How to See Life in 321 - a Guide to John's GospelSample

Which God don’t you believe in?

Tom Wright was once a chaplain at Oxford University. When students told him they didn’t believe in God, he had a great response. He’d ask, “Which God is it you don’t believe in?” The student usually went on to describe some Distant Individual, high on power and low on personality. Tom Wright would say, “I don’t believe in that God either, I believe in the God I see revealed in Jesus.”

In John chapter 1, we heard Jesus being called the “Word of God” and the “Son of God”. Both those titles speak of Jesus being the revelation of God — of being just like his Dad. Whatever people believe about God in the abstract, Jesus reveals a very particular and very attractive God. As John 1:14 says, he is “full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14).

​​Think of someone full of grace. They’re full of compassion and mercy, forgiveness and love. Now think of someone full of truth—they’re a real straight shooter, they tell it how it is. Have you got those two people in mind—they’re quite different, aren’t they? In Jesus, these opposites combine.

In John chapter 2, we see a vivid illustration of the way grace and truth combine in Jesus. He goes to a wedding and they’re out of wine. No problem—Jesus miraculously turns water into the finest of wines. Most people think God would go to parties to change wine into water! Jesus is different. With him, it’s water into wine. He’s full of grace.

Yet, read on in John chapter 2, and the next thing you’ll encounter is verses 13-25. Here, Jesus goes to the temple—the holiest building on the planet. Once there, he sees it full of religious hypocrisy and people making a fast buck. So he weaves a whip together to drive out the livestock on sale. He turns over the tables of these peddlers and con men, scatters their money, and forces everyone out. He’s full of uncompromising truth.

Think of it: he goes to the party and brings wine; he goes to the temple and brings a whip. Who is this man?

Apparently, he is the Word and Son of God. No matter how you have previously pictured God, Jesus is what he’s really like. And what is he like? Full of grace and truth!

What is your response to this kind of God?