Jesus: Saviour of the World

This Sunday we are beginning our new teaching series in the book of John! Now to call it new is a little bit of an overstatement because this is our third bite at John and it marks the halfway point in a 5 part series that we are doing in Term 3 each year. “Why would you do such a thing?” I hear you ask. Great question.

Term 3 is the time we run our Share Life Sundays — opportunities for us to invite friends we have been sharing life in Christ with to come and hear the Gospel proclaimed. It is all part of Step 5 in our Share Life pattern - Meet, Pray, Listen, Speak, Proclaim, Read. The pattern is there to help us individually think about how to Share Life with people but also helps us understand the way we run Share Life at church. All year we want to meet people and pray for them but in Term 1 we encourage listening, Term 2 speaking from a Christian worldview, Term 3 proclaiming the Gospel and Term 4 reading the Bible in a course or 1-1 with people who are keen to explore Jesus more.

So where does studying John fit in? Well, we study a Gospel in this term so we can all be refreshed in how awesome Jesus is and deepen our love for him, so we can be reminded of some of the things Jesus said and did, so we have content for our conversations, and so we can be ready for Share Life Sundays – making inviting people to church anytime in Term 3 easy.

So this year we are up to John 9-12. Let me give you a bit of a catch up so you are ready for the series. Most people divide John into two parts — 1-12: “Book of Signs”, 13-21: “Book of Glory”.

In John 1-12, Jesus reveals his identity through a series of signs (miracles) and teaching moments. Large crowds listen to, watch and follow Jesus and many, seeing the signs, come to believe that he is really the Saviour of the world. Others, however, see the signs and begin to question his authority and eventually challenge and persecute him. We saw this last year as most of John 5-8 is one long argument with the religious rulers of Jesus day who wanted to have nothing to do with him.

This last section of the “Book of Signs” we are studying, begins in John 9 with a highly symbolic healing and a kangaroo courtroom — a man born blind is healed and then finds himself persecuted by the religious leaders because he was healed. The leaders are so enamoured with their own understanding of right and wrong, good and evil, sin and glory, that they completely miss Jesus’ incredible power in the healing itself. Jesus speaks to the man and says: ‘For judgement I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.’ (‭‭John‬ ‭9‬:‭39‬) This summarises much of John 9-12 — those who are his sheep hear his voice and know him (10:14) but those who are not, seek to eliminate him (10:31).

John 11-12 contains a long running spoken and lived conversation about life and death. First, Jesus’ friend Lazarus dies but his death is reversed so the disciples may believe. Following this stunning event, the religious leaders plot to kill Jesus (11:53) but their actions appear innocuous and impotent as Jesus is both prepared for death (12:7) and begins to predict his death (12:32-33). The section concludes with an ironic juxtaposition of Jesus praising God in front of those who love human praise. He proclaims prophetically “I have come into the world as a light, so that no-one who believes in me should stay in darkness.” (‭‭John‬ ‭12‬:‭46‬) But tragically, many in the story and many in our day do stay in darkness.

More than anything, I hope our study of John might motivate you to pray that the unbelievers you know might come to see the light of life, Jesus, who is the resurrection and the life (11:25). I hope you enjoy this series in church and Growth Group and are refreshed by Jesus, our wondrous King.