This past Sunday, we continued our series in the book of John with John 5:16-47, where Jesus, for the first time in John’s Gospel, testifies concerning exactly who He is and where He’s come from. His opponents understood exactly who He was claiming to be: God. Not only does He testify to this identity, but He points to four additional witnesses. The question we and His opponents are left with is, “which witnesses will you choose to listen to?”
It’s remarkable how often Jesus is referred to Kindly, whether He’s called “a good teacher”, “a great example to follow” or even “the most well-known person in history”. The Galileans of John 4:43-5:15 received Jesus in a similar way - they “welcomed” Him.
However, Jesus’ response to their welcome reminds us that He didn’t come to be merely welcomed. He didn’t come to be popular or famous or seen as respectable or even as a miracle-worker. He came to be believed in as the Messiah - the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”.
It's one of the most well-known and widely discussed stories in the New Testament. But, like so many stories in the Bible, we often miss the point. Guest preacher Grant Sigafoos helped us to understand that Jesus invites those who are outside the covenant to community to know God and then invites them into His mission of making God known. '
In the very last encounter with John the Baptist in the Gospel of John (3:22-36), we see his ministry and influence declining, yet he makes the astounding claim that "my joy is now complete". He would be executed a mere matter of months later, but he died a joyful man. The same joy is available to all who've placed their faith in Christ and it comes as a result of an unexpected equation that involves the increase and glory not of self, but of another.
As we continued our series in the book of John, we were reminded that John's purpose for writing is that the reader "believe that Jesus is the Christ" (20:31). However, in 2:12-3:21, we encounter manifestations of unbelief and Jesus explanation that its remedy is far more drastic than even the most religious would have guessed. Listen to last week's message to be reminded of the severity of unbelief, yet the readiness and power of the Savior to cure the condition.
Jesus creates unity between people unlike anything this world has ever seen. This past Sunday, Luke Friedly, our friend from Sovereign Grace Church, Pasadena, reminded us from Psalm 133 how precious unity is to God and to what lengths God has gone to in order to create and preserve unity in His Church. It's our privilege to experience that unity and our responsibility to guard that unity.
This past Sunday, we had the honor of hosting Dylan Sohie, pastoral intern at Sovereign Grace Church of Orange while Kyle was away preaching at that very same church. Dylan is a young man who aspires to giving himself to leadership in the church. One of the ways that we can serve the process of raising up new leaders like Dylan is by giving them opportunities to preach God's Word.
Dylan served us well, continuing our series in the Gospel of John by preaching from John 2:1-11.
In the third message in the Gospel of John, we ended chapter 1 this past Sunday. Rather than simply having Jesus described for us by the author, we met Him, as it were, face-to-face through the eyes of His first 5 disciples. What do you encounter when you see Jesus? His glory. Listen to last week's message and come and see Jesus for who He is.
John the Baptist was an enigma in his day. He captured the attention of a nation, but then diverted everybody's attention to another, making it clear that he had been sent to prepare the way for the coming King. He attracted attention in the same way that a neon arrow attracts attention. Our lives aren't all that different. What do you do with the attention you receive?
This Sunday, we introduced a new sermon series in the Gospel of John. John introduced us to the Word. This "Word" is the answer to all of life's biggest questions and unlike anyone you've ever known or met or heard of. He's God, yet He's has always been with God. He's eternal and omnipotent, yet He dwelt among us. He Himself is the fullness of God and also the fullness of grace. His name is Jesus and we'll meet him and become increasingly amazed by Him every week as we dive deeper and deeper into this book.
