Welcome to Season 3 of Love & Context. This season,
we're exploring the life of Jesus step -by -step
and uncovering what His story teaches us about
loving God and others. Here on Love & Context,
we're all about having real conversations about
how to live out that love in practical, everyday
ways, and understanding the Bible in its full
context. We're so glad you're here. Let's dive
into Season 3 of Love & Context. Welcome to the
Love in Context podcast. I hope you guys are
all excited. We decided to vote Ben off this
week. You know, we figured you guys have had
enough of him lately. So we decided to be like,
you know what, Ben, you're done for a week. And
so he'll have fun editing this and being like,
wait, what? Yeah, exactly. He'll be editing.
So that'll be interesting. He can see what we're
saying. Yeah. So if you haven't noticed, we've
been talking about the life of Jesus. So we're
going to continue with that. We are going to
be... referencing John 1 .35 through 2 .25 today.
So computers have this great piece of technology
where you can just hit pause, go read it, and
then come back. And now that you're back with
us, we'll start talking about it. Let's start
talking about it. There's a lot of things that
are going on here, but to start off, we got to
understand some historical context, some cultural
context. What does it mean to be a rabbi? What
does it mean to be a disciple? Because we have
the, especially in John chapter one, throughout
that whole chapter, we have Jesus calling his
disciples to follow him. And so What does that
mean? And we've talked a lot about that before
on the podcast, but really to be a rabbi who
calls a disciple, you're asking someone to live
life with you and learn how you live life. That
was kind of the Jewish style. I mean, a rabbi,
to become a rabbi, you basically had to become
an intern and studied with them. And what does
disciple actually mean? It's basically a student.
Yeah. Yeah, and so you've got to kind of understand
that. It's not just like going to seminary where
you go to some classes and then you go back to
your dorm room or whatever, right? It's actually
you are following them. You're living life with
them. You're going with them from place to place.
You're not just learning how they teach. You're
learning how they interact with people. You're
learning how they socialize. You're learning
all of this, all of this. And so it's an abandonment
of everything that you know and to follow the
way of the rabbi. And so that's one thing. thing
that we just really, really have to be aware
of when we're talking about Jesus calling disciples,
calling students to follow him. Yes. It's a,
it's a complete, it's, it's, you're walking away
from whatever you've done and completely turning
your life and focus in a new direction. Yeah.
Yeah. And so that, that really actually comes
to play when Jesus is calling some of his disciples
and they're like, well, can I go bury my father?
Yeah. And he's like, he's like, actually, no,
you just need to come follow me. Let the dead
bury their own. Right. Right now. And so that.
That's that cultural piece right there where
it's like you got to understand that that's what's
going on. One of the things that's going on here.
Another thing that we have to understand is John
the Baptist, who he is. John and Jesus are actually
cousins. John is a prophet who comes to foretell
Jesus is the Messiah, the coming of the Messiah.
I always like John the Baptist because like their
description of him is like, hey, he's going to
wear. Camel. Camel hair. Eat locusts. Eat locusts
and wild honey. And it's like, he sounds like
this guy when you see him that you're like, maybe
I'll walk 10 feet further away around to avoid
him. But that's kind of, that's who John Baptist
is. And then he would go in proclaiming the way
that the Messiah is coming. Right. And so he's
actually, he kind of is an echo to the figure
of Elijah who was proclaiming prophecies over
Israel back in the old days. So there's a lot
of tie -ins to the Old Testament. as we move
through those things. But we got to understand
those two cultural context pieces. We have prophets
who are to basically speak a prophetic word is
just basically to speak truth over somebody or
into somebody's life. And we often, I think sometimes,
you've done a lot of talks with prophecy, but
I think sometimes we overcomplicate what is prophecy.
We absolutely do. And people try to put too much
mystery into it. And it's speaking truth that
is inspired by the Holy Spirit to what you're
going to say either personally or corporately
or whatever. But it's just speaking. what the
Holy Spirit shows you about a situation that's
often unknown to others. So that's good. Yeah.
Yeah. So, so jumping into these, these texts
right here, there is, there are some really kind
of interesting things to look at here. So one
of the things with Jesus calling his disciples
is who he calls. So the Jewish schooling system,
you would typically from a very young age, memorize
Torah. You would. And so for some of you are
like, that sounds great until you get to Leviticus.
Right. But you would typically memorize Torah.
And those who couldn't hack it, they typically
would then go back to their families and work
the family business or family job. And there
was some, unlike our society, there was some
social moving up and there was some, but most
of the time, most of the time you just went back
and worked the family business. If you came from
a fisherman family and you weren't able to cut
it through school, you would go back and become
a fisherman. Just whatever trade your family
was involved in. Yep. That's usually how it worked.
Jesus. does something very radical here, which
also echoes the rest of the New Testament and
actually a lot of Torah, but he does something
very radical where he goes and he calls the people
who basically flunked out. Yeah, none of these
were in the line to become a rabbi. They weren't
going to seminary. They weren't studying. They
were just working people. Yeah, so right out
of the gate, Jesus is like, you know what? We're
going to do this a little differently, right?
He didn't go to the schools. He didn't go to
the people who were actually studying to be rabbis
and say, hey, would you follow me? He said, all
right, there's a foul -mouthed fisherman. I'm
going to ask him to follow me. And then he's
like, all right, there's a tax collector. I'm
going to ask him to follow me. And he's like,
oh, there's a zealot who, by the way, likes to
kill tax collectors. I'm going to ask him to
follow me. And so this is Jesus. In modern day
context, if you were to look at who Jesus called
to follow, if we were to compare that to modern
day, it wouldn't be a group of people that we'd
necessarily be like, yeah, I want to spend my
time with them. It wouldn't be a group of people
you'd let in the doors of your church. Yeah.
Sadly. Sadly, right? Yeah. And so Jesus right
out the gate is like, we're going to do this
differently. And so that's a really, really kind
of interesting thing to look at. It does, this
isn't in our notes, but it actually does echo
back to the Exodus when there actually was an
invitation for Egyptians to actually go with.
Go with them, yeah. Yeah. So it does echo back
to that too. So the other thing to note is that
John the Baptist also had disciples. Right. So,
so like, I think in our westernized church mindset,
we can get, we can think that like just, just
Jesus had disciples, which isn't the case. No.
We just talked about that a little bit with rabbis,
but John as a rabbi, as a prophet. He had people
that were crazy enough to follow him. Yeah. And
I want to, did they wear camel hair too? You
know, good question. You know, did you have,
was there, was it tight? Would you had to really
look to style? Yeah, I don't know. I don't know.
A uniform? I'm not sure, but if he's living out
in the desert on, living on locust and wild honey.
Uh -huh. Yeah. Might've need to. Right. Right.
So we have, so there are, there are really a
couple, couple people here that I want to really
talk about on who Jesus called. One is the calling
of Peter. in John's account. So in John 1, and
this will actually be 40 through 42, it says,
Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the
two who heard what John said and who had been
following Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was
to find his brother Simon and tell him, we have
found the Messiah, that is the Christ. And then
they brought him to Jesus. Jesus took one look
at him and said, you, Simon, son of John, will
be called Cephas, which translates to Peter.
So now Andrew was actually a disciple of John's.
He was following John around. Yep. And then John
introduced him to Jesus, basically. And Andrew
said, see you later, John. I'm following this
guy now. Yeah. Right. Which is a good choice.
It was a good choice. Because that's what John
was talking about. He actually graduated from
the school of John. Yeah. Right. In that regard.
Yeah. So he follows Jesus, but he was so excited
he had to go tell his brother about him. Yeah.
So he goes and tells Peter, or goes and tells
Simon, and the first thing Jesus does is he says,
you now have a new identity. Yeah. And your name
is now going to be Peter. Now, this isn't the
first time this has happened in scripture. This
actually echoes back to Genesis where God actually
changes Abram's name to Abraham. He says, you
have a new identity. You're no longer the same
person that you were before. And that's what
happens when we say yes to following Jesus, right?
Amen. That is it. And so we often, I mean, I
feel like we often read through stuff like this.
We kind of skim over it. And then we're like,
but really in those moments in that cultural
time, it was like, no, who you were before is
not going to. to be who you are looking for.
That's right. The old has passed away. Yeah.
New things become. Yeah. Yeah. So, and then right
after that, we have the call of Philip and Nathaniel.
Okay. Got to turn the page here. There we go.
Ben turned the lights off and now I have to like
rotate the Bible down to read it here. Now the
next day, Jesus decided to leave Galilee, finding
Philip. And he said to him, follow me. Philip,
like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida.
Philip found Nathanael and told him, we have
found the one Moses wrote about in the law and
about whom the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth,
son of Joseph. Nazareth, can anything good come
from there? Nathanael asks. Come and see, said
Philip. When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching,
he said to him, Here truly is the Israelite in
whom there is no deceit. How do you know me?
Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, I saw you while
you were still under the fig tree before Philip
called you. Nathanael declared, Rabbi, you are
the son of God. You are the king of Israel. That's
pretty, pretty cool. I mean, Nathanael was skeptical.
Yeah. And he's like, the guy from now, what good
can come out of now? You know, it's like, that's
a little bit jaded, but then he, and then Jesus
calls him out with really what I would call a
prophetic statement. Right. And I always, I've
always compared this to like, think of the state
you're in. Every state has that one town that
you're like, you don't want to be there. What
good can come of that town? Right. It'd be like
us saying what good can come of Fairbanks. We're,
you know, we're, but there's always. There's
always that one town. That's right. Right. And
skeptical. But Nathaniel went anyways to be like,
he did. I'm going to see. I want to see what's
curious. What is this? Right. Yeah. And so it's
a good thing. But then at the end of John chapter
one, you actually have this promise for greater
revelation. And this is you'll find this in verse
50 and 51. where it said, Jesus said, you believe
because I told you, I saw you under the fig tree.
You will see even greater things than that. Then
he added, very truly, I tell you, you will be,
you will see heaven open up and the angels of
God ascending and descending on the son of man,
referring to himself. So that is one of the amazing
things. This is like, you are going to see such
great things happen. And see things in the spiritual
realm. opening that up so yeah it's not even
yeah not even just you're not even just going
to see changes in your community or your towns
you're going to see you're going to see things
in the spiritual realm open up to you yeah realize
that the kingdom of heaven is here yeah Right.
Yeah. Angels ascending and descending. Yeah.
It's all connected. It's all connected. That's
right. And there, there are actually a couple,
uh, there's a couple, um, Torah connections that,
that can be brought up with us too. Jesus refers
to, so when he's referring to the ascending and
descending, he's actually also, he's referring
to Jacob's ladder and you can find that. I'll
let you guys do your own research and go read
that, but you can find that Genesis 28, 12 through
17. Go take a read on that. You can even pause
it right now. Go read it. Come back and join
us. Uh, there's another connection in Exodus
2, 3 through 13, where Jesus is identified as
the lamb of God. This is linking over to Passover
in Egypt, right? Where there was a sacrificial
lambs and the blood on the doorpost that saved
them, that saved Israel from the, or the Hebrews
from the plague of the death of the firstborn.
And so Jesus is identifying himself with that,
a major Jewish holiday and major Jewish tradition
of saying, I'm going to be the lamb of God. Alluding
to that, he is going to sacrifice. Himself. The
sacrifice to protect the rest of us. Yeah. To
save us. And so those are some connections there.
The more you actually dive into the life of Jesus,
the more you realize how much he actually quotes
Torah and is like connects things back to Torah.
And that's what I so appreciate about hanging
out with you and Ben is that's really a passion
of Ben's. I know for sure how Torah is the foundation
for everything in the Bible. And we don't, you
know, we study the life of Jesus without looking
back and realizing how much he was fulfilling
and how much was foretold and the magnificent
plan. that God has put in place. Yeah, right.
It's pretty cool. It's great. And so there's
a connection here where when the Exodus was happening,
there was this invitation for Israel and Egypt
actually to follow Moses. Right. And that invitation
sometimes can get skewed because we have this
conversation of Moses going to Pharaoh and saying,
let my people go. And it really was really what
that was. If you look at contextually, it really
was an invitation for him to be like, hey, you
have opportunity throughout those 10 plagues
to be like, all right, yeah, they can go. And
so as Israel had that invitation to follow Moses,
we now have that invitation to follow Jesus.
And so, so that's the invitation that we're working
with now, which is great. Any other thoughts
on that? Nope. I'm good. All right. All right.
And then we get to the first miracle in John
chapter two. Okay, so let's talk Jewish weddings
for a moment. Big deal. A little different than
our wedding. So when Lindsay and I got married,
we purposely planned our wedding at 3 p .m. And
we didn't have dinner. We had dessert. That was
because we wanted people out of there at 5 p
.m. because we didn't want to stay there all
night. And that's not how Jewish weddings work.
No. So you have the whole time frame where once
the betrothal happens, there's a year where they
don't really see each other. place ready at his
father's house and then when the party happens
it usually lasts about seven days yeah and and
it's a real party and I don't know about you,
but in U .S. culture, if we're through the idea
of like, hey, we're going to have a seven -day
wedding. Actually, my oldest son just got married
on Friday Harbor, San Juan Island, and just the
17th of May. Destination wedding, rented a big
farm out there, and we had 160 people show up,
and it started Thursday night and ended Sunday
morning. Great. And it was a phenomenal event.
I love it. The ceremony was Saturday afternoon,
and it was a huge party. It was a blast. It's
probably the most epic wedding I've ever been
to. Awesome. I love it. Pretty cool, too, because
he paid for it all. Yeah, that's great. But it
was great. Makes it better, right? But it was,
it was, reminded me of what that, and how fun
that could be, and the reason for the Jewish
wedding and the huge celebration. It is an event
to be celebrated. It is. Absolutely. Absolutely.
Absolutely. I would say, though, in, like, U
.S. culture, like, that's probably not. That's
unusual. It's unusual, right? It's unusual. Right?
Like, it's usually, like, a day event, maybe.
Afternoon event. Yeah. You know, I know Laura's
my wedding. Many years ago, we had a ceremony,
and which wedding ceremonies aren't long, you
know, 15 minutes. basically, but then we had
a reception, and a couple hours later, we're
on the road, done. It was a couple -hour event.
Yeah, but that's the case for Jewish wedding.
They're big events. They get married on the third
day. Yeah, they get married on the third day.
And I was curious about that, because that's
how the verse for this starts. It says, on the
third day... They were at the wedding, and the
tradition was on the third day of creation, talking
back in Genesis, God said, this is good. And
so that's when the day they wanted to be married.
Yeah. Yeah. And then the wine usually symbolizes
God's promise. And wine's actually an interesting
topic in biblical culture, because when you hear
the phrase wine, you can often associate, I mean,
obviously alcohol, and then that can also associate
with alcoholism, so on and so forth. But back
in that day, fermentation was actually one of
the safest ways to drink water. So when we're
talking wine, we're not talking like the types
of wines that you and I might know. We're talking
more so like lightly fermented. There is still
some alcohol content, but it's really low. And
it's just a way to purify the water. But at weddings,
they typically brought out the good stuff. Right.
Yeah, because it was a big celebration. And so
when we're looking at this, as you pointed out
on the third day, they were there. And then you
get into this miracle where Jesus. Jesus turns
water into wine. Now, there is this tradition,
and I'm going to probably butcher this a little
bit, but I'm going to do my best. So if you guys
write in and be like, actually, this is kind
of how this worked. But there is this tradition
where they actually had these ceremonial pots
where they would fill with water. And then what
they would do is it would be considered like
a blessed wedding if there was like a taste of
wine in the water. And and it was it was this
tradition that isn't fully rooted in Jewish culture,
but it was kind of co -opted by other cultures
around them. And so you actually have this thing
where Jesus, when he turns the water into wine,
he is showing that this union is going to be
very blessed. And so and there's forget the teacher's
name, but there's a teacher who does a really
good job explaining all of that. And I just didn't
do as good of a job. But but it's kind of this
interesting. There's so much symbolism in anything.
And we miss if we don't look for that and find
it in there because there's so much symbolism.
in what's taking place. Yeah, yeah. And so you
have, it started in verse six, you have nearby
stood six stone water jars. Now these were the
jars that were typically used for ceremonial
purification was what it was. And each one from
holding from 20 to 30 gallons, those are big
jars. Big jars, yeah. Jesus said to his servant,
fill the jars with water. So they filled them
to the brim. Then he told them, now draw out
some of the water and take it to the master.
the banquet. So they did. And the master of the
banquet tasted the water that had been turned
into wine. He did not realize where it had come
from, though the servants who had drawn the water
knew. And then he called the bridegroom aside
and said, everyone, everyone brings out the choice
wine first and the cheaper wine after the guests
have had too much to drink. But you have saved
the best until now. Yeah. There's a lot. There's
actually a lot going on. There really is. But
the idea with the wine here, though, is that
Jesus is showing that this is a blessed union.
It's one of the big key things here where it's
like, this is going to be blessed. We're going
to save the best until now. Make the best. It's
also, I've heard some people talk about how it's
symbolism of how like... of how like when you're
in a marriage union, the first, like you can
have some rocky years, but the more you stick
with it and the more you work on your relationship
with your spouse, like better years are to come.
I can guarantee that after I'm coming up on,
well, 48 years married this year. So it does
get better. Yeah. And then you get to verse 11
here where it talks about how the disciples believe
in Jesus. And so you have just this cool little
story of water into wine. And it just seems like
such an interesting first miracle. There's so
many miracles. Water into wine is just... Kind
of a radical concept. Yeah. Because it's a controversial
topic with people. It is. It is. But water into
wine. And I don't want to skim over it because
I know alcohol has been a huge issue for a lot
of people. I mean, especially we live in Alaska.
It's a huge issue for a lot of people in Alaska.
It is. And so I know stories like this can be
a little touchy for some people. Right. You know,
the reality is you just have to believe God and
know what's right for you and not. Yeah. And
I don't need to debate whether it was alcoholic
or not. I mean, obviously, the statement that
you bring out the best wine first and when people
have drank too much, they don't care. Obviously,
there's some alcoholic content in there. But
it's not endorsing that. And that's not what
Jesus' point is. The point is he takes something
ordinary and makes it into something extraordinary.
Right. He's taking something. He's transforming
something from good to great. In the natural
world. Yeah. You know, something like that. And
that's what he does with us. Yeah. If you want
to read more about like covenant purification
and celebration, you can go to Exodus 19, 10
and 11 and 24, 3 through 11. There's some talks
about that. And if you also want to read more
about like messianic imagery of wine and abundance,
Genesis 49, 10 through 11. There's so much symbolism
here, and it's really exciting when you get into
that and see that and study some of that. So
do read the scriptures. And the big thing I really
see in this is that Jesus, he took a ritual and
he turned it into a relationship in abundance.
Yeah. Right. He he did this in a relational way
and he turned into abundance and people believed
in him. And on a side note, there is a little
conversation with Jesus and his mom where where
Mary's like, hey, we're out of wine. And he's
like, well, it's not my time. And she's like
at that moment. I just I just imagine her giving
him like the side, like the mom look of like,
come on. And what obviously no answer to this
one. But his mom went to him and said, hey, we
got a problem here. Solve it. And it's like she
knew. I mean, what had taken place in. all of
his years, the 18 missing years that you guys
have talked about some, you know, what was going
on in there that she knew he could do that. You
know, there's a lot, there was a lot missing
that's unsaid there, but. I've told Ben on a
number of occasions, I was like, what would it
have been like to be one of Jesus's brothers?
Yeah. Right. Like growing up, you know, like
you have, you have the son of God, the perfect
child. And, and then, and they're like, and then
that's the standard that your parents are like,
well, but Jesus did this. That'd have been a
tough call. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah. So, and then
we got another story. happening in this, this
is the early time of Jesus's ministry where he
cleanses the temple. So there is actually a little
debate on timeline on this one. So John, the
gospel of John really kind of... is written more
so to prove Jesus is the Messiah. And so the
first half of John, there's a lot of the miracles
listed and there's actually debate on whether
those are actually listed in chronological order.
So I'm not going to get into that debate. I don't
think it's relevant for the conversation, but
if people want to go look that up, great, go
for it. But he goes and cleanses the temple.
And so you have this starting in John 2, 13 through
17. When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover,
again, you see, that connection over to lamb
of God, right? Jesus went to Jerusalem and in
the temple courts, he found people selling cattle,
sheeps, doves, and other and others sitting at
tables, exchanging money. He made a whip out
of cord and drove them all out of the temple
courts, both sheep and cattle and scattered the
coins amongst the money changers and overturned
the tables to those. He said, get out of here.
Stop turning my father's house into a market.
The disciples remembered it was written. It was.
that it is written zeal for your house will consume
me so you have a couple things here there's other
accounts that talk about jesus overturning tables
and saying you've turned it into a den of thieves
like a house of prayer into a den of thieves
well he cleanses the temple twice yes and this
is the first time so so he does that twice and
um which I think there's a little application
there of like personal application for us. Like
how many times has the Lord like directed us
in, uh, where we need to go. And then he has
to redirect us back to where we need to go. He
has to come in and clean house again. Cause we
got off track a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. That's
never happened to me. I'm just saying, I'm just
joking. Not since, not since. Yeah. Not since,
uh, 30 minutes ago. Right. Um, and so, uh, but
you have, you have the zeal of the Lord fulfills.
You actually see this. You'll see the purity
and sanctity connection for the tabernacle in
Exodus 25, 40. Worship for the places God chooses
in Deuteronomy 12, 5 through 14. And in Malachi
3, 1 through 3, the Lord purifies the temple.
Jesus fulfills that. So there's prophecy that's
being fulfilled. There's connections of Torah
that's happening here. And culturally speaking,
when the Sadducees, I believe, set up the exchanges
in the temples, they did this. They're the guys
of like, we want to make sacrificial offering
animals more accessible to people. Right. Because
they're people that would travel days to get
there and they're not packing goats or stuff
with them. So they could just acquire them there.
Yeah. But what they did is they actually set
this up. Traditionally speaking, they set this
up in the court of the Gentiles. So it was in
the outer courtyard. So when people who were
actually traveling from out, who are still, who
are traveling from outside of Israel to, to the
temple, to Jerusalem, because we did have, there
was a Jewish and Hebrew. were presence outside
of there, they would come and they wouldn't have
a place to worship. And so you have the cleansing
of the temple is also a way of Jesus saying,
hey, we're welcoming the outsiders back in. Like
you've looked too much inward that you are no
longer seeing the people on the outside who need
to know who the Lord is and need to know what
it takes to follow the Lord. There's some very
pointed application to the church today for that.
No, that's huge. That's a real big one. They
had turned that portion of the temple. into a
marketplace. And it was just about, it was about
generating revenue, not about changing lives.
Yeah. And so, I mean, as church today, like,
and this is speaking very broadly, I really,
I try not to do that when I can. But as a church
today, it can be really hard because it's really
easy to look inward, right? And then neglect
the poor and the broken and come through the
doors. And we often can make it so where we don't
really have a place for them. And if that's the
case, my invitation would be like, maybe we need
a clean house. little bit. We need to clean house
and let's focus on what Jesus focused on. Right.
That's exactly where our hearts need to be. And
what did he see and who would he see and how
would he touch people rather than judge him or
close them out because we're too busy doing our
own programs and our own things that we don't
have room for people to come in. Yeah. Right.
And on a personal note, like our life, like the
temple now is us, right? Yeah. We're the temple.
We're the temple. And we need to be mindful of
that. Like there's, you need to be able to clean
out the filth, right? We need with the help of
the Lord. would be like, hey, we need this removed.
And it's a real subtle thing in our lives too.
It's like this, they didn't start out. No. They
start out with a good intent. Yeah. You know,
we want to be able to provide these people, the
animals and things they need for sacrifices.
And it started out with a good intent, but it
got corrupted. took over and blocked out what
God really wanted to accomplish in the temple.
And we have, our lives are the same. Yeah. You
know, we can start out with a good intent, with
a habit that gets out of, out of balance, out
of control, but whatever it is, we can even bounce
back to the wine thing. You know, anything out
of balance or, you know, out of control in our
lives can not leave room for Jesus and what he
wants to do with us. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
And it's, and usually, usually those shifts in
our lives where we are like getting out of balance,
those usually come subtly. They do. Over time.
It does. It just creeps up on you. And so it's
not usually something where it's like boom, instantly.
Sometimes it is the case, but a lot of times
it just is subtle over time and it causes a lot
of problems. And we need to, you know, allow
ourselves time with the Lord to look for that
in our lives, but also trust that we've got close
friends that can stand beside us and help us
out too. It's, you know, as long as you're studying,
if you're listening to podcasts, learning, then,
you know, you're opening yourself up to hear
what God has to say and change in your life.
Yeah. Yeah. So we have, there's a few, there's
a few just like big invitations and applications
that I think that come from this. One is, is
obviously the invitation to follow Jesus. Right.
You see that through John one, where he is inviting
people to follow him. On side note, Jesus also
did this on a bigger scale. Usually rabbis would
have two, maybe three disciples. And Jesus is
like, I'm going for 12. Right. And then he actually
had more than that. He had 72 that followed him.
And then the 12 that were closer knit. um you
And so there's always that invitation to follow
Jesus. And there's always the invitation if you
did follow Jesus in the past and kind of have
fallen off the way to return to him. Right. We
have stories, there's stories in scripture like
the prodigal son where the father was overjoyed
when his son who went astray returned to him.
Right. Nothing we can do in our lives will, God
can't forgive. Right. And so we sometimes think
we've gone too far astray. And that's not true.
God is still there waiting with open arms. There's
another invitation to. believe in Jesus, like
not just follow him, but to believe that he is
who he says he is. Yeah. Right. Because I, and
I wanted to put the distinction between the two
there because I know people who they actually,
they follow the Bible. Yeah. Right. And they
follow, well, this is what the Bible says, how
I should live. But then when you actually prod
them about believing in Jesus and who he is,
they're like, well, I really just want to focus
on like the good behaviors I can get out of the
Bible. And I'm like, okay, that's. If I do all
this good stuff, then good stuff will happen.
It's whatever. But you look at the disciples.
I mean, Andrew believed him because he had already
committed. He was looking for him. He was out
looking for him because John. told him to. And
then he takes him to his brother, but then you
get to Nathaniel and he's like, I'm curious,
but I'm skeptical. And there's that invitation
for us who do believe and follow Jesus to bring
other people into the fold. They were excited.
Andrew was excited. He's like, you got to meet
this guy. And that's how our lives should reflect
Jesus as well. Yeah. And I like to always add
a little clarification there when we're inviting
people into the fold to follow Jesus, to believe
in him. That happens best through relationships.
Amen. Right. I think a lot of times churches
co -opt programs or or we'll co -opt words like
evangelism and stuff like that and be like hey
we need to go out to the community stand on the
corners street corners with signs you know believe
in Jesus or go to hell you know when really majority
of people I know who follow Jesus they can pinpoint
one or two people in their lives who said who
just did life with them and brought them into
the world. I had a lot of religious background,
but it was a specific individual. So I was listening
to a song coming up here that says this happened
because somebody prayed. And I can tell you my
life changed because somebody was praying for
me. And it was a relationship that brought that
person, brought me into that person's life. And
they were praying. My world changed over the
next year. And I can say the same thing. Like
I can pinpoint two people in my life that really
just took the time to do life with me. Yeah.
and really changed my life because of that. And
and even now having those people in our lives
to hold us accountable. I mean, life is challenging
and our spiritual growth is challenging. And
who do we share that with? Who do we talk about?
That relationship is one of the absolute keys
to to our growth in our own discipleship. Yeah,
absolutely. Just like a rabbi and his disciples.
Absolutely. Right. All right. And then continuing
those relationships, like just just keep those
relationships going. And that's another thing
I think the church often lacks in a little bit
is they'll be like, all right, you know, Jesus.
Great. You're good. And it's like, well, next,
next. And it's like, okay, well, we actually
need to continue that relationship. Like you're
talking, you're talking about someone who it's
like. I did a, for a Young Life talk the other
day, I pulled my guitar out and I had the students
like, tell me how to play the guitar. And I just
did everything exactly how they said. And it
went horribly. And they kept getting mad at me
because they're like, no, like it's supposed
to be like this. And so, but we use that to talk
about like how when we're learning to follow
Jesus, sometimes like. like comparing it to a
guitar, like when you're learning to play guitar,
like it doesn't, the first little bit doesn't
necessarily look pretty, right? Like when I first
took following Jesus seriously, like I lost a
lot of friends. I had a lot of people just basically
write me off because they're like, what are you
doing? Like, why would you do this? Why would
you abandon the way of life that you were living
type thing? And, but it took time, right? Like
it took time. And the more you lived into it,
the more you spent time with Jesus, the more
natural it became to be like, to be like, all
right, right. And just like the guitar, the more
you play, the more you practice, the better you
become. And so, which brings us to kind of the
final point here was that we need to be purified
by him, right? The purification is his to do.
It's his. That's right. Yeah. The purification,
the forgiveness, the redemption is his work in
our lives. He takes ordinary and turns it into
extraordinary. Yeah. Like he did water and wine.
Yeah. Cleansing the temple. He can do that in
our lives. Yeah. Right. And so he's the one doing
that work. And I was having a conversation with
a friend the other day, and we were just talking
about like, we were just, we were asking the
question, like, have we as a church just taken
the idea of calling, of not trusting Jesus to
handle sin and trying to take it into our own
hands? I think that's a huge challenge with the
church is that we're trying to pass judgment
when God says people, he's going to sort it out.
We're here to love people. Let's build relationships
with people no matter what they look like. And
God's going to clean that up. God's going to
change their life. That's not our position. Yeah.
And in that conversation with his friend, I went
as far to say, to just ask the question of like,
are we abandoning our trust in the Lord when
we try to take, when we try to control? We try
to control. We try to fix people. We try to tell
them, you've got to do these 10 steps or you're
not going to make it. This is how you have to
live your life. So that's just, that's a challenge,
right? It's a challenge because when people come
through the doors of the church, they're going
to be broken. They're going to be messy. There's
going to be issues. If they're not, if those
kinds of people aren't showing up in church.
there's a problem with church. Yeah. Your church
needs to address some issues. That's right. Right.
But we just need to trust that the Lord is actually,
that Jesus is actually going to redeem. Yeah.
And by the way, he's far better at it than we
are. He's a lot better at everything than we
are. Yes. We've just got to get back to that
trust. And you're totally correct, Spencer. It's
just like, let him do the work. We're here to
love people. That's what he said. Love our neighbors
as ourselves. It doesn't matter what they look
like. And if we do that, then the world will
know us by our love. Yeah. Yeah. And the other
thing with that is we're not responsible for
the outcome. I know people who have abandoned
following Jesus. My heart's broken for them,
right? But if I am following what the Lord has
asked me to do, to love the Lord with everything
I have, love my neighbors with everything I have,
right? And be there for the broken, the hurting,
the lost, right? If I'm living in that lifestyle
and someone doesn't come into the fold the way
that I think they should, that's not on me, right?
It's not on you. And you're still, depending
on how the Lord leads, maintain a positive relationship.
Yeah, right. And, you know, my life is going
to be an example. Yes. And I know for all my...
years in my careers I honored the workplace and
not being not preaching there but my life was
an example yeah and we just got to help people
get in the dorm yeah Jesus do the work yeah Yeah.
So just, just to close it out, the beginning
of Jesus's ministry really fulfills and transforms
Torah, like provides this transformational piece
of like, oh, this is what it actually is talking
about. And the reason John writes that way is
because there's a lot of misunderstanding and
debate on what Torah is actually talking about.
And Jesus is coming in and he's saying, all right,
let's set the record straight. Right. Right.
it goes back to where Jesus is saying, he's the
lamb of God. It also references like him as the
bridegroom, right? With the wedding. There's
a reference there where lamb of God, the bridegroom
of. And that he is the temple, right? That we
now become the temple, the dwelling place of
the Lord. There's a referring to that. And it
also talks about that ladder, Jacob's ladder,
where like angels ascending and descending, how
heaven and earth are not separate places. They're
not separate places. And side note, there's a
lot more theological backing to say that the
Lord's going to restore earth into heaven than
there is to say we are going to leave earth to
go to heaven. Totally agree with that. Side note,
you guys can. Do some research. Do some research.
I'm not going to do that for you right now. Maybe
we can talk about it someday. Yeah. Yeah. All
right. So let's just walk in the fullness that
he brings. Amen. Right? The life where it goes
from good, like, because you can have a good
life not following Jesus, right? By earthly standards.
But you're going to have a great life following
Jesus. What Jesus brings to life and what...
Yeah. What he brings into our world and our lives.
If you can get that connection that we're walking
with him here on earth, it is such a huge, huge
blessing. It's the right way to go. And it doesn't
just transform your life. It transforms the community
around you. The community around you. The people
you know. There will be transformation that happens
there. Amen. I can speak to that in like my wife's
family in particular, like because she didn't
grow up in a Christian home. And when she came
to know Jesus, a short time after that, her sister
came to know Jesus years after. that her brother
and sister -in -law came to know Jesus. And to
the point where there's other family members
who are starting to ask more questions, right?
Because there's transformational work happening.
Now that... was over 20 years, right? That wasn't
like a two month process. That was a long process
of people being like, wait, there's something
different. Like you care for us in a way that
I haven't seen before. You love us in a way that
I haven't seen before. And so there's transformational
work and that work is the work of Jesus. Amen,
it sure is. And we just, our job is simply to
display it. It is, to walk it out and display
it. So, well, thank you all for joining us. Until
next time, we will be talking, as you can probably
guess, about Jesus in the future. Great topic.
Until next time, guys. and Facebook at loveandcontext.
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