Tag Archives: john

Christian Life, Discipleship and witness, Knowing God

Heavenly Glory

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“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” (John 12:24)

When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, the crown gathered in the belief that their King was arriving. As the Pharisees themselves put it: “the world has gone after him.“ The story gives us a stark contrast between how the world sees kingship, and the kingship of heaven; earthly glory against heavenly glory. When Philip told Jesus that some Greeks wanted to speak to Him, Jesus explains what  heavenly glory means:

“But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (John 12:23-25)

True glory is the multiplication of life. Jesus was glorified when He gave His life on the cross so that it could shine across the world. He calls us to do the same: to lay down our lives so that His light can be released for others.

Jesus says: “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honour.” (John 12:26)

To serve Jesus we have to be where He is and not follow our own inclinations. This always seems like a tough call, but the blessing is that when we die to ourselves we step into resurrection life. It is only when we do this that His life in us can be released for others. The relevance of our status to the Kingdom of God is zero. A friend pointed out to me the other day (which other day depends on when you read this, of course) that Paul endured a beating and imprisonment before revealing that he was a Roman citizen – which would of course have spared him the suffering. But it was when he was in the prison that God was glorified.

We have all seen pictures and videos of crowds gathering at an evangelistic rally, and there is always a temptation for us to wave our palm fronds before the evangelist. And there is also a temptation for the evangelist to count the palm fronds as a measure of his success, and to glory in the brightness of the fire that the people flock to. But while the fire may be spectacular, the glory is not in the flames but in the life that they bring.

Talking of John the Baptist, Jesus said: “He was a burning and shining lamp, and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light.” (John 5:35) The fact that the Jews “were content to rejoice ” in the light of John the Baptist didn’t make them followers of Jesus, and today people can warm themselves in the flames of a powerful ministry without letting it impact their lives, particularly when it shines across the internet; and it is tempting to desire that others will warm themselves in our flames as well. But we are neither performers nor applauding spectators: we are unprofitable servants (Luke 17: 7-10), and our job is to be close to Jesus and serve Him in all that He is doing so that only He gets the glory. We neither seek nor give applause. But if we lay down our own lives to serve and follow Jesus, the Father himself will honour us. When you walk in resurrection life, you don’t need palm fronds.

Discipleship and witness, Knowing God, Living by Faith, Walking in the Spirit

Breakfast on the Beach: the King and His Kingdom

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“After these things Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and in this way He showed Himself: Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We are going with you also.” They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing. But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Then Jesus said to them, “Children, have you any food?” They answered Him, “No.” And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish.”
(John 21: 1-6)

Anything eaten with bread
I don’t know how many times I have read this account since I first staggered into John’s gospel nearly 40 years ago, but it struck me this time that Jesus didn’t ask them the natural question that you put to fishermen, which is “Have you caught anything?” Instead He asked if they had got any food. I wondered why He addressed them in this way, so I looked up the Greek. The word He used is prosphagion, which is sometimes also translated as “meat,” but refers particularly to anything eaten with bread. Since the men were fishing, Jesus was obviously asking about fish, but what He was asking was “Do you have any fish to eat with bread?”

As we know, the answer was a big round zero. They had nothing that went with bread. When we look at this figuratively it becomes even richer in meaning, because whatever it is that our “fishing” entails, not only does its fruitfulness depend on whether or not we are being guided by the Holy Spirit, but it is incomplete without Jesus, the Bread.

The King and the Kingdom
The disciples had nothing, and Jesus, the Bread from Heaven, was there with everything. He had bread and fish to eat, and the fire it was cooking on. He could have just given his tired, hungry friends a breakfast to remember and they would have been filled and happy. But He wasn’t just meeting their needs, He was revealing Himself and demonstrating something of His Kingdom – the other side of the boat. Having given the disciples the “Life in abundance” that cannot be found outside of His Kingdom, He invited them to bring Him their catch. And just as their prosphagion – their food – was incomplete without Him, so His breakfast was incomplete without their catch. Jesus is Lord of a Kingdom: if we want to bring people to the King, we need to show them His Kingdom; and we cannot invite them to the Kingdom without introducing them to the King.

“As soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish which you have just caught.” Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land, full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not broken. Jesus said to them, “Come and eat breakfast.” Yet none of the disciples dared ask Him, “Who are You?”—knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them, and likewise the fish.” (vs 9-13)

Sharing the feast
So whatever “catch” the Lord sovereignly provides for us, He still asks us to bring it to Him, because “By Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.” (Col 1:16). As we move into a season where reliance on the Holy Spirit’s direction and provision is going to become increasingly necessary, it is paramount that we remember that He wants us to share the feast with Him. Paul writes: “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” (Col 3:17) He hosts the breakfast, and He must have the glory, not just in name, but in the secret place of our hearts. Anyone can tag “in the name of Jesus” onto the end of a prayer or to cover an action, but the new testament “onama” means so much more than just a designation. Strong’s definition is “the name is used for everything which the name covers, everything the thought or feeling of which is aroused in the mind by mentioning, hearing, remembering, the name, i.e. for one’s rank, authority, interests, pleasure, command, excellences, deeds etc.” We cannot genuinely operate in Jesus’s name if we want our own name in lights as well. If we do not stay in this place of humility we risk drawing attention to the gifts and not to the Giver, and then the Holy Spirit is grieved and will eventually withdraw. Revivals die and ministries burn out when the breakfast is no longer shared with the Lord.

Feeding Others
But the story doesn’t finish here, because immediately after breakfast, Jesus asks Peter to feed and tend His flock. The two aren’t separate. Jesus didn’t just appear on the beach to tell Peter to feed His flock; He demonstrated how to do it by feeding him first. And as it was with Peter, so it is with us: if we have a calling to feed others, we must be able to point them to the abundant life on the Kingdom side of the boat, and then we must invite them into His presence, where the fire of the Holy Spirit is burning.

Holiness: You shall be perfect, The word of God

The Washing of Water by the Word (www.)

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“And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.”  (John, 17:19).

There is so much in His verse that one could write a whole book on it, let alone just a blog post. We think of sanctification in terms of the gradual process of the Holy Spirit working in our lives and purifying our characters, so that we become more like Jesus, more “saintly.” But that isn’t the way our Lord uses the term here: he couldn’t become more saintly than He was, or more like Jesus than he already was. The word used in the Greek is hagiazō, which is also translated as “consecrate.” What Jesus did here, as He did throughout His ministry, was to consecrate Himself to the Father’s will. Although most translations use “sanctify” here, the RSV uses the word “consecrate,”

“And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth.”

God‘s word is truth, and the Father’s will for Jesus was already expressed in the prophetic words of the Messianic scriptures. As He faced the cross, Jesus consecrated himself to the truth. The desires and impulses of His flesh were completely eradicated by His commitment to the Father.

Sanctified by the truth
Jesus sanctified himself for our sakes “that they also may be sanctified by the truth.” It’s easy to miss the word “also” here. But what it tells us is clear: His desire for His disciples was that we would have the same commitment as Him, and He committed Himself to the cross to make it possible (“that they also…”). He never intended discipleship to be a part-time post.

When Jesus faced Pilate a short while later, He said “Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” (John 18: 37), and Pilate famously asked “What is truth?” and turned away, assuming that the question had no answer. And as we know all too well, in the world system where Pilate had authority, truth is considered to be relative. But absolute truth does exist: Jesus Christ is Lord, His blood cleanses us from all our sin, God is our Father, He is Love, Love never fails. The doors to the Kingdom of Heaven, where Love rules and everlasting life awaits, are open to us through Jesus, its king. When the truth of the Kingdom of God reigns in our hearts we can die to self as Jesus did, knowing that self will always fail. We can consecrate ourselves to the truth in full assurance of faith, turning away from lusts and the lies of doubt, fear and pride that bring corruption. We will know the truth, and the truth will set us free.

The washing of water
Under the law, consecration was to be set apart from all impurities. As disciples of Jesus, we have been taken out of the world (John 17:16); we have already been consecrated. Jesus said to Peter, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” (John 13:10) This is picked up later by Paul: when he is drawing the parallel between the love of a husband for His wife and the love of Christ for the church, he says this:

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.” (Eph 5: 25-27)

When the disciples believed in Jesus, they were taken out of the world, and made clean by the perfect word that they had accepted. They weren’t clean because they had been marinating in the Holy Spirit for three years, but because they believed what Jesus had told them. When Paul writes “to the saints who are in Ephesus” (Eph 1:1), he was writing to all the believers there – all the consecrated ones – not just those who might be considered saintly. By washing their feet and commanding them to follow His example, Jesus was demonstrating to His disciples that their task now was to remain clean by continuing to believe His words, and by holding each other accountable for doing so. Paul’s revelation was not a new teaching, but a reminder of the lesson that Jesus gave in John 13.  “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” (John 14:26)

No less than those first disciples, we, the bride of Christ, were already made clean when we were taken out of the world by the word that we believed. To remain clean is a question of decision and determination to be bound to the word and the will of God. As we stay in tune with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, He will keep reminding us of the Truth. We don’t have to wait for sanctification to happen: we can sanctify ourselves as Jesus did every day of our lives, and the truth will set us free.