Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

Here we have another apostle who is quite well known.

John’s Gospel has been a book that has been a powerful book.

By doing the Alpha series a story is shared by Nicky Gumbel that tells the story of scriptures in prison.

Bibles are made availableto prisoners.

Many inmates read these scriptures one particular innmate told of how he would read a page then roll it to smoke drugs and did this throughout the Old Testament and then into the New.

When he reached the book of John he gave his heart to God.

John’s gospel is a book that is often recommended for new Christians to read first.

The Apostle John wrote much of the New Testament - the gospel of John and three epistles that bear his name and Revelations.

Aside from Luke and Paul, John wrote more of the New Testament than any other human author.

Due to this we are able to see much of John’s insights on his personality and character.

Through the Gospel of John we see how He views Christ, in the epistles we see how he dealt wit the church and in the book of Revelation we see the future through the visions God gave him.

Thank God for John and what he has contributed to scripture.

He has played a major role in the early church.

He is a member of the Lord’s intimate circle but was no means dominant in that group.

He was the younger brother of James and spent a lot of time with Peter.

John was in the background in the first 12 chapters of Acts but he did have his turn at leadership.

He outlived all the others and filled a unique role that lasted nearly to the end of the first century and reached deep into Asia Minor.

James and John were brothers and had similar temperments and were inseparable.

John was right there with James eager to call down fire on the Samaritians, he was also in the thick of debates about who was the greatest, and his zeal and ambition mirrored his brother.

But with all that being said it is odd that he was named the “Apostle of love”.

But with all that being said it is odd that he was named the “Apostle of love”.

He wrote more often than any other NT author about the importance of love - putting emphasis on the Christian’s love for Christ, Christ’s love for His church and the love for another that is supposed to be the hallmark of true believers.

This theme flows through his writings.

He wrote more often than any other NT author about the importance of love - putting emphasis on the Christian’s love for Christ, Christ’s love for His church and the love for another that is supposed to be the hallmark of true believers.

This theme flows through his writings.

Love was a quality that He learned from Jesus, not something that came naturally to him.

There are many instances where John is seen as sectarian, narrow minded, unbending, reckless and being volatile.

He was passionate, zealous and personally ambitious.

But John aged well and the influence of Christ proved to work well for him.

He was an elder of the church, loved universally and respected for his devotion to Christ and his love for Christians worldwide.

This is why he earned the name “apostle of love”.

John’s passion for truth gave him the balance he needed.

He kept his strong love for God’s truth to the end of his life and remained bold in proclaiming it to the very end.

This evening we need to look at a number of things John illustrated in his life.

Here are three that we are going to take a look at and apply to our own lives.

Balance of Love and Truth

Balance of Ambition and Humility

Balance of Suffering and Glory

John’s writings are to the point and very clear and precise.

He is just that black and white.

John knows that believers do sin but he is concerned with the overall pattern of a person’s life.

He wants to underscore the righteousness (not sin) that is the dominant principle of a believer’s life.

John’s personality exemplfies his love for truth and that was his passion.

He spoke about absolute truths and did not spend time in grey areas.

A person out of balance is unsteady.

Imbalance in one’s personal character is a form of intemperance - a lack of self control - and that is sin in and of itself.

Three years with Jesus caused John to be transformed from self-centered fanatic to a mature man of balance.

He moved from being a son of thunder to an apostle of love.

At points where he was imbalanced Jesus gave him balance and in the process John was transformed from a bigoted hothead to a loving Godly elder fo the early church.

Life takes on a new meaning when you have an encounter with God.

John followed Jesus right from the beginning and was committed to truth early on.

He sought to know the truth and follow it.

Balance of Love and Truth

John was a follower of John the baptist and when he met Jesus he followed him.

John the disciple was interested in truth, he didn’t follow John the baptist to join a personality cult therefore he left and followed Jesus as soon as John clearly identified him as the Lamb of God.

John’s love of truth is evident in all his writings.

He uses the Greek word for truth 25 times in his gospel and 20 more times in the epistles.

No one in all of scripture, except the Lord himself, had more to say praising the very concept of truth.

John was exposed to an encounter with God that transformed his life therefore we can understand his need to shout it out that truth is needed and love was the reason that he knows what truth is.

Let’s take into account the Transfiguration:

This incident happened after the transfiguration of Jesus.

That glorious mountaintop experience which was witnessed by only the inner circle of three (Peter, James and John).

This incident happened after the transfiguration of Jesus.

That glorious mountaintop experience which was witnessed by only the inner circle of three (Peter, James and John).

This sounds like a promise to the disciples that the millennial kingdom would come in the lifetime of the disciples.

But here we are more than 1900 years after the death of the last disciple and we are still waiting for the establishment of the millennial kingdom here on earth.

So what is this verse talking about?

In this verse Jesus was promising them a preview of what is to come.

The three of them would have the priviledge of witnessing a brilliant foretaste of glory divine.

They would see a glimpse of the glory and power of the coming kingdom.

Jesus took the three most trusted, close friends to the mountain top where He pulled back the veil of His human flesh so that the shekinah glory - which means they got to see the very essense of the nature of the eternal God.

The shekinah glory was out in blazing brilliance.

No one on earth had experienced anything remotely like this since Moses caught a glimpse of God’s back after being shielded in the cleft of the rock from the full display of His glory.

Mark 9

It was a trancidental experience, it was something the disciples could have never imagined.

To add to this we see in verse 4

Elijah appeared along with Moses and talking with Jesus.

Talk about an experience.

The discples were afraid and did not know what to say.

Peter in typical fashion spoke anyway.

Peter may have thought the appearance of Moses and Elijah signified the setting up of the kingdom and he was eager to make it permanent.

God’s voice spoke and said:

Mark 9:

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These were the same words they heard at Jesus’ baptism.

This was an amazing experience for Peter, James and John to behold.

They were given a unique privilege, unparalleled in the annuals of redemptive history.

They witnessed the most incredible thing but were not allowed to tell anyone about it.

Talk about a difficult thing to have to keep secret!

The thoughts of these guys having arguments about being the greatest among them and now experienced something of this magnitide and have to keep it quiet.

It was certainly difficult for them to have to do this indeed.

Imagine the questions from the other disciples?

Where were you?

What have you been up to?

Then in

Jesus did not ask this question because he needed the information, He was looking for a confession.

Jesus already knew what they were talking about.

But they were embarrassed.

So they kept silent.

These guys were brimming with confidence after the mountaintop experience and felt that they had the inside track.