The Apostle John

The Apostle of Love

John 13:23 “One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table at Jesus’ side,”

John was one of the top three writers og the New Testament

John the Gospel

1-3 John the Epistles

Revelations

Most of what we know of John comes from his own writings

Never forget he is the other half of the Sons of Thunder

Wrote more of Love than any other New Testament writer

This was a trait he developed and learned from Christ

John was always, but once mentioned with someone else

John is Black & White

He writes in Absolutes

he sets light against darkness

life against death

the kingdom of God against the kingdom of the devil

the children of God against the children of Satan

the judgment of the righteous against the judgment of the wicked

the resurrection of life against the resurrection of damnation

receiving Christ against rejecting Christ

fruit against fruitlessness

obedience against disobedience

love against hatred.

This theme carries into his epistles

3 John 11 “Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.”

It is wonderful to have a high regard for the truth, but zeal for the truth must be balanced by a love for people, or it can give way to judgmentalism, harshness, and a lack of compassion

He Learned the balance of Love and Truth

He was seeking truth

John 1:35–37 “The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.”

John 3:30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.””

He uses the word for “truth” 25 times in his gospel and 20 more times in his epistles

3 John 4 “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”

1 John 2:4 “Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,”

John’s zeal for truth early on was lacking compassion

Mark 9- Forbids a man from casting out a demon in Jesus’ name

Mark 9:38 “John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.””

Lets deal with context

Mark 9:1 “And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.””

John was one of the three that experienced the Transfiguration

Do not tell anyone

Mark 9:9 “And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.”

The silent argument on the road

Mark 9:33–34 “And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.”

Jesus responds with an answer that did not expect

Mark 9:35–37 “And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.””

John feels convicted and confesses

Mark 9:38 “John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.””

Truth without love has no decency; it’s just brutality. On the other hand, love without truth has no character; it’s just hypocrisy.

1 Corinthians 13:6 “it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.”

A true mark of spiritual maturity is the balance of truth and love

Ephesians 4:13–15 “until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,”

He learned the balance of Ambition and Humility

John was ambitious in his youth

Ambition without Humility becomes egotism

Mark 10:35–37 “And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.””

The Kingdom is advanced through Humble service

Luke 18:14 “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.””

He clearly learned this balance

It is evident in a simple fact that he never uses his name in his Gospel writing

John 13:23 “One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table at Jesus’ side,”

John 20:2 “So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.””

In his epistles

John’s humility also comes through in the gentle way he appeals to his readers in every one of his epistles.

He calls them “little children,” “beloved”

He includes himself as a brother and fellow child of God

1 John 3:2 “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”

Revelations

Revelation 1:9 “I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.”

He learned the balance of Suffering and Glory

Psalm 17:15 “As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.”

Heavenly glory and earthly suffering are inseparable

Philippians 3:10 “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,”

Romans 8:17 “and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”

Romans 8:18 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

Mark 10:38 “Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?””

All 11 apostles fled on the night of Jesus’ arrest, but all were restored

John was the only disciple to reach old age

He was still enduring earthly anguish and persecution long after the others were already in glory.

As far as we know John was the only disciple that witnessed the crucifixion of Christ

John 19:26 “When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!””

John experienced loss on a scale unimaginable to us as he watched his friends and companions be martyred, beginning with his physical brother James

Most Church historians agree that John became pastor of the church Paul established in Ephesus

During a great persecution of the church under the Roman Emperor Domitian (brother and successor of Titus, who destroyed Jerusalem)

John was banished to a prison community on Patmos, one of the small Dodecanese Islands in the Aegean Sea off the west coast of modern Turkey. He lived in a cave there. It was while there that he received and recorded the apocalyptic visions described in the book of Revelation

Revelation 1:9 “I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.”

Another favorite word of John was “Witness”

He used it some 70 times

the witness of John the Baptist

the witness of Scripture

the witness of the Father

the witness of Christ

the witness of the miracles

the witness of the Holy Spirit

the witness of the apostles.

John leaned on the shoulder of Jesus

John 13:3 “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God,”

His Final Days

John died, by most accounts, around A.D. 98, during the reign of Emperor Trajan.

Jerome says in his commentary on Galatians that the aged apostle John was so frail in his final days at Ephesus that he had to be carried into the church.

One phrase was constantly on his lips: “My little children, love one another.” Asked why he always said this, he replied, “It is the Lord’s command, and if this alone be done, it is enough.”