The Person of Jesus series
Introduction: Jesus – God in the Flesh
John 1:1-18
CHCC: February 7, 2010
INTRODUCTION:
For the next 12 weeks we’re going to have a series of sermons focused on the Person of Jesus. On the screen you see a montage of images of Christ. How to you picture Jesus? Some people like to think of Jesus as a best friend who’s always there for us, or a big brother who has our back, or a doctor who heals our sickness, our all-knowing counselor who helps us stay out of trouble. And Jesus IS all those things to us … but too often we imagine Jesus to be the way we want him to be … instead of understanding who He really is.
If your just use your own imagination, then you can make Jesus into whatever you want him to be. Back in the 1980’s Depeche Mode put out a song called “Your own … Personal … Jesus.” Since then, it’s been performed by artists as different as Johnny Cash and Marilyn Manson. As you can imagine, they gave a very different meaning to your personal Jesus!
To a lot of people, Jesus is probably somewhere between a Superhero and Santa Clause. He has the power to give us what we want … and we hope he’ll come through for us. In other words, we try to make Jesus in our own image.
But the truth is that instead of us creating Jesus in our image, Jesus wants to Re-Create US in His image. For that to happen, we need to know who Jesus REALLY is.
For the next 12 weeks, that is what we’re going to do. Every week, we’ll focus on a different facet of our Lord’s personality and character. Every week we’re going to look at “snap-shots” of Jesus, taken from all 4 of the Gospels. Each Gospel gives a different perspective on the Person of Jesus:
· Matthew wrote to a Jewish audience emphasizing how Jesus fulfilled Jewish prophecies concerning the Messiah. He emphasizes Jesus as King.
· Mark wrote for the Romans. He pictures Jesus as a servant who reaches out to help needy people
· Luke introduced Jesus to a Greek audience as a sympathetic teacher.
· John wrote a unique gospel account for people of any race, religion, time or place. John emphasizes Jesus’ identity as the one and only Son of God.
If you remember, John and his brother James were fishermen in Galilee before they became followers of Jesus. So it’s not that surprising that John wrote a book in simple language. In fact, Greek students tend to read John first because of its simple vocabulary.
John may be a simple book, but there are massive ideas in his simple words. In the first chapter he presents the Cosmic Christ … and he presents this portrait of Jesus in a Poem.
The first 18 verses of John use a literary device called chiasm. (on screen) (This was new information to me and I find it fascinating.) A chiasm is a type of poetry where the first and last lines fit together --- the second and next-to-last lines match --- and so on. The screen shows how this can be plotted in a way that looks like a greater than > symbol.
Each of the indentions shows something important about who Jesus is.
1. Jesus – the Word John 1:1-2, 18
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.
18 No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.
When John says Jesus is the word he uses the Greek term, logos. John may have been just a fisherman, but he was no simpleton. In using the word “logos” he chose a word philosopher’s of his day were discussing. To philosophers of that day, logos had a rich, abstract meaning. Logos was understood as a word from God that somehow took physical form in order to carry out the will of God.
That’s why John said that the word was with God in the beginning and that the word was God himself. He went on to explain in vs. 18 that the word of God made God known. This is deep … so for any of us who like to keep it simple: John was saying that Jesus is God --- not like God; not almost God; Jesus IS God.
To say that Jesus is Yahweh is a big deal to come from a Jewish writer. The name of God was held in such awe that Jews were not allowed to say or write the name. Yet, here John gives Yahweh a new name: Jesus.
2. Jesus – the Life John 1:3-5, 16-17
3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
16 From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
To reinforce the first assertion, John goes on to say that Jesus was the one who actually did the creating when God created the world. From, Genesis 1 and 2 we know that when God spoke --- things happened. From here we see that Jesus is “the Word” through which God created the world.
Genesis 1:2 says, Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. This is the first introduction to the Holy Spirit and His part in creation. Now John explains that Jesus was also part of the original creation. He was the WORD in verse 3 when God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
John said, in Jesus was life, and that life was the light of men. The word John used for life is significant.
* John could have used the Greek word, bios which would refer to biological life
* He could have used the word psuche which describes the personality or living soul
* But John chose the word zoe. This word describes the eternal spirit --- the deepest part of us - our passion and purpose - our reason for living. Throughout his Gospel, John uses zoe to describe the life that is eternal - the life only Jesus can give.
When we add the companion verse in vs.16, we see that life comes through the fullness of grace. The life Jesus brings gives us one blessing after another. Up until this time, the message of God had come through the LAW that Moses brought. Jesus came to earth the bring grace and truth which superseded the Law of Moses.
John has made some incredible claims about this man, Jesus. So far he has claimed that
* Jesus is the logos of God – the WORD that has taken physical form.
* He claimed that Jesus was not only WITH God from eternity but that Jesus IS God
* He said everything in our world was Created through Jesus.
* He said that Jesus is the life that gives us light.
3. Jesus – the Light John 1:6-9, 15
In John’s day it took two witnesses to prove anything in a court of Law. So, in verse 6, John calls in another witness who made the same claims about Jesus.
6 There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.
15 John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, ’He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’"
John is saying, “Don’t just take my word for it. Here is another witness!” When Jesus first started His ministry, John the Baptist testified to the coming of the light, who was before him and has surpassed him. Now, after Jesus earthly ministry has ended, John is giving the same testimony – that Jesus was sent from God, and that Jesus truly IS God.
Now John continues by describing what happened when God himself came into the world he had made:
4. Jesus – the Man John 1: 10-11, 14
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.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
This is the tragedy that led to the cross. The world that Jesus had made did not recognize him. Jesus came specifically to the Jewish people --- the nation God called His Own --- but even His own rejected Him. John brings this up so that anyone who knew about Christ’s death on the cross could make sense of how that could have possibly happened.
If Jesus is the living word of God, and equal to God, and sent from God, then why, for heaven’s sake, did they put him to death? All through his Gospel, John will describe the reaction of people who saw Jesus but were blind to His identity. He will show that Jesus was the light, but the darkness in people’s minds hid his light from them.
John’s Gospel will also show the transformation that came to those whose eyes were open to the light --- those who saw the glory of the One and Only when the Word became flesh.
When I was working on this sermon, I came across an image that gives a unique picture of Jesus as the word who became flesh. This is not a painting, but a picture created by writing thousands of WORDS with shaded letters. It is actually the entire New Testament written out by hand.
The original work was six feet long by four feet wide. There are about 185,000 words with an average of a thousand words per line. There are 27 angels surrounding Christ, representing the 27 books of the New Testament. If we could magnify the painting enough we could read the words of scripture.
The artist was a Korean Christian named Elder Rhee. He explains his art this way: As a child, I knew the Lord. I prayed to God that my life would not be empty like a disappearing cloud, but would leave something behind for the generations to come. When I was about 30 years old, I was divinely inspired that a picture of the Lord could be revealed by the printed word of God. But at the time, Korea was under Japanese occupation, then under the communist regime.
Then he goes on to say, I began writing the Scriptures in the form of pictures without anybody noticing for (many) years while I was living alone in the back room of a secluded house. He says, This work is not technically superior art, but rather, a humble expression of my gratitude for the Lord.
In this picture, the figure of Christ is not imposed onto the words --- the words are inked light and dark to create the portrait so that the words have become the person of Christ.
5. Jesus – God’s Plan John 1:12-13
Looking back at John chapter 1 – in the central point of the chiastic Poem that John wrote, he describes the REASON that the word became flesh
12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
Many people rejected Jesus --- many were blind to His light --- but to those few who DID receive him, Jesus gave power to become children of God. This is God’s Plan --- This is the reason that God himself came into the world --- so that anyone who believes in Him can be reconciled to God and receive eternal life.
Here we see the central message of the Gospel – the word became flesh and lived among us --- so that all who receive Him can become children of God.
CONCLUSION:
During the next 12 weeks we’re going to take a fresh look at the Person of Jesus as he lived a human life here on earth. We want to know Him as He is --- to see his personality … his character … his values. But the beginning is to know His essential identity --- to understand that Jesus was much more than a mere man.
Back in the 4th century A.D., a man named Gregory of Nazianzus wrote these words that capture the identity of Jesus as one who is fully human, yet fully God:
He began His ministry by being hungry, yet He is the Bread of Life.
Jesus ended His earthly ministry by being thirsty, yet He is the Living Water.
Jesus was weary, yet He is our rest.
Jesus paid tribute, yet He is the King.
Jesus was accused of having a demon, yet He cast out demons.
Jesus wept, yet He wipes away our tears.
Jesus was sold for thirty pieces of silver, yet He redeemed the world.
Jesus was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, yet He is the Good Shepherd.
Jesus died, yet by His death He destroyed the power of death.
Gregory of Nazianzus, A.D. 381
