INTRODUCTION TO THE GOSPEL OF JOHN (I)
By Pastor Paulus Budiono
Lemahputro, Sunday, January 19, 2020
Shalom,
We are to love the Word of God more, hence let’s not sort the sermons out. So, for example, evangelical sermon must be delivered at the Sunday service while biblical studies should be given at Friday service if we want to learn more about the Word. Is it permissible to have biblical studies on Sundays or evangelical sermon on Fridays? Did Jesus differ His messages between evangelism and teaching? It turns out that such categorization has never been found in the Bible, either in Jesus’ ministry, in His disciples’ or in other apostles’. When Jesus was on earth, He taught, evangelized and prayed without place and time restrictions. He also taught in the synagogue, prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, preached by the lake, taught on a boat and explained all the Scriptures to two of his disciples on the way to Emmaus and so on. For Him, evangelism or teaching must not be carried out only in certain events. Note this: the strength of your faith is not determined by how astounding the preacher is or how perfect the liturgy is, but rather by the powerful Word of God delivered in any form possible.
Let’s not be bound by strict church regulations that can hinder us from knowing who the Lord really is and cause indifference towards service and bible reading.
Starting this Sunday, we will begin our study on the Gospel of John. And as an introduction, let’s read John 1:14 which states, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Who was the Word that became flesh? Jesus!! He came into the world as a man through birth (Luke 2: 7) and the Word was God (John 1: 1). He stayed in the world for ± 33.5 years. Then, He returned to Heaven after He died on the cross and was resurrected on the third day. How old is Jesus now? He must be very old, more than 2,000 years old. Humanly speaking, as we age, our appearances change. We are not as handsome, or as beautiful, or as strong as when we were younger. The first love between husband and wife may have faded and married life becomes dull. Do we still love Jesus who is as old as the hills? Did Jesus really grow old? Jesus Christ – the Word – is the same ─ yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13: 8). Why do we become indifference towards Bible reading? Yet by reading the Bible we will find the Person Jesus who never disappoints us but always guides us.
Please note, in ancient times, the Bible was in the form of scrolls without chapters and verses. It was written by more than 40 authors with various cultural, educational and social backgrounds, at different places and times over a span of 1,500 years. Undeniably, this scroll is the result of varied thoughts and feelings of the writers but miraculously all lead to one purpose which was then canonized by the church founding fathers in the 3rd and 4th centuries and became the bible that we all have now. Was it easy for our founding fathers to unify their minds to discover and investigate the scrolls? Certainly there were a lot of frictions among them for hundreds of years but eventually there was a unity. And it was not the work of the Executive Director or the largest synods. But instead solely the work of the Holy Spirit who took control of them.
We believe in the Triune God who has only one purpose. God the Father is the strategist ( the mastermind), Jesus (the Son of God) is the executor of His Father’s plan and by the agency of the Holy Spirit our lives are changed into godly people.
We must also believe that the Bible is the Word of God and everything written in it reveals His Person. Example: The Gospel of John writes about Jesus and all the work that He did.
We always find the author's purpose in writing a book when we read it. Likewise, the Apostle John had a purpose when writing the Gospel of John, that is, “Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” (John 20: 30-31)
The Apostle John revealed Jesus whom he knew through his writings. Certainly there was nothing wrong with writing about Jesus’ daily activities since he was the one who had followed and witnessed his Teacher while on earth for 3.5 years. But of all the writings about Jesus, John aims that we believe that Jesus, the Son of God, is the Messiah who gives us eternal life in His Name.
Now a few questions rise: what is God's purpose in helping our married lives? Is it only for the sake of temporary unity on earth? Then, what will happen after we die?
Jesus' disciples, including John, were the living witnesses to the signs Jesus performed. And He even gave them the Holy Spirit and He breathed on them (John 20:22). John admitted that not all the signs they saw were recorded in his book (v. 30). Just because John did not have a degree in theology, it did not mean he could not write systematically to cover all of Jesus' activities. At the conclusion of John’s gospel, He stressed the importance of believing what has been written in the Bible. In other words, don’t look for Jesus’ ministries in other books, whose validity of the stories are open to question, apart from the Bible! For example: there is a book that says Jesus taking mud, making a bird shape and then blowing it into a living bird that can fly.
John emphasized that the ultimate goal of our faith is not just being a Christian or being religious but believing that Jesus is the Messiah, the anointed King, and we have eternal life in Him. And the testimony he wrote was true (John 21: 24-25).
Our testimonies, in whatever means others can see and hear─ sermon, stories, songs etc. should be true and not just entertainment-oriented. Thus, we must be extra careful with our words and deeds.
Our reasoning must go beyond our humanity. Don’t be too compliant and hence get smitten by best seller books with unreliable stories! We must return to the Bible whose truth is infallible.
We know that there are four gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke, John – written by four different people. But all of them have a unified theme: the Person Jesus, the Son of God, and the magnificent things He performed. To be precise, there is only one gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Mark 1: 1) yet it was written by four people who were annointed by the Holy Spirit with their own writing styles. This shows how rich the Word of God is. If we take a closer look, John's Gospel is somewhat different from the other three. The three Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke – include many of the same stories and referred to as the synoptic Gospels. They recounted Jesus’ humanity (His birt lineage as a descendant of a king, His ministry as a Servant accompanied by miracles, the suffering He experienced as a human being) while the Gospel of John portrays His deity.
John's Gospel begins with "The Word was with God and the Word was God". Why was the Gospel of John written? Because in the first century there was a group of Christians who did not believe that Jesus was God. They considered Jesus as a minor God. So, the old Apostle John wrote a book to give an account of who Jesus was. And to fend off those who said Jesus was not God but God’s only direct creation, the same notion also believed by Jehovah's witnesses.
The Jews know full well and adore the five books of Moses which were considered as the beginning of all the books. Here are some similarities between the Book of Genesis (OT) and the Gospel of John (NT), namely:
Genesis 1: 1 writes, " In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
John 1: 1 writes, " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
The Apostle John must have known the books of the Old Testament well. Although it seems similar, there is a difference between Genesis 1: 1 and John 1: 1. The book of Genesis says "In the beginning God created". Who is God mentioned here? And here is a silly question, if God created then who created God? The Gospel of John answers who God really is. The main threads between the Old Testament and the New Testament are obviously inseparable. So, we must not stop at the Old Testament in which God seemed so harsh when He punished out of His wrath.
God created the universe and everything in it in an orderly manner. He also created time but He Himself did not need time. Later in the New Jerusalem, there will no longer be the sun or the moon to show the time (Revelation 21:23). Meaning: all will return to the beginning, that is, God─ He has neither beginning nor ending. He is eternal.
The book of Genesis reveals that God created through His Word (vv. 3,6,9, etc.) and everything was made by Him, without Him there was nothing (John 1: 3). This means whatever problems we are facing, He can resolve it through His Word.
On the sixth day, God saw all that He had made was very good (Genesis 1:31). If we want a good married life, return to God, the Creator of marriage. Not only did He create material beings for us to enjoy on this earth, but in Him there was life and the life was the Light of man (John 1: 4). God-Jesus-the Holy Spirit is light and we enter into the Light. And we even have eternal life if we believe that Jesus is the Messiah.
We should believe that Jesus, the Son of God, is the Messiah so that believing we have eternal life in His Name. Love the Word of God by meditating on it day and night, for His Word is able to sustain our lives until one day we are gathered with Him, with no time restriction, in the New Jerusalem. Amen.