Sermon Series: Gospel of John Part I

Sermon Title: Reason For Life

Teacher: Tim Keller

Date: 25A, September 23, 1990

Verse: John 1:1-5

Brief notes taken by Shane Eckert

My take-away from this sermon:

Jesus is my reason for getting up in the morning, therefore he is my Logos.

“Man stole the fruit, but I must climbed the tree, a tree of life for all but me”

Jonah cried out from the deep, and God said yes. Jesus cried out from the depths, let this cup pass from me, but God said no.

The central question is “Who is Jesus Christ.”

Ask learned men who they would like to know about, 4 will always be on their list. Who is Buddha, Jesus Christ, Muhammad, and Karl Marx. Of the 4 only one claims to be God. To know who Jesus is we go to the book of John.

Of all the 4, 3 of them did not rise to power, held an office, or even wrote anything.

John was Jesus’ best friend. John was very close to Jesus, even laid upon his chest. But he was still convinced that this was God.

Jesus is the Logos.

1. Jesus Christ is the rational for life.
2. Jesus is the authority of life.

I. Jesus Christ is the rational for life.

Jesus is the devine Logos. Logos was a greatly debated issue, it was a loaded and philosophical issue. John knew this. Logos not logic, but the meaning is “The reason for life”.

Coffee maker analogy. The owner did not understand the Logos of the coffee maker, so he tried to use it for other things but never for coffee. If he understood the Logos or function or principal of existence of the coffee maker. Same analogy with cooking steak over space heater.

The Greeks were trying to understand the Logos of life. It was a big philosophical debate and searched for by many. To understand the Logos of life would give us purpose. By the time Jesus came along the philosophical schools began to think that there was no Logos. In other words “I guess there are no answers”. That’s not something you can just say with a shrug, you cannot know what you are saying to say there are no answers.

Why get up in the morning? That means there is no reason for anything. Why be nice to people. If there is no answers, then just live for pleasure. (Epicurious) If there is no answers, one school of thought, the stoics, said to be moral, generous and good to make life tolerable. Live as if there are answers. Both groups dealt with the fact that there is no answers by ignoring it. In other words, do not talk about religion because it reminds me that there are no answers.

Movies: Crimes and Misdemenors. There are no answers, but live each day for work and family and live in bliss. That is much like the behavior of the ostrich.

C.S.Lweis quote. Osterich approach to the questions.

If you say that there is no Logos, you have an impossible balancing act. Trying to live as if there are no answers is impossible.

John says that there is a Logos, but it’s not an abstract, it is a person! It is a person to be known. It’s not a bunch of philosophical issues, it’s a dynamic power that covers all depths of life.

If you love Him and serve Him, he will fill up your senses and permeate your life. This person can be your alpha and omega, your Logos.

Is living for his pleasure and honor your greatest pleasure and honor? If not then you have to develop your own Logos. What drives you? What gets you up in the morning? Why do you live? Where is your hope?

Story of man who lost his girlfriend to death. He suddenly realized the shallowness and emptiness of his life, even though he was a model of perfection in his career and rose to the top. His Logos failed him.

II. Jesus is the authority of life.

Jesus is not just the goal, He is the guide. Your not just after Him as Logos, He is the way, He is the truth. Jesus reveals to us REAL truth, how we should live and who we are. In the transfiguration God came and said of Jesus, here is my beloved son, HEAR YE HIM. Christianity is not mystical, out authority for living.

Two approaches to living.

1. Scientistic approach. No truth, no morality, man is just a product of atoms colliding. Facts, but no truth.
2. Newagistic approach. This says there is truth, but the truth is that we are our own Gods.We make our own Logos. There is no one to obey but me. There is no truth outside of me that I must obey or submit to. I am my own master.

Leonard Berstein - Beethoven’s fifth quote. His music shows that there is a universal truth, but Leonard would deny that it is Christ, but that there is something out there that creates order and real truth.

Jesus Christ is the author, through Him all things were made. He can speak with authority because He is the author. 

Opinion is of equal authority when discussing the meaning of a book in a literary class, unless the author comes in and tells exactly what the book meant. No arguing with him, he is the author.

Your author tells you how to use sex, you have not come up with Sex and know the best way to use it. Submit to the Logos. The author of life and truth. 

Absolute truth that we must submit to. Only the author can tell us what our bodies, our souls, our life is for. We need God who reveals real truth to us because there is one!!

Do you have other things in your life that are your Logos? Make Him the reason you get out of bed, give Him your life, make Him your king and you will find out what you are here for!

Do not believe? What can you do? Jesus is the prophet that spoke the truth and is the truth. He can speak his truth into the deadest and numbest of hearts. There is no excuse, come to Jesus and receive Him. He must be our thurth and he will hear your desire and He will come to you if you ask.

Close In Prayer

YES! Tim has a blog! Check it out here.

Tim Keller on the Anniversary of 9/11 - Global Cities Initiative

http://vimeo.com/6686964

Sermon Series: Meals with Jesus

Sermon Title: Jesus’ Meal with Peter (1 of 4)

Teacher: Tim Keller

Date: 423A, December 4, 2005

Verse: John 4:21-32

Brief notes taken by Shane Eckert

My take-away from this sermon:

It’s not despite my failures and my shortcomings that I may be a better tool in God’s hands, it is because of them. This is more than just poetic; it is fact and this sermon shows how Jesus tells Peter, someone I relate to, how to “plunge his failures into God’s grace” so that he may be used of God.

Open with Quote from Ann Rice

N.T Wrights book points out the wisdom of Jesus does not fit myth prose. For example the notation of 153 fish. 153 is not symbolic, nor is it for realism, that was not the style then in fact that style of narrative had not yet been invented. This is therefore a fact, an eyewitness account. So it happened. But what does it mean. (Peter threw jacket on before jumping into the water – why note that since people usually take clothes off to jump in the water – because it was an actual event) What is he trying to teach?

God and sinners reconciled – this is made concrete in this verse.

I. Reconciled to each other

Verse 4 – 7 disciples did not recognize that it was Jesus on the shore. (Luke Ch. 5 same thing had happened) John realizes that it is the lord. We note that in the boat that these people were totally different.

a. Credulous Nathaniel – points out under the fig tree. Believes to quickly.

b. Thomas is opposite, does not believe. Has to see the hands of Jesus. Cynical. (Interesting observation, would not a resurrected man have his scars and wounds healed, interesting that Thomas wanted to see the scars on Jesus’ hands)

These two are in the boat together! Talk about being with people you do not get along with or have something in common with.

c. John is rational. He figures it is Jesus – he thinks before he acts.

d. Peter is the first one to do something about it. Peter is less thinking and more doing and acting on impulse.

God will bring people together, who would otherwise despise each other. He brings them together in unity. Jesus does this. (Also see Eph 2)

Cites the Apostle’s Creed. Starts of with “I believe”. Faith required. The apostles creed says, you have to believe in the church. It takes a lot of faith to be in a church, you have to believe and act as if it is true that God will make the supernatural community work.

II. Reconciled to ourselves

Jesus reconciles us to ourselves. James chapter 4 talks about fighting’s outside coming form fighting’s inside. All of us without God’s help are disillusioned. We spend our lives pretending we are something else. We cannot be transparent to others until we are transparent with ourselves.

Peter was a part of the inner circle. Peter was also out of touch with reality. He was caught up in the way he looked to the outside world. He swore that if all fell away that he would stay close to Jesus. None of the others said anything like that. They were more in touch with who they were. Basically saying that the other 11 do not love Jesus as much as he did. But as we all know, Peter publicly denies Christ.

Jesus brings Peter back to the fire. Verse 15 - Jesus asked Peter if he truly loved Him. Jesus asks him three times. Recounts three-fold form, content, setting. Jesus requires the end of fantasy, he wants reality. He is twisting the knife but it is the knife of a surgeon. Jesus wants Peter to see the love and affirmation that He can give to Peter.

“Plunge your failure into my grace and it will make you greater than you were before”

Dick Lucas – retired British minister. Teaching on John 21. Was supposed to do a Christian life conference. Pastor invited the students to get counseling from Dick. He was a life long bachelor and old Englishman. Was not the fondest of kids. Listening over and over again to teen girls talk about boys that did not even know they exist. He was getting tired of hearing it and turned to the bible for strength. He read “Feed my lambs” from John 21. You get nothing out of feeding a lamb, unlike say a cat who at least snuggles you. There is no benefit from feeding sheep, you have to have that kind of heart! Patient and loving, moving into relationships for your own needs and desires, but doing so out of tender kindness. Jesus says we need to understand that we are moral messes that need to plunge into Jesus. Reconciled to the reality of who we are.

III. Reconciled to God

So how do we get plunged into grace? (Verily, Verily – AMEN, AMEN)

You cannot hug someone with out stretching your arms out, but that means vulnerability. Same with relationships, you have to risk getting hurt by being vulnerable.

Double entendre

Stretching out arms = vulnerability and embrace

Greek says Stretching out arms = crucifixion.

Just as I had my arms open for you, to that degree you will be able go into the world with arms open. In fact Peter would be so good at it, he would die as a shepherd for his sheep.

Peter is now a personality restructured by grace.

“If you are a sinner saved by grace, now failure is not means of psychological death but a means of spiritual and personal growth.”

Fly to Jesus the way Peter flew to Jesus. For example peter did not wait for the boat to stop, he just jumped out. And keep your eyes on Jesus. Jesus tells Peter he will die for him, and peter says “what about him?” and points to anther disciple. Jesus basically says, stop worrying about others and comparing yourself. I have a plan for them, keep your eyes on me not on them. Stop looking at them, look at me.

As Aslan tells the young King in Narina, I only tell you your story not the other person’s story.

End in prayer.

Email for word doc.

I am a big fan of Tim Keller and his sermons. I have been listening to Tim for about 7 years now! It all started with a sermon on money, a sermon that changed my life and created a desire to hear more of his teachings. Tim is an excellent speaker and teacher who has had a profound impact on my life. During my the last several years I have had commutes in the Bay Area that last hours each way, I would listen to Tim all the time, sometimes listening to a set of sermons 5-10 times. That is how rich Tim Keller's teachings are. I really wish that God had called me to the ministry, but those doors do not seem to open at this time. I decided to go back through the 100's of sermons I own from Tim Keller and to take notes on each. I will then post those notes here for those that might be interested. Happy reading!