Oh how He loves you and me

The book I’m using for devotions asks a question about the significance of the events in John’s Gospel that are not included in the other three Gospels. After reading more in John, I thought of how we define other people. Often it is by what they do: Mr. Smith is a high school teacher. Sometimes it is by who they are: Mr. Smith is a man with great love and respect for teenagers. Or by where they came from: Mr. Smith was born and raised in Georgia. Or by their unique traits: Mr. Smith has a wonderful sense of humor.

These first four books in the New Testament are about Jesus. Each have a particular emphasis when describing Jesus. Matthew writes about Him as a King, Mark presents Him as a Servant, Luke as fully Human. However, when reading John, I get the great sense that Jesus is God who became man and loves us. Yes, He is Savior, Prophet and King. Yes, He came from the Father and returned there when His time had come. Yes, He was born in a stable. But more than all these, He is God who loves us.

He is God because He created all things:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:1–3)

He is human, not like us who were created in the image of God, but fully God who became flesh:

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

And He loves us:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:16–17)

The religious leaders decided this was unacceptable. They accused Him of being a sinful man and wanted Him dead. The crowds loved Him as long as He fed them, but when Pilate asked who he should release, they yelled, “Crucify Him” forgetting His innocence, His power and His love for them.

The other Gospels are filled with action, their stories suitable for a stage play. John’s writing depicts the heart and appeals to the heart. It is more frequently used to show sinners how He loves us, and more frequently depicted in film and on the stage.

John called himself ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved.’ He used the word ‘love’ more than twice the times the other three put together. This theme drives home the truth that rebuffs Satan’s most frequently used lie that God does not love me. John wants his readers to know their security in the love of God.

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Jesus, Your love melts my heart. From the least of Your children to the greatest, all of us need to know that, be reassured of it. No matter how long we have walked with You, the enemy tries to ruin us and make us stumble using lies on this very issue. John knew we needed to hear the truth in a variety of ways so we could we could be set free from the bondage that comes when we fall for Satan’s lies, particularly that lie about Your love. John could have written about Your life like a resume but instead wrote it like a love story. Thank You for the gift of Your love so wonderfully expressed in Your life as written in the Gospel of John.

Jesus is all I need, part 2 . . .

Yesterday’s assignment told me to review the names and titles of Jesus from the book of John. I found many and had to stop at the end of chapter 8. The rest of the book repeats most of those plus a few new ones . . .

Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. (John 10:7-11)

Jesus is the entrance to the sheepfold. Any that go in do so because of Him. They are saved and safe in His care because He laid down His life for those who believe — that we might have eternal life.

I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. (John 10:14–15)

Jesus also knows us intimately and we have a personal relationship with Him. He laid down His life for us that this relationship could be possible.

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25–26)

Jesus asked this question of a woman whose brother just died. He asks it of everyone who can say yes to these major truths: God exists and God rewards those who seek Him; we are sinners and we need a Savior.

If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. (John 13:14–16)

Jesus is our example of how to love and serve one another. He is both master and servant!

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)

Jesus uses “the way . . . .” not “a way . . . .” to show that He is God’s exclusive way of salvation. There is no other way to be saved however, God’s way includes all who will believe.

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. (John 14:9–10)

Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. (John 14:11)

Christ and the Father are one yet Jesus obeys the Father and the Father works through Him.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. . . . Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:1; 4–5)

Jesus is our life and the source of all good things we can do. The Father is the One who cares for and purifies our lives so we can be like Jesus. I cannot do anything without Him.

Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28)

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Lord Jesus, what Thomas said is the declaration given by all who believe. You are our Lord, our God. No one else. Nothing else. Everything we need is in You. Everything I need is in You.

Jesus is all that I need

My devotional source gave the following assignment for today:  “In John’s Gospel, list Christ’s various titles and their significance.” I read through only eight chapters and found the following:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)

The Word, signifying that Jesus is God expressing Himself to those who will hear.

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. (John 1:9)

Jesus is the Light, God shining in darkness.

The next day he (John the Baptist) saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29)

The lamb in the Old Testament was sacrificed for sins but this had to be repeated. This Lamb Jesus was sacrificed once forever for the sin of the world.

Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” (John 1:38)

Rabbi, Jesus is the Teacher of truth.

He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). (John 1:41)

Jesus is the Messiah, the One who delivers from sin, the anointed One sent by God.

Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” (John 1:49)

Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, unique, God in the flesh. He is the King of Israel, of the linage of David and thus qualified to rule God’s people.

And he (Jesus) said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” (John 1:51)

Son of Man is the title Jesus gave to Himself referring to His humanity and His role of taking our sin upon Himself, paying our penalty for sin.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

Jesus is God’s only Son, there is no one like Him!

The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. (John 3:29)

Using the imagery of a wedding, Jesus is the Bridegroom and believers are His bride, forever united and in an intimate relationship.

He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. (John 3:31)

Jesus is above all, not just because He came from above but also that He is holy and without sin, an unusual person in a sin-filled world.

The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) (John 4:9)

A Jew, born into the people group that God selected for His own thousands of years before He came. He was one of them and they didn’t recognize Him.

The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. (John 4:19)

Jesus is a Prophet, declaring truth from God, divine utterances that express and communicate His will to the people.

So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” (John 6:41)

Bread from heaven refers to Jesus’ promise to spiritual feed and sustain all who believe in Him, like manna in the wilderness filled the need of their ancestors many years before He came.

Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:68–69)

Jesus is the Holy One of God with superior moral and qualities in contrast with what is human.

So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:57–58)

I AM, a phrase used by God to Moses, is hard to define but ‘self-existing One’ is part of what it means. Here Jesus is saying He is God, the I AM of the Old Testament.

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Dear Lord Jesus, when I sing that You are all I need, the reasons become obvious in the names used to describe You . . . and this is only a few. You are everything that I need. Thank You for coming, for dying, for rising from the grave, for making Yourself available to me, for granting me faith to believe and the grace to walk with You in unspeakable joy!