iCrucified

Posts Tagged ‘Gospel of John’

“There is a particular and definite truth taught by Christ, which the Gentiles ought to believe. This is what they are called to seek so that once they have found it, they can believe it. You cannot go on forever looking for something that has already been taught as the one definite truth. You must seek until you have found it, and when you have found it, then you ought to believe it. After that, you have nothing else to worry about, because there is no further truth to be believed and nothing more to go looking for. If you have any doubts about this, we can prove our point because we have Christ’s teaching in our possession.” ~~Tertullian; Prescriptions Against Heretics

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” ~~Jesus (John 14:6)

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Your Church Is Too Small: Why Unity in Christ’s Mission is Vital to the Future of the Church

By: John H. Armstrong; ISBN – 978-0-310-32114-9   Zondervan Publishing

FUTURE (Part 3) “The Missional-Ecumenical Movement”

John Armstrong begins this concluding section of Your Church is Too Small by discussing the nature and definition of the “True Church.” He also poses the question whether the “True Church” exists at all. The answer, he says, is “yes;” the True Church does exist… it is God’s community of people on earth. Quoting Paul, he writes: “This ideal church is made up of all people everywhere ‘who call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.’”

Personally, I agree with Armstrong that we need an objective starting point if we are to work toward a believable, Biblical, and sustainable unity in the Church. He says the great problem with the famous dictum: “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, freedom; and in all things charity” there still remains that one Christian’s non-essential is another’s essential. How true, but we must still find a grounding point or points to proceed on the path toward Biblical (Love) unity. He cites Lesslie Newbigin’s convicting remarks below:

“The world will always, consciously or unconsciously, judge what the church says by what it is. They will interpret the printed epistle by the living epistle.” (p.139)

I continue to wrestle with and process the thinking in this final section, especially chapter fifteen. I’m not sure I fully understand the subtle nuances and intricacies of what Dr. Armstrong purports with regard to “fruit inspection” and determining “who is a real Christian.” As I said, I’m still processing this chapter (and likely, will be doing so for some time), so I don’t have a lot to speak on it at this juncture. I will say that some of the questions I am sorting through regard church discipline, “wolves in sheep’s clothing,” “wheat and tares,” and whether or not (and how) “judgment and/or fruit inspection” precludes discipline…there are more questions, but these are dominating my thoughts rather prominently at the moment. Suffice it to say, this is a very thought-provoking chapter; at least it is for me.

Chapters sixteen through eighteen discuss the missional-ecumenical paradigm that Armstrong hints at throughout the book. It is here that he really spends some time and focus developing the heart of his passion; additionally, he shares his mentors and some of the more significant influences that have helped him formulate this missional-ecumenical paradigm.

I mentioned that I first became aware of Your Church is Too Small from a review by Michael Bird on the euangelion blog site. He brings to light a repeated point and call by Armstrong to return to paleo-orthodoxy as a springboard toward unity. I think Michael Bird captured this call very well, so rather than repeat it myself I will share his thoughts here. Michael writes the following:

A recurring theme is that unity is important for our mission and also the necessity of returning to our ancient roots. Armstrong’s recipe for trying to achieve that is sevenfold: (1) Cultivating a commitment to restore the sacraments; (2) increasing our appetite to know more about the ancient church; (3) express love for the whole church and desire to see the church become one; (4) blend practices of worship, devotion, and prayer from all three streams of the Church (Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant); (5) increase interest in integrating more liturgical depth and structure with spontaneity and freedom in the Holy Spirit; (6) provide greater involvement in signs and symbols of worship such as crosses, banners, and clerical vestments; and (7) continue a commitment to personal salvation, solid biblical teaching, and the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

I was greatly inspired by the examples and resultant fruit that was shared by communities that are practicing this spirit of missional-ecumenism. Personally, I long for this type of community. I stand in the camp with those who agree that One Church is what the Lord has intended for His people.

The final chapter is Armstrong’s concluding thoughts and prayer for the Church. I not only agree with his thesis, but have been refreshed and inspired to press on in pursuit of the vision. As I said in my opening statement, I believe this is a very important book. It raises many questions (some of which I am still working through myself), and prompts us to do some serious examination of our own hearts and ambition. I am reminded of something I read from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book Life Together where he proposes that many of us (Christians) are in love with our own version of God’s Church…we fight tooth and nail for it, but our version is not the Vision of God for His Church (my paraphrase). We build idols from our beliefs and destroy each other in the process of worshiping those beliefs over the God whom we claim to be serving. I am thankful for this book. I am sure I will be referring to it and the well-documented resources and bibliography. I think it should be read by pastors and lay leaders alike. Armstrong includes a few discussion questions at the end of each chapter that are helpful to kick-off  conversations if a group or leadership team wanted to read the book together.

Disturb us, Lord… disturb us from our idols and disturb us from being idle. Disturb us, O Lord, indeed.

A Link to many more reviews of Your Church is Too Small

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What does it mean; “You must be born again”?

I can’t help but wonder why so many people that profess Christianity as their faith push against the teachings of Jesus and interpretation of those teachings by his disciples in the New Testament writings. Jesus promises us “new life,” a life that is lived and led by the Holy Spirit of God; a life that yearns for oneness and unity with the Triune God; a life that desires to be fully transformed and living (today) in physical form the life of Christ… Why do so many professing Christians reject this teaching, or at the very least, fail to exhibit this transformation of life. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have it mastered; I am however a believer in it. I do believe that Jesus meant what he said. I do believe it is possible through complete submission to God’s Spirit, that we can live this transformed life…so I strive for it. It is all consuming. I believe there is nothing on this planet and in this life more important than seeking the fullness of this promise. I yearn to make the prayer of Jesus Christ (John 17) real in my life and I shall teach and preach this truth of the New Birth at every opportunity that is availed me.

iCrucified…

SIGNS OF THE NEW BIRTH: My Utmost for His Highest – Oswald Chambers

Ye must be born again

The answer to the question “How can a man he born when he is old?” is – When he is old enough to die – to die right out to his “rag rights,” to his virtues, to his religion, to everything, and to receive into himself the life which never was there before. The new life manifests itself in conscious repentance and unconscious holiness.

“As many as received Him.” (John 1:12.) Is my knowledge of Jesus born of internal spiritual perception, or is it only what I have learned by listening to others? Have I something in my life that connects me with the Lord Jesus as my personal Saviour? All spiritual history must have a personal knowledge for its bedrock. To be born again means that I see Jesus.

“Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3.) Do I seek for signs of the Kingdom, or do I perceive God’s rule? The new birth gives a new power of vision whereby I begin to discern God’s rule. His rule was there all the time, but true to His nature; now that I have received His nature I can see His rule.

“Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin.” (1 John 3:9.) Do I seek to stop sinning or have I stopped sinning? To be born of God means that I have the supernatural power of God to stop sinning. In the Bible it is never – Should a Christian sin? The Bible puts it emphatically – A Christian must not sin. The effective working of the new birth life in us is that we do not commit sin, not merely that we have the power not to sin, but that we have stopped sinning. 1 John 3:9 does not mean that we cannot sin; it means that if we obey the life of God in us, we need not sin.

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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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I shared the final installment of our Bethlehem Bound Series today. My text was from Matthew 2:1-2. God has been stoking and stirring the fires of my heart in recent days with meditations from Romans and the Gospel of John. My take on this chapter of the Nativity Story was a little different than what might ordinarily be taught, but I feel it is what the Spirit was teaching me, so…

As is usually the case, my direction and delivery of this teaching was slightly different in each of the services, so I have included both recorderd services (from the 8:30 and 11:00 gatherings) as well as my sermon manuscript.

Sermon Manuscript: Every Knee Shall Bow

Every Knee Shall Bow 08:30

Every Knee Shall Bow 11:00

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