Sanctification

John 17:1-26

Our message today is a continuation of a study through the book of John.  We've been working through the book of John for several months interspersed with other topics.  However, we have reached the final chapters of John and even the final hours before Jesus' crucifixion.  Today, we will pick up in chapter 17.

In this chapter, we are drawing toward the close of a meal Jesus and His disciples are sharing together, the meal that has come to be called the last supper. As a bit of background, in the days leading up to this meal Jesus had been speaking increasingly about His death, the necessity of it, and He had indicated that it would happen soon. During the meal, Jesus had already dismissed Judas, yet the remaining disciples did not recognize that Judas would betray Jesus. 

Testifying in Persecution

John 15:18-John 16:16

Good morning, it is a real joy to be able to share from God’s word with you today. I say that for 3 reasons: 1) I can do it in English, which even after all these years is so much easier for me than Nepali; 2) y’all are so much like family to us now – and I want to thank you again for the warm welcome that you have given us into this fellowship; and 3) God’s word is living and relevant and powerful, and I am always blessed and humbled whenever I dig into it.

The subject of today’s passage from John is “Testifying in Persecution,” as we finish up chapter 15 and look at the first half of chapter 16. As Carl mentioned last week, this is all part of the long discourse that Jesus gave His disciples between the time of the Last Supper and His arrest, much of which, though faithfully recorded by John, probably didn’t make much sense to the disciples until after Jesus had left them and returned to heaven – and they faced the task of living out the Christian life without His physical presence, but with the help of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was preparing them for that new way of relating to Him and the Father. Last week we considered Jesus as the True Vine and the need for the believer to abide in Him in order to bear fruit. I appreciated Carl’s reminder that that fruit can take many different forms, including the love that God can give us for other people.

The True Vine

John 15:1-17

I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit. – Isaiah 5:1-2

Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. – Isaiah 5:3-5

I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it. The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight. And He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress. – Isaiah 5:6-7

The Way

John 14:1-31

Welcome! Today we continue our series into the Book of John, focusing on Chapter 14. As a brief recap of what is going on, we are in Jesus’ final days, even final hours, before His crucifixion. Jesus and His disciples are in Jerusalem. They have come from a nearby village where Lazarus had earlier been raised from the dead, and where, a short time ago, Mary had poured a huge amount of very pungent, very expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet. Most likely the odor is still with Him. At the time, when Judas criticized the act as a waste of money, Jesus defended Mary, saying, it was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of His funeral. The passage does not record what the disciples thought of that statement, but I bet they were pretty bewildered.

Then Jesus entered Jerusalem and was given a victor’s welcome, even a king’s welcome, with shouts of “Hosanna” and “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” and “Blessed is the king of Israel.” Then Jesus spoke to the crowds, and instead of a victory or acceptance speech, said that unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. He also said that when He would be lifted up (speaking of how He would die), He would draw all men to Himself. The crowds were disappointed at this and even became hostile. What about the disciples? Again, I suspect they were lost and confused.

The Full Extent of His Love

John 12:37-13:17 

Good morning, we will pick up today at the end of chapter 12 in the book of John.  Two weeks ago, we heard about Jesus’ return to Bethany.  He had been in hiding because the Jews were plotting to kill him after He had raised Lazarus from the dead.  Six days before Passover, there was a dinner given in Jesus’ honor.  At this dinner, Mary comes and anoints Jesus’ feet with a pint of purest perfume.  Everyone is shocked and even a bit embarrassed at this intimate display of love and some are indignant at this perceived “waste” of money.   Jesus rejects their complaint saying, “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial.”  Carl pointed out that the strength of this perfume absorbed into Jesus’ skin would have lingered for days even until the crucifixion.

And things continue to accelerate toward that pinnacle event.  Last week, we heard about Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  Jesus arrives riding on a donkey as the people wave palm branches and lay them down before Him.  The crowds call out, “Hosanna! Blessed is the King of Israel!”  In the midst of this celebration, Jesus replies to the crowd, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”

Do you ever watch political speeches, perhaps, the State of the Union address?  Sometimes there’s so much clapping, you wonder if they will ever get through the speech.  The crowds are likely shouting out “Hurrahs!” and “Hosannas!” at the top of their lungs.  They are ready to crown a king.  But perhaps the crowds are silenced or at least begin muttering among themselves as Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.”  And they are surely silenced as he goes on to talk about how a man who loves his own life will lose it, but the one who loses his life will keep it.

Father, Glorify Your Name

John 12:12-36

Welcome! Today we continue our exploration into the book of John, focusing on the middle of Chapter 12. Last week we read about how Jesus and His disciples had spent an extended time away from Jerusalem in a remote village on the edge of the desert called Ephraim because the Jewish leaders were actively plotting to kill Him. But at long last, just about a week before the Passover, Jesus and His disciples left Ephraim and went towards Jerusalem, stopping at a nearby town called Bethany. Bethany was the location where, earlier, Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. When Jesus came into Bethany, everyone recognized Him, and a meal was prepared in His honor.

Sometime during the meal, Mary came up to Jesus with about a pint of an extremely expensive perfume and poured it all on Jesus’ feet, wiping His feet with her hair. This perfume, made of pure nard, had an extremely strong smell; even a few drops were potent. A jar of it had to be overwhelming. A speaker at the recent Faithwalkers conference suggested that Jesus probably smelled of this perfume even at the crucifixion, and I think he was probably correct. Judas complained about the extravagance, saying that it could have been used for the poor, but Jesus defended Mary, saying “Leave her alone. It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of My burial.”

Extravagant Perfume

John 11:45-12:11

Welcome! This is a welcome forward, to 2013. But it is also in a sense a welcome back, back to the incredible book of John. We began going into the book of John back in January of 2012, in which we spent a month looking at John Chapter 1. We took some time with other series after looking at John 1, but in April and May we went up through John 5, and from August until October, we continued in John up through most of John 11.

Today I want to begin by pointing out some recurring themes we have seen in the book of John so far. Starting from the very beginning of John: 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood [overcome] it. – John 1:1-5

The Messiah Comes

I feel like we need a greeting for Christmas time.  You know like on Easter morning.  I always look forward to saying “He is risen,” and then hearing the answer, “He is risen, indeed.”  Maybe I should say something like, “The Messiah is coming.” And your answer would be, “The Messiah is here.”  

Let’s take a minute and pray before we get into the message.

Lord Jesus, You are the Messiah.  Thank You for coming into the world, for coming to save us.  Oh how we need you.  Please come afresh into our lives, every day, every minute.  Clean out the corrupt things in us, the deceitfulness and just plain wickedness.  Redeem us and make us new.  We thank you that you have done the work already.   Speak to us now.  Fill us with the wonder of your coming.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

Promises of the Messiah

In Galatians 3:6-9 Paul says, “Consider Abraham: “He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham.  The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” 

In the NASB it says, “The Scripture…preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham…” The promise of the gospel (i.e. the promise of the Messiah) started all the way back in the book of Genesis. It didn’t start with the promise found in Micah 5:2 that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. It didn’t start with the promise found in Isaiah 7:14 that a man would be born from a virgin and that man would be called “God” or specifically “God with us” which is “Emmanuel”. It didn’t even start with the promise found in Daniel 9:26 that the Messiah would die at a particular time in history.  

In Ephesians 1:4-6 Paul shares how long God had planned on giving His son, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.”  Eugene Peterson paraphrases the passage in The Message this way, “Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!)” 

Poured Out and Devoted

Titus 3:1-15

Welcome! Today we have are going to finish our series on Titus by looking at Chapter 3, the final chapter of the book. This is a bit of a change from our previous plans, in which we were going to spend two weeks on Titus 3, because we will have a special guest speaker next week, Timmy Powers. Timmy was a pastor here at CCC for many years, and then he became a missionary in Eastern Europe, based in Kiev, Ukraine, where he has continued to serve for more than ten years. I am really looking forward to seeing Timmy and hearing from him again.

Anyway, when we opened the Titus series, we talked about how God desires to build us into a people that are mature in Christ, people who are completely transformed by Christ’s love and who reflect the goodness and love of Christ in all that they say and do. I gave the analogy of building skyscrapers and talked about how in many parts of the world it is common to see unfinished, abandoned building projects.  Unfinished because they ran out of money, or they realized it was a bad idea, or for one of countless other reasons. Such unfinished buildings are an eyesore, and unfortunately, spiritually speaking, it is not uncommon to see people that are likewise unfinished, likewise no longer advancing in Christian maturity.