John

The Gospel of John chapter 1: verses 1-5
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it


Who was John (the author of this gospel)?
John, a very close friend of Jesus is known as the disciple whom Jesus loved. John was the brother of the apostle James; he was also the son of Zebedee, a fisherman of Galilee. John, his brother James and the apostles Peter and Andrew were all partners in a fishing business prior to their calls by Jesus to follow Him. In 70 AD, he moved to Ephesus (modern day Turkey) and became the pastor of the church in Ephesus and had a special relationship with other churches in the area. New Testament books accredited to John are the Gospel of John, along with 1st, 2nd and 3rd John and the book of Revelation (a prophecy given to John directly from Jesus).
This Gospel (the good news) was written by John around A.D. 90


Verse by verse expository commentary of 1 through 5:

• 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.

• Jesus is referred to as “the Word”. When somebody says "I give you my word", they are giving assurance that the claim they have made is absolutely true and can be counted on. In this verse, Jesus is referred to as "the Word" giving us complete assurance that the promise of salvation, found in Jesus, can be counted on.

• Jesus was there from the beginning (eternity past)

• The end of v1 is probably one of the strongest verses in the NT that declares the deity of Christ. ‘and the Word was God.

•  Also notice the relationship (the Word was with God). God is all about relationships. It begins with the relationship within the Trinity, is extended to His creation, and then ultimately within the creation itself (people to people). We as people, would have much stronger relationships if we looked to the source and designer of all relationships rather than looking to ourselves first.

• 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

•  Jesus was involved with creation, he didn’t exist just when he was born into the world as a human on Christmas day.

•  Not only was He involved, He was the Creator. (all things were made THROUGH Him).

• 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

•  Note that life in Jesus was not created; life in Him simply exists (it just was). This is significant because not only does life with respect to creation of man come from Jesus, but also eternal life depends on Him. In chapter 14 verse 6 Jesus says this:

6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
 
He is not saying that rejecting Him as the savior and being good, or accepting some other “god” will give you access to the Father (heaven). No, He is saying that eternal life is found only through Him.


Now, we all have a choice regarding this issue. We can accept or reject. It is important to consider what He has to say regarding this since He is the creator. Shouldn’t we be willing to put aside what we think and look to the source?

 Jesus is called many things in this book: the bread of life, the light of the world, the good shepherd, the way the truth and the life, the true vine. In this particular verse, John refers to Him as life and the light of men.

Life and light: What does that actually mean, how are they connected and how does it work?

First, notice that John makes a correlation between light and life. What does that imply?
That darkness is connected to death. Also, we know that darkness is called sin. Therefore, as light brings life, sin brings death. So without light, we are left with darkness (sin) and death. Unless the price of sin is paid for, we will die our earthly death and then be eternally separated from God (a spiritual death, in constant torment).

Romans 6:23 For the wages (to pay for, the price of) of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord

• 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

•  Notice that the light shines in the darkness. We live in a world inherent with sin, spiritually speaking; we live in a dark world.

•  In a physical sense, we need light to see. In a spiritual sense, we need “light” to see our sin so that we can know our need for Christ. And ultimately, as we learned from the previous verse, we need the Light for life.

•  Does it make sense to you that the darkness doesn’t comprehend the light? Why?

•  The darkness doesn’t see the light because it has not been revealed to it. So it cannot know it and therefore it cannot comprehend what it does not know.

• Remember that we only have the darkness until we meet and accept Jesus. Then we live in a dark world but have our citizenship in Heaven.

• Philippians 3:20 But we are citizens of heaven and are eagerly waiting for our Savior to come from there. Our Lord Jesus Christ. 

• 1 cor. 2:14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.


This is why it is important for us to know Jesus, so that we can see the light and have life. It is also why we must introduce others to Christ so they too will have the opportunity to see.

Recall the hymn Amazing Grace: I once was blind but now I see. This is a testimony of coming to faith.

Good Enough

The question is: am I good enough? The answer is: good enough for what?
The answer to the first question “good enough for what”, which is another question itself, is really the question that needs to be asked because it will ultimately reveal how you view yourself and how you come to that determination. The basic simple answer is that you are not good enough. You are not good enough at anything, nobody is. Once we think ourselves good enough, we begin to “settle for” rather than “go for”. We become complacent and that leads to a nonproductive life. And, it is habit forming, meaning that you will begin to find a decline in all aspects of your life if not brought under control. Perhaps the question of good enough really speaks to you as a person. We are creatures that need to be accepted, loved, respected, and so we want to think of ourselves as “good people”. As a means of answering this question, this need, many people like to gage themselves by how good they think they are. And, when they aren’t sure (which is most of the time) they measure themselves against someone else. The problem with that is you can measure yourself against a criminal and appear to be much better than he, or you can measure yourself against an accomplished person and feel useless. You can also ask yourself questions like, who says that being successful makes him good, or being a criminal makes him bad? Who wrote these ground rules and, why do they seem to change over time? is there not an un-changing standard, a go to principle that I can count on, teach my kids and know that it will still be of value when they teach their kids? Now, that is the right question and I’m glad you asked.
The idea of right vs. wrong, good vs. bad, truth vs. lies, and life-long principles vs. progressive idealism, is a real battle in our day. In fact, it has been a battle since the fall of man (man’s inherent sin nature). And as always: right, good, truth, and life-long principles are from God and can be found in His love letter to mankind, The Bible. What I’m saying is that if you want to know if something is right, good, true, and a solid principle to live by, go to the source.
With respect to the original question of “am I good enough?” the answer is found throughout scripture (the Bible). In the book of Romans ch.3 verse 23, the Apostle Paul writes: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. This means that in God’s eyes, we are not good enough. That is because He is without sin and cannot invite our sinful lives to live among Him. The good news of course is that because He is love and desires to live in relationship with His creation, He has given us a way to be reconciled of this sin. The way is Jesus. Recognize your sin and accept the atonement of it through the death of Jesus on the cross in substitution for your sin. This is God’s gift, a way out.
In closing, when you feel the need to ask yourself the question: “am I good enough?” The answer should always be measured against how God views it. He wrote the rules, He created us, He is the one with the eternal plan, He is the source of life and life everlasting. He is the only un-changing source of truth that you can count on. You are good enough to be reconciled to Him only by the gift of Jesus. And not by what you do, but by what Jesus has done. And, it is GOOD enough.