What in the Word???

Introduction

The issue I want to address today is knowing God. Now to some of you this may be really obvious, and you may say ‘I already know everything about God’. For others you may not really know who God is or what He is like. And even if you claim to know God, I think so often, our idea of God comes from our own thoughts, our own experiences, our own emotions, or what other people tell us. How often is it that when you do bible study with friends, you read a passage, and you say ‘I feel this way’, or you read the passage and then you start talking about past experiences that vaguely relates to the text. For example, I just came back from working in the countryside, and while I was there, I ran into a really lovely middle aged man from America, who was working as a nurse in this country hospital. And we were living in the same accommodation and we were having a conversation and the topic of religion came up. And he asked me if I was a Christian and I said ‘yes I am.’ And then he said ‘oh yes I’m a Christian too’. But then he started talking about these very strange things, saying that the God of the bible is true, but the god of every religion is true, and everyone has god inside them and god is everywhere in the universe, and all you have to do is meditate, and do Indian deep breathing exercises, and somehow you can tap into this god of the universe. But what is the problem with his ‘god’? The ‘god’ he is describing, is essentially just a construct of the combination of how he feels, his experiences, and what he knows. He has created a god that he wants. Imagine your parents, and instead of accepting them for who they are, you create parents in the way you want. So you might think this guy is a bit crazy, but don’t we all do this to some extent? To some of you, God is some celestial being, shining with a golden light, sitting on a throne made of gold in the clouds. To others God is some being who helps you when you are struggling. Or someone who cheers you up when you’re sad. To some of you, God is someone who is sort of very far away in the distance in your lives, you don’t really see who he is or what he has done for you or why he even matters, and you might be perfectly happy keeping him as an accessory or an after-thought in your life. But the Bible is very clear and tells us exactly who God is. The Bible doesn’t leave it up to us to create a God of our imagination - it’s like a dictionary, and defines for us who God is. And John chapter 1 is especially good at doing this for us.

God is a God who speaks

So firstly, we can know God because God is a God who speaks. If you meet a stranger in a park, can you know anything about that person? Sure, you could probably describe their appearance, but you don’t know anything else about them. You don’t know how old they are, about their life story, where they are from, their job. The only way you can know anything about that person is if that person tells you. So how can we know God? We can know God if he tells us about himself. And he does! He speaks to us. Let’s look at verse 1 - it states that ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God’. John uses the term ‘the word’ here deliberately here - it is indicating God’s speech, God speaking to us about himself. But God’s ‘word’ isn’t just simple words that you hear - here the ‘Word’ is described as an individual, someone who is with God; not only is he with God, but he is God. So who is the ‘word’ obviously referring to? Just like the answer to every other question in Sunday School, Jesus Christ! So John is telling us that Jesus Christ is not only with the Father, but Jesus Himself is also God! And John also describes Jesus as the very ‘Word’ of the Father - when God tells us about himself, the Word of the Father is not just sounds that you hear or letters on a piece of paper, it is Jesus Himself. Jesus Christ is the ultimate self-expression, disclosure, explanation of the Father. Imagine God sending you a letter, to introduce himself to you, but instead of sending you a piece of paper, he sends his one and only Son Jesus Christ. And this is only possible because Jesus himself is God and therefore knows what it is like to be divine and to be God, and Jesus is so close to the Father that not only does he know everything about the Father, but if you know Jesus, you know the Father -> that is how close and united they are. See John 1:18 “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” See John 14:7 “If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

But you know what’s amazing? This divine Jesus Christ, who is God, and with the Father, and is the Word of God, he became flesh. See John 1:14 “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.” I want you to pinch the person next to you (gently). 2000 years ago, you could have literally done that to Jesus Christ. He came into the world as a human being, who had to eat, sleep, shower. He even had to go to the toilet! Someone who was before the beginning of time, who created the universe, who had all the universe in the palm of his hands, he humbled himself by becoming a mere human.

(maybe skip this part -> And what else does verse 14 say? It says ‘we have seen his glory’. Do you know what happened if we saw God’s glory in the Old Testament? We died! Because of our sin and God’s holiness, we could not be in God’s presence; that’s why God came in clouds, pillars of fire, and there was a curtain deep inside the tabernacle where the priest was in the presence of God. But in Jesus coming as a man, that same terrifying awe inspiring glory was present in Him, and dwelt among us, fulfilling the entire reason why God created us in the first place -> for God and his glory to dwell among us, bless us, and for us to praise and worship him).

God is a God who saves

But then you may ask, who cares? What does this have to do with me? Why do I care what God has to tell us about himself? Why do I care that God became a man? Well, it has everything to do with you! See John 1:5 “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” and John 1:9 “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.” Jesus Christ came into this world, and this world which we live in, is in darkness. We live in darkness, which is describing an evil, hopeless, corrupt world. And how else is this dark world described? If you see in John 1:10, it states that ‘the world did not know him’. So knowing God properly and correctly is the dividing line between whether you are in the light, and whether you are in the darkness, whether you are saved or whether you are not saved, whether you are destined for heaven or hell. And God could have left us in the darkness if he wanted to, and we would have no way to know God at all; remember, darkness is the absence of light. But look at verse 16 “For from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace’. God the Father loves us so much, he is so faithful, that he sent his Son who was reigning in heaven as God, to become a mere man, to tell us about who the Father is, so that we might know him. And knowing him isn’t just knowing what he looks like or knowing what he has done. When the Bible speaks about knowing someone, it isn’t just the superficial details, but it is knowing them deeply, who they are, knowing their very character. And where does the character of the Father become supremely displayed in the life of Jesus? We see God’s infinite love, unfailing faithfulness, boundless mercy, when Jesus died for our sins on the cross instead of us. And to those who know this miraculous and precious truth, to those who receive Jesus, and believe in him, in verse 12 it states that they are given the right ‘to become children of God’. Yes, you have wonderful loving parents here on earth, but our ultimate Father is in heaven, and His love for us is greater than any love that our parents can show us.

Conclusion

So knowing God properly is clearly the most important issue in our lives - our eternal life is at stake, knowing the greatest love in the world is at stake. And we can see that God tells us about himself in a very specific way: in Jesus Christ as the very Word of God. Knowing Jesus Christ, receiving him, believing him, and becoming children of God is the very light and life and only hope we have in this world, because John tells us that this world that we live in is in darkness. But how can we know Jesus if he physically isn’t here anymore? Well, what is the Old Testament about? If you look at Luke 24:27 “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself,” this is Jesus saying that all the Old Testament is actually about Him. And what are the Gospels (Matt/Mark/Luke/John) about? It is about the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. And what is the rest of the New Testament about? It is about Jesus work and teachings in the life of the church. So how can we know about Jesus? By reading our Bibles - our Bibles tell us about Jesus, and remember if we know Jesus, we know the Father. God doesn’t give us an option of making up our own God, to our own tastes and preferences. God is not what you want him to be; He tells you who He is, in Jesus Christ, through the Bible. And you might not like this at times, it may make you uncomfortable, it may make your friends and family uncomfortable. But it isn’t God’s job to twist and turn himself to suit you and the people around you. God, in his mercy and love, though he didn’t have to, told us about himself through His divine Son, by making him become a man, and made him die for us on the cross, to tell us how much he loves and cares for us. So guys, this book is not just a book - this is God’s love letter to you, your ultimate joy, purpose and meaning depends on this book, your eternal life depends on this book. Receive and believe this truth, because there is nothing else in this life that matters more than this. Read your bibles, immerse yourself in the Word - read it in the morning, before you go to sleep, when you go to the toilet, when you’re in the bus. Immerse yourself in Christ, and experience the light and life that He will pour into your life as His children.

Song: What a beautiful name

Prayer

Collect prayer topics from everyone

Study questions: chapters 5-6 of Engage. Skip ‘Take It Further’ section of chapter 6.

Notices:

Separate service

Initially, join adults until Kid’s Talk. Eventually, complete independent service.

Eventually, student run: music, powerpoint, prayer. Let me know, especially if interested in music/instruments.

Our service is in English. Why? We want you to be able to understand the sermon, because it is only when you hear the word of God and understand it that God creates faith in our hearts.

New students - please be welcoming, get to know each other, learn each other’s names.

Give prayer topics for teachers to pray for you. Prayer is powerful, God listens to our prayers. We want to pray for you. Give prayer topics to teachers.

Sports day

New Teacher 태석 선생님

LifeGroups - at the end of every Team 3 service, we will separate off into life groups and study the word together. Each group will have a separate teacher.