Seeing Christ, Seeing God

In Philippians 3, Paul spoke about the “surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus as [his] Lord” (v. 8) saying that he counted all his possessions and accomplishments as “rubbish” (v. 9) --garbage, or even dung-- for the sake of gaining Christ.  

Today, I was thinking about how difficult it is to live out this mindset. I want the focus of my life to be seeing Christ and knowing him more and more, but I wonder if anyone else could recognize that based on the way I actually live? Are my day-to-day priorities those of a woman following hard after God, or a woman pointlessly chasing after worldly garbage? I need to ask God to change my desires and choices so that I will seek the face of Jesus every day.

That’s something I’m going to be praying for as we jump into the new series I announced a couple weeks ago.

For the next two months or so, we’ll be taking a look at Jesus’ “I AM” statements in the Gospel of John: eight significant instances where Jesus used that phrase to tell us something about his divine nature. I’m really excited about this topic, because I know that the truth of who Jesus is has the power to transform our lives.

Before looking at each “I AM” phrase in turn, I want to take a look at the introduction to John gospel, and what it has to say about who Jesus is. This section from the first chapter of John is one of my favorite passages from the Bible because it so beautifully depicts the truth of the glory of Christ, our hope and our salvation:

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

This is such a rich passage, it’s far too much to cover well in one brief blog post. Instead, there are four important ideas i want to unpack that will prepare us for the rest of our study in John: Jesus is the Incarnate Word of God, Jesus is Light to a Dark World, Jesus Brings Us Into God’s Family, and Jesus Makes God Known to Us.

Jesus is the incarnate Word of God

In verses 1-3 John speaks of Jesus as “the Word.” He tells us that the Word existed with God from the very beginning; in fact, the Word was God. Jesus was not created by God, but is actually of one being with the Father.  All things were made through Jesus, and nothing that he made would exist without him, because he is the source of life (v. 4). Continuing in verse 14, John tells us that Jesus (the Word) took on a body and dwelled among people on Earth, revealing the glory of God as only His perfect Son could.

So what is the significance of Jesus being the incarnate Word of God? According to John Piper, John phrases it this way to emphasize Jesus’ role as communicator: “John wanted us to conceive of the Son of God as existing both for the sake of communication between him and the Father, and for the sake of appearing in history as God's communication to us.” Jesus is in eternal communication with His Father, and through him, we are able to communicate with God as well. Through Jesus, God clarifies everything we need to know about Him.

Jesus is Light to a Dark World

In verses 4 and 5, we see that Jesus, our source of life, is also the light of the world that the darkness cannot stand against. John the Baptist (not to be confused with John the Apostle, the author of this gospel) came to point others to the Messiah, the coming Light: Christ (v. 6-10). Jesus came to bring light to a dark world, but the people loved the darkness more than the light, they loved their sin more than they loved God, so they rejected the Life, the Light (v. 10-11).

Considering how dark the world seems to so many of us right now, the thought of Jesus as the light of the world should be a source of great hope.. Stories of unchecked hatred, depravity, and violence fill the news, and it’s hard to hold on to the hope that things will ever change for the better. Left to ourselves, we are so consumed by sin, we don’t even know what goodness is. But Jesus is our light, giving us hope that, one day, all things will be made right. He is the one who shows us what “right” even is. He is our example of perfect righteousness. 

Jesus Brings Us Into God’s Family

Though the dark world rejects Jesus, a few will receive him and believe in his name. To those, he gives the gift of sonship and eternal life (v. 12-13). Believers are supernaturally and spiritually reborn as sons and daughters of God. They are no longer children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3), but beloved children of God and co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17-19).

What an amazing inheritance! Even though our sinful natures reject Jesus and rebel against God, the blood of Christ covers our sin and restores our relationship with our Heavenly Father. We are adopted and grafted into the family tree of God where we are forever loved and cherished. 

Jesus Makes God Known to Us

This passage from John's gospel finds its amazing conclusion in verse 18: though no one has ever seen God, those who see Jesus see the Father. To know God the Son is to know God the Father, and that is the key to eternal life: 

"And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (John 17:3).

This! This is what we need: eternal life though seeing the face of Christ, and thereby seeing the face of God.

Where do we find Jesus?  Where do we see God?

Scripture.

Although prayer,  worship, and Christian fellowship may all be edifying, god-orienting pursuits, they are useless without a solid foundation on God's Word.  The Bible is God's primary means of communicating to us, where he reveals Himself to us. All Scripture, Old Testament and New, point us to Jesus and teach us about the character of God. If we truly want to pursue Jesus and learn about God, we have to start with the Bible.

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I’ve always read verses 10-11 of this passage with a little bit of incredulity: “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”

How could that happen? How could they miss it?

But, I realize, I miss it all the time. I chase after fleeting happiness and miss out on opportunities to taste eternal joy when I neglect to spend time in God's Word. I miss glimpses of Jesus: the Word Made Flesh, the Light of the World, my Brother, my God.

I hope this series in John will give you a fresh desire to love God's Word, and to know and see Jesus more and more every day.

Note: I’d originally planned to also address the importance of the phrase “I AM” in the context of the rest of the Bible in this post, but have decided it will fit better with a later post in this series. Stay tuned!

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Respond

• Jesus is the Incarnate Word of God.

• Jesus is Light to a Dark World.

• Jesus Brings Us Into God’s Family.

• Jesus Makes God Known to Us.

How do these truths impact your life on a day-to-day basis? How can you redirect your heart to Jesus when you are tempted to be diverted by fleeting pursuits?

Powerful and Effective Prayer

13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.
James 5:13-18

Have you ever read a passage like this and felt . . . discouraged? I know I have. 

I’ve had plenty of prayers that “weren’t answered.” Rather, they weren’t answered in the way I’d hoped or expected. People I love have battled physical ailments and injuries, even after I’ve prayed for their healing and safety. My prayers over my infertility have never resulted in a pregnancy, and I still deal with a lot of pain from endometriosis. Because of this, I’ve sometimes struggled with the sense that a lack of faith or some unknown sin stands in the way of my prayers. 

Faith healing is a divisive concept within the Christian church. There’s a lot that could be said about it, but I’m not going to tackle that huge topic now. Today, I want to focus in on the last few verses of this passage, and the encouragement they offer to all believers because of the Gospel.

If, when you read this passage, you get to the part about “the prayer of a righteous person” and automatically feel hopeless, you are not alone. I know myself too well to suffer under the delusion that I could ever be considered “righteous” based on merit alone. This passage may not state it explicitly, but the full counsel of God’s Word reminds us that our righteousness is not something we’ve earned, but a gift we’ve been given. Therefore, we can pray with the assurance that our prayers are heard because God has granted us the righteousness of His Son. Those prayers they are powerful and effective, not based on our efforts alone, but because they are answered by our all-powerful Creator.

Perfect Righteousness for Prayer

In this passage, James admonishes his readers to pray faithfully, having confidence that God will hear and answer them. James assures them that their prayers for physical and spiritual healing will be answered when they are in right standing with God. Verses 15-16a remind the reader to be in the habit of confessing sin to God and one another to receive forgiveness and healing. Our sins can stand in the way of our prayers. In fact, the prayers of those who turn away from God’s Word are an abomination to the Lord (Proverbs 28:9); He not only doesn’t listen to them, but they even repulse Him. Confession is essential.

When we confess our sins, God faithfully forgives us and restores us to a right relationship with Him (1 John 1:9). God’s forgiveness is not shoddy patch job that merely hides the ugly reality of our sin. When we receive Christ, we are transformed (2 Corinthians 5:17), remade and given His spotless righteousness (Isaiah 1:18). As believers, we “put on Christ” (Galatians 3:27). When we pray, God hears us as His sinless, righteous children and answers us accordingly. He responds to our prayers as our Father who desires to give good gifts to His beloved children (Matthew 7:11). 

The Power Behind our Prayers

In James 5, verses 17 and 18, the prophet Elijah is given as an example for believers to follow in their prayers. Elijah was not perfectly sinless; he struggled at one point with deep doubt (1J Kings 19:4-5). James confirms that he had “a nature like ours”--that is, a sinful one. Yet, God answered his prayers mightily. By withholding rain from the land for years, the Lord answered Elijah's prayers and demonstrated his unsurpassable power to King Ahab and the idol-worshipping Israelites, who had been led astray to worship the false god, Baal.

The story of this miraculous drought is recounted in 1 Kings 17-18, and it culminates in an all-out spiritual battle between Elijah and the prophets of Baal. Elijah warned the people of Israel that they had to choose whether they would serve Baal or the Lord. He suggested a test to help the people decide whether they should listen to the prophets of Baal, or God’s prophet, Elijah:

“ . . . Let two bulls be given to us, and let them choose one bull for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it. And I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood and put no fire to it. And you call upon the name of your god, and I will call upon the name of the Lord, and the God who answers by fire, he is God.” 
1 Kings 18:23-24

The Israelites agreed to this test, trusting that the true deity would make Himself known by consuming the offering with fire from heaven.

The prophets of Baal went first. They prepared their offering and cried out to their false god. For most of the day, they pleaded for him to respond, but received no answer. They even went so far as to mutilate themselves with swords and lances to get Baal’s attention (v. 28), but “there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention” (v. 29). 

Elijah was up next. He repaired God’s altar and prepared the offering. He even drenched the entire altar and the offering with water three times, just to be clear that the coming fire was from heaven, not a natural spark. Elijah prayed to the Lord, and God answered Him:

“O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.” 
1 Kings 18:36-39

Compared to the prayer of the prophets of Baal, Elijah’s prayer wasn’t showy or impressive. There was no shouting, dancing, or self-mutilation needed to catch God’s attention or convince Him to answer. Elijah came before the Lord as a humble, obedient servant, asking in faith that God would make Himself known to His people by answering his request. The fire from heaven consumed, not just the offering, but the entire altar. There was no question of God’s incomparable might and authority.  

After God’s awesome display of power, the people of Israel destroyed the prophets of Baal and their idols. Finally, after years of drought, Elijah prayed to the Lord and rain returned to the parched lands. God heard Elijah and answered.

Even if your prayers have never resulted in a multi-year drought or fire from heaven, you can rest assured that your prayers are always heard and answered, just like Elijah’s were. The same God is waiting to hear and respond to your prayers according to His perfect will. The prayers of imperfect people are powerful because they are answered by an all-powerful God. 

If you feel discouraged in your prayer life today, pray with me:

Father God, thank you for the gift of prayer. Thank you for sending your Son to die for us and make us your sinless, beloved children. Use your Word to fill us with wisdom, and give us a spirit of humility and conviction when we need to confess our sins. Use your Holy Spirit to align our prayers with your will and give us a greater desire for your presence in our lives. Your might is more than we can comprehend. Forgive us for so often thinking too little of your power, and forgetting to ask you for what we need. Use our prayers to glorify yourself and accomplish your purposes among us. Amen.

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Respond

When you feel unworthy, how do you remind yourself of the righteousness you have in Christ? How does the knowledge of God's power impact your desire to pray?

A Prayer to Desire God’s Word

As a teacher, fall is the time of year when my schedule begins to spiral out of control. I look at my to-do list and cringe; how can I get all of this done and still maintain some semblance of sanity? The months of September through December will speed past in a flurry of activity at work, at church, and in my home. In the blink of an eye, 2016 will be over.

With so much to be done, it’s easy for my priorities to get out of whack and for urgent and emergent needs to take precedence over the quietly persistent call to refresh my soul in God’s Word.

A few weeks ago, my husband and I found out that we’d been matched to adopt a child. Three days later, I went back to work to begin preparing for the new academic year. I’ve been consumed by a flurry of activity, and my time in Scripture has been (to put it nicely) haphazard as I struggle to fall into the rhythm of being back at work for the next three months.

I wish I had a never-fail, five-step plan for realigning priorities when life is overscheduled chaos, but I don’t. Based on past experience, I know that no amount of determination or “buckling down” will cause my rebellious heart to adore God and treasure His Word above all else.

By nature, sinful humans do not desire the things of God. We were dead in our trespasses and sins, and “by nature children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:1-3), yet God mercifully redeemed us by the blood of Christ to give us new life:

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ . . . 
Ephesians 2:4-5

It is only when believers receive the Holy Spirit that they are capable of desiring God as they should. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit changes our nature and very desires to conform us to the image of Christ (Romans 8:26-29). Still, it’s a process. I am yet being sanctified, and my flesh is at war with the Spirit in me (Galatians 5:17).  When I’m feeling overwhelmed and struggle with wrong priorities, what I need the most is more of the Holy Spirit to change my desires. I can’t muster up enough love and adoration on my own. I need to pray for an infusion of Christlikeness so that I will crave life-giving communion with God through His Word. It’s a prayer I know he will answer because Jesus already guaranteed it:

“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Luke 11:13

Today, if you’re experiencing a drought of desire for any reason, pray with me:

Merciful Father, I come before you today, humbled by my weakness. I’m so easily distracted by the priorities of this world, most of which have no eternal value. It’s too easy for me to rob myself of your life-giving presence by making time for anything and everything else before I spend time in your Word. Thank you for sending your Son to free me from the prison of the sinful desires of my flesh. Fill me with your Holy Spirit to continue the good work you began in me, reshaping me to be like Christ. Transform my heart to crave your Word, to your glory. Amen.

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Respond

Is this a prayer you need today? What scriptures give you encouragement as you wait for God to answer this prayer?