JOHN 1:14a | JESUS UNDERSTANDS

Growing up, my family and I had taken numerous trips to Florida as we would drive down there over spring break, and many of those trips ended up with our family in Orlando.

Some of my greatest memories as a child are from times that we spent there in Orlando.

Now, it wasn’t on every trip, but there were a number of times that we went down on spring break that we would end up spending a day at Disney World.

As a kid, it was the happiest place on earth.

Seeing the people from our favorite childhood memories in real life and then riding the rides, it really was a “dream come true”

And I couldn’t wait to take my new bride to this special place to create even more memories!

And what better place to do that than at Magic Kingdom, where the giant castle was.

I could not wait!

So the day finally came that I had been waiting for… we had gotten our tickets, made our way through security, and there we were standing on Mainstreet USA in front of the giant Disney castle.

I had a giant smile plastered on my face because we were at the happiest place on earth, and I looked over expecting to be met with a similar excited face…

But instead, my new bride had a puzzled face.

I’ll never forget what she said, “This seems like a place for kids.”

The horror I felt as I realized she wasn’t experiencing the wonder and amazement that I was…

She didn’t find the same joy riding It’s a Small World

She didn’t have the same anticipation has we waited in line for an hour and a half for Thunder Mountain.

And by early evening, she was ready to head out, and I still had hours of fun left to explore.

I wanted to look at this stranger I had married and say, “You just don’t understand!”

APPLICATION: We’ve all probably had those words cross our mind before.

Maybe it’s related to a special memory that we want someone else to experience the same way, and the don’t… and in frustration you thought, “You just don’t understand.”

The truth is, more often than not, it isn’t a feeling we get from something happy, but instead it’s from something we are broken over.

Life didn’t turn out the way you were expecting…

You made a vow, “for better or worse” and you meant it, but the other person in the relationship hasn’t held up their end of the deal.

You thought that life with kids would be easy, but you found out it’s not what you were expecting.

The excitement of the dream job you spent years preparing for has all but disappeared because you didn’t know you would end up with the tyrannical boss you now have.

The words come to our minds for all different reasons.

Maybe it’s because of the loss of a friend or a loved one.

Maybe it’s just something you weren’t expecting.

And your mind comes to that place where you think “No one understands what I’m going through.”

Pastoring over these past 6 years has been a joy in my life.

I never dreamed that I would end up being a pastor in southwest Montana… but now that God has me here, I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.

I love the people of WBC, and I count it a great honor and responsibility to get to pastor here.

But there was a phrase the I uttered many times, especially the first few years of pastoring, and it was “They didn’t teach how to deal with that in Bible college.”

Over the past 6 years there have been many times where I’ve had the privilege but also the heartbreak to walk through difficult situations with many of you.

To walk through an unbearable trial or loss with someone, or to watch them walk through it themselves.

And still to this day, I struggle with knowing what words to say when someone is going through an impossible situation in their life.

But one phrase that I have uttered many many times is this… “I’m sorry… There’s no way that I could understand what you are going through.”

Sometimes in life we get to that place where we think to ourselves… “No one understands.”

Where you may be in a crowded room and yet still feel all alone…

“No one knows what I’m going through.”

“No one gets it.”

“No one understands.”

EXPLANATION: John penned his Gospel years following the writings of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

As we have mentioned previously, John often gives insight into different accounts in his Gospel that the others do not.

Just the way he has begun his Gospel differs greatly from how the others began their writings.

So it is interesting that John would only dedicate half of one verse to the birth of Christ.

And yet in just a few a few simple words, a profound truth can be seen.

John sheds light on those first few verses in chapter one as he makes clear Who it is he was talking about when he referred to as “the Word”.

There can be no argument that John was pointing us to Jesus Christ!

And now steers his readers attention to the dichotomy of Who Jesus was… He was 100% God, and He was 100% man.

How could this be possible, it seems like a contradiction.

Paul did his best to explain this reality in Philippians 2:5-7

Philippians 2:5–7 KJV 1900

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

Verses 6 and 7, help us in our human understanding somewhat.

In v.6, he declares that Jesus was “in the form of God”

The word “form” carries with it the thought of being in the shape of something.

Jesus was shaped as God… because He was God.

But v.7 then tells us, “he took upon himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.”

While being God, He put on the shape of a servant… of man.

ILLUSTRATION: When I was born I became a son.

And to this day I am still a son.

But something happened on August 6, 2011… just before our honeymoon to Orlando… I got married.

And when I got married and I became a husband!

Now I didn’t cease being a son… I just became a husband as well.

Then on June 4, 2015, everything changed again… We had Jayce.

And on that day I became a dad.

I didn’t stop being a husband or a son… but I guess you could say I took on the form of a dad…

And three kids and 10 years later, the form of a dad is continuing to grow on me!

APPLICATION: It would be impossible to fully and adequately explain how Christ was all God and all man at the same time.

But when Christ came to this earth as a man He became 100% man… and He was still 100% God.

Now, it’s interesting because if there was anyone that could have spent chapters telling the story about the birth of Christ, and Jesus manifesting Himself as a man, in great detail, it would have been John.

When Jesus was dying on the cross and He looked down and charged John with taking care of his mother, Mary.

I have no doubt in the years that followed, John probably asked Mary numerous times, “Can you tell me the story of Christ’s birth again?”

I mean, John was getting the first hand account from the mother of Jesus!

Next to Mary and Joseph, John may have had the best knowledge of the details that took place with the birth of Christ.

But John doesn’t spend the chapter delving into the birth of Christ.

In fact he summarizes the entire birth of Christ in 6 words, “And the Word was made flesh.”

That’s it!

Instead of John spending his time diving into the story of the birth of Christ, he focuses his reader on another vital part of Christ’s coming:

He says, “he dwelt among us”.

John didn’t want his readers to read these words flippantly.

He wanted them to sense the wonder and the power in those words… “he dwelt among us”

The word “dwelt” that John uses with it carries with it the sense of “abiding in a tent”

It is a word picture of what took place in the OT tabernacle.

You’ll remember when the children of Israel were wondering in around in the wilderness for 40 years, they would travel from place to place.

And as they did, there was something that traveled with them everywhere they went… the tabernacle.

In the wilderness it was a giant tent that contained many parts within it, but the most precious piece within that tent was the Ark of the Covenant.

This wasn’t some Indiana Jones thing, this was real.

And wherever the Ark was it was a visual manifestation of the presence of God.

It was a picture of God dwelling amongst them!

And as John writes these words in John 1:14, the wonder of what took place for those 3 and a half years left him in awe…

“The word was made flesh, and DWELT AMONG US… He dwelt among me!”

You can almost hear John pause here as the reality of what he was saying leaves him stunned

It was John who introduced us to the thought over in 1 John 4:8

1 John 4:8 KJV 1900

He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

1 John 4:16 KJV 1900

And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

You’ll remember that when John refers to himself in his Gospel he doesn’t call himself “John”, no he calls himself “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”

John wrote that familiar verse in John 3:16

John 3:16 KJV 1900

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John was captivated by the reality that Jesus Christ left the glories of heaven, and came to this earth, and dwelt among him… because He loved him!

He experienced all the pain, all the struggle, all the loss and emotions, so that He could understand… because He loved me.

APPLICATION: And if we aren’t careful here today, we will read over the first half of this verse 13, and we will miss the incredible reality that are minds should be pointed to.

God in flesh, dwelt amongst men!

He came to this earth and lived as a man… yet without sin.

And while you may feel at times that no one understands what you are going through in life, you can mark it down… Jesus understands!

I. HE UNDERSTANDS LOSS

EXPLANATION: We don’t have anything recorded in Scripture, but most scholars believe that Jesus’ earthly father, Joseph, probably died sometime during his later teens or in his twenties.

Following their trip to Jerusalem when Jesus was twelve, we never find Joseph mentioned again.

While the loss of His earthly father is up to some speculation, there were other losses that we know about in the scriptures.

Jesus’ cousin that we preached about a couple weeks ago was John the Baptist.

We know that John was thrown into prison because he was preaching against sin, and ultimately lost his life for it, and Jesus knew all about it.

In Matthew 14, following John the Baptist’s death, his body was taken and buried and the Bible tells us in Matthew 14:13

Matthew 14:13 KJV 1900

When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart: and when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities.

Jesus tried to get some time alone following his cousin’s death.

It was at the gravesite of his friend Lazarus that we find Jesus in the shortest verse in the Bible John 11:35

John 11:35 KJV 1900

Jesus wept.

Jesus knew what it meant to lose loved ones.

He also knew what it meant to lose friends.

In John 6 Jesus is diving into some challenging verses in the Word of God, and as He finishes His message, we find the response of the great group of disciples that were following Him:

John 6:66 KJV 1900

From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.

You can feel the heartbreak and see the humanity of Christ as He asks His twelve disciples in the next verse,

John 6:67 KJV 1900

Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?

APPLICATION: Jesus understands your loss

II. JESUS UNDERSTANDS BETRAYAL

EXPLANATION: It was the night before He would give His life on the cross.

There in that upper room, He is there with the 12 men who have done life with Him for the last 3 and a half years.

They had no idea what was coming, but Jesus did.

Everyone is around the table eating and talking about who’s going to be the greatest in Christ’s kingdom, when Jesus speaks up.

“One of you is going to betray me.”

Talk about a damper on the party.

Everyone begins to question, “Is it me?”

You can mark it down someone is whispering to someone else… “I bet it’s Thomas… He is always doubting everything.”

Then Jesus calls out the one they all least expected… Judas.

For us today, we think, “they should have seen it coming”

But for the disciples, Judas had all of their trust.

He was the one that handled all of the groups money.

They fully trusted him.

In fact, after Jesus pointed out that Judas was going to betray Him, Judas gets up and leaves and the disciples just think he’s running to the grocery store.

John 13:28–29 KJV 1900

Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him. For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the feast; or, that he should give something to the poor.

But it was only a few hours later, that Jesus was standing in the Garden, when Judas broke through the crowd and walked up to Jesus and kissed him on the cheek to signify which one was Jesus.

Betrayal.

But the night didn’t stop there.

After Jesus was taken by the crowd, Matthew 26:56 gives the sad record

Matthew 26:56 KJV 1900

But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.

His closest friends… the ones He had ministered with… They all ran off and left Him.

And then the night got even darker.

Peter was standing by the fire when on three different occasions he was pointed out as being one of Jesus’ friends and followers

And in Peter’s final defiant rejection of even knowing Christ, he says, “I swear I didn’t even know Him.”

APPLICATION: Jesus understood what it meant to be betrayed.

III. JESUS UNDERSTANDS STRUGGLE

EXPLANATION: Jesus knew what it meant not to have much.

Matthew 8:20 KJV 1900

And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

He knew what it meant to be in want.

Jesus knew what it mean to suffer physically

The last 24 hours of Christ’s life were filled with more suffering and pain than most of us will experience in our lifetime.

And it culminated with Christ reaching the hill of Golgotha where no one had to hold Him down… He laid down His life willingly.

And Jesus knew was it meant to face sin.

At the start of Jesus ministry, Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness without food.

And at the end of 40 days, Satan himself showed up to tempt Christ.

And Jesus refused and stood against the temptation.

Hebrews 4:15 KJV 1900

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

But it was what took place on the cross that gave Christ the deepest insight of what it meant to feel the weight of sin.

Because as He hung on that cross, my sins… your sins were placed upon Him.

Matthew records the moment as Jesus looked up into heaven

Matthew 27:46 KJV 1900

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Why did Jesus go through all of that?

He did it for 2 reasons.

The first is because He wants to save you from your sins.

Romans 3:10 KJV 1900

As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

Romans 6:23 KJV 1900

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 5:8 KJV 1900

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Christ paid the price for your sins.

Now it is your responsibility to not allow his death to be in vain for your life!

Romans 10:9–10 KJV 1900

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

The other reason Christ went through everything is found in the verse that John wrote as he reflected back on the life of Christ.

John 1:14 KJV 1900

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

He went through everything so when you reach the point where you are thinking, “no one understands”, you can know, Christ does!

Jesus understands!

And He calls out to you Matthew 11:28-30

Matthew 11:28–30 KJV 1900

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

CONCLUSION

Friend, God doesn’t expect for you to walk through the burdens of this life alone thinking no one understands!

He wants you to know that Jesus Christ came to this earth and went through everything and bore your deepest darkest sins, to offer you forgiveness and to let you know that know matter what you face, Christ understands at the deepest level!

If you’re here this morning and you battle discouragement and depression… Jesus understands.

If you’re here this morning and you are struggling with bitterness because of hurt… Jesus understands.

If you’re here this morning and you are going through loss… Jesus understands!

And if you’re here today and things seem to be going alright… but you’re afraid of what could be around the corner… Friend, Jesus understands.

And here is the key, not only does He understand, He wants to give you comfort through it.

John 14:27 KJV 1900

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

When we go through things in life, our natural response it to turn inward and isolate ourselves… No one understands.

Can I challenge us all this morning, that whether you are going through something now, or someday, will you decide now to instead turn to Christ…

To call unto Him

To come unto Him

Because Jesus dwelt among us… and truly He understands!

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