Our Tuesday evening Zoom Bible Study has been looking at the Gospel of John. John was written much later than the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) and is unique. Approximately 90% of the material found in John is unique to his book. John was written to compliment the Synoptics; it points to person and work of Christ that people might believe. John 20:30-31 (NIV), “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 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.”
We have now reached John chapter 6 and will close for the summer when we complete it – probably in a week or two. We have taken the time to focus on John’s theology and his unique approach to portraying the wondrous love of Jesus. Last night, we studied John 6:1-15 and the “Feeding of the Five Thousand.” In reality, it was a crowd of 10,000 to 20,000. Can you imagine that – all from a lunch of a tiny boy with 5 barley loaves and two smoked/pickled fish? The miracle was so significant that it is the only one (other than the resurrection) recorded in all four Gospels.
We closed our evening with this question: why do you think the crowds just could not connect what the Bible had foretold about the coming of the Messiah and Jesus? How does that make you feel? We talked about things like people looking for a political deliver, people looking to get their temporal needs meet, maybe a misunderstanding attached to John’s baptism, the poor leadership of the religious elite and the lack of spiritual discernment. But it's the second part of that question I want to emphasize today; how does that make you feel? As my little granddaughter says it should make us feel "WOW"!!!
It was a humbling ending. When so many miss the boat, miss the mark, we joined together as a group to ask ourselves “why us?” We have done nothing to deserve His mercy. He is the one who touched our lives and drew us to Himself. We came back to that marvellous, indescribable word: GRACE!!! The word of words. In His sovereign love, we have become trophies of His grace. We closed bowing humbly before Him.
My friends, as you pull the covers over you tonight, stop and think about how GRACIOUS God has been to you. He has saved you, set you on the path to maturity and has opened Heaven wide for you some day. He will never leave you or forsake you and His love for you will never end. It could have been much different – but God chose you before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4) Why? Because of His GRACE!
May His Grace permeate our thinking and transform our hearts - marvellous, wonderful Grace! Have a great week!
Love,
Pastor Ralph
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