Journey Through John’s Gospel

Journey Through John, John 1.23-28, The Voice of One Calling In The Wilderness

March 27, 2020 0 Comments

Dear Friends,

I think most of us have an angry vision of John the Baptist. He might have been angry at times. But I don’t believe that emotion is the main posture of his ministry.

The main postures of John’s ministry are humility and hope.

John 1:23-28

23John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’ ”

24Now the Pharisees who had been sent 25questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

26“I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. 27He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”

28This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

We hear John’s humility as he insists on pointing to Jesus as the lead character. “Among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”

We hear John’s hope in his prophetic identification. “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”

When John the Baptist quotes Isaiah 40 he taps into one of the most hopeful texts in the Bible. 

Isaiah is realistic about the frailty of humanity, “All people are like grass and their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.” (Isaiah 40:8)

However, this word of reality is not given with anger. The whole prophetic passage begins like this:

“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem…” (verse 1)

There is “good news” (verse 9) for Jerusalem. The voice calling in the wilderness declares that “the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all the people will see it together.” (verse 5) The emissaries of God are to declare “Here is your God!” “The Sovereign LORD comes with power and he rules with a mighty arm.” (verses 9-10)

But we might ask, “how shall the Sovereign LORD rule?”

Wow look at this. Isaiah says,

“He tends his flock like a shepherd:
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.” (verse 11)

That’s a word of hope!

John the Baptist’s ministry is one of humility and hope. He wants people to get ready for the coming of the LORD, for the LORD is coming in His sovereignty as their shepherd.


We can also see John’s humility and hope in his choice of where to post up for ministry. He is not in any religious centre. Instead, he has located himself on the “wilderness” side of the Jordan river. He is in “Bethany East of the Jordan.” Folks are coming to him and are having to cross the Jordan river to get to him. They are figuratively retracing the path of Israel in reverse for a baptism of repentance.

I believe these early adopters where invited by God into a pilgrim’s journey in order to prepare for God’s coming. They were invited into the wilderness so they might see the true wilderness conditions of their souls. With John they were invited by God into postures of humility and hope so that they might know Him.

Isn’t that how all of us come to Jesus?


Let’s pray.

Heavenly Father,

We come to you from the wilderness of our souls; its barrenness, vulnerability, constant striving for security and identity, and its false affections. With humility and hope we lay them down as we come to you. We long for your comfort, your good news, and your Presence with us. As we come to Jesus the Shepherd of our souls, fill us with your Spirit that we may rejoice in you and your mighty power for redeemed relationships.

In Jesus Name we pray,
Amen.

Our next reading will be John 1:29-34.

Journey Through John's Gospel

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Journey Through John, John 1.19-23 — Who are you?

March 26, 2020 0 Comments

Dear Friends,

Why does a submarine have many compartments? Why can these compartments be sealed up and shut off from the rest? 

Most of us realize the answer. But I’ll state the obvious. A submarine has many compartments that can be sealed off as a safety measure; if the integrity of the hull is breached in one area, the whole ship won’t go down and stay and down; just that room will be sealed and flooded.

Most of us realize that like a submarine our lives need a diversity of compartments. Typically we live and gather up our sense of purpose in one or more compartments relationally: our work, our hobbies, our family, our friends, our health, our wealth or lack thereof. All these relationships provide input on who we are.

But at the core — Who are you?  What are you all about? What do you have to say about yourself?

John the Baptist is the major character in our readings for the next few days. But he keeps pointing to another character as the lead. John was clear about himself and his purpose. But his clarity confused folks who came to ask him, “Who are you?”


19Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. 20He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”

21They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”
He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the Prophet?”
He answered, “No.”

22Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
23John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’ ”
John 1:19-23

John’s point of reference for answering the question “Who are you?” and “What do you say about yourself?” is the Lord. His point of reference for personal identity is God and what God is doing in the world through him — pointing to Jesus.

John was clear about what he was not: “I am not the Messiah… Elijah…. or the Prophet.”

John was clear about who he was and what he was about. So he was able to say, “I am this!”

What a glorious grace! He’s living this purpose in his 30’s. Is there hope for us? Yes! I believe there is hope for all of us — younger or older.

John’s clarity of purpose derived from his relationship with God and the Lord’s calling on his life:
 

“I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”

If you have never pressed in on this question: Who are you? What are you all about? Now is good time to do so.

Disruptions in our lives can drive us into serious consideration of the question as we deal with the grief of sealed off compartments.

Perhaps it’s good to begin with questions to the Lord Himself: Lord — how do you see me? What do you want my life to be about?

Don’t try to rush the answer. I went through a season of purpose re-evaluation and exploration a few years ago. The experience went like this: clarity seemed to come quickly — almost all at once — but the process had taken months and was built on quite a few years of relationships and experiences. We will get to the other side of this pandemic. Clarity forged in this season will be priceless.

To begin — sit with the question and sit with Jesus.

Who are you?

Let’s pray:

Our Heavenly Father,

We delight in you and the reading of your Word today. You have a plan and a purpose. You shall not be thwarted. Grant us clarity of purpose by Your Spirit and your Word. We don’t have to see your whole plan. But we do desire to see you. Let our lives in this world also point to Jesus. For some of us the Covid-19 pandemic has torpedoed our plans and even our sense of purpose. Whole compartments of our lives have been shut to us. We must retreat to you. Help us Lord. Let your church be a voice calling out in the wilderness so that minds may know Him, and hearts may have their affections set on Him.

In Jesus Name We Pray,

Amen.

I will continue exploring John 1:19-28 in our next reading.

For your own spiritual journey: Please take time to read the text and write your own prayer to God.

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Journey Through John, John 1:16-18, Out of His Fullness We Have All Received Grace

March 25, 2020 0 Comments

Dear Friends,

Do you feel stretched thin? As if you are not enough for these days?

In Fellowship of the Ring J.R.R. Tolkien captures the condition of every age and our lives. As the Covid-19 crisis presses in on us in North America I hear many speaking symptomatically of the condition. Perhaps the contraction of activity and the contraction of our relationship circles is forcing us to acknowledge: we have been stretched thin.

In The Fellowship of the Ring Bilbo Baggins says: “I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.” 

Ever present in that line is the ring —the ring of power tucked away in Bilbo’s pocket. We like to focus on the words “I feel thin, like butter scraped over too much bread” and forget about the ring.

Seth Godin has suggested that the issue for many of us (in life, leadership and organizations) is “too much bread.” Most of us though read the line as a matter of not enough butter. Godin is onto something: if we idolize busyness then we will keep adding more to our lives so we aren’t really enough. Perhaps he is right: we hide behind busyness rather than risk the focus and vulnerability required to make an impact.

Hmmmm, well no matter the problem — not enough butter or having too much bread, I think Tolkien is onto something. The “ring,” that which had become “the precious” to all who “owned it” stretched out Bilbo’s life, but it had cost him. And so it is with all our idols. They own us. They stretch us out and they exact a toll on us. 

Idolatry always believes that this other thing, entity, or accomplishment will truly make us a person; that it will satisfy the longings of our soul and make us loveable, secure, or powerful. But none of that was made to bear the weight of our souls.

Only Jesus can bear the weight of our souls. Everything else will stretch us out and make our souls thin. Our souls were made to find their fullness in God.

The Apostle John and those who received Jesus experienced God’s presence for their lives in a way that kept on and continually added to their lives. They discovered that their affection for Jesus didn’t stretch them thin but actually filled them up.

Notice what John writes of confessionally of Jesus:

16Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

John 1:16-18

Wow! Out of His fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. John acknowledges that the Law given through Moses had been a kind of grace. His whole life had been shaped by the Law and a genuine desire to know God. But perhaps his generation had also been stretched thin by their pursuit of the law’s call for perfection. The truth — of knowing God — had been just out of reach. But now in Christ, John and his friends had received grace upon grace; they had received the fullness of God’s presence with them. 

This is grace — God’s presence; God’s presence with us providing more than enough. What was Jesus full of? His relationship with the Father.

Oh, let’s repent of the pursuits that stretch us thin. Let’s give up the “rings of power.” Let’s yield our lives to HIm. For Jesus “who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father” is making God, the true source of our lives known.

Let’s Pray.

Heavenly Father,

We were made your communion. But we have collected much and given our lives to guarding that which promised what only you can give. We have hoarded deadly affections. The very real possibility of losing some of these things has created anxiety for us. They have hollowed us out and stretched us thin. Perhaps we have “rings of power” tucked away in our pockets. We thought they would secure our souls. But now, Lord, we feel stretched thin. Forgive us Lord. We repent. We lay them down. We turn to you. Fill us up with your Spirit. Direct us into the life of your Son, Jesus Christ, that we may live. We desire to be in closest relationship with you. 

In the name of Jesus we pray,

AMEN.

Our next reading will be John 1:19-28.

Journey Through John's Gospel

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Journey Through John, #5, John 1:14-15, The Word Became Flesh

March 24, 2020 0 Comments

Dear Friends,

God has inextricably linked himself to the fortunes of people and His Creation. We are not just a mass hurling through space upon which the universe occasionally acts in our favour. Instead God is personally engaged with us, always and for good. I find that to be good news. 

Although many folks have constructed their views of the world without God’s engagement, I’m not sure I want to live in a world in which love in its fullest form rightly shaped with grace and truth is absent or alien to us. 

The Apostle John’s whole view of the world was changed by knowing Jesus. He introduced a new take on the origin story in the first line of his gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” His listeners might have found themselves nodding in agreement philosophically, but then this:

14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

15(John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ ”)

John 1:14-15

Now John is also offering a new deliverance story not just for Israel but for all humanity. The history of Israel includes years of dwelling in tents before they settled in the land promised to Abraham and Sarah’s descendants. God himself visited Moses and Joshua in the tent of meeting and then the Tabernacle. That word tabernacle or tenting is used here in regard to dwelling. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. God’s active engagement with us is seen in that he shared our tent, our own bodily tabernacle: he took on flesh — he incarnated.

The full deliverance of Israel from Egypt and from themselves in the wilderness was accomplished by the God who dwelled with them. Now the full deliverance of humanity from  darkness and themselves would be accomplished by the incarnation of the Word. Jesus has entered into all our relationships: with God, with self, with people, and with the stuff of earth!

Eugene Peterson famously seeks to capture the joyous announcement in this passage when he writes in The Message:

14The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
true from start to finish.

15John pointed him out and called, “This is the One! The One I told you was coming after me but in fact was ahead of me. He has always been ahead of me, has always had the first word.”
John 1:14-15, THE MESSAGE

So, you want to know who God is?
You want to know what God is like?
You want to know what God thinks of us?
You want to know what God is saying to us?

Come, come and see Jesus. We are all pointing to Jesus. Listen to Him. Just like John the Baptist — we are all pointing to Jesus.


Let’s pray.

Heavenly Father, The glory of Jesus is the glory of You. Help us see you. We want to know you. We want to be with you as we race through space and as we occupy a space on the globe. Our world seems to only have diminished versions of truth and of grace, such that we hardly know what these words mean. What is truth? What is grace? Something stirs within us and we know we need it. We need your truth. We need your grace. So, you have given us Jesus. Both are perfectly contained in Him. Thank you!

In Jesus Name, we say, Thank you!

Amen.

Our next reading will be from John 1.16-18

If you would like to get an overview of the book of John take some time with the short online course developed by Nick Crawley at Bible for Life.

Journey Through John's Gospel

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Journey Through John, #4, John 1.11-13, Born by the Will of God

March 23, 2020 0 Comments

Dear Friends,

This past Sunday was the second Sunday since our congregation got swept up in the storm called Covid-19. For two weeks now we have not gathered and that’s how it will be for the foreseeable future. I hate it.

I think I’m supposed to be excited about seeing you all online and connecting with you from a distance. But I’m grieving the loss of seeing you, just running into you on campus, gathering with you, seeing you in the city– and now of not even saying proper goodbyes. This storm has swept us up and scattered us across the globe.

I’m realizing that I can’t do this Journey Through John as if I’m just expositing the Word of God in a timeless vacuum. So, I’m going to write to my Dear Friends. That’s what you are to me. Yes I know I have served as a pastor to you under the guidance of Jesus our Great Shepherd. But even there I have sought to treat you as friends. 

My salvation testimony has its “event” prompted by the Holy Spirit when my my Sunday School teacher, Molly McCracken read from John 15:12-17. Even at 9, and even still, I am astonished that Jesus would call me a friend. It’s what I wanted at 9 and it’s what I enjoy now. 

As friends transformed by Jesus, I wish I was better at friendship with you and with Him. But I hope that’s the yearning of the Spirit in me for the communion of God and with His saints. 

I am eternally grateful to Jesus for choosing me. I pray often that He would choose you and that you would receive Him fully. There is tension in life for the friends of Jesus.

I believe John the Apostle was deeply aware of these tensions: the desire to treat all as friends of Jesus being stretched by the desire of God to transform all people through friendship with Him, and the reality that some people even though they have been granted the grace of God’s dignity towards them will not change their minds about HIm. Thus John writes that although Jesus came to those He created (the world) and those He had formed as His own (Israel) they did not recognize Him or receive Him. Yet…

12Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

John 1:11-13, NIV

I’m so grateful for this super work of God. To be born of God, by His will and not my own. To be born as a friend of God when I’m not all that great at friendship — amazing! This friends is our lot in Christ: we have been born of Him through the Holy Spirit-activated-act of seeing Jesus for who He is, and receiving Him for who He is. This is the will of our Heavenly Father — that we would be born of His will, not just our families’ will, but of His will!

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord Oh you friends of Jesus! Come all, come all and receive His friendship!

Let’s pray.

Heavenly Father,

Even in your family you would have us act as friends of Jesus. Even in this world you would have us treat all as if they could be a friend of Jesus — even our enemies. Thank you for the grace of recognizing and receiving Jesus. We have been born of your will, not our own, not of our families’ will, not of our parents’ will, nor of our nation’s will, but of your will. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you! May our spiritual birth into a life with you be full of awe and new mercies.

In Jesus Name,
Amen.


Our next reading will be: John 1:14-15

(Note to those receiving this as an email. Click through to my blog if you would like to view the reading as a video.)

Journey Through John's Gospel, Relationships

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