Advent Sermon Transcript November 27, The Amen of Christmas Jesus: Heaven and Earth Meet John 1:43-51

Transcription

1 Advent 2016 Sermon Transcript November 27, 2016 The Amen of Christmas Jesus: Heaven and Earth Meet John 1:43-51 This message from the Bible was addressed originally to the people of Wethersfield Evangelical Free Church on November 27, 2016 at 511 Maple Street, Wethersfield, CT, by Dr. Scott W. Solberg. This is a transcription that bears the strength and weaknesses of oral delivery. It is not meant to be a polished essay. An audio copy of the sermon on CD is available by request at (860) An audio version of this sermon may also be found on the church website at 1

2 Sermon Text John 1: The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, Follow me. 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. 46 Nathanael said to him, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him, Come and see. 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit! 48 Nathanael said to him, How do you know me? Jesus answered him, Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. 49 Nathanael answered him, Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel! 50 Jesus answered him, Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these. 51 And he said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. 2

3 Advent 2016: The Amen of Christmas The theme of our Advent series is The Amen of Christmas. The word amen is something we customarily say at the end of a prayer. But the word amen is far more than something that signals we have come to the end of our prayer. Unfortunately, I think for many of us it has become a word that simply means, that s all... I am done with my prayer now. And yet, it is a word that actually means something. It is a Hebrew word and it means to confirm. Every now and then, during the preaching of a sermon, you may hear someone sitting in the congregation responding to a point that is being made by saying, Amen! What they are saying with this expression is that they are in agreement with what was just said. They give their assent to the point that was just made. They are confirming it to be true. And so they say, Amen! Reflecting on how we often casually use this word at the end of a prayer, it gave me pause to consider what I am actually saying when I end my prayer with the word Amen. Literally what I am saying is may it be so in accordance with the will of God. This reminds us of the purpose for prayer. Hank Hanegraaff said of the word amen, It is a marvelous reminder that any discussion on prayer must begin with an understanding that prayer is a means of brining us in conformity with God s will, not a magic mantra that ensures God s conformity to ours. 1 In other words, I don t want to give an Amen to my words. Rather, I want my Amen to be attached to the will and the words of an all-wise God. I want to say, so be it to what God says. This is another reason to get into the practice of praying the Lord s Prayer because you can be sure it is a prayer according to the will of God. You can put your amen to that prayer. And yet, no matter what I pray, at the end of my prayer, I am taking my requests and I am submitting them to the perfect will of God and at the end of the day, I am entrusting myself to the One who knows best. That is what I am saying when I end my prayer with Amen. May it be so in accordance with the will of God. Amen! Jesus uses this Hebrew word amen rather often in the gospels. But when Jesus uses this word, he puts it at the beginning of a phrase, not at the end of a prayer. There are twenty-five times in the Gospel of John we hear Jesus say, Verily, Verily, I say unto you. Or as the ESV puts it, Truly, truly, I say to you. The first time we find this expression in the Gospel of John is in our passage this morning. We hear Jesus say in John 1:51, Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. The word translated truly is the Hebrew word amen. In fact, in the Gospel of John, there are twenty-five statements where Jesus begins with a double amen. One can only conclude that what he is about to say 3

4 following this double amen is important and true and he wants those listening to him to hear what he is about to say. Between now and the first Sunday of January, we will look at six of these statements made by Jesus in the Gospel of John. Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened John 1:43-51 Truly, truly, I say to you, you must be born again John 3:1-15 Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the bread of life John 6:22-59 Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am John 8:31-59 Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep John 10:1-21 Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you - John 16:16-24 If you notice, each of these double amen statements tell us something about Jesus. These double amen statements tell us something about this baby who was born in a stable and who was found lying in a manger. These double amen statements tell us why angels were singing and shepherds were bowing the night of his birth and why Magi from the East traveled from far off brining gifts for him that were fit for a king. These double amen statements require a response from us as well. We need to decide how we will respond to the claims of Jesus. The real question for you to ponder this Advent Season is whether or not you can put your amen to the double amen of Jesus. If you can, it will change your life. Jesus is the Amen of Christmas! Jacob s Ladder Before we look at our first double amen statement of Jesus found in John 1:51, it would be helpful if we first looked at a story that comes from the Old Testament, Genesis 28. This is the story of Jacob s Ladder. When Jesus says of himself in John 1:51, Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man, he is alluding to this ancient story that took place almost 2,000 years prior to Jesus making this statement in John 1. Jacob was the last of the patriarchs of the nation of Israel. The promise God gave to Abraham was that he would have many descendants, become a great nation and through the descendants of Abraham, God would bring his blessing to this world. Late in life, Abraham and Sarah gave birth to a son by the name of Isaac. It was through Isaac that God s promise was carried forward. Isaac had twin sons, Esau and Jacob. It was through Jacob, the younger of the twin sons, that God had chosen to fulfill the promise he had made to Abraham. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are the patriarchs of Israel. 4

5 Now God didn t choose to fulfill his promise to Abraham through Jacob because Jacob was this man of great noble character and faith. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Jacob was a scoundrel. In fact, his name means to deceive or to cheat. Two times we see him deceiving and downright stealing the blessing reserved for the firstborn son. When Esau discovered what his brother had done in stealing his father s blessing as the one through whom the promise of God would be fulfilled, with anguish he cried out in Genesis 27:36, Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me these two times. He took away my birthright, now he has taken away my blessing. Consequently, Esau s hatred for his brother consumed him and he sought to exact his revenge by killing him. And so Jacob fled to the home country of his mother. That first day he traveled forty -three miles by foot. Exhausted from his long day of travel, he found a stone for a pillow and he fell asleep. While he was asleep he had a dream. In Genesis 28:12, we discover that in this dream he saw a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached the heaven... and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. Can you imagine how encouraging this dream must have been to Jacob? Often when we are going through difficulty and hardship, it seems like heaven is somewhat removed from the affairs of earth and God is distant to us. And yet, though he could not see it with the naked eye, this dream of a stairway to heaven with angels ascending and descending upon it was a vision that God was right there with him and God was taking care of him. In fact, that is the point of the dream because in this dream, at the top of the ladder stood the LORD. God was there all the time. In this dream, God said two things to Jacob that changed his life. The first thing God did was restate the promise he had given to Abraham. The land on which you lie, I will give to you and your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth... and in you and your offspring shall all the families be blessed. Through Jacob, God will keep the promise he made to Abraham. And then, in verse 15, God promises to go with him. He says, Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you. This was such a profound experience for Jacob that it turned him into a worshiper of God. Allen Ross introduces this passage by making the following observation, The clear revelation of God s gracious dealings can transform a worldly individual into a worshiper. 2 That is exactly what happened with Jacob. He set up a pillar and called the place Bethel, which means house of God. He said of his experience, How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. At this very place he saw heaven and earth meet. And so he made a vow based on the 5

6 promise of God that when God brings him back to this land, there would be a house for God in the Promised Land. Indeed, God kept his promise and one day Jacob did return. Indeed, God had been with him, for he returned with twelve sons who would become the twelve tribes of Israel and his name was changed from Jacob to Israel. God kept his promise. God s presence was with him the entire time. And a place of worship for God was established in the land of Israel. Come and See With this background in mind, we now come to our passage in John 1. It is the very beginning of the earthly ministry of Jesus and in this chapter he is gathering his earliest followers. Jesus had already been identified as the Messiah through his baptism by John the Baptist. Then one day, John was standing with two of his own disciples and he pointed to Jesus and said, Behold, the Lamb of God. Curious about this Jesus, these two disciples start to follow Jesus and Jesus turns around and asks them, What are you seeking? And they said to him, Rabbi (which means Teacher), where are you staying? To which Jesus offered the simple invitation, Come and you will see. These two men were none other than Andrew and Peter. The story continues in verse 43, The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, Follow me. Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. This tells us something about Andrew, Peter, Philip and Nathaniel. They were young men of devout faith. Their association with John the Baptist would indicate that they were part of the crowd drawn down to the waters when John was preaching a message of repentance and preparing the way for the coming Messiah. They were students of what we call the Old Testament. No doubt, they had large portions of the Old Testament memorized and they knew that there was promise of a coming Messiah who would bring peace and justice. We mentioned a few weeks ago that when Jesus spoke of the coming kingdom of God, this was not some foreign idea to them. Everyone was longing for the coming kingdom of God and the coming of this kingdom was tied to a coming king, a son of David, who would reign forever. We sing from one of these prophets every Christmas when we sing, For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. This prophecy by Isaiah was written 700 years before the coming of Jesus. And now, Andrew and Peter and Philip believe they have found the one the prophets spoke about so long ago. 6

7 But when Nathaniel receives this news from Philip, he is skeptical. When Philip says to Nathaniel, We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph, Nathaniel seems to immediately dismiss him by saying, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? In other words, how can the promised Messiah, the hope of the entire Old Testament, come from such an insignificant little town such as Nazareth. Of course, we look at this statement with somewhat of a knowing smile, because everything about the birth of Jesus seems to defy what you would expect of the birth of the Messiah, the promised king. Born in a stable, lying in a manger, born of a simple woman who was betrothed to a carpenter. His birth was announced to lowly shepherds. It doesn t surprise us at all that Jesus would come from a lowly town like Nazareth. But Nathaniel found that to be somewhat odd for the one who would sit on the throne of David and over God s kingdom forever. But don t you just love how Philip responds to the skeptic. He doesn t try to argue with him. He simply says, Come and see. I recently had a conversation with a woman on the phone who was asking me questions about faith. She told me that she had been reading different authors, listening to different podcasts, all with the intent of searching for the answer. I commended her for her honest pursuit and she asked good questions. But I said to her that as long as her search is limited to reading books and listening to podcasts, it remains purely an intellectual pursuit. I am not saying that God can t penetrate the heart and show himself in this way. But I suggested to her that if she is really looking and really seeking that she go to a church. It was an invitation that simply said, Come and see. There is something about the gathering of God s people that you can t fully capture in books. We have a saying around here that goes like this: Belong, Believe, Become. It is a great invitation to a seeker. We want you to know that no matter where you are in your journey, even if you are skeptical, you belong here. We have confidence that if you hang out long enough you will believe. Do you know why? Not only will you hear about Jesus, but you will see Jesus in the love of God s people. And then, we let God change your life for the good. That puts you in the same boat as the rest of us. We are all still under construction as God is changing us. But like Philip we have encountered the Messiah who has changed our lives and we simply say to the skeptic, Come and see! To his credit, Nathaniel responded to Philip s invitation. As he approaches Jesus, Jesus initiates conversation with this greeting to Nathaniel, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit. Now Nathaniel had never met Jesus before, and here is Jesus making comment on Nathaniel s character. Jesus was saying of Nathaniel, Here is a man above reproach, a righteous and devout man of faith. But somewhat taken back, 7

8 Nathaniel responds, How do you know me? And then Jesus says something that changes the heart of this skeptic, Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. Now Jesus wasn t hiding in the bushes spying on Nathaniel when Philip approached him. Rather, through his response to Nathaniel, Jesus was revealing his divine nature. Though Jesus was not physically present, he saw Nathaniel. Immediately, Nathaniel knew there was something supernatural about this Jesus. He said in response, Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel! I have come to believe that when Jesus responded to Nathaniel he was saying far more than, I happened to see where you were sitting when Philip told you about me. I think Jesus was actually saying, I know what you were doing when Philip came to you. I think Nathaniel was meditating on Scripture when Philip came to him and I think he was specifically meditating on the story of Jacob s ladder. Just think of the greeting that Jesus gave to Nathaniel when he said, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit. Remember, Jacob s name meant to deceive and his name was later changed to Israel. Can you imagine how this greeting would cause Nathaniel to pause if he had just been reading about Jacob? In fact, one translator translates this verse this way, an Israelite in whom there is no Jacob. 3 And so just as Jacob went through this transformation from being called Jacob to being called Israel here is Nathaniel, a true worshiper of the God of Israel. Somewhat surprised that Jesus would allude to Jacob in addressing him with such knowledge, he was further taken back when Jesus said, when you were under the fig tree I saw you. It might have been a literal fig tree he was sitting under because the shade of the tree was often a place for meditation, study and prayer. Or, the fig tree was often considered a figure of speech for one s home. Whatever the case, Leon Morris says of this statement that Jesus makes to Nathaniel, It seems probable that Nathaniel had had some outstanding experience of communion with God in the privacy of this own home, and it is this to which Jesus refers. 4 And this is why Nathaniel responded so quickly with this confession of faith, Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel! Only God could know such things. I would say to the skeptic who might be here this morning, God still does that. It is part of how God reveals himself to us. I can t tell you how many times I have someone say to me on a Sunday, I felt like you were talking directly to me this morning. Now I am not suggesting that I had the kind of knowledge of you, the congregation, that Jesus had of Nathaniel. But what I am suggesting is that God has that kind of intimate knowledge of your life. And often, God takes his Word that is spoken and speaks it directly to your situation in life. That is what causes us to respond like Nathaniel did, Jesus, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel! Knowledge like this leads us to worship. 8

9 Jesus: Where Heaven and Earth Meet I love how Jesus responds to Nathaniel s profession of faith. In verse 50 Jesus said, Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these. In other words, if Nathaniel was amazed at the knowledge Jesus had of him while he was in a very private moment, he hasn t seen anything yet. Then alluding to Jacob s ladder, what most likely Nathaniel had just been meditating on, Jesus gives us our first double amen. Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. There is something significant that happens at the beginning of this double amen statement. Up to this point, Jesus was having a one on one conversation with Nathaniel. When he says in verse 50, Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these, it was a very personally directed conversation between Jesus and Nathaniel. In fact, in this verse the word you is in the singular form, because the you here is just Nathaniel. He was the one sitting under the fig tree. But when Jesus turns in verse 51 and says, Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man., the you here is plural, indicating that Jesus is making a truth claim about himself that is for all of us to hear and it requires all of us to respond. So what is Jesus telling us about himself through this allusion to Jacob s ladder? Well for starters, Jesus is making the claim to be the link between heaven and earth. If you go back to the story of Jacob s ladder in Genesis 28, in his dream, Jacob sees angels ascending and descending on a ladder. At the top of the ladder is the L:ORD. Through this dream, Jacob was assured of the constant care and presence of God in his life. But if you notice in John 1:51, there is no ladder mentioned. Rather, the angels are seen ascending and descending on the Son of Man. Jesus is portrayed here as the ladder. Jesus is the link between heaven and earth. Jacob said of the place where he had that dream, this is the gate of heaven. That is what Jesus is saying about himself. Jesus is the link between heaven and earth. He opens heaven to us. And I am not just talking about a place to go when we die. But like Jacob learned in that dream, Jesus brings the promise of God s blessing to us, ensures us of the presence of God in our lives and he is the place where we actually meet God. I want to make brief comment on the promise, the presence and the place of God from this double amen statement made by Jesus. The Promise of God: When Jesus makes this first double amen statement in the gospel of John, he is actually claiming to be the promise of God s blessing to this broken world. 9

10 When Jacob had that dream, God reiterated the promise that had been made to Abraham, in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Through Israel, God would bring his blessing to this world. The tension you feel as the Old Testament unfolds is this: for the nation of Israel to be the source of God s blessing to this world, they needed to be obedient to God. As the story unfolds, they were anything but that. Where then lies our hope? Our hope lies in Jesus, who was tempted but was without sin. Paul points to our hope in Galatians 3:16 when he says, Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say and to offsprings, referring to many, but referring to one, And to your offspring, who is Christ Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham to bless the world and so through this statement, Jesus claims to be greater than Jacob. Jesus is the true Israel who brings the promise of God s blessing and salvation to all the families of the earth who respond like Nathaniel and say, You are the Son of God! The King of Israel! The Presence of God: Secondly, through this double amen statement, Jesus is making the claim to be the presence of God. In this verse, Jesus refers to himself as the Son of Man. This was the title Jesus liked to use the most in referring to himself. He uses it over 80 times in the gospels of himself. It is a term that comes from Daniel 7:13 where Daniel has a vision and he writes, behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man. He goes on to say about this son of man, his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. So the title son of man is not just a title that speaks to the humanity of Jesus. Rather it speaks to the glorious coming of the kingdom of God on earth. Some day it will come in full and with force, but as we saw a couple of weeks ago, it has already come in the person of Jesus. Through the cross and the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, we know for certain that God s kingdom has come and that there is now redemption, the forgiveness of our sins. Through the mustard seed of God s kingdom, the witness of the church, the presence of God is expanding throughout the world. Truly, the message of Christmas is that God is with us. The Place of God: When Jacob awoke from his dream, he renamed that place Bethel. He said, How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God. So he marked it by setting up a pillar and claimed that when he returned to the land God was giving him, there would be a place of worship for the living God. When Jesus makes this first double amen statement, he is claiming to be that Bethel, the place where you worship and meet the living God. I find it fascinating that a few chapters later, in John 4, Jesus is seen having that familiar encounter with the woman at the well. Again, like Nathaniel, he reveals his knowledge of her life, that she had five husbands and the one 10

11 Conclusion she was currently with was not her husband. Interestingly, Jacob came up in their conversation. When Jesus claimed to have living water and that the one who drinks of it will never grow thirsty, she said, Are you greater than our father Jacob? Knowing what you know now from John 1, you would say, Yes! Jesus is greater than Jacob. But then the conversation turned to worship. Where should we worship? Samaritans worshiped God on this mountain and Jews on that mountain. Do you remember what Jesus said in response? Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.... The hour is coming when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. She then said that when the Messiah comes, he will tell us all things. Then Jesus said, I who speak to you am he. He is the place where we meet God. Jesus is the promise of God. Jesus is the presence of God. Jesus is the place of God. Do you know what is great about the constant flow of angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man? It is a reminder that now that heaven is open to us through Jesus, there is an unceasing and unending connection between God and the people of faith. Sometimes, like Jacob you are blind to the spiritual reality around you, and yet it is nonetheless real. As people of faith, our confidence rests in that God has drawn near to us in the person of Jesus. He is the promise of God s blessing of salvation. He is the presence of God and his never ending kingdom. He is the place where we meet the living God. All of this is offered to us because of what Jesus did for us on the cross and through his resurrection from the dead. The question is, can you say amen to this by putting your trust and your faith in the one who said, Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. If he has spoken to your heart, turn from your sin and turn in faith to Jesus and in Jesus you will find the link between heaven and earth. How awesome is this place! 1 Hank Hanegraaff Why do people end their prayers with Amen? August 26, Allen P. Ross Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the Study and Exposition of Genesis (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1988) Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995) Ibid., 146 by Dr. Scott Solberg - All rights reserved 11

12 Sermon Title: Jesus: Heaven and Earth Meet Sermon Text: John 1:43-51 Sermon Date: November 27, 2016 Getting To Know Me Questions 1. What was a highlight of your Thanksgiving celebration? 2. What steps can you take this Advent Season to ensure that the worship of Jesus is the focus of your celebration of Christmas? Share ideas and best practices with each other. 3. As a group, discuss how you feel things are going in your community group and what your plans are for meeting during December and when you will start up again in January. Diving Into The Word 4. Read Genesis 28: What words of encouragement do you find from Jacob s dream? How do these words of encouragement speak directly to your current situation in life? 5. Read John 1: Take note of how news about Jesus passes from one person to the next. What is the common invitation given to people in this passage? How does this help us understand what it looks like to share our faith with others? 6. Read John 1: When Jesus revealed intimate knowledge of Nathaniel s life, Nathaniel immediately recognized that Jesus was God. Have you ever experienced God s Word speaking directly to your life? What was that like and how did it shape your faith? 7. Ready John 1: How is Jesus the link between heaven and earth? How does it encourage you to know that through Jesus the angels are ascending and descending on the Son of Man? What does that mean for your current situation in life? Taking It Home 8. Can you identify someone you can turn to with the invitation, Come and see? If so, share the name with your group and pray for that person? Consider putting an open seat in your group and pray that God fills it with someone who is seeking for God. 9. In your time of prayer, give thanks to God for what you learned about Jesus in this study. 12