Gathering Growing Going
If John 1:1-18 is the hallway into the home that is John’s Gospel, then John 20:30-31 is the reason the house was built. John is explicitly clear about why he wrote. And his reason revolves around four truths. First, Jesus did a lot of ‘signs’ (public acts that show the significance of God), but John only recorded these ones. Second, John recorded these signs for the purpose of ‘believing’ – that his readers might know and trust a key truth. Third, this key truth is the identity of Jesus: he is God’s appointed and chosen saviour of the world, who is truly the Son of God. Fourth, this truth believed in gives life, both now and forevermore. With these two parts in place – the hallway into the house, and the reason the house was built this way, we can now begin to unpack John’s Gospel!
John’s Gospel is a little different to the other three Gospels. Remember that ‘gospel’ means ‘good news announcement’. And remember that the four Gospels are ‘good news biographies’ (g.n.b.) of Jesus. As John’s g.n.b. begins, we take a walk, if you like, down a long hallway. It is kind of like entering a hobbithole (for those who love ‘Lord of the Rings’) – a long hallway, with rooms and artifacts off each side, leading to the main dwelling. In this sense, John’s ‘prologue’ (1:1-18) is a long hallway into the main account. And here, in this hallway, all the main themes and ideas are laid out as we begin to consider the key question of John’s g.n.b.: ‘Who is Jesus?’ You see, once we have answered that question, then the succeeding question is clear: ‘What does this mean – what should we do with him?’
‘Culture’ is ‘the way we do stuff around here’. It describes our life as a community of God’s mob. Last week, we spent time looking at that internally – intentional inter-generational relationships around the proclamation and practice of God’s good news in Jesus. This week, we are going to look at our ‘culture’ as we relate outwards, externally, to the world around us. At heart, this is a discussion of our culture of ‘evangelism’ – proclaiming and practicing the good news of Jesus so that others come to meet him. Daniel 6 gives us a snapshot in the life of one man, Daniel, doing this. It is not an explicit text on evangelism. It is not a ‘how-to’… it is ‘just’ a snapshot in the life of a man living as one of God’s people in this world. And, yet, Daniel proclaims and practices God’s good news – and this is displayed in his consistent and costly prioritising of God, his rule and reign, in all things. The result is a remarkable proclamation of God and his good news in a hostile world!
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