August 1st 1999JOHN'S PROLOGUE
SERMON 4 HE CAME TO HIS OWN August 1st 1999
Phil Campbell
My friend Martin is an Anglican minister in New South Wales. And his wife Joanne was telling us what it was like on the first day at their new church.
It was their very first Sunday. They'd arrived, they'd moved into the house, they'd unpacked. They hadn't met many of the people. And so on Sunday morning it was time for church. The BIG WELCOME.
They've got three kids. Martin heads for the front door of the church, and Joanne, because it's the first day for their three kids, heads to the Sunday School.
There are quite a few of other mums over there. But nobody says hello. Into the preschoolers room with little Sarah. More mums. But nobody says hello. It's her very first day, Jo's not quite sure how things work, who does what, what goes where. And nobody takes the slightest bit of notice. Nobody says welcome, nobody says, here's where you leave your little girl. Joanne just stands there, feeling like a fish out of water. Nobody says hello.
Well, it's time for church. And of course, it's the day of the big welcome for Martin and Joanne. The church warden stands up the front and makes the big announcement. Asks Martin and Jo to come up to the front and be introduced to their new congregation.
And Joanne said, you should have seen the faces of the women who'd been over at the Sunday School when they saw her go out the front. They were embarrassed, because they'd totally ignored her, And one of them came up to her afterwards, and said to her, "Oh, I'm terribly sorry. IF WE'D KNOWN WHO YOU WERE when we saw you earlier, we would have said hello." To which Jo said, "WHY SHOULD IT MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE."
Well, if you come back to our passage in John chapter 1, you'll see a very similar thing happened with Jesus. He came to HIS world. He came to HIS PEOPLE. And he was ignored. He wasn't welcomed. He was shut out. And even worse.
Here is the one, John tells us in verse 3, who was the hand behind the whole creation. Here is the one who invented the atom, who made sure the electrical charge on the electron was just exactly right so that everything didn't just explode in a flash of smoke. Here's the one who balanced the force of gravity so perfectly right through the universe that everything is held in perfect balance. And doesn't just collapse inwards into a black hole of nothingness.
"Through him," says verse 3, "all things were made; without him, nothing was made that has been made."
Because of the fact that he's in very nature, in very essence God, he's there at the start. Creating. And it's HIS UNIVERSE. HIS WORLD. And particularly his nation of Israel, his chosen people.
They've been waiting for their Messiah to come. They've been waiting for God to reach in and put things right with the world. And finally, here he is. In person. At the door.
So what happens?
A few years back I was at a big conference. Bill Hybels, guest speaker from America, and thousands of people there to hear him. As you come in the door, there's a security guy checking you've got the right sort of name tag that shows you're registered. And it just happened I was coming through the front doors exactly the same time as Bill Hybels was coming through.
They let me in; cause I had the tag on. But as I walked through and looked back, there's Bill. Bailed up at the door. Because he didn't have a name tag. Sorry sir, you can't come in unless you're registered. He said, "I'm the speaker! I'm the reason everybody's here." The guy on the door didn't look convinced. Until one of the organisers had to come over and make him let Bill in.
Well, how embarrassing. I mean if he'd known he was the guest of honour, it would have been different, wouldn't it. At least, that's what you'd expect.
That's what happens with Jesus. Except worse. Read verse 10. John says, the one who made the world steps into it. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognise him.
How embarrassing. But it gets worse. John's focus so far has been on the whole world. The world that didn't recognise him. But in verse 11 the camera zooms up closer. When you see those words at the start of verse 11, "He came to that which was his own," it's the phrase the greek language uses when it talks about coming to YOUR OWN HOME. He came to HIS PLACE.
By which John means THE NATION OF ISRAEL. Okay, the world doesn't recognise him when he comes, but what about HIS OWN SPECIAL PEOPLE? What about when he comes to the ones who had the scriptures that promised him. The ones who were supposed to be expecting a MESSIAH. What happens when he comes TO HIS OWN?
Keep reading. Same thing. He came to that which was his own, but his own DID NOT RECEIVE HIM. God steps into flesh and steps into the world. And they don't want to know about it. And it somehow seems that the more they should have been expecting him, the worse it gets.
We're going to take a look at some examples that are scattered through the rest of John's gospel; some examples of the way people RECEIVE JESUS. Or DON'T. Especially the people who should have known better, the Jews. And as we do that we'll see what he John means in verse 11. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
And as we do that, I want you to ask YOURSELF some questions. About the way YOU've received Jesus.
We're going to see OUT AND OUT REJECTION. Which grows and grows until it finally puts Jesus to death. And we're going to see something else as well. We're going to see people who are ALMOST CONVINCED. But won't commit themselves. And just keep quiet.
And then I'm going to ask you to think about where you're up to with Jesus.
GROWING OPPOSITION
Now just to set the scene a little, I want you to turn over to John chapter 2. You'll see Jesus there, he's gone to a wedding in the little town of Cana in Galilee, they've run out of wine. And just quietly, in the background, he says the word, and 180 gallons of well-water is turned into top class Claret. Miracle Number One. Not many people see it happen. But they taste it. And they like it. But there's more to come. By the time you get to verse 23, he's in Jerusalem for the passover feast; John says he's done more miraculous signs, and because of that, many people were seeing what he was doing and believing in his name.
But others weren't. Especially the leaders of the Jews, who say to him back in verse 18, how about you show some miracles to US? They say here you are stirring people up - and he's just made ascene in the temple. So what are you going to do to prove your authority.
Read their words in verse 18, because here's the start of their opposition to Jesus. "Then the Jews DEMANDED OF HIM; "What miraculous sign can you show us to PROVE YOUR AUTHORITY TO DO ALL THIS?"
If you're supposed to be the Messiah, PROVE IT. NOW.
I had a friend like that. He said to me once, if Jesus really is that important, if Jesus wants me to believe in him, why doesn't he PROVE IT TO ME. Put a sign in the sky, saying HEY DAVE - BELIEVE IN ME."
Well, these religious leaders are the same. They want a personal miracle. PROVE YOUR AUTHORITY. Or else.
And people like that are the LAST sort who are going to see.
But let's keep going. Flip over as we go. Chapter 4 verse 43, Jesus heals the son of a high ranking Roman. A Royal Official.
And then Chapter 5, verse 1 - there's a man lying by the pool, he's been paralysed for 38 years. Jesus sees him there, he says to him, GET UP AND WALK. And he does. But you'll notice, by verse 16, instead of saying TERRIFIC, HE'S HERE, the Jewish leaders do the opposite. They pick him up on a technicality. See, back a little way they said, do something to PROVE WHO YOU ARE. Now he's done this. And verse 16 says this. Chapter 5. "So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews PERSECUTED HIM."
It's out and out opposition. And will you notice it's not so much that they don't BELIEVE what Jesus is doing. In fact, it's obvious that THEY DO. The trouble is, he's ROCKING THE BOAT. He's threatening their personal hold on power. Overturning their petty little laws. Their status is at stake - as the watchdogs. Who get to tell God's people what they CAN DO and what they CAN'T DO. And their fear is, Jesus is threatening their POWER.
And can I say to you, they're ABSOLUTELY RIGHT. And that JESUS does threaten your personal hold on power. Jesus threatens your personal hold on a whole lot of things. Which might be why you're so tempted to push him aside the same way.
And so the tension's building up. He came to his own, and what happens? "They persecuted him." Turn over to chapter 11. You'll see it in black and white. The real issues. There have been other signs along the way. Chapter 6. Feeding the 5000. But here in chapter 11, Jesus has just done the ultimate miracle. Verse 45. His friend Lazarus has been dead four days. And Jesus stands at the door of the tomb and calls him out. Raises him from the dead.
Now you'd reckon that might make people sit up and take notice. And if you look at verse 45 and 46, that's exactly what happens. Except again, there are two very different reactions. Some of the Jews put their faith in him. But some do the opposite. And they race off to the Pharisees and tell them what's happened.
There's an emergency meeting of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish council. And look what they say in verse 47 and 48. Here's a man performing many miraculous signs. Yep. "If we let him go on like this, EVERYONE WILL BELIEVE IN HIM." We've got to stop him!
If they believe in HIM, they won't follow US anymore. And the Romans - they'll think it's a plot. And they'll take away NOT ONLY OUR PLACE - but our nation." You can see the big issue, can't you. We'll lose our jobs - we'll lose our positions. We'll lose EVERYTHING."
So from that day on, says verse 53, they plot to take his life. Jesus CAME TO HIS OWN. And what do they want to do? They want to KILL HIM.
PEER PRESSURE PROBLEM
Can you turn over quickly to chapter 12 verse 42 and 43. Because I said at the start there's another reaction to Jesus.
When you read what happened, when you read about the way the Jewish leaders rejected Jesus, it's easy to think, HOW COULD THEY BE SO DUMB. Why didn't they SEE IT?
The fact is, some of them did. Even the leaders. Some of them were impressed by Jesus; some of them even believed. But you know what they did? They did nothing.
It's a terrible thing about human nature. And a dangerous thing. That there are so few people who'll ever stand up and be counted. There are so few people who'll ever take a stand for something they believe. Because there's something more important than what we believe, isn't there? And for most of us, it's this. For most of us, the most important thing in the world is WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK OF US. It's called HAVING THE COURAGE OF YOUR CONVICTIONS. And not many do.
"Yet at the same time," chapter 12 verse 43, "Yet at the same time MANY EVEN AMONG THE LEADERS BELIEVED IN HIM. But because of the Pharisees, they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; GET THIS: for they loved praise from men more than praise from God."
So they say nothing. I mean, what you believe is a PERSONAL THING, isn't it? WRONG. But it's better to just live a good life and not have to say anything about Jesus isn't it? WRONG. But it's best to just keep working at building up the friendship, isn't it? Because if you SAY SOMETHING, they won't listen anyway. WRONG.
My guess is these guys were thinking all the same things WE THINK. When we make excuses for not standing up for Jesus.
See, the trouble is, in the end these double-minded disciples aren't really disciples at all. They can't really make up their mind whether they're with him or not.
And so largely because nobody says anything, events keep unfolding. The clouds keep building. To chapter 18. And Jesus is arrested. Taken to the high priest. And you get the leader of God's people. Cross Questioning his maker. So he can put him to death. He came to his own. And they persecute him. He came to his own, and they look for a way to kill him. He came to his own. And they cross question him. And they've finally got him. And they send him to Pilate, the Roman Governor. Pilate can see a mile off he's innocent. He tries to let him go. But if you look at verse 39 and 40 in chapter 18, you'll see the final verdict. The verdict on Jesus from HIS VERY OWN PEOPLE.
Follow it from verse 38. Pilate can find no basis for a charge against Jesus at all. He takes him back out to the Jews, and he says, "He's innocent. I'll give you a choice. Verse 39. It's your custom for me to release to you ONE PRISONER at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release THE KING OF THE JEWS? "
And this time it's not just the high priest; not just the Pharisees. It's the ordinary people. The SON OF GOD? Or a CONVICTED MURDERER? You choose. The King of the Jews? Or Barabbas?
He came to his own. And they shout, NOT HIM, NOT HIM. Give us Barabbas. A cold blooded murderer and thief who's taken part in a rebellion. The people of Israel would prefer THAT. To the Son of God.
Can I ask you this morning, WHAT'S YOUR PREFERENCE?
Because I've got a suspicion that things these days are no different. And it's pretty obvious in one way that a big proportion of the world wants absolutely nothing to do with Jesus.
I guess the fact that you're here today means you're not in that category. But there's more to it than that, isn't there. Maybe you're here because you want to have a bit each way. What's it like the rest of the week? What's it like for YOU when the guys at work say, HEY, THAT WASN'T YOUR CAR WE SAW OUTSIDE OF CHURCH WAS IT? Or WHAT DID YOU DO ON SUNDAY? Or they say, those Christians, they're a weird bunch aren't they?
A lot of us have got a lot in common with the Jews we read about who sort of believed. But just shut up. And watched Jesus go to his death.
Is that YOU?
Let me finish by taking you back to John chapter 3. And verse 36. It's an important verse. And it's worth turning back to.
Because the funny thing is, the Jews might have thought they were sitting in judgement on Jesus. But the reality was exactly the reverse.
They might have thought they were condemning him to death. But in the end, it was all part of a bigger plan.
And the death he died was always going to be the key to it. Because as he laid down his perfect life, as he gave himself up as a perfect sacrifice, he was actually doing what he planned to do all along.
You know, I guess that guy Barabbas couldn't believe his luck. He was guilty. On death row. Jesus was innocent. And yet the crowd yelled CRUCIFY JESUS. And LET THE SINNER GO FREE. And that's what happened. The innocent. In the place of the guilty. And the guilty one goes free.
And that was the plan all along. Except on a much bigger scale.
The point is, whether you go free or not depends on what you do with Jesus. Whether you're forgiven on the last day and find God's mercy, or whether you're not forgiven. It all depends on what you do with Jesus. And that's what it says in John 3:36.
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. But whoever rejects the Son will not see life - FOR THE WRATH OF GOD REMAINS ON HIM. Thumb your nose at Jesus, and God's anger stays on YOU. Simple as that.
You might think you're sitting in judgement of Jesus. But in the end it comes back on YOU. It's like you're at the art gallery, criticising the MONA LISA. One of the greatest artworks of art of all time. What you say about IT tells you more about YOU. Than it does about the painting.
Friends, Jesus came to his own. And he wasn't received. The big question today is, what happens when he comes to YOU. Which he has. As his claims are presented right now. HOW IS HE RECEIVED BY YOU? It looked like a life and death issue for Jesus. But really, it's a life and death issue for YOU.