Everybody Should Worship Jesus Christ!
John 1:1-13
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Grayson Baptist Church - July 13, 2014
*We call this a worship service, and most of us are here today to worship the Lord. But what do we mean when we say we have come to worship the Lord?
*Melvin Newland gave one of the best explanations I have ever heard, and he said: "The English word 'worship' means 'to assign or give the highest worth to something.' So when we worship, we're saying, 'God, you're number one in my life. You come before anyone or anything else.'
*There at least 9 Hebrew and Greek words in the Bible that we translate as 'worship'. But the main Hebrew word means 'to bow down, to humble ourselves, to recognize God's sovereignty, and to express our reverence in His presence.'
*The main Greek word for 'worship' has the root-word picture of a kiss. And it is the same word used in the sentence, 'A dog licked the hands of its master.' This word expresses the ideas of love, loyalty and undying gratitude.
*So when we worship the Lord, we are coming to Him and saying: "God, you are number one in my life. I humble myself before You. I recognize that You are the Sovereign King of Kings. And I want to express my love, loyalty and undying gratitude to You!" (1)
*That's worship. And everybody ought to worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Today's Scripture shows us why.
1. First of all: Everybody should worship Jesus, because He is the Lord God.
*The Bible shows us this truth in vs. 1-3, where John called Jesus "the Word," and said:
1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2. He was in the beginning with God.
3. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
*We live in a world where millions and millions of people have never even heard of Jesus Christ. That is a terrible tragedy. Many other people have heard of Jesus, but they never give a second thought to who He really is. That is a terrible mistake, because Jesus Christ is the Lord God Almighty!
[1] The Scripture confirms this truth by telling us that Jesus continues to exist.
*Jesus has always existed, and He will always continue to exist. That's the point John made in vs. 1, when he said: "In the beginning was the Word." In eternity past Jesus already was. And that is why in Revelation 1:8, Jesus could say: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.''
*For all of us, time marches on. When Anita Milner turned 50, her oldest daughter gave her a pin that said "50 is nifty". Anita wore it to work that day, and had a lot of fun with it. All day long, people kept saying things to her like: "Anita, you don't look fifty." And "Why, Anita, you can't be fifty."
*Then just as Anita got home, the doorbell rang. It was a young girl from the florist, bringing flowers from a friend. Anita stood there admiring the birthday gift. And the delivery girl stood there, waiting for a tip. The girl noticed the pin on Anita's jacket and said, "Oh, fifty, eh?"
*"Yes," Anita answered, and she waited to hear one last compliment before her birthday ended. "Fifty," the delivery girl repeated. "That's great! -- Birthday, or anniversary?" (2)
*Time marches on for us, but not for Jesus Christ! He is from everlasting to everlasting. And that's why everybody should worship Jesus! He is the Lord God Almighty. We see this truth in the way Jesus continues.
[2] We also see it in His connection.
*Verse 1 tells us that in the beginning, Jesus "was with God." Jesus Christ was and is connected with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit in a unique way. This fact points us to the Trinity or the reality that God exists as three persons in one.
*Because God exists as a Trinity, our English Bibles sometimes show God speaking of Himself with a plural noun. In Isaiah 6:8, the prophet "heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for US?" In Genesis 1:26, Moses recorded the same kind of conversation within the Godhead when God said, "Let US make man in OUR image. . ."
*Jesus Christ is one of the three persons in the Godhead: Father Son and Holy Spirit. And right now Jesus and His Father IS up in Heaven. They IS up in Heaven. That improper grammar sounds awful, especially to the Language Arts teachers here today. A plural noun with a singular verb makes them cringe. But that is exactly the way we talk about our country all the time. We would never say, "The United States are my home." When it comes to our country, we always use a singular verb with a plural noun.
*And that is what the Holy Spirit did when He began to speak about God in the original language. In fact, the plural noun "elohim" or "gods" is used for the one God over 2,000 times. Genesis 1:1 is an example of this when it says, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." The literal translation there would be: "In the beginning "gods" created the heaven and the earth."
*When this plural Hebrew word is talking about the real God, our English Bibles translate it as the singular noun, "God." But when God first told those Old Testament Scripture writers what to say, He often used a plural noun for Himself? Why did God do that? -- Because he was giving us a clue that God exists as three persons in one being.
*John Phillips reminds us that God also gives illustrations in the world of time and science. Our universe is a trinity of space, matter and time. Space is the trinity of length, breadth and height. Time is the trinity of past, present, and future. And God created all of these relationships to help point us to the relationship between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. (3)
*Jesus is uniquely connected with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, and that's why everybody should worship Jesus! He is the Lord God Almighty. We see this truth in the Lord's unique connection.
[3] We also see it in His communication.
*Remember that in today's Scripture, the Apostle John calls Jesus "the Word." Please listen to it again in vs. 1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
*Why does the Bible say that? -- The main reason why is down in verse 18, where John tells us that: "No one has seen God at any time (i.e. no one has seen God the Father at any time). The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." The New Living Translation puts it this way: "No one has ever seen God. But his only Son, who is himself God, is near to the Father's heart; He has told us about Him."
*And that's why everybody should worship Jesus! He is the Lord God Almighty. We see this truth in the Lord's communication.
[4] And we see it in His creation.
*In vs. 3, John tells us about the Lord's role in creation.There the Apostle said this about Jesus: "All things were made by (or through) Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made." Think about everything that exists in our universe today. How great God must be to have created all of that!
*John Phillips reminds us that out in space, "the distances are so great that a new way to measure was needed, so the astronomers' began using a light-year as their yardstick. That's the distance light travels in one year at about 186,000 miles per second. And in round numbers, light travels about six trillion miles in one year.
*By that measure, our sun in only 8 minutes away, but our Milky Way Galaxy is 100,000 light years across. Church: That means if our sun was the size of a period in your Bibles this morning, our one galaxy would be the size of the whole continental United States! And there are hundreds of billions of galaxies in the universe.
*Also think about the size of our sun. You may know that a million of our earths could fit inside our sun. But the star Antares could hold 64 million of our suns. And a star in the Hercules constellation could hold 100 million stars like Antares." (4)
*That's just scratching the surface on our incredible, incredible universe, and Jesus made it all. "All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made." In all of these ways, John is telling us that Jesus Christ is the Lord God Almighty. And everybody should worship Jesus, because He is the Lord God.
2. But we should also worship Jesus, because he is the light giver.
*Jesus Christ is the giver of all true, spiritual light. John reveals this truth to us in vs. 4&5, where he said this about Jesus:
4. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
5. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it (or take hold of it, or overcome it, or put it out).
[1] You see, Jesus is a reliable light.
*When you think about it, every other kind of light will eventually burn out. But not Jesus! Nothing can overcome or blot out His everlasting light! John went on to talk about the light of Jesus starting in vs. 6:
6. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.
8. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
9. That was the true Light which gives light to every man who comes into the world.
*Jesus "was the true Light which gives light to every man who comes into the world." This means Jesus is a reliable light.
*There are oceans of dishonesty in this world. One time I heard someone on TV talking about a dishonest person. Another person asked, "How you can tell when he is lying?" And the answer was: "His lips are moving." (5)
*There is a lot of dishonesty in our world, and a lot of people don't even believe that absolute truth exists. But there is truth! And Jesus Christ is the Light that shines forever in truth!
[2] Jesus is a reliable light. -- And He is a revealing light.
*The Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ shines in our souls to give us the true standards of life. If you want to know true goodness, love, compassion, purpose, and salvation, then look to Jesus. That's why in John 8:12, Jesus said: "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.''
*And everybody should worship Jesus, because He is the light giver.
3. We should also worship Jesus, because he is the love giver.
*Jesus is the love giver. We can see this truth in vs. 10&11, where John said this about Jesus:
10. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
11. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
[1] How do we see the love of Christ? -- We see it in His coming.
*In vs. 10, Jesus "was in the world," and in vs. 11, "He came to His own." That's one of the great things about love: It shows up. Love shows up to cheer us on. It shows up to help us, to hurt with us, to laugh with us, and to work with us.
*This past week love showed up in Calgary, Canada. It showed up at a community center to refurbish an old planter and paint some walls. Love showed up with Kool-Aid, cupcakes, and crafts, water balloons and whistles, balls, bats, and Bibles.
*Love showed up in Canada to teach kids about God's love. Love showed up there, because so much of it showed up here for things like Sunday lunches and the variety show last winter. But most of all, your love showed up, because God's love showed up when Jesus came 2,000 years ago.
[2] We see the Lord's love in His coming. -- But mostly we can see it in His cross.
*In vs. 11, "He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him." But even that rejection was part of God's plan, because it led to the cross. And 700 years before Jesus was born, God moved one of His prophets to write about it. Isaiah 53:3-6 is speaking about Jesus when it says:
3. He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
5. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
6. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
*That's how much God loves us! And everybody should worship Jesus, because He is the love giver.
4. But we should also worship Jesus, because he is the life giver.
*In vs. 1-3, we already saw how Jesus gave us earthly life. But vs. 12&13 show us how Jesus can give us eternal life. There John says this about the Lord:
12. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right (or authority or power) to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name:
13. who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
*Verse 12 talks about receiving the Lord, and we can receive Him, because Jesus is alive! Three days after the cross, Jesus rose again! He is alive forever more, and He has defeated death forever for all who trust in Him. This is the power of the cross! This is the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ!
[1] And it is exceptional power.
*There is only one way to get it. You could have enough money to fill up Spartan stadium with 100 dollar bills, but you could not buy this power. You could have all the weapons in the world, but you could not take it by force. You could be the smartest person in the world, educated in the finest schools, but you could never figure out how to get it on your own.
*That's because this life-giving power from God is a gift. Again in vs. 12: "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the power to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name." Jesus gives the power-filled gift of everlasting life, and we receive it by receiving Him as our Lord and Savior.
[2] It is exceptional power. -- And it's excellent power.
*Having God's power of eternal life is the best thing that can ever happen to us. It changes our destiny, and it changes our destination. We go from being hell bound to Heaven bound forever!
*God's power of eternal life also turns us from being sinners into saints. It changes us from living a pointless life to living life with a purpose. It changes us from shame, death, and doom to love, joy, goodness, salvation, comfort, courage, and purity. What power! It can even turn us into children of God!
*These are just some of the reasons why everybody should worship Jesus Christ. Everybody should come to Him and say: "God, you are number one in my life. I humble myself before You. I recognize that You are the Sovereign King of Kings. And I want to express my love, loyalty and undying gratitude to You!"
*Everybody ought to worship Jesus Christ. But how committed are we to worship the Lord? Lt. Commander Edwin Shuman died last December at the age of 82. During the Vietnam War, Shuman was captured after his Navy jet was shot down.
*As Christmas approached in 1970, Edwin was determined that the prisoners would defy the Communist guards and worship the Lord. As the highest-ranking officer in the large cell of 43 POWs, Edwin stepped forward and asked, "Are we really committed to having church Sunday? I want to know person by person."
*The decision was unanimous. At that point Commander Shuman knew that he would be the first one tortured. The following Sunday, he stepped forward to lead in prayer and was quickly seized by the guards. The next four officers did the same, and they too were removed to be beaten.
*The guards were furious, and they were beating the POWs with their gun butts. At that point the sixth officer said, "Gentlemen, the Lord's Prayer." That time they finished it. And that scenario continued in the other cells until the guards finally gave up. From that Sunday on, until the prisoners were released in 1973, they held a church service every week. But 42 men were tortured that day, because they were committed to worship the Lord Jesus Christ.
*How committed are you to worship the Lord? -- Think about that, as we go to God in prayer.
(1) Adapted from SermonCentral sermon "Worship Is More Than That" by MELVIN NEWLAND - Psalm 95:6-7
(2) Kay Allenbaugh - "CHOCOLATE FOR A WOMAN'S SOUL" - Simon & Schuster - NY - 1997 - Source: Sermons.com sermon "Can a Christian Brag?" by King Duncan - Ephesians 2:1-10
(3) Adapted from "EXPLORING JOHN" by John Phillips - p. 17
(4) Adapted from "EXPLORING JOHN" by John Phillips - pp. 18-19
(5) Original source unknown
(6) "Beaumont Enterprise" - 12/25/2013 - p. 4A - Source: "In Other Words" - July, 2014 #1 - Produced by Dr. Raymond McHenry - www.iows.net
