John: Jesus the Seeker, Satisfier, & Sender

John 4:1-42 ESV

Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.  A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink."  (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?" ( For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, "Give me a drink," you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."  The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock." Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again,  but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."  The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water." Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here."  The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, "I have no husband";  for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true."  The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship." Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.  You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.  But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.  God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."  The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things." Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am he."  Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, "What do you seek?" or, "Why are you talking with her?" So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, "Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?" They went out of the town and were coming to him. Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about."  So the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought him something to eat?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.  Do you not say, "There are yet four months, then comes the harvest"? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.  Already  the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.  For here the saying holds true, "One sows and another reaps."  I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."  Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me all that I ever did." So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world."

Jesus, the Seeker

Jews hated the Samaritans. These people were part jewish and mixed foreigners' blood. This was seen as a distasteful thing. Jews prided themselves on being the pure people of God. Samaritans were mixing Jewish religious practices with other foreign religions. Jews saw them as inferior.

Jesus asked a Samaritan woman for water. This is shocking. First, the hated between the races. Second, women were considered inferior. Third, the status of the two... Jesus a popular rabbi and this random samaritan woman. Finally, the situation... This woman had been married five times and is living with another man. She would be considered a moral outcast. She is the loose woman in the town. She is drawing water at noon to avoid other people. Jesus seeks this woman out. Her immorality does not disqualify her for salvation.

Jesus, the Satisfier

Looking into the conversation, we can get insight from the content. Jesus talks about water. In their arid climate, water is precious. Jesus is talking about spiritual water. He is saying that our spiritual need is primary. Then Jesus brings up her history, her husbands. Why? Because we drink from other wells... We don't seek out the true living water, God.

Jeremiah 2:12-13 ESV

Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord , for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

This woman was always trying to find fulfillment in men, husband, relationships. She kept looking for a person to fill her, but no. It does not fulfill for long. She is left thirsting again. She has a deep spiritual thirst. And the only one who can fill it is the God who we have turned away from.

This thirst is suffered by Jesus. This deep spiritual thirst from lacking God. When He hung upon the cross, he said, I am thirsty. He bored the full wrath of God. The spiritual thirst from lack of God.

The ending is this. The woman leaves behind the water jar. The spring of living water needs no water jar. The joy of Christ comes bubbling up regardless. Even if you throw dirt upon it, the water will still bubble up.

Jesus, the Sender

Jesus' fulfillment and satisfaction comes from doing the will of God, the Father. This is his sustenance and joy. The disciples were concerned with food. Jesus tells them that there is a world full of thirsty souls. Being sent on mission is the fullness of joy in the Christian life. A christian without mission results in spiritual indigestion. Go and find the fullness of joy you read about.

The gospel of John: The joy of forgetting about yourself

John 3:22-36 ESV

After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing. John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized (for John had not yet been put in prison). Now a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over purification. And they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him." John answered, "A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, "I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him." The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease."  He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

How we often live life

John the baptist baptized in expectation of salvation.
Jesus baptized into salvation. Salvation is here. John's followers see the growing popularity of Jesus. This passage shows our hearts. We are jealous of the rising star next to us. We are threatened and unsettled.

How do we react?
     The weeper - we get depressed
     The worker - we work harder
     Whatever - we get bitter & angry

How we should live life

John is not troubled by the rising star, Jesus. He is overjoyed. Why? John had the right perspective. Jesus is not just a competitor, he is the Savior. John is who he is because God gave it to him. Jesus, however, is the Son of God. Prophets of old experienced the Holy Spirit in short durations. It came and went. Jesus gives the Spirit as He wishes, He commands it as God. He is above all things. John calls himself the best man. Jesus is the groom and the church is his bride. John is here to make the groom look great. The wedding is not about us. It is about Jesus. When we are asked to wear the most horrendous tux, we do it. Why? So that the groom has the best day ever!

Fuel for living

In John's reaction is no bitterness, no sadness, no need to justify himself. He says that he is happy to be forgotten and to be losing disciples/followers. Why? Because Christ lowered himself so that we could be lifted up. So that we could be heirs to the kingdom of God. We are motivated not to measure up but rather because Jesus made the measure for us. Jesus has come to bring us salvation, life, joy... everything that we need. We have worth because of Christ, not anything that we have done or earned.

Results of the love of Christ
     We become absolutely SECURE.
     We become SELF-FORGETFUL.

The Gospel of John: "New Life"

John 2:23-3:21 ESV

Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus  by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him." Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."  Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, "You must be born again."  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."  Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" Jesus answered him, "Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?  Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.  If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?  No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,  that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.  "For God so loved the world,  that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.  And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.  For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.  But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God."

Rev. Dwight Yoo

There were many followers of Jesus, but Jesus had not chosen them. They saw the signs, but they were self-deceived. They claim to follow Him, but they will not enter the kingdom of Heaven. (Matthew 7:21) It is possible to serve, to go through all the motions, yet not have faith that leads to salvation.

      Nature of salvation

Nicodemus comes to Jesus. He comes under cover of night to meet Him. Jesus is a mystery. Nicodemus thinks that Jesus had legitimacy, but what is going on... Nicodemus is an expert of the law, the word of God. But for all this spiritual resume, Jesus tells him that he needs to be born again. Nick does not have salvation... He had faith, but not saving faith. God has to save us. (Ezekiel 36:25-28) Nick believed that being Jewish was enough for salvation. The transformation of lives is the work of the Spirit. It is God saving us, but us working to be saved.

Responses to the nature of salvation
   Humility
   Hopefulness
   Hunger for God
   Holiness

     Exclusiveness and inclusiveness of Salvation

Jesus speaks of things that are clearly disclosed in the word. Nick should have known them. Nick was an expert in the word of God. Jesus speaks of the word of God as an expert. In much the same way, Jesus speaks of heaven as an expert. He knows both intimately because they are ingrained in Him. Jesus says he is the only way. It is an exclusive claim. Yet it is very inclusive, Jesus died for those who hated Him, prayed and loved those who were killing Him. Not only that, but we do literally nothing to save ourselves. We cannot save ourselves. Yet Jesus welcomes all who would repent and trust in Him. He is radically inclusive.

     The Wonder of God's love

God loves the world. This is not just speaking of the expanse of His love. The world hates God. Yet God loves intensely, He chases after those who wish Him dead. The intensity of love that God has for the son is unimaginable. The rending of the heart of a fathers' heart is truly unimaginable.  To send His son after those who hate Him and His own. This is the price that God paid for our salvation willingly.

The cleaning & meaning of the Temple

John 2:13-22 ESV

The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, "Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade."  His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me." So the Jews said to him, "What sign do you show us for doing these things?" Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."  The Jews then said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?" But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Rev. Dwight Yoo

Jesus is not Mister Rogers. Some of us are not comfortable with this. We may be tempted to gloss over this passage, but this is wrong. We cannot just accept the parts of Jesus that we like. We need to be confronted by the Jesus of the bible.

The cleaning of the temple

Passover was one of the holidays where all the jews had to come to Jerusalem. They were required to come to meet God.

Not only were they required to come, they also had to bring animals for sacrifice. So imagine bringing animals to the capital from hundreds of miles. So someone had the bright idea to sell animals to the pilgrims... And eventually, animals were being sold in the temple of God. Not only that but money changers came to work in the temple, these were because the temple officials required specific coinage.

There is dispute over why Jesus was so angry. I [Dwight] think that the anger was not about the practice of selling sacrificial animals and money exchanges. But rather the practice of worshiping God. How can one worship in the presence of animals and money exchanging hands? Worship is distracted, distorted, and demeaned. God's relationship with his people is minimized. This is why Jesus is so angry. His father is left out of the picture, ignored. Convenience is prioritized over God. This probably did not happen overnight... it was probably a gradual change. It is a reflection of our hearts. We want things good for us, rather than glorifying to God.

The meaning of the temple

The temple is meant as a place of worship and to bring glory to god. Jesus was to be consumed by his zeal for God. He was concerned with His father. The temple officials were only concerned with their selves. That put Jesus and them on a collision course. So they questioned Jesus' authority. But Jesus replies cryptically. He replies that the temple would be rebuilt in three days. The temple of His body would rise again after death. We no longer need to visit a temple in Jerusalem to worship.

Worship and meeting God requires a sacrifice.

This is why Jesus is called the lamb of God. He is consumed and killed for us. So then we can meet and worship God.

The more you internalize what Jesus did to make true worship possible, the more true worship becomes possible.

Not only does Jesus abolish the need for a temple; he sends out the holy spirit. We are the temple of God. We are where worship happens. Coram Deo.