By Pastor Stephen Hess –
This Advent Season we are starting an exciting journey together as we begin a sermon series on the Gospel of John. Each of the four Gospels highlights unique aspects of the character, teaching, and ministry Jesus. Each Gospel writer had particular truths that he wanted us to see. Near the end of the book, John tells us that he had a clear purpose in writing his Gospel: “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:30-31). This tells us a few important things about John’s Gospel.
First, it was written to provide eyewitness testimony about Jesus. John the Son of Zebedee was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. He was known as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” and was one of three disciples who were especially close to Jesus. Consequently, when we read the Gospel of John, we can be sure that it is not an account written by someone who was unacquainted with Jesus or who was far removed from the events themselves. John was an eyewitness of the events he described and a close friend of Jesus. As he makes clear in one of his letters, he is writing about things he saw with his own eyes, heard with his own ears, and touched with his own hands (1 Jn. 1:1-4).
Second, it was written so that we might believe in this testimony. John says, “these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ.” The word “believe” is one of the most important words in John’s Gospel. He uses this word for 48 times in 21 chapters. John wants his readers to believe in something, but that something isn’t a philosophy or a program; it is a person. His purpose is to give evidence that Jesus is the Son of God and Savior of the world so that we might place our faith in him. As James Montgomery Boice writes, “There are always people who will say that faith is something that must be entirely divorced from evidence. But that is not stated in the Bible. Faith is believing in something or someone on the basis of evidence and then acting upon it. In this case, John has provided evidence for the full deity of Jesus so that readers, whether in his age or ours, might believe it and commit their lives to Jesus as their Savior.”
Third, it was written so that we could have eternal life. Why does John want people to believe in Jesus? So that “by believing you may have life in his name.” John’s Gospel makes clear over and over again that the only path to eternal life is through faith in Jesus. This is perhaps most famously summarized by Jesus’ statement to Nicodemus: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16). Not only does Jesus make clear that belief in him is the only path to eternal life, but he also makes clear that those who do not believe in him will suffer eternal judgment. As he says in that same chapter, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (Jn. 3:36). In other words, the stakes couldn’t be any higher. How we respond to Jesus will determine our place in eternity.
The Gospel of John contains some of the most powerful teaching about who Jesus is and what he came to do. Therefore, this will be a great series to invite a friend who is not a believer or is unfamiliar with Jesus to come and learn about him! At the same time, the Gospel of John has some of the richest discourses Jesus gave, which could not be exhausted even after a lifetime of study. Therefore, this will be a great opportunity for longtime believers to be deepened in faith. My prayer is that we would all have open ears to hear John’s testimony about Jesus, that we would believe in his testimony, and that by believing we would have life in his name.