©2006 Larry Huntsperger Peninsula Bible Fellowship

02-19-06

A New Direction

2/19/06 A New Direction

We are going to begin a new study today.

We are going to spend some time in the Gospel of John.

At this point I don’t know whether we’ll be in this amazing book

for just a week or two,

or whether it will become our home base

for many months to come.

I just know that for right now

it has captured my attention

in a way that, from a teaching point of view,

it never has before.

For us to appreciate what John does in this book

we’ll need some background

both on John

and on the Gospel itself.

As most of you know,

the first four books of the New Testament,

the books we call “the Gospels”,

provide us with four separate accounts of the life of Christ

as seen through the eyes of four different men.

Only two of the four

were written by members of Jesus’ band of 12 disciples.

The book of Matthew

was one of them.

Of all the men selected by Jesus

for membership in His inner circle,

I’m certain that Matthew was the one

who, in every way considered himself the least qualified for such an honor.

When I was writing The Fisherman

and I came to that point in the account

at which Jesus was selecting his 12 disciples

I gave special attention to Matthew

because in many ways I believe his own feelings at that point in his life

most closely paralleled my own.

From the very beginning

Matthew knew he had no right to a life with Jesus.

Early in his life

he’d turned his back on his fellow Jews

and sold himself out to the Roman government,

collecting the hated Roman taxes from his countrymen

while pocketing a percentage of the take in the process.

Then, just a few days before Jesus’ selection of the 12,

Jesus stepped into his tax office

and asked Matthew to follow Him.

When I had Peter describe that remarkable day

in which Jesus selected His 12 disciples,

this is what Peter said.

When Jesus saw the crowd moving toward him, he stopped, motioned for us to follow, and then led the curious procession to a grassy hillside outside of town. He asked us to sit, waited until the commotion quieted down, and then began to speak.

“This day I have chosen twelve men from among you to be with me as my disciples. When I call your name, I would like you to join me here at the front.”

The first six names he called came as no surprise to me. “Simon, Andrew, James, John, Nathanael, and Philip, will you join me up here?” We’d all been with the Master from the beginning. Our commitment to him and his to us was certain. The seventh name he spoke, however, took the crowd by surprise. “I would also like you, Matthew, to join me.” No one was more surprised to hear his name than Matthew himself. He was sitting at the very back of the crowd, his eyes fixed not on Jesus but on the ground in front of him. When he heard his name spoken, he looked up, then looked around him, apparently curious to see the man who shared his name—the faithful, obedient, devout Matthew who had just been selected for this great honor. But when no one else stirred, Matthew looked at the Master. To his amazement, Matthew saw that Jesus, and indeed most of the rest of the crowd, was looking at him. For a moment he just sat there, his mouth hanging open in disbelief.

As I watched Matthew stand and then work his way to the front, I wondered at how such different paths could have led us both to this same spot. I had spent much of the past year dancing around in front of the Lord, frantically waving banners and carrying signs declaring, “Peter is your man!” My boastful flesh assured me that Jesus had indeed chosen wisely when he selected me, and he could certainly not do better than to choose others like me. Matthew, on the other hand, came forward in utter disbelief, still unable to accept what was taking place. His fearful flesh, combined with his sense of shame and failure over his union with the hated Roman Empire, made him feel as though Jesus was making a mistake. Even when he finally reached the six of us standing next to Jesus, he stood a few feet away. I looked over at him, saw the amazement and insecurity in his eyes, and in a rare moment of selfless compassion reached out and placed my hand on his shoulder. That was the first time I ever saw him smile. He took a step closer to the group and said, “I can’t believe this! I can’t believe he chose me.” Silent tears were streaming down his cheeks.

Well, that was Matthew,

the man who would eventually write

what we now treasure as the first book in the New Testament.

The next two Gospels,

Mark and Luke,

were written by men who were not a part of that original group.

The Gospel of Mark,

chronologically the first of the four to be written,

was written by a close friend and traveling companion of Peter,

a man whom Peter called “my son”.

He was not the physical son of Peter,

but he was certainly his son in spirit,

a young man who came to the Lord through Peter,

a man Peter adopted as his true son in the Lord,

a man who took what he heard Peter say about his life with Christ

and put it into written form so that it would not be lost.

The third Gospel,

the Gospel of Luke,

was written by Dr. Luke, Paul’s personal physician, traveling companion, and close personal friend.

He was also the author of the book of Acts,

and gained his information through extensive research

and personal interviews with those who had been there with Jesus.

All three of these accounts

were written within about 30 years of Jesus’ departure

and widely distributed throughout the Christian community

so that those who were coming to Christ

would have accurate information about His life, death, and resurrection.

And then we come to the fourth Gospel,

the Gospel of John.

It is a Gospel that is very different from the other three.

Like the book of Matthew, it was also written by one of Jesus’ 12 disciples,

one of those who had been with the Lord from the very beginning.

John and his brother, James,

were fishing partners with Peter and his brother, Andrew,

before Jesus came on the scene.

And at the very beginning of His public ministry,

when He was still unknown to the Jewish world,

before He’d performed any miracles and done only a very little teaching,

one of the first things He did

was to seek out these four men,

build a friendship with them,

and then call them to Himself.

It wasn’t an elaborate call, by any means.

All He said was, “Follow Me!”

And they did, all four of them.

John was probably in his early 20's at the time,

possibly even late teens.

And his discovery of the truth about Jesus -

who He really was

and what He’d come for,

was a process that stretched over four years

culminating with John standing with Peter inside the empty tomb,

followed by his face-to-face interaction with the risen Christ.

From the very beginning John held a unique place in Jesus’ relationships.

We get just little glimpses of the depth of that friendship

through some of the things said in the gospel accounts.

There were a number of times

when the Lord singled out just three men from his band of 12,

always the same three - Peter, James, and John,

and allowed them to be witnesses of His power or His identity in special ways.

It was these three who were present in the incident recorded in Luke chapter 8

when Jesus brought a little girl who had died back to life.

It was these three who were chosen by the Lord

to join Him on that mountain where Jesus talked with Elijah and Moses,

and then entered into the presence of God Himself.

And these were the three Jesus wanted with Him

as He prayed during that pain-filled hour just prior to His arrest and crucifixion.

And of these three,

there was clearly a bond of trust

that was stronger between John and Jesus

than between any of the others.

At the last supper

when Jesus told His men that one of them would betray Him,

the disciples turned to John as the one who should ask Jesus for added information.

They knew that, if Jesus would tell anyone,

He would tell John.

And during those final minutes prior to His death,

as Jesus hung on the cross,

knowing that He, as his mother’s eldest son,

could no longer fulfill His responsibility

to care for His widowed mother,

it was John to whom He said,

JOH 19:27 “Behold, your mother!”

as He then pointed John to Mary.

And from that hour John took Mary into his own household.

I noticed Jesus’ relationship with Peter, and James, and especially with John

during my early readings of the New Testament in the years just after my own submission to Christ,

at that point when I was just beginning to understand

what I’d entered into when I entered into Him.

And there was a time in that process

when what I saw there troubled me

because it looked to me as if Jesus had favorites.

It troubled me so much

that I finally asked a man whose insight I trusted

if this was really true.

Why did Peter and James and John

receive so much more attention than anyone else?

Did He love them more?

Was there some reason why they had greater value to God than the others?

There was a great deal more to my question, of course,

than just doctrinal curiosity.

And I’m sure the man I questioned

knew, or at least sensed that there was a great deal more to it.

You see, my real question was not about Peter and James and John,

my real question was about me.

For, if Jesus had favorites,

then it meant that...well

it meant that God has favorites,

certain people who matter more to Him than others do.

And if that was true

I just knew it would mean

that there was no way I could ever be one of His favorites,

because there were just so many reasons why He really shouldn’t even like me at all.

Have you ever been in a situation

in which you desperately needed the answer

to some question that troubled you deeply

and, just when you needed the answer the most,

the Lord placed someone into your life

who gave you the truth you needed?

That was one of those times in my own life.

The answer my friend gave me

has stayed with me ever since,

and has become a powerful positive motivation

in my own friendship with my Lord.

He told me that he thought I had it backwards.

It wasn’t that Jesus had favorites,

it was that each one of us draw our own boundaries

on how deeply we will allow our Lord into our lives.

Peter, and James, and John

were willing to let Him into their lives at a deeper level

than were any of the others.

And of the three

John was more open to his Lord than all the rest.

I knew what he was saying was right as soon as I heard it.

And it answered so many other questions as well.

I’d been told by others in the church community

that these three had received such special attention from the Lord

because they were being prepared for exceptional ministries in the years ahead.

That’s the type of answers

that our performance-based religious thinking always comes up with.

It’s always cause-and-effect in religion,

not relationship.

Religion always tells us that God’s focal point is the result,

the productivity,

the “good” that will come out of what is done.

And I’m certainly not suggesting

that God doesn’t at times bring tremendous good

out of all sorts of events in our lives.

But the good is not the goal,

not the purpose,

not the reason.

It’s simply a fringe benefit

of our being united with a God

who is profoundly and absolutely GOOD in every way.

The real reason He does what He does in our lives

is simply because He values His relationship with us beyond anything we could ever even begin to imagine.

And the reason He kept Peter and James and John

as close to Himself as He did

was not because He planned to put more into them

so that He could then get more out of them in the years ahead.

The reason He kept those three so close to Him

was simply because that’s the way their spirits responded to Him,

that was the depth of friendship they hungered for.

Of course it’s true that both Peter and John

went on to live lives

that literally altered the course of the history of our world.

But how about James?

What great “ministry” was he being prepared for?

What great world-wide impact did he have?

None.

In fact, just a few months following Jesus’ resurrection

James was dead.

In Acts 12:1-2,

during the earliest days of God’s creation of His Church on this earth,

at the time when so few knew the truth,

and so many needed to hear the strong, clear voices

of those who had known the Lord personally,

we read this.

Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them. And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword.

That’s the same James who lived for three years

within Jesus’ innermost circle,

the same James who knew more about the Lord

than any other man would ever again know, with the exception of Peter and John.

And long before his great “ministry” could even begin,

he was executed for his faith in Christ.

Does that sound like a waste to you?

Do you see it as one of the great tragedies of church history?

If so,

then you’re still seeing the plans and purposes of God

through the eyes of religion.

Because with religion

it’s always about the results,

about the performance,

about how much gets done by whom.

But with our Lord

it’s always,

only about relationship - our relationship with Him.

I do love the way Paul said it in his letter to the Corinthians.

2CO 11:3 But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

You see, Jesus didn’t call James to His “ministry”.

He didn’t call him to His team.

He didn’t recruit him for His work.

Jesus called James to Himself for just one reason,

because He wanted a friendship with this man,

just as he wants a friendship with each one of us.

And James fulfilled his calling perfectly.

And then, when the Lord’s perfect plan for this man was completed,

He took him home.

You see, when this Christian life is working

the way our Lord designed it to work,

every good thing that comes out of our lives

is simply the by-product of our friendship with our Lord.

I know this is suppose to be an introduction to the Gospel of John,

and I know, too, that I’m way off track,

but as long as I’ve gotten into this

I might as well complete the thought.

Have you ever noticed that passage in I Corinthians

where Paul compares our Christian life

with building a house?

In I Corinthians 3:10-15 he says,

According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

OK, he tells us that there is always only one foundation -

Christ in us.

But then he tells us

that we determine what we use to build on that foundation -

gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw.

And then he says that at the end of our life

it’s like God sets a match to the whole thing

and whatever burns up is lost,

but whatever does not burn remains on.

And I believe he’s talking about it remaining both in this world

and in the world to come.

So what’s the difference?

What is gold, silver, and precious stones,

and what is wood, hay, and straw?

I believe the wood, hay, and straw

are all those things that grow out of our basic religious nature,

all those things that we attempt to do for God.

And the gold, silver, and precious stones

are all those things

that result from our growing friendship with Christ

and from His life being lived through us.

Do you want a question that may help you tell the difference?

What things do you do

because God has placed within your heart

a real caring for another person or group of people?

That’s gold, silver, and precious stones.

That’s the results of His life within you.

And what things do you do

out of a sense of religious duty,

or with the hope that it will help you to earn God’s approval?

That’s wood, hay, and straw.

As we grow in our love union with our God

there will be things He does within us,

things that will motivate us to reach out

to the people He’s placed around us.

Those are the real treasures of our lives.

And with so much of this

it isn’t what we’re doing,

it’s why we’re doing it.

So much of the early teaching I did,

even here at the fellowship,

I did mostly out of sense of duty.

It was something I could do,

and I did it mostly because I was suppose to.

And to tell you the truth,

in many ways the teaching came far easier back then

because all that mattered were the ideas.

But then God began to give me

the most remarkable love for those I teach

and it ruined everything forever.

The more I found myself caring,

the more I found myself

really wanting to do something with this time we have together

that would help with your healing,

your growth,

your ability to trust your God’s love for you.

And now so many of the ideas that once mattered so much

don’t seem to matter at all,

but the teaching matters so much more

because you matter so much more.

And in the process

I’ve come to realize that, not just with my teaching,

but with all aspects of my life,

the real question isn’t, “what am I doing?”,

the real question,

the one that really matters is, “why am I doing it?”.

Well, I started out to present a brief introduction

to our study of the book of John

and didn’t get near as far as I’d planned.

Which makes me think

we may be involved in our study of John

for a considerable time to come.