John’s Gospel #1 Word, Light, Life
CHCC: January 6, 2008
John 1
INTRODUCTION:
I grew up living around my cousins in Ohio. Some of us even went to the same church together along with our parents and grand parents. It was especially fun at holiday time for the cousins to play together on grandpa’s farm. Considering what it would be like to be able to live around your cousins, what do you suppose your cousins would testify about you?
The Gospel of John is the testimony from one of Jesus’ 1st cousins. According to a couple of commentaries I studied, they said that John’s mom and Jesus’ mom were sisters. Therefore, Jesus and John had a close bond as cousins. They spent holidays together. Their families traveled together to Passover. All through their growing up years, Jesus grew to love his little cousin, John.
Throughout his book, John refers to himself as “the disciple Jesus loved.” But they had an even closer bond than that. John came to understand that Jesus was much more than his cousin. That is why he wrote this Gospel.
By the time John wrote this gospel, Matthew, Mark, and Luke had already written event-filled records of Jesus’ life here on earth. John took a more Spiritual perspective … as if he could look down from Heaven and describe the entrance of Christ into the world.
1. The Word John 1:1
He starts with these beautiful words: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:1
The original Greek word translated Word is Logos. The word is full of meaning. It was a word used to describe an abstract concept that lies behind everything concrete. I’m not big on studying Grammar, but in this case, the word tense is important. John used the imperfect tense, which shows a continuous state. It gives the idea of “absolute supernatural existence” meaning that Jesus exists beyond the realm of time and space. (Exploring the Gospels, John Phillips)
For John’s original audience, living in the context of the Hebrew faith and Greek culture, Logos referred to the origins of the Universe and powerful Cosmic forces. The little English word “Word” just doesn’t contain that kind of rich meaning.
I found out that in the Chinese Bible, Logos is translated "Tao". If you read it in Chinese it would say, In the beginning was Tao. Tao was with God and Tao was God … And Tao became flesh and lived among us. (Well, okay, more of the words might sound Chinese, but you know what I mean…)
Tao has been defined as the natural order of the Universe, humanly uncontrollable power, the little thing that is bigger than the big things, and so on. People have filled books trying to explain Tao and they end up by admitting that Tao can’t be defined. (Blessed are the Uncool, Paul Grant, p.71-74)
People all over the world instinctively know that there has to be some principle, some entity, some indefinable something, that is the sustainer, the foundation, and the meaning behind everything.
Whether you call it Logos or Tao, or the Word, the concept can’t be fully described in any language. But John gives a definition. The definition is not contained in vocabulary. The definition is a person: His name is Jesus.
Jesus is the Word, the Logos, the Tao. Jesus, the humble man is greater than the universe. Jesus, who put on flesh for a time in order to live within the Universe He had created, He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. John 1:2-3
The Greek word “panta” is translated “each thing.” It refers to the infinite detail of creation. The DVD we saw during offering helped us visualize the enormity of the known Universe (And by the way, that’s just as much as we have discovered so far. We haven’t found a sign that says, “The End.”)
The building block of this vast universe is the atom. … an entity that resembles a solar system but is less than 150 millionth of an inch in diameter. The Universe is too huge for us to comprehend, and the atom is too small for us to comprehend. And Jesus made it all … every atom … every galaxy.
2. Light John 1:4-5
In verses 4-5 John says, "In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it."
Have you ever been driving on a two-lane highway at night and the car coming toward you doesn’t dim their lights? It’s annoying! You try to look away and blink your lights to high and low hoping they’ll get the message. When your eyes are adjusted to darkness, the light seems blinding. I think that’s how it is for many of us when we see the light of Christ. If you live in darkness, you want to look away from the light. It seems blinding … and even painful.
Have you ever noticed than when Jesus was born, every announcement of his birth started with the words “Fear not…”? The bright Light of God overwhelms those living in Darkness! I think that’s why God usually reveals His light little by little. He puts the “dimmers” on so we won’t be blinded. If we receive the light God gives us, then He will give more. On the other hand, if we walk away from that light, we go deeper into the darkness.
My brother-in-law has a friend named Pedro who’s a good example of how this works. The first time Pedro ever read the Bible, was when he was in prison. But once he “saw the light,” he couldn’t get enough of it. He read the entire Bible through in a matter of weeks. He would hold the Bible kind of under the table in the rec. room so no one would see what he was reading. But one day he came to the verse in Mark 8:38 that says, "If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels." He stopped reading. He pulled the Bible out from under the table, held it up in plain view, and kept reading.
That’s what it means to Receive the Light. The Light God shines on your life will show you the next step to take. That’s what I’ve noticed through the years.
I remember back when I graduated from college and was beginning to interview for ministry position. I was being looked at by 3 churches, but I wanted God to be able to guide in where I would go, so I agreed to go to the first church that would give me the official call.
Inwardly, I was hoping that Dodge City, Kansas would call me first, because I had been there two summers and knew the people there already. But soon I was introduced to the minister of the Ridgecrest Christian Church in Albuquerque who came to the college with the power to choose a youth minister for the church. He chose me, but I asked for time to think about it, and quickly called Dodge City to see what might happen. The minister there said the church wasn’t ready to make a decision that day, and he advised me to go ahead and accept the Ridgecrest offer. I was given light to make a decision even though it wasn’t exactly what I would have chosen for myself. God gave me enough light to take the next step and Albuquerque became my new home.
God gives His Light to everyone who receives him. First we see the light that leads to Salvation, then we receive increasing light day by day that shows us which steps to take. As Christians we still make choices about receiving of rejecting the light.. Will we walk in His light, or will we go the other way. If we resist God’s direction, then even as Christians we can wander into the shadows … and suffer the consequences of disobedience.
But when we Receive His light (I’m talking about doing what we know He is directing us to do) … When we step toward the Light, then He gives more light for the next step. And we find ourselves living an entirely new kind of Life!
3. Life John 1:4
John 1:4 says, In him was life, and that life was the light of men.
John was amazed at how many people (both Jews and Gentiles) turned away from the light. This was a supreme tragedy and irony. People rubbed shoulders with God, and yet so many of them were too blind to see. 10 "He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him." John 1:10-11
Then comes the good news ... "Yet to all who received 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." John 1:12-13
John didn’t tell the details of Jesus’ birth on earth. The story of the Angel Gabriel appearing to Mary and of the angels and the Shepherd and the Star and the Wise Men … those are all amazing stories. But what John focuses on is even more incredible. John starts his Gospel by telling the eternal SIGNIFICANCE of Jesus’ entrance into the world. In just 18 verses, John manages to explain who Jesus is AND what His coming means to you and me.
The WORD came to bring LIGHT and LIFE into the world. Anyone who receives Him will have an entirely new LIFE here on earth and in the world to come.
CONCLUSION:
Imagine having Jesus Christ as one of your cousins. John, who was related to Jesus, wrote this Gospel to show we can all become related to Jesus … as children of God. He is the Word, Light, and Life. That’s the DNA that ties us together. All these qualities come to live within us if we RECEIVE him as our savior.
