Sermons – Grace Evangelical Free Church // Wyoming, MN

John 3:16-21 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God.”

Every year at Advent we’re faced with the question of whether to continue on in whatever book of the Bible I’m preaching through or do something more Advent-specific. Over the years, for various reasons, we’ve done both. This year we decided to stick with John. Providentially, we’ve come to John 3:16, one of the most Christmasy passages in the entire Bible. Likewise, verses 17-21 aren’t unChristmassy either.

Over the next three weeks, then, we’re going to work our way through this passage in John’s Gospel at a slower pace than we’ve been going.

This week is John 3:16, The Love of God Is Shown through Christmas

Next week is 3:17-18, There Is No Condemnation through Christmas

And then on the 18th, we’ll work through 3:19-21, The Light of the World Has Come through Christmas

Because this week’s text is perhaps the most famous passage in the Bible, and because it is pretty dense, and because it gets us straight to the heart of Christmas, and because I hope this will provide a model for you of how to read Scripture slowly and carefully, we’re going to look at it clause by clause by clause—eleven in all. My main aim is to help you better understand and be drawn into God’s love in Jesus Christ. That is, I want to help all of us experience the genuine love of God in greater ways this Advent season as a result of the awesome truths and promises revealed in this single verse. Let’s pray that by God’s grace, it might be so.

If you were to walk around your neighborhood and ask everyone you meet, “What does Christmas mean to you?,” what kinds of answers do you think you’d get? If you were being totally honest, what is your answer—what is the main thing you think of when you consider Christmas? When it comes to family and friends, traditions and food, presents and music, there’s a lot to like, isn’t there? Even theologically, Christmas points to a lot of awesome things.

Above all, all that God does is for His glory. The means by which He has chosen to be glorified varies, but the ultimate goal of His glory doesn’t. In that sense, Christmas is mainly about God putting His glory on display for the world to see, honor, and delight in.

But God’s glory is not some mystical, subjective thing. It is the unlimited greatness of His unchanging being on display. It is the specific expression of specific attributes. One of the primary attributes of God on display in Christmas, once again, is His love. There are others as well—His grace, mercy, justice, patience, etc.—but central to Christmas is the love of God.

As a non-Christian kid, Christmas was definitely mainly about presents and parties. As a new Christian, I still liked the presents but the gospel certainly moved to the top of my list. To be honest, though, I don’t think it was until relatively recently that I really began to consider how central the love of God is to the meaning of Christmas.

That’s the heart of John 3:16. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

This passage gets tossed around enough—even at sporting events, although I can’t remember the last time I saw a sign—that it’s easy to gloss over. It’s easy to miss the dense glory it describes. Again, for that reason, we’re going to work carefully through the main claims it makes as a means of more fully celebrating Christmas.

The first term to consider is the first term in the verse, “for”. In this case it introduces something important—namely, that what follows is a bit of commentary from John. (It’s an explanatory conjunction.) It is meant to signal to us the fact that in 3:16-21, John was explaining more about what Jesus taught in 3:13-15 (in particular). In other words, 3:16-21 is a further unpacking of Jesus’ teachings that He has come from God, that He will be lifted up to rescue mankind, and that whoever believes in Him will have everlasting life.

The second term is the second term, “God”. If you’ve been around Grace Church for a while, you’ve certainly heard us talk about the importance of letting God define God. Have you ever read Isaiah 44:13-17?

The carpenter … 14 cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. 15 Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it. 16 Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, “Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!” 17 And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!”

We read things like that and rightly scoff. It’s obviously foolish to grow a tree to use half for firewood and the other half to make a god out of. What kind of God shares an essential nature with cooking fuel and is created by the one who worships him? Who would be so foolish as to trust in a god carved by your own hands? The problem is that this is exactly what most people do. They aren’t as obvious as the carpenter in Isaiah 44, but they are no less foolish.

It’s always important to be clear on who God actually is, but it’s especially important around Christmas time when we focus so much on Him. Way too many people have created a god in their own image to believe in or reject; to celebrate or dismiss. In fact, we all do this to some degree. We all come to our understanding of God by taking some of this and some of that. For the rest of our time on earth, Christians are continually, prayerfully asking God to transform our minds through His Spirit and Word to know Him more; to know Him rightly.

Grace, God’s Word is where God has primarily and definitively revealed His true nature to us. Celebrating Christmas in the highest means being in the Word throughout Advent.

We’ll pick up the pace a bit here in the third clause by considering four words, “so loved the world”. For God so loved the world! We’ll see shortly that God’s love took a particular form—sending Jesus (Christmas) to bring eternal life to all who would believe in Him—but for now, I invite you to simply marvel at the news that there is a manner in which God loved the world. It’s remarkable in large measure because of the nature of love and the nature of the world.

The nature of love. Just like the nature of God has been hijacked, so too has the nature of love by all sorts of people with all sorts of intentions. It’s interesting to see it hijacked on both ends too. Some redefine it to (in their minds) show the goodness of God. I have in mind those who speak of God’s love such that He is not angry with sin, but is glad for everyone who would come to Him on their own terms. In that sense, love is something like affirming people no matter what. And others redefine it to argue for God’s non-existence. There’s no way, they boldly assert, that a loving God would allow for the kinds of evil and suffering that exists in the world today. In that sense, love is something like the commitment to hold back the most extreme forms of evil and suffering from the most innocent among us.

But just like we are not free to redefine God, we are not free to redefine the love of God. He is not whatever we might make Him out to be and neither is His love. In simple and common terms, the love of God (as it is use in this passage) is the affectionate pursuit of that which is best for the world. It does not mean that He’s happy about everything the people of the world do (in fact, the love of God here is an expression of the exact opposite). And it does not mean that He will end all suffering (many reject His love). But it does mean that the rest of the verse describes God’s delight to bring to mankind what mankind needs most.

The nature of the world. That God has that kind of love for the world might sound normal and natural. In some ways it is. But before we can ever appreciate any of it, we must truly grasp what this means. It means that God loves the for the fallen, broken, treasonous people of the world. As the particular expression of the love of God mentioned in this passage makes clear, the love of God is not directed at the lovely in the world, but at the sinful rebel; at those who have willingly chosen to reject God and make Him their enemy. This is the only passage in the NT that explicitly describes God’s love for the world in this way. It is an awesome reality.

Again, then, to celebrate Christmas well means understanding who God is, what love is, and that both are right at the heart of what makes Christmas worth celebrating above almost everything else.

For the fourth clause we need to back up a bit (I suppose that means we only covered three words in the previous section). We need to briefly consider the meaning of “so” (“for God so loved the world…”). For many years I misunderstood what John was actually saying. I took it to be a reference to the quantity of God’s love for the world; as in, “God loved the word so much that He…”. But it’s not a description of the amount of love God had for the world, but the form. A clearer translation would be something like, “God loved the world in such a way that…” or “In this way God loved the world…”.

God-honoring Christmas celebrations and Christmas celebrations that have the most oomph behind them are rooted in the knowledge that God’s love is at the center and that it takes a particular form. We are not to celebrate generically or according to mere tradition or nostalgia. We celebrate the actual content of the love of God. What is that you ask?

The fifth clause, “that He gave,” begins to explain the form God’s love took. He loved the world in such a way as to give it something (His only Son). The main point that I want you see in this clause is the intentionality and purposefulness it describes. God gave His Son.

Jesus was not taken from heaven. He was given by God.

Jesus did not escape from heaven. He was given by God.

Jesus did not end up on earth by accident. He was given by God.

Jesus was given as a baby, conceived by the Sprit and born of a virgin.

And Jesus was given to be an example, suffer, die, and rise again.

The term “He gave” seems way too simple to contain all of that. We’ll miss it—as we’ve all done so many times—if we don’t slow down enough to meditate on it. Christmas is good news of great joy and worth celebrating in the highest because it is a celebration of the intentional love of God in the giving of that which is best for us.

What, then, did God’s love drive Him to intentionally give? What is best for us? As I already said, the sixth clause in this passage tells us that, it drove Him to give His only Son. That’s quite a statement. Grace Church, I love you all in such a way that I got you all a $25 Chipotle gift card. That’d be pretty sweet. Grace, I love you all in such a way that I got you all a week in Key West, FL. That’d be something almost incomprehensible. Grace, I love you all in such a ways that I’m giving you my children. That’s kind of strange, of course, but also 1,000x more than Key West since they are the most important thing I have on earth besides my wife. I’d gladly give you all of my money and possessions before I’d give them. God gave His one and only Son. Christmas finds a great deal of its meaning and celebration fuel, right there.

Who, then, is the only Son of God, given in love by God, whom we celebrate at Christmas? His name is Jesus. And so far in John’s Gospel we’ve seen that He is the eternal Word of God (1:1-2), the One through whom all things were made (1:3), the unquenchable light and everlasting life of the world (1:4), the One of whom prophets foretold (1:6-8), the One who makes sinners children of God (1:12), the One who became flesh and lived among us(1:14), the one who is filled with the glory, grace, and truth of the Father (1:14), the One who makes the Father known (1:18), the Lamb of God (1:29), the One who takes away the sins of the world (1:29), the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit (1:33), the Teacher (1:38), the Christ :1:42), the One who sees all things (1:48), the King of Israel (1:49), the miracle-worker (2:7-8), the temple-cleanser (2:15-17), the One who knows the hearts of man (2:24-25), and the One who will die for the sins of the world (3:14). And as if that were not enough, as we work through John’s Gospel we’ll see even more descriptions of the only Son, given by God.

Grace, truly celebrating Christmas is a celebration filled with a knowledge of and love for the Son of God. We simply cannot honor God in our Christmas celebrations if they are not directly attached to joy in the real attributes of Jesus. Advent exists for the very purpose of focusing our minds in exactly these types of things so that Christmas can be the celebration of them. Christmas is the good news that Jesus, God’s Son has come to dwell among us because of the love of God for us.

The seventh clause, concerns the words, “His only” [Son]. What does that mean? I thought we were sons and daughters of God. Isn’t that what John himself taught in 1 John 3:1, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.”?

In what sense is Jesus the only Son of God? As the Chalcedon and Nicene Creeds state so well…

[The] Son, our Lord Jesus Christ… complete in Godhead … truly God … of one substance [homoousios] with the Father … begotten of the Father before the ages…Son and Only-begotten God the Word, Lord Jesus Christ; even as the prophets from earliest times spoke of him, and our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us… (cited in Henry Bettenson, ed., Documents of the Christian Church [London: Oxford Univ., 1967],51-52)

I believe in … one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.

The primary thrust in the expression “only” Son of God is in the facts that Jesus alone is the second person of the Trinity, the eternal Word, the only begotten of God. Christmas is not about celebrating just any man, but the everlasting, perfect, God-man. The more we can come to know the true nature of Jesus, the more full and joyful our Christmas celebrations will be. Nostalgia, decorations, cute kids, presents, events, and all the rest combined and multiplied by 1,000,000 are no substitute for a genuine, Holy Spirit-given understanding of the glory of the only Son of God.

We all know that the whole world does not experience the love of God in Christmas. We are right to ask, therefore, how this works. How does God’s love for the world relate to what we actually experience? Is it that He loves everyone, but only a few receive it or something else?

John plainly answers these questions for us. The eighth clause to consider is that the love of God for the world was expressed in the giving of His Son and it is able to be received by whoever believes in Him. Grace, the good news of Christmas is that every single person, no matter your age, ethnic group, sex, language, education level, popularity, income, appearance, health, past sins, religious background, or anything else, can know the true love of God right now.

This is good news indeed. Tell your friends, your neighbors, and your family. The love of God is ready to flow freely and wonderfully to whoever will believe in Him. Christmas is great news because it is for all who will receive it.

Ninth, however, as we’ve seen over the past few weeks, the love of God is for all who will truly believe in Him. There are many forms of unbelief and, perhaps, even more forms of unbelieving belief. Those will not do. They are not what John is talking about. Unbelief and unbelieving belief alike will not allow us to experience God’s love. By “believes in Him,” John means genuine belief, in the gospel, flowing from the Spirit’s work. It is the kind of belief that results from having apprehended the holiness of God, our own sinfulness, the wages of our sin, and the sufficient grace of Jesus. It is the kind of belief that increasingly trusts in the promises and delights in the commands of God. It is believing belief.

Christmas is for believing believers. In fact, our growing joy in celebrating the coming of the Son of God is one mark that our belief is genuine.

The tenth clause helps us to see that there are even more ways the love of God is expressed to everyone who believes; that is, Christmas is about even greater news still. God’s love for the world is such that on account of it Jesus was given for those who believe in Him, and in such a way that we will never die. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish…”.

I should explain that just a bit. This is not a promise that we will never die physically; most likely all of us will. It is a promise that true believers will never die spiritually. As we saw last week, because we are all born alive physically but dead spiritually, if we are to believe in God, we need to be reborn (or spiritually born). Once we are spiritually born, then, even if we die physically (before Jesus returns), we can never die spiritually. Physical death is merely the doorway for our spirit/soul to live with God in heaven. If we are made spiritually alive, we can never spiritually perish.

What’s more, the spiritual perishing that will never happen for all who believe in God, because of God’s love in Jesus, is hell. This is no small promise. The ultimate blessing, which we’ll see in a moment, is eternal life. But that news is doubly good because we get it (eternal life) instead of spiritual death. It is the matchless love of God that keeps us from the everlasting destruction we deserve.

Let me ask you one simple question before we get to the last point…what have you ever seen that can compare to these things? What can the world possibly offer that comes within a thousand miles of the truths contained in this single verse? What is more worth celebrating at Christmas time than these things?!

The eleventh and final clause is sort of the other side of the coin from the last point. Not only does the love of God in Jesus Christ make those who believe unable to die spiritually, but it also leads to everlasting life as well. Christmas is ultimately about God lovingly sending the means by which we can be reconciled to Him and restored to the kind of fellowship with Him we were made for. At Christmas, Jesus came to dwell among us so that we could dwell with God forever. Awesome!

When Christmas is rightly understood as the love of God, manifest in the person of Jesus, and for the eternal life of all who believe, then it is truly worth celebrating. Grace, I hope you’re seeing how different (and better!) a John 3:16 informed Christmas is than what much of the world knows; tragically, even than what much of those in the Church know. Each of the eleven points are what we ought to be focusing on. These truths are what make good Christmas decorations and tree ornaments. These are the truths that are worth singing about. It is when these truths take proper root in our minds and hearts that most of what makes up most of Christmas for us makes sense and honors God—all the food, parties, gifts, decorations, etc. Tragically, those things have outright replaced the truths of John 3:16 for many, and at least partially for all of us. And yet it is the truths of John 3:16 that makes those things make sense. May God help us to see these things in order that we may truly celebrate them in Jesus!

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

At the end of John 2, John described a large group of people who “believed in [Jesus’] name” because they witnessed Him perform miraculous signs. Instead of being good news, however, John lets his readers know that their belief wasn’t genuine. It was unbelieving belief. John tells us that Jesus knew their true (unbelieving) hearts and for that reason, “Jesus…did not entrust himself to them.” We covered all of that in last week’s sermon.

In our passage for this week, John recounts the particular story of one of the unbelieving believers. That is, what John stated in principle in 2:23-25, he gave an example of in 3:1-15. In the man, Nicodemus, and his interaction with Jesus, we are given a picture of what unbelieving belief looks like in real life.

And in the story of Nicodemus, John provides us with a few signs of unbelieving belief as well as the means to overcome it. Signs of unbelieving belief include coming to Jesus in secret, coming to Jesus merely because of His signs, and leaving Jesus more confused and discouraged. And the means by which God has given for His people to become genuine believers is new spiritual birth. New birth is needed to see and enter the kingdom of God, it comes from the Spirit, there is mystery in it, and it means that the kingdom of God is already and not yet.

Let’s pray that God would grant the unbelieving believers among us the ability to recognize the signs of unbelieving belief in order that they may turn from it to believing belief. And let’s pray that God would help us to see the manner in which unbelief and unbelieving belief alike are transformed into genuine, saving belief.

Again, this is a story intended to help us see what the unbelieving belief of 2:23-25 looks like and how to overcome it. First, what it looks like…

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

The unbelieving believer was named Nicodemus. He was a Pharisee. This means two main things for our purposes. First, it means that he was well trained in the Word of God and held a position of power and influence over the children of Abraham. Second, it means that he had a lot to lose in the eyes of the world by associating with Jesus. Remember, this was early in Jesus’ public ministry. He was just starting to make waves. The religious leaders were not yet sure what to do with Him, but after the cleansing of the temple, performing signs, and beginning to teach, it wouldn’t take long for Jesus to become public enemy number one in the eyes of Nicodemus’s fellow Pharisees.

Combined, in worldly terms, all of this means that Nicodemus had almost nothing to gain if he were to truly trust in Jesus. Even giving the appearance of believing in Jesus would likely have cost him dearly—socially, financially, and religiously.

Nicodemus knew all of that and so he hardened his heart to anything but unbelieving belief. He’d seen and heard enough to be impressed by Jesus and to want to meet with Him, but in the end Nicodemus considered the cost of following Jesus to be too high and was unwilling to pay it.

Seeing in Nicodemus and the “many” of 2:23-25 how easy it is to be an unbelieving believer and not even know it, we’d be right to want some diagnostic tools to check for it in ourselves and those we love. Indeed, in Nicodemus’s encounter with Jesus we find three signs of unbelieving belief. Let’s consider them and then be on the lookout for them.

First, like the chief priests and Pharisees would on the night before His crucifixion, Nicodemus came to Jesus by night—that is, when he was least likely to be noticed and the stakes were lowest.

2 This man came to Jesus by night …

Unbelieving belief is willing to follow Jesus only when it costs little and nothing permanent. It is willing to be associated with Jesus only around people who are also associated with Jesus. Unbelieving belief will only go to Him in secret. Unbelieving belief counts Jesus as a small amount of gain, but not much compared to wealth and health.

While going to Jesus might otherwise seem like belief, the fact that Nicodemus went in the dark is the first sign that he was actually an unbelieving believer.

We’re right to check our own hearts here. Are you more willing to align with Jesus when His adversaries are least likely to notice? Are you embarrassed to be associated with Jesus around certain groups of people? Do you have your own version of coming to Jesus “by night”?

The second sign that Nicodemus was an unbelieving believer is that his belief was rooted in Jesus’ signs. We can’t miss the parallel between 3:2 and 2:23.

In 2:23 we read, “Many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing.”

In 3:2 we read, “This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.’”

Again, on the surface, both of these look like genuine belief. But both are rooted in witnessing the “signs” of Jesus. And signs, as we saw last week, by themselves, are not sufficient to generate genuine belief. We’ll see this more and more as we work through John. Just listen to what John wrote in chapter 12.

John 12:37-43 Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, 38 so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” 39 Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said, 40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.” 41 Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. 42 Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

Nicodemus will pop up again in chapter 7 and he’s even around at Jesus’ crucifixion (chapter 19). It’s hard to say whether he ever truly came to faith or not. At this point, however, it’s hard to imagine a diagnosis more appropriate for Nicodemus than the one found in 12:42-43, ” many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.”

Again, this isn’t hard to see in Nicodemus’s actions. If he really believed that Jesus was “a teacher come from God,” then he would not have come by night and pressed back on Jesus’ teaching. He would have come by day, without fear of the implications, and he would have fallen down before Jesus in humble submission and joyful worship.

In the same way, it usually isn’t hard to see in our own thoughts, feelings, and actions either. What are you expecting or demanding from Jesus before you really follow Him? What areas of your life are you holding back from Jesus as you wait on something more than what He’s already given and revealed? Or, from the other angle, what has drawn you to Jesus to begin with? What is it about Jesus that makes you interested?

Grace, consider this carefully. Unbelieving belief is always rooted in something other than (as we’re about to see) a Holy Spirit-given new birth. Unbelieving belief is rooted in the need to see signs or hear wise sounding arguments or receive assurances of safety or promises of a certain blessing or … (all of which are things God may use, but none of which are sufficient to create believing belief).

The third and final sign of unbelieving belief we see in Nicodemus is his confusion at and reluctance to receive Jesus’ teaching. Consistent with the Isaiah prophecies we just read in the John 12 passage, Nicodemus could not see with his eyes or understand with his heart. Rather than bringing clarity, Jesus’ words to Nicodemus brought confusion. Rather than being amazed, Nicodemus sounded at least slightly annoyed. Rather than being swift to repent, Nicodemus resisted.

When Jesus said that being able to see the kingdom of God is possible only for those who are born again,

4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

And when Jesus further explained,

9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?”

Acknowledging Nicodemus’s confusion and the fact that it stemmed from his spiritual blindness and unbelieving belief,

10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

And in one final piece of evidence against and condemnation of Nicodemus’s unbelief, Jesus explained who He was, why He came, and how that is good news for mankind.

13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

Jesus explained that He was the fulfillment of the Moses’ story (Numbers 21) in that He had come from God, that He would be raised up (on a cross) to die for the children of God, and that the eternal life He came to bring came through believing in Him. The clear implication of all of this is that even though he should have as at teacher of the Israel, Nicodemus didn’t understand and therefore didn’t truly believe. A key sign of unbelieving belief is that it is primarily marked by confusion and “yeah buts” at the teaching of Jesus.

Again, we would do well to consider this, Grace. Is the Word of God a source of clarity and joy and life for you or is it a source of frustration, confusion, and dismissal? Do you say with the Psalmist (1:2), “[My] delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law [I] meditate day and night”? Or, like the fool is your delight in expressing your own opinion (Proverbs 18:2). Are you eager to sit under the preaching of the Word and study it yourself or do you find it dull and largely unhelpful? Does Jesus’ teaching energize you for obedience or does it bore you?

Three sure signs of unbelieving belief that we see in Nicodemus are coming by night, belief based on signs, and confusion at the teaching of Jesus. Look for these signs in yourselves. Look for them in your kids. Look for them in the people of Grace Church. Look for them in all who claim to believe in Jesus. Where you find those signs ask God to grant genuine belief and with it, eternal life.

Well, if Nicodemus provided a real life-example of the kind of unbelieving belief that John described in 2:23-25, is there anything in this story that helps us to see where genuine belief comes from? According to the kindness of God, yes! In this passage we are not only given the signs of unbelieving belief, but also the means by which God produces genuine belief.

How then do we become believing believers? Because Jesus knew Nicodemus even better than Nicodemus knew himself, when Nicodemus approached Jesus,

3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Confused by this, evidently believing that Jesus meant this literally (that a person would need to reenter his mom’s womb), Nicodemus understandably asked how that was possible (v.4). And in response,

5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Jesus taught here what theologians have since come to call the doctrine of regeneration (being born again). Consider with me five lessons on the new birth that we find in this passage.

3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

The basic idea of regeneration is that we are all born physically alive but spiritually dead. That is, because of the sin of Adam, we all inherit corrupted, sinful natures. One practical result is that we can see and understand physical things, but not spiritual things. And since believing belief is connected to belief in spiritual things, we cannot believe without God’s help.

Let me say all of that again in another way. We are born into sin and death. Apart from the mercy and grace of God, we will remain in our sin and the death it produces. John wrote his Gospel to tell us that Jesus is the Son of God, that He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in such a way that He did not inherit Adam’s corrupted nature, that He lived a life of perfect righteousness, and that He died on the cross to pay the death penalty we deserve and rose from the dead to give us His perfect righteousness and eternal life. John also wrote his Gospel to teach us that we gain access to that saving work of Jesus not by doing enough good works, but by believing in Him. Indeed, “whoever believes in Him may have eternal life” (3:15).

Genuine belief in Jesus, the kind that connects us with the righteousness of Jesus, comes from being born again. And when this happens, we are given new spiritual eyes to see the spiritual truths of the gospel so that we might truly believe. Whatever measure of unbelieving belief that is in us will be driven out and replaced by genuine believing belief when we are given spiritual eyes to see and ears to hear.

The King was standing in front of Nicodemus, but he could not see. To be able to recognize Jesus for who He was, and then to believe in Him, Nicodemus needed to be born again.

5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

The main point to understand here is that while Nicodemus would have had an understanding of the kingdom of God, it was fundamentally flawed. That’s why Jesus rebuked him for not understanding. As a teacher of God’s people, he was well-studied in the Word of God, but his studies were tragically misguided. Along with the rest of the Pharisees, Nicodemus believed that people entered God’s kingdom through obedience to the law of God. He’d given much of his life to studying and meticulously obeying God’s Word in order that he would be able to enter the kingdom. In one simple phrase, as He did with the tables of the money changers, Jesus just flipped this understanding on its head.

Just like the Jews wrongly focused exclusively on the messianic passages that described a conquering king, missing the others on the suffering servant, they focused exclusively on the passages that connected entrance into the kingdom with obedience, missing the passages that promise it as an act of God’s grace.

Ezekiel 36:25-27 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

It was all there to be seen for anyone with eyes to see, but new birth—of water and Spirit—is needed to see, and seeing is needed to enter God’s kingdom.

6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Being born in the flesh, all we are able to give birth to is flesh. The simple thing for us to see here is that new birth must come from the Holy Spirit of God. It is not something we can generate on our own. We are truly and utterly incapable of producing the new birth ourselves. It must be regenerated within us by the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit always does this regenerating work in connection with the good news (the gospel) of Jesus. That is why it is our job to preach the gospel to all without discrimination. It is not up to us to decide who is likely to respond in faith. It is always a miracle of the Holy Spirit when someone is born again—whether a child who grew up in a Christian home or the hardest Muslim terrorist.

7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Grace Church, the fact that the Bible clearly teaches that we need to be born again to see and enter the kingdom of God and that it comes only from the Spirit, does not mean that every aspect of it is clear. There is mystery to it. Let’s learn from the mistakes of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. As I mentioned earlier, they were really bad at highlighting only half of what God’s Word teaches. Let’s not fall into that same pit.

The Bible commands us to believe in Jesus and holds us responsible when we don’t. Likewise, it commands us to call on others to believe in Jesus and holds them responsible if they refuse (Acts 16:31). And God’s Word tells us that all who seek Jesus (Matthew 7:7-11) will find Him. God’s Word really teaches all of those things. And it teaches that all of that is only possible through Holy Spirit-given new birth. All of those things are equally true even though there is mystery in how that’s possible.

One final point of confusion for Nicodemus was in the fact that he believed the kingdom was exclusively eschatological, or end times, in nature. It was to come, he believed, only at the fullness of time. Of course, there is a way in which the kingdom will come in fullness in the end, but this is yet another example of missing half the story. Part of why Nicodemus was so confused by Jesus is because he didn’t even have a category for the King to be standing before him.

The final lesson on the new birth is that it allows us to participate in the “nowness” of the kingdom of God. That is, when we are born again, we see that Jesus is King, that He is with us right now by the Spirit, and that we are a part of His kingdom when we gladly come under His rule, live according to His purposes, and seek His glory. The new birth is such that it doesn’t merely prepare us to enter the kingdom at some future time. It also welcomes us in as full-participants right now. The rest of John’s Gospel will help us understand what that means.

Unbelieving belief is of no benefit at all. It cannot save us from our sins or help us live as God intends. In fact, it is often worse than unbelief, for with it be believe we believe even though we don’t. Sure signs of this are embarrassment at Jesus, belief based on signs, and confusion at the teaching of Jesus.

It is the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit alone that can overcome unbelieving belief. New birth is needed to see and enter the kingdom of God, there is mystery in it, and it means that the kingdom of God is already and not yet. By it, the Spirit opens our eyes to see God as He truly is, ourselves as we truly are, and our true need for the saving work of God. This happens through the gospel, and when it does, we will truly believe, truly find life in Jesus, and truly participate in His kingdom as His sons and daughters.

Nicodemus shows us what unbelieving belief looks like. Jesus shows us what believing belief looks like. May the grace of God cause us to turn from Nicodemus, to Jesus that we may be saved.

John 2:23-25 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

We’re able to see in these few verses that there’s a way to believe in Jesus that is of no benefit at all. There is a kind of faithless faith. More tragically still, this passage suggests that many can have benefitless belief without realizing it.

I hope you remember that the overall purpose for which John wrote his Gospel is to convince his readers that Jesus is the Christ, in order that we might believe in Him as the Christ, and therein find everlasting life. To those ends, as we continue to move further into John’s Gospel we’ll see that John often forces us to ask why some people see Jesus, hear His teaching, or witness His signs and have their whole lives changed, while others are indifferent, angry, or even entertained for a moment before walking away unmoved. That is, as a means of bringing his readers to genuine belief in Jesus Christ he continually includes passages like this to make us wonder where genuine belief comes from.

While John’s Gospel has already raised some of these types of questions, it hasn’t provided much in the way of answers. Beginning with our passage for this morning, that begins to change. In this brief commentary, John plainly states the answer that will show up in Jesus teaching over and over again throughout the Gospel.

The big ideas of this passage are that (1) only genuine trust in Jesus connects us with the saving grace of God and (2) that genuine trust in Jesus comes only from Jesus entrusting Himself to us. In addition, we also catch a glimpse of the interplay between Jesus’ human and divine natures. And the main takeaways from all of this are (1) a fresh reminder of our dependence on God and (2) a fresh call to be people of unceasing prayer.

Let’s pray that God would help us see and apply this text in every way He means us to.

Our passage for this morning is interesting on a number of levels. One interesting aspect is in the fact that for these three verses John steps away from his narration of Jesus’ life and provides a bit of commentary. He briefly moves from telling the story of Jesus to explaining the implications of the story.

As you probably remember, the previous passage in the Gospel told of Jesus going to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. Tragically, He arrived to find the Temple polluted with people attempting to make money by exploiting others. Worse still, they did so with the approval of the religious leaders. Consumed with zeal for God’s honor, Jesus cleared the temple of all of the swindlers who were making a mockery of God and one of Israel’s most important celebrations.

In v.23 we find out that in addition to all of that, during His time in Jerusalem, Jesus also performed a number of unrecorded miraculous signs.

And the key to all of this is the fact that the crowds who witnessed all of this would have been forced to decide what to do about it and what to do about Him. You can’t see the kinds of things done by Jesus and hear the kinds of claims made by Jesus and not make a decision about Him.

If you were to walk through Forest Lake and hear a man claiming to be the prince of Egypt while levitating above ground, you’d quickly need to decide what to make of that. Is he a crazy illusionist, telling the truth, or something else entirely. You can’t just ignore that kind of thing. You have to decide what to make of him and what you decide makes a big difference.

In many ways, John 2:23-25 really is as simple as that. In it John provided a bit of 10,000′ commentary on what happened as a result of Jesus’ words and actions during the Passover Feast in Jerusalem. In v.23 he tells how the people responded to Jesus and in v.24 how Jesus responded to their response.

Zeal for God, fearlessly standing up to corrupt religious leaders, violently putting a temporary stop to exploitation, teaching with authority, and performing miraculous signs. How would those who saw/heard such things respond? Before we get to the response of those present, let me ask you explicitly: if you had never heard of Jesus, how do you imagine you’d respond? What do you think you’d do if you had been there to witness these aspects of Jesus’ ministry?

For reasons that will soon become clear, this is an important question for all of us to settle on right now. And this is especially import to consider if you aren’t sure what to do with Jesus. Again, how do you think you’d react if you could experience these things for yourself?

Well, as you’re settling on that in your own mind, let’s consider what those who were present did.

23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing.

On the surface, this sounds about right, doesn’t it? In simplest terms, this seems like what should happen. It is probably what we all imagine would happen if we were there.

Isn’t this just what most skeptics think it would take for them to actually believe? Many reason, “The Bible is interesting, but so are a lot of other stories from the past. Everyone was a lot more superstitious and naïve back then. I have a hard time believing most of the miraculous stories in the Bible, just like I have a hard time believing Greek myths and Roman legends. I’m sure that Jesus was a decent enough guy. I’m sure He said and did some interesting and profound things. But I’d probably have to see Him and witness a miracle myself before I could ever believe in that stuff.”

What was the result of Jesus actions at the Passover Feast recorded in John 2:13-22? Jesus said and did great things and those who heard and saw “believed in his name.” When we combine this with John 1:12 (“to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God”), it appears that lots of people were saved that day.

If that were the end of the story, this would certainly seem to be good news. As you know, however, this is not the end of the story. This passage does not end at v.23. 23 tells us one aspect of how the crowds responded, but that leaves us with the question of how Jesus would respond (which will give us a better sense of the true nature of their response).

As you already know, the story quickly takes an interesting and dramatic turn. Rather than recording Jesus as responding with joy at their belief (as we might expect), John describes Jesus going in an entirely different direction.

24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them…

Lost in translation is a key feature of this verse. For reasons I don’t really understand, the ESV translates the same word differently in v.23 and v.24. By doing so, they disguise something important that would have been obvious to the original hearers and readers. In v.23 it says that “many believed in his name.” In v.24 it says, Jesus “did not entrust himself to them”. The words believed and entrust have the same root in Greek. It’s the same word translated “faith” in all the key texts. A more literal and helpful translation would be something like, “Many trusted in His name…[but] Jesus did not entrust Himself to them.” Or, “Many believed in His name…[but] Jesus did not believe in them”.

The point of this brief translation lesson is simply to highlight the fact that there was something off in the belief of the “many” mentioned in v.23. It really is true that all who believe in Jesus will be saved. But it is also really true that there are different kinds of belief and not all have the same effect.

Let me try to explain what this means a bit more.

Imagine having a container of natural gas that is 2 miles away from the homes that need it. For the gas to be of benefit to the people, some type of conduit is needed. Under ordinary circumstances, a pipe would be the best solution. Now imagine the townspeople looking all around for a pipe and one man excitedly announcing that he’d found one. The people begin digging a trench, burying the pipe, connecting it to the container and the homes, and then opening up the valve. Everything sounds good, right? The people excitedly and expectantly turn on their furnaces and hot water heaters, but nothing happens. They wait a bit longer, but still, nothing happens. A pipe was needed to get the gas from where it was to where it needed to be and a pipe they had. What’s the problem? The problem is that the pipe they installed was a drainage pipe—the kind filled with holes designed for a very different purpose. They had a pipe, but it was the wrong kind of pipe, and in this case, it was a worse-than-useless kind.

I think that’s a pretty good illustration for how salvation works. God has an unlimited reservoir of grace produced by Jesus suffering, death and resurrection. We have an unlimited debt of death produced by our sinful nature and choices. We need a conduit sufficient to carry the grace from God to us. That sufficient conduit, by God’s design, is faith/belief/trust. That’s exactly what passages like Ephesians 2:8 teach, “by grace you have been saved through faith.” But like our illustration above points out, not all kinds of faith/belief/trust are the same. There is a kind that sufficiently carries grace and a kind that does not. In some ways, the entire history of humanity is about experimenting with conduits other than that which God has given. One of the most consistent NT themes is that good works is an insufficient conduit (Romans 6:23). Likewise, there is an insufficient kind that even demons possess (James 2:19). And, evidently, there is an insufficient kind that many of the people who witnessed Jesus at the Passover had.

Again, this means that there is a kind of faithless faith, an unbelieving belief, and a trustless trust. That is, I believe, what I grew up with. I never didn’t believe in God. I always thought of myself as a Christian. I don’t know that I consciously disagreed with anything true of the gospel. I believed, but it was a kind of insufficient belief filled with holes. It was a kind that was unable to carry the grace of God to me. It was a belief that was bored with God and burdened by the things of God. It was a kind of belief that didn’t want to go to hell but wasn’t very impressed with heaven. It was a kind of belief that preferred sin even with a basic realization that I shouldn’t. It was a kind of belief that imagined that if I could actually see Jesus or hear Him or see one of His miracles, I would be a much better Christian.

All of this leads naturally to a few questions: (1) How do we know the people of v.23 had insufficient faith?, (2) How did Jesus know they had insufficient faith? (3) What kind of faith/belief/trust is sufficient?, (4) Where does sufficient faith/belief/trust come from?, and (5) Who does Jesus entrust Himself to?

We know because Jesus receives all who believe in His name and He didn’t receive these people. That’s the thrust of v.24.

23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them…

The point is that whatever the people believed about their belief in Jesus (maybe they knew that their belief was superficial and maybe they didn’t), it wasn’t genuine belief or Jesus would have entrusted himself to them. That’s a promise God’s Word and John’s Gospel repeatedly makes (John 1:12).

That leads us to another question. How did Jesus know the people didn’t really believe? Did He overhear something they said? Did He get some kind of report from His disciples (maybe they knew some in the crowd)?

But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

I’ll come back to how this was possible briefly at the end, but the simple fact is Jesus knew their hearts. He knew that their belief was not genuine because He knew better than they did even what they really thought, felt, and believed. He knew perfectly what was really in them.

Well, if whatever kind of belief these people had was insufficient, what kind is? This passage doesn’t directly give us the answer to this question, but it does imply it. We’re told that Jesus did not entrust himself to the many who believed because He knew their hearts, because He knew what was in them. And the implication is that what was in them was counterfeit, fake, phony. Therefore, the implied answer to this question is that sufficient belief/trust/faith is authentic belief/trust/faith.

The next question, of course, is where does the authentic variety come from? The whole point of the next section in John’s Gospel is to answer that question explicitly. While this passage only indirectly answers the question, its main contribution is to help us see where it does not come from. Contrary to popular belief, faithful faith, believing belief, trusting trust does not come from….

1. Seeing Jesus was not enough to produce genuine belief. How many people have thought that this is all they need? “If only I could see Jesus with my own eyes (and maybe touch Him with my own hands), I’d believe.” The crowd had that, but it did not lead to genuine belief.
2. Hearing Jesus teach was not enough to produce genuine belief. Or maybe you know someone who has thought, “I’m glad for the Bible, but I know I would obey better if I’d actually heard Jesus give His commands.” The crowds had that but still didn’t believe.
3. Seeing Jesus perform miracles was not enough to produce genuine belief. There are others still who know that merely seeing and hearing Jesus probably isn’t enough. “By all accounts Jesus wasn’t much to look at and anyone can say the things He said. What would really make all the difference—what would really make me believe—is to see Him perform a miracle; to do something impossible.” This too the crowds had but still did not believe.

Again, one of the most significant aspects of John’s commentary in these few verses is that it dispels the lie that any of these things by themselves is enough to produce genuine belief.

All of this is hinted at even in v.23. If coming to saving faith in Jesus were as simple as seeing Him in person, hearing His teaching, and witnessing a miracle, the text wouldn’t say, “many” believed in His name. It would say “everyone” believed in His name. As v.23 indicates, and v.24 makes explicit, something more than simply seeing and hearing these things for ourselves is necessary for genuine belief.

If we’ll slow down enough to really consider this, it’s pretty staggering. I invite you to ask God to properly impress you with this. It will keep you from chasing the wind and cause you to turn to God. And it will help you truly appreciate the story of Nicodemus next week.

Well, if not from these places, where then, does faithful faith, believing belief, trusting trust come from?

It comes from Jesus. It’s a remarkable thing to realize that it is the grace of Jesus to die in our place on the cross and the grace of Jesus that allows us to trust in that grace. In simplest terms, the kind of faith sufficient to carry the grace of God is the kind of faith that results from Jesus entrusting Himself to us.

Finally, who does Jesus entrust Himself to? Because this passage doesn’t answer this question at all I won’t say much. I mainly included it because it’s an obvious question in light of everything else we’ve covered, and I want us all to acknowledge the need to answer it. I also included it to make sure you have it in the back of your mind throughout our time in John’s Gospel. If you do, you’ll see different aspects of the answer all over the place. For instance, just this morning in my quiet time I read John 14. In it we see that Jesus entrusts Himself to those who believe that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him. He entrusts Himself to those who love Him and obey His commands. On a deeper level still, next week, in John 3, we’ll see that Jesus entrusts Himself to those who are born again. And ultimately, we learn in John 6 that Jesus entrusts Himself to all that the Father has given Him. There is mystery and many more questions in these things, but I think you will see that (1) John/Jesus teaches them and (2) they are both fine with mystery and unanswered questions.

Grace, (1) only genuine trust in Jesus connects us with the saving grace of God and (2) that genuine trust in Jesus comes only from Jesus entrusting Himself to us. The main practical implication of these things is prayer. Let us be people who recognizes this and goes quickly to our knees and turns quickly to pray with others. Make it a habit to come to prayer on Wednesdays if you can. Make it a habit to come to DG with prayer requests ready to share. Keep a list of the people in your life who do not believe in Jesus and plead with Jesus to entrust Himself to them. Our job is to proclaim the good news that all people can be reconciled to God through faith in Jesus, and then pray earnestly that God would grant that faith.

I want to close by briefly drawing your attention to another question that the Gospels (John’s in particular) cause us wrestle with: What is the relationship between Jesus’ divine and human natures? He is truly God and truly man, but how exactly do those twin natures relate to one another.

Clearly, by taking on flesh, some of His divine nature is not fully expressed (God is omni-present and spirit). Likewise, there are times in which Jesus plainly states that some of His omniscience is set aside (Matthew 24:36).

At the same time, however, there are passages like the second half of v.24 and 25 that show Jesus as expressing aspects of His divinity.

24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

Jesus knew all people. He didn’t need anyone to tell Him about themselves or anyone else. He knew their hearts better than they did even. But how did He know that but seemingly not other things like it? How could He be God, but still die? How could He be holy in His divine nature, but tempted in His human nature? Again, we’ll see the answer with increasing clarity as we move through the Gospel, and in that we’ll find a great deal of help to live as God means us to.

For now, let us praise God—Father, Son, and Spirit. Let’s praise each person of the godhead for granting us life and salvation. Let’s praise the Father for His love and willingness to send the Son. Let’s praise the Son for humbling Himself by taking on flesh in order to be our example and then suffer, die, and rise from the dead on our behalf. And let’s praise the Spirit for giving us eyes to see, granting us genuine belief in Jesus, and holding us fast in faith.

1 Corinthians 12:12-26 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

Welcome, once again to Orphan Sunday at Grace Church. This year, the Christian Alliance for Orphans (the ministry that promotes/oversees Orphan Sunday) has chosen collaboration for the cause of the fatherless as the theme. The simple point they’re trying to make is that caring for orphans in the fullest possible way always involves working together with others.

Of course, as Christians, we know better than anyone the power and necessity of collaboration. For to be a Christian is to be saved by God into the “body of Christ,” where every part needs every other part to properly function. I hope to help you see that more clearly and embrace it more fully as we consider 1 Corinthians 12:12-26 this morning. That is, I hope to help you see that in a way that is even more effective and essential than you probably thought, orphan care is for the church.

To properly ground that claim, we’re going to consider it under the banners of (1) God and orphans, (2) Christians and orphans, and (3) The Church and orphans. Because I’ve spent a good deal of time on the first two banners in previous years (you can read/listen to them from 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021), I’ll only briefly cover them. The main thrust of this sermon is the third banner—the Church and orphans.

The big idea is that God cares for orphans, God calls Christians to care for orphans, and Christians care best for orphans within the Church. Let’s pray that the Spirit would make all three would be clear and compelling.

God cares for orphans, God calls Christians to care for orphans, and Christians care best for orphans within the Church. Let’s begin by taking a closer look at the first clause: God cares for orphans. This, as I hope to help you see, is the foundation for everything that follows.

To help you see that most clearly, I’m going to take on the approach Kyle commended to us last Sunday (and every time he preaches from the Psalms). He urged us to recognize the God-designed reality that “God-exalting feelings … are rooted in powerful, God-revealed truths.” And I would add a third component (which I know Kyle agrees with). God-honoring actions always flow from those two things.

Genuine truth leads to proper feelings which leads to right action. Given that, we’re right to ask what truths define God’s understanding of orphans? What feelings does God have in light of those truths toward orphans? And what actions does God take for orphans in light of those truths and feelings? First, the truth about God and orphans.

It is a simple and profound thing that all morality is rooted in God’s nature. Unpacking that is another sermon for another day, but let me simply say this—Lying is wrong, not because the Bible says it’s wrong or because society determines it, but because God is truth. Murder is wrong, not because the Bible says it’s wrong or because voters voted for it, but because God is life and justice. And idolatry is wrong, not because the Bible says it is or because a culture prefers a specific God, but because God is the One True God. The Bible says those things because God is those things. And God is those things regardless of whether anyone acknowledges them or not.

Therefore, orphan care is right, not because the Bible says it is or because certain people are burdened for it, but because God is Father. In other words, the first truth to see, and the foundation of all of all God-honoring orphan care, is the fact that God is (as a part of His very nature) Father to the fatherless. One simple passage that makes this clear is…

Psalm 68:4-5 Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts; his name is the LORD; exult before him! 5 Father of the fatherless…is God in his holy habitation.

There’s a second main truth to see. By God’s design, physical orphan care is a picture of spiritual orphan care. God cares for physical orphans, in part, to provide a clear, living picture of His care for spiritual orphans.

Ephesians 1:3-5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ…

Again, the two most central truths concerning God and orphans are that: (1) He is father to the fatherless and (2) This serves as a picture of the gospel. Those two truths drive God’s feelings and actions, and are the basis for ours as well. We’ll never be able to provide the best possible care to orphans if we don’t begin here.

As a result of these two truths, God mainly feels toward the fatherless what any good father mainly feels toward his children in hardship (whether physical or spiritual)—love and compassion. We see this in passages like…

Deuteronomy 10:17-18 For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. 18 He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.

For God, the orphan, widow, and sojourner (homeless), are all in the same category—vulnerable. And God has a particular fatherly love for the vulnerable. What’s more, He’s filled with compassion and mercy for them as well.

Hosea 14:3 In [God] the orphan finds mercy.

Likewise, both of these (love and compassion) are clearly part of God’s spiritual orphan heart as well. Consider the familiar passage in 1 John.

1 John 3:1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.

Are you tracking, Grace? It is eternally true that God is Father to the fatherless and that physical orphan care is a picture of spiritual orphan care. Therefore, God is eternally filled with love and compassion for the physically and spiritually fatherless.

Finally, then, the holy truth and feelings of God regarding the orphan, lead to holy actions from God for the orphan. There are a few short passages I want to highlight to give you a sense of what God does for the orphan.

Psalm 146:9 The LORD watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless…

God watches over and upholds the orphan.

Psalm 10:14 … you have been the helper of the fatherless.

God continually helps the fatherless.

Psalm 10:17-18 O LORD, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear 18 to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed…

God listens to, strengthens, and protects the orphan.

And, of course, for the spiritual orphan, we see John 3:16 that God’s main action was to send His son to atone for the sins of and give life to those who would hope in Him.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

There’s more to the truth, feelings, and actions of God regarding the orphan, but this is the heart of each.

How, then, do these things of God relate to Christians? What things are true, what feelings are right, and what actions are necessary for us?

The primary truth concerning Christians and orphans is that we were all spiritual orphans on account of our sin. Everything else we might know about our role in orphan care finds purchase in the fact that adoption is at the heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Consider again Paul’s words in Ephesians 1.

Ephesians 1:4-5 In love 5 he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will…

Be amazed by this, Grace. Sin severed our union with God. Sin made us fatherless with respect to God. But God caused his Son to die as a ransom for our sins and his Holy Spirit to fall upon us to bring life and forgiveness and adoption. By grace through faith God welcomes us into his family as true sons and daughters. Really consider this, Grace. Being a Christian means that you have acknowledged yourself as an orphan. Being a Christian means realizing that you had no hope on your own. Being a Christian means that you’ve been adopted.

A second key truth concerning Christians and care for orphans is that, as a result of our own spiritual orphanness/adoption, and as an expression of it, caring for orphans is a mark of true conversion.

James 1:27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

In the context of the passage James was trying to help his readers distinguish between genuine, saving faith in Jesus and the many counterfeit versions that were circulating in the days of the early church. Central to his argument is that true Christians are marked by a changed mind, heart, and life. They know sound doctrine, they increasingly love the things of God, and their lives are changing for good. In particular, James taught that a mark of every genuine follower of Jesus is a Holy Spirit-given compulsion to seek out the hurting-vulnerable and work to protect and provide for them.

Godly people share God’s feelings regarding the fatherless. Love and compassion are chief among them. Similarly, passages like Zechariah 7:9-10 call for kindness, mercy, and benevolence.

Zechariah 7:9-10 Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, 10 do not oppress … the fatherless… and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”

In light of these truths and flowing out of these feelings, God’s Word lists many, many things God’s people are to do for the orphan. Indeed, as we saw in James 1, as Christians, we can’t not act in these ways. A good summary of the kinds of actions God calls for is found in Isaiah 1:17.

Isaiah 1:17 … learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.

Do good. Seek/bring justice. Correct oppression. Plead the cause.

There are many other passages that speak to orphan care, but they all fall fairly neatly under one of these four categories.

Because we were all (spiritual) orphans and because a mark of true conversion is orphan care, God’s people feel love, compassion, kindness, and warmth toward orphans. And because we believe and feel these things, we act for their good.

All of that brings us to our main text and the main thrust of this sermon: Christians honor God and care best for orphans when we do so in the context of the local church. When we grasp God’s thoughts, feelings, and actions toward orphans as well as the thoughts, feelings, and actions He calls us to as Christians, we’re left with a clear understanding that we need the help of the Holy Spirit and the people of God to think, feel, and do all of that.

Our passage for this morning, 1 Corinthians 12:12-26, says generally that which applies specifically to many areas of the Christian life, including orphan care. From these verses, I’d like to point out three main things: 1) Orphan care is for the Church, 2) Each person within the Church plays a critical role in orphan care, and 3) The Church cares well or poorly for orphans together.

The charge to think, feel, and care well for orphans is not given to any individual, but to the Church. Of course, that will mean individuals doing specific things, but always as a part of a larger body. Grace, that’s more profound than you realize.

1 Corinthians 12:12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

When it comes to tying shoes, we tend to think mainly of fingers. Indeed, fingers must function to tie a shoe. If they do not, shoes can’t be tied. They play a specific and critical function in shoe-tying. At the same time, however, fingers only ever work as a part of a whole body. Detached from the whole, fingers are truly useless. If there’s no hand, there’s nothing for fingers to attach to. If there’s no arm, there’s nothing to steer the hand and fingers toward toe foot. No torso, no arms. No head, no mind to consider. No legs, no feet. And if there’s no foot, there’s no need to tie a shoelace. When any part of the body functions, it necessarily does so as a part of a whole.

The main point here is that the most God-honoring orphan care cannot happen apart from the church. When any individual Christian seeks to care for orphans, he/she necessarily does so as one part of the body of Christ. Don’t try to do it on your own, Grace. You can’t. You can’t in that you are always attached to the body and you can’t in that you don’t have the ability to do all that God requires on your own. Orphan care is for the Church.

Second, each person in the church plays a critical role in orphan care. This sounds a lot like the last one, and there is some overlap, but the main point is distinct. The last point was that when any part of a body functions, it always, necessarily does so as part of the whole body. This point is that each part of the body has a specific function to perform whenever the body does anything.

That second principle is the main thrust of our passage for this morning, and within it, there are two things to see.

First, having a hard time believing that you play a critical role in orphan care does not change the fact that you do.

14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

If you are a Christian, you are a part of the Church. And if you are a part of the Church, God designed and gifted you to fulfill an important role within it. Believing or feeling otherwise doesn’t change that. Your essential role in orphan care might not be immediately obvious, but that doesn’t nullify God’s Word or change the fact that you have one.

While fostering or adopting tends to get all the glory, doing so well cannot happen without lots of godly people working in lots of ways (many of which are never seen or noticed). Without lots of prayer support, financial help, meals, kids to play with, wisdom, babysitting, and a warm gospel fellowship to grow up or adjust in, parents and kids will have to function without all the tools God intends them to have; making an already hard situation even harder.

Being a behind-the-scenes prayer warrior or simply a warm face at church each week to greet the foster/adoptive family is no less a part of orphan care than any other part.

This principle isn’t unique for orphan care, but it is especially important for it.

Again, first, having a hard time believing that you play a critical role in orphan care does not change the fact that you do. And second, believing you don’t need the rest of the body doesn’t change the fact that you do.

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.

While some struggle to believe they have anything to offer, others struggle to believe anyone but them has anything to offer. This second group feels like they can do it on their own. They might even feel like others slow them down. God’s Word makes it clear that both are wrong and destructive.

According to God’s gifting, you might be competent to do a lot of things for the orphan. However, by God’s design you cannot provide everything God intends the orphan to have on your own. You weren’t designed to. No one has every gift an orphan needs.

You might have shrunk orphan care down enough in your own mind to be able to do all that you think, but we don’t decide what orphans need, God does. Consider again the four basic commands of God regarding the fatherless. Do good. Seek/bring justice. Correct oppression. Plead the cause. No one can do all of those things on their own. For instance, God mean orphans to grow up in a healthy community and you need others for that. God means orphans to have a place to use their gifts to strengthen the church and you need others to do that. God means orphans to be strengthened by the myriad gifts of others and you need others to do that.

Finally, 1 Corinthians 12:26 teaches that churches care well or poorly for orphans together.

26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

Grace, we’d do well to focus on this. You might not be at a place to foster or adopt yourself, but by coming here, praying, giving financially, and helping others grow in Christ, you are truly participating in orphan care. Therefore, whatever good anyone of us does for a particular child, you rightly get to rejoice and share in the honor. Likewise, whatever suffering any of us endures in working for the cause of the fatherless, you share in that as well. Where one of us honors God as a body in this way (or any godly way), all of us do as well; that’s part of what makes a church a church.

Orphan care is right and good ultimately because God is Father to the fatherless. What’s more, God is Father to the physically fatherless as an expression of the gospel. Along with that, God is filled with compassion and love for the orphan and works continually to protect and provide for them.

Because of these things, God calls His people to join Him in living in believing what’s true, feeling what’s right, and doing what’s good. Christians, therefore, understand ourselves to have been spiritual orphans apart from Christ and that caring for orphans is part of how we know we’ve been adopted by God. We too are to be filled with love and compassion and give ourselves to God’s commands to do good, seek justice, correct oppression, and plead the cause of the fatherless.

Finally, the main focus of this sermon is on the fact that all of this is lived out in a manner most consistent with God’s Word, most effectively, and most glorifying to God when it is done in the context of a local gathering of believers—within a church. This is because one aspect of what families need most is community and because all of what families need most is given through community.

I hope all of this is clear and clearly seen in the Bible. I also hope that as a result, you’re all thinking, “What can I do? How can I help?” To help you answer those questions, let’s watch one more video that the Orphan Sunday team put together.

1. Speak up for them
2. Provide for their needs.
3. Support those who support them.
4. Protect them from harm
5. Visit them where they are
6. Give sacrificially.
7. Encourage them to press on.
8. Adopt them.
9. Help mobilize your church

Psalm 2 Why do the nations rage
    and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
    and the rulers take counsel together,
    against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,
3 “Let us burst their bonds apart
    and cast away their cords from us.”
4 He who sits in the heavens laughs;
    the Lord holds them in derision.
5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
    and terrify them in his fury, saying,
6 “As for me, I have set my King
    on Zion, my holy hill.”
7 I will tell of the decree:
    The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;
    today I have begotten you.
8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
    and the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron
    and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
    be warned, O rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the LORD with fear,
    and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son,
    lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
    for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Proper, God-exalting feelings (affections, emotions) find their roots in powerful, God-revealed truths. When I’ve preached from the Psalms in the past, and as I preach my eleventh sermon from the Psalms, I pray that is the one reality, the one truth you take away from these sermons. To be human is to have emotions. That is a central mark of being made in the image of God. We feel a wide array of emotions. Some of you experience emotions more strongly than others, but you all experience them in a response to what you think, say and do.

The glorious beauty of the Psalms, is that God gave us 150 songs that help us root the surge of our emotions in the bedrock of God’s truth. Psalm 2 has emotional language in it. Did you catch those words when the passage was being read? What is the emotional language we see? Rage. Laughter. Derision. Fury. Fear. Rejoicing. Trembling. Different kinds of emotions fill the Psalms. These are songs after all, and they are meant to help us feel rightly. And right emotions are anchored in right thinking. Right thinking is rooted in the bedrock of God’s Word.

So that’s my aim with each of these Psalms. It shapes the way I write these sermons. I pray and hope and long for you to have proper, God-exalting feelings that are rooted in powerful God-revealed truths. When your thinking is rooted in truth and your feelings overflow in response to that truth, God is seen more clearly and more gloriously. That is why the Psalms are here.

We’re looking at Psalm 2 now. Back in 2018 I preached on Psalm 1 and gave an an overview of the entire psalter. Psalm 1 and Psalm 2 can been seen as the gateway into the rest of the Psalms. What you see in these two Psalms lays the groundwork for the other 148 songs. Psalm 1 talks about God’s people delighting in his law, whereas Psalm 2 talks about God’s enemies despising the law. We see examples in these two chapters of the righteous and the wicked and what emotions they have as the righteous and the wicked. God’s people delight in his law. God’s enemies rebel against it.

In this first section of five sections that make up the Psalms, chapters 1-41 are nearly all written by David, and they are an example of what Psalm 1 declares. They are prayers from David in times of distress, in which he pours out his heart to God, and writes statements of the confidence he has in God. His distress many times comes at the hands of those doing evil, which you can see in Psalm 3, the very next chapter.

Psalm 2 is split up into four sections, each containing three verses. We are going to work our way through each section, and see what is happening through the perspective of David’s time and place in history. We aren’t stopping there because Scripture doesn’t stop there. We are going to peel through the layers and find more glory to see.

“Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, ‘Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.’”

Let’s first ask the question of who is the Lord’s Anointed and who is writing this. That answer can be found in Acts 4 which identifies David as the author.

David is the Lord’s Anointed, whom God had chosen to be Israel’s king. The word anointed means messiah in Hebrew. God had chosen to show his salvation and his steadfast love through his anointed king, David. All the way back to Genesis 12, God promised Abraham that through his lineage, all the the families of the earth will be blessed. And in 2 Samuel 7, when God establishes his covenant with David, God told David that after he died, he would be a father to his son (Solomon). He would discipline him when he sins, he would show steadfast love to him, and that David’s kingdom and throne would be established forever.

From Genesis 2, through 2 Samuel 7, and landing here in Psalm 2, we see that God had set it up so that the nations would receive blessing through Abraham and his descendants. God established David as king, and said through his family succession, God’s fame and glory would be displayed.

The neighboring nations, kings, rulers and peoples do not see it that way though. What God wanted to offer them as blessing, they saw as bonds. What should have been a glorious comfort to the nations, they saw as cords that would constrain them from doing what they wanted. These surrounding nations did not want to submit to David’s rule as king (taxes, limitations, commands). They did not want to be submit to David’s kingdom and to his God. They wanted to breakaway from it.

These rebellious people have set themselves not only against David, but infinitely more important they have set themselves against God. They have taken a stand. They have drawn a line in the sand saying, “We will not submit to the Lord and his Anointed.” For them to rebel against David was the same as rebelling against God. They were were cutting themselves off from the hope of knowing who the true God was, because they desired to be their own gods. What was offered as blessing and hope was seen as constraint and slavery. They are now making plans for how they will escape from David’s rule.

The emotions of the ungodly nations are bubbling over in wrath and fury against God and his anointed. What will the response of God be? Worry? Fear? Will God’s plans be thwarted? Will the plotting and scheming and planning of the wicked overthrow the covenant God setup with Abraham and David?

No. First God laughs. “He who sits in the heavens laughs; The Lord holds them in derision.” God is not threatened by rebellious nations anymore than an adult man is threatened by a 4 year old boy’s challenge to an arm wrestling contest. And not only does God laugh but he also holds them in derision, which means to mock and make fun of. It is like the adult telling the 4 year old, “You really think you’re going to beat me in an arm wrestling contest with that toothpick you have attached to your shoulder.” You would do your soul well to spend some time considering the fact that God laughs at the plans of the wicked and makes a mockery of them from his throne in the heavens. Press that reality up against the daily news of what evils are going on in our country and across the world.

I went to Haiti in 2010 after the earthquake rocked that country, killing thousands. I spent a week their doing relief efforts, and got to know one of our interpreters well. We’ve stayed in touch these past 12 years, and recently he’s been messaging me, telling me about the gangs that have overthrown the government, setting the country in a tailspin. Villages are being overrun. People are being killed. Food and water are scarce. Things are dark and bleak for him and his mom and sister. He’s just trying to figure out how to squeak out enough money to keep the three of them alive.

I hear him describe how these violent, wicked men are causing pain to so many, and I think of Psalm 2. God laughs at their puny, weak rebellions. He holds them in mockery and one day, they will stand before a God full of furry and wrath stored up for them because of their wickedness, should they never humble themselves before God and repent.

God’s laugh is a wrathful, furious one, directed at the rebellious nations. Verse 5 says, “Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury.” The nations that furiously plot against God’s anointed will be terrified at the display of God’s wrath and fury. Their spitball attempts at angry rebellion will be met by the full hurricane force of God’s judgement. (Kids, if you are drawing pictures of this sermon, you can draw someone trying to shoot a spitball at a hurricane to stop it.)

God declares to them in verse 6, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” God has set his king on Zion. If you read the Psalms you will see the word Zion used often. Zion refers to the Canaanite city built on Mount Moriah that David conquered, which became known as Jerusalem. Zion was the word used to describe the area on the mount where the temple stood. God’s dwelling place. Zion is referred to as a fortress (2 Sam. 5:7), where the Lord sits enthroned (Psalm 9:11). It is the place where salvation for all Israel comes from (Psalm 14:7). It is beautiful in elevation above everything around it, and the joy of all the earth. The place were the perfection of beauty comes from as God shines forth out of it (Psalm 48:2).

God has set apart David as his king, to show forth his power and glory through his dwelling place of Zion.

We have seen how the rebellious nations view God in verses 1-3. Then we saw how God viewed these rebellious nations. Now we see how David views the Lord and the Lord views him in return. We see the relationship between the Lord and the king of Israel.

Look at verse 7. “I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, ‘You are my Son.’” By David recounting this decree, he may be referring back to his coronation- the time when he became king. The relationship between God and David is not merely the same as any other king of any other nation at the time. This is a warm, family type description. David holds a certain status before God as a son to a father, and God promised David that his son would enjoy this same relationship. Even further, David is representing the same type of relationship that God had with all Israel. In Psalm 80:15 and in Exodus 4:22-23 God calls all the people of Israel as his son. David is the representative of Israel as God’s child, for all the world to see, but all Israel is considered to be the child of God. At David’s coronation he is begotten. He became the leading, visible leader of God’s fatherly relationship with his child, Israel.

Because of this special relationship, this covenant that God established, starting all the way back in Genesis 12 when it was promised to Abraham and his lineage, God reiterates his promise to David. The promise to Abraham was that through his bloodline, all the families of the earth will be blessed. God reiterates this promise to David by saying that the nations would be a possession and heritage to them. Look at verse 8. “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.”

Verse 9 says that if rebellious kings attempt to burst and cast away Israel’s rule, God’s king will break them with a rod of iron and shatter them into pieces like a broken pot falling the floor. What we have seen so far is that God made a covenant with Israel as his child, the king was the visible representative of this covenant, and any attempt to rebel against their rule, was a rebellion against God.

Confronted with the perspective of earthly rebellion or heavenly submission, God’s king, his son, gives these rebels a warning. Submit to God or face the wrath of God. David warns them in verse 11 to, “Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.” Serve with fear and rejoice with trembling. These nations ought to have a fear and trembling over their wickedness and rebellion against an all-knowing, all- powerful God who can do all that he wills. The warning is that though these nations see themselves as a strong force to be reckoned with, they are nothing more than a shaky pot that can be shoved off the table by God at any moment he chooses, and smashed into a thousand pieces. That reality ought to cause fear and trembling in their souls, and move them to serve God and take delight in his mercy.

These nations are facing the potential of an expanding rule and control by David and his offspring, and it is for their good. It is through Israel that God intends to show his blessing to the nations and make the fame of his name known.

So, David is declaring in song, to the nations and peoples and kings, don’t run from God! Take refuge in him. You will be blessed, you will not be cursed. What you see as slavery will actually be your salvation. What you see as bonds will be your blessing.

Verse 12 says to these nations they should kiss the Son. That is, honor and submit to God’s chosen son, his king. For as the nations submit to David (who is acting in God’s name and under his authority), God’s son, they are submitting to God.

We’ve seen that God bestowed on Israel and her kings the mission of displaying to the nations God’s glory and blessing to all those who would submit. They failed in that mission. We only have to read the very next Psalm, in chapter 3, to see how David’s enemies rose against him. We can see the repeated failures and sins of David and his sons turning from the LORD and the covenant he established with them. They failed to meditate on God’s law day and night, and root their desires and feelings in that law. Rather, they allowed sin to carry their desires away from God and became like the nations around them, instead of acting as the children of God they were called to be.

That is not where the story ends though. At the time of Psalm 2 being written, David and Israel could not fully understand the plans of God that this very Psalm points to. The story unfolds through the prophets in the Old Testament, and comes to its climax in the New Testament, which quotes Psalm 18 different times. It comes to its climax in the better and perfect David, Jesus Christ.

Jesus was descended from David’s family line, and is the Son of God who is resurrected from the dead (Romans 1:5). Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy promising a messiah who would come to save them (Acts 13:33). The messiah that conquered death by rising from the dead. Now, Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high. (Hebrews 1:5). King Jesus, who rose from the dead, whom God the Father declared to be his Son, is reigning and ruling from his heavenly throne.

The better David, Jesus Christ, came to earth as man, conquered sin through his death and resurrection, and was coronated through his resurrection as God’s established King over all the world. Where David failed, Jesus succeeded as the sinless Messiah. Salvation is offered to all nations, all peoples, all rulers if they would hope in Christ. If they would kiss the Son. If they would give honor and homage and worship to the Son. Blessed are those who would take refuge in the Son.

And at the appointed time, Jesus will return as declared in Revelation 19. The heavens will be open and the one who is called Faithful and True will judge and make war in righteousness. From his mouth will come a sharp sword to strike down the rebellious nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. The King of kings and Lord of lords. And we will rule with him.

That is the hope and the scope of the reign of Jesus Christ. God promised to Abraham that the nations of the earth would be blessed through him. God established Israel and Israel’s kings to be a beacon of light by which the nations would see the glory of God and be drawn to it. Psalm 2 and other prophecies in the Old Testament were pointing to a messiah who would fulfill the promise to Abraham. Jesus Christ came, and conquered and was coronated as that Kingly Messiah. And the story will end when he returns to bring all things into total submission and final judgement under his rule. The Bible is the grand, unfolding drama of redemption!

What ought we to do with these truths? What perspective ought we to have in light of this in the year 2022? How should we then live? Psalm 2 is brought to bear in Acts. It is a story that is incredibly helpful to sync up powerful, God-revealed truths with proper God-exalted feelings. I hope the story in Acts 4 and the truths shown in Psalm 2 will cause this to happen in your mind and heart.

In Acts 4 Peter and John were teaching the people in the temple and the religious authorities were watching on. They were proclaiming and heralding the resurrection of Jesus. They were telling the people that King Jesus conquered death and is enthroned in heaven. Because of their message, Peter and John were arrested and held in jail overnight.

Many who heard the gospel put their faith in Christ that day. The next day Peter and John stood before these rulers and authorities. Learned scholars. Religious leaders. Rulers with authority to arrest and put in jail. Peter and John again proclaimed before them that there is salvation in no one else but Jesus. The reaction of the authorities to these two men was astonishment. These were uneducated, common men, but it was obvious that they had been with Jesus (Acts 4:13).

The rulers did not know what to do with these men except threaten them and tell them not to speak about Jesus anymore. Peter and John replied by saying that they couldn’t help themselves but to speak of Jesus. After they were released they went to their friends and told them all that happened. What was their response? They lifted up their voices together and said,

“Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your Servant, said by the Holy Spirit, ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed- for truly in this city there were gathered together against your anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. (Acts 4:24-28).”

Sound familiar? They quoted Psalm 2, applying it to their situation. The kings and rulers and rebellious nations of Psalm 2 are referred to as Herd and Pontius Pilate and the Gentiles and people of Israel who planned and schemed and put Jesus, the better David, to death. This was the plan of God from the very beginning of time. God predestined wicked people to put to death his sinless Son.

God planned for Jesus to come as the perfect man, to conquer death through the cross and the empty tomb, to receive his kingly coronation in resurrection and is now seated at the right hand of God as King Jesus. It is this good news, this gospel, that we now proclaim to all the world, that all the peoples of the world might humbly serve and rejoice with trembling in the salvation of Jesus Christ.

This should be such good news to us that it blows all the gloom and doom of our present day out of the water! Oh may we, Grace Church, be like the Christians of Acts 4. May our hearts be firmly planted near the rivers of God’s Word, meditating on them day and night, so that our delight is in Jesus. Out of this overflow of delight, may our lives be a reflection of Jesus so that others can know that we have been drinking at the waters of our Kingly, Savior Shepherd.

May our lives be mainly marked not by the politics we hold to, but by the Savior we worship. That is not to say that the political arena is not important. I’m not saying that. They have their place and there are battles to fight in that arena. I am saying that our lives mainly, primarily and mostly need to be marked by our love for Jesus and obedience to his clear commands. May our neighbors and our co-workers and our family members see Jesus when they see us, and be drawn to the hope they too can have in Jesus.

May your perspective of what is happening in our state, in our country and across the world be shaped not mainly by cable news opinions, or hot-take tweets, or even thoughtful podcasts and articles. May you be primarily, deeply and profoundly shaped by pondering and meditating on God’s Word in such a way that it changes you down to the very core of what you think and how you feel. If God laughs at the spitball- type rebellions of the godless in Psalm 2, and if he predestines the plots of wicked people who killed Jesus to lead to the the greatest news in human history, ought we not to be the happiest people even in the worst of times? I do not mean happy as in being superficial, with fake smile, pretending everything is ok type people. I mean the type of people that are sorrowful yet always rejoicing. The type of people that say the best is yet to come. The type of people that are serious and joyful. Sober-minded and rejoicing.

Before I close with one last paragraph, here’s a really practical way you can fight for this to happen in your soul. This is true for any point in your weekly routine, but it could be especially helpful on Tuesday during the election. Take the songs we are singing today and put them into a playlist on your phone. Listen to them on a loop and ponder the words in your mind. Ask God to feel his truth in your heart. Pray them back to God. Like the tree in Psalm 1, be like a tree that soaks up the Scripture that is found in these lyrics.

Any personal crisis you are going through, or any crisis playing out on the local, national, or world stage, should be seen by us in light of this overarching story that is seen throughout the Bible. We are living the story of a grand, unfolding drama of redemption. Jesus came, he conquered, and was coronated as King over all the world and one day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father.

13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15 And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

18 So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Part of what makes up any society is a shared sense of what is acceptable. This includes things like speed limits, financial and ethical systems, health care policies, and religious freedoms. In some societies, that common sense is very narrow and in others it is very broad. Sometimes the social norms are imposed through laws and policing and sometimes simply through social pressures. Regardless of their scope or enforcement mechanism, however, for a society to function, there must be agreed upon limits to what the people who make it up can and can’t do.

Since Jesus walked the earth, every society that has included His followers has had to come to grips with how to handle Christians. Early on, Christians were despised and fed to lions for sport. At other times and places, Christianity was the dominant religion and wielded its influence in every conceivable way.

Because God is creator, king, judge, all-loving, good, wise, and powerful, and because Christianity is good, beautiful, and true, when Jesus is faithfully followed, societies flourish. However, both because Jesus hasn’t always been faithfully followed by His followers and because non-Christians have always had their own reasons to reject Christian doctrine and practice, even when there has been a Christian presence, that hasn’t always been the case.

Embedded within all of this is a question that was front and center in our passage, even as it is front and center often in our lives today. How Christian is someone able to be before he finds himself outside of his society’s shared sense of what is acceptable? Or, conversely, how much of God’s system must a society reject before genuine Christians are compelled to act in defiance?

This passage certainly doesn’t answer every question (or even many questions) we might have on this subject, but it definitely gives us a vivid picture of one line crossed and one Christian response to it. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day had turned one of the most holy and joyful feasts God had given His people into several days of godless exploitation. Upon seeing this, incensed, enraged, and consumed with zeal, Jesus temporarily put an end to it, as He moved closer and closer to fulfilling His mission of putting an end to it forever.

The big idea of this passage is that Jesus came to put an end to the world’s mockery of God and atone for the sins of those who participated in it. And the big takeaways for us are that (1) living in a thoroughly Christian way means that we will find the limits of what a non-Christian society will tolerate and that (2) at some point societies become so corrupt and hostile to God that Christians will have to resist. Let’s pray that God would help us learn from the consuming zeal of Jesus and to follow Him wherever He leads and whatever it costs.

This scene opens by indicating that the Passover celebration was just a few days away. There are a two key aspects of the Passover that we absolutely need if we are going to make proper sense of this passage: (1) what it was meant to be and (2) what it had become.

You probably remember Joseph—Abraham’s great grandson—from our time in Genesis. He was his father’s favorite of his twelve sons. By God’s design and his jealous brothers’ evil choices, Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers. He ended up in Egypt and while there he went from a forgotten prisoner to the second most powerful man in all Egypt. In that later capacity, God used him to rescue the world from a severe famine and cause the Israelites to move there and flourish. Tragically, however, after Joseph and after the Pharaoh who’d promoted him, the new ruler in Egypt saw the prosperity of the Jews as a threat rather than as a blessing from God. As a result, he enslaved them. And their enslavement would end up lasting 400 years.

During that time, however, God never forgot His promises or failed to hear their prayers. In His perfect timing, God determined to deliver Israel from captivity. To do so, God raised up another of Abraham’s offspring, Moses, to have special favor with the leader of Egypt. Again, in God’s providence and due to the wicked intentions of the Egyptians, Moses was raised by the daughter of Pharaoh.

Eventually, he became God’s spokesman before Pharaoh, his adopted grandfather. The message from God, through Moses, to Pharaoh, was simple, “God has commanded you to let the Israelites, His people, go or you will experience the wrath of God.” Pharaoh refused and was, therefore, subjected to a series of nine catastrophic plagues that wiped out large portions of Egypt’s people, crops, and animals. Still, with a hard heart, Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites go; that is, until God sent the tenth and final plague—the killing of every firstborn male.

And here’s where we start to land the plane. In order that the Israelites would be spared from this plague, and in order to ensure that everyone knew it was God who spared them, God gave instructions to Israel through Moses. We read those instructions in Exodus 12:1-13.

The LORD said to Moses … “3 Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household… 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. … 6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.

7 “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it… 11 In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD’s Passover. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

The first Passover meal took place in captivity in Egypt, and through it, God preserved (passed over) and freed millions of Jews from centuries of slavery. Throughout the rest of the OT, God would describe Himself as the God who “brought up Israel out of Egypt, and … delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians” (1 Samuel 10:18).

More than just a one-time event, therefore, God commanded the Israelites to celebrate the Passover in perpetuity. In the very next verse in Exodus 12, we read, “14 This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.” Every year, the Israelites were to celebrate God’s miraculous deliverance.

What’s more, according to Deuteronomy 16, once the temple was built, the Jews came to understand that Jerusalem, the home of the temple, was the place chosen by God to celebrate the Passover. For that reason, every year, many Jews would descend upon Jerusalem from all over to celebrate the Passover as God commanded. By Jesus’ time, that had been going on for centuries.

That’s what Passover was meant to be. And yet, by the time of our passage, it had turned into something different altogether. The Passover still took place at God’s appointed time, in God’s appointed place, and under God’s appointed banner. Sadly, however, in many ways and for many Jews it had long-ago departed from God’s appointed heart—a heart of submission, gratitude, trust, humility, and love. Keeping merely a form of God’s charge, with the approval of the Jewish leaders, the Passover celebration had deteriorated into a time of debauchery and exploitation. That’s why Jesus did what He did in vs.13-17.

Before we read the passage again, I want to quickly point out three specific aspects of the modern reality (in Jesus’ day) of the Passover to help us best understand the scene and Jesus’ actions in it.

Again, the Passover was a celebration of God’s deliverance of the Jews from Egyptian control and oppression. The first thing to see is that, ironically, during the time this passage was written, the Jews had once again fallen under the oppressing thumb of a pagan kingdom—Rome. But rather than receive this in humility and repentance, and in order that God would again free them and restore true blessing, the Jews and Jewish leaders sought blessing through alternative means—the exploitation of one another.

The second and third keys pertain to two particular forms of exploitation and counterfeit blessing. Because many Jews would have had to travel great distances to get to Jerusalem, it was very inconvenient to bring their own animals with them to offer as sacrifices. Therefore, local residents (with the blessing of the Jewish leaders, who’d get a cut of the action) would set up shops to sell acceptable sacrifices. The problem is that they’d sell the animals at prices that were way too high and within the temple courts that were supposed to be reserved for godliness. It seems that the practice of selling animals to traveling Jews began as a genuine act of service, but had devolved into a money-making racket. Think ballpark food or State Park firewood on steroids.

And third, in a similar way, because only Jewish currency was acceptable to pay the temple taxes (Exodus 30:13-14), money changers were on hand to allow travelers with different currencies to exchange them. Again, this was something that was originally good, but had gradually become corrupted by corrupt people. It was good in that Jewish currency was regulated in the percentage of silver it was made from. This ensured that people couldn’t be taken advantage of by less valuable money. And local money changers could provide a genuine service to those who did not have access to Jewish currency where they lived. But, like their animal-selling counterparts, the money men of Jesus’ day charged exorbitant rates for the exchange. Think airport currency exchange booths on steroids.

All of these things help explain why Jesus was in Jerusalem, what it was meant to be like, what it was like, and why Jesus responded as He did. With all of that, let’s consider again what Jesus did when He came upon the scene.

14 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15 And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”

As I mentioned in the introduction, living in a thoroughly Christian way in a non-thoroughly Christian society inevitably means that Christians will find the limits of their society’s tolerance and will, at times, need to respond in defiant ways. We have an example of both in these three verses.

Jesus, far more concerned with His Father’s honor and glory than He was about being seen as appropriate by those who had forsaken the very God they claimed to be celebrating, was consumed with zeal. He could not tolerate the exploitation, the mockery, the debauchery, of God’s people in God’s house. As a result, He violently, but temporarily, put an end to all of it. He drove out the animal salesmen and money changers and made it clear why He was doing so in the process.

As we’ll find was often the case in John’s Gospel, it was only later that the disciples really understood what they witnessed here. It wasn’t until after Jesus’ resurrection from the dead that His followers remembered Psalm 69:9, a Psalm of David, and were able to properly interpret these events, “17 His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’”

One key question before all of us, especially in this day and age, is: What implications does this have for us? Should we be doing more of this? If so, when and where and to what extent? To be clear, while this passage certainly raises these questions, it does not really answer them. What it does do, however, is show us that this kind of thing is necessary at times and what it can look like to honor God in it.

As we prayerfully consider this for our context, please keep a few things in mind?

1. In this case, it was Jesus, not His disciples that did this. There’s no indication that Jesus even wanted His followers to join Him.
2. Jesus would have been to many Passovers previously in which He didn’t do this.
3. This would happen again (Matthew 21:12-17), which means this kind of thing might be right, but it is not the ultimate answer to the problem.
4. The disciples didn’t even understand what was happening at first.

Nevertheless, this passage helps us to see in no uncertain terms that there is a line that Christians ought not cross and cannot silently tolerate. It takes tremendous wisdom to know where that line is and what to do when we find it. Likewise, even when we do find it and the godly response to it, it takes tremendous courage to act, knowing that our actions may be labeled foolish, dangerous, illegal, and even unchristian by many. Grace, we must be in constant prayer for God’s help to do God’s will when God’s ways are forsaken.

What we find in vs.13-17 is an exceptionally dramatic example of sinners sinning and Jesus cleansing. But the rest of our passage helps us to see that what is presented there as an event, was really a picture of the larger problem that plagued humanity and the true solution God promised to provide.

In other words, we’re not meant to consider the Jewish leaders, animal salesmen, or money changers and think, “Thank God I’m not like them. Thank God I don’t need Jesus to act like that around me.” Instead, we’re meant to think, “That’s my problem too! I too look for blessings in counterfeit places. I too hypocritically use my mouth to praise God in worship and then talk trash to people that afternoon. I too hypocritically look upon the beauty of God in His Word with the same eyes I use to look with lust on His creation. I too hypocritically use the same legs to run to God when I am needy and then to sin when I am selfish. And most importantly, I too need Jesus to discipline and cleanse me of my sin.” Therefore, before we ever even consider acting like Jesus did, we need to first act as those Jesus drove out should have!

Rather than any of that, though, “18 the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?”

Their hearts were so hardened, that the obvious rightness of Jesus’ words and actions wasn’t obvious to them. They demanded Jesus perform some kind of sign to prove that He had the authority to say and do such things.

It’s hard not to think of Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 1:22-24, “For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

To any who had eyes to see and ears to hear, Jesus’ words and actions in the temple would have been convicting and self-attestingly true/right—the power and wisdom of God. But Jesus was not dealing with those who had eyes to see and ears to hear. He was dealing with those who were stumbling and foolish.

The key to the whole passage, then, is in the simple fact that all of this was exactly why Jesus had come. Jesus was consumed with zealous grief and even anger over the dishonor His Father’s people were causing His Father. And yet, that’s why He came. If there had been no sin, He would not have needed to become one of us. It was precisely because we all act like the Jews in this passage that Jesus stood before the Jews in this passage. He made that crystal clear in 19-21.

19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body.

In a manner that even His closest followers wouldn’t (once again) fully understand until much later (v.22), Jesus explained that He was about to perform a sign and affect a cleansing that was beyond anything they could imagine. With the massive, impressive, and significant temple right next to them, along with the trailing bleating of sacrificial lambs and animals He’d driven out, Jesus declared that these same men would kill Him, the true temple, the true dwelling place of God, the true Lamb of God. And He declared that He would rise from the dead three days later. And He declared that He would do so to atone for the kinds of sins and sinners that stood before Him. What His actions in the temple did temporarily and partially, He would eventually do permanently and perfectly on the cross.

Again, just as we saw in v.17, John mentions that as the disciples recalled these events years later and that God used their recollection to strengthen their belief and faith.

22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

We are hard-headed people, Grace. We are too often slow to listen and understand, and even slower to believe and act. We have sinned against God in thought, word, and deed. We are sinful by nature and then choice. We proudly confront Jesus for His reminders and rebuke. And yet, rather than give us what we deserve for all of that, He offers grace and mercy upon grace and mercy. We deserve to be driven out and broken, but instead Jesus welcomes us in and heals us, because He was driven out and broken on our behalf. Oh what amazing grace!

You simply cannot read the Bible and conclude that those who are thoroughly Christian will live comfortable, socially acceptable lives in most cases. Those who tore down Jesus’ temple, would do everything in their power to tear down that of His followers as well. The choice in front of all who take on the name Christian, therefore, is to be only as Christian as our society tolerates, or to live thoroughly Christian lives and therein invite society’s intolerance to fall on us in increasing waves of hostility.

I’m not talking about seeking out persecution or being unnecessarily annoying and crying foul. I am also not saying that being thoroughly Christian means dying on every single hill of social rebellion. Our aim, Paul wrote, is to live quiet and godly lives, not to stir up controversy (1 Timothy 2:1-2). But I am trying to state as clearly as possible something Jesus’ actions in this passage helps us to see: Acting in a thoroughly Christian manner in a fallen world means two things. First, it means that we will find the limits of what a non-Christian society will tolerate and when we do, there will be consequences for us. And second, it means that at some point societies become so corrupt and hostile to God that Christians will have to resist (, sometimes in ways that are significant. It takes a clear understanding of the Bible, humility, courage, a great deal of wisdom, a the Holy Spirit of God to know where these lines are and what to do when they’re crossed.

But more than all of that, Jesus’ actions in this passage help us to see that our greatest problem is our own sin, not the sins of others, and our greatest hope is not in anything we will ever do, but in what Jesus did for us in His suffering, death, and resurrection.

John 2:1-11 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. 9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

In preaching through John’s introduction, the deity of Jesus was easy to see and appreciate. I have a similar experience when I read the NT letters when they speak of Jesus, as they tend to do so in lofty, conceptual terms. Since coming to the narrative portion of John’s Gospel, however, one of the things that has continually rattled around in my mind is the humanity of Jesus. Much of the way John describes Jesus makes him seem like a pretty normal and relatable (even if exceptionally zealous) guy. Have you given much thought to that? When you think about Jesus, do you imagine what it would be like to actually spend time with Him (maybe at a wedding)? Do you picture Him as a real person? Or do you more often focus on Him as God who is above all?

In our passage for this morning, we find a clear example of both (Jesus functioning as human and divine). The day after calling/receiving Andrew, John, Peter, Philip, and Nathanael as disciples, the group did something normal people do all the time—they went to a wedding together (along with Jesus’ mother, Mary). In the course of this ordinary event, however, Jesus did something that was anything but ordinary; He did something that normal people definitely don’t do all the time. He performed a miracle. It was His first public miracle, the first manifestation of this kind of His glory, and it lead to another level of belief among His disciples.

The big idea in this short scene is the simple fact that Jesus is the Christ and John told stories—miraculous stories—like this to help his readers see and believe that. That was the exact effect it had on Jesus’ disciples (including John!), and that’s the exact effect it ought to have on you and me. Let’s pray that it would be so.

Before we get into the story itself, I want to say a brief word on something that is really important if we are going to get all we’re meant to out of this gospel. The Gospel of John is filled with biblical symbolism that typically serves to amplify key events within it. In our passage there are two specific symbols that I want to point out—weddings and wine.

Marriage is, by God’s design, a living picture of the gospel and a sign pointing to the Great Wedding that is to come. What’s more, in three short years, Jesus would drink wine again with these men (and the other seven) at the Last Supper and the institution of Communion as the sign of the New Covenant. Both of these things are woven into the fabric of this story to help us more fully appreciate its significance.

The study of these kinds of things often falls under the discipline of what we call “biblical theology”. Biblical theology has one main assumption and two main areas of focus that result from it. The main assumption is that in the Bible, God tells one grand story—different books, different authors, different times, different genres, and different immediate purposes, but all intended to tell one bigger story. And the two main areas of focus of biblical theology are (1) identifying the story as well as possible and (2) tracing the key themes that run throughout it.

In more concrete terms and in the way of an example, the meta-story of the Bible is something like, “God’s salvation of God’s people through God’s Son and for God’s glory.” Insofar as that’s a right way to describe the overall story of the Bible, we should expect to find threads of God, whatever it is that God’s people need to be saved from, God’s Son, and God’s glory woven throughout and uniting all 66 books. Indeed, we do.

For that reason, for example, Jesus’ words in Luke 24:27 should come as no surprise. That is, if the Bible’s main story is about Jesus, it makes sense that Jesus would be found throughout the whole Bible. Indeed, He is. While walking with His disciples after His resurrection, Jesus, “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, …interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” As you know, Jesus didn’t come in the flesh until the time recorded in the NT. But Moses and the prophets, centuries earlier, pointed to Jesus. Biblical theology works to find and understand those things.

In the same way, there are other, somewhat lesser, themes that God has woven throughout the biblical story. Learning to recognize them adds depth and confidence and worship to our understanding of Scripture.

In our passage for this morning, the presence of two of those themes serves to draw our attention to and highlight the significance of the events described. They help us recognize that the events of this verse are bigger than they seem on the surface.

Once again, the themes are wedding and wine. This is not the place to exhaustively trace them throughout the Bible, but I do want to touch on them just a bit.

The first wedding took place between the first two people ever created, Adam and Eve. It took place in the Garden with God as the officiant. In that way, it serves as a paradigm for all future weddings and as the normal pattern for men and women in adulthood. What’s more, we learn from Jeremiah (3:14) and Hosea (2:19-20) that there is a deeper meaning behind marriage; namely, that it describes God’s relationship to His covenant people in some ways. That idea is further developed by Paul in Ephesians 5 where he explains that marriage between a man and a woman is designed by God to be a living picture of the future marriage between Christ and His Church—of the gospel. And the fullest expression of all of that is found in Revelation (19:7-8) where, in the fullness of time, we’re invited to “…rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; 8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”–for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.”

We could do the same thing with wine, tracing it through the feasts given to the covenant people of God (especially Passover), the promises that God has given it to us to make our hearts glad (Psalm ), to the Last Supper where Jesus explained that it represents the blood that He would shed for us, and to the new heavens and earth where it will be a part of the eternal celebration of Christ and His bride.

The point I’m trying to make is that with even a basic understanding of the purpose for which God gave weddings and wine, and even a basic understanding of how they’re described in the Bible, our reading of John 2:1-12 is greatly enhanced. It is not a coincidence that Jesus first miracle was at a wedding and involved wine. Those two things were created by God to represent the very heart of why He came to earth.

All by itself, turning water into wine is a miracle, of course. All by itself, it ought to inspire awe and wonder. Read through a biblical theological lens, however, takes it to another level still. This was not a random, miraculous act. It was not an afterthought. It was a part of the unfolding of the plan of God to save the world from our sins, present us to His Son as a pure, spotless bride and bring us into an eternal wedding feast of joy with the new wine of Jesus. That adds significant amazement to something that’s already pretty amazing, doesn’t it?

With that as the backdrop, let’s consider the events of the passage itself.

You might already understand this, but it’s important for us to have at the front of our minds the fact that the cultural differences between us and the first century Jews are significant. Weddings among Christians today are certainly a big deal, but they are usually nowhere near as big of a deal as they were in the context of this passage. We just don’t appreciate them in the same way they did back then. To really appreciate what’s happening in our passage we have to take our picture of a wedding and multiply it exponentially.

Everything was heightened in first century Jewish weddings. The expectations were bigger. The celebrations were bigger. The decorations were bigger (even among the poor). The food and drink were more important. The weddings and honeymoons lasted longer. The social pressure to get things right was bigger. You get the idea.

It is for all of those reasons that what probably seems like a relatively small thing to you and me (running out of wine), was a really big deal to the family of the bride and groom in John 2:3. That the wine ran out would have been no small matter. Rightly or wrongly, it would have brought a kind of shame and lasting stigma on the family—especially the grooms family who was primarily responsible for the wedding—that would not soon (if ever) have been forgotten. In addition to the rest of the significance of Jesus’ actions in this passage, it was no small act of kindness and mercy. In short, this was a real social situation.

Although the passage doesn’t explicitly state it, the fact that Jesus and Mary were both invited to the wedding suggests that the wedding was for a close friend or family member. Mary’s involvement, investment, and authority also suggests that they were close to the groom (whose family would have been responsible for the wedding). Mary clearly felt responsible to help prevent the social catastrophe that would have resulted from running out of wine in a way that was beyond what a more distant guest would have felt.

That Joseph isn’t mentioned suggests that he had passed away by this point (sometime after Jesus’ teaching in the temple when He was twelve). And with Joseph no longer present, it was natural for Mary to look to Jesus, her oldest son for something she would have otherwise looked to her husband for. Therefore, “When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine'” and she expected Jesus to help.

It’s not certain that Mary expected a miracle, and I have no reason to believe this actually happened, but it is because of passages like this that I sort of imagine child-Jesus causing toy balls to levitate or His siblings’ toys to temporarily disappear or some of the mistakes He made when working in the shop with His dad to be “fixed”. You know…just little, fun miracles that Mary would have watched and smiled at. “Oh Jesus, I thought I told you to stop that.” Again, there’s no record of that kind of thing at all, but somehow Mary knew that Jesus had the power to fix the situation and we can’t help but to wonder if she had miraculous power in mind.

Jesus’ initial response is rather curious; at least on the surface. Instead of a quick, “Sure thing, mama, I’ll see what I can do,” He said (in v.4), “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” On several levels this sounds sort of cold or disrespectful or at least off-putting. It’s as if Jesus was bothered that His mom would try to put that on Him.

As the rest of the passage bears out, that was not the case. Jesus’ reply does, however, point to two crucial things. First, with His public ministry having begun, the nature of His relationship to His mom would never be the same. As He made clear (Matthew 12:48-50), He was now Mary’s Christ before He was her son. That’s why Jesus called her “woman” instead of “mom”. “Woman” was a term of respect and formality (probably most like “ma’am”). And second, His priorities as the Christ were different than, and trumped over, His priorities as son. That’s why Jesus asked, “What does this have to do with me?,” in light of the fact that His “hour [had] not yet come.” That second point needs a bit more explaining.

If you ever read a harmony of the Gospels (a chronological account of the events described in all four Gospels), you’ll notice that Jesus ministry builds in its clarity and public nature. Early on Jesus performs very few signs and teaches mostly among His close followers. It is only as He comes closer to the time of His crucifixion that He works in more public and controversial ways (which serves to bring about His crucifixion). Jesus very much understood this. This is why at first He often commanded those He healed to tell no one.

To this end (that is, to the end of keeping things on the down low until the proper time), John’s Gospel pictures this mysterious combination of Jesus strategizing and the Father miraculously directing (John 7:30) it all.

The bottom line is that Jesus knew that the more He functioned as the Christ, the more He’d invite the ire of Israel and Rome. He had come to die, but the Father had given Him work to do on earth first. To perform a miracle of this nature, this early, and this publically, would certainly draw attention that He was not yet ready for. It was not yet time for Him to go to the cross.

Again, as evidence that Jesus meant nothing disrespectful, in response to His reply, Mary took it to mean that (in spite of its problematic timing), Jesus would come to her aid, and therein to the aid of the bride, groom, and their families. In preparation for whatever form His help would take, Mary commanded the wedding servants to “do whatever he tells you” (v.5).

Last week we encountered a critical question in Jesus words to His first followers, “What are you seeking [from me]?” I told you that I hoped and prayed that question would stick with you until you had a real answer to it. In these simple words from Mary, the mother of Jesus, we have another version of that.

In a very real way, the heart of the Christian faith, the heart of what it means to be a Christian, is “doing whatever He tells you,” in the certain knowledge that it is always better than every alternative. Embedded in this are the glorious twin facts that (1) Jesus is King and has the right to tell you what to do and (2) that He is a good King so everything He commands is perfect.

Would you ask God to help you settle on this, Grace? Would you ask God to help you appreciate the absolute reality that Jesus has the right to command and the goodness to make it right? And would you ask God to help you recognize that all that Jesus has commanded is given to us in the Bible? These things are at the heart of what it means to be a Christian. That is, eager willingness to “do whatever he tells you” is the joyful responsibility of all who claim to have faith in Jesus.

Jesus was announced as the Lamb of God by John the Baptist, He had begun His public ministry by calling five disciples to Himself, the six of them joined Jesus’ mother at a wedding that Mary was an important helper at, in a serious social foible, the groom’s family didn’t order enough wine and it had run out, Mary brought the issue to Jesus who clarified His status and mission for His mom, and now things hung in the balance. What would Jesus do? What would happen with the wine and the wedding?

For the most part, all of that was mean to lead to the events of vs.6-11.

If you didn’t already know what He did, what would you expect Jesus to do? Do you imagine Him leaving it up to the family to figure out so as to avoid prematurely ushering in His “time”? Or maybe you picture him helping, but in a manner that would keep the controversy to a minimum (maybe offer to build something—Jesus was a carpenter after all—for the wine-maker in payment for more wine)? Or maybe you think Jesus should just come out with a bang, making it rain wine?

We’ll see what Jesus actually did in just a second, but before we do, I want to highlight the simple fact that what Jesus actually did, doesn’t make total sense for any of our “semi-sanctified common sense” categories. It didn’t perfectly shield Him from revealing His power or reveal His power in a way that would cause the whole world to tremble and worship.

And here’s the lesson…honoring God often means thinking, feeling, and doing things that defy our usual categories. There is a place for ordinary wisdom in the Christian life, for sure, but too often we treat ordinary wisdom as the ultimate authority rather than the Word of God. Does it make sense for an undermanned army to get rid of most of their soldiers before battle (Gideon)? Does it make sense for a hungry people to eat bread that grows overnight on the ground or not collect any extra (Moses)? Does it make sense for old, barren women to be the mother of countless covenant children (Sarah)?

The things Jesus did often looked foolish to many and flew in the face of semi-sanctified common sense. Following Him, doing whatever He tells you in His Word, therefore, means that we will often find ourselves in the same place. If your aim is to always fully understand or look dignified in the things you do or seem reasonable to ungodly people, you will regularly veer from the path Jesus has called you to.

With that, let’s quickly consider what Jesus did.

What He did was a miracle.

6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. 9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”

As a favor to his mom, a service to the groom’s family, and (as we’ll soon see) an expression of His glory and a means of growing the faith of His disciples, Jesus took around 150 gallons of ordinary water and turned it into wine.

As you probably noticed, absolutely nothing is said about how Jesus did this. There’s no mention of prayer or dipping His finger in the water or putting one grape in each or anything. None of that was the point. It was water and then, by Jesus’ power, it was wine; as simple as that. Contrary to the foolish musings of some today, there’s no way around the fact that the Bible is, from front to back, unapologetically supernatural. There is no way around the fact that John records this story in his Gospel (under the Spirit’s inspiration), precisely because he witnessed Jesus perform a miracle and understood it as proof that Jesus was the Christ who brings life to all who believe.

John records eight miracles of Jesus in his Gospel. He makes a point of explaining that this was the first.

11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee…

In conclusion, then, I want to draw your attention to three things the text tells us about this first miracle.

1. He didn’t make ordinary wine. He made the best wine. “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” I don’t want to say more than the text does here, but at the very least, this helps us to see that Jesus doesn’t offer the bare minimum. He’s not merely utilitarian. He loves and serves generously (filling the jars to the top) and excellently, and we would do well to follow in His example whenever we can.
2. In this manifested His glory. In addition to explaining that Jesus did more than was merely necessary, John also made a special point to mention that in performing miracle, Jesus “manifested his glory.” That is, Jesus’ act of turning water into wine demonstrated that He had power and authority beyond that of any mere man. This miracle was an unmistakable display of glory unique to the Christ, the Son of God. And we are right to bring Him continual worship and praise because of it.
3. Finally, this miracle cause His disciples to believe in Him. The very last words of our passage are, “And his disciples believed in him.” This is curious in that they clearly believed in Him already (“we have found the Christ,” “him of whom Moses…and also the prophets wrote,” “the Son of God…the King of Israel”). The very fact that they had followed Him proves that.

What was John getting at (especially considering the fact that he was among the disciples who believed because of this)? In short—and this is a big deal, Grace—our entire Christian lives until heaven are about increasingly believing in Jesus. I hope some of you find real and significant comfort today to hear that we are saved by having faith, not a certain measure of it. God-given faith, the size of a mustard seed, has as much saving power as an entire ocean of it. God’s grace helps us grow in our faith as Christians, and therein increasing trust in God in our daily lives, but the continual prayer of a Christian is, “I believe, help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24). Here John’s point is that Jesus helped His believing disciples with another pocket of their unbelief. And if you ask Him, He will help you too.

Jesus performed a miracle. The awesome, glorious nature of that was amplified by the fact that it was wrapped in the biblically significant themes of wedding and wine. The disciples saw this and were rightly amazed and rightly strengthened in their belief. Those ought to be the results for all of us as well. And yet, as I close, I want to keep a crucial question in front of you that we’ll be continually confronted with in this Gospel: why do some people see these things and respond in worship and belief (in Jesus day and in ours) and others (most?) respond in indifference, mockery, and even anger? Why did no one else follow Jesus as a result of this manifestation of glory (John doesn’t record a single, additional convert as a result of this miracle witnessed by others)? In the same way, why are some of you moved significantly by this story while others are bored by it? The answer is really important and will become increasingly clear as we work through John’s Gospel. In short, the answer is the sovereign grace of God—the sovereign Grace of God that Jesus came to purchase on the cross. Let’s pray that it would flood over us right now; let’s pray that God would cause us to believe in Him.

35 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. 40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).

43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

In our passage for this morning, we see the beginning of John’s description of Jesus’ ministry. Not only had the Christ come (last week), but He also started functioning as the Christ (this week).

If you didn’t already know, what do you imagine that would mean? In light of all the OT passages we’ve considered, concerning the nature and mission of the Christ, how do you picture His ministry beginning? The Jews certainly thought He’d come to smash the Romans and restore Israel to prominence. The disciples seemed mostly confused for most of Jesus’ ministry. The crowds expected to see miracles (like a circus act). But again, what about you? If you hadn’t already read the story, what’s your sense of how the Christ would have begun His ministry? Teaching and preaching? Performing signs and wonders? Forming an army? Taking care of the poor and sick? Starting a social media campaign to create momentum? Would He have come out firing, trying to create a big name and a big splash? Would He have begun in a more low-key and humble way?

As we’ll see today, contrary to many expectations, a key piece of the beginning of Jesus’ ministry was to call a few humble followers to Himself. While John the Baptist quickly garnered a rather large following, Jesus took the opposite approach.

To help us all see, appreciate, and apply this story and the principles in it, I mean to (1) give a brief profile of each of the disciples called by Jesus and then (2) give a brief description of what Jesus called them to. My hope is that in seeing the simplicity and seriousness of the faith of these men, we would be encouraged to imitate them in both. The big idea of this passage is that it is right to respond to Jesus’ call on our lives by following Him wherever He leads and whatever it costs.

John 1:35 marks the transition from John’s focus on the ministry of John the Baptist, whose job it was to prepare the way for Jesus, to the actual ministry of Jesus. Appropriately, then, the scene opens up with John the Baptist standing with two of his followers, seeing Jesus approach, again declaring Him to be the “Lamb of God,” and then fading entirely into the background (even while releasing two of his own disciples to follow Jesus).

In that we see another clear display of John’s understanding and glad acceptance of the humble ministry to which he had been called. He must become lesser, Jesus must become greater, and so it was.

In our passage five men end up following Jesus as His disciples. Let’s briefly consider what we learn about each from these few verses.

The first two men who followed Jesus were initially disciples of the Baptist. Look at v.35.

35 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.

The events of 35-42 took place two days after John the Baptist’s first encounter with the Jerusalem delegation (19-28) and the day after Jesus was first introduced in the narrative portion of John’s Gospel (29-34). In this scene, the Baptist was with two of his followers when Jesus returned. John repeated his refrain from earlier (“Behold, the Lamb of God”), making sure his disciples didn’t forget the purpose of their ministry—preparing the way for and bearing witness to the Christ.

Apparently, John had taught them well, since upon seeing Jesus, both men left John and followed Jesus. It’s worth noting that John the Gospel writer’s description of the disciple-handoff is curious. It seems like as Jesus was passing by, the two men just started following behind him and that it was only once they were a ways down the road that Jesus happened to notice they were there.

38 Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, ‘What are you seeking?’”

There’s no mention of Jesus inviting them or the men asking to follow. Likewise, there’s no immediate mention of why they felt compelled to do so at that time. They just started walking behind Jesus until He saw and questioned them.

How would they respond to Jesus query? What were they seeking? We’ll see in a moment that their reply was just as curious as their initial approach—it doesn’t reveal much at all of their motives. Before we get there, however, this is a really, really important question for each of us to consider.

What are you seeking? Why are you interested in Jesus? What is it from Jesus that you would like? Maybe another way to word it is, why are you here this morning? Or, why are you involved in a Christian church? What are you really after?

As I mentioned earlier, there is no shortage of wrong answers in the Bible. Likewise, there is no shortage of wrong answers today. Wrong answers (that is, answers that do not honor God and miss the point of Jesus’ coming to dwell among us) are:

• Because your parents made you. Kids, your parents’ faith in Jesus will not save you. It’s good that you obeyed your parents and came this morning, but that will not by itself make you right with God.
• To get your religious or spiritual fix. I don’t know that I’ve met many people who would say it quite like that, but I’ve met many who certainly act that way. Being around a church and church things, being around Jesus, is simply a way to feel spiritually validated.
• To earn God’s favor. Are you seeking Jesus in order to make God happy with you, to accept you for your good choices? Are you here because God accepts good people and going to church is what good people do?
• To enable you to live your best life now. Some come to Jesus because they think of Him as a cosmic vending machine. If you are sick and want to be well, if you are lonely and want companionship, if you are poor and want money, if you are hungry and want food, if you have any worldly desire and want it met, pray to Jesus and he’ll give you the desires of your flesh.
• Because it’s what you’ve always done on Sundays. Habit. Routine. Family tradition. It’s just what we do
• And on and on.

There may be some goodness in each of these, but by themselves they are wrong answers. The right answer, the only right answer, the only answer that leads to peace with God, is to look to Jesus as Savior and Lord, to submit to him as King and trust Him for the forgiveness of your sins. Again, this will become increasingly clear as we work through John’s Gospel, but for now, I urge you to keep this question in front of you and not to let up until you truly know the answer. Prayerfully ask God to help you discern your real motives. And ask Him to increasingly conform them to that which Jesus offers and deserves.

Well, back to the text and the question before the two men following Jesus. What were they seeking from Jesus?

38 And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?”

Like I said, their answer doesn’t provide a ton of clarity. The men wanted to know where Jesus was going and (implied in the question) whether or not they could follow Him there.

39 He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.

The culture was quite a bit different then and there, but this is still a pretty remarkable thing. These men followed Jesus, Jesus accepted them, and together they went off. Clearly, there was something in what John had told them, something in what Jesus said, did, and was, or something that God was working in these men to cause them to follow so blindly and thoroughly. Actually, almost certainly, there were elements of all three in play.

But who were these men?

40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew…

Andrew was a simple fisherman from Bethsaida and, as we are about to see, the brother and recruiter of Simon Peter. He would follow Jesus from this point all the way to martyrdom.

That, of course, leaves us to wonder who the other man, the other disciple of the Baptist, was. Curiously, the Gospel writer never says. We know, however, that it was most likely John (the Gospel writer) himself. For reasons that I spent some time explaining in the first sermon on John, John never mentions himself by name in his Gospel. He refers to himself in generic terms like here, “one of the two”. Later he’ll refer to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved”. But he never calls himself by name.

John too was a humble fisherman. He would become one of Jesus’ inner circle (along with Peter and James) and, as you know, the author of this Gospel, 1, 2, 3 John, and Revelation. He would follow Jesus from here all the way to exile on an island called Patmos.

The third disciple mentioned in our passage was the one who would become the most well-known of all, Simon Peter.

40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).

Simon Peter was also a fisherman. He was married (the only one said to be in the Gospels). He is portrayed as highly emotional and impulsive before Pentecost. He wrote 1 and 2 Peter and is the source for Mark’s Gospel. He followed Jesus to his own crucifixion (possibly upside down).

The two most intriguing aspects of Simon Peter’s introduction in John’s Gospel are that (1) within a few hours of being with Jesus, Andrew became so certain of the Christness of Jesus that it compelled him to share that with his brother, and that (2) at their very first encounter Jesus renamed him.

May both be lessons for us. That is, may we seek to be so amazed by the person, nature, and work of Jesus that we cannot help but to tell others about Him. Grace, truly knowing Jesus will always have this effect. He is (as we find out in just these few verses) the Lamb of God, Rabbi, the Messiah, him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, the Son of God, and the King of Israel. May we seek proper awe and wonder at those thing from God in increasing measure. Your view of Jesus is too small if you are ever silent.

And second, may we acknowledge Jesus’ unique power to name us, to declare who we are at the core of our being. You are not what anyone but Jesus says you are and you are only what Jesus says you are. May we all stop seeking to find our identities in/from things that are made, rather than in their Maker. If you are not a Christian, you have been named enmity. If you are a Christian, you have been named sons and daughters of God! In this simple passage where Jesus turned Simon into Peter, we see a deeper power of God than anyone could have known.

It wasn’t until the next day, the fourth day according to John’s timeline, that the final two disciples are mentioned. The fourth disciple named in John’s Gospel was Philip.

43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.

All four of the Jesus’ first disciples (named in John) were from the same city, Bethsaida. Unlike the first three, however, John says that Jesus sought out Philip. The first three went to Jesus, but Jesus went to Philip. We’re not told the reason for this, but it is clear in the passage.

We don’t know a lot about Philip, but he too is said to have followed Jesus from here to martyrdom.

Finally, we come to Nathaniel, the fifth disciple mentioned by John. Like Andrew, Philip was so convinced that Jesus was the Christ, he couldn’t keep it to himself.

45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

It’s really remarkable that with so little in the way of explanation, these first followers of Jesus were entirely convinced that He was the Christ God promised to send. “We have found him of whom Moses…and also the prophets wrote…”.

Nathanael’s response, however, was different than the rest—at least initially.

46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

Jesus’ hometown, Nazareth, was not a city of prominence. On the contrary it was a humble city, much like the men Jesus was calling. Nathanael’s response would not have been unusual.

Once again, the simplicity and purity of Philip’s response is something for us to learn from and aspire to. Once you have tasted and seen the goodness of the Lord, evangelism really is as simple as inviting non-Christians to “come and see.” Or, as Andrew did, bringing people to Jesus. There is certainly a place for answering skeptical questions, carefully walking through the Bible, and committing to long-term relationships with people for the sake of the gospel. However, all of those things find their proper context when we are so captivated by the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ that our first and genuine invitation to them is, “Come and see” or “come with me to Jesus”.

Have you ever been to Fogo? No? Come and see. Then you’ll understand. Have you ever watched the 2000 men’s basketball national championship game? You haven’t? Come and see what great basketball looks like. Have you experienced colors of fall in the North? No? Come and see. I won’t have to say a word for you to be amazed. And 1,000,000 times more than any of those things, have you heard the good news about Jesus Christ? No? Come and see and you’ll never be the same!

Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

And in a way that only Jesus can deliver, Nathanael went and saw!

47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Jesus granted Nathanael eyes to see by giving him a small glimpse of the all-knowing nature of God. And that was enough. The mere sliver overwhelmed Nathanael to the point that he was convinced that Jesus was the “Son of God” and “the King of Israel.” What a gift of grace it is when Jesus grants us eyes to see. Many after him would see similar things and remain hard-hearted toward Jesus. But by the grace of God, Nathanael saw and SAW.

Even though Nathanael was rightly amazed by what Jesus revealed to him, Jesus quickly made it clear that this was just the beginning. “Nathanael, you are rightly amazed by the power I just showed you, but you haven’t seen anything yet! You will see much, much greater things than that! You just wait…follow me and wait!

And he did. Nathanael followed Jesus from here to a martyrs death many years later.

As you know, Jesus would call seven more disciples to Himself. Here, though, we get our first glimpse of the ministry of the Christ, and the ministry of the Christ was to call men—simple, humble men—to Himself.

All of this raises an important question. What was Jesus’ call on these men? We’ve seen the beginning of the answer already, but I want to make it even more explicit. Coming to see this in the NT was one of the most significant, life-shaping things I’ve ever come across. A number of years ago, I wrote this:

Jesus’ main call on the lives of His first followers was, “Follow me”.

Many people, when they think of Christianity, think of all kinds of things like belief in God and “nice Jesus” and going to church and reading the Bible and up-front pastors and saying prayers and following rules. However, while each of these things may have a place in Christianity, they can only be properly understood under the umbrella of following Jesus.

To be sure, Jesus called His followers to repent (Matthew 4:17), believe (Mark 5:36), have faith (Mark 11:22), love (Matthew 22:36-39), glorify God (1 Corinthians 10:31), etc. However, these, and all the other callings that Jesus issued are contained in the two simple words, “Follow Me.” Follow Me away from sin. Follow Me into holiness. Follow Me into believing all that the Father is. Follow Me in trusting all that the Father says. Follow Me in loving God and mankind. Follow me in glorifying the Father. Follow Me wherever I lead and whatever it may cost you!

Indeed, Jesus main call on the lives of His first followers was, “Follow me”.

We catch the first glimpse of that in Andrew and John’s response to seeing Jesus. It becomes even more straightforward in Jesus’ words to Nathanial. It will become clearer still as we see what Jesus said to those He encountered throughout His ministry.

Grace, the heart of what it means to be a Christian was and still is, following Jesus. We need to be careful to let the Bible define for us what that means, but the whole of the life God calls us to is simply following Jesus. We tend to make it more complicated, but being Christian is following Jesus in faith.

If someone asked, are you a Christian? You might quickly and easily say, “Yes.” But if someone asked, are you following Jesus, you might need to think a little harder. “Are you a Christian?” can (wrongly) come across as a mere question of principle. But “are you following Jesus?” seems to cut closer to the heart, calling for both principle and practice. It effectively asks, do you not merely believe certain truths about Jesus, but also, is your entire life conformed to His example—your thoughts, words, actions, money, hobbies, relationships, etc. Are you continually in the process of becoming more like Jesus in every way? That’s what it means to follow Jesus and that’s really what it means to be a Christian…to have faith in Jesus such that your whole life is marked by trust in His sufficient sacrifice on your behalf and rightful rule over every aspect of your being.

Simple but serious.

In elementary and middle school, many recesses were spent playing some team game—football, basketball, baseball, etc. Each time, two captains were chosen and they’d pick their teams. Inevitably, whoever picked first, picked (what they thought to be) the best player. The second pick would pick the second best player. And so on down the line. The goal, every time, was to pick the players that would best allow the captain’s team to win whatever game we were playing.

What we see in this passage is something entirely different. As we’ll see with increasing clarity as we learn more about the disciples Jesus chose, these men were anything but the most attractive, talented, wealthy, influential, strong, or religious. They were not the men you would pick to win a battle or political election or popularity contest or seat among the Jewish leaders. Why, then, did Jesus pick them?

He picked them to help fulfill His mission of filling the world with the good news of His kingdom. And He picked them precisely because there was nothing in them that the world would find impressive or that was especially competent to fulfill the mission. He picked them so that as the gospel spread and His kingdom grew, everyone would know that it was through the power of God alone.

And so the call stands before us today. Will you follow Jesus as King and Savior? Jesus called people to follow Him without a lot of explanation or answers. He didn’t give them an exhaustive discipleship plan that they could evaluate and decide whether they were up to it. He simply offered people the chance to follow Him under His terms, in His timing, and for His purposes. They were free to accept or reject His offer and to leave at any time. What they were not free to do, however, was dictate their own terms or follow according to their own schedule or take their own path. It is for these reasons that many never followed Jesus to begin with and that many stopped following Him as the cost became too high. And so it is even still, Grace. Will you follow Jesus knowing that it means giving up everything in order that you might gain everything? That’s the offer we see so clearly here in John’s Gospel. As you consider it, remember, he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” 21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” 22 So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

24 (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) 25 They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” 26 John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27 even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” 28 These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

You may have noticed last week that I passed over v.15. It reads, “John [that is, John the Baptist] bore witness about him [the is, Jesus the Christ], and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.'” The apostle John included this in order to helpfully point back to vs.6-8 and forward to our passage for this morning.

In 6-8, as a reminder, John the apostle introduced John the Baptist as one sent by God to announce, or bear witness to, the coming of the Christ. In 19-34, John the apostle describes what that looked like in action. Again, v.15 reiterates that John the Baptist knew he wasn’t the main character and that his job was to announce the arrival of the One who was.

All of that is meant to cause us to wonder how, exactly, John would do that and better prepare us to understand his telling of it. This morning, then, we’ll look in on the manner in which John the Baptist bore witness to Jesus as the Christ.

The main points of this passage are that: 1) John the Baptist, although growing in influence and reputation, made it clear over and over that he was not the point, Jesus was!, and 2) Jesus was the point because He is the Christ, the Son of God, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World and baptizes with the Spirit. And the main takeaways for us are that: 1) We must engage in ministry, and 2) We must constantly fight to remember that Jesus is the point of our ministry.

Let’s pray, then, that God would help us to see and live out all of that.

The narrative portion of John’s Gospel (and the book of signs) begins with John the Baptist already having built a significant name for himself. John gives us hints as to what was behind that, but details are sparse. As I just mentioned, in the simplest way possible, John stated that he came as a witness to the Christ (v.7) and claimed that Jesus was the Christ (v.15), but that’s about all that John records. Those things are certainly significant, but don’t quite seem to rise to the level that would cause “the Jews [to send] priests and Levites from Jerusalem” (v.19) to interrogate him. Certainly he wasn’t the first person to make dramatic claims, but something about John the Baptist’s message and ministry stood out such that the powers that be had heard of him in Jerusalem. And further still, what they heard was so concerning that they felt compelled to investigate.

The other three Gospels fill us in a bit more. Luke alone tells the story of John the Baptist’s miraculous birth. His father, Zechariah, was an Israelite priest. His mother, Elizabeth, was barren. Both were old. One day Zechariah was chosen to offer incense in the temple. While there, an angel of the Lord told Zechariah that God had heard his prayers for a child and that they would be answered. What’s more, the angel instructed Zechariah to name the child John, to have him take the Nazarite vow, and promised that he would be filled with the Holy Spirit in order to prepare people for the coming of the Lord by speaking the Word of God.

Matthew joins Luke in telling us that John preached a message of repentance. He called on all who would listen to turn from their sins and be baptized because the kingdom of God was near. And Mark joined the other two in recording John the Baptist promising that the Christ was near and would baptize not with water, but with fire and the Holy Spirit. On top of all of that, Matthew tells us that he dressed and ate funny (wearing camel’s hair and eating bugs and wild honey).

And the result was that “Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region around the Jordan were going to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins” (Matthew 3:5-6).

In short, John the Baptist had a remarkable birth story that had gotten around. In addition, when he was around 30 years old, the word of God came to him and commanded him to begin preaching to everyone who would listen. The main message he was charged to preach was one of repenting and readying one’s self for the coming of the Christ. By the Spirit’s power, this message cut to the heart of the Jews who came out in droves and responded in repentance and baptism. With all of that added to the little John gave, it’s quite a bit easier to see why things were the way they were in John 1:19, how John had caught the attention of the religious leaders.

Interestingly, as John the apostle records the account, the first question asked by the visiting, interrogating priests and Levites was, “Who are you?” They wanted to know who this man was that had risen up so powerfully among the masses. He hadn’t come up through the usual ranks (their ranks) and they didn’t know what to make of him.

John’s answer fills us in on the heart of the concerns of the Jewish leaders. They hadn’t traveled 20+ miles (one way, with the return trip being much more difficult), over a couple of days simply because of John’s popularity. They came to find out if he was claiming to be the Christ—which would be a really serious matter.

We saw John’s answer in principle in the introduction, “He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light” (v.8). We see it in narrative in v.20, “He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, ‘I am not the Christ.’” John the Baptist made no claim to be the Christ. He hadn’t come to make a name for himself.

21 And [so] they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?”

What a curious question? Why would they have asked if he was a prophet from centuries earlier? Where the initial question might have made sense, the follow-up question of the priests is curious, right? Imagine standing on the sidelines of your kid’s soccer game, decked out in team gear. It would make sense for one of the other parents to ask, “Are you the coach?” But if you said “no,” it wouldn’t make a lot of sense for them to follow up with, “Who are you, then, George Washington?” Is that what we have here? If you’re not the Christ, then are you a dead* prophet?

Well, as I’m sure you probably know, it’s not anything like that. Given the fact that their Christ-radar was up, and given the fact that John denied being the Christ, the next most logical question to the Jewish mind was whether or not he was Elijah. That is because in Malachi 4:5 God promised to send Elijah before the Christ, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes”. They were asking, if you are not the Christ, are you the one God has sent to announce His coming?

More curious than the question, then, is John’s answer. From what we saw in the introduction, and what Jesus said about John in Matthew 11:14 (“if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.”), we fully expect John to say, “Yes!” Instead, however, “He said, “I am not.”

The simple fact of the matter is that either John didn’t understand this aspect of the role he was filling or he was answering the question as the Jews meant it (believing that Elijah himself would literally return). Regardless of his reasoning, we can be confident that he wasn’t lying, but at the same time we can also admit that we just aren’t sure why he answered the way he did.

(This seems like a good time to remind you of a key aspect of narrative accounts in the Bible. A lot of serious errors have been made by missing what I’m about to say. Narrative simply tells you what was, not what should have been or what out to be. In other words, John the Apostle is simply recording what John the Baptist said. That doesn’t tell us anything about whether or not he was right. We have to go elsewhere (like the words of Jesus who is always true) to test his claims. This is equally true when we see what the early church leaders did. Just because a narrative account tells us they did something, that doesn’t mean that they should have done it, much less that we should imitate them perpetually. Again, we need something more to conclude that. Make sure you talk about this idea in your DGs this week.)

From there, the priests and Levites just worked down the list to the next likely possibility, ““Are you the Prophet?” It seems likely that they had Deuteronomy 18:15-18 in mind, “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen… [and] 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.” And to that question, John rightly “answered, ‘No.’” (This was a prophecy about the Christ.)

Fresh out of ideas and feeling pressure to have something to report, they circled all the way back to their initial question. “So they said to him, ‘Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself’” (v.22)?

John’s reply was clear, decisive, and bold. “He said, ‘I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said’” (v.23).

This answer simultaneously communicated two crucial truths. First, John’s role was that of herald, not Lord. His job was to announce the coming of the Christ, not draw attention to himself. And second, he claimed the Isaiah prophecy (40:3) for himself and therein revealed that he was not the herald for any mere human figure. How about that, Jewish leaders?! Is that clear enough? We’re left wondering, then, how they would respond.

I remember meeting a man at the hospital many years ago. He wore strange clothes (like an all-black version of the priest’s robes in the Catholic church I grew up in). He also seemed to be praying constantly, but in a posture I’d never seen. One day we ended up in a common area together and I struck up a conversation with him to find out his story. He said he was a Jew and studying to be a lawyer within his Jewish community. After asking him a few questions in a vain attempt to figure out exactly what he was talking about, I quickly realized that I was asking questions that didn’t fit his system (like how wet is red, or why is seven angry).

Although John was clear, the Pharisaical delegation apparently didn’t get it. Therefore, (v.25) “They asked him, ‘Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?’” The simple fact is, they could not understand who John was or what he was doing. His teaching, actions, impact, and mission didn’t fit into any of the categories they had.

His answer probably didn’t clear much up for them, even though it’s sweet for us.

26 John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27 even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”

The main point John was making, ever more clearly, was that the Jewish delegation was making a big deal about the wrong guy. Whatever his mission, and whatever attention he’d garnered for it, he was merely a precursor to the real thing. Whatever significance John had was only to give more weight to his claim that his role was to announce the coming of one “whose sandal [he was] not worthy to untie.” His ministry was to prepare with water for the One who would come with the Holy Spirit and fire.

There’s a good lesson for us in this too, Grace. It seems that every few weeks another pastor or prominent ministry leader is stepping down or being removed from their ministry role because they forgot that they aren’t the point. The consistent theme is coming to believe the lie that their platform was for them. It’s often pretty subtle at first, but the problem is that even slowly, undetectably stepping into the spotlight eventually displaces Jesus from it. The temptation is to believe that Jesus’ shoes belong to us, rather than echoing the constant refrain, “[His] sandal I’m not worthy to untie.”

Grace, we must, must, must, settle on this. Untying sandals was the job of the lowest of the lowest servants (this is also what made Jesus’ washing of the disciples’ feet so scandalous). Our charge is to love God with all that we have, love our neighbor as ourselves, and lay our lives down to tell the world about Jesus.

The fact is, none of us are immune to the temptation to steal Jesus shoes, rather than wash His feet. Jesus described John the Baptist as the greatest man in history (Luke 7:28) and yet he clearly knew that was nothing compared to the one he was called to point to. When leaders fall it tends to make headlines in a way that the average Christian doesn’t, but that doesn’t make the fall any less likely or tragic for the person in the pews.

Guard yourselves, therefore, against the two ditches of Christian ministry. Guard against failing to do ministry on the one hand. And guard against doing it for your glory on the other. Tell people about Jesus and help them grow in their faith. Don’t be silent. But as you do, don’t let any amount of “success” or “failure” cause you to take your eyes off of Jesus as the center and the goal. If you are a Christian and you’re not sure what either or both of those mean, talk to someone today. The Christian life is about glorifying Jesus by telling others about Him, not about making you feel special. John the Baptist gives us a tremendous example of all of that in this passage.

Before turning to the final section, I want to point out something from v.28.

28 These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

The encouraging aspect of this simple note is that it is another reminder of the historicity of the Christian faith. This is not a fairy tale. It is not a parable. It is a real story of what really happened to real people in real places for the salvation of the world. It’s a grave error to treat the historical/factual portions of Bible as if they were fictitious stories intended to make a spiritual point. They are spiritual as well, but they are actual first.

As we come to the final section of our passage, keep in mind the simple fact that Jesus hasn’t yet appeared yet in the story. John the Baptist had created quite a stir, but Jesus public ministry hadn’t even begun yet. In 29-34 we’re introduced to Jesus and given a brief glimpse of Him through the Baptist’s eyes.

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

You have to picture the scene. You’ll never respond to this as you ought if you take everything you already know into it. You have to do your best to put yourself in the position of the skeptical Jewish delegation. Pretty much all they knew was that some guy was causing a ruckus among their people by claiming that God’s kingdom was near. They’d most likely been sent to get a reasonable explanation (unlikely in their minds) or sufficient reason to shut the whole operation down (likely).

Upon initial investigation, John the Baptist must have seemed a little kooky and a lot passionate. The next day, however, in the scene we just read about, things hit another level.

The idea here is that John had baptized Jesus at some point earlier and here, as Jesus approached, John cried out, “It’s Him! There He is. He’s the One I’ve been telling you about. He’s the One I came to bear witness to. He’s the One whose sandals I’m not worthy to untie. He’s the One that is preeminent. And even though I’m older than Him, He existed before me. He is the very son of God. More than all of that, He’s the one who has come to take away our sins! He is here to be the sacrifice God requires, the Lamb of God. I told you yesterday that I baptize with water, but the man you see coming towards us will baptize with the Holy Spirit of God. “

“I know you’re skeptical. I know you don’t like what I’m saying, but I’m telling you it’s true! And I know it’s true because God himself commanded me to baptize, announce that the Christ was coming soon, and wait for His sign. I didn’t know who the Christ was at first (I mean, I had my suspicions) and I didn’t know how long it would take exactly for Him to show up. But God told me He would make it plain to me by causing the Holy Spirit to descend upon the Christ in my presence…and He did. That’s exactly what happened. The Spirit came down on that man, the one right in front of your eyes, in the form of a dove, and it sat on him. Everything happened just as God said it would, and there He is. Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

Can you imagine, Grace Church? Can you imagine being among the priests and Levites? Can you imagine being the watching Jews? Can you imagine being John the Baptist? What a remarkable scene.

This is a man worth telling the world about. This is a man who deserves all the glory. John knew that and was eager to proclaim Him and get out of the way. He was eager to cry out the good news that this man brought into the world no matter the cost. John wasn’t concerned about his reputation or his comfort or his dreams. He was amazed enough by the Christ that all of that faded into the back as he lived out God’s commission on his life.

Again, so must we, Grace Church. Jesus is still the Lamb of God. He has taken away the sin of the world. He will take away your sin if you will trust in Him. He is still baptizing with the Holy Spirit. He will fill you with the Spirit to convict and empower and preserve and illuminate and bring peace and joy if you will trust Him. He is still the only Son of God. He is still the Christ. He is still preeminent. He is still the one whose sandals no one is worthy to untie. And we still have the commission to tell the world about Him, regardless of the cost, for the glory of God.

Behold, the Lamb of God.

John 1:14-18 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. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

In John 1:1 we were introduced to the deity of Jesus. In 1:14 we are introduced to the humanity of Jesus. How those two things come together is at the same time (1) a mystery and (2) right at the heart of the Christian faith and gospel. The wages of sin is death, so humanity is essential for an acceptable sacrifice. The sins of mankind warrant an infinite punishment, so divinity is essential for a sufficient sacrifice.

But how can a being be both divine and human, both eternal and temporal, both unborn and born, both invincible and murdered, and on and on? In the simplest possible terms, John answers these questions in the introduction to his Gospel. “In the beginning was the Word…and the Word was God.” “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

Largely based in the first eighteen verses in John, one of the clearest statements from the Church on this comes from the Council of Chalcedon (mid 5th century AD). Consider these ancient words as a means of preparing your hearts and minds for the glory of Jesus that is revealed in our passage for this morning (this also happens to be the right answer to one of the questions on the membership application if you want to cheat).

Therefore, following the holy Fathers, we all with one accord teach men to acknowledge one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body; of one substance [homoousios] the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood; like us in all respects, apart from sin; as regards his Godhead, begotten of the Father before the ages, but yet as regards his manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation, of Mary the Virgin, the God-bearer (theotokos]; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistence [hupostasis], not as parted or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son and Only-begotten God the Word, Lord Jesus Christ; even as the prophets from earliest times spoke of him, and our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us, and the creed of the Fathers has handed down to us. (cited in Henry Bettenson, ed., Documents of the Christian Church [London: Oxford Univ., 1967],51-52)

Let’s pray that God would help us stand in awe at the mystery of the hypostatic union of God and man in One. And let’s pray that in that state of awe, God would grant fuller love and obedience.

John 1:14 is staggering in its claims. The eternal Word of God became flesh, the incarnate Word lived among men, in these things, the Word revealed the glory of God in a fuller way than had ever been seen, and the heart of this incarnate, Word-glory is fullness of grace and truth! Vs.15-18, then, reiterate and expand a bit upon these claims.

If all we had were the first 13 verses of John’s Gospel, we’d have something truly significant, but not overly controversial. The eternality, creative power, and personification of the wisdom of God were not new or unique to the Jews. Those claims are not what makes Christianity truly different. The first clause of the 14th verse, however, is a different animal. It is, in many ways, the very thing that makes Christianity an entirely exclusive religion. That is, it is because of this clause that Christianity is either true and all other religions are false, or false and we are all fools. What clause am I referring to?

14 And the Word became flesh…

God became man. God became man, Grace Church. God became man. One being, truly God and truly man. It was universally believed among the Jews that God had existed eternally as God and that the Christ would come as a man. What was most definitely not understood, is the reality-altering reality of the two being One.

The significance of this will become increasingly plain as we work through John’s Gospel, but for now, I invite you to be amazed or re-amazed by the reality that God became man.

What’s more, not only did the Word become flesh (become man), but the incarnate Word came to live with mankind.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…

Oh what condescending grace! It’s condescending in that as staggering as it is that God became man, it’s not far behind that as a man He “had no [external] form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2). The One who made the heavens and earth, the One who has stars and galaxies as footstools, the One who commands myriads and myriads of angels, the One who holds all things together, took on a normal human body and made His home among ordinary people; not in a palace or on a throne or among the powerful, but in a form and manner that was entirely unremarkable.

In fact, the word translated “dwelt” refers to a tent. A more literal rendering might be “the Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us.” This simultaneously points back to God’s tabernacle dwelling with Israel, tells of a fuller expression of that (the fullest expression yet), and is an indication that this would not be the permanent or fullest version of all. There are some really nice, sturdy tents, but tents by definition are temporary, vulnerable, and not kingly structures.

But let’s be clear on the fact that although Jesus’ incarnation was condescending, it was also another, awesome dose of God’s redeeming, reconciling grace. Let us never forget, Grace, that the greatest promise of God, the fullest measure of salvation, is that one day there will be an unending, uninterrupted, undiminished dwelling of God with man.

The Garden is the first place we saw God dwell among man. Indeed, in the Garden we see that part of mankind’s very purpose for being is to dwell with God. The Fall, however, displaced men from entering freely into God’s presence and therein frustrated our ability to live full and meaningful lives. In love, though, God was determined to fix this, to reconcile us to Himself, and to restore our fellowship with Him. The tabernacle and then the temple gave glimpses of hope and God’s redeeming work. And in the fullest way since the Fall, John 1:14b tells of God coming again to dwell among us. But all of that was meant to pave the way for the full, final, and permanent experience of God’s presence (which we read about in Revelation 21).

Revelation 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

You and I, along with all mankind were made to dwell with God; not merely at the same time as Him, or within the same universe as Him, or even within the same vicinity as Him, but with Him in perfect fellowship. And not merely for a few brief moments, or even for long periods of time, but forever and ever without interruption. Be amazed, Grace and change your life goals; change your ambitions; change your sense of self and purpose; change your understanding of greatest treasure. Whatever those things are, this is what it’s meant to be—dwelling with God! And in this passage we see the reality of God with us in the person of Jesus Christ.

In light of the first two, the next clause in v.14 shouldn’t come as any kind of a surprise.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and [in that incarnation and co-dwelling] we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father…

Though His form was not outwardly impressive, Jesus came in and revealed a glory that was unlike anything the world had seen since the first Garden. He came in the glory unique to the second person of the Holy Trinity, the Son of God, sent from the Father. Jesus put the glory of God on display for all to see and savor in a way that no one had seen except Adam and Eve.

This too is a pointer back to OT imagery and reality. In Exodus 40 “the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.” In John 1:14, the glory of the LORD filled the Son as He took on flesh and “tabernacled” among us.

V.18 makes this even clearer.

18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

In Jesus, mankind was given the fullest glimpse yet of the glory of the invisible God. In Jesus, God was made known in a manner which had only partially been revealed and much of which sin had caused us to miss and forget. Jesus, having eternally existed at the Father’s side, came to make the godhead known to the world in glory. No one else was able to do so since no one else has seen God or been at His side. Jesus alone, as the Christ, the Son of God, possessed a view of this glory and shared in this glory. He alone, therefore, was able to do what John says He did.

John tells us that in coming into the world incarnate, Jesus made a new and fuller way for sinful man to see God, to know God, and to dwell with God—to fulfill the very purposes for which we were made. And in that is a kind of glory that is astonishing beyond measure.

Grace, let me submit to you once again the simple fact that your view of God is entirely too small. Your view of the incarnation is entirely too small. Your view of the amazing grace of God in the person of Jesus Christ is way too small. God is greater than you could ever imagine and we catch another glimpse of that in this short verse. May God make us increasingly eager to see all of this lived out in the life of Jesus as we work through John’s description of it in this gospel.

Again, in just the first ¾ of v.14 (with help from v.18), John claimed that the eternal Word of God became flesh, the incarnate Word lived among men, and the Word revealed the glory of God. As if all of that were not enough, he makes one more claim of unimaginable magnitude in the final clause of the first verse in our passage for this morning (which he expands upon in vs.16-17).

14 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… 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

The claim is that Jesus Christ, the God-man, came full of grace and truth. And this claim has two critical aspects to it: (1) it is part of the glory Jesus came to reveal and (2) it is the means by which we see that glory.

That Jesus is “full of grace and truth,” that “from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace,” and that “grace and truth came through Jesus” are all further descriptions of the particular glory of Jesus. There is a general sense in which Jesus is glorious; meaning, Jesus possesses a greatness, a majesty, a splendor that is well outside of the norm. But we are right to ask what his glory consists of. What, specifically, is it about him that is great, majestic, and splendid?

A significant part of the content of the glory of Jesus is the fact that He is full of grace and truth. There is absolutely nothing false about Him. There is nothing in Him that fails to perfectly conform to Truth. Everything He is, says, feels, believes, and does entirely correspond to the reality that God authors. Similarly, Jesus continually exudes unmerited favor to the world. The very fact that not everyone is in hell is entirely owing to the grace of God in Jesus. God’s patience with sinners is exclusively tied to the saving work that Jesus accomplished on the cross. The fact that things are never as bad as they could be (common grace) is only because Jesus’ glory consists of unending grace. And, of course, that anyone has been saved is only because Jesus is full of grace.

When you consider Jesus, John invites you to consider His glory, “glory as of the only Son from the Father.” And when you consider His glory, John invites you to consider the fact that part of what makes it up is perfect truth and unending grace.

As I said, however, there’s another aspect of the grace and truth that fill Jesus. This aspect is embedded in the words, “we have all received.” More than simply the content and a display of glory, as remarkable as that would be all by itself, the grace and truth of Jesus is also the means by which God has given mankind to apprehend and experience and delight in the glory!

Last week, I asked you to consider how the very Son of God, the light of the world, the eternal Word, the means and aim of creation, could stand in front of men and not be recognized. Our passage for this week only complicates the question. In addition to all those things, we just saw that Jesus possesses the glory of God. Again, how could Jesus be all of those things and not entirely overwhelm the world with awe and wonder?

The answer, we saw in John 1:13, is that only those (re)born of God are able to see God as God. In the final clause of v.14 and in vs.16-17, we get another piece of the answer.

Here’s how salvation comes: Somehow, the truth of the gospel comes to us (through an evangelist, a tract, a sermon, an evangelistic video, by reading the Bible, etc.), through it (the gospel), the grace of God comes upon us, causing us to be spiritually born of God, the new birth allows us to see the truth as truth and trust the truth, where it was a matter of indifference or folly, by God’s grace it becomes the power of God, and then through that (our trust/faith in the gospel), the grace of God unites us with the saving work of Jesus. Truth, grace, truth, grace. Again, the truth of the gospel leads to regenerating grace. Regenerating grace leads to understanding of and faith in the gospel. Faith in the gospel is the means by which God imparts the righteousness of Christ to us. Truth, grace, truth, grace.

To make this even more clear, John highlighted the contrast between law and grace in v.17, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Moses brought the law, and with it, condemnation. That is not to say the law itself is sinful or bad, only that in our sin we could never keep it. It’s kind of like me explaining that the best solution to your health problem is to run an ultra-marathon every day for a year. It might be true, but if no one is able to actually do it, it’s not much of a solution. We’d need something different if we were to ever experience healing. The law, in revealing the path of holiness, also revealed the sinfulness of our sin and our need for grace. Jesus brought what sinners need: grace and truth.

We’ll see all of this in a number of ways in Jesus’ teaching and ministry, but here John lays the groundwork for what follows. The point is that grace and truth are our greatest needs and that they are found in abundance—”full of grace and truth” and “grace upon grace”—in Jesus Christ! Grace and truth are the content of Jesus’ glory and the means by which we are able to see and delight in it. Awesome!

Not long ago I took my truck in to get some work done. Before telling me what he did and giving me the bill, the shop owner took me out to the bay and showed me the old distributer cap, spark plugs and wires. I’m no mechanic, but it was clear even to me that they’d all gone well beyond their life span (they were original from ’96). Having clearly seen what he was working with, everything else he told me, including the bill, made a lot more sense than it would have otherwise.

In a very real way, with the same basic motivation, but in opposite order, that’s the relationship between the first eighteen verses of John’s Gospel and the rest of it. My mechanic showed me the problem first and then explained what I’d just seen second. John explained the significance of the person and ministry of Jesus first (in 1:1-18) so that we might best understand what we’re about to see in the narrative accounts of the rest of his Gospel.

Specifically, John explicitly stated the following things about Jesus so that we might understand what we’re seeing in the stories we’ll encounter in 1:19-21:25.

1. Jesus is the Word of God
2. He has existed eternally with God.
3. He is the second person of the godhead, the Son of God.
4. God created all that has been created through Jesus.
5. Jesus is life.
6. Jesus is the light of all men.
7. The light of Jesus cannot be overcome.
8. God sent many prophets promising that Jesus would come, the last of which was John the Baptist who’s job it was to announce that Jesus had come.
9. Though all of this was true of Jesus, when He did come, the people He’d created did not recognize Him—neither Jew nor gentile.
10. Those who did receive Him were given the right to become children of God.
11. The ability to receive Jesus comes from being born again of God.
12. Jesus became a man, truly God and truly man.
13. Jesus lived among men.
14. In Jesus, the world was shown the glory of God.
15. Jesus is, and is full of grace and truth.
16. Jesus gives grace and truth to all who will receive it.
17. Jesus makes the invisible God known.
18. Jesus is the Christ!

Having come to the end of the introduction, then, beginning next week we’ll see all of those things lived out in John’s description of Jesus and His the three-and-a-half-year ministry. Buckle up and pray earnestly. Pray that God would grant you the grace to see the truth revealed in the Gospel so that you might hope in the truth and receive the saving grace of God. Pray also that, having received the grace and truth of Jesus, your sense of the all-encompassing claim it makes on your life would grow to appropriate levels. In short, pray that you’d come to recognize Jesus as the Christ and find life; that you’d be entirely awed by the glory of Jesus Christ, so that you might live and love as you were created to do.