The Word Became Flesh

Undercover Boss

The premise of the show is that the CEO or owner of a company, usually a large one, will disguise himself and go undercover at his own company.

The show hires a professional makeup artist and special effects people to transform the boss.

They will take him from his polished and gleaming office or boardroom

They will take him out of his mulitmillion dollar home

They will take off his designer suit and tie

And they will work on his or her face to make it look like they don’t take as good care of themselves

They give them average, run of the mill clothes

They give them some coaching in acting like they are poor and that life has dealt them a cruel blow and that they really need work, even an entry level position

They make them live in a cheap hotel room while the show is being filmed

And the owners and CEO’s go to work in their own company, submitting themselves to the orders and sometimes abuse of their own employees.

They are looking for a number of things:

They are evaluating the efficiency of their company.

What are they doing or not doing that is affecting efficiency

They are evaluating the attitudes of their employees. They are wanting to hear things which the employees are saying that they would never say directly to the boss

Are they happy?

How have decisions made up in the gleaming boardrooms affected “the little guy”.

They are keeping their eyes open for that employee who is going the extra mile

The CEO will try his hand at various tasks in the company and he wants to see which of his employees are going the extra mile

He wants to see who the employees are who are showing integrity and who is willing to have patience with him as he “messes up” now and then.

At the end of the show, certain employees which have caught his eye are taken to corporate headquarters to have a meeting.

And the door will open and the boss, now back in his designer suit and high-dollar hair cut, will walk in

And the eyes of the employees widen as it dawns on them who this guy is and who their “new employee” was.

And for the ones who have caught his eye in a good way, the boss has some sort of a reward: a bonus, financial help, a promotion.

And sometimes an employee will earn a stern reprimand.

The creators of this show think they are being clever and maybe they are.

But did you know that 2000 years ago, the first undercover boss episode took place? Only this episode created a stir and began a change that is still taking place today.

(ESV)

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. 7He 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.

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; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

Today, in our passage, John continues his description of Jesus, the Word.

The Word was light (revisited from previous Sunday) (vs. 5)

Have you ever experienced darkness so thick that it overpowers the light? I haven’t

But that’s what it was like in the beginning. The earth was formless and empty and “darkness ruled”. Darkness was over the face of the deep. No light. Complete and total darkness

And the very first thing that God said was “let there be light”. God conquered the darkness with light that has never been extinguished by darkness

And this is our first picture of what the Word was: Light!

The physical darkness had been conquered thousands of years earlier. But there was a more serious darkness which needed to be overcome: spiritual darkness

Jesus was the Word that brought light or revealed God’s plan for redemption

The light that the Word brought is one that shines continually brighter and will not be overcome by the darkness. Verse 5

Just as Jesus said that the gates of hell will not prevail against His church, in the same way, the darkness of the world will not prevail or overcome the light that Jesus the Word brings.

When the lost are found, when the dead are brought to life, Light shines in their hearts and on their countenance.

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us (vs. 14)This is one of my most favorite statements in the Bible!

We just came through Christmas

Here is the best statement in the Bible about the wonder of the incarnation

“Carne”—meat or flesh

IN-carnation—to put on flesh. When we talk about the incarnation, it is Jesus literally putting on meat or flesh

Not only did Jesus become like us, but he also lived among us.

Literally, he “pitched his tent among us”.

He didn’t come down and build a palace or a castle

In days of old, Moses and then the priests would go into the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, in order to commune with God

Now, God had come to man! God had pitched his tabernacle of meeting among men.

No longer would priests and Levites be the only ones who could commune with God.

But God was bringing His dwelling place to be among men.

And today when we bring the good news of the gospel to people, one of the most effective things that we can do is “pitch our tent” among them

Don Richardson just passed away. In the early 60’s he an his wife went to live among the primitive tribes of what was then Netherlands New Guinea, later called Irian Jaya, and now called Papua

They quite literally pitched their tent among the people, living in a primitive hut, just as the people did

I don’t think they wore the same clothes because the people of this tribe wore pretty much nothing

For us, to be effective in reaching the world for Christ and bringing souls into the Kingdom, we must GO to the world!

It’s one thing to send money, to pray, to knot comforters, etc.

But if we aren’t willing to GO, I wonder if we really understand the example that Jesus the Word gave us or the mandate that He gave us

Jesus Christ, the Word, one with God, Creator of the world, life and light of the world

willingly gave up His position and rights as God

Put on flesh to become like one of us

Pitched His tent among us to live among us and create access for all men to God

For us, if we are to think about reaching out and bringing people into the Kingdom of God,

The Word came to His own but His own didn’t know Him (vs. 10-11)

Can you imagine how terrible this must have been for Jesus?

In the undercover boss episodes, I’m sure the bosses at times want to just give the workers what for and tell them who they are and tell them to shape up

Their workers don’t know them and it must be hard, even though they put themselves in that situation.

He was the Creator, He was God incarnate. He had carefully formed man with His own hands. And then breathed breath of life into man

But His own creation didn’t know him. And even when He told them who He was, most of them didn’t believe it

But for those who did believe, He gave the right to be children of God!

That’s you and me!

Not that we were born naturally to God

But in our belief, we are spiritually reborn because of the will of God!

The Word was full of grace and truth (vs. 14)

The Word came and dwelt among us. How?

Displaying His glory

The Glory is actually that of the Father but made known in the Son

And how was that Glory displayed? It was displayed in that the Word was full of Grace and Truth

This statement used to confuse me a little bit.

I saw it as (and I heard it explained like this many times), that these are two opposites: grace and truth.

Grace forgives sins and released people from their debts and truth confronts people about the reality of their situation.

There is some truth in that. And we certainly see Jesus doing that: Forgiving and overlooking, yet confronting hypocrisy.

But I think that this statement is painting a different picture

Do you remember a number of months ago when we talked about hesed? The covenant, always reliable, love of God? The love which is constant despite the actions of mankind?

It is generally agreed that The Gospel of John was written in Greek which means that he would not have used the word hesed for his Greek-speaking audience. INstead he had to find a different way to describe it.

Instead of saying “hesed”, or covenant love, John says that the word came full of grace and truth.

Years ago when I was a student at Moody, I heard Dr. Stowell, the president at the time describe it like this: “The Word came and dwelt among us, full of reliable grace”.

And in verse 16, John says that the fullness of Christ brings a benefit to us. What is that?

From His fullness (Christ’s fullness of the glory of God), we have all received “grace upon grace”.

What does this mean?

Verse 17: 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Does that mean that the Law wasn’t good? NO it doesn’t mean that. The law WAS good because it was instituted by God. It was a demonstration of God’s grace.

But we know that mankind’s best efforts to follow the law were never good enough

I believe that what John is getting at here is that while the law was good, God’s ultimate demonstration of His covenant love, hesed, was Jesus Christ.

Jesus was full reliable grace, the kind which would ultimately bind those who believe to God.

So we have come to the end of John’s prologue to his gospel. And we have seen the Gospel so clearly laid out.

The Word was in the beginning

The Word created all things that were made

The Word laid aside His position as God

The Word put on flesh and dwelt among us

To those who believed in Him, He gave the right to be children of God.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.