 |
| Rev. Brent Russett |
Pastor of Sunnyside Wesleyan Church in Ottawa:
http://www.sunnysidechurchottawa.com/
____________________________________________
PODCAST LINK to CFRA broadcast -
Sunday, June 3rd, 2018:
PODCAST LINK to CFRA broadcast -
Sunday, June 3rd, 2018:
http://cloud.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/6/64017/good_news_315_jun03.mp3
The Why of John
Good morning and Welcome to good news in the morning.
I am so glad that you have tuned into the program today. My name is Brent
Russett. I am the Lead Pastor at Sunnyside Wesleyan Church here in Ottawa. I
have been pastoring there for 28 years. One of the things I love to do is show
how God’s word that was written a long time ago, connects with our world right
now.
I
know that some of you who are listening have been followers of Jesus for a long
time, and I know that others of you think of yourself as spiritual, but you are
not really sure of this Christian thing, and I know others of you just curious
how people of faith think. I trust that wherever you are on yours spiritual
journey, that you will find this program interesting and informative, and I believe
that for those of you desire it, God can use a program like this to take you
another step closer to Him
This
morning I want to walk you through the book of John in the Bible and camp out
on two verses near the end of John.
Simon
Sinek wrote a book titled “The power of Why?” He said most company know what
they do, some know how they do it, but few companies understand why they do it.
A company might understand that that they make computers. They may understand
the process of making computers – buy why – and the bottom line profit is not
enough of a why.
But
the why is what inspires us. So companies that start with why tend to be game
changers. He gives Apple as an example of a company that starts with why.
The
apostle John came 2000 years before Simon Sinek, but he understood the power of
Why. This is what he wrote.
John 20:30–31
(NIV)
30 Jesus performed many
other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this
book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus
is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his
name.
John
says I have written these things – why – so that you might have life in Jesus
name. – How by believing that Jesus is the Messiah the Son of God.
The
why of the book of John, the why of the gospel, is that you can have life in
his name.
******
As
you might guess, as a pastor I talk to a lot of people about the Christian
life. I talk to a lot of leaders about the Christian life. I was talking to one
leader this week ( And no she wasn’t from Sunnyside) and I was trying to get at
the purpose of the gospel. For her the whole purpose of the gospel was getting
into heaven.
I
have talked to other people who seemed to believe that the whole purpose of the
gospel was about helping us to be good. It makes us more moral people. And I
hope it does – but that is not the gospels primary purpose.
I
have talked to other people who seem to think that the purpose of the gospel
was about faith, or bible reading, or prayer, or going to church – and all of
those things are important – but those are means to an end – not the end in
themselves. The end is that by believing you may have life in his name.
We
are looking at two verses near the end of John, but this theme of life comes up
all the way through John. I want to use some time just to trace this theme
through the book of John – and then the rest of the time to tell you why it
matters.
John 1:1–5
(NIV)
1
In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He
was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were
made; without him nothing was made that has been made. Catch this 4 In him was life, and
that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in
the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John
starts out the gospel talking about life. He states it very clearly – life is
found in Jesus. In him was life – As
one commentator put it
“Jesus
Christ the Creator provides physical life; Jesus Christ the Redeemer provides
spiritual life; and Jesus Christ the Savior provides eternal life.” - life is found in Jesus. In him
was life.
But
more than that John goes on to say – This life was the light of al humanity.
Light and life are made equivalent terms. Light is a theme that we see all
through this time. Light represented good verses the darkness of evil. Light
represented truth as opposed to the chaos of lies and falsehood.
This
life that is found in Jesus overcomes the darkness of evil and it truth that
guides our way through a cacophony of lies. And this life is found in Jesus. In him was life.
Now
remember that John wrote this book so that by believing your may have life in
his name. The gospel is about life. If you have the life of Jesus, you have
what it takes to battle the darkness. Not because of what you do but because of
what you have been given – life and light. If you have the life of Jesus in
you, you have the ability to live out of truth – or authenticity, or reality,
or who you were meant to be. You live a true life, rather than having to live
out of a false sense of self.
The
life that the bible is talking about is when God’s life, flows into our life.
He is the vine, and we are the branches – and God’s life, God’s Spirit, God’s
very presence flows from him into us. We are connected to the Author of life.
We are enlivened by the author of life. We are filled with real life.
The
reason Jesus says in John 3 that you must be born again, is that this is a new
kind of life. We are born spiritually into God’s life in us.
Now
that we have a little understanding of light and life, let me take you a very
familiar passage of scripture. Where Jesus introduces the phrase “eternal
life.” Eternal life is not talking about heaven. It is talking about a life
that starts now and extends into heaven.
Hear the words of Jesus.
John 3:14–21
(NIV)
14 Just as Moses lifted up
the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that
everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
16 For God so loved the
world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not
perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son
into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever
believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned
already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict:
Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light
because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates
the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be
exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the
light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in
the sight of God.
Obviously
we cannot unpack this whole passage. But again it has the theme of believing
brings life. – Verse 15 15 that everyone who
believes may have eternal life in him.” Verse 16 , that
whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
But
then Jesus goes on to rift on light. Light – which remember is synonymous with
life, with goodness, with truth - : Light has come into the world, but people
loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil – In other words not everyone wants life. Not everyone wants
light coming to bear on their life. Because when you shine God’s light, when
you take on God’s life – what we are what we are is exposed. - And many of us would sooner hide. We would
sooner live in darkness. The theological term for this is sin. We all have
sinned. And the bible says the wages of sin is death. Sin is anti light. – anti
life.
Verse 21
21 But whoever lives by the
truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have
done has been done in the sight of God.
In
other word – for those of us who want life – we come into the light and say God
– this is the truth of who I am – you can see what I have done. The good the
bad the ugly. God’s life and God’s light exposes who we are.
But
remember how we get life. It told us here. Whoever believes may have eternal
life in him. It is about us coming to God with all of who we are and exposing
all of our life to God, and trusting Jesus to deal with all the falsehoods and
darkness – he deals with our sin – that brings us into life.
MUSIC Light of the World 4:05 (Heart of worship Album)
I
want to take you now to John 10. Jesus talks about being the good shepherd. He
talks about leading his sheep and keeping his sheep safe. Here is what he says.
John 10:10 (NIV)
10 The thief comes only to
steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to
the full.
It is
like there is this cosmic battle over you. The thief, Satan, the father of lie,
the well spring of evil comes and his
desire is to kill steal and destroy. – But Jesus says I have come that you
might have life and have it to the full.
All
the way through John we given glimpses into this cosmic battle of light verses
darkness. Truth verses lies. Life verses death. But this cosmic battle is not
just waged in the heavenlies – it is waged in each one of our hearts. We chose
life or death. We choose light or darkness. It is a huge cosmic battle – and it
the battle for your heart.
I
want to take you to one more passage of scripture in John before we get back to
our main text.
John 14:6 (NIV)
6 Jesus answered, “I am
the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through
me.
Now
usually when I hear this verse used, it is used to show the exclusivity of Christ.
He is the way, the truth, the life – you don’t get to the father except through
him. And that is a perfectly legitimate way to use these scriptures.
But
that being said – sometimes we miss what is being said when we focus in the
that piece of this verse.
The
way to God is not found on a map, or an instruction booklet. It is found in the
person of Jesus Christ.
The
truth is not found in a philosophy, or a series of premises, or even in a book
– although they can point towards the truth – the truth is found in a person –
the person of Jesus Christ.
The
life is not found in being rich or being talented, or being skilled, it is
found in a person – the person of Jesus Christ.
This
is important because it brings us back to the core of the Christian faith – the
person and work of Jesus Christ. Some try to make the core of Christian faith
the church – and while the church is vitally important – it is not the core.
Some people try to make morality important – and while good works, and doing
the right think it is not the core. Some people try to make the bible the core.
And the reality of it is, is the bible is super important, it is not the core.
Jesus Christ is the way the truth and the life – Jesus is at the core of
everything.
Back to
our main verse
John 20:31 (NIV)
31 But these are written
that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that
by believing you may have life in his name.
Notice
where the life takes place – you have life in his name. The name is the
representative of all that Jesus is. You have life, in Jesus.
Now
in some ways – up until this point I have been fairly theoretical. I wanted to
give you an overview of the book of John as it pertains to faith and life. But
John didn’t write the book so that you could have a theoretical view of life. these are written that
you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by
believing you may have life in his name
The
gospel is about life. It is about you having life. It is about you experiencing
the life of God. Jesus came that you might have life and have it to the full.
It is about being connected to God, and having his life flow into us. It is
about his presence, his essence in our life.
***********
So
what does that mean to you and to me. Well first of all it give you a different
measure of answering the question – what is sin. We all know some of the laws.
Don’t steal, don’t gossip, don’t slander, don’t bear false witness. We get
that.
The
reason why God has given us the law is to keep us away from those things that
bring death. Sin brings death. When you break God’s laws, it brings death. The
wages of sin is death. You get that right. God isn’t trying to kill your fun by
giving you the law. No, he is trying to keep you from drinking the poison that
will hurt your spirit and kill your soul.
Jesus
came to deal with the poison of sin in your life. He forgave you your sin. But
more than that, he wants to remove your sin. Because it is sin that gets in the
way of you really living.
God
is about life. The gospel is about life. The reason that God hates sin so much
is that it is anti life. If we value real life, we will hate sin – because it
robs us of so much.
But
if you get that the gospel is about life, then it will help you look at your
life in a different way. We make choices all the time that are not life giving
– but there is really no law against it. And some of these things may be
different for you.
I
love to watch football. I find watching a game is a great way to both relax and
recharge. Watching two games in a row, is ok. Watching three games in a row –
and I feel blah. I haven’t done much with
my day. I don’t feel recreated, I feel like a bump on a log. I can’t
point to a scripture verse that says watching 3 football games in a row is
wrong. But I know from experience that it is not life giving. It takes away
life. – If the gospel is about life, and I am doing something that takes away
life then it is anti gospel.
The
same could be said of Netflix binging, or any other kind of binging that
doesn’t bring life. If the gospel is about life, and what we are doing is
bringing the opposite, it is anti life – and anti gospel.
I
find that helpful. There are times in life when it is just hard. Work is
stressful, and family is stressful, and life is hard. We live in a world that
wars against life. If you read through the Psalms, you will find that the
Psalmists knew what that was like – and they looked to God to restore them and
sustain them. Sometimes this world doesn’t give you a choice – and you look
walk through the valley of the shadow of death – and you look for God to bring
you life. Sometimes this world is anti-life, and we look to God to sustain us
in it.
But
when we choose the stuff that brings death – that is a problem. I don’t say
this by way of condemnation – because God knows I have made a lot of those bad
decisions myself. – but I say it as information. Do you want to live in a way
that is constantly poisoning your life? – I don’t think so. So live the gospel.
Death
is anti gospel, because Jesus is about life. But sometimes people try to choose
life, without choosing Jesus. But that doesn’t work either.
these
are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of
God, and that by believing you may have life in his name
It is
by believing in Jesus, that you have life in Jesus. Jesus is the way, the truth
and the life, you can’t choose life without choosing Jesus.
This
helps me too. It is quite easy to make an idol out of life. I’m going to live
life to the full. I’m going to grasp all of life there is. YOLO. You only live
once, so you might as well go for it.
But that
adrenaline rush that you get doing the extreme activity of your choice – is
only an adrenaline rush, if is built on top of a broken soul. When the
adrenaline is gone, you are left with a broken soul.
But
when Jesus has come into your life, and you have allowed his light to shine
into all the corners of your life, and sweep away the darkness – when you have
allowed him to see your sin and forgive you of your sin, when you have invited
him into your life, and he has put his holy Spirit into your life – and you
have this sense of belonging, when he has made you spiritually alive – and then
you have an adrenaline rush – well then – the adrenaline rush comes to an end
and you are still spiritually alive, and forgiven and you belong. You are
connected to God and his life is still flowing in you.
There
is a reason why Jesus says,
Mark 8:35
(NIV)
35 For whoever wants to
save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the
gospel will save it.
You
can’t have life without Jesus. He is the one who builds the foundation for
life. He is the one out of which life grows.
This
too helps me because Jesus is not one dimensional. Jesus taught us that the
greatest commandment was to
Mark
12:30 (NIV)
30 Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all
your strength.’
The
life of the gospel is meant to permeate our hearts and our souls, but it is
also to enliven our mind and our bodies.
Your
If you have put your faith in Jesus, if you have given your life to Jesus, then
your devotional life, and your study life, and your physical life are all
God’s.
So
let me come back to our main verse.
John 20:31
(NIV)
31 But these are written
that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that
by believing you may have life in his name.
The
why of the gospel is the life that is found in Jesus. It is meant to enliven
you now, and flow into eternity. The how of gospel is that you believe in who
Jesus is.
This
morning as I have been talking, maybe you are sensing that you would like this
life that Jesus has to offer. He offers this life to you as a gift. A simple
prayer made in faith puts this spiritual reality into motion.
A
prayer like “Lord Jesus, I believe in you. Please forgive me of my sin and come
into my life. I want your life in me. Help me to really live like you have
promised in your world. Lord I give you my life, so that I can have your life –
Amen." A prayer like that, trusting that Jesus will do what he said he would do
– has a way of allowing God to give you life.
Jesus
is life, the gospel is life. Will you give your life more fully to God so you
can more fully experience God’s life in you.
Let me pray for you:
Lord
Jesus, Thank you for people listening.
Lord,
I ask for those who want life in your name, that they would open their life up
to you and put their faith in you.
And
I ask Lord, that you would be able to allow them to have a sense that you are
very close.
As
they open their life to you, I ask that you would come into them and just give
them a sense of how close you are.
I
pray this in Jesus’ name. AMEN.
And thank
you for listening to Good News in the morning.
This
program is on the air by the grace of God and donations of many faithful
people.
My
name is Brent Russett, and it has been a privilege to bring you Good News in
the morning.
By Rev. Brent Russett
Pastor of Sunnyside Wesleyan Church in Ottawa:
_______________________________________________________
PODCAST
LINK to the CFRA broadcast:
http://cloud.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/6/64017/good_news_315_jun03.mp3
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