The Light of Men
Gospel of John Series
CCCAG January 7th, 2018
Scripture- John 1:1-5
I’m excited this morning to begin our Gospel of John series. I haven’t been this excited since my first Sunday here. This is a series that I know God called me to do, but I had to wait until the right time. Now, 3 ½ years later the Father has released me to begin.
Before we get into the scripture today, I want to introduce and talk a little about the author.
There are 4 Gospels in the bible. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called the synoptic Gospels. Synoptic means similar or summary. Matthew, Mark, and Luke contain the same outline, the same general details, and the same timeline over 65% of the time in their writings about the birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection of the LORD Jesus Christ.
However, The Gospel of John deviates significantly from the other 3 Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke were written between 41-69 AD. John came much later, probably around 80-90AD. It is without doubt in my mind that John had read the writings of the other Gospel writers, and as Jesus’ closest friend on this earth, decided to give the closest eyewitness account of any Gospel write to everything he saw his best friend do and say.
Matthew and Mark heard and saw some of it, Luke probably got his information from Mark, Peter, and Paul, but John lived it, and therefore is the closest eyewitness to the life, words, personality, and mission that Jesus had than anyone else in the bible.
John most likely knew Jesus growing up, he was the closest to him during his ministry, he was part of the inner circle of disciples with his brother James and with Peter, and he was the only one that was a direct eyewitness to the entire passion of Jesus from the first blow to the final words our Lord uttered on the cross. HE was so close to Jesus that Jesus didn’t call his family to take care of his mother, but called upon His best friend to make sure that His mother Mary was protected and taken care of after His death.
Quite a resume’ isn’t it?
Martin Luther said that this Gospel is so important that if some world leader decreed that all the known copies of the bible were to be burned, if the church could save John’s Gospel and the book of Romans, the essence of Christianity would endure such a purge.
That’s incredible. It’s why I’m so excited to begin this study of John’s Gospel. I know it can change our lives, increase our faith, and bring us closer to the subject of this book, which is our Lord, God, Savior, Healer, and King, Jesus!
So let’s dig in, and allow me to illustrate the subject of the first few verses of John’s Gospel.
ILLUSTRATION:
When I was a kid, my mom’s sister, my Aunt Mary would often bring me from Kenosha to Hayward to see my grandparents. This was back in the late 70’s and early 80’s. What is now a 5 ½ to 6 hr drive took over 8 hrs then. Back then, Hwy 53 was a dark, narrow, tree-lined two lane curvy road that connected Eau Claire with Spooner, and just north of Spooner is Hwy 63, our turn off to go to Hayward. When I drove up there with her, once we passed Eau Claire, I had to put down my book, and help her watch the sides of the road- she would look left, I would look right. We were watching for those two little reflections, or any movement that would indicate a deer was standing near the road and ready to jump out in front of us. This was kind of fun, and kind of scary at the same time- Hwy 53 in those days was dark- no lights coming from houses, no street lights marking the larger interactions, the tree line was right up to the road, so if a deer appeared you had a second to hit your brakes or swerve or you would be wrecked and stranded in the north woods and the only thing you could do is wait for another person to drive by, or walk to the nearest farm and ask to use their phone.
We were complete dependent on your car lights, shining in the front to keep us safe during our travels.
John starts his Gospel telling us of the time when God sent his own light into our world. God knows our journey on this earth is dark. He knows there are forces hiding in the tree line ready to jump out and wreck our lives. So, God had given us a light to guide our way, and his name is Jesus.
So today we are going to start with the first chapter of John’s Gospel, and starting with verses 1-5 if you want to turn there in your bibles, or flip your bulletin over to follow with the reading.
John 1:1-5 (Read carefully) ESV
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 was not anything made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Prayer
John begins by establishing a few critical points for us to understand about Jesus. These are the “must knows” and the basis of who Jesus is that will help you to comprehend the rest of his gospel account.
1. JESUS’ RELATIONSHIP TO GOD THE FATHER
John starts with telling us exactly who he is talking about. From Genesis 1:1 (God creating heavens and earth) to Revelation 22:21 when God brings everything to perfection this book is talking about one person- Jesus. The Old Testament was Jesus concealed and the New Testament is Jesus revealed. We see Jesus’ presence throughout the bible
through God’s dealings with humanity in the Old Testament History,
we see His worship in the Psalms,
we see His future earthly ministry in the prophetic books,
we see his life in Gospels,
we see HIM change lives in Acts,
we see doctrine in the Epistles,
and we see His and our future in his Revelation.
Jesus is seen and spoken of everywhere in the bible. Even when you don’t see HIM directly, His presence and fingerprints are all over the bible’s accounts.
That’s why John is very deliberate in how he starts his Gospel
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.
John begins his Gospel the same way the Old Testament begins- in the beginning. But where 4000 years of salvation history failed to bring humanity back to the Father in the Old Testament, Jesus hits the reset button.
But wasn’t as if Jesus told God the Father, “Hey dad, take a back seat here and let me try this salvation thing.” No, no, John is telling us that Jesus is fulfilling the plan that the Godhead decreed from before the Father says let there be light. Rev 13:9
Most people will look at the Old Testament and choose to see God as the atheist Richard Dawkins does-
In his book, “The God Delusion” he wrote
“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”
I’ll save you looking up all those big words- they just mean bad.
Richard Dawkins comes to this idea because he fails to understand these first few verses of John’s Gospel tell us exactly who the God of the Old Testament is- Jesus.
Just like Richard Dawkins and other atheists who try to read the bible through their sense of morality, the rest of the world often sees our God as a being that wants to repress our basic human desires for happiness and pleasure instead of understanding that our Father God is just that- a Father who has put up protective boundaries for His children so that they don’t fall off the cliffs of sin and destruction.
The same author of this Gospel also wrote letters or epistles to the church further explaining to us who this man Jesus is, and in one of them he says
1John 1:1-2 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) – 1 John 1:1-2
What is John saying here? Jesus is the exact representation of who God the Father is.
Hebrews 1:3 sums it up when it says
The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful word.
Jesus is the answer to every question about God.
Jesus is the answer to any problem we can face
Jesus is the answer to every difficulty in life
Jesus is the answer for the evil that we see in this world.
John unequivocally says Jesus is THE ANSWER-period.
The second point that John wants us to understand about Jesus is-
2. JESUS IS OUR CREATOR
All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. – John 1:3
It disturbs me when people relegate Jesus to a position lower than that of God. It’s bad enough that people use his name as a curse or expression of exacerbation. But in my opinion what is even worse than that is calling Him a buddy.
Jesus is our friend, yes, but be careful not to lower Him from the first position He held in time, and that is creator God.
Some of you might be thinking- “Wait a second, I thought God the Father was the creator”
The correct answer is all three members of the triune Godhead were involved in creation. The Father spoke, the Spirit hovered, the Son created.
How do we know Jesus was part of creation?
Col 1:15 He (Jesus)is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
Col 1:16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Not only did Jesus create you, but if you are His, then all of the power of the omnipotent God is available to strengthen you, empower you, fight for you, and bring you safely into the eternal Kingdom of God.
That’s good news, and that is the Gospel of the Kingdom
There are a few other consequences of Jesus being our creator-
Since He is co-equal and co-creator with the Father, He has the right to determine several things about you and me.
The first and foremost is how we are to live and what our function in this life is to be.
Illustration
Here in Whitehall, we have railroad tracts that run through our city. If you live here, then you know that around 4am, the train comes through town. In fact, there are several trains that come through the town on the tracks at various points throughout the day.
Question- how many times have you seen a train run right down Dewey Street here in front of the church. How about Sheila our cross street here?
Main street?
Why not?
Trains are not designed to run on roads, they are designed to run on tracks.
Most of the pain and misery in our lives happens because we or others in our lives are trying to walk a road that humanity was not designed to walk on.
Pretend you are a train. What if one day you decide that you are sick of running on the track. It wants to experience grass under its wheels, or wonders how it would do being on the road instead of following these where these rigid tracks are telling it to go.
So you jump your tracks here in town and tries to run in the grass next to the track, or on a road- what happens? It keeps going for a little while…but eventually, it will tip over, the cars will separate, the engine might catch on fire or explode, and mass chaos and possible loss of life will happen.
The same thing happens when you and I or anyone jump off the tracks God uses to direct our lives. We might keep going for a little bit. We might feel the grass under our feet and think about how good it feels, or the pavement under our shoes and we revel in the freedom of being away from the track,
but sooner or later the crash comes.
It comes because we didn’t respect the creator and left the designed way that HE made us.
This is why it’s dangerous to reduce Jesus in our minds from creator God to buddy.
He’s God, He’s creator, and HE is your only hope for salvation.
But you need to walk the path HE has put before you, and trust HIM that it’s the right one for you.
The final thing I want to bring before you today from these verses in John is this-
3. JESUS IS OUR LIGHT
As I was preparing this message I came across a tweet from a well know Christian leader that said “Spiritual darkness is also a very real thing. Our world gets darker & darker by the minute as sin increases”
I thought about that for a minute and something didn’t seem right about what he said. Then I reread these verses in John and the correct way of thinking came to me so I tweeted back-
“The only reason darkness can increase is if light decreases. Darkness is only the absence of light.”
This is an important point- we often give darkness, evil, or sin way too much credit and power over our lives when it’s really a negative to a positive condition.
Let me explain what I mean-
You can’t increase darkness unless you take away light. Therefore, darkness cannot spread unless you lower the available light.
Another way to look at this- right now here in the Coulee Region the temperature is hovering a little below zero last time I checked. However, we are not experiencing an increase in cold. From the science perspective, we are experiencing an absence of heat.
Bringing this back to bible truth-
Similarly, sin has to true power over us. Sin is an indication or a symptom or result of a lack of Jesus in your life, not necessarily a force you have to fight against.
In our struggle against our sin nature we want to do battle, especially if you are a Spirit filled Christian- your natural instinct is to bind the devil, rail against the devil, fast to subject our flesh to God, put up our dukes and fight and wrestle and strive and shout until we get a victory.
But I submit to you-maybe all of that is just fleshly, earthly, and carnal.
Because the bible says the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.
What is the weapon?
Faith. Faith that the light that Jesus brings into our souls is the light that drives away the darkness inside of us.
Faith that Jesus brings healing to our souls
Faith that Jesus can give us everything we need, and that the darkness our flesh wants is like desert sand compared to the living waters found in our savior.
John says in his epistle-
In him was life; and the life was the light of men. – John 1:4 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. – 1 John 5:11
When we struggle against the darkness in our lives, the habits or actions that the bible correctly calls sin, it’s not so much the devil we struggle against. It’s ourselves and our stubborn refusal to allow the light of Jesus into all parts of our lives.
All Rise
As we go through John’s Gospel, it’s my prayer for all of us here and those listening worldwide on the podcast that Jesus be made manifest in all areas of our lives.
Amen?
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