Participants: Deyvy Rodriguez & Jon Paulien
Series Code: JBOTB
Program Code: JBOTB00001B
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00:01 And we're studying the Gospel of John with Dr. Jon Paulien
00:04 And Dr. Paulien, you were telling us about-- 00:08 it is better to have four stories 00:09 than one, tell us more? 00:12 Well, the ironical thing is that 00:14 for most people it isn't four stories. 00:16 Here you have what I call the Hollywood version of Jesus, 00:19 you know, what they do to put a movie together 00:21 where you have four of these different stories, 00:23 we try to find all the things where they agree 00:25 and create one story out of it and that's great. 00:28 And that has helped a lot of people. 00:30 One of my favorite books "Desire of Ages" 00:32 basically does that. 00:34 But the reality is we're missing a lot when we only do that 00:38 because each of these stories is unique and tells a unique story. 00:44 Let me just give you an example. 00:47 There's three toothpastes that are really 00:50 basically have the same ingredients 00:51 but they have a different purpose. 00:53 One is called Colgate, 00:55 and it has maximum fluoride protection, you know. 00:58 And then there's Close Up for the romantic types, 01:01 you know, who like to get close up. 01:04 And then there's Ultrabrite for people 01:06 who are worried about their appearance 01:08 and want bright shiny teeth. 01:10 Now the question I have for you is 01:11 which of these toothpaste is the right one? 01:14 Depends on what I'm looking for I suppose, I don't know. 01:18 I would probably say the cheapest one. 01:20 Is this an advertise? No. 01:24 but the point is this that each of those toothpastes 01:28 may have an audience, a certain people will say, 01:31 oh, I like that one, you know, 01:32 I want to have bright teeth 01:34 or I want to take care of my breath 01:36 or I want to have healthy teeth, 01:37 you know, and get rid of the cavities. 01:39 So you tend to pick toothpaste, it may be the same thing 01:42 but you still pick one or the other of these 01:44 because it's something that strikes you 01:47 and the point is this there is no one right gospel. 01:53 They are all telling the story of Jesus, 01:55 each may impact different lives, 01:58 but it tells me something very important 02:00 that I think a lot of people haven't fully understood 02:03 and that is there's more than one 02:05 right way to tell the story of Jesus. 02:09 And that means there's more than one right way to think. 02:15 I think that that can be tough for people, 02:18 people sort of have the impression, 02:19 if I'm right, you must be wrong, you see. 02:23 And if I know I'm right, 02:26 then I shouldn't listen to you because you are wrong, okay. 02:31 But if it's possible that two different followers of Jesus 02:35 may both know something right about Jesus 02:39 just like Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, 02:40 each knew something right about Jesus. 02:42 They told the story differently 02:45 but in telling the story differently, 02:47 it wasn't one was better than the other 02:50 or one was more right that the other. 02:52 They were all telling the story of Jesus in a correct way. 02:55 Now you can tell the story of Jesus 02:58 in a wrong way too, I'm not denying that. 03:01 But I think it's very important for me to understand 03:03 that if there's more than one right way to think, 03:07 then I need to listen to you, 03:09 I need to be willing to learn from you 03:10 because you may have a view of Jesus 03:13 that is in some aspects clearer than mine 03:16 that I need to learn from you. 03:18 And so the four gospels tell me that God is one who is willing 03:23 to come out of variety of directions to reach us. 03:26 In the Book of Revelation, you have seven churches 03:30 and each of them gets a different picture of Jesus. 03:34 People not always notice that, 03:36 there's a picture of Jesus in Chapter 1 03:38 and then these churches, 03:39 He comes differently to each church. 03:41 So He recognizes that we don't think alike. 03:45 We all come from a different background. 03:46 You come from Mexico, my parents came from Germany, 03:49 very different background 03:51 and yet we can listen to each other, 03:53 share like we're doing here, learn from each other 03:56 and that can be a wonderful thing 03:58 and the Bible of course gets to test 04:00 whether or not we've done it right. 04:04 The two extremes on the one hand 04:07 is there's only one right way to think 04:09 and that leads to a lot of religious wars 04:12 and then the other side is where every way is okay 04:15 and both of those are extreme positions. 04:17 The gospels tell us that 04:19 the gospel is the right way to think, 04:22 but there's more than one way to look at the gospel 04:25 It's like two witnesses or more than two witnesses 04:27 who experience something they've never met, 04:30 they've never seen each other, they tell their story. 04:33 You have two different point of views, 04:36 there might be two different stories 04:37 but then again it all leads 04:39 to the same experience they met, is that correct? 04:43 Yes, that's absolutely right. 04:44 And I think when you get to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, 04:48 each of them has its own perspective. 04:50 Now John is really special in this sense. 04:54 Even the ancients recognized this, 04:56 probably one of the earliest Christian writers that we have 05:00 outside of the New Testament said that, 05:02 you know, these three gospels were written 05:04 but then John chose to write a spiritual gospel. 05:10 Somehow he saw the other three gospels 05:13 not as spiritual gospels, but something else. 05:16 And what I think he meant was 05:17 these were narratives about Jesus. 05:19 The stories were told because they happened. 05:23 But John isn't just telling stories because they happened. 05:26 Yeah, Jesus went to a wedding. 05:28 Yeah, He cleansed the temple. 05:30 Yeah, He fed the 5,000. 05:32 But John is telling a spiritual story 05:36 and one of the exciting things you discover 05:39 in the Gospel of John, there's no parables in it. 05:43 Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus tells parables. 05:46 These stories, sort of made up stories 05:49 that have a powerful point. 05:52 Why are there no parables in the Gospel of John? 05:54 Because the stories themselves are the parables. 05:59 The stories themselves have spiritual impact, 06:03 so when you're reading the Gospel of John, 06:05 you don't just say, "oh, Jesus went to a wedding," 06:07 nice, I guess weddings are okay. 06:09 No, no, no, there is depth in that story 06:12 when we get to the wedding of Cana, 06:14 we'll spent the whole half hour 06:16 just exploring some of the depths in that story. 06:20 So John's gospel is different from the other three 06:23 and particularly is attempting to bring us 06:26 the powerful spiritual message. 06:28 So then it's more like 06:30 rather than narrative as you were saying. 06:33 It's an application, a spiritual application, 06:35 okay, so this is what it says, 06:37 now let me tell you what it means. Yeah. 06:39 And how that will fulfill your need, 06:43 your spiritual need. That's right. 06:45 So the Gospel of John often has been the most powerful, 06:48 most popular gospel for many people, 06:51 because it touches the heart 06:53 at a deeper level sometimes than the others. 06:56 And John, I've found, 06:57 is even deeper than the Book of Revelation. 07:00 Some of the depths in there are harder to come at 07:02 than the Book of Revelation. 07:03 We gonna be exploring some of that together. 07:06 You know, it's like a church, like let's say the presenter, 07:09 or the speaker, the preacher is he's giving his sermon, 07:13 but if there is no spiritual application to me 07:15 to say okay, this is what it means in my personal life. 07:19 This is how I should spiritually change or focus 07:24 and that's what I want rather than 07:27 okay, well, I know the facts, I've read that story before 07:30 but what does it mean to me 07:31 and how can I grow in my spiritual life. 07:34 So then John emphasizes 07:36 the spiritual aspect of the gospel. 07:39 Yeah, now let me show you 07:40 one of the ways in which this happens. 07:43 In the Gospel of John itself there are three Passovers. 07:47 You can find the first one in John 2:13 07:52 where it says, "When it was almost time 07:55 for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem." 07:58 So you have a Passover there 07:59 right at the beginning of the book. 08:01 Then John 6:4, and this is later on. 08:09 In John 6:4, it says, 08:11 "The Jewish Passover feast was near." 08:14 So this is at least a year later 08:16 because the Passover is only once every spring. 08:19 And then in John 12:1, notice what it says there. 08:23 In John 12 and Verse 1, 08:31 it says, "Six days before the Passover, 08:34 Jesus arrived to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, 08:38 whom Jesus had raised from the dead." 08:39 These are three different Passovers. 08:41 Three different Passovers, you see. 08:43 So you can divide the Gospel of John 08:45 with these three different Passovers. 08:49 So you have some sense in John 08:51 more than the other three of a passage of time. 08:54 Now here's where it gets interesting. 08:56 The first year takes 116 verses, 09:01 so from the first Passover to the second, 09:03 there's 116 verses. 09:05 Now watch this, 09:06 from the second Passover to the third, 09:09 there are 295 verses. 09:13 So what's happening here? 09:15 The narrative is slowing down. 09:18 It took 116 verses to cover the first year 09:21 but it takes 295 to cover the second year. 09:24 Then comes the death of Jesus 09:27 and that story is told in 293 verses. 09:31 What's happening here? 09:33 The narrative is slowing down. 09:36 It's getting slower and slower 09:38 until by the time he get to the cross, 09:40 it almost grinds to a halt. 09:42 What's John doing? 09:43 The cross is what this is all about. 09:45 The cross is the heart of this book. 09:47 That's the place that really makes a difference, you see. 09:51 So he's using the narrative speed going through the book 09:56 to point everything toward the cross. 09:59 And we'll find out later on 10:01 that even when we're in the beginning of the book, 10:02 we're still heading toward the cross. 10:06 Now John above all other gospels was concerned with time. 10:11 You have days mentioned. 10:12 For example, if you go to Chapter 1, 10:16 it tells the story of John the Baptist 10:19 in Verses 19 through 27 and then verse 29, it says, 10:25 "The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him." 10:29 Then in verse 35, "The next day, 10:31 John was there with two of his disciples." 10:33 In verse 43, "The next day, 10:36 Jesus decided to leave for Galilee." 10:38 And in Chapter 2:1, 10:40 "On the third day, a wedding took place." 10:43 John marks time off in the gospel, 10:47 none of the others do it quite this way. 10:50 Now if you take seriously these years in the text, 10:55 there's more than a thousand days that Jesus is ministering, 11:00 but only 29 are actually mentioned. 11:04 Only 29 days actually appear 11:09 in the Gospel of John, so what is he doing? 11:12 He's being extremely selective. 11:15 At the end of the book, he says, the very last verse, he says, 11:20 if everything about Jesus was written, 11:22 it would fill the whole world with books. Right. 11:24 So this book is selecting certain things 11:28 and in Chapter 20, I want you to look at this with me. 11:31 Why don't you read it for us, Chapter 20:30 and 31. 11:36 It says, "And truly Jesus did 11:38 many other signs in the presence of His disciples 11:41 which are not written in this book." 11:44 There's many things not written here. 11:46 So, what's written? 11:47 "But these are written that you may believe 11:49 that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of a God, 11:52 and that believing you may have life in His name." 11:56 So John has a purpose. He's being selective. 12:01 He's chosen only a few days out of Jesus ministry, 12:04 only a few miracles out of whole Jesus ministry. 12:07 He has a purpose. 12:09 The Gospel of John is being written for a purpose 12:12 and that purpose is that you and I might believe. Amen. 12:18 So as we look carefully 12:21 at how John is different from the other gospels, 12:23 we'll also discover his unique picture of Jesus 12:27 and that's the one we want to draw out 12:28 in the series of programs. 12:30 And I'm looking forward to seeing 12:31 those unique pictures of Jesus and I hope you too, friends, 12:34 have and find the gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ. |
Revised 2014-12-17