#7: John, The Disciple Jesus Loved

 

Since John was perhaps the closest of disciples to Jesus, he was given a special responsibility, that is to take care of Mary, his mother, in her old age.  Secular history suggests John lived to be 100 years old, which if he was the younger brother to James the son of Zebedee, would allow him to outlive Mary (who is said to have died at the age of 64), and fulfil his job given to him by Jesus. Then legend records that John was exiled under persecution from the Roman Emperor Vespasian (69-79) to the Isle of Patmos being banished from civilization but was later released and returned to Ephesus where he had previously brought Mary who had helped him spread the gospel on the heels of the Apostle Paul’s work. When he returned to the church in Ephesus, his famous last words were on his deathbed which he was carried to worship upon, “Little Children Love One Another”. If this is true, it accords with the style of his gospel, recording the famous new commandment of love, Jn. 13:34-35. The fellowship this love generates is at the heart of evangelism, because without growth in fellowship, we lose strength for sharing our faith.

It seems John was first a disciple of John the Immersionist, he tells us more of The Immersionists message and work than any other gospel writer, Jn. 1:35-40. There is recorded an unknown disciple with Andrew and we can safely assume he is the author of the letter, John. Since John was also nicknamed, “Son of Thunder”, the boisterous preaching of John the Immersionist would attract him with the same character. Later we see his brash heart exposed in an incident Jesus instructs him in. Mark 9:39-40 & Luke 9:49-50 both record the somewhat intolerant heart of John. He ‘forbade’ someone who wasn’t in their fellowship, for casting out demons. Jesus rebukes John for ‘forbidding’ this ‘someone’ and proclaims the truth, “he who is not against us is for us”.  There are two important lessons we can learn about evangelism from this incident.

1. Jesus wants us to encourage believers who are not in our fellowship. The word ‘forbid’ means to prevent by word or act. This is difficult, because we think their lack of truth will ruin God’s work, but God knows better. Our job is to try and teach them the truth, not prevent them from learning.

2. Jesus teaches us that they are not against us, but rather working for us, yet outside our fellowship. He doesn’t proclaim them in our fellowship, but they are indeed working to help the Lord and do His will and work. This is difficult for some of us to accept, because we envisage them hindering the truth, and promoting false doctrine, but our job is to speak the truth in love, not dictate who has the truth and who does not.

Does this mean good evangelism is to encourage immature believers in other fellowships and false teachers? No, it means we should allow them to do what they believe is God’s will and work, while at the same time, allow them to hear the truth they seem to deny. In this way, God can use our message of truth, if and only if, we are encouraging them, and not preventing them. Disciples which Jesus loves, are disciples which encourage all believers to speak about Jesus and learn the true and whole counsel of God with us. Acts 20:27.

Should we ever try to prevent false doctrines from being spread? Yes.

1. When believers do not speak good things about Jesus, Mk 9:39.

2. When anyone talks or acts against the teaching of Jesus Christ as God coming in the flesh, 2nd. John 7-11.

This does not give us permission to pronounce judgment on people who are teaching falsely about miracles, worship and other issues. The issue John and Jesus is concerned with is His deity. Upon that we can pronounce judgment, because without that doctrine, they do not have the Father, Son or Spirit in any way. We will evangelise properly when we can talk to erring believers about a multitude of issues in a loving way. Encouraging them to persevere in serving the Lord, while helping them grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus, 2nd. Peter 3:18.

John as a Son of Thunder should always remind us of how love can be shared by Christ shaping us and growing the fruit of the Spirit in us. The fruit of the Spirit shown by an example of love in our daily life, will speak more by actions than words. This is the epitome of evangelism.