John: A Disciple Transformed

Introduction

Morning. And in fact, if you have two markers, you may want to place a marker at Mark, the tenth chapter, and then place another marker at the book of 1 John and chapter 1. We’re going to be going back and forth between those two passages a few times this morning. We do have many who are visiting with us this morning. We thank you for joining us. No doubt many of you are traveling due to the holiday. We thank you for taking the time to come and to worship and to praise God as we have sought to do this morning. We always want to magnify his name. For truly we are to be a grateful and a thankful people. Not because of what we have done ourselves, but because of what our God, our great Father, has done for us.

And as we come together and certainly we remember what our Lord has done for us in the sacrifice on the cross, we also look to his word so that we can be disciples of his. That we can be transformed people, not be any more like we once were. We can be, even as our brother Rufus read for us this morning out of Matthew 5 and verse 48, that we could even be perfect, as the Heavenly Father is perfect. And that avenue is only available through Christ Jesus and his blood and by being a disciple of his.

From John here recently. I don’t know why, but we always group John at the very end. I guess it’s so we can do Revelation as the very last book. So we’ve read the Gospel of John, and this week you’ve been reading 1 John, and we’re going to finish 1 John and read 2nd and 3 John and make our way on into Revelation this next week. So there’s a lot that we can learn about this disciple. What we’ll look at is how he was transformed, really as all of the apostles were transformed. But we’re going to look at John in particular. Now we know a lot about John, excuse me, and I appreciate all those who comment how you hope I was feeling better, and I am feeling much better.

I still have a little bit of a cough, and so I will be coughing probably a few times this morning. I’ll try not to do so right in the microphone. I do have a cough drop in my mouth. No, I’m not chewing gum in the side of my mouth. There is a cough drop there, but I’ll try not to be too distracting this morning.

In John, the first chapter, when John the Baptist is pointing to his own disciples, that there is the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world. We know that Andrew goes and follows Jesus, and there’s another unnamed disciple. That may very well have been John. But certainly we know that John and his brother James were two of the first disciples that our Lord himself called there at the Sea of Galilee, as he called Peter and Andrew, and then James and John to follow him. And they leave everything that they have and they go and they follow Jesus.

When Jesus went and raised Jaris’ daughter from the dead, he took with him Peter, James, and John. When Jesus went up onto the mountain to be transfigured, he took with him Peter, James, and John. When our Lord departed in the Garden of Gethsemane to go off a little ways by himself, he takes with him Peter, James, and John. And again, even looking at the book of John, the gospel account that John writes for us, it would seem that John is referred to in that book as the disciple whom Jesus loved. So there’s a lot that we can tell just on the little edges about John. And certainly our Lord loved him, and we know that John will do many, many great things.

And I’m going to go ahead and have to ask for this.

Someone back there in the back. There you go. Thank you, sir. I thought I’d be all right this morning, but you get warmed up and the vocal cords start warming up too, and then the coughing commences. I apologize. Mark the 10th chapter, beginning in verse 35, you are familiar with this text. You read there in Mark chapter 10 and verse 35 that James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to Jesus saying, Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. And he said to them, What do you want me to do for you? Now we know from Matthew’s account that James and John’s mother was involved in this as well. But James and John are the ones who are in the forefront here.

And they’re the ones coming to Jesus and saying, We want you to do for us whatever we ask. And they say to him in verse 37, Grant that we may sit. One on your right and one on your left in your glory. Jesus’ response to this was that you will share with me in my baptism, and the cup that I drink, you will share in that as well. And he’s referring to his suffering here, and we’ll talk about that more in just a moment. But to give these places of honor is not mine to give, it’s the Father’s.

Or is he simply saying it from this standpoint that you don’t need to be worried about that? This is not something within my authority, it’s within the Father’s authority, but that’s just not something you need to worry about in the first place. But we know of the effect this has on the other apostles in verse 41. Hearing this, the ten began to feel indignant with James and John. It’s not a happy time. Here are disciples who are striving for greatness. They’re striving for glory. They want, and you may even look a little ahead there in Mark chapter 11. Watch the first thing that happens in Mark chapter 11. Jesus triumphantly enters into Jerusalem. They know that whatever is about to happen is about to happen, and in their mind it is something great and glorious, and they want positions of power and prominence and authority with Jesus as he in their minds is coming into his kingdom.

Of course, the other ten probably had the same thing in mind. They just did not go and ask Jesus as James and John had, but they are mad because here are James and John trying to find these things for themselves. Not a happy time. Now, if you marked in your Bible also to 1 John chapter 1, perhaps 60 years have passed. James has died. You read about James’s death in Acts the 12th chapter. Thank you very much, brother. James died for his faith in Christ. John, to our knowledge, is the last of the apostles who are living. John, too, has suffered greatly for his faith. And he will suffer more for his faith. But when we come to 1 John chapter 1, note how this wonderful book begins.

In 1 John chapter 1, and we’re going to read the first four verses. What was from the beginning? What we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands concerning the word of life. And the life was manifested, and we have seen and testified and proclaimed to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us. And what we have seen and heard, we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us. And indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete. If you’re reading from the King James or New King James, it will read there, your joy complete.

But the idea is that God’s people, as they have come together in fellowship in Christ in God, here is where the joy of the Christian resides.

Mark chapter 10, what are James and John striving for? Greatness. Make us a cut above the rest of your followers. In 1 John chapter 1, what is John joyous over? That I am in fellowship with you. That we now have in common a relationship in God through Christ. No notion of I’m greater and you are lesser. No, we are in fellowship together. And John says, this is so our joy can be complete. When James and John went before the Lord in Mark chapter 10, they thought, no doubt, that they could be joyous. They could find fulfillment. They could have everything they wanted if Jesus would just grant their request. Make us to sit on your right and your left hand in your kingdom. But that’s not where they found fulfillment.

1. John Had to Learn to Focus on the Spiritual

That’s not where John found great joy. Where he ultimately found this great joy was to be in Christ Himself, to proclaim the message of Christ to others so that others could be in fellowship with God and thereby with John and the rest of the saints, and they could have joy together. That’s a transformed disciple. We want to look at a few things this morning that show how John came to such a transformation. First of all, John had to focus, learn to focus on the spiritual.

Mark chapter 10 and verse 32. They are on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking on ahead of them, and they were amazed, and those who followed were fearful. And again they took the twelve aside and began to tell them what was going to happen to him, saying, Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and will hand him over to the Gentiles. They’ll mock him and spit on him and scourge him and kill him. And three days later, he will rise again.

It would be a kingdom that God had determined long, long, long ago. It would be a kingdom that he would rule over. But it would be a kingdom that was only possible if he were to die for it. This is a spiritual concern that Jesus focused on.

Greatness, though. If John was ever going to lay hold of fulfillment and joy, he was going to have to rid himself of the concept that what we are looking for is something here on this earth. You may know that in Mark’s account, Mark chapter 3 and verse 17, James and John are referred to as sons of thunder. Luke chapter 9, when Jesus is passing through Samaria in verses 51 through 54, you may remember there that a certain Samaritan village would not allow Jesus to come in.

So they didn’t want no part of Jesus. It was James and John who say, Do you want us to have fire to come down? It was also John who, back in Mark the 9th chapter, brought it to Jesus’ attention that there was one who was casting out demons, and yet he does not follow us. So we told him not to do that anymore. What is John looking at? He’s looking at things on this earth. He’s thinking, okay, here’s Jesus. He’s the king. We’re going to be ruling with him, so we want to make sure everything is right here.

In John the 16th chapter, by the way, Jesus is concluding many of those thoughts that he had had, even going back to the upper room, about service, about truly loving all these things to his disciples, about what he had come to them, These things I’ve spoken to you so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation. This world isn’t here for you. This world isn’t going to give you what you’re wanting. You’re going to have tribulation in this world. But I’ve spoken these things so that you can have peace and take courage. For I have overcome the world.

Then, brethren, we’ve got to get our heads where they’re supposed to be. Do we wonder why so much of the Bible is filled with instruction about putting our focus and our attention, not down here? Remember how Jesus refers to it in Matthew the sixth chapter in the Sermon on the Mount? About if your eye is good, it is full of light. If your eye is bad, it’s full of darkness, and lo, how bad or how great that darkness is. What’s the whole point? He had just talked about there in Matthew chapter 6 that do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in or steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, where thieves do not break in or steal, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

And then he starts talking about if your eye is good, it’ll be full of light. What’s the whole point? If your treasure is up there, what’s coming in? Light, because I’m looking up there. But if my treasures are all down here, where’s my focus? Earthbound. I guess we’ve lamented Black Friday for a few years, maybe even a few decades now. I don’t know. We’ve lamented how tragic it is that a day of thanks is followed by a day of greed in so many cases. I don’t want to talk about Black Friday. I want to talk about Thanksgiving today. Did you turn on the Thanksgiving Day parade Thursday morning? We did. Thought Jerry would probably like to see a parade, and he stayed with it for about five minutes.

So we watched the parade. Did you notice how you had all this talk about thanks and really throughout the day, if you turn on the football games later on in the day and you’d have players interviewed and sideline reporters and commentators and everybody talking about what they’re thankful for on this day? What is absent in our culture on even a day of thanks? Who are you thankful to? What’s the good of saying, I am thankful today for my home, my family, my country, whatever it may be, if there’s not someone you are thankful to. If you remove God out of the equation, you’re just saying words. You’re not actually thankful because you have to have someone you’re thankful to. If someone were to say, oh, I don’t know, uh, bring me a nice piece of cake tonight.

That would be probably graciously received. Um if I were to go around saying, I sure am thankful for this cake. Thankful to who? Thankful to Bob because he was looking at my cake and wanting a piece? No. I would be thankful to the one who made it. Now, we can extend the metaphor further. Well, what are you going to do about that? If you’re thankful for that, well, you might say, well, thank you. You might write a note, you might return a favor in some way. Gratitude and thankfulness has to have an object to it. And really, the tragedy of this week for our nation and our society and the world as a whole is that even on a day of thanksgiving, we are showing our mind and our focus isn’t upward at all.

It’s still right down here. If God’s not in the equation, then I’m just dwelling on all the stuff that I’ve got. I’m just dwelling on how great my life is. And it’s all about me again. Throughout the scriptures, we are warned about storing our treasures in the wrong place. We are warned, we can go back to the book of Ecclesiastes and Ecclesiastes 2 and verse 11, where we read about the ones who are laboring in this life and all the activities of our hands in which we’re exerting ourselves, and what is it? It is all vanity. That if we’re looking for meaning, if we’re looking for substance in this life, we’re not going to find it. Now, turn back to 1 John again.

So that our joy may be made complete. How did John find joy? How was that longing satisfied in his life? Well, it wasn’t because he was made to sit on either the right hand or the left hand of our Lord. It was that he had changed perspective. Now, rather than instead of focusing on what he was going to attain in this life, it was now focused on the spiritual pursuit of serving the Lord, of serving his people, of spreading the gospel, of revealing the word who had come to this earth and telling it to others so that others could be in fellowship with him and with his God, and now I’ve got it. Now I’m satisfied. Now I’m joyous. Now I have fulfillment. Now I have meaning.

Now I have purpose in life. All those things that we hear about over and over and over again, they were found in one place. We’ve got to get our focus where it’s supposed to be.

2. He Suffered, But He Attained Glory

Or be baptized with a baptism with which I am baptized? And they said to him, We are able. And Jesus said to them, the cup that I drink you shall drink, and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized. Those two figures, the cup and the baptism. Jesus is not speaking of their being baptized for the remission of sins. I don’t think he’s even speaking of their being baptized in the Holy Spirit in this case. He is talking about experience. And what had he just been talking about just a few verses earlier? I’m going into Jerusalem. I’m going to be betrayed. I’m going to be turned over to the authorities. I’m going to suffer. I’m going to die. That was the cup in which he’s referring to.

That was the baptism which he was about to undergo. And so here are James and John. We want these positions. We want this glory. Can you go through what I’m about to go through? Oh, yes, oh yes, we can. You will. Now again, we know that James dies. He is the first of the apostles to lose his life for the sake of the gospel there in Acts the 12th chapter. John, to our knowledge, was the last of the apostles to die. Does not mean that John did not suffer and did not suffer greatly for the cause of Christ. It is Peter and John who are arrested after the great and notable miracle that was worked in Acts the third chapter. And they are beaten, and they are released in Acts 4th.

They are arrested again in the fifth chapter. John certainly would have known about his dear brother who lost his life for God’s sake. And then, of course, John suffers throughout this life. As John Penn Revelation, he makes mention in Revelation chapter 1 and verse 9 that he was on the island of Patmos because of the gospel. And that’s exactly right. He was on the island of Patmos, a penal colony exactly for the gospel. He was there because of his work in the gospel and spreading the good news of God. He suffered.

We don’t know that for sure. He may never have been beheaded or crucified. He gave his life to God and to Christ, and he suffered for it. But in doing so, he attained glory.

We have lived in circumstances which have been relatively easy compared to the rest of the world. In fact, compared to most of history. We have lived in circumstances where perhaps we were ridiculed, maybe we were ridiculed often.

Sorry, those who follow Christ will suffer for Christ. Jesus said to his own disciples in John the 15th chapter, verses 18 and 19, that they should not be surprised that if the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. They’re going to hate you. John tells those who are listening to him in 1 John chapter 3 and in verse 13, do not be surprised that the world hates you. Don’t be surprised. And don’t be surprised if it grows worse and worse. Do not be surprised as we see society depart further and further away from God, not even willing to acknowledge that there is a God. As we depart further and further away from basic moral principles of God, do not be surprised, brethren, that if our time of relative ease is coming to an end, I’m not trying to be a prophet of doom, and I certainly hope that I’m wrong.

But do not be surprised when the stances that we must take, whether it be about homosexuality, or whether it be about anything that is called sinful, does not bring upon us persecution, ridicule, shame in the world. But be faithful to God. Serve God. And glory awaits. Going back to 1 John. Note what John writes in 1 John chapter 5. 1 John chapter 5 in the first four verses. Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Whoever loves the Father loves the child born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and observe his commandments. For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world.

3. He Learned the True Measure of Greatness

And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. John could say that he had overcome the world through Jesus. He suffered a lot, but he had overcome the world. We too, we are promised glory with the Father, glory with the Son to overcome the world. Do not be surprised that that comes with a lot of suffering here and now. Quickly, he learned the true measure of greatness. We certainly know what our Lord taught the apostles there in Mark the 10th chapter. After we read of how the ten were indignant with James and John, our Lord uses that as a teaching opportunity to show them about what greatness really is. Verse 42 of Mark chapter 10. You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them.

And their great men exercise authority over them. But as not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all.

Here is your path to greatness. You serve. Look at 1 John chapter 1 again. What is the emphasis? Or maybe I should say, who is the emphasis in John’s mind in 1 John chapter 1. Now we know he is doing this so that our joy may be made complete. But everything he’s done, proclaiming the one who he had seen and heard and looked at and touched, was so that others could have fellowship with God. It was so that others could be in fellowship with John. His great joy had come because he had begun to serve. He had made himself a servant of all of men to bring them the gospel. You know as well as I do. The greatest sense of accomplishment in life is not over things that we have done, it is over people who we have helped.

You know that to be true. And that is exactly what our Lord has called us to. To serve him by serving others. We’ll not take the time, but there’s a reason why in 1 John, John comes back to it over and over again about our attitudes to each other, about our love for each other, about how that love is to be seen not only in word, but in deed. And how when we have that love, if you go over to the fourth chapter, then we have this great assurance that God is with us, God abides in us because we love. Because when we do that, we are like God, we are acting like God, we are being like his son, we are being servants, and we can truly be considered great.

4. Impressed With What Christ Did for Him

But finally, all this would not have happened if John had not finally and ultimately been impressed with what Christ did for him and for all of mankind. Again, back in Mark the 10th chapter, what had Jesus just told his apostles was about to happen? He was going to die. He was about to serve all of man by giving his life as a ransom for their sins. Going to the gospel account that John leaves for us, we understand that John was there at the cross in John 19, verses 25 through 27, when our Lord looks at the disciple whom he loved, and his mother is there. He says to his mother, Behold your son, says to the disciple, Behold your mother, and he takes her into his own home.

We know that it was John, along with Peter, that when Mary went to the open tomb on that first day of the week in John chapter 20, and she goes back and reports it to the apostles that Peter and John may rush to the tomb and they see that it is empty. And they have some faith, but they still don’t know what has happened. And we know that John is there when all the apostles were in that locked room for fear of the Jews, and Jesus appeared to them, and he shows to them his hands. And he says, Here, look and look at my side, and they believe.

That’s when you never again read about the apostles striving for individual greatness. And who can be better than the other one? When they were finally impressed with what Jesus had come to do and who he is.

Then they could be the disciples that Jesus wanted them to be. Turn once again to 1 John. And notice why he says in the second chapter, and begin reading with me in verse 12. I’m writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven for his name’s sake. I’m writing to you, fathers, because you know him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides you, and you have overcome the evil one.

What’s that whole paragraph about? It is what God had done for them. John is reminding them of this. Here’s why I’m writing to you, because you’ve overcome through God, you’ve overcome through Christ. He’s forgiven you. Note what follows next. Verse 15. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Those two thoughts go hand in hand. He’s not changing topics here. He’s not just launching into something completely new. He’s saying, I’m writing to you because you know what God’s done for you. You know what Christ has done for you. You’ve experienced this, you’ve overcome the evil one. So do not love the world. Come out of it. Have no part in it.

Be impressed with what God has done for you. Remember that your sins are forgiven in Christ. Don’t live like the world. Third chapter in verses 1 through 3. See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God, and such we are. For this reason, the world does not know us because it did not know him. Beloved, and now we are children of God and has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him just as he is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on him purifies himself just as he is pure. Again, what is the motivation? What is the impetus that change of lives to being transformed people to purifying ourselves?

Conclusion

You are God’s children. Not just in name, but in reality. You are now God’s children. And he is returning. Our Lord is returning. And we can’t even imagine what that’ll be like. We know we’ll be like Him. Purify yourself. Our Lord deserves disciples. True disciples. And He’s called to each and every one of us to follow Him. To do so, we must maintain a focus on the spiritual, on God’s will, not this earth. We may suffer for it, but He promises everlasting glory. We must serve to be like Him. But we must always be impressed with what our God has done for us. Are you impressed with what our God has done for you, with what your Lord did for you as he gave his life on the cross for your sins?

And say thank you. Thank you to him. Let that thanks have an object. And show that gratitude by saying, I will follow you. And following him starts with repentance. Turning around, changing your life. No longer going the ways which we once did, but now following God, being baptized so that our sins may be forgiven and we can be one in him. Can we aid you in that? Then won’t you help us? Let us help you and aid you. Won’t you come as we stand and as we sing? Come on, Falling.