John 20:30-31 - The Gospel of John

We’re starting a new sermon series this morning in the Gospel of John. Or more precisely the Gospel According to John. John is one of the four books in the Bible which considers the life and ministry of Jesus. The others are Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

We’re 5 and 1/2 years into our existence as a church and we have yet to work through one of the Gospel narratives chapter by chapter. That is not to say that we have not had sermons in the different Gospel accounts. For example such as during Advent and Easter. And as some of you know, David Fraser has preached a few sermons in Mark.

By the way, I haven’t been avoiding going through one of the Gospels. It’s just a big task. John has 20 chapters and some of them are long. Some pastors have taken two years to work through John. We won’t take that long, but it will take over a year to complete.

Now, if you look at your sermon text, you may be slightly confused. We’ll be starting with chapter 20 verses 30 and 31. That is because those two verses explicitly tell us the purpose of the book. Today’s sermon will be an overview. We’ll cover the author and audience and the book’s purpose and various themes. Then next week, we’ll get into its iconic opening.

So, if you would please turn to John 20, verses 30 and 31. That is on page ??

Reading of John 20:30-31

Prayer

Isn’t it nice to have such a clear purpose statement? We’re given 3 aspects to the book’s purpose John 20:31.

· First, it says, “These things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ” In other words, the author wants the reader to believe that Jesus is the promised Messiah.

· Second, that he is the Son of God. Jesus is more than a mere man. He is also God in the flesh.

· And third, it says, “and that by believing, you may have life in his name.” Believing these things is not merely intellectual. No, they have life-changing results. As mentioned throughout the book– eternal life.

So, God has given us the Gospel of John, that we may believe in Jesus and have life everlasting.

I’ve read John several times in the last few months in preparation for this series. Quite honestly, it’s overwhelming how many times the word “believe” is used. There are just over 80 uses of the word “believe” (In the Greek, it’s the word pisteo – believing something which is trusted). 18 of those uses are about not believing.

Throughout the book, we’re called to believe, and given examples of believing, but we’re also told the consequences of not believing and are given some examples of what it means to not believe – a majority of those are the religious establishment.

Well, that brings us to some important questions.

Who was the human author? Who was he writing to? What was their situation? And how does he make case to believe in Jesus as the Christ and Son of God?

My goal is to answer those questions this morning.

We’ll go through those in 5 points. And all 5 start with the letter “J.” You know, J for “John.” Maybe that will help you remember.

1. the first “j” is actually for “John” himself. Addressing the question of the author.

2. Second, Jews. They are the primary audience, although not exclusively.

3. Third, Jerusalem. That is the setting for the majority of the book.

4. The fourth “J” is, you guessed it, Jesus. Really, he is the big emphasis. You could, of course, say that about all four Gospels. However, this book focuses in on Jesus’ nature and identity.

5. And the last “J” is Jehovah. Jehovah is a derivative of the Hebrew word Yahweh for God himself. I would rather use the word Yahweh or the LORD, but it didn’t start with a J. John focuses not only on Jesus but on God himself.

So that is where we are headed. John, Jews, Jerusalem, Jesus, and Jehovah.

1. John

Now, as far as the author, you may be thinking, “well, of course it’s John, that’s the title of the book.” Well, yes, but titles were given by the early church in the second century. So, John is the traditional author. But interestingly, the author never directly identifies himself in the book.

However, there is an overwhelming consensus that the human author of this book is the Apostle John. Not John the Baptist. We’ll get to him in the first chapter, but rather John who was one of Jesus’ twelve disciples.

And the case is pretty strong. The author speaks of being a disciple of Jesus and being a witness about the things he wrote. That narrows it. He’s present at the Last Supper where he indicates that he reclined next to Jesus. He was also one of the three closest to Jesus – he mentions that. Jesus calls out to this author on the cross to care for Mary, Jesus’ mother. And the author mentions that he outruns Peter to the tomb. John and Peter were very close.

What seals the deal for me is that the author mentions almost all of the other disciples but never himself. That was a common stylistic approach of the time. He wanted to keep the focus on Jesus rather than himself.

By the way, I’m of course referring to the human author. The apostle John, like the other authors, were carried along by the Holy Spirit as 2 Peter 1 puts it. That doesn’t take away from the human situation at all. The Scriptures are communicated at specific times by specific authors to specific people. And all of that is a blessing as we seek to apply it to our situation.

2. Jews

Ok, number 2 – John’s primary audience was the Jewish community. The themes in the book overwhelmingly connect to various Old Testament matters including the temple, the sabbath, different feasts, Moses (including a mention of the manna from heaven), and Abraham.

Furthermore, many of the interactions that Jesus has are with the Jewish leaders or people in the Jewish community - not exclusively, but overwhelmingly. Think about Jesus and the woman at the well – she was a Samaritan, so she was sort of Jewish but not really. However, Jesus met her at Jacob’s well. Jacob was one of Israel’s patriarchs and she mentions him as their forefather and she also says that the Messiah is coming. So, even with her, the conversation references Old Testament ideas.

Also, consider our sermon text again - chapter 20 verse 31. John’s stated purpose is that his audience may believe that Jesus is the Christ.

Throughout the book, John mentions the fulfillment of the Scriptures multiple times. He quotes various Old Testament books. A few of the signs that Jesus performed, which John testifies to, are connected to Jesus fulfilling the prophecies of the Messiah.

To say it again, the primary audience in John’s mind were the Jews, however, he desired the Gentile community to believe as well. It is important for both Jews and Gentiles to understand the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophets.

In fact, in my interactions with people unfamiliar with the Bible, I usually recommend they read the Gospel of John. My reason is that this book is clear about who Jesus is and about saving faith in him alone and the call to believe. It also introduces all Scripture and testifies to God’s promises and how they are fulfilled.

I am not saying that the other Gospel accounts are not as clear. They are but in different ways.

So, John’s audience was primarily Jewish. As we get to the next points - Jerusalem and Jesus and Jehovah - we’ll see that even further emphasized.

3. Jerusalem.

Which brings us to the third “J” – Jerusalem. A vast majority of this book took place in Jerusalem. This is different from Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The majority of those accounts took place up north in Galilee.

And almost half of the Gospel of John happened in the week leading up to and just after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Almost all of that took place in Jerusalem. Even in the first 12 chapters of the book, many of the interactions took place in Jerusalem.

But you ask, why does that matter?

Well, there are two important historical reasons.

First, John was writing after the temple had been destroyed in 70 AD – perhaps 10 years or so after. The other Gospel accounts were written before the temple was destroyed. And, as you can imagine, after the temple was destroyed the Jewish community was devastated. And so, one thing that John emphasizes is how Jesus fulfills and is greater than the temple. Consider chapter 1 verse 17. It says, “and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The idea of God dwelling with his people was directly related to the temple and tabernacle before it. And now, John tells us that Jesus has dwelt among us. In chapter 2, Jesus even refers to himself as the temple. And as he puts it in chapter 15 - he abides in us and we in him.

Jerusalem was an important setting for John to reveal Jesus as the fulfillment of the temple and also of the various feasts connected to the temple.

So that is one important thing related to Jerusalem.

Second, John wrote his Gospel shortly after Christianity was no longer considered a sect of Judaism. For the three to four decades following Jesus’ resurrection, Christianity was seen as a subset of Judaism. However, over time, that changed. That was partly because the Gospel had been travelling far and wide among the Gentiles. But also, over time, the Jewish establishment distanced themselves from the Christians and even kicked them out of the synagogues.

It was very important for John to reinforce the connection between Christianity and the redemptive history of Israel. And Jerusalem was central to God revealing himself to Israel and the world.

What I am saying is that our history, as Christians, is connected to Jerusalem and the temple and the festivals of old. Their ultimate fulfillment in the cross of Christ. Maybe y...