Introduction
This past Christmas, my wife got me the coolest gift. It was one of those electronic GPS systems. In case you are wondering what it does, it gives you directions to any location based on your location and it does it via satellite. So this little box on my dash gets a signal from space and then tells me where I am going. Now, if I miss a turn or need to get around a traffic tie up, it will recalculate my route to get me to my destination. It is a cool toy.
Christianity is an exclusive faith.
Isn’t it funny that because of that fact we are called an intolerant religion?
Yet is Christianity that says just as you are and does not make a person conform before he comes to Christ.
Yet because Christianity is an exclusive faith, many people are intolerant towards us.
That of course makes them into hypocrites except in their own eyes because their self-righteous moral superiority makes it okay to down on others whom they perceive would look down on others.
You get the idea
What’s good for them is good for them but for anyone else, it is intolerance.
Describing the Biblical Text
This text describes events in the upper room where Jesus took his last supper.
We find Him washing the disciples’ feet in John 13 and praying for them (and us) in John 17.
But, between the cleaning of the feet and the calling on the Lord, there is a significant body of teaching called the upper room discourse.
We are in that upper room with Jesus in terms of our context today and He is teaching that he will be departing read dying and the disciples will have to be able to cope with Him being gone.
Narrate the Contextual application
He is telling them that knowing Him is the most important thing that they have.
Knowing Him is already pointing them down the right path, which they claim not to know.
Knowing Jesus is to know the way the truth and the life.
Knowing Jesus is to come to the Father.
Life Application (thesis)
We then must come to a very intolerant conclusion.
And, though it might be intolerant, it is by far the greatest demonstration of the Love and grace of God.
It maintains the dignity and the holiness of God while at the same time allowing for the sinner’s life to be clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
This is how Paul can write to the Roman church that there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.
Consequently, we will develop this thesis this morning.
Jesus is God’s only means of salvation.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
I want us to take a look at 3 roads this morning.
The first road is that Jesus is mindful of our eternity in heaven.
Now I want to begin by just saying how different my family was from Valerie’s family. That is part of the real miracle of marriage, that 2 families can come together and literally become one flesh. I remember when my mom was still alive and we used to go down to Charleston to see her every year for Thanksgiving. I would get home and then go to the fridge and fix a glass of tea and then go plop down on the couch in front to the TV. Valerie would look at me and ask how come you don’t visit. I would think she was crazy.
I did what I did at home. I was in my house where I lived before I moved away and got married. I worked at work and studied at school and plopped down on the couch and watched TV at home.
Mom got it and didn’t complain. She was glad I came home to plop on the couch and watch TV. She made a fresh jug of tea and by jug, I mean gallon milk jug. She would cook fried chicken at least once while I was there and we would go eat at Roberts BBQ in Goose Creek.
Jesus says that He is preparing a place for us.
Much has been made over the use of the word mansion and the fact that it is not used in newer translations.
The word for house is the word used in the statement in my father’s House but the word for mansions might literally be translated dwelling place or place to stay.
I am sure the KJ translators could not conceive in their minds anything more grand than a mansion.
So any place prepared for us by Christ himself could be nothing less.
I tend to agree with that reasoning but still desire to see the text translated accurately.
To be honest, I really don’t care if I am allotted a pup tent in the corner of the cellar, just to be in the Father’s house would be joy immeasurable.
In the father’s house are many places to dwell or stay. And they are all prepared by Jesus.
When Jesus left this earth after his resurrection from the dead, he was going to prepare a place.
Now what do we see?
This is a word that means region or area.
It is just mind boggling that Jesus would come and die for us and then even though he proclaimed it is finished, the work of redemption being done, he then went to prepare a place for us.
Don’t lose this visual in your minds.
He doesn’t just do the work of the cross and then take his life back and stop.
He prepares our dwelling with God.
And then he tells us that we know how to get there.
Think of it this way.
I am going to have a party and half of my Sunday school class has never been to my house. What do they do?
They ask for directions.
That is really what Thomas did. We don’t know where you are going; how do we know the way.
Jesus’ reply might seem surprising but it really isn’t.
Jesus said I am going to my house and you can come.
When Thomas asked His question, Jesus replied that He was the way.
I am going to my father in heaven and I am the way.
IOW believe on me and go to the Father.
How about this? I am going home and you can come see me.
Jesus also appended truth and life to His description of Himself as the way.
This tells us that he is not just the road, he understanding of the road and he is destination at the end.
He is the embodiment of truth and the author of life eternal, both of which are necessary to reach the dwelling place that He has prepared for us in heaven.
He is mindful of our eternity having prepared a place for us, having provided a way or path for us, having provided the truth for us to know how to get there, having provided life eternal through his resurrection conquering death for all eternity.
Our second road this morning is this.
Jesus uniquely identifies with God the Father.
The next conversation takes place with Philip.
He is like doubting Thomas before Thomas doubted.
Show us the Father and that would be sufficient Lord.
But the problem with that statement is the Christ is sufficient without seeing the Father.
He is of the same essence and the same nature as the Father.
Look at verse 8
[Read 8-11]
There are really 2 important things to see in these verses.
Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in Him.
We would see that as an equally reciprocating relationship.
What we also see here is that the work of the God the Father is being done through Jesus the Son.
In verse 11, there is a call to faith.
It is a call to believe in Jesus because He is in the Father but if that is too difficult, He offers a fallback position.
Believe because of the works.
It is all the same in that the unity of the father and son is exposed and demonstrated in the works that the Son did.
Jesus is mindful of our eternity; He uniquely identifies with the Father.
A relationship with Jesus involves both serving and receiving.
Here we have a passage where we are promised to o greater things or works than Jesus did. How can that be?
That can be as we are walking in faith and leading others to Him.
While he accomplished salvation on the cross for his people, we are the ones who actually get the blessing of seeing that realized in their lives.
We are the ones who actually get to preach the gospel; and lead people to Christ.
That is a tremendous work.
In this we also have a guide for and a means by which we can see prayer answered: Whatever you ask in my name.
Too many of us tend to use that as a formula or a tag on the end of a prayer to give is some kind of force or validity.
Don’t get me wrong, I believe in praying in Jesus name but it is more that an abra cadabra at the end of our prayer.
Praying in Jesus name means we are seeking to do the works of the Father that He did and it means that we won’t pray in Jesus’ name for things we know might be outside of His will.
Ladies you can’t start praying for God to send you a new husband just because the one you have doesn’t make enough money or isn’t Mr. handyman.
God doesn’t want us to willy nilly trade our spouses in for better models.
Make note of the fact that the statement occurs in the context of working for the father and in obeying Christ because we love Him.
There is probably none of here this morning that would claim not to love Jesus but how many of us really seek to obey Him in all things.
Keeping his commandments has to be the platform for our prayers.
Lord how can we serve you better?
How can we lead more people to you?
How can we grow in your grace and knowledge?
Are you following Jesus today?
Are you giving Him your all?
If you notice when I preach, I don’t say the word Christian anymore because of the baggage that the word has picked up.
I now say follower of Christ because that is what we are.
It means we live for Him to obey Him because we love Him.
Are you flowing Christ with your all today
Monday, February 25, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
I Am -- I Am the Resurrection and the Life -- John 11:1-45
Introduction
Video File
Describing the Biblical Text
It was a sad day in the town of Bethany and in the home of Martha and Mary
Their brother, Lazarus had passed away.
Now the family had sent for Jesus while he was merely sick and was not dead but as we read in the text, Jesus did not come as quickly as Mary and Martha would have hoped.
As a matter of fact, he let his disciples in on the fact that Lazarus was not sick that he would die but that he would ring glory to God.
He gave them the scoop while at the other end, Mary and Martha were grieving the loss of their brother and you can see how they even felt like blaming God as they both confronted Jesus with the same accusation.
Lord if you had come earlier . . .
Narrate the Contextual application
Even though they knew Jesus and believed in who he was, they still had moment when their faith was weak.
That sounds like us doesn’t it?
We’ll get up in the morning and have our prayer time and go out the door feeling great.
The driver who cuts us off won’t bother us and the boss won’t bother us but we will get home from work and one of those nasty notes from the bank will be waiting in the mailbox.
You know the one – your overdraft protection has been activated and $300 has been deposited into your account.
All of a sudden our great day goes south really fast.
As committed to the Lord as we were in the morning we are now questioning him and his ability to put us in a place where he can meet our needs.
We find ourselves in the shoes of the disciples, unable to get a handle on what God is trying to do in our lives.
Or, we find ourselves like the Bethany sisters who want to blame God for their problems.
Life Application (thesis)
In the midst of the turmoil and in the sadness and disappointment of the situation, Jesus made his 5th I am statement.
He said, “I am the resurrection and the life.”
On the occasion of the death of Lazarus, this is a very important statement.
It is a statement that would point to the thing that makes following Jesus different from any other religion in the world.
We serve and follow a savior who has conquered death and has risen from the dead.
That victory over death is a part of the life that we have in Christ.
We could state it this way.
Jesus has conquered death for us.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
As we ponder that truth, I have two vital signs for us to examine this morning.
The first one is this
Death is conquered by our faith.
The statement of Jesus that follows his resurrection and life declaration tells us this.
He who believes in me will live even if he dies 26and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.
In the book of Joshua in the Old Testament, the people of God are settling the land of Canaan or Israel as it would come to be known and Joshua makes a speech that is somewhat famous in the Bible. At least it is a speech that we have all heard in some part or portion.
“Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15“If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
Joshua points to the pagan gods of 2 groups of people.
They are both the ancestors of the people who are entering the Promised Land, those across the river and those in Egypt. It is certainly understandable that 400 years of slavery in Egypt could have a detrimental effect on one’s faith. So the Hebrew faith struggled and suffered during the Egyptian bondage and some of the Israelites turned to the pagan gods of Egypt.
But who are those ancestors from across the river?
They would be Abraham and his ancestors.
It’s hard for us to imagine it but before God began to deal with Abraham in Genesis 12, He was a pagan as well serving the pagan idols of Mesopotamia.
But what happened to Abraham or Abram as he was known at the time?
What changed His life?
Faith changed his life.
In Genesis 15, God is reiterating covenant promises to Abram about his son who will come from his own body.
Then we find a sentence that is unobtrusive but it speaks volumes.
Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.
Abram’s faith was the keystone to his righteousness.
He did not have to jump through hoops, build altars, pray 5 times a day to a piece of wood, or sacrifice the first goat.
He just had to believe.
Jesus tells us that faith, believing in Him, is necessary for eternal life, life that does not end, life that is never taken away.
But, we have to believe.
We have to place our faith in Jesus Christ.
That does not mean that we have to walk that aisle and make that decision.
It means that we have to trust that Jesus sacrificial death on the cross and his subsequent rising from the death, aka the resurrection, are the sufficient work of God to bring us eternal life.
The most well known verse in the Bible is a faith verse.
For God so love the world that He gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
People come to Christ for different reasons but it is always the work of the spirit to draw them.
I came to Christ when I was 20 and I really felt an acute fear of death.
The message of life and especially this message from John 11:25 was really a comforting message to me.
But it is a message that we must consider.
The wages of sin is death.
Sin is any disobedience against God and yet it ultimately manifests in unbelief.
Whereas belief equals life, unbelief or sin equals death.
What stands in the balance today is whether or now we have a relationship with Jesus Christ.
We can serve pagan things like paychecks and careers or we can serve the son of the God who created the universe and who came that we might have abundant life.
There is a second vital sign that I want us to see.
Death is conquered by Jesus' resurrection
I want to call out the names of several personalities and I want you to tell me who the actor is famous for playing.
Buddy Ebsen – Jed Clampett – Barnaby Jones
Bob Denver – Gilligan
Telly Savalis – Kojak
Shannon Daugherty – 90210
Ryan Secrest – American Idol
My personal Favorite – Tom Bergeron – America’s Funniest Home Videos and Dancing with the Stars
We associate these people exclusively with the parts that they play.
For us the celebrity is the show.
Jesus said, “I am the resurrection.”
We know from this chapter that Lazarus was raised from the dead and that Jesus raised a little girl from the dead and that there is an example of a resurrection in the OT as well.
Yet, Jesus resurrection is different from all these and Jesus described this difference in John 10 when he made the statement that He had the authority to lay down His life and take it up again.
Not Lazarus, Jairus’ daughter nor the widow’s son in the OT could do that.
But Jesus had the authority to lay down His life and take it up again.
Why would he want to do that?
It gave credibility to His sacrificial death.
But more than that, it demonstrates that God has the power over death.
Jesus resurrection for us is a view into the future.
It is a future with God surrounded by Him and His life in Christ that he wrought for us and for all those who believe in Christ.
This is the confidence that we have in these words of Jesus.
He conquered death and then offered us life in him.
He made an offer and then gave us an opportunity to answer the all important question.
He who believes in Me will live even if he dies, 26and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?
Do you believe this?
Video File
Describing the Biblical Text
It was a sad day in the town of Bethany and in the home of Martha and Mary
Their brother, Lazarus had passed away.
Now the family had sent for Jesus while he was merely sick and was not dead but as we read in the text, Jesus did not come as quickly as Mary and Martha would have hoped.
As a matter of fact, he let his disciples in on the fact that Lazarus was not sick that he would die but that he would ring glory to God.
He gave them the scoop while at the other end, Mary and Martha were grieving the loss of their brother and you can see how they even felt like blaming God as they both confronted Jesus with the same accusation.
Lord if you had come earlier . . .
Narrate the Contextual application
Even though they knew Jesus and believed in who he was, they still had moment when their faith was weak.
That sounds like us doesn’t it?
We’ll get up in the morning and have our prayer time and go out the door feeling great.
The driver who cuts us off won’t bother us and the boss won’t bother us but we will get home from work and one of those nasty notes from the bank will be waiting in the mailbox.
You know the one – your overdraft protection has been activated and $300 has been deposited into your account.
All of a sudden our great day goes south really fast.
As committed to the Lord as we were in the morning we are now questioning him and his ability to put us in a place where he can meet our needs.
We find ourselves in the shoes of the disciples, unable to get a handle on what God is trying to do in our lives.
Or, we find ourselves like the Bethany sisters who want to blame God for their problems.
Life Application (thesis)
In the midst of the turmoil and in the sadness and disappointment of the situation, Jesus made his 5th I am statement.
He said, “I am the resurrection and the life.”
On the occasion of the death of Lazarus, this is a very important statement.
It is a statement that would point to the thing that makes following Jesus different from any other religion in the world.
We serve and follow a savior who has conquered death and has risen from the dead.
That victory over death is a part of the life that we have in Christ.
We could state it this way.
Jesus has conquered death for us.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
As we ponder that truth, I have two vital signs for us to examine this morning.
The first one is this
Death is conquered by our faith.
The statement of Jesus that follows his resurrection and life declaration tells us this.
He who believes in me will live even if he dies 26and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.
In the book of Joshua in the Old Testament, the people of God are settling the land of Canaan or Israel as it would come to be known and Joshua makes a speech that is somewhat famous in the Bible. At least it is a speech that we have all heard in some part or portion.
“Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15“If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
Joshua points to the pagan gods of 2 groups of people.
They are both the ancestors of the people who are entering the Promised Land, those across the river and those in Egypt. It is certainly understandable that 400 years of slavery in Egypt could have a detrimental effect on one’s faith. So the Hebrew faith struggled and suffered during the Egyptian bondage and some of the Israelites turned to the pagan gods of Egypt.
But who are those ancestors from across the river?
They would be Abraham and his ancestors.
It’s hard for us to imagine it but before God began to deal with Abraham in Genesis 12, He was a pagan as well serving the pagan idols of Mesopotamia.
But what happened to Abraham or Abram as he was known at the time?
What changed His life?
Faith changed his life.
In Genesis 15, God is reiterating covenant promises to Abram about his son who will come from his own body.
Then we find a sentence that is unobtrusive but it speaks volumes.
Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.
Abram’s faith was the keystone to his righteousness.
He did not have to jump through hoops, build altars, pray 5 times a day to a piece of wood, or sacrifice the first goat.
He just had to believe.
Jesus tells us that faith, believing in Him, is necessary for eternal life, life that does not end, life that is never taken away.
But, we have to believe.
We have to place our faith in Jesus Christ.
That does not mean that we have to walk that aisle and make that decision.
It means that we have to trust that Jesus sacrificial death on the cross and his subsequent rising from the death, aka the resurrection, are the sufficient work of God to bring us eternal life.
The most well known verse in the Bible is a faith verse.
For God so love the world that He gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
People come to Christ for different reasons but it is always the work of the spirit to draw them.
I came to Christ when I was 20 and I really felt an acute fear of death.
The message of life and especially this message from John 11:25 was really a comforting message to me.
But it is a message that we must consider.
The wages of sin is death.
Sin is any disobedience against God and yet it ultimately manifests in unbelief.
Whereas belief equals life, unbelief or sin equals death.
What stands in the balance today is whether or now we have a relationship with Jesus Christ.
We can serve pagan things like paychecks and careers or we can serve the son of the God who created the universe and who came that we might have abundant life.
There is a second vital sign that I want us to see.
Death is conquered by Jesus' resurrection
I want to call out the names of several personalities and I want you to tell me who the actor is famous for playing.
Buddy Ebsen – Jed Clampett – Barnaby Jones
Bob Denver – Gilligan
Telly Savalis – Kojak
Shannon Daugherty – 90210
Ryan Secrest – American Idol
My personal Favorite – Tom Bergeron – America’s Funniest Home Videos and Dancing with the Stars
We associate these people exclusively with the parts that they play.
For us the celebrity is the show.
Jesus said, “I am the resurrection.”
We know from this chapter that Lazarus was raised from the dead and that Jesus raised a little girl from the dead and that there is an example of a resurrection in the OT as well.
Yet, Jesus resurrection is different from all these and Jesus described this difference in John 10 when he made the statement that He had the authority to lay down His life and take it up again.
Not Lazarus, Jairus’ daughter nor the widow’s son in the OT could do that.
But Jesus had the authority to lay down His life and take it up again.
Why would he want to do that?
It gave credibility to His sacrificial death.
But more than that, it demonstrates that God has the power over death.
Jesus resurrection for us is a view into the future.
It is a future with God surrounded by Him and His life in Christ that he wrought for us and for all those who believe in Christ.
This is the confidence that we have in these words of Jesus.
He conquered death and then offered us life in him.
He made an offer and then gave us an opportunity to answer the all important question.
He who believes in Me will live even if he dies, 26and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?
Do you believe this?
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
I Am -- I Am the Good Shepherd -- John 10:11-30
1. Introduction
A shepherd has a big job. There are a number of things that go into keeping and maintaining a healthy flock. The shepherd has the responsibility for the youngest lamb to the oldest ram. He looks after the weakest few and pregnant ewe. He has to lead them to food and make sure they find water. He has to protect them against predatory threats like wolves and jackals.
When Jesus calls himself the good shepherd, he is alluding to all these ideas.
He is also moving into an area of describing himself as we see God described in the Old Testament.
2. Describing the Biblical Text
The 23rd Psalm tells us that the Lord is my Shepherd.
Notice how this passage opens and then how this passage closes.
I am the good shepherd – I am the Father are one.
Jesus is making the declarative that He is the Son of God and by that virtue, he is God.
3. Narrate the Contextual application
When you think about it, Jesus as he taught about himself really had a central message and that was that he was coming to do the will of God who sent him.
That is immensely important when we think about what He was doing.
He was coming to seek and to save the lost.
He was coming to die a sacrificial death on the cross.
He was coming to lead the people of God as their perfect shepherd.
Jesus is describing Himself as the good shepherd.
4. Life Application (thesis)
The Bible says that we are the sheep of His pasture.
The Bible all we like sheep have gone astray.
We need a shepherd.
Jesus is the keeper of His sheep.
5. SO WHAT!! (Outline)
In thinking about that main idea this morning, we are going to look at 4 different staves that the shepherd will employ in leading the sheep.
The first staff is this:
The shepherd will give his life for the sheep.
Both of my kids now have gotten older and they don’t yell out daddy whenever they have a little problem.
You know what I do? Whenever we are out somewhere like a mall or the zoo or something and I hear a little kid yell daddy, I instinctively look to see what Alyson or Kirstyn need. I guess it is just a habit that I developed when they were young and it stuck.
But if I answered one of those kids at the zoo or at the park with what sweetie, they would probably look at me like I was nuts.
That’s because when a child calls out to mommy or daddy, they are calling out to someone in particular.
Go back up to the very first few verse of this chapter in Verse 1 and following.
What we see in these verses is the basis of the sheep knowing the shepherd which of course is the relationship that He has with them.
The shepherd knows the sheep and his purpose is to keep them so he is willing to do whatever it takes to keep the sheep.
Look at verse 14
What is truly incredible about this is the fact that Jesus would be willing to die for sheep that had not been particularly loyal to following Him.
But, it all comes back to relationship.
It started in eternity past as Romans 8 reminds us.
All things work together for good to those who love God who are the called according to His purpose.
For those whom he foreknew, them he predestined to be conformed to the image of His son.
The relationship is in eternity past and Jesus coming to do the will of the Father is to bring the relationship to the point where it is mutual.
Now, we need to turn to Romans 5 because there are some very important ideas there.
While you are turning there, I want to remind you what Isaiah 53:7 says, “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned each one to His own way and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
Romans 5 beginning with verse 6
6For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. 8But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 10For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
The shepherd has laid down his life for us, His sheep.
All have sinned
Wages of Sin
But as many as received Him
Shepherd died to save the sheep
Follow the shepherd today.
The next staff that we see in this passage is the shepherd will give wholeness to the flock.
Verse 16
The idea here is that Jesus will complete his covenant people or the church.
Remember that Jesus is talking to Pharisees, Jewish leaders who are challenging and threatening him.
He is stretching their conventional wisdom.
And now what he is saying and our 20/20 hindsight makes it clear is that there will be another flock who come into the kingdom.
That flock of course is Gentile followers of Christ.
Paul declared that he was not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus for it was the power of God to all who believe to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Jesus was saying that yes the Jews are the covenant people as called through Abraham's covenant.
But that covenant is being expanded to all who will call on Jesus Christ by faith.
It is really neat when Joseph has his dream in Matthew 1 because of what the angel says about Jesus.
“He will save His people from their sin.”
In that statement the Jews and the gentiles are brought together as the people of God.
His people are now, as Revelation 4 and 5 tell us, from every tribe, people, nation, and tongue.
The shepherd will give guidance to the sheep.
This is our third staff.
As Jesus was attending a feast, the Jews wanted to challenge Him and to push Him on the point of being the messiah.
He came back to them with some very hard even harsh words.
You do not believe because you are not my sheep.
Based on what we have already seen in this passage, Jesus was saying that they were following a different shepherd.
Jesus also said in other place that if someone was not with Him, they were against him.
The sheep follow their shepherd.
That means that we go where He leads us and we do what he tells us.
We take the nourishment that he gives.
We rest in His protection.
The shepherd guides the sheep into the good pasture that they can take the necessary nourishment to provide wool and other commodities to the owners.
The Shepherd guides so that God can use us for His purpose.
There is the old hymn that says wherever he leads I’ll go.
That means that we will follow our shepherd anywhere to do what He has desired us to do.
There is a fourth staff and we have already alluded to it this morning
The shepherd will give security to the sheep.
We alluded to this last Wednesday night in our Revelation study.
It is the hand of God and the security that comes from being held in that hand.
There was old black preacher who described it like this.
That old devil might want to get but he can’t.
He might try and if he try he gots to peel back the fingers of God and Then he got to peel back the fingers of Jesus and if he get those fingers peeled back, then he still can’t get me cause nothing can get me since I covered with the blood of Jesus.
That is security.
That is peace in knowing that our shepherd will keep us and He will protect us.
Jesus is the keeper of the sheep.
The shepherd gives his life, gives wholeness, gives guidance, and gives security.
What is the responsibility of the sheep?
We must be about following the shepherd.
We are only his sheep if we believe that he died and rose again for us and we are following Him.
If we are following Him, we have life because He gave His life.
We have wholeness with the purpose of God because he came to do God’s will
We have one who will lead us and guide us through all the trials and storms of life and we will be spiritually nourished.
We have one who will keep us for His own glory and purpose.
But we have to follow.
We have to obey.
We need to surrender our lives to the shepherd and to be totally His.
A shepherd has a big job. There are a number of things that go into keeping and maintaining a healthy flock. The shepherd has the responsibility for the youngest lamb to the oldest ram. He looks after the weakest few and pregnant ewe. He has to lead them to food and make sure they find water. He has to protect them against predatory threats like wolves and jackals.
When Jesus calls himself the good shepherd, he is alluding to all these ideas.
He is also moving into an area of describing himself as we see God described in the Old Testament.
2. Describing the Biblical Text
The 23rd Psalm tells us that the Lord is my Shepherd.
Notice how this passage opens and then how this passage closes.
I am the good shepherd – I am the Father are one.
Jesus is making the declarative that He is the Son of God and by that virtue, he is God.
3. Narrate the Contextual application
When you think about it, Jesus as he taught about himself really had a central message and that was that he was coming to do the will of God who sent him.
That is immensely important when we think about what He was doing.
He was coming to seek and to save the lost.
He was coming to die a sacrificial death on the cross.
He was coming to lead the people of God as their perfect shepherd.
Jesus is describing Himself as the good shepherd.
4. Life Application (thesis)
The Bible says that we are the sheep of His pasture.
The Bible all we like sheep have gone astray.
We need a shepherd.
Jesus is the keeper of His sheep.
5. SO WHAT!! (Outline)
In thinking about that main idea this morning, we are going to look at 4 different staves that the shepherd will employ in leading the sheep.
The first staff is this:
The shepherd will give his life for the sheep.
Both of my kids now have gotten older and they don’t yell out daddy whenever they have a little problem.
You know what I do? Whenever we are out somewhere like a mall or the zoo or something and I hear a little kid yell daddy, I instinctively look to see what Alyson or Kirstyn need. I guess it is just a habit that I developed when they were young and it stuck.
But if I answered one of those kids at the zoo or at the park with what sweetie, they would probably look at me like I was nuts.
That’s because when a child calls out to mommy or daddy, they are calling out to someone in particular.
Go back up to the very first few verse of this chapter in Verse 1 and following.
What we see in these verses is the basis of the sheep knowing the shepherd which of course is the relationship that He has with them.
The shepherd knows the sheep and his purpose is to keep them so he is willing to do whatever it takes to keep the sheep.
Look at verse 14
What is truly incredible about this is the fact that Jesus would be willing to die for sheep that had not been particularly loyal to following Him.
But, it all comes back to relationship.
It started in eternity past as Romans 8 reminds us.
All things work together for good to those who love God who are the called according to His purpose.
For those whom he foreknew, them he predestined to be conformed to the image of His son.
The relationship is in eternity past and Jesus coming to do the will of the Father is to bring the relationship to the point where it is mutual.
Now, we need to turn to Romans 5 because there are some very important ideas there.
While you are turning there, I want to remind you what Isaiah 53:7 says, “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned each one to His own way and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
Romans 5 beginning with verse 6
6For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. 8But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. 10For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
The shepherd has laid down his life for us, His sheep.
All have sinned
Wages of Sin
But as many as received Him
Shepherd died to save the sheep
Follow the shepherd today.
The next staff that we see in this passage is the shepherd will give wholeness to the flock.
Verse 16
The idea here is that Jesus will complete his covenant people or the church.
Remember that Jesus is talking to Pharisees, Jewish leaders who are challenging and threatening him.
He is stretching their conventional wisdom.
And now what he is saying and our 20/20 hindsight makes it clear is that there will be another flock who come into the kingdom.
That flock of course is Gentile followers of Christ.
Paul declared that he was not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus for it was the power of God to all who believe to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Jesus was saying that yes the Jews are the covenant people as called through Abraham's covenant.
But that covenant is being expanded to all who will call on Jesus Christ by faith.
It is really neat when Joseph has his dream in Matthew 1 because of what the angel says about Jesus.
“He will save His people from their sin.”
In that statement the Jews and the gentiles are brought together as the people of God.
His people are now, as Revelation 4 and 5 tell us, from every tribe, people, nation, and tongue.
The shepherd will give guidance to the sheep.
This is our third staff.
As Jesus was attending a feast, the Jews wanted to challenge Him and to push Him on the point of being the messiah.
He came back to them with some very hard even harsh words.
You do not believe because you are not my sheep.
Based on what we have already seen in this passage, Jesus was saying that they were following a different shepherd.
Jesus also said in other place that if someone was not with Him, they were against him.
The sheep follow their shepherd.
That means that we go where He leads us and we do what he tells us.
We take the nourishment that he gives.
We rest in His protection.
The shepherd guides the sheep into the good pasture that they can take the necessary nourishment to provide wool and other commodities to the owners.
The Shepherd guides so that God can use us for His purpose.
There is the old hymn that says wherever he leads I’ll go.
That means that we will follow our shepherd anywhere to do what He has desired us to do.
There is a fourth staff and we have already alluded to it this morning
The shepherd will give security to the sheep.
We alluded to this last Wednesday night in our Revelation study.
It is the hand of God and the security that comes from being held in that hand.
There was old black preacher who described it like this.
That old devil might want to get but he can’t.
He might try and if he try he gots to peel back the fingers of God and Then he got to peel back the fingers of Jesus and if he get those fingers peeled back, then he still can’t get me cause nothing can get me since I covered with the blood of Jesus.
That is security.
That is peace in knowing that our shepherd will keep us and He will protect us.
Jesus is the keeper of the sheep.
The shepherd gives his life, gives wholeness, gives guidance, and gives security.
What is the responsibility of the sheep?
We must be about following the shepherd.
We are only his sheep if we believe that he died and rose again for us and we are following Him.
If we are following Him, we have life because He gave His life.
We have wholeness with the purpose of God because he came to do God’s will
We have one who will lead us and guide us through all the trials and storms of life and we will be spiritually nourished.
We have one who will keep us for His own glory and purpose.
But we have to follow.
We have to obey.
We need to surrender our lives to the shepherd and to be totally His.
I am -- I Am the Door of the Sheep -- John 10:1-10
1. Introduction
I used to be the member of a secret society as a Teenager called the Order of Demolay. One thing you did not want to do was to be late for a chapter meeting. It was a huge deal if you were late. You would show up and the member watching the outside of the door called the sentinel would quiz you. You go to school with this guy. You come to meetings twice a month with this guy and he still quizzes you about the step, sign, and token of the initiation and then the password and secret handshake. Then he knocks on the door with the secret knock and that knock is answered with a knock from the inside.
Let’s change scenes. We are now inside the chapter room and the knock comes to the door. The officer sitting by the door, the junior deacon, stands and says to the leader, the master councilor, that there is an alarm at the door. The leader tells him to “ascertain” the purpose for the alarm. The junior Deacon would ten knock on the door and open it and ask the sentinel and then report to the MC, “Brother Waller seeks admission to the chapter.” The MC would than ask, “Can anyone vouch for Brother Waller?” Again, these are all guys you go to school with and you have these chapter meetings every couple of weeks. Someone would raise their hand and vouch for you and then you are allowed in the door but you have to walk to center of the room and give a secret sign to the Master Counselor.
2. Describing the Biblical Text
As we look at this text, we see Jesus continuing to teach regarding Himself and his identity.
He is beginning here to show his legitimacy as the shepherd and in the process of doing that he makes a very surprising and I think unusual claim about himself.
He sort of moves from the idea of being the shepherd, an ideas to which we will return, to the idea of being the door or the gate for the sheep.
3. Narrate the Contextual application
He was telling the Pharisees that he was more than a man.
He was the gate through which God’s sheep must pass.
They would not lose the imagery of the idea that there is a gate and it is only to let the shepherd and sheep in and out.
Anything else that tried to use that gate would be rejected and turned away or if it was a predator, it would be killed.
I remember spending the night with my uncle and in the middle of the night, I was awakened by a bang and then another bang. I grabbed a pair of pants and went outside and it turns out that there was a wild dog after Uncle Palmer’s chickens. But that dog would never steal another chicken again. But that dog jumped the fence and did not use the gate because he was not entering for legitimate purposes. However, the chickens would use the gate. They would come in to roost and lay and they would go out to scratch and feed. They used the gate and the chickens were cared for abundantly.
4. Life Application (thesis)
No one is any more expert on life be it eternal or abundant than Jesus.
As Jesus describes himself as the door, He makes a very important statement at the end.
I am come that they might have life and have it more abundantly.
This would lead us to this conclusion.
Knowing Jesus gives His followers abundant life.
5. SO WHAT!! (Outline)
I want to tell you about a friend of mine named Renée. She was a really good pianist and could lead music pretty well. But, Renée could not give directions worth a flip. Some where in every set of directions she would give would be the statement, “If you get to the _____, you have gone too far.” Instead of telling you where to turn, she would tell where you missed the turn, when you went beyond the street or road or even the destination.
When we see this word abundant in the NT, we get that same sense.
It is from a word that literally means beyond.
It’s like that Christian song that plays on the radio some times.
“Life is good eternal; life is better.”
But, as we look having abundant life in Jesus, that is having a life that goes above and beyond, we are going to se why that happens.
Let’s look at 2 hinges of abundant life this morning.
Abundant life hinges on the connection between the sheep and the shepherd.
What is funny is that we are not really talking about the shepherd and we won’t talk about the shepherd until next week.
But the gate as we see it in this passage is that which allows the shepherd to enter the sheepfold.
As we get the idea from verse 1, the gate really validates the one who passes through it.
The people who pass through the gate are the ones who have the right to come through it.
The gate and by association, the gatekeeper, only opens the gate to those who are supposed to come in.
Those who do not enter by the gate are thieves and robbers.
This points us to something that is really important to see.
The Pharisees, who were placing an undue burden on the people by forcing to keep a ridiculously rigid legal code to even have access to God, are the object of Jesus analogy in this comparative metaphor.
He is in essence calling them thieves and robbers because they are stealing the joy of a relationship with God from the people.
They are making it too burdensome and therefore too miserable to be a good Jewish adherent.
Jesus is saying that they are not coming into the sheepfold through the gate.
They are climbing the fence much like that wild dog did that I told you about earlier.
The point then is this.
If they do have a legitimate relationship with the people of God, can they lead them?
The obvious answer to that is no.
The law which they were making so cumbersome was killing the people rather than pointing them to life.
These Pharisees should have seen the gate open and they should have heard the shepherd’s voice as he entered.
Yet, they disputed the shepherd.
They argued with Him and they tried to kill Him.
Jesus is saying I have come in through the gate.
Have you ever been expecting company and you tell them to let yourself in?
Or maybe you are visiting your relative or parents or something and just go to the door and you don’t knock, you just go inside the house.
When he says that the shepherd comes in by the gate, he is saying that he is letting himself in.
God is the only one who has the authority to be both be the shepherd and the one who let’s the shepherd inside.
This speaks to His involvement in regards to our salvation which is complete.
Gods prepares us for the coming of the shepherd becoming the door to give access to the shepherd.
The shepherd then is able to reach the sheep that do what?
The sheep follow him because they know his voice.
The shepherd is connected to the sheep.
There is a relationship there that gives the shepherd access to the sheep through the gate or door which is also the shepherd.
And we hear His voice and we follow Him.
The seconds hinge that we can see here is that abundant life hinges on the convection between the sheep and the shepherd.Convection is just something that is swirling.
A convection oven cooks with moving air.
A tornado comes out of a convecting cloud.
I want to show you that the metaphor changes in verse 9.
No longer do we see the shepherd as the one passing through the door.
Now we see the sheep.
The come in and they are saved or rescued.
Colossians 1:9-12 has a prayer of the apostle Paul for the church and at the very end of that prayer, we see something very important: Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.
Jesus is the gate to bring the sheep qualified or prepared by the Father to come in to the sheepfold and they are saved.
Is the gate standing open now?
Are you feeling like you want to enter the sheepfold that Jesus might lead you for the rest of your life?
All have sinned
Wages death
Gift of God
But as many as received Him
The greatest thing about this passage is where it leads
If anyone enters though Christ, he is saved.
He comes and goes and finds pasture.
That relationship to the shepherd leads us to having our needs met in him.
Finding pasture is the equivalent to finding all we need and all that fulfills us.
And, we find that when we enter into a relationship with God through Christ.
That is what I mean by convecting with the shepherd.
We come and we go as His sheep and we3 trust him to meet our needs.
This is abundant life.
It is stating as Paul did that we have learned to be content in Christ.
We are trusting Him with what we have and also trusting him in what we do not have.
I want to ask you this morning.
Are we convecting with Christ?
Is he leading our coming in and our going out?
If we don’t have abundant life, life that goes beyond, it is because we have not yet yielded our lives to Christ but we are following a thief that only wants to kill steal and destroy.
He is come to give us life, and to give it abundantly.
I used to be the member of a secret society as a Teenager called the Order of Demolay. One thing you did not want to do was to be late for a chapter meeting. It was a huge deal if you were late. You would show up and the member watching the outside of the door called the sentinel would quiz you. You go to school with this guy. You come to meetings twice a month with this guy and he still quizzes you about the step, sign, and token of the initiation and then the password and secret handshake. Then he knocks on the door with the secret knock and that knock is answered with a knock from the inside.
Let’s change scenes. We are now inside the chapter room and the knock comes to the door. The officer sitting by the door, the junior deacon, stands and says to the leader, the master councilor, that there is an alarm at the door. The leader tells him to “ascertain” the purpose for the alarm. The junior Deacon would ten knock on the door and open it and ask the sentinel and then report to the MC, “Brother Waller seeks admission to the chapter.” The MC would than ask, “Can anyone vouch for Brother Waller?” Again, these are all guys you go to school with and you have these chapter meetings every couple of weeks. Someone would raise their hand and vouch for you and then you are allowed in the door but you have to walk to center of the room and give a secret sign to the Master Counselor.
2. Describing the Biblical Text
As we look at this text, we see Jesus continuing to teach regarding Himself and his identity.
He is beginning here to show his legitimacy as the shepherd and in the process of doing that he makes a very surprising and I think unusual claim about himself.
He sort of moves from the idea of being the shepherd, an ideas to which we will return, to the idea of being the door or the gate for the sheep.
3. Narrate the Contextual application
He was telling the Pharisees that he was more than a man.
He was the gate through which God’s sheep must pass.
They would not lose the imagery of the idea that there is a gate and it is only to let the shepherd and sheep in and out.
Anything else that tried to use that gate would be rejected and turned away or if it was a predator, it would be killed.
I remember spending the night with my uncle and in the middle of the night, I was awakened by a bang and then another bang. I grabbed a pair of pants and went outside and it turns out that there was a wild dog after Uncle Palmer’s chickens. But that dog would never steal another chicken again. But that dog jumped the fence and did not use the gate because he was not entering for legitimate purposes. However, the chickens would use the gate. They would come in to roost and lay and they would go out to scratch and feed. They used the gate and the chickens were cared for abundantly.
4. Life Application (thesis)
No one is any more expert on life be it eternal or abundant than Jesus.
As Jesus describes himself as the door, He makes a very important statement at the end.
I am come that they might have life and have it more abundantly.
This would lead us to this conclusion.
Knowing Jesus gives His followers abundant life.
5. SO WHAT!! (Outline)
I want to tell you about a friend of mine named Renée. She was a really good pianist and could lead music pretty well. But, Renée could not give directions worth a flip. Some where in every set of directions she would give would be the statement, “If you get to the _____, you have gone too far.” Instead of telling you where to turn, she would tell where you missed the turn, when you went beyond the street or road or even the destination.
When we see this word abundant in the NT, we get that same sense.
It is from a word that literally means beyond.
It’s like that Christian song that plays on the radio some times.
“Life is good eternal; life is better.”
But, as we look having abundant life in Jesus, that is having a life that goes above and beyond, we are going to se why that happens.
Let’s look at 2 hinges of abundant life this morning.
Abundant life hinges on the connection between the sheep and the shepherd.
What is funny is that we are not really talking about the shepherd and we won’t talk about the shepherd until next week.
But the gate as we see it in this passage is that which allows the shepherd to enter the sheepfold.
As we get the idea from verse 1, the gate really validates the one who passes through it.
The people who pass through the gate are the ones who have the right to come through it.
The gate and by association, the gatekeeper, only opens the gate to those who are supposed to come in.
Those who do not enter by the gate are thieves and robbers.
This points us to something that is really important to see.
The Pharisees, who were placing an undue burden on the people by forcing to keep a ridiculously rigid legal code to even have access to God, are the object of Jesus analogy in this comparative metaphor.
He is in essence calling them thieves and robbers because they are stealing the joy of a relationship with God from the people.
They are making it too burdensome and therefore too miserable to be a good Jewish adherent.
Jesus is saying that they are not coming into the sheepfold through the gate.
They are climbing the fence much like that wild dog did that I told you about earlier.
The point then is this.
If they do have a legitimate relationship with the people of God, can they lead them?
The obvious answer to that is no.
The law which they were making so cumbersome was killing the people rather than pointing them to life.
These Pharisees should have seen the gate open and they should have heard the shepherd’s voice as he entered.
Yet, they disputed the shepherd.
They argued with Him and they tried to kill Him.
Jesus is saying I have come in through the gate.
Have you ever been expecting company and you tell them to let yourself in?
Or maybe you are visiting your relative or parents or something and just go to the door and you don’t knock, you just go inside the house.
When he says that the shepherd comes in by the gate, he is saying that he is letting himself in.
God is the only one who has the authority to be both be the shepherd and the one who let’s the shepherd inside.
This speaks to His involvement in regards to our salvation which is complete.
Gods prepares us for the coming of the shepherd becoming the door to give access to the shepherd.
The shepherd then is able to reach the sheep that do what?
The sheep follow him because they know his voice.
The shepherd is connected to the sheep.
There is a relationship there that gives the shepherd access to the sheep through the gate or door which is also the shepherd.
And we hear His voice and we follow Him.
The seconds hinge that we can see here is that abundant life hinges on the convection between the sheep and the shepherd.Convection is just something that is swirling.
A convection oven cooks with moving air.
A tornado comes out of a convecting cloud.
I want to show you that the metaphor changes in verse 9.
No longer do we see the shepherd as the one passing through the door.
Now we see the sheep.
The come in and they are saved or rescued.
Colossians 1:9-12 has a prayer of the apostle Paul for the church and at the very end of that prayer, we see something very important: Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.
Jesus is the gate to bring the sheep qualified or prepared by the Father to come in to the sheepfold and they are saved.
Is the gate standing open now?
Are you feeling like you want to enter the sheepfold that Jesus might lead you for the rest of your life?
All have sinned
Wages death
Gift of God
But as many as received Him
The greatest thing about this passage is where it leads
If anyone enters though Christ, he is saved.
He comes and goes and finds pasture.
That relationship to the shepherd leads us to having our needs met in him.
Finding pasture is the equivalent to finding all we need and all that fulfills us.
And, we find that when we enter into a relationship with God through Christ.
That is what I mean by convecting with the shepherd.
We come and we go as His sheep and we3 trust him to meet our needs.
This is abundant life.
It is stating as Paul did that we have learned to be content in Christ.
We are trusting Him with what we have and also trusting him in what we do not have.
I want to ask you this morning.
Are we convecting with Christ?
Is he leading our coming in and our going out?
If we don’t have abundant life, life that goes beyond, it is because we have not yet yielded our lives to Christ but we are following a thief that only wants to kill steal and destroy.
He is come to give us life, and to give it abundantly.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
I Am -- I Am the Light of the World -- John 8:12-20
Introduction
I grew up on the coast of SC and if you have ever been there during the summer you may have seen the phenomenon known as the palmetto bug. The palmetto bug is really a roach. It is big and so black and shiny that it looks almost blue. What really makes the palmetto bug different from other vermin is that they are not afraid of the light. They will come out at almost any time and scare unsuspecting little sisters and moms to death. Heh heh heh.
Describing the Biblical Text
In this text Jesus has just finished forgiving the woman caught in adultery.
He is now discussing who he is and what His nature is.
I want you to look back at chapter 7 for just a second. We will begin our reading at verse 40.
The Pharisees had already concluded that Jesus was a problem.
They wanted Him out of the way.
They were willing to do anything to get him out of the way except make themselves look bad.
This is why we see them asking others why they did not seize Jesus.
The Pharisees didn’t want to arrest Jesus because of his popularity so they were hoping someone else would do it.
But they didn’t.
And, their answer as to why they didn’t was so compelling.
Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks.
Narrate the Contextual application
Then the Pharisees were getting kind of bent out of shape over the guards not arresting Jesus and they began to question his teaching based on his following.
That would be like me questioning Charles Stanley’s teaching because the ACLU didn’t like it.
Yet there was something that we might not see at first glance.
The guards did not arrest Jesus because he was giving them something that they had not received in a long time and that was light.
Jesus was teaching them like they had never been taught before.
They were hearing things they never heard before.
Life Application (thesis)
Jesus was revealing the teaching of heaven and they were experiencing God like they had never experienced Him before.
That’s because they had light.
You know what I mean.
Have you ever lost power at night?
You forget where the furniture is until a stubbed toe reminds you.
Then, when the lights come back on you are relieved because you don’t have to stumble around the house with lamps and candles.
Think about living life without light.
Not luminescent light but the light from Heaven.
Think about life with no revelation from God to lead us to truth or to help us to see right from Wrong.
That is really what a life without Jesus is.
It is a life without light.
When we are following Jesus we have the light of life.
This will then bring the lights up for us as we will see two illuminations from this text.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
Following Jesus means that our lives are illumined by Him.
The Palmetto bug is different from most other roaches in that they are not repelled by the light.
I have been in people’s homes who did not really care about their housekeeping and they would take you 9into a room and turn on the light and a gazillion roaches and bugs would run for cover.
Palmetto bugs will come out to the light.
If you get a well lit Palmetto tree it will be covered by the bluish black bugs crawling chirping and flying, yes flying all around it.
Look at vv 12
What really characterizes the life of the follower of Christ is how that person actually follows Christ.
Christ is a light that draws his followers after Him.
I received a bumper sticker on my facebook page yesterday that said, “It is not a religion, it is a relationship.”
The follower of Jesus Christ wants to deepen and to develop that relationship.
IOW he wants to walk in the light in order to be with Jesus and where Jesus is.
John 3:19-21 says this, “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20“For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21“But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
If we desire to be Christlike, something has to be there to do a couple of things.
Something has to reveal the sin that can easily beset and ruin our relationship to the Lord and even with other believers.
When light shines into darkness, particularly the darkened heart, it reveals the blackness of sin and the destruction of that behavior.
It reveals the reality of our condemnation before God.
But the light also reveals the will of God.
There is a family that I know that is facing a very serious decision regarding some spiritual issues.
This is a family that desires to be in the center of God’s will so what are they doing?
They are praying; they are seeking the counsel of their pastor and other godly people; they are looking for wisdom in the Bible.
They are shining the light of Christ on their situation.
What is our reaction to the light?
Remember the words of verse 12?
I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.
As we live our lives and the light of truth shines on us revealing both our sin and the Fathers will, how do we react?
Are we like those palmetto bus that fly to the light and chirp and crawl all over that tree or are we like the vermin roaches that run for cover anywhere we can hide from the light?
That really defines us as followers of Jesus Christ.
Do we want to live in the light or away from it?
Listen to what the apostle John wrote later in the book of 1 john
5This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Our second illumination this morning is this
Following Jesus means that our Lord is illumined by Him.
Look at verses 18-20
Jesus is the light o the world bearing witness to himself but doing that in order that should do something as well.
Jesus left the church on the earth to be his body.
He left us here as His mouthpieces for righteousness.
He lift us here to be light as well.
Matthew 5:14 tells us this, “14“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15“nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
Knowing Christ means that we are also the light of the world and that means swe need to be sharing the message of the Gospel with people who do not know Jesus.
You know why we are not the biggest church in High Point?
It is because we do very little with the gospel.
It will take more that just me talking about it from this pulpit once a week to start seeing people getting saved.
It’s going to take me and you and you and you and you going to win them at work, in our neighborhoods and at our social happenings.
Jesus is using our lives to bear witness to Him
I was over at Scott’s house last year and he brought out this big light that would blind an astronaut on the moon if you shined it in his eyes.
That is the kind of light we are supposed to be for Jesus.
We are supposed to shine brightly so that others can see his light in us.
What does it mean to have the light of life?
It means that we can see our sin and God’s good will for us and it means others can see Christ in us.
Let his light shine in your life today.
Let it shine
I grew up on the coast of SC and if you have ever been there during the summer you may have seen the phenomenon known as the palmetto bug. The palmetto bug is really a roach. It is big and so black and shiny that it looks almost blue. What really makes the palmetto bug different from other vermin is that they are not afraid of the light. They will come out at almost any time and scare unsuspecting little sisters and moms to death. Heh heh heh.
Describing the Biblical Text
In this text Jesus has just finished forgiving the woman caught in adultery.
He is now discussing who he is and what His nature is.
I want you to look back at chapter 7 for just a second. We will begin our reading at verse 40.
The Pharisees had already concluded that Jesus was a problem.
They wanted Him out of the way.
They were willing to do anything to get him out of the way except make themselves look bad.
This is why we see them asking others why they did not seize Jesus.
The Pharisees didn’t want to arrest Jesus because of his popularity so they were hoping someone else would do it.
But they didn’t.
And, their answer as to why they didn’t was so compelling.
Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks.
Narrate the Contextual application
Then the Pharisees were getting kind of bent out of shape over the guards not arresting Jesus and they began to question his teaching based on his following.
That would be like me questioning Charles Stanley’s teaching because the ACLU didn’t like it.
Yet there was something that we might not see at first glance.
The guards did not arrest Jesus because he was giving them something that they had not received in a long time and that was light.
Jesus was teaching them like they had never been taught before.
They were hearing things they never heard before.
Life Application (thesis)
Jesus was revealing the teaching of heaven and they were experiencing God like they had never experienced Him before.
That’s because they had light.
You know what I mean.
Have you ever lost power at night?
You forget where the furniture is until a stubbed toe reminds you.
Then, when the lights come back on you are relieved because you don’t have to stumble around the house with lamps and candles.
Think about living life without light.
Not luminescent light but the light from Heaven.
Think about life with no revelation from God to lead us to truth or to help us to see right from Wrong.
That is really what a life without Jesus is.
It is a life without light.
When we are following Jesus we have the light of life.
This will then bring the lights up for us as we will see two illuminations from this text.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
Following Jesus means that our lives are illumined by Him.
The Palmetto bug is different from most other roaches in that they are not repelled by the light.
I have been in people’s homes who did not really care about their housekeeping and they would take you 9into a room and turn on the light and a gazillion roaches and bugs would run for cover.
Palmetto bugs will come out to the light.
If you get a well lit Palmetto tree it will be covered by the bluish black bugs crawling chirping and flying, yes flying all around it.
Look at vv 12
What really characterizes the life of the follower of Christ is how that person actually follows Christ.
Christ is a light that draws his followers after Him.
I received a bumper sticker on my facebook page yesterday that said, “It is not a religion, it is a relationship.”
The follower of Jesus Christ wants to deepen and to develop that relationship.
IOW he wants to walk in the light in order to be with Jesus and where Jesus is.
John 3:19-21 says this, “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20“For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21“But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
If we desire to be Christlike, something has to be there to do a couple of things.
Something has to reveal the sin that can easily beset and ruin our relationship to the Lord and even with other believers.
When light shines into darkness, particularly the darkened heart, it reveals the blackness of sin and the destruction of that behavior.
It reveals the reality of our condemnation before God.
But the light also reveals the will of God.
There is a family that I know that is facing a very serious decision regarding some spiritual issues.
This is a family that desires to be in the center of God’s will so what are they doing?
They are praying; they are seeking the counsel of their pastor and other godly people; they are looking for wisdom in the Bible.
They are shining the light of Christ on their situation.
What is our reaction to the light?
Remember the words of verse 12?
I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.
As we live our lives and the light of truth shines on us revealing both our sin and the Fathers will, how do we react?
Are we like those palmetto bus that fly to the light and chirp and crawl all over that tree or are we like the vermin roaches that run for cover anywhere we can hide from the light?
That really defines us as followers of Jesus Christ.
Do we want to live in the light or away from it?
Listen to what the apostle John wrote later in the book of 1 john
5This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Our second illumination this morning is this
Following Jesus means that our Lord is illumined by Him.
Look at verses 18-20
Jesus is the light o the world bearing witness to himself but doing that in order that should do something as well.
Jesus left the church on the earth to be his body.
He left us here as His mouthpieces for righteousness.
He lift us here to be light as well.
Matthew 5:14 tells us this, “14“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15“nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
Knowing Christ means that we are also the light of the world and that means swe need to be sharing the message of the Gospel with people who do not know Jesus.
You know why we are not the biggest church in High Point?
It is because we do very little with the gospel.
It will take more that just me talking about it from this pulpit once a week to start seeing people getting saved.
It’s going to take me and you and you and you and you going to win them at work, in our neighborhoods and at our social happenings.
Jesus is using our lives to bear witness to Him
I was over at Scott’s house last year and he brought out this big light that would blind an astronaut on the moon if you shined it in his eyes.
That is the kind of light we are supposed to be for Jesus.
We are supposed to shine brightly so that others can see his light in us.
What does it mean to have the light of life?
It means that we can see our sin and God’s good will for us and it means others can see Christ in us.
Let his light shine in your life today.
Let it shine
I Am -- I Am The Bread of Life -- John 6:22-51
Introduction
1970’s commercial
Is it live or is it Memorex
Sometimes it is hard to know the difference between that which is good and that which is the best.
In his book, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don’t, Jim Collins points out that good is the enemy of great in that when an organization sees itself as good, it seldom pursues greatness. It becomes self satisfied.
Describing the Biblical Text
Back in the day when the Israelites were grumbling about their provisions in the Exodus from Egypt, God provided for them bread from heaven or manna.
This was such an important provision that manna was even preserved in the Ark of the Covenant.
To the Jews of Jesus day, manna was the only bread from heaven that could or would be.
But, the problem with the original manna was the same problem with the sacrificial system.
It had to be gathered over and over every day.
Now when Jesus fed the 5000 earlier in this chapter, he started something of a furor as people then continued to follow Him just because they got a free meal.
Narrate the Contextual application
Think about the situation.
It is late in the day and you are getting hungry and you are surrounded by throngs of people. Instead of going home you find that you are being instructed to sit down in small groups of people. And these baskets start going around and they never run out. If anything, they keep getting fuller. You eat your fill and then you see that there was even bred left over.
You thing Dang, can this guy do this every day?
You look for him when it’s time to eat because he met this need once and it did not cost anyone anything.
Then when it’s time to eat again, he nails your attitude.
You are just following me because I gave you something to eat.
Life Application (thesis)
Then Jesus gives you some real insight, insight about himself that has become the theme of this morning’s message.
Jesus is the true bread from heaven.
As we build outreaching this morning, we will build it on this theme by looking at two implications of Jesus as the true bread from heaven.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
Faith in Christ always points to Christ.
Look at verse 26
Notice what Jesus said here is the work that leads to eternal life?
It is believing in the son of God.
There are so many things that we do even as followers of Christ that do not point to Christ.
Think about our committee meetings.
How many times in those meetings do we really center the meeting on how we are following Christ?
How often do we plan to do good stuff but really fail to plan to follow Christ?
All too often we are like the Jews of Jesus’ day.
They were looking for the benefit of following Christ rather than the fulfillment of Christ Himself.
They were staying with him for the free meal.
When he told them that God sent the manna but He was the true bread, what did these Jews do?
They asked Jesus for a sign.
IOW, they wanted more manna.
They wanted to eat some more.
They were interested in God and following Him for what they could get out of it.
Christ alone was not enough.
I want us to look at this in a couple of different ways.
Let’s say you were starving, really hungry. You had not eaten in 10 days and you ended up by some strange quirk of circumstances at a very fancy restaurant with hundreds of dollars to spend. The filet mignon on the menu would mean nothing to you in light of the basket of bread that was on the table. You have a need that has to be satisfied and bread is all that is necessary to satisfy that need.
We have a basic need in our lives for God.
That need arises from a condition that had made us devoid of anything spiritual.
That condition called sin separates us from God and the only remedy is the atoning death of Jesus Christ.
He sets us free from the penalty of sin which is eternal separation from God in hell.
When He died on the cross he paid our penalty and received our punishment so should our faith in Him be about him.
Another thing that we need to consider about that is Christ should be the supreme object of our affection.
I think too often we make other things actually more important than Christ himself.
Some people look at their church attendance as being supremely important but it is only as important as it being done to obey the savior.
Maybe it is time for us to pray this morning about what has taken the very first place in our lives and to make sure that it is occupied by Jesus and Jesus Alone.
Verse 36 is so telling isn’t it?
How many of us have seen the savior at work in our lives and in our church and yet we don’t believe.
Oh, we believe in Jesus as the savior and we have trusted him but our lives do not paint that picture.
I remember an older resume that I prepared and when a friend of mine from Northern Virginia looked at it, he commented that it looked like my hobbies were the most important thing in my life.
That was his way of saying that my resume did not reflect my skills or my experience as a pastor.
Well our lives have to reflect Christ and not all the religious trappings of our faith.
People won’t really care if we come to church, teach Sunday school, lead missions groups, sing in the choir, preach in the pulpit, or anything else if they don’t first see that we love Jesus with all our hearts.
Faith in Christ is always about Christ.
With that in mind, let’s think about this.
Faith in Christ always prepares us for a future with Christ.
This would be our second implication point to Jesus as the true bread from heaven.
Look at verse 40
On the last day we who have believed in Jesus will be raised up by Jesus.
The word raised up here is the verb form of the word resurrection.
This is an astounding statement because it points an awesome victory in Christ.
This is a victory that he accomplishes over death for us.
But, what is even more exciting is to see that God has prepared us for our faith in Jesus.
Look back up to verse 36. [read to verse 37
Jesus is essentially saying that you don’t believe because God has not given you to me. You are not called to have faith
Let’s read on picking up at verse 38
No one that comes to God can be cast out by God because they are given to Him by God.
This is the idea of Him losing nothing.
Now slide your eye down the page to verse 44-45.
Those who are taught by God come to Jesus.
In theology, this is an idea that is known as irresistible grace or another way to put it is effectual calling.
It simply means that those whom God calls to Jesus come to Jesus and they shall be lifted up on the last day.
I am glad that we don’t sing songs like the savior is waiting because He is not.
Jesus does not sit in the portals of heaven waiting with bated breath to see if someone will come to Him.
Jesus isn’t wringing his hands together saying, “I hope he gets saved today.”
He already knows that all that the Father has given him will come to him and unless the Father draws them, they cannot come.
They are much like these people who were miraculously fed by Jesus and yet in spite of seeing who he is can’t and won’t come to Him.
When Jesus says that the field is white unto harves, it is because he knows what is in the field.
I drove down the road this year and saw soy beans in the field because the field wasn’t worth cranking the tractor.
The farmers knew that with the drought they didn’t have any beans to harvest.
Jesus knows that the fields are white because God is calling and drawing people and Jesus knows them.
That is why Romans 8 says for whom he did foreknow them he did predestine.
That is also why Romans 8:30 ends with the statement them that he justified He also glorified.
They will be lifted up on the last day.
We are prepared for a future with Christ because we have a past with Christ.
It began in the realm of eternity past and it lasts to eternity future.
Are you feeling God’s call today?
Are you being drawn to the savior?
If God is calling you come.
Just come.
1970’s commercial
Is it live or is it Memorex
Sometimes it is hard to know the difference between that which is good and that which is the best.
In his book, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don’t, Jim Collins points out that good is the enemy of great in that when an organization sees itself as good, it seldom pursues greatness. It becomes self satisfied.
Describing the Biblical Text
Back in the day when the Israelites were grumbling about their provisions in the Exodus from Egypt, God provided for them bread from heaven or manna.
This was such an important provision that manna was even preserved in the Ark of the Covenant.
To the Jews of Jesus day, manna was the only bread from heaven that could or would be.
But, the problem with the original manna was the same problem with the sacrificial system.
It had to be gathered over and over every day.
Now when Jesus fed the 5000 earlier in this chapter, he started something of a furor as people then continued to follow Him just because they got a free meal.
Narrate the Contextual application
Think about the situation.
It is late in the day and you are getting hungry and you are surrounded by throngs of people. Instead of going home you find that you are being instructed to sit down in small groups of people. And these baskets start going around and they never run out. If anything, they keep getting fuller. You eat your fill and then you see that there was even bred left over.
You thing Dang, can this guy do this every day?
You look for him when it’s time to eat because he met this need once and it did not cost anyone anything.
Then when it’s time to eat again, he nails your attitude.
You are just following me because I gave you something to eat.
Life Application (thesis)
Then Jesus gives you some real insight, insight about himself that has become the theme of this morning’s message.
Jesus is the true bread from heaven.
As we build outreaching this morning, we will build it on this theme by looking at two implications of Jesus as the true bread from heaven.
SO WHAT!! (Outline)
Faith in Christ always points to Christ.
Look at verse 26
Notice what Jesus said here is the work that leads to eternal life?
It is believing in the son of God.
There are so many things that we do even as followers of Christ that do not point to Christ.
Think about our committee meetings.
How many times in those meetings do we really center the meeting on how we are following Christ?
How often do we plan to do good stuff but really fail to plan to follow Christ?
All too often we are like the Jews of Jesus’ day.
They were looking for the benefit of following Christ rather than the fulfillment of Christ Himself.
They were staying with him for the free meal.
When he told them that God sent the manna but He was the true bread, what did these Jews do?
They asked Jesus for a sign.
IOW, they wanted more manna.
They wanted to eat some more.
They were interested in God and following Him for what they could get out of it.
Christ alone was not enough.
I want us to look at this in a couple of different ways.
Let’s say you were starving, really hungry. You had not eaten in 10 days and you ended up by some strange quirk of circumstances at a very fancy restaurant with hundreds of dollars to spend. The filet mignon on the menu would mean nothing to you in light of the basket of bread that was on the table. You have a need that has to be satisfied and bread is all that is necessary to satisfy that need.
We have a basic need in our lives for God.
That need arises from a condition that had made us devoid of anything spiritual.
That condition called sin separates us from God and the only remedy is the atoning death of Jesus Christ.
He sets us free from the penalty of sin which is eternal separation from God in hell.
When He died on the cross he paid our penalty and received our punishment so should our faith in Him be about him.
Another thing that we need to consider about that is Christ should be the supreme object of our affection.
I think too often we make other things actually more important than Christ himself.
Some people look at their church attendance as being supremely important but it is only as important as it being done to obey the savior.
Maybe it is time for us to pray this morning about what has taken the very first place in our lives and to make sure that it is occupied by Jesus and Jesus Alone.
Verse 36 is so telling isn’t it?
How many of us have seen the savior at work in our lives and in our church and yet we don’t believe.
Oh, we believe in Jesus as the savior and we have trusted him but our lives do not paint that picture.
I remember an older resume that I prepared and when a friend of mine from Northern Virginia looked at it, he commented that it looked like my hobbies were the most important thing in my life.
That was his way of saying that my resume did not reflect my skills or my experience as a pastor.
Well our lives have to reflect Christ and not all the religious trappings of our faith.
People won’t really care if we come to church, teach Sunday school, lead missions groups, sing in the choir, preach in the pulpit, or anything else if they don’t first see that we love Jesus with all our hearts.
Faith in Christ is always about Christ.
With that in mind, let’s think about this.
Faith in Christ always prepares us for a future with Christ.
This would be our second implication point to Jesus as the true bread from heaven.
Look at verse 40
On the last day we who have believed in Jesus will be raised up by Jesus.
The word raised up here is the verb form of the word resurrection.
This is an astounding statement because it points an awesome victory in Christ.
This is a victory that he accomplishes over death for us.
But, what is even more exciting is to see that God has prepared us for our faith in Jesus.
Look back up to verse 36. [read to verse 37
Jesus is essentially saying that you don’t believe because God has not given you to me. You are not called to have faith
Let’s read on picking up at verse 38
No one that comes to God can be cast out by God because they are given to Him by God.
This is the idea of Him losing nothing.
Now slide your eye down the page to verse 44-45.
Those who are taught by God come to Jesus.
In theology, this is an idea that is known as irresistible grace or another way to put it is effectual calling.
It simply means that those whom God calls to Jesus come to Jesus and they shall be lifted up on the last day.
I am glad that we don’t sing songs like the savior is waiting because He is not.
Jesus does not sit in the portals of heaven waiting with bated breath to see if someone will come to Him.
Jesus isn’t wringing his hands together saying, “I hope he gets saved today.”
He already knows that all that the Father has given him will come to him and unless the Father draws them, they cannot come.
They are much like these people who were miraculously fed by Jesus and yet in spite of seeing who he is can’t and won’t come to Him.
When Jesus says that the field is white unto harves, it is because he knows what is in the field.
I drove down the road this year and saw soy beans in the field because the field wasn’t worth cranking the tractor.
The farmers knew that with the drought they didn’t have any beans to harvest.
Jesus knows that the fields are white because God is calling and drawing people and Jesus knows them.
That is why Romans 8 says for whom he did foreknow them he did predestine.
That is also why Romans 8:30 ends with the statement them that he justified He also glorified.
They will be lifted up on the last day.
We are prepared for a future with Christ because we have a past with Christ.
It began in the realm of eternity past and it lasts to eternity future.
Are you feeling God’s call today?
Are you being drawn to the savior?
If God is calling you come.
Just come.
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