The Word Revealed

Our series in John is going to be called Shining a Light on Jesus. John reveals Jesus to use on a very deep theological level. So every week we are going to see what we can learn from Jesus in who He is and how we should live.

Things to look for in John: 7 Miracles, 7 I am Statements, 25 Truly, Truly Statements, 36 the life statements

Who is Jesus?

Ask students to answer question

Jesus is part of the Trinity

Who knows what trinity means? (And how many times trinity is used in the Bible)

Trinity- God is made of three persons that are consisted of one substance (Homoousios). The three act as one

We now have a basic understanding of the Trinity, what do we learn from this passage on the Trinity? Particularly in verses 1-5. John 1:1-5, 14-18

John 1:1–5 ESV

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 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 1:14–18 ESV

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. (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.’ ”) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

Here verse 1 we see Scripture referencing the trinity. The Word is Jesus, we get that from the context of the passage.

Jesus is God.

Verse 1 makes it clear Jesus is God.Often when we say God we mean God the Father, but Jesus is also God. Their titles gives us an understanding of how they work together and how they interact with us.

Jesus Has Always Existed

Verse 1 also lets us know they have always been together. There has never been a time when one did not exist.

When Jesus was born to Mary that is not when He came into existence. Jesus has always existed. Being born to Mary was Jesus putting on a human nature.

In that moment Jesus put on an earthly “tent” so to say. He never stopped existing. As verse 14 says, the Word became flesh. In other words the Creator put on the creation and in a little bit we will get more to the doctrine of incarnation.

Verse 3 makes it clear Jesus was involved in creating the universe. You also see proof of Jesus creating the universe in Genesis 1:26

Genesis 1:26 ESV

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

The Trinity all had a role in creating.

The Spirit in Genesis 1:2 was shown hovering over the water. I feel like God the Father spoke the creation into existence and in some way Jesus carried out the words (John 1:3). The ESV Commentary states, “The Word is the communication of the Father.” Jesus involvement with creation is much more then what we read in the Gospels. We see Jesus from cover to cover in the Bible. he has always been active not just from when Mary birthed Him on earth.

We are made in the image of God, so how would you say the Trinity is reflected in our creation? Walk in unity, created to live in community, doctrine of marriage could be traced back to reflecting the trinity in a sense.

The Hypostatic Union of Jesus

Anybody got a guess what this could mean? Hypostatic comes from Greek and just symply means personal. So it means the personal union. So it is a union that only God the Son has, not the trinity. So what union are we referring to

Hypostatic union- the union of Jesus two natures, He is fully human and fully God in one person all the time

So Jesus is fully God as we have already seen, and as we read the Gospel we see He is fully human. As we read we see these two natures constantly interact. Also we see this hypostatic union refered to in passages such as Hebrews 4:15.

Hebrews 4:15 ESV

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

So this hypostatic union is what allows Christ to have the deep personal relationship with us that he does have. He can sympathize, but also having human nature allowed Him to live the life we were not capable of living and then dying the death we deserve. Very important characteristic of Jesus, a lot revolves around this characteristic of Christ. As we go through this series we are very likely to return to this concept.

Characteristics of Evangelism

So now we are going to spend some time reflecting on John 1:6-13

John 1:6–13 ESV

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

And als you go back to verse 15 you see some more that goes along with this theme of being evangelistic. And when i read verse 15 thinking about Jesus being the light I cannot but help to thank about how we are like the moon. What does the moon do? it reflects the light of the sun in a dark world. Does it shine as bright as the sun? No. Do we shine as bright as the Son? No. Only the sun has power to truly run darkness away We are to strive to be as full of a moon as possible in a sense. and in verses 6-13 of this passage i believe we see some good takeaways on evangelism.

We are Sent

Isaiah 6:8 is a scripture that i think of when being sent.

Isaiah 6:8 ESV

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”

We are sent, we don’t request, we don’t direct the path. We submit to the will of God and trust where he has sent us and go where he has sent. His plan is much greater than ours. My plan was definitely different than God’s plan, and I’m very thankful that is the case.

You do not always have to know all the details, you just need to know where God is leading you to step right in this moment.

When He doesn't reveal everything their is purpose.

Our Purpose is to Point People to Christ

In verses 7 an 8 we see it mentioned twice that we are to bear witness about the light. In our lives that ultimate goal should be to share the gospel with all, no matter where Christ has put us in life. Your life should not focus around glorifying yourself or be all about how you can have the most successful life for yourself. You do this your setting yourself up for failure. We are designed to reflect the light of Christ, to bring Him glory (1 Corinthians 10:31). Your gonna have dark nights and days if Christ ain’t the main focus of your life. A point I have said a hundred times, is study the Bible.

You can’t point people to Christ if you don’t know where He is.

You gonna be pointing all crooked and all over the place. The Bible is our compass. Ministers are not the only one’s responsible for evangelizing on the job.

School reflect godly principles in the classroom

Sports field reflect godly principles.

Workplace reflect godly principles.

You never know what people are going through and many people you around don’t usually step foot in church doors but may need someone to open up to during a dark time. And if you have lived the way you should they are going to recognize that and since you have been doing life with them they are going to have a respect for you and may just open up to you giving you the chance to give good godly comfort and guidance and who knows they may walk out of that storm into the doors of the church and into the arms of Christ. Don't waste a moment, don't waste a storm, don’t waste a friendship, etc.

Evangelize to Everyone

We have talked about this before, but witness to everyone. Jesus gave His all to those who accepted and rejected Him. And we need to be faithful and do the same. Never write anyone off. No one is to far gone for the grace of God. Look at the life of Paul or my grandpa. The world would see both as men too far gone for grace.

People’s past does not disqualify them from hearing or accepting the Gospel.

Rejection Will Happen

The passage we read tonight states “the world did not know him…is own people didn’t receive him.” If you have ever read through the Gospels you see that Jesus was often rejected. He was crucified because of rejection. The crowds shouted crucify him.

Was Jesus a failure because of the rejection? No Jesus was crucified as a result of rejection and we do not consider that a failure but a victory. That rejection led to God’s plan being fulfilled.

People’s rejection doesn’t taint your obedience.

You are responsible for what you do not how they respond. Even when we are rejected God is accomplishing His purposes and His Word is having impact. Isaiah 55:10-11 says:

Isaiah 55:10–11 ESV

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

So when it doesn’t fill like you are getting anywhere know that you are. Different surveys have been done on how many times someone is evangelized too before being saved. some have said the average number of times is around 8 while other studies have said 18. Know you are having an impact rather it seems like it or not.

Salvation Will Happen

In Jesus’ earthly ministry did he see people saved? Yes. You stay faithful to God in this life and you will see life’s transformed. You will see God use you to touch people in their storms. The heartbreaking reality is that you will experience more rejections than salvations. Scripture makes that clear. But:

For one soul to get saved is a reason to celebrate.

If a storm of mine allows one person to get saved it is worth going through. If someone gets saved because of me being sick, it is worth the valley.