G—Grace

Journey through the Gospel of John from A to Z with rookie bloggers who are seeking to honor their good friend, Tina.

Today we will look at a theme that runs through the entire gospel of John, the theme of GRACE.

This theme is first sounded in the Prologue, when John explains that the very character and nature of God is reflected in Jesus:

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Exactly what is grace? Grace can be defined as favor or blessing that is bestowed as a gift, without being earned.

John is telling us that this beauteous generosity is part of the essence of God's very nature, so of course it characterizes His dealings with us.  
And from his fullness we have all 
received grace upon grace.  (John 1:14-16)

In other words, because of who God is, He has given us favor we don't deserve, and He will keep on lavishing that grace upon us.

Grace is at the root of John 3:16 that says that "God so loved the world that He gave..." Over and over we see how God gives to us out of His own nature, a nature of love.

Grace is the core of what Jesus was trying to communicate to Nicodemus and to the woman at the well.

Nicodemus needed to hear about grace because he had bought into a behavior-based system where people had to try to work their way into being acceptable. Jesus sought to free him from this performance trap by explaining that coming into eternal life was more like a birth. And that birth would bring him into the very family of God. As a son, he would not have to work for acceptance.  "But to all who receive Jesus, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God."  (John 1:12)

The woman at the well needed to hear the message of grace even more desperately, for she had fallen to a place where she likely felt that she could never be acceptable.  But because grace is based on God's love and character, it didn't matter what she had done.  Jesus encouraged her to ask for the living water, she would be changed internally through His gift.

The GRACE that Jesus offers is really AMAZING.  We don't need to worry that our self-worth, our success, our security, or even that our salvation is based on our behavior. 

Do you know that God loves you and freely gives grace upon grace?

When you grasp that truth you can be free indeed.  Free from fear and striving.

F—Faith

Journey through the Gospel of John from A to Z with rookie bloggers who are seeking to honor their good friend, Tina.

One of the most beautiful aspects of the Gospel of John is how it relates Jesus' interactions with a variety of people. Yesterday, we looked at how Jesus talked to Nicodemus, a spiritual leader who came to see Him at night.  Today, we see Jesus as the one who comes and initiates a conversation with a woman who is on the opposite end of the social ladder.  Where Nicodemus was the one pursuing answers, here we have a woman at Jacob's well who is avoiding answers.  While Nicodemus might be considered upright and moral, this woman would more likely be labeled "immoral" as she had had a string of husbands and was currently living with someone she wasn't married to.

John makes it clear that "Jews do not associate with Samaritans," reminding us that Jesus did not respect cultural barriers. Even though the culture didn't value her, He cared about this woman and persisted in seeking to reveal the truth to her—that He is the Messiah. Here, Jesus describes eternal life as water that He offers, living water that will abundantly flow from within the believer.

"Everyone who drinks this [well] water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."  (John 4:13-14)

There is a marked contrast between the Samaritan woman's response and Nicodemus's.  He reacts with confusion, while she reacts with faith that does seem to spring up like a fountain from within—a fountain that refreshes everyone about her.

She testifies to her neighbors and challenges them to believe that He is the Christ. Her faith is somewhat contagious, leading her fellow townspeople to come to Jesus, spend time with Him, and then at last to believe.

Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony... So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days.  And because of his words many more became believers.  They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."   (John 4:39-42)

John writes this gospel to bring others to faith.  Like the woman at the well, John's faith in Jesus is contagious and refreshing.  Have you put your faith in Jesus?  Are you refreshing others with the living water of Jesus Christ?

E—Eternal Life

Journey through the Gospel of John from A to Z with rookie bloggers who are seeking to honor their good friend, Tina.

In his gospel, John tells us that Jesus' miracles drew a lot of interest:
"Now while Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in His name." (John 2:23)

The miracles also attracted the attention of the religious leaders. One of those Jewish leaders, Nicodemus, came to visit Jesus one night.  From the interview, however, it is clear that Jesus was not impressed with the spiritual insight of this "teacher of Israel."

Jesus didn't waste any time in getting to the main point of our spiritual need: eternal life. For eternal life is the answer to the problem that every person confronts.  Everyone struggles with moral weaknesses and failings, and everyone faces the prospect of death. He tells Nicodemus the key to dealing with this problem and experiencing eternal life.

Jesus uses two images to explain eternal life, He described it as being a birth and as being like the wind—two things that cannot be controlled by the person experiencing them.

Having dedicated his life to strictly adhering to a set of traditions, Nicodemus had a hard time shifting gears. Jesus was directing Him to move from a place where his effort and behavior were the focus of his acceptability, to understand it wholly as a work of God.

Jesus:   I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God 
             unless he is born from above.  
Nic:       How can a man be born when he is old? 
             Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!  
Jesus:   You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born from above.'  
             The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, 
             but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. 
             So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.  

Jesus explained that God sent His son into the world so as to save it through Him.

Perhaps Nicodemus did not understand until later some of what Jesus was saying.  But when he saw Jesus lifted up on the cross, the words of that night must have come to him:

The Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  (John 3:15-16)

After Jesus gave His life on the cross, Nicodemus and another secret disciple laid Him in a tomb.  When Jesus rose from that tomb, his followers learned the power of the life that He offers.
And that is the light that Christians walk in today.

Eternal life is not just living after you physically die, it is being united with Jesus and experiencing His power and His eternality from the moment you put your trust in Him.

"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life." (John 3:36)

Have you come into eternal life through faith in Jesus? Are you walking in His victory?

D—Disciples Believe

Journey through the Gospel of John from A to Z with rookie bloggers who are seeking to honor their good friend, Tina.

Within days of John the Baptist's endorsement, several disciples were intrigued enough with Jesus' teaching to follow Him on the two-day trip up to Galilee. But surely they had some doubts of their new-found leader.  For example, Nathaniel, upon hearing of Jesus and his origins, asked, "Nazareth! Can anything good come from Nazareth?" But Nathaniel and the other disciples quickly respond to Jesus and the demonstrations of authority that He displayed.

The gospel of John records seven of these demonstrations of power or "signs"—acts that are intended to point to Jesus as the very Son of God, the Promised One.  John details not just the witnesses present when the signs were performed, but he also gives the geographic locations of where they occurred. The first miracle happened at Cana, a small village not far from Capernaum.

There Jesus and his disciples attended a wedding feast with His mother, who approached Jesus to explain that their host was facing the crisis of running out of wine for his guests.  In a culture that highly valued hospitality, this was a serious problem.  Jesus directed servants to fill six large urns to the brim with water, and then to serve some from an urn and take it to the master of the banquet.

"When the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside  and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now."   This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him. (John 2:9-11)

Because the disciples had followed Jesus, they were in a position to see His amazing transformative work.  In seeing it, they responded in faith and they themselves would be changed.

Are your eyes open to the work that God is doing all around you?
Are you eager for Him to bring about transformation in your life?
Respond in faith and see Jesus bring about something new as you follow Him.

C—Come and See!

Journey through the Gospel of John from A to Z with rookie bloggers who are seeking to honor their good friend, Tina.

John the Baptist wasn't interested in amassing his own following or seeking his own fame.  He knew his role to be one of the supporting cast. He drew the attention of two of his disciples to Jesus, encouraging them to follow him.

When [John the Baptist] saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!"  When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.  Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?" They said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?"  "Come," he replied, "and you will see." 
So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. (1:36-39)

Jesus is delighted to have us come with our questions.  You can sense his eagerness for relationship in his invitation to these two seekers.

This is the first of three invitations that Jesus issues in the gospel of John.  He bids us come to spend time discovering more about Him.  To stay awhile and see for ourselves what all the fuss is about.

Have you spent time exploring the person of Christ?  It may be the beginning of an adventure!

B—Behold the Lamb

Journey through the Gospel of John from A to Z with rookie bloggers who are seeking to honor their good friend, Tina.

The engineer in me loves John's symmetrical use of numbers.  In this gospel he records seven "I am..." declarations of Jesus (the bread of life, the vine, etc.),  and seven signs that point to Him as the Messiah. He also includes seven witnesses that declare Jesus to be the Son of God.  First and foremost among these witnesses is John the Baptist:

There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John.  He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. (1:7)

The Baptist is also here recorded as saying:  "I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God." (1:34)

 But perhaps most significant is his statement:  "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (1:29)

As the son of temple priest Zechariah, John had a clear picture in mind of a lamb that was being offered as a sacrifice. The blood of a lamb saved those who lived under it at the first Passover.  Jesus had come as the perfect sacrifice that God Himself offered.

This week we will remember that sacrifice.  We, too, can look to the Lamb and be saved, our sin covered by His blood. 

A—Announcing!

Journey through the Gospel of John from A to Z with rookie bloggers who are seeking to honor their good friend, Tina.

Our journey through the Book of John begins with the Prologue. The first 18 verses of Chapter 1 are among the most beautiful in the Bible.  I like to think of this section as an overture to John's gospel.  Just as an orchestra might preview major themes that will be developed later in a musical work,  John hits his main themes—primary among them: that Jesus is Divine:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made....The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.  (Jn. 1:1-3, 14)

These verses serve as a great announcement, a grand fanfare that ushers a King into our midst—they are meant to get our attention.

John proceeds to introduce other key motifs:  Jesus is the life and light of men.  Witnesses of His glory testify to Him so that others might come to faith and become children of God.  All He is and does is characterized by grace and truth.

The beauty of the King that is announced surpasses that of any earthly king bedecked in gems and finery.  John's description is meant to stir our hearts to hearken to the presence of the Christ, the One who exhibits grace and truth—the very nature of God.  Have you come into His light?