John, in his gospel, wrote many things. He wrote the
whole book with the sole purpose being “that you may believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.” (John
20:31 [NASB]) John showed throughout this book ways we, as hearers and readers,
can know Jesus is the Son of God. He gave us his personal testimony. He told the
testimony of the Gospel through Jesus’ signs and miracles, through the Spirit,
and through the Word (God’s inspired Word). Yet, there is something we –
Christians and ministers - must do. Paul stated in Romans 10:14-15a, “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How
will they believe in
Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent” [NASB]? Unless we who know God personally tell
others about Jesus, the salvation of the world, people will not come to know
Jesus the Christ.
In John 13:15, Jesus used the word “example.” He used
this word only once when He taught His disciples. Before the Feast of the
Passover, after being with the disciples for almost three years teaching them
by word and action, He washed the disciples’ feet. Jesus took His tunic off and
wrapped a towel around Himself as a servant would. He gave this example to His
disciples; they were to be servants to each other. Jesus reinforced this
"example" He showed and spoke to them. Later in chapter 13, He told
the disciples in verses thirty-four and thirty-five, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34-35, [NASB]) Earlier Jesus said He was
the fulfillment of the Law, but stated they must follow the Shema. The Shema is a Jewish Law combining Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus
19:18, “You shall love the LORD your God withyou’re your heart, and with all
your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your
neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27 [NASB]). The
first Jesus called the greatest commandment. The latter is the second greatest
commandment. At the end of His time on earth with His disciples, Jesus added
another. In John 13:34-35, He taught them to love each other so that all people
would know they were His disciples. These commands cover love of God, love of others
(outside the faith), and love among disciples (Christians).
How are people to know Jesus? They
come to know Jesus by Christians coming to know them. John, in his Gospel,
stated many times Jesus knew what people thought, what their past was, if they grumbled
or complained, and if certain people needed a miracle or sign so they could
believe. Jesus knew and knows all people. He spoke into their lives at the
point of their need. Consider Mary and Martha. Jesus could have gone to their
home in Bethany before Lazarus died, but He knew them and He wanted God to
receive glory. Mary and Martha believed Jesus is God’s Son and believed there
would be a resurrection on the last day. They did not know that Jesus had power
over life and death. By waiting until Lazarus was truly dead (four days after
his death), people believed Jesus had power over life and death, God received
the glory, and the faith of Mary and Martha grew. You can look at other
miracles in the book of John and see this occur often– Jesus’ power over that
part of life would be revealed, God would receive glory, and the faith of
people would increase or occur for the first time. Jesus knows people and what
they need. He meets people at the point of their need - when they are at the
end of their understanding and knowledge - so that God’s power is the
explanation for any good/miracle that occurred. The question remains: how are
people to know Jesus?
More often than not, people come to
know Jesus through His disciples speaking truth into their lives. Let me say it
again, “People come to meet and know Jesus through Christians getting to know
them.” By getting to know people,
·
We
hear them tell us about themselves, their families, their interests, and their
religious experiences.
- We Christians – paid and unpaid - listen intently and hear where people express hurt.
- We hear and realize they are human, too.
- We believers hear with our ears and with the heart that Jesus regenerated in us through His love.
- We hear their physical and spiritual needs.
In
the process of listening to them,
- We Christians earn that person’s trust.
- We remember where Jesus met our need, physically and spiritually.
- We remember where Jesus came to us, met us, healed us, and forgave us, and where we gave our lives to Him.
Remember
what Jesus said in Matthew 6:26. The birds of the air wear beautiful plumage,
have their food needs met, and are sheltered in God’s beautiful trees and
bushes. The birds did nothing; God provided for their needs. God will provide
more so for the needs of His created people. Jesus stated that in Matthew 6.
God provides for spiritual needs as well as temporal needs. Jesus built
relationships or strengthened them at the point of a person’s need. He wants to
be the provider of everything each person needs. We must build relationships,
too, and through building these new relationships and listening, the people
give us the opportunity to speak about Jesus - show how He changed our lives, met
our needs - physical and spiritual, and how He can be the fulfillment of their own
needs now and for eternity.
Consider the “I AM” statements in
John’s gospel. Jesus said seven things that John recorded. Jesus said,
- “I AM the Bread of Life.”
- “I AM the Light of the world.”
- “I AM the gate for the sheep.”
- “I AM the good Shepherd.”
- “I AM the resurrection and the Life.””
- I AM the True Vine.”
Each of these has a temporal and spiritual
element to it. Jesus came to be everything a person ever needs –bread, light,
shelter, guidance, life and hope, and eternal sustenance/salvation. Jesus is
the fulfillment of all our needs before we ever know we have the need for them.
- God provided manna in the wilderness for the Israelites to feed them for a day. Jesus became the Bread that would feed our spiritual need forever.
- God gave a pillar of fire before the troops of Israelites as they found their way to the Promised Land. Jesus is the Light to lead us to eternal life in God’s Kingdom.
- God provided a gate by which to keep out the wolves. Jesus is the gate that keeps the devil and his demons out when we have given our lives to Him.
- God provides shepherds for the sheep who protect them, such as David was for the actual sheep of his father and for God’s people Israel. Jesus is the Shepherd who will not run away, but will fight the wolves to keep us protected in His hands. He protects those who are His own.
· No
one before Jesus had ever beaten death and come back to life. Jesus died to be
victorious over death so His children would receive resurrection from the grave
at the end of the time. Death does not have any hold on those who call
themselves His disciples. Jesus gives eternal life to His disciples.
God
provides sustenance and guidance now to His children. He also provides eternal
life forever. God, through His indwelling Holy Spirit, provides the eternal
guidance and remembrance of all He taught us through our lives and the ones who
went before us. He gives us hope and guidance as the True Vine. We are His,
adopted by Him, and grafted into His vine so nothing can separate us from Him. Jesus
gives us what He stated in the seven I AM statements now and for eternity.
We must get to know people as Jesus
knows people. We must hear them express themselves, their life, and their
beliefs. Only by listening will we gain their trust to speak into their lives.
Only by listening will we be able to contextualize the message of Jesus’
salvation for that particular person at that specific moment in their lives.
This is relationship. Our telling the Gospel to them after listening is
contextualizing the Gospel for them. That is how FIRE helps us. FIRE
is Family, Interests, Religious experiences, and Evangelism. FIRE
makes us intentional in getting to know Jesus better each day, to have a
growing relationship with Him. We must have a daily relationship with Jesus so
we are learning more through His Word and through prayer with Him. Without this
daily relationship, we may not know a passage of Scripture a person needs to
hear as he or she speaks to us. FIRE
lets us know a person’s thoughts on their needs so we can share with him or her
how Jesus can fill his or her needs here and eternally. FIRE is how Jesus met us through others and it is how He
will meet other people more often than not. (See “How to Tell the World:
F.I.R.E.)
The questions now to consider
include the following.
- How is your relationship with God? Are you close to Him or has it been a while since you read His Word or prayed to Him?
- How are your listening skills? Are you a keen listener and often hear a word from God? Are you a devoted listener of other people or do you hear some of what they say and then begin thinking about what you will say?
We
must be in an active vertical relationship with God. We must also know how to
have a horizontal relationship with other people. Jesus did this well. He was
very relational and showed by example how to be in a relationship with God and
with one another. Jesus died on the cross because of these relationships - with
the Father and with humanity.
Look
at it this way. (See picture below.)
Each of us has to make a decision:
Are we willing to get
to know people like Jesus knows each of us so we can tell them the great news
of Jesus Christ?
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