Jesus in John Introduction : "Consider him"

Who is it that you admire ? Who is it that you look to ?

It may be a particular celebrity.

Every month it seems another star is thrust into our lives for us to admire and follow, copy their hairstyle, imitate their wardrobe or repeat their catchphrase.

We live in a celebrity age, where people are reasonably easily able to get their 15 minutes of fame.

And some make it past that 15 minutes to be like gods to their adoring fans, as long as they give their fans what they crave for.

Then again, we each may get enthusiastic about the latest fad, movie or TV programme.

You may have a favourite that you don't want to miss - it's scheduled in to your week regular as clockwork.

These things can guide our routines, colour our conversations, engage our emotions, and shape our thinking and attitudes.

At the very least, we have people amongst whom we live, whom we look up to and respect.

We commend gifted tradespeople, kind neighbours, helpful medical or financial advisors, enthusing about their work, skills and personality.

We tell people about them, get excited, and if there is a need, we recommend their services, associating ourselves with them wholeheartedly.

Revd. Peter Manson, is this year's President of Baptist Union, and he has written a few words to help us think about celebrity, and a certain celebrity in particular:

"For us in the Christian Church we have a celebrity like no other. Someone who is worth admiring, following, and worshipping - Jesus.

There is no need to copy his hairstyle or wardrobe, but to be more like him with the help of his Holy Spirit is our calling. He doesn't have superficial catchphrases but words that, if though about and absorbed in our lives, can change us beyond recognition. He is thoroughly trustworthy, thoroughly reliable and thoroughly good. There has been no greater life that his; no more significant death and resurrection. Why then, are we hesitant to mention his name, to recommend him, to get thoroughly excited about him ?

I want us to know Jesus more. For us to read again the gospels with new eyes and an open heart so God can reveal to us something new about his character. I want us to make time to think about Jesus, to get excited about him, to praise him and listen for his 'still small voice of calm' through prayer. Deepening our relationship with him will so enrich our worship and celebration, our mission, our living and dying that we will feel no shame in declaring that Jesus is our Lord.

When we focus on Jesus, our Messiah, and follow him, he will change our lives, radically, miraculously and permanently. Jesus will so impact us that through our life, conversations and actions, our local communities can be transformed.

This is my dream for this country. I am encouraged and excited by the work Baptist Churches are doing to change lives and transform communities. In a society that often has a negative or limited view of the Christian faith, our challenge is to honour the great Commissioner by presenting the gospel in a away that is relevant and non-threatening to newcomers and to make them feel valued and included in his Kingdom."

It was back in May that Peter Manson shared his heart along these lines at the Baptist Assembly, and I have been thinking about what he said.

At Wollaston, in these days, there may easily be a tendency to have our focus spilt in many ways.

We're thinking through the aspect our corporate worship life and how we can grow in this area.

We're in the middle of huge developments and changes in relation to our buildings.

We are faced with the challenge of financial giving.

We are confronted with a village and surrounding villages and towns where there is a desperate need for the church to reach out into the community with the good news.

And each of us as individuals and familles live lives with our varying challenges, pains and problems, needs and worries.

So what should our focus be ?

As a a church, as individuals as we face a multitude of attention seeking aspects of our lives ?

What should be preached Sunday by Sunday ?

And I have sought to hear the Lord's direction, and I believe that we are to have only one focus.

A focus which has implications for all of the aforementioned important aspects of church life.

Our focus is to be The Lord Jesus Christ himself.

Hebrews 12:2-3

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Over these coming days, I want us to fix our eyes upon Jesus, to consider him.

We will be tempted to grow weary in the face of building development.

We will be in danger of losing heart as we consider our finances and people resources as a church.

We will endure opposition as we seek to reach out to our friends, neighbours, families, work colleagues, with the gospel.

Many of us have and will suffer hardship and pain in our own individual lives, through illness, grief, changing circumstances.

We need to focus upon Jesus, his person, his words, his work.

And in seeking the Lord as to how to do this, I believe that the Lord wants us to hear what the apostle John has to say.

We're going to be running through a series in John's gospel called, "Jesus in John".

We're going to explore the portrait of Jesus, that John paints for his listeners; a big picture - displaying Christ's pre-incarnate existence, through to his incarnation, and to his risenness.

Over the months we're going to be taking in this big picture piece by piece, like a jigsaw, walking through John's gospel to get to know Jesus.

We'll be asking John questions about Jesus.

Who is he ? What is he like ? What did he do ? What does it matter ?

And I'd like us as a church to make this journey together.

I want each one of us to begin to read John's gospel, his proclamation of the good news about Jesus.

As we read, as we listen, I believe that the Holy Spirit will transform us.

You see, John isn't simply writing a full biography about Jesus or an interesting account about him.

There is much that Matthew, Mark and Luke write about that John does not include.

John writes most likely near the end of his long life, after the other three have written their accounts.

Most think around 90AD.

John is complementing what are called the synoptic gosepels (M,M,L) and he is selective with his material for two reasons.

The first is that he has a purpose in mind in writing about Jesus.

In fact, he tells us what this purpose is in John 20:31 :

"These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."

John's purpose in writing is twofold :

It is both evangelistic : "... that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ..."

And it is for discipleship : "and that by believing you may have life in his name." or otherwise translated, "these are written so that those who believe may go on believing."

As we read John's gospel, we as God's church shall be aided in our own walk with the Lord and there will be opportunity for those who come and join with us week by week to be presented with Jesus and challenged in their response to him.

John is selective with his material, secondly because he is presenting this Jesus to his listeners in a particular way, just as Matthew, Mark and Luke also do.

If I were to write an account of the life of Sandra, my wife, I would give my perspective, I would be seeing Sandra through my eyes. If someone else were to do so, they would see other aspects, I may not see fully.

That is why the Holy Spirit, has in his wisdom given us four complementary accounts of Jesus, to give us as full a perspective of him as possible.

John had, no doubt, read Mark's gospel and was probably aware of Luke's well researched account.

And we see John selecting his material.

He tells us of his need to do this in John 21:25

"Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written."

And John's perspective on Jesus causes him to present Jesus as the crucified King.

He alone includes the words of Pilate as he presents Jesus to the people in John 19:14; "Here is your king"

John sees Jesus' life and mission as the pivotal point in history and his picture of Jesus is a big picture in relation to the other gospels.

He begins his account by setting Jesus against the widest possible horizon; he relates him to God and his eternal purposes, and to the entire life of the universe.

A.Maclaren says, "The other gospels begin with Bethlehem; John begins with the bosom of the Father. Luke dates his narrative by Roman emperors and Jewish High Priests; John dates his "In the beginning". Matthew and Luke take us to the cradle and the manger, Mark to the prophesies of old, but John takes us back into the mists of eternity.

Jesus in John is displayed with his deity and his humanity as inseparable.

Jesus is not one at one point and the other at another point, but both at every point !

The early church attempted to clarify its understanding of the person of Christ; his humanity, his deity and the relationship between the two.

It did this in particular at two church councils on in 325AD in Nicea and the other in 451AD and Chalcedon.

And the church found John's gospel to be of essential help in undergirding the confession of One who is both true God and true man.

John makes no attempt to dilute the full reality of both the deity and the humanity of Jesus.

And John invites us to approach reverently within the Walls of the Word of God, to gaze wonderingly and adoringly upon the glory of the everlasting Son made flesh, and then go forth to live for him amid the realities of our everyday world.

He presents Christ the King crucified, the God Man sacrificed.

And as we follow John's gospel, I hope that we shall get a better grasp of who Jesus is and what he has done, yet at the same time finding ourselves having to acknowledge that he is even further beyond our grasp.

Though the picture of Jesus may come into clearer focus, he will remain a remain a mystery beyond our comprehension.

An ancient theological saying is; "Deus comprehensus non est Deus"

In other words, "a God who is comprehended fully is not God"

And it would be equally true to say "a Christ who is comprehended fully is not divine".

The mystery of Jesus Christ the crucified King is the theme of this gospel; always beyond us, yet always summoning us to explore it more fully

May we fix our eyes on this Jesus, the crucified King, fully human and fully divine.

May we consider him over these coming days as we seek to grow forwards together as a church, having him as a focus, as our reason for being, so that we will not grow weary and lose heart.