Scripture: John1:9-14, John 3:16-21, John 4:21-24
This is our second week of considering the
attributes of God, beginning with Jesus’ statement, that he is the only Way,
and the only Truth, and the only Life (John 14:6), that He is the
only One who can bring us to the glory of God the Father. The way to any earthly destination can take us in any number of different directions – some will be shorter in distance, and some
will take less time than others, but each can, eventually, get us to our goal.
But the way to heaven doesn’t give us a
range of options – we don’t get to choose between the most interesting, or the
one with great scenery, or even the one is most popular. And since heaven is the LORD’s gift for
faithfulness, and the place of Godly Life, He also gets to designate the way to
get there.
Even though the word that God has given
to the world is very specific, many still believe that they can pick the way
that suits their own interests and desires.
But even at that, one day, they will come to know the truth. Unfortunately, for many, it will be too late,
and the true Way will be closed to them.
Today, we examine the depth of God’s
Truth, and why our ways lead us so far astray from the victory of God.
Read John 1:9-14
John’s gospel begins by establishing
Jesus as the word of God. We read “1In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning.”
(John 1:1-2) In the
gospels attributed to Matthew and Luke, they begin with Jesus’ birth, while in
Mark’s gospel, he begins with John the Baptist!
Only John begins with Jesus existence and God’s plan for His presence, even
before creation is ever initiated.
From the beginning of this book, John offers
a combination of both Jesus’ divinity, as well as His humanity - this concept
is that important to the writer, and has become the greatest stumbling block to
the world since the beginning of time.
God’s intimacy with His creation seems to be inconceivable and
incredible, to the point that it must be the dream of some highly inventive
mind! But the truth is that this doesn’t
come from a creative human imagination, but rather from the perfect and divine
love that God desires to share with creation itself!
John begins this discussion of Divine
Love with three thoughts regarding Jesus – He has been since before the
beginning of time, He would be coming to us as the word and truth of God, and
even more so, He comes as God.
And as God and the Eternal Word, He is revealing of all that is – both that
which honors God, as well as all that denies and defies God.
But the most unbelievable aspect of
Jesus is that in His Godliness, He willingly and intentionally became part of
the very creation that He was involved in establishing, and therein lies the
greatest problem that unbelievers have with Jesus. Why would a Being, who is sufficiently powerful
and inciteful to create and order the entire universe, that which is known to
us, as well as that which is unknown, also be willing to actually become part
of that creation, and to even submit to their ways? It just doesn’t make any sense!
And even though He would be the revealing of the Truth and Light of God, few would ever believe that He is who He is. For much of humanity, truth has become a
relative term, and can be whatever each and every individual wants it to
be. It would seem that folks have been confused
by the terms “truth” and “opinion”, and in their interchanging of the two, they
refuse to accept the fact that anyone could possibly have truth that must apply
to everyone.
The LORD knew that objections to His way
would rise up, so He chose the people Israel to be His example to the rest of
the world, but even they rebelled against God’s Truth and His Word. So the plan continued for the entire world,
and more and more began to come to His Way and Truth through faith in His Divine
Presence Jesus.
Read John 3:16-21
There would be times in Jesus’ ministry
when He revealed His Self and His purpose to individuals who exhibited an
openness for His Truth. The first for us
today is a Pharisee named Nicodemus, who came to the Lord Jesus one dark night. When Jesus tells him that no one comes to the
Father unless they are born again, the man’s worldly understanding of what
birth is all about replaces the truth that he had just been given. (John3:3-4)
And Jesus reveals the eternal plan that
God had prepared before time began – that it would be His love that would
make the difference for all who accepted the Truth of His presence. By faith, we become new creatures in Christ,
and by faith, the truth of God will fill us and enable us to become the ones who
are “reborn” to spread His true word to the people of this world.
And then John brings up the issue of
condemnation, when God sets the record straight in that Jesus brings with Him acceptance
and love, instead of rejection and death. He tells us that it is humanity
who condemns themselves, when they refuse to believe in God through Jesus. The point is that God doesn’t have to condemn
us – He has set a perfectly understandable means to escape our sentence for sin,
and one that is, finally, the means to come to God’s truth. And we get to choose which way we will
follow.
And we are given the most plausible
reason that so many refuse to submit to the complete teaching of Jesus. We are comfortable with the ways of earth,
and we are afraid to admit that our ways go against everything that the LORD stands
for, and that we live in evil, not in goodness.
No one will ever be comfortable in
admitting that we have been wrong all of our life, and that we have to change to
God’s better way! Darkness hides,
Light exposes. The world deceives, Jesus
is Truth. Evil condemns, faithfulness
forgives.
And by the end of this gospel, Nicodemus
comes to the truth of Christ, and against all that he had ever known, he steps
out in faith to give honor to his LORD. (John 19:38-42) And his condemnation is overturned by
salvation through faith in Jesus.
Read John 4:21-24
There are many other people in scripture
who are touched by the truth of Jesus, but I have chosen one of the most
unusual – the Woman of Samaria. As we read
of Jesus’ encounter with this outcast (John 4:1-42), we discover
first, that she has been married many times, and that she isn’t married
to the man who she is currently living with.
Her neighbors have shunned her, the Jews hate her for her mixed
nationality, her misplaced faith had condemned her, and society dictates that,
as a woman, she is unworthy of any hope.
They had begun talking about the water
she would get from Jacob’s well, compared to the “living water” that Jesus
offers to her. Then Jesus reveals the
truth about her relationships with men, and she freely acknowledges that he
must be a prophet. And from this, they
begin to talk about faith, and the differences they have when it comes to
worship styles.
But the differences between them is even
greater than their means of worship. By
society’s standards, a man, and especially a Jewish rabbi, would NEVER talk to
an unfamiliar woman in public, and any Jew would NEVER associate with a
Samaritan. And yet, Jesus always seems
to have a way of setting cultural convention aside.
Jesus always sees everyone as worthy of
His truth and love! And while the woman
is thinking about the way that their life’s differences create a great divide
between them, Jesus turns it into the truth of unity for future days. That’s another issue that plagues us – we seem
to put the issues of yesterday, today, and tomorrow into separate categories
with separate concerns for each.
But God isn’t bound by the differences
that time can bring. He sees all days as
the opportunity for His truth to abound within our lives, and He tells the
woman that they should be worshiping the True God in unity, not searching out
for their own, separate understandings.
And He says that the time has come to accept the truth of God, and he adds
that this requires worshipping God in Spirit.
This means that worship has taken on a
whole new meaning for us, that it is no longer an internal concept with human
overtones, but is now based solely in the character and Spirit of God. Where once worship was focused on the place
and style of worship as designated by “religion”, it has now been freed to be
offered up at any time, in any place, for any reason that has come to be
apparent in a single, heart-felt moment. This is what Jesus has brought to our lives –
freedom to truly and fully love God!
This is a freedom to hear and receive
His truth; a freedom to worship in God’s way, and not by ritualized structure; a
freedom to share our life in Christ with anyone, regardless of who the world
allows or rejects; a freedom to celebrate the Way and Truth of salvation, and
to be freed from the condemnation that comes in the lies and denial that the
world ascribes to; a freedom to know and rejoice in the love of God that comes
simply by faith in God Incarnate – our Lord Jesus Christ.
Know the Truth that He brings, and
rejoice in the freedom that He holds out for all by faith.
