Who is Christ?
John 10:7,
John's gospel, as I'm sure most of you know, is very different from the other three gospels. They are called the synoptic gospels because they approach the life of Jesus in basically the same way in terms of his life and ministry. But John's gospel starts out very differently. If you go right back to verse 1, right on the starting blocks, he takes us all the way back to eternity past, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” And John's gospel is also very different from the other three synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, because of the great “I am” statements. There are seven of them:
Those seven great “I am” statements take us all the way back to that great “I am” statement given to Moses. Remember Moses, the theophany of the burning bush, that's where God made his first great appearance to Moses, stating he was the great “I am”. But here's the question that I think we have to ask ourselves in terms of who Jesus is; what titles and names and attributes define Jesus and make him so different from us? Let me just mention a few. We have divine names or titles given to Jesus: The Son of God, Emmanuel, Alpha Omega, Almighty. We have those graphic images: the Lamb of God, the Lion of Judah, Chief Shepherd, Door, Vine. You have those three offices of Christ: king and priest and prophet. And then think of all of those attributes that distinguish his divinity: infinity, immutability, (It is said that he was the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow), all authority, all-knowing, omniscient, omnipresent, all-powerful.
Dr. Sinclair Ferguson has a wonderful podcast. I listen to it frequently and I listened to one recently, and it was simply “Thinking about Christ.” He said, “Christians need to think more about Christ.” Dr. Ferguson believes one of the greatest struggles is keeping the mind focused. He says, “We are living in the most distracted age on record.” And then he asked this question, it is rather sobering, “How many of us could stay focused on Jesus for five minutes a day, just one day?” And he says, “There are so many voices and noise that crowd in upon us every day.”
Most Christians, I think, would have to admit they don't have a lot of time to sit quietly or practice that discipline of meditation that you find in both the Old and New Testament. But listen, what's the greatest subject you and I could ever think about? Who is the greatest person we could ever think about? Well, it's Jesus Christ. Think of Psalm 46, “Be still and know that I am God.” Could you not say this? “Be still and know that I am Jesus.” Jesus, who is he? Perfect God, perfect man, infinite, finite, Lord and Savior, the Lamb of God, Alpha Omega, the Good Shepherd. The puritan Richard Baxter said, “Christians should have one eye towards the crucified Savior and one eye towards his coming glory.” And that said, when we think of praying, we should often begin by praising and thanking Jesus for being Jesus. He says, “We should thank God for being God, when he is who he is and what he's done. They will call his name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.” And the reason we can pray with confidence and boldness is because we are the forgiven ones, born of the Spirit and washed in his blood.
So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.”
John 10:11,“I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
John's gospel, as I'm sure most of you know, is very different from the other three gospels. They are called the synoptic gospels because they approach the life of Jesus in basically the same way in terms of his life and ministry. But John's gospel starts out very differently. If you go right back to verse 1, right on the starting blocks, he takes us all the way back to eternity past, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” And John's gospel is also very different from the other three synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, because of the great “I am” statements. There are seven of them:
1. “I am the bread of life"
2. "I am the light of the world"
3. "I am the door"
4. "I am the Good Shepherd"
5. "I am the way and the truth and the life"
6. "I am the resurrection and the life"
7. "I am the true vine.”
Those seven great “I am” statements take us all the way back to that great “I am” statement given to Moses. Remember Moses, the theophany of the burning bush, that's where God made his first great appearance to Moses, stating he was the great “I am”. But here's the question that I think we have to ask ourselves in terms of who Jesus is; what titles and names and attributes define Jesus and make him so different from us? Let me just mention a few. We have divine names or titles given to Jesus: The Son of God, Emmanuel, Alpha Omega, Almighty. We have those graphic images: the Lamb of God, the Lion of Judah, Chief Shepherd, Door, Vine. You have those three offices of Christ: king and priest and prophet. And then think of all of those attributes that distinguish his divinity: infinity, immutability, (It is said that he was the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow), all authority, all-knowing, omniscient, omnipresent, all-powerful.
Dr. Sinclair Ferguson has a wonderful podcast. I listen to it frequently and I listened to one recently, and it was simply “Thinking about Christ.” He said, “Christians need to think more about Christ.” Dr. Ferguson believes one of the greatest struggles is keeping the mind focused. He says, “We are living in the most distracted age on record.” And then he asked this question, it is rather sobering, “How many of us could stay focused on Jesus for five minutes a day, just one day?” And he says, “There are so many voices and noise that crowd in upon us every day.”
Most Christians, I think, would have to admit they don't have a lot of time to sit quietly or practice that discipline of meditation that you find in both the Old and New Testament. But listen, what's the greatest subject you and I could ever think about? Who is the greatest person we could ever think about? Well, it's Jesus Christ. Think of Psalm 46, “Be still and know that I am God.” Could you not say this? “Be still and know that I am Jesus.” Jesus, who is he? Perfect God, perfect man, infinite, finite, Lord and Savior, the Lamb of God, Alpha Omega, the Good Shepherd. The puritan Richard Baxter said, “Christians should have one eye towards the crucified Savior and one eye towards his coming glory.” And that said, when we think of praying, we should often begin by praising and thanking Jesus for being Jesus. He says, “We should thank God for being God, when he is who he is and what he's done. They will call his name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins.” And the reason we can pray with confidence and boldness is because we are the forgiven ones, born of the Spirit and washed in his blood.
Posted in Pastor Devotional