Category Archives: John

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Bible Worship

The Very Real Danger of Bibliolatry

The goal of Bible study is not to gain greater knowledge of Scripture, or to grow spiritually, or to simply be able to check off that item on your daily list of things to do. It is to know God and his Son, Jesus Christ. By “knowing” I am not referring to an intellectual event, but the intimate exchange of one’s life with the Almighty whereby love is deepened, obedience is practiced, and faith is expanded. That is when searching the Scripture leads to eternal life.

Enduring Truth // John 5:39-40

You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life.

I can think of no simpler yet more powerful practice for greater spiritual growth and intimacy with God than daily Bible study. The truth is, if you don’t have a regular quiet time with God—which would include not only reading, but also meditation and prayer—you will fail to thrive spiritually. It is a simple as that.

Yet Bible reading, journaling and Scripture memory alone aren’t enough. In fact, there is a very real danger lurking in the practice of a daily quiet time that will lead to even greater distance from God than not reading at all: Love of Scripture without love of God. That is what we might call bibliolatry.

Bibliolatry occurs when we acquire biblical knowledge without spiritual discernment; when our study of the Word is not commensurate to our obedience of the Word; when our love for Scripture exceeds our love for God, and correspondingly, love for our fellow man; when pride in our practice of Bible reading leads to a false sense of righteousness; and when the spiritual discipline of quiet time becomes a work of law rather than an offering of grace. When that occurs, in effect, we are worshiping the Bible rather than the God of the Bible.

There are far too many “Christians” who read the Bible little, if at all. That is an unfortunate blight on the modern church. Yet there is another segment of believers, much smaller, but in deeper spiritual danger, who have been lulled into a sort of spiritual smugness because they fancy themselves as “people of the Word” or because, as they happily proclaim, the church they attend really “teaches” the Word.

Knowing the Bible isn’t enough. Satan knows the Bible as well as anyone. He can quote it at will. Daily reading and Scripture memory aren’t enough. Nicodemus (see John 3) had that down pat. Going to a church that teaches the Word verse-by-verse isn’t enough. There are people in those churches who are lost and don’t even know it.

Hearing, reading, and believing the Bible aren’t enough. Believing in Jesus is. Jesus said, “Whoever believes the Son has eternal life.” (John 3:36)

The goal of Bible study is not to grain greater knowledge of Scripture, or to grow spiritually, or to simply be able to check off that item on your daily list of things to do. It is to know God and his Son, Jesus Christ. By “knowing” I am not referring to an intellectual event, but the intimate exchange of one’s life with the Almighty whereby love is deepened, obedience is practiced, and faith is expanded.

That is when searching the Scripture leads to eternal life.

Thrive: Offer this prayer today: Lord, may my study of your Word always lead me to greater intimacy, obedience and love. May I not simply grow more knowledgeable of the Bible—may I grow more knowledgeable of you.

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The Tip Of The Iceberg

But Wait, There's More!

As you read through the four Gospels, it is hard to imagine that much more could be added to what Jesus did and said. I suppose the Holy Spirit limited the inspired thoughts and pens of these men in order to present to us only what our finite minds could absorb. But wait, there’s more! Day-by-day eternity will roll out the the never-ending story of the magnificence of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Enduring Truth // John 21:25

Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.

The Apostle John ends his gospel account of the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus with this remarkable commentary: “What I’ve written here about Jesus, you don’t know the half of it. In fact, since I’ve been with him night and day for three and a half years, I’ve gotta tell you, this is just the tip of the iceberg!”

Wow! As you read through the four Gospels, it is hard to imagine that much more could be added to what Jesus did and said. I suppose the Holy Spirit limited the inspired thoughts and pens of these men in order to present to us only what our finite minds could absorb.

Even then, we have trouble getting our brains around Jesus, don’t we? I mean, how do you top the incarnation, the virgin birth, and the Bethlehem narrative? Then there is his sinless life—what do you do after that? What more can be added to the Sermon on the Mount? Can anyone illustrate Christianity better than Jesus did with his parables? What about his miracles—how could you improve upon the feeding of the 5,000, the deliverance of the Gadarene demoniac, the healing of the blind man, the walking on water, or the raising of Lazarus? Is there any “wow factor” left after the crucifixion, the empty tomb and his glorious ascension?

Even though we would love to know more, mercifully, we have been given Jesus in bite-sized chunks. And just with that, we will spend a lifetime in wonder, awe and gratitude for the life, love, death and resurrection of this marvelous Savior and Lord. Even if all we ever had of Jesus was John 3:16, you and I would have enough to keep us undone with love for all eternity—and then some.

So what do you do for an encore with Jesus? Only one thing remains, which John alluded to back in John 14:3,

When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.

It is probably a good thing that we didn’t get any more details than that, because there is only so much the redeemed mind can absorb this side of heaven!

Thrive: S.D. Gordon wrote, “Jesus is God spelling Himself out in language that men can understand.” To as much as our finite minds can handle, the incomprehensible God has made himself comprehensible in Jesus. Get to know Jesus and you will get to know God. Spend some time meditating on John 3:16 today—I think you will appreciate God a whole lot more.

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Full Of Grace And Truth

Only Jesus Can Do That For You

Jesus didn’t come, as C.S. Lewis pointed out, to tell the world that everything was quite alright! Obviously, the world needed a savior—that’s why Jesus came. People need a savior because sin holds people captive. To keep the bad news about sin and the good news about a Savior from them would be the most hateful thing we could ever do. The most loving thing would be to show them what Grace and Truth can do for even the worst of sinners.

Enduring Truth // John 1:14

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

A few years ago our next door neighbor’s live-in girlfriend asked me, “what do you do?” I told her that I was a pastor. So she said, “Oh, I’m looking for a church…one that doesn’t get all weird and condemning about sin. What about yours?”

I said, “My church—hey, we accept everybody just the way they are—unless you’re shacking up with someone!”

No—I didn’t say that! But it was an awkward moment for me as I scrambled for a way to minimize the offense of the Gospel to a person who was far from God and build a bridge that might lead us at some point into a spiritual conversation. I didn’t need to offer condemnation by my words, in the tone of my voice or with my body language. I didn’t need to convince her of her sins, she was already dealing with that herself. Besides, it is not my job—it is the work of the Holy Spirit to do that. (John 16:8). Nor would Jesus have done that. Remember, in this very same book, right after the most famous verse in the entire Bible, John 3:16, Jesus goes on to say,

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:17)

But let’s keep in mind that Jesus didn’t come, as C.S. Lewis pointed out, to tell the world that everything was quite alright! Obviously, the world needed a savior—that’s why Jesus came. People need a savior because sin holds people captive. To keep the bad news about sin and the good news about a Savior from them would be the most hateful thing we could ever do.

So how do we bridge that gap between a loving God and the repulsiveness of the sinners sin? Grace and truth, that is how. That is what Jesus perfectly modeled. Take, for instance, his interaction with the adulterous woman in John 8. Picture the scene: This sinful woman is standing in the center of a circle, surrounded by self-righteous religious leaders who want her stoned. Imagine her humiliation, caught in the very act of adultery—a private act now a very public sin. Nothing can hide her shame—and make no mistake, sexual sin is shameful, degrading to the people involved, destructive to innocent families it affects and odious to God.

This woman is standing before Jesus, exposed, humiliated, tears dripping to the sand. She has been used by men all of her life, and now she will pay for it with her life. She sees the stones; she knows her guilt. Now, all eyes are on Jesus—what will he do?

After some time, Jesus speaks and says to those who want her executed, “Ok, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!”And with that bombshell, one-by-one, from oldest to youngest, they walked away, leaving only Jesus and this sinful woman face-to-face. What now? Would Jesus give her a good moral tongue lashing. No, he just gently asks, “Where are your accusers? Has no one judged you guilty?”

She replied, “No one, Sir.”

At that, Jesus offered these grace-truth words that would utterly right this sinner’s upside-down life: “Then I don’t either. Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Behind this amazing display of grace and truth, as Walter Trobisch said, what we find is that Jesus “accepts us as we are but when he accepts us, we cannot remain as we are.” When Jesus brings our sin to the surface, and when we acknowledge it by confession and repentance, he totally, graciously and forever forgives it. The adulteress went away forgiven, with a new clean heart and a brand new chance at life. Only grace and truth can do that for sinners.

Perhaps that is why prostitutes, publicans, and other sinners responded to Jesus so readily. At some level, they recognized their sin. That was why forgiveness was so appealing to them…and still is!

What does the world need more than anything right now? What does your sinful next door neighbor so desperately need? The same thing you need: A whole lot of truth and a big dose of grace!

Thrive: Take some time today to memorize and meditate on these two very important verses from John 1: “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (v.12) “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (v.14)

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At Your Most Christ-like

Serving Your Way To Greatness

If you are going to be a fully devoted follower of Christ, you will have to think, do and live like Jesus thought, did and lived—not the least of which is to take on the attitude, exhibit the actions, and live the lifestyle of a servant. Yes—you will have to serve your way to the top!

Enduring Truth // John 13:14

Since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet.

If you are going to be a fully devoted follower of Christ, you will have to think, do and live like Jesus thought, did and lived—not the least of which is to take on the attitude, exhibit the actions, and live the lifestyle of a servant. Yes—you will have to serve as Jesus served!

Serving is what Jesus did because servanthood was at the very core of who Jesus was and why Jesus came. The Gospel of Mark, the first written biographical account of Jesus, sums up the life and ministry of Jesus with this simple, clear and compelling mission statement:

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)

Fleshing out this mission statement, John 13 presents the servanthood of Jesus in action in the most unusual and unforgettable way: He washed his disciples’ feet. Then, as he completed this humbling task, he said to them, “I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.” (John 13:15, NLT)

It is abundantly clear from this passage, along with other scripture, that serving is an unmistakable, unavoidable demand of discipleship. Not only is serving a demand, but when we look at Jesus’ example, we find that serving is also a delight. It is what makes us bless-able: “Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.” (John 13:17, NLT)

Think about it: Serving like Jesus is what puts you at your Christ-like best!

You are called to serve! Paul writes in Philippians 2:5-7, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who being in very nature God…took on the very nature of a servant.” Galatians 5:13 says, “Serve one another in love.” If you are serving, you are fulfilling your basic Christian calling. If you are not, then you are not!

You were created to serve! Like a fish swims and a bird flies, a Christian serves. Ephesians 2:20 states, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Before you were even conceived, God laid out specific plans just for you. You are not an after-thought; you do not just exist; you are on this earth not just to be a potted plant, you were born not just to consume, but to contribute. God deliberately shaped you to serve his purposes, which means that he has placed an important responsibility on your shoulders that only you can fulfill.

You contribute to the Body of Christ when you serve! God specifically created you, converted you, and called you to contribute to the life, health and mission of a local church. Paul taught in I Corinthians 12:27, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” Verse 12 says, “The body is a unit, though it’s made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.” Verse 18 says, “God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.” Why? Verse 7 tells us it is “for the common good.” I Peter 4:10 says, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” Perhaps you didn’t realize this, but you serving in your church is the primary means of other people receiving God’s grace.

You capture the world’s attention when you serve! Our humble, authentic acts of service put God in a good light. Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount, “Let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. (Matthew 5:16, NLT) Jesus said in John 13:35, “By this will all men know that you are my disciples: That you have love for one another.” It’s by authentic servanthood that you become living proof of a loving God.

Jesus ended the washing of his disciples’ feet by issuing this very simple challenge: Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.” (John 13:17, NLT) It doesn’t get any clearer than that!

Thrive: I have one simple question for you: Where are you serving?

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God, Show Me How Truly Loved I Am!

52 Simple Prayers for 2018

Our sense of worth, along with our fundamental self-identity, comes from what we believe people think of us. And it colors everything we see, feel, think and do. That’s too bad! We ought to rather base it on what God thinks of us! And what does he think? How does he see us? Just look at the cross of Christ. God loves you so unconditionally, unstoppably, inexhaustibly much that he gave his one and only Son to redeem you and bring you into his forever family. You are not loved because you are valuable; you are of inestimable valuable because Who loves you!

A Simple Prayer for Grasping Gods Love:

Dear God, through the revealing work of your Holy Spirit, help me to grasp that I am the one you love. Help me to see how wide, long, high and deep is your love for me. Remind me throughout the day to look at the cross of Christ, with Jesus’ arms stretched from right to left, as if he is saying, “This is how much I love you.” Root my identity in your love, establish my worldview in your love, color my every word and deed through your love, and grant me divine power to live as the beloved of God. Throughout the day, may these transforming words be on my lips: “I am the one the Father loves!”

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Soli Deo Gloria

Being With Jesus:
John 21:19

Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

The disciples were reeling with the resurrection—in both delightful and disappointing ways. That Jesus rose from the grave was the ultimate game changer for them. This proved beyond all doubt that Jesus was who he claimed to be—God in flesh, the Lord of life and Savior of the world—and it removed any question that he would do what he said he could do—forgive sin, cure disease, deliver the demonized, give abundance and in fact, grant eternal life. For them, this was the truly greatest news ever!

Yet Jesus wasn’t quite fulfilling their expectations of a resurrected Lord. He wasn’t throwing off the yoke of the Roman Empire and reestablishing Israel as the world’s super-power. He hadn’t wiped out sin and instituted the rule of God’s kingdom on earth. He didn’t set the disciples up as ruling governors in his ascending government. To their disappointment, the disciples woke up post-resurrection to the mundane realization that they needed to go back to work to make a living—and even that wouldn’t be easy:

Simon Peter told his fellow disciples, “I’m going out to fish.” And they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. (John 21:30)

And even while Jesus kept appearing in the banal grittiness of their post-resurrection reality, both proving his sovereignty over life and death as well as providing fresh miracles in their daily toil, he also kept forcing difficult conversations on them. Jesus was continuing to ferret out their selfish desires and false expectations and limiting ideas of what was next.

Peter, in particular, was getting roughed up. In order to restore Peter after he denied Jesus three times on the night of his arrest, Jesus sat with Peter and point blank asked him three times if he truly loved the Lord—much to Peter’s discomfort. (John 21:15-17) Then, when Jesus was satisfied with his response, he revealed to Peter the cheery news that he was going to die a very undignified, unpleasant death:

“When you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” (John 21:18)

Then we are told something that is most unusual, although, which at this point, should come as no surprise, either to Peter back then, or us right now: “Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.” Then Jesus followed that difficult statement up by saying to Peter—and to you and me, by extension: “Follow me!” (John 21:19)

As we have seen all along in the Gospel of John, the glory of God was the most important theme in the life and message of Jesus. There has been no more passionate pursuit, no greater focus, no greater investment than to use his earthly time to promote God’s glory. And it is clear that he expects his disciples to take up this very theme in their lives, through their message and even in their deaths. Yes, even in the way that Jesus will arrange for them to die, with their dying breath they will lift glory to Almighty God.

What we learn from this, among other things, is that sooner or later, to be an authentic follower of Christ, we must come to grips with the fact that God’s agenda is quite different than ours. Peter had to learn it; so must we. Truth be told, until our dying day, we will wrestle with a sin nature that continues to insist on our own way, that our will be done, that God fulfill our ideas of how his kingdom should play out.

Yet the Resurrected Lord will remind us, for as long and as often as it takes, that we are not the center of the universe, God is, and that God does not exist for our sake, but we exist for his glory alone. And when we get that—as Peter ultimately did—we will be well on our way to living out the ultimate purpose for the transference of Christ’s resurrection power and life to us: for the glory of God alone.

Soli Deo GloriaThe Gospel of John ends with the reminder that all the books in the library of human language can never contain the story of Jesus—not by a long stretch. (John 21:25) Truly, how could the glory of God ever be contained? It can’t—especially when untold myriads of fully devoted Christ followers every day throughout the world for the rest of time are living out their lives for the glory of God alone!

As Jesus said to Peter, he says to you and me, “Follow me—in life and in death—soli Deo gloria!”

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“When you draw on God’s grace to put off your self-centered attitudes and act on His principles, you put His glory on display. Your life points to His vast wisdom, compassion, and transforming power, and as you look for God’s glory, the impact reaches far beyond yourself because you give everyone around you reason to respect and praise God. Glorifying God is not about letting others see how great you are. It’s about letting them see how great the Lord is.” (Ken Sande)

 

Getting To Know Jesus: Go about your day today with this purpose: To let others see through you how great God is. Make “Soli Deo Gloria” your life’s theme!

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Believing Is Seeing

Being With Jesus:
John 20:29

Jesus said to Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

We get it backwards—understandably. The advancement of the scientific method in our day has taught us that empirical proof must come first, then we can place belief in the certainty of something. There is no room, or even need really, for faith, which requires trust rather than evidence. We have been steeped in that dogma for generations now, so it is no wonder that we wrestle with not having physical, visual proof for our faith in Jesus Christ.

According to our line of thinking, Peter, John, Mary and Thomas were most fortunate. On that first Easter Sunday, Simon Peter ran with John to the tomb, and seeing that the stone had been rolled away, he pushed past John and went straight in, where he saw the strips of linen lying where a body should have been, just as if the corpse had magically risen through them, leaving them to float silently back to earth, sans body. Then John, who had reached the tomb first, followed Peter inside. He then saw what Peter saw, and he believed. Mary Magdalene was at the tomb as well, and after Peter and John left, she encountered Jesus. Mary then went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” Later that day, the disciple Thomas responding to the dubious news that Jesus was alive, said, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” A week later, Jesus suddenly appeared before his very eyes, and Thomas exclaimed, “I believe!” (John 20: 6,8,18, 25)

They had literally, physically and visually seen the resurrected Lord. No wonder they all believed!

Yet their belief is not met with the highest praise that Jesus would offer in that encounter. Rather, he said to them, “You have seen me—and for that, you have experienced something most blessed. Now I want you to go and tell others what you have seen. And those who hear and believe will in turn tell others. But here’s the deal: Those who believe your eyewitness testimony will be telling my story not based on their own visual proof; their witness will be on the basis of pure faith. They have not visibly seen, yet they have spiritually believed. And for that, they are even more blessed than you who have literally seen.”

Did you catch that? You and I want so badly to hold the literal evidence of resurrection in our hands, believing that physical proof will somehow make our case for Christ even more rock solid than it already is. Jesus begs to differ. He says the strongest proof of all is to believe, for out of believing faith comes indisputable knowledge of the resurrected Lord, evidenced in the transformed life of the one who has believed.

In the eleventh century, St. Anselm, arguably the most brilliant Christian thinker of all time, wrote, “Credo ut intelligam”; that is, “I believe, in order that I may understand.” Two centuries later, Thomas Aquinas said, “In order that men might have knowledge of God, free of doubt and uncertainty, it is necessary for divine truth to be delivered to them by way of faith, being told to them as it were, by God himself who cannot lie.” In the seventeenth century, Blaise Pascal wrote, “Reason’s last step is the recognition that there are an infinite number of things that are beyond it. The heart has its reasons, which reason does not know at all.” But it was another brilliant thinker in the fourth century, the North African bishop, Augustine, who best captured the essence of what Jesus meant when he said, “Faith is to believe what we do not see; and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.”

After Jesus revealed himself to his disciples, he said to them, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” (John 20:21) He sent them out with the story of his life, death and resurrection, and with the commissioned authority to invite those who would believe their message into an experience of the Kingdom life, both in time and for all eternity.

Since you have believed their message, you, too, have been commissioned to tell the story of the resurrected Jesus. And while you did not see the risen Lord with your own eyes, you have something even more powerful: indisputable faith evidenced in your transformed life. You are a satisfied customer, and there is nothing more indisputable—and blessed—than that.

You have believed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now tell your story. As you do, your faith will be increasingly rewarded with the evidence of things not seen.

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“A good witness isn’t like a salesman, emphasis is on a person rather than a product. A good witness is like a signpost. It doesn’t matter whether it is old, young, pretty, ugly; it has to point in the right direction and be able to be understood. We are witnesses to Christ, we point to him.” (John White)

 

 Getting To Know Jesus: How has Jesus changed your life? Tell someone about!