing repentance. If the timeline is correct this is the first week of Jesus’ Ministries.  To this point John the disciple may have had only a few quiet conversations with Jesus. Then came the wedding feast, the wine shortage, and the first miracle and after that nothing would ever be the same.

We use markers AD and BC to make dates on our time scale.  Secular people are more likely to use BCE and ACE for the demarcation of time. For John the time line may have been marked with BW and AW, “Before wine” and After Wine”. Today may be the day when we experience a moment that will change everything, a moment that will mean greater ways than ever before we will focus our attention on Christ. And these days most often come without any warning.

“Lord, change my world Your servant awaits Your call.  AMEN”

John 1:43-51

 John 1:43-51

Remember the old saying “You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet”. that might be an appropriate description of this passage. Jesus found Philip! The fact that God was looking for someone should cause our hearts to explode with the idea of being called by God. Then Philip found Nathaniel. The message of the Gospel has always been more effectively communicated in the personal connections of our natural affections and relationships.   This ought to serve as a reminder of the preiority we need to have in making disciples. but when Nathaniel comes to Jesus, Jesus begins telling Nathaniel about himself and about how long he has known him. Jesus knows Nathaniel better than Nathaniel knows himself.

That was apparently a shocking moment for Nathaniel. Because it was enough for him to have faith that Jesus was in fact the Son of God and the king of Israel. This great confession predates Peter's confession by several months. Nathaniel is overwhelmed by the knowledge the power and the person of Jesus Christ. That's when we come to the “You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet” moment. Nathaniel was impressed by a very small expression of Jesus's supernatural knowledge. Then Jesus says, “you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man”. In other words Nathaniel, “you ain't seen nothing yet”.

We have not seen anything yet either. As we are prepared to go deeper and deeper and our relationship with Christ, He is prepared to show and do deeper and greater things with us. Unfortunately, often, we are content with a little bit of Jesus in our daily life and a routine mundane service on the weekend. In the three years that will follow Nathaniel have his mind blown over and over and over again. It will be beyond his comprehension what happens at Calvary and on Easter morning. The experience of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost the birth of the church the expansion of the Gospel around the world were all more than Nathaniel could have possibly imagined in this moment.  So with us, if we will begin to glimpse who Christ is then go a little deeper in our relationship with Him the things He has in store for us are  far beyond the Trinkets and Treasures of this world, and the experiences of this lifetime and the pathtic self image we have.  I can promise you if you will live as a disciple of Jesus, “You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet”. 

Lord, grant that I will be ever growing in my relationship with Jesus. AMEN