This week's Second Look article focuses on a short phrase from John 15:5: "[A]part from me you can do nothing." It is a claim that strikes a deathblow to human pride. It's meant to do precisely that.

"You can't do anything if you're separated from me," Jesus says. "You are capable of bearing exactly zero fruit on your own, just like a branch that's been severed from its vine. The source of life is not found within your own chest. You must drink from a well that does not belong to you and that you had no part in digging. Your only option for producing the kind of fruit that please the Father is for you to be connected to me, and save that connection, any attempt on your own is futile."

As C.S. Lewis observed, truly Jesus's claims do not allow us to conclude that he was merely some kind of great moral teacher. He was either crazy—what would you say to me if I claimed that no one could do anything unless he knew me?—or he was intentionally lying and therefore not good, or he was truly the Son of God.

If we conclude that Jesus's claim here was neither the blathering of the mentally deranged nor some insidious scheme meant to ensnare all who'd fall for it, then humanity has but two choices in response: run and hide or bow and worship. The reason that so many have bowed and worshiped before the eternal Word of God who became flesh and dwelt among us is that, while it costs us our pride, it affords us exactly all that the same Jesus has promised: life, light, hope, joy, peace, love, comfort, victory, resurrection, power, and fruitfulness, and all that's just for starters. In light of that, the death of my tired, binding, bitter old pride seems worth it. Kind of a no-brainer. Yes, it hurts to pierce him through. But such light, momentary affliction is quickly swallowed up by a weight of glory that is beyond all comparison.

Though I don't deny that Jesus's claim "[A]part from me you can do nothing" hurls our pride in the dust, isn't the promise of fruitfulness that rejoices the Father's heart more than any other imaginable compensation? What greater hope could we have as we look into 2021 than to know that while we must sacrifice our pride to be found in the vine, what we gain in that sacred union is exactly what these thirsty souls so long for, the very thing our pride could never obtain for us.

Praying that in 2021 you and I would experience joy in all our inability in light of the far superior ability of the true vine,

Eric

What does it look like to be connected to Jesus, the true vine? In this message, Pastor Phil makes the following three observations:

1. We become connected to Jesus by believing in him.
2. We remain connected to the vine by remaining connected to Jesus's body, the church.
3. We also remain connected to him by paying attention to our interior spiritual life, often times through spiritual practices and personal devotions.

Join us as we read scripture and sing songs based around the candles of advent. 

​The small words are often times the most important ones. Ever notice that little word so there at the beginning of verse 6? It's easy to fly right over it without giving it much thought. Yet there it is. And the way that little word works just might change your entire perspective of what it means to say that Jesus loves you. 

Jesus had just gotten word that Lazarus was sick, and verse 5 tells us that Jesus loved Lazarus and his family. In light of that, how would you expect verse 6 to read? I would have expected something like, "So without a moment's hesitation, Jesus told his disciples to pack up because they were going to Bethany right away so Jesus could heal Lazarus from his sickness."

That's not what verse 6 says. The apostle John wrote, "Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So [i.e., therefore, because of that fact!] he stayed where he was two more days." Shockingly, precisely because Jesus loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, he chose to linger where he was instead of hurrying off to Bethany in time to heal Lazarus before his sickness took him.

The text could not be clearer that Jesus truly loved this man and his family. Mary and Martha's message to Jesus was, "Lord, the one you love is sick" (John 11:3). John tells us explicitly that Jesus loved Lazarus and his sisters in verse 5: "Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus." When Jesus stood before his tomb, he was overcome with emotion and wept (verse 35). The conclusion of those who saw his outpouring of emotion was "See how he loved him!" (verse 36). There's simply no question as to Jesus's deep and genuine affection for this man and his family.

What are we going to do, then, with that pesky little word so? 

We might need to redefine what it means to say that Jesus loves you. The world's definition of love goes something like this: "If you love me, you will make much of me. You will remove all struggle and sickness and suffering from my life. And you'll do everything within your power at a moment's notice for the sake of my immediate good."

Based on the context of John 11, we might venture to guess that Jesus's definition of love is more like, "Because I, Jesus, love you, I will do whatever it takes so that you will see my greatness and therefore be able to make much of me. I might let struggles and sicknesses and suffering persist if that's what's needed for you to trust me and experience my glorious grace. And because I'm not content with your immediate, short-run good only, there are times in which I won't do what I am very capable and even willing to do if it means that I can thereby accomplish your ultimate, eternal good."

What could be more loving than for Jesus to reveal to these dear friends, to his disciples, to the other witnesses present, and to us today that he is the resurrection and the life (verse 25)? It's not merely that Jesus holds out to mankind the offer of life after death. He himself is that life. Jesus is to the world what a tree trunk is to one of its branches (see John 15:5). The branch's only hope of life is to maintain its intimate connection to the tree trunk. Separation from the trunk is the branch's sure death. Jesus would be unloving not to reveal that truth to us. Even if it comes at the cost of a man's life. Even if it comes at the cost of my life. Even if it comes at the cost of his own life.

That's why Jesus could say to his disciples before they arrived in Bethany, "Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there [to heal him before he died], so that you may believe" (John 11:15).

Only when we see that Jesus is humanity's only hope will we believe in him—receive him, embrace him, trust his offer of himself as our life. Therefore, when Jesus says that he's glad he didn't heal Lazarus "so that you may believe," it is a very loving thing for him to say! He didn't do a lesser loving thing—heal Lazarus from his sickness—in order to accomplish a much more loving thing: reveal his glory as humanity's only hope for eternal life so that Mary, Martha, his disciples, and we "may believe" in him and cling to him and thereby glorify him.

This is why Jesus was born: that he might be shown to the world as the resurrection and the life and that we—separated from him, dry, and dead—might find new life in relationship with him. There could be no greater act of love than to make that truth known so that others might believe it and receive something better than healing from sickness: healing from sin and death in the presence of God for all eternity, and Jesus himself is that better healing.

May our definition of love this Christmas look a little bit more like Jesus's definition of love.

Praying for this miracle right along with you,

Eric

What does John want us to learn about Jesus?

John wants us to know that Jesus was fully human but was also vastly different from anyone else that ever lived. He experienced the warmth of human relationships. Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. He also experiences the grief of loss through death. John says that Jesus was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. But Jesus was also so much more. He had a supernatural awareness (verse 4). He knew what would happen beforehand. He also made a supernatural claim (verse 25). He claimed to be the embodiment of eternal life. Lastly, he had supernatural power (verse 43). No other human has authority over death like Jesus has.

What does Jesus want us to learn about the relationship between living, dying, and believing?

Jesus saw this incident as a teaching opportunity for his disciples. He was glad he wasn't there earlier to heal Lazarus so that his disciples might believe. Notice the connection between life, death, and believing. When you believe in Jesus, death becomes a portal to eternal life. 

The Jesus whose birth we celebrate at Christmas is the bread of life, the light of the world, the gate of the sheep, and the resurrection and the life. 

Dear ICB family,
​
On December 6 we examined Jesus's claim to be the light of the world (John 8:12), and this past Sunday we looked at his claim to be the gate of the sheep (John 10:7). We've heard those phrases so often that we might not immediately perceive how unbelievable such claims actually sound.

Oh really, Jesus? You're as essential to the existence of life on this planet as the sun in our sky? You're the reality shining down on us that allows us to properly behold every other reality? You warm us from above, even when we're so busy that we rush through the day without once lifting our head to thank the sun? Your mere presence is capable of offering hope to a man who's been lost for days in a pitch black cavern deep beneath the surface of the earth? You split darkness like lightning splits the night's sky, and darkness flees from you? You're as pure and untainted and undefiled as light itself? 

And, do you seriously mean for us to believe that if we want to enter into the Father's presence, you are the one and only gate through which a person must pass? There are no other gates that open up to freedom? All other gates lead to slavery? There is no sure provision promised for those who walk through other doors? The only hope for abundant life in this present age or in the age to come is only made to those who enter that life through you?

And Jesus would reply, of course, "Yes. And so much more." And we'd all probably fall backwards at his words.

These are the audacious claims that Jesus made, and these are the audacious claims that every last human being must come to terms with. 

If his claims are true, then the question arises, Why aren't people flocking to him by the millions? Who chooses to remain in a dark corner of a room when even the tiniest candle is lit in the room's center? How could people know that life and light and hope and provision reside on the other side of the brilliant gate standing right in front of them yet still refuse to walk through it?

Earlier in his gospel, John gives us the answer: "[T]he light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil" (John 3:19, ESV).

The light has come, and the gate has made himself known. Yet the reason we refuse to come to him is that we love the darkness rather than the light. Merely seeing the light with our eyes is not enough if we don't also love the light. As Pastor Marcus said, merely knowing that the door exists won't necessarily cause a person to walk through it. To come to the light we must love the light. To walk through the door, we must be drawn to trust the door's offer of what awaits us on the other side. If we don't come to him, it's mainly because we love the cover that the darkness on this side of the door affords us to continue concealing our secret sins, and to our condemnation, we love that darkness more than we love the one who will expose us by his radiant light for the sinners that we are and demand that we repent and find new life and hope in him. That's true for us, and it's true for the lost around us.

So right along with eyes that are able to see Jesus as the great, bright light of the world and as the only gate for the sheep, may we also have hearts that love him more than we love the cover of darkness and all that we hide in its shadow. Then we'll not only see him. We'll run to him. And praise our Father he hasn't turned away a single soul who has ever come running.

Praying for renewed sight and for renewed love of what that sight allows you to see,

Eric

What is behind the statement that Jesus is the Light of the World?

1. Jesus shows that the world is in darkness. Everything that is apart from Jesus, no matter how good it might seem, stands in darkness (Matthew 4:16). 
2. Jesus gives us direction, just like a lighthouse on the shore. 
3. Jesus gives life. Just like we need light for physical life, so, too, do we need the Light of the World for our spiritual life (see 1 Peter 1:3-5). Notice the parallel between light and life in John 1:4.
4. Jesus shares his light so that we, his followers, can illuminate the world. Jesus's light now shines through us, and we are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14-16). 

If somebody asks you, "Who is this Jesus whom you celebrate at Christmas?" We can answer, "He is the bread of life and the light of the world." 

Discussion Questions

1. What stood out from the message to you?
2. What are all the ways in which Jesus is like physical light?
3. In your life personally, in what ways has Jesus been like light for you?