Sermon series for the New Year 

As Christmas approaches, this seems like an apt time to quote some famous words, written just over 30 years ago by the great American satirist P.J. O’Rourke:

God is an elderly, or at any rate, middle-aged, male. A stern fellow, patriarchal rather than paternal, and a great believer in rules and regulations. He holds man strictly accountable for their actions. He has little apparent concern for the material wellbeing of others. He is politically connected, socially powerful, and holds the mortgage on everything in the world. God is difficult. God is unsentimental. It is very hard to get into God's heavenly country club. Santa Claus is another matter. He's cute. He's non-threatening. He's always cheerful. He loves animals. He knows who's been naughty and nice, but never does anything about it. He gives every one everything they want, without a thought of quid pro quo. He works hard for charity and is famously generous to the poor. Santa Claus is preferable to God in every way but one: there is no such thing as Santa Claus!

While most of us will smile at O’Rourke’s observations, and especially their punchline, it can’t be denied that they give expression to a view of God held by many people. And they also raise some of the most fundamental questions any of us can ever answer. Do we believe in God and what do we think he’s like? Is he, at heart, a warrior or a healer, a judge or a lover? Is his default position to exclude or to welcome, to tear down or to restore?

Among the six lines of the vision statement agreed by SBC in November 2021 is our aspiration to be ‘a God-centred church: worshipping him, seeking to hear from him and learning to be more like Jesus through Word and Spirit’.

I am sure that all of us agree that is a worthy and crucial statement of intent: the fact that we make it the first line of the vision speaks of our desire to make God front and centre in all that we do. But this vision statement also confronts us with the same question implied by the satire of P.J. O’Rourke. Who is God to us? What do we understand his character to be and how are we called to live in light of that?

These are the questions we’ll be considering in the early months of 2023, in a new series of sermons on the Gospel of John. There is no probably no better text for a people who want to grapple with the nature of God. John himself tells us so in the mysterious but stirring prologue to his Gospel, which reaches its climax with these memorable lines:

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

What a wonderful vision! What good news! That if we want to know what God is truly like, we can discover this as we look fully upon Jesus.   

As we reflect on Jesus, who reveals to us God’s grace and truth, we will consider his interactions with a number of marginalised figures, including Nicodemus, who comes to Jesus at night, the Woman at the Well and the Woman caught in adultery. John contains challenging lessons about the radical and generous nature of Jesus’ welcome. Other examples of his generosity and the boundary breaking nature of the kingdom are found in events like the Wedding at Cana and the Feeding of the 5,000.

As well as considering what Jesus did, we’ll also reflect on what he said, specifically a number of the famous ‘I am’ statements found within this Gospel. What did Jesus mean when he described himself as light, as bread, as a shepherd, as resurrection? As we meditate on these deeply significant descriptions, we will discover more about God’s heart for the world, what he wants to give to those who follow him, and how this contrasts with the plight of those who do not yet know Jesus. John’s Gospel is one of contrasts, ultimately between the ‘world above’ and the ‘world below’ (3:31; 6:33; 8:23) explained for us in a series of memorable images: light versus darkness, water versus thirst, bread versus hunger. In each case, there is much at stake with regard to whether or not to accept that which is on offer from Jesus.

As one commentator notes:

‘John’s Gospel recognises that human beings are complex and subject to conflicting impulses. Some passages picture thirsty people, who have a need for the life that comes from God and who search for something to meet this need. Hunger reflects a similar idea, and the Gospel shows how the hunger to overcome one’s separation from the source of life can produce a misguided impulse to fix attention on material gifts rather than on the divine giver. Darkness depicts people embracing what alienates them from God, turning the lack of knowledge into a new certainty and unbelief into a new faith.’ ¹

The issue highlighted by Koester is one of the most important that I hope we will explore as we journey through this Gospel. As we think more about what God is like, can we also recognise that only he can fill our deepest longings and provide the ‘life to the full’ that Jesus speaks of in John 10:10? And as we come to a fresh awareness of how great his love is, how will that make us think differently about our mission as a church and how we relate to others? I hope you share with me a sense of excitement and anticipation about what God will teach us as we journey with Jesus through the early months of the New Year.

Trevor

¹ Craig Koester, The Word of Life: A Theology of John’s Gospel, Eerdmans 2008, p65