Jesus the Divine Word

If you would, take your Bibles and turn to John chapter 1. The Gospel of John, chapter 1. Begin reading in verse 1 and read through verse 18. This is going to be the subject of our Advent reflections over the next four Sundays. So keep reading these 18 verses through the week and reflect on them, think about them. But let's look at them now.

John chapter 1, verse 1. 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 anything 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.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. he came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him he was not the light but came to bear witness about the light the true light which enlightens everyone was coming into the world he was in the world and the world was made through him yet the world did not know him he came to his own and his own people did not receive him but to all who did receive him who believed in his name he gave the right to become children of God who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor the will of man but of God 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 John bore witness about him and cried out this was he of whom I said he who comes after me ranks before me because he was before me and 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 has at the father's side he has made him known let's pray father we're thankful once more for your word we would be lost we would not understand the world around us we would not understand you nor ourselves we would have no idea of being reconciled to you except for the fact that by your grace you revealed yourself to us in the word of God over many many centuries We thank you that this is a living word. It is not like any other book but it is a word that can actually penetrate our hearts. It can expose us.

It can give us hope. It can rebuke us and encourage us. Help us now to pay attention to your word to think through this to listen to its truth father we pray this that you might change us that you might show us the glories of jesus and that we might entrust ourselves even more to him and live for him we pray this in jesus name amen well it's about christmas time again and thanksgiving came and you put on the carpenter's album and started listening to all the music again.

And when you think of Christmas, you think of lights and music and peace and joy and presents and food and family and memories and socks hung out at the fireplace. All sorts of things come with Christmas. But you know, the early church did none of that. It was not part of the practice when they thought of the incarnation of Jesus. In fact, the early church did not really think that much or did not set that apart as a special time until about 300 years after Jesus had ascended into heaven.

And then it was just a feast day and just a time to have a, you know, a little bit of a celebration, but it's really grown big. Now, right away, I know what you're thinking. You're saying, oh no, he's taken the leap. Pastor's going to spend the next four weeks preaching against Christmas. Actually, no, that's not the case. I just want you to think about something for a moment.

And that is this. By the way, you can have all the presents and lights and socks. You can do all that stuff. It's okay. The point I want to make is simply this. Is that when we think of Christmas, we ought to think deeper than that.

It's okay to have those things. But the word of God, when it talks about Christmas, does not send us down a sentimental path. It sends us down a path where we have to consider who Jesus is. And in all the midst of the celebrations, which are all fine, which are all good, and they're lots of fun, we ought not to just stay at that shallow level and say things like Jesus is the reason for the season and all this sort of thing And all of the things that we the cliches we use what we ought to do is we ought to just take time to think a little bit deeper about what Christmas is and that why we going to look at John chapter 1 because John chapter 1 takes us to that level of understanding who Jesus is as we consider Christmas and what all that happened on that that night this book was written by the apostle John near the end of his life if you think chronologically if you think chronologically the gospel of John was probably the last book written okay I know that's hard because they haven't arranged the books chronologically they've arranged them by topic but if our New Testament was arranged chronologically, this gospel would be at the end.

This is the last book written, the last book of the Bible written, probably. As John neared the end of his life, and he lived a long life, all right, he lived a long, long life. He was probably in his 90s when he wrote this book. He wanted to leave an account of the Lord Jesus with whom he had walked and whom he had served for about 60 years. But he doesn't leave behind a mere accounting of Jesus' life.

Rather, he wanted his readers to believe something essential about Jesus and about themselves. and he tells us that in chapter 20 in chapter 20 verse 31 John tells us the purpose of this book by the way John has a habit and that is when he writes a book he tells you at the end why he wrote it that's the way in the gospel of John he tells you at the end why he wrote it in John chapter 20 verse 30 and 31 in the epistle of first john in in first john 5 16 at the end of the book he tells you why he wrote that book so he has a habit of telling us these things and say here's why i wrote it and he says this is why he wrote this book these are written so that you may believe that jesus is the christ the son of god and that by believing you may have life in his name That why he wrote this book For John talking about Jesus was not just talking about some great historical figure He isn't just trying to leave us an accurate description of the life of Jesus. He has written a history with a purpose. And his purpose is to persuade you that Jesus is the promised king and that if you believe in him, you will have life.

That's why he wrote this book. That's what's important about Jesus. And so when we consider what John has to say about Jesus, everything he's written in this book has this funneled, is pointed in that direction. Hey, I'm not writing this to entertain you. I'm not writing an abstract thesis. I'm writing this to persuade you of a truth because I want you to have life.

That's why I wrote this book. This book is a treasure provided by God himself to show us Jesus as Savior and the divine son so that we might believe in him and be saved. So in this Advent season, we're going to spend our time in the first 18 verses of the Gospel of John in order to understand something about Jesus, something about why he came. What is Christmas really all about?

It's about what we read in those first 18 verses. John differs from the other gospel writers. The only other two that talk about the birth of Jesus are Matthew and Luke. And when you read Matthew and Luke, they tell you about all these fantastic things that occurred around the birth of Jesus. Matthew talks about such things as the virgin conception of Jesus.

What can I say? Highly unusual? Let's say miraculous. He talks about that miraculous thing, an angel coming to Joseph and giving him instruction. He talks about these Easterners, these magi, these guys coming from who knows where to come and to worship Jesus. There's a star in the sky that guides them.

There's the fleeing from Herod, all these things surrounding the birth of Jesus. We all know them. They're all part of the Christmas story. But he's trying to tell you about these elements that would point you to the fact that Jesus is this promised king. Luke comes along and he shows Jesus as being born in a manger. Luke wants to talk to people who are on the margins of society and who everyone rejects.

They're the poor, the lepers, the people that are always on the margins. And so he tells the story of someone who comes for people on the margins. And he talks about a Savior coming who's born where? In a stable. Right? In the margins.

And about how the angels come and they proclaim to whom? Shepherds. People on the margins to go and worship this King. And that there's going to be peace and joy and all these sorts of things. So they emphasize these incredible, extraordinary events that surround his birth. But John, John, man after my own heart, gives a theological explanation.

He is all about theology. He's all about understanding these things about Jesus that are important to convince you that he is this king. We might call this prologue to John, these first 18 verses, a theology of Christmas. And so over the next four weeks, we're going to talk about a theology of Christmas. We're going to talk about what does this mean. So let's begin this theology by exploring the first three verses of John's prologue, verses 1 through 3.

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 anything made that was made. John begins by telling you that Christ's life did not begin. In Bethlehem, in a stable. His life did not begin there.

In the beginning. John purposely uses that term, on purpose, to throw us back to what book? Genesis. He purposely uses that book. Isn't that interesting? If this Bible was arranged chronologically, right?

The whole text of Scripture starts with the phrase and ends with the phrase. In the beginning. In the beginning. Mirrors that Old Testament in the beginning. With God creating the heavens and the earth. And so John places Jesus where you would expect God.

Automatically. John puts Jesus where you would expect God to be. In the beginning was the Word. The Word. So John goes back in time beyond Bethlehem before Bethlehem where Jesus was born before Nazareth where Jesus was conceived back beyond the beginning of time itself This is what John wants you to understand that when you think about his colleagues writing about the stable and his colleagues writing about Herod and all these other things and the star and the magi and the shepherds, John wants you to understand that Jesus didn't start there, his beginning was in the beginning when there was only God and nothing and no one else so what does John wants it want us to believe he wants you to believe that Jesus is the divine word Jesus is the divine word now he doesn't call he doesn't say the word who is Jesus when you read the whole chapter it becomes obvious that what he's talking about here is Jesus he identifies Jesus as the word.

Okay? We don't have to prove that. As you read through it, automatically you can see that's what John is saying. Just from the context here. What's the first thing he says? He says Jesus is the divine word because he is eternal.

He is eternal. In the beginning, he says, was the word. Okay? When everything was made, Jesus already was. when everything came into being, Jesus was already there. Now a man named Arius appeared in the 4th century, which would be in the 300s. He appeared in the 300s and Arius came along and as he was trying to understand Jesus, he says this, well there's only one God, we've been through this, right?

We just studied the Trinity. There's only one God and Jesus is not God. Arius said, now Jesus is God-like, but Jesus is the highest created being. Higher than any other thing in creation. He's the highest created being. Nevertheless, he is not God.

He is a creature. He certainly was not God, he asserted. Instead, he says, he is the highest created being. now you might call Arius the first Jehovah's Witness right? he was he was this is exactly what Jehovah's Witnesses teach you know by the way side step here footnote freebie nothing new there nothing new under the sun The church, you know, we think, oh, these Jehovah's Witnesses, the church has faced these people for the 2,000 plus years of its existence.

They're not anything new. Arius appeared in the 300 saying the exact same thing. and arius was saying god is a created being yet john clearly asserts that when time and creation began jesus already was he already was in the beginning was the word not after the beginning not not not after things were created in the beginning before anything started was the word when it started leon morris who's a great bible scholar once said the word existed before creation which makes it clear that the word was not created. The word is not to be included among created beings.

It can't be. It already existed when creation started. In the beginning was the word. Jesus then, Jesus is a divine person because the divine word is eternal. He is eternal. Jesus is the divine word because he is a person.

He is a person. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God. The word is a person. He is the companion of God himself. That same assertion is made again in verse 2. He was in the beginning with God.

So before creation, there existed a person who had a relationship with God. Now Genesis indicates that only God existed. when creation started. Yet someone is here identified as a person with God before God created anything. Before God created anything, here's someone who's with him. By the way, that helps explain Genesis 1.26, doesn't it? Then God said what?

Let us make man in our own image. Now, it's not explicit there in Genesis, but when we get to John, when we get to the end, John's making it clear, that's what was going on. He's talking to the Word. The Word was with God. It's verses such as this that cause us to believe in the Trinity. Now some people as we talked about some weeks ago would deny that there is three persons within one God saying that there is instead one God who manifests himself in three different persons sometimes as the Father sometimes as the Son sometimes as the Holy Spirit But while a person can be by himself alone, he can never be with himself alone.

I mean, I know, we say, who are you with? I was with me, all right? We joke about that, but let's think about that for a moment. You can't be with yourself. With always implies what? Another, right?

Another. This person, this distinct word, this distinct divine person was with God. all right notice what else jesus is the divine word because of his full deity and the word was god and the word was god now by the way your jehovah's witness friends are going to tell you you know in the greek there's no definite article which in the greek means it's a particular god so you could translate it and the word was a god see to which i reply that's just downright silly a jewish man who's a committed monotheist is going to say that there was a god besides the true god besides that as you go through the rest of the chapter there's other places where they translate it just like this so they're just trying to twist it to prove their point but what What's clear here is that John asserts, John asserts that the word was God. Several years ago, there was a really popular novel by Brown, Dan Brown, right?

Called, do you remember? Everyone was up in arms about it. Oh, no, we've got to answer this book. How many of you remember the book that Dan Brown wrote? Okay, one. The, two.

The Da Vinci Code. Does this sound familiar? In this crazy novel, Dan Brown asserts that no one believed that Jesus was God until the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325. 300 years after Jesus ascended into heaven, that's when they said Jesus was God. That's foolish.

It says it right here. It says it right here. was God. Christians believe that Jesus was God from the very beginning. And he says it in the clearest language. And he says the same thing in verse 18. No one has ever seen God.

The only God who is at the Father's side has made him known. The God who's at the Father's side has made him known. John is blatant here when he says that Jesus is God. Now notice verse 3. All things were made through him, this word, and without him was not anything made that was made. Genesis says that God created everything.

And here you find that his word was the creator. He cannot be the creation of God. He cannot be the highest created being. Why is that so? because it says that this word, what? What did this word do? He made everything.

There's this, everything that was made, everything that was created, everything that's not God, okay, was made by the word. He's not part of that creation. He is certainly God. He is fully divine. So that's the Christian confession. Jesus is God.

John wants you to know from the beginning of his gospel that Jesus Christ, the Word, is indeed God. Now, say, okay, thank you for that theological lecture today, Pastor Tim. This is what Christmas is about. What do most people think about when they see a baby in the manger? What do most people do? Oh, they feel so sorry for this homeless couple who had to be in a stable and give birth to a child in such mean or difficult circumstances.

Their heart bleeds with compassion. They feel sorry for Jesus and they feel sorry for Mary and Joseph. And they produce songs, not wrong in and of themselves, about donkeys worshiping Jesus and the animals talking to one another and some kid showing up with a drum and irritating the little kid's mother because he's beating the drum while that child is trying to sleep. never could understand that song alright and they missed the point they missed the point that something that something beyond comprehension is happening here This is God This is God Not just a poor baby and a poor couple This baby is God.

Now the other thing that John wants you to know is to believe, not just that Jesus is the divine word, but to believe that Jesus is the divine word that saves. John wants you to understand not merely Jesus' person, but Jesus' work. Now remember, he's told us why Jesus came. He's told us, or I should say, he told us why he wrote these 21 chapters. He's already told us all these things.

He says, I've written these things that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. Why did he write this? So that you would believe and have life in his name. The divine word came into the world to be the saving word. Now John employs a word that was, applies a word, and I don't normally do this, okay?

But today I want to do it, and that is, what's the Greek word for word? It's logos. L-O-G-O-S. Logos. and I think he chose that word on purpose. Logos was one of the most significant terms in Greek philosophy. You see about about 500 years before Jesus was born there was this Greek philosopher by the name of Heraclitus.

Right? Do you remember him? All right. Heraclitus is one of these guys who's looking at the world and he's trying to explain the world just like everybody. That's what we do as human beings. We look at the world we try to explain the world and this is what Heraclitus saw?

He said, the world is always in flux. It's always changing. And the phrase that's always associated with Heraclitus is this, you can never step in the same river twice, right? If you step in the river, step out on the other side, step back in again, you're not walking in the same water, are you? It's changed. And so he had this idea that the world is always in flux.

It always changing It different from moment to moment to moment It a different world because everything always changing But he also could see that there was order to it because if the world constantly changing then you would think it would be chaotic But it's not. And he couldn't figure that out. And so this is what he proposed. He said, the logos of God is the reason that the world has order. the logos that is to say the word or the reason of god was the principle that held everything together in a world of change there is purpose there is design to the world in its events it's the rationality of this whatever god he proposed it's the rationality of this god order and purpose are revealed everywhere in the world because of the logos the divine logic well john picks up that word.

He seizes on that word and essentially says this, listen you Greeks, the very thing that occupied your philosophical thought and about which you've been writing for centuries, the Logos of God has come to earth as a man and we have seen him. He says you want order in the world, good. you know why there's order in the world because the logos this word of god who is god who actually created the world he's the reason why there's order and purpose in the world it's almost as if he's sending this out to catch their attention to help them think that through so john asserts that the baby born in bethlehem gives meaning to life in this world he's the one that's the reason and as we're going to go through this he says more about that that there is purpose in our existence why because of jesus and the meaning of this present reality is that it is all under the curse of sin and the wrath of god we are all under the wrath of god because of the guilt of our sin chapter three he he picks up on that in chapter three don't go there with me Chapter 3 Again these are not unfamiliar verses Chapter 3 verses 14 and 15 And as Moses lifted up the servant in the wilderness so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. This divine word saves.

And he goes on to say, verse 17, For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he's not believed in the name of the only son of God. You're condemned already. Here's the nature of reality.

It's filled with people who are condemned. But this God sent the logos, the word into the world in order to save it, in order to save people, in order to save those who are under the wrath of God. Jesus, the divine word saves. A story is told of the great industrialist Henry Ford. He said he had a breakdown in his assembly line and no one could fix it.

And so in desperation he called on this guy called Charlie Steinmetz. Now I don't know why he called Charlie Steinmetz. I don't know all the details of that story. But he was the mechanical genius who had designed and built Ford's plant. So Steinmetz showed up, tinkered with it for about ten minutes through the switch and everything started working again. some days later Ford gets a bill for $10,000 which was an exorbitant amount of money back then and he wrote back Charlie don't you think your bill is a little bit high for just tinkering so he sent him a revised bill it said tinkering $10 knowing where to tinker $9,990 likewise Jesus knows how to fix this broken world and he doesn't just tinker with it does he he sheds his blood he dies he's raised again he comes he lives he dies he's raised again he ascends to heaven and all of this accomplishes the redemption of creation including you and me all those who believe and Jesus if you will fixes the world, but instead of presenting us with a bill, he offers it to us as a free gift.

Free gift of eternal life for those who what? Verse 16, who just believe. Now here's the point. This is not just about, do you have a deep enough view of Christmas? It's not just about, are you thinking deep enough about what Christmas is really about? Getting past the slogans into what's really important.

If what John says is true, that Jesus is the divine and the saving word, then nothing is more important than that. then we need to stop treating Christmas as just another holiday. More than a holiday with great aspirations, right? Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me. Right? That Christmas song that we sing every Christmas. Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.

Well, it's not going to begin with you because you're at odds with creation. You're at odds with God. You're at odds with everybody else. You need a savior. and so Christmas has to be more than just a holiday with these great aspirations John Piper talks about the time he was flying somewhere and sitting next to a guy and he got into a conversation with the man sitting there and the man found out that Piper was a pastor and started to ask him about that and eventually in the conversation the man said oh I believe in God I just not religious Okay.

Piper's response was, well, if you believe in God, then how could you not possibly wonder what it takes to be right with him? Don't you think you ought to be concerned about that? To know God is good, but boy, if there is a God, you've got to ask some big questions. Like, am I okay with him? And if not, what do I do about that? Do you believe what John says about Jesus?

If so, what do you do with that? Remember, John's not writing these 18 verses here. As we look at these, he's not writing this as a master's thesis in theology. You know what? I think I'm going to write about what Jesus is really about. See?

It's not that. Why did he write it? Why did he write those things? So that what? I've written these things so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in His name What seems like kind of an abstract discussion is John trying to persuade you listen, Jesus is God, and He is the God who has come to save.

He is the God who has come to deliver you from condemnation. He wants to persuade you of that. He doesn't want you to admire Jesus. he doesn't want you even to remain indifferent to Jesus he wants you to understand that in the beginning was the word was with God and was God and he came into the world to be God's savior for us that's why he writes that one writer put it this way we are called to worship him without cessation obey him without hesitation love him without reservation and serve him without interruption.

If what John says is true, then that's what we need to do. We need to come to this one who is truly the word, who is God, and entrust ourselves to him. That what Christmas is about right That what Christmas is about That what we need to be thinking That how deep we need to go if we going to understand what it really is Now, we have the Lord's table set before us, but before we come to it, let's pray.

Because we need to understand, we need to say, Lord God, in this Christmas season, we need to understand you. We need to understand your son. Let's pray. Father, thank you. for your work in our lives. Thank you for sending your son. Thank you for revealing the true identity of this one.

The Word, who was God, who was with God, who made all things. God, help us, we pray, that your name would be honored, that we would entrust ourselves. Thank you for those who are here who have entrusted themselves. God, I pray that we would see beyond the slogans to the truth. As we come to this table, we pray that You would help us to see the reality of who Jesus is.

We thank You in Jesus' name. Amen.