Light Work
Notes
Transcript
The Word Became Flesh
The Word Became Flesh
Bible Passage: John 1:1–18
Bible Passage: John 1:1–18
1. Eternal
1. Eternal
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Notice here
in the beginning was the word,
the idea here isn't just at the start he was there
the idea here is before time began, was the word
right here john is doing something very important, he is setting the stage to show us the difference between us and God
God always existed, and is eternal, preeminent
16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
Let this hit us where it needs to
He existed before existence as we know it, and he was good
he was in need of nothing,
Before there as a universe, ,before there was time
before there was a single star in the sky
Chist was
and john tells us here, he was with God meaning Jesus who we find out here is the word was there with God but John says one more thing
He was God
but I think better to say He is God
John here used an imperfect tense to kind of give ambiguity to continuation
The word is with God, the word is God
All the other Gospel writers started with Jesus life on earth
John went to the start and we remember in Genesis 1, we see now the word was god and with God in verse 2 of Gen it says the spirit of God hovers
Every chance I get I want to put out that God exists in three distinct persons, the father, son and spirit
The Father son and spirit are three distinct person who share one divine nature
they are not three Gods but one
they are one
this is known as the trinity and this is an essential doctrine of our faith
This God in all his being
in his eternality
existed before time began
3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
this is huge family because we cannot exist without him
nothing was made apart from him and through him it all exists
v 4 says
4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
See the beauty in this, despite the state of the world now overcome with sin
the darkness of that sin cannot overcome the light
5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
the Light wins family
while Jesus hung on that cross it may have seemed like darkness was winning but sunday was coming
from the beginning of time this has always been so and john here is pointing out his that this was God’s plan from the jump,
to be all that we need
watch how John proves this out
2. Proving the Light in Witness
2. Proving the Light in Witness
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.
8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
I was traveling one time through Hong Kong
10/10 recommend if you haven’t been
but my friends and I were walking through this mall, and came across this store with a lot of like middle easter decor
we walked in and after a couple of minutes the store owner yelled out Mosses
I said what and he goes you must be a christian,
To which I responded yes and he said he could tell because I had a beard like moses
then convo progresses, we talked about differences between islam and chritianity
ended the convo with him saying we were very kind and loving and he offered me one of his daughters
meet aliyah
just kidding
now I don’t actually believed he mistook me for Moses
but whats interesting here is John was very careful to point out, that this man named John
different person all together than the author
came to prepare the way.
people may try and mistake him for a great prophet or something but John was careul to always point people to jesus
Despite how powerful his anointing he never made it about him, his call was obedience and pointing people towards repentance
surrender to the father and his will
But notice this in V 10
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
like imagine this, you show up to an event, you paid for, you put on, its your birthday and yet no one there recognizes you, but keep telling you things about you
Jesus, the godman in the flesh, here walking amongst people, yet no one knew who he was
today, in the same way we can know a lot about God yet not know him
let me make this plain church
we need to experience the father
not just know more facts about him, we have to experience Him
We need more than just information about God, we need a relationship with him thorough faith in Christ Jesus
This is why just because it is a bible study or small group doesn't mean it is “beneficial”
Let me be careful here, anytime God’s word is open it moves and demands a response
But that is why our bible studies here wont just be christian hangouts, they will move us to action through the Gospel
We will experience a God that touches our hearts.
so many people can state facts about him, yet don’t talk to him, or walk in Him
the crazy thing is, and I know you’ve heard it said, most churches in America if Jesus was to walk in, would reject him
this happened when he was on earth, He was here, walking about and telling of the things of God and yet people still rejected Him
the beautiful part here tho, is that all who do recieve him, he givs the right to become God’s children
Yall this is why we live right here
this is how the darkness fails to overcome
we have the right to become children of God
You have a right to get to know him
to see him as your father
to receive a heavenly inheritance
but notice here in verse 13
13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
you cannot do this tho on your own
remember the three circles
you cannot in and of yourself come to christ,
he has to draw you and give you faith
this is when you can become a child of God
remember there is nothing in and of us that saves us
that is why there is nothing that can take that away
you can be in him
you can know him
you can truly experience him
which leads to our last point today
3. Presence in Flesh: Grace and Truth
3. Presence in Flesh: Grace and Truth
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.
15 (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.’ ”)
16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
18 No one has ever seen God; God the only Son, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
This part gets me super excited
he became a man that we know as Jesus but then he dwelt, among us
this word in the greek in huge
he skeneyoed among us
but it means that he lived in a tent
this is a look back into exodus and the tabernacle
remember the portable one they had to carry so that God would dwell with them
taking this ark of the covenant and going to certain places to be able to commune with God
he tabernacled among us.
where God met them on the top of mountains instead he was here
I heard a pastor once tell the story
He was at a monistary with some buhdist monks, and if you know anything about monks they are typically very “peaceful”
but anyways they were talking and the monks as well as an Emom were all talking
they were saying all of their faith's strive to do one thing and thats get to god, they might take different paths climbing the mountain but it is all going to the same place,
this pastor looked at them and begged the question
What if God instead of making everyone go up the mountain came down the mountain and revealed himself
they all responded that would be awesome
to which the pastor responded
Thats Jesus
You no longer have to do all these things to reach God
He came to you
You don’t have to fix yourself
He fixes you
You don’t have to earn your keep,
He adopted you
The question family is will you love him enough to live for him?
let us allow the strength of the lord to be our guide
Prayer
communion
