January 31st 2010
The Gospel of John
“In the beginning was the Word.”
John 1:1 (NIV UK)
The Gospel of John is one of the most beloved books of the New Testament. It is unique among the four Gospels—different from the other three in several ways. Unlike Matthew, Mark and Luke, John has no account of the birth, baptism, or temptations of Jesus. It doesn’t mention the Last Supper, the Garden of Gethsemane, or the ascension. Accounts of Jesus’ many healings and casting out demons are not included in the Gospel of John. Nor do we find in John the many short and memorable parables in which Jesus teaches profound lessons about the kingdom of God and godly living.
Instead of parables, the fourth Gospel records long speeches of Jesus that sometimes range more than a chapter in length, and often involve complex arguments and reasoning.
John not only leaves out much that the other Gospels mention, but he also tells us much that they do not include. Only John tells us of the marriage feast at Cana, of Nicodemus’ visit to Jesus, of the Samaritan woman, of raising Lazarus from the dead, washing the disciples’ feet, and the teaching about the Holy Spirit.
The Gospel of John was written in Ephesus around A.D. 100. By that time, perhaps 30 years after the other three Gospels had been written, an important change had occurred in the church: the good news had been proclaimed to the Gentiles. It was important that the story of Jesus be told in ways that Gentiles were more likely to understand. After all, by this time the vast majority of new converts were coming from a Greek Hellenistic cultural background and not from a Jewish background.
Nothing about the message itself had changed, but the ways by which the good news was expressed and explained needed to be broadened to accommodate the new audience. For example, the genealogies included by Matthew and Luke in their Gospels were of great importance to Jews, because the Messiah was to be a descendent of King David. In Greek culture, however, King David had no status, and even if a Greek had heard of King David, being descended from him had no significance.
But Greeks did have a concept of the Logos, translated as “the Word” above. Logos referred to the word and reason behind the universe. To Greeks, the Logos was the mind of God, responsible for the order in the universe and giving rational thought to human beings. John used this concept of Logos to reach Greeks in a way they could more easily relate to. Educated Greeks thought in terms of the two worlds taught by Plato—the shadow world in which we live and what he called the real world, of which everything in our world is only a pale copy. The greatest reality of all in the real world was God. In Greek thinking, the problem facing humanity was how to get from our world of copies and shadows into the world of reality.
John’s Gospel declared that Jesus is the true reality come to earth. In John, Jesus is the real Light. He is the real Bread. He is the real Vine. He is the Resurrection and the Life. He is the Truth, and he is the Way—concepts that Greeks could readily understand.
In Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus’ miracles demonstrate his compassion and love. In John’s Gospel, Jesus’ miracles are presented as signs pointing to the Reality that is God, and demonstrating the glory of God breaking into our world. The miracles are insights into the way God always is and how he always acts. In John, Jesus does not merely heal a blind man, he is the Light of the World. He does not merely feed 5,000 with a few loaves of bread, he is the Bread of Life.
The Gospel According to John goes beyond the facts of Jesus’ life—to the spiritual meaning of Jesus’ life. Matthew, Mark, and Luke wrote historical Gospels as testaments to the truth of the facts about Jesus’ life death and resurrection. John, on the other hand, wrote a spiritual Gospel about the meaning for humanity of Jesus’ words and Jesus’ life.
Together, the four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—present Jesus as the fulfilment of the great messianic prophecies of the chosen people and as the mind of God in person—as one of us—who draws us out of the shadows of this life into the true life of the kingdom of God.
Prayer
Father, thank for the spiritual richness of the Gospel accounts and for the fact that Jesus is the reality of who you are.
Amen
Study by Joseph Tkach
January 30th 2010
Law Not Based On Faith
4th of a series of studies from Habakkuk
“But the righteous shall live by his faith.” “The righteous shall live by faith.”
Habakkuk 2:4 (NIV UK) and Galatians 3:11 (NIV UK)
Paul used Habakkuk 2:4 to address a problem in the Galatian church.
The problem before Paul was an error, which, on the face of it, seemed a sensible proposition. Some thought that Christians should keep the Law of Moses. After all, was the law not all about attaining righteousness?
Paul, who might have supported such ideas before his conversion, says this is “no gospel at all” (Galatians 1:6). It is not good news. Believers are not “justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ” (2:16). “Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you have heard?” he asks, “are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?” (3:2). Abraham’s faith predated the law, he points out. The law was an imperfect expression of God’s will added to scripture until Jesus would come to make God’s mind and views clear to us. Jesus is the source of life, not the law. “If a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would have come by the law” (3:21).
Furthermore all “who rely on observing the law are under a curse” because “cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law” (Galatians 3:10 referring to Deuteronomy 27:26). You can’t pick and choose which laws to keep: if you keep one then you are obliged to keep them all. “We were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed” (Galatians 3:23). The law was over us until the time of Christ so that we might be justified by faith. “Now that faith has come we are no longer under the supervision of the law” (3:24). The law was like a servant hired to guide us, but now we have the real thing, Jesus Christ, our Lord, Master and Teacher. Therefore there is no obligation for Christians to keep the Law of Moses.
In the middle of his argument Paul makes the quote from Habakkuk. Being made right before God is not the result of observing the law. “Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, ‘The righteous will live by faith’. The law is not based on faith…” We are all children of God “through faith in Christ Jesus”, not through the law (Galatians 3:11-12, 26).
I wonder what Habakkuk would have thought of what Paul wrote? He was already nonplussed by God’s refusal to intervene and he was reviewing his situation. God still had more to say to him, not just about faith, but about behaviour too.
Prayer
Our Father, sometimes I try to attain the Kingdom by my own human effort. But I know that is not possible. Thank you that Jesus has already secured life for me, and that it is through faith in him that I am counted as one of your children. In Jesus’ name.
Amen
Study by James Henderson
January 29th 2010
See, Hear, Taste, Touch And Smell
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”
Romans 1:20 (NKJV)
We can’t see, hear, taste, touch or smell electricity, but we know that it is there by faith and by evidence. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Even when electricity is not moving, we believe it can and will. The evidence of electricity can be seen in electric light, heard in the sounds from our CD player, tasted as we eat our hot meals, felt in the warmth of our heaters and we smell it when we burn the toast!
We can’t physically see, hear, taste, touch or smell God either, but we also know that he is there by faith and by evidence.
*SEE – We see God in creation as mentioned in the scripture at the top. Hebrews 11:3 says that “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.”
*HEAR – We can hear him through his Word, the Holy Bible. (Hebrews 1:1-2).
*TASTE – Hebrews 6:4-5 speaks of “those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come.”
*FEEL – We feel him in our hearts as the Spirit renews us day by day (2 Corinthians 4:16).
*SMELL – The perfume of goodness and Christianity is evident when contrasted with the stench of evil. “Ointment and perfume delight the heart, and the sweetness of a man’s friend gives delight by hearty counsel.” (Proverbs 27:9).
2 Corinthians 4:18 assures us that, “We do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” Like the power of electricity, the power of God can make a difference in our lives, and then we can say as in 1 Timothy 1:17, “To the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever.”
Prayer
We look in faith to you, Father in Heaven, to see, hear, taste, feel and smell the evidence of the power of your salvation through your son, Jesus Christ.
Amen
Study by Nancy Silcox
January 28th 2010
I Have Moved
“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”
Colossians 1:6-7 (NIV)
Recently I got one of those emails which does the rounds about a change of address. The first part of it read as follows, and got me thinking: Can’t remember if I told you, but I have moved out from Beggars Alley … My new address is Living Well … It’s in the God Can neighbourhood.
As I reflected on the sentiments, my thoughts turned to where God has called us from, compared with where we live today in Christ. It involves a change in status, attitude, thoughts and behaviour. Our Father, because of His love for us, initiated our change of address from darkness to light, despair to hope and from lies to truth.
Old addresses where we “LIVED” included:
Loneliness Lane,
Insecurity Institute,
Vice Village,
Envy Estates,
Depression Dome.
But now we live in, and are hidden in, Christ. Our new residence is the Kingdom of God, which is both a present reality and a future hope. We are seated in heavenly places. Christ dwells in us. The Good News just keeps on going.
Prayer
Awesome Father, thank you for moving us from the old address to the palace that you have built. I praise and honour you for your grace in making the impossible possible.
Amen
Study by David Gibbs
January 27th 2010
Thankfulness
“And as He entered into a certain village, ten leprous men met Him, who stood afar off. And they lifted voice and said, Jesus, Master, pity us! And seeing them, He said to them, Go show yourselves to the priests. And it happened, as they went, that they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back and glorified God with a loud voice. And he fell down on his face at His feet, thanking Him. And he was a Samaritan. And answering, Jesus said, ‘Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were none found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?’ And He said to him, ‘Rise and go; your faith has cured you.’”
Luke 17:12-19 (MKJV)
The obvious lesson is that we’re to remember to thank God for all His blessings. Whether they come big or small (to our way of looking at them, though if they come from God they are all big!); whether at our lowest and most desperate ebb or when all is smooth (the latter itself being a blessing); whether miraculously or simply as we walk along the road; they should have us thanking God wholeheartedly.
But there is another less obvious lesson.
When we do things for others we don’t always get thanked. We can become resentful, considering next time not to help. But if we allow that attitude a foothold, we may find ourselves also not helping others, becoming inconsiderate, lacking in compassion. So what to do?
Remember there are a number of reasons why people don’t say thank you but, as we don’t know which category people are in, it is best to leave God to rectify things in His own time, which brings us to the next point.
For each person who thanks you, accept it as from ten. It is as if God allows us 10% of the thanks now, whilst reserving the 90% for the time He chooses to reward us. “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.” Matthew 16:27 (KJV).
Holding on for a reward better than people thanking you.
Prayer
Thank You, Father, for all the numerous blessings with which you have blessed me. Please help me to be more observant of when and how you bless me, so that I can thank You immediately and wholeheartedly. And thank You for the greatest blessing ~ Jesus Christ, the evidence of Your love for me (Your love being another blessing, thank You).
Amen
Study by Ruth Edwards