Kingdom Keys - John Series

So maybe you’ve heard it said, ‘read your bible’ so you tried and failed. Our hope as leaders is that all of us will pick up God’s word and come to understand the true nature of God. After all, the bible is God’s Word curated over centuries detailing His nature, His will, the meaning of life and humanity’s historical interactions with Him. The Bible details the hidden keys to the Kingdom. Hence, the reason we are reviewing a new book each week.

This week we move to the second of the four gospels entitled “John.” As the video highlights, the book’s larger message is to provide an orderly account of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The first three gospels focus on the events in the life of Jesus. The book of John emphasizes the meaning of these events. All of which lead us to the conclusion: God is in love with us to such an extent he would sacrifice himself for us so we can have the opportunity to exercise our free will to love him or reject him. It reminds me of author Richard Bach's famous line, “If you love someone, set them free. If they come back they're yours; if they don't they never were.”

God set us free through the gift of Jesus. A gift many have not ever reflected on. It reminds me of a story.

There was a little incident that took place in Mainz in 1456 when Gutenberg was printing the first printed Bible. The printer had a little daughter, Alice, who came into the printing press and picked up a discarded sheet with only one line of print. That line of print read: “God loved the world so much that he gave…” Now, those were times when popular religion was a matter of living in fear and trembling before the awesome wrath of God. So Alice put the paper in her pocket and kept on thinking of the fact of God being so loving, and her face radiated with joy. Her mother noticed her changed behavior and asked Alice what was making her so happy and Alice showed her mother the sheet of paper with the printed line. Her mother looked at it for some time and said, “So, what did God give?” “I don’t know,” said Alice, “but if God loved us well enough to give us something, then we need not be so afraid of Him.”

Alice’s story emphasizes the big idea presented by John in the first chapter of Good news he wrote. These scriptures are not traditional for this time of year. However, they make the cute stories of a baby in a manger so much more meaningful. So let's open to John 1.

As you find your way, let me pray for us…

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.

Those first three words “in the beginning” take us to Genesis one. The purpose of which is to highlight that God existed before our concept of time. When a child asks, what came before God? The answer is simply “nothing.” God was, is and always will be, present. Then when a child asks who was with God? Was God alone? The answer is no because “He is God and the term Word, with its capitalization, means Jesus with God.” God and Jesus are one in the same. A heady concept worth meditating on the next time you think God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are not big enough to handle your issues or feel He doesn’t care about you.

Seriously, when you contemplate the full implications of God becoming a man, while still being God, every issue in our lives seems small. The churchy term we use is incarnate. It’s the act of grace whereby Jesus took our human nature into union with his Divine Person, became man. Christ is fully both God and man. The Westminster Shorter Catechism, a document written to confirm, non negotiable Christian truths, put it this way:

“There are three persons in the Godhead; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.”

If you find this concept difficult to understand, you are not alone. It is a mystery how God can be one and yet three.

Let’s continue…

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.

6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.