In The Beginning Series

“IN THE BEGINNING” John 1:1-5

FBCF – 10/3/21

Jon Daniels

INTRO – Are you an expert in anything? Is there something that you know a lot about, lot of knowledge about some subject or activity or skill?

- Nephew – USMC expert marksman w/ rifle & pistol

Of course, there are times when we may think we are an expert, but really aren’t. Billie Burke, famous actress early 20th century (good witch in Wizard of Oz), on a transatlantic ocean voyage. Noticed man at next table suffering from bad cold. "Are you uncomfortable?" He nodded. "I'll tell you just what to do for it. Go back to your room, drink lots of orange juice, & take 2 aspirins. Cover yourself with all the blankets you can find. Sweat the cold out. I know just what I'm talking about. I'm Billie Burke from Hollywood." The man smiled & introduced himself. "Thanks," he said, "I'm Dr. Mayo from the Mayo clinic."

Question: Are you an expert on Jesus? As His followers & His disciples, we need to be. Begin 7-week series today – “Keep Your Eyes on Jesus” w/ goal that you & I will be farther down the road to being the experts on Jesus that we need to be. Of course, never get to the end of learning about Him while we are still alive on this earth. But sometimes, we use that as an excuse for not striving to learn more about Him. We need to make a serious commitment to make serious progress toward being a serious student of Jesus Christ. Word “disciple” means “student.” We all need to be God’s classroom w/ the Bible as our textbook learning everything we can about who Jesus is & what it means to know Him, live for Him, & serve for the rest of our lives.

Let me be clear about one thing: We aren’t going to strive to become an expert about Jesus just so we can say we are an expert about Jesus.

- Nephew became expert to be able to use weapon

- Dr. Mayo expert to help sick people

- Firefighter goes through fire academy

- Counselor expert to help depressed & discouraged

Don’t gain knowledge just for knowledge’s sake. Gain knowledge to put it to use to make a difference in our world.

EXPLANATION – John 1:1-5, 14

Best place to start – “In the beginning.” First, a little about Gospel of John:

- Matthew, Mark, & Luke – Synoptic Gospels – “synoptic” – “see together.” These contain many of same stories told from each unique perspective & angle, all inspired by the Holy Spirit.

o Matthew – Jewish tax collector – Wrote to Jews – Very orderly writing to prove Jesus was the King & Promised Messiah – Quotes OT more than any other Gospel writer

o Mark – Target audience was Roman believers, particularly Gentiles. Action-packed & to the point. Gentiles not as concerned about Jewish lineage & genealogy.

o Luke – a physician – “most beautiful book ever written.” Emphasized Jesus’ compassion toward many who were considered outcasts.

John’s Gospel – Different from others. Doesn’t give chronological narrative of Jesus’ life & ministry, but as John 20:31 says, “…these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, & that by believing you may have life in His name.” Focus: To persuade people to believe in Jesus (Last week’s sermon – Best News Ever).

C.S. Lewis: “Look for Christ & you will find Him, & w/ Him everything else.” This is the reason that we are launching into this series – We are going to look for Christ & find Him, &, as a result, our lives & our church will never be the same. So let’s start laying the groundwork today here “In the beginning…”

APPLICATION – We need to know about Jesus so we can follow Him & obey Him.

JESUS…From the Gospel of John, we know that He is:

- The only-begotten Son of God

- The Bread of Life

- The Light of the World

- The Door

- The Good Shepherd

- The Resurrection & the Life

- The Way, the Truth, & the Life

- The Vine

Here in these first 5 verses, we see that Jesus…

…IS ETERNAL – v. 1-3 – Jesus, the Eternal Son of God, was w/ the Eternal Father, & the Eternal Holy Spirit in the beginning during creation.

- Genesis 1:26 – “Let US make man…”

- Colossians 1:15-17 – “He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation: for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens & on earth, visible & invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authorities—all things have been created through Him & for Him. He is before all things, & in Him all things hold together.” (NASB)