Tag Archives: John

John 14:6

I’d be lost without my satnav, in both senses of the word. I’ve had it for a few years now, and use it all the time. Even if I think I know where I’m going, I’ll often put it on, just to make sure. Some people, though, rely too much on the gadget itself. If all you use is a satnav, you tend to have very little idea about the lie of the land, and can find yourself going in ridiculously circuitous routes to get to your destination. Sometimes, you can even end up miles out of your way, at a place with the same name, but not the one you wanted. Satnav is always best used in conjunction with a map, because that way you can ensure that the satnav is heading in the right direction.

In today’s verse, Jesus gives very clear directions concerning the way to God. “No one,” he says, “comes to the father except through me.” There are many other religions that claim to provide the way to God. Some people even think of choosing a religion as choosing any other commodity – they all do basically the same thing, but in a different way. Jesus is absolutely clear that this is not the case; he alone provides a path to God. Any religion that does not flag Jesus up as the only way to salvation is simply wrong. Jesus is the way, showing us the direction. He is the embodiment of truth, as laid out in the Old Testament. He is the life – the one from whom all life flows, both through the act of creation itself, and also in the life to come. If Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, it is important that we understand both who he is, and the prophecies of the Old Testament. The Bible acts as our map, since it supports and clarifies the teaching of Jesus.

Do you accept that Jesus is the only way to the Father? Do you recognise Jesus as being the way, the truth and the life? Do you diligently study God’s word to ensure that you know and understand the claims that Jesus makes?

John 5:24

Last year, Amazon launched their Kindle device. It’s a gadget that has a special screen designed for reading digital books. Not only that, but it has built in wireless to enable a Kindle owner to buy books from Amazon and have them automatically transmitted to their device. As a bit of a gadget lover, and a book lover, I was tempted to buy one. They’re just so expensive, though, that I didn’t think I could justify the cost. Now lots of technology journalists are saying that 2010 is the year of the e-reader. They believe that by the end of the year they will have hit the mainstream in a big way. They point to the rumoured launch of Apple’s iSlate tablet PC on 27th January as the event that will make e-readers the must have gadget of the year. Of course, so often new technology promises so much, yet so often it fails to deliver. Either it does not live up to expectations, or it’s flawed in some way, or else it really isn’t the world changer that everyone thought it would be.

Jesus’ promises are infinitely more trustworthy than the claims made by technology companies. When Jesus promises something, you know that he can be trusted. When he starts a sentence, “I tell you the truth,” it almost seems to give even greater credibility to the words that follow. So when Jesus says, as he does in today’s reading, that “whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, it is worth sitting up and paying attention! We all deserve to be condemned by God, since we all sin and break his rules for living. Yet if we heed the words of Jesus and believe in God, then not only are we promised eternal life, but we’re told we already have it. This life we’re living now IS eternal life! Death is a mere blip on the timeline of our lives, a gateway to the next stage! What an exciting thought! Of course, that leaves us with quite an important choice; do we listen to Jesus, study his words carefully, and believe in God? Or do we put it to the back of our minds, and think maybe we’ll consider following God later? There seems to me to be only one option – and that is to do as Jesus says!

Remember that choice that you have to make. Have you chosen to hear Jesus’ words and believe in God? Has this changed your life? Or do you ignore the words of Christ and put off following God for later?

John 3:36

I saw something new at the supermarket today. They were doing a new special offer – “Buy one now – get one free next week.” I think it’s an initiative to try and reduce food waste. We all like the idea of getting something for free, so in the traditional “Buy one get one free” offer, we’d always take the extra one, even if we didn’t need it. It would invariably sit around in the kitchen, go off before it could be eaten, and would be thrown away. Supermarkets kept making these special offers, though, as a way of drawing us into their stores. If one supermarket starts giving away free stuff, the others have to do so as well, otherwise they’ll lose the custom. Somehow, we then got ourselves into a position where we all expect something for nothing.

Unfortunately, although we have the same expectations with God, he does not operate in the same way. Lots of people believe in God and accept that there is a heaven, and do nothing about it. Others think that although they’re not Christians, they lead a good life, always helping their neighbours and giving money to charity, and so therefore will go to heaven. After all, God is a loving God, and he’s hardly going to punish a good person, is he? The problem with that logic is made clear in today’s verse. There is only one way to get eternal life – and that is to believe in Jesus, that is to accept that he died for you, and live your life accordingly. Those who reject Jesus will find themselves rejected by God. Whilst Jesus took on the sin of mankind, we have to acknowledge this. If we do, and we accept Jesus as our saviour, the price has been paid for our sin. If we do not, then we are still held to account for our sin, and then find ourselves under God’s wrath.

Do you believe in the son? Do you know that he died for you? Do you live your life as one who has been saved by Christ, doing all that you can to honour and praise him? Or have you rejected Jesus, and refused to acknowledge him in your life?

John 5:22-23

Delegation is an absolutely vital skill in leadership. If you want to achieve a great deal, you will inevitably have to delegate out some tasks. In my history department, I have drawn up a list of specific tasks that are delegated to particular members of staff. The same is true in almost any other leadership situation. Similarly, in a business partnership, tasks must be divided out fairly and to make the best of each individual’s skills. The trick in both of these situations is to ensure that tasks are allocated to someone who can be relied upon to complete them properly.

In today’s verses, Jesus explains the important role that he has been given by his Father, the Lord God. He has been entrusted with judgement – testing to see who has lived a life that honoured God, and therefore gaining a place in heaven. This is very important indeed, since if Jesus is the one charged with judgement, he is effectively claiming that he is God, since the Old Testament is clear that it is only God who is authorised to judge. Jesus also makes it absolutely clear that the only way to reach heaven is through him, since if he is not honoured, then neither is God the Father. Many religions make claims about how to get into heaven. Many also accept Jesus as a prophet. He himself claims that he is God, however, and that he alone has the right to judge.

Jesus, then, is the one who will ultimately judge us all. Do we honour him with everything we do? When he returns to judge us, will we be able to look him in the eye and tell him that we lived for him? Do we accept that he alone is the way to the Father? There are some difficult questions here to think about today!

John 11:25-26

Christians are remarkably good at making Christianity seem remarkably complicated. There are thousands of different books available outlining deep theological issues that Christians and philosophers grapple with. There are countless denominations, all of which seem to believe slightly different things, and to worship in slightly different ways. There are courses, conferences and festivals to attend. Church leaders debate complex issues on whether the church should be doing this or that. All of this makes Christianity seem very difficult to non-Christians. Even Christians find themselves getting tied up in knots about whether they are proper Christians or not!

The fact is, though, that Christianity is actually very simple. God loves us. We let him down and rejected him. He sent Jesus to save us. That’s pretty much it in a nutshell. In today’s verses, Jesus sets out one of the basic and most important facets of the Christian faith, and again shows how simple it is to be a Christian. Jesus makes the very bold claim that he is the resurrection and the life. He didn’t say that he was the way to resurrection, but that he actually is. Resurrection is so bound up in the person of Christ that he is actually able to proclaim himself as the resurrection. He then states that whoever believes in him will live, that is, have eternal life. That is all there is to it. If we want to have that eternal life, and live on, even after we die, we have to believe in him. We have to believe that he is the resurrection and the life. We have to believe that he is the Son of God. We have to believe that he died and rose again. If we believe all of this, then we truly believe in Jesus. If we truly believe in Jesus, we too can have resurrection after death, and live on in God’s heavenly kingdom.

Jesus ends his statement with a question. “Do you believe this?” he asked. That’s exactly what he is asking us today. Do we believe this? Do you believe this?