John: Jesus Deems Us What We Are Not Yet

All right, you can take a seat.

So John chapter 1 is where we've been the last four weeks.

John 1 · chapter mention

We get this story at this point where we're entering a week of Jesus' life, and this is him sort of coming public, his beginning his ministries, letting people know that he's not just an ordinary man from Nazareth, that there's there's a lot more to this story about him.

And he's gathering his crew, his inner group.

And this is this is so radical because the people he's gathering are the most it's just the most ragamuffin group of guys.

I mean, it's the it's it's the guys in gym class that were passed over, it's the guys in debate class that were passed over.

I mean, this is not who you gather to launch a worldwide ministry.

And this is who he's gathering together.

And then this week we see him gathering people, and then at the by the end of the week, he's at a party and he uh turns water into wine to keep the party going.

I mean, this is the most kind of wild week of entering into the public forum.

And this is what he's doing.

I sort of started to think about how how would I how would I launch my worldwide movement?

And well, I mean, I I would sort of um I sort of like Ronald Reagan my way into power.

I'd you know, I'd start in films and make a name for myself and let lots of people know who I am, and then maybe write a couple books and you know, get a good following, you know, you know, 10 million on Twitter or something like that.

I mean, gather a pretty good kind of movement and maybe run for governor, maybe just go straight to presidency and you know, do the oath of office and start to know kings and queens and rulers and get the smartest, find find the smartest, most well-connected people in the country, in the world, and I'm gonna gather them all together, and that that would be my group, because then we could really, we could really do something.

And and Jesus, Jesus does it totally different way, he's born to very common people, right?

I mean, we know the story, born in a stable, and then he's raised in this Nazareth, this I mean, this nobody town.

I mean, this is this ridiculous town.

It's still a nobody town.

When I was in Israel, uh, it's probably four or five years ago, and and we were going by Nazareth, and I think we went into Nazareth at one point, and it's still a nobody town.

I mean, outside of Jesus coming from there, there's nothing there.

There's not a lot going for Nazareth.

He quietly grows up, he gathers this group of twelve guys, of fishermen, of the guys who didn't make it, who weren't the smartest.

He performs his first miracle at a party.

So I have a handful of questions coming out of this John chapter 1, 24 through 51, which Sam read for us.

John 1 · chapter mention

The four questions I have that kind of came to me as I read this is what is a rabbi?

What is a disciple?

Who is Jesus in this passage?

What's this passage telling us about Jesus?

Then what does he say about me?

What does he say about you?

So, question number one, what is a rabbi?

This is verses 37 through 39.

When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus, turning around.

Jesus saw them following, and he asked, What do you want?

Pretty good question, maybe even for us.

What do you want?

Tough question.

They said, Rabbi, which means teacher.

Where are you staying?

Come, he replied, and you will see.

So in Jewish culture, there were two kinds of rabbis.

There was a Torah teacher who taught the Torah in schools, and then there was this other sort of rabbi, which is what Jesus was.

And this was a rabbi with authority or a rabbi with shmiha.

And he basically interpreted the text with new meaning, and then that was his teaching, and he traveled around and he taught, and he had disciples.

People followed him.

People followed his teaching.

He was well known, he gathered a following.

This is what a rabbi with authority was.

And these rabbis had yokes.

Their teachings were their yokes.

So when we get Matthew 11, and Jesus says, Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, I will give you rest, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light, he's saying, My teaching, my way of life is different than all the other rabbis.

They're interpreting the text and they're giving you more rules.

They're multiplying rules upon rules.

And Jesus comes along and says, I'm not going to multiply rules upon rules.

Actually, I'm going to fulfill, I'm going to fulfill the rules.

I'm going to fulfill the standard for righteousness, and this you receive.

This is a totally new way of life.

His teaching is a way of rest.

His way of life is a way of resting in him.

So hold on to that.

What is a rabbi?

That's what a rabbi is in four minutes.

What is a disciple?

Question number two.

What is a disciple?

Verse 37, we get this term, verses 43 through 45.

The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee.

Finding Philip, he said to him, Follow me.

Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Beth Sedai.

Philip found Nathaniel, told him, We have found the one Moses wrote about the law, about whom the prophets also wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.

So disciples are followers.

But let's look at this a little bit more.

What did the disciples, what did they think they were getting into?

Right?

I mean, they're fishing, they're carrying out their careers, their trade.

Jesus comes along, they recognize him as a rabbi, recognize him as something different here.

He's teaching in a new way.

So they recognize him as a rabbi.

They also recognize him as the Messiah.

I mean, they drop their nets.

What is it that these Jews thought they were getting into?

Well, to get that, you gotta get into kind of education.

How were these guys raised?

How were these guys raised?

How were they educated?

This is called the Mishnah, the Jewish educational system.

Bet Saifer was the house of the book.

This is elementary school.

And this is where you learn the Torah.

You learn to read it, you learn to write it, you learn to memorize it.

And they would learn to, at five to ten years old, they would learn to memorize Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

And a lot of 10-year-olds, by the time they left Betsefer, they would have all five books completely memorized.

So at this point, about a 10-year-old, a 10-year-old boy who's pretty weak in school, he would leave school.

He'd go follow his father's trade, he'd go learn to be a fisherman or a carpenter or whatever.

A lot of the girls at this point, they would drop out and go to the house and they would learn to run a home and what that's like, and they would learn that trade.

So some students, if you were good, you were strong enough, you were enough, you had enough potential, you would go on to Bet Midrash.

And you would continue to learn the scriptures.

You would learn to continue to memorize, to keep memorizing the prophets, the major prophets, the minor prophets, the rest of the Old Testament.

And so this is about from ages about 10 to 14.

At about age 14, school was pretty much done, unless you were the cream of the crop.

I mean, in this next school, this was Bet Talmud, this was like, this was like going to Harvard, this is Stanford, this is the MBA, this is the NFL.

I mean, this is the best of the best, the smartest of the smartest, the cream of the crop.

Most students at this point, most of the boys at this age 14, it was, you've done great.

Go and learn your trade.

Go and be a fisherman.

But for the cream of the crop, they would go and they would find a rabbi like Jesus.

They would go find one of these rabbis with Shmiha that taught with authority.

They would go and find him, and they would beg him, can I follow you?

Can I be your Talmudem?

Can I be your disciple?

And I don't want to just know what you're saying.

I want to be like you.

I want to follow you.

And the rabbi would turn, and when he's looking at the disciple, he's not just looking like, I'll take anybody into my into my crew.

He wants the smartest, he wants the most clever, he wants the most potential.

And he'd ask him some questions.

If he doesn't think they're going to cut it, he would say, just go, go and learn your father's trade.

This isn't for you.

But the cream of the crop got to come and got to follow him.

And it was all about perpetuating his yoke, carrying out his teaching and his way of life.

So so the disciples are fishermen.

What does this mean?

They didn't cut it.

They weren't the brightest.

They weren't the smartest.

They didn't have the most potential.

They didn't have what it takes.

And Jesus comes and goes to them, right?

He says, You follow me.

Those are the disciples I want.

The ones who don't have all their act together.

So Jesus calls them and they spontaneously attach to him while also reaching out, right?

I mean, we see this.

They spontaneously follow him, and at the same time, immediately, spontaneously, they want to go tell their brother.

They go get somebody else.

So there's this spontaneous, I attach to him, I'm going to know him, I'm going to follow him, I'm going to be his disciple.

And at the same time, it's not just about me and him.

There's also this kind of reaching out.

This is this kind of dual nature of being a Christian or being a disciple.

It's not one or the other.

It's not outreach or knowing him and going deeper.

I mean, these things go together.

To know him more means you reach out more.

The call to follow Jesus is not to be perfect.

It's not to be enough, to be the cream of the crop.

The call is not to a set of rules.

It's to him, to the person.

And I say that on the foundation of the past four sermons.

That he is the creative energy and personality of the entire universe.

That he's grace and truth.

He's not law.

He's the fulfillment of the law.

That he identifies with sinners.

He wants to be with us.

John the Baptist is baptizing on the river, and Jesus is in line with the sinners.

And we're called to know him.

What is he like?

What was he about?

What does he say about me?

So we know Jesus was rabbi, he was Messiah.

What else do we get from this passage about Jesus?

Who is Jesus?

Question number three, who is Jesus?

Well, just to keep you updated, I know you are you just want to know.

Prince William and Princess Kate, they're doing fine.

Baby George, he's doing great.

They're actually, I know you're interested, they're actually adding a sunroom onto uh Amner Hall, their country home.

It's on 20,000 acres of royal family owns.

It's a just a small plot of land out of the countryside.

Um I learned this in Huffington Post.

See, mind you, this is world news.

I renovated a uh our girls' bathroom, second bathroom.

I had to make Brad go come look at it.

They're adding a sunroom onto their country home, and the it's on Huffington Post.

It's it's for the world to know, right?

I mean, this is the difference here between Prince William and Russ Masterson.

There's a vast, vast difference.

So he he's second in line to the throne of England.

I'm sure all of us are aware of this.

Um in 1982, the world awaited his birth.

We all probably watched his wedding or saw clips of the wedding.

The world awaited the birth of George.

He was educated at prep schools, he was educated at St.

Andrews.

He sat around.

I mean, his dad's gonna be king, his grandma's the queen.

I mean, he's he sits around tables with kings and queens.

I once met the mayor of Lawrenceville at a barbecue restaurant.

Just to let you know the difference here.

Does William know what it's like to never leave your town because you're poor?

Does he know what it's like to get a parking ticket and not be connected enough to get out of it?

Does he know what it's like to go to an average school with a mediocre education which will probably forever limit what's possible for you?

Does he know what it's like to have$100 left in the checking account and you're just hoping to make it to the end of the month?

Does he know what it's like to worry that you could die and the world would not even notice?

He seems like a nice guy, right?

And he's he's a guy.

So he has his own particular problems and distresses that we probably can't even imagine.

But he's no commoner.

He's known, he's applauded.

Here's my point.

All logic says the best way to lead a worldwide movement is to come as Prince William, to capitalize on your connections, the opportunities you have.

And then we have Jesus showing that the way of humility, the way of commoners, raised in a nobody town, gathers twelve ragamuffins, that this is a totally different way to view life.

So Jesus calls Philip.

We see in verse 45, Philip goes and he goes to his to Nathaniel and says, We found him, but the one Moses wrote about, we found him, we found the Messiah.

He's here.

He's really they've been waiting, Jews have been waiting for the Messiah, for the fulfillment of this law.

And what they thought, they thought he was going to come as Prince William.

And he comes humble, he comes in a stable, he comes from Nazareth, and so a lot of Jews don't even recognize that the Messiah is here.

Didn't come as they thought.

And so Nathaniel just responds, he's Nazareth?

I mean, could anything, could anything good come from Nazareth?

About 10 years ago, uh, six friends and myself, we went to New York City for uh New Year's Eve.

This was before I was married, so it's probably been 11, 12 years ago.

I think Christian and I were dating, and so seven of us go, and my uncle sets us up with his Hilton Points, double tree on Times Square.

So our room overlooked Times Square for New Year's Eve.

I mean, it was incredible.

We had to be back to the hotel room by about three o'clock or so in the afternoon to start blocking off roads, and then you know, we watched until about 11 o'clock or so just out the window, and then we took the elevator down, we pushed our way out into the crowd, we hung out and had a good time and party for you know a couple hours, and then we walked our 50 feet back to our hotel, went straight up, went to bed.

It was unbelievable, and it was incredible.

We flew into Newark to get there.

I don't know if you've been to Newark.

So we flew into Newark and we realized quickly that we could pot, we could get a limousine.

Seven of us.

Together, it made it affordable.

And so, seven of us, we got a limousine, and we all seven of us packed into the back of this limousine to take the ride from the Newark airport into Manhattan.

So we get out of the Newark airport and we look around.

It is not impressive looking around Newark, New Jersey.

Don't know if you've ever been there.

So we get in the limo, we start riding.

There's not much warehouses, is no place.

You're not going, we have arrived, we're in Newark.

This is amazing, Newark.

But what we see off over there is we see these sky rises, building after building, rising to the sky.

I mean, it's New York City, it's Manhattan.

I mean, that's that's where we're going.

That's where we're that's where we're headed, and we cross the bridge, and we are in a different world from Newark.

Right?

I mean, the city's buzzing with energy and money and ambition and talent and creativity.

I mean, we have arrived, we are in, we are in Manhattan, Nazareth was Newark.

All logic says Jesus would come from New York City, he would come from Manhattan.

But here's the Messiah.

And from the very beginning, God is reclaiming what is common and what is forgotten to be sacred.

This is such good news for us because if you're like me, you're you are you are uncomfortably in touch with how common you are.

And to hear that that you are sacred and that to God all people are sacred.

Not just the powerful and the well-connected, and the ones who can make the cut, the ones who can make it into Bet Talmud, but the fishermen are sacred, and the carpenters are sacred, and that all people are sacred, and all things are sacred, that there's always something more going on.

There's always something more meaningful going on.

Which leads us to the last question.

What does God say about us?

What do we see in this passage?

Well, he refuses to accept that we're common.

And he rightfully says we're sinners and broken and messed up.

But we're not common.

Verses 41 and 42, Andrew finds his brother Simon.

Jesus says to Simon and says, You are Simon, son of John.

You will be called Peter.

Now Peter means the rock.

This isn't a new name to replace the old name.

This is sort of like his nickname.

This is this is for Peter, this is amazing because Peter, if we we know Peter from the rest of the stories in the New Testament, he doubts, he's impulsive.

He he is me, he is you.

He's just kind of always screwing up, he's asking a stupid question.

I mean, he's just like the most normal person.

And this is the one that Jesus comes to and says, I'm gonna call you the rock.

And Jesus kind of messes with them throughout the Gospels because whenever he screws up, Jesus would call him Simon.

And then whenever Jesus is addressing him and things are going okay, Jesus calls him Peter.

And it's Jesus' sort of sort of way, I don't think he's like condemning him, it's his sort of way of saying, you know, you're more than this.

And I even I even call you more than this.

So it's not just like pure challenge, like you're screwing up, and I, you know, you're better than that, you're better than that.

It's sort of like you're screwing up, and even then I see you as the rock.

Even when you're unstable and impulsive, I still see you and call you the rock.

I mean, this is amazing because all of us go to outside words for our righteousness and our identity.

We go to collecting a bunch of good behaviors to feel righteous.

Or we we go to jobs or we go to performance or we go to people to feel like some sense of identity.

And a sense of self can't be formed by looking into the self because that's the thing we're trying to form, so that's not reliable.

And a sense of self shouldn't be formed by looking outside of you to a word that's contingent upon you, because then again, it's formed upon you, which is the very thing you're trying to get some stability and security.

So, where do we find a word that's secure for us, for our righteousness and for our identity?

And it's got to be a word from outside of ourselves so it's not contingent upon ourselves, a word spoken to us.

Like Jesus comes to Peter when he screws up and he says, Peter.

And I think for Peter, you know, can you imagine, right?

I mean, you screwed up.

I think for Peter it's probably there's a little bit like when he hears that, it's like, oh, you know, you know, well, when Jesus would call him Simon, Peter would be thinking, call me Peter.

Don't call me Simon, call me Peter.

I want I want to be I want to be called the rock.

And and when Jesus would call him the rock, you can just feel that you could see the sense that Peter would have of like, yes, that that's who I am.

Thank you for calling me that.

That Jesus would give us a name that we aren't even before we are that.

It's amazing.

That we'd be righteous before we're righteous, holy before we're holy, sacred before we're sacred.

I mean, this is the beauty of Jesus, that he's he comes as a commoner.

He loves messed up people, he dies on a cross for all of our screw-ups, and he rises from the dead to give us life over the death that we perpetuate and we will experience.

This is the gospel.

Though you are not a rock, I will call you the rock.

Though you are not righteous, I will call you righteous, not by what you do, but by what I will do for you.

I will be your righteousness.

See, God's already decided how he feels about you.

He's already decided.

Secure, stable.

This is because this rabbi came.

A new yoke.

Come to me, all you are weary burden, I will give you rest.

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Let's pray together.

Father, we thank you.

We confess.

We are not always the rock.

We are not we're not always righteous.

We thank you that you deem us righteous and you deem us the rock, anyways.

Thank you that you're willing to speak to us and call us Simon to remind us that we have an old identity that we we should not be living out of, that we should be living out of this covering you have given us, this new identity.

We thank you that this new identity is not formed on what we do, what we've done, what we will do.

It's solely the outside word spoken to us.

This is what we take rest in.

This is what we're grateful for, this is what brings us joy.

Amen.