John Intro Sermon

We are starting our series through John this morning. I’m entitling the series, “So That You May Believe.” Anytime you preach or teach through a book of the Bible, it’s important that you get clear on what the author’s intent was in writing the book. Some times that easier to figure out than other times. The gospel of John may be the easiest book in all of the Bible to know for sure wha the author’s purpose of the book is. He tells us plainly.

John 20:30–31 ESV

30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

So he lays out two clear purposes.

That you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

The purpose of believing is that you may have life in his name.

So we would say that John has an evangelistic purpose in writing the book. But when you read it, you see it’s not simply that John wants you to have faith and thus salvation. But he wants you to have a deep and vibrant faith. Because the point of believing and salvation is not simply that you go to heaven when you die. But that you begin to have a deep meaningful relationship with God right now.

The believing that John is aiming for not simply an act of the mind. But an act of engaging your life.

*The great theologian J.I. Packer spoke about biblical faith really is in his book growing in Christ,

When people are asked what they believe in, they give, not merely different answers, but different sorts of answers. Someone might say, “I believe in UFOs”—that means, I think UFOs are real. “I believe in democracy”—that means, I think democratic principles are just and beneficial. But what does it mean when Christian congregations stand and say: “I believe in God”? Far more than when the object of belief is UFOs or democracy.

I can believe in UFOs without ever looking for one, and in democracy without ever voting. In cases like these, belief is a matter of the intellect only. But the Creed’s opening words, “I believe in God,” render a Greek phrase coined by the writers of the New Testament, meaning literally: “I am believing into God.” That is to say, over and above believing certain truths about God, I am living in a relation of commitment to God in trust and union. When I say “I believe in God,” I am professing my conviction that God has invited me to this commitment, and declaring that I have accepted his invitation.

So what does it mean to accept God’s invitation to “believe” him begin to live in relationship of trust and union? Here’s one of the best illustrations I’ve ever heard to explain that.

*The story is of Charles Blondin, the French tightrope walker. On June 30, 1859, he did his most famous act when he became the first person to cross a tightrope stretched across the mighty Niagara Falls. The tightrope was more than a quarter mile long, suspended 160 feet above the foils, and he walked across several times, each time in a different way: once on stilts, once on a bike, once in the dark, and once blindfolded!

A large crowd gathered to watch, with each feat bringing louder applause. At a different performance, the crowd oohed and aahed as Blondin carefully walked across; one dangerous step after another, pushing a wheelbarrow holding a huge sack of potatoes. Then at one point, he asked the crowd, “Do you believe I can carry a person across in this wheelbarrow?”

The crowd enthusiastically yelled, “Yes! Yes! We believe! You are the greatest tightrope walker in the world. We believe!”

“Okay,” said Blondin, “who wants to get into the wheelbarrow? They said they believed, but no one was willing to get into the wheelbarrow.

Tom Hughes, Down to Earth: How Jesus’ Stories Can Change Your Everyday Life, NavPress, 2019, p.22.

It means I trust my life in your hands every moment of every day. I trust myself in your care, your wisdom, your love, and your providence. If you fail, I die. It’s a relationship of the heart. And it was a relationship that we were create to have.

When we talk about the John, we realize that from a biblical genre standpoint, it is a gospel. There are 3 other gospels, they generally tell the good news of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But John is a little different fro the other 3 gospels. The other 3, Matthew, Mark, and Luke are what scholars call synoptic gospels. It just means that they are the same. By in large they tell the story of the physical life of Jesus with slightly different viewpoints.

Mark focuses on the activities of Jesus life, quickly moving from one scene to the next with special attention on the death of Christ. Matthew tells the story of Jesus’ life to show that Jesus is the King of the Jews, Luke intends to show that Jesus is the King of the World (Jews and Gentiles). But John is a little different. It’s written for us to see Jesus from a spiritual perspective. We should see him as the Son of God.

God is spirit. And thus we don’t need to focus on the fact that Jesus lived an earthly life. But, we need to focus on the fact that Jesus was also a spiritual being and he lived a vibrant spiritual life with the Heavenly Father while he was here.

The account of the Mountain of Transfiguration

Matthew 17:1–2 ESV

1 And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.

Moses and Elijah, representing the Law and the Prophets show us. And God the Father want to make real clear we understand who Jesus is. So he shows up and speaks.

Matthew 17:5 ESV

5 He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

So Jesus is a glorious spiritual being. John is going to go on to say that

And that calls attention to the fact that we too are spiritual beings. To have a relationship with God through Jesus life means that we have to live out a spiritual life.

Life is more than just what we experience with our eyes and ears, taste and touch. It’s more than just relationships with friends, spouses, and kids. It’s more than jobs and hobbies. Life is about knowing God, loving God, being loved by God, and through his love, loving others.

I’m convinced that too many Christians are trying to follow Christ without having a spiritual life. That’s impossible. It’s leaves you unfulfilled and thinking Jesus has failed you. Jesus has not failed you. You have just failed to realize that you are a spiritual being who is made to live in relationship with God who is spirit while you exist physically on this earth.

How much time do you spend talking to God daily?

How much time do you spend in the Bible daily?

How much time to you spend lifting up needs of your family, friends, and church.

How much time do you spend confessing sin to God?

How often do you fast so that you can hear God more clearly?

When is the last time you journaled what God was teaching?

When is the last time you spent all day living your life and just talking to Jesus about what was going on and areas you need him? I’ve know people who start their prayers, “And God…” just picking up where they left off.

When is the last time you mourned over the fact that you don’t know Jesus better?

The gospel of John helps us see Jesus through spiritual lenses. And thus know him and desire to pursue him through spiritual disciplines. That’s going to be our goal of studying John. Growing in belief, faith, joyfully trusting him in everything and communing with him in spirit at every moment.

As we get into this book, we need to deal with a few introductory issues:

I. Who wrote the Gospel of John?

Well the gospel doesn’t tell us who actually wrote it, say like the letters of Paul where Paul identifies himself. But from early on Christians have identified the author as the Apostle John, the son of Zebedee, the brother of James, the son of Zebedee. They had a somewhat lively relationship with each other while Jesus was on earth. He sometimes called them, the “Sons of Thunder.” They could make some racket together.

The early Church Fathers Theophilis, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian attributed the authorship to the Apostle John and quoted from it.

Looking in the book, the author often calls himself “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” This disciple is usually closely associated to the Apostle Peter, so it make sense that he was one of the inner circle of disciples who was closest to Jesus, Peter, James, and John. The author could not have been Peter.

John 20:1–9 ESV

1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 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.” 3 So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. 4 Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

Peter was with the disciple who Jesus loved. John’s brother, James was killed by Herod in A.D. 44 long before the gospel of John was written. Of the three, closest to Jesus, that just leaves John.

II. From Where was the Gospel of John written?

The most probable answer is found in the tradition of the early church. The early Church Father’s believed that John came to Ephesus after Paul founded the church there and labored for the Lord there for many years. Evidence for this is found in his latter book, Revelation. John had been placed in exile on the island of Patmos off the coast of Asia Minor. In it he penned letters to 7 Asian churches. The first church, he wrote to was the church of Ephesus.

III. When was the Gospel of John written?

This is gospel is written from the perspective of a man season by time and spiritual understanding. For that reason and a number of others, early Church Fathers believed that it was written when John was an old man. Most likely after the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, probably between A.D. 85 and A.D. 95, the last of the gospels to be written.

Clearly some time had to pass for Peter and John. Jesus tells Peter after he is resurrected referring to how he would die.

John 21:18–23 ESV

18 Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” 19 (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.” 20 Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” 21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” 22 Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” 23 So the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?”