“SUCCESS” vs. “EFFECTIVENESS”

Posted on March 3, 2023 by PastorDave

The older I get, the more I think about where all I’ve been over the course of my life and ministry and what all I’ve done – or not done – and if I’ve done it well. I always seriously think about it, often wonder, sometimes agonize over it.

I guess everyone does that at some time to some degree.

I keep telling everyone “I know I’m at least well into in the second half of my life, maybe the fourth quarter, maybe the ninth inning, maybe the bottom of the ninth, maybe even the final ‘two-minute drill.’” We never know.

What I do know is that I don’t want to end up ‘being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ’ [2 Peter 1.8]. I so want to finish well like Peter encourages: “For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” [2 Peter 1.11].

So whether I think about my service for Christ in terms of:

  • “…he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the Master of the house, ready for every good work” [2 Timothy 2.20-21
  • “…So whether we are at home [in the body] or away [with Christ], we make it our aim to please Him” [2 Corinthians 5.6-10]
  • “…bear fruit…more fruit…much fruit…” [John 15.1-8]

it all comes down to this measurement:

“SUCCESS” vs. “EFFECTIVENESS”

1 Corinthians 4.1-5 HCSB: A person should consider us in this way: as servants of Christ and managers of God’s mysteries. 2 In this regard, it is expected of managers that each one of them be found faithful. 3 It is of little importance to me that I should be evaluated by you or by any human court. In fact, I don’t even evaluate myself. 4 For I am not conscious of anything against myself, but I am not justified by this. The One who evaluates me is the Lord. 5 Therefore don’t judge anything prematurely, before the Lord comes, who will both bring to light what is hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of the hearts. And then praise will come to each one from God.

I learned decades ago that I couldn’t and shouldn’t measure my life and ministry by the commonly accepted or trending metrics of ‘success,’ mainly because:

[1] That responsibility is not within my aegis: “The One who evaluates me is the Lord…therefore don’t judge anything prematurely, before the Lord comes, who will both bring to light what is hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of the hearts. And then praise will come to each from God.”

[2] I’m not a worthy judge or evaluator of my own ministry: “I don’t even evaluate myself.” 

[3] I’ll have to know what measurement to use to evaluate by: “It is of little importance to me that I should be evaluated by you or by any human court.”  It is fruitless, futile, and frustrating to either search for or submit to anyone else’s metrics of ‘success.’ The best we can do is waste our time and seasons of our lives and ministries trying to attain and measure up by series of trial and error.

[4] I couldn’t find much of what is usually called ‘success’ anyway to even measure.

Who determines what ‘success’ is, anyway? Who has the authority and right to tell me what measure to use and when I have attained it? ‘Success’ always ends up being a comparison with someone else or the ministry of another. And God Himself is the only One who is deservedly credited with any ‘success’ that comes from any of our ministries.

“What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building” [1 Corinthians 3.5-9].

And, in the end:

  • “For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written, ‘As I live, says the LORD, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.’ So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.” [Romans 14.10-12].
  • And “…each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done…” [1 Corinthians 3.13].
  • And “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” [2 Corinthians 5.10].

Anyone who’s been in the ministry, and especially pastoral ministry, has had plenty of ‘evaluations’ from others. I’ve been in pastoral ministry for fifty years, so I’ve had my fair share. Some have been sincere and well-intentioned, and I received and learned from them. Others, not so much. Several years back, I experienced one of my most memorable ‘evaluations.’ During one such episode, I was essentially put on trial to examine and evaluate my pastoral ‘success’ in one of the churches I have pastored. In response, I had delivered a message in which I referenced Paul’s 1 Corinthians 4.1-5 testimony quoted above. It was not a ‘defense’ per se, just an explanation, a testimony. At the end of the message, after everyone else had left to go home, I was accosted by a much younger ministry partner – and a novice at that – who screamed at me for half an hour, reminding me of all ways I had failed in that church. Toward the end of his diatribe, he summed up my ministry by saying: “You can’t preach, you can’t lead, and you can’t relate to people.” Then, as he turned to walk back up the aisle to leave, he turned and jabbed his finger to point at me, and delivered his final volley by saying, “I have come to the conclusion you are unfit for the ministry.” Well, for one who had given my entire life to ministry to Christ and to others, and all in the ways in which he had just told me I had failed, I did at least take note of that evaluation. I really don’t want that to be the case. But, the only answer I gave him was to calmly reply: “Well, I know that’s your evaluation of me. You’ve told me that before. But, as I said in my message this morning, your evaluation doesn’t count. Christ Himself will determine that, both now and at the Last Day.”  

So, rather than constantly evaluate my ministry by the commonly accepted and ever-changing metrics of ‘success,’ I learned to evaluate my service to Christ in terms of ‘effectiveness.’ ‘Effective’ simply means that I accomplished what I have been given to do. And the bottom line of an ‘effective’ ministry is: “Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful” [1 Corinthians 4.2]. “Do whatever He tells you” [John 2.5]. If I faithfully obey and fulfill the assignment my Lord and Master gives me to do and tells me to do in that time and place, then I have been ‘effective’ … regardless of the visible results of my labors, the evaluations of anyone else, or how it may compare with someone else’s service.

My call, assignment, responsibility is to serve and please Jesus Christ [2 Corinthians 5.9] by proclaiming the Word of God into all the ministry opportunities God is pleased to lead me into. That includes, first of all, my own example of character and conduct, all those that are public and in the church body, as well as in my personal relationships and one-on-one encounters. If I do that, the ‘effectiveness’ is not from me…it is from God. Jesus said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” [John 6.63]. Jesus Christ Himself – through the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit – is the Great Effector through us as we speak the words God has ordained to be effective.

If I faithfully live by, speak, and proclaim the words that God gives me in His Word, then I cannot fail. I must succeed.

If I faithfully live by, speak, and proclaim the words that God gives me in His Word, then I cannot fail. I must succeed. Because God always succeeds through His Word. “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” [Isaiah 55.10-11].

So, “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life” [Acts 5.20]. Jesus Christ Himself will be speaking through you.

“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” [Joshua 1.8].

God will make His Word…and you…effective.

Posted in I've been thinking | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

I AM…the Resurrection and the Life

Posted on February 25, 2023 by PastorDave

JOHN | Lesson 10 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read John, chapter 11

NOTE: to you who have been following these lessons in sequence, I am keeping the lessons I taught our Sunday School class in numerical order. However, the lesson on chapter 10 is missing from this sequence since a Pastor from our church taught that lesson in my absence.

I / INTRODUCTION: SOME SIGNIFICANCES OF THIS CHAPTER & SIGN [MIRACLE]

1 / Chapter 11 brings us to a significant point in our survey/study of this Gospel. Some Bible teachers divide John into three distinct sections:

  1. ch 1.1-18 / PROLOGUE
  2. chs 1.19-11.57 / WITNESS [wherein John chronicles numerous eye-witnesses to Jesus’ Deity and God-ness]
  3. chs 12.1-21.25 / PASSION

2 / This chapter also records the 7th sign-miracle that John highlights to demonstrate and proclaim that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God [see ch 20.30-31]

  1. turning water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana / ch 2.11
  2. healing the official’s servant / ch 4.54
  3. healing the man who had been lame for thirty-eight years / ch 5.1-14
  4. feeding the 5000 / ch 6.1-14
  5. walking on the water / ch 6.16-21
  6. giving sight to the man born blind / ch 9.1-7
  7. raising Lazarus from the dead / ch 11.1-44

3 / AND this chapter also records one of the seven “I AM” declarations that Jesus makes concerning Himself that He, Himself, is the God who revealed Himself to Moses at the burning bush [Exodus 3.14-15]

  1. I AM the Bread of Life / ch 6.35, 41, 48, 51
  2. I AM the Light of the World / ch 8.12
  3. I AM the Door of the Sheep / ch 10.7, 9
  4. I AM the Good Shepherd / ch 10.11, 14
  5. I AM the Resurrection and the Life / ch 11.25
  6. I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life / ch 14.6
  7. I AM the True Vine / ch 15.1, 5

4 / This sign-miracle that Jesus will work by raising Lazarus from the dead will demonstrate beyond all disproving and disbelieving that He is God. There will be many eye-witnesses, and many will believe in Him / ch 11.45. Though also, as we shall see, His miracle only further infuriated the Jewish religious leaders, inflamed their hatred toward Him, and stirred up their plots to immediately kill Him … and not just Jesus, but they determined also they would kill Lazarus as well / ch 12.9-11.

II / vv 1-16 / ‘LORD, HE WHOM YOU LOVE IS ILL…’

1 / Jesus was in a different region ‘across the Jordan’ several miles to the east from Bethany when He received this verbal message that ‘He whom you love is ill.’ / see ch 10.40]. There had been a time interval of a few weeks between the events of ch 10.22-42 and ch 11. In ch 10.22, ‘It was winter.’ In ch 11.55, ‘Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand…’ This would have been in our month of March-April.

2 / Mary is identified as the one ‘who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill.’ This event is described before it happened in ch 12.1-8 so John could specify which Mary it was. This is the same Mary and Martha who hosted Jesus in Lk 10.38-42.

3 / Jesus gave His Divine perspective, not only on Lazarus’s sickness and eventual physical death, but also on all of ours as well. All of our sickness, suffering, sadness, pain, grief – and even death itself – are opportunities for God to display and demonstrate His greater Glory … and for us to see and experience the Power of His eternal life / see v 40.

All of our sickness, suffering, sadness, pain, grief – and even death itself – are opportunities for God to display and demonstrate His greater Glory … and for us to see and experience the Power of His eternal life / see v 40.

“Let us remember that the final result of Lazarus’s sickness is what we should desire as the result of any sickness that comes on us and our families: namely, that God and Christ may be glorified in us. We cannot say, ‘It shall not end in death,’ but we can say, ‘By God’s help, it shall be for the glory of God.’” / Pastor J. C. Ryle.

4 / That’s why Jesus remained where He was for two days longer before going to Bethany to raise Lazarus from death: so Mary and Martha, and all of their friends who were mourning with them could see a greater display of His Glory – that is, the Glory of God. Yes, it would have been a glorious miracle if He had immediately gone to heal Lazarus of this sudden sickness that had beset him … or He could have even healed Lazarus from where He was with just a word, as He had done before. BUT He wanted to work a miracle that would demonstrate even a much-greater Glory by waiting until Lazarus had undoubtedly and undeniably died – by raising Him from the dead.

III / vv 17-27 / “I AM…THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE!”

1 / It is significant that by the time Jesus arrived in Bethany, ‘He found that Lazarus had already been the tomb four days.’ By this time, the decomposition of his corpse would have already set in. There was no doubt that Lazarus had really died. His physical life had departed from his body days ago.

2 / ‘Does Jesus care…’ This is an old song that some of us have heard over our lifetimes. we can almost imagine Martha and Mary leading their friends in several stanzas of this song. Not really…but we do know that they questioned in their own hearts why Jesus had delayed His coming. Both of them made the same heart-broken complaint to Jesus: ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died’ / vv 21 & 32. If it wasn’t a complaint, it was at least an expression of their disappointment in Jesus. They couldn’t understand His delay. Though sometimes – maybe even often – we may question the wisdom and caring of God’s timing in our circumstances, we know we can always trust Him to do what is wisest according to Him, loving, and for our greater good and His Glory.

3 / I want to quote Pastor Ryle again:

“The servants of Christ are often placed in circumstances just as puzzling and perplexing as those of His disciples. They are led in ways of which they cannot see the purpose and object; they are called to fill positions from which they naturally shrink, and which they would never have chosen for themselves. Thousands in every age are continually learning this by their own experience. The path they are obliged to walk in is not the path of their own choice. At present they cannot see its usefulness or wisdom … If Christians were allowed to choose their own course through life, they would never learn hundreds of lessons about Christ and His grace, which they are now taught in God’s ways. Let us remember these things. The time may come when we shall be called to take some journey in life which we greatly dislike. When that time comes, let us set out cheerfully, and believe that all is right.”

4 / Jesus makes one of His profound “I AM” statements here. When He assured Martha that her brother would rise again, she replied with her own confession of faith: “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus affirms the truth of her faith in the resurrection to come, but He also declares that HE, HIMSELF, is the One who will effect THAT resurrection … but that HE is also there with her, and that she must trust Him to give resurrection and life whenever, wherever, and to whomever He wills. “I AM the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall He live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” We need to believe, confess, and remember what Jesus promises:

  1. He Himself is the promise, power, and assurance of our resurrection and life – both physical and spiritual
  2. All who believe in Jesus, even though they die physically, yet we shall live eternally with Him
  3. All believers, while they live until they die from here physically, will never really die [that is, cease to live] … we just pass from living in and with Christ here to living in and with Christ there in Heaven and in His Presence. Life with Christ here … and life with Christ there … is a seamless continuum – and physical death is only the momentary segue.

IV / vv 28-37 / ‘JESUS WEPT’

1 / What we witness in this exchange between Jesus and these two mourning sisters is a demonstration of the perfect, full, and unified Deity and humanity of Jesus. Look and marvel at how He sympathized with their physical emotions, trauma, and grief. “When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in His spirit and greatly troubled…Jesus wept” vv 33-35. This same word for ‘deeply moved’ is found again in verse 38. The word actually means ‘to snort…express indignant displeasure.’ Also, the word for ‘greatly troubled’ means ‘to be shaken emotionally, to be deeply agitated in your innermost being.’

2 / While Jesus’ being deeply moved could also have been at His indignation at the sin that has caused all of this human and physical trauma, we cannot overlook or deny that it was also an expression of His infinite sympathy for us and how closely and personally He identifies with all our grief and suffering / see Hebrews 4.14-16.

3 / When Jesus is said to ‘love’ Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary, He really did! / see vv 3, 5, 11 [‘friend’], 36. And we can be sure that He has the same unconditional, sympathizing love for us also who love and believe in Him. And I do mean every one of us – regardless of our stages and degrees of maturity, our deficiencies of personality and temperaments, or our inconsistencies and even failures sometimes of faith and confidence in Him.   

V / vv 38-44 / “LAZARUS, COME OUT!”

1 / Jesus had asked them where they had laid Lazarus … and to take Him to the tomb where he had been buried for the past four days. He told them to roll away the circular stone that had been cut to cover the mouth of the sepulcher. Martha expressed her genuine concern about uncovering the mouth of the burial site. They all knew that by this time, Lazarus’s corpse would have begun to decompose: ‘Lord, by this time there will be an odor…’ Of course, there will be. Their custom was to slather burial oils and perfumes on the dead body before wrapping it in strips of cloth specifically for this purpose – to mitigate the offensive odors and stench that would emanate from the numerous burial sites around their communities. NOTE: the very stench of Lazarus’s corpse would be its own testimony to his actually being dead and beginning to decompose … and also the Glory of God that would be visibly demonstrated in raising him back to life.

2 / Pay close attention to v 40! “Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God.’” Yes, they would have seen God’s Glory being worked out through Jesus if He had come immediately and healed Lazarus before he died. But Jesus had already told the disciples [v 4] and also Martha that if she would believe and trust Him, she would see for herself the Glory of God being manifest and demonstrated in what He would do. But raising him from the dead was a much greater Glory than merely healing him. We, too, must learn to trust His wisdom and Providence and patiently wait for Him to work His sovereign pleasure and will in the time and ways He knows is wisest, best for us, and most glorifying to His Grace / see Romans 8.28.

3 / And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” Do you hear what Jesus is praying? He knows that the Father hears and receives His perfect prayers and gives Him whatever He asks for. AND He wants us to hear this prayer as well – so that we, too, will be comforted when He prays for us! And He does! / see Hebrews 7.25.

4 / Jesus has promised us before that the Father has given Him all authority to judge, give life, and raise the dead / see ch 5.19-29.

5 / When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” And with that, the now-living Lazarus who had come hobbling out of the gravesite cave where he had been lovingly laid, mourned, and left dead four days ago was unwrapped, and walked back home with his sisters under his own power!

6 / All of us who are believers in Christ can look forward with great anticipation … and be comforted and rejoice in the hope that ALL BELIEVERS will hear that same life-giving resurrection Voice when Jesus returns again accompanied by all those who have died before us.

1 Thessalonians 4.13-18: But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

VI / vv 45-57 / ‘THEY MADE PLANS TO PUT HIM TO DEATH’

1 / So, here’s the grand conclusion to this amazing display of the Glory of God…

2 / Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what He did, believed in Him. Remember, this is the purpose for which Jesus did all His sign-miracles … and the reason John has written about them  / see ch 20.30-31.

3 / …but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. We are left to wonder what their motivation was: was it report Jesus to the Jewish religious leaders who were publicly known to be looking for Him, hunting Him down to kill Him? Or could they have gone to report this miracle in the hopes that the Pharisees would see the error of their ways and reverse their murderous plots and maybe believe in Him themselves?

4 / vv 47-52 / This account of the internal deliberations among the chief priests and Pharisees only reveals that they were willing to use Jesus as a political pawn and ‘scapegoat’ to direct the suspicion and ire of the Roman government away from themselves to Jesus. What they did, however, was give voice to God’s Divine redemptive purpose for Jesus’ soon-coming death: He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. Jesus would indeed die at the hands of Romans and the Jews who would turn Him over to them … but in so dying, He would become the ‘Savior of the world,’ that is, people of all ethnicities and nationalities.

5 / So from that day on they made plans to put Him to death [v 53] … Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where He was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest Him [v 57] … When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of Him but also to see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus [ch 12.9-11].

DO YOU BELIEVE?

john.l10john-11.1-57.i-am.the-resurrection-and-the-lifeDownload
Posted in Bible Studies, JOHN, Lesson Notes, Sunday School lessons | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

My Tribute to my Friend, Dorothy Hulette

Posted on February 16, 2023 by PastorDave

DELIVERED AT HER MEMORIAL SERVICE

Monday | 13 February 2023 | Buck Run Baptist Church

https://www.harrodbrothers.com/obituaries/Dorothy-Hulette/#!/Obituary

>>>>>>>>>> † <<<<<<<<<<

Dorothy was my friend – and she still is and will be forever [1 Thessalonians 4.13-18]. She was also a decades-long faithful member of our church and the Sunday School class I teach. She is one of the very first who welcomed me to our church when we first came. I participated in her memorial service by delivering this tribute. What I wanted to do is: honor her faith in Christ and His work of love in her, encourage the family with our hope of Glory, and bear witness the Gospel of the Grace of God. In truth, she wrote her own tribute by the life she lived and the service she gave. Here is my contribution…

The theme of Dorothy’s life and service to Christ was ‘love.’

The apostle John sums it up this way [1 John 4.9-11]:

“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 

11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

Dorothy believed that … and she said, “I will!” And she did!

Dorothy left us specific and insistent instructions that we give testimony to the Love of God that made her who she is.Dorothy loved God and us…all of us…because God first loved her. AND her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ loved her so much He came to earth and died for her – to lay claim on her life for Himself…and then to continue pouring out His love for her and us … through her.

Romans 5.5-8: ‘…because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person – though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die – but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’

That’s who Dorothy was and is … and that’s why she was who she was.

>>>>>>>>>> † <<<<<<<<<<

If I may, I want to begin my remarks by speaking to the younger members of the family – especially the grand & great-grandchildren. I just want to give you a word of encouragement and hope in this experience of your grief. We will always experience our human grief of the bereavement of our loved ones – that is as it should be. But there is so much more going on here than meets our physical eyes. But, the very first funeral I ever conducted was for my Grandma Parks – my Dad’s mother. I was only 19 years old … close to the ages of some of you who are here today. The family asked me if I would conduct her service because they knew the loving bond and relationship I had with Grandma Parks. So, I did.

But what I want to relate to you is a brief conversation I had with the co-owner of the funeral service, Mr. Hayworth. I rode to the cemetery with him and my Grandma’s casket in the back of the hearse. We started a conversation before we got out of the parking lot to lead the procession to her burial. He had remarked briefly about my youth and how emotionally hard it must have been for me. But then, he made a one-sentence remark that has marked me ever since [53 years later, I can still vividly picture us together in that hearse and hear his voice]. He said,

“You know, for a child of God, dying is just as much a part of the Christian experience as living.” And that’s all he said.

But I knew what he meant. Because for those of us whose only Hope in life and death is Jesus Christ, CHRIST IS ALL AND IN ALL … in LIFE and in DEATH. That’s why the apostle Paul said in Philippians 1.21, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Jesus Christ Himself is our eternal life [‘Christ in you, the Hope of Glory’] … and when we die from here, we only gain more of the fullness of joy of His Presence.

That’s why both Paul and Dorothy told us: “My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better!”

And Jesus’ desire also is for Dorothy to be there with Him. Jesus prayed on His way to Gethsemane the night before He went to the Cross the next morning. He was committing Himself to what His Father had sent Him to do: to die for His people the Father had given Him to save – to redeem them, forgive their sins, justify them, so they could be with Him forever. And so, He asked the Father that night [reading from John 17.24],

“Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given Me, may be with Me where I am, to see My Glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”

Before time began, God the Father gave Dorothy to the Son, Jesus Christ … as a love gift. “Here, My Son, I love Dorothy, and I want her here with us forever. I’m giving her to you. You go to earth and die for her sins, and then bring her here to be with us.”

And so, the Father desired that Dorothy be there with Him…Jesus desired that Dorothy be there with Him…and Dorothy desired to be there with Him – and Wednesday morning, the Father granted ALL their desires.

But, for those of us still living here with Christ, the only way we can live with Him there…is to die from here.

Life with Christ here … and life with Christ there … is a seamless continuum – and physical death is only the momentary segue.

That’s why, for a child of God, “…dying is just as much a part of the Christian experience as living.”

>>>>>>>>>> † <<<<<<<<<<

I first met Dorothy in the Fall of 2017, shortly after we had come here to our church. I wasn’t teaching our Sunday School class yet. And, I knew very few of our folks. But Pastor York asked me to accompany him to make some pastoral visits. We made two visits that day – [the first visit was with Ted and Betty Anne Lance] – and Garnett and Dorothy was the second one. [I would find out just a short time later that all of them were in our Sunday School class … and they were each others’ truest and dearest friends.]

We went into their living room and exchanged some brief greetings. [Well, Garnett did tell some Joe B. Hall stories…] Garnett was in his recliner, and Pastor York took a chair facing him, and I had taken a seat on the sofa over closer to Dorothy’s sewing chair. Pastor York and Garnett soon got into their own conversation, and since Garnett was a little hard of hearing, Pastor York pulled up his chair to be closer to Garnett.

So, I turned to Dorothy, and we struck up our own private conversation. You all know what a sweet, gentle, engaging, and personable lady she was. The word that I always think of is ‘disarming.’ She had a way of disarming any ‘stranger-ness’ and putting you immediately at ease with her. We just went from one topic to another, getting acquainted – kind of sparking off of each other. She was so welcoming to this new guy … and that sweet smile and gentle voice of hers! She exuded love, and I was enveloped with it. She captured my heart. There was an instantaneous openness about her. Like, “Let me welcome you into my life, and I’d like to share yours!” We established an immediate bond of love between us. And when Pastor York and Garnett finished their conversation, Dorothy and I still had a lot to talk about!

We had numerous opportunities to continue that conversation after that. She and Lesa would invite us over for supper. Or we’d talk on the phone. Or they’d drive over to our house in Lexington and bring us foodstuffs or sourdough bread. Por she would crochet little love gifts and give them to me. Or I would visit her during her several stays in the hospital.

Dorothy was always what we call a ‘sweet visit.’ Anybody who’s done much visiting knows the difference between a ‘sweet’ visit and a ‘not so sweet’ one. Some visits are draining and exhausting – but not Dorothy! I would call her up or go to see her to encourage her. But Dorothy is always the one who would end up encouraging me with her sweet, soft smile and her words of faith in her Savior. She would tell me stories about her experiences in serving the Lord and her church.

And, of course, she would always talk about her grandkids and great-grandkids.

And Dorothy could also be a fun visit.She could be quite the ‘cut-up.’ I went to see her when she was rehabbing in Cardinal Hill after she broke her hip. And so, as we were talking, I said, “Hey, Dorothy, why don’t I snap some pictures of you making faces, and we’ll send them to Lesa … you know, to give her an update on how you’re doing today.” Well, she did make some faces, and I did snap them, but she wouldn’t let me send the ‘making a face’ pics to Lesa. So, I just sent one with her usual soft smile.

>>>>>>>>>> † <<<<<<<<<<

But probably one of the funnest exchanges we had was what we called “The Battle of the Crowns” … and I’m talking about tooth crowns.This was back in 2020…during the height of Covid. Both of us were getting crowns. Mine was simpler: I just had a molar extracted and a crown implant. But Dorothy had all kinds of battles with her crown. I think maybe a crown had come off of one her molars, and she was trying to get it re-crowned. Except that nothing took. I seem to remember she had a root canal, and maybe ended up having it finally pulled. But we would talk about our battles. I was talking with her one day on the phone, and I said, “Dorothy, you know I grew up in rural Baptist churches, and we would sing this song. The song was an adaptation of Isaac Watts’s 300-year-old hymn, ‘Am I a soldier of the cross…’ [This was the William B. Blake arrangement]

And this adaptation would kick into a rousing, lively chorus:

“And when the battle’s over we shall wear a crown!

Yes, we shall wear a crown!

Yes, we shall wear a crown!

And when the battle’s over we shall wear a crown in the New Jerusalem.

[And then it would keep going…]

Wear a crown, wear a crown, wear a bright and shining crown!

And when the battle’s over we shall wear a crown in the New Jerusalem!”

Well, Dorothy didn’t think she had ever heard that version. So, I found a YouTube of a mid-sized rural Baptist church with a good-sized choir that was singing it. And they were enjoying singing it! They had a lively choir director who was adding a few steps of his own as he directed. And so I sent it to Lesa and said, “Lesa, show Dorothy this video.” She did. The next time I talked with Dorothy, I said, “Dorothy, the next time I come to see you, I want you and me to sing that song together, and let’s see if we can do some of those steps together.” The only thing she said to that was, “Oh, no, I don’t think I should try that…my hip…”

But she is singing it now! Maybe not that version, but here are the last two stanzas of the original hymn:

Thy saints in all this glorious war Shall conquer, though they die; They see the triumph from afar, By faith’s discerning eye.

When that illustrious day shall rise, And all Thy armies shine In robes of vict’ry through the skies, The glory shall be Thine.

“And when the battle’s over…” the apostle Peter promises that we will receive “a crown of glory that does not fade away” [1 Peter 5.4], and Dorothy is so wearing that crown!

>>>>>>>>>> † <<<<<<<<<<

Dorothy would often get discouraged.She was growing older, weaker, and more feeble by the year. She had been active in service all her life. But now she couldn’t. She grew weary of the pain and not being able to get out and about – doing what she had done all her life: serving the Lord, her church, and others.

During the Covid moratorium, we weren’t meeting in our Sunday School class … just in our worship services observing protocols. But I didn’t want our Sunday School lessons to be interrupted, so I took to making a solo Zoom, converting it to YouTube, and sending the link to the lesson to our class folks. We were in study of selected Psalms. And this Sunday’s lesson was Psalm 92.

Here’s the way the Psalm starts out:

It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
2 to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night,
3 to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre.
4 For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy.

And then, after contrasting the ultimate withering and destruction of the wicked and unbelieving … with the flourishing and fruitfulness of those whose faith and trust is in God, the psalmist concludes with this blessing:

12 The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green,
15 to declare that the LORD is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

The next time I talked with Dorothy, I called her attention to that Scripture, and said, “Dorothy, when I prepared and delivered that lesson, all I could see was your face. This is for you. I know you don’t feel like you are flourishing, but you are. You are not withering. I know you feel like you are not bearing fruit in your old age and weakness, but you are! You have lived your entire life ‘planted in the house of the LORD and flourishing in the courts of our God.’ And you still are! You are still bearing fruit – even in your old age. All the planting you’ve done over your lifetime is still growing and bearing fruit!”

  1. “You are still bearing all the fruit of the love you have shared with everybody over the course of your life. You abundantly planted love in all of our lives, and it is still flourishing and bearing fruit.”
  2. “You are still bearing all the fruit of your service you have given to Christ, to your church, and to others. It is still growing, and flourishing, and bearing fruit to the second and third generations.”
  3. “You are still bearing all the fruit of your faithfulness to Christ. All the ways you have remained faithful to Christ and steadfast in your faith in Him – through all of your weakness and struggling and pain – is a flourishing testimony to His faithfulness! You have inspired so many to follow your example to do the same. And they are! They are the ‘still bearing fruit’ of your witness!”   

14 They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green,
15 to declare that the LORD is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

Dorothy’s testimony and legacy still continues to charge us: “LOVE ON!” because …

  • The steadfast love of the LORD endures forever…
  • Love never ends…
  • So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

>>>>>>>>>> † <<<<<<<<<<

Let’s pray:

“Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus …make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we for you, so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints [1 Thessalonians 3.11-13]” … through the merits of our Savior we pray. Amen.

Posted in Funeral/Memorial Tribute, Memorial Tribute, Tributes | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Though I was blind…now I see!

Posted on February 11, 2023 by PastorDave

JOHN | Lesson 9 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read John, chapter 9

I / INTRODUCTION: SOME SIGNIFICANCES OF THIS SIGN [MIRACLE]

1 / This is now the sixth of the seven signs [miracles] that John highlights in his planned presentation to demonstrate that Jesus was the Son of God / see John 20.31-31. See lesson 5 for a listing of those seven highlighted signs.

2 / The sign-miracle is recorded in verses 1-9: a man who had been born blind – who had never in his entire life seen with his natural vision – is miraculously made to see by the healing power of Jesus. Jesus is obviously demonstrating that He does what only God can do! vv 32-33

3 / Another significance of this sign-miracle is that Jesus worked it on the Sabbath Day. John specifically points this out in verse 14. Jesus was already targeted to be killed by the Jewish religious leaders because he made the lame man to walk also on the Sabbath Day / see ch 5. This miraculous work will only fan the flames of the hatred and murderous animosity of the Jewish leaders.

4 / We must also note the purpose and message of the sign-miracle. Every sign that Jesus performed not only demonstrated His Deity, but it also preached a message about His mission for coming into the world. Jesus states the message of the sign and of His saving mission in verse 5: As long as I AM in the world, I AM the light of the world. This is also a continuation of Lesson 7: I AM…The Light of the World.

5 / What stands out, of course, on the surface is the stark contrast between darkness / light. This is one of the prominent theme-threads that John weaves all throughout his Gospel: ch 1.4-9; 3.16-19; elsewhere.

  • Darkness. Physical blindness is, of course, physical darkness. Those who are physically blind cannot see the light that is all around them. Their eyes do not work. This is emblematic of the spiritual blindness we all have by born human nature: we cannot see our own sin, nor the condemnation that is upon us, nor can we see the Glory of Christ who alone can save us from our sins / see 2 Corinthians 4.3-8.
  • Light. When we can physically see, the light of the physical world shows us who we are [we can see our own reflection in a mirror, for example], where we are, and where we are going / see ch 11.9-10. By the same rule, Jesus Christ came to give us Himself to be our spiritual Light – to show us who we are in our sin, to shine Himself on us as our Savior from our sin, and to give us the Light of Truth and knowledge to know how to live, where we are going, and how to get there … through Him, The Light of the world!  see ch 8.12.

6 / So this is what Jesus will demonstrate and teach us by this sign-miracle He will work on this blind man. And the blind man who was made to physically see will also ‘see’ the Glory of Christ’s mercy, grace, and salvation … and he will believe! see vv 35-38.

II / vv 1-7 / “I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD!”

1 / v 1 / “As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth.” You must note that Jesus was not just strolling through the throngs of people who were crowding into Jerusalem on this feast occasion [see chapter 7]. He was escaping being stoned to death by the angry Jewish leaders after He had thwarted all their efforts to discredit Him in the presence of the people as He taught / see ch 8.59. But He will pause in His escape to show mercy on this poor blind man.

2 / vv 2-5 / The question His disciples asked Him was just reflecting the common cultural belief and perception that every human malady and affliction was the direct result of some specific personal sin. Jesus set the record straight by declaring that no one in particular was personally responsible for this man’s blindness – but that this blindness was an opportunity for God to display His own works of saving mercy and grace. And He was there to work it!

3 / vv 6-7 / Jesus, of course, could have spoken physical sight and light into being just like He commanded the first light to shine by saying, “Let there be light; and there was light!” But in this instance, He chose to use means that required faith on the part of the blind man. He spat on the ground, stirred it and made a mud plaster out of it, applied it to the man’s eyes, and then told him to go to the Pool of Siloam [one of their water reservoirs in the city]. When the blind man obeyed and did what Jesus told him to do, he “came back seeing.” He didn’t see by his own works…he received sight by “the works of God…displayed in him.” We are “saved by grace through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” / Ephesians 2.8-9.   

II / vv 8-12 / “I AM THE MAN!”

1 / The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were dumbfounded by his being able to see. “Is that really you?” “Surely this is someone who just looks like him.” But, NO! He insisted: “He kept saying, ‘I am the man!’” you knew before. When Christ performs a transforming work in our lives, we should demonstrate a sharp distinction and start contrast to our former selves!

2 / “Then how were your eyes opened?” Again, he repeated that it was done ON him by someone else. He knew it was not his self-effort or his work that had accomplished it. Over and over, he recounted the story of the mud and the washing in Siloam. We should seek opportunities and take advantage of them when they are presented to us to ‘tell the story of Jesus.’

3 / “Where is he?” The man did not know because he hadn’t seen his sight-Giver, and Jesus did not follow him or wait for him to come back seeing. Jesus had just done the work of mercy and grace and went on somewhere else. Jesus will go looking for him and find him a little later on… / vv 35-39.

III / vv 13-17 / “THIS MAN IS NOT FROM GOD, FOR HE DOES NOT KEEP THE SABBATH DAY”

1 / The Pharisees immediately got involved. They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. They were, after all, the religious leaders among the people. This was another crisis of their leadership, power, influence, and control over the people’s minds. And they had already put out the word that no one should confess any faith in or following of Jesus / see v 22.

2 / Now it was a Sabbath Day. As in chapter 5, Jesus had violated one of their self-made and coercive rules they had imposed on the people. Once again, the man recounted how ‘whoever this man is’ had put the mud pack on his eyes, told him to go wash it off, he had – and now he sees!

3 / Even among the Pharisees, there was a division about what they could not deny. Some said, This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath. Others just shook their heads in honest acknowledgement, ‘How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?’ NOTE: even earlier on, Nicodemus told Jesus that they had been having these private discussions among themselves / see ch 3.2. Of course, Nicodemus himself was grappling with the truth of the undeniable evidences of Jesus’ Deity / see 7.50-52.

4 / The now-seeing man made his first confession of Jesus [this is before he will meet Him face to face a little later]: He is a Prophet! He is at least a prophet who has come to speak and work for God – or maybe even The Prophet Yahweh promised Moses He would send to them / see Deuteronomy 18.15-19 & John 1.21; 4.19; 6.14; 7.40; et al.

IV / vv 18-23 / “IS THIS YOUR SON?”

1 / …they called the parents of the man who had received his sight. The Jewish religious leaders are in a frenzied damage control mode now. They will have to discredit Jesus somehow and diminish the significance of this miracle work. Their efforts here are to so intimidate the parents that they may be coerced into denying that that this man who can’t deny is now seeing is actually their son who was blind before. His parents deflected back to the man himself because they didn’t want to suffer the consequences of accrediting Jesus with this miracle. Essentially, his parents disassociated from their own son, saying “He is of age. He is on his own. He is responsible for himself. We don’t want to get involved. Ask him.”

2 / His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. This expulsion from the synagogue was more than just a ban on attending or participating in the synagogue services. The synagogue was the center point of their Jewish life. Their entire social life and community identity and interactions centered around the synagogue. To be ‘put out of the synagogue’ meant to be excluded from the community. It was the ultimate ‘cancel,’ ‘ban,’ and the death sentence of all social life.

V / vv 24-34 / “ONE THING I DO KNOW, THAT THOUGH I WAS BLIND, NOW I SEE!”

1 / These verses will chronicle at least three defenses the now-seeing man will give to the Jewish religious leaders re: the miracle that had been worked on him. The Pharisees still, repeatedly, insistently will press him to retract, ‘walk back’ what had happened to him … or at least join them in their attempts to discredit Jesus in the public arena…

2 / vv 24-27 / The man testifies to his experience. When they cannot refute the miracle or that Jesus had worked it, they try to convince the now-seeing man that Jesus could not have come from God or that He had authority to do what He had done. Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner. By ‘sinner’ they mean that Jesus could not have acted in concert with God. That He had no relationship with God. That He was actually acting in disobedience to God – again because He had done this work on the Sabbath Day. The man’s testimony stands as a testimony we all can give. He didn’t know the depths of the truths that had been worked on him … he couldn’t understand all the complexities of the purposes and the providences of God. He only knew what had happened to him – and that Jesus had worked it on him!

3 / vv 28-31 / The man testified from Scripture. The Pharisees introduced this subject from Scripture into the argument by appealing to Moses. They touted themselves to be the ‘true’ followers of Moses and the Law that God had given to Moses for them to obey and live by. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, God listens to him. God does listen to sinners when they call upon Him in repentance and faith, but God does not ‘use’ sinners to do His will or work His purposes in the world. This is the crux of the Pharisees’ disclaimer about Jesus’ origin, who He is, or by whose authority He speaks and works.

4 / vv 32-33 / The man testifies from the history of the world. This is an astute and astounding statement. It is like the irrefutable closing argument of a defense attorney. “We all agree that a work like this has never been done in the whole history of the world. Maybe sight has been restored to someone who had it but was impaired from disease or injury. But never in the whole history of the world has someone who was blind from birth, whose eyes have never worked or seen, whose organs of sight are dead and incapable of functioning … been made to see! And we all agree also that only God, the Creator, could perform such a work. So therefore, if this Man were not from God – if He is not acting as God in concert with God, He could do nothing!”    

5 / v 34 / The Pharisees resorted to one of the most common tactics in human discourse: if you can’t refute the argument, then attack the person making it. If you can’t disprove the message, then destroy the messenger. Maybe you can get rid of the reasoning by getting rid of the one who is reasoning. They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” They may be reverting back to the disciples’ earlier question re: why he had been born blind, insinuating that it was some grievous personal sin, maybe by his parents, that had caused it. Or maybe they were casting doubt on the very moral ‘legitimacy’ of his birth to begin with. Whatever they meant, they were dismissing his very grounds to question, second-guess, or disagree with them. They were the ‘teachers,’ and in the know, and the ultimate final arbiters of all accepted ‘truth’ in their community.

6 / And they cast him out…  see IV / 2.

VI / vv 35-41 / “DO YOU BELIEVE IN THE SON OF MAN?” … “LORD, I BELIEVE!”

1 / Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him… Jesus had worked a miracle on the sightless man, and the man had received the gift from God, and he was willing to publicly confess what he had received even at great personal cost and sacrifice. “So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in Heaven…” / Matthew 10.32. Jesus will not abandon him or forsake him. Jesus goes looking for him.

2 / Jesus examines the sincerity and truthfulness of his faith by asking him: Do you believe in the Son of Man? The ‘Son of Man’ is not just a descriptor of Jesus’ humanity, but it was a commonly-used identifier Jesus often employed to associate Himself with Daniel 7.13. ‘The Son of Man’ is the One sent from God as God to establish and reign over His universal Kingdom with all authority, power, and dominion. When the man confessed that ‘Yes, I acknowledge that what has been worked on me is the mercy, grace, and power of God! If I knew who He is, I believe on Him!’ Jesus said to him, ‘You have seen Him, and it is He who is speaking to you!’ What an astounding affirmation who Jesus is … and this man’s miraculous experience and faith! “You’re looking at Him with the eyesight I have given you! And I, who you are now seeing and hearing – I AM HE!”

3 / The now-seeing man not only sees Jesus with his miraculously-given physical eyes, but he also ‘sees’ Jesus for who He is with his ‘eyes’ of faith! see Ephesians 1.18. This is the same faith experience Jesus ‘schooled’ Nicodemus in when He told him in John 3.3, “Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God.’” Nicodemus had physical sight, and he had all the religious learning one could acquire in his day … but he must be ‘born again’ by faith in Christ to ‘see’ and understand what it means to be saved from his sins. So must we!

4 / He said, ‘Lord, I believe,’ and he worshiped Him. Do you believe? This was the expressed purpose of all the signs Jesus worked and why John recorded them here / see John 20.30-31. And this was the intentional purpose of this particular sign.

5 / vv 39-41 / In this concluding statement, Jesus applies the lesson He has been working and teaching. He does so by showing the contrasting responses of the believing now-seeing man and the still-blind Pharisees who refused to see the blazing Light of the Glory of God which was shining right in front of them in the Face of Jesus Christ.

  • Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” Meaning: [1] ‘I AM The Light of the World. I have come into this world to BE the Light of God and to SHINE the Light and Truth for all to see;’ [2] ‘I AM the point of decision for every person, and The Decider … and every person will be judged by their response to Me;’ [3] ‘Those who are spiritually blind will see when they believe and trust in Me, The Light;’ [4] ‘Those who see Me, the Light, [or think they ‘see’ Me] and still make their own judgments and decisions to refuse to believe in Me will be confirmed in their chosen blindness.’
  • Some of the Pharisees near Him heard these things, and said to Him, ‘Are we blind also?’ They were willfully standing in the Face of the Light, and still were rebelling against Him. You can see the sneer on their faces and the snarl in their voices. “You, a renegade rabbi wannabe from Galilee are trying to judge and tell us we are blind? We are the ones who are the judges here, and we will decide for ourselves what is worth seeing and who is blind!”
  • Jesus said to them, “If you were blind [that is, had not been exposed to and seen Me, The Light], you would have no guilt [not that they would not have sin, but they wouldn’t have this ‘guilt’ of willful rejection of The Light they had seen], but now that you say, ‘we see,’ your guilt remains.’  / see Matthew 13.14-15 quoting Isaiah 6.9-10.

YOU, TOO, HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD!

DO YOU BELIEVE?

john.l9john-9.1-41.though-i-was-blind…now-i-seeDownload
Posted in Bible Studies, JOHN, Lesson Notes, Sunday School lessons | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“I AM…The Light of the World!”

Posted on February 4, 2023 by PastorDave

JOHN | Lesson 8 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read John, chapter 8, especially verses 1-12

I / INTRODUCTION: ABOUT THIS PASSAGE

1 / Depending on which Bible translation you are reading, this passage may be omitted altogether [ch 7.53-8.11] or be enclosed in brackets. You may find a marginal note that says something to the effect, “The earliest manuscripts do not include 7:53-8.11.” The ESV also includes this note: “Some manuscripts do not include 7:53-8:11; others add the passage here or after 7:36 or after 21:25 or after Luke 21:38, with variations in the text.”

2 / Here’s what we do know:

  1. We don’t an ‘original’ copy of what John himself wrote
  2. Some old and ‘best’ manuscripts contain this passage; some don’t
  3. Some very old ‘church fathers’/writers very close to the time when John lived and wrote refer to this passage; some don’t
  4. Objections have been raised against the passage; defenses have been written for it – all of them from ancient and old faithful Bible expositors

3 / So let me quote J. C. Ryle, Expositions on the Gospel of John. After he had written at considerable length about all these discussions, he said:

“I leave the subject here. In cases of doubt like this, it is wise to be on the safe side. On the whole I think it safest to regard this disputed passage as genuine. At any rate I prefer the difficulties on this side to those on the other. After all, there is much ground for thinking that some critical difficulties have been purposely left by God’s providence in the text of the New Testament, in order to prove the faith and patience of Christian people. They serve to test the humility of those to whom intellectual difficulties are a far greater cross than either doctrinal or practical ones. To such minds it is trying but useful discipline to find occasional passages involving knots which they cannot quite untie, and problems which they cannot quite solve. Of such passages the verses before us are a striking instance. That the text of them is a ‘hard thing’ it would be wrong to deny. But I believe our duty is not to reject it hastily, but to sit still and wait. In these matter ‘he that believeth shall not make haste’ [Isaiah 28.16].” This is where I am…

4 / So with all this in mind and heart, let’s get into the story…

II / ch 7.53-8.2 / JESUS PRAYS AND TEACHES

1 / Keep in mind, this is the day after the events of chapter 7. It is still the Feast of Booths [Tabernacles]. On the day before, Jesus had interrupted the ‘water ceremonies’ with His Divine declaration and invitation, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water’” / 7.37-38. In so saying, Jesus is declaring His Deity. It was another way of saying, “I AM…THE LIVING WATER,” thus invoking the Name of Yahweh, ‘I AM,’ from Exodus 3.14. He has already declared “I AM…the Bread of Life” / ch 6.35.

2 / Also, during these same events, the Jewish leaders had sent the ‘temple police’ to arrest Jesus and bring Him into custody so they could carry out their murderous plot and plans against Him / 7.32, 44-46. They had argued among themselves in their frustrations during an ‘emergency damage control’ meeting. This was when Nicodemus spoke up and defended Jesus’ right to a fair hearing. He was shouted down and promptly ‘canceled’ / ch 7.45-52.

3 / The Jewish leaders all went to their own houses. Jesus went to the Mount of Olives to pray during the night, commune with His Heavenly Father, and seek wisdom and strength for the volatile day He knew lay ahead. Early the next morning, He comes again to the Temple compound and sat down to teach those who came to hear Him. He had certainly aroused no small amount of curiosity, interest, along with some who were believing in Him.

III / ch 8.3-6a / THE WOMAN CAUGHT IN ADULTERY

1 / The Jewish leaders had not given up trying to entrap Him in some charge by which they could either destroy His influence among the people … or even in some legal charge against their ‘law.’ That’s when they brought this woman into the crowd and stood her in a prominent place of shame between Jesus and the crowd He was teaching. She had been caught in adultery. Whether someone else had caught her in the act and brought her to the leaders, or whether one of themselves had caught her – we don’t know. What we do know is that, later on, no one will step forward to bear personal witness or testimony against her [as their own law commanded, as we shall see…].

2 / At least they announced and leveled their charges: “‘Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?’ This they said to test Him, that they might have charge to bring against Him.’ There is so much hypocrisy and self-righteousness here! Clearly, they are not interested in justice or the purpose of the laws they were quoting.

  1. The law did state in Deuteronomy 22.22-24: “If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel. 23 “If there is a betrothed virgin, and a man meets her in the city and lies with her, 24 then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry for help though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbor’s wife. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
  2. NOTE: the purpose of this commandment was ‘So you shall purge the evil from Israel/your midst.” But they weren’t interested in that; all they wanted to do was to put Jesus in a dilemma, ‘between a rock and hard place,’ entrap Him in such a way that He wouldn’t be able to give an answer that would not either discredit Him before the people or even endanger His life among the Jewish leaders. And they were willing to use this woman as their prey and pawn to do that.

3 / This is clearly a ‘gotcha’ question and encounter! They were intending and hoping to make Him appear to either show a disregard for the law by excusing her sin … or make Him destroy His reputation among the people for showing mercy to sinners. After all, Jesus was already known to be ‘the friend of tax collectors and sinners’ [Matthew 11.19], and He had declared “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the Kingdom of God before you” [Matthew 21.31-32].

4 / Make no mistake about it…Jesus will NOT violate any law that He Himself had given in the Old Testament. In truth, He had come to fulfill all the law! Matthew 5.17: Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. Remember also John 1.17: “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ”! So He will both be sure that all the Law is fulfilled in Him – AND He will show grace and truth to the sinner in this public display that follows…

IV / ch 8.6b-9 / ‘JESUS BENT DOWN AND WROTE WITH HIS FINGER ON THE GROUND’

1 / This is one of the most unusual acts that Jesus ever performed. There is so much mystery surrounding it. But if John does not give us any more details, then we don’t need them to get the message. What we know for sure is that those Jewish leaders got Jesus’ message! They were ensnared in their own trap they had tried to set for Jesus! Proverbs 26.27: Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and a stone will come back on him who starts it rolling.

2 / Jesus did not answer them. He just quietly bent down and began to write something in the dust and dirt that had settled on the tile in the Temple courtyard. Proverbs 26.4-5: Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes. Jesus will do both.

3 / By His not answering them at first, it gave them the false impression and confidence that maybe they had ‘stumped’ Him? Maybe He was just stalling? Had they silenced Him at last? Had they trapped Him in the quandary they had planned? Maybe at last they had presented Him with a conundrum He couldn’t escape? A Gordian knot even He couldn’t untie? Had He taken their bait?

4 / Jesus just kept on writing. He may have written for several minutes while the Jewish leaders were waiting for their answer – growing all the angrier and more frustrated as He just wrote in the dirt.

5 / Did the crowd who were listening to Him just get quiet waiting for the outcome of this spectacle? Or did they join in and maybe start heckling and jeering Him as they will later on around His Cross? We don’t know.

6 / What was He writing? Again, we don’t know. We just know that it had His intended effect on this woman’s accusers.

7 / The Jewish leaders are screaming and shouting at Him by now. “Answer us, Teacher! We demand an answer! We are the intellectual and spiritual authorities here! This is our Temple! Give us an answer!”

8 / Finally, Jesus did stand up. He faced the woman’s [and His] accusers with boldness and authority. “Very well, you want an answer…I’ll answer you! Here is your answer! Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her!” This was a masterful stroke, full of Divine wisdom and authority. Truly, one greater than Solomon is here!

9 / Jesus did two things here:

  1. He confronted them with their own sins. He most likely was not saying ‘without sin in general among you,’ but rather “Whoever is without this sin among you, you be the first one to cast the stone at her!” He had already called this same group of Jewish leaders ‘an evil and adulterous generation’ / Matthew 12.39. Now He was ‘outing’ them and calling them out again for their self-righteous, wicked hypocrisy in trying to enforce the law on this woman that they excused and justified themselves for violating.
  2. He also was requiring them to keep the very law they were seeking to impose on the adulteress. [1] Yes, the Law did require that adulterers who were guilty should be stoned to death. [see Deuteronomy 22.22-24 above]. [2] But the Law also demanded that the sin should be credibly corroborated by two or three witnesses. Deuteronomy 19.15: A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established. [3]AND, furthermore, the Law also demanded that the accusers [who were not guilty of the same sin] should be the first ones to cast the stones. Deuteronomy 17.7: The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

10 / So He turned the Law back on them and required them to fulfill it all … just as He was!

11 / And with that … “…once more He bent down and wrote on the ground.” His enemies were flummoxed and defeated by His Grace and Truth – and we should say also, His Justice. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before Him. The KJV inserts here ‘being convicted by their conscience.’ Might we speculate that the older ones slunk away first because, being older, they had had more time and experience in acquiring their own sin and heaping up their own guilt? Jesus allowed His words of truth and conviction to do its own work in their consciences.

V / vv 10-11 / ‘NEITHER DO I CONDEMN YOU…GO, AND SIN NO MORE‘

1 / Now, Jesus stands up again while her accusers all slink out one by one. He is all alone with the accused adulteress. [Of course, the observant crowd is still gathered around]. How will Jesus deal with her?

  1. First, He asks her about her accusers: Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? NOTE: He didn’t ask her, “Has no one accused you?” because they clearly had. Neither did He ask her: “Are you guilty of adultery? Did you do what they accused you of doing?” because clearly she had. She was caught in the act. But He asks her: “Has no one condemned you?” because they hadn’t convicted her and condemned her. They couldn’t fulfill the Law’s requirements by producing the witnesses [see above]. She had sinned but had escaped the condemnation from lack of evidence against her. She could not be legally sentenced.
  2. Second, He issued her pardon, forgiveness, and justification – upon her faith, believing in Him, and her repentance before Him. She said, ‘No one, Lord!’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.’

2 / Jesus refused to participate in the Jewish leaders’ self-righteous, hypocritical, judgment and condemnation on this accused sinner. He had not come to act as Judge; He had come to save.

3 / Did Jesus condone her sin? NO! Did He overlook her sin? NO! Did He excuse her sin? NO! Did He allow her sin to go unpunished? NO! Here is the Gospel! Jesus will stand condemned by Holy Justice and die for her sin just a short time from now. But He will not condemn HER for her own sin … HE will bear it upon Himself on the Cross because she believes and trusts in Him and the Grace He is showing her! That is how you and I are saved from our sins also – ALL of them! / see 2 Corinthians 5.18-21; 1 Peter 2.24-25 & 4.18

4 / If He had condoned her sin, overlooked it, or simply brushed it off, He would have told her: Neither do I condemn you … go, and do it again and live as you please. It’s OK.”

VI / v 12 / “I AM…THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD!”

1 / This is not an abrupt change of subject. This is a natural illustration and segue to make His Divine proclamation of His Deity. “This is what my Father has sent Me to do. This is who I AM. This is what I’ve just done!” “I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD! Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the Light of Life.”

2 / John here is picking up some of the theme-threads that he first began weaving into this glorious tapestry of Jesus’ Glory: See, for example, John 1.4-13 & 3.19-21.

  1. I AM: this is Yahweh’s personal God-Name [see Exodus 3.14]. John 1.1-2 & 18
  2. Light: God is Light. Jesus is God. Therefore, Jesus is Light.
  3. Darkness: Darkness is sin, ignorance, and death because it is the absence of God who is Light; separation from God because of sin.
  4. Life: Life is knowing God, eternal life.

3 / So here is just some of what Jesus means by ‘I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD!’

  1. LIGHT IS GLORY: Jesus Christ manifests the Presence of God in Himself – He is the Glory of God in Himself / John 1.9, 18 & 1 Timothy 6.16
  2. LIGHT IS HOLINESS, KNOWLEDGE OF GOD: Jesus Christ exposes our sin by His very Presence and by being Light / Ephesians 5.8-13
  3. LIGHT IS TRUTH: Jesus Christ shines in Himself on our way to lead us to God / see John 8.12-14 / also Psalm 119.105, 130
  4. LIGHT IS LIFE: Jesus Christ reveals, gives and imparts to us the knowledge of God / John 1.4-5; 17.3
  5. LIGHT IS ASSURANCE, CONFIDENCE, CLARITY, SECURITY, JOY: Jesus Christ gives us all this when we ‘follow’ Him – believe in Him, trust and depend upon Him only for our salvation from our sin! Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life! Jesus knows where He came from and where He is going [John 8.12-14] Do you? / see also Psalm 36.7-9

DO YOU BELIEVE?

john.l8.john-8.1-12.i-am…the-light-of-the-world.
Posted in Bible Studies, JOHN, Sunday School lessons | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Living Water

Posted on January 28, 2023 by PastorDave

JOHN | Lesson 7 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read John, chapter 7, especially verses 37-39

I / INTRODUCTION: THE FEAST OF BOOTHS [or ‘TABERNACLES’]

1 / I am calling this lesson “Living Water” because we want to major on Jesus’ announcement, pronouncement, and invitation in verses 37-39.

2 / But since that self-pronouncement was given ‘on the last day of the feast, the great day,’ we need to understand more about what ‘feast’ it was.

3 / So if you begin reading in verses 1-2, you’ll discover that the occasion was ‘Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths [Tabernacles] was at hand.’ This word John uses is a compound word from two words: skeinos which is the common word for ‘tent’ [as in John 1.14] + the word that means ‘to construct by joining together’ [as in Hebrews 8.2 ‘set up’]. So a ‘tabernacle’ or ‘booth’ was a temporary shelter or lean-to which had been constructed by tying, binding, or putting other things together.

4 / This is the only time this particular word is used in the New Testament, although the Feast of Booths / Tabernacles is referred to numerous times in the Old Testament.

5 / The Feast of Booths was one of the three most prominent feasts observed by the Jews along with Passover and Pentecost. It was commanded by God to be observed in Leviticus 23.33-43. The purpose of the booths was to remind them ‘that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I AM the LORD your God.’ The booths would remind them that:

  1. Yahweh had delivered them from bondage and slavery in Egypt
  2. that they belonged to Him
  3. that they were ‘pilgrims and strangers’ in the earth
  4. that their ultimate home and destination was in the eternal, final Kingdom where they would find their eternal resting place
  5. that He had provided for all their needs and wants adequately, fully, sufficiently, and satisfactorily.

6 / This feast was also ‘the happiest season of all.’ “And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days.” This feast was the final feast of their festive calendar year. It was celebrated on the 15th day of the seventh month [our September-October], and it marked the happiness of the full harvest being brought in and stored up for the coming year: ‘when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you. shall celebrate the feast of the LORD seven days.’ I have always thought that their Feast of Booths was very much like what our Thanksgiving is to us.

7 / They would observe the Feast of Booths by moving out of their houses for those seven days. They would construct their booths out of the leafy boughs of trees and live in them. They did no work during those seven days – because God was providing for them. And there were numerous offerings and sacrifices to God that accompanied their feasting and joyous celebrations. [This Feast was also five days after The Day of Atonement.]

8 / ALSO, over the centuries, the Jews had added other ceremonies. One prominent celebration was to go to the Pool of Siloam with a golden vessel, fill it with water from the pool, and march back in joyous celebration to the altars where their sacrifices were being offered to Yahweh, and pour it into a basin prepared for it. All the while, they were singing and chanting from Isaiah 12.3 & 25.6-9 & the Hallel Psalms 113-118. As I say, for these seven days, there were joyous, exuberant, happy celebrations all day long for those days!

9 / Let me give you a quote here from Alfred Edersheim, The Temple, pages 277-279:

“While the morning sacrifice was being prepared, a priest, accompanied by a joyous procession with music, went down to the Pool of Siloam, when he drew water into a golden pitcher, capable of holding three logs (rather more than two pints) … At the same time that the procession started for Siloam, another went to a place in the Kidron Valley, close by, called Motza, whence they brought willow branches, which, amidst the blasts of the priests’ trumpets, they stuck on either side of the altar of burnt-offering, bending them over towards it, so as to form a kind of leafy canopy. Then the ordinary sacrifice proceeded, the priest who had gone to Siloam so timing it, that he returned just as his brethren carried up the pieces of the sacrifice to lay them on the altar. As he entered by the ‘Water-Gate,’ which obtained its name from this ceremony, he was received by a threefold blast from the priests’ trumpets. then priest then went up the rise of the altar and turned to the left, where there two silver basins … Into these the wine of the drink-offering was poured, and at the same time the water of Siloam, the people shouting to the priest, ‘Raise thy hand,’ to show that he really poured the water into the basin which led to the base of the altar … As soon as the wine and water were being poured out, the Temple music began, and the ‘Hallel’ was sung…to the accompaniment of flutes … When the choir came to these words, ‘O give thanks to the LORD’ [Psalm 118.1], and again when they sang, ‘O work then now salvation, O Yahweh’ [Ps 118.25], and once more at the close, ‘O give thanks to the LORD’ [Ps 118.29], all the worshippers shook their lulavs [these were clusters of palm. myrtle, and willow branches] towards the altar.”

10 / I hope this gives us just a little idea of how happy, joyous, and celebratory this Feast of Booths was to them.

II / vv 1-9 / “I AM NOT GOING UP TO THIS FEAST [YET]…

1 / Now, leading up the core passage we want to treat, let’s briefly review how the occasion was set up…

2 / In these verses, Jesus’ ‘brothers’ [or kinspeople] were taunting him in their belief to go to Jerusalem and ‘show yourself’ to His disciples and followers that He is in fact their Christ and Messiah. Jesus delayed His going because He knew the raging enmity that the Jewish leadership had for Him. He knew that ‘the Jews were seeking to kill Him’ / v 1.

3 / He would go, but it would be in the Father’s time. He remained in Galilee where He was at that time…

III / vv 10-24 / “HE ALSO WENT UP…ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE FEAST”

1 / He did go to Jerusalem after the festivities had already begun – not to stage a grand entrance with fanfare, but when He could enter with His disciples and blend in with the other attendees, pilgrims, and celebrants.

2 / He began teaching in the public courts of the Temple compound. The people heard Him gladly. Even the Jewish leadership who were conspiring and plotting to kill Him were marveling in amazement at His wisdom, learning, and authority – knowing that He had not attended their schools and seminaries of learning.

3 / Jesus boldly proclaimed that His knowledge and wisdom came directly from God, His Father.

When He publicly accosted His enemies among the Jewish leadership and ‘outed’ them for wanting to kill Him, Jesus connected their murderous plots directly back to the healing of the lame man in chapter 5 where they had decided among themselves that He must die / see v 23.

IV / vv 25-36 / “I KNOW HIM, FOR I COME FROM HIM, AND HE SENT ME!”

1 / There was a ‘buzz’ that erupted and spread among the people. They couldn’t deny the wisdom, power, and authority of everything He said … and how He said it.

2 / They began to debate among themselves: “Look at His boldness! Could He be our Christ? Could He be our Prophet? But He can’t be because we know where He comes from, ‘and when the Christ appears, no. one will know where He comes from.’ But, ‘When the Christ appears, will He do more signs than this Man has done?’”

3 / The Pharisees had seen and heard enough. The people were spiraling out of control. Many more were believing in Him. They had to move…and quickly.

4 / So they sent the Temple ‘police’ to arrest Him and bring Him in. / v 32. They had to get Him off the streets. But as we shall see, even when they sent the Temple ‘police’ to arrest Him, the guards returned without Him. “Why have you not arrested Him?” The officers could only respond: “We’ve never heard anyone speak like this Man speaks!” / vv 44-46.

V / 37-39 / “IF ANYONE THIRSTS, LET HIM COME TO ME AND DRINK!”

1 / Now, go back to the lengthy description of this ‘water ceremony’ that accompanied the Feast of Booths festivities. We’re even told that ‘On the last day of the feast, the great day’ that were even more elaborate ceremonies. For instance, some historians say that on this last, great day, the priests would march around the altar of sacrifice seven times instead of just once. Regardless, it was the ‘grand finale’ of the week-long Feast celebrations.

2 / It was on this day, at this time, that Jesus approaches the altar, takes a public position, and with His strong, authoritative voice ‘cried out’: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink! Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

3 / Everyone’s attention was fixated and riveted on Him!

4 / Pastor J. C. Ryle outlines this brief message this way: [1] a case supposed, “If anyone is thirsty…” [2] a remedy proposed, “Let him come to Me and drink…” [3] a promise held out, “Whoever believes in Me, out of his heart will flow rivers of water…” Let’s follow that outline:

5 / A case supposed. Everyone is thirsty. The Feast of Booths already was celebrating how Yahweh had satisfied their hunger and all the needs of their lives with the abundant harvests He had provided. More than that, the Feast of Booths not only pointed backward to Yahweh’s salvation from Egypt, but it also pointed forward all the way to the End when Yahweh would provide for His people a heavenly eternal feast in His Kingdom / see Isaiah 25.6-9. They had just quoted and sung from Isaiah 12.3, “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation!” This salvation was salvation from all their enemies. It was a promise of the Christ, their Messiah, their Savior who would come to finally and fully deliver them. But look at yourself! You are thirsty, too! We thirst for whatever it is we believe will satisfy our deepest and innermost longings. Whatever it is you are seeking for, working for, grasping for, longing for that you hope will fill you with satisfaction and fulfillment – whatever it is that you think will finally give you peace, security, a sense of well-being – that is what you are thirsty for. What is it for you?

6 / A remedy proposed. So when Jesus announces, “Let him come to Me and drink!” … what He is announcing is “I AM EVERYTHING THIS WATER SYMBOLIZES! I AM THE LIVING WATER THAT YAHWEH PROMISED YOU HE WOULD GIVE YOU! I AM HE! AND I AM HERE!” And so He is. Jesus Christ – in Himself – is the fullness and the lasting satisfaction that you need … you just may not realize that He is what you need and the satisfaction you’ve been thirsting for. Drink of Christ!

7 / A Promise held out. “But,” you ask, “How do I drink of Christ?” Jesus tells you: “Whoever believes in Me, out of his heart will flow rivers of Living Water.” You believe and trust in Jesus Christ as the Savior from your sins that God has provided and given you. When Jesus promises that Living Water will spring and abundantly flow from within you, He is promising the Holy Spirit will quicken you, give you eternal life, and live in you. That Holy Spirit is the very Spirit of Christ Himself / see Romans 8.9-11. This is the ’born again’ experience that Jesus told Nicodemus that he must receive / John 3. This is the eternal life of the Living Water that Jesus told the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well in Sychar that she was actually thirsty for … and that He would gladly and freely give her / John 4.10-14. Do you believe? Will you receive His gift of His own Living Water of eternal life?

8 / But what can John possibly mean by his inspired commentary on what Jesus meant by that statement? Now this He said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Well, this we know:

  1. The Living Water is the Holy Spirit [as we have just explained].
  2. The Holy Spirit certainly was already present and active in the world and in the Kingdom of God.
  3. There was a future fullness of the giving and work of the Holy Spirit of some kind.
  4. This receiving of the life, power, and fullness of the Spirit would be given in relation to Jesus’ death, resurrection, and His glorification in His ascension.

Surely this last statement gives us the key. Although the Holy Spirit was already present, working, regenerating, and indwelling those who had been saved by their faith in God, His work would surely be increased and intensified as He was given to believers in Christ to fulfill the final age of the Gospel. So what Jesus is promising is that in the Gospel, the Holy Spirit would fulfill a much more public and pronounced ministry as the Gospel of Christ is preached, proclaimed, and believed on in the world.  

DO YOU BELIEVE?

john.l7.john-7.1-52.living-waterDownload
Posted in Bible Studies, JOHN, Lesson Notes, Sunday School lessons | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

MEMORIAL TRIBUTE FOR DORIS GORDON

Posted on January 27, 2023 by PastorDave

Doris Gordon was [and still is…and will be forever] my sister in Christ, beloved friend, ever-present helper, constant encourager, and for 60 years, she was a faithful fellow member and servant of the church I formerly pastored. She and her late husband, Elliott, were married 44 years before he also went to be with the Lord in 2011. Together, they were not only inseparable from one another, but they were like “those who are planted in the house of the LORD” [Psalm 92.13] – they were always there. Here is the text of the memorial message and personal tribute I delivered at her service on Friday, 27 January 2023. As Paul wrote about what others said about his life’s experiences and testimony: “And they glorified God in me,” [Galatians 1.24], we glorify God’s grace in this testimony to her lifetime of friendship, service, and generosity.

Doris lived here with us for a full 91 years – and then on Monday morning, the Good Shepherd came to call her by name and personally escort her through the valley of the shadow of death … to where she will dwell in the House of the LORD forever.

I visited with her here for the last time on Sunday afternoon. She was already in a deep sleep and her breathing was labored. We’ve been told by medical professionals for years that those who are dying still may be able to hear us, though they cannot respond. Of course, we don’t know.

But what we do know from the testimony of Scripture and from the promise of Jesus Christ, our Good Shepherd of His sheep … that as His precious blood-bought sheep enter into the valley of the shadow of death, and as they walk farther and farther away from us and we may not be able to correspond with them any longer – they are walking closer and closer into the very Presence of the Good Shepherd and the light of the Glory of His Face. They are seeing Jesus Christ and talking with Him personally.

And so, I told Pat I wanted to pray with her one last time. I leaned over her ear and said, “Doris, this is Pastor Dave. I don’t know whether you are hearing me, but I want to pray with you.”

And, I prayed:

The LORD is my Shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside the still waters.

He restores my soul;

He leads me in paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake.

…and then I paused briefly…

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil; For You are with me.

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;

and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

and then I just said: “Doris, I love you … and I’ll see you soon!” – and I will…

This is not only a comforting promise for the end of our lives, but it is also the short story of the whole of our lives as the precious sheep of the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ.

  • The days of our lifetime here are all summed up in the words: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life…”
  • Our ‘death from here’ experience is told in the words “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…I will fear no evil – For YOU ARE WITH ME!”
  • and then our final glorious homegoing and homecoming is announced in the final promise: “And I will dwell in the House of the LORD forever!”

And as the apostle Paul exclaims in 1 Thessalonians 4.17: “And so we will always be with the Lord!”

Physical ‘death from here’ for a child of God – for those whose faith and trust is in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior from our sins – is but a transition from this frail, broken, mortal body and life to be with Jesus Christ in His very Presence. Again, the apostle Paul would even look forward to his ‘death from here’ by saying … even with longing “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain! … having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better! We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord!” [Philippians 1.21, 23; 2 Corinthians 5.8].

Doris lived her life here “in the faith” – by her faith in Christ. She professed her faith and trust in Jesus Christ and His Gospel as a young woman. She lived her life in obedience and service to her Lord all her adult life. And then, as the Hebrews writer in chapter 11 chronicled all those who lived their lives in faithful service to God, he also described how they died – “These all died in faith…” Doris died from here in the same faith she lived in and lived by – her faith in Christ’s death for her sins and His resurrection again from the dead to secure her justification and give her His own eternal life.

Doris’s life was lived and given in service to Jesus Christ, to her church, to her family, and to her host of faithful friends. But Doris never claimed – would never claim – and certainly does not claim now in the Presence of her Savior – that anything she ever did merited God’s favor and grace. Rather, everything she did was because of God’s free Grace given to her by her faith in Jesus Christ.

Doris lived, served, and gave because God first loved her and gave His Son to save her from her sins … and to redeem her to Himself to be His precious daughter in the faith … and now to be with Him forever.

Doris’s life was a testimony to the Grace of God! And I’d like to share more of that testimony with you …

But before I do, I think it would honor Doris’s testimony and legacy if we sing one of her favorite songs: ‘When We All Get to Heaven.’

Let’s sing it together…

>>>>>>>>>> † <<<<<<<<<<

I want to celebrate Doris’s faith in Christ and her love for Him in the context of a story from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 14.3-9 … where Jesus Himself commended another one of His faithful women followers and even delivered a brief eulogy [good word] in her honor.

The woman’s name was Mary. She was the sister of Lazarus and Martha. They lived in Bethany, just outside Jerusalem, and they had often hosted Jesus in their home when He was in Jerusalem. They loved Jesus, and Jesus loved them. He said so Himself. And, of course, Jesus had just raised Lazarus from the dead just a few days before this.

This occasion was only two days away from Jesus’ own death, and Mary had picked up on that … when others of His disciples had not. But they were hosting Jesus again for supper. During the meal, as they were reclining at the table, Mary went to get a very expensive flask of burial ointments that she had obviously bought as a pre-arrangement for her own death and burial – according to their custom. She brought it back into the room, broke the fragile flask and began to empty the expensive perfumed oils on Jesus’ head – weeping in pre-bereavement for Him as she did so.

And as Mark tells the story:

“But some were expressing indignation to one another: ‘Why has this perfume been wasted? For this perfume might have been sold for more than [a worker’s annual wage] and given to the poor.’ And they began to scold her.

         “Jesus replied, ‘Leave her alone! Why are you bothering her? She has done a noble thing for Me. You always have the poor with you, and you can do what is good for them whenever you want, but you do not always have Me. She has done what she could; she has anointed My body in advance for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the Gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.’”

And see – we have just told it again!

But when I think of Doris’ life of love and service for Christ, I have often thought of her in the context of this story. Everything Doris did during her long life of love, service, and giving … it was done as an act of pouring out her life on the body of Christ Himself.  

Doris’s life can be summed in simple words:

TRUE FRIEND:

Doris was a true and fiercely loyal friend to all … first to her family and relatives, and also to her friends outside her family – especially her friends at our church. She was ‘rich in friends.’

You know the old adage:

“Make new friends and keep the old – one is silver and the other is gold”

[actually, the original version says, ‘those are silver, and these are gold’.]

Doris was rich in both … and kept getting ‘richer in friends’ turning the new ‘silver’ friends into old ‘gold’ ones!

You all are here today because of her life-long friendships she had with you all. Of course, you who are her siblings have shared this friendship with her all her life. You nieces and nephews – Doris would talk about you often and share updates with us how you were, where you were, and what was going on in your lives. She loved you so much and was so proud of you.

You who knew Doris from our church fellowship, for many of you, your friendship with her goes back for more than 60 years.

You all have maintained and treasured the friendship you shared with her over all these years you have known her. You talked often and kept sharing with one another your treasured friendship. And when you did, you were scooping into those friendship ‘treasures’ and enjoying them again! I’ve been talking with more than one of you over the past week, and you have shared with me how you talked with her again ‘just a few days ago,’ and how you would reminisce and laugh together about all the experiences you have shared together over all these years. She loved you, and you loved her.

And I’m still trying to remember which ones of you took her to the hockey games down at Rupp Arena back when the Lexington Thoroughblades were playing there? It never would have entered my mind that Doris would be interested in going to a hockey game! But she would come to church all excited and had to tell me about going with some of you all to the hockey games. I would kid her and say: “Doris, you’re just going hoping you’ll get to see a good brawl break out on the ice! You didn’t storm the ice, did you?” But she loved being with you and enjoyed those fun times together!

And you have been true, fiercely-loyal friends to her as well. We want to especially honor you, her family, for all the ways you loved her and took care of her, especially during these last few years after Elliott went Home to be with our Lord … and Doris was suffering with her own health issues.

She was so grateful, so thankful, so appreciative of all your generous expressions of love, kindness, and care toward her. Doris was a TRUE FRIEND!

FAITHFUL SERVANT:

Doris was a life-long faithful servant of her Lord and our church. Like Jesus commended Mary who anointed Him: “She has done what she could…” Doris did what she could – she did ALL she could! Doris joined our church in 1963 and served faithfully in many, many ways for these past 60 years. She taught our Ladies SS class for over 40 of those years. She became such a fixture in our church that for years, we called that room where their SS class met “Doris’s Room.” Doris was there helping us with EVERY function or activity the church had until she wasn’t physically able:

  • worship services [she and Elliott literally wore out the carpet that was under their feet where they sat]
  • Vacation Bible School
  • missions conferences
  • neighborhood visitation
  • community outreach events
  • when she and Elliott were both healthy, for years they worked together and mowed our grass and kept up the landscaping, and did numerous maintenance and upkeep projects on our building
  • when our long-time custodian went to be with the Lord, Doris stepped in to do that service; and when another sister undertook the responsibility, Doris came to help her

Doris and Elliott always served together. Doris joined our church in 1963, Elliott came and joined a year later, 1964. Now, I have been told  (I can’t personally verify the story because I wasn’t there) but I’ve been told by some who were there that you adult ladies were coming out of your SS class time back into the auditorium. Elliott was standing there, and when Doris saw Elliott, she pointed at him and said to her SS sisters: “He’s mine!” Again, I can’t verify she said that – but he was ‘hers’! She claimed him … and made good on the claim! Even Elliott always said that “Doris chased me until she caught me!” They were married in November 1967. [Also, for some reason, Elliott called her by the pet name ‘Bubba’ – at least that’s what he often called her in my presence.] We used to say around our church that “Doris and Elliott was the squishiest love story that ever came out of Thompson Road church.” In every way, Doris was a FAITHFUL SERVANT.

EXTRAVAGANTLY GENEROUS:

…and by ‘extravagant,’ I don’t mean ‘wasteful.’ I mean ‘liberally generous.’ And she did everything she did, and gave everything she gave quietly … without anyone knowing what she was doing. They forbade me to make any announcements about what they were doing or recognize them in any way. She told me more than one time how seriously she took it when Jesus said, “Don’t even let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” The only ways I know about most of it is because it was either given to me personally or I heard it from those she gave it to.

  • Everybody knows how they lived modestly and frugally … they always said “We’ve got more than enough and more then we need,” and so they were always sharing what they had with others…
  • On numerous occasions, they would personally and quietly finance costly repair or maintenance projects we needed at the church.
  • Years ago, along with Elliott, they donated a sizeable investment account they had accumulated they said they didn’t need for the support of our missionary pensioners.
  • Of course, they didn’t have any biological children of their own, but they were always ‘adopting’ other people’s children to do things to help them out. On numerous occasions, when our missionaries would come to the States on furlough, she would sponsor their children’s tuition expenses in private schools so they could keep up.
  • Over the years, she and Elliott personally gave me two vehicles when they were purchasing another one – rather than trade the older one in. We continued to drive them for years after until they wore out – and one of them, we even handed down to our kids, and they drove it still longer.
  • And that’s besides all the countless little gifts and favors they would give us – like every year, while both of them were healthy, on some day during the early spring, they would show up at our house with baskets of freshly-picked strawberries. There was a pick-’em-yourself farm out in Jessamine County behind our neighborhood, and they would always pick some for us and drop them by on their way home.  

Her testimony over the years was always from what Jesus taught: “Freely you have received…freely give.” [Matthew 10.8]. What she would say is: “God gave me His Son to save me. Jesus gave me His life on the cross when He died for my sins. He has given me the gift of the forgiveness of my sins and eternal life. And He has given me a home in Heaven when I die.”

More than anything else she may have given you or done for you during her life here among us, she wants to give you the testimony of the Gospel of the Grace of God in Jesus Christ.

She wants you to know Him, to receive Him, to have Him – and to “be there” with her … together with Him – “dwelling in the House of the LORD forever!”  

Posted in Funeral/Memorial Tribute, Memorial Tribute | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

I AM…the Bread of Life!

Posted on January 21, 2023 by PastorDave

JOHN | Lesson 6 | Lesson Notes/Talking Points

Read John, chapter 6, especially verses 26-40

I / INTRODUCTION: SOME SIGNIFICANCES OF THIS SIGN

1 / There are actually two miracles that John will record in this narrative. These are the fourth and fifth signs that John will record in this Gospel to demonstrate that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that by believing in Him we may have life through His Name / see ch 20.30-31. For a list of those seven sign-miracles that John records, see Lesson 5.

2 / The two miracles John will record here are: [1] The feeding of the five thousand by multiplying the five barley loaves and two fish … this miracle is an act and work of His creative power as God / vv 1-14; and [2] His walking on the water / vv 15-21. Both of these miracle works required the suspension of what we call ‘the laws of nature,’ but are actually only the Creator of those very laws acting by different laws that superseded them to show His authority as God.

3 / The feeding of the five thousand is only miracle that Jesus worked that is recorded by all four Gospel writers. If you want to flesh out this occasion and fill in many other details, you can do so by comparing these other Gospel accounts: Matthew 14.1-32; Mark 6.14-52; and Luke 9.7-17.

4 / There is no way we can fully and adequately treat this whole chapter of 71 verses in this lesson or in our class time. So all we want to do here is to summarize the miracle-sign that sets up the message Jesus will deliver the next day in the synagogue at Capernaum / vv 22-59. In this message, Jesus will give His own Divine commentary on why He fed them physical bread the previous day, and what He was doing to show them His Glory [Deity], and to press on them their need to believe on Him as The True Bread the Father was giving them from Heaven.

5 / Sadly – they didn’t see Him as such…as we shall see. Do you?

II / vv 1-15 / JESUS FEEDS THE FIVE THOUSAND

1 / This occasion comes some time after the events of chapter 5. The Jewish leadership had initiated their fierce opposition against Jesus and were conspiring to kill Him / ch 5.18

2 / v 1 / Also, Jesus has retreated from Jerusalem and Judea to seek refuge in Galilee after Herod had beheaded John the Baptist. When Herod heard about Jesus’ works, he wondered whether John the Baptist had been raised from the dead / see the references in 3/ above. Herod was also seeking a more personal meeting and audience with Jesus Himself / Luke 9.9.

3 / This is one of the occasions when Jesus sought a time of rest, respite, retirement to have more time to commune with His Father and gain some physical and spiritual refreshment / Mark 6.30-31 ff. This locality that Jesus chose was a small grassy plain at the foot of a mountain outside of Bethsaida where He thought they might find some seclusion. It was not to be…

4 / vv 2-4 / And a large crowd was following Him because they saw the signs that He was doing on the sick…Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. These crowds were not only locals from the surrounding regions, but many were also pilgrims on the roads to Jerusalem to attend the Passover. They had heard about Jesus, and now they find out He is right there in the vicinity! They began to gather in droves to see Him and perhaps witness a miracle for themselves.

5 / Jesus had gone up into the mountain for some ‘alone time’ with His disciples so He could teach and counsel them. These disciples were not only the twelve, but also other disciples who were ‘following’ Jesus. As it would turn out, many of these ‘fringe’ disciples would walk away and desert Jesus when He required that they surrender to and serve His Lordship / see vv 66-71.

6 / v 5a / When Jesus saw the multitudes coming to Him, He had compassion on them – mostly because He knew they were lost and without a shepherd / Mark 6.33-34.

7 / vv 5b-7 / This is NOT ONLY a test – but it IS a TEST! Jesus asked Philip where they could buy enough food to feed the crowd. Philip should know – he was from Bethsaida / see ch 1.44. He said this to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do. The test was to see whether Philip and His other disciples would learn to trust Him to be the All-Sufficient Provider for all their needs. Jesus also knew what He would do because He had told them back in chapter 5.20 that the Father was constantly showing Him, the Son, what He, the Father, is doing. The Father is going to do this … and the Son is going to do it also. The Son is always revealing the heart of the Father.

8 / vv 8-10 / Andrew must have inquired and discovered a ‘young lad’ there who had brought a meager lunch with him. There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many? Little is much when God is in it. Jesus took the scant food and instructed the disciples to have the crowd sit down in orderly groups.

9 / vv 11-13 / Jesus took the loaves and fish and gave thanks for them … much like He would later do when He blessed and distributed the Passover meal at the Last Supper before His death / see Matthew 26.26. Here also, the broken and multiplied loaves were emblematic of His own death for our life when He will give Himself for us as our “Bread of Life.”

10 / This was nothing less than an act of creation. The bread and fish were created in abundance in His hands as He broke and gave it to His disciples to be distributed among the hungry multitude. Not only was everyone fed to the full and satisfied, but they also gathered up the leftovers and filled twelve ‘baskets’ or ‘ruck-sacks’ that everyone carried with them. They had much more ‘left over’ than they started with … even after feeding the more than five thousand hungry bellies!

11 / vv 14-15 / The responses from the crowds exposed the superficiality of their hearts. In one word, they exclaimed when they saw this ‘sign’ that This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world! referring to the Prophet like Moses that Yahweh had promised would come to tell them about Him / see Deuteronomy 18.15-19. Then their next response was to make a move to coerce Jesus or take Him by force to make Him king. Their intention was to ‘draft’ Jesus, take Him to Jerusalem, and enthrone Him as their king and deliverer to overthrow the Romans and take their ‘kingdom’ back to themselves.

12 / This is NOT the Glory that Jesus was manifesting by this ‘sign.’ This is NOT the kingdom He had come to establish and reign over. He had NOT come to set up and reign over a political, nationalistic kingdom.  / see ch 18.33-38.

III / vv 16-21 / JESUS WALKS ON THE WATER

1 / vv 16-17 / What had transpired here is that Jesus knew He had to dismiss this crowd. They had seen His Deity in this miracle, but they had completely missed the message of it. Also, He didn’t want His disciples to be caught up in this moment and movement. So, He dispatched His disciples to get into the boat they were using and head for another shore / see Matthew 14.22-23 & Mark 6.45-46. After dismissing the crowd and sending them away, He retreated up into the mountain to be alone and to pray to the Father.

2 / vv 18-19 / This was another intentional follow-up miracle/lesson to what they had just witnessed. Had the disciples themselves learned that they could trust Jesus implicitly … regardless of the seeming ‘impossibility’ of the circumstances they were facing? This was another test to see how they would respond … Jesus knew also this time what He would do. A fierce storm broke out on the Sea of Galilee. This happened frequently. The Sea of Galilee is 600 feet below sea level, and the winds would cascade down the mountain slopes on the Sea and turn it into a raging cauldron. So it did here. When they had exhausted their efforts to row the ship to shore and had given up all hope, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat. Mark 6.48 says, And He saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. Yes, He saw them, knew their distress and panic, and made His way to them, walking on the very sea and through the very storm that was threatening to capsize them, take them under, and drown them! He sees you, too!

3 / vv 20-21 / Jesus called out to them in their fright, It is I; do not be afraid! He is constantly calling out to us the same way! Then they were glad to take Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

4 / This was the same occasion when Peter also walked on the water to go to Jesus at His invitation – until his own faith and trust in Jesus failed him and he began to sink.

5 / Mark 6.51-52 will tell us that, at least in this present moment, they had failed to learn the lesson from the feeding of the five thousand – that they could trust Jesus in every difficulty and confounding circumstance. That’s the lesson they should have learned. But, And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

6 / Our sanctification and faith in Jesus is always an on-going school of learning. We will utterly fail many of the ‘pop quizzes’ Jesus gives us along the way. We should always be asking for the meaning of the trials and afflictions we experience to learn what He wants to teach us about Himself and His Glory!

IV / vv 22-59 / “I AM…THE BREAD OF LIFE”

1 / Here is the message of the miracle. Every miracle had a message it was delivering. Every miracle was a message about Jesus’ Deity, manifesting His Glory. But most often, those who witnessed the miracle saw only the physical act that was performed and failed to ‘see’ or ‘hear’ the message that it communicated. Jesus didn’t perform His miracles just to be spectacular or to show off. They were not merely humanitarian acts of kindness. They were performed to show the Father’s heart and will toward us in sending Jesus, the Son, to save us from our sins … to redeem us back to God.

2 / vv 22-25 / The crowd gathered again the next day where Jesus had miraculously fed them the day before. When they didn’t find Jesus there, and saw that the boat Jesus’ disciples had left in was still missing, they came in droves to Capernaum looking for Him. When they found Him, they scolded Him for skipping out on their scheme to coronate/inaugurate Him as their king – and also for not being there to feed them again.

3 / vv 26-29 / Jesus soundly rebuked them back. He exposed the superficiality and carnality of their desires. Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on Him God the Father has set His seal. Meaning, “I was showing you your real, greatest, deepest need – to see Me as the Savior the Father has sent you to save you from your sins. But all you saw was the physical meal I fed you. That physical bread was a sign to you of the spiritual Bread that I AM, and that the Father has sent to you to feed, fill, and satisfy your true need and longing.”

4 / From here on, I can only record the statements Jesus made about Himself as the true message of the miracle. There will be numerous objections, deflections, and rebuttals they will throw back at Jesus. But He will repeatedly bring them back to the message of the miracle … all culminating in His Deity Declaration “I AM!” When Jesus makes His “I AM!” declarations, He is identifying Himself with the “I AM!” Name that Yahweh revealed Himself by to Moses at the burning bush / see Exodus 3.13-15.

5 / We will put each of these statements in the contexts in which they are given as we read the exchanges Jesus had with these unbelievers. We also cannot spiritually ‘hear,’ receive, or understand these life-giving truths unless the Father draws us by the Holy Spirit and gives us understanding [see vv 37-40, 44-46, 63-65]. We pray He will!

  1. v 32 / Jesus then said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from Heaven, but my Father gives you the True Bread from Heaven.
  2. v 33 / For the Bread of God is He who comes down from Heaven and gives life to the world.
  3. v 35 / Jesus said to them, I AM the Bread of Life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in my shall never thirst.
  4. vv 47-51 / Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I AM the Bread of Life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the Bread that comes down from Heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I AM the Living Bread that came down from Heaven. If anyone eats of this Bread, he will live forever. And the Bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.
  5. vv 53-58 / So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, 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 feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is True Food, and my blood is True Drink. 56 Whoever feeds on 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 whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58 This is the Bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this Bread will live forever.” 

6 / The ONLY WAY we can have eternal life is by believing and trusting in the Person of Christ whom the Father has sent to save us from our sins. He gave us the True, Living Bread of Life by the perfect, sinless life He lived, and then by the death He died for us as our Substitute. When we believe and trust in Him by faith, we receive and ‘feed’ on His own eternal life which He gives to us. He gives us the Living Bread of His own Life.

7 / And not only must we receive and ‘feed’ on Him to begin living His eternal life, but we must continue to ‘feed’ on Him to sustain that life. That is especially the message in the constant references to the manna ‘bread from Heaven’ that Jesus repeatedly references. That ‘bread from Heaven’ was not only how they were saved from starvation to begin with, but it was also supplied to them daily as the ‘food’ by which their lives were sustained daily for forty years! So, too, we must ‘abide’ in Christ by daily ‘eating His flesh’ and ‘drinking His blood’ which is given to us in the Gospel of His death and resurrection and ‘fed’ to us through His Word and the Holy Spirit.

V / vv 60-71 / “DO YOU WANT TO GO AWAY AS WELL?”

1 / Sadly, many of Jesus’ ‘disciples’ were only ‘bandwagon’ followers. Faith requires that we surrender ourselves to Jesus’ Deity and Lordship. When He began explaining the message of the miracle, many of those who claimed to be His disciples complained and objected: This is a hard saying; who can listen to it? Meaning, “No, we want you for what we can get from you and what we can get you to do for us. We’re not willing to surrender our whole lives to you!”

2 / Not only did they verbally reject Jesus, but After this many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him. Did they lose their salvation? NO! They just exposed themselves as hypocritical unbelievers who were only along for the free stuff. They were willing to ‘follow’ Jesus if He would be a free ‘food truck’ to satisfy their human appetites and desires. But if being a disciple means living in total surrender to His Lordship, they are not willing to count that cost and pay that price.

3 / Salvation from our sins and the gift of eternal life is FREE for the receiving by faith – but we must confess that “Jesus Christ is LORD!” when we receive Him.

4 / That’s when Jesus turned to twelve … after they had witnessed the feeding of the five thousand and His walking on the stormy sea later that night and after they had just seen this bitter rejection of many who were not willing to receive the message of the miracle … and He said, Do you want to go away as well? Simon Peter responded as we all must, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that You are the Holy One of God!  

DO YOU BELIEVE?

john.l6.john-6.26-40.i-am…the-bread-of-lifeDownload
Posted in Bible Studies, JOHN, Sunday School lessons | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Take up your bed and walk!

Posted on January 14, 2023 by PastorDave

JOHN | Lesson 5 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read John, chapter 5, especially verses 1-18

I / INTRODUCTION: SOME SIGNIFICANCES OF THIS SIGN

There are some distinctive significances to this particular miracle and why John wants to include it here in His Gospel:

1 / This is now the third of seven distinctive miracle-signs that John chooses to highlight in His Gospel to show that Jesus is the Son of God [ch 20.30-31] – although John specifically numbers only the first and second of them [see ch 2.11 & 4.54]. The seven miracle-signs that John highlights are:

  1. turning water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana / ch 2.11
  2. healing the official’s servant / ch 4.54
  3. healing the man who had been lame for thirty-eight years / ch 5.1-14
  4. feeding the 5000 / ch 6.1-14
  5. walking on the water / ch 6.16-21
  6. giving sight to the man born blind / ch 9.1-7
  7. raising Lazarus from the dead / ch 11.1-44

2 / Another distinctive purpose for this miracle was NOT just to perform an act of humanitarian mercy and compassion. Note that there were “a multitude of invalids – blind, lame, and paralyzed” who were there also, and Jesus did not heal them. But Jesus healed this ‘one man’ who was there specifically to show the Father’s compassion toward those who are lame, impotent, unable to help themselves, and who have no one else to help them. And to deliver the message especially that He, the Father, had sent Jesus Christ and Christ had come to redeem us from the crippling and debilitating effects of our sin and its curse upon us / see v 14.

3 / He was also proclaiming, introducing, and inaugurating the coming New World of the Kingdom when ALL of our infirmities, diseases, and afflictions will be eradicated. The fullness of that Age to come has not yet come, but Christ came to begin what He will perfect in that Day.

  1. Isaiah spoke of that day in Isaiah 35.3-6: Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. 4 Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” 5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 6 then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
  2. Jeremiah said it is coming in Jeremiah 31.7-8: For thus says the LORD: “Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, ‘O LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel.’ 8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and she who is in labor, together; a great company, they shall return here.”
  3. See also Jesus’ testimony to John the Baptist’s disciples when John sent them to ask Jesus if He was the Messiah whom they were expecting to come: Matthew 11.1-6.

4 / One other purpose for John’s including this miracle in his Gospel is to begin marking out the bitter enmity and murderous opposition of the Jewish leaders against Christ. They will begin from this miracle on to carry out their intentions to kill Him / see vv 16-18. John will continue to develop this murderous plot throughout the remainder of his Gospel / chs 7.14-31 ff; 8.37-40; 11.45-53; 12.9-11.  

II / vv 1-2 / THE FEAST AT JERUSALEM & THE POOL OF BETHESDA [or BETHSAIDA]

1 / Since this was ‘a feast of the Jews,’ we know that numerous pilgrims were making their way to Jerusalem to keep the feast and worship. There were three prominent feasts [Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles] when all the Jews were required to attend. Jesus came to fulfill all the Law and the prophets, so He obediently went and attended the feast. Jerusalem would have been ‘packed out’ during these days.

2 / This pool, Bethesda, [or some manuscripts identify it as ‘Bethsaida’ was just inside one of the main entrance gates into the city. It was one of several reservoirs the Jews had dug inside the city walls to retain water supplies. In chapter 9.7, Jesus will tell the man to whom he gave sight to go wash in the pool of Siloam – another such reservoir. Bethesda also served as a kind of ‘rest area,’ especially on Feast occasions where the travelers and pilgrims could rest and refresh themselves upon entering the city. John tells his readers, many of whom would be Gentile readers and unfamiliar with Jerusalem, that there were colonnades/columns supporting roofs which would shelter those at the pool from the heat of the sun.

3 / Also, if indeed the name of the pool was ‘Bethesda,’ which means ‘house of compassion/mercy,’ then the very name of the venue will give commentary on this act of compassion and mercy Jesus will perform for this poor lame man.

III / vv 3-6 / “DO YOU WANT TO BE HEALED?”

1 / Not only was this a gathering place for respite for weary pilgrims and travelers coming into Jerusalem, but it was also a place where the infirm would gather for what was assumed was the healing qualities of the pool’s water. In fact, as Jesus approached these sheltered porticoes, “…in these lay a multitude of invalids – blind, lame, and paralyzed.”

2 / One of the primary reasons they gathered there was that it was thought that when the water of the pool was ‘stirred up’ [v 7], that whoever could get into the pool first would be healed of his infirmity. Some old manuscripts of John’s Gospel also contain the words “…waiting for the moving of the water; for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred the water; whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was healed of whatever disease he had.” This would be in verses 3b-4 if they are in your translation. Other old copies of John don’t have those words, and so it is debated whether those words were originally written by John or added by later editors. Whether the words are genuine or not, or whether an angel really did come down to trouble the waters really doesn’t change the message of the text or the message of Jesus’ sign-miracle. The presence and activities of angels are frequent and prominent in the Gospel accounts. And an angel could have done that. Regardless, the people apparently thought that happened, so they wanted to be there when it did occur.

3 / What we do know from historians and archaeologists is that the pool would have been fed from underground streams and springs, so such movement of the water would have occasionally occurred.

4 / But Jesus singled out this one particular man. “One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years” / v 5. Whether his paralysis was from an injury, or he had been lame from birth, we are not told. But he had been this way for thirty-eight years. What we do know is that his lame condition was the result of sin’s curse upon our world from the time of the Fall in the Garden of Eden … as are all of our race’s maladies and infirmities. And this is what Jesus had come to address, rectify, and redeem us from!

4 / This was no ‘random act of kindness.’ Here is a clear demonstration of Jesus’ compassion for sinners, and on our weakness … and also of Jesus’ sovereign choice of the recipients of His mercy. There were multitudes of invalids there, but Jesus went directly to this ‘one man’ to heal Him of his infirmity. Jesus ‘saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time.’ Jesus singled him out to receive His compassion, mercy, and deliverance … and He also knew from His omniscience how long he had been in this condition.

5 / Jesus posed the question to the lame man: “Do you want to healed?” Jesus asked the man this question to draw attention to his own need of healing and his impotence to do anything about it himself. And Jesus also wanted to draw and fix the lame man’s focus and attention on Him, Jesus! There would be no question about where the healing came from, and the man must want to receive it from this stranger who was asking him.

IV / vv 7-9a / “TAKE UP YOUR BED AND WALK!”

1 / The man’s answer sets up the stark contrast between his own impotence and Jesus’ omnipotence – which is the message that Jesus will deliver and demonstrate. This is the express purpose for every miracle-sign that Jesus performed. “Sir, not only have I been here in this lame condition for thirty-eight years, and not only have I been here for many of those same years trying to take advantage of the moving of the waters to get in first, but I can’t get in myself due to my paralysis, and I don’t have anyone who is willing to stay here with me to help me get in!” You can hear the desperation, frustration, helplessness, hopelessness in the tone of his answer.

2 / Jesus exercise His Divine prerogative as the Son of God to command him: “Get up, take up your bed, and walk!” This command would have been a mockery of his weakness – IF Jesus had not issued it with the purpose and will to grant the lame man the very healing, power, and strength to act on it.

3 / Such is the nature of God’s Grace. Jesus commanded the man to do the impossible, and then graciously granted to him the power with which to obey.  

4 / Such also is the nature of true saving faith. When God grants the grace, we obey in the life, power, and strength of the grace He gives! “And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked!”

5 / Without a doubt, Jesus is declaring and demonstrating the Grace by which we are saved! He is declaring His mission for coming into our world and prophesying His redemptive mercy and deliverance from all the cursed effects of sin that He would accomplish on the Cross! “For while we were still weak [without strength], at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” / Romans 5.6. Again, go back to the Isaiah 35.3-6 prophecy we quoted above: “Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘Be strong! Fear not! Behold, your God…He will come and save you!’ …Then shall the lame man leap like a deer….” This man surely did!

V / vv 9b-13 / “NOW THAT DAY WAS THE SABBATH”

1 / When John adds this dateline/time stamp: “Now that day was the Sabbath…,” he is letting us know that the fact it was the Sabbath day is going to stir up the enmity and animosity that will follow. “So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, ‘It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful. for you to take up your bed.’”

2 / Well, the Law did forbid unnecessary work to be done on the Sabbath. But Jesus is NOT breaking or violating any Law that Yahweh had given them to observe. You can be sure of that. He came to keep the Law and fulfill it in Himself! These prohibitions were constructed by the Jewish rabbis and teachers as time had gone on.

3 / Jesus will make it very clear in verse 17 that He was performing this act of mercy on the Sabbath day because “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” Meaning that God, His Father, was the One who was initiating this work of deliverance, and He, the Son of God, was acting in concert with His Father, God!

4 / What this exchange does also is to set up the conspiracy of hatred and murder that the Jewish leadership set in motion from this very act, occasion, and moment. John will continue to weave this theme-thread of murder conspiracy throughout the rest of His Gospel. We will pick up this theme-thread here in just a moment…

VI / v 14 / “…SIN NO MORE…”

1 / The poor lame man didn’t know who Jesus was when He healed him. He just knew that this Man, whoever he was, had commanded him to be healed of his lameness. He had just restored rejuvenation, restoration, revitalization, and strength to his atrophied, immobile muscles, and commanded him to get up and walk and go home on his own ambulation! And to take his bed-mat roll with him! It hadn’t entered his mind that there would be a problem of any kind!

2 / Jesus sought him out just a short while later. When Jesus encountered him that time, he was in the temple compound. Again, we don’t know whether he had come to the temple to worship, offer thanksgiving offerings, or what. But, “Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, ‘See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.’”

3 / This raises some interesting questions: Was his former lameness the direct result of some sin he had committed? Or was Jesus just charging him with a sense of responsibility to live the rest of his life remembering that he had been healed by an act of God, and that he should live a life of grateful obedience to God going forward? We don’t know. But Jesus gives us all the rule to follow: Don’t forget the gracious mercies of God’s compassion which have saved you and blessed you! How quickly we forget that all of our graces, mercies, deliverances, and blessings come to us by God’s free grace!

VII / vv 15-18 / “…MAKING HIMSELF EQUAL WITH GOD”

1 / For some reason the healed lame man went back to the Jewish leaders who had rebuked him after his healing and told them that he now knew the identity of the Man who had healed him and told him to carry his mat home on the Sabbath day – it was Jesus! In all likelihood, it was done in innocence and without any intention of bringing the wrath of the religious establishment against Jesus – as it did.

2 / And now John begins to weave this theme-thread that he will continue through the rest of this Gospel: “And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is working until now, and I am working.’” Do you see what Jesus is declaring? He is declaring that [1] He is the Son of God; [2] He is working in intimate concert with His Father, God, in what He is doing; [3] He is the One who instituted the Sabbath day to begin with, and this work that He did on the Sabbath day was very much in keeping with God’s purpose for giving it: to give rest to His people!

3 / This very act, and the fact that it was performed on the Sabbath day in ‘violation’ of their man-made laws will be the ‘law’ basis upon which they will charge Jesus with crimes against their ‘religion’ and also ‘blasphemy’ against God … because they understood what Jesus meant by saying that God is His Father – He was saying He is equal with God!

4 / “This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.”

5 / You can follow John’s theme-thread that is anchored in this event by these references: ch 5.16-18 > ch 7.14-31 ff, especially 19-23 > ch 8.37-40 > ch 11.45-53 > ch 12.9-10

VIII / vv 19-47 / “THE FATHER HAS COMMITTED ALL JUDGMENT TO THE SON” [v 22]

In the remaining verses of chapter 5, John will record some of what Jesus said to serve as His Divine commentary on what He had just done. Suffice it to say, we can’t elaborate on any of it here. But let me give you just a couple summary statements:

1 / vv 19-29 / The Father has committed to the Son all authority to act in His Name, to give life to whom He will, and to exercise all judgment at the Last Day.

2 / vv 30-47 / Jesus itemizes some of the witnesses who testify to His Deity … in spite of all their objections, opposition, and unbelief: [1] His witness to Himself; [2] John the Baptist; [3] the works the Father had given Him to do; [4] the Father Himself; [5] and the Scriptures – especially Moses.

AND THEY WERE REJECTING AND DENYING THEM ALL!

DO YOU BELIEVE?

john.l5.john-5.1-18.take-up-your-bed-and-walkDownload
Posted in Bible Studies, JOHN, Sunday School lessons | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Savior of the World

Posted on January 7, 2023 by PastorDave

JOHN | Lesson 4 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read John, chapters 3 & 4

I / INTRODUCTION: THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD

1 / The title of this lesson comes from chapter 4.41-42:

And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”

2 / This lesson is going to cover two of the fullest and richest chapters in the Gospel of John. I fully recognize that there are hundreds of truths and teachings that we are not going to have time to cover in this brief lesson. But what I do want to do is point out what I believe is one of John’s purposes in putting these three stories together the way he does here.

3 / First of all, let’s identify the three stories I’m referring to:

  1. Nicodemus, ch 3.1-21
  2. The Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, ch 4.1-42
  3. The official [probably of Herod’s court and a Gentile], ch 4.43-54.

We’ll say more about each of these characters as we survey their stories.

4 / I am calling these three stories ‘Savior of the World’ because I think that’s the theme John wanted to present to tie them together in this place. The ‘Savior of the World’ is highlighted in all three stories:

  1. in the first story, we find John 3.16; For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
  2. in the second story, the men of Samaria recognized, believed in, and confessed Jesus as ‘the Savior of the world,’ verse 42;
  3. in the third story, the ‘official’ represents the outside, larger, wider ‘world’ beyond the Jews.

5 / But, our purpose for right now is to point out that these three characters represent all the peoples of the world to the Jewish way of thinking. For example, think of Acts 1.8: when Jesus wanted to emphasize that we should be His witnesses to all the peoples of the world, He described them as:

  1. Jerusalem and all Judea
  2. and Samaria
  3. and to the end of the earth (meaning all the Gentile nations).

6 / So, look again at our three characters in John, chapters 3 & 4:

  1. Nicodemus represents Jerusalem and all Judea: ‘ruler of the Jews’
  2. The Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well represents Samaria: ‘For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans’
  3. The official [basilikos] from Capernaum represents the wider outside ‘world’ of the Gentiles [Let’s just make some notes here about this ‘official.’ We know from the word that is used that he is connected with a royal position. The word here is derived from the word for ‘king.’ There are two other accounts of Jesus’ encounter with a Roman centurion in Capernaum whose servant was sick (see Matthew 8.5-13 & Luke 7.1-10). They were certainly Gentiles and military commanders of the occupying Roman army. This basilikos seems to be a different character and story from those, but he is from the same town Capernaum and also seems to be a Gentile who was a believer in Jesus Christ.]

II / WHAT IS ‘THE WORLD’? WHAT DOES THE WORD ‘WORLD’ MEAN?

1 / I just want to point out that ‘the Savior of the world’ is a theme that John is introducing here in the beginning of his Gospel, and this theme will be a prominent thread that John weaves in and out throughout Jesus’ encounters. John will use the word just in this Gospel fifty-seven times.

2 / For example:

  1. John opens up his Gospel by declaring that “The true Light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world” / ch 1.9. John had just said before this in verse 7 [about John the Baptist’s witness ‘that all might believe through Him.’
  2. And then, in verses 10-11, ‘the world’ seems to be set in contrast with ‘His own[things/people],’ which would contrast the Gentile peoples of the world with the Jewish peoples.
  3. And then, in chapter 3.16-17, we are assured ‘For God so loved the world…’ and that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, and Jesus came into the world of creation and humanity ‘that the world might be saved through Him.’

What that shows us is that John’s purpose early on in this Gospel is to demonstrate that Jesus Christ came into the ‘world’ ‘that the world might be saved through Him’ – in other words, to be ‘the Savior of the world.’

3 / So, the word ‘world’ means a lot of different things in the Bible.

  1. Sometimes it means ‘the world of creation’ / ch 1.10
  2. Sometimes it means ‘the world of humanity without exception, every person’ / ch 3.19
  3. But sometimes it means ‘all the peoples of the world … not without exception … but without distinction’ / ch 1.29; 3.16-17; 4.42; 12.47.

– Jesus does not save every person in the world without exception because there are multitudes who will remain in condemnation and be condemned forever / ch 3.16-19.

– But those ‘in the world’ who do believe in Jesus – put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior from their sins – will be saved … regardless of their nationality, ethnicity, cultural background, or personal history.

THAT is what these stories are meant to present, highlight, and emphasize!

4 / We need to interpret the word ‘world’ the way John meant it and the ways the people who first received this book understood it. John is using ‘world’ in the sense that a Jew of his day would use it and mean it. And, to the Jews, ‘the world’ was everybody else out there besides them. The ‘world’ would mean everybody else besides them, the Jews.

5 / And so this was a radical idea: that Jesus Christ, the Messiah sent by God, would come to be the Savior of anybody else besides them, the Jews. BUT He Himself declared and demonstrated that He had come ‘to save the world,’ ‘that the world might be saved through Him,’ to be ‘THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD’!

6 / So, with that background in mind, let’s watch as John presents these three encounters with Jesus, and how they demonstrate and illustrate that Jesus Christ is ‘THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD’!

III / chapter 3.1-21 / NICODEMUS: ‘A RULER OF THE JEWS’ [‘Insider’]

1 / Before we get into talking about Nicodemus personally, we just need to not some other theme-threads that John is weaving throughout these stories and his Gospel. For example, we know that one of the most common theme-threads that John is emphasizing is the ‘signs/miracles’ that Jesus did. In fact, this is one of the most very prominent theme-threads John weaves throughout this Book / see ch 20.30-31. John has already pointed out the first of these ‘signs/miracles’ that Jesus worked in ch 2.11. All of these signs evidence, witness, and testify that Jesus Christ is ‘the Son of God,’ that is, God Himself.

2 / Nicodemus admits that the highest Jewish council and authorities knew about Jesus’ signs/miracles, and couldn’t deny them or explain them away / vv 1-2. “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with Him.”

3 / Nicodemus is as Jewish as a Jew could be, especially in his day. John wants us to see this. After all, the Gospel is ‘the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek’ / Romans 1.16. And, Jesus said, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” / Matthew 10.6 & 15.24. So we know that His first and priority recipients of the Gospel were His fellow Jews.

4 / Nicodemus was ‘a man of the Pharisees,’ ‘a ruler of the Jews,’ and Jesus called him ‘the teacher of Israel,’ which means Nicodemus was the most authoritative, most influential, top-dog Jew in their community.

5 / However, Nicodemus was not saved by his Jewishness, nor by virtue of his religious experience, background, or service. Nicodemus didn’t qualify himself to ‘see’ or ‘enter’ the Kingdom of Heaven by his history, heritage, or legacy. Nor by his good works. Jesus said to Nicodemus three times: “You must be born again [from above]” / vv 3, 5, 7. 

Religious people are not saved by their religiousness … nor do they qualify themselves or gain entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven by any or any amount of good works they do.

6 / This new birth is being supernaturally regenerated, or born again by the sovereign act of the Holy Spirit and the gift of eternal life that is given to us by the Holy Spirit when we believe / vv 5-8. It is a radical transformation of our very inner being, our spiritual nature. We are birthed with a spiritual nature we didn’t have before. We are born again with the very life of God, the Spirit of Christ Himself, that is given to us as a free gift when we believe in and trust Jesus Christ to be our Savior from our sins.

7 / So yes! Jesus came to save Nicodemus. He came to save Jews. And we know Nicodemus did become a believer in Christ from his subsequent appearances in the Gospel of John / chs 7.50 & 19.39. But he became a believer just like every other believer became a believer – by placing all his faith and trust in Jesus Christ – whom he had come to see. See Acts 15.11 & Galatians 2.15-16.

IV / chapter 4.1-42 / THE SAMARITAN WOMAN AT JACOB’S WELL IN SYCHAR: ‘FOR JEWS HAVE NO DEALINGS WITH SAMARITANS’ [‘Outsider’ / Outcast]

1 / Now we come to the second character and encounter that John presents to show that Jesus Christ is ‘the Savior of the world.’ And it is in this story that this particular recognition and profession of faith in Christ is recognized and confessed / v 42.

2 / Jesus left Judea [Jerusalem vicinity] and headed north for Galilee, where He had taken up His residence. “And He had to pass through Samaria” / v 4. He ‘had to’ [edei] because His saving desires and purposes required him to go through Samaria. Fact is, Jews did not normally ‘have to’ go through Samaria. They had other circuitous routes they would follow to get from the Judean south to the Galilee northern regions. They would go miles out of their way to skirt around Samaria because “…the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans” / v 9. The Samaritans were not ‘their kind.’ The Samaritans were inferior to them. The Samaritans were not pure Jewish. So they were not worthy of Jewish recognition, association, or even contact. There were invisible, cultural ‘walls’ of bigotry and prejudice between these two peoples.

3 / Jews would not save a Samaritan even if they happened to be in the way they were traveling, and they certainly would not go out of their way to save a Samaritan. That’s what makes the story of ‘The Good Samaritan’ so remarkable; the Good Samaritan went way out of his way to save a Jerusalemite / see Luke 10.25-37. But this Jew, Jesus, intentionally, deliberately went out of His way to save this Samaritan woman and many of her friends and companions in the city … because He came ‘to save the world,’ and He is ‘the Savior of the world.’

4 / [A little side of historical background and context here: the Jews had animosity toward the Samaritans ever since the northern Kingdom Israel went off into captivity into Assyria / 2 Kings 17. When the Assyrians carried off the Israelite inhabitants of Samaria into captivity, they replaced them with many other nationalities and ethnicities of other peoples they had conquered. The result was that the Samaritans became mixed with many other nationalities. They had been Jews originally, but now they were mingled with numerous other peoples. So they became ‘defiled,’ ‘corrupt,’ and unworthy of association with a true, pure, and orthodox Jew.]

5 / Of course, the way Jesus saved this Samaritan woman was:

  1. first of all, go to her / vv 1-6
  2. then reach out to her with kindness / vv 7-9
  3. He piqued her interest in spiritual satisfaction by offering ‘living water’ to her / vv 10-15
  4. He gently exposed her sin by demonstrating His penetrating and thorough knowledge of past and the innermost, most intimate secret of her life and heart / vv 16-18
  5. finally, He revealed Himself to her as the ‘Living Water’ He had offered to her (vv 10-15), the Prophet they were all looking for (vv 19-24), and The Christ/Messiah who would come and tell them all things (vv 25-26).

6 / Although the ‘signs/miracles’ theme-thread that John is using to tie his Gospel together are not named by that word in this section, still every revelation Jesus makes to this Samaritan woman is a sign. He is revealing the heart of God to her. He is demonstrating that He is the Son of God. And most of all, He is witnessing that He had come to save her!

7 / This is what she goes off into the city to tell her friends and companions / vv 28-30. When they come to see, meet, and hear Jesus for themselves, they, too, believe in Him and are saved. That’s when they give this testimony we are using for the theme of this lesson: Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world” / vv 39-42.

V / chapter 4.43-54 / THE ‘OFFICIAL’ FROM CAPERNAUM [‘Outlier’ / Gentile]

1 / We say again [as we have said above], the text does not explicitly say that this ‘official’ is a Gentile. But just from his title ‘official,’ we know he is probably an important, high-ranking, influential official to the king.

2 / The word that John uses here for ‘official’ is basilikos. The word for ‘kingdom’ is basileian. The word for ‘king’ is basileus. So you see this official’s connection with royal authority. Whether he is a royal ‘official’ for King Herod or King Caesar, we don’t know.

3 / He also comes from Capernaum. And we know from other stories that there were centurions, Roman military commanders, stationed and living in Capernaum / see Matthew 8.5-13 & Luke 7.1-10. Some commentators believe that this ‘official’ is the same as the ‘centurion’ in the Matthew and Luke accounts. But there are several differences in these stories which lead us to believe these are separate stories and characters; and without a doubt, there were many Gentile royal officials of various kinds living in Capernaum.

4 / By the way, heads-up, John is going to pin this story in his story line this way: “This was now the second sign that Jesus did when He had come from Judea to Galilee” / see v 54. And what is this ‘second sign/miracle’ going to be? It’s going to be the healing of the son of a Gentile courtier! He is going to show Himself as ‘the Savior of the world’!

5 / This basilikos has a son who is deathly ill. He travels the twenty miles from Capernaum to Cana to beseech Jesus to come back home with him and heal his darling son. Jesus tests the sincerity and genuineness of his faith by ‘teasing’ that the official will have to see signs and wonders before he believes in Jesus / v 48. The official begs Him again to ‘please, just come! I do believe you can! I don’t need to see any additional signs that this one I’m asking for!’

6 / So Jesus tells him to go back home to a healed child: “Go; your son will live.” The courtier believes and trusts Jesus. He takes Him at His word.

7 / “And he himself believed, and all his household.” He had believed in the power of Jesus’ physical healing … and now he was believing in Jesus as ‘the Savior of the world.’

8 / And so, with these three salvation encounters with a religious Jew, an immoral Samaritan woman, and a Gentile courtier – Jesus shows Himself to be ‘the Savior of the world.’

DO YOU BELIEVE?

These are some supplemental notes/discussion guides I added for a later men’s discipleship Bible study group…

WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM HOW JESUS APPROACHED, ENCOUNTERED, AND RELATED TO THIS SAMARITAN WOMAN – TO HELP US FOLLOW HIS EXAMPLE IN OUR OWN EXPERIENCES?

  1. Do not reject them outright because of their lifestyle or ‘differences’
  2. Avoid up-front, overt, and obvious judgments  – either by word, body language, or attitude
  3. Be willing to go to them and approach them if the association is not already established [“He had to go through Samaria”]
  4. Speak to them and address them with friendliness, courtesy, and human respect
  5. Perform intentional acts of kindness for them – be willing to minister to and serve them in practical and physical ways
  6. Be willing to listen to their ‘story’ [Everyone has a ‘story’]
  7. Be in prayer to God at all times for His wisdom, graciousness, and sensitivity to their real need of Him and what only He can give
  8. Always be cognizant that their real need is NOT what they look like, how they are living, or even what they are professing to believe – their causes. What they really need is a spiritual transformation that only Christ can perform and fulfill [see vv 10, 13-15]
    1. Act of God
    1. Work of Grace
    1. Change of Heart
  9. Seek every opening and opportunity to delve deeper into their innermost needs and what they are really seeking
    1. Significance
    1. Security
    1. Status
    1. Satisfaction / meaning in life
    1. Success / accomplishment
  10. As you have to exercise patience, forbearance, and even forgiveness of their abusive language or acts … do it because you care for their soul – their eternal life and salvation from their sin. We can even win an occasional argument or debate, but they will still go to Hell if they are not saved from their sin
  11. Avoid engaging in superficial, surface arguments and debates over cultural, moral, religious, and especially political issues
  12. Be willing to confront their sin issues [and we must], but do so in love and from a clear commitment to Scripture and God’s righteousness
  13. Always recognize that almost never will a spiritual ‘breakthrough’ or conversion [which is what we desire and seek] come through one encounter or conversation as it did here. It will almost always take years of building trust and witness through our consistent showing the Grace of Christ
  14. Also recognize that almost always, we will be but a contributor to what Christ is pleased to work in their hearts and lives [vv 31-38]
john.l4.john-3-4.savior-of-the-worldDownload
Posted in Bible Studies, JOHN, Sunday School lessons, The Savior of the World | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment