Series: Seeing God More Clearly in 2020
I have a personal question to ask you this morning: how many of you would consider yourself to be socially awkward? Socially awkward people feel out of sync with those around them. They find small talk very difficult. They often feel they don't belong. Could that describe you or someone you know?
Some people don’t have this problem. They are at their finest when they are in a new social situation. But some of us are a little awkward around people we don’t know, and we don’t look forward to that initial moment when we have to go up to strangers and introduce ourselves.
A young woman shared such a socially awkward moment on the Internet. She was hanging out with her friends when she saw a young guy nearby reading a book. It was a book that she liked. And he looked like the kind of person she would like to meet. So she decided to introduce herself. In her head, she planned to say, “Hey, my friends and I wanted to come over and say hi ’cause I saw you were reading a book I liked and I hope we can talk more in the future.”
That’s what she intended to say, but that’s not what happened. As she and her friends got closer to the young man, this young woman panicked and blurted out, “We’ve come to hello you.”
And then she walked off very quickly, probably with a bright red face. (1)
Well, I’ve probably “helloed” a few people over the course of my life. I suspect that many of us know what it’s like to practice an introduction in our heads and then get flustered and have it come out of our mouths and not make any sense.
But some people have the opposite problem. Their self-introduction is so amazing that it’s hard to believe. True story. There was a Chinese billionaire who made a bid to buy The New York Times a few years ago. What was interesting was this man’s business card. It listed him as “Most Influential Person of China.” But that’s not all. The card also listed him as “China[’s] Moral Leader” and “China[’s] Earthquake Rescue Hero.” No wonder that it also listed him as, “Most Well-Known and Beloved Chinese Role Model.” Now I don’t even know this man’s name, but that’s quite a business card. I wonder if he gave any thought to how anyone could possibly live up to such an introduction. (2)
Of course, anyone who is in the public eye is, at some time, going to get an introduction from an emcee that is slightly extravagant. Speaker Evelyn Anderson once had an emcee introduce her with so much over-the-top praise that she began her speech like this: “After such an introduction,” she said, “I can hardly wait to hear what I'm going to say.” (3)
We’re kicking off the New Year with a new focus. Over the next few weeks, our theme will be “Seeing God More Clearly in 2020.” It’s a play on words, of course. But that’s the whole purpose of life, isn’t it? To get to know God and God’s purpose for our life and for this world. My hope is that, by the end of this series, you will have some profound insights into the mind of God and His plan for your life.
In our Bible passage today, the writer John is charged with a monumental task—that of introducing Jesus Christ to the world. Imagine yourself in John’s sandals. You are introducing the world to Jesus. How would you introduce him to people who didn’t know him and weren’t expecting him?
That’s not just a rhetorical question. For you see, that is our primary purpose as followers of Jesus—to introduce Christ to others. In Matthew 28:18-20, this is the responsibility we are given: “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’” That’s the task of every follower of Christ.
There is a delightful story about a young Asian girl named Yi (pronounced “Yee”). Yi first heard this verse at a Vacation Bible School, but she heard it in the King James Version, which begins like this, “Go YE therefore, and teach all nations.”
Yi didn’t understand that in King James English, the word “ye” just means “you.” This young Asian girl thought her name was in the Bible! She became truly excited that Jesus was telling her—“Ye” to personally go spread his message to the world. (4)
Wouldn’t you sit up and pay attention if you heard your name in that verse? “Go [David], and teach all nations.” “Go [Whitney], and teach all nations.” Even if your name isn’t in that verse, it’s still meant for you and me. “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations . . .” If you claim Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then sharing your faith is not optional. It is essential. So how do you introduce Jesus to others?
The books of Matthew, Mark and Luke focus on Jesus’ actions, his miracles. But the book of John is all about Jesus’ identity as the Son of God. It is our introduction to Jesus, not as a biblical hero, but as God in human form. So how do you encapsulate Christ’s character and purposes in nine verses of scripture like John did? How do you introduce the only person who has ever shared God’s identity and character?
Maybe we can start our introduction the way John did. He lets us know from the beginning that when you look at Jesus, you’re looking at God. That’s huge! At some point in every person’s life, they consider whether there is a God, and what that God is like. These are the two most basic questions of human existence: Is there a God and what is God like? Even people who rarely think about God will often cry out to some higher power for help in times of trouble, or will feel the urge to thank some higher power when they are overwhelmed with gratitude.
So how do we answer those two questions? Is there a God and, if so, what is He like? Are we doomed to just spend our lives wondering and guessing? No. The Bible says that Jesus is God in the flesh. That is who Christ is. And this is what he did: he came to walk in our shoes to show us what God is like. He came to make God known. In fact, the whole book of John can be summed up in one sentence, found in John 20, verse 31: “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
John believed Jesus was God in human flesh, the source of life, and he didn’t want anyone to miss out on that awesome truth. John chose two words to express the inexpressible character of God in Jesus Christ: grace and truth. He writes, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
The word used here for grace can also be translated as “loving-kindness” or “merciful kindness.” Here’s the Gospel truth: God, who knows every single thing about you, looks at you with loving-kindness. Isn’t that beautiful? God, the Creator of this world, the Source of all life, the One who knows the beginning and the end of time, is full of loving-kindness.
Rev. Dr. Mark S. Nuckolls tells of a former drug addict named Rose who began attending his church. Rose’s in-laws kept encouraging her and loving her until she finally gave up her drugs and hard living and gave her life to Jesus. After her baptism, Rose came to Rev. Nuckolls and asked if she could teach a Sunday school class. She had been growing in her faith and knowledge of the Bible, and she was so overwhelmed by the goodness of God that she felt called to share the good news with others.
Rev. Nuckolls says that a part of him hoped the Sunday school superintendent would say, “No, we’ve got plenty of teachers right now.” But he didn’t. Turns out that there was a need for a teacher in the 3rd and 4th grade class. Whose child was in that class? Rev. Nuckolls’ son. Rev. Nuckolls reports that Rose, the former wild-living, rehabilitated drug addict, taught his son about the grace and love of Jesus Christ. (5)
The grace of God changed Rose’s life. And now Rose is sharing the grace of God with a group of 3rd and 4th graders, and God only knows how many lives will be changed because Rose wanted to reflect the loving kindness of God.
So grace is the character of God toward us. And truth is the reality that God is the sure foundation for our lives. The Greek word for truth that John uses here—aletheia—literally means “the state of not being hidden; the state of being evident.” In other words, John is urging us to trust God with our lives because God is utterly true. God is completely trustworthy. God’s character and purposes are completely faithful and honorable and evident. There is nothing hidden in God’s character or God’s motives. So when you were introduced to God through Jesus Christ, you were given a choice: trust in God as the way, the truth and the life, or continue to trust in yourself as your own god. Let me tell you about a man who was forced to make that choice.
By his early twenties, Viktor was making big money smuggling drugs throughout Central Asia. He lived for money and adventure and pleasure. But in 1996, Viktor was arrested and sentenced to a long prison term.
Viktor’s cell mate in prison offered him a book to read. It was the Gospel of John, a gift from the man’s mother. Viktor began reading it, and even though he didn’t entirely understand it, he just couldn’t shake the idea that this Jesus he read about might be the revelation of God.
One night, he knelt down in his prison cell and he prayed to Jesus: “You know I am not sure that you exist, but I want eternal life and I want to be born again.” After that prayer, Viktor continued reading the book of John.
One night, another inmate smuggled some drugs into prison and offered them to Viktor. And at that moment, Viktor knew he had to make a choice. He said he looked at those drugs, and he knew that they were the path to death. And Viktor said, “And looking at the Gospel I knew that it was life. I made the decision to choose life. I sent the drugs back.” Viktor discovered the grace and truth of Jesus, and it changed his life.
Soon afterwards, Viktor was diagnosed with a terminal illness. Everyone expected him to die, but he didn’t. His health began to improve. In gratitude to God, Viktor started a church in the prison. He began teaching the other inmates and leading them in prayer. When he completed his prison sentence, he went to seminary and became a pastor. Today, Viktor pastors an underground church in Tajikistan, a country that is on the World Watch List as one of the most dangerous places in the world for Christians. (6)
When Viktor prayed that first prayer to Jesus, he knew that the drugs and the money and the self-centered lifestyle he had created were not the path to true life. He knew that true life could only be found in giving himself to Jesus Christ. And no matter what sacrifices he had to make, he wanted to base his life on a sure foundation, on the reality of God. He chose to follow the One who was full of grace and truth.
Pastor J. D. Greear shares a story from a missionary who serves in one of the most remote villages in Central Asia. The population there is predominantly Muslim. A few days before Christmas, this missionary traveled way up into the mountains to visit an old friend. We’ll call him “Frank.” A few months earlier, he had given Frank a Bible in his own language, and he wanted to see what Frank thought of it, and to tell him the story of Christmas.
Frank had invited all his family and a few men from the village to his house to meet the missionary. The missionary knew that his Muslim audience might be seriously offended by the Christmas story, but he went ahead and told it anyway. When he was done, the patriarch of the group said, “We know this story. And we believe it. We asked you here today because we want to know, what do we do now?”
The missionary was amazed that these Muslim men had given their lives to Jesus and wanted to live out their faith. But he was even more amazed when they told him that around 200 people in their little village had heard the message of Jesus from a traveling missionary and wanted to know what they were supposed to do with it now.
The missionary spent the next few hours with this small group, teaching them about prayer and Bible study and worship and acts of charity and hospitality in the name of Jesus. And he got to witness the birth of a new Christian church in one of the most remote places of Central Asia. (7)
So, as we begin this New Year, the question is, have you met him yet? Have you met Jesus Christ, the Word who is full of grace and truth? If not, I want so much to introduce you to him today. And if you have been introduced to Jesus, have you accepted him as Lord of your life? And if you know the reality of God’s grace and truth, what do you intend to do now? You can’t just meet God and walk away. That’s why Jesus gave us the calling to go introduce everyone we know to God.
God’s grace and truth change lives every day. We look for God in great miracles or shows of incredible power, and God sends a poor carpenter who looks like you and me to tell us about Him. It’s as if John is saying in this passage, “God stripped away all his power and pyrotechnics and made His message as simple and low-tech as possible so you couldn’t miss the meaning: Jesus is God made flesh. Jesus is full of grace and truth so God is full of grace and truth.” It’s not easy telling others about God. So let’s start there. There really is a God. God really does love you. Now find someone and share the story with them.
1. https://thoughtcatalog.com/january-nelson/2018/06/funny-stories/.
2. “Worst Business Cards of All Time” by Eric Reed, TheStreet.com, Jan. 15, 2014. https://www.thestreet.com/story/12784742/1/worst-business-cards-all-time.html.
3. Evelyn Anderson, http://www.famousquotesandauthors.com/topics/openers_and_introductions_quotes.html.
4. C.M.W., Standard Publishing. NIV® Standard Lesson Commentary® 2016-2017 (Kindle Locations 1839-1844). David C. Cook. Kindle Edition.
5. “Received through the narrow door” by Rev. Dr. Mark S. Nuckolls https://www.stpaulaustin.org/sermons/received-through-the-narrow-door/.
6. “God Reveals Himself to Drug Dealer In Prison, Then He Becomes Pastor” by Mel Johnson, August 2, 2017 h/t: Gospel Herald, https://www.godupdates.com/drug-dealer-turned-pastor-viktor-testimony/.
7. “An Incredible Story of God’s Saving Power” as told to J.D. Greear, February 8, 2017 https://jdgreear.com/blog/an-incredible-story-of-gods-saving-power/.