Gospel of John Introduction (Sermon Outline)
Sermon Outline
The Gospel of John
I. Introduction to the Gospel of John:
a. This morning we are beginning a new journey together through the Gospel of John, which is a gospel that places very special attention upon the Divinity of Jesus the Christ, the Son of God. In fact, the Gospel of John is one of the most beloved and referred to books in all of Scripture, as it so clearly presents Jesus as the Christ (aka “Messiah”), the Son of God, who was sent to rescue humanity.
b. John will bring us into a world that is broken and flawed, and share with us how Jesus, God’s only begotten Son walked among us, offering us grace and truth, and clearly explaining to us how to have a right relationship with God by following Him. The Gospel of John will present Jesus powerfully ministering to a broken and confused generation, and giving them new hope and a clear direction to follow in life. That is what has inspired the title of our journey through the Gospel of John; “Follow Jesus”. Jesus said, “Follow Me”, to those who came to Him wanting more in life. And for those who did choose to follow Jesus, He not only radically changed their life, but He used them to radically change the lives of others.
c. One of those lives that Jesus radically changed is the Apostle John, who is the author of this gospel. John was one of Jesus closest friends, and one of three men who had more access to Jesus, and more personal interaction with Jesus than anyone; and it is for this reason that our primary goal today will be to get to know who John is, and what kind of impact Jesus had upon His life, and what does he hope to teach us about following Jesus.
d. As we embark upon this great journey together through the Gospel of John, it is important for us to understand from the beginning what the purpose of this Gospel is. We know that the most popular verse in this gospel, and probably all of God’s Word is John 3:16. However, in order to find out the purpose behind John writing this gospel, we must turn our attentions to the 20thchapter of this book in order to discover its purpose.
II. Background, Themes and Literary Structure
a. THE BIG PICTURE: And so if you would please stand in honor of reading God’s Word... we are going to first look at THE BIG PICTURE of John’s Gospel.
i. READ: John 20:30-31
ii. The Apostle John informs us, “… these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” (John 20:30-31). And so we can summarize John’s purpose for writing this gospel in one word: believe. John says, “I’ve written this book, including these particular accounts, so that you might believe.” John witnessed 3 years of miraculous signs, powerful sermons, and face to face conversations with Jesus, that no doubt caused a fire to burn in his heart, but he tells us here that didn’t include them all. He selected certain ones – the ones that would help us believe. When this passage is set in the context of the entire Gospel, it becomes a wonderful door through which we can earnestly study the gospel of John for the purpose of believing in Jesus as the Son of God, and by believing receive the gift of eternal life. It is this thought alone that demonstrates clearly to us that John did not write his gospel to be used as an academic exercise, but instead, he wrote it so those who read it would by faith respond to Jesus and be saved.
iii. There are 3 major sections of John’s gospel:
1. John PROVING that Jesus is the Son of God (1:1-12:50)
2. John explaining how Jesus PREPARED His disciples for the Great Commission (13-17)
3. John narrating the PASSION of Christ (ch. 18-19), and then His RESURRECTION (ch. 20:1-29), and finally His PURPOSE for writing the gospel (ch. 20:30-21:25).
iv. The number 7 in the Bible represents the number of completion, and it is very interesting that John would use this number so powerfully throughout his gospel in order to demonstrate Jesus is the Son of God. In fact, there are 3 very important groups of 7’s that go throughout the Gospel of John. You see, the Gospel of John is built around 7 miracles, 7 “I am” statements of Christ, and 7 witnesses confirming that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
1. The 7 “I am” statements
1. The Bread of Life (6:35, 41, 48, 51)
2. The Light of the World (8:12)
3. The Door of the sheep (10:7, 9)
4. The Good Shepherd (10:11, 14)
5. The Resurrection and the Life (11:25)
6. The Way, the Truth, the Life (14:6)
7. The True Vine (15:1, 5)
2. The 7 miracles: Jesus
1. TURNED water into wine (John 2:1-12)
2. HEALED the nobleman’s DYING son (John 4:46-54) (Omnipresent power)
3. HEALED a man who was CRIPPLED (5:1-17)
4. FEEDS the 5,000 (John 6:1-14)
5. WALKS on water, and CALMS the storm (John 6:15-21)
6. HEALED a man who was BLIND from birth (John 9:1-41)
7. RAISES Lazarus from the dead (John 11:17-45)
3. The 7 Witnesses
1. John the Baptist (John 1:7; 29-32; 5:33)
2. Moses and the Scriptures (John 5:46-47)
3. God the Father (John 5:37)
4. Jesus and His works (John 5:36; 8:18)
5. The Holy Spirit (John 16:14)
6. The Disciples (John 17:18; 20:21-23)
7. The apostle John himself (John 21:24-25)
v. And so this is just a brief overview of what we can expect from John’s Gospel as he powerfully demonstrates that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Lord of life, who walked among us.
vi. Next, we are going to look at John’s life of faith in order to better get to know the man who wrote this gospel we are going to be studying.
b. Jesus said “Follow Me”… and John did.
i. John was an apostle of Jesus Christ (Luke 6:12-16)
ii. He was also one of Jesus’ 3 closest friends and followers (Matt. 17:1; 26:37; Mark 5:37; 9:2)
iii. He was an eyewitness to and participant in Jesus’ earthly ministry (1 John 1:1-4).
i. John was the son of Zebedee & Salome
1. Zebedee was a fisherman, just as John and his brother James were, when Jesus called them to follow Him (Matthew 4:21-22)
ii. John was the brother of James (Mark 1:19)
iii. Like John the Baptist, he is believed to be a cousin of Jesus, although there is no direct reference to it in God’s Word. However, he was one of Jesus’ inner three closest friends, and it was John that Jesus directed to take care of His mother Mary, when Jesus was on the cross (John 19:25-27).
1. Catholic tradition says that Salome is Mary, the mother of Jesus’ sister, while other apocryphal literature refer to her as Mary’s cousin.
2. She was also present at the crucifixion
3. She was one of the women who found Jesus’ empty tomb (even before John and Peter)
iv. John was a fisherman (Mark 1:19)
v. John was the only disciple to witness the death of Jesus (John 19:26).
vi. While on the cross, Jesus instructed John to care for His mother Mary after His death (John 19:26)
vii. John was the first of the apostles to see the empty tomb (John 20:1-3)
viii. John’s long life was prophesied by Jesus (John 21:20-23). John lived into his 90’s, and was the last apostle to die.
ix. John wrote 5 books that make up a part of the 27 books of the NT.
1. 1, 2, 3 John
2. Revelation
3. Gospel of John
x. John wrote this particular gospel towards the end of his life, after being released from exile on the Island of Patmos where Jesus gave him the vision for the book of Revelation. Reliable extra-biblical literature informs us that John also died in Ephesus and a ripe old age, somewhere in his 90’s.
xi. Let’s read Mark 1:17-20 now, so that we can begin following the transformation of this incredible man of God.
xii. READ: Mark 1:17-20
xiii. Here we read about the time that Jesus called Andrew, and his brother Peter, along with James and his brother John, to follow Him. And because John chose to follow Jesus, Jesus would not only transform John’s life, but He would use John to transform the lives of others.
xiv. Though John was and is the beloved disciple who has inspired billions of people throughout church history, and who has no doubt been used by God to reach billions of people through his gospel, he did not start out as a spiritual giant.
xv. In fact, it was just the opposite. John had no (or at least very little) religious training prior to following Jesus. As we just read in Marks gospel, he was in the fishing business, just as the rest of his family was. In fact, after the resurrection of Jesus, the book of Acts points out his lack of seminary education.
xvi. Acts 4:13 tells us, “Now when they (the Religious leaders) saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.” John was an uneducated and untrained man, but he walked with Jesus. Jesus said, “Follow Me” to John and because John was willing to leave everything in order to follow Jesus, Jesus changed everything for John. How about you? Are you willing to give Jesus everything? Are you willing to follow Jesus by allowing Him to be Lord over every part of your life?
xvii. Again, you may be saying, “I am no apostle John. I do not have his spiritual resume!” And yet, we just read, that when John first started following Jesus he had no resume either. What he did have, was faith to trust Jesus and obey Jesus.
xviii. The apostle Peter often times gets a bad rap for being an impulsive person who suffered greatly from foot-in-mouth disease, while the apostle John is remembered for being the disciple that Jesus loved, and is know as the “apostle of love”. However, John was no different than Peter, or you and I. John was a huge work in process, whose flaws are before the entire world to see throughout the gospels.
xix. Sons of Thunder: In the Gospel of Mark we read that John, along with his brother James were known as, “the sons of thunder” (Mark 3:17), a nickname given to them by Jesus. This would be an awesome nickname to have if Jesus was calling us to join the Avengers, and be a part of Iron Man and Thor’s superhero team. But, becoming an Avenger for Jesus is the furthest thing from what He has called any of His followers to be (cf. Romans 12:17). But the event in James and John’s life that inspired this nickname from Jesus, is recorded in Luke 9, when one of the Samaritan villages rejected the gospel (Luke 9:51-56). I wonder if this response from Jesus in (v.56) was a pivotal moment in John’s life? I wonder if he thought to himself, “Man I was way off on that one!” I wonder if that was an AHA moment for John where Jesus began to grab hold of his heart and change it into the apostle of love.
xx. Can we be big shots too?: In the Gospel of Matthew, we read that their mother Salome (Jesus’ auntie), came to Jesus with her sons, and kneeling before Jesus she asked Him if her two sons, James and John, “may sit” one at Jesus’ right hand, and the other at Jesus’ left hand. But Jesus answered and said, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They (James and John) said to Him, “We are able.” So Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those whom it is prepared by My Father.” And when the other ten (disciples) heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers.” (Matthew 20:20-24)
xxi. In Luke’s gospel, Jesus would chip away at the Sons of Thunder and their armor of vengeance, while her in Matthew’s gospel He would chip away at their pride and self-promotion. Again, when John first started walking with Jesus he was no spiritual giant at all. He was a flawed but fixable man if he would simply choose to follow Jesus and obey Jesus. And that is what Jesus is looking for in your life and my life. Each one of us is flawed, but we are also fixable.
c. The Journey Ahead (what can we look forward to)
i. And so as we travel into the Gospel of John we have a clearer understanding of who this amazing man of God is, known as the apostle of love. He is writing this gospel to us towards the end of his life, he has been a part of the great awakening of humanity, one of the original disciples, in Jesus’ inner 3, used by God to turn the world upside down. He’s been persecuted, miraculously escaped martyrdom, and is now finishing up on of his 5 books contained within the Bible with a specific purpose, that the world would know that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in Him they can have eternal life, and that he, as flawed as he was, was someone who believed with all of his heart that Jesus loved him. By addressing himself as the disciple Jesus loved, he is not suggesting that Jesus did not love the other disciples, but for himself, he wanted to make it clear, that Jesus loves me!
ii. READ: 1 John 1:1-4
iii. The heart of John is that we like him, would be radically changed by our relationship with Jesus, and that we would remain in fellowship with Jesus and one another and that we would experience the fullness of Joy. And that’s what Following Jesus will lead everyone of us to in our life.
