It has been a while since I've posted on here. UIS is in full swing again and CSF has another new beginning--another chance to draw closer to God, to see Him work and grow in His love seen through Jesus as a community. I'm so excited about what God has already been doing on campus this semester.
One way that He has been teaching us on Friday nights is through the sermon series right now. It's a three week series called "FedUp". It's all about growing up in Christ--looking at three basic stages of growth in our relationship with God and finding ways that we can "grow up" in the sense of drawing closer to God and away from the things that keep us from Him.
Last night, as Linds taught about adolescence, she challenged all of us to read and journal through the book of John. A really sweet journal was provided to keep our thoughts. So the first day of reading and journaling was today and Linds and I thought we would keep a record on here of where God is showing Himself through this study.
So today was on John 1. There were several things in this chapter that stuck out to me, but I thought I would write about one of them.
As I was reading this chapter, I started noticing just how many different names are meant to represent Jesus. And really, John doesn't even mention Jesus' actual name until 16 or so verses in.
Check this out! I'm going to bold the different names.
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning. 3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood[a] it.
6There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.[b]
10He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13children born not of natural descent,[c] nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.
14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only,[d] who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
15John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' " 16From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. 17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only,[e][f]who is at the Father's side, has made him known.
19Now this was John's testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. 20He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, "I am not the Christ.[g]"
21They asked him, "Then who are you? Are you Elijah?"
He said, "I am not."
"Are you the Prophet?"
He answered, "No."
22Finally they said, "Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?"
23John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "I am the voice of one calling in the desert, 'Make straight the way for the Lord.' "[h]
24Now some Pharisees who had been sent 25questioned him, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?"
26"I baptize with[i] water," John replied, "but among you stands one you do not know. 27He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie."
28This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
29The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30This is the one I meant when I said, 'A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' 31I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel."
32Then John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' 34I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God."
35The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" 37When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?"
They said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?"
39"Come," he replied, "and you will see."
So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.
40Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). 42And he brought him to Jesus.
Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter[j]). 43The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me."
44Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."
46"Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked.
"Come and see," said Philip.
47When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false."
48"How do you know me?" Nathanael asked.
Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you."
49Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."
50Jesus said, "You believe[k] because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that." 51He then added, "I tell you[l] the truth, you[m] shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."
And this is just the beginning of the passage. Jesus is referred to in five or six different ways in the first 18 verses. I think there are like 8 more names after that. And this is all in chapter 1!Why does John(the author) do this in the beginning thing? I'm not sure I've ever understood why John didn't just call Jesus by His name at the very beginning of his writing. Regardless, I think it's cool to look at these different ways of talking about Jesus. "The Word" reminds me of a couple sermons I've heard that have stuck with me. Their message was that just like words(seen) are what gives something concrete to what's in our brains(unseen), so does Jesus' life(seen) give us something to actually look at about what our God(unseen) is really like. This is hard for me to really wrap my head around though. I'm glad that Jesus would give us a concrete example of what it means to live with and for our God.
All these names in general remind me of a study Linds and her friend Melissa did together a couple years ago. Linds still references it and any time she does, I'm always struck by it. The study is called "Praying the names of God." Apparently, the Old Testament is stuffed full of different names for God. The study provides and defines these different names. Each one describes a different characteristic of our God. For example, there's one name--Yahweh Yirah(expect this word to be misspelled...), meaning God provides.
When I think of John 1, it kind of reminds me of that study because there are so many names. In exploring the answer to my own question posed toward the beginning, it makes me wonder:
How many names does it take for us to understand who He is? How many names does He have?
How many different descriptions are needed for me to understand what He's about?
I dunno. Maybe those aren't answerable questions...
Some other ones--
What are some names of Him that I don't know? What about Him don't I understand yet? What can I learn from the names others have given Him?
I do know that it's nice to be reminded at different points in my life of certain characteristics of Him that carry special importance at that time. For example, trusting God as my comforter has been really important with all the grief in my family over this last year.
I also know that seeing God as a Joyful Father was so amazing(and a view of God I'm not sure I'd really considered before) during the celebration of marriage.
So the names of Jesus. Maybe when reading through John, I can start seeing just more of what He is about. The names themselves seem like they could help unpack so much about Him---and I haven't even looked at much of what He actually did.
Well, I hope everyone is having an amazing and restful Saturday. Stay warm! If you're bored, some guys will be at La Fiesta at 6 and some girls are going to be at the movie theater at 4ish.
later!
-dave
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