Journeying With John
“In the Beginning”
John 1:1a
I want to welcome you to the start of the one of most profound journeys you have ever taken in your life. I have asked God that this journey will be the most Jesus revealing, truth establishing, perspective shaping, ministry empowering and life transforming trips you have ever experienced. It is my prayer that the ‘you’ sitting here this morning will be completely transformed in the weeks and months that lie ahead. I am not preaching for your admiration or confirmation - but for your transformation.
I will introduce you to John shortly, and then simply step out of the way and let John guides us the rest of the way. Now I must warn you, the ride may not be short, and it might not always be easy but it will always be worth it - you will be glad you made it. Each week our hearts will resonate with the wonder and glory of God, the richness and righteousness of Jesus, the power and purity of truth and the fulness and fruitfulness of the grace and mercy of God. I must warn you that John will guide us back deeper back than man has ever gone, into eternity past - and then he will sweep us further forward than man has ever ventured, into eternity future. Then John will bring us back and so profoundly reinterpret the present through the eyes of Jesus that it will, I suggest to you this morning, if you will listen, completely transform our lives. John is huge - but he is meticulously careful not to take center stage or to have the spotlight fall on him. Instead you will find again and again and again, he steps into the shadows and focus our attention on Jesus Christ.
So let’s meet John - The Apostle of Love. He is known as The Apostle of Love because more than any other writer in the New Testament he speaks of love, he exemplifies love, he loves and is loved. As a matter of fact, even though he writes only five books in the New Testament (as opposed to Paul’s 13) he used love more than any other writer. Of the four gospels, Matthew used the word ‘love’ 13 times, Mark 5 times, Luke 15 times and John 57 times. If you want to know about love, read John. Read his gospel, then read the 3 short epistles he wrote. In those few pages he uses the word love 53 times. And, of course, he wrote the book of revelation while in exile on the Isle of Patmos in the Aegean Sea. Paul in his 13 books uses the word ‘love 114 times, John in his 5 books 117 times.
He is, I would suggest to you, one of the most unsung heroes of the Bible. Because of his eventual gentleness and self-effacing attitude, we sometimes tend to think of John as being naturally retiring and mild mannered, perhaps even somewhat effeminate. But the truth is that he was profoundly strong, incredibly bold and sometimes even offensively in your face. After all, he is also know, with his brother James, as a ‘Son of Thunder.’
Where Paul is the theologian of the New Testament, I would suggest to you that John is the mystic of the New Testament. I realize that term may cause some of you problems, but frankly, you will just have to deal with that. You see my friend, and this may surprise you to hear it stated but you will know it to be true, the truth is that true mysticism and true theology are not contradictory, they are complimentary. They belong together. There is an undeniable mysticism in true theology - and the Bible is full of examples of this. How can you even talk about love and unity with God and not recognize the mysticism in that? How can you try and comprehend the nature of God and not see the mysticism in that? While many mystics may have earned a bad reputation, and dragged the word ‘mysticism’ down with them, there is wonderful mysticism in the Bible that fascinates, entices, lures and even charms the mind. Paul, speaking of the union between God and man calls it a great mystery. Well when you journey with John you will find yourself journeying into the unsearchable richness, the unfathomable romance, the enigmatic mysticism of God. And it is not that John and John alone travel down the road of mysticism. The truth is that in Paul’s theology there is great mysticism, and there is in John’s mysticism a great theology.
John - the Apostle of Love - do you realize that he was the first to recognize the Lord on the shore of Galilee and was the first disciple to see the risen Christ.
It was to this John that the Lord entrusted the revelation of future events in the Apocalypse.
This John, whom we are going to journey with, lived the longest, was the last surviving of the disciples, and spend his final years banished on the isle of Patmos off the west coast of Asia Minor, and he died about a.d. 98, during the reign of Emperor Trajan.
You may not know this but John’s mother, Salome, was a sister of Mary, the mother of Jesus, making John a cousin of Jesus - and Salome helped sponsor Jesus ministry.
John - the Apostle of Love - but here is the deal folks, John does not simply write all about love, his life is all about love.
In John 21:20 he is referred to as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” That was not simply a title John took to himself out of the fanciful desire of his heart. Luke also refers to John as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” (Luke 24;40)
In John 21:20, they are reclining at the table (they did not sit in chars at a table in those days but would stretch out, feet out, heads in, propped up on one elbow, and share their meal that way.) One of the most intimate moments of Jesus love for the disciples generally but especially for John is recorded when the Bible, speaking of John says that he, “ leaned back on His bosom at the supper and said, ‘Lord, who is the one who betrays You?’” See John the Apostle of Love.
Not only that, but tradition tells us that John did not leave the city of Jerusalem until Mary the mother of Jesus died. Why is that significant? Because the Lord had entrusted his mother into John’s care (John 19:26). Remember the Lord said to Peter, “Tend My sheep” (John 21:17)? Well Jesus word to John while he was on the cross was, in effect, “Tend My mother.” Now who are you going to entrust you mother to? The disciple you love and trust. John, I would suggest to you, had a special love that Jesus knew would lead this disciple to treat Mary as his own mother.
Now let me tell you why journeying with John is such a trip! Because of this unique relationship, when you journey with John you journey with Jesus.
And John wants you to be touched by Jesus Christ the way he was, to be undone and redone by a living encounter with the living Savior the way he was, and to experience resurrection life of God the way he does. I say that not because that is what I want John to want for you, but because that is what John wants. Here is John, the author of this book telling us why he wrote this gospel.
John 20:30-31 “. . . many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”
That by way of introduction to our travel companion and guide - John, the Apostle of Love.
Turn now with me, if you will, to the text of John, John chapter 1.
I want to start at a very appropriate place. Julie Andrews sang those immortalized words, “Lets start at the very beginning” - and I have found that fundamentally, I agree with her - it is, indeed, a very good place to start. To join me, I invite you to look at the Scriptures with me.
John 1:1 - Read - Pray
With your permission I would like to start off by looking at just the first four words of this gospel - “In the beginning was . . .”
It is hard to read those words without your mind immediately racing back to the first words in the Bible record in Genesis 1:1 “berashaeth Elohim,” “In the beginning God”
Those two statements, I submit to you, are as bold as you will ever read. They have, as their fundamental premise the fact that before anything was, God already was.
God never had a beginning, because beginning is a ‘creature’ word. Everything other than God that is or that was or that will be must, by definition, have a beginning.
God is the only uncaused One. Everything else has a cause. Everything else exists ‘be-cause’ - God does not have a because - He exists independently of a cause. And everything finds it’s cause in Him.
And because God is pre-existent and because He is self sufficient, He does not need anything or anyone. Some Christians act like God really needs them, is dependent on them. Can you imagine serving a God who needs you?
“Now God I know that things are going tough for You, and that the economic troubles have affected what You are trying to do, I understand because I am feeling the pinch as well.” I cannot serve a God who needs me or who is dependant upon the conversations and the convictions and the choices of man. Precious believer - God does not need you or me.
And by the way, God does not need your $10.00 - some people think they have been bailing God out. Well news flash - God does not need it - He is self sufficient. As a matter of fact, God does not need anything we have. We need to give it to God because of what it does for us, not what it does for Him.
Why, God will make the even the devil himself work for the benefit of the saints and the glory of God. He turns loss into gain, pain into joy and tragedy into triumph.
Why? Because all things derive from Him and were created for Him. Romans 11:36 tells us that “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”
Colossians 1:16 reflects the same thought when it says, “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things have been created through Him and for Him.”
That is Bible for ‘God does not have a because - and everything else finds it’s ‘because’ in Him.’
“In the beginning was . . .” is the most profound statement that you can make concerning God’s existence.
Four times the Bible says of God that He is “from everlasting to everlasting You are God.” (1 Chron. 16:36, Psalm 41:13, 103:17, 90:2)
I did some research on the word ‘everlasting’ - here is what it literally means.
• It means ‘always.’ From always in the past to always in the future You are God.
• It means ‘vanishing point.’ From the vanishing point before time began to the vanishing point after time will cease in the future You are God.
• It means ‘time out of mind.’ From time out of mind in eternity past to time out of mind in eternity future You are God.
In other words, He always was and He always will be - and in the expanse of always was and always will be not only is He, but He is God. When? Always. From always in the past to always in the future You are God.
Now watch this if you will. Ecc. 3:11 speaking of man, “God has put eternity in their hearts.” The word ‘eternity’ is exactly the same word in the Hebrew as ‘everlasting.’ When God made you He put that same ‘everlasting’ in you that was in Him, that same ‘always,’ that same ‘vanishing point,’ that same ‘time out of mind’ in your heart. The eternity that is in God became the eternity that is in you.
That is why you are indeed so wonderfully made, and your soul knows it well - you were made for eternity.
AW Tozer says it this way, “There is something in the heart of man that reaches undeniably into eternity . . . That is every man’s draw to God, draw to worship, draw to things everlasting. Man longs for a relationship with God. Man wants to burst though the limitations of his mortality and grasp something that is divine.”
That my friend is the manifestation of the everlasting God out in your heart.
And that is why you will never be satisfied by the things of this world. No matter how wonderful, how amazing, how incredibly successful or happy the things of this world make you feel, they will never satisfy you. Why? Because what you have in your heart is eternity, or everlasting. Nothing temporary and nothing temporal can ever satisfy you. What will satisfy you is what is found in the ‘everlasting’ that God put in your heart. What will satisfy you is nothing short of God Himself.
When the Bible uses the “in the beginning . . .” it is referring to a point in time that concluded the time the Bible refers to as ‘before the foundations of the world.’
In other words, first came ‘before the foundations of the world’ then comes the world. That transition from eternity past, from before the foundations of the word is called, in the Bible, ‘in the beginning.’ And that is when time began as well. That is when time is measured from.
So what was God doing in eternity past ‘before the foundation of the world’? What was God doing while He dwelt in the tranquility of the Trinity? Very simple - He was thinking, feeling and planning loving thoughts about you.
Let me show that from the Scriptures.
Mat 25:34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”
God prepared a kingdom.
Eph. 1:4 “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.”
God chose you.
Oh my friend, as we wrap up this morning, all these truths are profoundly evident in those incredible words, “In the beginning was . . .” and “In the beginning God . . .”
Precious believer, do you realize that the first thing we read of God doing in the Bible is preparing a kingdom for you and then choosing you for the Kingdom?
Do you see that salvation is simply a matter of God re-inhabiting that eternal place in your heart, that expression of Himself, that part that can never and will never be satisfied by anything here below?
Do you know why God built a Kingdom? Do you know why God chose you? Do you know why God put in your heart a place that can only be satisfied by eternity? It is because you were always on His mind, you are always on His mind . . . and you always will be on His mind.
If it was not for you and I, if it was not for mankind, there would never have been an “in the beginning . . .”
God loves you, and everything that began in the beginning was because God desires to have a relationship with you.
• From always in the past to always in the future you are on His mind.
• From the vanishing point before time began to the vanishing point after time will cease in the future you are on His mind.
• From time out of mind in eternity past to time out of mind in eternity future you are on His mind.
Precious believer - He loves you, He put something in you that will never be satisfied until He fills it. Half hearted Christianity will never satisfy you. Measured commitment will never satisfy you. And nor will it satisfy the reason He made you.
What I am calling for this morning as we close is an appropriate response to the God who has had you on His mind from eternity past, who prepared a kingdom and chose you before the foundation of the world, and who paid the price to fill that ‘everlasting place’ that He put in you. What I am calling for is to be done with half heartedness, with mediocrity, with luke-warm religion and to be sold out to the God who is sold out for you.
Notes on occurrence of ‘Love’ in the NT
Occurrence of Love in New Testament writers
NT - love occurs 287 times.
John Total - 117, Paul - 114
13- Matt, 5-Mark, 15-Luke, 57-John, 1-Acts,
114-Rom, ½ Cor, Gal, Eph, Phil, Coil, ½ Thess, ½ Tim, Titus, Phil
6-Hebrews, 3-James, 10-1 Peter - 2 Peter, 53-1 John - 3 John,
3-Jude, 7 -Revelation.
