The Word
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In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
The Word
The Word
PRAY
I started a new reading book this week.
Have any of you read it?
hold up de ja vou book
I‘m sure I’ve read it before though!
And that’s exactly what John’s Gospel is supposed to feel like to his Jewish audiance as they begin.
They supposed to insatantly draw parrallels all over the place as they start.
So that is what we will do:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
v1 In the beginning, where have I heard that before.
Ahh yes, -
Everything!
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
As we begin in this book written by the apostle John,
A man who walked for years along side Jesus himself,
A man who walked for years along side Jesus himself,
Staright off the starting block,
We are asked to set ourselves in the largest possoble context known to humanity!
We begin at Creation,
In fact we begin with the creator of creation!
We are taken back to the most primary belief about God.
Are taken back to the primary belief about God.
That He is the one and only creator of the universe,
The giver of life and light itself.
But there is something they have missed,
perhaps you have missed, about the creator,
But before we get onto that, let
Before the universe came to be - darkness reigned.
Whatever your scientic convictions about creation,
there is not much arguement, that the universe as we know it had a beginning,
And before that, well as says
there had to be something to bring it about.
There was No form, just emptyiness, nothing, darkness reigned.
A teriifying thought for a human.
Dark screen
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
john 1 1-
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Each of us also had a beginning,
and In that beginning each of us was born into this world.
And while we may live in a creation of physical light,
We don’t need to look far see it is a dark world spiritually (if you like)
Even lives of priveldge, like for many of us,
we cannot avoid a world that feels formless and empty.
or will one day face a world that is formless and empty.
An ilness arrives,
A child rebels
Someone close departs,
Debt piles high,
Depression runs us low,
A child rejects us
An disguised enemy accepts us
A marriage is in trouble,
A marriage is in trouble,
an addiction is going great
Work feels full-on
Home feels empty
Darkness has overcome,
Of course we turn on the lights,
light bulb
We take a holiday to Iceland,
The doctors make us better,
A child is born
We buy a new dress/car/dog/phone,
We meditate on the good,
We think positively
We think positively
The world,- thanks to the Lord God Almighty-
, has much light to offer,
dark fire
But then you awake in the night to find your home and 22 others around you are buring to the ground.
The brightest of worldly light, fire, bringing complete darkness again to your life.
Nothing overcomes the darkness permanently:
dark invading
Nothing
Even as Christians,
while perhaps we shouldn’t feel like the darkness keeps invading,
While we know where the true light is that does overcome darkness,
we are still drawn back into seeking light from temorary things,
from shards of light refelcting off the grace of God,
but not the true full on eternal light.
The Jews 2000 years ago, were no differnt,
Living under Roman occupation,
enslaved to laws and a rule they could not tollerate,
living in darkness and seeking light,
but they too were looking in the wrong places.
Not nessicerily bad places
- a new king was their dream, who would overthrow the occupying enemy of Rome.
Small victories would bring hope,
darkness
But nothing was lasting.
Nothing overcame the darkness permently.
So an old man, who had seen much darkness,
Darkness is
Who could see the painful relatites of this life,
And that is why we start at creation,
For the utter darkness, emptiness and formlessness before,
has been overcome:
So, perhaps there is hope for our dark world,
But it’s goign to have to be an extraordinary power that can do it.
But perhaps the example of creation holds out a sign of hope:
Well he wrote them and you and me today a book.
Not the usual self-help books,
Not even about the glimpses of good light around us.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
While our lives may be dark at times, creation is very much light.
light of creation
The dark nothingness before creation
Was overcome.
So whoever began that spark of creeative light
- for something inteligent had to bring about something out of nothing -
well perhaps they also have a plan for the spirtual and emotional and physical darkness of our lives?
So now we need a solution to our life darkness:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
The author behind the begining of creation is given a Name
The Word
The Word
no slide - poetic reading now
And ‘The Word’ expands our understanding of God himself, for
The Word was with God - he was inclined towards God, in intimate realtionship.
1-
But also, - The Word was God.
A unique oneness of God,
for the Word is God,
yet existing in 2 persons in a deep union of love.
Love, at the centre, united as one God,
The Word is wonderfully entriuging,
almighty God, but not perhaps the God the Jews realised.
For he has a seperate role to God as well,
Perhpas God is not quite what you have thought, as well.
His own person in deep relationship with God, but also God himself!
He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
He was with God in the beginning.
This is promising -
This is promising -
It;s what is needed by every tribe and nation in this dark world and thoughout history.
That author of the light of creation that brought all life and physical light into existence,
Is in loving relationship with God, and is at the same time, God!
And everything in exisitance today is present becasue of Him, the Word.
In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
Life itself - is from him,
you exist, sitting here,
Well he has a new
No, he worte a book that will shatter the darkness forever.
becasue of the Power of this God-loving and God-himself character called ‘the Word!
He is Life itself - he is the first light of all life!
JOhn’s Gospel is not a book that will provide everyday practical advise for how to live as a better Christian before God.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
The very existance of the world has to have been initiated by someone.
it has to have come from somewhere.
Nothing c
Even if it was anti-matterr this and that, black holes, white elephants, big bangs or small atoms
- there has to be a creator of it all.
Someone had to bring light into that darkness.
Someone had to do the impossible,
And ‘The Word’, who was with God and Is God - is the source of it all!
And to this day, the universe, light, still exists!
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
And that verse, has to be deliberately provocative doesn’t it?
We’re thinging about creation,
But as I’ve already done,
The other type of spiritual darkenss and light starts to play on us,
If anyone has ever read a little bit of the NT -
If the Jews were to read this book a second time,
we,
they,
cannot help but get excited by the link being made here!
God is with the Word,
and is the word
that brings about the light of creation,
But, perhaps this is the same God who might bring light and life to you and me, sat her now today.
God is with the Word,
and is the Word
that also brings spiritual light into a metaphorically dark world.
Creation may proove the reality of a God type figure in the universe,
or if there is a God but he has no plan to
But it does not proove there is any hope for us in this life.
It leaves us where so much of our so called enlightened world is,
With no hope whatsoever,
eat drink and be merry
We better eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die!
But as we’ve already said,
eating, drinking and being merry
is alwasy marred by darkness and pain eventually!
But what’s introduced to us here, is not just the idea of a creator God,
He is God - and he is the source of all light and life.
But the idea of a creator God who
The God of John 1:
exists in a state of love,
whose charcter is to bring light into darkness.
who, through himself, the Word, has a plan to bring true light to you and me today!
has a plan to bring true light to you and me today!
He is God - and he is the source of all light and life.
Whatever we read in this Gospel of John about
The Word
The Word
(and if you haven;t worked it out yet, that’s Jesus,)
(and if you haven;t worked it out yet, that’s Jesus,)
Then we are to read Jeasus and see Jesus
as the worker of creation himself
The giver and source of all life!
And if He can bring this universe into existance from nothing -
I’d say there is hope of light to entre your life today.
That’s some introduction to our main charcter,
The question is,
So what’s the new creation plan!?
There was a man sent from God whose name was John.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
JOhn 1 6
6
John the baptist
Just as God in creation announced the beginning of light,
So, the Light of this world, Jesus, is announced by a messenger of God.
Of course for a Jew,
they are expecting from the OT,
this witness,
this proclaimer,
this prophet to announce the bringer of light.
And we see the pupose of the witnesses announcements - it’s so that all might believe!
God himself - wants us to have hope, to have light in our darkness!
So what’s the big news, what’s the announcement,
We want to believe, everyone wants hope,
if this is truely the Word who is God,
And he has a plan to brign us light,
, the same Word who created all,
, we want to believe,
get on with the sermon Sam!
Tell us the plan!
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.
Yes - He is here!
God himself has become man!
He’s entred our dark world!
The truth,
The light,
The Word
You may know whats coming, but don’t miss the enormity of this!
There are going to be parties, and celebrations,
The giver of life has come to us,
The darkness of your life is over!
This is going to be great:
change half way through:
He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
no slide LONG PAUSE
If you’re not a believer in Jesus - you’re not alone.
It’s the defult position of humanity.
Those to whom Jesus gave life itself, do not receive him.
JOhn our author,
wants the Jews to see that they have missed the greatest moment in all of history.
The creator God who brought light and life to the universe,
Has entered our human world to bring light and life to life itself,
and they missed it!
Have you missed it?
Have you missed Jesus?
So get with it and realise the error!
humanity rejects him!
- and humanity rejects him!
The great God of creation,
who loves by His nature,
And desires to bring light,
Apparently scuppered at the first hurdle.
To deny Jesus, is to reject the very person of God!
To say there are other ways to God,
is to ablitorate the very oneness of God.
No wonder later in John’s book we will hear JEsus saying,
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
For He is God himself!
I am the way, the truth and the life, noone comes to the Father accept though me,
For He is God himself!
To seek light of any sort, without refernce to
So, Is all hope lost - is it back to our dark lives with glimpse of light that don’t last?
darkness
What a miserable world we live in if there is no hope.
How tradgic are the lives of those who insist on rejecting Jesus
- utter darkness reigns.
So, Is Jesus rejected, the end?
john 1 12
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Recieve Him is the message - and you can be a child of God!
And I think that is the point John is trying to convince us of.
It really is extra ordinary.
World only, or child of God
It’s on the scale of creation itself.
That massive God who brought about creation through his Son Jesus, the Word,
If you knew nothing of creation and someone was to try and explain it all to you, you wouldn’t beliueve the detailed complexity could ev
john 1
God isn’t simple, and easy to fit in our tiny minds.
Who can bring light to your life also through his Son, the Word,
He’s so big, that through Jesus, the Word he brought about all of creation.
You can be his child.
What is it that we all crave in this world - we’ve called it light so far,
but what is it that makes the darkness disappear?
But surely the security is the biggest
Well it is surely knowing everything will be alright.
And that can only be so,
if we are loved by God.
It’s surely that feeling of being a young child and knowing that as long as your dad is around,
everythign will be alright!
Or if your dad was not a good father,
Then surely that is what you craved most,
and was hurt by most when he didn’t deliver.
But the God who’s nature is to love,
who desires to bring light in dark places,
He is the perfect father,
And through receiving Jesus, you can be His child.
It’s having a Father in Heaven who loves and cared for whatever happens.
It’s having a Father in Heaven who goes to the metaphorical front door for us when someone knocks late at night.
It having a Father in Heaven who picks us up when we fall,
It’s having a Father in Heaven who never panics,
who alwasy knows the best thing todo,
who always is present
Who is alwasy listening,
It’s having a Father in Heaven who has a plan to overcome the darkness of this life,
And not just a a plan,
but the desire and ability to carry it out himself:
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
In the most persoanl way possible,
God on high reveals his glory to us here below,
by becoming flesh -
It’s a strong word, you can’t avoid it!
The Word, who was with God and was God,
Has become Flesh!
There is nothing distant,
unrelatable,
standoffish
about this God!
He has become one of us - to show himelf in love to us - to save us!
And that is simply glourious!
-2
In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.
Do you see the glory we see, asks John!
Jesus, the word, beceoming flesh for us!
He is fullfilling everything the Jews could have ever wanted.
Everything we could ever want.
The bringer of light to the universe
is bringing light to our very own lives.
And he’s doing it
John changes the word now from light to grace.
Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.
john 1
The fulness of the Word,
God himslef - has entreed our world of darkness to bring grace!
A grace far better than the grace the Jews already had in the OT>
For that grace, the law of God, was only a signpost to the coming grace!
And now it’s here!
Here then, and still here today,
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
We too have seen his glory if we have received Jesus.
We too have seen and recieved his light!
Enjoy the gracious refelctions of light in thei world, the holiday to Iceland and your new dress and dog!
But don’t hope the darkness will be displaced by those things!
No,
You are a child of the creator God.
You have seen the glory of Jesus in his death and resurection.
You have received his truth and His grace.
Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.
EXPLAIN?
Is this him, the word
And as we’re about to find out, his name is J
Every word you read in this book of John about the words
A
It’s less a book about you, and actually a book all about Jesus!
JOhn infact tells us exactly why he is writing his book.
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to John I. The Prologue (1:1–18)
supremely, the Prologue summarizes how the ‘Word’ which was with God in the very beginning came into the sphere of time, history, tangibility—in other words, how the Son of God was sent into the world to become the Jesus of history, so that the glory and grace of God might be uniquely and perfectly disclosed. The rest of the book is nothing other than an expansion of this theme.
As we walk with Jesus through this book, we will follow Him to the final fulfillment of his minstry,
The Word
The Word
his love and his grace - when he will die on a cross for you and me.
no slide - don’t say the next title
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to John I. The Prologue (1:1–18)
the Old Testament, that is the place to begin. There, ‘the word’ (Heb. dāḇār) of God is connected with God’s powerful activity in creation (cf. Gn. 1:3ff.; Ps. 33:6), revelation (Je. 1:4; Is. 9:8; Ezk. 33:7; Am. 3:1, 8) and deliverance (Ps. 107:20; Is. 55:11). If the LORD is said to speak to the prophet Isaiah (e.g. Is. 7:3), elsewhere we read that ‘the word of the LORD came to Isaiah’ (Is. 38:4; cf. Je. 1:4; Ezk. 1:6). It was by ‘the word of the LORD’ that the heavens were made (Ps. 33:6): in Gn. 1:3, 6, 9, etc. God simply speaks, and his powerful word creates. That same word effects deliverance and judgment (Is. 55:11; cf. Ps. 29:3ff.). When some of his people faced illness that brought them to the brink of death, God ‘sent forth his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave’ (Ps. 107:20). This personification of the ‘word’ becomes even more colourful in Jewish writing composed after the Old Testament (e.g. Wisdom 18:14, 15).
The Word - Jesus
The Word - Jesus
But I think for now, we have been given enough of a taste of this God become flesh, Jesus.
To bow at his feet, have confidence in his plan,
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to John I. The Prologue (1:1–18)
In short, God’s ‘Word’ in the Old Testament is his powerful self-expression in creation, revelation and salvation, and the personification of that ‘Word’ makes it suitable for John to apply it as a title to God’s ultimate self-disclosure, the person of his own Son. But if the expression would prove richest for Jewish readers, it would also resonate in the minds of some readers with entirely pagan backgrounds. In their case, however, they would soon discover that whatever they had understood the term to mean in the past, the author whose work they were then reading was forcing them into fresh thought (see on v. 14).
And recieve him as he deserves.
For he is God,
With God - Personal and clost intimate relationship
With God - Personal and clost intimate relationship
Who loves to bring light where there is darkness
Who in love has become flesh to fulfill his plans of grace.
Was God - The word was theos (God) -
Was God - The word was theos (God) -
This is important for some, and JW ewould be included here, want to argue it means the word was ‘Divinelike’ - but there is anbouther word for divine, and it’s similar, but not the same - Divine is theios
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to John I. The Prologue (1:1–18)
The ‘Word does not by Himself make up the entire Godhead; nevertheless the divinity that belongs to the rest of the Godhead belongs also to Him’ (Tasker, p. 45). ‘The Word was with God, God’s eternal Fellow; the Word was God, God’s own Self.’
So that we can be chidlren of God the creator of all things!
This is Key to john’s Gospel -
Jesus has come concludes John in v18, to do the impossible!
The words, deeds and teachings of Jesus are to be taken as from God himself in this book.
if Jesus is not God, part of the Trinity, then as we’ll see, much of the book would be blaspehmous
No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
PRAY
Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.
Rom
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
The Word Reveals God
The Word Reveals God
The next verses do the same for us - they draw us closer to aknowldeging Jesus as God.
For clearly it is God who created - and yet here we are told it only happened if it included Jesus.
v4 attributes all of life itself to Jesus
He is the light that brings forth life!
Of course later we’ll hear Jesus calling himself the light of salvation, but here he is the light of life itslef.
The WOrd, brings life, for the owrd is with and is God.
BUt v5 - Well now we get to see the subtley of John’s wrotting at it’s best.
And so introduces a big theme of the rest of the book.
LIght removes darkness
LIght removes darkness
Of course it’s sublte becasue if this was your first reading of John’s gospel, you would just takle this to be a referce to creation.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
And so it would be right to do so.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
But if you have ever talked to a Christian, or if you have ever read John’s gospel,
Oh what a glourious sentance this is!
The light, Jesus, the Word, the revelation of God himself to his creation, has over come the darkness:
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to John I. The Prologue (1:1–18)
any reader who had entered into sustained dialogue with Christians, and, more importantly, any reader who had read through this Gospel once and was now re-reading it, could not fail to see in v. 5 an anticipation of the light/darkness duality that dominates much of the rest of the book. The ‘darkness’ in John is not only absence of light, but positive evil (cf. 3:19; 8:12; 12:35, 46; 1 Jn. 1:5, 6; 2:8, 9, 11); the light is not only revelation bound up with creation, but with salvation. Apart from the light brought by the Messiah, the incarnate Word, people love darkness because their deeds are evil (3:19), and when the light does put in an appearance, they hate it, because they do not want their deeds to be exposed (3:20). In fact, wherever it is true that the light shines in the darkness, it is also true that the darkness has not understood it (taking katelaben as in the NIV). Reading v. 5 this way anticipates the rejection theme that becomes explicit in vv. 10–11.
This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.)
The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?”
He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
- When we look at dark things in this world - we are looking away from Jesus!
Sadness, sin, hurt, pain - The light has overcome!
Even if the world keeps putting up shades to hide from the light - we know it’s only temprary.
IF the Jewish listeners are already itchy - who is this carachetr who is God?
WHo testifes to God, bears witness to God,
well now they realise where all this is going.
Just like the Word - reveal, speaks of God,
SO now, the Word’s public earthly minstry is also spoken of, also revealed, and also reveal by God - although this next witness is not God, but sent by God.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John.
This is of course John the Baptist, who fulfills several prphesyies of the OT that a prphet would prepare the way for the Saviour of the World, the light.
And we’re told quickly that that is his role - to testify, to introduce, to point towards the Messiah, so that listeners might believe.
He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
john 1
And what an excitement we should feel:
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.