The Gospel of John: The Word

[Music] is [Applause] this is amazing [Music] [Applause] [Music] my grace [Music] would be separated [Applause] [Music] [Music] it's like [Music] [Music] this world has nothing for [Music] rise so is but i know that you go with me so i will never fear [Applause] [Music] that we won't be shaken [Music] [Applause] [Music] you've had my [Music] is [Music] whatever tomorrow [Music] we trust in you we will not be moved we will trust in you and we won't be shaken we will trust in you we [Music] [Music] the fire [Music] together [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] again [Music] there is power power here in this hour this hour we're all together together waiting here as one [Music] there is power power here in this hour this hour we're all together together waiting here as one [Music] from heaven [Music] it's burning in my soul [Music] dreaming the [Music] the kingdom of god [Music] fall again [Music] and we're going to focus on memorial day a day where we honor the men and women who lost their lives while defending our country and today we're going to hear from some of the teachers at bethany's school who have family members who served in the armed forces they did not lose their lives in the battle but they have since gone on and are no longer with us so we want to honor them too like my dad he served in the army and i'm so proud of him and my dad was a navy man and the fact is that both of our dads were just teenagers when they were drafted into the armed forces and sent out to defend our country that's not much older than some of you kids so sit back and listen to the stories these have these teachers have to share with us hi i'm edna beck and i'm the school staff assistant for bethany school i am the proud daughter granddaughter and niece of several people that have fought for our country and i'd like to highlight three of those right now this is my grandpa frank my mom's dad and her brother uncle vaughn and uncle doyle uncle doyle was in the navy and grandpa and uncle vaughn were both in the army my mom often said that she wished that she had gone into the military and i find myself thinking i wonder how my life would have been different had i also done that but i am very proud of these men and of the people in my family that have fought for our country [Music] hi my name is dana stewart and i work at bethany school in first grade and middle school and wherever else they need me and i have a very short military history in my family but it's all in long beach which i think is really special so my dad's dad frank keitlinger was a corporal in the united states army and during world war ii he actually shipped out over to europe on the queen mary and so it's just always exciting to drive by the queen mary and know that it does have a long history as a troop ship and that that history is part of my family history and long beach's history on the other side of my family i also have some long beach history in that my mom's mom who grew up and graduated from compton high school after she graduated she wanted to go see the world so she joined the women's army air corps and she went and was stationed in texas for her training and she was so excited to find out where she was going to be stationed after that and it was long beach so she wanted to see the whole world she wound up right here in the port of long beach and she got a little bit more than she bargained for because that was where she met my grandfather albert keim in the navy so we have the army the air force and the navy in our family history and it's all right here in long beach hi my name is lauren weigle and i'm the middle school math teacher at bethany school and my grandfather henry fuller was the associate pastor here at bethany church where he later became the principal of bethany's school not only did he serve at bethany church and bethany school he also served our country and he worked in the navy and he served in world war ii and during his time in world war ii he was a u-boat captain where he would drive the navy men to the shores of wherever they were going and it was so interesting is something that we always loved about that is that those um the captains they had their lifespan was in seconds during the war and somehow through god's grace my grandfather he survived that and he was able to go on and continue to serve the church and the school and grow a family and we just loved him very much and we're so proud of him and thankful for all of his service [Music] hey man that's cool to hear it's cool to hear the different stories of people who have served tomorrow's memorial day so today we're going to focus on that in some different ways but just remember also that we are thankful ultimately um to those who gave their lives for the freedoms that we have here in this country um and we're also thankful to god our heavenly father who has given us freedom in christ and so before we open with a hymn that just speaks of of almost that same topic and the the idea of of revival and seeking god with all our hearts um i want to share a scripture this morning so just listen to this and be reminded that the freedom that we have from galatians 5 1 it says it is for freedom that you have been set free stand firm then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery would you stand with us and sing we're going to open up with a hymn together we praise the o god for the son of thy love for jesus [Music] hallelujah [Music] hallelujah [Music] that was [Music] every state hallelujah [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Applause] [Music] from [Music] hallelujah [Applause] [Music] hallelujah [Music] yes lord we pray for your spirit to move god we look to you for our hope we look to you guys strength arises strength will rise as we wait upon the lord we will wait upon the lord we will wait upon the lord our god [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] strength arises [Music] strength [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] our god [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] must be [Music] [Applause] [Music] you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] amen amazing love that welcomes me the kindness [Music] wholeheartedly my soul undeserved [Music] god oh god you're so good you're so good to me [Music] the work of your mouth [Music] god [Music] hallelujah [Music] i am saving jesus for the glory of jesus [Music] [Music] jesus for the glory of jesus [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Music] [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Music] and though this life bring suffering lord i will remember [Music] what calvary has bought for me both now and forever [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh god you're so good you're so good to me [Music] can we clap for our great god it's good to us all the time amen amen you may be seated and take a look at this video [Music] good morning happy memorial day weekend you know that video is just such a powerful reminder that so many sacrificed on our behalf and many walked into battle not knowing what would come later so we just want to take a moment to remember but as we remember those who sacrificed in battle i also want to remember that it's a picture of what he did for us and the last one of the last lines of that song what calvary bought for me i will remember so so many young men gave their lives for our country as a small picture of what christ did for us so let's just take a moment to remember both of those powerful sacrifices greater love hath no man than this that he lay down his life for his friends father thank you for those who have served for our country but more importantly thank you for though for you sending your son to die on a cross on our behalf and in your name we pray amen well memorial day always kind of has that flip side of the coin we remember those who have served but it's also kind of the unofficial kickoff of summer and if we ever needed a summer it's this year right we need a summer yes we can clap for that i know that there's probably a lot of people on vacation this weekend taking a road trip we're looking forward to what we've missed in the last year i'm lori o'toole i'm the ministry coordinator here and i have missed being up here and seeing your faces so it's so good to see you today and i'm going to give you a date and i'm going to ask you to repeat it after me okay this little elementary school thing we learned when i used to teach right june 27th what's the date june 27th what's the date a lot is going to happen on june 27th so i want you to remember that because we're going to kick off summer with our reconnect we have missed each other we have missed connecting with each other we've missed sitting next to each other we've missed shaking hands and hugging and all of those things but really we've missed being face to face and having those connections those heart connections which are so important so on june 27th we are kicking off our summer reconnect and we've got those lego images there that you may have seen and we want to build relationships together we want to reconnect those things that have kind of been scattered so on june 27th we're going to do a couple of things first of all our youth groups are starting at nine o'clock we're going to have a sunday morning youth group for junior high and high school they will meet upstairs if you have a student in that age group there are some of these on the back if you didn't get those already but our students are going to reconnect at nine o'clock and the rest of us are gonna eat because what better way to reconnect than at a table right we've missed being around the table together so we're gonna have a pancake breakfast out in the courtyard everyone's invited to that we'd ask for you to sign up online and let us know that you're coming so that we know how many pancakes to flip for you and then on june 27th when we're going to change the service time oh my goodness change the service time so you all will be very very early but you'll be on time for pancake breakfast but our service time we're going to move to one service one service at 10 30. so it's not at nine it's not at 10 45 it's at 10 30 and we're going to all be in here together because we need to reconnect we need to see faces yes right we need to be together so we're going to fill the seats we're going to add some more seeds we're all going to be in here to worship as one voice and so when will that be at what time okay there was a little hesitation there 10 30 on june 27th but here's a real easy way to make sure that you don't forget there's a connect card online and you can go to bethanylb.org and right on the front it says digital connect digital bulletin and there's a connect card right next to it if you click on that if we don't have your information if you haven't been getting emails or texts from us that's a great way to update your information so that we can let you know remind you about 10 30 on june 27th okay also we're going to be starting connect classes this summer and we want you to get involved in that so that's a great way to find out more information about that as well so june 27th 10 30. we hope that you will be here for that so real quickly i'd like to pray for pastor jeff we're going to have pastor jeff come on up and i'm going to pray for him it is so good to have him back after five weeks isn't it [Applause] but actually before i pray for him today happens to be wait remember we did a titus series and we went from young men to old men we now can have such he has such great wisdom because today he turns 40. he's catching up to me will you join us in wishing pastor jeff happy birthday to you happy birthday to you happy birthday happy birthday [Music] will you do me a favor will you stand will you extend your hand we are so blessed to have this man as our pastor and god has done so much in his life i think that song you are called you are healed you are anointed you are whole not because of anything we've done but because of what christ has done for us god has done such a work in his life i'm just doing my best to make him cry that's all so but will you just extend a plan a hand and let's pray and bless him before he starts today dear heavenly father i just thank you from my friend i thank you for our pastor i thank you for the man that you called to this role for such a time as this god i thank you for the miracles that you have done in his life god i thank you for the humility that you have caused in him to remind us all that it's all because of you so god today as he starts the gospel of john god would you fill him with your strength would you fill him with your wisdom and god let every word that comes from his mouth be from you that's in your name we pray amen thank you amen thanks a lot messed me up [Music] good morning bethany family those of you who are joining us online i have to thank lori for messing me up before i even get started up here i i am not i'm promising this probably is going to start a little bit emotional um but it's just it's good to be with you guys last week was my first week back i had taken two weeks off and and just being here in the energy and the time of connection with you guys just reminded me what i love about this calling it is a unique calling it's a special calling it isn't always easy and yet there is something wonderful about being able to shepherd god's people and to point them to jesus and that's what this series is really going to be about you know i started planning for the teaching schedule last year and we started out this year with genesis and looked at the first four chapters of genesis uh and i planned for john because i feel like john leans so heavily into themes and ideas that are present in genesis that it would be great for us to kind of walk those two narratives together so over the next 10 weeks we're going to be looking at the first four chapters of john's gospel we'll circle back to this again next year some point uh and we'll we'll take another little chunk of john but in it we are going to sit with jesus that we are going to learn from his life from his teachings from his interactions with people i think one of my my favorite stories in scripture is in john 4 where jesus sits with this woman she's been married five times the guy that she's with is not her husband it's as messy as you can get and jesus chooses her as someone that he wants to worship the father in spirit and in truth just this beautiful picture of the extravagant grace of god and so we're going to look at his life and my hope is that as we learn more about jesus that you will fall deeper in love with him that as the reality of who he is settles in your heart that it would lead to greater devotion greater service and greater worship now i have a confession and those of you who have multiple children maybe you can relate to this i hope you can relate to this otherwise i am a terrible terrible person uh but we on may 8th welcomed baby marigold into the world and this is where i'm not gonna get emotional there's my little girl you forget how little they are i mean they just they sit in your hand and and man that the uh she's smiley already it's wonderful yeah so the labor process right my my wife goes into labor we head to the hospital thursday night 9 30 at night they induce at 9 30 in the morning she labors for seven hours before the epidural which by the way if i ever had to do that give me the epidural when i signed my paperwork to check in it was crazy and then she didn't have the baby baby marigold until 10 51 on saturday with a vacuum assist which they don't do that that often and so all of a sudden the room is filled with people and you've got students and nurses and the charge nurses in there and i don't know if you know what a vacuum assist is but it went from magical to like oh my goodness what are you doing and so baby marigold comes out and she's got this big old suction cup section and i guess the look on my face the charge nurse looks over at me and she's like it's gonna go back to normal and i was thinking what did you just do to my kid so so just there's this moment and and you see her and there there's already a love for her but there was this moment where i thought i don't know you like literally i have no idea who you are who you're going to become i mean i know you're mine right but but just that sense of disconnect i don't know if that's that's the right word right and and so as many of you guys know i've got another little girl named scarlet yeah it's crazy over the last two and a half years i have gotten to know her and i have fallen so in love with her every day i i see her smile or you know when i'm sitting on the couch and i can hear her little footsteps trucking through the kitchen and she comes and sees me sitting on the couch after she wakes up and she just gives me the biggest hug and you're just like oh my heart my heart and i i was thinking about goldie and there was this realization that i don't know you but i will i don't know you yet but as the days turn into weeks and as the weeks turn into months the more that i get to know you the more that my heart is going to fill with love for you and i think that's at the heart of the gospel of john i think his desire is to capture our hearts by teaching us who jesus is in truth you're gonna have to forgive me i i went from ipad to i didn't charge it while i was gone so we're back to paper but that that in the gospel of john as you see the word become flesh as you see god among us that the result should be a deep and abiding love for him that to know jesus is to love him and to love him is to believe in him and to surrender our lives to him and so over the course of this series we're going to learn about who jesus is we're going to see what he's like what he's not like we're going to see what he values what he desires for himself what he desires for you as his people and like i said my hope is that we leave this series with a clear picture of who jesus is and understanding of who he is and what he's come to do but but a yieldedness to that a surrender to that a sense of love and awe for him so before we get into the text a little bit of background concerning the gospel of john john's gospel is unique so those of you guys have been around church for a while you know that there's four gospels matthew mark luke and john john is unique and is not considered one of the synoptics so matthew mark and luke are considered synoptic and basically what that means is to see with the same eye so when you read through those three gospels there's an incredible amount of overlap in terms of story there are some sections where it's word for word it's the same narrative they're similar in content they're similar in structure and wording and while they target different audiences right matthew's writing to convince the jews that jesus is the fulfillment of all of the prophecies that they have in their scriptures mark and luke are writing to gentile audiences to convince them concerning who jesus is but john's gospel account is written for everyone it's written for everyone and each of the stories and the narratives that it contains drive the reader towards his stated purpose one of the things that i love about john is he's very clear about why he's writing at the end of his gospel in john chapter 20 verses 30 and 31 it says therefore many other signs jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book but these have been written so that you may believe that jesus is the christ the son of god and that by believing you may have life in his name he is concerned with helping you as a reader or anyone who reads this to connect the dots to faith in jesus so while this remains historically faithful these are real accounts of jesus's life and ministry john's very intentional in how he organizes it and he structures it in such a way that a case for faith in christ can be made so now many of you know how i feel about genesis that i believe an understanding of genesis is the key to understanding the rest of scripture that if you're not familiar with genesis and we we saw how jesus shows up all throughout genesis that he um is is in every narrative there's this the gospel essence right god god making a a garment of skin for adam and eve and you see the innocent sacrifice for the guilty in order to provide a covering for them jesus is all over that well john he is going to press into the genesis narrative and he is going to pull themes he's going to take concepts and even though john doesn't often quote from the old testament not like you read through matthew and he's constantly bringing up passages from the old testament john doesn't do that directly but he does leave impressions and introduces things that cause you to sense that this has been steeped in old testament imagery and old testament stories we're going to see in this passage this morning that while genesis is telling us the story of creation john is going to tell us the story of new creation a genesis shows us the creation of man john is going to present to us the second adam the faithful adam the obedient adam adam that should have been in the garden and we're going to see throughout this the outpouring of the spirit on those who believe in his name so there is going to become a new people of god and and he is going to create in us new creature leanness that if anyone's in christ he is a new creature and so genesis while it begins at the start of creation john is going to start before creation his is a a cosmological perspective we are going to see life from god's perspective genesis tells us of god's creative work over the course of seven days john is going to show us seven signs that jesus gives to demonstrate who he is and they correspond with the days of creation now the level of inter-testamental interaction within john's account is other i i remember in my undergrad over at biola mickey clink if you guys were following us online during the summer last year i got him to pop on and and do some eschatology with us but he is a scholar in the gospel of john uh wrote a commentary that's like that thick sitting on my desk it's one of the most wonderful works that i've ever read so so familiar with the gospel of john and i remember taking a class with him and the the way that he talked about john i remember leaving that class with tears because i was fully convinced this is god's word that that what we have isn't the creation of man but men carried by the spirit of god inspired by him to provide for us god's heart to us his word to us there is no way i am convinced of this apart from divine inspiration that someone could develop the layers and the impressions and the synthesis of the old testament words and images that are contained in john's gospel this is god's word this is god's word last last thing i'll say about the opening of john's gospel so chapter 1 verses 1 through 18 or what's common commonly acknowledged as the prologue right so so verses 1 through 18 kind of function like an overture in a musical now i don't see bonnie anna's here this morning but bonnie is my high school was my high school band director i can't believe that was 22 years ago goodness gracious um but when i was in uh when i was in high school i played in the orchestra i played trombone i actually thought music was going to be the path that god would have me take and it wasn't until college that he kind of stirred my heart in the other direction but we did a production of hello dolly you guys remember the musical hello dolly right so i sat in the pit and when the show started we played an overture so before any of the you know curtains were drawn or you were introduced to any of the characters you would have this overture that was a melody medley medley of all the songs that you would encounter throughout the musical and the purpose of it is to train your ear to hear those themes those songs so you locate yourself within the story so john's prologue is really functioning in that way it's going to introduce themes it's going to introduce language and it's all going to get fleshed out through the remainder of his gospel i think it it prepares your ears to hear what you need to hear your eyes as you read it to see what you need to see and ultimately um helps us understand the remaining part of of john's gospel now i you remember earlier this year i had shared an experience that i had and it was at a time where i just i really felt like you know the church was pulling in two different directions right and it was a time of you know just political stuff right and you just feel like you're trying to keep everybody at the table and i remember just this distinct impression that that all that god was calling me to do was to teach people about who he is ultimately you as the the listener right have to make a decision about what do you do with who jesus is but my responsibility as your pastor as your shepherd is to teach you about who god is and so we're going to see we're going to learn about who jesus is this morning so this is the gospel of john chapter 1 verses 1 through 5. in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god he was in the beginning with god all things came into being through him and apart from him nothing came into being that has come into being in him was life and the life is the light of men the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it this is the word of god now the language here is very intentional and i hope you caught that in the beginning right he's starting his gospel account in the same way that the book of genesis begins only he's starting further back he wants us to feel genesis while he makes a commentary on what was behind genesis that he goes behind what was created to the creative power and the agency of creation that before there was a physical creation there was the word now a lot of very brilliant people have spilled a lot of ink trying to explain what is meant by the word and and i'll say this in in the greek it's the word logos jay back there a good friend ancient near eastern languages he would disagree he would call it the logos but uh he knows i'm right so it's the logos and uh and suffice it to say it had significance for both jews and gentiles right to the gentiles logos was creative energy i'll read this quote from one commentator describing what the logos was to the gentile mind it was the supreme principle of the universe the force that originated permeated and directed all things so john in choosing this word as gentile readers would hear this it would evoke some of those images and i think his desire was to draw people to to make them curious what what is this word that that you have in your mind as being this impersonal force and power he's gonna he's gonna show us that it's a person now that's not the primary background for john the word and and this is where again if you're familiar with the genesis account over and over we hear the words then god said then god said let there be light then god said let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters then god said let us make man in our image according to our likeness so god's word has always been closely connected to his creative acts psalm 33 6 by the word of the lord the heavens were made and by the breath of his mouth all their hosts by the word of the lord psalm 107 19-20 they cried out to the lord in their trouble he saved them out of their distresses he sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions so john is taking very specific old testament language and he's helping his unders his readers understand its true meaning the word of god through whom the entire universe was created is a person it's a person who could be known a person who could be interacted with and we know from later in the prologue that the word has a name we saw his glory the word became flesh dwelt among us for the law was given through moses grace and truth were realized through jesus christ so the word that we're gonna we're gonna spend some time kind of unpacking is jesus and and so what does this morning's passage teach us about jesus the first thing we see is that jesus is eternal jesus is eternal in the beginning was the word so before any creative activity by god took place there was the word leon morris commentator says there was never a time when the word was not or to quote another commentator whereas genesis 1 1 takes the reader back to the beginning of creation john lifts our thoughts beyond the beginning and dwells on that which was when time finite reality what we know and experience he was there before any of that began now you talk about the eternality of jesus and it can feel ethereal and so i was asking the question of myself like what what is the significance of of that reality that jesus is eternal what does it mean for us that jesus is eternal well i think it means comfort i think it means assurance that the word who has always been is presently and will be forever listen to how the writer of hebrews describes this remember those who led you well who spoke the word of god to you and considering the result of their conduct imitate their faith jesus christ is the same yesterday today and forever now it also means for us hope and expectation that the word exists outside of time everything that we know in this finite world changes everything has a beginning and an end and here in jesus the word that is eternal we have a constant something that doesn't change better someone that doesn't change and because of that because he's the same yesterday today and forever we can build our lives on that we always know who he is we always know who he will be which gives us confidence to know how he's going to act that he's going to act in ways that are consistent with his character and who he's revealed himself to be gracious compassionate slow to anger abounding and loving kindness and truth one who forgives iniquity transgression and sin that is who our god is which brings us to the next point is that jesus is relational jesus is relational in the beginning was the word and the word was with god this idea of him being with conveys the idea of accompaniment of relationship that it presents the word as distinct from god and being in relationship with him and we spent some time in genesis unpacking the reality of the trinity that the god eternally exists as one in his essence and being but as three distinct persons the father the son the spirit and we see all three in operation within john's gospel but for this morning it's enough to say the word is relational he has always existed in relationship with the godhead listen to how beautifully jesus describes this as he prays to the father in john chapter 17 verses 1 through 5. jesus spoke these things and lifting up his eyes to heaven he said father the hour has come glorify your son that the son may glorify you even as you gave him authority over all flesh that to all whom you have given to him he may give eternal life this is eternal life that they may know you the only true god and jesus christ whom you have sent i glorified you on the earth having accomplished the work with which you've given me to do now father glorify me together with yourself with the glory which i had with you before the world was eternally existing in relationship with the father and with the spirit i noticed how their relationship functions there there is a functional subordination within the godhead it's the father's plan the son accomplishes with the father his purpose the spirit is then going to apply what the son has accomplished for us as he's poured out and becomes our helper the one who comes alongside of us and calls out now notice how our relationship functions all flesh he's been given authority over all flesh that's you and me and the rest of this world even if they don't acknowledge him as god they're still under his authority that's the right that the father gave him and so we bring ourselves under his authority and as a result we become recipients of eternal life and listen to how jesus describes it it's not it's not just time we will be with him forever but we will be with him that eternal life is to know you the only true god that jesus is relational is an invitation to connect with him it presents us with the reality that he eternally enjoys relationship within the godhead and wants to bring us into that eternal relationship and he does that through himself a relationship of intimate knowledge a relationship of love listen to how jesus describes the type of relationship that he wants to have with you john 17 22-24 the glory which you have given me i have given to them that they may be one just as we are one i in them and you and me that they may be perfected in unity so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you have loved me father i desire that they also whom you have given to me would be with me where i am so that they may see my glory which you have given me for you loved me before the foundation of the world he wants to bring us into a oneness with him a unity with him that is eternal in nature jesus is relational the next thing we see is that jesus is god jesus is god in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god now this is the linchpin of our faith it is the ultimate reality that everyone is going to have to negotiate that's why jesus asks his disciples who do you say that i am he's god incarnate god in the flesh that when we see jesus we see god what he's like what he values when commentators said the deeds and works of jesus are the deeds and works of god that jesus manifests for us the reality of the god of the old testament and and i know that that can be a little bit kind of tricky right i had there was a season there was a time when i felt like god was maybe calling me to plant a church so i left bethany and i started to explore what that would look like and ultimately the church that i was meeting with or that i was leading inside of a home got absorbed into another church there was a church that was operating within the city they had this wonderful model of creating steps in between showing up on a sunday morning and that one of those was kind of like an open house right that there would be an intentional spiritual conversation but it wasn't a bible study and and it was just trying to create relationship hopefully exposed people to what it's like to be in a relationship with a follower of jesus and so things started moving really fast they wanted me to take over a second service that they were gonna have in the evenings and and we really hadn't had any conversations about theology about you know they were reformed and i'd been raised baptist and there was just some conversations that needed to take place and so i remember going out to lunch with one of these pastors and as we started talking about our theology and our beliefs he said that he didn't believe that the scriptures were inerrant and i like my immediate physical response was i covered my ears because i was like what are you talking about and he said i just have a hard time reconciling jesus with the god of the old testament that i see jesus as being loving and compassionate forgiving and drawing the broken to himself and i see the god of the old testament being wrathful towards sin and you know next next year we're going to go through a section in genesis where we see the judgment of god the righteous judgment of god and and as i'm sitting there listening to him and this this is actually a pretty common you know uh perception is that jesus is very different than the god of the old testament i thought i don't think you're reading jesus honestly jesus has some incredibly strong things to say and and you know the separating of the sheep and the goats i mean you can find all kinds of passage and i think we tend to lean into the aspects of love and forgiveness and we forget that jesus is not just the god of grace but the god of grace and truth he calls people to make a decision about who he is and ultimately says there's one way i'm the way the truth and the life and nobody comes to the father but through me that should compel our evangelism right is knowing that there are people who don't know jesus and who will be eternally separated from him on the basis of their disbelief and lack of faith now if jesus is god how should we respond well the right response is worship now there are several examples of jesus receiving worship throughout the gospels but one that explicitly connects it to his deity you remember the story of peter being in the boat and they see jesus and he's walking on the water and peter says to jesus if that's you then you know tell me to come out of the boat and jesus says get out of the boat and peter gets out of the boat and he begins walking on the water but seeing the wind he begins to freak out and he cries out lord save me matthew 14 31-33 immediately jesus stretched out his hand took hold of him and said to him you have little faith why did you doubt why did you down when they got into the boat the wind stopped and those who were in the boat worshiped him saying you are certainly god's son they worshipped him i think about the other interaction that jesus had with peter and and you remember that they they hadn't caught any fish and jesus tells them throw the net on the other side of the boat and they bring in this hall do you remember peter's response get away from me for i am a sinful man just the um the conviction that jesus is who he claimed to be should result in us ascribing to him as our god the glory and the honor that he deserves now i'll say this in this last season it has become evident that our definition of worship is pretty narrow it's pretty narrow it's not just singing and i love it i love the new sound equipment and the lighting and just being able to sing but that's not all that worship is it's living and and i'll say this it's not primarily about our experience it's about it's about his worthiness it's us surrendering our lives and honestly that can be expressed in a multitude of ways through singing hymns through worship songs but through a life that has been changed and surrendered romans 12 1 therefore i urge you brethren by the mercies of god to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to god which is your spiritual service of worship that a life that is laid on the altar that is given to him because of who he is now verse 2 is a restatement of jesus's relationship with father so we're not going to spend a ton of time there but it reads he was in the beginning with god and i would say if we wanted to make a distinction between this and what we read in verse 1 it would be locating jesus with the father in the genesis account that jesus was present at creation and this lends itself naturally to what we're gonna read in verse three all things came into being through him and apart from him nothing came into being that has come into being so the next next thing we see is that jesus is the creator jesus is the creator in eternal relationship with himself within the godhead god creates all things through the agency of his son that jesus's fingerprints are on everything that you see that that the world did not come into existence through pre-existing material he spoke and it was and that apart from him nothing came into being that has come into being now other new testament passages tell us that jesus sustains all things that the world exists for him but all that's to say is that as our creator our posture should be one of trust and dependence that as the creator he knows exactly what his creation needs he knows what you need and he's able to provide it to protect us to guide us to love us and who knows better how to live than the one who created life i think that's that beautiful dynamic in jesus life and ministry is he shows us true humanity he shows us what we were originally created to be and ultimately through our faith in him we have been set on a trajectory where our lives are going to be conformed to his image certainly a tension between being saved and being sinful and and being on this path where god is is forming us into people that look like his son but there's going to come a time when our experience is going to catch up to what god has done for us positionally and we will be like jesus now verse 4 says in him was life and the life was the light of men so the next thing we see is jesus is revelation jesus is revelation now this concept overlaps with where we've already been but it's significant so our our source of understanding who god is finds its embodiment in jesus that the word is god's self-expression i think of what jesus taught as disciples the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart right so so the good man will bring out of his good treasure what is good the evil man will bring out of his evil treasure what is evil the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart so when we see jesus we see the heart of god that god's love for mankind is most clearly expressed through his son his desire to redeem his willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice in order to bring about our redemption i think that's why memorial day should be for us as followers of jesus just a weekend that that makes makes sense that we would do this because our entire faith hinges on somebody who would sacrifice their life in order for us to have life in him and it's it's why the writer of hebrews can tell us that god has spoken to us and his son this is hebrews chapter one verses one through three god after he spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets in many portions and in many ways in these last days has spoken to us and his son whom he appointed the heir of all things through whom also he made the world and he is the radiance of his glory and the exact representation of his nature and upholds all things by the word of his power when he had made purification of purification of sins he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high you see that the truth about god the truth about ourselves our need for redemption is seen in the light that is in his son that his life illuminates it shines light into the darkness his life exposes us right that when we look at jesus and we hold ourselves up to him we feel the gap that exists between who we are and who he is listen to how one commentator describes this it strips away all disguises the light strips away all disguises and shows things as they really are people never see themselves truly until they see themselves through the eyes of jesus i love this he drives people to god by revealing them to themselves i don't need to be convinced that i'm a sinner who needs redemption i sit with jesus and his light exposes my darkness and and creates in me a longing a realization of my need for the gospel to be true that apart from the grace of the gospel i have no hope his life clarifies and ultimately this light if followed leads to life i am the light of the world whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light that leads to jesus is revelation right he he is god's word to us the last thing we're going to see is jesus is victorious the light shines in the darkness verse 5 and the darkness did not comprehend it now the word translated comprehend is better translated overpowered or overcome and the idea of darkness throughout john's gospel is not in reference to people it's in reference to the environment of lost people and and this as he's making this comment is probably a reference to the cross that the greatest attempt to overcome the light was when darkness overtook the land but that even in death the light was not overcome that resurrection would demonstrate that in him is life he says i lay it down and i take it up and i do it for you and that truth is what formed paul's faith that his doctrine of salvation rested in the realities that we've discussed this morning and we're going to see in this last verse that i'm going to share with you how it resulted in an overflow of worship and in praise first timothy 1 15-17 it is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that christ jesus came into the world to save sinners among whom i am for most of all yet for this reason i found mercy so that in me as the foremost jesus christ might demonstrate his perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in him for eternal life now to the king eternal immortal invisible the only god be honor and glory forevermore amen amen let me pray jesus we need you and we thank you that in your divine sovereignty in your divine providence that you have structured all history all time as we know it to bring about our reconciliation to you that we could be with you forever we take comfort in knowing that you'll never change god we run to you in the light of your presence acknowledging our need and we pray that our lives would be an overflow of praise because you're god because you are worthy jesus thank you for your love for us and we pray the authority that you've invited us into in your name amen man thank you pastor jeff great to hear from god's word from you brother welcome back i just want to encourage you as we close with a song of worship to give as the lord has blessed you or prompted you in your heart we just are so thankful for those of you who are faithfully giving to the work of ministry here and if you haven't been participating in that way just we invite you and encourage you to consider that and uh let's just close by focusing our hearts on him and his goodness let's sing to him [Music] the king of [Music] let the king of my heart [Music] he is you are good [Music] let the king of my heart be the wind inside my sails [Music] is [Music] myself [Music] is [Music] [Music] you're never gonna never gonna let me down [Music] never gonna let me down [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] he is good isn't he that's worth worshipping i like to think as an english teacher that's not just an adjective he is the embodiment of good we say something's good he is all that is good he is the embodiment of that and as pastor jeff said he's also relational he longs to be in relationship with us and that prayer from john 17 that says let them be one as you and i are one as we look to summer reconnect i want you to hear our heart behind this it's not just a change of time to do something cool for summer we are intentionally creating space for us to connect with each other as the body of christ as jeff said exactly as jeff said about his babies when i get to know them i will love them when we get to know jesus we will love him more when we get to know each other if we sit in these seats and then go out and just wave that's not knowing that's not loving that's not being united so we're intentionally on what date oh very good intentionally on june 27th gonna have one service at 10 30 so that at nine o'clock we can have connect classes where we can gather on a table together and get to know each other if you have not connected in a connect class i invite you to fill out our connect card there's there's some at the back table but it's also very easy to do online and online it's got let us know you're kind of like your age or your what lifestyle what life stage you're kind of in so that we can help you find a class where you could connect with people where you can know people where you can be known by people because imagine the power of the church that's united because they're connected because they love each other and that they're on the same mission together that's what we want to do here at bethany so go out today i encourage you before you get up and leave will you look for somebody that you don't know introduce yourself connect with them today know and be known have a great day and happy memorial day [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Bethany Church Long Beach

Views: 243

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: lfcQibnuhco

Length: 84min 6sec (5046 seconds)

Published: Sun May 30 2021