The Men God Chooses and Uses: John

Bow with me in a moment of prayer, would you please? Father we thank you for today. What a joy it is to have the new song, the song of redemption, the song of the lamb, the song of Moses in our hearts. Those songs are the songs about a deliverer who delivered our soul from sin and gave us new life in Jesus Christ. This morning Lord, we look at people in the Bible whose lives were delivered and changed and used in a great and mighty way for your glory.

And because you have given us their testimony, may we see Lord the power of God's spirit manifested in them and how it is you will manifest that spirit in our lives that we will impact the world for the gospel. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. This morning we want to continue our study of the apostles in Luke chapter 6. The study of the apostles is important for us because they give us hope. They give all of us hope because we find ourselves in each of these men. And as you go through and as we go through the study of these 12 apostles, you're going to see yourself in one or maybe more of these men.

In so doing you're going to see how God changed their lives because that's the exact same thing God wants to do in your life. He wants to transform your life so that it can make an impact for the sake of the kingdom of God. These men, none of them were among the elite either economically or socially or religiously or politically. They were just normal average individuals. None of them really had money except for Matthew and he got that because he was a he was a tax gatherer. But outside of that most of them just had ordinary common dull dreary lives like you and me.

See? And so we begin to understand how God would call these men to himself. How he would use these men in a great and mighty way to spread the good news of the gospel. Now it's important to understand that we are just like these men. In fact, the bible says over in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 these words, we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves.

Paul understood that he was nothing but a clay pot. He was nothing but a piece of pottery used for specific purposes. And yet he says that within this clay pot, this body of mine, there resides a treasure. That treasure is the ministry of the gospel. That treasure is the power of God. And it's given to me, he says, so that the surpassing greatness of the power of God would be manifested. Well, that's what happens in the life of the apostles. They were just clay pots that God used to manifest his glory.

That's the way you and I are. We're clay pots. And therefore when God imparts to us the treasure of the gospel, that great ministry then depicts his glory. And he wants to be able to use us for his purposes. We look first of all at Peter.

He was the protoss. He was the chief one. He was the leader of the twelve. We look first of all at that man.

And then we move to Andrew because Andrew's name means manly. And to understand what true manliness is, you must understand the life of Andrew. He was a man bringing people, pointing people to Jesus. Folks, I don't know about you, but that's awful important to understand. Because we have so many definitions about manhood, but none of them include bringing people to Jesus. And yet that's what the Bible says.

Andrew is all about. He was a man in the truest sense of the word, pointing people to Jesus. And then we went to look at James.

One of the sons of thunder. He was the brother of John. And we saw his zealous spirit in Luke chapter 9. We saw his ambitious spirit in Matthew chapter 20. And yet we saw the precious man because he was the one who was the first apostle martyred in Acts chapter 12.

A man used in a great way for the kingdom of God. Today, we move to James's brother, John. And Luke just introduces him to us. He just gives us his name. He doesn't spend a lot of time talking about these men because the scriptures are filled with stories about these men. But he's already told us that he was James's brother back in Luke chapter 5. So he doesn't have to tell us that again in Luke chapter 6. But he is the brother of James. And John was also a son of thunder. And we can know a lot more about John than we ever could James or ever could Andrew.

Why? Because he wrote the gospel of John. He wrote first, second, and third John. And he wrote the book of Revelation. So there's a lot for us to understand about this man, his character, and his nature. As you study John, two things come to light. One is truth. And the other is love. Truth and love characterize this man's life. Now the Lord was going to use John in a great way. And this man was the individual that God would shape to become the one who would be the greatest promoter of the truth outside of himself.

Jesus, of course, embodies truth. He is the God of truth. But John is the one writer in the New Testament who emphasizes truth more than any other writer. 25 times in the gospel of John, 21 times in his epistles, he emphasizes truth. Because that's what marked this man. Remember, he was a disciple of John the Baptist, just like Andrew was. And so to be a disciple of John the Baptist means to some degree you were a devout Jew. You were committed to following John's teaching because John was going to point you to the Messiah.

And so John the apostle was one of John the Baptist's disciples. And when he found the Messiah, that truth just became more and more strong in his life. And John was the man who embodied truth as well as love. He was the man that the Bible says was the disciple whom Jesus loved.

And this man spends most of his ministry talking to us about the truth and how that truth should be manifested in love. Folks, that's the end-all be-all of what we're about as a church, right? When you look at John, you begin to see what we're about here at Christ Community Church.

Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 4 for a moment. Ephesians chapter 4. For in Ephesians chapter 4, we have a basic understanding of what it is we're doing here each and every week. It says in Ephesians 4 verse number 11, these words, Then he gave some apostles and some prophets and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachings, teachers, excuse me, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ. God gives gifted men to the church. Those gifted men are designed to equip the members of the church.

And the word used for equip is a word used in in the mending of broken bones and mending shattered nets. Gifted men to the church are designed to mend people's lives. How are people's lives put back together? 2 Timothy 3 16 and 17 tells us they're put together by the word of God. So as gifted men given to the church proclaim and teach the word of God, they begin to put people's lives back together. You're able to to mend the shattered life. You're able to fix that which is broken. How? Through the preaching and teaching of the word of God.

And so Paul tells us in Ephesians 4 that gifted men are given to the church that they might equip the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the son of God to a mature man to the measure, excuse me, of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming, but speaking the truth in love we are to grow up in all aspects into him.

Speaking the truth in love. That's where we're going. That's the mark of a mature man. To be able to not compromise the truth and to be able with great compassion and great sensitivity love the ones we speak to. And so that is John in a nutshell. He is the human picture of one who spoke the truth in love, but you know what? He wasn't always there. Remember, he was Boanerges as well as James was. Sons of Thunder, Mark 3 17. That's what God called them. Sons of Thunder. And you know what? Every time we see James in the Bible, we see John in the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

There's one time John speaks by himself. And the one time John speaks by himself is the time that sheds more light upon John than any other. Turn with me to Mark chapter 9 for a moment.

Mark chapter 9. Please remember, please remember that in Luke 9, John was with James wanting to call fire down from heaven to consume the Samaritans because they wouldn't receive Jesus the Messiah. John was with James in Matthew chapter 20 when their mother came to Jesus and asked that one sit on his right and one sit on his left in the kingdom. So he was a part of that argument as well. Sometimes we think of John as the kind of guy that was always leaning on Jesus's breast in the Bible. He was kind of a weak kind of individual.

No, he was probably the strongest of all of them when it came to the truth. He was a son of thunder. But remember Mark chapter 9. It opens up with these words. And he was saying to them truly I say to you there are some of those who are standing here who shall not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power. Christ has just spoke to his men. He wants them to understand that there's some of his disciples who are going to see the kingdom come in its great and glorious power.

When does that happen? Next verse, verse 2. And six days later Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John and brought them up to a high mountain by themselves. He was transfigured before them. His garments became radiant and exceedingly white as no launderer on earth can whiten them. Elijah appeared to them along with Moses and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good for us to be here and let us make three tapernacles one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.

For he did not know what to answer for they became terrified. Then a cloud formed overshadowing them and a voice came out of the cloud. This is my beloved son. Listen to him. And all at once they looked around and saw no one with them anymore except Jesus alone. This scene is a marvelous scene of the kingdom of God. And here Jesus took three of the most intimate ones to remember.

It was Peter, James, John, and Andrew who were the most intimate with Christ. And yet it was seems to me that Peter, James, and John were the closest of those first four individuals.

And he took them up into this mountain, this high mountain. He spent time with them. It was here where he was transfigured before them. It was here where Elijah showed up and Moses showed up. It was here where a cloud came and enveloped them and from that cloud came the voice. This is my beloved son. Listen to him. You can imagine what must have been happening on that day. Now listen to this. Verse number nine. And as they were coming down from the mountain he gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen until the son of man should rise from the dead.

Now that was a very hard thing for James and John to accept. Remember there was this great argument about who was the greatest in the kingdom. And what they had just seen would add fuel to their argument. Hey, we are more important than you guys because Jesus took us up on top of the mountain and we saw him transfigured and you didn't. So when he talks about being great in the kingdom, he must mean us because we were the closest ones to him. We saw Moses. We saw Elijah. We heard the voice from heaven.

We were the special ones. You see this adds fuel to their argument about who's the greatest. And Jesus says on the way down.

Oh, hey, by the way fellas, uh, you can't tell anybody what happened on the mountain. That's a no-no. You can't say anything. Can't tell anybody what you see what you've seen until after the resurrection. That had to be really hard for them. And then you come down to verse number 14 and they came back to the disciples and they saw a large crowd around them and some scribes arguing with them and immediately when the entire crowd saw him they were amazed and began running up to greet him and he asked them What are you discussing with them?

And one of the crowd answered him teacher I brought you my son possessed with the spirit which makes him mute And whenever it seizes him it dashes him to the ground and he foams at the mouth and grinds His teeth and stiffens out and I told your disciples to cast it out and they could not Do it Now here's another aspect of these apostles and you can imagine peter james and john sitting back saying They couldn't do it. We could They couldn't And christ says oh you uh unbelieving generation.

How long will I be with you? He casts the demon out remember the story and they come back to him at the house and they they take him aside and say Lord, why is it we couldn't do that? He says these things only come out by prayer only by prayer But see that whole scene adds fuel to peter james and john And their argument on who's the greatest in the kingdom? Why? We'll read on verse 30 And from there they went out and began to go through galilee and he was unwilling for anyone to know about it Free was teaching his disciples and telling them the son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men They will kill him and when he has been killed he will rise three days later But they didn't understand the statement and they were afraid to ask him Why were they afraid to ask him mark chapter 8 the last time they asked about it or talked about it He talked about that whole scenario about denying yourself and taking up your cross and and following me They didn't want to hear that anymore Why read on verse 33 and they came to capernaum and when he was in the house He began to question them What were you discussing?

on the way But they kept silent For on the way they discussed with one another which of them Was the greatest? See, it's the same old same old scenario. So you can imagine james and john Sons of thunder and james saying I stood next to elijah the one who guards the law And john says I stood next to moses. He was the giver Of the law he couldn't guard if it hadn't been given so i'm more important than you are And peter's saying hey, wait a minute I'm the one who wanted to build a tabernacle there on top of the mountain I have more I have a closer relationship to god than any of you guys So there's this big argument that arose among themselves about who was the greatest and christ asked the question When they got to the house, what were you discussing on the way not for?

his information But For their confession They would learn to confess their sins They were ambitious zealous Power hungry people Folks all of us tend to be power hungry All of us want to be important All of us want to be the best we might not manifest it the way others do but down deep inside We want to be a somebody we want to be kind of great and we use our experiences to accentuate our greatness And so you can imagine peter james and john using their experience To make themselves better than anybody else Showing that they Had a closer relationship to god than anybody else did So christ begins to teach them once again He says these words Sitting down.

He called the 12 and said to them if anyone wants to be first He shall be last of all and servant of all And taking a child he set him before them And taking him in his arms.

He said to them Whoever receives one child like this in my name receives me Whoever receives me does not receive me But him who sent me He once again teaches the the essence of humility because they were so arrogant See, we struggle with humility in our own lives the ability to to to to put others above ourselves to prefer someone else is more important than ourselves Because we want to be the top dog and christ kept emphasizing their lives Listen you need to be the servant of all And now you come to the verse where john speaks all by himself Listen to what he says John said to him teacher We saw someone casting out demons in your name And we tried to hinder him because he was not following us He was not a part of our group He was not a part of our clique There was somebody trying to cast out demons and we saw him and said hey, yo, you can't do that Because you're not one of us the the close-knit group of of christ And you can't do that.

We tried to stop him from doing that lord See, that's the kind of spirit john was You can't do that because you're not a part of who we are That's the kind of ambitious zealous competitive spirit that john had He didn't want anybody doing what they themselves were designed by god to do He didn't want anybody else getting glory because he wanted the glory He wanted to be recognized. He didn't want somebody on the outside to be recognized as he was no He wanted to be the one who was truly recognized That's the kind of man john was He was zealous Ambitious just like his brother james.

He was competitive. He was arrogant just like his brother james Just like peter. He was the kind of man who was Ferocious by nature. He was the kind of man who would blow up by nature. That's who he was That's why christ called them sons of thunder But yet christ revolutionized his life Christ changed the apostle john. He made him into the kind of man. He wanted him to be listen The lord chose john and would shape this man But yet that zealous spirit would always be a part of john's life He is in the bible the most black and white writer in the text Go to the apostle paul to get a better balance, but with john Everything is black and white.

You're either a child of the light or a child of the darkness You're either a son of god or a son of satan John is very black and white. There are no gray areas in john's life In fact, listen to what he says over in first john First john chapter one verse number five First john one verse number five And this is the message we have heard from him and announced to you that god is light and in him There is no darkness at all if we say That we have fellowship with him yet walk in darkness we lie And do not practice the truth But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light We have fellowship with one another and the blood of jesus his son cleanses us from all sin very black and white john 2 verse number 3 first john 2 3 And by this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments The one who says I have come to know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar And the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word in him The love of god has truly been perfected by this.

We know that we are in him If you go down even further to verse number nine, he says this Same chapter the one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in darkness until now The one who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know Where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes It's very black and white first john chapter 3 listen to what he says here first john 3 verse number 10 By this the children of god and the children of the devil are obvious He says anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of god Nor the one who does not love his brother See john's very black and white.

He never changed from that And you see god would use John in a very strategic way Because john would be very valuable to the ministry He along with peter those first 10 chapters of acts were very paramount in the progression of the church He was strong on the truth and yet god would use him and teach him to love the brethren 80 times He uses the word love As he writes 80 times 70 times he uses the word witness testify or testimony So he's he's big on the truth.

He's big on love He's big on those things because that's what it's all about learning to speak the truth in love And john became that way he was known for a phrase In his life through church history little children Love one another a strong man of god Who had never compromised the truth You know john was never told by jesus john Follow me but peter had to be reminded peter Follow me John was never asked by jesus. John. Do you love me? No But peter asked three times peter Do you love me? And peter was given the responsibility to do what feed the sheep?

What was john's responsibility? To take care of the mother of jesus Remember john was the only apostle at calvary Only one there And there he stood with the mother of jesus And what did christ say in john 19 26? Woman behold your son He looks to john and says behold Your mother You see he had entrusted his mother to somebody who would never compromise the truth Never He couldn't put his hand the hand his mother in the hands of somebody who could one day renege on that which he believed He had to entrust mary into the hands of somebody who would be strong and Non-compromising and yet would be shrouded with love Because his mother needed to be loved and cared for and church history tells us that john Stayed in jerusalem with mary until she died Think about it.

Who would you entrust your mother to who would you trust your father to? You got to entrust them to somebody who's not going to compromise the truth, right? And that's exactly what jesus did with mary his mother And so he had strategically worked in the life of john To make him this man this individual who would be strong In the faith. Yes, was he explosive? He was Was he volatile at times he was But the spirit of god had worked in his life And he became the man That throughout the gospel of john was known as the disciple whom jesus loved In 21 chapters in the gospel of john, he never one time mentions his name Why because you see Being the prominent one no longer was important to him God had worked in his life He had learned his lessons And when writing his epistle, he is gospel.

He would just refer to himself as the disciple whom jesus Loved why because he was so taken by the fact That jesus would love one such as him That's why in first john three verse number first number one.

It says Oh What manner of love is this? That the father has bestowed upon us That we should be called the children of god Oh beloved Beloved What kind of otherworldly love is this that we we need someone like me a volatile ambitious a zealous Arrogant individual would have the love of god shown to him He recognized that and god had done such a an incredible work in this man's life That he would be able to entrust his mother to this man Knowing that she would be taken care of by one who would never compromise the truth And one who would always be compassionate in his dealings with his mother and those around about him He would speak that truth And that's why he becomes a very powerful example for you and me folks listen We need to be this kind of person Listen, how is it john learned to love?

By being loved That's how he learned Love is more caught than taught And he caught it christ just kept loving him And showing him the importance of loving his brethren and he Describes himself not as the disciple who was chosen or the disciple who was taught but the disciple Whom jesus loved That was this man And church history tells us that he was banished to the island isle of petmus Which is a a little ways off the coast of turkey at some five miles by ten miles in the aegean sea And there john was exiled And there here he received the glorious vision of the book of revelation And the bible tells us why he was there revelation chapter 1 verse number 9 I john your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in jesus Was on the island called petmus because of the word of god and the testimony of jesus You know why i'm here I'm here because I would never compromise the truth That's why i'm here If you go over to read revelation 6 verse number 9 It talks about the saints who are martyred during the tribulation It says that when he broke the fifth seal I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because Of the word of god and because of the testimony which they had maintained You see there was a characteristic about the believer They were committed to the word of god and to the testimony of jesus If you go over to revelation 12 verse number 17 satan is furious that he can't destroy israel And so it says in verse number 17 and the dragon was enraged with the woman who was israel And went off to make war with the rest of her offspring.

Who's that who keep the commandments of god? and hold the testimony of jesus You see all throughout the book of revelation You have people who are unwilling to compromise the truth and they die for their faith revelation 20 verse number 4 And I saw thrones and they sat upon them and judgment was given to them And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of jesus and because of the word of god Revelation You see john reiterates in the book of revelation. This is where the world is going It's going to a place where there are people who are so committed to christ.

They're willing to die for their faith Because they're committed to god and the testimony of jesus How about you Is that the way you are That's the way john was What a great man of god What a man to follow what a man to look to what a man to admire Remember his name like the other apostles are on those city gates in the new jerusalem Why because he's never to be forgotten Never to be forgotten he's one of those men who will rule during the manila kingdom of christ on 12 thrones because of his commitment to christ His unwillingness to waver on the truth And his ability to love the brethren How about you?

That's maturity. That's where the church needs to be going That's where people like you and me need to be. Are you there? Are you progressing in that direction? John is our example and may god give us the grace To follow that example. Let's pray together father. We thank you for this glorious day And this man called john Who was so committed to the truth of jesus christ We thank you lord for his steadfast spirit We thank you lord that he was Never going to compromise that which he knew to be true That's why jesus would be able to entrust his mother into john's care And so we ask lord that as your people we would learn from the text And that we would learn to follow the example of these great men of god Who serves you in a great and mighty way?

We pray in jesus name amen