I am SOOOO sorry it took so long to get this posted. Because we missed last week we will go over the second part of John 1, as well as John 2. As always, if you have any questions, concerns, or ideas, please feel free to post!!
The
Birth of the Church
Overview:-1:35-51: In this section of John we see the first handful of people that begin to come to Jesus and then go and begin telling others about Jesus. These verses mark the beginning of the church community. When we think of church a lot of things pop into our heads ( a building, a large crowd on Sunday morning, preachers, robes, political beliefs,tradition, weddings, religious vibe). But as Jesus gathers his first followers we see a few simple actions done by his first followers that are really the main work of the church today. First, his first followers point to Jesus Christ and his work. John the Baptist tells other about Jesus. He says look, “Here is the lamb of God who is taking away the sin of the world!” Andrew tells his brother, “We have found the Messiah!” Philip tells Nathanael , “we have found the one Moses was talking about!” The people that hear the good news about Jesus do what anyone would do when they hear good news, they get excited and tell their friends and family. Then they do the next logical thing. They invite their friends and family to come along and see this Jesus for themselves.
-This is the right understanding of what a church is. We should think about our church community in this way. In its simplest understanding the church of Jesus Christ has the task of 1)announcing who Jesus Christ is and what he has done. 2) Telling the people that we have relationships with about this Jesus (friends, family). 3) Inviting those people to come and see (not go and see for yourself, but come and see with me).
-Everyone gives Jesus a different name and understands him in slightly different ways. This is early in the story and people are trying to figure out who he is. Is he a great rabbi? Is he the Messiah? Is he the one that the prophets have been talking about? Is he a Son of God, the True King of Israel? Is he all of these things? They all know he is something special and someone worth following but no one perfectly understands HIm. It is important to know that we will begin following Jesus before we fully understand all that he is (I don’t think we will ever quite fully understand all that he is). That’s ok. As we follow and learn more things will begin to get clearer.
Key Terms and People:
-Andrew and (Simon)Peter
(brothers) –Andrew tells Peter about Jesus.
Andrew is mentioned sparingly in the gospels while Peter is very
prominent. Peter means rock or stone and is the name that Jesus gives to
him. Peter is one of Jesus 3 closest
followers. He is pictured as rash, bold
and impulsive. Peter makes bold
declarations of faith. He gets out of boat and walks on water with Jesus. He
tells Jesus that he will never deny him even if everyone else does. He then
denies knowing who Jesus is three times while Jesus is about to be
crucified. At the end of John there is a
beautiful story of Jesus restoring Peter to faith. Peter will go on to be one of the main
leaders of the early church and a bold faithful preacher who declares all that
Jesus Christ has done. In church
tradition Peter is eventually crucified for his faith in Jesus.-Name Changes – This happens several times in the Bible. God changes the names of Abraham and Sarah (from Abram and Sarai). God also changes the name of Jacob (deceiver) to Israel (one who strives with God). In Isaiah ch62 there is a picture of God restoring his people Israel. He gives her a new name from the mouth of the Lord. Names are very important in the bible as they are today. The are key ways in which we identify ourselves. In the book of Revelation (chapter 2) these is a scene where a church community that overcomes trials is given a stone with a new name that is given just to them. God is the one who holds our true identity. He knows who we truly are even more so than the parents that named us or the names that we give ourselves.
-Philip and Nathanael – two other followers of Jesus. Philip becomes one of the 12 disciples. Nathanael may or may not be one of the 12 disciples. Some scholars think that he is one of the 12 disciples named Bartholomew or Mathew since these names have similar meanings to Nathanael.
-“You will see heaven opened and
the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man” –This is a
reference to a story in the 28the chapter of the book of Genesis. In this story a man named Jacob has a dream
where he sees the heavens opened and some type of bridge or ladder (Jacob’s
ladder) coming to earth with angels going up or down (I tend to picture a
cosmic escalator). Jesus is saying that
He is the bridge between heaven and earth. He comes from God and will go to
God. He is the one who will connect God
and man. When he dies this will become
more clear. He will literally be hanging between heaven and earth on a cross.
His is telling Nathanael – if you follow me you will see heaven come down to
earth and you will see earth go up to heaven.
-Son of Man – A cryptic
phrase that Jesus uses to describe himself. There has been literally millions
of pages written about what exactly this phrase means. It comes from a vision in the Prophetic book
of Daniel (Daniel ch 7). The vision basically attempts to show symbolically all
the great kingdoms of the earth. God sits on a throne (He is called the Ancient
of Days). Then one “Like a Son of Man” or “Like a Human Being” comes to God.
God gives this Son of Man everlasting dominion and kingship over all the
nations of the earth. After the resurrection Jesus will be understood by his
followers as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Every knee will eventually bow and every
tongue will confess that he is Lord (Philippians 2). But for now in the story
this phrase is confusing to his followers and they do not quite
understand. They probably are even confused
as to who he is talking about. Is he referencing himself or is he talking about
someone else? It is understandably confusing.
Introduction Question:
-When you hear the word church what comes to your mind?
-If you asked your friends, “What does the church do?” or “What is the
point of church?” what would their answers be?
-Tell us about some really good news
that you have heard recently or an exciting event in your life.
-Why does Jesus give Simon a new name and what do you think his new
name signifies?
-This passage is the beginning of the first Christian community or what we call the church. The first followers do a few simple things. 1)They declare who Jesus is (the lamb of God who takes away sin, the messiah, the king, the son of God). 2) They get excited and tell their friends and family about Jesus and 3) they invite their friends and family to come with them and see Jesus for themselves. Do you think this is a good picture of what a church should be about? Does our church community do this?
-In verse 51 Jesus is calling himself,
“the Son of Man.” What do you think that means and why do you think he chooses
to describe himself that way?
-Verse 51 seems to be a tightly packed and evocative way of saying:
“Don’t think that all you’ll see is a one or two remarkable insights, such as I
knew you under the tree over there. What
you’ll see from now on is the reality towards which Jacob’s ladder (Genesis
28:10-22) and the temple itself have been pointing to like a signpost. If you
follow me you’ll be watching what I looks like when heaven and earth are opened
up to each other.”
-What do you think it means that Jesus has made heaven and earth open
to each other?
Challenge:
-Would you say that you “follow Jesus” and what do you think it means
to follow Jesus today?
- Are there friends and family that you would love to invite to come
and see this guy Jesus? How do you think you could invite them to come and see
with you?
