Wednesday, November 9, 2011

The Fisherman's Story: A Study in the Gospel of John

"The Telling of the Fisherman's Story"

John 1:19-12:50

 

I.  The Story Is an Unveiling of  the Redemptive Promise of God, 1:19-4:54.

 

A.  John the Baptist:  the Presenter of the Promise, 1:19-34.

B.  The First Disciples:  Attracted to the Promise, John 1:35-51

C.  The First Proof of the Promise's Power and Person:  The Miracle at Cana, John 2:1-11.

D.  The Capernaum Interlude, 2:12 (Mention of Jesus' brothers)

E.  The First Cleansing of the Temple, 2:13-22 (The Zeal of Jesus for His Father's House)

F.  The First Presentation of the Gospel Message to a Seeker (Nicodemus), John 2:23-3:21.

G.  The Transfer of Mission from John the Baptist to Jesus, 3:22-36.

 

1.   John and Jesus preached the same message and administered the same baptism.

 

(John 3:22 NIV)  After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized.

 

2.  Jesus' popularity was beginning to eclipse John's.

 

a.  John's ministry was still attracting disciples.

 

(John 3:23-24 NIV)  Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were constantly coming to be baptized. {24} (This was before John was put in prison.)

 

b.  John's disciples were concerned over Jesus growing popularity over John.

 

(John 3:25-26 NIV)  An argument developed between some of John's disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. {26} They came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan--the one you testified about--well, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him."

 

3.  John clarified his and Jesus' role.

 

a.  John the Baptist was honored with his "bridegroom" role representing the Groom.

 

(John 3:27-29 NIV)  To this John replied, "A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. {28} You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.'  {29} The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.

 

b.  John the Baptist knew the temporary nature of his role.

 

(John 3:30 NIV)  He must become greater; I must become less.

 

c.  John the Apostle knew the significance of Jesus' appearance from heaven

 

1)  John testified to Jesus' person.

 

(John 3:31 NIV)  "The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all.

 

2)  John's testimony was not generally accepted. 

 

(John 3:32 NIV)  He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony.

 

3)  John testified to the truthfulness of his testimony and presented the reward of belief against the consequence of unbelief.

 

(John 3:33-36 NIV)  The man who has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. {34} For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. {35} The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. {36} Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."

 

H.  The Samaritan Ministry

 

1.  The reason Jesus went to Samaria:  to avoid jealousy among disciples

 

(John 4:1-4 NIV)  The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, {2} although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. {3} When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. {4} Now he had to go through Samaria.

 

2.  The town and time Jesus of Jesus' arrival:  Sychar at noon (reckoning from daybreak)

 

(John 4:5-6 NIV)  So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. {6} Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

 

3.  The person of interest in Sychar:  a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well.

 

(John 4:7a NIV)  When a Samaritan woman came to draw water.

 

The topic of conversation:  Living Water vs. well water

 

a.  The conversation's opening

 

(John 4:7b-10 NIV)  Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" {8} (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) {9} The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) {10} Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."

 

b.  The significant dialogue

 

1)  The woman:  Jesus' ability and credibility questioned

 

(John 4:11-12 NIV)  "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? {12} Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"

 

2)  Jesus:  The difference between Jacob's physical water and Jesus' living water presented.

 

(John 4:13-14 NIV)  Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, {14} but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

 

3)  The woman:  A misconception revealed

 

(John 4:15 NIV)  The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water."

 

4)  Jesus:  A divine power manifested

 

(John 4:16-18 NIV)  He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back." {17} "I have no husband," she replied. Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. {18} The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true."

 

5)  The woman:  An enlightened understanding with a diversionary question

 

(John 4:19-20 NIV)  "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. {20} Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."

 

6)  Jesus:  A diversionary question turned into a relevant topic

 

(John 4:21-24 NIV)  Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. {22} You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. {23} Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. {24} God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

 

7)  Jesus and the woman:  Their moment of truth and realization

 

(John 4:25-26 NIV)  The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." {26} Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he."

 

8)  The disciples:  Speechless surprise

 

(John 4:27 NIV)  Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?"

 

9)  The woman:  A compulsion to share

 

(John 4:28-30 NIV)  Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, {29} "Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" {30} They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

 

4.  The lesson to the disciples

 

a.  They were taught at an opportune time

 

(John 4:31-33 NIV)  Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something." {32} But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about." {33} Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?"

 

b.  They were taught in familiar terms

 

(John 4:34-35 NIV)  "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. {35} Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.

 

c.  They were taught with a spiritual purpose

 

(John 4:36-38 NIV)  Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. {37} Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. {38} I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor."

 

What were the lessons to be learned?

 

1)  Now is the time to reap souls prepared by the ministry of others (the prophets).

2)  Now is the time to rejoice in seeing the harvest take place.

3)  Now is the time to appreciate the sacrificial work of previous ministers of God.

4)  Now is the time to enjoy the benefits of others sowing labor by reaping the harvest of that labor.

 

c.  The proof of the lesson

 

(John 4:39-42 NIV)  Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." {40} So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. {41} And because of his words many more became believers. {42} They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world."

 

Lessons from John

 

1.  The most valuable servants of God are those who know they are servants—of Christ. 

 

There is a flow to ministry that moves people in and out, around and through the mission of Christ's church.  Some will increase while others decrease, but all must keep on serving and seeking always the increase of Christ's glory.

 

(Col 3:16-17 NIV)  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. {17} And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

 

2.  Even those who serve in the background out of the spotlight are indispensable and should be treated with respect. 

 

(1 Cor 12:22-26 NIV)  On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, {23} and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, {24} while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, {25} so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. {26} If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

 

Lessons from the Samaritan ministry

 

1.  Opportunities to share Christ take place in the normal routines and activities of life.  Our contacts with others are divine appointments to speak what He would speak to them.  We have the answer to the need they do not know they have.

 

(1 Pet 3:15 NIV)  But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.

 

2.  The world is full of souls whom God has prepared to find life in His Son.  Others, if they do not believe, need to know the consequences of unbelief.

 

(Acts 8:26-31 NIV)  Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south to the road--the desert road--that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." {27} So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, {28} and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. {29} The Spirit told Philip, "Go to that chariot and stay near it." {30} Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. "Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked. {31} "How can I," he said, "unless someone explains it to me?" So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

 

Admittedly, few of us would expect to be directed by an angel to witness to a specific person. The fact is, we are all witnesses all of the time no matter what else we may be.  Let us be sensitive to the opportunities the Lord sends our way.

 

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