Good Morning Church Family – Journey Through John

Read John 11:17-27
 
Devo Thought: Have you ever been so sure of a belief only to find out that you have been partially wrong in your understanding? I remember a summer afternoon at a baseball practice for my oldest son. For context, I was not a good baseball player when I was younger. I wanted to help “coach” my sons’ teams so that I could spend time with him and his friends and encourage them. His head coach had actually played college baseball and knew what he was talking about. That day, we were working on hit-and-runs. This is an offensive play where a runner on base (typically first) is put into motion at the pitch and then the hitter tried to put the ball in play. We ran on of these and the ball was hit. The runner at the time stopped running and froze. I got onto him and told him to keep his head down and to keep running. The head coach said, “No, you need to find the baseball when you hear contact, but you can keep moving while you do it.” I was only partially right. I needed correction. That’s what we see in this passage. Martha has a number of partially right beliefs about Jesus and about the resurrection. She is right to say that Jesus could have healed her brother. She is also right to say that her brother would be resurrected at the last day. However, she hadn’t fully understand who Jesus was, and so he corrects her. He explains that he himself is the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in him will never die. After correcting her, Jesus asks her the question that I think is intended for all of us. Do you believe this? This is whole point of the Gospel of John. He writes all of this so that we would believe in Jesus. Throughout John’s Gospel, he has done amazing signs and wonders to show that he is “the Messiah, the Son of God who comes into the world.” Do you believe this?
 
Let us ask God to help us believe in the Messiah Jesus.

Good Morning Church Family – Journey Through John

Read John 11:7-16

Devo Thought: As you read the gospels, have you ever noticed that Jesus sometimes asks really odd questions? These questions don’t seem to fit within the context of the larger discussion or situation. Let me state clearly, none of these questions is accidental. So, here we find one of those odd questions. Jesus and the disciples are in the middle of waiting to go and see Lazarus. Two days pass from when they found out about Lazarus’ illness, and then Jesus tells them it is time to return to Judea. The disciples are confused and remind Jesus that the people there just tried to stone him. Then, Jesus asks the question, “Aren’t there twelve hours in a day?” If you are like me, you are probably wondering what this question has to do with anything related to the conversation. Here’s what I think Jesus is trying to show his disciples. The answer is in what follows his question. He says, “If anyone walks during the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of the world. But if anyone walks during the night, he does stumble because the light is not in him.” What he means is that he knows what he is doing. He can see what is going to happen, even if they can’t. He is the light of the world (he said so in John 8:12), and his disciples just need to follow him. He knows what he is doing. In fact, this whole story is about him knowing what he is doing. They simply need to trust him, to follow the light of the world, and then they won’t stumble. This is an important reminder for us. We can walk in the light because we know the light of the world, and because we know him, when we follow him, we won’t stumble.

Let us thank God that we know the light of the world.

Good Morning Church Family – Journey Through John

Read John 11:1-6
 
Devo Thought: My guess is that everyone listening to this today has been through a moment or two in your life where everything feels like it is out of control. We’ve all likely had those moments where we feel lost, confused, and scared. We’ve have family members or friends who were sick or in danger. We’ve gotten phone calls we didn’t expect. We experienced sudden and devastating loss. We’ve had relationships end abruptly. There is a verse in our passage that I found to be incredibly encouraging for us in those moments. For context, Lazarus is sick, very sick, and Jesus knows about it. He could go quickly to him and heal him. We know he has that power, but he delays. Back to the verse of incredible comfort. I’ll show my hand quickly and say that it isn’t when Jesus says, “This sickness will not end in death but it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” While this is very true, I can understand how some might see this as a cold comfort. While God might be getting glory, I still lose. I doubt that I would lead with something like this if I was attempting to comfort a family that was suffering. I’m just sharing honestly as one human to another. However, and this is an important however, the truth above is given more context by John. This context makes all the difference to me. John writes, “Now Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus.” All that Jesus does and says and allows to happen to us is done in the context of his love for us. There is never a moment when he does something or says something or allows something where his love is not in view. We may not understand in a moment how God is glorified, but we can understand that He loves us. He always loves us in all that he does and says, and that makes all the difference when our lives feel out of control or when we lose or suffer.
 
Let us thank God that all that He does is guided by His great love for us.
 

Good Morning Church Family – Journey Through John

Read John 10:30-42
 
Devo Thought: This passage deserves a longer and more thorough treatment, so today I’m going to address one thing. Jesus starts with “I and the Father are one.” This is a statement that the Jews present view as clear blasphemy, and they want to kill him for it. The key thing to consider about this particular verse is that John’s Gospel is emphatic on the point of Jesus’ divinity. It was written in part to address this particular issue. The other three gospels dealt with Jesus’ works and his humanity. John was providing balance and reminding people of the fact that Jesus was fully man but he was also fully God. Being fully man he could bear the penalty for our sin; being fully God he could satisfy the righteous requirement for the Law. This is one of the passages people point to prove this theological point. As to the rest of the passage, I think it deserves a more extended treatment, so I am going to come back to it as a kind of appendix to this devotion. So, be on the lookout for that.
 
Let us thank God that Jesus was fully man and fully God.
 

Good Morning Church Family – Journey Through John

Read John 10:17-29
 
Devo Thought: Once saved, always saved…anyone ever heard this phrase? Basically, it is the idea that once we have been saved by Jesus, we cannot lose that salvation. It is based on two big ideas. First, it is based on the idea that our salvation is neither based on our ability to save ourselves nor on our ability to keep ourselves saved. Second, it is based on the idea that Jesus protects us as one of his sheep once we have been saved by him. We see this idea very clearly in this text today. Jesus says, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” Jesus’ sheep (those he has saved, those who he has laid his life down for) have the double protection of the Son and the Father. This means that neither the enemy can pull us from the hand of the Father and the Son nor can we ourselves wriggle free from the grasp of the Father and the Son. They have us. This has two major implications for our daily living. First, it means that we can be assured of our salvation. It means that we can have peace, knowing that God’s love for us is unconditional. We don’t have to worry about whether He will change His mind about us. Second, it does not mean that we can do whatever we want now that we are saved. While we can’t sin our way out of salvation, we can sin ourselves into a state of doubt, fear, and a completely lack of peace, joy, and hope. God’s grace isn’t a license to sin and selfishness; it is a license to love and sacrifice (go and read Romans 6-8 and Galatians 5).
 
Let us thank God that our salvation isn’t based on our own efforts but on the work of Jesus.
 

Good Morning Church Family – Journey Through John

Read John 10:16
 
Devo Thought: I love passages like this one. The truth about our faith is that it is exclusive. There really is one way, one truth, one life. Not everyone gets in. This is a hard and fast truth about the world and about our faith. However, this truth is so often misunderstood. At times it has been taken to mean that not everyone is invited. The exclusivity of Christianity is taken to mean that the faith is only for this group or this people and not for that group. This isn’t really what exclusivity is about. Within exclusivity, there is a beautiful inclusivity. From the beginning, God’s plan was to bless all the families of the earth by sending his Messiah (see Genesis 12:1-3). This promise to bless the whole earth, all the peoples, all the nations, is echoed throughout Scripture. So, when we see Jesus give voice to it again by saying “I have other sheep that are not from this sheep pen,” we shouldn’t be surprised. Jesus is just bringing to fulfillment God the Father’s plan from the very beginning. He has been working since the Fall, since the Tower of Babel, to reunite all people into “one flock” with “one shepherd.” This is what the Apostle Paul is talking about in Ephesians 2: “But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away (the Gentiles) have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who made both groups (Jews and Gentiles) one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility…so that he might create in himself one new man from the two, resulting in peace.” Jesus is for everyone, and it is our job to cast the net wide because he wants to bring us all together under himself, the good shepherd.
 
Let us thank God for the wideness of His plan and promise.
 

Good Morning Church Family – Journey Through John

Good Morning Church Family – Journey Through John
 
Read John 10:11-15
 
Devo Thought: At this point in the story of John 10, Jesus uses another metaphor to describe himself and his relationship to his people. He says, “I am the good shepherd.” What makes someone a good shepherd? A shepherd’s job is to care for and tend to the needs of his sheep. He needs to guide them to pastures for food and to water. He needs to move them from one place to another. He needs to find places of safety from storms and wild animals. Many shepherds in Jesus’ day would have been hired hands. These hired hands would be willing to do their jobs up to a certain point. They would be willing to lead the sheep to pastures and to water. They would be willing to guide them safely from one place to another. However, when danger approached, they would flee. A hired hand knew there would be limits to their care for the sheep. However, a shepherd who owns the sheep knows how value each and every sheep is. This is where Jesus differentiates himself from those hired hands. His love for the sheep isn’t a mercenary love. His love for his sheep isn’t bound by monetary gain. As Jesus says, he is the good shepherd because “I lay down my life for the sheep.” He is good because he willingly sacrifices himself for us. He knows his sheep, and he wants to protect them, to save them from danger. It’s a comforting thought to know that Jesus is the good shepherd. He knows what you and I need. He knows us. He has laid down his life for us.  
 
Let us thank God that Jesus is the good shepherd.

Good Morning Church Family – Journey Through John

Read John 10:7-10
 
Devo Thought: What is the purpose of a door? A door provide entry to a place. It can also deny access to an area. A door can give you security and privacy. Here Jesus moves the metaphor a little and becomes the door. He serves as access to or a barrier to abundant life. What exactly does this mean? For a long time, I made the mistake of thinking that my sin was the barrier that denied me access to God the Father. This is sort of right, but if we are to take Jesus seriously in this instance, he is the one who stands between me and the Father. Here is what I mean. Jesus dealt with my sin on the cross (He dealt with everyone’s sin on the cross); therefore, sin no longer stands as a barrier to the Father. However, for me to enjoy the benefits of what Jesus has done, I must put my faith in him and in his work. So, for me to gain access to life with the Father, I must go through the door that is Jesus. This might help in understanding places in the Bible that talk about the unforgivable sin. You see, if you read that passage (Matthew 12:22-32), the sin in question is the sin of unbelief. It is attempting to attribute the work of God to something or someone other than God (speaking against the Holy Spirit), and the greatest work of God is what he has done in Jesus His Son. This is why Jesus can say that he is the door. He is the only way into the Father. It is only by faith in him that I can gain access to the Father. I don’t need to deal with my sin (kick down the door myself); Jesus did that already. I need to put my faith in Jesus. When I do, I’ll enter into life with God and experience the abundant life of the good shepherd.

Let us thank God that he dealt with our sin and that faith in Jesus is the way into life with Him.

Good Morning Church Family – Journey Through John

Read John 10:4-6
 
Devo Thought: Last time, I mentioned our dog, Maggie. I wanted to include her again today. Remember quickly that I mentioned that she’s the best dog I’ve ever had. I will say that she is definitely not a guard dog. A few years back, Julie and I were selling our house, and our realtor would regularly bring people by to see the house. Maggie would be in the backyard, minding her own business, and suddenly, there would be people walking out of the back door of the house to see the backyard. Instead of running up to happily greet them or barking and growling to tell them to get out of here, she would hightail it out of there. She would run around the corner as quickly as she could. She heard a voice she didn’t recognize, and she immediately thought there was danger. If Maggie could teach the kids one lesson, it was the stranger danger lesson. She didn’t trust strangers, and she wasn’t about to let them take her or lead her astray. Maggie is a good teacher for today’s lesson from Jesus. Just as Jesus’ sheep hear his voice and respond to him, they also recognize when someone else speaks. They recognize the voices of strangers and know there is danger. I want to ask you to consider whether you listen to people who aren’t Jesus with a discerning voice. Are we careful who we let influence us? This is important when we consider the voices we hear from society, from politics, from the church. If you aren’t sure, if something sounds off, trust that instinct that tells you danger is near. Compare what is said to the voice of Jesus. If it lines up with what he has said, then great! But, if something (no matter how good it sounds, no matter how much you might like it) sounds off, run away. Follow the voice of Jesus and not the voice of strangers.
 
Let us ask God to help us to be a discerning people.

Good Morning Church Family – Journey Through John

Read John 10:1-3
 
Devo Thought: A little over eight years ago our family got a dog. Her name is Maggie. She is a boxer-lab mix, and she is the best dog I’ve ever had. I think her behavior is a direct result of the way I decided to train her. I got a book when she was a puppy entitled “The Art of Raising a Puppy.” The book is written by a group of monks that raise German Shepherds. One of the things that they talk about early on in the book is the fact that the dog will respond to the voice of his or her “alpha.” In short, an “alpha” is the one the dog sees as the authority. That’s the voice the dog will listen to over all other voices. I took this to heart and made sure Maggie knew that I was her “alpha.” While she is good about listening to the kids, she knows when I or Julie are talking to her, and she responds. This is part of what Jesus is talking about in this passage today. He starts into an extended metaphor. In it, he will compare himself to a shepherd (and later on a door). He will talk about the gatekeeper (that’s God the Father). Finally, he will talk about his sheep (that’s us). One of the things he makes clear in this metaphor is that his sheep will hear his voice and respond to it. Just like dogs, research shows that sheep are able to distinguish the voice of their shepherd apart from the voices of others. The question for us to consider today is, do we consider Jesus as the voice of authority in our lives? Do we respond to him when he speaks? Does that response look like obedience? If not, it probably means that we don’t see Jesus as our “alpha,” our shepherd.  
 
Let us ask God to help us to hear and listen to the voice of our good shepherd, Jesus.

Good Morning Church Family – Journey Through John

Read John 9:18-34
 
Devo Thought: I wanted to hone in and focus on a particular phrase in this long passage today. As the Pharisees are questioning the man born blind again, they are trying to convince the man that Jesus is a sinner. They say to him, “Give glory to God.” What happens after this is somewhat comical because the man does exactly what they wanted him to do, but the result isn’t what they hoped for. The man born blind proceeds to say, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” The Pharisees were hoping the man would give glory to God by denying, and instead, he gave glory to God by glorifying Jesus. This is, in fact, what we see happen for the rest of the passage (and, in truth, the rest of the Bible). Here’s the thing: everyone who has ever lived will give glory to Jesus. This is what Paul says in Philippians 2:10-11: “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess. Every person will do this, willingly or unwillingly. This is the ultimate destiny of every human person. Will we be like the man born blind, who was willing to stand up and confess that Jesus had done a great thing for him, or will we be like the Pharisees, who try to deny him? The man born blind gave glory to God; the Pharisees did not. Let us be a people who give glory to God the Father through Jesus Christ his Son.
 
Let us pray to ask God to help us glorify Him by glorifying Jesus in all that we think, do, and say.

Good Morning Church Family – Journey Through John

Read John 9:13-17
 
Devo Thought: Mark Twain once said, “If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything.” What he meant by this is that when we tell the truth, we don’t have to think of things to say. There is nothing to make up. We just have to say it. Here we have the continuation of the healing of the man born blind. He is brought before the Pharisees in a mock trial and asked about what happened to him. He has told people that it was Jesus who healed him, but the Pharisees want more. They want some ammunition to condemn Jesus. They don’t want the truth about Jesus. As the man testifies, we see a man who isn’t trying to fabricate a story. He is simply telling the truth. The story is simple: “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” Amazing. Profound. Simple. Jesus met him and changed his life forever. The Pharisees only care about one thing. They want to condemn Jesus. They want to stop him. They don’t care about the truth. They care about their way. So, they shift the story away from the truth (that a miraculous thing has happened) and toward their agenda (Jesus didn’t keep the Sabbath). I think it is important for us to think about this when we are telling our own story and also when we are looking for the truth. We don’t tell the truth or get to the truth by deflecting our attention from it and onto less important things. In the end, the Pharisees ask the man what he thinks about Jesus (whether he is from God or a sinner) and without hesitation, he answers them, “He is a prophet.” He tells the truth because he had met the Truth.
 
Let us pray and ask God to help us to be truth-tellers and truth-seekers.

Good Morning Church Family – Journey Through John

Read John 9:8-12
 
Devo Thought: While Julie and I lived in Starkville, we attended First Baptist Church. We were active and involved in the life of our small group (a young married class) and in the life of the church as a whole. About halfway through my master's program, I felt a call to ministry. We left a year later, and I began attending seminary in North Carolina. The Lord grew me and Julie tremendously in that first year or, so we were in North Carolina. I decided that it was time for me to be ordained as a gospel minister, and we returned to First Baptist Starkville. As a part of the ordination process, I had to be examined by a group of ordained men from FBC Starkville (the pastor and a few others). I remember having a conversation with them about my personal testimony and calling into ministry. That Sunday I preached, and in the evening, I was ordained. After everything was over, I recall having a conversation with one of the men who was a part of the ordination council and who I had interacted with regularly while we had been members there. He looked at me and said that I was a different person than I had been before leaving. What had changed was that I had really started spending time with Jesus and people had really started to disciple me. When you spend time with Jesus, your life will be different. This is what the man born blind experienced, and people immediately noticed. They see him and begin to question whether it is really him or not. Jesus had changed the man’s life forever, and people noticed. Does your life look like that? Has spending time with Jesus made you look different?
 
Let us ask God to help us to allow Jesus to change our lives as we spend time with him.

Good Morning Church Family – Journey Through John

Read John 9:6-7
 
Devo Thought: I remember, when I was working at my first job, my boss told me to go and clean up an area at the back of the store. He didn’t give me all the details of why he needed it done. He just needed it done. He gave me instructions on what to do and how to do it and what the end-product should look like. I also remember that it was a messy and long project (it took most of a couple of days), and I recall thinking to myself, “Why am I doing this?” I was wondering if he had just given me a bunch of busy work because there was nothing else to do. It wasn’t until later that I found out that the reason he had me clean and clear that area was because there was a secondary project that would lead to the expansion of that back area. He gave me a job and expected me to do it without knowing all of the reasons why it needed to be done. In our passage today, Jesus heals a man in a kind of gross way and without much explanation. He anoints the man’s eyes with saliva-made mud and then tells him to go and wash it off in the pool of Siloam. According to the text, he doesn’t even tell the man that he’s healing him. The man just obeys, and he “came back seeing.” Sometimes, we just need to obey. Often our mode of operation is to expect God to give us all the details and then we will obey. We excuse this lack of immediate obedience by saying, “I just want to make sure I do it right.” There is a simple lesson to be learned in this passage. Do as Jesus say, trust the direction you’ve been given, and see what happens. Jesus is good; he can be trusted. If he commands us to do something, it is for our good and for the good of the people and world around us.
 
Let us ask God to give us a heart of obedience.

Good Morning Church Family – Journey Through John

Read John 9:3-5
 
Devo Thought: Anybody ever heard of an auto stereogram? An auto stereogram is a a 2D image that creates an optical illusion of a 3D scene. These are the pictures that you must stare at for a really long time to see what’s really going on. Even after staring at for a while, it can still be difficult to make out the scene behind the surface. I remember looking at them when I was younger. I would almost always have a friend that would see the object or scene under the surface before I did. When they told me what they saw, I would immediately see it too. This passage is an auto stereogram. Here is Jesus, answering the mistaken question of his disciples: Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus tells them to look closer. When they do, they will see the real purpose behind all this. Jesus tells them that something far deeper and far greater is at play here. The 2D image is just the surface. What’s just under the surface is the glory of God. Sometimes that’s not easy to see because we are distracted by the surface-level details, or maybe we aren’t quite sure what to look for. Then, someone comes along and looks at the picture and immediately helps us see our mistake. I think this happens a lot in our lives. We get so lost in the surface-level details of life that we miss out on the glory of God. Slow down, look harder, pray carefully, and you might just see God’s glory all around you.
 
Let us ask God to see the whole picture and to reveal His glory to us.

Good Morning Church Family – Journey Through John

Read John 9:1-2
 
Devo Thought: Have you found yourself looking at someone else’s situation and thinking I wonder what they did to bring this on themselves? Often, people who find themselves in difficult situations have been the source of that difficulty. However, there are just as many times that people end up in challenging circumstances that have nothing to do with them. The disciples see this man born blind and ask the question aloud that many of us have internally. “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” This is the same question that Job’s friends asked him when his suffering came upon him. They asked him over and over again, “Job, what did you do that brought this calamity on you?” Too often, we worry about the source of someone else’s trouble rather than offering them the God who can heal them, the God who can sustain them through it. Surely, you know people in your life who seem like they have a lot of trouble in their lives. Stop worrying about whether they are the source of their trouble. God will deal with that if that is the case. Instead, let us see what we can do to help them. Let us offer them the grace of God rather than our assumptions.
 
Let us ask God to help us see people as possible objects of God’s love and grace rather than assuming they are objects of his condemnation.

Good Morning Church Family – Journey Through John

Read John 8:39-47

Devo Thought: Yesterday, we looked at the passage where Jesus pointed out that the crowd of religious leaders aren’t really children of Abraham. Instead, they have a different father altogether, and they won’t like what Jesus has to say. I wanted to take a moment to think about what Jesus says about their father. Jesus tells them that their true father is the devil. “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires.” I think too often we overlook or shrug off thinking about the devil. We have an enemy, who, as Peter tells us, is like a roaring lion seeking for someone to devour. Jesus tells us a couple things about this enemy. First, he is a murderer. He was working in Cain to murder his brother Abel. His desire is to see you and me destroyed. So, in our anger, wrath, and malice, we see the work of the murderous spirit of the devil. This is why there are so many passages in Scripture about self-control and the danger of anger. Second, he is a liar. He “does not stand in the truth.” Lying is his native language. He is the “father of lies.” Every lie ever spoken came from him. Moreover, we know that he is the accuser of the brethren (Satan literally means accuser). The devil wants to deceive and destroy us. We must know that he is there; we must realize that he will always be at work to deceive and accuse us. What’s even more important is that Jesus has overcome him and defeated our enemy. While the devil will accuse us before God, Jesus will be right there interceding for us at the right hand of the Father.

Let us thank God that Jesus has overcome our enemy.

Good Morning Church Family – Journey Through John

Read John 8:31-38

Devo Thought: Have you ever heard of the etymological fallacy? A fallacy is a mistake in our logic or thinking. Specifically, the etymological fallacy is the mistake that a word’s meaning comes from its origin instead of its customary usage. Basically, it’s the idea that we can discover the meaning or importance of something by tracing it back to its origin/beginning. In this passage, we see a group of people, who when confronted with their slavery to sin, make a type of etymological fallacy. They point back to their supposed origin (Abraham) and say they have never been enslaved. Jesus starts to correct them in this passage by pointing out a couple of things. First, they are slaves to sin because they make a practice of sinning. So, they are, in fact, slaves to sin, as we all are apart from Jesus. This is the very point he makes next. The Son, because he abides in the house, is able to free the slave, who cannot abide in the house. Second, Jesus points out that they aren’t actually sons of the Abraham because, if they had been, they would have believed in him. Instead of believing in Jesus, they want to kill him. The crowd of religious leaders were trying to point back to their origin to explain themselves, and Jesus was pointing out that they were mistaken in trying to do this. He finishes this passage by explaining to them that Abraham isn’t their father. They have a different father, and tomorrow we will look at this. Today, I think it is important for us to remember it's not our origins that define us (our family/religious history, our past “good works”). Jesus is the one who defines us.

Let us thank God that we don’t have to depend on our family history or good works to define us.

Good Morning Church Family – Journey Through John

Read John 8:13-30

Devo Thought: In this passage, we have a continued interaction between Jesus and the religious leaders. They keep thinking that they know who he is, and Jesus keeps assuring them that they don’t know who he is. Jesus keeps talking about his relationship with the Father, and the religious leaders make it clear they still believe that he is referring to Joseph, the man who was the husband of Mary. Then, all of the sudden, I think there is a moment of crystal-clear clarity in the minds of the religious leaders. They suddenly realize that they are dealing with someone who is far different than they were assuming. In verse 24, Jesus says something so powerful that the religious leaders are stopped in their tracks. They look at Jesus and can only ask the question, “Who are you?” The assumptions, at least for a moment, are gone, and they aren’t saying things like we know where you are from or who your parents are. What made them stop their assuming? Jesus says something that he will repeat later in the chapter. In verse 24, he says, “unless you believe that I am [he] you will die in your sins.” The important part is right in the middle. It is when he says, “I am.” That’s Yahweh’s name. By saying it, Jesus is saying that he is in fact “I AM” in flesh, and they must believe this in order to be free from their sin. They heard and began to question their assumptions, and so they ask (I believe wide-eyed and fearfully), “Who are you?” Let us not become so familiar with Jesus that we forget who he really is, and if we do forget, let us pray that he reminds us and stops us short again.

Let us ask God to help us keep a right and fresh view of Jesus.

Good Morning Church Family – Journey Through John
 
Read John 8:12

Devo Thought: Just as there had been a water pouring ceremony at the Feast of Tabernacles, there was also a candle lighting ceremony. The Jewish texts that describe the ceremony don’t reveal the meaning of the ceremony. Some believe that the candle lighting points back to the time when God led the people of Israel through the wilderness by way of a pillar of fire at night. God had shined a light in the darkness so that the people would know where to go. Lately with the bad weather we’ve had around here, it has been important to have a reliable source of light. My guess is that a number of you had to use flashlights or candles to function within your houses for hours, if not days. We forget how much we rely on the light provided by the convenience of electricity. We need light to help us in the darkness. The light makes the way clear for us and reveals where the dangers lie. Jesus says very clearly, “I am the light of the world.” As one commentary puts it: “Jesus intends for his followers to be guided by him through the wilderness the same way Israel was guided by the pillar.” If we have Jesus, no matter how dark it gets, we will have light that will never be extinguished. We will always be able to see what is happening and where to go. There is a thought from C.S. Lewis that I love. He wrote, “I believe in Christianity as I believe the sun has risen; not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” We not only see Jesus, the light of the world, but by him, we see everything else.

Let us thank God that in Jesus we have the light of the world and we never have to walk in darkness.

Good Morning Church Family – Journey Through John

Read John 8:11

Devo Thought: Yesterday, we read about a woman who was caught in the act of sin (specifically adultery), and instead of a death sentence, she receives grace from Jesus. I left the very last sentence out yesterday because I wanted to address it today. Jesus, after telling her that she isn’t condemned, says, “go, and from now on sin no more.” Too often, people make the mistake of thinking that the grace of Jesus means that he doesn’t really care how we live. We make the mistake of believing that grace is simply a “get-out-of-jail-free” card. This is never the picture of divine grace we see in Scripture. You are not condemned is always followed with now, go and live in the freedom of obedience to divine grace. Paul talks about this in Romans 6. He says in Romans 6:4, “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Grace leads us to a transformed life, a new life, in which we walk in the freedom of serving God. Later in the same chapter, Paul says, “Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?” In other words, grace frees us not so that we can go on sinning without consequences but instead so that we can go on to serve God with the gift of this newly transformed life. Grace means we can live in the freedom of “neither do I condemn you; go, and from now sin no more.” Will we choose this way?

Let us thank God for the freedom to serve Him by following Jesus.

Good Morning Church Family – Journey Through John

Read John 7:53-8:11

Devo Thought: There are times in Scripture where someone in one of the stories very clearly stands as a representative of all of us. In this passage, the woman caught in adultery is this person. Her accusers bring her before Jesus and say, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.” Think about the words “caught in the act.” If you’ve ever been caught in a sinful act, you know the sinking feeling that comes with those words. Here’s the thing. All of us have been caught in the act. Every single one of us is not only generally sinful. Each of us has sinned very specifically. We have each hurt others through our lies and deception, through our anger or lust. Each of us will kneel before the “Teacher” and must answer for our sin. We will have to wait for the answer to the accuser’s question, “So (Teacher), what do you say?” If you’ve ever been “caught in the act,” you also know this moment, waiting for the “death sentence” to be passed. We wait for it because we know deep down that this is exactly what we deserve, and we do deserve it. But, this is where the divine grace and mercy of Jesus steps in and does the unexpected. Instead of a death sentence, we get “Woman, where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you? Neither do I condemn you.” I want to stop there today and just bask in the beauty of Jesus’ amazing grace. Instead of death, he passes freedom and life over this woman caught in the act, and he does the same for each of us. Praise God!

Let us thank God for the grace and mercy we have received in Jesus.

Good Morning Church Family – Journey Through John

Read John 7:45-51

Devo Thought: Questions are incredibly useful in helping people communicate. They invite clarification. They allow for elaboration. Sometimes, they even expose and reveal motivation. In this passage today, a character we met earlier in John’s Gospel shows back up and asks an exposing question. Nicodemus, from John 3, is present as the officials are trying to get the officers to arrest Jesus. The officers don’t want any part of that because they’ve never heard anyone teach like Jesus. Because of this, the Pharisees accuse the officers of believing in Jesus and call the crowd accursed. Nicodemus then asks his very fair and legitimate question: “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” This immediately exposes the Pharisees hypocrisy. They are people who swear by the law, but they aren’t even upholding it regarding their judgment of Jesus. They immediately attempt to slander Nicodemus. I believe they do this because they feel conviction. I think there’s at least a couple of things for us to consider as we think about this story. First, can we at least appreciate the slow and careful work of the Spirit in the life of Nicodemus? He may not have been converted the night he met with Jesus, but something in him definitely began to change. Second, we should not be surprised when we catch flack for calling out sin and hypocrisy. It will happen. Third, we can call out hypocrisy without accusing others directly, but by gently calling attention to it as Nicodemus did.

Let us ask God to show us any hypocrisy in ourselves and then to speak the truth in love.

Good Morning Church Family – Journey Through John

Read John 7:40-44

Devo Thought: There is a scene in the movie Saving Private Ryan where the character Captain Miller, played by Tom Hanks, reveals where he is from and what his former profession was before leaving to fight in World War II. Throughout the movie, his men had an on-going bet about where he was from and what he did, but no one had been able to find out. It was the subject of conversation at various times throughout the movie. The scene where he reveals this information takes place right after one of his men tragically is killed due to a decide Captain Miller makes. He tells his men this information so that they would remember that he’s a man just like each of them. It is a powerful scene. I bring it up because Captain Miller was misunderstood at times because people didn’t have all the information about him and failed to ask the right questions about him. We see something similar in our passage today. After Jesus makes the proclamation about rivers of living water coming from those who believe in him, people begin making all kinds of guesses as to who exactly he is. “He’s a prophet…He’s the Christ.” They know he’s different; they know he’s special, but they can’t figure him out. What’s interesting is that no one asks him any questions. They just assume. If they had asked him where he was born, he could have told them that he was born in Bethlehem, not Galilee like they assumed. The thing I want you to ponder today is, are you asking Jesus the right questions? Are you asking him any questions at all? Or are you simply assuming you know it all already? Jesus invites questions, and he has answers. Will we ask him?

Let us ask God to help us trust him enough to ask questions.

Good Morning Church Family – Journey Through John

Read John 7:37-39

Devo Thought: I remember a couple of years ago when we told our kids that we were going on a Disney vacation with a family that are our dear friends. In this particular case, we told them several months we were going to go. What was cool about that was the fact that we began to enjoy some of the benefits of the upcoming trip. We began planning. We watched videos about some of the rides. Our excitement grew day-by-day. We were already enjoying the upcoming vacation even though we were not yet there. We see this concept of already-not yet show up all over the place in the Bible. As followers of Jesus, we can enjoy some of the benefits of his Kingdom even though it has not yet been fully realized. We see this concept in this passage today. At the Feast of Tabernacle, there was likely a water-pouring ceremony that could have symbolized a number of things from the Old Testament prophecies. For example, in Ezekiel, there is a prophecy about a great river flowing out from the reconstructed temple of God. Jesus looks at the crowd and says whoever believes in him will have rivers of living water flowing out from their hearts. John tells us that this was about the Spirit but that the Spirit had “as yet…had not been given.” This is where the concept of Christian hope comes in. There are these places in Scripture where we see that we have access to the coming Kingdom and enjoys those benefits; however, there is coming a day when those benefits will be fully realized. So, until then, we hope; we look forward to that day with anticipation. So, if you find in yourself this longing for the not yet, I want to remind you of the already and to encourage you to look forward to the not yet. It is coming. Keep on hoping.

Let us ask God to help us continue to persevere in hope.