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John 6:41-59 Rejected by His Own
1 - Problem in the Text:
2 - Problem in the World:
3 - Gospel in the Text:
4 - Gospel in the World:
41 The Jews then [g]complained about Him,
because He said, “I am the bread
which came down from heaven.”
42 And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph,
whose father and mother we know?
How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
Although Jesus spoke with great wisdom and performed spectacular miracles the people did not believe Him because they knew who He was and where He came from, at least they thought they knew. This problem of over-familiarity, with Jesus and His team, can also stop us from recognising Him and His work.
43 Jesus therefore answered and said to them,
[h]“Do not murmur among yourselves.
44 No one can come to Me
unless the Father who sent Me draws him;
and I will raise him up at the last day.
This statment would have been inflamatory as it not only meant that they were not willing to accept Him bu that they were unable to accept Him. That is that before a person can see Jesus as their LORD and savior the Father must draw them by the Spirit and it is only those who are drawn that can believe and only those that believe htat will be saved.
45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’
Therefore everyone who [i]has heard and learned
from the Father comes to Me.
“Everyone” means that this is not the usual way in which God works but the only way in which God works that is why the Christian life can not be reduced to a bunch of intellectual ideas or a bunch of moral choices. The followers of Jesus must humbly become dependant upon the source of all true knowledge and revelation.
46 Not that anyone has seen the Father,
except He who is from God; He has seen the Father.
47 Most assuredly, I say to you,he who believes [j]in Me has everlasting life.
Jesus is the only man who seen the Father and is the only man who is able to see the Father and live. This not only reminds us that Jesus is not only the son of God but God the Son but it also reminds us that the appearances of God in the Old Testament were probably appearances of Jesus.
48 I am the bread of life.
49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven,
that one may eat of it and not die.
51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven.
If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever;
and the bread that I shall give is My flesh,
which I shall give for the life of the world.”
52 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?”
53 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.
54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life,
and I will raise him up at the last day.
55 For My flesh is [k]food indeed, and My blood is [l]drink indeed.
56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.
57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father,
so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.
58 This is the bread which came down from heaven
—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead.
He who eats this bread will live forever.”
59 These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.
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John 6:22-40 The Bread from Heaven
1. The problem in the text?
They look for that which fills their temporary needs.
They pursue more signs.
2. The problem in the world?
We have whole movements and mission outposts that are focused entirely on the temporary needs making growth and health difficult to know.
Christians want more impressive buildings, more impressive worship, more impressive preaching and conversion stories and miracles and will often chase these things.
3. The gospel in the text?
Abundant life and eternal life and that fills the hunger of the soul and quenches the thirst of the inner life is found in Christ.
Christ is God’s greatest demonstration of love and power.
4. The gospel in the world?
Although many people begin there Christ takes them to genuine belief. It is definitely true of me. That is why the substance of the message is not meaning or purpose or freedom, important though these may be, but the person and work of Jesus.
The changed life is a greater indicator of the Gospel’s power than the temporary fix.
22 On the following day,
when the people who were standing on the other side of the sea saw
that there was no other boat there,
except [d]that one [e]which His disciples had entered,
and that Jesus had not entered the boat with His disciples,
but His disciples had gone away alone—
23 however, other boats came from Tiberias, near the place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks—
24 when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there,
nor His disciples, they also got into boats
and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.
25 And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You come here?”
Sometimes Jesus is not found in the place where we expect Him to be so we must go searching for Him.
26 Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me,
not because you saw the signs,
but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.
There are many who seek Jesus not for Him but what they can get out of Him. This is why the Church has to be generous but careful in disaster relief, provision for the homeless and in the life of the Church. Give men what they need not what they want.
27 Do not labor
for the food which perishes,
but for the food which endures to everlasting life,
which the Son of Man will give you,
because God the Father has set His seal on Him.”
God has given the work of Christ the hallmark of heaven and allowed Him to be the giver of eternal and abundant life therefore relational contentment, academic success, ministerial position, riches or fame on social media should not consume our energies.
28 Then they said to Him, “What shall we do,
that we may work the works of God?”
29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God,
that you believe in Him whom He sent.”
Although, there is much we may want to achieve for God the greatest work is that we might believe in the One that was sent. Believe in His sinless life, believe in His sin-conquering death and believe in His sin-destroying victory. Often we want more than this and therefore the “easiness” of faith alone becomes the most difficult thing.
30 Therefore they said to Him, “What sign will You perform then,
that we may see it
and believe You? What work will You do? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ”
Even though the signs pointed toma greater reality if ours is a sign based faith no sign will ever be enough. Was the feeding of the 5000 with fish and barley loaves not enough for them? Is it not the same for the guy who has been healed, had an encounter with God in a service and had a number of mathematically unexplainable coincidences?
32 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven,
but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
33 For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world.”
34 Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.”
Manna came down as a historical reality but also as a heavenly symbol pointing to Christ who would bring new life to the world.
35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger,
and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
36 But I said to you that you have seen Me
and yet do not believe.
There is a hunger an thirst that is deeper than physical hunger and thirst it is intellectual, relational and spiritual. These are satisfied only in Him.
37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me,
and the one who comes to Me I will [f]by no means cast out.
38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will,
but the will of Him who sent Me.
Whilst we must compel men to believe in a God that will not “cast out” those that come to Him we must simultaneously recognise that belief is a work of God.
39 This is the will of the Father who sent Me,
that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing,
but should raise it up at the last day.
40 And this is the will of Him who sent Me,
that everyone who sees the Son
and believes in Him may have everlasting life;
and I will raise him up at the last day.”
This faith not only saves but keeps men. We have no need to worry that God will change His mind and trade us in for a better model or that we should not have the strength to endure till the end. He keeps us like a mother with her child but not even death can seperate us from His love.
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John 6:15-21 Jesus Walks on the Sea
1 - Problem in the Text:
A. People want to make Him king for meeting their felt needs.
B. The disciples are afraid when they see Jesus at a distance.
2 - Problem in the World:
A. There is a whole movement in the Church which not only says that’s ok but builds and plants church according to this model.
B. The Jesus that people reject is not the Jesus of history or the Jesus of the Scriptures. They see Him at a distance especially when the storms are raging and think that He is a dictator or an angel of wrath but He’s a savior and a friend.
3 - Gospel in the Text:
A. Jesus will not accpet the accolades or take the seat of power without the cross. The power that keeps Him on His course is prayer.
B. We just have to let Jesus get in the boat and we no longer have to be afraid.
4 - Gospel in the World:
A. Think of Blly Graham who some wanted to run for president or Sangster who was born to preach but became the superindendent of the Methodist Church a job that some say aged him and killed him. We need to do what we are called to do and walk on Calvary Road to get there.
B. Afraid that you would be alone, afriad that you would drown under the pressure of life and afraid of living a life with no meaning and now, as good as solving these issues might be, you don’t care because He is all that you want.
15 Therefore when Jesus perceived
that they were about to come
and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.
Having just fed the 5,000 men the people now want to make Jesus king. Isn’t this sometimes the problem we see with food banks, disaster relief, and feeding programs? We need to help the most neediest people without making them dependent or without provision being the reason for their conversion. We must not worship stuff and enjoy it forever but Him.
The text implies that this was a test for Him like the wilderness wonderings or the outburst of Peter to achieve the ends for which He was sent but not by the means for which He was to endure. Ours is the via Dolorosa, the way of suffering - the way of the cross and there are many, including ourselves, who would not have us go that way and to maintain the path we like Jesus should pray. In fact, since Jesus was perfect in His humanity and His deity, though He refused to use that in His earthly ministry without the express permission of the Father and empowerment of the Spirit we should pray more.
16 Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, 17 got into the boat,
and went over the sea toward Capernaum.
And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them.
The Jews were never a maritime nation because they identified the sea as a place of primordial chaos and therefore darkness. The disciples there are at a place which they identify with darkness whilst it is dark and without Jesus. Just from that the reader has a feeling this will not go well but what does when we are without Him?
18 Then the sea arose
because a great wind was blowing.
19 So when they had rowed about [c]three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat;
and they were afraid.
Sometimes the storm arises and Jesus approaches but because of our faulty perception, it makes us more not less afraid. We must rest assured that everything will be ok.
20 But He said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.”
21 Then they willingly received Him into the boat,
and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.
Although, there are many confident self-assured people who are getting out of the boat we must be also will to allow Him into the boat because when He comes we no longer have to be afraid.
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John 6:1-14 Feeding the Five Thousand
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahm7j4lLl5U
C - Jesus has just been disputing with the Pharisees over His performing of miracles on the Sabbath and He has pointed to His signs as proof. After this passage, He will go on to speak about the fact that He is the bread of life.
A
P - What about all of the starving people in the world?
T - God provides more than enough for the hungry.
O - We need to provide for the hungry too and we need to find satisfaction only in Him.
R - FCF: We genuinely doubt that the hungry can be fed with more than enough. RHF: He endowed the Church with all that was needed to help usher in a time of prosperity for the poor. This is not a prosperity Gospel but recognises that within the Gospel that the Good News to the poor is not spiritual but is intellectual and political and social and economic and incredibly practical.
6 After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee,
which is the Sea of Tiberias.
2 Then a great multitude followed Him,
because they saw His signs which He performed
on those who were diseased.[a]
3 And Jesus went up on the mountain,
and there He sat with His disciples.
The Gospel comes with both Word and deed however the deed should never take the place of the Word. Here we see the multitude follow Him not because they wanted to follow what He taught but because they loved the things that He did. Within our own ministry we must be careful that the “signs” are neither absent or a distraction to the message.
4 Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near.
5 Then Jesus lifted up His eyes,
and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread,
that these may eat?”
6 But this He said to test him,
for He Himself knew what He would do.
The other Gospels tell us that the people had followed Him for some time but what is interesting here is the the fact that He asked Philip a question which he was unable to answer. Are we not also asked these question by Him? Does He not test us to prove us and make us rely on Him? How will I pay the mortgage? What am I supposed to do with these kids? Will I ever feel love and happiness and peace? The answer to all of our questions are ultimately found in the One who is God’s yeas and amen.
7 Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient
for them, that every one of them may have a little.”
Philip had a not-enough mindset while Christ has a more-than-enough mindset. With our human thinking and human resources we are left with just-enough or not-enough but in Christ the riches of heaven are available this does not give us the excuse to be lazy nor does it give us the excuse to hoarde wealth or misuse it but to trust Him for it and to use it wisely and share it and make it.
8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, 9 “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish,
but what are they among so many?”
This was a young lad’s paced lunch. Some poor man’s bread and some pickled fish and although Jesus could have created from nothing He chooses to use the little we have to feed the multitude. He uses that job, He uses that intellect and He uses that trade to help supply our needs and the needs of those around us.
10 Then Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.”
Now there was much grass in the place.
So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.
11 And Jesus took the loaves,
and when He had given thanks He distributed them [b]to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down;
and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.
Never before had some of these poor pesants eaten so much. He satisfied a physical hunger as a sign not only that He was the One that would provide for them but that He would satisfy a deeper hunger.
12 So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the fragments that remain,
so that nothing is lost.”
13 Therefore they gathered them up,
and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves
which were left over by those who had eaten.
It was important that nothing was wasted because we sin against God’s goodness when we waste. Not only was there more than enough food but a basket represented each of the tribes of Israel. In Jesus there was more than enough for all of Israel and for us.
14 Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
He was “the prophet” not “a prophet.” He was the One that Moses had promised them who would provide them with the new manna and lead them in a new Exodus and give them the new law but He would be more than a prophet.
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John 5:31-47 The Fourfold Witness
C - Jesus has just healed the man at the pool of Bethesda and has been in a dispute about healing on the Sabbath. After this passage comes the feeding of the 5,000.
A -
P - Here see that Bible experts who would have memorised the first five books of the Bible and been among the most learned and moral and charitable people in all Israel are without knowledge of the Father because they are without knowledge of the Son.
T - Christ is the access all areas pass to God.
O - It is not scriptural knowledge that is needed but a relationship with Christ alone. We need to know Him to know the Father.
R - FCF: Man searches religion, even scripturally informed Christian religion, but it is a barrier to God. RHF: We are blind to God unless He awakens our minds and opens our hearts.
31 “If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not [e]true. 32 There is another who bears witness of Me,
and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true. 33 You have sent to John,
and he has borne witness to the truth.
Jesus says that He is not self-promoting but God Himself is promoting Him and so is John. Isn’t this an indictment against our self-promotion and pride? People I mean but especially those in ministry, gone are the days of the humble retiring country parson. Which is not an entirely bad thing but it seems that he has been replaced, at least in some circles, by the cocky arrogant go-getter. Who makes much of himself and is always trying to advance his career and reputation in the name of ministry. This is something I have to be careful of as the temptation is always there to play to the crowd and to promote but like a good book a good ministry has the reccomendations of others and a biblically faithful ministry then the promotion is the promotion of One.
34 Yet I do not receive testimony from man,
but I say these things that you may be saved.
I don’t think Jesus would have even gone here had it not been for His desire to see these men saved.
35 He was the burning and shining lamp,
and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.
John was the itinerant fire-brand evangelist prophet and everyone wanted to be a part of the John the Baptist appreciation society. There they were taking selfies with him, getting him to sign there bibles, buying camel skin clothing from Abercrombe and Finch and going on the John the Baptist diet. However, his messgae began to become a bit reptitive and when he was going after others it was great but when people began to realise the universalilty of his message of judgment and repentance then they wrote him of as a crackpot because it was easier than hearing his message.
36 But I have a greater witness than John’s;
for the works which the Father has given Me to finish—the very works that I do—bear witness of Me,
that the Father has sent Me.
37 And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me.
Jesus says look John’s witness is not why you should believe but God Himself has witnessed to the validity of the message I bring. Often we try to convince people with science or prophecy and although these things have there place let’s just point them to Jesus because never will they hear such a sublime message, never will they see such a powerful transformative effect on the destiny of men and nations and never will they find the power to overcome guilt and shame and cancelled sin.
You have neither heard His voice at any time,
nor seen His form.
38 But you do not have His word abiding in you,
because whom He sent, Him you do not believe.
Jesus tells the most spiritual and religious men in all Israel, men who have devoted their lives to reading and preaching and living the scriptures, men who have learned the Torah by memory that they have never heard the voice of God and do not have the Word living in them because they do not believe in Him. Do you see how offensive this is? This the Jewish scholar, this is the Bible college lecturer, this is the Church warden who has given 40 years of voluntary service to practical and spiritual help within the Church. Christ is the main point of the Bible and everything else is merely a footnote explining, illustrating, applying, predicitng Him and His work
39 You search the Scriptures,
for in them you think you have eternal life;
and these are they which testify of Me.
40 But you are not willing to come to Me
that you may have life.
Eternal life is not a book religion but a personal relationship with a living Savior. Hell will be populated with men and women who knew the Bible more than you ever dreamed of. This is not an excuse to neglect the Word instead it is a reminder that our job is not to gather biblical knowledge but to hear God’s voice and follow it’s direction to the glorifaction of Jesus.
41 “I do not receive honor from men.
42 But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.
Jesus doesn’t make it better He makes it worse. Not only do they not know God or have not heard His voice they do not have the love of God in them. There’s is a cold sterile rule based harsh law code not a compassionate loving life giving power, the love of God, that is in them and pours forth from them.
43 I have come in My Father’s name,
and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.
44 How can you believe, who receive honor from one another,
and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?
You care about yourselves. Levi how godly are you? No, No! Benjamin you are such a generous and learned sage. Forget what those around you say what about those who know you best? What about Him who knows the secret sins of your heart? Does He honor you? If He does forget the fact that others see you as extreme and your life as restrictive and boring.
45 Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father;
there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust.
46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me;
for he wrote about Me.
47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
Moses was introducing them to Him. He was the serpent crusher, the sceptre from Judah, the law was carved out of rock by His very finger. This is why we can not be like those who would discard their OT. It is as much a book of grace as the book of Galatians or Romans.
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John 5:24-30 Life and Judgment Are Through the Son
C - Follows a dispute about Jesus healing on the Sabbath and claiming equality with God and is followed by evidence of this.
A -
P - Not sure how the judgment fits with all the other passages. And it is important to ensure that people understand that Christ exists in Himself in deity and is granted existence in Himself in human, at least that what U think.
T - How one may not come under judgment.
O - To flee judgment by coming to Christ by hearing the Word and believing on Christ.
R - FCF We have a nagging feeling that we will get found out and that we will get what we deserve this is the heart’s way of reminding us about comng judgment. RHF In Christ the judgment will be pronounced “not guilty.”
24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word
and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life,
and shall not come into judgment,
but has passed from death into life.
We must not only hear the Word but we must act upon it’s centeral theme which is to believe in Christ this belief gives us access to the eternall life that is promised in John’s gospel. Eternal life, however, is not just a life that is continious like in the myths in which someone finds the fountain to eternal life because that could be a living hell. Eternal life is also abundandet and full where we are free from judgment, not only of God, but all judgement and all of the threads of death are removed from our souls. John places it in the prophetic past tense because it is firstly we shall not come into judgement in the future but we have passed from deqath to life the moment we believe and it is assured. The one who listens to the Word and believes on Him has not just stepped towards life but stepped from death into life - they inhabit a new realmn of experience.
25 Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming,
and now is, when the dead will hear the voice
of the Son of God;
and those who hear will live.
Jesus hear is addressing the ressurection that will happen at the end of the age, interestingly this also comes about through the power of the spoken Word.
26 For as the Father has life in Himself,
so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself,
27 and has given Him authority
to execute judgment also,
because He is the Son of Man.
Jesus is self existent in His deity but in His humanity this existence is granted to Him by the Father so that He might not only conquer death but raise all men from the grave. And judges us as a part of his kingly role, we will be judged not by man or by God but the God/Man Jesus Christ. Who knows us the way in which only God could know us and sympathises us the way in which a Man could only sympathise with us.
28 Do not marvel at this;
for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice
29 and come forth—those who have done good,
to the resurrection of life,
and those who have done evil,
to the resurrection of condemnation.
We often make a sharp distinction between salvation by works and salvation by faith. We are saved by faith in the work of Christ which results in desire to walk in good works that might bring glory unto Him. It is therefore not a contradiction to say “those who have done good” will be raised to life in the same way that Noah or Job, who were imperefect men, where called blameless and righteous. There righteousness was the righteousness of faith that resulted in the righteousness of action, the Pharisees whover had a kind of righteousness of action that did not result from a righteousness of faith but tried to purchase a righteousness of faith. One was a good tree producing good fruit and the other was a bad tree producing bad fruit.
30 I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge;
and My judgment is righteous,
because I do not seek My own will
but the will of the Father who sent Me.
Jesus judges in light of all of the facts and not for His own name sake, it is not so He can set up a rival program with Judge Judy. Christ lives and dies and judges and is raised all in obedience to the will of the Father not that we should ever think that there is a difference of opinion but that we see Christ’s perfect obedience which will not only be credited to us but is the reason why His life was accepted as the ransom for our debt.
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John 5:16-23 Honor the Father and the Son
C - This passage follows on from the healing of the cripple and is followed by Jesus giving evidence as to His identity.
A
P - What about Sunday trading laws, Eric Liddell and Sabbath keeping.
T - Jesus is equal with God and man, even relgious man hates that.
O - He must reign supereme in our affections because we can only honour the Father by honouring the Son.
R - FCF: We would rather have Christ-based relgion than Christ. RHF: He grants that relationships and means and the strength for us to maintain it and deveop it.
16 For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus,
[d]and sought to kill Him,
because He had done these things on the Sabbath.
One of the signs of a toxic religiosity is its hypocrisy. Jesus breaks the Sabbath commandment, at least according to their man-made traditions, so they decide that they will kill Him. The Sabbath was supposed to be set apart and to be a day of rest and a delight to the Jews and although there were stipulations about working on the Sabbath works of neccessity and works of mercy should have not been forbidden.
It is easy to be harsh on the relgious rulers because the sin they suffered with, at least in it’s details, is different from ours but is it that different? They were trying to honour God and genuinely believed that if the law of God could be fulfilled perfectly for one whole day that the Messiah would come, Rome would be defeated and the Kingdom would be established. These were the evangelicals (Pharisees) and the high church (Sadducees) of their day.
17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now,
and I have been working.”
18 Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him,
because He not only broke the Sabbath,
but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.
Although, we are free to choose our professions people in the 1st century were not able to do so and therefore they were apprentices of their Father. When Jesus calls God Father, something that was not done by the Jews in the way and the regularity which Jesus did it - especially here, Jesus is saying that “it’s just part of the family business” and was intentionally breaking their man made rules and they knew it.
19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself,
but what He sees the Father do;
for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.
“The Son can do nothing of Himself” because although He is God He has given up the use of His power outside of the express direction of the Father and by the operation of the Spirit and the hierachal position of the trinity in it’s functional capacity. In essence equal and in function hierachal - that is why the Son submits to and brings glory to the Father and the Spirit submits and brings glory to Christ.
20 For the Father loves the Son,
and shows Him all things that He Himself does;
and He will show Him greater works than these,
that you may marvel.
Although Jesus was not loved by the relgious establishment He was loved by God which reflected something of His prophetic ministry, the rejection I mean. God’s love is enough to carry us through and we need to remember that because sometimes it’ll be all we have.
21 For as the Father raises the dead
and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.
They want to kill Him when they themselves are the ones that are spiritually dead and the One they seek to kill is the One who is able to grant life to anyone He wants. That is the follower of Jesus must be in utter dependance of Him. He needs His power to come alive spiritually, to stay alive spiritually and to help them see others come alive spiritually.
22 For the Father judges no one,
but has committed all judgment to the Son,
The Father’s wrath has been absorbed by Christ that He may do with it what He will and it is before the loveing and merciful though all powerful and righteous Christ we will all one day stand.
23 that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
The pilgrimages, the spiritual praces and the works of charity are nothing but filthy rags without Christ. The way in which God is honored is through Jesus Christ which is an incredibly difficult message to hear in our ever-so tolerant pluralisitc age. Where it is socially acceptable for the Muslim and the Jew to believe in an exclusivity in regards to their God we are seen as intolerant, even among some within the Church, for our exclusvity in Christ.
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John 5:1-15 A Man Healed at the Pool of Bethesda
C This passage follows the healing of the nobleman’s son and is followed by criticism of Jesus for healing on the Sabbath by the Pharisees.
A Is the fact that the Sheep Gate or that this took place at Bethseda important or are these just to verify the historicity of the event and the fact that John was an eyewitness and that his readers may even still be able to check the event?
P Do you want to be made well may have some people think that self-effort trumps God’s sovereignty. it didn’t for Paul or for that guy who used to go to an old church who was a word of faith man and therefore refused to allow anybody to help him, call him sick or confess any negativity even though he had some kind of neuron problem and then went on to suffer a stroke.
T The main theme is around healing.
O Personal responsibility in the area of healing.
R FCF: We all need healing RHF: On the cross, Christ purchased wholeness, however, like one of the options on taking redundancy (I’m led to believe), some is given to us as a lump sum and the rest is given to us over a period of time.
5 After this there was a feast of the Jews,
and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Although geographically Jesus was going from Galilee in the North to Judea in the South theologically and practically, the temple was on the temple mount (the city on a hill, is the city of Zion), there is a going up. I wonder sometimes if we “go up” to worship or whether we just “go.”
2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool,
which is called in Hebrew, [a]Bethesda, having five porches. 3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, [b]paralyzed, [c]waiting
for the moving of the water.
John goes to great lengths to include the details that only someone who was familiar with the area would know, “five porches.” The place itself was like an A+E department or an ancient equivalent to Lourdes and it would have been loud and it would have smelt awful. There would have been the sound of those who cried out in agony, the sound of the beggars and the sound of the fights that would have broken out as Middle Eastern people did not line up politely like Englishmen. As for the smell, the smell of death would have mingled with the smell of rotting flesh, human waste, and rubbish in the heat. The shocking truth is that Jesus chooses to visit. We have a small god who only turns up in certain times and certain places so when we close our eyes and bow our heads or in the Church building. Jesus turns up in the hospital ward, the club and the warzone which can be the family home (which parents of toddlers and teenagers are all too aware of). His presence invades every molecule of the created order and it is a myth to believe that there are certain places that He will not go. There are certain places you should not go but there is no place that He will not go and therefore we must live with that in mind.
4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool
and stirred up the water;
then whoever stepped in first,
after the stirring of the water,
was made well of whatever disease he had.
The end of v3 and v4 do not appear in the original text and therefore are the addition of later scribes acting as explanatory notes. Therefore although this may be historically true or a widely held superstition at the time (so the people were healed psychosomatically) this is not a part of the biblical text hence the footnote.
5 Now a certain man was there
who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there,
and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”
This seems harsh but the truth is that this man had been there longer than I have been born and should either have found a way or gone away. The issue, however, there are times when people do not want to make the choices to be made well. The person who wants to made physically well might have to seek prayer but may also have to change their diet and begin to exercise, the person who wants to be financially well may need to keep a budget, trim down all non-essential spending and get another job, the person who wants to be mentally well may have to deal with the darkness inside of them. The Bible does not promise all will be well in this life but it does promise all will be made well eventually but there are many areas in which we are not receiving victory or at least respite because we ignore what the right thing is to do and what the wise thing to do is and more importantly what God would have us do.
Like if I was bitten by a jellyfish I would rather die than have someone urinate on me.
7 The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man
to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up;
but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”
On hearing this the first thing you might think is exceptions and excuses and what this man gives is an excuse. Now, I can’t speak for anyone else but I know that there is a voice of an inner child within me that loves to make excuses and while some of those excuses may actually true they are none the less excuses so at some point I don’t really care how bad things may have been growing up I will not allow that to stop me being the best husband and the best dad and the best human being that I can be for Jesus. The fact, that there are times that the Free Methodist Church make decisions that I personally would not make I am not going to use that as an excuse to leave or to follow at a distance. Or the fact, that there are issues within the Church that if only this group of people (or person) would do this or that group would do that then the Church would go to the next level. I am more concerned about what I can do with the hands that God has given me, my time, the money in my pocket, my influence, my preaching. What about you where are you making excuses and what excuses. Is it relationally? You could make excuses or you could remember if everyone has a problem with Jack then the problem is probably Jack. Is it financially? Well you could make excuses or you could give generously to the work, cut down your expenses and increase your income (maybe look at getting some debt help from CAP). Is it physically? Maybe you want to think seriously about prayer AND lifestyle don’t be the guy who gets miraculously healed of a heart attack only to die of lung cancer because you smoke.
8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed
and walk.”
9 And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed,
and walked.
A day will come when we will all be made well and that health has broken into this order and Jesus grants it for this man. Not for all who were there.
And that day was the Sabbath. 10 The Jews
therefore said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful
for you to carry your bed.”
If you think you are more righteous than Jesus who is the Redeemer of the world then your probably wrong. This was not forbidden by the law of God but the law and the traditions of men and Jesus intentionally, on their own soil, does this because He has come to the point in His ministry that He has had enough. We need to be careful to allow the laws and traditions of men to enslave us too. One way we do that is by recognizing the difference between the truth and the tradition. The truth is that God has set apart a day to be given over to Him and for us to rest (as I say Sunday should be a fun day). The tradition may be 2 services Sunday, Sunday lunch with the family and the time in-between for personal prayer or study. This is a good tradition but do not think that it is a sacred tradition the fact that your children would prefer burgers might change it, the fact that you take a job pastoring a church of converted Jews and they want to worship on Saturday (well I would begin there even though I would personally want to move them to the day of the resurrection and the day of the appearances and the day the Church met) but honestly I wouldn’t lose much sleep over it. And if a friend was having a crisis I wouldn’t think it a burden laying aside my time of prayer and study to go and help. I even might miss Church (though please do not use that as an excuse to miss the coming together of the brothers as some are inclined to do - I mean, as the Westminister Shorter Catechism puts it for works of mercy).
11 He answered them, “He who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your bed
and walk.’ ”
Although Jesus has done good deed to Him he repays the favor my chucking Jesus under the bus but before we are too quick to judge him isn’t that what we do? When we do not share our faith publically, when we deny Him with our lives so people have one more excuse, Christians are hypocrites, not to believe. When we would rather have Him run around like a lapdog and obey us than we obey Him.
12 Then they asked him, “Who is the Man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?”
13 But the one who was healed did not know who it was,
for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.
Jesus did not make all this fanfare that can sometimes make a genuine work of the Spirit like some kind of circus act.
14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple,
and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”
We now come to see that the problem all along was sin. This was why Jesus asked him do you want to be made well. All sickness is a result of sin but sometimes it is your sin (lifestyle and choices), sometimes it is someone else's sin (lifestyle and choices) but it is always a result of Adam’s sin. That is sometimes no one is to blame for the sickness and the suffering it is a part of living in a fallen world however we are responsible on who we deal with ourselves in the midst of our sickness and suffering. Years ago, I knew a blind woman called Steph who was not only one of the most prophetic people I had met but she held down a full-time job. I used to look at her sometimes and think if she can be so courageous then why can’t I. She had no doubt suffered but her response made me a better man.
15 The man departed
and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
Jesus warns this guy but what does he do he throws Jesus under the bus again.
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John 4:46-54 A Nobleman’s Son Healed
C - Jesus has just come home after the revival in Samaria and John goes to speak about 2 miracles that take place this one and the man healed at the pool of Bethsaida.
A - Why did it take so long for him to get back?
P - Questions around healing and health and sickness and suffering
T - Christ deals with sin and sickness by His sacrifice on the cross.
O - We must hold firm to the word of the LORD and NOT be seduced by doubts or devil-like frauds.
R - FCF: Sickness affects us all whether it is ours or the sickness of our loved ones RHF: Jesus dealt with sin on the cross that is sin and the effects of sin (like suffering, sickness, death and hell).
46 So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee
where He had made the water wine.
And there was a certain [b]nobleman [or royal official]
whose son was sick at Capernaum.
Regardless, of how rich you are and how powerful you are there is no way to insulate yourself either from sin or the effects of sin (here it is the suffering of your son). This particular individual is a nobleman/royal official which in a time when the distance between the rich and the poor was like an uncrossable chasm, with no middle ground (or middle class), this man was exceptionally rich but his son was exceptionally sick and at the point of death.
47 When he heard
that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him
and implored Him to come down
and heal his son,
for he was at the point of death.
Although this man was not a follower of Jesus He was a believer at least to the point in which he felt confident that Jesus was able to and may be willing to heal his son.
48 Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs
and wonders, you will by no means believe.”
Jesus is angered by this as He, like many of the Jews, saw Christ as the great need-meeter and had a sign-based faith. Jesus does meet our needs and we should come to Him with them and He is a God that can and does heal but our deepest problem is not external but it is internal. It is not the cancer tumor of the lungs it is the cancer tumor of the heart and the inner person.
It is, for this reason, it is in His person and work that our trust is in and in our personal relationship which has been purchased by His blood because what happens if He chooses not to heal like with Paul or Timothy, do you go to the New Age healer do you abandon Him entirely?
49 The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!”
50 Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.”
So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him,
and he went his way.
Jesus heals according to Word and faith is the hand that receives that healing. Not as a law but as a principle. So I am not saying because you have not been meditating on God’s Word and speaking it over your life or that because you didn’t have enough faith you were not healed. I am saying that a day shall come when we will all be healed but that day is not yet. But if we want to experience that healing now then believing on the Word and placing faith in that Word creates an environment of healing and the environment when you are able to be victorious over sickness.
Years ago I knew a guy who had down syndrome. He would sit at the front of the church and sing until I thought his lungs would explode. He made up in volume what he lacked in ability and he would dance. Now, I am not saying to draw attention to himself but because he wanted to give God praise and because he was being faithful to what the Bible taught about dancing before the LORD; something that I, as one afflicted with a lack of coordination (or maybe dyspraxia), am unable to do. His dancing wasn’t the holy hop, because not only did he love Jesus but he loved Michael Jackson and would when he was getting into it give the leg kick, do the 360 spin and the moonwalk. Although he was not healed his faith in God’s word gave him victory over his condition and brought joy and emotional healing to the Church.
51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him
and told him, saying, “Your son lives!”
There was a picture of the resurrection of the dead.
52 Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better.
And they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” [1 o’clock]
53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.”
And he himself believed, and his whole household.
If he lived so close why did it take him so long to go back? Did he take his donkey through a drive through and pick up a McChicken sandwich? Clearly, this father was confident that Jesus would do what He said He would do even though He was at a great distance. What about us? Even though we are separated from Jesus in time, even though we are separated from Jesus in culture and even though we are separated from Jesus in space do we believe? Well for the person of faith these things are an irrelevancy because by the power of His Spirit He dwells in the heart of all of those who believe. So He is not just in heaven praying for you He is in the guy sat next to you and the girl sat in front of you and He is in you and you need to embrace that by faith in His Word.
You might not be able to see Him but like the wind, you can feel the effect.
54 This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.
These miracles are signs which point to a greater reality. Let’s imagine that your in desperate need for the toilet and the fuel light is coming on in your car. To make it worse the kids are really hungry and because one of them has a taste for human flesh - he’s a biter you think I better get some food before he goes cannibal on me. And low and behold you see a sign for a service station. You feel like you have just a gold medal as a wave of achievement comes over you and the song “we are the champions” plays in your head. Now although the sing gives great elation it is just a dull comparison of the reality of the service station. Miracles are like that. It is a reminder that upon the cross Christ not only took our sins but our sicknesses and we need to promote health and healthy lifestyles and we need to believe for healing but ultimately we look forward to the day when sickness will be no more.
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John 4:43-45 Welcome at Galilee
C - This section follows the revival in Samaria. Jesus has stayed in Samaria for 2 days and is now coming back to His home area. It is followed by the healing of the nobleman’s son.
A -
P - The sign-based faith. We later learn that is was not enough for them and they wanted more and more and more. How big does the house or the car or the job have to be until it is enough?
T - Jesus has no honor because they just want His stuff.
O - It needs to be about Him alone that is why we need to practice stewardship and walk-in sacrifice. And we need to recognize the work of God on our doorstep and not just God in human history or God on the mission field or God in the scriptures.
R- FCF: We often despise what we know best and so need greater and greater signs. RHF: Jesus graciously serves them and shows them but a point comes when He curses their unbelief.
Illustrations: glory hunting football fans vs die hard
43 Now after the two days He departed
from there
and went to Galilee.
Jesus is returning home after a long ministry trip to Jerusalem and an extended period of teaching and revival in Samaria.
44 For Jesus Himself testified
that a prophet has no honor in his own country.
53 When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there. 54 Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. 55 “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? 56 Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” 57 And they took offense at him.
But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.”
58 And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith. Matthew 13:44-57
Then He went out from there and came to His own country, and His disciples followed Him. 2 And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, “Where did this Man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands! 3 Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?” So they were offended at Him.
4 But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.” 5 Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching. Mark 6:1-6
20 Then Jesus began to denounce the towns in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.23 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades.[e] For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. 24 But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.” Matthew 11:20-24
13 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. 15 And you, Capernaum, [d]who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades. 16 He who hears you hears Me,he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.” Luke 10:13-15
Jesus is despised because He is a local boy who they had seen grow up. He was the one who cried during home group, kept asking questions at synagogue school and whose family business had done well during a time of recession and therefore it was hard to see Him as anything as less than Jesus of Nazareth. Isn’t it the same way that we can ‘depise’ or think less of the people around us? I remember being at Bible college and one of the guys was a handsome looking fella but nothing exceptional and he was incredibly quiet. He goes over to do a ministry placement in LA is spotted and becomes a male model and a TV actor. Now I knew him and I was unable to recognize what was so obvious to those who did not know him. Isn’t it true that we can do that with Jesus too? We can become over-familiar with Him and the Gospel and the work of the Spirit and it no longer moves us or stirs our heart it is just like background noise. This is one of the most dangerous places to be. This is why it is important for us to hook ourselves up to the divine diagnostic machine and see what’s going on and if there is movement or stagnation if we do this we might realize that there are times when people think we are alive but we are dead and times when people think that we are growing but our hearts are cold.
It is not easy but success is about being loved and respected by the people who know you best. Who cares if everyone else thinks your amazing but your wife and kids know your a fraud, who cares if everyone in Church knows you as one who is encouraging and willing to serve when everyone at work knows you as the one that is lazy, always off sick and always complaining and who cares if your peers think that your cool but your parents see you as ungrateful and selfish.
45 So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him,
having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast;
for they also had gone to the feast.
This is a sign based faith not saving faith. Now there is nothing wrong with a sign based faith but the problem with it is that provides no ground for stability. We read the book of Acts and want it to be like that the only problem is that we forget that there are around 40 miracles and they take place over a 30 year period. God is at work in the mundane and the miraculous. In fact, can I go a little further? He often will not do what you can do for yourself. So He does not provide manna when they are in the promised land, He destroys the walls of Jericho but the people had to march and the people had to fight and therefore do not be any less thankful for good sanitation, vaccinations, a national health service and do not think that healing is any less valid if it comes by a change of diet, exercise or medication - didn’t Paul say to Timothy take some wine for your stomach sake.
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John 4:39-42 The Savior of the World
C - This is all contained within the section which deals with the woman at the well.
A - ‘He told me everything I ever did’ suggests that a small summary of the conversation between Jesus and her was recorded.
P - What we don’t want to be left with is a book-based faith.
T - You must place your faith in the Word.
O - Those who begin to explore through secondary means, people or events, must personally come to the Savior and learn from Him.
R - FCF: Our faith needs to go from secondary sources to primary sources to be sure. RHF: We need Him to come and expound that Word through His Spirit.
39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed
in Him
because of the word of the woman
who testified,
“He told me all that I ever did.”
After first mocking her this town now comes to believe, she ‘reaps for that which she has not sown’ to illustrate in real-time that ‘the fields were white unto to harvest.’ This was not the disciples or even Jesus Himself this was a woman who despised by the town’s people.
40 So when the Samaritans had come
to Him, they urged Him
to stay with them;
and He stayed there two days.
The fact, that Jesus and the disciples would stay for two days in the home and eat at the table of their hated religious and national enemies is insane. The fact, that they ‘urged Him to stay with them’ is just as insane this is like a town in Nazi Germany inviting a Jewish Rabbi and his followers to stay with them to tell them about the Exodus. This can also serve as an example of after-care that might occur after the conversation of an individual. You can almost imagine them and this woman speaking until the early hours of the morning, sharing meals and discussing the Scriptures.
41 And many more believed
because of His own word.
‘Preach the Gospel and if necessary use words’ is a saying that is attributed to St Francis though it cannot be historically verified. Nonetheless, if it is used to place the spotlight on the need for a transformed life then great but ours is a revealed faith and that revelation comes through the person and work of Christ and His Word the Bible. This is why when people are truly converted they develop a hunger to read and study God’s Word and to praise Jesus and hear His voice.
42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe,
not because of what you said,
for we ourselves have heard Him
and we know that this is indeed [a]the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
Jesus is not some national hero or tribal God who loves people like us and is an enemy to our enemies but He is the Saviour of the whole world and these Samaritans have come to an experiential knowledge of this for themselves and again this comes through His life-giving Word.
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John 4:27-38 The Whitened Harvest
C - This passage follows the women at the well and is followed by the Samarian revival in which the whole town comes out to hear Jesus. This probably took place during the harvest time. Which is another reason why it was odd that this woman was on own as harvest as great preparations would be made for the harvest and the post-harvest celebration.
A - Look at the importance of harvest.
P - People find evangelism hard.
T - The time is always more ready than we think.
O - Speaking about religion and politics is hard or I’m shy.
R - FCF: We are always reluctant to share the Gospel with others. RHF: Christ calls people to Himself and we are merely links in the chain.
And at this point His disciples came,
and they marveled
that He talked with a woman;
yet no one said, “What do You seek?”
or, “Why are You talking with her?”
Jews especially religious Jews did not speak to women in public especially attractive or once attractive Samaritan women. The disciples are shocked at this but dare not say a word to her or to Him, this is stunned silence as they exchange confused looks and shrug their shoulders.
The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city,
and said to the men, “Come, see a Man
who told me all things
that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”
Some of those with the colorful pasts become the best and first evangelists. This woman has gone from shamefully drawing water in the noon-day sun to crying in the city square that she had found the Messiah. People would have laughed and said “there the old tramp goes again after a religious guy now” or “look she sleeps her way around the village and now she’s gone all Messianic on us.”
Isn’t that how we are treated when we share our conversion with the people who know us and our sin best? This is why the toughest mission field is not North Korea but North of the river or in our family or to the girls at the office.
Then they went out of the city
and came to Him.
Maybe out of curosity or just to shut her up.
In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
But He said to them, “I have food to eat of
which you do not know.”
Therefore the disciples said
to one another,
“Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?”
Again, we are confronted by those, this time Jesus’ own followers, who are unable to understand what He is saying. Jesus is saying that true sustenace comes from obedience to the will of God. That is that we are to follow Jesus, Jesus is not supposed to follow us. So we don’t need to ask Him to bless our relationshp with the guy you slept with from the club or the management job or the 3-bed semi but it is to honestly and obediently hear His call and immeditely and sacrifically dedicate ourselves to it.
Jesus said to them, “My food is
to do the will of Him
who sent Me,
and to finish His work.
The great work of atonement was finished on the cross but the great work of the comission, the gorwth of the Church, the making of disciples that make disciples and the expansion of the Kingdom is still the job of all believers.
Do you not say, ‘There are still four months
and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say
to you, lift up your eyes
and look at the fields,
for they are already white for harvest!
Jesus has come around 4 months before harvest and He is saying it is not only going to be an early harvest this year, in regard to crops, but souls. That this “heretical Jewish cult,” in spite of their financially poverty and the great persecution fthat would come rom the Jews and the Romans, could believe this is outstanding. It is something that we too must remind ourselves of in our mission filed.
And he who reaps receives wages,
and gathers fruit
for eternal life,
that both he who sows
and he who reaps may rejoice together.
Jesus is saying that to both sow the Gospel (through friendships, ministry groups, personal conversations, social media posts and invitations to Church or socials) and leading someone into becoming a disciple that makes disciples is both a cause for rejocing and carries some kind of reward or wage.
For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows
and another reaps.’
I sent you to reap that
for which you have not labored; others have labored,
and you have entered into their labors.”
We stand in a long line of those who have prayed for and worked the soil of this land and the hearts of the people and all we are to do is to be a link in the chain and move the people one more step in the right direction.
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John 4:1-26 A Samaritan Woman Meets Her Messiah
You're Not a Good Samritan - Your This One
C - This section is preceded by the conversation with Nicodemus and the Pharisees about baptism and the spirit and is proceeded by the Samaritan revival. Historically the Samaritans and the Jews were religious and ethnic enemies who hated one another and this discussion takes place at the Jacob’s well.
A - Look at the significance of wells and divorce in the first century.
p - Most people see her as the adulterer and not the abused.
T - Chrst gives to us that which sustains us and quenches the thirst from our souls. Main image is water.
O - Come to Christ for the life giving Spirit.
R - FCF Inner thirst an only be satisfied in Christ RHF Brings an end to the endless search for that which will never satisfy. For her it was a relationship and maybe kids.
Therefore, when the Lord knew
that the Pharisees had heard
that Jesus made
and baptized more disciples than John
2 (though Jesus Himself did not baptize,
but His disciples),
3 He left Judea
and departed again to Galilee.
Jesus did not want to give the Pharisees the satisfaction of undermining His or John’s ministry by setting them up as rivals in the same way that two churches in the same city setting up an Alpha course on the same night and the same time may negatively effect both and undermine both in the eyes of others. The fact that Jesus ‘did not baptise,’ Paul will later say that he ‘did not come to baptise,’ was probably so that people would not place too much importance upon it and believe that spiritual rebirth (the biblical term that is often used is ‘regeneration’) came about through baptism. It is an outward sign of public repentance, faith and entrance into the Church.
4 But He needed to go through Samaria.
Practically He did not need to ‘go through Samaria’ in fact, most law-abiding Jews would have noothing to do with the ethnic half-breeds and heretics that were the Samaritans. Nontheless, ‘He needed to go through Samaria’ as this would be the place of His encounter with the women at the well and would be the place of a religious revival.
5 So He came to a city of Samaria
which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground
that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
6 Now Jacob’s well was there.
The well belongs to Jacob or Israel and was an ancestor that was claimed by both the Jews and the Samaritans the fact that it takes places near a watering hole is not biblical warrant to drop by the bar to pick up girls in the name of evangelism though (and I have heard this text used in this way).
Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
Here we are reminded of Jesus’ full humanity. Jesus did not appear to be human, He did not pretend to be human and He was not half human. He was fully God and fully man in one person, this is like a glass that is full of oil and water. The components are seperate but contained within the one container. In the noon day sun Jesus, who was halfway through a 120 mile journey from the region of Judea in the South and the region of Galilee in the North, was exhausted.
7A woman of Samaria came
to draw water.
The reader is supposed to wonder why this woman was drawing water alone, since the women would draw water together and why this women was drawing water in the noon day sun, the hottest part of the day.
Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.”
8 For His disciples had gone away into the city
to buy food.
Jesus not only humbly served others but He humbly allowed Himself to be served by others. In the missionary world this is sometimes called reverse hospitality which is when the missionary is not the one providing all of the food and health care and education but also a recipient. This elevates the person providing hospitality like: Zaacheus, Mary/Marhta/Lazarus, Simon the Leper, Matthew Levi etc in the same way when the believer not only welcomes people to their home but allows them to bring something or help out with the dishes or will come to their home. This can be difficult for proud people, like me, who like to give but do not like to feel indebted to anyone for anything.
9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?”
For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
Relgious Jews had nothing to do with women or Samaritans in fact Jews and Samaritans hated one another in the same way that Sunni and Shia Muslims or Catholics and Protestants in NIRE in the 70s and 80s or Jews and Nazis in the 30s and 40s might.
10 Jesus answered and said to her,
“If you knew the gift of God,
Jesus was not only God’s gift to the Jews but to the whole world. That is that He was the long awaited Jewish Messiah but He was also the long awaited Samaritan Messiah and is the long awaited Messiah of all peoples. He is the Oliver Cromwell, the William Wallace, the Che Guerra, the Nelson Mandela, the George Washington, the Christian Ronaldo, the Ussain Bolt, the Gandhi that we have all been waiting for. In fact, the reason why their stories fascinate us is because they are mere shadows of something more significant that came through Him.
and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him,
and He would have given you living water.”
John does something interesting here he uses the idea of dead water (meaning water from a stagnant source, the spring from this well had probably ceased or this well had always been a well that collected the rain from the rainy season) and living water (which is water from a spring or flowing water from a river). He says that Jesus was comparing the dead water of life with the living water that comes from Him.
11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with,
and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father Jacob,
who gave us the well,
and drank from it himself, as well as his sons
and his livestock?”
Yet again we see that Jesus is misunderstood by those who are overly literalisitic with His words. What if there were 2 ways to percieve the world, maybe that is too simplisitc too, but what if there was one way which was overly literlaisitic and one that was equally true but was more the langage of the poet or song writer and contained within it metaphor and word picture and symbol? Well in Chrit these two ways or lens need to be alligned so that we might read His word not in a literalisitic sense but in a literal sense recognising shades of meaning and not dismiss it as ‘arty farty.’ Ultimately to understand the things that are revealed, revelation, we need the illuminating light of the Spirit - illumination.
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again,
14 but whoever drinks of the water
that I shall give him will never thirst.
But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
‘We are all baptised by the one Spirit’ which means that Christ fills us with the same Holy Spirit that filled Him and the apostles which mean that the power that dwells in the youngest and weakest believer is unfathomable. And that power is not just pragmatic, for the healing of the sick or so that one may be able to interpret dreams etc that power bubbles up in someone and becomes the source, or ‘fountain’ that leads to the life that is promised by Christ. Abundant life in the here-and-now and everlasting life in the bye-and-bye.
15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water,
that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
This woman longs for this water as her shame and her string of failed relationships have never been able to satsify the inner thirst she has had she is like the gambler who thinks that the one big win or the drunk who will just have one more binge before giving up but no matter how much the one wins and loses and wins again and the other drinks and drinks and drinks nothing can satisfy the craving of their innermost being. Intectually, relationally, spiritually the thirst in our souls can only be fulfilled in Christ, when He and He alone is our single delight when if everything if stripped away would be nothing in comparison with His good pleasure.
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband,
and come here.”
17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”
Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’
18 for you have had five husbands,
and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”
Although many preachers and commentaries would see this womn, in the words of Alister Begg as having had ‘5 husbands and a live in lover,’ I don’t think this is the case. I say that because in this day a woman caught in adultery would be stoned to death and it was only men who were able to iniaite divorce I think we have a woman who was always a good looking girl the stunner from Sychar. And not only was she physically attractive but she had a personality that made men like putty in her hands. Maybe she married her childhood sweetheart and then he died, she is till young and still has her looks and her charm and maybe her second husband leaves her for another woman and the fourth because of the hard time his friends and family give him and the fith because she can bare him no children. Until the final guy is happy to sleep with her or live with her but he is not marryng her. This is the young girl who served you at Boots, this is the one in your English lit lecturers, this is your cousin this could be you. Not so much immoral, though that is maybe a art of it and Christ saves the immoral, but the lost and oppressed who have tried to fill the Christless void with actual or imaginary romantic relationships.
If I can only find me a Justin Bieber or Scarlett Johanson.
If only if I had a little girl who I could take to pilates or a little boy who I could take to the football.
If only I had genuine friends and a Church that loves me.
Look! It is not that I grudge you this, I want you to have this but you ask the people who wanted the same things and who got what they wanted and they will tell you honestly that although it was awesome, though for some the dream became a nightmare, it was unable quench the inner thirst within them.
19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain,
and you Jews say
that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”
This woman does what we often do when the spotlight of conviction comes upon us by the Spirit she makes excuses. What she says here is the context of the conversation is stupid. This is the I would follow Jesus but I need to first figure out if I should be a Pentecostal or a Preysbetarian or if I perfer Gospel choirs or worship bands.
Some of you know enough by now to repent of your sins, place your faith in Christ, be baptised. Some of you know that you should make covenant and serving in leadership. And some of you should be training for the ministry, be setting up a Christian business, adopting or fostering or be on the mission field but you wont because you have excuses.
I heard of the American General Paton who was taking his men across a bridge while they being pursued by the enemy. Something was holding up the men so the general got to the front of the bridge and found out that it was a donkey that was not allowing people to pass. He took out his 9mm and blow the donkey’s brains out. That’s what you do with excuses you destory them before they destroy you or God’s plan for you.
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain,
nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship,
for salvation is of the Jews.
23 But the hour is coming,
and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit
and truth;
for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
God cares nothing about beautiful and ornate and well functioning buildings - these are good things but not when they become more important than people. So in some churches the philsophy is guard the church from young people and the local community or where the asethtics and the architecture becomes more important than the function. This why the Puritans smashed the stained glass windows and tore out the statues because the good things had become god things.
But your car and your desk at work or the weight section of Lancaster House Hotel gym is just as sacred as this building. Worship is nothing to do with the form but the person that you worship (God), the way that you worship (the spirit - one that is set ablaze by the Holy Spirit not bored and indifferent or mechanical) and the way that you worship (its true: it’s biblical, it is as revealed, it is the kind of worship that God delights in).
Not only are there some who do not worship God as the all-powerful all-loving God of the Bible but there are those that do not worship Him with their hearts abalze and their Bibles open.
You might be someone with a limited emotional spectrum. Your steady Eddie, your cool, your controlled or your Spock your analytical and rational. Well do the things that stir your affections. Listen to the preachers, get the CDs of the songs be around the people who strangely warm your heart for the things of God. Sit at the front so you do not have to put off by others, remember God looks on the outward appearance and God judges the heart and that Church is a place for people in all places in their spiritual journey and none. In fact, let me deal with the flag waving issue. Personally it is not my thing. Unless we could make them look like they belong to an underground resistance movement or military unit but can I tell you something it moves the very heart of God so you wave those bad boys.
Or you might be someone who is content to have a shallow and superficial faith. For goodness sake open your bible. Learn, develop, grow, take notes, ask questions, read, watch listen, study. The more you get to know of God the more your heart stretches and burns for Him. Theology is not the enemy of passion but the enemy of ignorance, immaturity and ineffectiveness. The more you love Him the more you will want to know Him.
24 God is Spirit,
and those who worship Him must worship in spirit
and truth.”
25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”
26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
Not only where the Jews waiting for the Messiah but so where the Samaritans in the same way that Buddhists are searching from freedom from suffering (well Jesus gives life and life in its abundance), in the same way the philosophy student is looking for truth (He is the way, the truth and the life) and in the same way that the work-a-holic financial investor is looking for peace (He is the Prince of Peace) and He comes not only to her but to you but what will you do with His offer. Will you tear it up and throw it in His face or will you sign on the dotted line?
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John 3:22-36 John the Baptist Exalts Christ
C - Literary: after Nicodemus (so baptism in water might refer to immersion) before the Samaritan woman (gives some examples of His greatness in comparison to John). Historical: John is his older cousin and has more ministry experience and is from a priestly Judean family.
A -
P - Jewish weddings might be a useful area for more study.
T - Jesus is greater than John.
O - We must decrease and He must increase.
R - FCF: Our self-interest and self-exaltation needs to be dealt with. RHF: That can only happen when we come to one greater than ourselves.
22 After these things Jesus
and His disciples came into the land of Judea,
and there He remained
with them
and baptized.
Jesus and the 12 set up a pop-up Church in the same region as the temple and near the ministry of John.
23 Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim,
because there was much water there.
And they came
and were baptized.
24 For John had not yet been thrown into prison.
Who is ‘they’ is it the crowds or is it, as it seems, the disciples. John adds an explanatory note of what will become of John. He will be imprisoned and killed.
25 Then there arose a dispute between some of John’s disciples
and the Jews about purification.
26 And they came to John
and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan,
to whom you have testified—behold, He is baptizing,
and all are coming to Him!”
After John’s disciples and ‘the Jews’ fight about the rites of purification one or both of these groups come to John. If it is the Jews then they are mocking John but if it is the disciples then this is jealousy or anger or frustration - may be a little of all of these.
27 John answered
and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him
from heaven.
John is saying that those being baptised, by John and Jesus, had received the revelation from above.
28 You yourselves bear me witness,
that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’
but, ‘I have been sent before Him.’
This suggests that John is speaking to the Jewish authorities who would have known John’s family and maybe the circumstances surrounding his birth. John states again that he sees his ministry as a preparation for the coming of the promised One.
29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom;
but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands
and hears him, rejoices greatly
because of the bridegroom’s voice.
Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.
John’s joy is complete because he is the best man and not the groom and therefore he sees his role as drawing attention to the groom and not to himself.
30 He must increase,
but I must decrease.
Dependence and glorification of Christ is the true goal not only of ministry but Christian parenting, Christian friendship and Christian education. We oppose the work of God when we make things dependant upon us or when our name recieves more applause than Christ. In an age of the Christian celebrity and the influence we can excercise through social media we have to be especially careful.
31 He who comes from above
is above all; he who is of the earth
is earthly
and speaks of the earth.
Christ sits in pole position because of where He is from, like the footballer who plays in Sieria A compared to the one who plays for Carnforth, but also what He does. John, although the greatest human who had been born other than Jesus till this point, John is still human and speaks as a human.
He who comes from heaven
is above all.
32 And what He has seen
and heard,
that He testifies;
and no one receives His testimony.
Jesus is not only fully human but He is fully divine and openly shares the mysteries of heaven but is rejected by the majority of the Judeans.
33 He who has received His testimony
has certified
that God is true.
34 For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God,
for God does not give the Spirit by measure.
Those who believe in Christ and His Word are those who truly believe in God because Christ speaks His very words through the Spirit.
35 The Father loves the Son,
and has given all things into His hand.
Whether on earth or under the earth or above the earth - Jesus Christ has equal authority as the Father and is therefore divine.
36 He who believes in the Son
has everlasting life;
and he who does not believe the Son
shall not see life,
but the wrath of God abides on him.”
What is said here is a common motif but this ‘wrath of God’ line is interesting. It shows that Christ is the safezone, the nuclear bunker that outside Him is death and wrath. This unplatable to the post-modern mind who is both uninterested in God and offended by His righteous character.
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