John 5

Three questions that pop out as I read the text from John 5:
1) The invalid believes the pool will heal him.  He wasn't the only one.  Where, outside of Jesus, do we go to find healing?

2) Why does Jesus ask the man if he wants to be healed?  Isn't the answer obvious?

3) What does this passage say about the purpose of healing?

John 2:18-22

Jesus makes the explicit claim that he is the temple of God.  The temple was always known to be the dwelling of God's presence.  Consider its movement over the course of salvation history:

It begins in the Tent of Meeting.  It was portable.  God dwelled inside.  Then Solomon built a temple in Jerusalem.  It was a building of significant magnitude and beauty.  That temple was destroyed.  Another one was built back again.  Finally, comes Jesus, who John said is the Word made flesh, who tabernacled with us. 

Now 1 Corinthians 16:19 tells us that our bodies are temple of the Holy Spirit.  If you are in Christ, the dwelling place of God resides inside of you through the Holy Spirit.

John 2:1-12

You have to love that Jesus's first miracle in John's Gospel is turning water to wine.   At a very basic level he is exchanging the hosts' would-be shame for running out of wine into gladness and honor for holding the best until last.  It is a miracle that represents great care and sympathy toward his hosts.

But more than that, this miracle is about Jesus doing what the law of Moses could not.  Jesus takes the jars for ritual cleanings and he turns them into vessels of joy.  He is not just here to clear the deck from sin.  He has come to bring the greatest prize, life with him.  

Remember that wine is always the sign of joy and gladness.  Don't pretend it doesn't make a party better.  It is supposed to have that affect (when rightly used!).   Jesus is a cup of gladness.  Is he that for you?

Finally, there is a strong biblical motif about weddings and marriages.  There is something about a wedding feast and a bride and a groom that are fairly important to the scope of God's work. I'm just saying'...

Romans 2

From verse 4, "Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness  and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?"

This seems to throw my versions of "cheap grace" right back in my face.  By "cheap grace" I mean that version whereby we receive grace and then return to living under our own authority.  It is being a Christian through faith, but having no outward signs of it during life.  

Paul is saying that we "presume" upon the riches of God's kindness and forbearance and patience.  We assume that because God has not immediately called down wrath from heaven for our sins, because he has given this period of grace in patience and forbearance, that we can do whatever we want.  We live in a microwave society- instant feedback is the rule we live by.  No more so than with God's grace.  If he holds back his wrath upon our sin, often we consider that license to do as we please.  

Oh God, that we would not presume upon the kindness that is suppose to lead to our repentance.  That we would be people who would understand your loving patience and forbearance with us, in our sin.  That your grace would lead us to life, gratitude, faith and faithful obedience, and not instead to disregard for you and your ways.  

John 1:27- Jesus>Me

Listen to John's description of himself and Jesus:
1) John the Baptist says in verse 1:27, "I baptize with water, but among you stands one who you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie."

2) 1:20, "I am not the Christ...I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said.'"

John the Baptist understood who he was and who Jesus was.  Jesus was the show.  Jesus was the point.  John understood he was not.  He understood himself only as one who pointed to the real hope.

...Might you consider seeing yourself and Jesus in this way today?  Jesus>Me.

Romans 1:16-17

Verse 17 is particularly interesting.  Paul says it is "In the (gospel) that the righteousness of God is revealed." The gospel is Paul's shorthand for the "good news" of Jesus Christ.  Translation: God has made known who he is in Jesus Christ.

Paul is clear that you can know who God is through Jesus Christ.  There is no longer any guessing.  He has been revealed.  The Gospel is an "Open Secret," as Lesslie Newbigin has put it.  What have you ever wondered about God?  What have you wanted to ask him about who he is and what he is like?  Look to Jesus.

For further study...

1) If you are wanting to take this verse a bit further, look at the odd sort of wording at the end of 17a, "from faith for faith."  What types of faith is Paul talking about?  Is he saying that it is, "'from our faith to our faith' that the righteousness of God is revealed?"

Surely this reads a bit man-centered?  As Rick Warren says, "It's not all about you."  Maybe a better reading would understand that it is "from the faith-obedience of Christ" to our "faith-ing in Christ" that the righteousness of God has been revealed.  Could faith be a reciprocal word here, as the context suggests?  The result being, that Christ's faithfulness at the cross has revealed the righteousness of God to those who have faith in Christ.  Faith is about Christ and it is about us.

2) And if you really wanted to get crazy here... Look at the place of Habakkuk 2:1-4 in Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38.  Notice this verse is quoted in all of these passages, but with differing translations.  Who is the righteous or "righteous one" of Habbakkuk 2:4?

John 1

A few thoughts to consider as you read John 1 this week:

1) Consider how John is describing Jesus in this first chapter.  How is Jesus more than just a nice religious figure?  What difference does it make that he was, "In the beginning" and that "All things were made through him?"

2) John says that Jesus, "dwelt among us" (ESV) in verse 14.  More literally, it means he "tabernacled" or he "pitched his tent" in our midst.  John is alluding to the Hebrew idea of God dwelling among his people (Exodus 25:8-9).  The tabernacle was the place that God dwelled.  What is significant about the fact that God now dwells through Christ?

3) Where would it make a difference in your life today if the Jesus was the Creator of the universe and the one who came to "tabernacle" with you?  What does that mean for prayer?  Could it be that the God who draws close is also the God who has the power to create the universe?  Might he be interested and able to hear your cries today?

4) Who do you know that needs to hear the news that the Almighty God has given up heaven to know them?