Signs

Signs

So the Jews answered and said to Him, “What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?”

Last time we talked about Spring Cleaning. Jesus went into the temple and saw the money changers, and the people selling sacrificial animals taking advantage of everyone. These people had come to worship the Lord and instead they were getting ripped off like trying to buy Toilet Paper on eBay right now. Jesus has had enough of this! He makes a whip and starts flipping over tables and running everyone off. He then rebukes them saying “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise.”

Those in charge, likely the Pharisees/Sadducees look at Him and are like who are you? No one knew who Jesus was at this moment. This is the start to his public ministry. He shakes everything up.

March & April are usually the two busiest months of our year. Lucas and Sam have baseball. Report cards. Family birthdays & anniversaries. Then of course glorious Easter with all it’s many activities. Out of all our of normal Easter traditions I think I will miss the kids Easter celebration that would normally be this coming Saturday the most. It’s so much fun and full of energy. Every year for the message we have a no rehearsal Easter skit. I am the narrator and I pick several kids at random to play parts. Then they have to act out the scene as I read it to them. I change the scenes around each year and it never fails to amuse. More importantly though, it also gets the message across. Each year I have parents come up and talk to me about something they learned or realized from the skit. Faith like a child.

Yet, that’s not part of the plan for Easter 2020. While I will miss all these things that is not how God has chosen to move this year. We can get so caught up in tradition that we miss the purpose for the tradition. We get so attached to doing something a certain way that one that changes we lose all sense of purpose. Who knows how long the money changers had been there running their little side business? It’s safe to say that it was long established by this point.

I’m sure people had complained before. I imagine there was even a rookie Pharisee/Sadducee or two that tried to get it changed. Either they fell to the wayside, lost their job or started getting a cut of the profits. Yet, no one had once tried, much less successfully, put everything to a halt so suddenly.

Here was a nobody, a complete stranger, and now He has everyone’s attention. What sign do You show to us, since You do these things? This wasn’t necessarily a bad question. Anyone who drove the merchants out from the temple courts claimed the authority to do it. The Jews wanted to know if Jesus really had this authority. They ask for a sign, the word here is semeion. It can be translated as Sign, Miracle, Wonder or Token depending on the context.

They want something that authenticates His authority. After all you can’t have just anyone running up in the temple flipping everything over and yelling. Also, this man said something that peaked there interest He didn’t say “Do not make God’s House a House for merchants.” He said “Do not make My Father’s House a House for merchants.”  He’s already claimed His authority, right then, as the Son of God. They want a sign. If you’re acting for God, if you’re protecting God, and God is Your Father and You’re the Son of God, well give us a sign, some sign to indicate that you are who you say you are.

As always, Jesus never answers the way we want Him to answer.

¹⁹ Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

Jesus could have easily performed all manner of miracles if He so willed. We also know that they would not have believed a single on of them. After all later when they witnessed all the miracles they couldn’t refute they attributed them to Satan not God. Jesus then tells them the future. Only God knows the future. Jesus tells them exactly what is going to happen. He says you guys are going to kill me and when you do I will rise from the grave in three days. His private ministry started with provision for His friends and family. His public ministry starts with the glory of the resurrection. Do our lives look like this? Both public and private for God’s glory?

²⁰ Then the Jews 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 of the temple of His body. ²² Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this ^[d]to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.

Just a little bit of background--it’s not the Solomonic Temple; that was destroyed in 586 B.C. by the Babylonians. When the Israelites came back came back after 70 years of captivity, Haggai and Zechariah the prophets told the people who had come back to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple, they completed it in 519. It had been around a long time. It was pretty much in disarray. There was not much to it when Herod shows up 500 years later wanting to make a name for himself.  He then decides to start a huge government reconstruction project, that’s been going on for 46 years by this point.  Very pricey, lots of labor, way over budget. Which sounds exactly like a government construction project. In fact, it still wasn’t completed when the temple was destroyed in 70 AD by the Roman army.

Those opposed to Jesus intentionally twisted his words, mad fun of Him. This is going to be running theme in John and in the lives of those of us that proclaim the Hope of Easter to a lost and dying world. The disciples would not understand Jesus words either, at least not fully, until the very first Easter.

²³ Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. ²⁴ But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, ²⁵ and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.

Jesus knows our hearts. Jesus also knew not to place His faith in man specifically because of what is in our sinful hearts. Right now our hearts are fully of fear and anxiety. We are being forced to live our days one day at a time and some days 1 hour at a time. We are getting new and conflicting information every day. Don’t go to work but pay all your bills. Money is coming soon, maybe, unless it doesn’t. Wear a mask, just don’t buy any of them, while also supporting local businesses, which should be closed.

JD Greer ““While this situation is new, our calling has not changed. The gospel is still the most important message in the world, and we are still called upon to tell it. It is a gospel of love and faith, precisely what we need when society is filled with fear and uncertainty.””

For most of us there has not been a more unified worldwide hopeless time like there is right now. We are to celebrate Easter in just a few days. Just as Jesus started His public ministry with the Hope of Easter we too need to spend our time also sharing the Hope of Easter! Tell people that even though the foundations of the world are crumbling, there is a rock solid foundation to be found in Jesus Christ! Happy Easter everyone. 

Spring Cleaning

Spring Cleaning

John 2:13-17

The new phrase in the Newsome household presently is “we’ve got the time”. We suddenly have an abundance of time on our hands. We also want to make the best use of this time that God has given us. We are watching movies, playing board games and taking walks to the creek. We are also spending a decent amount of time cleaning! This is the best my garage has looked since we moved in almost 7 years ago! In tonight’s message we see Jesus do a bit of spring cleaning.

¹³ Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers ^[b]doing business. ¹⁵ When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. ¹⁶ And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” ¹⁷ Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house ^[c]has eaten Me up.”

Last week we talked about the first recorded miracle of Jesus. He turned water into a wine at a wedding in the small town of cana.  It wasn’t a public miracle in view of thousands of people as we will see later. It was a private miracle. It’s also telling that his first miracle to kick off his ministry wasn’t on some grand stage. It was done at a local family wedding. This is a reminder to all of us that our first and most important ministry will always be our family.

What happening now? Sometime after the wedding Jesus and his disciples head down to Jerusalem for Passover. Passover was instituted in Exodus 12. Most of you are familiar with Moses and the 10 Plagues against Egypt. The 10^th plague was the death of the first born on all the house of Egypt. To avoid being struck by the Angel of Death the Israelites had to sacrifice a lamb and then smear its blood over there doorway. Then death, seeing the lamb’s blood, would Passover that house. In Exodus 23 God mandates that it be kept ever year. This was to serve as an ever lasting reminder of how God delivered them from Egypt and to point to the perfect Passover lamb, Jesus.

Jesus, being the perfect fulfillment of the law, would have never missed a Passover in his entire life. He’s been here every year, observing this Passover, of His entire life. We caught a glimpse of this in Luke when he was younger and found asking questions of those in authority there at the temple. Now He’s here with a completely different focus. He’s not upholding a mere tradition. He’s here for the public start of His ministry. He’s here about His Father’s business at His Father’s house.

Passover was the biggest holiday that they celebrated. Everyone came home for Passover. It’s estimated that over 1-2 million people would be in Jerusalem for Passover at this time. Almost 4 times the normal population. This is a completely different audience from the hundred or so at the wedding in Cana. When you have 4x the people you also have 4x the chance to make a profit. People need somewhere to stay, to eat, and to be entertained. A decent number of these people would not only be from out of town, but also out of country.

How many of you have ever travelled out of country? Once you were there one of the first thing you do is exchange your money. I remember our first trip to Asia. We are already jetlagged from our 12-hour flight and I’m standing at this non English ATM guessing at the buttons and then it spits out what looks like monopoly money! Then they charged a nice fee for the “convenience” of exchanging my money. These fees can run anywhere from 1-20% depending on where you are at and whom you choose to do business with. There’s nothing new about this.

In the temple there were people who sold sacrificial animals and there were people who exchanged money. To be in a good Israelite you had to pay your temple tax. You had to pay your temple tax with the official temple coin. The money changers would happily exchange your foreign money for temple coin, for a fee. Historians believe this exchange fee to easily be anywhere from 10% or higher. Without this you could not enter, you could not offer your sacrifice, you could not worship!

When the first set of restrictions came down from the governor your staff discussed various options for service. I joked we should have a velvet rope and a bouncer that only let a certain number of people in. This was the reality for these Jews, many of whom traveled for weeks if not months to get here. Once they arrived, they had to pay the fee, or they couldn’t get in.

Then there’s the matter of making the sacrifice itself. You would need a sacrificial animal. If you didn’t want to bring one with you on the long journey you could just buy one there. You know how you go to a theme park or a sporting event and after a bit you get hungry and thirsty? Then you go to the food stand and for $35 you get a hot dog, and a bottle of water? When the exact same thing cost $3 at the gas station right before the entrance? Don’t you just hate that? Everyone hates that. Except the people making money off it. Nothing new about that either folks.  The same animals would be marked up significantly in price than they were just a few weeks before.

Let’s say you did bring your own animal for the sacrifice there’s a catch! Your animal has to pass inspection. Guess what a conversation with the inspector went like.  Did you buy it from the temple shop? No? Oh well this animal doesn’t pass inspection. You can buy a high quality one though from my cousin’s temple shop! You had to buy the temple animal anyway. That’s how they did business, and business was booming.

What should have been a place for reverence, repentance and worship had become a corrupted marketplace. The leadership was taking advantage of the very people they were supposed to be serving.

Matthew 15:8 “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”

Now we see a different side of Jesus. A Jesus we aren’t used to seeing and frankly don’t like to think about. We like the compassionate, patient, forgiving Jesus. This guy here, that takes a whip and starts chasing people off. We don’t know what to make of Him.

Jesus finds some lose cords, or ropes, lying around and makes a braided whip out of it. He then runs out all the businesses there in the temple. He flips over the money table, runs off all the animals, and miraculously, they all leave. I know we are used to miracles involving supernatural type things but this is one of those as well. You see there would have been 250-300 temple police there in the temple and they don’t ever get involved in this as far as the record goes. Equally, a full Roman garrison would have been in viewing distance of all of this from Fort Antonia just up the hill from the temple. Also, we have no record of anyone getting hurt. I’m sure there were some bumped elbows and bruised knees but nothing really of note. No one tried to stop Him, no one called the police, no crowd picked up rocks to stone Him. Everyone that didn’t need to be there, suddenly was gone.  As it says in the Psalms, Zeal for His Father’s house consumes Him.

Zeal, a great sense of enthusiasm and energy. As talked about last time that everything Jesus does is for God’s glory. God is not glorified when our places of worship become about people, politics, or power. God is not glorified when our lives before about ourselves instead of Him. If Jesus were to show up today what would be removed from our churches? From our own personal lives? I’m willing to bet you already thought of something.

For whatever reasons, God has put almost all of us on pause. Its time to pray, reflect, and remove those things that don’t belong. Let’s close in prayer.

Father, again we come before You fearing that our familiarity with these things keeps us from a genuine examination of heart. Show us anything that’s wrong in our lives and help us to confess and yield to everything that displeases You. Forgive us, cleanse us, wash us. May we be honest in that self-examination, honest as we repent so that we might not be in a position to be disciplined. We want Your favor and we want the joy of obedience. And You’ve put this table in the life of the church as the point at which that judgment takes place—that self-judgment, that honesty of heart that protects us from Your divine discipline. Open our hearts, show us what we need to give to You, let go of, confess that we might honor You even as we partake. Amen.

Turning something into something else

John 2:1-12 

Turning one thing into another


Toilet Paper Skit. (To see the skit you'll need to watch the video. I've posted it at the end of the notes.)



Well, Ok. I hope you got a little chuckle out of that. A merry heart does good like medicine. We’ve all tried turning one thing into another depending on our circumstances. Tonight, we look at how Jesus does it.

2 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. ² Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. ³ And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.”

We now start chapter 2 of John’s Gospel. Chapter 1 was largely the prologue. It gave verbal testimony to Christ. Setting the tone, the scene and some of the main characters. Now we transition from verbal testimony of Jesus to the works of Jesus. John is going to alternate as we go through the gospel, between the words of Christ and the works of Christ. He’s going to have us look at the statements Jesus made that indicate His deity and the works He did that demonstrate and prove His deity. He will do what no one but God can do.

In seminary the teach you that John’s Gospel give us eight signs/miracles that Jesus did that point specifically to his deity. He turns water into wine in chapter 2. He heals a dying man in chapter 4. He cures a paralyzed man in chapter 5. He creates food for thousands of people in chapter 6. He walks on water at the end of chapter 6. He gives sight to the blind in chapter 9. He raises a man dead for days in chapter 11. He creates a meal in chapter 21, breakfast for His disciples.

And then the grand finale beyond the eight, is his death, burial and resurrection. John writes in chapter 20, verse 30,: “Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book.” That’s a fascinating concept isn’t it? These aren’t the only miracles Jesus did, this might not have been the first one, in fact it’s likely that it isn’t. There are many others. It’s entirely possible that miracles became commonplace to the disciples. I know some of you think that’s ridiculous but think of all the commonplace things you took for granted on March 1^st compared to now. However, that’s a sermon for later in John.

So what’s going on here? On the third day? Third day of what? Third day of the week? Third day of the wedding? Maybe both! There’s a wedding going on in Cana of Galilee! Jesus, His mom and his disciples were all there. Let me clear up some erroneous things first. This is not Jesus wedding, nor is this John the Gospel Writers wedding as some will go way out of the way to say. This is likely a close friend or family member. Which is why Mary is there helping with the wedding.

Jesus grew up in the small town of Nazareth, this wedding was in Cana an even smaller town a little way down the road. If Nazareth is Roxboro, then Cana is Timberlake. Now one of the mistakes we make is when we overlay life in 2020 with life 2000 years ago. Yes, the general concept of the wedding was the same. A man and woman united before God in Holy matrimony. Yet, instead of a grand one day production this was more along the lines of a week long feast. Engagements during this time was for wedding planning and married life preparing. The groom spent the year long engagement building a house and saving for the wedding feast. It was to show that he had the maturity and work ethic required to provide for a family.

To run out of something at a wedding was a grievous issue! It ultimately reflected upon the groom and his inability to properly plan and provide for his guests and implied that maybe he wasn’t fit to be a husband after all. The groom would never hear the end of this! The rest of his life he’s the guy that ran out of wine halfway through the wedding feast! We had to drink water the rest of the week. I was on the toilet for a week after that! Remember, it wasn’t safe to drink water back then.

When I’ve been overseas on mission trips I’ve been warned repeatedly “Don’t drink the water”. It’s the same here. They made wine, a fermented drink. Again, some people go out of there way to say it was grape juice, it wasn’t. I’ll address that a bit later. They often diluted it though with 2 to 10 parts water.

This is a weeklong feast. It’s been getting planned for 1 year minimum. Then they run out of something midway through it. Did they underestimate the number of guests? We’ve had that happen with kids’ birthday parties. Did they underestimate the amount each guest would consume? We’ve had that happen with cookouts. However, in both instances we just went to Food Lion and were back in roughly 30 minutes tops. You can’t do that here. It’s not an option. There’s no wine dealer down the road. Even if they did everyone would know. They have a major problem. What do they do? What all of us should do. They go to Jesus.

⁴ Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.”

⁵ His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”

Why does Mary to go to Jesus? I’m not even going to get into some of the far out there responses here. Let’s just think about this for a moment. Joseph, Mary’s husband, passed away sometime before now. Jesus is now roughly 30 and has been the head of the household since his father’s passing. He’s been in charge, He’s made the decisions, He’s given the advice, He’s ran the family business and taking care of everyone. He never gave bad advice, He never made a bad business decision, He’s always been patient, levelheaded and calm. He’s had a solution to every problem they have faced, and I assure they faced just as many, if not more than us. Has He done private miracles before this? My personal opinion? I don’t know. If He did though it wasn’t for selfish gain, it was to glorify God.

He addresses her as “woman.” Nowhere in the gospels does He ever call her “mother”; only “woman.” The expression conveys no disrespect. But it does underscore the fact that Christ was much more to Mary than a Son. He was her Savior, too (cf. Luke 1:47). Mary was no sinless co-redemptrix. She was as dependent on divine grace as the lowliest of sinners, and after Christ reached adulthood, her relationship to Him was the same as that of any obedient believer to the Lord. She was a disciple; He was the Master.

Woman, what does your concern have to do with me? I realize your own personal life story greatly changes how you view this. One of the problems with text is that there’s no tone, no body language, no volume.

I submit to you that this is a joke. God invented Jokes. God invented Irony. Jesus has a sense of humor. I realize most of the pictures/paintings you’ve ever seen of Jesus he looks serious, but He also smiled. I’m willing to bet he had a contagious laugh as well. He’s at a wedding feast. Everyone is having a good time. He knew all this was going to happen. He takes a moment to pick at his mom. If He was serious and/or Mary took Him seriously she wouldn’t have given the servants the following command “Whatever He says to you, do it.”

That’s also the best advice anyone ever gave anyone. Whatever Jesus says to you, do it! Are you wondering what Jesus says to you? Open this book and read! You’ve got the time.

⁶ Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. ⁷ Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. ⁸ And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it. ⁹ When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. ¹⁰ And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!”

¹¹ This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and ^[a]manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.

¹² After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days.

At a gathering like this there would have been purification water pots. Now I realize most of you just thought “purification water pot? That’s weird.” Modern day that would be, There were 6 handwashing stations. You read Leviticus and see all this ceremonial washing stuff and think it’s weird. It was the ancient version of washing your hands. A lot of the Levitical law was very practical concerning hygiene, hand washing and proper food preparation. An ancient CDC/FDA.

He tells the servants fill those pots to the brim! 6 pots 20-30 gallons per pot somewhere around 120-180 gallons of water. That’s roughly 4 bathtubs full of water. Jesus then tells them, ok draw some out and take it to the master of the feast. Who was the master of the feast? He was the person in charge of making sure everyone had a good time. He was also likely one of the highest-ranking guests. The master of the feast tastes the water that had been turned into wine and goes Wow! That’s some good wine. Of course it is! It’s the best wine he ever had. Jesus made it! Note he didn’t say “Hey that’s water! Or Hey that’s some good grape juice.” I assure you they knew the difference between grape juice and wine.

Question? When did the water turn into wine? The servant drew water and brought water to the master of the feast. However, when he drinks it, it is wine. Kudos to the servant for following orders. It’s not like Jesus told him “Hey, I’m going to turn that water into wine.” He just told him take that the Master of the Feast some water.” The servant obeyed, everyone rejoiced. It’s telling that His first public ministry is for family. A reminder that our first and most important ministry will always be family.

How did Jesus actually do miracles? He did them in many different ways. Here, Jesus did not say a word or blink an eye. He merely exercised His will and the miracle was done.

Moses, giver of the law,  turned water into blood. We know that the Law results in death (Exodus 7:17-21). But Jesus’ first miracle turned water into wine, showing the gladness and joy of His new work. This acts out what John said in John 1:17: For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Grace and Truth to us all, place your faith in the one that will turn bad things into blessings. 

Fear is in the boat

Matthew 14:22-33

^{Fear is in the boat}

^{Let’s say there is a ship on the high sea, having a fierce struggle with the waves. The storm wind is blowing harder by the minute. The boat is small, tossed about like a toy; the sky is dark; the sailors’ strength is failing. Then one of them is gripped by . . . whom? what? . . . he cannot tell himself. But someone is there in the boat who wasn’t there before. . . . Suddenly he can no longer see or hear anything, can no longer row, a wave overwhelms him, and in final desperation he shrieks: Stranger in this boat, who are you? And the other answers, I am Fear. . . . All hope is lost, Fear is in the boat.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer}

^{January 15, 1933 Germany was in the midst of fearful and turbulent times, indeed. The devastation of defeat from World War I, just 14 years earlier, was fresh on the people’s minds and hearts. The Stock Market Crash of 1929 compounded further pressures on the struggling German economy, driving the number of unemployed to more than six million. The new Weimar Republic lacked political stability and leadership, and fears of communism and extremism loomed large. As these dark waves battered them from all sides, many Germans—including German Christians—feared what the future would hold.}

^{“Fear is in the boat, in Germany, in our own lives and in the nave of this church—naked fear of an hour from now, of tomorrow and the day after.” Much like 1933 fear is very much in the boat here in NC in 2020.}

^{22 Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away.}

^{Immediately! We understand the word immediately because we are an immediate society as is evidenced by our newest god the Smartphone. However, that is a sermon for another time. So, immediately after what? The events listed in the previous verses. Right before this Jesus saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them and healed their sick. This went on for most of the day and then as evening came the disciples begged Jesus to send the people away because it was dinner time. Jesus says they don’t need to go you feed them dinner. The disciples go we don’t have enough food for ourselves much less for these thousands of people! Jesus then blesses the food they do have and tells them to hand it out and it multiplies, and multiplies and multiplies until everyone was full and there were twelve baskets full of leftovers. A basket for each disciple.}

 

^{We know from John that the people were getting ready to try and make Jesus king and why not? This is a guy who just fed everyone to the full and it didn’t cost them anything. It would make a catchy campaign slogan “Vote for me and eat for free!” However, Jesus knowing that His kingdom was not of this world sends the disciples away into the boat and then sends the multitudes away as well.}  

 

^{23 And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there.}

^{So what does he do next? Go and join the disciples? No He goes up to the mountain by Himself to pray. Why does He do this? Well this is actually his second attempt at doing this on this particular day. He tried earlier in the morning and that was when the multitude tracked him down. So now He finally has His alone time. Brethren, If our Lord took time away from everything to commune with the Father in prayer why do we think we don’t need to do the same?}

 

^{Specifically what was Jesus praying about? Scripture doesn’t record but I got a good idea of what. You see at the beginning of chapter Herod has John the Baptist executed. John’s disciples take the body, bury it and then go and tell Jesus. When Jesus hears it he departs to a deserted place to mourn and pray and that is when the multitudes track Him down.}

 

^{Three early martyrdoms are recorded in the New Testament: John the Baptist in ca. AD 31, Stephen in ca. AD 35 and James the apostle in ca. AD 44. So, John the Baptist, friend and cousin of Jesus becomes the first Christian martyr to die for his faith, and for his unwillingness to compromise that faith. Jesus gave testimony of John when He said in Matthew 11:11 “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist” Jesus mourns for this loss, Jesus mourns knowing that John is the first of many who will lay their life down for their testimony of Him.}

 

^{We should note that not only does Jesus take time to be along with the Father but that Jesus takes time to mourn. In our immediate society we want to speed through everything. We should never rush our mourning or those that do. However, we do not grieve as they who have no hope according to 1 Thess 4:13}

 

^{24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea,[}a^{] tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear.}

 

^{So the Disciples were sent out on the boat at evening time. This would have been around 6pm. Jesus goes to them during the fourth watch of the night which was between 3-6AM in the morning. They have been out on sea, tossed by the waves all night long. So tossed by the waves and the wind was contrary doesn’t seem that bad I mean who hasn’t been on a boat and it bounced around a bit? Well this is where the English is sorely lacking.}

 

^{Greek for tossed is basanizo = to vex with grievous pains, to torture. Contrary = enantios = hostile & antagonistic in feeling or act. So it better translate the disciples had been out at sea for almost 12 hours and they were tortured by the waves because the wind was hostile towards them.}

^{The Sea of Galilee location makes is subject to sudden and violent storms. When cool air from the east drops over the warm air coming from the sea it can make for quick and furious thunder storms in a short time. The disciples were caught in one of these storms and they faced imminent death because of it.}

 

 ^{Jewish people of the time feared the Sea of Galilee; they described it as “an abyss, a fearsome place of darkness, chaos and hell.” Now being caught in a terrible storm in his horrible place they are seeing ghosts and they know that death has come for them. At the end in their fear and despair they cry out. Beloved take note here it is at this very moment that Jesus speaks to them. This is when He speaks to us in our brokenness, in our fear, in our despair.}

 

^{27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” The}

^{So what does He say to them? Be of good cheer. It is I! Do not be afraid. Now minus any of you that are secretly British does anyone here go around saying be of good cheer? No? Thought so. It’s pretty close to our use of “Cheer up!” Now when do you use cheer up? When someone is sad over something trivial like your favorite team lost, your favorite band broke up, it’s raining and you wanted to go outside, or you just found out that Burger King no longer offers the Angry Whopper. It’s typically not something you use for someone who’s in a life threatening situation.  Why should they cheer up? The storm is still going, the boat is about to sink. Is His presence enough to cheer them up? Is His voice enough to calm them down? Is it for us? Should it be?}

 

^{Fear of Corona Virus. Everyone is so scared right now whether they admit or not. Change is hard. We are creatures of habit and when those routines are thrown off it’s chaos, when we are forced to change it’s even worse. I know your mad at the governor, and the superintendent and the president and virtually anyone else you can think to blame. Yet, we are called to pray for our leaders. I know your worried about tomorrow and how your going to pay your bills if you can’t go to work. Anger and fear are very closely tied together. This is unprecedented territory and fear has a tendency to reign supreme in the face of the unknown.}

^{Fear crouches in our hearts, hollows out our insides, breaks down our defenses. It gnaws and eats away at all the ties that bind us to God and to one another. When we turn on each other in fear God weeps and hell rejoices.}

^{Nothing makes us so conscious of the reality of powers opposed to God in our lives than this loneliness, this helplessness, this fog spreading over everything, this sense that there is no way out, and this raving impulse to get everything you can for yourself and who cares how it effects anyone else? Fear takes away our humanity. This is not what a person made in the image of God looks like.}

^{This passage is not about being afraid but of conquering that fear! We don’t have to be afraid, we shouldn’t be afraid. This is what makes us as Christians stand out from everyone else.  In the midst of every situation where there is no way out, where nothing is clear, where it is our fault, we know that there is hope, and this hope is called: Thy will be done, yes, thy will is being done.}

^{“This world must fall, God stands above all, his thoughts unswayed, his Word unstayed, his will forever our ground and hope.” Do you ask: How do you know?}

^{Then we call upon the name of the One who makes the evil inside us recoil, who makes fear and anxiety themselves tremble with fear and puts them to flight. We name the One who overcame fear and led it captive in the victory proces­sion, who nailed it to the cross and committed it to oblivion; we name the One who is the shout of victory of humankind redeemed from the fear of death—Jesus Christ, the Crucified and Living One. He alone is Lord over fear; it knows him as its master; it gives way to him alone. So look to Christ when you are afraid, think of Christ, keep him before your eyes, call upon Christ and pray to him, believe that he is with you now, helping you . . . Then fear will grow pale and fade away, and you will be free, through your faith in our strong and living Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus saw Peter’s fear and spoke 3 simple words.}

^{“It is I.”}

 

^{There’s a lot of debate over those 3 words. I think it’s a declaration of deity. It’s the same phrase used in Exodus 3 when Moses says “Indeed, [when] I come to the children of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they say to me, 'What [is] His name?' what shall I say to them?" And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM."}

 

^{28 And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”}

 

^{Peter encouraged by these steps out of the boat! Mind you the storm is still going on. He has been brought up to be in fear of Sea, and it’s very unlikely that he knows how to swim. He starts to walk on water and then the wind becomes too much and he starts to sink. Many of us look down on Peter for doubting and sinking but how many of us would have stepped out of the boat? How many of us are ok with following Jesus until the storms come? Until the wind is boisterous? Until we actually have to make a change or confront the sin in our lives? . There are daily chances to roll over and play dead. So here is Peter, scared and sinking and He cries out the wisest words He will ever say “Lord, save me!”}

 

^{31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” What is the Lord’s response? The same one He offers us. Immediately. Immediately. Jesus saves him. He could have calmed the storm that very moment. He could have let Peter float. He could have waved his hands or blinked his eyes and Peter would be standing on the water like it was ground. What did He choose to do? He reached out His hand and caught him.}

 

^{Psalm 40:1-2 “I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps.”}

^{Isaiah 49:16 “See, I have inscribed you on the palms [of My hands]”}

^{John 10:28 “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” Later on in life I bet Peter had many occasions to doubt and I bet he recalled these words and remember when the Lord reached down and brought him up.}

 

^{32 -33 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”}

^{What we’ve yet to consider is the entire point of this passage. When Jesus sent them out on the boat they were following his orders. They went into an area they were afraid of, that they knew was dangerous and that they knew that the Lord had sent them too. Jesus being God knew that He was sending them into a storm, knowing that they would tried and tested. Yet He sends them anyway. Why is this? Why does God do this to us? Why does He knowingly, willingly send us into the storms of life? Look at the end result brethren.}

^{Those who were in the boat came and worshipped Him saying “Truly You are the Son of God.”}

^{When contemplating this passage Mark Stuart penned the following words:}

^{Just like peter I want to go farther
tread on the sea and walk on the water
step where he steps and go where he goes
side by side when the sea billows roll
I'll be alright when the wind comes
I'll be alright when the waves come crashing
I'm not afraid for this is my father's world}

^{If I keep my eyes on Jesus I can walk on water}

12 Ordinary Men

John 1:35-42

Twelve Ordinary Men

Every year in April or so Time hosts it’s Time 100 Summit. It’s where they celebrate the 100 most influential people of the previous year. The 2019 list includes Nancy Pelosi, Ariana Grande, Ninja (professional video gamer), Lady Gaga, Mark Zuckerberg, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

If you were going to choose 12 people to change the world with a life altering message, a lot of us would pick people from this list. These people have influence on a level all of us combined can only dream of. My sphere of influence on it’s best day probably reaches into the thousands. Mark Zuckerberg, inventor of Facebook, can send out a message to a billion people in a matter of seconds.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has headlined WrestleMania, He’s stared in over 30 movies as diverse as The Scorpion King, Jumanji, Get Smart and Moana. Total Worldwide Box Office of roughly $10 Billion dollars. He’s even rumored to be a presidential nominee for 2024 or 2028. Can you smell what The Rock is cooking?

Yet, when Jesus picked his 12 disciples, it almost seems random. He picks 12 ordinary men. 

 

³⁵ Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. ³⁶ And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God!”

³⁷ The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. ³⁸ Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, “What do you seek?”

Last time we talked about Jesus as the Lamb of God. This idea of the Lamb of God is a strand that runs throughout the history of redemption. It can be traced all the way back to Genesis 22, when God called Abraham to go to Mount Moriah and offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice. Abraham, in obedience to God, was prepared to do just that, but at the last possible moment, God provided a lamb as a sacrifice.  it was a substitutionary sacrifice, and that is the idea that underlies the atonement of Christ. Jesus acts as our substitute, and God pours out His wrath on account of our sin onto Him instead of us. God, then, provides a Lamb of His own and accepts the life of that substitute. John referred to Jesus as the Lamb of God the one who takes away the sin of the world. The perfect sacrifice. He does this again this time around some of his disciples/followers. They hear him and follow Jesus.

Who are these two disciples? We know one is Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. It’s a high likely hood the other is John, the gospel writer. Who the other disciple was, is not certain: but considering (1) that the Evangelist never names himself in his Gospel, and (2) that this account is so minutely accurate as to specify even the hours of the day, and in all respects bears marks of an eye-witness, and again (3) that this other disciple, from this last circumstance, certainly would have been named, had not the name been suppressed for some special reasons,

Equally, it’s not like they left John to go get an autograph or something. They were completely done as John’s disciples and now they are following Jesus. I’ve had the honor of speaking at various churches in the community. ON occasion I’ll run into people that used to attend Antioch and now attend the church I am speaking at. Everyone immediately launches into a reason why they aren’t at Antioch anymore and why they are at this church now. I always say the same thing. I’m happy for you! You are at a Godly church where the Word is preached faithfully and the people love Jesus! Praise the Lord! Antioch’s not for everyone. We simply don’t have the room for it. However, God’s church is for everyone! I’d much rather someone be involved in a Godly church somewhere else than just warming a pew here.

John the Baptist did not care about gathering disciples after himself. He was perfectly satisfied to have these disciples leave his circle and follow Jesus. It fulfilled his ministry; it did not take away from it.

Do you view your life as cake or candles? With cake the bigger a slice someone else gets the smaller slice there is for everyone else. However, with Candles, as we see every CHRISTmas season, one candle can be used to light others, which in turn can light even more.  Is your life cake where you are trying to get the biggest slice or a candle that is used to spread the light?

They said to Him, “Rabbi” (which is to say, when translated, Teacher), “where are You staying?”

³⁹ He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the tenth hour).

Jesus did not refer them back to John the Baptist, even though he knew a lot about Jesus. To be Jesus’ disciple, they must deal with Jesus directly. So Jesus invited John and Andrew to be a part of His life. Jesus didn’t live a cloistered, ultra-private life. Jesus taught and trained His twelve disciples by allowing them to live with Him.

⁴⁰ One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. ⁴¹ He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the ^[l]Messiah” (which is translated, the Christ). ⁴² And he brought him to Jesus.

Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, “You are Simon the son of ^[m]Jonah. You shall be called Cephas” (which is translated, ^[n]A Stone)

Here we meet Simon “The Rock” Peter. He’s became one of the most electrifying preachers in the whole of human history. He preached the sermon on the day of Pentecost. He saw Jesus on the mount of transfiguration. He was the leader of the disciples. He wrote 1 and 2 Peter. He was one of the main leaders of the early church. He was executed for his faith and when he found out he was to be crucified he requested to have it done upside down not counting himself worthy to die in the same manner as his Lord. Yet, all that has to start somewhere, and it starts here. It starts with Andrew.

Andrew has to make a choice cake or candle? He’s found the messiah. He’s been welcomed into his life. Now does he share that or keep it to himself? Edward Kimball, Dwight Moody, Mordecai Ham, - Billy Graham. How much was changed because one ordinary man decided to try and light the candle of one other ordinary man.

 

The Lamb of God

John 1:29-34

The Lamb of God

This idea of the Lamb of God is a strand that runs throughout the history of redemption. It can be traced all the way back to Genesis 22, when God called Abraham to go to Mount Moriah and offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice. Abraham, in obedience to God, was prepared to do just that, but at the last possible moment, God provided a lamb as a sacrifice.  it was a substitutionary sacrifice, and that is the idea that underlies the atonement of Christ. Jesus acts as our substitute, and God pours out His wrath on account of our sin onto Him instead of us. God, then, provides a Lamb of His own and accepts the life of that substitute. We are going to talk about that in tonight’s message Lamb of God.

²⁹ The next day John 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 ^[a]is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ³¹ I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.”

John the Baptist is on the scene. He is the baptizing people, in a baptism of repentance. This has drawn a huge crowd including the religious and political leaders of their day. John warned them all to repent so that they might flee the judgment that is to come.

They ask him who he is? What authority is he speaking this? On what authority is he baptizing. He tells them I am no one. I am nothing more than a voice crying in the wilderness. I am not the Christ. When the Christ comes I’m not even worthy to lose his sandals. To untie the strap of a sandal (before foot washing) was duty of the lowest slave in the house. It’s not about me says John, it’s about the Christ and He is here and you don’t even know it!

They did not like this! Who likes being told they are wrong about something? Especially something you think you are the expert in? In my earlier years in the bank we had a network problem with one of our branch locations in NC. It had been going on for about 2 days and was affecting the branches ability to help customers. Being the person who first got the call I was in a meeting with all the different tech experts & managers.

In the meeting, everyone was blaming everyone else. It’s not my fault. It’s not my job. We should do this expensive thing, no we should do the expensive thing that’s my idea, etc. etc. In general, with any kind of problem solving, you want to look at the simplest solution first. It works more often than it doesn’t. So, I suggested an easy simple solution that no one had tried yet. It could be done in roughly an hour with very little cost associated with it.

I was shot down immediately. When I protested I was told “You are not properly qualified to assess such a situation.  Now in all fairness, I was 23 at the time and everyone else in that room out ranked me in terms of title, experience and education. I kept my mouth shut for the rest of the meeting. 6 Months and 10,000+ dollars later. They finally fixed that network problem! It was the $200 part I suggested they check in that meeting.

This is what is going on! The religious and political leadership has the title, the education and the experience. Yet, John has a relationship with God! That makes all the difference.

After telling them he’s here the next day he says LOOK AT HIM! I hit on this last week but we are a look at me society if there ever was one! We are much more concerned with being famous than being kind. We want our opinions known, validated, and conformed too by literally everyone else in our sphere of influence. We have zero interest in understanding others, particularly those we don’t agree with. This is a far cry from the Biblical command to Love our Neighbor and our Enemy.

Then he tells us exactly why we should look at Jesus and why it is so hard to look at Jesus.

 

“Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” What that means is that for the whole world there is only one who can take away sin. For the whole world, there’s only one who can take away sin, and that’s this One who will die as the sacrificial lamb God . John the reminds us of what he said the day before, “This is He on behalf of whom I said, after me comes a man who’s higher rank than I, for He existed before me.” Once again the emphasis is not himself but His Savior! , 

John MacArthur says of this verse John the Baptist is saying “Get your attention off me. He came after me in terms of beginning His ministry, but He existed before me. He was born after I was born, and yet He existed before me. Get your eyes on this eternal One. Get your eyes on this exalted One who is of higher rank than I am, the One you don’t know.” – John MacArthur

Takes Away is one word in the Hebrew. Airo. to take upon one's self and carry; to bear away what has been raised, carry off. I don’t know how many of saw the cinematic masterpiece that was Adam Sandler’s Big Daddy, but short version of the premise. Adam Sandler, overgrown man child, accidently adopts a elementary student. On the second day the boy wakes him up crying as the boy accidently peed in the bed. Sandler’s character goes no problem! Then puts newspaper all over the wet sheets. Later that morning while the boy is trying to fix some cereal he spills milk all over the floor! Once again Sandlers character covers it up with newspaper. While temporarily covering the problem in the long run it’s just making things worse and harder to deal with later.

That’s a lot of us, trying to temporarily cover up our sin instead of taking it to the one, and the only one who can bear it, who will take it away!

³² And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. ³³ I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴ And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”

John says hey guys. I know you don’t recognize him as Christ yet. I didn’t recognize him as Christ at first either and he’s my cousin! We grew up together! My mom told me the stories of both my and his miraculous birth but I just didn’t get it. Now I do! God opened my eyes, God will open your eyes as well if you let him.

This actually mirrors an aspect of my testimony and lot of yours as well. I grew up going to church pretty consistently until I was about 9-10 years old. I had two godly grandmothers that took me to church with them whenever I visited. I owned a Bible. I lived down the road from a pastor at one point. I could tell you the basic of the Easter & Christmas stories. It wasn’t that I didn’t know about Jesus, it was the fact that I didn’t know Jesus!

This is what John is warning everyone about. You know about the Messiah but you don’t know the Messiah! This is Him! This is the Son of God! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.