Chapter 17 Verse 14
•Jesus says here “I have given them Your word.” What a statement. What an expression of love and oneness with the Father! What’s that Matt?
•Well look, there in the Greek…a heart cry from the Son to the Father. He says, “I have given to them,” in the Greek “ego didomi autos” or literally, “I have, on my own accord and for their advantage, bestowed to them a gift.” And the gift? Jesus says “Your word” or “Thy word.” In the Greek “sou logos.”
•“So what Matt, how is that an articulation of love and oneness with the Father? I’m not following,”…recall John Chapter 1 verses 1 and 14. “In the beginning was the Word, the logos, and the logos was with God, and the logos was God. And the logos became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory…”
•Jesus lifts His eyes to heaven, heavy with the grief of sin’s penalty…yet utterly consumed by His love for His children, He lifts His eyes and says…”Father, I am ready, I have given to them, because I love them, because they need me…I have given them Myself…and truly I am Yours!” What worship to the Father! What resolve of heart and completion of love! What clear rendition of prophecy!
•Prophecy? Yea! Remember way way back in Genesis 22, Abraham takes Isaac up on Mount Moriah and there he is commanded to offer his son as a burnt offering unto the Lord. But then when he gets up there Isaac says, “dad, look we have the fire, we have the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” And Abraham, knowing what he was commanded to do yet having great faith in the promise that God had already made that He would raise up a great nation from Abraham…says to Isaac, “My son, God will provide Himself the lamb.”
•Jesus says “Dad, Thy word, Thy Son…because of My love for them, I have given to them Myself!” What kind of love is that? What kind of strength is that? Extraterrestrial! Out of this world! Completely foreign to the essence of evil! And so Jesus says here, “the world has hated them.”
•Of course the world hates this kind of love, this word of God…because light casts shadows and the world sings “don’t tread on me!” And the light exposes both decay and truth…the light testifies of truth…that there is indeed good and there is indeed evil and if there is good and evil then there must exist a Giver of good and a separate giver of evil because the two are not compatible! Light and dark cannot, will not, have never and will never dwell together…and so we get to the heart of the matter…
•If there is a Giver of good who is now and forever only good, then we have Someone to be accountable to…the world hates that! Jesus said to Nick there in Chapter 3 verse 20, “for everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.” And if exposed, judged. And if judged, condemned.
•This truth of God, the Son of God, the world hates and Jesus says why here, “because He is not of the world.” Nope, He is of eternity!
Chapter 17 Verses 15 – 16
•Understand the Lord does not will for us to be separatists. No combines, no islands…wouldn’t work anyway. Remember that movie CastAway with Tom Hanks…He was there, all alone with Wilson…remember that…was his relationship with Wilson wonderful and perfect and charming and fluffy? I mean it was only him and Wilson right…no one to mess it up…no one to interfere…but what happened? He threw Wilson out of the cave man! Harsh! Poor Wilson.
•We have this false notion that if we could just cure this world of evil then we’d be all good…we’ve forgotten that it’s not the world itself, this physical abode, this planet that is evil…it’s us! The battle rages within! We must take responsibility for the evil and pursue revival not in a tent that we put up for a weekend Holy Ghost party and not in the White House…no we must pursue revival in our own hearts!!
•No private islands, no combines…survey history! They don’t work. The pilgrims left England, why? So that they could go and enjoy pure religion. Remember! They left for religious freedom. What happened? Welcome to ‘merica! About the farthest thing there is to a land that honors the God of the Bible! You see it doesn’t work.
•So what is His will for us you might ask? Check out the next verse…
Chapter 17 Verse 17
•You see the Lord’s will for us is to be sanctified! But what does that mean? That’s such a churchy word…well most basically, it simply means “be different.” Be “set apart.” Be “reserved!” Reserved, what do you mean by reserved?
•Reserved for the King of Kings! Reserved for the Lord of eternity! Hagiazo in the Greek…to be holy! Isn’t that cool! Although you’re in a mess, although your circumstance, your situation, your job, your marriage, your day is filled with issues and problems and frankly aspects and characteristics that aren’t very pure…you still can be! How?
•Jesus says, “sanctify them by Your truth…Your word is truth!” It is the Word that guides us into all righteousness and truth…the Holy Spirit revealing to us the truth of God and the truth of existence and the truth of eternity and then look…we simply activate our free will and walk in it…and what happens? Sanctification!! Now notice the order here as Jesus continues His prayer…
Chapter 17 Verse 18
•God has given us His word, He has given us His Spirit for guidance and protection…He has commanded us to heed His word and therefore be sanctified by the truth…be set free from this world system and be tuned to what really matters…the next world’s system…love and grace and fellowship with the Father…and now look > Just as Jesus was sent not to condemn the world but that through Him all men might be saved…He now sends us…the lesser light as His ambassadors!
•Check this out! Genesis 1:16. God appointed the greater light to have dominion over the day and the lesser light to have dominion over the night. The greater light shines now in heaven where there is day and never night…however here, while the prince of the power of the air, the god of this age continually darkens this world and the night persists then who has He appointed to shine! Who is the lesser light? It’s not Jesus…He’s not lesser. It’s not the Holy Spirit, He’s not lesser. It’s you…and it’s me!
•Jesus here says take My word, devour it! Live it! Keep at it, keep it in, keep going and in that you will find yourself holy and wholly sanctified from this decaying and dying and dark world…and oh by the way, don’t forget…you’re not here on your own accord! I’ve sent you!! Bam! What great encouragement and what powerful fuel! The God of all power and love and grace and strength…the God of all…you’re sent by Him! You rep Him!
•And all the while…where is HQ? His word! I love it! So simple. So practical! Yet so elusive even in the church today! Why? Because our eyes are on us and our days are a waste! Because even though we may speak with the tongues of men (all wisdom) and of angels (all things heavenly) yet we have not love we are worthless! Where is love! Man God IS love! And He said so clearly that we search everywhere for Him…is He in this success or in that accomplishment or in this program…when He left His calling card time and time again…in Psalm 40:7 and Hebrews 10:7, and John 5:39…you will find me in the volume of the book!!!
•And I love this because the pattern continues…Jesus says because of My love for them they have the word, the word is truth and if they press in they will be sanctified and they will find Me and I will send them to free My kids who are chained by sin and by bondage! And all of this…because I will do for them what they cannot do for themselves…look at verse 19…
Chapter 17 Verse 19
•This is a direct reference to the cross! Flip over to Hebrews Chapter 13 and meet me at verse 12. He did all so that we might be set apart and truly alive!
•In the last three verses he has said sanctify, sanctify, sanctified…man do you see it? His will for us, God the Father’s will for us, the absolute best life we can have on this side of eternity is to be sanctified! Jesus says here that He is sanctified by His own obedience to the Father and His own suffering for love’s sake and now He passes the torch, as it were, to us…
•He was sent to reveal the truth of God. So are we. He was sent to be a witness of God and truth and eternity. So are we. He came with one focus and one aim…to seek and to save those who are lost and hurting and hungry and thirsty. So are we!
•He was sent to be a very bright light in a very dark place. So are we. He was ever about His Father’s business. So are we to be. That’s not a “Jesus Freak” or a “crazy Christian” or a “goodie-goodie…” man that’s just a normal Christian! The church has so lost sight of that! Paul wasn’t some superhero…he was a regular man born-again by the Holy Spirit…are you!? Have you lost touch with Hebrews 12:29, “God is an all consuming fire!” Or are you living in Matthew 6:24, serving two masters…the world and God…money and God…sex and God…pride and God…are you for real about Jesus? Man He was and is so for real for you!
Chapter 17 Verse 20
•I love this! This is so cool because who is Jesus praying for now? That’s right…you and me! Because it is us who have heard and come to believe by the word that He gave to them that were with Him that night!
•And what is His prayer for us…check it out…unity.
Chapter 17 Verse 21
•Such a powerful evangelist was George Whitefield that 30,000 people would regularly attend his open-air meetings. So anointed and eloquent and engaging was he that history records many orators and actors would come just to watch him.
•Charles Wesley, a contemporary of Whitefield’s, was also preaching to multitudes. Yet so diverse were the views of these two men on certain doctrines (Whitefield was ultra-Calvanistic while Wesley was ultra-Arminian), they took out advertisements in the newspapers (ancient Facebook) explaining why they believed what they did…and why the other was amiss.
•People thought that these men hated eachother because of their differing views until one reporter asked Whitefield, “Tell me, Mr. Whitefield, do you expect to see Charles Wesley in heaven?”
•“No,” answered Whitefield. “He’s going to be so close to the throne, and I’m going to be so far back, I’ll never see him!”
•You see the heart of Jesus…unity! Here these guys, both being used powerfully by the Lord, both having very different views on non-essentials and very different flavors of ministry yet absolute unity through love even in their diversity!
•God’s will for His church? Unity! It’s high time to put a stop to prejudice in the body of Christ! Oh you don’t pass the plate or your don’t recite the Nicean Creed so you’re a lesser church than us…that is so detestable to the Lord! The body of Christ is not divided! 1 Cor 1:13. And look the more we as this church and they as that church continue to harp on structural and stylish and denominational differences between us…the less souls are being saved! The less Jesus is lifted high! It’s time for us to grow up man and just accept wrong and not bomb back and just be ok with what they say…we know who we serve right? And in serving Jesus man He has called us to forge unity…
•So how do we forge unity? By not offending? By not mistreating? Not a chance! Blessed are the peacemakers Jesus said…in other words…they are the greatest! And He also said the greatest among you shall be the servant of all…not the friend of all, not the equal of all, not the constant of all…the servant of all!! Surely I say to you, Jesus said, whatever you have done to the least of these, you have done to Me!
•Now think on how you treated the cashier at Walmart…how you interacted with that bank teller and tell me, matter fact tell Him, are you forging unity? Are you living according to His will? Are we as a church with the church down the street?
•Not to be married to doctrines of demons and false teaching or the world…not that…we are quite rigid in the essentials of Christianity…but within the unessentials…man love covers a multitude of wrong…and we better not start thinking that we have no wrong…the church will not be complete until we are with Him in heaven…
•There is great pleasure in unity! Psalm 133:1 says “behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. There is great power in unity! Proverbs 30:27 says even the locusts go forth all of them by bands and together great is their power! How effective, how powerful and how worshipful would the body of Christ be if we would all together just love eachother in unity despite the fact that one wears a tie and the other wears sweet kicks! Not uniformity, unity! God’s will for you and for me…for today…to glorify Jesus! Look at verses 22 – 23…
Chapter 17 Verses 22 – 23
•How is it that the world will know that we are sent? How is it that we will be able to identify brothers and sisters in the Lord? Oh oh confidence…nope. Oh um righteousness…nope. Oh well what about cleanliness…you know it’s said that cleanliness is godliness…not even close…its love man. Love, not the emotion, the action. Not the thought the verbal exhortation. Not the intention but the object and subject of prayer and true worship. Jesus said you will know they are Mine by their love…
•And in that we find oneness with Jesus.
Chapter 17 Verses 24 – 26
•Here it is. The very heart of Jesus. His own will as He says, “Father, I desire…” We began this scripture set all the way back in Chapter 13 verse 1, “Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end…to the uttermost…” and now we end with what that looks like…that His love for you and for me is so unstoppable, so fervent…so desperate for us to be with Him, saved and sanctified for all of eternity…that He resolves here...in verse 26…”I have declared them Your name, and I will declare it!”
•I will go to the cross. I will love them with love that is real…not fake, two way, reciprocated and circumstantial affection but genuine love…love that ends self…with eyes wide open…
•The Book of Hebrews says “for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” For the joy that was set before Him…who’s joy? Yours and mine…and the Father’s together. That’s the will of God…that’s the cross.
John 17 vs 14-26
Calvary Chapel Cherry Creek
November 11, 2012 • Pastor Matt Korniotes
John 21 vs 15-25
February 3, 2013 • Pastor Matt Korniotes
Chapter 21 Verse 15 •What we’re about to see here is an exchange between the resurrected Jesus and a very broken Peter. We’ve known Peter to be impulsive…we’ve also seen him reckless and brash…if you recall when Jesus was carrying around the water basin that night in the upper room…Peter objected… •When many began to fall away from following Jesus, John tells us in Chapter 6 that Jesus looked at Peter and said, “Will you leave Me also?” And Peter replied magnificently, “Where else would we go? You have the words of everlasting life!” And Mark tells us in Chapter 8 of his Gospel that Jesus once asked Peter who he said Jesus was and Peter responded immediately and brilliantly, “You are the Christ!” Truly a high point… •But then directly after that in Mark Chapter 8 we read how Jesus told the disciples of all the things that the Christ should suffer for the cleansing and rescuing of all men…and what did Peter do? He took Jesus aside and Mark tells us…in an act of open confrontational impulse…he rebuked Jesus! And Jesus’ response was certainly alarming, “Get behind Me Satan for you are not mindful of the things of God, but of the things of men.” •You see that was Peter’s issue all along…and that’s our issue also…as Peter shows us precisely what it means to honor God with your lips but indeed have a heart far from Him. To be mindful, preoccupied with the things of this world, the issues of today and now rather than the things of God. •Well what are the things of God? That we may be mindful of them? Simply put, His will, His ways! For you and I to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength…yet what do we often do? We love ourselves with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength! Don’t we? We think we are all that! Man that God would have us be happy and have what we want? Man we may not be as mindful of the things of God as we think… •(Billy Graham Funny Story). You see His plan and will for each of us is that our minds would be utterly filled with thoughts and concerns of His glory, His grace…and our strength, our energy to be used not to please ourselves and gain worldly junk, or some sort of name or earthly credentials or accomplishment…but to be spent worshipping Him in our moments, in our circumstance and our situation…in our arguments and in our trials… •What are the things of God? To know Him…and to know Him is to love Him…and to love each other just as Jesus has loved us…and how’s that? How did He love us? In what manner? Yes, you are thinking now and its true, He loved us all the way to the cross…but have you ever considered that the manner in which He loved us was utterly, completely, whole-heartedly one-sided!? The Bible says that while we were His enemies, Christ loved us to death! •That is to be mindful of the things of God man…to grow so close to Him, to know Him so personally, to be filled with His Spirit, the Spirit of power, a sound mind, purpose, eternity and love to the point that they don’t have to love you back, they don’t have to treat you kindly…in fact they can scourge you, spit on you, mock you, shove a crown of thorns into your forehead….and yet, your love for them remains…and beyond simply remaining, it-is-shown! •The mind of Christ, the Bible would call it…the fruit of the Holy Spirit, God’s will…Peter had issues. But it’s interesting here as we peer into this final scene of John’s Gospel, where they are…they are on the beach around what? A fire of coals. •No doubt as Peter sat there with the Lord he was reminded of another fire of coals. One we find in John 18:18. The fire of coals where Peter stood and warmed himself, mindful of his physical discomfort, driven by his fear and faithlessness…yet here this fire of coals roasting this meal, at dawn on the beach, prepared by whom? Jesus. •Peter, I wanted to teach them, you rebuked Me. I wanted to wash your feet, you refused Me. I wanted you there with Me, you denied Me. I told you to wait for Me, you went fishing. I wonder how deep was Peter’s sorrow as he sat there at this fire of coals…entirely exposed. I wonder if he was prepared to hear words of rebuke that morning…you know, in a way, he probably even desired it… •Just like Peter I find myself so utterly sick of me sometimes. Sick of my failures, sick of having to live in this futile state, ya know…sick of not being good enough…but God’s grace washes over me as I sit with Him and peer into my fire of http://coals...in absolute honesty with the One who already knows me completely…no doubt as Peter was this morning…broken as he must have realized, he must have thought upon that last fire of coals that he was around…warming himself, mindful of his own comfort… •And then utter honesty with the Lord. What do you mean by honesty, Matt? Well understand, we cannot be healed until we are first honest. If you continue in thinking that he’s the problem or she’s the problem, or they are the issue for your discomfort, for your pain, for your anger, for your sin…then you are lost. Unless you are willing to turn from your sin, you are not willing to turn towards the Lord. And what we’ll see here in this account is a great healing, a great restoring…an utter renewal of Peter because he is indeed willing to be exposed…he is, maybe for the first time…honest. •You see it’s in the Greek. Hidden for you to find by John…by the Lord…as Jesus says to Peter, “Simon, do you agapeo Me more than these?” Now agapao is the Greek word for supreme, ultimate love…self releasing and unconditional love…it is the love that God has for us…it is the love displayed upon the cross the of Calvary. Agapeo describes a love that is in love with giving love. It is the love that we are to have and to show and to live out as disciples of Jesus Christ. It is the love that fills our hearts when we are born again. •"Peter, do you agapeo Me more than these?" What were the "these"? In the Greek the word is tuton which literally means, these things, these matters…maybe He’s referring to the fish, the breakfast…maybe the fishing…Peter’s livelihood. "Do you love Me more than your livelihood, Peter? Do you love Me more than the great success in your chosen profession? Having the height of success that morning in carrying to shore 153 large fish, do you love Me more than that, Peter? •Or the "these" could be referring to the other disciples because recall the conversation Peter had with Jesus in front of them that we read about in Matthew Chapter 26 and Mark Chapter 14 when Peter said, “even if all of these leave you, I will never…” In essence saying, "Lord, I am more faithful, and I love You more than the others…" Yet pride comes before the fall…and Peter had fallen... •And Peter replied, “Yes, Lord. You know that I phileo you.” Lord, You know. I love that. Brokenness. Contriteness. So many say they are the way they are…they live the way the live…because of someone else…so many say they know nothing of the Word of God because they have no time…so many say that they struggle with this sin or that sin because of what happens to them or what they’re around or whatever…but God has called us to accountability, responsibility and truth. If we are honest, our own failures and sins are our own…they are not the choices of others…they are OUR choices man…and Peter here is so honest. Jesus says, do you love me unconditionally, Peter replies…no. •“Lord, my heart is filled with fondness for you. But You know and I know that I have no strength. He’s basically saying here, before I told you I loved you more than any other, then my life denied you…I won’t do that again, I can’t…I’d rather be exposed and close to you then dishonest and following you from afar…therefore, others may agapeo You…but of them all, I am the least…I am fond of you Lord. •Many of us play the game that Peter is no longer willing to play. Lord You are my everything, My strength, My Lord and My God…then Mark 9 hits…and we aren’t willing to die to sin and self. When it comes to sin in our lives, when it comes to money, when it comes to booze, when it comes to sex out of wedlock, when it comes to drugs, when it comes to loving and serving others and living our lives not for ourselves and our own comforts but for the Lord’s will and worship…we so readily deny Him. And we think it normal. We call upon His grace…we are so busted… •We say we’ve received grace? Man, I’m under grace! We proclaim our own lack of relationship…Biblical grace, will always, always, always result in purposeful obedience to God’s ways. It’s Romans Chapter 1 Verse 5. “Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith!” What do you mean, Matt? That doesn’t even make sense. I thought that grace meant that we are free and forgiven? It does and you are! You are free to live man! Live a life free from the deception and decay of evil. •Charles H. Spurgeon once noted, “A man who has within him this hope of perfection (which grace is) finds that it does not give him license to sin. I have heard a thoughtful person say, “If I had a good hope of being saved and knew that I would go to Heaven, I would live as I liked.” Perhaps you would, but then you have not that hope—and God will not give it to you while you are in such a state that you would like to live in sin. If a Christian could live as he liked, how would he live? Why, he would live absolutely without sin! If the Lord would indulge the newborn nature of His own children with unrestricted liberty, in that unrestricted liberty they would run after happiness! The unrenewed heart would run to sin, but the renewed heart quite as eagerly loves to obey the Lord. •Folks call upon grace as a license to sin all the time and in so doing they themselves pronounce their disagreement with the Word of God. Peter won’t go there…instead He is honest with the Lord, emptied of his own pride for the first time in his life…and in so doing, he is ready to take on the greatest honor of responsibility for the Lord. What? •I know what you’re thinking. He just told God that he didn’t love Him…true, but understand…he just showed God that he loves Him so much, he’s no longer willing to trust in himself and risk dishonoring the Lord! “Lord, You know!” Epic! This honesty, this brokenness, this love lived out…is to believe, is to follow, is what it means to press in to the Lord…only this love, none other. Peter has offered the other…the superficial love, the lip service lover, the passion filled pledge of allegiance…and he has failed…here in his seemingly darkest moment, he has finally turned the corner…absolutely poured out in front of the Lord and thus now, the Lord can use him! He’ll fail no more… •“Tend My sheep” the Lord replies. Well done man. You’ve finally began to learn to trust in Me Peter. To trust that I won’t forsake you…that I’m worth it…that all this life of being big Peter…living for you…its all worthless…time for your life to change man…welcome to My service…and then a second time… Chapter 21 Verse 16 •Again, Jesus asks agapeo, Peter responds phileo…”Tend My sheep, Peter.” Quit fishing, turn from the frustrations of your wanderings Peters…feed My little ones and tend my flock… Chapter 21 Verse 17 •A third and final time…Simon, son of Jonah…little boy…are you ready to grow up? Do you love Me? This time…phileo. Jesus meets him right where he’s at…Peter, are you fond of Me? This time Peter weeps…he knows full well what is happening here…he knows that he can’t answer this high call of the Lord to unconditional, powerful love…and he is grieved and he says to Jesus, “You know all thing…You’ve always known…You know that my wretched heart is capable of nothing but to be fond of you…” And Jesus no doubt places His hand upon Peter and finally responds…feed ‘em son… Chapter 21 Verses 18 - 19 •“Peter, when you were young, you wanted to give your life for Me. But you didn’t. You backed down. Well look, you won’t again and when you’re old, they’ll carry you off…and do the same to you as they did to Me.” But Peter wouldn’t have that…Peter would demand to be crucified upside down proclaiming to not be worthy enough to even die as Jesus died. •And Jesus says, even so, “Follow Me…” Chapter 21 Verses 20 – 23 •A bit of competitiveness between Peter and John? Possibly. A bit of companionship between Peter and John? Maybe…but ultimately Jesus clears it all up for Peter…You want to make it? Eyes up son! Doesn’t matter what I’ve asked or said of anyone else…you are to follow Me…no one, nothing else… •And notice Jesus doesn’t say John would live until He returned…He simply said John’s days were in His hand…and church history tells us John was poisoned, boiled and exiled before he would finally die…but Jesus doesn’t tell this to Peter…why would He? Chapter 21 Verses 24 – 25 •And thus we conclude John’s Gospel. But John says, “hey, this is just the beginning of the story…your story…of your great and awesome relationship with the One of whom I have written…”
John 21 vs 1-14
January 27, 2013 • Pastor Matt Korniotes
Chapter 21 Verse 1 •Now this is intriguing because John doesn’t say, “Jesus came to them.” He says, “Jesus showed Himself to the disciples.” What’s significant about that is the idea there in the Greek is that Jesus was already there with them, yet unseen. The word in the Greek is phaneroo which quite literally means, “to make visible what is invisible.” •And I dig that because just as Jesus was at all times with them yet at this moment John says He simply physically manifested, Jesus is at all times with you and I! We may not always feel that way, we may not always want it that way, but nevertheless He is always with us. What great comfort it must have been for John when this clicked…and what great comfort it is, what great strength it will bring, when it clicks with us too and we place our trust in the One who will never leave us nor forsake us. Chapter 21 Verse 2 •Notice only seven disciples names…only seven disciples are together at this time. Where are the other 4? We’re not sure. John doesn’t say but it’s interesting that the number is 7. Possibly why John decided to close out his Gospel with this account as he thought upon this day and realized that it was seven of them which is the Biblical number of completion…and the Holy Spirit impressed upon his heart…pens down. •And I like how John introduces the folks. Peter first, Thomas second, then Nathaniel…finally John mentions himself and his brother and two un-named disciples. There’s a lot going on here. •First notice, and I believe this is significant, Peter, Tomas, Nathaniel all mentioned first and in that order. Who cares? So what? Well wasn’t it Peter who failed the Lord miserably…denying Him three times? Yet here he is, mentioned first. And wasn’t it Thomas who doubted the testimony of the others regarding Jesus being raised from the dead? Yet here he is, mentioned second. And wasn’t it Nathaniel who when Philip came to Him and said, “we have found the Messiah,” wasn’t it Nathaniel that didn’t believe saying, “can anything good come our of Nazareth?!” Yes! •Yet here they are, mentioned first, second and third by John among the disciples. And I love that because the order of grace is foreign to the minds of men! God uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise, the weak things to put to shame the mighty…God has chosen the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are…such that no flesh should glory in His presence. (1 Corinthians 1) You see these are they that had been forgiven much, received much grace and therefore they loved much…and that love qualified them to lead. I love that! •And then John here throws us a curve ball and refers to himself as the Son of Zebedee…maybe it’s because they’re about to go fishing or maybe it’s to compliment and complete his own biography in a way. Several times John has written about himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” And now, here he refers to himself as the son of Zebedee…And I like this because it’s as if he’s saying that first and foremost I identify with Jesus…and along with that, I am the son of Zebedee…a fisherman. •You see when God calls you to Himself, He doesn’t wipe away who you are…your personality, your life, your family…No! He doesn’t remove your programming and key-in the programming of a worship robot. That’s religion. God’s not into that! The Bible says that He redeems you! Slanted towards hell, bent on sin…dark and destructive our tendencies…then when the Lord enters our hearts, our minds…our lives, the Bible says that we are renewed…we are no longer being conformed into the image of the world…the image of selfishness and greed and lust and death…but we are being transformed by the renewing of our minds as we walk out the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12) •And so John, he is the disciple of Jesus. The one that finds it absolutely remarkable and impactful that that Jesus would love him…yet he is also Zebedee’s son and in that there is the freedom and liberty to simply know Jesus…to enjoy real relationship…not robotship! •And then there are these two other disciples. John apparently can’t remember their names. I’m not sure I buy that. So why are they unnamed? That we may believe (Chapter 20 v31)…these two other disciples, as we look at this together…it’s us…you and me. Place yourself there with them on this beach on this day as Jesus just shows up. John says, you’re a part of this story too…John’s a pretty clever guy. Chapter 21 Verse 3 •Notice the disciples here, they’re brand new at this walking by faith bit. For the past 3.5 year they have followed Jesus, watched Jesus, heard Jesus, chillaxed with the Lord…but now things are quite new. Now they are to walk by faith. Now they are to learn to listen to the Holy Spirit…they are to learn to trust and wait upon the Lord… •Its just is if they are new Christians…what you and I experience today as we go from making our decisions and charting our daily course based upon what we see, what we perceive sensually with our five physical senses…we take in the information, we compute the calculations and we make our plans. We react you see to our sight… •But as a follower of Jesus we must live by faith…faith in the Lord and His ways and His truth…and therefore all of these things we see, hear, smell, touch and taste…they are all to be filtered through the truth of God’s Word and God’s ways so that we remain upon the path that follows the Lord…because truly that is the pathway to righteousness…the course, the decision, the action that will lead to life, joy, peace, purpose, power and love… •But this is something that requires a maturing process, this walking by faith business…its so very different than what we are used to in the flesh and many times the way you feel you should go is in direct contrast with what the Word of God would say about your specific situation and it is at that moment that you have a decision to make…walk by faith and follow what God’s word says…or walk by sight…? •The Bible says in Proverbs 14:12, “there is a way that seems right to man but its end is the way of death.” And in our daily decisions as Christians, in our choices of how to deal with a matter or with a person or with just how you choose to spend your time…as Christians, day by day we learn this to be quite true…but it takes time…and directly proportionate with your progress in choosing the things of the Lord, taking up your own cross and denying your flesh, directly proportionate to that will be your spiritual growth and maturity…as God would say, “well done, you’re faithful to the measure of faith that I have given…I can trust you with more.” And as you follow closely after Him, press into Him, choose Him…He will choose you the Bible says and more and more and more revelation will be given… •But just like those who are early in the faith or immature in the Spirit, frustration will set in. “Where is God? Why hasn’t He showed up yet? What am I supposed to do…just sit here and wai?” Yes Peter, that’s exactly what you are to do…wait upon the Lord…but here he grows restless and John tells us he proclaims…well I’m going fishing! •But notice, he takes his homies with him…or better stated, they followed him. Happens to us too. We grow restless, we take matters into our own hands rather than resting and trusting in the Lord and what happens…man we carry our peoples out to sea and waste a bunch of time…we waste theirs and we waste ours…they caught nothing all night. Interesting how the restlessness comes at night and the wasted time comes within a time of darkness… Chapter 21 Verse 4 •Now it could be that they were far enough off the shore that they simply couldn’t identify Him as Jesus, not being able to see Him well enough…plus it was daybreak and most likely not particularly bright yet…or •It could be that there is a bit of a parallel here with the account of Mary not recognizing Him at the tomb. There certainly is a similarity in the Greek. Actually the phrase, “did not know it was Jesus,” is the same phrase we find in the earlier account, back in verse 14 of Chapter 20… •Mary was distraught with sorrow, eyes filled, vision blocked with tears…but we talked about this, how it was backwards in a way…because she was weeping at an empty tomb that is the present cause for our rejoicing! She had lost nothing, yet was wailing as if she had, and because of her angst she totally misses that Jesus is right there with her. And remember we talked about how we ourselves weep at empty tombs in our lives…for no reason man…when we should be rejoicing! •And here, these seven…restless…and so they go out and return to their worldly vocation…occupied with their bodily needs and therefore they weren’t even expecting Jesus…they too can’t recognize Jesus even though He’s right there with them! Surely these things are written for our learning man! •We can become so angry for anger sake, or so bitter for bitter sake, or so self pitiful for nothing! When as an act of our own free will we can simply trust in the Lord, turn the dag-on corner and rebuild what was lost in our marriages, start a-new with that neighbor that sends his dog to our yard to leave us gifts…we can decide to love, we can wipe our eyes of our self-full tears and start to look for Jesus man…and in so doing, He’ll be found. He promised! •We can get so immersed in making money, being somebody…moving on UUUUPPP! And we sit back and say, “well God has richly blessed!” Really? At the expense of what? Your family? At what cost? Your ministry unto God’s people? That’s God’s blessing? I’m not so sold that! How do you know that’s not a clever trick to water you down bro? What is it all going to be man when we stand in eternity and you give an account… •You know you might ask someone what is the most important thing in their lives and they might say, “my children.” And then they accept a higher position at work which requires much more time from them and they show what really is important to them…These men are out fishing, trying to get a meal, trying to make a living…and Jesus – RIGHT THERE – yet they knew not. Tragic. Chapter 21 Verse 5 •I love this. Here they are in their toil. Worthless man…catching nothing. Frustrated…maybe the others are muttering against Peter you know…and Jesus calls out to them! Just calls to them right where they are at. He doesn’t wait until they come back to shore…He doesn’t send a wind of delusion to drive them to their knees in submission…not His style man. He just speaks to them. I love that. •And look what He says, “Hey sinners! Hey um, ya’ll tired of being losers? You rebels!” No. He says, “children.” In the Greek that’s pideon which literally means, “my little guys.” Man I want those eyes. I want that heart! Those are the eyes of grace…that is the heart of love and power and purpose…that even though all of these men are a complete mess, Jesus greets them with a smile and with the love of family! •And He asks them, “Do you have any food? Have ya caught any substance?” And they answer Him, “No.” These guys are all right with me…because I must say that many who need substance and life from the Lord, which is only where it comes from…when asked how they’re doing…”ah, I’m just fine.” That attitude will leave you right where you’re at. “My little ones, do you need Me?” Is what Jesus is asking…they’re response…the right one…”yes, we have no food of our own…” •Jesus says, “No problem, I’ll hook you up.” Chapter 21 Verses 6 – 10 •Jesus is so cool and this is so practical…hey guys, you’ve being doing it the wrong way…in your own strength, try the right side of the boat…try doing it the right way…man just try it…and they did…and look, MUCH substance! So much that they had plenty to share, plenty to go around man! •And immediately John perceives that it is the Lord, he’s used to the Lord doing the miraculous…and so am I, man…and then Peter tweaks! I love Peter. He just throws off his fisherman’s gear and cannon-balls! Awesome man. I dig Peter, he’s a knuckle head true and he’s far from perfect true, but man I want to be like him as I see him here…”the Lord’s over there!” SPLASH! •And as they near the land Jesus has a fire of coals ready and He says, “bring some of the fish…I’ll meet you right here and we’ll enjoy them together!” Man this speaks to me…Jesus calls out to them, tells them…reveals to them the right way…they obey…there is much much substance, so much that many can and will and are filled…and then, we enjoy it together…that intimacy is so sweet in my life…and notice, where did it all come from? Jesus! •Alone, I’m aimless, pointless, the ministry is unfruitful…but then God provides…everything…and all I do is walk through the open doors in obedience and He brings about a great catch…great substance…and then we sit and enjoy it together on a fire of coals that He has readied…so all sufficient you see…so cool and so intimate. Chapter 21 Verses 11 – 14 •Mighty Peter, given great strength in the Lord’s service. 153 large fish…maybe 2 or 3 pounds each…that’s a heavy pull…but Peter is able…and John mentions that the net is not broken. And that encourages me. Because if God calls you to it, He will get you through it. He called them to obey Him and catch all those large fish…then He structures miracle after miracle around their obedience and brings them all the way to a wonderful intimate meal. He calls you to the same…
John 20 vs 19-31
January 20, 2013 • Pastor Matt Korniotes
Chapter 20 Verse 19 •And so the church is assembled on Sunday, the first day of the week, which we continue in still to this day, yet they were behind closed doors, and the word there in the Greek actually means that they were behind “barred” doors. Locked doors. Why? John tells us, “for fear.” •Why were they so afraid? Were they breaking the law? No. Were they conspiring against Rome? No. Were they doing anything at all, or guilty of anything at all that would have caused them to fear in such a way to lock themselves in a room in acknowledgement of some sort of alarm? Well, you could say they feared because of their association with Jesus…ok, not bad, but remember the Jews and Romans had already killed Jesus…Jesus was gone in their eyes…the threat was removed…so why are all 10 of theses men (Thomas was not there and Judas was gone) cowering in a locked room together? •Because they are not filled with the Holy Spirit. It’s quite simple to me. They are not in the Spirit. It’s not until verse 22 when they receive the Holy Spirit from Jesus Himself that we see them act no longer out of fear. Why? Why would having or not having the Spirit matter…because the Bible says in 2 Timothy 1:7 that, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” •Therefore, in what Paul is saying to Timothy, when someone is moved with fear, motivated by fear, leaning upon fear as a reason for a specific action or way of life, then they are filled with spiritual weakness, utter selfishness and a warped mind. Do you see why I say that? If Paul said that the opposite of power, love and of a sound mind is fear…then fear is the opposite of those three things…therefore fear, at its root…is weak, self-righteous confusion. •And so when someone justifies sin with fear…”I was afraid and so I did this…Matt, you don’t understand how afraid I am of losing my situation…losing my money, losing my job…how afraid I am of him or of her...” it takes me right back to the Garden man…”Adam, why are you hiding?” “Because I am afraid,” Adam replied… •I know in that moment, when someone says that, texts that, tweets that…I know exactly how to pray for that person, how to minister to that person…and unfortunately I’ve found that ministering to folks that are motivated by fear is one of the hardest battle grounds there is…because the center of fear…is pride. Care and comfort and concern for me, myself and I…makes me quite afraid of all kinds of circumstances…and what ifs… •365 times in the Bible we are commanded to “fear not.” Why would God devote so much to this topic throughout the Bible? Because I have seen and you have seen some of the absolute worst decisions we ourselves and others have made were made out of, or motivated by fear…and in that, the enemy is served. •So what’s the remedy? We’ll see in verse 22…The Holy Spirit…the Spirit of power, love and a sound mind! The remedy is following Jesus closely! That will run the fear right out of you! The Spirit of the Lord and spirit of fear cannot co-habitate. “Well I am close to the Lord but I am still riddled with fear.” Well, I’m not so sure…you may know about the Lord, but I would ask you to take a close look at your intimacy with Him. •What do I mean by that? Look I can sit close to the TV but it doesn’t make me close to newscaster. I can look him right in the eye and reach out to touch him…but I have no personal knowledge of him. No intimacy. •And many have mistaken knowing about Jesus with knowing Jesus. The plain truth is that the one that is close to Jesus will resemble Him. That’s the mark. That’s the tat man. You can tell me all day how close you are to the Lord…how He is your strength…your Commander…but I will always, and everyone will always read your character. How you treat people, how you serve others, how you handle tough situations, how you handle correction… •James 3:6 calls the tongue a world of evil and therefore it is not to be trusted…we can’t take people at their word man…we can take God at His for sure…but you cannot get a pulse on someone’s character by what they say…”I’m a disciple of Jesus” but their life doesn’t add up…not sure if we can buy that you see… •Jesus said, “you are indeed My disciples, if you abide in My word…if you do as I have commanded you…if you live out the precepts and truths found in God’s word…” You cannot fake that…and truly you don’t follow God’s word to be close to Him…you live out God’s word because you already are! And therefore you do not walk in weakness, you walk in power…you do not walk in selfishness, you walk in love…and you do not walk in confusion…being warped and making horrible decisions that lead to continued strife, further decay, you walk in sound mind! •And I love the scene John describes here for us because the disciples are there and then all of sudden Jesus is right in the middle of them! And notice His first words to them. “Where were all of you when I was hanging on the cross?” “Why are you all sitting around doing nothing?” You see they may have expected a reprimand from the Lord as He stood in their midst, yet He brings with Him peace… •You might feel that way also. That if the Lord were to come into your life, the secret places of your life…that surely He would bring reprimand…let this scene change your heart and remove your fear…Jesus brings with Him peace…peace is always a mark in a situation, in a family, in a church, in a person…that Jesus is in their midst…and look that peace doesn’t have to be global…it can’t always be enterprise wide…your husband still may be a taz-manian devil spinning around the house in anger and strife…your parents may still be at eachother’s throats…your coworkers may still always have beef…but you don’t have to… •Some folks in the church may be continually stirring up strife and passing around sin…but when they come to involve you in their sinful discord, you don’t have to share in their sin! You can follow Jesus, stay close to Jesus and in that (and only that) can you minister to them with power, love and a sound mind. This peace is further than circumstantial tranquility…this is an inner peace…and that is what Jesus brings… •I love this…they may have expected reprimand…Jesus says, “peace!” •I heard a story this week of a pastor and his wife buying a house. And in this house was a room that had a white carpet. May be a good idea for a DINK (dual income, no kids) but not so much for him and his wife as they had three daughters. One day his wife and he went out and bought a white couch to match the white carpet (this is a true story by the way) and therefore created in their home what they called, “the white room.” •Quickly the rules were laid down…no eating in this room, no drinking, no playing…this room is for viewing only…but one day, some months later he was in there cleaning and he pulled up one of the cushions to clean under it and there on the underside of the cushion was a huge pink stain! Knowing his wife would eventually find it, he called her in and they examined the blemish together. •Standing in the white room, they summoned their children. As their three girls were standing there in front of them, he reached towards the couch to flip over the cushion. Just then, their youngest daughter bolted! She headed up the stairs and hid and quickly her father went after her. •He called her name a few times. She didn’t answer. He began to check the rooms eventually finding her in her closet with her head buried in her knees. She was crying and didn’t want to look up at her father. He knelt down and placed his hand on her back… •He writes this story and says, “I wonder what she thought my response was going to be. Did she think I would get angry? Did she think I would yell?” They went downstairs together and the little girl told her mom and her father what had happened. •She let out a secret that she had been keeping for months. She had spilled the fingernail polish and then had tried to clean it up but as she scrubbed and scrubbed, the stain just got worse. She eventually flipped the cushion over to hide what she had done. •She told them how she had felt sick to her stomach everytime they were in that room…sick with fear that they would find out. And then she looked into her fathers’ eyes and asked a question that broke his heart…with eyes full of tears she asked, “Do you still love me?” •Maybe that’s where you’re at today. You’ve stained your life so badly, tarnished your true self with sin so deeply that you’re afraid of people knowing. You’re afraid of God knowing…You know after that little girls parents comforted her, reassured her that no stain would ever keep them from loving her…that stain didn’t go away. You know its still there to this day but this little girl, shortly after that, started telling the story of the stained white couch! •After that she liked to show people the stain and tell them what happened. Why? Because a stain that once represented shame and guilt and fear of rejection…now represents love, grace, security and acceptance. THAT is the essence of what is wrapped up in this moment between Jesus and His disciples…between Jesus and your secrets, your shame, your sin…”Peace with you.” Chapter 20 Verse 20 •I like to call this…perspective. I have 20/20 vision. Which means I see clearly without glasses…here we have chapter 20 verse 20…and if this is the lens through which we view the world, through which we view eachother, through which we view God and through which we view the mirror…then we will be as these disciples…glad. •This word glad is “chairo” in the Greek. It is a form of the word “charis” meaning grace and it literally means to be very well…to thrive…oh that we would have 20/20 spiritual vision…that we would look upon the One who was pierced for us…who has paid our debt…and place our everything in Him… •Just a verse ago…they were filled with fear…now notice, Jesus comes, their perspective is clarified…and their fear turns to gladness. Precisely what the Word of God continues to do today in our lives… Chapter 20 Verse 21 – 22 •I love this…He comes to them, He calls them to His service and then He enables them…He fills them with the Holy Spirit! And notice how He does this…John tells us that Jesus “breathed on them.” The word in the Greek is “empysao.” Guess how many times that word is used in the Bible…once. Hold that thought… •Here the disciples…they are born again. Born again? Yes! In Genesis 2:7 we read, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man…came alive…born into a living being!” But then God set man in the Garden of Eden and He said to Adam, of all the fruit of the Garden you shall eat, but of the fruit of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat for in the day you eat of it…you shall surely die. •And what did Adam do…he ate…and in that day, his spirit…died to sin. The wages of sin are death man and that day, the perfect communion that man had with God, the bond of purity in the Spirit…died just as God warned… •Now fast forward to Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus in John Chapter 3. He said to Nick, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born AGAIN, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nick protested…how can a man be born twice? Jesus answered, “because a man must be born once of water…the physical birth…and once of the Spirit.” •This is that moment for the disciples man…Just as God breathed life into Adam and Adam became a living being…Jesus breathes life into the disciples and they become ALIVE in the Spirit! Born again unto God…the bond of spiritual communion, reestablished through the price paid upon the cross! Through the Savior Jesus Christ! •And notice, I believe firmly that the Bible is clear in that if you are set free, then you are free indeed. If you are saved, born again by the Holy Spirit, then you cannot be unborn…your salvation is secure because it is not predicated on your righteousness…but on the righteousness of Jesus which is established forever and ever! And therefore, this word here in the Greek…only once. You don’t see this happening again and again in the lives of the disciples…they are saved here, born again here, the price on the cross paid, here they believe and are glad to receive Jesus…and I believe this sole use of this word is simply a gift from the Lord to set that precept in stone for us. Blessed assurance we might sing… Chapter 20 Verse 23 •In Mark Chapter 2 we find a scene where Jesus pronounced forgiveness to a paralyzed man and the Pharisees were all up in arms. “Only God has the right to forgive sin,” they said in Mark 2:7. And they were right. Well what then does this verse in John mean? •It means exactly what is said in several other places in the Bible. That we are His ambassadors man! An ambassador according to Webster is an empowered and approved messenger…a representative or agent of a higher power! That means that it is not we ourselves who provide forgiveness of sins…in and of ourselves we are but dust…no no no we don’t provide forgiveness, man we proclaim it! On behalf of our Leader, or Lord! •To one who says, “I don’t feel forgiven,” it is our responsibility to say, “according to the Word of God, if you open your heart to Jesus Christ and believe in Him, your sin is gone!” Conversely, to the one who says, “I won’t follow Jesus, I’m into meditation or religion or I’m just going to go my own way,” it is our responsibility to say, “your sin remains because only the blood of Jesus has the power to wash it away!” •And so no we aren’t little gods man that is blasphemic theology…thou shalt have no other gods before me…the Lord wrote on the tablets…but rather we are God’s little reps upon the earth…and let me tell you, just as many have gotten this wrong and claimed to have the authority to pardon sin, MANY have totally missed that a Christian IS to live as if they are here on temporary assignment, representing Jesus! •If I took a did a survey today and asked Americans, “Do you believe it’s important to eat right and exercise?” mostly all of them would say, “yes, I believe that.” Americans overwhelmingly say their health is important. But the most popular food at state fairs is a bacon cheeseburger with a bun made out of two Krispy Kreme donuts! You’re charged extra if you want chocolate covered bacon! Which is worth every penny in my opinion. I mean logically speaking, if you’re going to eat a donut bacon cheeseburger, you might as well put some chocolate on your bacon! •But its just like that I find with folks that wear the badge of Christianity today…they say they believe, they rock the cross tattoo but when it comes down to being a real deal, radical on-the-clock agent for Him, His Word and righteousness…man they’re eating the bacon! Their lives resemble the world…let that not be said of you Christian…represent Christ…encourage people to the Lord, teach them truth by your own life…correct them in their sin, rebuke them in their painful cruelty and anti-christ-like selfishness…lest you be found to be like salt that has no flavor… •We’re out of time and I know we didn’t get that far in the text this morning but I pray that we have gotten quite far in your desire for intimacy with Jesus…because that is what will enable you to live your life unto the Lord, in power, purpose, stillness and resolve. I pray that as you leave here today, you do so with a renewed sense of who you are in Him and what your life could and should mean…lived out in the wonder of His grace!