Sunday Sermons

After the significant conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, the story turns back to John the Baptist. His disciples notice that people are starting to go to Jesus. How does John respond? Is he jealous? Is Jesus his rival? Not at all. John’s role was to point people to Christ. For John, it isn’t about his popularity or his significance. His witness has been consistent: “I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him” (3:28). Said differently, Jesus is better, and it ain’t even close.

One of the Bible’s most beloved and well-known verses comes from this passage. A secretive meeting by night between a teacher of Israel and the Son of God. Nicodemus wants to understand how Jesus is doing these signs, yet Jesus exposes him to a greater truth—in order to see and enter the Kingdom of God, one must be born from above. Jesus explains that it can be done by God alone; this is why he sent his Son into the world.

John’s Gospel continues revealing Jesus to us. So far we have been told: Jesus is the eternal Word that was with God and also is the eternal God; he then took on flesh to dwell among us (1:1-18). Jesus is then declared the “lamb of God who takes away sin” by John the Baptist, who redirects his own followers towards Jesus (1:19-51). Jesus goes public, performing his first miracle at a wedding and demonstrating that he himself is the eternal Bridegroom (2:1-12). But then… just as we thought we knew this Jesus, we’re confronted with another side we have not yet seen. Has Jesus taken his reaction too far?

At the beginning of the year, we discussed our “recalibrated” core values. These didn’t represent major directional changes for us as a church but merely adding clarity to what we truly value as a church. Throughout the year we will do a deeper dive into each of these values. This week we highlight the value of gospel. We want to be a gospel-centered church and bring the gospel to bear on all of life, all the time.

Here we see the beginning of Jesus’s public ministry and the first “sign” that John records Jesus doing. The purpose of the sign is to reveal Jesus’ glory so that the disciples might believe (2:11; See also John 20:30-31). How does wine at a wedding do that?! It’s all about symbolism; Jesus reveals himself here as the true Bridegroom who is going to bring about something new and better than ever for his people. If we see this right, we should never look at Jesus, or a wedding, the same way ever again.

John (the author) is still just beginning to introduce us to Jesus by telling us the story of John the Baptist. John the Baptist helped prepare the way for Jesus, both by pointing away from himself and pointing us to who Jesus is (the lamb of God, the Son of God, the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit, etc.). Jesus, in turn, points people to himself, as he confronts our expectations and lays claim on our lives when he says, “Come and see” and “Follow me.”

This week we begin our new series, “Down to Earth” through the first six chapters of John. Here in this introduction, John tells us why we should pay attention to who he is telling us about. John is introducing us to the Word - the One who existed from all eternity past, who created heaven and earth; the One who stepped down from heaven to earth in order to make God known to us. This One came to us in the person of Jesus so that we could believe in His name and have life.

Every one of us has values that shape the way we make decisions and navigate relationships; they inform what we see as treasure or trash. However, for many of us, they remain invisible or unspoken. As we take this month to recalibrate as a church, we want to think together about the values that shape the kind of people we want to be and the kind of church we want to be. Last week we began with (1) gospel, (2) scripture, and (3) prayer. This week, we’ll finish with: (4) compassion, (5) relationships, (6) multiplication, and (7) God’s glory.

Everyone of us has values that shape the way we make decisions and navigate relationships; they inform what we see as treasure or trash. However, for many of us, they remain invisible or unspoken. As we take this month to recalibrate as a church, we want to think together about the values that shape the kind of people we want to be and the kind of church we want to be. Over the course of the next two weeks, we will look at seven different values. This week, we’ll begin with three: (1) the gospel, (2) scripture, and (3) prayer.

As we begin a new year (and a new decade!) we are taking the month of January to “Recalibrate” together as a church. We want to think together about where we are headed both personally as individuals and corporately as a church. After discussing “the one thing” upon which we must focus—that is, to know Christ—we turn to the one activity that rightly follows from knowing Christ: we make him known to others. Embracing this important mission is not just given to us as a church, but as individual disciples as well.