December 3, 2017
Morning Service

Today we will begin a study on the Gospel of John.  The author is the apostle John one of the twelve, but also one of the three in Jesus’ inner circle along with his brother James and Peter.  John’s father was Zebedee who along with his two boys was a fisherman by trade.  They were referred to as the “sons of thunder” because of their fiery tempers (Mk 3:17).  He was the only apostle to witness the crucifixion and Jesus even asked him from the cross to care for His mother Mary (Jn. 19:26).  He refers to himself as the “disciple whom Jesus loved.”  He along with Peter was the leaders of the early church.  His brother James was the first apostle to be martyred for his faith.  Jesus prophesied that John would live a long life and it came true as he lived into his 90s and was the last apostle to die and the only one to die of natural causes.  History tells us that he moved to Ephesus sometime before the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.  Later in life he was exiled to the isle of Patmos where he wrote the Book of Revelations.  He also wrote three letters that we call I, II and III John.

            It is believed that John wrote this sometime between the years of AD 66-68 possibly from Ephesus.  Of the four gospels, this one presents the most powerful case for the deity of incarnate Son of God.  He uses seven “I am” statements from Jesus Himself to help solidify this fact.  The gospels all contain similar parallel material but, over 90 percent of John’s writings are unique.  It seems John’s primary purpose for writing was not so much to record historical facts, but as an evangelistic message.  The theme of his writings stresses the dual response of faith and unbelief to the Person of Jesus Christ.  Eternal life is offered to those who place their faith in Him and condemnation to those who choose to reject Him as the Son of God. The verb “believe” occurs over 100 times in his text.  John clearly states the purpose of his writing at the end of the book, so that is where we will start.

 John 20:31  But these are written so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life in His name.

·         John is crystal clear in that he is writing in order to persuade his readers to believe that Jesus is the Christ and through that they may gain eternal life.  As we study this book together let’s look for those parts that can build our faith and parts that we can also use as a tool to share Christ with others around us.  We can ask questions like “what does that teach me about God” and “what does that show me about how God sees me?”

·         As we begin, John starts at the very beginning of creation so let’s have a quick review as well.  We will look at the first three verses of Genesis that speak on creation to help us understand the full meaning of what John tells us to begin his gospel message.

 Genesis 1:1-3  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  (2)  And the earth was without form and empty. And darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters.  (3)  And God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light.

·         The creation begins with God speaking light into existence.  It was the power in His voice and the Words that He said.  Keep that fact in mind as we now begin the gospel according to John this time from the beginning.

John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  (2)  He was in the beginning with God.  (3)  All things came into being through Him, and without Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being.  (4)  In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.  (5)  And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.

·         Jesus is the Word of God.  He is the Creator of all things.  He has always existed.  He is light and He is life to all men.  That is so clear when we combine this with Genesis and rightly divide their meaning.  As we enter into this Christmas season and celebrate the birth of our Savior, this is what needs to be on our mind.  The Word of God, the Creator, the Light and the life of men came down and dwelt among us.  He came as a shining Light to conquer darkness and evil once and for all time.

·         John wants to leave no doubt in his reader’s mind of who is this Jesus of Nazareth.  He emphatically points to His deity and that He is the very Son of God.

 John 1:6-11 There was a man sent from God; his name was John.  (7)  This one came as a witness, to bear witness concerning the Light, so that all might believe through him.  (8)  He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.  (9)  He was the true Light; He enlightens every man coming into the world.  (10)  He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him, and the world did not know Him.  (11)  He came to His own, and His own received Him not.

·         John introduces the forerunner of Christ here, John the Baptist, and states his calling clearly; he was sent to bear witness of the Light.  He was not the Light but would point people to the true Light; Jesus.  As the Light, Jesus illuminates our understanding of who God is and what is His ultimate plan for those who accept that fact by faith.  Until this time it had been a very dark mystery with only some prophecy pointing forward until this time.  The Creator came and dwelt among His creation and they did not know Him.  He came first to His own chosen people and they chose to reject Him.

John 1:12-13  But as many as received Him, He gave to them authority to become the children of God, to those who believe on His name,  (13)  who were born, not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but were born of God. 

·         Though many Jews rejected Jesus, John points out that there were many who did receive (accept) Him for who He was.  That choice made by faith came with a reward.  They are rewarded with right to be called the children of God.  It is not by birthright, bloodline, or even man’s will that this happens, but it is an act and the will of God to make His salvation available to “whosoever will.”  Those who believe are “reborn” or “born again” of God being spiritually adopted into His family becoming not His servants, but children. 

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and of truth.

·         Eugene Peterson in his paraphrased writing in The Message wrote verse 14 like this:  “The Word became flesh and moved into our neighborhood.  We saw the glory with our own eyes, like Father, like Son, generous inside and out, true from start to finish.”

·          God became fully human and He came down to us into a manger in the town of Bethlehem.  In other religions it is the worshipers who try to climb a spiritual mountain to one day meet their god.  In Christianity, our God came down to us.  The writers of our NT Bible saw Him, knew Him, loved Him and were loved by Him.  They believed so greatly in what they saw that all but John gave their lives for their faith.

·         He became our example of perfection being full of grace and truth.  He lived a perfect life in order to be a perfect sacrifice for our sins.  He is our model to follow and also empowers us to do so. 

John wastes no time in pushing his point out there of who Jesus is.  He is the Word, the Creator, our Light, our Life and our Savior.  Those that accept this by faith will receive the right to become the children of God.

 

Father, thank You for sending Jesus down to us and may we truly embrace Him for who He is.