During the last month I have been watching the NBA playoffs on the TV. The team that I have been cheering for has been the San Antonio Spurs. David Robinson is my favorite player because he’s good and because he’s a committed follower of Jesus Christ. One of the things that I have noticed about the team is seemingly close they are to each other and how strong they are in regards to team spirit. When a player goes to the bench to rest or after he scores or after he goes to the free throw line he is generally received by his teammates in one of the following ways. A high five, a hug, a wap on the behind, a regular five, an arm around the shoulder. On the basketball court such behavior indicates the players friendships, camaraderie, and love for one another.
Outside of sports men do not typically show their affection or approval of one another in these ways ---I don’t want any of you wapping me on the behind after the service either.
In Jesus’ day men were more expressive of their love for their fellow men. It was culturally acceptable, just like it is other parts of our world today. Evidence to this is the posture we find the beloved disciple in, in ch. 13 of John. Today, my last sermon in our series called Great men and women of the Bible we are going to be considering the “Beloved Disciple”
TURN WITH ME TO CH. 13:1,20-28
Today we are going to consider a very important character from the book of John: The Beloved Disciple. He is the writer of this book that we call John.
A good question for us to ask is: Who wrote this book?
-not once does the author reveal his name
-purposefully remains anonymous
-purposefully and consistently identifies himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved
Now tradition has it that the gospels were entitled after their writers. Thus since from at least the late 1st century this book has been called “John’s gospel”. This is all well and fine and I have no problem with accepting that John the son of Zebedee (whom Jesus called one of the sons of Thunder) is the writer. However---- we need to ask the question as to why he only identifies himself in this book as the beloved disciple.
There is a reason as there always is for the Bible being written the way it has been. One of the questions we will address today is why he identifies himself as he does and not by his given name.
READ TEXT
Context
-washing of their feet, teaching them about servanthood, teaching them about how they and we to live in relation to each other. Demonstrating to them how much he loved them.
-announces that one will betray him
-disciples perplexed
-Peter beckons to the disciple whom Jesus loved and says “ask Jesus as to which one of us who will do this”
-disciple whom Jesus loved leaned back against the bosom of Christ and asked Jesus as to who it was.
Peter as the rep. and leader of the 12, who obviously wasn’t sitting as close to Jesus as the beloved disciple tells him to ask Jesus and hence he does.
Q What does it mean for this disciple to lean upon the bosom of Jesus?
Bosom=chest, it’s the place where the heart is.
To lean against Jesus’ bosom indicates that the two of them were very good friends. It indicates trust and intimacy, confidence in one another, it indicates love between 2 people. In Kenya I remember seeing the
But its much more than that. This beloved disciple stands as a picture as one who is near to the heart of Jesus/ near to the heart of God. As one he is near the heart of Jesus he is one is valued, cherished and protected by Christ.
What’s really fascinating is that in John 1:18 it says “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him”.
Jesus is near to the heart of the Father because of their spiritual unity and oneness and hence love for one another. The beloved disciple is near to the heart of Jesus
APPLIC
One of the reasons I believe that the ‘beloved disciple’ is never named is that you and I might see ourselves in his place. That we might understand ourselves as disciples loved by Jesus and considered very special to him.
Sometimes you may doubt that Jesus loves you because of something you have done or because of his perceived absence in your life. Well, your doubts are unfounded because the Bible over and over again reiterates just how much we are loved of God.
Listen to Paul from Gal. 2:20 “I love by faith in the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me”
For those of us who are the followers of Jesus Christ we are loved by Jesus in a special way. An intimate communion exists between us and Jesus. An intimate communion made for by his sacrificial death upon the cross. An intimate communion entered into when we confess that Jesus is Savior and Lord and ask him to be our Savior, to forgive our sins. An intimate communion that is by our being united together by his Spirit. An intimate relationship we are called upon to develop, the evidence being seen in our obedience to Jesus.
Earlier we sang “Jesus loves me” Q How do we know? The Bible tells us so. Consider again the scripture we read earlier today. Eph 3:17ff “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God”
Jesus is the one who initiated this love. Seen in his leaving his Father’s throne and becoming a man. Seen in his laying down his life for us and taking upon himself the wrath of God for sin that we deserve to pay for.
We are to return to his love. Jesus commands it in John 15:12. It is seen in our loving of each other and in our joyful obedience to Jesus.
AS WE FURTHER CONSIDER THE BELOVED DISCIPLES ROLE IN THE BOOK OF JOHN LET US TOGETHER CONSIDER JOHN 19:25-27
Q Who do we find at the foot of the cross?
Some women and the disciple who Jesus loved.
-all the other male disciples had abandoned Jesus, just as was prophesied. Yet here is the one whom Jesus loved. He’s faithful. He’s reciprocating the love he received from Jesus. Q Isn’t that what we are supposed to do? In response to his love we are to love him. In fact the scriptures say “We love him because he first loved us”
The beloved disciple models to us what impact Jesus’ love is to have upon us—Faithfulness to Jesus Christ even in the most trying of circumstances. Faithfulness because he was loved by Jesus and this was a demonstration of his love in return.
It is also thought that he is the “other disciple” of ch. 18. The one who arranged for Peter to enter the high priests court yard, the place of Peter’s betrayal of Christ. From the way ch. 18 is worded it appears that this disciple was an eyewitness to Jesus’ trial.
Something very important happened that day at the foot of the cross and it involves the beloved disciple and Jesus’ mother.
-from the cross Jesus spoke. He said to his mother, here is your son and to his disciple he said here is your mother. And then in the very next verse v.28 it says these critical words.. “After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!”
Q What transpires here at the foot of the cross
-on the physical level Jesus is making sure his mother is cared for, that her physical needs will be looked into
But this text is so much deeper than that!
-beneath the cross of Jesus Christ a new family was formed.
-Jesus’ completed work, mentioned in v.28, marks the beginning of new relationships in the church
-Jesus here initiated a new order of relationships in the family of God. When he brought the beloved disciple and his mother together as family it was because of something they held in common together: Faith in him (for at this point it does not seem that his brothers are his followers John 7:5)
-the blood of Christ forms a new home. Through his redemptive work on the cross Jesus forges a new family of the redeemed. We know it as the Church. A new community not based on blood lines but a common belief in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
What happened at the foot of the cross that day when the disciple and Mary were recognized to be family was the first fulfillment of the prophecy Jesus made in Mark 10:29-30
“I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life”
meaning: when you come to Jesus you become part of huge spiritual family. You may be forsaken by those who are related to you by blood but….
APPLIC:
This is great and exciting news!!! By the blood of Jesus Christ we have been brought together!
Since you and I have become a family together. A family that Jesus brings us into. A family that we become members of when we commit ourselves to Jesus as Savior and Lord. Q How are we to behave towards one another?
Q What is the family of God supposed to look like?
-group of people who have committed themselves to Jesus Christ
-a family that serves one another. Given gifts to serve each other
-a family that spurs one another on in our spiritual pilgrimage
-a family that is loyal to each other, good families stick with each other, that’s how we are to be as family together
-a family that is forgiving
What else?
-families are to enjoy getting together. We are told in God’s word to regularly fellowship together
-the family of God is a family that prays together
One of the best pictures of the church modelling what it means to be family is seen in Acts 2:42-44
Q How are we doing at being family together here at I.B.C. More importantly are you being a good family member?
LET’S MOVE ON THE CH.20. THERE IS STILL 2 MORE THINGS WE NEED TO PUT INTO OUR MINDS TODAY IN REGARDS TO THE BELOVED DISCIPLE
Q What have we learned so far?
1. We are loved deeply by Jesus Christ. Jesus loves you and me. We are near and dear to his heart
2. Mary and the beloved disciple became family because they had a common faith in J.C. When we come to Christ we join a huge family, the family of God
Let’s read John 20:1-10
The scene….
The race….
The key
The beloved disciple, not expecting Jesus to rise from the dead, on the basis of the empty tomb and the folded grave clothes believed that Jesus had risen from the dead and Peter here serves as witness to the John’s testimony and faith.
Q What’s so important here?
Faith without seeing!
-he didn’t have to see the risen Christ to believe he had risen, the empty tomb was sufficient evidence enough
-the beloved disciple sets before us the great example of belief that we are to emulate. Faith in Jesus as risen from the dead without actually seeing him.
-for you and I today who are the followers of Jesus Christ we have followed in the footsteps of the beloved disciple. We believe on the basis of God’s word, on the basis of the beloved disciples testimony, on the basis of the empty tomb, that Jesus is Lord and Savior and rose from the dead on the third day.
Consider these scriptures:
“If you confess with you mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” Romans 10:9
“Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen me you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:29
Point: blessed are all those like the beloved disciple who believe that Jesus is Lord and that God raised him from the dead without having to see him with our own eyes.
In fact the very reason we have this book according to the beloved disciple is to bring people to faith in Jesus without seeing him. Listen to v.30-31
The Beloved disciple models for us the kind of faith one is to have. Faith without seeing and yet a faith according to Heb. 11 that is “sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see”
-so if you are thinking of asking Jesus to forgive you of your sins and to be your Savior. Ask in faith, believing the reliable and trustworthy testimony of God’s word
ONE LAST AREA TO EMPHASIZE TODAY IN RESPECT TO THE BELOVED DISCIPLE: HE WAS A MAN OF GREAT SPIRITUAL DISCERNMENT.
-he was a man who recognized the handiwork of Jesus in his experience and life
-he was a man who discerned God working in his life.
POINT: THOSE WHO ARE CLOSE TO JESUS ARE ABLE TO DISCERN THE WORK OF JESUS IN THEIR LIVES. THEY ARE ABLE TO SEE GOD WORKING IN THEIR LIFE.
READ 21:1-7
Q How does the beloved know that the one standing on the shore is Jesus?
-not because he has a pair of binoculars
-the sign of the full net! He looks at the net, the net that is so full of fish that he and the others can’t pull it out of the water and his conclusion is this. This thing bears the signature of Jesus Christ and so he says to Peter “It is the Lord!”
How is he able to discern that the full net is the work of God? It’s because he, as one who is loved by Jesus, as one who loves Jesus, knows what the works of Jesus look like. Because of his intimate relationship with Jesus he knows what Jesus’ work looks like. The things which Jesus does bears his unique signature, a signature which this disciple can read.
THE MORE WE GET TO KNOW JESUS, the more we will discern his work in our lives. He’s always working in our lives but we are not always discerning it because sometimes we are not listening to him or working on our rel. with him as we should.
There is a song that children sing in Sunday School that has a line that says “In the stars his handiwork I see”. Indeed the handiwork of Jesus is evidenced in the stars and that’s pretty easy to see. Yet I trust you see his handiwork just as clearly in your life.
Note: Sometimes it’s easy to see God working in other people’s lives isn’t it. i.e neighbor, broken ankle, hot tub danger discovered, moping as to why broke ankle
He’s always at work in our lives. It’s just that we don’t always discern his work.
We need to open up our eyes
We need to strive to have a relationship with Jesus that the beloved disciple had with Jesus. As one who was close to Jesus he knew Jesus’ work. Our responsibility is to stick close to Jesus and then in every step we take we’ll better see and comprehend how much he’s a work in our lives.
CONCLUSION
The book of John ends with an interesting account about the beloved disciple. Jesus tells Peter, after re-commissioning him that later on in life he will be killed for his faith. To this Peter turns around v.20, see the beloved disciple following them along the beach and asks “What’s going to happen to him?”
To this Jesus says “If I will that he remains till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.”
The point: Jesus has a different job for each one of us. A different thing for each one of us to do in his service. The key: be faithful to our calling. Do the work he gives us.
I have my gifts to use, you have yours
I have to be sensitive to where Jesus would have me to go and when, so do you.
JESUS LOVES—if only you and I could grasp how much
WE ARE FAMILY-need to live like it
FAITH WITHOUT SEEING
SPIRITUAL DISCERNMENT—Jesus at work in your life. The closer you are to him, the better able to discern it: Q Why? Because you see life through the lense that God gives and not the worldly one that we sometimes carry around in our back pocket
A DIFFERENT JOB FOR EACH ONE US—do to the glory of God.
TO THE READER: THIS WAS NOT MY FINAL DRAFT.
