John #27: Anointed As King (John 12:1-11)

History is filled with accounts of royal coronations. Emperors, kings and queens ascend their thrones amid pomp and ceremony, all of it designed to celebrate the new rule and power over people. Sometimes the ceremony is meant to inspire fear, other times there were assurances of peace and prosperity, but all of it was focused on the new ruler’s power. Coronations of kings and priests run as a thread all through the Hebrew bible – and very rarely did the ruler placed on the throne do well with that power.

It all leads to Jesus – the King of kings and Lord of lords. If we had in mind the grandeur of history’s celebrations of new rulers, we’ll be deeply surprised at how this goes down in Jesus’ anointment as King.

This Sunday we’ll be examining John 12:1-11.

The scene that John describes is one that would have been awkward and uncomfortable in our culture to be sure, but in actuality it would have been weird in Jesus’ day too.  Back in Luke 10, Mary upset her sister Martha by defying ancient protocol when she sat out with the men to learn as a disciple while her sister conformed to the domestic expectations of the day. Here again, Mary behaves in a way that for some people viewing it, might have cast her in an unsavory light. Letting down her hair to wipe Jesus’ feet, pouring out an entire box of oil when just a dab would have done…these were actions that were out of sync with the expected norm, and it created a reaction.

How do you think you would have reacted to Mary’s behavior? Who reacted negatively to this action? What seems to be the most important issue for him? What seems to be important to Mary?

All of the different characters and all of their responses. Who do we relate to the most in this section? The Chief Priests react with their one-note response…they want to kill someone. Let’s hope you don’t relate to that. Mary sacrificed a very expensive box of oil to pour out on Jesus. She also sacrificed her dignity and reputation. All because she wanted to demonstrate to Jesus her love for him. How much of Mary do you see in your approach to worship? How much of Judas?

Everything about Jesus disrupts and inverts the normal expectations of this world’s system, especially as it touches what it means to reign in power.

This should prove to be a challenging study this week! Hope to see you there!

Click here for a pdf of the teaching slideshow.

John #26: Following Broken Patterns (John 11:45-57)

Have you seen any of those videos that inform you that you are incorrectly attending to some menial task you’ve been practicing your whole life? For instance, most of us tie our shoelaces incorrectly. Or we hold the can opener the wrong way. There’s just a plethora of habits and patterns we’ve accepted in our daily lives that can be proven wrong.

That is a startling truth when in comes to how we, as Christians, carry ourselves in this broken world. There are patterns that the world has which we often adopt without thinking about it – patterns which Jesus and the Gospels challenge us about.

We’ll be continuing our study in John this Sunday, reading ch 11:45-57.

The whole section is the fallout from the amazing miracle Jesus performed in raising Lazarus from four days of death. Instead of rejoicing and seeking God to see what such a miracle meant – the religious leaders begin considering the political ramifications of Jesus’ popularity, and come to the conclusion that he must die.

The motives of those religious leaders mirror the motives of the systems of this fallen world. Their story is a cautionary tale for those who claim Jesus as their Lord. We’ll examine those motives on Sunday and identify the responses that would more likely fit a follower of Jesus.

When the religious leaders discuss their Jesus problem – what is their main concern? Try reading the passage in different translations. Who does it seem like they are most concerned with? To what lengths are they willing to go in order to preserve their positions of privilege? How does that contrast with Jesus’ ministry so far in this gospel – and where we know that it’s going?

What are the possible broken patterns that the church today is following, and how might we change those patterns in our own lives?

These will be interesting things to ponder – I hope you can join us this Sunday!

Click here for a pdf of the teaching slideshow.

John #25: Resurrecting Hope (John 11:1-44)

It’s the sad refrain of a broken world: “If only”. “If only he’d entered the freeway five minutes sooner…”, “If only I would have kept my mouth shut…”, “If only the lab results had shown it…”, ….. “If only God had heard my prayers…”.

We live in a world that is painful and confusing so often, and for people who want to seek after God, adding to that pain and confusion is the regular complaint that one prayer or another has gone unanswered. It’s very tempting to assume that God has forgotten, doesn’t care, or has no plan at all for us in the vast scheme of things. If you’ve ever felt that way, please know that you’re not alone. Every honest seeker of God will wrestle with this at some point in the journey.

We’re going to be reading a large portion of text this Sunday, John 11:1-44, which begins the revelation of Jesus’ glory and power – but which also sheds a remarkable light on the subject of delayed answers in prayer.

The text plainly says that Jesus loved this family, yet it also says even though Lazarus was sick, Jesus waited two more days to head to Bethany. Does that seem like the behavior of someone who loves someone else? His reasons for delay are somewhat disclosed in v15 – does this give us any clue as to why God sometimes allows our prayers to seem unanswered? How can we view an apparent silence from heaven differently in light of this?

When Jesus arrives both women confront him with “If only you’d have been here”. In answering Martha, Jesus makes another statement of “I am”, calling himself the resurrection and the life. He was revealing that in some mysterious way, the future hope of God’s plan of redemption was reaching back to the present and infusing life with abundant possibilities, beyond what we can see (HT N.T. Wright). But this wasn’t just a theological exercise for Jesus – he isn’t portrayed as a dispassionate observer of human plight. V33, 35 and 38 make that abundantly clear. If Jesus is the fullest revelation of God and God’s heart toward the human race – what does his reaction tell us about God’s heart in the midst of our plight?

What happens next is one of those too good to be true moments. It forecasts what Jesus himself will soon experience and the hope of Easter morning. But it serves also as a parable for us. What are the bleak situations or hopes that have died which we’ve rolled a stone of resignation over? Even though Jesus didn’t respond when we wanted him to, and things don’t look the way we expected them to…can we allow for the possibilities of him bringing new life in ways we never thought of? Have you experienced this already? Have you faced some pain and seeming disinterest from heaven, only to find that God has revealed some new and unexpected life in ways you hadn’t anticipated? What lessons about God, his patterns and his heart toward us can we learn from this text?

I’m really looking forward to this study – hope you can join us!

Click here for a pdf of the teaching slideshow.

John #24: Who Is Jesus? (John 10:22-42)

My husband Matt loves movies. Last I checked we owned over 1,000 dvd’s. If you don’t know, DVD’s are a disc that has a movie on it and it’s kind of like a CD… which if you don’t know what a DVD is then you definitely don’t know what a CD is. Either way, my husband organizes all of the DVD cases not in alphabetical order, or by genre, but by the color of the DVD case. He does this for me because I really love the look of it all together on a shelf and the way that one color feeds into the next. When we lived in Jacksonville, we came home one night to find that our apartment had been robbed. They took computers, instruments, and anything else they could find that seemed valuable at the time. They also cleared a very large bookcase of DVD’s before they left. 

I know, it sounds like a heartbreaking scene for someone like my husband who loves his movies so much.The good news, or great news even, was that my husband never keeps his DVD’s in the case. He keeps them in a large binder stored directly next to the DVD bookcase. This means that there was a point in time when the robbers went through every single DVD case to find absolutely nothing inside. I wonder if they gave up checking after they realized the first few were empty, or if they sat there in a pile of empty cases checking every last one. Either way, the DVD’s and the binder were safe at home and the cases have never been seen since.

There are certain spoken and unspoken rules about how things should be organized in our culture. Books, movies, and files are often organized alphabetically or by genre, and stories are often told chronologically in the order the events happened. John, and several writers from the Bible, played by different rules. Their culture certainly had priorities about how history should be preserved, but chronological order was not always of greatest importance. This Sunday, the verses that we study will jump from one festival to the next. This is because John organized his gospel by thematic events. However, this was not put together hastily or without thought. On the contrary, what we discover is a literary design that is incredibly complex and meticulously structured.

This Sunday we will be reading the second half of John chapter 10. We find Jesus in the festival of Hannakuh and the people are asking Jesus to explain who he is. The verses in the translation I’m using say: “Tell us plainly who you are”,,, but another translation could be “Stop annoying us and tell us who you are.” Jesus responds to the question by not only saying who He is, but who we are as his followers.

Some people do not take the straightforward answer well. Others are intrigued. We invite you to join us this Sunday at 10:00AM to discover more about who Jesus is, the themes John presents to us in the book of John, and where we fit in the narrative.

Click here for a pdf of the teaching slideshow.

John #23: The Good Shepard (John 10:1-21)

One of the challenging things about reading Scripture is trying to figure out the imagery employed from an ancient culture. As the saying goes, the bible was written for us, not to us. I’ll admit that there is not a lot in my life thatWe’ll be reading John 10:1-21 where Jesus gives a discourse that provides a contrast to the corrupted religious system that had just rejected the formerly blind man, and Messiah who went to find him.

The story is the closest thing to a parable that we find in John’s gospel, and it uses imagery that would have been familiar to the first hearers but which is almost totally foreign to us.

He describes a practice of shepherding where there was a common sheepfold used by multiple shepherds. This pen would likely be a circular stone walled enclosure with one gap which would be guarded to ensure the security of the sheep. The shepherds would be known by the gatekeeper, and their sheep would follow them by the sound of their unique call, or whistle, or a tune played on a flute.

This good and proper practice is contrasted with sheep rustlers who sneak over the fence to steal sheep – forcing them to go with them.

Then Jesus changes the metaphor, where HE is a gate for the sheep. This still stays within the shepherd mold as well. Shepherds would sometimes sleep in the gap of the enclosure, as the first line of defense against robbers or predators that might threaten the sheep. He would literally become a door to the pen.

He talks about motives – the motives of hired hands and the motives of a good and true shepherd.

All of this is meant to contrast the values and purpose of the kingdom of God over against a religious system. As you read this description by Jesus,what are the main characteristics of his relationship to his followers? In what ways can a religious system manifest the characteristics of the robbers Jesus described?

Jesus seems to be trying to encourage people like the formerly blind man that religion may reject them, but it doesn’t really matter. Following Jesus is where real life is found. But this begs the question…how do we KNOW we’re following Jesus and not a religious system? How can we discern what or who we’re following by the clues Jesus gives us in this story?

This is an important issue to consider. I’m looking forward to digging into this on Sunday – hope to see you there!

Click here for a pdf of the teaching slideshow.

John #22: Blinded By Sight (John 9:1-41)

This Sunday we’ll be reading a familiar but challenging text in our study of John. We’ll encounter a man who was born blind whom Jesus healed – and the miracle of this man gaining his eyesight effectively blinds the religious leaders in the story. It’s another classic “gospel reversal” which we encounter frequently in John’s gospel. We’ll be reading Chapter 9:1-41.

This is honestly an entertaining passage – it reads like a Shakespearean comedy. There is witty dialogue, imbecilic folly, but also pathos and drama. It’s a great story with a powerful message.

The story begins with a stunning miracle performed by Jesus, as well as some insight as to the nature of suffering – but that part is really only the set-up the real point – the reaction from the religious elite.

As we read this passage, it’s easy to identify with the man healed from blindness. It’s the oft repeated theme of the powerful oppressing the weak, and it reveals the absurdity of obsessive rule-keeping. But as members of the church in 21st century America, we need to recognize in the folly of the religious leaders a cautionary tale about the symptoms of religious blindness.

In v14 we find out why the healing of this man is controversial at all – it took place on the Sabbath. No work was to be done on the Sabbath day – and according to the Talmud, kneading was a forbidden work – something Jesus did when squishing his spit together with dirt to make a paste of mud. An activity that required the use of three fingers stirred up an outrage that ended with one man being excommunicated from the hub of Jewish society, the synagogue.

We could wag our heads at these religious leaders and wonder how they could be so blind…but as the modern church, do we have similar blind spots? Can you think of any examples where the rules of what we might consider righteousness have become more important than people? Have you ever witnessed the church pushing the requirements of holiness at the expense of people?

As you think about it, why did John include this story in the good news about Jesus? What do you think his purpose is; what is he trying to reveal about the religious order of that day contrasted with the plan of God as it unfolded through Jesus?

How can we keep ourselves from succumbing to religious blindness? How would you rewrite the Pharisee’s story if they were truly able to see?

Can’t wait to cover this one…hope to see you Sunday!

Click here for a pdf of the teaching slideshow.

John #21: Spiritual DNA (John 8:31-59)

DNA testing to discover our ancestry has been all the rage for the last several years. People have looked into their histories and found new family members or had surprising results that indicated they were not who they had always thought they were.

In the passage we’ll be reading this Sunday Jesus will be discussing family lineages, though not biological or genetic ones. We’ll be tackling John 8:31-59, the last installation of a very long conversation/argument that Jesus had with the leaders and the crowds while in Jerusalem.

As the discussion opens, what does Jesus point to as our source of true freedom? How does that compare to what most people think freedom is? The Israelites were outraged that Jesus would infer that they weren’t already free people (which is odd, considering that there were probably Roman soldiers standing guard, watching this increasingly argumentative crowd). They considered themselves part of the covenant people simply because they had the right last name and were part of the Jewish race. Yet Jesus equates freedom from sin with adoption into a family – we are freed from our bondage to a broken self will and elevated to the status of family members with God. In other words – being born as a descendant of the people of promise doesn’t automatically make a person part of the family – one must commit one’s self to Christ. How does this play out in our present day church environment? How can people make the mistake of thinking they are secure in God’s family when possibly they are not?

Jesus then makes a sharp delineation between families – indicating that those who are rejecting him and his teaching are showing off the family resemblance – only they’re revealing they’re part of the wrong family. How we respond to Jesus reveals our family traits. How will our lives reflect our response to Jesus?

In the last section, Jesus makes the profound statement “Before Abraham was, I AM.” – equating himself with God and inspiring the crowd to want to stone him on the spot. It’s an awesome thought to me that Abraham looked down the corridors of history in anticipation of Christ’s day and rejoiced…it reminds me that being part of a family with God has always been his design. God wants family, not drones of religion. How can we be inspired to live in a way that shows off the family resemblance? This will be a challenging yet encouraging study – I hope you can join us this Sunday!

Click here for a pdf of the teaching slideshow.

John #20: Our Guiding Light (John 8:12-30)

A few weeks ago, I had a friend tell me a story about his elderly cousin that he helps to care for. His cousin lives about an hour away and usually has a list of things for him to work on when he stops by. Recently, she had a light bulb in her kitchen go out. Since she was unable to fix it on her own she had to wait for one of his visits to come and replace the light bulb. My friend went into his cousin’s kitchen and in the dark he could see silhouettes of pots and pans that had been piled up. It had been too dark to care for the space or do dishes since there were no windows. He went in with his ladder, unscrewed the old light bulb, and put in the new light bulb. Can you guess what happened after that?

As the the new lightbulb was put in, he saw rodents scatter everywhere. The room was filled with them and they scrambled quickly to hide back in the safety of the darkness. I gasped in terror when I heard this story while he merely chuckled. I guess he has come to expect this sort of thing.

I think if it were me I would want to unscrew the new lightbulb and back out of the room slowly. In a situation like this, I’d rather not know what is lurking in the shadows. Sometimes, when light exposes things we don’t want to see, there can be a tendency to flip the switch off and say, “I’d rather not know. I’m good with the way things were.” 

This Sunday we will be reading John chapter 8:12-30. The first verse will start with the revolutionary declaration that Jesus makes about himself. Jesus says that He is the light of the world and that anyone who follows him will no longer have to walk in darkness.

This confronts everyone who hears this statement with a choice. Do we choose to follow Jesus and follow his light, or are we good with the way things are? Do we want to live in darkness with dirty dishes? I mean yes, there may be rodents, but at least we can’t see them! 

Or do we want to follow Jesus and live in the light? Do we want the honest truth, no matter how uncomfortable it may be? The gospel is regularly confronting us with this choice and it’s one that we cannot answer for other people. Each one of us must look at our own lives, examine our own feet, and decide which direction to take our next steps.

I’m looking forward to digging into this passage. As always, there is so much beneath the surface that will be fun to unpack and discover together at church this Sunday. Hope to see you there!

Click here for a pdf of the teaching slideshow.

John #19: Spiritual Malpractice (John 8:1-11)

This Sunday we’ll be reading one of my favorite stories about Jesus. In it, we’ll see the Jesus I’ve put my whole trust in and the grace on which my hope is glued.

The problem is…most scholars don’t believe the verses we’ll be reading are from the original manuscript of John’s gospel. Worse…I believe them.

However, that doesn’t mean I don’t count this story as accurate or true. It’s sort of complicated – but we’ll get into it more on Sunday.

We’ll be reading John 8:1-11 in our study of John, the story of the woman caught in adultery – or, as I prefer to call it, the case of spiritual malpractice.

As you read this story, there are some very poignant questions you want to keep in mind. First and foremost is: Where is the man and accusations against him? According to Deut 22:23-24, both parties in this scenario were to be put to death. We assume she was betrothed since death by stoning is only mentioned for engaged people in the Law. Why might the religious leaders not be interested in the man in this relationship?

If the woman were engaged, she lived in a culture where her husband had been picked for her by her father. Have you ever seen Fiddler on the Roof? Do you remember the daughters who had different ideas about marriage than Tevye? It’s a very reasonable possibility that this woman had a young man in her life that she had fallen in love with and they gave in to their desires. I think it’s really interesting that so many paintings and movies depict the woman of this story dressed in red and displaying the stereotypical attributes of promiscuity. I seriously doubt that was the case.

Why do you think the narrator points out that Jesus stooped to draw or write in the dust, but didn’t provide the details of what he drew or wrote? If what was drawn isn’t important, what significance can you imagine would be conveyed by that action?

Jesus’ answer is possibly one of the most quoted passages in Scripture, next to “judge not”. Usually, both are misapplied when used. If Jesus meant that a person had to be sinless in order to carry out the judgements of the Law, nobody would ever have been held accountable. It’s likely that he’s pointing out Deut 13:8-9 which commands the accuser to strike the first blow. He’s also saying something else – theses accusers need to look at their own hearts to determine if they’re in a position to rightly defend God’s righteousness this way. It’s sort of like: “If we’re gonna’ get this serious about defending God’s righteousness, we may need more stones than just for her.”

By saying this, Jesus brings to light the most heinous sin being committed that day. What were these men doing by leveraging God’s righteousness and the Law of Moses in order to get at Jesus? In what way were they using God’s word and their faith? How can we keep from doing the same thing in our own context? Where do we apply God’s truth, first and foremost?

The graceful words that Jesus wraps around this woman are beautiful to me. His final command, to “go and sin no more” has been puzzled over a lot. He said the same thing to the man he healed at the Pool of Bethesda after he had been busted by the religious leaders for carrying his mat on the Sabbath. In both cases where this phrase was used, the context is one where people are being abused by religious authorities. Since going forward and living a “sinless life” was, and is, completely impossible for humans in a fallen world – perhaps he meant “change the trajectory of your life because these guys are looking for a way to get me through you.” I certainly don’t know if that’s the right way to read it, but it sort of tracks.

Either way…that statement is placed at the very end of this story. How many steps can you discern that happened between Jesus’ first meeting this woman until that statement? Did he lead with a command about sin? When did he express grace and release her from condemnation, before or after this command about sin? What might we learn from that?

I’m really, really stoked about this study – I can’t wait to dig into the scriptures together! Hope to see you Sunday!

Click here for a pdf of the teaching slideshow.

John #18: Gaining Clarity (John 7:25-52)

This Sunday we’ll be reading John 7:25-52 and we’ll be tracking the same themes we looked at last time: a misunderstood Jesus.

It’s not easy to find clarity in this life. Our world is generally a blurry place. There are so many things that want to influence us, but we see so little of the whole picture that it’s very difficult sometimes to make sense of life. That’s one of the things Jesus has come to do in introducing the kingdom of God – he provides a story from which we can start to make sense of the world around us.

In order to grasp that story though, we have to avoid some of the attitudes and reactions that many of the people in this passage had.

In v 25-29 the people draw a conclusion about Jesus based on the rabbinical teachings that Messiah would appear with no origin story. How does Jesus address this misunderstanding? What didn’t the people know? Does that imply anything to us about what we are sure we know about God and his ways?

In v 30-36, and 40-46 the leaders of Jerusalem want to arrest Jesus but the guards they sent come back stunned and empty handed. The leadership thought that they were in control of this situation, but clearly they were not. What do you fear losing control of most – and what can we learn about who is in control from this passage?

The people in power react to the growing support Jesus is gaining in Jerusalem in v47-52. What attitude jumps out at you from their statements? It’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture when we start thinking more of ourselves than we should. In what ways can we as the church start to feel superior to others, and how can we counteract that tendency?

The key to clarity is found in the middle of the passage, in v37-38 where Jesus makes an invitation. It’s a powerful moment which we’ll describe in more detail on Sunday. He’s addressing a spiritual hope in Israel, water being a symbol for the end of exile… but it also points to a deep human need – a longing for fulfillment and purpose. Come and drink and then be the conduit by which others have their thirst quenched. How can drinking in Jesus’ words, example and mission be a source of satisfaction and purpose in our lives?

Click here for a pdf of the teaching slideshow.

John #17: Overthinking Jesus (John 7:1-24)

Have you ever watched talent competitions on TV, like American Idol, and been amazed at how unaware people can be of themselves? There are countless examples of contestants entering these types of competitions convinced that they have what it takes to win the show, only to be shocked when the judges say that they have no business even singing in the shower, let alone in front of people. It’s a harsh reality that some people have trouble facing. While others may be aware of their own lack of ability, there are certain people who are blindly confident in themselves, even when they shouldn’t be.

This Sunday, we’re going to be reading John 7:1-24 and we will be reading about several different scenarios of people whose confidence is misplaced in their own knowledge and idea of who Jesus should be. And while Jesus isn’t a cruel British judge on a panel, he is clear when people aren’t hitting the marks of what his mission is all about. Not only does Jesus confront the misunderstandings, he also continues his mission of exposing the truth of what is in people’s hearts.

Jesus’ brothers are also introduced in the gospel during these verses. They are mentioned in a few other gospels and even some of Paul’s writings for the early church. We can assume they were often around Jesus and we can also assume they weren’t followers (YET). Since they have a close connection to Jesus, they offer some familial advice about how to fix the problems Jesus is facing. I like to imagine them laying on a couch somewhere and interrupting important conversations to share their solutions. “You know what you should do Jesus…” 

While it will feel easy to judge the people interacting with Jesus in these verses, it’s important to remember that scripture is meant to be a mirror we hold up to ourselves. What parts of these interactions can we relate to? How often do we dictate, with misplaced confidence, the direction that we want Jesus to go? Where does humility fit within our approach to understanding Jesus?  Join us this Sunday at 10:00AM as we read through and discover the answers to these questions together.

Click here for a pdf version of the teaching slideshow.

John #16: Casual Or Committed (John 6:60-71)

Have you ever had a fair-weather friend? You know, someone who is happy to be your pal until it may cost them something or it is somehow inconvenient. Then they are nowhere to be found. Jesus had and still has his share of those types of friends, as we’ll see in the passage we’ll be exploring this Sunday – John 6:60-71.

Jesus has gone off the deep end in some people’s estimation, talking about eating his flesh and drinking his blood – a clear violation of Old Testament law. Jesus was speaking figuratively…but even still, it was just too uncomfortable for many of his followers…..so they quit following.

Jesus didn’t soften what he said or chase everyone down and beg them to stay with him. Does that surprise you at all? What elements of the gospel disturb you or rub you wrong? When Jesus says we have to lose our life to find it…or demands that we take up a cross to follow him…or insists that we forgive people who mistreat us? What about where he tells someone to sell everything and follow him? We like to think about miracles and grace and Jesus loving the outsiders….but there is all this other stuff about eating his flesh and dying to self that sometimes makes us want to avoid Him.

So what do WE do in those instances? We may not ever admit to walking away…but do we shut out those hard claims of the gospel on our lives? Through a thousand little choices do we reclaim our lives from Jesus, or do we remain committed to His Gospel?

Peter’s response to Jesus is beyond wonderful to me.

“Where we gonna’ go?” What has the gospel brought to your life that you think you could replace through some other pursuit? How can we remind ourselves of what’s really important when we’re tempted to return to our old lives, piece by piece?

Peter said “we believe and we know you are the Holy One of God.” What do you see as the difference between believing and coming to know? What does this tell you about the nature of following Jesus?

It should prove to be a convicting yet encouraging exploration of the Word this Sunday – hope you can be there!

Click here for a pdf of the teaching slideshow.

John #15: The Bread From Heaven (John 6:22-59)

One thing we know about Jesus, he was terrible at PR….or at least he didn’t care about it. He makes bold statements that confuse his listeners and causes them to bristle and push back – but Jesus never flinches. He keeps right on pushing an agenda and worldview that completely upended the religious expectations of the day. It’s important that you understand, what Jesus is going to be saying in the verses we’ll be looking at is meant to be shocking. There was no age or culture where his words wouldn’t be weird and offensive. What we really want to consider is why Jesus would want to use such disquieting language.

We’ll be reading  John 6:22-59 this Sunday. It’s the famous “Bread from Heaven/Bread of Life” discourse that Jesus gives.

As this section begins, Jesus makes a pretty clear delineation between  physical and spiritual bread. What do think an example of spiritual bread is? How was looking for physical bread revealing bad motives for the crowd? When you consider your own relationship with Jesus – what kind of “bread” do you value most in life?

When the people realize that Jesus is describing something more than normal bread, they ask what they must do to work for the bread Jesus is describing. What is his answer? V29 is the key to understanding all the imagery Jesus will use in the rest of the passage.

Jesus ignores the growing hostility of the crowd and takes things even further – describing himself as the bread come from heaven that the manna from the Exodus story was simply  foreshadowing. He describes his flesh and blood as elemental food and drink – what does that make us think of immediately? Jesus said that the bread that gives life to the world (v51) is his flesh. What do you believe this is a reference to? In what way can you imagine that Jesus’ flesh gives you life?

The language Jesus uses for eating grows progressively more intense as the discourse goes along. He begins by using a word that simply means to consume, but in the later verses of this passage, he says feed, which in the Greek is the word trogo, meaning to chew, crunch or gnaw. He’s talking about how it is that we believe on him – the intensity of the word he uses is trying to tell us something. What do you think it is?

This will be an admittedly heady study. It’s just the nature of this passage, and we certainly won’t plumb the depths of it by any means. We’ll only scrape the surface, but that in itself is a lot to wrestle with. Hope to see you Sunday!

Click here for a pdf of the teaching slideshow.

John #14: More Than Moses (John 6:1-21)

I think everyone here knows this, but I (Janelle) come from a big family. I’m the youngest of four kids and the family of 6 that I grew up in has turned into a family of 17. My siblings and I have all gotten married and we have a combined total of 7 kids

One thing you should know about our family is that we quote from a few movies and tv shows constantly. Seriously, it’s constant. Sometimes it feels like half of our communication is quoting from shows or movies with the other person. This happens so much so that whenever a new person would show up (like someone that was marrying into the family) we would often be tempted to give them a list of movies and shows to watch so they can understand the majority of what we’re saying to one another.

It is especially important to know what we are referencing because we never stop to say what movie we are quoting from, why we quoted it, or how it fits the conversation. My husband says, “It’s real fun” marrying into the Woodrum family. While I know he is being sarcastic, I like to take it literally and say, “Yeah, it IS fun.”

For example, there is a scene in Christmas vacation when the beloved Christmas tree gets burned up in the living room. While Clark Griswold watches helplessly as his most special tree burns to a crisp, a relative walks in the room and callously responds to Clark’s despair by saying, “It was an ugly tree anyway.” Another older relative pipes up and responds, “At least [the tree] is out of its misery.” The unabashed insensitivity makes me giggle even as I write this.

 Now, when things break, we quote this line. For example, if a car breaks down we might respond to the situation by saying, “It was an ugly car anyway.” Someone else would likely jump in saying, “At least it’s out of its misery.” At this, the newcomer to the family would probably be confused at our lack of sensitivity to a stressful situation. The truth is, we are not saying the car was ugly, we are just quoting back to a movie line where someone was being insensitive about a difficult situation. My family knows this and they are immediately making the connection without anyone having to stop and explain it.

THIS SAME THING is happening with the Jewish readers of the gospel. They are making all sorts of connections that we today do not easily see. We are the new family members coming into the story and the best way for us to get caught up is not to watch the list of movies that we suggest to the in-laws, but to read the Bible stories. Not just from the New Testament, but the Old Testament too. We might not make the connection as easily as the people who lived 2,000 years ago, but when the connections are referenced we will be able to place the story and the concept in a way that we couldn’t if we don’t read the Bible.

I invite you to join us this Sunday as we read John 6:1-21. I encourage you to read these verses and think through the stories you know from the Old Testament. Are there any connections that jump out to you? Consider the fact that the ancient writers of the Bible did not include unnecessary details. Look at the details of the setting and the time of year that is noted by John. Is he using these details to clue us into connections that the Jewish audience may have understood immediately?

The initial reading of this can spark so many questions within us. Why would John ask Philp how they were going to feed everyone if he already knew the answer? Why would Jesus hide from the crowds who wanted to worship him as king? Why would Jesus send the disciples in a boat that was going to get caught in a storm? 

Join us this Sunday at 10:00AM as we work to discover the meaning intended behind this story and the way that it can affect how we live today.

Click here for a pdf of the teaching slideshow.

John #13: Jesus Examined (John 5:16-47)

This Sunday is Mother’s Day…so, uh…Happy Mother’s Day!….but we’re going to be continuing in our study of John. Sorry about that. We’ll be reading John 5:16-47 – a fairly long and dense passage.

Jesus finds himself in the midst of a growing hostility from the religious leaders in Israel. The passage we’ll be reading is a long monologue where Jesus is responding to his critics.

This section is where the majority of our Christology comes from, because within this text Jesus makes some bold and startling statements about himself.

It’s a lot to try and unpack in one teaching, much less a short entry like this. Suffice it to say that Jesus is in trouble because the religious leaders rightly pick up what Jesus is laying down – he makes himself equal to God. Jesus never denies that, but instead drives the point home with the force of Scripture. If you get the chance, read Daniel 7 and see if you pick up any similar language being employed by Jesus. The same applies to Daniel 12:1-2.

It seems pretty clear that Jesus is identifying himself as the mysterious Ruler, the Son of Man, whom Daniel foretold.

Jesus points to the witnesses that testify about him in v31-40. He mentions God, John the Baptist, his own good works and teachings, and Scripture. How persuasive would those witnesses be for you? If you had been there when Jesus was ministering, what might have convinced you that He is Messiah? It’s an interesting thought experiment.

Jesus closes his speech with some harsh warnings for his critics. According to v42, what is it that they lack which seems to be the root of their unwillingness to believe Jesus as at least God’s messenger?

I’m looking forward to digging into this text with you on Sunday – hope you can join us!

Click here for a pdf of the teaching slideshow.

John #12: A Wholeness In Life (John 5:1-15)

What are the plans you had for life – the ones you thought for sure would complete you as a person? Was it a relationship, a career, some possession you wanted to acquire? Did you ever find yourself unable to achieve that plan? Did you ever feel like people not only let you down but even got in your way, which kept you from getting the thing you believed you needed?

If you’ve answered yes, you’re not alone, you know that, right? In fact, there is an account we’ll be reading this Sunday in John 5:1-15 where a guy faced those same type of frustrations but found that what he really needed for a whole life was an encounter with Jesus.

Archaeologists have identified where the pool of Bethesda is located in Jerusalem in 1964. If you haven’t watched The Chosen, the episode which deals with this story is really good – I highly recommend it. You can watch it HERE.

When Jesus meets the man who has been unable to walk for 38 years, he asks if he wants to be healed (or come into existence as a whole person). That seems like such an obvious thing, why do you think Jesus asked the man this question?

What is the man’s response? What do you think he had in mind when Jesus asked him this?

As usual, our perceived solutions for life are in stark contrast with Jesus’. This man had one idea about how to become well, but Jesus had a plan to make him whole. What are the bubbling pools that we stare at, what places are we hoping to get to that we think will change our life for the better? What can we learn about our perceived solutions in light of this story?

If Jesus were to pass by your pool today, what would he ask you? What would he tell you to do?  How can we take steps to find our solutions in Christ?

Good stuff to ponder – hope to see you Sunday!

Click here for a pdf of the teaching slideshow.

John #11: A Deeper Faith (John 4:43-54)

We all know the phrase: “seeing is believing”. It’s a saying that communicates the idea that if we see something with our own eyes we will believe it to exist or be true, no matter how unexpected or unusual it may be. On the surface it expresses a willingness to accept a reality that is verifiably evident.

What’s interesting is that the phrase was coined by Thomas Fuller, a 17th Century clergyman, and the whole phrase is: “seeing is believing, but feeling is the truth”. He was suggesting that truth and evidence are sometimes differentiated. Some truths can’t be verified so neatly.

It’s a pretty deep concept, one that is the heart of our study this Sunday as we continue in our examination of the Gospel of John. We’ll be reading John 4:43-54.

Some things to keep in mind as you read: the repeated idea of “seeing” (see, seen). This is a through-line from the last section.

In our text we are introduced to a man of means and position, a government official (likely working for Herod Antipas). He implores Jesus to come to his home and heal his son. Jesus’ response is puzzling on the surface. Who do you think he’s talking to when he says “you”? Why do you think he responded that way? In what ways do you think this man didn’t believe in Jesus?

When Jesus sends the man home, what evidence did that man have that anything had changed for his son? What was the basis for him heading home? What does that tell us about the kind of faith God is looking for from us?

The timing of the boy’s healing and Jesus’ words is highlighted by John. What might it teach us about who Jesus is and what is within his control?

In v53 we are told the man and his household believe in Jesus. How is that a different kind of faith than the believing expressed by the Galileans from v45? How would you describe the deeper faith that we are challenged to in this passage?

I’m really stoked about this section, I hope you can join us for what I think will be a intriguing but very encouraging study!

Click here for a pdf of the teaching slideshow.

John #10: Dinner With Jesus (John 4:31-43)

This Sunday we’ll be reading John 4:31-43 – which is basically the falling action after the story of the woman at the well.

Once again, we have a situation where Jesus is talking about one thing but his hearers are talking about another. He talked about living water with the woman earlier, but she took it to mean literal water. He tells his disciples he’s got food they don’t know about, and his disciples are looking for the snack machine that Jesus got his stash from. But in both cases, Jesus is talking about something BELOW the surface. He compares his cooperation with God’s plan to rescue people with food. Why food? What does food do for the human body? What is Jesus trying to tell us about the source of fulfillment in our lives?

The question is…how is your diet? If you look at your normal idea of food/fulfillment and compare it to Jesus’ – how do our food groups compare?

Jesus describes wheat that is ripened and ready to harvest. What might his previous conversation with the woman have to do with that? What made the fields ready? What does that mean to us right here and now?

This will prove to be a challenging study for us – but I think it will be well worth it! Hope to see you Sunday!

Click here for a pdf of the teaching slideshow.

John #9: A Fountain of New Life (John 4:1-30)

This Sunday we'll be reading a long passage, John 4:1-30.

It's one of my favorite stories from the New Testament. It's the longest conversation that Jesus has with someone recorded in the gospels. It's delightful to me because it is so outrageously improper and scandalous in almost every detail. The fact that Jesus is talking to a woman in public (something not done and especially by a rabbi) - the fact that she is a Samaritan (the folks North of Judean territory whom the Jewish people hated) - the fact that she has a history of serial marriage and divorce - it's like a perfect storm of cultural and religious taboos which Jesus unhesitatingly dives into.

John's gospel is trying to instruct us that if we want to know what God is like we have to look at Jesus - if we want to know what God is doing we have to look at what Jesus does. This is a startling picture of God indeed. A God who's love is not restricted by any boundaries enforced by culture or religion.

Have you ever felt far from God - ashamed or embarrassed by choices you've made or the lot you find yourself in? Does this picture of God tell you anything about how God views those who are outcasts?

She arrives at the well at noon - in the heat of the day. Most people would do that chore early in the morning or late in the afternoon when the sun wouldn't be as hot. What does this tell us about her place in the village society? Have you ever felt like her?

Jesus knows all her secrets - by her admission, he knows everything she's ever done. Does he seem mad at her in this conversation? Does he tell her to get her life together or change some things before he offers her the living water of a new life? What does that tell you about God's disposition toward you?

As the church - as those who represent this Christ - do we represent this sort of scandalous grace very well? Who are the Samaritans of our culture and time? What can we learn about how we should be interacting with the world around us in light of what Jesus does in this story?

There's an awful lot of stuff in this passage - layers of stuff. We'll pick out a few gems, but take your time and read this over. Try on the characters for size - the woman, the townsfolk of Sychar, the bewildered disciples who find their Rabbi talking with a strange woman in public. It should be an interesting study - hope to see you there!

Click here for a pdf of the teaching slideshow.

John #8: A Victorious Decline (John 3:22-36)

Have you ever worked really hard on some idea only to have someone else come along and suggest the very same idea and everyone congratulates that person for such clever thinking? What emotions did you feel in that moment? What are you immediately tempted to do?

The human need to be significant and important, at the very least for recognition, is universal. Ego is a tough wrestling opponent. Yet, as we’ll read in this week’s text, John the Baptist was able to find joy and peace by putting his own ego last and Jesus first.

This Sunday we’ll be reading John 3:22-36 as we continue our exploration of the fourth gospel account.

John’s gospel is the only account that indicates that Jesus and John had a time when their ministries overlapped. Jesus began with John the Baptist’s endorsement, and now, we find that he is present when the first hint of controversy arises. His disciples are jealous at the rising popularity of Jesus and his message. John was very popular, probably more popular than Jesus at this beginning stage…he had all the trappings of what is usually defined as a successful ministry. Yet it was his joy to step aside for the elevation of Christ.

What reason does he give for that in v27?

Does that help you in any struggles you may have in embracing an intentional humility?

v30 is a powerful statement. It sets the tone for the entire church movement. We haven’t always been very successful in remembering who it is that everything orbits around. How do you think you might find joy in allowing the reality of Jesus to increase in your life? What would you imagine might be decreasing in your life as this takes place?

In yet another way, the kingdom of God moves counter to the world’s assumptions, we we find ourselves flourishing through this victorious decline.

Hope you can join us on Sunday!

Click here for a pdf of the teaching slideshow.