The Walk. The Life You've Always Wanted"

Transcription

1 The Walk The Life You've Always Wanted" If you missed the sermon, you'll find the podcast, and other related information, at Bottom line - Don't settle for anything less than God's best! Scriptures - John 5:40 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. John 14:6 6 Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 10:28

2 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. John 10:10 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. John 20: Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. Icebreaker Are you receiving the daily texts for The Walk? Were you in the habit already of reading your Bible and praying daily? Has this been a helpful guide? Questions: 1. We think often about Savior and Lord, but we don't often think of him as. (hint: see John 1:3) How does this change the way you pray?

3 2. What does it mean to be "born again"? (see John 3:3) 3. Read Ephesians 2:1-10 together as a small group. Brother David reminded us that, "To truly appreciate the gift of spiritual life, we have to remember that we were once dead spiritually." Based on this passage (John 1:1-14), what do we learn about Jesus? About man? What is 1 action step you could take based on this passage? 4. Jesus came so that we could have true life. Abundantly. (John 10:10) Brother David fleshed out an abundant life as: a life of significance, fulfillment, and meaning a life lived above circumstances a life that can say no, because what we have is better a life that counts Which of the above resonates with you most powerfully in your life right now? Why? 5. The fact that Jesus is fully man means he is able to identify with us, and left us a perfect example of how to live.

4 How can you use this truth to speak hope and life into someone else? Script below what you could say. 6. According to statistics, the death rate at this point is 100%. Everybody will die. What is our culture's view of heaven? How do you often hear it described? Based on the truth that Brother David shared with us, according to the Scriptures, how would you describe heaven now? 7. As a small group, head on over to and consider what you're going to do individually, and as a group, throughout this series. How will you "Grow," "Give," and "Move"? Are you receiving the daily challenges?

5 CLOSER: Prayer Time Idea - Pray for the work that God's going to do in our church and throughout our world through this 40-day church wide campaign. Biblical Background FOR THE LEADER: John Presents the Revelation in a Nutshell (1:1-5) These first five verses provide the frame of reference and the main components for the story to follow sort of a prologue to the prologue. We get the story in the right perspective by beginning in eternity (vv. 1-2) and then moving to creation (v. 3). The key ingredients follow, namely, incarnation (v. 4) and conflict (v. 5). John's opening echoes Genesis (Gen 1:1), but whereas Genesis refers to the God's activity at the beginning of creation, here we learn of a being who existed before creation took place. In the beginning the Word already was.so we actually start before the beginning, outside of time and space in eternity. If we want to understand who Jesus is, John says, we must begin with the relationship shared between the Father and the Son "before the world began" (Jn 17:5, 24). This relationship is the central revelation of this Gospel and the key to understanding all that Jesus says and does.the first verse is very carefully constructed to refer to the personal distinctness yet the essential oneness of the Word with God. To be with God means the Word is distinct from him. The word with(pros) in a context like this is used to indicate personal relationship, not mere proximity (cf. Mk 6:3). But he alsowas God; that is, there is an identity of being between them. These two truths seem impossible to reconcile logically, and yet both must be held

6 with equal firmness. At this point John simply affirms this antinomy, but later he will reveal more of the relations of the Father and the Son, as well as of the Holy Spirit. John does not reflect philosophically on the Holy Trinity but bears witness to it as the eternal reality, leaving it to later teachers to try to expound its bright mystery. To speak of the Word (logos) in relation to the beginning of creation would make sense to both Jews and Greeks. In some schools of Greek thought, the universe is kosmos, an ordered place, and what lies behind the universe and orders it is reason (logos). For the Jews, creation took place through God's speech (Gen 1; Ps 33:6). Furthermore, in John's day "word" was often associated with "wisdom" (for example, Wisdom of Solomon 9:1; cf. Breck 1991:79-98), and John will often use wisdom motifs to speak of Jesus (cf. Willett 1992). For example, like the Word who was with God, Wisdom is said to have been "at his side" at the creation (Prov 8:30). As this passage suggests, God's word and wisdom were often spoken of as if they were persons (for example, Wisdom of Solomon 18:14-16; Prov 8:1 9:18; Job 28; cf. Hengel 1974:1:153-56). The Jews did not view these personifications as divine personal beings distinct from God, thereby challenging monotheism (Hurtado 1988:41-50). However, a redefinition of monotheism is called for with the coming of Jesus (for example, Jn 1:14, 18; 5:16-18). Thus the use of "word" and "wisdom" within Judaism was of enormous help to the Christians as they tried to understand and express the reality they found in Jesus. Jesus is what the "word" and "wisdom" were, and much more. The description of Wisdom as the master worker at God's side at creation (Prov 8:22-31) is now echoed in John's declaration that the Word was the agent of all creation (1:3). As agent he is distinct from the Creator. God the Father is viewed throughout the Gospel as the ultimate source of all, including the Son and the Spirit. But life did not simply come through the Word but was in the Word (1:4). Only God is the source of life, and it is a mark of Jesus' distinctness and deity that the Father "has granted the Son to have life in himself" (5:26).

7 By stating both positively and negatively that the Word is the agent of all creation (1:3), John emphasizes that there were no exceptions: the existence of absolutely all things came by this Word. Although with verse 3 we move from eternity to creation, we are still dealing with facts hard to comprehend. Until discoveries made in the 1920s, the Milky Way was thought to be the entire universe, but now we realize there are many billions of galaxies. Science is helping us spiritually, for it silences us before God in wonder and awe. But this verse also helps us put science in its proper place. The universe is incredibly wonderful, so how much more wonderful must be the one upon whose purpose and power it depends. "The builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself" (Heb 3:3). Because the earliest manuscripts had no verse numbers, nor even spaces between words and sentences, it is sometimes hard to know where one sentence ends and another begins. Such is the case with verses 3 and 4. Many commentators, ancient and modern, divide the text as in the NIV, but many others think the final words of verse 3 belong with verse 4: "What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people" (NRSV). Either option would fit John's style and thought, but the NRSV option reflects how all the earliest commentators took the text, suggesting this was the more natural reading for native speakers. At a later date the orthodox began taking it as in the NIV because of misuses by false teachers who took ho gegonen ("what was made in him") to include the Holy Spirit, thus making the Spirit a creature (cf. Chrysostom In John 5.1). If the text reads "what has come into being in him was life," this could refer to those who came to have union with God in the Son, a major theme of this Gospel. If so, John has moved from creation in verse 3 to re-creation, as it were, in verse 4. The quality of life in the sphere of creation is not yet the deepest life, the divine life in the Word. This idea is true to John's thought, but he does not use light of men to refer to the new order of life now offered in Jesus. So most likely the reference is to the incarnation, declaring that what took place in the Word at his incarnation was the manifestation of life itself (cf. 1 Jn 1:1-2). This allusion to the

8 incarnation would only be evident to those who understand Jesus' identity as revealed in the rest of the Gospel. His life, manifest in the incarnation, is our light (Jn 1:4). In this Gospel light always refers to the revelation and salvation that Jesus is and offers (cf. 8:12; 11:9 is the one exception). In order to have life we need to know God, and Jesus is our source of such knowledge. As our light, his life is our guide. He is our wisdom, that which reveals all else to us and enables us to see. In Jewish thought it is the law that plays this role (for example, Wisdom of Solomon 18:4; cf. Hengel 1974:1:171; 2:112; Kittel 1967:134-36), but for John it is the incarnation of the Word that makes sense of all of life. Thus, here at the outset we have the two most fundamental affirmations about Jesus in this Gospel, namely that he himself is the presence of God's own life and light and that he makes this life and light available to human beings. In one profound sentence we have the central assertion of this Gospel concerning the revelation of the Son and the salvation he offers. The story will reveal the glory described in these opening verses, but it will be a tragic story of conflict, because humanity is in the darkness of rebellion. The shining of the light is an ongoing, continuous activity (phainei, present tense, v. 5), for it is the very nature of light to shine. But when that light and life came amongst us as a human being, the darkness did not grasp, or master, the light; it neither comprehended it nor overcame it (katelaben; cf. the NIV text and note). The story will show both senses of this word to be true. The Light Came into the World (1:6-13) Using the image of light John now describes the incarnation in more detail, but he still does not refer to it explicitly. Nothing in this section, as in the last, need refer to a distinct person at all. Throughout there are analogies to what is said of Wisdom in the wisdom literature. Wisdom was God's agent at creation (Prov 3:19-20; 8:22-31), has come down to earth seeking those who will give heed (Prov 1:20-21; 8:1-11), is rejected by some (Prov 1:22-33; 8:36) and is received by others whom she enables to

9 receive life and favor from the Lord (Prov 3:13-18; 8:35). Thus, John is working with what would be familiar from Judaism to establish the context for appreciating the radically new thing that has occurred in Jesus. This section begins with the ministry of John the Baptist (Jn 1:6-8), as in the Synoptics. The Baptist is presented in very exalted terms, for the language of being sent from God is also used of Jesus (16:27) and the Holy Spirit (15:26). But John's own identity is not dwelt on, other than to insist that he himself was not the light (1:8). He is described solely in terms of his mission to testify concerning that light (v. 7), a point that will be developed later (vv ). This mission is universal; it is that all might believe. What is in view, therefore, is not just John's preaching to the Jews who went out to hear him, but the witness he continues to have through his place in the proclamation of the story of Jesus (cf. vv. 15, 31). This universality is also reflected in the cry in verse 9 concerning the coming of the light that gives light to every man. The phrase coming into the world could refer to the people rather than the light (see NIV margin), but since the focus of the passage is on the coming of the light the NIV text is probably correct. If so, it could be translated "This was the true light that enlightens everyone by coming into the world" (cf. v. 4). In any case, here we have the universal significance of the light for every individual, an important theme in this Gospel and a controversial one. The light of Jesus is as universal as the light of creation. He did not come merely to some Gnostic elite, nor did he come to a single nation or culture. This light is the Word that became flesh in a given time and place. At the heart of Christianity is the so-called scandal of particularity. People of all cultures and times are to receive the light that shines in this first-century Jew he who has been given authority over all people (17:2). This does not mean the light of God is not manifested to some degree throughout the world's religions and philosophies. But even such light is derived from the one who became incarnate in Israel. Indeed, it is only by his light that we can recognize what is genuine light elsewhere. This is something of what it means that the true light has come. The word truemeans for John, in part, that which is really

10 real, that which is genuine. John's own example in this Gospel encourages us to recognize that which is of the truth from whatever quarter. But among all the claims to wisdom, revelation and truth, John is claiming that in Jesus we have received the real thing, the truth from which all truth flows and the criterion for recognizing truth wherever it may be found. God is working out his salvation through one nation, and specifically one person within that nation, but his is a universal salvation. This light shines on everyone (v. 9). The tragedy is the mixed response he gets, for some "wilfully close the eyes of their mind" (Chrysostom In John 8.1). This light was in the world (v. 10), probably referring to the incarnation, since that is the focus of the context. The world in this Gospel usually refers to those who oppose God, but here it is used first of the created order before shifting to a negative sense: the world did not recognize him. When the author appeared in his own story he was not recognized, not even by his own (v. 11), that is, those who knew him not just through the general revelation of creation but through the special revelation of covenant. The Old Testament, especially throughout the Prophets, witnesses to such rejection of God as the common human response. Thus an old familiar pattern is repeated, though the identity of this messenger makes this rejection especially shocking. Why do some believe and others do not? John has two answers, and they are both found in verses If we had only verse 12 the answer would be human response, for it says that after they receive and believe they are given the right to become children of God. The word right (exousia) may be misleading since it suggests a legal claim. Exousia can also mean "power" or "authority." The imagery of coming alive as God's children suggests the focus here is on the power that produces divine life. But it is a power that must be exercised by the person John does not say "he made them children of God" but "he gave them power to become children of God" (cf. Chrysostom In John 10.2). On the other hand, if we had only verse 13 the answer would be divine initiative. The general meaning of this verse is clear enough,

11 though the imagery taken from physical childbirth is obscure. Natural descent is literally "of bloods" (ex haimaton). The NIV seems to sug-gest the reference is to lineage (cf. Carson 1991:126), but this usage is extremely rare in Jewish material. More likely, the reference is to the physical contribution of the woman, or of both parents, which is matched with the third expression that refers to the will or desire of the husband. In other words, the begetting of children of God depends on neither human material nor planning. It is Christ's blood and the Father's will that produce children of God (Jn 6:37-40, 53-57). These two elements human material and planning are the bookends for the middle expression, which is literally "nor of the will of the flesh." "`Flesh' here is not a wicked principle opposed to God. Rather, it is the sphere of the natural, the powerless, the superficial, opposed to `spirit,' which is the sphere of the heavenly and the real (iii 6, vi 63, viii 15)" (Brown 1966:12). This middle term thus conveys the key point of the verse: This birth owes nothing to the natural sphere of life. The other two images express this thought through reference to childbirth in particular. So the question of why some believe and others do not is answered by another of John's antinomies. There is no doubt that God's gracious sovereign initiative comes first, for he is the source of all life and it is only by his grace that any life occurs and abides at all. The right (or power) to become children of God must be given by God. The images of verse 13 rule out any role for human power or authority in the process of becoming a child of God. But unlike in natural birth the one being born of God does play a part; this life is not forced on the believer but must be received. Those who are receptive to the Son are offered the gift of becoming children of God themselves. Throughout this Gospel John will show examples of this receptivity and its opposite. He does not, however, address the further question of why some have receptive hearts and some do not. But by holding fast to these two foci of divine sovereignty and human responsibility John avoids two views common in his day and ours, namely, a fatalistic determinism in which one is an automaton and a

12 merit theology in which one earns or deserves eternal life (cf. further Carson 1981). On the human side everything depends on one's response to the light who has come. Receiving him is described as believing in his name (1:12), a very striking expression that occurs only in John and 1 John (2:23; 3:18; 1 Jn 3:23; 5:13). For most ancient peoples, "the name is inextricably bound up with the person" (Bietenhard 1976:648). The name is a point of contact between the person and those around, as when we refer to one's name, colloquially, as a "handle." For the ancients this contact goes below the surface, for the name reveals something of who the person actually is. Therefore changing a name means changing one's identity (cf. Jn 1:42). In the Old Testament this tight connection between the name and the person is especially important for God's revelation of himself (Bietenhard 1976:649-50). Indeed, a major element in Israel's claim to know God is the fact that they have received the revelation of his name (Ex 3:13-15). This idea is picked up in John's Gospel (cf. Bietenhard 1976:653) when it is said Jesus has come in order to reveal the Father's name (17:26; completely obscured in the NIV). In Jesus we see the revelation of God himself, for the Father has given his own name to Jesus (17:11-12). God's giving of his name to Jesus continues the theme that the Father has given the Son the divine prerogatives of life-giving and judgment (5:19-30). In this way the "name" is a summary of the gospel itself, and so the missionaries from the later Johannine community go forth "for the sake of the Name" (3 Jn 7). In our text, therefore, to believe in Jesus' name "implies the acceptance of Jesus to the full extent of his selfrevelation" (Schnackenburg 1980a:263), including, especially, his deity. This belief developed slowly among the disciples as Jesus' self-revelation and his revelation of the Father unfolded during his ministry. They apply many exalted titles to Jesus during the first days of their discipleship (Jn 1:41-49), but their belief remains immature until the revelation has been given in its fullness in the cross, resurrection and ascension and until the Spirit comes to guide them into all truth.

13 Becoming children of God means we begin to share his divine life, without ceasing to be creatures. Believing in Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God, enables us to have "life in his name" (20:31). Given the significance of the "name," it is clear that "life in his name" is another way of referring to being a child of God because it means sharing in the divine life (cf. 6:40) and reflecting God's character. Thus the revelation of God in Jesus includes a revelation of the type of life we are offered as members of his family. The story will make clear that believing is not just an intellectual assent to some ideas but a relationship of discipleship to Jesus in which we trust and obey his revelation and receive his ongoing presence through the Spirit. IVP New Testament Commentaries are made available by the generosity of InterVarsity Press. The Life You ve Always Wanted (The Walk, pt 2) John 1:4 I. Physical Life (1:3) John 1:3 Sermon outline a. The living Word spoke the world into existence. He is the agent of creation (1 Corinthians 8:6; Col 1:16) John is saying our physical life comes from God through Jesus Christ. He is Savior, Lord, friend and Maker! II. Spiritual Life

14 a. The Bible says you must be born again (3:3). Why? b. To truly appreciate the gift of spiritual life we have to remember that we were once dead spiritually (Eph 2:1-10) c. God sent Jesus to give us spiritual life. III. Abundant Life (Jn 10:10) a. A life of significance, fulfillment and meaning. b. A life lived above circumstances. c. A life that can say no because what we have is far better. d. A life that counts! Of Impact! Have you settled for less than God s best? Are you a poor advertisement for God s abundant life? Have you ruined your appetite for spiritual things? IV. Eternal Life (Jn 3:16; 1 John 5:11) a. Eternal = permanent, forever! Not 1000 year life. b. The current death rate is 100%. We have a terminal disease called mortality. c. For a Christian, death is not the end of the road, but merely a bend in the road. d. Many have a wrong and bad view of heaven.

15 Intermediate state A new heaven and a new earth Activity Recite the memory verse together as a group, to help with memorization: In him was life, and the life was the light of men. - John 1:4