The Life And Light Of Christ
“THE LIFE AND LIGHT OF CHRIST”
John 1:3-5
"All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (John 1:3-5ESV)
INTRODUCTION:
In verses 3 – 5 John finishes his opening words, his opening comments concerning the subject, the theme of the gospel that bears his name. The subject of the book is of course the “Word” as John identifies Jesus Christ.
Last week we examined verse two in which John dealt with the eternal relationship between the Father and the Son. Now beginning in verse 3 John turns his attention to the relationship between the Word and creation, between Jesus Christ and creation.
The relationship as described by John is an important one because it is another of the proofs, it is another piece of evidence introduced to verify the claims that Jesus made about himself while he lived here on the earth. It would be good for us to remember that John’s gospel is a biography of the life of Christ. This biography is written by one who personally witnessed the life of Christ. John is not making assumptions about Jesus Christ; John is making truth statements based upon his own eyewitness observations of the life of Christ.
What then is the relationship between Jesus Christ and creation?
1. JESUS CHRIST IS THE SOURCE OF CREATION
John’s thinking is logical in its flow. He has already linked the Word, Jesus Christ with creation when he opened the book by stating that “In the beginning was the Word…” The words “in the beginning” take us back to the creation account in the very first book of the Bible the book of Genesis.
A popular children’s catechism asks the question “Who made you?” “God did!” “What else did God make?” “God made all things!” The Christian belief is that God is the source of creation. Now what does John say in verse three? “All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made what was made.”
Taking each of John’s statements about the Word where do they lead us? They lead us to only one conclusion that Jesus is God!
Let’s follow John’s line of reasoning here.
1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth
2. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God
3. All things were made through him (Word)
Logically it follows if each of those statements are true then the only conclusion that can be drawn is that Jesus is God. If Jesus is the Creator he cannot be among the created! Therefore if you are going to deny that Jesus is God you are going to have to also deny that God is the Creator. What is my point? More importantly what is John’s point? You cannot separate The Son from the Father. You cannot separate Christ from God.
Is creation a legitimate source, a legitimate proof for the existence of God? I believe that it is. There are many who do not necessarily embrace the Christian faith who when they look at creation they arrive at the conclusion that the creation had to have a creator.
For instance the scientist Francis Collins wrote in his book The Language of God “I can’t imagine how nature, in this case the universe, could have created itself. And the very fact that the universe had a beginning implies that someone was able to begin it. And it seems to me that had to be outside of nature.”
One of God’s intended uses for creation was to provide a visual testimony of his existence. For instance Romans 1:20 teaches us…
“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”
As we look at the world around us, according to the Bible it is right to assume that what we can see (creation) was created by one we can’t see (God).
What is Jesus Christ relationship to creation? He is the source of creation. The Father worked through the Son to both create and sustain the creation. John is offering his creative power as a proof of the divine nature of Christ. As Calvin says “Having declared that the Word is God and proclaimed His divine essence, he goes on to prove His divinity from His works.”
The theme of Christ as the Creator is a common one in the New Testament. In Col. 1:16-17 Paul says that all things were created “by him” and even “for him”, and that in him all things hold together. The author of the book of Hebrews informs us that the Father working through the Son has made the world. Rev. 3:14 describes Christ as the beginning the originator of creation.
MacArthur writes “That Jesus Christ created everything offers two further proofs of His deity. First the Creator of all things must himself be uncreated, and only the eternal God is uncreated. (Second) that Jesus is the Creator also verifies His deity because God is portrayed throughout the Bible as the Creator.”
QUESTION: If God created this world what happened to it? It is obvious that the way the world is now is radically different from God’s original good creation. (See Gen. 1:31)
What happened was the entrance of sin into God’s good world. That event is known as the fall. The effect of the fall was universal. Every part of the creation was affected, not just people but all of creation was corrupted by the fall and awaits the coming redemption.
Since Jesus Christ is the source of creation then John’s next statement logically follows.
2. JESUS IS THE SOURCE OF LIFE
John 1:4 “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.”
Since Jesus Christ is the Creator it logically follows that he is also the source of life. Now for the first time John introduces two prominent themes of his gospel – life and light. But how does John use them?
What kind of life is John referring to?
If we keep in mind that we are examining Christ’s relationship to creation then I believe it would be safe and proper to assume that the life that John is referring to is physical life. Notice the way, notice the words, the phrasing that John uses, “In him (the Word, in Christ) was life.” Who is the source of life? Jesus Christ is! But should we, or did John intend to limit the life that was in Christ to purely, or only physical life? I don’t believe we should, nor do I believe that John intended the use of the word life to be limited to physical life. Andreas Kostenberger writes “John asserts that life was in him (Jesus). He is the source of life, both physical and spiritual.” Just as there is no physical life apart from Christ, there is also no spiritual life apart from Christ.
This is important for the time we live in. We live in a day and age that emphasizes spirituality, but it is a false spirituality, because according to the Scriptures there is no spiritual life, there is no genuine spirituality apart from Christ.
Life is one of John’s characteristic concepts in his book. He uses the word 36 times. Leon Morris writes “Life in John characteristically refers to eternal life which is the gift of God through His Son. Here however the term must be taken in the broadest sense. It is only because there is life in the word that there is anything on earth at all. Life does not exist in its own right.”
The Gospel constantly associates life with the Word. For instance in John 10:10 Jesus tells us that he came so that we may have life and that we may have it abundantly. John 3:16 tells us that Jesus died so that people may have everlasting life. Jesus gave his life for the world (John 6:51). Jesus said that only those who come to him have life. Twice Jesus said that he is the life. (John 11:25, 14:6)
The Bible teaches that the coming of the life forces those who have seen the light to make a choice. As far back as the Old Testament days the Lord said to the people of Israel.
"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live," (Deuteronomy 30:19ESV)
Hopefully it is obvious that something more than physical life is being referred to. The life being referred to is spiritual life, it is eternal life. Spiritual life is to be found only in Christ. We cannot look within to find spiritual life, it’s not there, it’s not within us.
Then where does this spiritual life come from? Spiritual life comes from the same source of physical life. Physical life is in Christ. Spiritual life is in Christ and in Christ alone.
Don’t we all come equipped with spiritual life? Isn’t it in there somewhere, and we just have to find it? Not according to the Scriptures. To understand our need of spiritual life and to appreciate spiritual life we need to understand the spiritual condition that each one of us are born into. The Bible teaches that apart from Christ we are not spiritually alive we are spiritually dead.
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus," (Ephesians 2:1-6ESV)
If we are spiritually dead then how do we become spiritually alive? The Bible describes it in terms that we can all understand and identify with. The Bible says that we all must be born again.
What does that mean? Being born again means receiving a new life from God through the Lord Jesus Christ by faith in him and for all who place their faith in Christ they receive eternal life. Eternal life is the life we receive from God in the moment of our belief in Jesus Christ. It is the same life we will be living with God in eternity.
What is eternal life? It is life without end, the life of God!
What does John mean when he says that the life was the light of men?
Think about what light does. Light illuminates, light reveals what we can’t see in the dark. I think John has the concepts of illumination and revelation in mind here. What does Jesus Christ shine light on? What does Jesus Christ reveal to us?
Jesus Christ reveals to us, he illuminates God for us. The Bible teaches that God is a Spirit, and you can’t see a Spirit. The Old Testament is filled with descriptions and word pictures of who God is, and what God is like.
We have the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. God went beyond a picture and sent us a life! A life that was lived in such a way that the invisible God became visible in the person of Jesus Christ. Do you want to know what God is like? Then study the life of Christ. Watch as Jesus displays mercy and compassion. Watch as Jesus helps the widow, heals the sick and feeds the hungry. Watch as Jesus becomes angry at the abuse of His Fathers house. Watch as Jesus gives grace to those who don’t deserve it.
Do you want to know what God is like? Then study the life of Christ.
God has not hidden himself from us. He has revealed himself to us in the person of Christ.
Let’s finish by asking one final question. Since Jesus Christ has returned to heaven does that mean that his life and his light can no longer be seen in this world? Not at all. Since Jesus Christ no longer walks among us then how are we to see Christ? How are others to see Christ? Just as Jesus reflected the life of the Father by the way that he lived, Christians today are to reflect the life of Christ in the way that they live. If you profess to be a follower of Christ, if you profess to be a Christian then you have been given an assignment that is both a great privilege and a great responsibility. You have been given the privilege of being Christ’s representative in this world. It is also a great responsibility. You are responsible to live in such a way that your life accurately reflects the character of Christ. Please listen, if you claim to be a Christian it does matter how you live, you are to live in such a way that the light of Christ is clearly seen against the dark backdrop of this world. Your attitudes should reflect the attitude of Christ. Your actions should reflect the actions of Christ. The people that you come into contact with should be able to get an accurate picture of what Christ is like by reading your life even before they read a page out of the Bible.
Let’s say that you have a close friend, or a co-worker, or a family member that knows that you are a Christian and perhaps you’ve done your best to share Christ with them on several occasions. One day they pick up a copy of the Bible and they start reading about Jesus Christ and the more they read slowly a feeling of déjà vu begins to come over them. There are many things about Christ that they have experienced before; they have experienced patience like Christ displayed. They have experienced the kind of grace and mercy that Christ displayed. They have experienced the incredible peace and control that Christ displayed. They have experienced the kind of wisdom that Christ displayed. But they just can’t quite put their finger on where or how they’ve experienced all these things. Then suddenly it hits them. It’s not Jesus that they are reading about it’s you their reading about! It’s you their friend, their co-worker, their family member that has been such a reflection of the life of Christ that they knew some of what he is like before they ever read a sentence about him from the Bible.
Christian is that the kind of life that you are living through the power of the Holy Spirit? Christian it is that kind of life that you can be living and you should be living through the power of the Holy Spirit. That’s why daily reading and meditating on the Scriptures is so important. That’s why spending time with Christ in prayer is so important. The practice of the spiritual disciplines is so important because they help form the character of Christ in us.
What kind of response does this message require of us today?
First of all, to those who are here and have not received eternal life, who have not recognized Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior he is calling you to come to him by faith so that you might have life, so that you may have the abundant life that he desires for you to have. He is calling you today to eternal life, to life without end, the life of God. I trust that I have reflected and revealed the life and the light of Christ to you today and every other week that you may have been here.
Second to those who are here and profess to be followers of Christ, who would profess to be Christians I ask you how are you doing in fulfilling your assignment and carrying out your responsibility of reflecting and revealing the life and the light of Christ? It’s not something to be taken lightly. Are you living a life that is controlled by the Holy Spirit? Are your attitudes and your actions reflecting Christ or denying Christ? Can others see Christ in you?
The choosing of our church name reflects who we should be as Christians. We should be a community of grace! Our vision as a church is to live our lives in such a way that that our community can see a proper reflection of Jesus Christ.
A difficult assignment to be sure, but not an impossible one, we can in the power of the Holy Spirit reflect the character of Christ to our friends, and co-workers and family members who desperately need to see him.