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Archive for the ‘John’ Category

The Prodigal’s Brother Needs the Gospel

Posted in Evangelism, Gospel, John, tagged , , on 02/23/2021| Leave a Comment »

Someone asked me what will become of all the people zealous for their religion on that last Day? Think about the millions who try their best to live by the standards set by their religion irrespective of how enslaving that can be sometimes. The millions who try their best to observe the 5 pillars of Islam and are saving up for at least one pilgrimage to Mecca. Go back in history and reflect on the chains of indulgences under the Roman Catholic rule. What will God do with those who out of their blindness gave themselves fully to religion if Jesus is the only way to God? 

But closer home what do we do with those Christians who have done their best to earn God’s favor by their works, ascetism, giving up all their resources for the man of God, being monks and nuns? Are you saying without the hope of the Gospel they are doomed? That none of that will earn them heavenly credit?

In addition to this, add salt to the wound that undeserving reckless sinners like us who respond to the Gospel call gets to heaven by Christ’s merits. That any criminal who repents on the execution table and turns to Jesus will be with him and at peace in heaven. How unfair? What injustice? Religion costs some everything and yet they are locked out and we get in by faith? Surely God cannot be that unfair! What does the Bible have to say about that, my friend asks? I tremble a bit because I realize his question demands an answer and I’m not sure he’ll be happy with it. 

Now, most of us would be familiar with Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15. I guess a lot of us on this side of the divide would rightly identify with the younger reckless brother and are drawn by his Father’s overwhelming love and grace. It makes for a great Gospel talk. But the story is actually about two brothers and our evangelistic efforts wouldn’t be enough if we ignored the elder brother. Our religious brothers might actually be abhorred by this kind of God who seems to embrace sinners and ignore the “righteous”. 

The prodigal’s brother (the elder brother) has tried his best to serve his Father unlike his younger rebellious brother who takes off and squanders his father’s assets. The prodigal’s brother has been laboring hard in his Father’s field. He checks his reputation so it doesn’t reflect badly on the Father. His Father’s business has really become his business and his life goals and ambitions are aimed at pleasing him. He’s probably even suffered at the back of his commitment to his Father’s cause. But what does he get in return? Not only is he rarely appreciated but his Father regards and crowns the younger son when he comes back to his senses not him. What a betrayal? What an injustice the brother feels! So before we judge his teenage mood swing try walk in his footsteps a mile.

In our recent onsite Ministry Training Course at iServe Africa we looked at the book of Jonah with our second years and we met what Tim Keller calls the prodigal prophet. By the way if you haven’t studied Jonah as an adult I would recommend you do that. It’s not just about a moody prophet and the big fish. Like with the prodigal’s brother we realized we needed to walk a mile in Jonah’s muddy shoes before making a judgement call on his attitude towards Nineveh. Jonah is angry with God’s loving kindness and the second chance he gives to the evil undeserving city of Nineveh. But like the prodigal’s brother, a “good” religious person, he’s more angry with God’s character:

2 And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Jonah 4.

Most of us get angry with God when he seems not to care and act in our misfortunes but Jonah is angry when God acts on behalf of those he thinks are undeserving of his love and grace. But like with the prodigal’s brother the story is meant to make us ask is he right in being angry? And on one hand, we should sympathize with him especially when we realize what the Assyrians will do to his own people. But when we evaluate his own heart we find he falls short and we realize God’s love and grace is not something to be earned but lavished because no one can earn it. Nobody comes even closer to a 50-50 deal with God. Jonah is angry with a forgiving God and yet he desperately need and want that for himself. The prodigal’s brother hates the Father’s love and consideration of the younger one but wants it for himself despite his own flaws. In this incidence, he treats the Father as an investment portfolio and his service merely is transactional. Both of them judge by their standards and yet they fall short of those standards leave alone God’s high standards.

But the Gospel that saves the younger son is also what the elder brother needs. You see his commitment to his Father’s religion and business makes us blind of his own flaws. First of all he serves because of the reward and his affection is merely transactional (my extrapolation). To him service means reward instead of being in this relationship because he loves his Father. It’s about what he gets out of it instead of commitment to the one who calls him to his love. He’s so blinded by what he’ll get in the end that he doesn’t stop to ask how this relationship affects the Father, what does the Father get? So if we feel God’s character and judgement is an injustice to religious people then maybe we need to walk a mile in God’s shoes. An even greater injustice is committed against God by those who disregard his Gospel call for human religion and still demand a share of his heavenly home.

Moreover, the Bible teaches us God is a relational being which is one big fundamental difference between the God of the Bible and the God of Islam and the other religions. God is not just after people pleasing him by following a set of rules which he rewards with paradise. God is after relationship with his people like a good Father wants from his children. We see this right from creation, the story of Israel and it’s the aim of the eternal future that awaits those who trust and believe in God through Christ. God dwelling in perfect peace with his people in his holy city. Those who focus on the inheritance and evading his judgement miss on the driving force which is relationship. The Gospel is nothing if not an invitation to this relationship now and in eternity. 

While I sympathize with my friend, the prodigal brother and Jonah, one needs only look at their own flaws and see things from God’s perspective. There’s no heaven without a restored relationship with God and that cannot be attained by religion however zealous. Only the Gospel of Jesus guarantees it. Only the son who left heaven for our redemption can lead us back to God. He died that through him we might live and in John 3 we are told this was the Father extending his love and grace to our world, to the religious and irreligious, if only we would receive him. John summaries this amazing Chapter with these words:

36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. John 3

Whoever means anyone and everyone. The Gospel calls the prodigal’s brother as it appeals to the young reckless one. It begs the attention of the deeply traditional and religious man just as it does with the indifferent 21st century guy. And the judgement for those who reject and ignore this call is the same regardless of how zealous they are of their religion. God won’t be hoodwinked by vain observance of religion. He wants the whole of you not just your hand and feet for him, he wants your heart and mind. He wants a relationship and that is only attained by listening to his Word through his Son by the Gospel. 

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All hell distilled

Posted in Gospel, John, tagged , on 02/19/2015| Leave a Comment »

…shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me? (John 18:11)

All hell was distilled into that cup and he must drink it to the last drop…  He alone of the sons of men had the measure of the sin he must take upon himself.  He alone knew sin in its every reach and extent, and the absoluteness of God’s wrath against it, seeing in the cup all the fullness of sin and the Father’s holy judgment against it… to be cut off from communion with God his Father as if himself a sinner… when he before the world’s creation was eternally enfolded in the Father’s love… (McDonald, H. D., New Testament Concept of Atonement: The Gospel of the Calvary Event, Cambridge: Lutterworth Press, 1994, page 30)

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Behold the Lamb! God reveals as we look

Posted in John, tagged on 01/08/2015| Leave a Comment »

One of the most helpful things I read in 2014, a few days before it ended:

When people have doubts about the truth of Jesus, don’t send them away to seek special messages from God. Point them to Christ.
Why? Because this is where God breaks in with his revealing power. He loves to glorify his Son! He loves to open the eyes of the blind when they are looking at his Son! 
God does not reveal his Son to me by coming to me and saying, “Now, John, I know that you don’t see anything magnificent in my Son. You don’t see him as all glorious and divine and attractive above all worldly goods. You don’t see him as your all-satisfying treasure, and you don’t see his holiness and wisdom and power and love as beautiful beyond measure. But take my word for it, he is all that. Just believe it.”  No!
Such faith would be no honor to the Son of God. It cannot glorify the Son. Saving faith is based on a spiritual sight of Jesus as he is in himself, the all-glorious Son of God. And this spiritual sight is given to us through his inspired Word, the Scriptures.
(John Piper, The Dawning of Indestructible Joy, p. 65-66, some emphasis added)

So we should not expect that as an unbeliever lies on his bed or sits on his sofa thinking of nothing in particular that the Spirit will suddenly fly in the window, raise him from the dead, impart repentance and faith. It will be as he considers Christ. As he listens to the Word or as he mulls it over in his mind.

So the great command in the New Testament is not “Be born again” and is rarely even “Believe” but more “Behold” – look at the Son in the pages of Scripture and as you do so the Father will very often be pleased to open your eyes to see the glory of God in the face of Christ.

So preaching is important.

And particularly preaching that paints a picture of Christ.

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Mourn with Those who Mourn.

Posted in Christ, Christian Life, Church, John, tagged , on 10/11/2014| 2 Comments »

It’s a Saturday morning, there’s a somber mood sweeping across the whole village. There I was among the mourners.

Reality is dawning on the mourners that actually they won’t be seeing their loved one again. In a few hours’ time, she’ll be laid six feet under and that is it… gone forever never to be seen in this life again. That’s the moment you realise that however much you, as a mere mortal, love someone so much, you can never bring them back to life again. Death is indeed an enemy!

At this time of bereavement, the family and friends of the deceased need nothing short of comfort, consolation and support. And there’s a way in which if you belong to a church congregation, you can definitely, almost certainly know that the church will be there in full swing to provide this kind of support.

All was going on well, with tribute after tribute pouring in, until something happened; When time came for the ‘church’ to take over and conduct the service and eventually bury the dead, they were nowhere to be seen! They had boycotted the whole thing because apparently the family didn’t play by the rules like no playing of music, no speeches, burial be at 9 a.m. e.t.c. So the best thing they could do was leave. What a disappointment! Is this how the ‘church’ behaves?? Seemingly, the church is more important than the people! But what really constitutes the church if not Christ and people!!

My disappointment wasn’t because they failed to give a proper send-off, we buried my aunt, 2 of us conducted the service. My disappointment was because of 3 things:

  1. Failure to Bear Witness for Christ

Romans 12:15b teaches us to “mourn with those who mourn.” And our Saviour Himself, in John 11:33 “When He saw her [Mary] weeping, & the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in His Spirit and greatly troubled. ” He couldn’t hold it in “Jesus wept” (John 11:35).

The ‘church’ here failed to witness for Christ. What does the Bible teach us about death & mourning? And how can we represent Christ to a watching world? Jesus is deeply moved & greatly troubled by Lazarus’s death and the weeping of those who were there… He identified with them… He didn’t shut Himself from the realities of the messy world around Him, which death is part of. This is exactly the reason why He came on earth, to restore this fallen world. Funerals provide a huge opportunity to speak of this Christ & His Mission and also to show people what the heart of Christ is. This we do not in theory but in practice.

  1. Failure to Present the True Hope found in Christ

Look at Jesus at Lazarus’s funeral. He would do more that just weep. He went ahead and raised Lazarus back to life. Of course Lazarus died again later but here Jesus was giving us a sneak preview into what He will do. He will later on go to the cross, die, be buried and after 3 days rise again, thus opening the way for us to enjoying eternal fellowship with God the Father, Son & Holy Spirit.

Funerals are a great evangelistic opportunity. This is the opportunity that the Church has. Use that setting of funeral and death to speak about One who died to defeat death and thus give us hope beyond the grave.

  1. False Teaching

Yes, this is the genesis of the whole saga. The ‘church’ in question here is actually well known. I know in Kenya we don’t like calling by name but we know them- the Jehovah’s Witness. The thing here is not just about refusal to mourn with the family or bury the dead- it goes much deeper. What of causing some of the children to also skip the burial of their own mum!! And how about going and locking themselves in one of the sons’ house to ‘pray’ when people are waiting for you to speak to them!! How about being totally secluded from ‘the world’ and not wanting anything to ‘defile’ you! It has to do with what they actually teach (which is a thing for another day). Is this really biblical Christianity?

It’s either they are representing Christ wrongly and they need to be corrected or the Christ they are teaching is not really the real Christ, or both- if their actions are anything to go by!

Remember Christ’s warning,

“Be careful… Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees & the Sadducees” (Matthew 16:6).

A little yeast affects the whole lump of dough and given some time, you’ll see the dough ‘rise up’ never to flatten again. That is what false teaching does.

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“You are gods”

Posted in Bible interpretation, John, Psalms on 09/23/2014| Leave a Comment »

The teaching that we are all “little gods”, based on Psalm 82:6 and John 10:34, has been around for quite a while and seems to be on the rise particularly in Kenyan universities so perhaps it’s worth making a couple of comments and links here.

The key verses are quite tricky in a number of respects but particularly for two reasons:

  1. Who are the ‘gods’ in Psalm 82?
  2. Why exactly is Jesus quoting the Psalm in John 10?

But what is abundantly clear is that these verses cannot possibly mean what many popular teachers today use them to mean – that Christians (those who are in Christ) are gods in the sense that we can speak things into existence, we can speak with the authority of the Creator to rebuke diseases, declare blessings, bind disasters, change reality.

Apart from the fact that this is patently bonkers (when is the last time you stilled a storm or created a galaxy?) and sounds very much like the original temptation in the garden (Genesis 3:5), a good look at the context shows that the overall tone and message of both Psalm 82 and John 10 is 1) condemnation of the ‘gods’ and 2) the exalting of the one true God.

  1. The ‘gods’ here are being judged not applauded. The emphasis is on their guilt and powerlessness not their greatness and strength. Precisely the opposite of the way the texts are used by Word of Faith preachers.
  2. The only one being exalted in both passages is the true God. In Psalm 82 He is the one who judges (v1) and who will judge (v8). In John 10 the one in the spotlight is Jesus Christ making a unique claim to be God from God, the Son who is one with the Father, a claim for which he is very close to being stoned for blasphemy.

But what about those initial two questions? What exactly is going on in Psalm 82 and John 10? Well I’m not sure but here are a few things I’ve found and gleaned from others (you’ll need a Bible open at this point).

  • The main choices for the ‘gods’ in Psalm 82 are a) bad judges; b) fallen angelic powers; c) all Israel under judgement. The first choice seems to fit well with the accusation (v2-4) and with the context in John’s gospel where ‘the Jews’, usually referring to the Pharisees and synagogue authorities (see John 9), are doing something very similar to the ‘gods’ of Psalm 82 – not judging rightly. The second choice (dark heavenly powers) makes sense of the opening line about the gods being in the divine council and is the interpretation taken by John Piper. The third option (all Israel) notices that Psalm 82:6 goes on to say “sons of the most high” and notes that the language of God as the Father of Israel begins in the book of Exodus (cf.  John 8:41). So the judgement in Psalm 82 may be talking about the Wilderness generation who were destroyed. This is Don Carson’s understanding. Notice, none of these options for the ‘gods’ is ‘faithful Christians’.
  • More important than the ‘gods’ in Psalm 82 is the God mentioned at the beginning and end. I’m seeing a lot of connections with Psalm 2. You have a God who sits in heaven (Ps. 2:4; 82:1), you have wicked rulers (Ps. 2:1-3; 82:2-4), you have a judgement declared from heaven (Ps. 2:5-6; 82:6-7) and you have one who will judge and inherit the nations (Ps. 2:8-9; 82:8). So I’m increasingly thinking that maybe the God at the beginning of Psalm 82 is the Father, the Most High, and the God at the end of the Psalm is the Son. Which then gives a lot of bite to Jesus’ quotation in John 10 and fits with his claims there.
  • In John 10 Jesus seems to make some kind of linguistic connection between himself and the ‘gods’ of Psalm 82 – the simple point being that it is possible for Scripture to use elohim beyond just referring to the Most High God. But more importantly he contrasts himself with the ‘gods’ in that he is not merely one ‘to whom the Word came’, he is The Word who has come (John 10:35-36). – Jesus is making a how-much-more argument – a claim beyond being one of the ‘gods’, that he is the Son of God, one with the Father. And so the ‘gods’ continue to try to kill him for making such a unique claim to be God.

More resources:

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“Training servant leaders to preach Christ crucified”

Posted in Christ, Gospel, John, Ministry, Mission on 08/07/2013| 1 Comment »

munugishsignThat’s the motto of Munguishi Bible College, Arusha, Tanzania. Isn’t it brilliant? Recently they met together as a college staff team and went back to basics, looking at the Bible, looking at the Bible storyline and asking these great questions about what pastoral ministry and mission are all about:

  • Mungu ni nani?
  • Katika duniani, Mungu anafanya nini?
  • Kanisa ni nini?
  • Huduma ni nini?
  • Wachungaji ni nini?
  • Huduma ya wachungaji ni nini?

This was the college principal’s summary of what they came up with:

to be brief – God is saving people, holding off Jesus’ return to give more people a chance for repentance.  Jesus is calling to his sheep, by his Spirit and through his Word.  As his servants declare the gospel, Jesus’ sheep hear his voice, and respond in faith.
If that’s all true – what should we as pastors do – surely its to maximise the preaching of the gospel, and shape our ministries around seeing people meet the Lord Jesus in his word.

That’s saying a lot in 80 words!

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Spirit-led preaching (revisited)

Posted in Acts, Bible, Christ, John, Preaching, Spirit, Trinity on 05/07/2013| Leave a Comment »

LedSpirit_Slide

We’ve argued before that preaching that is led by the Spirit will be Bible-driven preaching. Now to add another thought that should flow naturally from that but is worth stating on its own: Spirit-led preaching is all about Jesus.

At least things point in this direction:

1. The content of the Spirit’s Word

Taking it that the whole Bible was written by the Spirit it’s interesting to look at the balance of mentions of the different persons of the Trinity. In the Old Testament there are about 14 references stating or implying the fatherhood of God and roughly 90 mentions of God’s Spirit. When it comes to the Son, there are around 25 theophanies (which I take to be the pre-incarnate Son), 52 references to ‘the Angel of the Lord’ (again I would take to be the Son) and somewhere over 300 explicit messianic prophecies. This is without beginning to try to enumerate the thousands of references related to typological offices (e.g high priest), characters (e.g. David), events (e.g. Passover) and objects (e.g. tabernacle). Jesus was not twisting things when he said (John 5; Luke 24) that the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms are all about him.

Then coming to the New Testament, there are 128 references to ‘the Spirit’, 243 explicit references to ‘the Father’ (beside hundreds of references to ‘God’ where God the Father is implied), and 950 mentions of ‘Jesus’ (not to mention hundreds of separate references to ‘the Son’, ‘Christ’, ‘Lord’, ‘Son of Man’ etc.).

Now admittedly statistics are a very crude indicator but this should immediately give us some sense of who the Spirit is most keen to talk about. He talks relatively sparingly about himself. Some have called him a “shy and retiring spirit” or “the elusive person of the Trinity” (this may be one reason why there is so much controversy about the doctrine of the Spirit – there is simply not a huge amount of biblical data). The person the Spirit seems most keen to write about is Jesus. If we imagine the Spirit as an artist, we might say that he doesn’t go in for self-portraits in a big way, his great work is a massive mural of Christ.

2. The Spirit’s stated work

The night before he died Jesus gave the most detailed explanation of the Spirit and his work that we have (John 14-16). J.I. Packer gives a great summary:

The Spirit… would be sent, said Jesus, “in my name” (14:26), that is as Jesus’s courier, spokesman, and representative… the Spirit would be self-effacing, directing all attention away from himself to Christ and drawing folk into the faith, hope, love, obedience, adoration, and dedication, which constitute communion with Christ… the Spirit would make the presence of Christ and fellowship with him and his Father realities of experience for those who, by obeying his words, showed that they loved him (14:21-23)… Again, the Spirit would teach… and the Spirit’s way of teaching would be to make disciples recall and comprehend what Jesus himself had said (14:26)… the Spirit would attest Christ in the manner of a witness… (15:26; 16:8-11)… Thus the Spirit would glorify the glorified Savior (16:14)… a floodlight ministry… It is as if the Spirit stands behind us, throwing light over our shoulder, on Jesus, who stands facing us. The Spirit’s message to us is never, “Look at me; listen to me; come to me; get to know me,” but always, “Look at him, and see his glory; listen to him, and hear his word; go to him, and have life; get to know him, and taste his gift of joy and peace.”

3. The apostles’ Spirit-led preaching

The Spirit was given that the apostles would bear witness to… Jesus (Acts 1:8).

On the day of Pentecost there is a spectacular outpouring of the Spirit, Peter is filled with the Spirit, his hair is on fire, he stands to preach an expository sermon on a text from Joel, a text which is one of the clearest Old Testament passages about the Spirit… surely we’re going to get a sermon on the Spirit – if ever there was a time for an exposition on the doctrine of the Spirit this is it… but no… “Men of Israel, hear this: JESUS” (Acts 2:22). And this most Spirit-filled of sermons continues with a relentless focus on this Jesus – his life, death, resurrection, exaltation. The Holy Spirit is only mentioned once (v33) as a confirming sign of Jesus’ exaltation and his identity as the Lord of David and the LORD of Joel.

You get the same pattern again and again in Acts – Peter is “filled with the Spirit” and preaches about salvation in Jesus (Acts 4:8-12), Stephen, a man full of the Spirit, gives a Bible overview focussed on Jesus (Acts 6-7), Philip is led by the Spirit to preach from Isaiah “the good news about Jesus” (Acts 8). We find the same pattern in the ministry and letters of Paul.

So a couple of questions:

  • When did you last hear a sermon series on the Spirit?
  • When did you last hear a sermon series on Jesus?

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Raising the snake

Posted in Gospel, John, Ministry on 01/24/2013| 3 Comments »

bronze snake

What’s your favourite gospel verse?

We all love John 3:16 but the gospel is even clearer a couple of verses earlier:

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man must be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

Jesus is taking us back hundreds of years to the time when the people of God have just been rescued out of Egypt and they’re wandering around in the Sinai desert and grumbling against the LORD – throwing his grace back in his face.  God sends venomous snakes into their camp; they start biting people and people are dropping dead all over the place.  And the people come to Moses and say, “Please pray that God will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prays for the people and something very weird happens – God doesn’t take away the snakes, he said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.”

Now that is a weird story.  But Jesus is saying that is exactly why I’ve come – I’m going to be the snake on a pole who’s going to save you from the plague.  The sinless one will become sin for us so that we can be called righteous (2 Cor. 5:21). He will rescue us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us (Gal. 3:13). As he hangs on a tree he will become the problem – become us, sinful flesh, corrupt humanity, evil and curse. The bowl of God’s wrath will be poured out upon that sin and curse and corruption until the bowl is completely finished.

And how do we receive that rescue, that salvation? Just as the Israelites in the desert did – simply by looking. Believing in the Son means recognising the obvious fact that I’m cursed, infected, perishing, in a desperate helpless state like the snake-bitten Israelite, and looking at the Son hanging on the Cross, being my sin, being me, perishing instead of me – and as I look I live, now and eternally.

So if that is the gospel, what is gospel ministry? Surely it is simply to lift up Christ crucified so he can be looked upon; to paint word pictures of Christ crucified before people’s eyes so that they can see him and live (Gal. 3:1). John the Baptist is a brilliant model of this. He doesn’t point to himself, he points to the Light (Jn. 1:7-8). He doesn’t try to ‘be Jesus to people’ – again and again he says “I’m not the Christ, I’m not the Lamb of God, I can’t do anything for you, I can only get you wet, go to Jesus over there, he’s the one who will be the sacrifice for your sins.” John is like a new Moses, lifting up Jesus, pointing to him as the one way of escape from the plague. 

And he absolutely loves it:

Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease (Jn. 3:29-30).

John’s joy is ‘complete’, goes off the scale, overflows when Jesus is the centre of attention, when everyone is running to Him, looking at Him, finding their joy and salvation in Him. That’s being a servant of the gospel. That is why the ‘i’ in iServe is small. And that’s what ‘Raising the Bar’ is all about…

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The listener

Posted in Bible, Christian Life, John, Theology on 11/21/2012| 1 Comment »

Lydia did some great staff training for us the other day on ‘soft skills’ and what came out particularly strongly for me was the stuff on listening in communication:

Knowing when to be silent and listen – let others speak… especially when you think you have the perfect story, news to share.

How to not always have the last word.

Listening is not only a matter of using the ears; it is also a matter of using the eyes.

Listening does not mean that the conversation can be taken over as soon as the person talking has finished the sentence. Listening means concentrating on what people are telling, expressing an interest in what they are saying, and ensuring that you understand what is implied. It also means being able to control the amount of information you pass on. How much is enough and at what point are we going overboard?

Active listening is inviting the other person to share their story and being able to deduct what it is they are saying from their body language as well as their words.

Listening and talking should be in balance with each other. The purpose is not solely to get something across or understand people better. The main purpose is to communicate, which means listening and speaking in an interactive (bi-directional) way.

Listening skills and the capability of empathizing with each other are also part of the communication process.

It suddenly struck me (this is probably obvious to everyone else) that God is an amazing listener. I’ve often got excited about the fact that God is a speaking God – and that is brilliant – he is revealing himself, giving himself, inviting us to know him, speaking creation and salvation into being. But I’ve never thought much about the fact that God does a huge amount of listening.

  1. He listens more than he speaks. He’s given us a thousand pages of his words – all we need to know, deep as an ocean, sweet as honey, beautiful portrait of Jesus – but how many words does he hear from us? Millions. Billions. And in his wisdom he doesn’t come straight back every time with a personalised answer. Look at the book of Job – 37 chapters of Job and his friends talking to or about God and God just listens and listens. If I was God I’d boom from heaven in chapter 5, “Now shut up and listen to me.” God has got the best story in the world to share. He has got The Truth to tell. He has got the argument to end all arguments.  But he doesn’t interrupt. He doesn’t barge in. He just listens and listens and listens. And then finally at the end of Job you get just 4 chapters of God’s reply and it isn’t a personalised, specific answer to all Job’s questions it’s just a revelation of who God is and that is enough. Basically, we talk and talk and talk and God just listens and listens and listens and then says, have another look at my finished Word, see me, that’s enough for you.
  2. He listens with massive grace and perfect empathy. It comes out in Job – how can God endure speech after speech (mostly rubbish) and not squash these moralistic ‘comforters’? In John 8 when Jesus is being called a demon-possessed bastard don’t you expect fire to come from heaven and toast them all? But it doesn’t. He takes it. He is incredibly slow to anger. How much grumbling rises to heaven every day and what does the Father send down? Rain on the just and the unjust. Come to think about it, if I was God and I listened to Andy Harker not giving thanks for all the goodness I’d poured out on him but whingeing and moaning and saying all sorts of unkind and untrue stuff, speaking rubbish with lips that I had created, then I’d squash him flat. But God listens and listens. He listens to me with the love of the Father. Don’t we all desire to be listened to by someone who really wants to listen to us, who really loves us, who understands us completely (Psalm 139) and doesn’t condemn us but is completely for us (Romans 8)? If we’re in Christ we have that listener.

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Signposts and ospreys: Preaching the gospel from John

Posted in John, Preaching on 10/05/2012| 2 Comments »

A few tips on preaching the Gospel According to John:

  • Preach in line with the purpose of the book. You wouldn’t take an electricity bill to a song contest and sing it or take a maths textbook to bed with you for a bit of escapist light reading before you fall asleep – that’s not their purpose. The purpose of John is in John 20:30-31 – an electric moment where the narrator gets in front of the camera and looks straight into the lens at you sitting there and tells you exactly why he’s written these things. LOOK –> LEAN –> LIFE. Look at the witness evidence of what happened in history, the evidence that proves Jesus is the promised king and God come in the flesh –> come to Him, eat and drink Him, lean your weight on Him –> have eternal life, knowing the true God, starting now.  Go back to John 20:30-31 every time you preach on John.  Not so that every sermon sounds the same, but so that you are preaching in line with John’s purpose, according to the will of God. If we use John’s book for some other purpose – studying different characters for motivational encouragements or looking at Jesus’ miracles for promises of healings and miracles now – then we are quite simply misusing the book and we can’t expect the Spirit to bless our words.
  • Don’t stop at the sign posts. As it said in John 20:30, Jesus miracles are ‘signs’. They are not the focus in themselves – they are signposts pointing away from themselves to Jesus. There is a great danger that we get stuck at the signpost. That’s what happens in John 6 isn’t it? The crowd liked the bread and fish and they want Jesus to do the same trick again. I’m sure I would have been the same. Free food! Never have to work again! Brilliant! But Jesus says (John 6:26-27) you haven’t seen that the bread I gave you was a SIGN – a signpost pointing away from itself to Me. Very often in John’s gospel you get a sign and you get Jesus interpreting the sign in the discussion that comes just before or just after (esp. Ch. 5, 6, 9, 11). You need both.  SIGN + INTERPRETATION = REVELATION. When you see them together it totally changes how you preach the sign. So for example the healing of the man by the pool (Ch. 5) is not about how to get a healing but about the power and authority of Jesus’ words, about him doing his Father’s work, about the raising of the dead.
  • Tell the story. As we’ve said before the Gospels are stories of Jesus – the most amazing story ever told. Don’t let us lose the drama and tension and flow of the story when we preach it. And the particular shape of the story the way John tells it is ‘U’-shaped. Jesus is the one come down from heaven (John 3:13), sent into the world by the Father (John 3:17), then he’s the one returning to the Father (John 16:10) with the aim that we would be lifted up into the mutual love of the Trinity (John 17:24) – true Home. In the upper room you have the turning point (see John 13:3 and 16:28) – the bottom of the ‘U’ as Jesus washes his disciples feet and prepares for the even greater humility and greater washing of the Cross. Have a look at the video below (especially the middle minute) while meditating on John 13:3: “come from God… going back to God…”  If the whole of creation is preaching the Word of Christ, perhaps the osprey is particularly preaching John’s Gospel to us. The majestic one who comes from heaven, into the depths of darkness and slavery and sin, grabs us (John 15:16) and takes us to undreamt of heights to soar with him. If the Son sets you free…

  • Preach the gospel from the Gospel. As should be clear by now, that’s what John is all about. All the way through you get this repeated drum beat – “The hour has not yet come”, “The hour has not yet come”, “The hour has not yet come” (John 2:4; 7:30; 8:20; 12:23,27). Then we get to the upper room and the time for the big event has finally come (John 13:1; 17:1). Then finally at John 19:30 the great cry, “It is finished.”  The Lamb of God sacrificed for the sins of the world (John 1:29) – that’s what it’s all been building up to. Substitution comes again and again – Christ’s death for / instead of us (John 6:51; 10:11; 11:50-52; 15:13; 17:19; 18:14). And it’s underlined by the Old Testament allusions – Jesus is the Ladder connecting heaven and earth ((John 1:51 cf. Gen. 28:10-19), the Snake lifted on a stick, made sin for us (John 3:14 cf. Num. 21:4-9), the one who drinks the cup of God’s wrath (John 18:11 cf. Isaiah 51:17,22; Jeremiah 25:15). That’s our focus as we appeal to people to look, lean, live.

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