Jesus Shows Us What God Is Like

Good fatherhood gives young men a better picture of manhood than the lone wolf stuff, the secular monk stuff, and the darker, crueler visions coming out of the manosphere. Good dads and good moms, at their best, even give a glimpse of what a good God is like. But human parents cannot finally carry that weight. Jesus alone is uniquely able to show what God is like.

John 1 opens with “in the beginning” because John wants the reader back at Genesis. The Word was not made. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. Jesus did not begin at Christmas. Jesus is the eternal Son of God who became the incarnate Son of God, and that means Jesus is not merely a teacher, prophet, or miracle worker. Jesus is the authority on God because Jesus is God the Son with the Father.

John’s announcement cuts through the usual two-step faith process. Christianity does not start with a vague first cause and then add Jesus later. John clears the deck and asks the only question that matters: who is Jesus? If Jesus is seen, God is seen.

The Word became flesh and “made his home among us.” The tabernacle image matters because Israel’s old question was the same human question in suffering: where is God? John answers with shocking simplicity: God is here. God has moved into the neighborhood. God does not wait for need to be named properly before coming close. Before anybody knew how to call his name, God came in Jesus.

John also says that from Christ’s fullness comes “grace upon grace.” God is not a miser and God is not a manager. Grace is not a wage, not compensation for religious performance, not a paycheck after good behavior. Grace is gift after gift after gift. The more of God is not found in success, status, or self-optimization, but in the Holy Spirit, the inexhaustible resources of God made available through Jesus.

John’s gospel gives the Spirit as wind, water, and breath. The picture gets more desperate each time. A sailboat needs wind, a thirsty person needs water, lungs need breath every moment. Jesus does not merely give instructions like Moses or renewed desire like John the Baptist. Jesus gives truth and grace, desire and power, new birth and new life. God is here. God is more. God is better than every man-made religion of trying harder.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Jesus shows what God is like. John does not leave God as a vague force behind reality. The eternal Son becomes flesh, so the face of Jesus becomes the true answer to every confused idea about God. Any picture of God that cannot survive looking at Jesus has to be surrendered. [46:33]
• 2. God is here before need speaks. The Word “moved into the neighborhood,” which means divine presence is not earned by perfect prayers or clear understanding. God comes close before human need even knows how to call his name. The ache that asks, “Where is God?” meets the God who has already come near in Christ. [50:14]
• 3. Grace is gift, not wages. God’s grace is not on a budget, and it is not paid out like a paycheck for good religious performance. Grace comes from the fullness of Christ, not from the strength of human effort. The life of God is lavish, excessive, and undeserved because gift is the very meaning of grace. [58:33]
• 4. Receive the Spirit like breath. John’s images of wind, water, and breath show increasing dependence on the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is not a one-time religious souvenir but the very life needed moment by moment. Welcoming the Spirit means receiving the inexhaustible resources of God as urgently as lungs receive air. [62:01]
• 5. Jesus gives ability, not advice. Moses gave instruction, and John the Baptist called people to renewed desire, but Jesus gives grace and truth. Human religion can motivate, pressure, and inform, but it cannot make anyone new. Christ offers more than trying harder; Christ offers transformation from the inside out. [64:37]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [36:59] - Father’s Day and Dad Brain
• [39:13] - Fatherhood and Better Manhood
• [40:53] - Jesus Shows What God Is Like
• [41:43] - John 1 and the Word
• [44:35] - Eternal Son and Incarnate Son
• [47:18] - The Only Question That Matters
• [49:20] - The Word Moved Into the Neighborhood
• [54:02] - Grace Upon Grace
• [59:17] - The More of God in the Spirit
• [60:30] - Wind, Water, and Breath
• [62:58] - Grace and Truth in Jesus
• [65:35] - Better Than Man-Made Religion
• [68:48] - Invitation to Receive the Spirit

Bible Reading

John 1:1-5, 14, 16-18
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.” [41:49] [49:08] [54:02]

John 3:8
“The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

John 7:37-38
“On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”’”

John 20:22
“And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’”

Observation questions

1. In John 1, what does John say about the Word before saying that the Word became flesh? What does that show about who Jesus is? [44:35]
2. In John 1:14, 16-18, what words or phrases describe what Jesus brings when he comes among us?
3. What pictures are used for the Holy Spirit in John’s Gospel, and how does each picture show a different kind of need? [01:00:43]
4. In John 1:17, what contrast is made between Moses and Jesus? What does each one bring? [01:02:58]

Interpretation questions

1. John begins with “in the beginning” and says the Word was with God and was God. Why does it matter that Jesus did not begin at Christmas, but is the eternal Son who became flesh? [46:33]
2. John says the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. How does that answer the human question, “Where is God?” especially in pain, suffering, and disappointment? [50:14]
3. John says that from Christ’s fullness believers receive “grace upon grace.” What does that suggest about God’s character, and how is that different from seeing grace as a reward for good behavior? [58:33]
4. John connects Jesus with grace, truth, and the gift of the Spirit. Why is that better than a faith built only on instruction, pressure, or trying harder? [01:05:35]

Application questions

1. Many people carry a picture of God shaped more by distance, disappointment, or human failure than by Jesus. What picture of God has been most natural for this season of life, and what might need to be surrendered as Jesus makes the Father known? [48:40]
2. God is here before need is fully spoken. Where in life is it hardest right now to believe that God is present—home, work, suffering, anxiety, grief, or something else? What would it look like to bring that exact place into the open with him? [51:10]
3. Grace is gift, not wages. Where is the strongest temptation right now to relate to God like an employee trying to earn a paycheck—through Bible reading, serving, morality, or keeping life together? [58:53]
4. The Spirit is given like wind, water, and breath. Which image best describes the deepest need right now: needing direction like wind, refreshment like water, or strength to keep going like breath? Why? [01:02:01]
5. Jesus gives ability, not just advice. Where has “trying harder” been wearing a person out lately? What might change if that struggle were approached by asking for the Spirit’s help instead of relying only on willpower? [01:06:35]
6. Jesus shows that God is better than every self-made religion of performance and self-optimization. What habits, voices, or messages most often pull a person back into measuring worth by discipline, image, success, or control? [01:07:01]
7. “Receive the Holy Spirit” can be heard as “welcome the Holy Spirit.” What would a simple, honest welcome of the Spirit look like this week in daily life? [01:02:25]