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John 4:43-54: Lord over space.(please click here for todays passage)

Sometimes, when we pray we don’t get the wording exactly right. This Royal official ‘begged’ Jesus ‘ to come and heal his son, who was close to death’ (47b). Again he pleaded, ‘Sir, come down before my child dies’ (49). His urgency is understandable, but he thought Jesus had to be in his home; that He had to enter the same room as the child in order to heal him. The wording of the ‘prayer’ wasn’t exactly right. But Jesus saw the man’s heart and did the work of healing anyway (50). This is a miracle of healing at a distance. Jesus is Lord over space.

When we start to pray about a matter, we may well need to persevere through discouragements (48). After the man’s initial plea, it looked like Jesus Himself was putting him off. At least, His words didn’t sound promising. But things were not how they appeared. The nobleman persevered and received the object of his intercession. It is, however, a reality to contend with that faith often has to persevere through discouragements; through seeming barriers and obstacles. Ronald Dunn observed that when we start to pray in earnest about a matter, things regularly ‘drop by worse on the way to better!’

This is a story, then, about praying and persevering. It is also about timing (52, 53). This ‘coincidence’ was really a ‘God-incidence’, and it brought people into the Kingdom.

It is fundamentally, of course, a story about believing.The essence of faith is to take Jesus at His Word (50).You go about your business, trusting that His Word is true, even when you have no evidence. Faith is the evidence (Hebrews 11:1). F.B.Meyer shares an interesting insight on this:

”It would appear…that he went to some inn or caravansary on his way back, because there would have been ample time between the seventh hour (one o’clock in the day) and nightfall to get from Cana down to Capernaum. Why should he hasten! The boy was living, doing well, since the Master had said so. He was sure of it and thanked God for it and gladly took the opportunity of a quiet night’s rest, to sleep off the effects of long watching, intense anxiety, and the swift journey to Cana. When his servants met him with the news that the boy was healed, he inquired at what hour the change had taken place, merely to corroborate his own conclusions.” F.B. Meyer, Devotional Commentary, p.461.

Prayer: ”Give me the faith which can remove, and sink the mountain to a plain.”

John 4:1-14: Futility.(please click for todays passage)

Wilfred Owen wrote a beautiful little war poem, full of pathos, and called it ‘futility’. It’s one of his shorter works, but it says so much. Reading Jesus’ words in (13), I call to mind the Old Testament book of ‘Ecclesiastes’. It too speaks of ‘futility’: the ‘vanity’, the emptiness, of everything we pursue in this life (‘under the sun’) in order to find meaning. King Solomon had everything you could want in this world. He had money, sex (oodles of it!!) and power. He found by personal experience that apart from God it was all ‘meaningless’. F.B. Meyer has said that you could write the words of verse 13 over all worldly amusements: ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again’ (13).

Jesus did not ‘have’ to go through Samaria as a geographical necessity. He could have taken another route. But there was a divine necessity about this trip. The Father had scheduled an appointment with a deeply ‘thirsty’ woman. She had found that this world does not satisfy, and she was ready to ‘drink’ what Jesus offered her.

Notice the simple relevance of Jesus’ approach. It starts with a shared understanding and need for water (7). But skilfully, carefully, Jesus went gradually deeper in the conversation, arousing her curiosity, drawing her in, whetting her appetite. Michael Green once said that in personal evangelism we have to row our gospel boat around the island of a person’s life, and determine which is the best place to ‘put in’. When you read the gospels you see that Jesus had no pre-packaged, pre-programmed approach. He was led by the Father.

By the way, can you see the irony in (12)? We know the answer, even if she doesn’t – yet!!

Prayer: Father God, please organise my schedule for today – and every other day. And help me to never make tiredness an excuse for avoiding people, and failure to serve.

 John 3:22-36: God gives the growth.(please click here to see todays passage)

Never forget the principle enunciated clearly in (27) – a man can have only what is given him from heaven. God gives the growth, so why do we act like He doesn’t? Why do we place so much store by people who seem to be experts at producing growth and telling ‘how it’s done!’?

We need to remember this especially when other churches and leaders SEEM to succeed more than we do. How we handle the success of others is a real test of character. Dallas Willard makes the point that one practical out working of the doctrine of the Trinity will mean that pray for other church leaders and root for them. We will want their success.

John’s disciples seemed to complain about the growth of Jesus’ ‘church’, but John himself was delighted with the news. He recognised the total superiority of Jesus to himself (31-36). He realised that more and more he would have to retreat into the shadows, whereas Jesus’ place was in the spotlight (30). He likened his role to that of the ‘best man’ at a wedding (28, 29).The best man needs to be efficient (and John was very good at what he did), but he must not steal the show. He cannot court the limelight. He wants to see the bride and the groom come together. It would be terrible if he were to run off with the bride. John was watching the ‘bride’ run to her Beloved, and nothing could give him more pleasure. This was what he lived for. The bride and Groom were coming to centre-stage, and he would be able to slip out through the back door.

‘What a blessing it would be if we could enshrine in our hearts this immortal maxim: ”A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven!” What we have is God’s gift; let us hold it reverently. What another person has is God’s gift to him; we have no right to find fault with his dealings with another of his servants. Our orbits are distinct; all we have to do is shine our brightest where he has placed us, confident that he knows best.’ F.B. Meyer: ‘Devotional Commentary’, p.459.

Prayer: Help me Lord to see your glory in the gifts you share with others. Let me feel neither jealous or discouraged. Let me be content to be the best version of me that I can be. It will be because of you, and to you be all the glory.

John 3:9-21: Darkness to light.(please click to see todays passage)

‘This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil’ (19).

There are people in the world who, although yet in darkness, like Nicodemus (9 – 12)they are making honest movement toward the Light (20, 21). They are prepared for the exposure the Light brings, and at some point (probably soon) they will be willing to repent of their wickedness and trust in Christ’s sacrifice on their behalf.

But the natural state of man is anti-God/anti-Christ (19).The natural person hates God. It is a sin against love (16), we know,but there it is. He/she rejects Christ, and therefore they are in condemnation (17). Such a person will never turn from darkness to Light without a regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. They ‘must’ be born again (7). Thank God that, by His Sovereign grace, such a miracle is possible.  Think about Saul of Tarsus for example (Acts 9). A man or a woman, a boy or a girl, can ‘believe in’ Jesus (16) and receive this gift of ‘eternal life’ (16). This faith in Christ crucified brings a person ‘out of darkness’ and into ‘marvellous light’ (1 Peter 2:9). 

It seems to me that there are two important ‘must’s’ in John 3 – two compelling necessities:

1. The necessity of the new birth (7);
2. The necessity of the cross (14).

These two necessities are linked, and through the life-giving work of the Spirit we are enabled to trust in Christ for our salvation.

I heard a preacher say something like this: ‘We talk about wearing the heart on the sleeve; God wore His heart on a cross.’

W.E. Songster said in a sermon that God knows ‘the pain of unrequited love.’ He ‘so’ loves even those who hate Him. 

‘My Lord, what love is this…?

John 3:1-8: ‘Blowin’ in the Wind.(please click for todays passage)

Nicodemus was a ‘seeker’. It would appear that he was not the only one among the group of ‘Pharisees’. They were exceptionally devout men, and there were certainly those who recognised that there was something special about Jesus (2). They were not yet converts. Clearly, they were still in spiritual ignorance (10) and should have known better. But there were promising indications of eyes starting to open; the first glimmerings of a spiritual dawn.

Nicodemus may have come to Jesus ‘at night’ because he was embarrassed to be seen with him during the day. He was, after all, a man of great status, and we know how pride can affect us all. But maybe at this stage, he just wanted a private, unhurried and uninterrupted conversation with Jesus. Whatever, although the man was religious – a ‘man of the cloth’ you might say – Jesus wasted no time in letting him know that religiosity was not enough. In one statement Jesus swept away much of what Nicodemus stood for (3) and demanded that he should be remade on the inside by the power of God. Jesus said it is not possible to ‘see’ the kingdom of God (3), let alone ‘enter’ it (5) without a second and spiritual birth. (There is in the Greek language the idea of being ‘born from above’ as well as being ‘born again’. Just as a person is born physically, so there must be another,a second birth, which is the work of the Holy Spirit.) This should not have come as a surprise to Nicodemus (7). He was well versed in the Old Testament, and there are intimations there of the need for, and possibility of regeneration (e.g. Ezekiel 36:24-27).

There is a mystery about the work of the Holy Spirit, and about those in whom He is at work (8). Spirit-led people will often leave worldly people scratching their heads. (Sometimes they will even baffle fellow-believers!!). The Spirit of God is like the wind. (It’s interesting that in the original language, the same word is used for ‘breath’, ‘wind’ and ‘spirit’).We can’t see Him, but we can see what He does. And we certainly can’t control Him. One of the problems we can have in church life is when ‘the Wind changes direction’ and we don’t realise it. May we remain sensitive to God’s mighty Spirit, and seek to always keep in step with Him.

Prayer: Thank you Lord that you recreate – that you make brand new people by your Holy Spirit. Thank you for your work in me. I pray that I will never resist your Holy Spirit, but move wherever He ‘blows’ me.