John chapter 4 - Connecting with people

You can read the entire passage here.

Last week, we read - arguably - the most famous verse in the Bible, John 3v16, the verse which assures us that whoever believes in Jesus will have eternal life. This week, we looked at some people who met Jesus and showed what it is to believe in him.

• The Samaritan woman

A woman who was initially ostracised, who rather go to the well to get water in the heat of the day to avoid other people. Yet at the end of the story, we see her going to tell the town-folk all about Jesus. In her short conversation with our Lord, she believed in him - and this was eveident from her response. She went back and testified about him.

• The Samaritans
  

In v 39, we were told that they believed in Jesus because of the woman's testimony. After 2 days of listening to Jesus, John tells us that they believed in Jesus because of his words. They believed that he is the saviour of the world. Not the kind of belief that Jesus did not entrust himself to earlier on, the kind that believe based on signs alone. This belief is based is based on what they heard from Jesus himself.

• The Royal Official
  

The Official believed in Jesus' words and displayed his faith. He did not know at that time if Jesus would really heal his son but he demonstrated his belief in his actions.

Practical applications:-

1. Do we display our trust in Jesus in our actions? Are we like the woman, who went around telling people (who by the way din think much of her) about Jesus? Are we like the Samaritans who diligently listened to Jesus' words? Are we like the official who believed even tho he did not see?
2. The discourse Jesus had with the Samaritan woman is today a good case study on how we can share the gospel with people around us. Keep in mind the pointers raised during our discussion (make contact, overcome prejudices, show genuineness, do not get distracted, highlight the problem of sin, meet the needs).
3. The field is ripe for harvest. Later on, Jesus laments(?) how the harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few. Is our response today like Jesus, that our food is to do the will of our Father in heaven?
   

John chapter 3 - Starting over

You can read the entire passage here.

This passage basically deals with the responses of 2 individuals, Nicodemus and John the Baptist.

• Jesus' discourse with Nicodemus
  

It is interesting to note that the previous chapter ends with a group of people who "saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name" (2v23). Here also, Nicky acknowledges his belief in Jesus based on the signs that Jesus had performed. But Jesus sees the heart of man and he points out the need of Nicky to be "born again". The few lessons which I can pluck out from this rich passage are as follows:-

1. It is not enough to just believe in the existence of Jesus. There must be a spiritual change, a change of heart.

2. Citizenship of the kingdom of God is not dependent on our status, or our knowledge, or on what we can do. A lot of people these days are "born" into the church, children of missionaries and/or church leaders. they go thru the motions and even serve God actively. But if they do not have a spiritual rebirth, they will not enter the kingdom of God.

3. Eternal life comes only from Jesus. Surely, he is no ordinary man.

4. God's love is so great!!!! Can we ever understand what it means to give up our own child?

• John's testimony regarding Jesus

John sets a wonderful example for us all. It's all about Jesus!!! Truly, for him, to live is for Christ. That is why he is not threatened when more people follow Jesus, when he becomes less popular - for his purpose is to point others to Jesus. This is what is meant when one acknowledges Jesus as Lord - Jesus is to increase, we are to decrease.

Practical applications:-

1. Love means sacrifice. God loves us so much that he gave. He still gives today. We love because he first loved us. We love because it is his command to us. How can we show love to God and to others?
2. How much of our lives is given to Jesus? Looking back, can we say that in our lives, Jesus is increasing and we are decreasing? What are some areas which needs to "decrease"?
   

John chapter 2 - Signs of God

You can read the entire passage here.

In this chapter, John narrates 3 incidents to prove that Jesus is indeed the Son of God (out of which one took place near the beginning of his ministry and one near the end).

• The Wedding at Cana

John states that Jesus "revealed his glory" (v11) through this incident. As shared during the study, this miraculous act of turning water into wine showed many aspects of the character of Jesus:-

1. His humility - in not making a big show of it and turning attention to himself (instead, he kept it quiet as his time has not yet come);

2. His high standards - as the wine made was of the finest quality. He did not settle to making normal wine or even good wine. It was the best, the choice wine, as confirmed by the expert master of the banquet (v10).

3. His obedience to his mother.

4. His graciousness - helping out the groom and providing a huge amount of wine (180 gallons = 681.4 litres).

But the main lesson is his power over things of nature - turning mere water into wine. Surely only the creator of the natural order - God himself - can do such things.

• The cleansing of the temple

Here, we saw a different picture of our Lord Jesus. Not the meek lamb led to slaughter, not the soft spoken mild mannered person we see in "Jesus movies".

The key verse in this passage is v16 when Jesus states that the temple is his father's house. We know from the Old Testament that the temple was built for the presence of the Lord to dwell in (see 1 Chronicles 6, in particular, v 2 and 41). Therefore, by claiming that the temple is his father's house, Jesus is claiming that he is the Son of God.

Further, when challenged to give a miraculous sign to prove his authority (v18), Jesus predicted his death and his resurrection, the ultimate prove that Jesus is the Son of God.

• Miraculous signs Jesus did

It may seem strange initially that Jesus did not "entrust" himself (basically, put confidence in the people) who believed after seeing his miracles, but John gives us the answer - he can see their hearts, and we can conclude that their "belief" is not genuine.

Who can see the heart of man except God himself?

There are many practical applications we can pull out from this rich passage. Here are some which i can suggest:-

1. We can follow the example set by Jesus, in his humility, his obedience, giving our best in the things we do, having his attitude to things which brings dishonour to his father.
   
2. We can learn to trust him more as he is the Son of God who has great power.
3. God can see our hearts - do we have anything in our lives which needs to be cleansed, things which is not right to be found in us who are the temple of the Holy Spirit?
   

John chapter 1 - Encountering the Word

You can read the entire passage here.

• The word

The book begins with a beautiful hymn to our Lord Jesus which describes him as "the word". This is basically to tell us that Jesus is the one who will tell us about God. He is "the full expression of God to us" and he reveals to us among other things that God is a God full of grace and truth. John says in no uncertain terms that Jesus, the word, was God (v1). And that Jesus was God who became flesh (v14).

• John the Baptist

John also introduces us to another John - John the Baptist. But the focus is back on Jesus as John the Baptist himself testified that Jesus is the Lamb of God (v29, 35). More importantly, John the Baptist testifies that Jesus is the Son of God (v34) and he knew this for sure as God himself revealed this fact to John the Baptist (see vv32-34).

• The disciples

Finally, John introduces how 4 other disciples and himself first came to know the Lord Jesus. Andrew and John heard John the Baptist's testimony of Jesus and they spent a whole with Jesus. Andrew then brought his brother Simon to see for himself "the Messiah".

Phillip and Nathanael recognised Jesus as the one that Moses and the prophets wrote about, although nathanael needed some persuasion to overcome his prejudices about people from Nazareth.

So this start of John's gospel - he introduces to us the Lord Jesus as the Son of God, the chosen one, the lamb of God, God who became flesh. So what does all this mean to us today, as Christians? I can think of 2 things for meself:-

1. If I want to have a relationship with God, one the ways i can get to know him better and have a closer walk is to study the life of Christ, who is the full expression of God.
   
2. As Jesus demonstrates the love and grace of God by becoming flesh and being the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (v29), my response is share this love with others.
   

p/s - the practical applications are left in a general manner. In order to make them more meaningful, specific steps will have to be taken to achieve them.