John 20:30-31 (Covenant Renewal Commission)

The Purpose of Journeys and the Purpose of John's Gospel

Different journeys Come with different kinds of purposes. And when we understand the purpose for the journey, then we'll understand much about what God has for us. Now there's sometimes where we go on journeys where The purpose is pretty clear.

We know why we're going we know what we would like to see accomplished and there's not very many surprises. But then there's other times where we go on a particular journey or do a particular thing and then the Purpose doesn't come until later or we start with a purpose that we think is the right purpose and then something happens where more Meaning or a richer purpose is revealed to us later that ends up changing the way that we think about a particular situation.

Now a great example of this would be Frodo Baggins. Frodo leaves Bag End after he finds his uncle's ring and He realizes that he needs to go to Rivendell. His purpose is to go to the council maybe you don't know anything about what I'm talking about, but he finds this really powerful ring and he has to go and Hand it off to the big people and they're gonna deal with it.

And that was his purpose until he got to Rivendell and Until a new purpose was revealed to him by Providence that he would be the ring bearer that he would take it Not to the big people, but he would deliver it to Mount Doom and there He would be the one to deliver it over to the fires kind of.

Now.

If you know the story, I'm not telling you the spoiler. Now he didn't see his purpose at first. He thought his purpose was minuscule and then it became maximal. His purpose changed and because of that The whole story changed and he got to see the hand of God on his story.

Now this is sort of like the gospel of John where John is the only gospel that doesn't reveal his purpose until the end. The synoptics actually are quite clear. Matthew is about the kingship of Christ and starts with a genealogy that leads to him being King.

Mark is about the gospel has come immediately and he says that immediately. But yet Luke or not Luke John puts his purpose all the way at the very end. Where you have to wade through 20 complete chapters to get there before you see what it is.

That John is wanting us to see the purpose is at the end of the book. Now there's a reason for that. John is not just hiding the ball and John is not just trying to tell a different kind of story. Although there there is some of that.

But there's a covenant reason for this. There's a covenant renewal reason why John would put the purpose statement all the way at the end of the book and for us to understand.

That.

We do need to do a little bit of work. The whole I think purpose statement of John will open up rather quickly for us once we've done that work. But we have to do a little work before we get there and we have to talk about covenants.

Covenant Renewal and the Structure of Worship

Why does John put the purpose at the end of the book what has to do with covenants? You're like how well. Let's draw that bridge. Let's make that connection. What is a covenant. A covenant is a relationship that is bound in blood sovereignly administrated between God and his people and in covenants God does five things and We do five things so that that covenant is maintained.

God establishes a covenant with five specific actions and we do five specific actions to maintain that covenant. What are those actions? Well number one God defines the rules. We don't. When we come in a relationship with God, we don't dictate to God the stipulations for the relationship.

That's what God does. Number two, he outlines the blessings. What will life look like if you obey his rules? Number three, he defines and enumerates the curses. What will your life look like if you don't obey the stipulations?

The fourth thing that God does is he tells you about the signs of the covenant. He gives you Visible physical tangible things to show you that he loves you. For instance, Noah the covenant with Noah was the rainbow Abraham covenant.

Abraham was circumcision in Christ. The sign of the covenant with us is baptism in the Lord's Supper. These are signs that God gives to let you know that you're in you're a part of the covenant people.

They're his gifts to you not your gift to him that's a whole sermon in and of itself and Then finally the fifth thing that God does is after he has Initiated this relationship. He throws a party. He gives a feast every time.

There's a covenant. God gives a meal. To consecrate the relationship. That's the five things that God does. What are the five things that we do? Besides break covenant all the time. Well in order to maintain covenant with God we have to do five things.

When God calls us we come into worship, so we're called. Every week we do a call to worship for this reason. What else do we do? Well, we confess our sins because we're covenant breakers if we're gonna be in relationship with God.

You're not gonna do so by perfection. So you must have a mechanism by which you can be forgiven. That's repentance confess your sins. And then we're consecrated By God that means we're built back up by God after we've bared our soul after we've been stripped of our sins, we need to be reclothed in his grace and Then every covenant has an element where the people of God after they've been called into his presence.

After they've confessed their sins and been consecrated and communed with God and Feasted with God. There's an element where they're sent out and they're commissioned to do what God has called them to do.

Every covenant follows this formula. You think about Abraham? He was an ER called out of her. Confesses his sins before the father then he is consecrated by God. He's given the promises of God he then he communes with God and then he is commissioned to do God's work.

Every single one of them follows this pattern it shows up in Abraham's life. Adam and Noah's life Moses Israel Judah David Solomon's life. God does five things to initiate a covenant with us a relationship with us and we do five things in order to Reciprocate and be renewed in that relationship.

That's what we call covenant renewal. Now every week we do covenant renewal every single week at this church, and there's a reason. Because we're mimicking the pattern of Scripture in the actual way that we do our worship service.

We don't think that worship services are just you know, willy-nilly we get to decide whatever we want. Couple songs. Skinny jean-clad guy give a sermon. Couple songs go home. We don't think that we think that though that we worship according to what Scripture has regulated that we must do worship in the way that God has prescribed a relationship with God is not like your relationship with your child where they bring you a very Very cute stick figure family or a or an elephant that looks like an amoeba.

And and you say oh, that is incredible. Let me put that on the fridge. That's not the way that we worship God. Nay dab in a by who found that out. They brought strange fire into the presence of God. Unregulated fire undescribed, but I don't know what it was.

But there was something about the fire that they brought that God had not commanded and they were toasted. You think about Uzzah. Uzzah was the worship leader the one who swayed his hips and raised his hands and all of that and he was Struck down dead because why.

Because he reached up and touched the ark of God and that was not permitted. Annihilation. Sapphira lied in the presence of the Holy Spirit died. God cares about worship. And he cares that we worship him according to his standards.

So every single week our liturgy. Liturgy just means the order of our worship. We go through a call. We realize that we're like Abraham and we've been living in her and we need to be called into God's presence.

It is a grace that God has called us. We don't come bumbling in and God's like, oh there you are. He calls we respond and then when we come and we come into the presence of this Holy God, we realize that we're sinful.

He is holy and we are not. Therefore we must confess our sins and we must be reclothed through the creeds and through the catechisms and through the Psalms that we sing and through the preaching and through the words that we read in Scripture every element of that middle section of Scripture is about reclothing us and reshaping us back into the image.

That our sin mangles and corrupts and at the climax of the Christian service. This is something that I've been convinced of since shepherds was born. At the climax of a Christian service is not a sermon.

There are days when I will have prepared my best but the sermon will be an absolute stinker. There are days when I will do my best and I'll say something really stupid and the Lord will use it. But there is never a day that you come to the Lord's service where Christ has served you anything other than perfectly.

I Am NOT perfect. I do the best that I can to deliver God's Word to you and the Lord blesses it. But when you come to the table, you're served by Christ. The climax of a Christian service is you Fellowshipping and dining with Jesus at his table.

That's what the whole service is building towards. Is that now after we've went through all of this. We've been we've came in we've been reclothed. We've been washed. We've been we've been we put on the wedding garments now.

We're at the table. Jesus himself serves us the meal and Jesus himself is the meal. What a glorious thing that we get to fellowship and dine with the risen Christ nothing else compares and then.

As.

We close our service every week. This is not the little cherry on top. This is not the bow tie where we say you are dismissed in order to give closure to everyone who's wondering when I'm gonna stop.

Speaking.

We give the Commission. We give the Commission that God now in light of everything that has happened is Commissioning you to take these truths throughout your week and To live these things to the glory of Christ.

Every part about this is covenant. This is what our worship service looks like. This what every covenant the Bible looks like and I discovered this week. This is how the Gospel of John is organized. Did you know that?

That the Gospel of John is organized in this five-fold covenantal pattern and maybe you're like, no, it's not really that exciting.

Yes, it is.

Think about it. I.

Got it. I gotta tell you the beginning of the book John 1 1 through 18 is called the prologue begins with in the beginning was God the Word was with God and the Word was God and it says in verse 14 That and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we saw his glory the glories of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth and then you see Jesus dining and Fellowshipping with people in Cana at this wedding and then you see him coming to Jerusalem to the temple.

Revealing himself. What we have is a worship service. We're being invited into the God the presence of God who has been ever has been revealed from the beginning. This is the eternal matchless God that we've been called into presence to and now he's dwelling with us.

That's what worship is is when humans are dwelling with God called into his presence. And then we go to the second section of the gospel in a covenant renewal service. You had your called into God's presence and then God calls you to repent.

What is the next section of the Gospel of John all about? Well, the first thing he does is he meets with Nicodemus and he calls Nicodemus to repent to repent of his lack of faith. He says truly truly I say to you unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

He's giving him an option here to repent and Nicodemus is confused. What's the next thing he does? He goes to the woman at the well in chapter 4 calls her to repent. He says to her go call your husband and tell him to come here and she says I don't have a husband.

Jesus said you are saying rightly that I have no husband for you've had five husbands and the one you have now is not Your husband. Jesus calls her to repent. She's the only one that does. Nicodemus doesn't the man in John chapter 5 we'll talk about the second.

He does it she repents and she takes that message to the community and the whole town repents. The third one is the sick man that we talked about who's sick for 38 years which is the exact same amount of time that the people of Israel wandered in the wilderness and He like they Failed to see who Christ was he called him to repent of his sins and Then that man is the one who turned in Jesus to the Pharisees and the Pharisees From that moment on and the gospel want to kill him.

So you've got God calling us into his presence the presence of Christ who is holy from the very beginning and you've got Jesus himself calling his people to repent. What's the third thing. Well in a covenant renewal worship service, we're called we confess and then we're consecrated so you would expect.

That Jesus is preaching a lot in the third section that he's teaching a lot that he's healing people that he's Consecrating them into his purposes and that's exactly what he is doing. He goes to Galilee and he feeds the five thousand in John chapter 6 with an exodus sermon.

He preaches and tells them that he is the bread of life that he is the one who came down from heaven like manna from Heaven and his preaching caused many to reject him. But for those who are his for those who belong to him.

Like Peter they said Lord to whom shall we go. You have the words of eternal life. Jesus is preaching. He's consecrating them into his vision. He goes to Jerusalem in John chapter 7 through 8 at the Feast of Tabernacles and he preaches.

He preaches that he's the one the true water who will bring who will quench the people's thirst. He says in John 7 37 if anyone comes after me and let him drink. Jesus is consecrating his listeners. He is sanctifying them.

He's setting them apart by the preached Word of God. Some reject him because. Anyone who does not it was not a Christian who is not elect when the preaching of the Word goes out will reject the Word. But for those who are elect for those who know Christ for those who the Spirit of God has come in.

They will rejoice like Peter. Where else can we go? You have the words of life in John chapter 9. Jesus Heals the blind man and he teaches the blind men where true sight comes from in John chapter 11.

He heals Lazarus and he tells them that he is the resurrection and the life that no one can come to God without being born again, and the only way to be born again is through him. He even calls Lazarus out of the tomb with his own words and the spoken power of Jesus words brings life into the dead man.

The man who they were afraid to open the tomb beforehand because he stunk. Do you remember? What happened there in John chapter 11? However many years ago it was when we were in John chapter 11. Not everyone responded well to the preaching of Jesus.

Some hated him. John 7 through 10 is One story after another of them hating him. Jesus said that they were sons of the devil. That's why that they could not love his words but for the elect. The consecration brought them closer to Christ and made them love Christ.

So there you have the first three points in this structure have happened one right after another. We're called into Jesus's presence. Confess our sins like Nicodemus and like the woman at the well and were consecrated by the preaching of his word.

What about communion. The very next thing that happens in John's gospel is Jesus in John 13 sets the table. He sets the table he gets down and he washes the disciples feet and Then he sets the table of the Passover in front of them.

And then what does he do? He teaches them at the table and then he becomes the meal. John chapter 19. The one who served them lamb is the Lamb of God. Who died for the sins of his people and was crucified on the cross?

John 13 through 19 is Jesus setting the table for not just his disciples, but for all of us to be in relationship with God and Then what? John chapter 20 were commissioned. Do you see all five of those?

Called into his presence.

Confessing of sin.

Consecration communion and now Commission. John chapter 20 is all about Commission. The first thing he says to Mary is go tell your brothers. That's a Commission and Then when he gets in and then when he gets into their presence without the without the method of opening doors He goes through walls He stands in their midst and he says receive the Holy Spirit and just as the father sent me I'm sending you.

He's commissioning them and then Thomas shows up and then he commissions Thomas. You've got this five-fold structure. That is not happenstance in the Gospel of John because this is the way God does relationships.

The Purpose Statement of John 20:30-31

In.

John. John would not give you the purpose statement at the beginning of the gospel because that's a part of your commission as a Christian which we're gonna see now. How is the purpose statement of John our commission?

Well, let's turn to the text and let's see it. We'll be in John 20 30 through 31 today is gonna be one of those sermons where the introduction might be longer than the sermon so don't be afraid we're.

We're moving along steadily. John 20 30 through 31 therefore Many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples Which are not written in this book, but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ The Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Let us pray. Lord we thank you that you enter into Relationships with us in specific ways and you call us to participate in those relationships in specific ways. Lord, thank you that every single week at this church You have called us into your presence.

Graciously, we have not deserved to be here and yet by grace you have called us and we have responded. Lord let us love the call. Let us not easily miss the call. But Lord, let us come joyfully into your presence and Lord.

We thank you that After we are here that you've given us the grace of confession. Lord. Let us never look at confession of sins as a burden or as a bother or as a as a hardship. It is a grace. Let us look at the confession of our sins as the Discarding of toxins or cancers or poisons.

What a grace that you have allowed us every week through your law to confess our sins. Lord we thank you that you build us back up through your word and through singing and through prayer and through all of the Different means of grace that you offer to us as your church.

And Lord, we thank you that after the word has been declared through song and through preaching and through reading Through responses After the word has gone forth and has built us up. That we come to your table forgiven Purified and ready to fellowship with you and your presence.

For this great climactic moment where we feast with you and upon you and Then Lord, thank you that after the meal You've loved us so much to feed us before you've sent us out. You send us out to the nations to be the hands and feet of Christ to bring this ugly world Into conformity to your vision and God.

Thank you that you've not just done that once for us. You do it every week for us because we are forgetful the moment we leave with all the joy and the passion as Disciples who are ready to go conquer the world for Christ by Saturday.

After being beat down with life another week. We are ready to stumble back in here again and be reminded all over again of the good things that you have done. Lord thank you for your weekly grace of bringing us into your presence as a church.

Lord we ask these things in Jesus name. Amen so the Just as the worship service is building to a commission The Gospel of John has been building to a commission to commission God's people to God's work in the world.

And that's where John chapter 20 has been. So the purpose statement for John chapter 20 happens here. Because you can't have the purpose statement come to you before You've been called or before you've been consecrated or before you've gotten rid of your so this is why it's here.

And I'll read it to you Once again. These things have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that by believing in him.

You may have life in his name. I.

Love the first part of that in chapter 20 verse 30 where it says there's many other signs that Jesus performed. But they're not written here. I think the first part that I'd like to discuss today with our Commission is that we've been given a Sufficient word.

We've not been commissioned in confusion. Jesus did not call us to be his disciples and have us guess what we are to do. He's given us a sufficient word a complete word a word that has no mistakes and no errors and no gaps and no Things that were meant to be in there that weren't.

John tells us there's many things that I could have put in my gospel to you but they weren't there. And they weren't there for a reason because the things that were there were written so that you may believe in Christ and That you may have life in his name.

That means that everything that was written in John's gospel is there for us and it is a sufficient Word if it's not in there God did not intend for it to be there.

There's nothing superfluous in the word. We have exactly what we need and with that.

Faith, Allegiance, and a Living Word

We've been commissioned not just with a sufficient word, but that sufficient word helps us have a living faith. I Remember I heard a pastor one time say That a wordless Christian Will be a dead Christian.

And I remember thinking to myself how important it is to be a Christian who's in the word. Who's reading the word. Who's studying the word. Who's memorizing the word? This is the words of life that Christ has given us that will help us in everything that we do a sufficient word.

Brothers and sisters if I could encourage you in anything Be a Christian who's in the word. Read it sing it pray over it teach it to your children men. If there is anything that I can encourage you if you're already reading the word to do.

And.

And if you're not doing it, please begin doing it. You'll see what God is doing through that. Teach your wives the word. Take on spiritual leadership in your home. Teach your children the word. This is what Christ has given our family so that we will be faithful godly families.

Do not neglect the treasure that is the word John says. These things have been written so that you may believe and that you may have life in his name. Don't neglect the word brothers. Don't neglect the word sisters.

It is life for you. Everything in John's gospel. The prologue John the Baptist the calling of the disciples the wedding miracle the feeding of the 25 ,000 Jesus walking on water the attendance at the festival.

Every aspect from every chapter in John's gospel and by extension the entire Bible is for you and for your good. And for your life.

Why.

So that as you're a person who submits to the word you'll also be a person who grows in faith. That's what John is arguing. What kind of faith? What's not just head knowledge? The word for faith here is pistou, oh Can I pistachio but pistou?

Oh. The word for faith here is not cognitive. Only it's not believe in him mentally. It's not be able to tell me all of the theological terms and to be able to spit them out with great acuity. The faith That Jesus is talking about here is allegiance loyalty.

It's loyal to Jesus in your mind and your heart and your will and your body. It's having no other loyalty structures. It's that it's the kind of faith that I believe what Jesus has done. Therefore. He's Lord of everything.

He's Lord of my life. He's Lord of my marriage. He's Lord of my children. He's Lord of my job. He's Lord of my the way that I drive. He's Lord of the ways that I joke. Of the movies that I watch of the websites I go to.

He's Lord of Everything faith in Christ is not I believe that Jesus rose from the dead. The demons in hell believe that and They have the good sense to shudder about it. Faith in Christ is loyalty to Christ in every aspect of life.

It is a faith that is characterized by recalibrated allegiances. It is a faith that is Centralized all of your affections on to Christ so that everything you now love is now loved through the lens of Christ.

It's not like that. We have a list of competing affections. I love Jesus and I love lamp. Or I love Jesus and I love ice cream. It's a reference there. It's everything that I love. I now love as a Christian.

So that I love my wife like Jesus loves my wife or at least I'm trying to grow into that I love my children not as an end unto themselves. I Don't love them because of who they are and their unique peculiarities.

I Love them because Christ loves them and I now try to love them as Christ loves them. I love my job. Let's use another job because mine can get a little sideways because I actually am preaching the word right now to you.

But every job is important and sacred. You go to work. You love your job. Why do you love your job? Because it's always fun. No. Do you love your job because you're making a boatload of money? No, do you love your job because you like your co-workers?

No, you love your job because Christ loves your job and Christ loves the way that you do your job. So that now the way that you do your job is an act of worship. Whatever you do whether you eat or whether you drink you do it to the glory of Christ.

That means that the way that we love everything is an expression of the way that we love Jesus. Everything if you're a graphic designer make incredible and beautiful graphics to the glory of God. If you're a shoemaker make the world's best shoe if you're a technology guy make technology that brings Christ into every sphere of life.

The way we love Christ our faith Is centered upon the word and it's expressed in a loyalty and allegiance to Jesus in all.

Things.

So that we bring all of Christ into all of life for all the world. We're to shine as lights in a darkened world and we're be and we are to be salt and very unsavory times. This is something I learned when I moved to New England.

Did you know the further you move north the less salt that people use there's a direct correlation.

It's true. I.

Salt my food because to the glory of God, I'm southern and it's savory. The Bible calls us. I'm on the right side of this. I'm on the right side of this. The Bible calls us to be salty. The Bible doesn't call us to withhold Salt from culture.

The Bible calls us to pack it into culture if you remember. They didn't have frigerators back then. So the way that you preserve meat is by packing it full of salt so Salty that you can't even eat it without washing it.

That's the way we're supposed to be with culture. The purpose that Christ is giving us is to be called into his presence confessing our sins consecrated so that we commune with him so that we can go to the world and In our going to the world.

We remember that his word is central. It's expressed in loyalty and allegiance to Jesus which is a going faith which takes his love and his righteousness to the nation's. Commission is not what we do.

Ultimately. I do want to make that clear. Commission is who we are. Commission is not a list of I need to go do this this week. I need to serve at this soup kitchen. I need to go tell my friend about Jesus for five minutes and 37 seconds on my lunch break and then it's not that Commission is now who we are in light of what Christ has done.

We are a going people. We're a telling people we are a worshiping people we are a a Visible people. We're not a private people. When we walk into restaurants, we don't walk into restaurants as people.

We walk in as new creations. When we fold our hands to pray. We bring the light of Christ visibly don't bow your head and be ashamed of Jesus and whisper a prayer. I Remember I learned this at Chipotle one time.

I prayed I'm half deaf. So I pray everything loud or I say everything loud and a person came over to me and said said you're a Christian. Will you pray for me? And I said absolutely we are we're supposed to be visible.

Living examples of who Christ is everywhere. We go. We're Christians. You don't check your Christianity at the door anywhere that you go because you're loyal to Christ. But that doesn't mean that there's no content to our faith.

There is content to our faith. We have to believe certain things in order to be a Christian if you don't believe those things. You're not a Christian. Jesus says it here that these things have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God.

So therefore if you don't believe that Jesus is the Christ. And if you don't believe that he's the Son of God, you will not have life in his name. You will not be a Christian. Those are two Essential truths you must believe if you're going to be a Christian that he's the Christ.

That he's the Son of God. What does that mean that he's the Christ? Well, that means that he's the anointed one. The Hebrew word is Mashiach. In The Old Testament there were three anointed roles that the Hebrews were called to play the anointed King the anointed priest.

In the anointed prophet the prophet was the one who brought the Word of God to the people. The priest is the one who brought the law of God to The people and the king is the one who brought the rule of God to the people.

There was no one in Hebrew history who occupied all three offices. Not one Moses held to. He was sort of a priest and sort of a king. But there was no one who held all three until you get to Jesus. Jesus is the only one who held all three offices.

We've already done this in a sermon before. I'll better refresh I'll refresh your memory. Jesus is the true prophet. He gathered his disciples around him like a prophet in John 1. He did miracles like a prophet in John 2.

He called the leadership to repent like a prophet in John 3. He preached and he taught like a prophet in John 4 through 8. And he healed people like a prophet in John 9 and 11. John is revealing to us that Jesus is the true prophet.

He's also the true King. He's the one in John 12 who rode into town on a donkey and received the kingdom. He's the one who was elevated on a cross instead of a human throne and that cross is where he got his greatest glory glory.

As of the King and in John 13, he serves his people as priest he gets down and washes their feet. He serves them a meal. He anoints them and as the true priest he sacrifices himself as The true sacrifice in John 19.

He's the prophet priest and King which means that we need to believe in him in that way. How do you believe in Jesus as prophet priest and King. What Jesus is the one who brings the Word of God? He's the one who says thus saith the Lord.

He's the one who makes us his disciples who calls us to repent who teaches us who heals us and who commissions us as prophet. How do we worship Jesus as King you obey him? Because he's the one who has all authority in heaven and on earth and You go for him and you stand up with courage for him.

We don't cower at the world because we have a true and great King. We have courage as Those who serve the Living King and as priests. We know that he heals us. He cares for us and he's brought us into covenant.

He's offered himself as sacrifice. Because Jesus is prophet priest and King you can be saved and Without his prophet priest and kingly mediation for you. There is would be no hope you must believe he's all three and You must believe that he's the Son of God.

Jesus is the one who told us that he's God in the very beginning through John's Word in the beginning was the Word and Word was with God and the Word was God so Jesus is God. You can't get past it right there in the first verse Jesus gives seven I am statements.

You remember at the mountain of Sinai where God reveals his name? I am that I am Jesus says seven times in John's gospel. I am He says I am the door. I am the Good Shepherd. I am the resurrection. I am the resurrection.

I am the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the father, but by me I remember in John chapter 858. He says before Abraham was I am and then the Pharisees.