John #01 - God Articulated
"That you may believe … and have Life" #1 - Gospel of John
John 1:1-5
John the apostle wrote this gospel, the son of Zebedee, wrote this gospel toward the latter part of his life under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It was written from Ephesus where John had been the Pastor of church in Ephesus. He used a scribe, most likely, and they were together lead by God the Spirit to craft a Gospel that filled in the gaps left by the other Gospels. He painted a theological picture that the others had not painted fully.
21:24 says "this is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true. And verse 25 says "Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written."
John didn't write everything he could have written. But he wrote what he needed to write. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we see Jesus as Messiah, as King, as Savior, but John with the benefit of years of reflection and distance and learning, we see Jesus Christ as Almighty, Eternal God.
Why was the Gospel of John written?
That you may believe 20:31; That You May Understand 1:5;
That you may have life 20:31
How do we come to know God?
How do we, as finite beings, understand and infinite God
How do we in our limited wisdom understand a limitless God
We need something to explain God to us. But how do you boil God down to words? In the law we are told not to take the name of the Lord in vain, so the Jews were careful that they didn't even pronounce his name for fear of incorrectly articulating it.
In 600 BC, Heraclitus, a Greek Philosopher was the first to use the term Logos to describe, the divine reason or plan which coordinates a changing universe
The philosopher was saying that there is something, a WORD, behind the concept, creation, and continuance of the universe.
John came along as a mature apostle, prophet, theologian, and friend of Christ and affirms the TRUTH behind the idea. But John defines for us the LOGOS, that the WORD isn't a concept, or an entity, but someone.
READ John 1:1-5
DEF - "logos" word uttered by a living voice; embodiment of a concept or idea; the moral precepts of God; prophesy given by old testament prophets, explanation or answer to judgment; and so in John 1 - Jesus is shown to be the essential Word of God the embodiment of God, his moral precepts, his divine prophesy
So, Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem, God in the flesh, is God Articulated.
I see three things to guide our thoughts today. Not necessarily anything new … but foundational reminders for us as we begin this series in the book of John. Written that you may believe and have life …
Whatever you are facing today, you need to understand these things about Jesus and come to him, give it to him, trust in him
Jesus, the living Word of God, the logos of God is …
1. An Ancient Word
A. In the Beginning
1. We had a beginning.
What you are facing had a beginning. Think of the challenges or problems you are facing today. Go back to the beginning. Maybe what you are facing is a generational problem. You Father struggled with it, his father struggled with it. You mother was plagued by it, her mother was plagued by it.
But somewhere, back there, your problem had a beginning.
Perhaps you are facing something today that has been with you so long you can't even remember where or how it started. Well … there still was a beginning.
But the understanding we need today is that at the beginning …
B. Was the Word
1. At our beginning, he already had a past, an infinite past
2. Before the struggles, the troubles, the challenges, your successes, your failures, before all the beginnings that have ever been … was the Word
Matthew puts Jesus in the historical context of the genealogy from which is earthly stems
Mark puts Jesus historically after the preaching of John the Baptist.
Luke connects to Theophilus and then predicts John's birth and places Jesus in his historical place within the Roman province. But, John, places Jesus outside of History. John takes it back to a place, before Time when all that was, was God. In the beginning was the Word
What do you face today? Take it back to the beginning when there was just God, before you knew him, before you recognized him, before you followed him, before you loved him.
"Was" that is used here doesn't mean was in a sense that was and ended, but it is past tense and continuous in a perfect tense form. Always was, always is, and always will be is what is meant.
When you had your beginning he already was.
When John was born, he already was.
When his earthly mother Mary was born he already was.
When Rome took control of Israel, he was
When Babylon defeated Israel and destroyed her blessed Temple, he was
When they entered the promised land, he was
When Egypt changed from a place of blessing to a place of bondage, he was
Before Abraham was, he was
Before Adam was, he was
When the Beginning, had its beginning, he was.
So … our the Ancient word was there before your trouble …
He is an Ancient Word … but there is more … he is
2. An Associated Word
A. With God the Father
The word WITH is the word "pros" . It doesn't just mean that he was "with" God in a unified ideal, or in purpose … but it means "in the company of"
John 14:9 "anyone who has seen me has seen the Father"
Heb 1:1-3 "in the past God spoke to our forefathers 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 he made the universe. The Son is the Radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven."
He was Present with God … and he WAS God
That means he was with God in presence but also in substance … they were the same … Not only does it mean in the company of but it means "Toward God" or like being in a eye to eye relationship with
1 John 1:3 says that we have koinonia or fellowship with the Father and the Son … that is to say that the relationship with both is the same because they are equals
There are false witnesses that will come to your door and will try and tell you that this WORD was "a god". But they misunderstand the principles of interpretation. If John meant that Jesus just had divine Characteristics imparted to him, like we do as believers, he would have used the word theios as Peter did in 2 Peter 1:4 where it says that we can participate in the divine nature as believers in Christ. But no the word was and is theos that is he is in reality GOD, in relationship, in presence, in substance, in nature.
If he was associated WITH God The Father, then he is associated
B. With God the Spirit
Genesis 1:1 never purports to defend the existence of God. "In the beginning God created …"
So John explains for us that Christ did not BECOME, but has always been part of the Father, and thus part of the Spirit.
In 1:26-27 it says let us make man in OUR image … in OUR likeness … 27 so God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Father, Son, and Spirit. When God says OUR … he is NOT speaking of just Heaven, because angels are NOT equal to God nor are they part of the creative process.
Whether in Gen 1 creating, or in Gen 3 realizing a sinful man knows "what we know" about good and evil, or in Gen 11 says "we must go down and confound" those sinners at Babel, Jesus is equal with Father and Spirit, he is God
And thus Jesus stood in the Jordan waters with the Father speaking from above, the Spirit on his shoulder in the form of a dove
All the way to Revelation 1 where we see a greeting from "him who is, and who was, and who is to come, from the seven Spirits before the throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the first born of the dead.
Jesus Christ is the one who articulates to us God the Father whose Holiness will not allow us to come into his presence to know him. Jesus Christ articulates the Spirit in his mystery and is the one who lives in the power of the Holy Spirit that we might understand what it is to be empowered by, living through the direction and surrender to the Spirit and thus articulate to us what it is know God in fullness
And yet though associated in fullness with Father and with Spirit, fully God … he did not consider equality with God, something to be grasped … he made himself nothing … though he was in nature God, he took the nature of a servant, a human servant, in full human likeness he became associated …
C. With Man the Sinner
He came to live with us, identify us and save us. He was tempted in every way we are and yet was without sin
Phil 2 goes on to say being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - death on the cross.
Jesus IS eternal
Jesus IS God
Jesus is Equal with Father and Spirit
And yet he became like us became associated with us that he might free us
When Soloman built the Temple he couldn't imagine that God could dwell on earth. 1 Kings 8:27 (NIV)
27 "But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!
Jesus Christ came that God may dwell with us.
Gabriel told Mary that he would be known as Immanuel, that is God with us.
He became associated with us … so that your current words don't have to be your last words
Don't you know that there are a lot of words that could define your life.
Winner, Loser
Big, Small
Accepted, Rejected
Sinner, Saint
But Jesus is the First Word and the Last Word. He is the Alpha and Omega.
It doesn't matter what your current word is that defines you, you can surrender to the Ancient and Associated Word and let him be your final word
Can I break this down a little bit. I don't want to overwork the alphabet but let me take my time so you can understand what I am saying.
Let Jesus be your Final Word
If Abuse is the FIRST Word, Let Jesus Final Word and your final Word can be Adored
Bankruptcy your First Word - if Jesus is your final Word, then you can be Blessed
Is Cancer your Word - with Jesus your final word can be Cured, here or in his presence
Divorce your current Word - through Jesus, the final Word can be a 50th Anniversary Date
Empty your Word? - Jesus Makes it Exuberant
Famine your Word? - Jesus makes the final word a Feast
Grief your Word? - through Jesus the Word is given the gift of comfort
Hate dominate your Life? through Jesus the Final Word is a Heart of Love
Irreconcilable in your vocabulary? the Final Word is Intercede
Justice dropping in on you? the Final Word of Jesus is Justification
Kicked out of School is the first Word? Jesus turns it into the Kicking up your heels at a graduation party
Is Lay-off your first word? With Jesus just the Labor Pains of a new beginning
Materialism dominate your life? Jesus makes the materialist a minister of God's gifts
Naysayers all around? Jesus the final word is your number one fan
Ostracized? Jesus' word is an Open door
Labeled as Picked LAST on the Playground? With Jesus the final word is that you were Picked FIRST by the Creator of Heaven and Earth
Unqualified is the first Word? in Jesus it is Qualified
Ridicule the norm? In Jesus the Word is Resounding Praise
Suffering all too familiar word? the Final Word with Jesus will be Strength
Termination hit you hard or looming on the horizon? the Final word in Jesus is Threshold of Opportunity
Uneducated the cursed word of your life? the final word through Jesus can be Understanding and Wisdom
Victim your First Word? When Jesus is Your Final Word the word is Victor
Want as your first Word? Final can be the Wealth of God's Grace
X-rays show something you fear? for Jesus the word is Expectation of God's Hand
Yielding to God a scary word? but the final word is the Yield of a Great Harvest
When Zero hope is today's word? in Jesus tomorrow brings the Zephyr of God's Blessing blowing
Whatever the Words, even though they may seem to have been the FIRST,
Jesus was the WORD before those words
Jesus is a word associated with Father and Spirit yet is willing to associate with you …
I've heard some great words in my day. Words like, "I do" spoken from a beautiful women who loves me. Words like "Mr. Goforth, meet your son." I've heard simple joyful words like "your next on the #1 Tee."
But there is no word, like the Logos, Jesus,
He is the Ancient Word, he was there before I had my beginning, he was there before this world.
He is an Associated Word, with Father, Spirit and even with me … and to finish He is
3. An Almighty Word
The Word is an Almighty Creator
A. Fear Him-
Jesus Christ is our complete Lord and Savior. John will show us that Jesus Christ on earth was everything the Old Testament had promised and everything the Old Testament had shown in pictures.
He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the World 1:29
He is the ladder from Earth to Heaven like 1:51 like Jacob saw in Gen. 28
He is the new Temple by which God dwells with man 2:19-21
He is the giver of new birth 3:4+
He is the serpent lifted up 3:14
He is the Bread provided by God from Heaven 6:35
He is our complete Lord and we should fear him as God, Man, Savior, and Lord; we should Fear Him
He creates all things thus rules all things
This creation is subject to him and we must fear him Psalm 34:8-16
8 Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. 9 Fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing. 10 The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. 11 Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. 12 Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, 13 keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies. 14 Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. 15 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry; 16 the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
He is Almighty Creator, Fear Him
But He is an Almighty Lover of Man …
B. Favor Him
What do I mean by "favor him"
There are two ways we show favor. One is by who show love or affection and the other is to whom / what we show preference
Who do you love? Jesus Christ loved you first. Jesus Christ loves you best, Jesus Christ loves you most, why would you not love him?
Have you shown it? Have you said it? How you? Have I told you lately that I love you
Why do we turn to him last? He is the first and last, beginning and end. He is creator of every thing. Without him nothing was made that was made.
"Ok Pastor, but I'm talking about my job here. I'm talking about my house, I'm talking about medicine, engineering, my car, my marriage. I believe Jesus created Heaven and earth, but I'm talking about other stuff."
Really? Well I may not be an engineer, or a Doctor, or a physicist, or builder, or a mechanic, but I can read. And
I don't care what you need, what you are worried about what needs to be created or recreated in your life, the person to favor is not just your boss, or your contractor, or Doctor or Mechanic, it is the Almighty Word
V3 says "Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made."
ALL THINGS …
Without him … nothing
You can't build a house without his favor
You can't build a career without his favor
You can't build your marriage without his favor
You can't rebuild anything that has fallen apart without his favor.
Why?
What you are looking for is NOT in your job, it is NOT in your marriage, it is NOT in your stocks, it is NOT in your education.
You will not get everything you want out of those things until you understand recognize that Life is NOT in them. Life may take us through them but life is not IN them.
Look at verse 4 …
"In HIM was life, and that life was the light of men." And verse 5 "the light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it."
Why couldn't the world understand Christ? Because he was pure light and all they had known was darkness.
Can you imagine if you took a person from the 1800's and drop them into 2007? They wouldn't be able to comprehend so many things.
What if you took Henry Ford and showed him a modern car.
What if you took Orville and Wilber Wright out to Boeing and dropped them in a fighter jet or a passenger jet?
They knew cars, they knew planes, but not this.
The great golfer, Bobby Jones, was the greatest golfer of his day, in the 20's and 30's he won 62% National Championships he entered. He created the Augusta National Golf Course and The Masters Golf Tournament. Yet when Jack Nicklaus burst onto the golf scene in the early 60's the great Bobby Jones said, "Nicklaus plays a game of which I am altogether unfamiliar".
We have something that we call life … but if we've never favored Christ and lived in the life he offers, we don't know life.
There are animals and fish that live in deepest darkness, that are virtually blind. They cannot understand light because they are committed to darkness.
If you were born blind and after 30 years had an operation to receive sight, things would not be immediately easy. Your whole life would be structured around blindness, to live sighted would require you to completely die to being blind in order to understand and live a sighted life
He is the Almighty God, fear him, favor him … and finally
C. Follow Him
Where the first three Gospels give us the ministry and events, John focuses more on the meaning of those events. All 4 tell us the story of the feeding of 5,000. But John tells us what happened the next day and records Jesus' explanation of being the "Bread of Life." Because if we read the stories, study the life and are not moved then, we have missed the point. The ongoing focus and overwhelming purpose of John is we would follow him and have eternal life.
In that exchange where Christ said, "I am the bread of life", and that if we are to come to him, drawn by the Father, we must consume all of him, body and blood. He must be Savior and Lord, not just one. Many left and never followed again. Jesus said, (67) "You do you want to leave too, do you?" and Peter replied in v68 "to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."
I've already told you he is the first and last word. He is also the Almighty Word. He is the Word that answers every question. Why would you follow anything else. Why would you NOT follow him.
But you cannot be indifferent. You cannot call him a good teacher but not Lord and God.
You have probably heard what the great English teacher and writer, C.S. Lewis said. You have probably heard the short quote, but let me give you a longer quote on this topic. Speaking about Jesus' claim to be God and yet some would say, "I believe he is a great teacher, but I don't think he is was right in his claim to be God." Lewis said …
"That's the one thing you cannot say. A man who was merely a man and said that sort of thing that Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He'd either be a lunatic on a level with a man who says he's a poached egg, or else he'll be the devil of hell. You must make your choice.
"Either this man was and is the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him for a demon, or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God; but don't let us come with any patronizing nonsense about Him being a great human teacher."
So what will you do? You can't really call someone a good teacher if you don't want to follow their teaching, really, can you?
Yet we take it a step further and say "sure, Jesus is God, I want him to be my Savior, but I'm going to make my own decisions, follow my own way."
Is that really an option?
The purpose of this book is that you may believe and have life and life is found in him, in following him, in surrendering to him, in knowing him as Lord.
Why would you believe and not follow
Why would you follow and not surrender him your life
Why would you surrender your life and not give him your love and your all?
You can shut Him up for a fool,
you can spit at Him for a demon,
or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God;