Chapter 14 Who do you think you are ---- God?

Chapters 14,15,16 hang together Moving from theoretical to transformational Book so far- what was Jesus doing there and then? What does it mean for here and now? How do I respond? What is practical application? Identity of Jesus- who is he? John 1 Hallmark verse on which the bible thinks Jesus is Who his disciples thought he was Who Jesus claimed himself to be One of the four Greco-Roman biographies on the life of Christ Who as far as we know was written by John One of the apostles who hung out with Jesus for multiple years John is one of the last one to write any book that makes it into the cannon of scripture Writes very philosophically as he reflects on the identity on the one who has changed his life Looks at the essence of Jesus- when I look at Jesus whom am I looking at Whom am I seeing Who is this person In the beginning was the word (he was a unit of communication) and the word was with God (somehow distinguished from God) and word was God that aspect of God that is all about communicating/revealing Gods heart John 1 v 18 No one has ever seen God- but the one and only who is himself God and has been made known to us / shown/ explained - from the bosom of God -hangs out in the chest cavity of God - God is saying here is my heart -showing you what is in my chest showing you the core of my identity God opens up his chest and Jesus walks out Jesus exegetes God- ie explains God/shows God Jesus showing Gods heart

God must love us a lot if showing us his heart Showing love Why do people have problems with this? How would you show yourself to ant colony? Becoming a human being most obvious way to show your love to humans Becoming flesh We can struggle with this because -difficulty with concept of the Deity - delusions grandeur-power trip-God is out there- why should he be contained in this human body- this bag of dirt- must be offensive to this higher being -if God became Jesus- and tied up in human flesh- who is running the show- the Universe? -why would God take on our physicality? - because we are food for worms, frail, messed up, screwed up We want to keep God as the perfect other Eg Gnosticism Human matter being evil Only spirits can commune with God How could God dare become a man and associate with evil yucky matter? Gnosticism saw Jesus as wonderful- savior- but he could not be divine Note today we struggle with how could a man be God Then it was how could God dare to become a man They believed that all human beings had a spark of divinity- which when we shed our mortal physicality- this horrible evil sexual physicality can become pure spirit beings can be united with the divine A man could become divine- but not the other way-this was an insult to the divineSome Gnostics say he was never human-it was an illusion-never had a bodyappeared to be walking around- acknowledge he was divine though but only spirit God is not anti matter - he created it celebrates it-happy to embody it Makes perfect sense-if we all are image bearers-we are unique in created order with this characteristic

God is doing everything possible to be relational Ultimate truth if it is relational then makes perfect sense that it will do everything possible to be relational

To meet us where we were I made you physical I gave you this world I want you to steward the planet I want you to love each other I want you to offer your bodies as living sacrifices I want you celebrate how I made you to be that is your spiritual worship to me worked out- though loving others in tangible practical and compassionate ways Dont escape it through other religions exercises Become righteous- become better version of yourself dont run away from it Jesus- what pure humanity should look like In OT there was an anticipation that law would be written on their hearts Gods presence coming into a person God chooses to localize his presence for relationship Eg walking in Garden Doesnt mean he is not elsewhere Whisper in OT not in the earthquake etc whisper is relational (not in forces of nature) Christians are accused of being exclusivist- there is only one way to God We are being misunderstood We are not talking about all religions as different ways to God but our way is better No- we are saying There is one God and God has come to us So the way to God is God himself Compare how do you get to know a person- not through Facebook, email but sit down and relate with the real person

Jesus - to relate to me you need to acknowledge I am Lord? What does this mean? Give up everything for me- am I important enough to you? That is what any healthy love relationship is about. You dont live in a marriage as a single personRather everything changes Married couple barely recognizes previous single life Goodbye singles- now into a new way of living