Today, we’re beginning a journey through the book of John.

Over the last couple of years, we’ve read through books together as a congregation, and it’s been a really good thing. It’s helped us be on the same page, helped us teach each other, and helped us see a broader picture of the bible than we might otherwise see.

In your worship folder, you’ll find a bookmark that you can use as a reminder to be reading through the book of John over the next few months. As you read, we believe God will speak to you and teach you through it. We believe that God may have things for you to share with the rest of us on Sunday mornings, so we’ll try to leave space for that as well.

Why the book of John?

It’s interesting that in the bible, we have four different books, four different stories about the life of Jesus. Each one is different, and each gives us a little different picture of what Jesus did and who he is and what he taught.

John is the most different of the four books, the four gospels. Another way to say that is, the three other gospels are similar to each other in ways that John is not.

I’m glad we have all four! Each helps us know more about Jesus’ life. John, though, is one of those books that stands out. Many people would say it’s their favorite in all the bible. It tells us the most about how Jesus really is God, about how believing in Jesus is essential.

It’s not always easy to understand, but reading it together, I think we’ll find it’s extremely helpful!

Perhaps the biggest reason we’ve chosen to follow Jesus’ life up until Easter in the book of John, though, is that it ties in so well with where we have been.

We’ve been talking all through Advent about how God always has been close to us, and how Jesus’ birth, the incarnation, is the best example of that.

Last week, we saw that we are to live incarnationally, too; we are to build bridges with others as ambassadors, helping them to know Jesus.

The book of John begins with this wonderful section that traces the story of Jesus back before his birth in a manger. John talks about the Word, the Logos, the very thing that created everything and holds everything together, the Word that is God and always has existed.

It’s the Word that became human and walked around. Jesus is the word, the light of the world…Jesus is God himself in a human body. It’s the perfect jumping off point for learning about his life, especially after this Advent.

So let’s read John together, with fresh eyes.

Whether you’ve never read it, or read it hundreds of times, invite God to show you new things. Throughout the coming months, different ones of us will be sharing the message, drawing out the places where John’s story shows us how we should live.

Join the journey! In fact, maybe you want to get together with people outside of Sunday morning to talk about what God’s teaching you through the book of John. You might want to do that casually, just with one or two people you know already. Or maybe you want to join one of our Listening Life groups. Some are already going, and some new ones will be starting-they’re groups that meet to do just this, listen to God and share with each other how to make what we talk about on Sunday mornings really apply to how we live all the time. Talk to Steve Fawver if you’re interested.

Read John 1:1-4 (NLT)

The book of John will never let us forget that Jesus is more than a human being. It will never let us forget that Jesus truly is God.

“Who is Jesus?” is always one of those questions that is essential. Many people who want nothing to do with the church today still place Jesus high on their list of people they respect. Jesus is seen as a great teacher, a man who changed the world, who showed concern and love for the poor and the downtrodden, who challenged religious stuffiness. People often have a lot of respect for Jesus, but hesitate to call him “God”. The book of John won’t let us forget that Jesus is God.

You know what’s great? The same person who wrote this gospel also wrote three letters that are in the bible, and in 1 John, he won’t let us forget that Jesus is human.

READ 1 John 1:1.

We’ve seen him with our eyes, our hands have touched him.

The same person who won’t let us forget that Jesus is God, won’t let us forget that Jesus is human, either. Many people in the church need to be reminded of Jesus’ humanity. He struggled like we struggled. He really did engage our world in the biggest way possible, by living in it.

Jesus is God, and Jesus is a human being, and he came into our world to bring healing and light to us.

God’s purposes can’t be stopped, no matter how bad the world gets. No matter how evil or dark, no matter what suffering we experience, the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.

Not that everyone will get it. Not that everyone will accept it. In fact, as the book of John begins, the stage is set for the betrayal and disbelief and rejection that Jesus will experience. If we’re surprised by how many people don’t seem to accept or believe in Jesus, perhaps this book will remind us that the people who saw him with their own eyes and touched him with their own hands didn’t all accept him or believe him, either.

Many people rejected Jesus then, and many people reject Jesus now.

They reject what he teaches, what he stands for. They reject the fact that he is both human and God, they reject that he is the one thing on earth that shows what is right and true.

From the very beginning of the book of John, we see who Jesus is, and we see that each person who encounters Jesus is going to face a choice: will they accept and believe in him, or will they reject him?

Right from the beginning, we know the promise to those who accept him: (v. 12,13)

“To all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn! This is not a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan–this rebirth comes from God.”

These first 14 verses introduce us to Jesus, and they introduce us to the themes we’ll be reading and talking about for the next few months.

What will you do with Jesus? How will you respond? Will you accept him, and receive his gift of becoming reborn, becoming a child of God?

This is why the book of John was written, and this is why we’re looking at it together.

Who among us doesn’t want a new kind of reborn life? Who among us doesn’t want to look carefully at who Jesus is and figure out if he is who he says he is?

Today, we’re just beginning this journey. As you read, look for the importance of belief, of accepting who Jesus is, of the signs that point to who Jesus is. These are the central themes of John.

Who is Jesus for you?