What Are You Waiting For?

Welcome

1. Good evening! (welcome to English Bible study) (our "online community” Bible study) (as always, we like to do some introductions… type your name and where you are from)

2. Please keep us “up-to-date” on you how you are doing. (words of care and love from Amanda)

3. We have a question to get things started tonight. The question is: Do you like to wait for presents or do you like to open them early?

The Gospel of John

1. Last week, we started our study of the gospel of John. We should remember that John is one of the four gospels, but not a “synoptic gospel.” (it is distinctively different from Matthew, Mark, and Luke) (those three Gospels are called the Synoptics, which means “with one eye.”)

2. John’s gospel is different. (it follows a different course of events... it uses symbolism differently... and there seems to be two levels of understanding in the gospel of John… there is basic level and a deeper level. (we will see this very clearly tonight)

3. Last week, we looked at how the “word became flesh” (this is the incarnation of Jesus) (this is how God chooses to get “close” to His creation) (it reveals to us that God is not a distant deity, who is too busy or unconcerned) (we will see this throughout the gospel of John) (Jesus breaks through nature, through social customs, even through death to show that… we matter to him) (**we could spend all night thinking and talking about this)

4. We also noted last week, that this is an “appropriate” time to study the gospel of John… because this is also the beginning of the Advent season! Advent is special time of preparation. (we often celebrate hope, joy, love, and peace in the weeks coming up to Christmas… which is, of course, a celebration of the birth of Jesus) In the advent season, we celebrate the coming of Christ… (past, present, and future) (it’s a time of anticipation and waiting)

5. That’s what we see in John 1:19-28. Read. (follow along here...)

Read John 1:19-28

The New International Version Chapter 1

John the Baptist Denies Being the Messiah

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

21 They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”

He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the Prophet?”

He answered, “No.”

22 Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

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

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

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

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

Who was John?

NT221 The Wisdom of John: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Johannine Literature John the Baptizer and the Qumran Community

It is interesting that the one person named John that is emphasized in especially the first four chapters of this Gospel is not John son of Zebedee. It’s John the Baptizer, and I use that term advisedly—he’s not a Baptist. He’s not a Methodist. He’s not a Presbyterian. He’s not an evangelical. He’s not an Orthodox person. He’s John the Baptizer.

Who was this person? This somebody is said to have been the cousin of Jesus, in the Gospel of Luke, and he’s out there in the wilderness. Now, once we discovered the Qumran scrolls and studied the nature of the Qumran community at the Dead Sea, it became clearer and clearer that it looks like John was part of the Qumran community at some point.

This community was famous for its water rituals. (they actually practiced a form of Baptism) (sometime people think that baptism is unique to the Christian church, but not so) (it was used in Judaism and other groups, such as this Qumran community)

John was baptising people... but not into the Qumran community (he had a different purpose) (the Jewish leaders wanted to know… who was John… was he the Messiah, was he Elijah, was he the prophet?)

They wanted to know because John was baptising people... but not into the Qumran community (he had a different purpose) (his purpose was preparation) (he was preparing people for the coming of Jesus)

John quotes from the book of Isaiah 40:3, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.” (I love the imagery here… I think of a Christmas tree… (my family tradition is to get a big Christmas tree…as big as possible… but we have to make preparations… we have to clear the way and make some preparations…)

It makes us think, “What kind of preparations do you need to make this year? What do you need to do now, in order to get ready for Christmas?”

John’s baptism was a “baptism of repentance” (baptism is usually symbolic representation of “change”) (and repentance... is change at the deepest part of our lives) (people think that repentance is only making a mistake and asking of forgiveness… that’s not repentance, it’s an apology) (true repentance is a change of life… it means to make a u-turn, to think differently, to make different decisions, … to trust in someone other then ourselves… in this case it’s Jesus)

It’s worth taking a moment to think about repentance. (Who are you trusting in? How are you living your life? What direction are you going?)

Show repentance video

7. It’s worth taking a moment to think about repentance. (Who are you trusting in? How are you living your life? What direction are you going?)

Preparation for the arrival of Jesus

The world had never experienced the presence of God, as we would in Jesus. (the “closeness of God” in Jesus is unmatched, unparalleled, and exactly at the right time) (sociologists have actually done studies about this, and concluded that Jesus came at the “perfect time” in history) (the Romans had built roads so that people and information could travel) (there was shared language and culture in much of the world… so that people could communicate) (people could recognize peace, but not Roman peace, not forced peace… people craved a different kind of “peace and hope”) (and this was the message of Jesus) (but it had never been seen in this way)

In fact in the verse, just before what we read tonight.... we read this in John 1:18

The New International Version Chapter 1

18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and  is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

3. John promised that Jesus was coming. (he encouraged people to “wait” and “prepare”) (no we know that Jesus came, just as He promised) (some people were prepared and ready to accept the truth) (in fact, in each of the gospels.... and the New Testament, for that matter… shows us how people accepted the truth of Jesus, and through repentance gave their lives to Him)

What does this mean for us now?

We know that there is at least two levels here… one is the historical level. (God promised that He would come and He did in Jesus) (this is what we read about at one level)

Yet, at a deeper level, we know that Jesus promises that he will come again. (this is something we also recognize and celebrate during Advent, at Christmas time)

So the questions are most appropriate for us now. What preparations do you need to make for the coming of Christ? Are you ready for His return? (it’s a time for deep reflection in our lives)

Maybe we need to “clear the way” a little and find repentance? (maybe we need to completely change the way we are living and trust in Jesus?)

This is an important question, because we know that Jesus is coming… and when He does it will be great and terrible day. (it will be terrible day for those who do not Jesus, as the Lord and Savior of life) (yet, for those who do know Jesus and live their lives for Him… it will be the fulfilment of every good thing) (on that day, we will know that it was worth the wait… to be with Jesus in His fulness and life)

So the questions are most appropriate for us now. What preparations do you need to make for the coming of Christ? Are you ready for His return?

Prayer

Discussion Questions:

1. What are you waiting for?

2. Are you ready?