John: The Intimate Gospel

God reveals himself through the person of Jesus. John explains who Jesus is, the life he offers, and what it looks like to believe. As John speaks in a way that is understandable to his audience, he reveals that God is infinite and personal. To become a child of God requires not only believing but also receiving His grace. He meets our deepest needs by offering us life (eternity) and light (truth).

John explains who Jesus is through the testimony of John the Baptist. He reveals what it looks like to personally seek, find, and follow Jesus through the lives of Peter, Andrew, and Philip. Emphasizing Peter's life, John shows Peter's sensitivity to Jesus, a time of testing, and a point of painful breaking. Following Jesus includes experiencing his grace, being defined by the future and not the past, and developing the same love for others that Jesus himself has.

John explains some of Jesus' first signs. These physical signs demonstrate underlying spiritual truths. These signs point to Jesus and the life he offers. The miracle of turning water into wine symbolizes Jesus' transformation of religion into a relationship. The cleansing of the temple symbolizes the true nature of Jesus' presence in the world.

Jesus urges the Pharisee Nicodemus to receive eternal life by being born again. Jesus' message was challenging as Nicodemus was a good man who followed his religious beliefs and was confused about how someone could be born again. Jesus explains that the only solution to the human condition of separation with God is to believe and make the personal decision to receive Jesus' life. No one can be good enough to earn eternal life. Jesus teaches we receive eternal life by believing and receiving God's love and forgiveness. This Good News is for everyone who believes.

Jesus' love drives him to pass through Samaria to interact with a woman at the well. Through their conversation Jesus offers her living water that will quench her thirst so that she will never thirst again. The living water he offers is the offer of eternal life. God is eager to begin a relationship with every person. This relationship begins when a person makes the decision to receive God's gift of forgiveness and spiritual life. This spiritual life gives true fulfillment.\r\n

John recounts two events in Jesus' life that highlight who he is. In the first event, Jesus interacts with a lame man calling him to believe and then healing him. The second event involves Jesus' public dialogue with the religious leaders about his interaction with the lame man who he healed on the Sabbath. These two events reveal who God really is through the person of Jesus. He is personal and relational. He is with people and has the power to deliver from sin and suffering. To have this in life only requires belief in Jesus and his work on the cross to pay for sin.\r\n

Four things must be considered when evaluating the claims Jesus made: 1) Jesus claimed to be God in human form; 2) Jesus made unique claims; 3) Jesus claimed to be the Messiah; and 4) Jesus' claims are uniquely verifiable. Jesus' claims are reliable and can be trusted. They are all backed by evidence that can be a foundation for a life of faith. There are many possibilities for why Jesus made these claims but the most reasonable explanation is that he really is the promised Savior of humanity. It is important to examine the evidence and not be neutral.\r\n

Through examining data, forming a hypothesis/claim, weighing the evidence, and then rendering a verdict we can come to a firm conclusion on a case. To build a good claim, it needs to be plausible, relevant to the evidence, and testable. Jesus' claims as Messiah were backed by strong witnesses, strong manuscripts, and historical facts. With no plausible alternatives that can withstand these tests, we can come to an informed decision about who Jesus is.

Was Jesus the promised Messiah? The Messiah was predicted to be part of David's royal line; more than a man - a redeemer, a future ruler, and an example of God's love. Jesus fits the description in all of these areas.

Was Jesus the promised Messiah? The Messiah was predicted to come from Bethlehem, and during the exact time that he did through a prediction in Daniel 9. Through genuinely examining these claims, we can come to a firm conclusion that Jesus was the Messiah as he claimed.

When Jesus fed the five thousand, he said he was the bread of life. Jim Leffel unpacks the implications of such a statement and contrasts this offer with ?junk foods? that are inadequate alternatives offered in popular culture.

Leffel uses Jesus's interaction with the woman caught in adultery to teach on forgiveness, justice through substitutionary atonement, and real transformation from sin issues. He offers freedom from bondage to our anger, sensual habits, ego-elevating activities, and everything else that spirals downwards. While fear can cause external change, God uses His love to give us true transformation from the inside out.

Jesus said the truth sets people free, yet we live in a culture that avoids the topic of truth and often prefers enslavement to addictions over freedom. Leffel contrasts worldly wisdom against godly wisdom to demonstrate the many areas in which God desires to bring healing and redemption.

Linear thinking leads to a question concerning fault for a man born blind. Jesus explains that no fault or sin caused the man's blindness and then heals him. This encounter teaches that religious people are often blind to their need for God and those who are sick or suffering usually see their need.

Jesus teaches he is a good shepherd and his people are like sheep. The shepherd lays down his life for the sheep and calls the sheep to listen and follow. The question we have to answer is whose voice are we listening to? We have many options for what we will prioritize in life. Do we prioritize what God has called us to? God said he has called us to an abundant life but often we think our plans are better.\r\n

Lazarus and his sisters, Mary and Martha, were close friends of Jesus. When Lazarus died, Jesus intentionally set up a drama to draw our focus to his central purpose: resolving the problem of death. Jesus Christ is the Resurrection and the Life and the answer for death. We need to get this incredible message out to a dying world.

A comparative look at the faith of Mary, the sister of Lazarus, to that of Judas and the other disciples.They all witnessed Lazarus' resurrection, but Mary's faith expressed at a dinner six days before the Passover is an example for all. She gave everything she had by pouring out her expensive perfume on Jesus out of devotion to him. She left a legacy of faith that speaks almost 2,000 years later.

On the night before his crucifixion, Jesus had dinner with his disciples in the Upper Room to prepare them for their future work. While they argued amongst themselves who was the greatest disciple, Jesus began to wash their feet. He taught them about servant leadership through his humble actions and left us an example to follow. Do we believe true fulfillment is found when we put the needs of others before ourselves?\r\n

The idea of Jesus leaving was uncomfortable at best for His disciples. In answering several of Thomas' questions, Jesus gives the disciples reassurance of their future and position by explaining to them His oneness with God, the power of prayer, and the role of the Holy Spirit. In growing in our relationship with God and enduring the trials of this life, we need similar reassurance. When studying this passage, we learn that we can: expect God to transform our lives and answer our prayers, have confidence in God because we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, and understand the mind of God because we can be taught by the Holy Spirit.

Jesus uses a parable to describe himself and God and how he wants to relate to us as human beings. He offers us the life that we desire if we abide in Him. To truly abide in Christ, we must understand and move towards our identity and intimacy with God, dwell in God's mind, and dwell in God's heart. When we truly abide we will bear the fruit of the Spirit, bring glory to God's name, and effectively pray.

Before Jesus leaves his disciples, he prays for them that they might understand what is involved in real spiritual unity. By comprehending the role of God's truth and His Holy Spirit, we are better able to understand what distinguishes God's and the world's definitions of unity from each other. It is on this foundation that we can begin to build unity between one another, striving to initiate, communicate, and depend on one another as God intended.

It is impossible to overstate the importance of the cross as far as the focus of the Bible, and the focus of the Christian life, go. By stating "It is finished," Jesus indicates that his work on Earth is done, the Scriptures predicting his death are fulfilled, and that our debt to God is paid in full. As the primary message of the Bible, the fact of the cross demands a response - either to be offended or turned off from the reality that we needed Christ's sacrifice, or to accept Christ's death as a payment for our own sins.

John's gospel ends with a clear and crucial application of the cross: a response to failure centered around grace instead of punishment. Jesus asks Peter if he loves him not to bury Peter in shame but to guide him to the path of reconciliation. When we fail at loving people, whether or not we receive God's grace will shape our lives and ability to be used for the glory of God.