The Word Was God

April 13, 2008

John 1:1-18

Before I begin today’s message I’d like to share with you the reading from the April 6th devotional in “Experiencing God Day-by-Day. It spoke to me; I hope it speaks to you too.

It’s entitled, Faithful in a Little

Whoever is faithful in very little is also faithful in much, and whoever is unrighteous in very little is also unrighteous in much.—Luke 16:10

God rewards those who are faithful. Throughout your life God will seek to grow you in your faith. He will continually bring you to times when you must trust Him. He will lead you into situations that require a “little” faith, and if you are faithful, He will then take you into situations that require even greater trust in Him. Each time you are able to trust God at a higher level, God will reveal more of Himself to you. Your faith and experiencing God are directly linked.

The best way to tell if you are prepared for a greater revelation of God is to see how faithful you have been with what God has given you. This is a foundational principle in God's relationships with us: If you have been faithful with the little He has given you, you are ready to be entrusted with more. If you failed to trust God with the little He gave you, He will not trust you with more. God will not lead you beyond your present level of trust and obedience to Him. He will return you to your area of unfaithfulness until you are prepared to trust Him. The children of Israel were unwilling to trust God to lead them into the Promised Land, and their generation never again was able to move forward with Him.

You stand at an exciting new door of opportunity to know God more intimately every time you believe Him. Every step of faith leads you to a deeper relationship of faith with Him. It is an open invitation to know God more intimately.

The beginning of John's gospel is of such importance and of such depth of meaning that we must study it almost verse by verse. It is John's great divinely inspired revelation that Jesus is none other than God's creative and life-giving and light-giving Word, that Jesus is the power of God which created the world and the reason of God which sustains the world come to earth in human and bodily form.

Here at the beginning John says three things about the Word; which is to say that he says three things about Jesus. And all three things are in John 1:1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Firstly, the Word was already there at the very beginning. John's echoes the first verse of the Old Testament of the Bible. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen 1:1). What John is saying is --the word is not one of the created things; the word was there before creation. Jesus was not created. Jesus was the creator. The word is not part of the world which came into being in time; the word is part of eternity and was there with God before time and the world began. John reveals the preexistence of Christ. “In the beginning was the Word.” In the beginning was Jesus.

In many ways this idea of preexistence is very difficult, if not altogether impossible, to grasp. But it does mean one very simple, very practical, and very tremendous thing. If the word was with God before time began, if God's word is part of the eternal scheme of things, it means that God was always with Jesus and like Jesus. Jesus said, “I and the Father are One. If you have seen me, you have seen the Father” John 10:30; 14:9-11. Jesus tried to make abundantly clear to His followers that He and the Father were inseparable – seen one; seen both! Know one; know both!

Sometimes we tend to think of God as stern and avenging; and we tend to think that something Jesus did changed God's anger into love and altered his attitude toward men. The New Testament knows nothing of that idea. The whole New Testament tells us, this passage of John especially, that God has always been like Jesus. What Jesus did was to open a window in time that we might see the eternal and unchanging love of God.

We may well ask, "What then about some of the things that we read in the Old Testament? What about the passages which speak about commandments of God to wipe out whole cities and to destroy men, women and children? What of the anger and the destructiveness and the jealousy of God that we sometimes read of in the older parts of Scripture?" The answer is this--it is not God who has changed; it is men's knowledge of him that has changed. Men wrote these Old Testament accounts because that was the stage which their knowledge of God had reached. And remember, all Scripture is divinely inspired (2Timothy 3:16). Men wrote what God laid on their hearts to write.

When a child is learning any subject, he has to learn it stage by stage. He does not begin with full knowledge; he begins with what he can grasp and goes on to more and more. When he or she begins music appreciation, he does not start with a Bach Prelude and Fugue; he starts with something much more simple; and goes through stage after stage until his or her knowledge grows. It was that way with men and God. They could only grasp and understand God's nature and his ways in part. It was only when Jesus came that they saw fully and completely what God has always been like.

It is told that a little girl was once confronted with some of the more bloodthirsty and savage parts of the Old Testament. Her comment was: "But that happened before God became a Christian!" When John says that the word was always there, he is saying that God was always a Christian. He is telling us that God was and is and ever shall be like Jesus; but men could never know and realize that until Jesus came. In the beginning was the Word!

Secondly, John goes on to say that the word was with God. What does he mean by that? He means that always there has been the closest connection between the Word and God. Let us put that in another and a simpler way--there has always been the most intimate connection between Jesus and God. That means no one can tell us what God is like, what God's will is for us, what God's love and heart and mind are like, as Jesus can. See one; see both. Know one; know both!

Let us take a simple human analogy. If we want to know what someone really thinks and feels about something, and if we are unable to talk to the person ourselves, we do not go to someone who is merely an acquaintance to someone who has known him or her only a short time; we go to someone whom we know to be an intimate friend of many years' standing. We know that he is more likely to be able to interpret the mind and the heart of the other person.

It is something like that here! in what John is saying about Jesus. He is saying that Jesus has always been with God. John is saying that Jesus is so intimate with God that God has no secrets from him; and that, therefore, Jesus is the one person who can reveal to us what God is like and how God feels toward us. The Word was God.

Finally John says that the Word was God. John did not say that the Word was identical with God. He said that the word was theos --which means that the word was of the very same character and quality and essence and being as God. When John said the Word was God he was not saying that Jesus was God’s identical twin; he was saying that Jesus was so perfectly the same as God in mind, in heart, in being that in him we perfectly see God. Identical twins may be difficult to identify because they are so alike. But, regardless, they are separate and have their own identity, while Jesus was not separate. He and the Father are One!

So right at the beginning of his gospel John lays it down that in Jesus, and in him alone, there is perfectly revealed to men all that God always was and always will be, and all that he feels towards and desires for men. Looking at one verse of Scripture closely is like examining a work of art with your nose, practically touching it. Now let’s back up and look at the big picture.

If you have your Bible still open, please turn to John, chapter 1, we’ll read verses 1 through 18: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light. There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testified about Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.'" For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

These verses expose us to a beautiful picture of truth and learning truth precedes loving truth. Right reflection on God precedes right affection for God. Seeing the glory of Christ precedes savoring the glory of Christ. That's the order of learning. To know Him is to love Him! That is what we are doing here this morning because exultation in God is preceded by education on the nature of God. Head knowledge precedes heart knowledge!

What we know and believe and teach about God is foundational for all our worship - not just the corporate worship in this building, but the exultation in God that overflows in lives of love, where others will see our light and give the glory to God (Matthew 5:16). Our education of children and youth and adults aims at exultation. Or, which is the same thing, it aims at "spreading a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples."

What do we, as a church, exist for, and how does this vision - this plan and this building - fit in to that larger picture? We began with the foundation of the foundation. We began with God. And in particular, with the deity of God - the Godness of God - or the sovereignty of God. "You are My witnesses, declares the LORD (Yahweh), and I am God. Even from eternity I am He, and there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?" (Isaiah 43:12b-13). "I am God . . . I am He" - that's the deity of God. "I act and no one can turn it" - that's the sovereignty of God (see also Isaiah 14:27; 45:5-7; 46:9-10). And of this, God says, "You are my witnesses."

This is the foundation. We will teach that Yahweh is God and that God is sovereign, and that this is wonderful news because it is the foundation of all his grace and all his promises. Therefore, it is the foundation of true and high and passionate exultation. We will say to our children and to our children’s children and to each other and to anyone who will listen the words of Deuteronomy 4:39, "Know [!] therefore today, and take it to your heart [!], that the LORD, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other." That is the foundation of EDUCATION FOR EXULTATION: God is God alone, and God is sovereign. And this is the foundation which those first 18 verses of the book of John wish to establish – the crux of our faith – that Jesus is God. That is huge! This is what our faith is built on – Jesus is God; not just a good teacher as the Jehovah’s witnesses would have you believe. Jesus is God! Not the brother of Beelzebub as the Mormons teach. Jesus is God!

Jesus is God. When we say "We exist to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples," we mean, "We exist to spread a passion for the supremacy of Jesus Christ in all things for the joy of all peoples."

Look with me again at our key text and let's make three observations.

1. Jesus Christ, who is called "the Word," is the eternal God.

John 1:1-3, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.

The main thing to see here is, "The Word was God." Jesus Christ is called "the Word." We will see that in just a moment from verses 14 and 17. Verse 3 clarifies what it means for "the Word" to be God. "All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being." In other words, he did not come into being. All that did come into being came into being through him. He has always existed. He is the Creator God!

The Word is co-eternal with God the Father. He is not the Father, because he was "with God" the Father. But he is equally God with God the Father because "the Word was God."

That is the first observation.

2. The Word became flesh; that is, God was united with a human nature in one Person, and was truly man and truly God who lived in history as Jesus Christ. 100% man; 100% God.

Verse 14: "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." Then in verse 17 this Person called "the Word" is given a name: "For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ." So Jesus Christ is "the Word" who was in the beginning with God and who was God.

3. If you receive him, you become a child of God and enjoy everlasting waves of grace.

Combine verses 12 and 16: "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name. . .. For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace." If you believe and receive him for who he really is, God, you are granted to be a child of God and that means receiving "grace upon grace" that corresponds to his fullness -which is an infinite fullness. And so the waves never cease. And so our exultation in Jesus Christ will never cease. His fullness is inexhaustible and it will overflow with waves of grace forever and ever and never run dry or become stagnant.

This is because, as Colossians 2:9 says, "In Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form." His fullness is the fullness of "deity". Therefore, it is an infinite fullness, and the grace that flows from infinite fullness is infinite grace. Therefore, we will exult in Jesus Christ with ever-new and ever-increasing joy forever and ever. This is the aim of all our education - namely, exultation in Jesus Christ, who is God - forever and ever.

We will talk another time about why the Word was made flesh - why Jesus Christ came: the central act of history, the death of the Son of God for sin. But this morning I want to draw attention to a price we must pay if we are going to follow Jesus as God. The price is going to be controversy. On the way to exultation in Jesus, education inevitably leads to disputes. Why is this?

We live in a world of sin and futility and finitude. 2 Timothy 4:3 makes it clear that "the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine." In Acts 20:30 Paul warns the elders of Ephesus, "From among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them." And 1 John 4:1-2 says specifically, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. . . . By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God." Men are continually trying to deny the existence of Jesus or trying to deny His deity or, as a recent MacLeans magazine wrote, trying to deny the necessity of Jesus to our teaching.

If you believe in Truth and make it the foundation of your education, you will have adversaries. I say this because I want you to have a realistic view, and not a romantic one, about what it will mean in the coming years to be a part of Good Shepherd Community Church. Most of us love exultation. But we don't love conflict. We would love to move straight from education to exultation all the time. From head knowledge to heart knowledge. From learning the truth to leaping with joy. From meditation to celebration without any disputing. That would be wonderful. But it would be cheap and short-lived. Jesus told us in 1 Peter 2:21, that we will suffer just as He suffered.

Let me give you just one illustration so that you can count the cost, whether you want to be a part of a fellowship that will have to pay the price of controversy. According to the New Testament, Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all the hopes of Israel. He is the yes to all God's promises (2 Corinthians 1:20). He is the Messiah (Mark 14:61-62; Matthew 16:16; John 20:31; Acts 9:22; 1 John 2:22; 5:1). To reject him is to reject God the Father, and to confess him as Lord of your life is to be reconciled to God. "Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also" (1 John 2:23). . . . "he who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life" (1 John 5:12).

In other words, if you don't worship Jesus, you don't worship God. "He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him" (John 5:23). This is what it means to educate on the basis of the radical truth that Jesus is God. And if we do this, we will bring out strong opposition. We are not yet enduring profound persecution as Christians in India are subjected to. But it is coming! Jesus said He would be the stumbling block. We preach Christ crucified! Is that a popular message? It has never been a popular message. Persecution is coming. I hesitate to say it, but persecution is the best thing that could happen to the church. It will separate the wheat from the chaff. I will reveal those who are willing to die for their faith! Ask yourself, am I willing to die for my faith? The church has always been strongest and grown the most when suffering persecution. So, we should be looking forward to it, perhaps even praying that it would come soon. First the mockers and scoffers. Will you stumble when tribulation or persecution arise for Christ’s sake? Those who are not well-rooted in Scripture will fall away. Scripture warns us.

So let me be very clear as we move forward. We all love exultation. That is the goal of our praise: joyful, loving, humble, soul-satisfying exultation in Jesus Christ, "who is over all, God blessed for ever" (Romans 9:5). We don't love disputes and confrontation. We long for the day when controversy will no longer be necessary for "the defense and confirmation of the Gospel" (Philippians 1:7). But until then, true education, which leads to true exultation, will be founded on Biblical truth. And Biblical truth will include the glorious reality that Yahweh is God and God is sovereign and Jesus is God. And "he who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him" (John 5:23). And "he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life" (1 John 5:12).

So in the coming weeks, weigh seriously whether you believe it is loving or arrogant to say that Jesus is God and to call all people who don't believe in him to be reconciled to God through him. Don't be naive. Christianity is a life and death issue. It is not a therapy to make things go better. It is a conviction about reality and truth and a faith that in some places can get you killed, and in other places will get you criticized. We are not playing games.

At stake are the lives of our children and our grandchildren and our own lives and the lives of friends and neighbors. But we have learned as a church from hard experience and from Romans 5:3 to "exult in tribulation" because it produces hope. And so, even the tribulation of controversy and conflict can lead to deeper and sweeter exultation in God. John Owen put it like this, over three hundred years ago: "When we have communion with God in the doctrine we contend for - then shall we be garrisoned by the grace of God against all the assaults of men."*

Communion with Jesus – the Word. There's the key. We will not just argue about Christ or discuss him or analyze him. But we will know him and trust him and commune with him and exult in him. That's our goal. And not for us only, but for the whole world.

You must ask yourself:

· How long is it since I became a Christian?

· Have I grown steadily in that time?

· Was I ever further forward than I am now?

· Can I measure a degree of steady progress in my spiritual understanding?

· Is my reading of the Scriptures a mere duty, or is it a delight?

· Am I deeply conscious of the need for more private and corporate prayer?

· Do I think more of a larger income than I do of my spiritual development?

· Am I a deeply spiritual person?

Consider these questions seriously; they will tell you a lot about where you stand spiritually.

Let’s pray!