Sermon Archives (June 23, 200#):

The Conversion of John

Conversion is a process.   Tonight, we are going to examine conversion as it worked in the Apostle John. Where are you in your conversion?  What is God looking for in the development of your Christian character?   What is his plan for you?   Please stand, and let us bow our heads and ask the Lord to let us understand the Christian conversion;  not only where we are in this process, but what He expect of us?   Father, you are the potter, and we are the clay.   Give us in this examination of the Apostle John’s conversion a clear understanding of where we are going in our walk with your son, Jesus Christ.   And all God’s Children said, Amen.   You may be seated.

Jesus and his disciples were on the road to Jerusalem, (as described in Luke 9:51-55)  “Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.” The Samaritans wanted nothing to do with the Jews traveling to the Judian capital.   Samaria was to the local residents God’s country, and not Jerusalem.   So the town turned a cold shoulder to Jesus, this angered His disciples. (verses 54-55)  Now “when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, ‘Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?’  But He turned and rebuked them, and said, ‘You do not know what manner of spirit you are of.’” 

Have you ever been in the “hood” where you don’t belong?   Have you felt the cold shoulder of the Samaritans?   Were you angered by this?   Maybe you were on the freeway, and a SUV larger than yours pushed you our of your lane?   Did you think this might be the timer for fire from heaven to consume that arrogant driver?   Has a village of the Samaritans today brought you to the boiling point?   It’s happen to me, and its happened to you.   And here we see it in John, one of Christ’s disciples.   Don’t you wish you could change, get rid of that boiling point.   The good news is that you can change, and that through conversion we are all changing.

We can see this change in John.   The same disciple who was asking God to bring fire down from heaven, writes to us later in life (1 John 3:11-14) “For this is the message that you heard from the beginning …”  Remember this is the same disciple who called for fire from heaven on presumed foes.   Notice the change in John. “For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother's righteous. Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.”  

That’s quite a change.  James and John who began as the (Mark 3:17) “sons of thunder” had become the (John 12:36) “sons of light”.   John became known as the Apostle of love.   We are comforted and encouraged that this Biblical process is being mirrored in us.   Rather than a superficial physical change, our “heart of stone”  (from Ezekiel 36:26) is to be changed by conversion to a “heart of flesh”.  

This is the process of conversion gives life purpose.   We see this in the scriptures  (Matthew 18:1-3) “At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’  Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted…’”  Here’s that word converted.  Say it with me brethren, “converted”.  Say it again, “converted”  “’…unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.’”   Christ tells us conversion is important.   So important, that if we are not converted, he tells us we will never enter into the kingdom.   What is this conversion?   Is this like rice?  Are we a little converted, somewhat converted, or fully buffed?   If not all that converted, how can we become converted?

We’re going to find out by focusing on the conversion of John to see how he changed.   Let’s begin with a definition.   Among other definitions Webster’s defines the term “to convert” as “to change from one form or use to another.”   Such a definition has spiritually applicable, because John was not usable to God in the shape that he was in.   John shoot from the hip, was prepared to pull fire down from heaven, and in that shape he was not able to serve God as an Apostle.  He was not able to do it.  And we aren’t either, unless we become converted.

What converted John and what will convert us?   Paul states it is God’s Holy Spirit working in us (Ephesians 2:1, 3)  “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,  …  among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, … fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath.”  or the “sons of thunder” if you take James and John.   Possibly sporadically, but God cannot use us in that state.

To become a servant of God, John had to be changed into a different person, just as we have to be changed. We should be excited about that change.  God has privileged man to rise above the carnal to the spiritual, til eventually we will think, feel, and respond on the level of God All Mighty.   The conversion of John reveals how human beings can be changed.

Having explored the English word to “convert”, let us consider the meaning from both the Hebrew and the Greek.   The word “convert” means in both the Hebrew and the Greek “to turn”, and in the Biblical sense  “to turn away from something, and to turn towards something else.”    Luke gives us a capsule summary of conversion.  Paul speaking (in Acts 26:19-20) says, “King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles …”  Now what did he declare?  Conversion and that process he describes as this, “that they should repent, turn to God,”  Here we see the concept of turning.  Now “that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance”

We see this definition repeated and expanded to include repentance, a turning away from sin, to turning toward faith.  (In Acts 20:21)  “repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”    This turning around is like a little child just learning to walk.   You ever see a toddler, about nine months old walk.   They are so delighted just to be walking, nothing else matters.   You can just about see their minds working, “Hey, I’m walking.   Look at me.”  as they go forward with that glassy eyed look.   They can be walking straight for an open stair well.   They don’t care.   Dribble coming down the side of the mouth, they are walking.   Then mom sees the child going towards the open stair well.   Instant terror.   “My child.   Quick get the baby.”   So you grab for the baby.   Careful now.     Babies break.   This is not concrete you are grabbing for.   Be gentile as you grab that baby.   So quickly, you turn the child, and the child continues on, only this time it’s away from the stairwell.   The baby doesn’t care.   It’s like watching the Energizer bunny.  The baby is just happy to be walking.   And that’s how God sees us, like vulnerable children.  His Spirit points us in another direction.   It’s like the laws of inertia, a spiritual inertia.   The carnal and Satan draws us to the open stair well and death while God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit change us to be directed towards everlasting life.

Conversion in one sense is a process in that it takes a long time, and in another sense it is a specific spiritual state we come to at one time when we receive God’s Holy Spirit.   Sometimes when the Bible discusses “the renewing of the mind” it is this long process, and in others it is a specific state of conviction.   There are four stages to John’s conversion, which are as follows:

Stage 1:  God called John.

Stage 2:  God conditioned John.

Stage 3:  Next, John became converted, in the sense of that he arrived at a specific state where he could be used by God, and

Stage 4:  Finally, John was commissioned. 

So in summary, here are the four states: Called, conditioned, converted, and then commissioned.   Come on now, let’s get this together.    Repeat it after me: Called, conditioned, converted, and commissioned.   God works this way.   Now, let’s look at these four stages through John to see where we are in the process, or if we are in the process at all.

STAGE 1:  God calls!   John was called.   (Mark 1:16-18)  “As “ Jesus “ walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Come after Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.’”  (Verse 19) “When He had gone a little farther from there, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother,.. ”  Here we are introduced to John.   “ who also were in the boat mending their nets. And immediately He called them.”  So immediately, we see God taking the first step.  

God takes the first step, by giving to those called the spiritual quality of open mindedness, and teach-ability.   Christ tells us, (in Matthew 18:3)  “You must become as little children” because little children are teachable.   They will accept whatever it is you tell them. God looks for teachable people, sometimes broken people, before he takes that first step.   God produces this first step opening the mind supernaturally by the Holy Spirit, and this is how a calling begins.  

Many are teachable naturally or intellectually open, but unless God calls no one comes.   John tells us this in quoting Christ (in John 6:44), “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.”    Pentecost illustrates God’s call through the Holy Spirit.   Some do not respond to God’s call, but John did (Mark 1:20) “and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after Him.”   Those called must sum up his or her courage and then take that plunge, and begin to follow God.  And this is the first stage.  

Stage 2:  Conditioning.   John was called.  John was teachable, but he was not fit to be an Apostle.  He was not usable in the state that God called him.  God had to condition John. Webster’s Dictionary, defines “condition” as meaning “to render fit, to put into a proper state for work.”   God’s intent when we accept his call is to put us into a workable state.   His intent was not that we simply enjoy the grace of God, spiritually retire in the Church and await the two witnesses to do everything.   Rather God’s intent is that we be fit for work.   This conditioning caused the disciple or the student John to become the Apostle John, the messenger; the one who is sent

The key to John’s change was his personal fellowship with Jesus Christ, just as that same fellowship is the key to change in us.   If we have those aspects of fellowship that John accepted, then we too will also change.   Without that fellowship, we will not change, nor will we become converted. 

(Mark 1:21) “Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught.”   After John was called, John’s first experience was that he was taught.  You can not be taught unless expose yourself voluntarily to the teaching voice of Christ.  To be made fit for the work, John had to grow in knowledge to be conditioned.   That growth in knowledge is happening tonight to you as you listen to God’s word coming through me.

John grew, but he didn’t have to grow that much.   Why?   Because John was already a priest who came from a priestly family.  He was also a disciple of John the Baptist.  He had considerable spiritual knowledge from his training and conviction in deciding to follow John the Baptist.   But John the Baptist was not Christ.   Is second best good enough for us today?  No.   Sometimes when God calls, we get side tracked into something less than Jesus Christ.   Today it might be a cult, new age theology, and so by taking second best inadvertently we end up like John with wrong concepts and thereby wrong attitudes.

Growth in sound doctrine is essential for conversion.  Peter directs, (2 Peter 3:18) “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”   We gain that grace and knowledge by studying Christ’s life, and by studying and living His word.   John certainly grew as he walked with Christ, as he heard His teaching, as he talked with Him, conversed with Him, asked questions, and heard answers. 

John became a witness to Jesus’ life and how God used him.   (Mark 1:29-31)  “Now as soon as they had come out of the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.” But here we see the witnessing:  “But Simon's wife's mother lay sick with a fever, and they told Him about her at once. So He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her. And she served them.“ 

Have you ever seen something like this, where a fever can leave a person in thirty seconds, leaving the person completely well.   John may have not seen this before.  Even if he had, the evidence, the abundance of miracles, that was presented to him witnessed to him that Jesus was more than man.   This was superman.   This was the Son of God.   As we fellowship with Christ, Jesus deity becomes more and more clear to us as it became clear to John.  (Mark 1:32-34)  “Now at evening, when the sun had set, they brought to” Jesus “ all who were sick and those who were demon-possessed. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. Then He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him.”   John was there.  He witnessed all of this, and it has been preserved for us in the Gospels.

As John observer, as he was turned around, or as we are turned around, our faith in this world is diminished, and our faith in Jesus as Savior increases.   Later when he wrote his Gospel, John comprehended how observing miracles cause faith to grow.

Now he really comprehended this later, because as he said in his gospel of John.  We see that he comprehended that the miracles caused faith to blossom in those that observed them.  (John 1:47)  Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward Him, and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!"    Jesus had not met Nathaniel before, so he was demonstrating by his comment a supernatural insight, which is itself, a miracle.  John illustrates this in Nathaniel response. (verse 48) “Nathaniel said to Him, ‘How do you know me?’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.’”  Jesus had not been physically with Nathaniel at the fig tree when Philip had called to him, and Nathaniel knew this.   So the only way Jesus could have know of him or of the fig tree was if he had supernatural ability to see and hear by the Spirit.  How then does Nathaniel respond?  (verse 49) “Nathaniel answered and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"”   Jesus performed miracles to prove his divine authority.

As Jesus had just turned water into wine, John tells us, (John 2:11) “This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory and His disciples believed in Him.”   John is not just talking about the result upon the other disciples, but rather how Jesus’ miracles were affecting himself.

In the course of another miracle, the raising of Lazarus from the grave, Jesus makes an otherwise horrific statement, (John 11:14-15)  “Then Jesus said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there…”   Why?  Why would Jesus be glad he had not been their to heal Lazarus and avoid death? Jesus states it right here.  He says,  “that you may believe.”   So John understood that faith was and essential aspect of his conditioning.  As he spent time with Jesus of Nazareth, John came to really believe, and we likewise come to believe through John’s written Gospel, that Jesus really was the Messiah, the Son of God.

Realizing that God has a purpose and plan is another aspect of conditioning, “in growing in knowledge”.     (Mark 1:35-38) “Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight,…”   Getting up early was one aspect that John witnessed about Jesus. “He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed. And Simon and those who were with Him…” including John “searched for Him. When they found Him, they said to Him, ‘Everyone is looking for you.’ But He said to them, ‘Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because for this purpose I have come."”   Notice this last phrase, “for this purpose I have come.”   John is telling us that Jesus had a goal fixed in his mind, in front of his spiritual eye all the time.   Jesus understood why he had been sent down to earth, why he had been transformed into a flesh and blood human being.   It was for this purpose, that he might preach “in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, … casting out demons.”

John reveals that Jesus, the Son of God, had goals.  He was not mere ambling through life.   And that realization of God’s deliberate purpose in working with us is part or our conditioning as well.   As a disciple of Christ, John realized and we realize that one of our goals is to know as much as we can about what Jesus taught, about what He said, how He responded, and how he reacted.  So that Christ’s model is in your spiritual eye when you meet opposition, when the SUV pushes you out of your lane.   Because you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, you want to respond not as Clint Eastwood or Arnold would respond, with guns blazing or calling down fire from heaven.

John was deeply impressed by the focus of Jesus.   John writes, (John 4:31-34)  “In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, ‘Rabbi, eat. But He said to them, ‘I have food to eat of which you do not know.’ Therefore the disciples said to one another, ‘Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?’”  Understand that at the moment these disciples weren’t getting it.   They thought Jesus talking about physical food.  But John then clarifies Christ’s focus. "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.”   Jesus was telling them that God’s goal was so strong in him that it overrode the feelings of hunger, otherwise overwhelming the disciples.   The disciples’ minds were on food, while Jesus remained focused on God’s goal.

John remembered this, and he put it down in the Gospel so that we could remember it as well.   In another place, Jesus (in John 6:38) talks about “the bread of life”.   Remember, Jesus said, (in John 5:30) “I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.”   John was telling us that we were not to merely wander through life, but to set goals.   He assures us that if we seek God’s help, nothing, not life, not opposition, not the multitudes can stop you.   This is how Jesus lived.

John was impressed by this.  It was part of his conditioning, and now it is part of ours.   God was working with the raw material that John represented.   He was bringing him, as he is bring us, to the place where John was fit for us, fit for work, fit to be used as a tool in God’s hands.  

Through Jesus Christ, God was giving his disciples on the job training.   We are surrounded by Satan’s meaningless world.   But God places you there to be an example.   God wants to see that if by this training we will retain that goal of bringing others to salvation, of teaching through our behavior, response, words, and thoughts; of being that light in a darkened room.

John learns and we learn as we read and fellowship with Jesus of Nazareth. (Mark 1:40-41) “Then a leper came to Jesus, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, ‘If You are willing, You can make me clean.’ And Jesus, moved with compassion, put out His hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I am willing; be cleansed.’”   John was probably there to see Christ’s compassion.   If he hadn’t been there, he would not have seen the compassion, just like we would not see the compassion if we were not in His word, not studying, not spending time with Jesus.   If you don’t spend time with Jesus, all you will remember is Dirty Harry, an eye for eye, and a tooth for every tooth.

John not only learned of Jesus’ compassion, he experienced it.   When you follow God, he extends privileges to you that you simply do not deserve.   But God extends those privileges to us simply because He loves us, even if we throw it back into his face.   (In Luke 9:28-35) “It came to pass, about eight days after these sayings, that He…” that is Jesus “.. took Peter, John, and James…”   So John was here.   Jesus was about to take him up to the mountain of transfiguration, to see a spectacular spiritual experience.   Christ only took certain ones, and John was one of them.  (verse 30) “And behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. But Peter and those with him were heavy with sleep;”  Imagine, Jesus was extending such compassion, such a privilege as to show them this transfiguration, and these privileged disciples, including John, fall asleep.  That’s throwing the love of Jesus right back into His face. “and when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men who stood with Him.”  Now see this in verse 35,  “And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!’”   Haven’t you ever wanted God to openly speak to you in clear, unmistakable terms, and to take you up on the mountain to see a spectacular vision? 

John was given this privilege.  He was shown this compassion. We continue, (verses 43-44)   “And they were all amazed at the majesty of God. But while everyone marveled at all the things which Jesus did, He said to His disciples, ‘Let these words sink down into your ears, for the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men.’”   Being on the mountain was undeserved privilege enough, but now Jesus is telling them his own future.   Jesus, the Son of God, is confiding in them, mere humans, that he is about to be killed.   Imagine, the Son of God confiding in you.   We know that Christ’s own crucifixion and death is on his mind, because he shared it with others.   He shares his sorrows, he shares his burdens, with John and through the Gospels with us as well.   This is a privilege, this confidence, this love.

Again he shares and seeks their sympathy and support at Gethsemane.  (Mark 14:32)  "Sit here while I pray."  So fervent his prayer, so great his anguish, that the Bible tells us his sweat became blood.   Were you in Jesus place, wouldn’t you want friends to confide in, to support you?  You’ve told your disciples of this terrible death of crucifixion before you, and when you come back your friends are snoring.  

Could you react as Jesus did?   Jesus finding them sleeping said to Peter, (Mark 14:37-38) "Simon, are you sleeping?  Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak."   Brethren, that is compassion.  In Christ’s moment of greatest need, Jesus Christ showed compassion.   Instead of thinking of himself, he put himself in the position of the disciples.   He knew that they were physically weary, and that they were also weary because of their sorrow.   They could scarcely apprehend what was really going to happen.   They really didn’t want to believe it.   He was saying these things, “The son of man shall be delivered up” and who of them, let alone you or I, really wanted to believe him.   Peter rebukes Jesus (Matthew 16:22), “saying, "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!"   They did not want that to happen to him.  And Jesus Christ put himself into their shoes and he sees, “The spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak.”   In Jesus place, would you have reacted like that, in this crisis of your life?  You’ve brought these three trusted people with you, and you humanly want their help.  Instead they disappoint you so gravely.   Would you have been able to say, would you have been able to rise above your own human need?  That compassion made an impression on John.  It conditioned him as it conditions us for the work that was to follow.

That fellowship with Jesus was exerting a pressure, an influence on John and now us which is hard to resist.  And this fellowship, this teachable spirit enable John and us by the Holy Spirit to change form a “son of thunder” to the Apostle of love.

Humanly, John and the disciples didn’t return such privileges, such compassion all that well. (Mark 9:31) “For He taught His disciples and said to them, ‘The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day.’”  Christ again confides in them, and we read of their reaction. (verses 33-34): “He came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house He asked them, ‘What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?’ But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest.”

How do you respond to something like that?  You are the Son of God.  You have told your only friends that you are about to be murdered brutally.   Instead of compassion, you find your disciples consumed by discussions of their own self-interest and promotion.  Wouldn’t most of us tend to ask God for a new batch?  “Lord I can’t work with this dough here.   Forget it.   This is spoiled.   This is rotten.   I’ve tried.  I’ve done my best.  Throw it out.”   Many of us I imagine have felt as John must have as being this type of dough.   We wonder why God even continues to work with us. 

Why?  Jesus was showing John that God’s response to our rank carnality to Christ’s impending murder was compassion.   Christ’s response to their self interest as to whom was the greatest was (Mark 9:35) “And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, … “  "You’re fired.”  No he didn’t, but that’s what I would say, “You’re fired.” or at least I would bit my tongue not to.   But what Jesus said was this,  “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all."

Not outrage.  No anger.  He doesn’t fire anyone. He teaches them gentle.  He doesn’t say, “You jerks.  What do you think this is?  The Roman Empire?”   No, instead he teaches them using a principle.  (Mark 9:36)  “Then He took a little child and set him in the midst of them. And when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them, ‘Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me.’"   See how Jesus teaches.  Notice his gentle form of  reprimand.   See how he brings his disciples along and us with a loving example. He is not interested in producing hurt feelings.   Self is not even on the agenda.

John is experiencing this. First hand he is beginning to see that there is an alternative to bringing fire down from heaven.  There is the way of love to live.   John is getting the message, but it takes time.  Here is another incident, but even more personal, (Mark 10:32)  “They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed. And as they followed they were afraid.”  The disciples had this bleak premonition of doom, and that was it was about to happen. (verses 32-33) “Then He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them the things that would happen to Him: ‘Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles;’” 

Christ’s death was on his mind.  It was a burden, weighing against him.  Once again he wanted to share it.  Jesus continued (verse 34)  “’and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him.’” Jesus was describing what is going to happen to him in even greater detail.  Continuing  “’… and the third day He will rise again.’   Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him,’saying, ‘”   Now this is amazing,  John hears this tail of doom from Jesus, and what was his response?   What was John really interested in?   They come to Jesus and they ask (verses 35-37),   “’Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask.’”   Incredible,  the Son of God has just told his trusted lieutenants that he is about to be killed.   They respond to him like he was Ward healer from Brooklyn, “Hea, Yo Jesus,  I’m talking to you. We want yous to do for us a favor.  Anything we ask.”   Christ, always the man of peace replies, "What do you want Me to do for you?"   You don’t have to be a brain surgeon to know that whatever these two are about to ask for, it’s not going to be elevating: “They said to Him, ‘Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory.’”   

How do you fit that together brethren?  How does God as man deal with carnal mind.   Jesus had said (verse 34), “They will mock me, they will scourge me, and they will spit on me, and kill me, and the third day I will rise again.”   And what was John and James response?   It’s as if the message went in one ear and out the other.   Their response is, “Give us the highest seats in the kingdom?”   Hasn’t God seen us in the same way as these two disciples?  Being here at the Dream Center, haven’t some of us wondered that wouldn’t it be nice to be number one, or how do I stay number one, or number two, or whatever?   We read of Christ’s response, the way he acts, the way he treats people, and then we go out and we behave as if we had been reading Marvel comics.  You think God is blind to this?   You think His hand is short that he can not correct.   If you think I am talking to some of you here tonight, you are right.  But I'm also speaking of myself.  I sometimes think there is no-one more aggressive on this planet than Burt Wilkins.   You see, we are all this disciple John.   Are you breathing?

John was being conditioned.   Looking back, he begins to see another way of living, to grasp how much Christ loved him personally.   James and John had asked that they be granted to sit one on his right hand, and another on his left in glory.   (Verse 38).  “Jesus said to them ….”  “You’re fired!”   No, he didn’t say that.  We would say that.   Jesus said something entirely different, “‘You do not know what you ask. Can you drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?’ They said to Him, ‘We can.’”   Do you see the compassion there; the point of view he is answering from.  Jesus did not answer with personal offense, as we or I might.  Wouldn’t we?  I would.  He answered instead from the point of view of compassion, as he looks into the future and he saw what would befall his disciples and his Apostles in this world of Satan.

(Verse 39-40)  “So Jesus said to them, ‘You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized you too will be baptized; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared.’"   What an answer brethren, when you consider the circumstances.  Can you begin to understand how John began to grasp how much Jesus loved him personally, deeply?   How he really was concerned about him, not only what he would face the next day, but the next week, the next year, for the rest of his life?   As he wrote about these experiences years later, John, the son of Zebeddee began to realize that Jesus Christ loved him.   And that loving realization for John eventually comes to all of us as we spend time with the Christ here in his word, through prayer and meditation, and through works of service.

John really had his head turned around.   He sees more of himself plunged into the garbage pit as other misconceptions and preconceived worldly notions are revealed.  (Luke 9:49)  “John answered and said, ‘Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow with us.’”   Well let us protect our denomination shall we. 

Recall, John was a priest.  He could not help but be contaminated with certain attitudes common to that time among the religious people.  Particularly, the attitude of righteousness, being the only ones, of being God’s people.   No-one else was God’s people, because this was a big thing among the Jews.  It was us and them.  Them, that was the whole rest of the world including the Lost Ten Tribes.  So John says, “We forbade him because he does not follow with us.”   John came to see that this narrow mindedness, this exclusiveness approach, a pharisaical approach, had contaminated his mind as well; that he had to reach out beyond the borders of Israel, beyond the borders of the circumcised to the rest of the world, because he couldn’t be an Apostle as long as he was protecting his own denomination. 

John had to recognize that he had no inherent desires to share the fellowship of God whatsoever.   Have you been in Christian churches where the people say, “Salvation is ours, but the rest of the world can all go to hell.”  John had to recognize this in him just as we do.  We have to recognize our selfishness, our unwillingness to share with others.   We prefer to get our kick out of calling ourselves the people of God, to retain it for ourselves, and not to acknowledge that God could be working with other people, other denominations as well.   Maybe we see others in the church, and we wonder how did that individual ever get into the house of the Lord?   Was the ministry just as asleep as John, James, and Peter in the garden.  We don’t want to share that exclusivity, and John had to face that fact that he wanted the power for himself, or his little group.   Let’s see how far this attitude will go:

Actually I mentioned this verse in the beginning of this sermon:  (Luke 9:51-53) “Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him.”   Now remember the attitude that John has just demonstrated.  Notice the extrapolation.  Notice the escalation of this attitude.  It was an attitude before, but now it’s hot war.   And the Samaritans did not receive him as we saw.   (verse 54)  “His disciples James and John saw this, they said, ‘Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?"    They truly were the sons of thunder.   Maybe today we would call them the sons of lightening.

How do you respond to that?  “Beam me up, Scottie.   There is no intelligent life forms on this planet whatsoever.   Tell Commander Spock to bring the Enterprise three parsects from the planet.   Then I want full photon torpedoes on this planet.   We have to stop this infection, before it contaminates the entire Galaxy.   Spock will agree.   Forget the prime directive.”   No, Jesus did not say that. Gene Rodenberry didn’t say that, but I might have said that.

Once again, Christ corrects very lovingly, if somewhat sterner than before.  (Luke 9:55-56) But He turned and rebuked them, and said, "You’re fired.”   No, he hasn’t got there yet.  Third times the charm.  He really said, “‘You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them.’ And they went to another village.”  Notice Christ’s response.  It’s a response of love, which extends to all nations, all denominations, even to the Samaritans.   Christ had put up with self-centeredness of his own disciples, and now Jesus showed that he could put up with it from even the Gentiles.   Jesus was illustrating to his disciples and to us that God is prepared to work with every type of people. Notice, Jesus said, “the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.”   He didn’t say that he “did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save the Jews, or those who speak in tongues.”, but rather “to save men.”   He broadens John’s exclusiveness approach. (Revelation 3:20, another writing from the pen of John)  “I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”  By his own example, Jesus shows John that there is a different way to live.  It’s the approach of love.

Notice the affect this has on son of thunder.  Later in life, John writes. (1 John 2:1)   “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.“  How’s that for a change?   Do you see the process of conversion clearly here?   John had been turned around, and he was pointed then in totally different direction.  That change was a resulted of fellowship with Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ was not done with John.  Christ was still turning John.  Then they come to Jerusalem, and Jesus calls John and Peter to him.   He asked that the two should go and arrange for the Passover meal.   A very special relationship was developing which John only years later began to treasure, understand, and comprehend.   A bond of absolute affection was developing here.

That evening at the Passover meal, there were couches located perpendicularly around the table.   Your true friends one seats next to you, so Jesus was displaying that affection.   Not only had John been sent out to arrange the meal but that evening, Jesus had invited John to take the couch right next to him.  

As John was sitting there, he observed with astonishment Jesus’ treatment of others at the Passover meal.   Jesus took a towel and washed the feet of those seated.  Imagine the affect this had on John, because John was use to seeing how the Romans, the Pharisees, and the Sadduccees treated people, and how the Levites who had no inheritance were treated and wanted to be treated.   Maybe you’ve run into a few Romans, Pharisees, or Sadduccees here around the Dream Center.   There was the son of man, the Son of God kneeling down.   He girded himself with a towel, and began to wash the disciples’ feet.   This must have deeply moved John.  I say this with reason because John was the only author of a gospel who included a description of the foot washing.  Obviously, it moved him deeply.

John probably hung on every single word that Jesus spoke that evening.  I say that because John’s Gospel for us is in great detail then any other gospel writer.   (John 13:18-19) “I do not speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, 'He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me.' Now I tell you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I am He.”   John heard what Jesus was saying.  He was saying, “I am telling you all of these things so that when future events happened, and you look back on what took place, then for you there will no shadow of a doubt, that I am he.  That it was the Messiah that was among you.  That I am the Son of God.”   John remembered this.   He had heard it, and later with the help of the Holy Spirit, he recalled the words.

John recalled when Jesus Christ said this, (John 13:32-35) “Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, 'Where I am going, you cannot come,' so now I say to you. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."   … “by this all will know”  John remembered this, and he wrote it down.  And it’s here for us today in Chapters 15, 16, and 17 of his Gospel.   John heard it all.

At Gethsemane, that night Jesus was arrested, again John is humbled.   Again he experienced his own human insufficiency.  Jesus hoped for the support of the disciples, but John drops off to sleep with the rest. When the Romans came, with staves and spears, did he defend Jesus with his life?  No, he turned tale and ran with the others.   John had to face that during Christ’s life this was the extent of his loyalty.  Try and put yourself in John’s place.   Imagine the distress, the shame, and the confusion when he looked back at what he had done.  He had fled, leaving the Son of God in the hand of the mob, at the mercy of Judas Iscariot.

Consider the blackness of John’s mind from that night, the depression, and self-hatred.   But there was also a spark of loyalty and deepening love.  How do we know?   John came back. (John 18:15-16) “Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple.”   The other disciple was John. “Now that disciple was known to the high priest.”  There was one priest, John among the disciples.  He got his nerve back, “and went with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest. But Peter stood at the door outside. Then the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to her who kept the door, and brought Peter in.”   John, not Peter, got inside the house and heard the trial.  John was there with Peter standing around the fire warming his hands while that early morning the Sanhedrin deliberated Christ’s fate.

John is there when the scourging is taking place.  He hears the lash of the whip.  He hears Christ’s screams of agony. John is right there, and this is part of his conditioning.   He was probably there when Jesus came out, disfigured more than any man.  He would have shuddered at his appearance.  He couldn’t believe it.  Numbly he followed Christ slowly out to Golgotha, the skull, consumed by unbelievable sadness.  He saw Jesus, his mentor, his friend, nailed to the cross.  Then he saw them him hoisted up.  He saw him suffer.  John’s mind was filled with horror, sorrow, misery, and guilt.   Broken memories of Jesus’ predictions.  In the theater of your mind, see John desperately trying to put it together.   Why did this happen?   How could this happen?

John would write these words,  (John 19:26) “When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, “   “… the disciple who He love”   John’s comprehension of Jesus love for him was now being expressed clearly as John wrote.   The disciple whom Jesus loved was John standing there.   Years later when John wrote, he could comprehend the emotional plain on which Jesus’ thinking took place.   The mind of Christ was astonishing.   Jesus in agony, suffering, was about to showed love, compassion, and  concern for the needs of his mother.  (John 19:26-27)  “He said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold your son!’ Then He said to the disciple, ‘Behold your mother!’”    The bond of affection between Christ and John had grown to the extent that Jesus was willing to commit his own mother into the care of John.   And the reason was that Jesus saw John becoming the Apostle of Love.   Whom would you have committed your mother?   If you could even get your wits about you, wouldn’t you commit your mother to the disciple whom you knew was most likely to love her.   Jesus saw something in John.   He saw that potential.  He saw that capacity.   And he said, “Behold your mother.”   The verse continues, (John 19:27) “And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.”

Can you imagine when John sat down many years later and John wrote this phrase  “the disciple whom he loved.”   (John 19:26) “When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by…” What must John have felt when he wrote that down?   When he looked back over his own responses that evening, his own disloyalty, his own lack of comprehension, his own lack of faith, his own collapsing hopes of the Messiah, John and we realize that we have been loved.   Although we have loved so little, this becomes very instrumental in our drawing close to God, and developing a true love of God.   This conditioning was happening to John.

Stage 3:  In this stage, John becomes converted;  in that John now arrives at a state where he could be used by God.  I will explain.  There’s one piece of the puzzle yet missing.   (John 19:40) “Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury.  Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.  So there they laid Jesus, because of the Jews' Preparation Day, for the tomb was nearby.”

(John 20:1-10)  “On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved,”   John puts it in again.  He writes it in.  He puts it in because he comprehends the love of God, and he’s seen it with his own eyes. Continuing, “and said to them, ‘They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.’ Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first.”   You see in John these little touches of detail, these superb flashes of color.  This shows that this text is an eyewitness account.  This man John was there.   He even put down that he outran Peter.  He was younger.  He remembered. “He, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in.”   John was fast but timid. “Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb.”  Simon Peter was slow, but he was Simon Peter.  He went right in,  “and he saw the linen cloths lying there and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself.  Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also;” This is John “and he saw and he believed.”   He believed.  You see, all of a sudden, these vague memories of what Jesus had said, (John 2:19) “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” … suddenly the Holy Spirit working in his mind caused him to put it all together that those linen cloths were lying there empty with great reason and purpose.  Suddenly, John believed absolutely in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, that Jesus was the Messiah.

We read, we study God’s word, and we’re humbled by the giants of the Bible.  We ask of ourselves, why would God use this temple?   I am of such little faith.  We wonder is there a disciple John or an Apostle John possibly among us today?  But I say to you, look at John.   Look at John.   Look at John.   The disciple John became the Apostle John, whom God used to write five books of the Bible.   Look at John’s faith.   He had walked with Jesus.   He was to Jesus, the disciple Jesus loved.   He heard the words.   He saw the miracles.   And yet after 3.5 years with the Son of God, John had not come to the realization that Jesus was the Messiah.   Peter had believed.  When Jesus asked, (Matthew 16:15-16) “But who do you say that I am?”   Peter had replied, “You are the Christ, the son of living God.”   But it was only here in the tomb, when John, the disciple Jesus loved, saw the linen grave clothes, that he realized and accept that only Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of living God could rise from the dead.

You ask, how could I of little faith become as John, the Apostle of Love in the hands of God.   I ask you, who among you required to see the grave clothes of Jesus simply to believe?   Jesus said, (John 20:29) “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”   I answer, look at John.  Look at John.   Look at John.   None of you had to see the grave clothes, and yet you believe!   Who then in this house tonight could be for God another John?   I say, it is you.   It is you.   It is you.  It is you.   It is all of you, because you did not see, and yet you believed.   Hallelujah.

Here we see then the completion of the third stage of John’s conversion.   He wasn’t simply asking God to turn his life around.  He wasn’t being called.  He wasn’t being conditioned.  Rather, John had arrived at that specific point in faith where John could say, “I am converted.   I wasn’t yesterday, but I am converted today.   I believe.”

Stage 4:  Finally, John is commissioned.   God through his Holy Spirit has now fashioned John as a tool fit for use.   He believed in God the Father.   This John had that faith even as a priest.   He then acquired faith in Jesus way of life as he walked with him.   But now John can be used, because John’s faith is that Jesus is the Messiah, the risen Son of the living God.   His conversion is complete.  And with this faith, God commissioned John to write his Gospel, a gospel dedicated to preaching the faith in Jesus as God.

Faith is indeed the evidence of conversion.   Now converted, we see that faith in John.  John writes, (1 John 5:1-5)  “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.”   Whoever believes.   You see, John understands how important faith was, and that’s why he is telling it to us.  “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and everyone who loves Him who he begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments.”  (And verse 5):. “Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”   John continues to extol the value of faith.  (verse 11-13)  "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God,  “And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.”

Here is the fruit of faith in John and in us, the evidence of conversion.   God now continued to use John.   Following the receipt of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, John went with Peter into the temple and healed the man lamb from birth.   They were arrested, imprisoned, and yet they fearlessly proclaimed the Christ.

  Beyond faith, there is a repentive element to conversion.  John had been turned away from his previous life, and we see regret that he had ever lived that life before.    The converted John may well have felt a kinship to the words of (Job 42:5-6):   "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear.  But now my eye sees you.  Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

Or maybe it is in the words of Isaiah, where we see the essence of one whom was present at the crucifixion.  (Isaiah 53:3-6)    “He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.  And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;”   Are these not the words of a believing Jew who was at the crucifixion?   And you will hear this in this congregation.  “He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.  Surely He has borne our griefs   And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.  But He was wounded for our transgressions,   He was bruised for our iniquities.  The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.”  I’m sure John saw himself in these terms; realized that Isaiah 53 was meant for him, for his people, and for us assembled here today.

(verse 6)  “We are all like sheep having gone astray; We have turned, …”  Here’s that word again. “… every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him…”  Who?  Jesus! “… the iniquity of us all.” Only by daily fellowship with Christ, and later meditation on what he had seen and heard that brought John to comprehend his own utter sinfulness and helplessness.   And by this understanding, he came to understand the depth and power of God’s love.   (1 John 3:16)  “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”   John was an eyewitness.  So that motivated him, and he wrote it down for us so that now we can be motivated.

(1 John 4:9-11)  “In this, the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God,” Brethren, I think that John felt that very personally.  He could look back on how he had responded to Christ during his discipleship.   He knew what he meant when he wrote, “not that we loved God.”   He remembered those incidents on the road to Jerusalem, and when they were arguing who would be the greatest.  He remembered when he and his brother had come up to Jesus and said that they want to sit on his right and left hand in the Kingdom.  He remembered in Gethsemane, when he fled and left Jesus to the Romans.  John knew that he hadn’t loved God, but that God had loved him.  And this changed John. “This is love, not that we loved God” (verse 10)  “but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

You know I think that when John wrote “the disciple whom Jesus loved”, I don’t think he was reminding everyone of His most favorite disciple status.   Rather he was praising and worshipping God, Jesus Christ, who could even love a sinner like himself so much.   I think he was reminding himself of how very little he deserved the love of God.

John and the others went out and preached Christ.   His heart remained in the work till the end.  Tradition has it that John fled to Ephesus after the fall of Jerusalem.   He became the pastor of God’s Church.   Tradition has it that he grew so old and feeble that that young men of the Church had to carry him to services because he could not attend.  Tradition has it that he was exiled during the persecution under the rule of the Roman Emperor Dimession to the Isle of Patmos.   And it is here on Patmos where Jesus appeared once more to the disciple he loved with one final commission.  

John had gone through that whole process.   He had been called.  He had been conditioned.   He had been converted.    Then he had been commissioned, and with all the disciples had gone out into the world to preach the good news of Jesus Christ.   Now at the end of his life, John receives one final welcome commission  John, now an old man, says (Revelation 1:10-13)   “I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,’ …”  (then verse 12)  “Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me.”  And it wasn’t a stranger.  (verse 13) “in the midst of the seven lamp stands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band.”   You see Jesus appeared once more to the disciple he loved with a final commission.  (verse 17)  “When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, ‘Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.’”  And here comes John’s last commission, (verse 19) “Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this.”   And John did it.   He wrote with the same attention to detail, the same vividness, the same concerns to accurately report Jesus’ revelation as in his Gospel, and in the Pastoral Epistles.