rewind (part 8)

Here we are one week after Easter. Normally I would end a sermon series at Easter and then move on to something new. However, the rewind series we have been using backwards through the gospel of John lends perfectly to just one more message. Today we are going to rewind all the way back to the beginning in chapter 1 of John, in which John himself rewinds all the way back to the beginning in chapter 1 of Genesis. It does not seem like a coincidence that John starts his gospel with the exact same opening as the beginning of Genesis.

John 1:1–14 (NIV)

John 1:1–14 NIV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John starts out his gospel with words that draw our attention all the way back to the beginning of the Bible

Talk about a rewind! John starts out his gospel with words that draw our attention all the way back to the beginning of the Bible, and in fact all the way back to the creation itself. Let me set a context around this for us. All through the season of lent leading up to Easter we worked our way backwards through the gospel of John. We ended up on Easter by backing up to the story of Lazarus in John 11. I noted that chapter 11 happens to be in the exact middle of John’s gospel. So then, the thing we were really seeing in that last half of John is the way in which John uses these Jesus stories to prepare the disciples (and John’s readers) for what Jesus is doing by going to the cross and rising from the grave.

a way of showing Jesus as the Son of God, the promised Messiah who comes into the world

Let’s take that same observation into our backtracking all the way back to John 1. John is rewinding our attention to prepare his readers for what Jesus is up to—for where Jesus is taking his people. John has a clear purpose and goal in mind in this first chapter. He writes this gospel as a way of showing Jesus as the Son of God, the promised Messiah who comes into the world. No one in John’s original audience would have doubted that Jesus was an actual person—a human being. John did not have to set about proving that Jesus was a man. The thing that those first disciples had to keep pressing among the people is that Jesus is also divine—that he is the Messiah sent to save God’s people. That’s the thing the Jewish people doubted and rejected. John goes about doing this in ways that make his gospel unique from the other three gospels in the New Testament. Matthew and Luke include nativity stories that talk about the birth of Jesus. Mark talks about Jesus arriving in his years of ministering and declaring the arrival of the kingdom of God. But John takes us all the way back to the creation in Genesis.

same language about light and dark to talk about Jesus

John finds it critical to name for his readers that Jesus is eternal, that Jesus has been eternally present, that Jesus was present at the very beginning of the creation as part of the Trinity. And that, in fact, the creation itself was brought into its very existence in and through Jesus being present at the very beginning. Let’s also remember that John is presenting all these stories about Jesus in ways that point forward to the cross and the resurrection. Look at the creative language John uses to make these connections back to creation. The very beginning of the creation in Genesis 1 is where God calls light into being from out of the darkness. The creation story begins in Genesis with light and dark. John picks up on that same language about light and dark to talk about Jesus. John is framing the creation itself as something that points us forward to Jesus being the salvation of God’s people.

the creation itself points to God’s salvation

The creation itself in Genesis 1 points us to God’s salvation. Hang onto that thought; we will come back to it.

word became flesh and made his dwelling among us

Then John goes on to use tent language. The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. The Greek words there refer to a tent or a camp. Jesus became human and made camp with us, pitched his tent with us—that’s the idea. Several biblical scholars point to a tabernacle connection here in John’s language; that Jesus tabernacled among his people.

tabernacle language

This is John’s playful way of connecting Jesus to the tabernacle of the Old Testament Israelites. We read about the tabernacle in the Old Testament book of Exodus. In fact, several of the chapters in the last half of Exodus describe the instructions for creating the tabernacle. In the 40 years that Israel traveled in the wilderness before coming into the promised land of Canaan, the entire nation of people camped in a very specific arrangement with the tabernacle always at its center.

Exodus describes the presence of God as a cloud by the daytime, and a pillar of fire at night. Whenever the cloud or fire moved, the people would move along with it. When the tabernacle was first built and dedicated, the cloud descended upon it as the filling of God’s presence within it. The tabernacle was a large tent that did not just represent the presence of God among the nation of Israel, they saw it as the very real and experienced presence of God in their midst.

the tabernacle which represents the presence of God is at the very center of the camp

The important part is the placement, that the tabernacle which represents the presence of God is at the very center of the camp. When God first freed his people from slavery in Egypt and leads them through the Red Sea, the people follow the cloud all the way to Mount Sinai. But only Moses is allowed to go up the mountain to be in the presence of God. The people are all instructed to stay off the mountain, separated and away from the presence of God. But the tabernacle changes all this. With the tabernacle, the presence of God moves from the mountain and into the tent. The presence of God move from outside of God’s people to being within the very center of God’s people. This is an important feature of the tabernacle—not just that it represents the presence of God, but that the presence of God moves to dwell at the very center of his people. Salvation from slavery in Egypt leads to a place where God now resides within the midst of his people.

the tabernacle community points to God’s salvation

John picks up on that language when taking about Jesus. It is the presence of God coming to dwell at the very center of his people. John is making another connection for us here. The tabernacle community in Exodus points us to the salvation of God. Hang onto that thought too; we will come back to it.

Now look at the very middle of the passage for today. Verses 12-13.

John 1:12–13 (NIV)

John 1:12–13 NIV

12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

verses 12-13 are family language

This gets personal. This is family language. For those of us who are American we hear often about the personal rights we are extended in this country. The rights we talk about as Americans are framed under what the founders of this country called “self-evident” rights. “We hold these truths to be self-evident,” says the words in the Declaration of Independence. But let’s not confuse that with being biblical. Our constitutional rights as Americans are not supported by scripture. That doesn’t make them wrong, only that the Bible does not address these freedoms as being rights conferred upon us by God. In fact, there is very little in the Bible that is explicitly named as being something deserved as a god-given right.

very few God-given rights mentioned in the Bible — but this is one of them: the right to be in the eternal family of God

So when the Bible does actually mention something that is a God-given right, it’s special and unique simply because it is so infrequent. And that’s what we see here in John 1. Those who turn to God in faith are given the right to be called children of God. God confers upon you family status through Jesus. The heavenly Father is now MY heavenly Father and YOUR heavenly Father. Jesus is now OUR sibling within the family of God, because all the rights that Jesus holds he freely shares with all who turn to God in faith.

personal faith in Jesus points to God’s salvation

It is not the minister or the elders who grant you access into the family of God as part of the church. It is God himself who grants you access to his family. And Jesus is the one who does this. It is the reason why Jesus came and gave himself for us on the cross. It’s personal. You belong to a family now—God’s eternal family. John talks about that personal salvation given to us in ways that connect it to Jesus. The salvation of God is personal.

salvation is cosmic, communal, personal

Alright, let’s tie this together and consider what difference it makes for us here today. I asked us to hold onto a couple things earlier; let’s bring that all together and see it in view the way John is presenting God’s salvation to us. Salvation is cosmic, it is community, and it is personal. Jesus came to restore the shalom of his creation—you heard me preach about that last week with the resurrection of Lazarus. It is a cosmic salvation which restores the perfect shalom of God within and through his creation. Salvation is also communal. It is a community salvation in which God brings together his people to live together as those who place God at the center. The centrality of the tabernacle in the camp of Israel which we see in Exodus depicts for us in the church today the way in which the centrality of God is still at the center of what it means for us to be a church community together. And it is personal salvation. It is individual people turning to God in faith and being counted one person at a time as part of God’s eternal family.

salvation we have in christ holds all three of these things together in harmony — overarching story of the Bible

where do I need to take a step further?

Cosmic, community, personal. The salvation we have in christ holds all three of these things together in harmony. And it is the grand story of the entire Bible which places this narrative in front of us. God creates a good and perfect world which falls into the brokenness of sin. God begins with Abraham to call together in this world a group of people who are made holy and redeemed in order to be God’s agents and ambassadors of shalom restoration in this world. Through faith in Jesus Christ you and I are given access into this eternal family as the people of God. And at the end of the Bible we see that Jesus returns to complete the restoration of shalom in his world and make all things new.

part of that bigger story of salvation, which began at creation, which finds its conclusion at the complete restoration of shalom, which finds its center at the cross, and which every day points our lives towards Jesus

John starts his gospel with a quick snapshot of this bigger picture. The intention is for you and I to see ourselves inside of that picture. You and I are given the invitation to receive that gift of salvation offered to us as individuals by faith in Jesus. You and I are called, then, to be part of this larger community of believers who exist together with God at the center of everything we do. And you and I as part of this church community are redeemed by God for the purpose of living in this world as those who promote and encourage and strive towards God’s restoration of shalom all around us. You and I are part of that bigger story of salvation, which began at creation, which finds its conclusion at the complete restoration of shalom, which finds its center at the cross, and which every day points our lives towards Jesus.