Believe in Jesus

Our theme for 2022 is “Begin Again”

I felt it was a word from the Lord for this year as COVID restrictions are winding down to begin to do again the things that we used to do.

Begin again means taking what we have learned and starting fresh with a renewed vision and purpose.

It is time to live again, love again and dream again.

I’m calling this series “Believe Again”

The Gospel of John is all about telling the story of Jesus so that people will believe in Him.

1 John 5:13 ESV

13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

John is not just recording facts, but he is using words and imagery in such a way as to convince and remind his readers by experiencing the life, the love and the power of God.

John wants us to have more than just head knowledge, but intimate knowledge of who Jesus is, who the Father is, and who the Holy Spirit is in us.

You may have already believed the gospel, but it is time to believe again.

During the pandemic, a lot of people stopped going to church.

We lost connection with others and some people lost connection with God because their primary way of connecting to God was through others.

John calls us back to a living and vital relationship to God first, and then through God to others.

Faith is something that we grow in, and it is time to believe again!

Believe the Word.

John 1:1–5 ESV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

What is the Word?

Earlier this year we went through the prologue of Genesis to see what God intended from the beginning.

To this John adds that “In the beginning was the Word.”

The Word is the idea behind everything.

It is the Divine reason, the intelligent design in all creation.

The Word is the expression of light and of life.

We saw that God created the world good and that His intention from the beginning was to spread that goodness through the whole earth.

When the world became corrupt, God preserved a remnant that would know Him and reflect his goodness and life.

He called and worked through a man, Abraham, who obeyed Him.

And He established a people who would be in relationship with Him to restore the world.

God called a man, to establish a people from whom he would choose a family through which to send His own son.

Jesus is the Word.

And the Word is God; who is also goodness, light and life.

In case you are wondering …Jesus is God!

The Word is God’s self-revelation.

John 1:9–12 ESV

9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

God want’s to communicate with His people; how does he do that?

We can’t comprehend Him; He has to speak in a way that we can understand.

Imagine becoming a fish and learning to breath underwater and speak “fish” so as to communicate with fish.

Even if you could do that, then imagine trying to communicate to fish what life is like on land!

Or imagine becoming an insect an learning to live on an insect scale and to fit into the world of insects.

Then imagine trying to describe to insects that their world is just a small corner of a much bigger world!

Jesus came to the world that He created and even though He made it; it could not comprehend Him.

Try explaining air to a fish.

Try explaining oceans to an insect.

The only way for Jesus to communicate God’s goodness and His intention to the world He created is to become one of us.

Jesus became like us so that we could become like Him.

The Word has creative power.

John 1:14 ESV

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The other thing about the Word, as was seen in the beginning is that the Word has the power to create what is spoken.

Genesis 1:3 ESV

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

In this creative miracle, the Word incarnates… becomes not only visible but physical.

Mankind was created in God’s image and now becomes the image that He has created.

The physical image is less important that the character and the personality that we see in Jesus, that is where the image of God is really noticeable.

Remember that God created the world good, but we forgot what “good” is.

So much so that at times we call evil good and good evil.

People are so concerned about power and money and other self-interests that it all becomes distorted.

Good is “whatever is good for me”.

Jesus came and showed us another kind of goodness - his glory.

Glory is the substance of heavenly things.

Glory is like light to a dark world, until God speaks and it happens, you can’t even comprehend it.

Glory and majesty in human terms is how we describe kings showing off their extravagant wealth and power.

But Jesus showed us a glory that consists of grace and truth.

Truth is like light, if its not there you may not know it, but you definitely know it when it is present.

Jesus shows up an people are like, “Wait, I thought I knew truth, but I see now that I was only fooling myself.”

Other people are like, “Shut up! We make our own truth around here.”

‘You turning on the light is making me look bad.”

But Jesus also showed us grace.

Grace is God’s favor - He likes us.

Jesus showed us that God is for us, not against us.

That is, if we receive it …if anyone doesn’t receive it, that’s on them.

The Word brings us into relationship with God through Jesus.

John 1:16–18 ESV

16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

Everything that God did, every interaction with mankind throughout the Old Testament is meant to teach us about God.

During that time, there were a few people who were said to have a relationship with God.

Relationship with God was always possible, however, it was usually the exception.

Most people related to God from a distance.

Many people related to God reluctantly, out of fear.

Jesus came to show us that God really loves us.

Sure. People in the Old Testament knew that God loved them -He called them his people.

Except for Moses, they never talked with Him face to face.

Except for Enoch, they never walked with Him.

Except for Abraham, they were never consider to be His friend.

Except for David, they didn’t know His heart.

Now Jesus came to do and to be all of those things, and also to give his life, which none of the OT characters foreshadowed - except for Jonah, perhaps.

Because of Jesus, we can all know God.

But how can we know God?

God has given us witnesses - ways to know Him.

Believe the witnesses.

John tells us that Jesus is God, but he doesn’t expect us to just believe it because he says so, he gives us witnesses.

John the Baptist is a witness.

The disciples are witnesses.

Even you and I are witnesses when we learn to recognize what God is doing by His spirit.

Because the outer witnesses resonate with our own inner witness.

The witness of calling.

John the Baptist is called as a forerunner.

He is like the opening act, whereas Jesus is the main event.

The forerunner is there to get you warmed up for what is coming.

But if you don’t know who or what you are going to see, you might think that the opening act is the whole show.

John 1:22–23 ESV

22 So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

John knew that God had called him to prepare the way for Messiah.

The quotation he uses is from Isaiah - prophesying Israel’s return from exile - after he prophesied the exile.

The point is, when you see the first thing happen, you will know to expect the second.

When you see the forerunner, Messiah is just behind him.

John knew who he what and what his job was to be.

He knew what he was called to do.

He heard a voice telling him to be a voice.

That witness of calling is powerful, because if God calls you to something, you know that He is going to do something.

The fact that there is a John the Baptist means that Jesus is just around the corner.

When you hear God’s voice; you know that He is about to do something.

The fact that God calls you; to a ministry means there is destiny right around the corner.

The witness of prophecy.

So what happens when Jesus shows up?

You know it!

Sometimes you don’t know how you know it, you just know it.

Prophecy is when the Word speaks through you.

John 1:29–31 ESV

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.”

Now John and Jesus were cousins.

I’m thinking that this isn’t the first time they have seen each other.

Remember, he was the first to recognize Jesus before either of them were born.

But this time, when John sees Jesus, he sees him like he never saw before.

He calls him the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

That is either a reference to the passover lamb, the lamb that is sacrificed on the day of atonement or both.

Remember, we have the benefit of reading this and knowing the whole story.

Jesus hasn’t even started his ministry yet and John is foretelling the outcome.

John is tapped into the supernatural realm where time is irrelevant, because he knows that even though Jesus was born six months after him, he existed before him.

And he is destined to surpass him in almost every way.

That is another thing about prophecy; you find yourself saying things that you don’t really understand because you are speaking from a source beyond yourself.

Now John says that he is not Elijah, which Jesus later implies that He is like Elijah in that he is a forerunner.

John says he is not the Prophet, that would make him equal to Moses - that would be Jesus.

Deuteronomy 18:15 ESV

15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—

But John is a prophet; he is the last of the Old Testament prophets.

Luke 7:28 ESV

28 I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

Why is John “least” in the kingdom? Because Jesus is about to take it to a whole new level and John the baptist is the peak of the previous level.

Now we all can prophesy.

Relationship with God is not the exception - it is normal.

The witness here is that the spirit of prophecy - the Holy Spirit will show us things that are beyond our knowledge or understanding.

I’s up to us to recognize where and when this may be happening.

The witness of the Spirit.

John 1:32–34 ESV

32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

Many of you probably know that I am doing my doctoral work on baptism.

And we are going to have a baptism this afternoon.

When John the Baptist was baptizing he was taking several symbols that the people were familiar with and merging them together into one prophetic act.

They were familiar with ritual baths before feasts - the mikvah.

They know that Israel passed through the Red Sea and through the Jordan and that it was their passage into a new era.

John is baptising people for repentance,

Renewing their commitment to be the people of God,

Preparing them to enter into a new life with God.

Jesus is the beginning of that new era and He immerses us in the reality to which the water is symbolic.

Baptism and communion are sacraments.

Sacraments are physical representations of spiritual reality.

We think that sacraments are just for Catholics, but we are doing sacrament every time we lay hands on people or anoint with oil.

The point is that what we are doing physically is a demonstration of what the Spirit is doing.

When we baptize we are declaring that the Spirit is doing a spiritual cleansing.

That this person has crossed over their Jordan and into their promised land.

That their old life is died with Christ and they are risen anew to walk in the Spirit.

The Spirit then is also a witness.

Jesus is the One who gives the Spirit.

The fact that we can walk in the Spirit and have a relationship with God is because of Jesus.

The symbol points to the reality of the spirit; and the Spirit points to the authenticity of Jesus.

Believe the signs.

So how do we know who Jesus really is?

You can believe the Word.

You can believe the inner witness.

But there are also some external signs as well.

Yes. there are miracles; but more than just miracles - these are big flashing neon signs saying - look here!

Something is happening that you don’t want to miss!

How will you know when you are seeing a sign?

Know what you are looking for when you see it.

John 1:35–39 ESV

35 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.

So two of John’s disciples just started following Jesus - without knowing anything other than what John said.

They didn’t have a full-disclosure written contract.

They didn’t have an interview or check references.

Suddenly, they saw what John saw.

One of them was Andrew who told his brother Peter - we found the Messiah!

I always thought that Peter was the first to arrive at that conclusion.

Notice the ambiguity of the dialogue here.

Jesus asks them “What are you looking for?”

He might as well have asked them “What are your expectations?”

Why do you want to be a disciple?

What are you hoping to get out of this?

They answer, “We just want to know where you are staying?

That could be like, “hey, no pressure. we just want to hang out.”

Or it could be like. “We have no idea what we are getting ourselves into, we just want to know more!’

“Jesus, we just want to be with you.”

That is the testimony of so many who come to Jesus.

We don’t know exactly what it all means, we just know that this is somehow right.

Jesus is all that we didn’t know we were even looking for.

But God knows...

Believe that God also sees you.

John 1:43–50 ESV

43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.”

So Andrew and Peter take Jesus to their hometown.

There they meet Phillip.

Phillip has a friend Nathanael who is a pretty straight shooter.

When Phillip introduces Nathanael to Jesus, Nathaniel is like, “Dude, you are from the wrong part of town - I don’t like you!’

To which Jesus is like, “ I like you - you tell it like it is!”

To which Nathaniel is like, “You don’t know me.’

And Jesus has a word of knowledge describing a private moment that no one else could know about.

Nathaniel realizes that Jesus must be God and that God sees him and knows him.

Do you want to believe again?

Perhaps you thing that God doesn’t know what you are going through?

Perhaps you think that God doesn’t see your struggle or know you pain?

God both sees you and knows you!

He’s just waiting for you to tell it like it is.

If you are waiting for a sign from God - here it is!

Oh, but it gets even better...

Let Jesus turn the ordinary into extraordinary.

John 2:1–11 ESV

1 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. 9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

Of course, I could preach a whole sermon just on this passage.

When Karie and i were on vacation we were watching season one of “the Chosen”

I love how they portray this miracle.

Everything is all about the wedding and the bride and groom and trying to make sure that everything is just perfect so they won’t be embarrassed because the whole community is there.

Jesus shows up with a dozen disciples and apparently other extra guests turn out as well and they run out of wine - which they also under-ordered to save cost.

Jesus is not ready to go public with his identity because he is focused on his disciples.

So he takes water that they were thinking of using to water down the wine and turns it into wine.

And he does this all quietly, just out of love for his mama.

I could say a lot of things about this, but right now i just want to say that Jesus can take a mundane thing like water and turn it into something extraordinary - like wine - the best wine!

I have heard pastors use this text to say that God wants to turn your watered-down marriage into wine.

But you could say the same for any part of life.

God gives us supernatural joy and peace, even in the midst of trials.

But not only in our suffering; He turns the ordinary into the extrordinary.

Every day is an adventure with God when you are following Jesus!

Remember, Jesus became like us so we could be like Him.

If your life with God has settled into something less than an adventure, it is time to believe again!

If you have run out of enthusiasm for the things of God, Jesus wants to remind you that He is the Word - there is meaning and purpose to everything!

If you are feeling dry in your spiritual walk, He is the baptizer in the Holy Spirit - He wants to saturate you with fresh power from above.

If you have run out of joy; He can turn anything into joy just by knowing that He is in it!

Questions for reflection:

Do you believe in Jesus? What is it that you believe? Jesus is a great man, but is He God? If He is God; then have you allowed Him to be God in your life? Are you following Him?

What does it mean to you that Jesus is the Word? Maybe you haven’t completely comprehended it; but have you at least figured out that God is trying to communicate with you? How have you responded?

Do you know that Jesus sees you and He knows you? It is Jesus that gives us the Holy Spirit. Are you allowing Jesus to turn your ordinary into extraordinary?