Several years ago, I was attending an evening worship service that was hosted by a group of churches. In addition to the representatives from the sponsoring churches, the service was attended by various members of the community. The worship service included many aspects that you'd expect to see including singing and preaching. If I remember right, there was also a time of personal testimony and possibly some drama that was incorporated. After the service, we were all invited to remain for conversation and refreshments.
Moments after the service concluded, a woman walked up to me and asked for my help. "You're a pastor, right?," she asked. I assured her that I was. She then said, "The woman who was sitting next to me during the service has some questions and I thought it would be good for her to speak with you." I agreed to speak to the woman, so we both walked over to where she was seated and took a seat with her.
I spoke with the woman for a little while, and it became clear that she desired to give her life to Christ. She wanted to know Him, receive the gift of salvation, and experience the joy of His presence in her life. We prayed with her, and she trusted in Jesus that evening.
Early in my conversation with this woman, I asked her an important question. I asked, "To you, who is Jesus?" I wanted to know who she thought He was before going into detail about who He is and what He is willing to do for those who follow Him.
In John 18, Jesus gave His disciples and His adversaries a glimpse of who He is. When His adversaries said they were seeking Jesus of Nazareth, He replied, "I am he," and upon hearing that declaration, they fell to the ground. What was Jesus demonstrating about His nature and activity in this passage of Scripture?
I. Jesus meets with His disciples. (John 18:1-2)
“When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples. ”
Scripture refers to those who are fully devoted followers of Christ as "disciples." The process of making disciples is something we refer to as discipleship, and it's something all believers are being called to participate in. We're encouraged to invite other believers to invest in our growth as Christ's disciples, and we're also called to personally invest ourselves in the discipleship of others.
Discipleship can happen in many ways. I believe a worship service is a form of discipleship, as are small groups, Sunday School classes, retreats, long drives, and lunches. Discipleship involves meeting together, carving out time, and making an intentional investment in the spiritual growth of yourself or someone else.
One of the most powerful contexts where discipleship takes place is in the home. One of my favorite things to do when most, or all, of my children are home is to carve out time together in our family room discussing a passage of Scripture, sharing our perspectives and insights, offering some instruction or admonition, and then praying for each other.
Jesus was clearly invested in the growth of His disciples. We're told in this passage that Jesus led His disciples to a garden that was across the brook Kidron. It was a place He would frequently take them, so they were all familiar with it. This was the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus had come to pray and would soon be betrayed by Judas.
I find it interesting that the gospels don't record Jesus telling Judas that He would be there that evening, yet Judas was still able to locate Him. I imagine that was likely the case because Jesus met with the disciples in that location regularly. He very intentionally set aside time to invest in their growth in that very spot. It didn't happen by accident. It was a purposeful act.
Would it surprise you to know that Jesus wants to meet regularly with you as well? He wants time in your schedule. He delights to see you set aside a place or a day to meet with Him. I'm grateful to see examples of men and women doing this regularly. There are groups in our church that meet regularly for discipleship. There are men in our community who meet weekly for discipleship over breakfast. Discipleship is happening all around us with people who have developed a strong desire to make it a priority in their lives.
Where and when are you meeting with Jesus? Are you allowing present-day disciples of Christ to invest in your discipleship? Are you making investments in the spiritual growth of others by using the tools that have been invested in you?
II. Jesus cannot be defeated by the weapons of this world. (John 18:3)
“So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. ”
Judas had been with Jesus and the disciples just a few hours earlier as they celebrated the Passover together. After leaving the meal, it appears he was rather busy. We're told here that he managed to gather a band of Roman soldiers along with officers from the chief priests and Pharisees. This was a large group of aggressive men that some estimate numbering in the hundreds, and they were joining Judas in searching for Jesus that night. We're also told that they were armed with lanterns, torches, and weapons. They weren't there to mess around. They came prepared for a fight.
Every day when I come home from my office, I check the mail before walking into the house. Since my kids are all working teenagers now, they have their own sources of money, and my sons in particular are regularly ordering things online that get delivered to our home. I'm always curious about what they're buying, and nine times out of ten, it seems to me that they're ordering knives or fire-making implements of some kind. I'm optimistic that their intentions are good.
The group of men that came to arrest Jesus may have convinced themselves that their intentions were pure, but their desire to beat and arrest Jesus was motivated by sin and jealousy. They came prepared for a fight, but the material weapons they chose could not ultimately defeat the very person who spoke the elements those weapons were fashioned out of into existence.
In a different way, but with the same motives, there are still people trying to defeat Christ with the weapons of this world. It's a foolish and fruitless effort because He who spoke the universe into existence cannot and will not be defeated by any small part of His creation.
And by the way, if He lives in you, He makes you a partaker of the victory He has already secured over this world. His victory becomes your victory, and His power becomes available to you.
III. Jesus wants us to seek Him with honorable motives. (John 18:4-7)
“Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?” They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. So he asked them again, “Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” ”
I was listening to a podcast last week that included a recording of the voice of Theodore Roosevelt. The scratchy recording was made in the early 1900's, and Roosevelt's voice didn't come anywhere near thundering forth to the degree that his personality certainly did.
When I read what Jesus said in this portion of John 18, I can't help but wonder what His voice sounded like. Did He speak softly? Did He raise His voice? Did He simply state the obvious in a tone that would have been at a standard volume?
Well, I don't know what volume He used, but I do know that when the group stated that they were looking for Jesus of Nazareth, and He replied, "I am he," this group of aggressors fell to the ground. He didn't push them. He didn't trip them. He simply stated the truth that He is the, "I AM." He declared His divine nature to them with power, and they fell backwards.
This group was hunting for Jesus, and now they found Him. They were seeking Him, but they didn't come with honorable motives.
Jesus wants us to seek Him, but our motives in that search will reveal why we're seeking Him. Are we seeking Him in order to vainly attempt to harm Him and His people, or are we seeking Him because we can no longer deny His power?
IV. Jesus will not lose those who are His own. (John 18:8-9)
“Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.” This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: “Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.””
Last week, I was over at a friend's house. He told me that some time ago, his wife noticed that the diamond from her engagement ring was missing. She had been working around the house that day and was also working in their garden, so they didn't have a lot of confidence they would find the lost diamond. Still, they continued their search, and amazingly, my friend found the diamond on the floor near their dining room table. It wasn't lost like they feared it might be.
If you truly believe in Jesus Christ, He assures you that He will not lose you. While praying in John 17:12, Jesus said, "While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled." Now Jesus was about to demonstrate the truth of that prayer.
As the soldiers prepared to arrest Him, He offered Himself to them and instructed them to let His disciples go. They didn't come with charges against the disciples, and Jesus wasn't putting up a fight, so the soldiers complied. They bound Jesus, but didn't arrest the others.
This passage shows a momentary fulfillment of Jesus' promise not to lose His disciples, but that promise remains true even into the present. And that promise is amazing when we consider just how frequently we have taken our lives in unwise, unhealthy, or even obstinate directions. Yet just as Jesus promised, He did not lose us. And I'm sure many of us can share the joyful testimony of how He assured our hearts of His unconditional love even when we were trying to run from Him.
Throughout the gospel of John, Jesus made His identity clear to us through His, "I AM" statements. Jesus said...
"I am the bread of life." (John 6:32-40)
"I am the light of the world." (John 8:12, 9:5)
"before Abraham was born, I am!" (John 8:58)
"I am the door." (John 10:7-9)
"I am the good shepherd." (John 10:11-14)
"I am the resurrection and the life." (John 11:25)
"I am the way and the truth and the life." (John 14:6)
"I am the true vine." (John 15:1-5)
"I am he." (John 18:1-9)
Having seen who Jesus is and what He promises to do for those who find rest for their souls though Him, are our hearts willing to receive Him as Lord and rejoice in His continual presence in our lives? Do we fully appreciate who He is and what He is doing around us and within us?
© John Stange, 2020
