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Archive for the ‘Gospel of John’ Category

More on Actions…

Reading from one of my devotional resources this morning, I came upon this following on the heels of my post from yesterday. An excerpt from St. John Chrysostom and Homilies on the Gospel of John 75.

“At all times it is works and actions that we need, not a mere show of words. It is easy for anyone to say or promise something, but it is not so easy to act on that word or promise… ‘If you love me,’ Christ said, ‘keep my commandments.’ …I have commanded you to love one another and to do to one another as I have done to you. To love me is to obey these commands and to submit to me, your beloved.”

Prayer for the day -

O God, who by the life and death and rising again of your dear Son has consecrated for us a new and living way into the holiest of all: cleanse our minds, we ask you, by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that drawing near to you with a pure heart and conscience undefiled, we may receive these gifts without sin and worthily magnify your holy name. …Save us O Lord, while waking, and defend us while sleeping, that when we awake we may watch with Christ, and when we sleep we may rest in peace. Empower us and refill us with Yourself that we might be imitators of You to all the nations blessing Your name in word and deed proclaiming Your fame through our salvation with every fiber of our being as the dailyness of our life reflects our worship of You. [AMEN]

*portions of this prayer taken from the Liturgy of St. James

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Wrapping it up: 40 Days Living the Jesus Creed [Days 36-40]

LtJC – Days 36-40:

The way of Agape is not easy. More often than not, it is love that is dispensed and manifest in the faces of the unloved, in the lives of the broken, and in the hearts of the hateful…when those who are the loving are persecuted, despised, maligned and martyred. The way of Agape is selfless, sacrificial, and serving…the way of Agape is the highest calling of all. The way of Agape begins with loving God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength. The way of Agape ends with loving our neighbor as ourselves. Anything in between those two points is a distraction…

The final 5 days (leading up to Palm Sunday) were focused on living examples of Jesus Creed love (days 36-40). The first example given (mentioned in my previous entry) is support. Support is evidenced in many ways not the least of which is our finances. It can be seen in other ways as well; for instance, the sharing of material resources, time, and serving with our gifts and abilities. The bottom line is love for Jesus supports his teaching and his kingdom. Read the rest of this entry »

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“Those who believe in Jesus have everything in the world…” (Joshua Choonmin Kang)

Meditations on Living the Jesus Creed (Day 5) “The Divine Dance” -I made a visual of what I was reading and contemplating from this morning’s devotional study. Scot McKnight writes; “God is love. The music of God is love. Anyone who loves God and loves other is dancing, whether he or she knows it or not, to the divine dance. To love is to walk onto the divine dance floor…Love isn’t something we produce. Love, like dancing, is surrendering to the music on the divine dance floor.” YES! This is it!!! Here is the key… In order to dance successfully (love like God -AGAPE Love), we must surrender and allow God to lead the dance.

1 John 4:16 “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God…abides in them.”

…God abides in me. Amazing. Perhaps I can consider this more often and try to really live as though I believe it with all my heart, all my soul, all my mind, and all my strength.

“And by the blood of Christ, through faith, we have been cleansed from all sin…we have made an avowal…that we are dead to sin and to the world, but alive unto righteousness. Born anew, we were baptized in the name of the Father and called sons of God.” (Basil the Great)

…God abides in me; I am a son of God. Amen.

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This continues a meditation on the Gospel of John; part five and the final installment of a multi-part series. If you’d like to catch the entire series, click here. A full manuscript in .pdf format will be available at the end of the meditation series.

The PRAYER of JESUS -John Chapter 17

I think this chapter from John’s Gospel is one of the most captivating and incredible collections of Jesus’ words in all the gospels. His personal prayer for His followers, the promises of His life continued in the lives of His followers, and the promise of reconciliation and unity-”oneness” with the triune Godhead is mind-staggering. This prayer is it! The promise we live for and the hope we look forward to; this is the payoff of the Good News…it is The Gospel.

“Now my soul is deeply troubled. Should I pray, Father save me from this hour? But this is the very reason I came! Father, bring glory to Your Name.” Jesus -John 12:27-28

“Father, glorify Your Son so He can give glory back to You…” Jesus -John 17:1 Read the rest of this entry »

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This continues a meditation on the Gospel of John; part four of a multi-part series. If you’d like to catch the entire series, click here. A full manuscript in .pdf format will be available at the end of the meditation series.

“The world’s sin is that it refuse to believe in me” (Jesus) -John 16:9

*Jesus intends that “believe” means to “believe with your whole heart.” Believe changes the mindset and behavior of the one who believes. It is not simply an act of verbal affirmation or acknowledgement…it is life-changing. This understanding is implied and understood from the Hebrew mindset and use of the word from the original language usage of “heart” (Lebab) in conjunction with believe (eg. Believe with your heart not just your head).

Definitions of heart:

• Heart, as defined by the English dictionary (Merriam-Webster), is the emotional or moral as distinguished from the intellectual nature…<a feeling>
• Heart, as defined and used in the Greek (Romans 10:9), is Kardiða [Strong's #2588] – denotes the centre of all physical and spiritual life.
• Heart, as defined and used in the Hebrew (Romans 10:8 quoting Deut. 30:12-14), is Lebab [Strong's #3824] – inner man, mind, will, heart, soul, understanding; mind, knowledge, thinking, reflection, memory; inclination, resolution, determination (of will); conscience; as seat of emotions and passions

Chapter 16

Jesus shares with his disciples that he must “go away” to the One who sent him and promises the coming of the Holy Spirit. With this promise, he shares with them the specific work of the Holy Spirit in the world and in their lives.

• v.8 -convict the world of sin
• v.8 -convict the world of God’s righteousness
• v.8 -convict the world of the coming judgment
• v.13 -guide “believers” in truth
• v.13 -tell “believers” about the future.
• V.14 -give instructions to “believers” from Jesus (directly!!!)

“He (The Holy Spirit) will not speak on His own but will tell you what He has heard. He will bring me (Jesus) glory by telling you whatever He receives from me. The Spirit will tell you whatever He receives from me…” -John 16:13-15

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This continues a meditation on the Gospel of John; part three of a multi-part series. If you’d like to catch the entire series, click here. A full manuscript in .pdf format will be available at the end of the meditation series.

This incredible revelation of Himself with the promise of His “indwelling person” to His disciples stands alone as utterly fantastic and almost incomprehensible in its ramifications and scope. But then, Jesus continues this thought with his teaching of one of the most vivid visual illustrations of “connectedness” in all the gospels. He equates himself with a vine as he points to a vineyard as an object lesson to his hearers. The metaphor of Jesus being “the vine” (John 15) is not only a great visual, but it serves as a “bolded underline” as Jesus reiterates his main points from the previous chapter repeatedly to emphasize the importance and urgency of his message. (I notice how many times Jesus repeats the importance of his main point in the verses that follow.)

Jesus: The True Vine (3X)

• 1. v.1 “I am the true grapevine”
• 2. v.4 “A branch cannot produce fruit if severed from the vine, you can’t be fruitful unless you remain in me.”
• 3. v.5 “I am the vine”

Jesus: You were created to bear and produce fruit for God (7X)

• 1. v.2 “my Father cuts off non-producing branches…”
• 2. v.2 “He prunes fruit producers, so they will produce more fruit…”
• 3. v.4 “be fruitful; remain in me
• 4. v.5 “remain in me; produce much fruit”
• 5. v.6 “non-producers are cut-off and burned up”
• 6. v.8 “produce much fruit = true disciples and glorifies God”
• 7. v.16 “I chose you and appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit…”

Jesus: Talks about “love” (7X)

• 1. v.9 “I have loved you as the Father has loved me”
• 2. v.9 “Remain in my love…”
• 3. v.10 “When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love”
• 4. v.12 “This is my commandment: love each other in the same way I have loved you.”
• 5. v.13 “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
• 6. v.14 “You are my friends if you do what I command…”
• 7. v.17 “This is my command: Love each other.”

“Unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many kernels-a plentiful harvest of new lives. Those who love their life in this world will lose it those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity. Anyone who wants to be my disciple must follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves me.” -John 12:24-26

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This continues a meditation on the Gospel of John; part two of a multi-part series. If you’d like to catch the entire series, click here. A full manuscript in .pdf format will be available at the end of the meditation series.

Jesus: “I AM” = I am GOD

Chapter Eight of John’s Gospel begins Jesus making unequivocal claims of His Godhood.

• Jn 8:12 (implied) – “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”
• Jn 8:19 (implied) – “Since you don’t know who I am, you don’t know who my Father is. If you knew me, you would also know my Father.”
• Jn 8:23 (implied) – “You are from below; I am from above. You belong to this world; I do not.”
• Jn 8:24 (explicit) – “That is why I said that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I AM* who I claim to be, you will die in your sins”
• Jn 8:25 (implied) – “‘Who are you?’ they demanded. Jesus replied, ‘The one I have always claimed to be.’”
• Jn 8:28 (explicit) – “So Jesus said, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man on the cross, then you will understand that I AM* he.’”
• Jn 8:38 (implied) – “I am telling you what I saw when I was with my Father…”
• Jn 8:40 (implied) – “…you are trying to kill me because I told you the truth, which I heard from God.”
• Jn 8:42 (implied) – “…I have come to you from God”
• Jn 8:49 (implied) – “…I honor my Father-and you dishonor me.”
• Jn 8:56 (implied) – “Abraham rejoiced as he looked forward to my coming. He saw it and was glad.”
• Jn 8:58 (explicit) – “Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I AM!*”

*Jesus uses the “I AM” the divine name of GOD that was given to Moses on Mount Sinai. There is no mistaking that his usage of this name was an absolute and direct claim to himself as the One and only GOD of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Read the rest of this entry »

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I mentioned that in my last post, Sermon: Every Knee Shall Bow, that I had been really getting stoked by God’s Spirit as I was searching, studying, and meditating on the Gospel of John and Paul’s letter to the Romans. I shared a couple weeks ago the thoughts that had come from Romans about how we are to “believe with our hearts” and what that really means as intended by Paul (you can read it here in case you missed it). Over the next few days I will post my thoughts from my meditations in John’s Gospel. When the last post has been uploaded, I will provide a .pdf file of the entire manuscript. I hope you will be as blessed by these thoughts as I am. And now, part one…

“Lord God, Jesus, help us…help me to grow in faith and truly believe You, and likewise, live according to that belief by bearing eternal fruit for You and Your Kingdom. Amen. (jeff borden)

Begin John’s Gospel:

“They are reborn-not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or birth, but a birth that comes from God.” (John 1:13)

“The unique One, who is Himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.” (John 1:18)

Jesus on being “Born Again”…

Jesus repeats this imperative three times in the span of a single conversation (speaking to Nicodemus). Stylistically, when something is repeated in this manner, its importance is paramount. See the verses that follow:

“I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” -John 3:3

“I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit” -John 3:5

“You* must be born again.” -John 3:7

*The Greek word for “you” is plural. Read the rest of this entry »

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