Love is a word that is so overused in the church today that it has practically lost all it’s relevance to Christian life. Ever since the Beatles sang “All you need is love,” the church has tried to tie Christian love to the world’s definition of love. Perhaps it was an attempt to woo the world to the church, by taking away any offense of the gospel and dumbing it down to a one word description which the world would find appealing. The result though has been very destructive to the life of the church. Because the Bible makes it

Read More…

Last week we looked at the washing of the disciples feet as what I called an animated parable of Christ-like love, or sacrificial love. And according to Christ, that kind of love is supposed to be the defining characteristic of the church. Jesus said in vs.35 that “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” So I would suggest to you that this Upper Room Discourse is really a discourse on the foundational doctrines of the church. The disciples constitute the church. Jesus is no longer publicly ministering from this

Read More…

What we have presented to us in the first 17 verses of this chapter, is what I have called an animated parable. A parable is a story that is given to illustrate a spiritual truth. And so what Jesus is doing in washing the disciples’ feet is providing a living illustration, or an animated parable in order to teach a spiritual truth. Now that is important to understand. Because the illustration is not the object of our attention, but the illustration serves to present an object lesson. There are some that take from this text the idea that we need

Read More…

Just the other day I was driving behind a great big John Deere combine tractor which was going down the road, moving from one field to another field to harvest corn, and it reminded me of a verse of scripture, which to my mind is one of the saddest verses in the Bible. It is found in Jeremiah 8:20 which says, “Harvest is past, summer is ended, and we are not saved.” Every year around this time it seems that this verse comes to mind. Once Labor Day passes, it is obvious around this town that the summer season has

Read More…

The Bible says that God’s ways are not our ways. Nor are His thoughts our thoughts. And in John’s gospel we see ample evidence of that. In fact, John shows that what man might think is logical, natural, and common sense, may not be the truth of God. The truth of God is often counterintuitive. A classic example of this is found in verse 25, as Jesus says, “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.” Jesus said that same statement slightly differently in Mark 8:35

Read More…

In the Christian church today, I think we are sometimes guilty of saying things, repeating phrases, or even going through certain ceremonies, which are part of our tradition, but which we don’t really understand. For instance, we often hear the word “hallelujah” in church. We may sing or say this word in various liturgies or songs. Yet a lot of us may not know what it really means. It’s a Hebrew word which means “praise the Lord” by the way. “Amen” is another one we hear often. Amen is another Hebrew word, which means “let it be.” Today in the

Read More…

For the last couple of weeks, we looked at the last miracle that Jesus did which is recorded in the book of John, which was the raising of Lazarus from the dead. And now we have come to the final week of Jesus’s ministry before His crucifixion. And in anticipation of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross 6 days later, John presents us with this dinner that is being held in Bethany to honor Jesus and Lazarus. It’s now been a few months since Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, and as He heads back to Jerusalem to meet His predetermined

Read More…

Today we are looking at part two of a message I have called, Seven Principles of the Seventh Sign. This miracle that Jesus did in raising Lazarus from the dead, is the seventh and final sign or attesting miracle that John records Jesus doing in His public ministry. It is a long text, and as such we don’t have the time this morning to spend exegeting every verse. However, the story as a narrative is pretty self explanatory. But there are some important doctrinal truths which are illustrated by this story which is what I want to make the focus

Read More…

I have said repeatedly from this pulpit, that every miracle presented in the gospel is a parable meant to teach us spiritual principles. I will say it again to make sure you get that; every miracle presented in the gospel is a parable meant to teach spiritual principles. Now this is the seventh and final sign or miracle that Jesus did in the book of John. So we may presume that this miracle in particular is of great significance. We might deduce that simply due to the length of the passage which details it, as well as the fact that

Read More…

Today’s text is one that is somewhat difficult to deal with, for at least a couple of reasons. One, is we are coming into what is really the tail end of an ongoing dialogue that Jesus was having with the religious leaders of Jerusalem concerning His deity. And we are picking it up near the end of that discussion. So that provides some difficulty, in bringing you up to speed without repeating all of last Sunday’s message. And the other main difficulty is that Jesus makes reference to a somewhat obscure portion of scripture as validation of His argument, which

Read More…