Message
John 1:1-2
Name Above All Names - The Word
This series that we are going to focus on is called the Name Above All Name Series.
The names that we're looking at in this series will be the names that appear in the New Testament that appear before the birth of Jesus up to the time when Jesus goes with His family to Egypt.
So let’s look at the first name which is found in John 1:1-18 (read).
In the beginning was the Word. In the Greek text it looks like this HO LOGOS and is pronounced “ho logos” which equals the Word. Maybe you've heard of Jesus being called “the Word”.
It is actually one of the oldest and one of the first names that is given to Jesus.
Before he is the son of Abraham or the son of David.
Before he is Immanuel before he is Christ.
Before all of that he is “the Word.”
And unlike all of the other gospel accounts - the gospel accounts are Matthew Mark Luke and John - unlike the other three gospel accounts John doesn't talk about the birth of Christ.
John doesn't give any narrative about the Nativity. There is no stories about Joseph or Mary. There are no angels, there are no Shepherds, there is no raging Herod, there is no nativity stories. Nothing.
However the Word is announced and then we are told about Jesus.
The “nativity” which John opens with is about this powerful Word.
The Word who we are also told became flesh.
In the beginning was the Word and that Word is now flesh, says John.
Notice the language
There in the beginning his name was the Word … at his birth his name is still the Word.
The Word who will rule the universe is now the Word who is a baby in a Manger.
The Word whose voice brought creation into place is now the Word who can only communicate with a few cries and whimpers.
The Word who has been there from eternity past now has a lifespan.
The Word who was limitless can't even move now without being carried.
When you start to think about this nativity name it's a powerful name isn't it because it's a name that gives us an incredible amount of comfort. For what's happening here is the creative Word is coming to the world.
Through him all things were made, without him nothing was made that has been made (John 1:3)
There is this connection between Jesus as a baby and the very very beginning.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and God spoke and the Word that is spoke put creation into place.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day. (Genesis 1:3-8).
And you can keep reading the passage. There is power in these Words the power to speak separation between light and dark.
The power to speak separation between the sky and what is below the sky … which at that point is a ball of water that will become the Earth.
The Word that has power today - and we all see it in different ways.
For some of us it will be in the beauty of a flower and we will see God's hand in that.
For some of us it is the simplicity and yet the complexity of oxygen - such a simple thing and yet so necessary.
For some of us it is the cycle of the seasons; the fact that this has been going on for thousands of years and provided the sustenance for the earth for all this time.
For some of us it is the intricacy of the of the insects or the land creatures or the sea life. The fact that today we are still discovering new insects, new plant life, new animals.
And plant bacteria or microscopic organisms that have become the source for most of our medication that we have today.
Make your list. Your list of all of the creative acts. When you go out and you see the world and in that world you are seeing God's hand. That is what this text is focussing on.
In the beginning God made all this - and without him … without the Word … nothing was made that had been made.
Jesus’ fingerprint is on everything. And now this Word has become flesh.
And he comes to speak creative power into our lives. What does he want to speak?
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
John 1:6-8
The first Creative act was to do what?
It was to separate light from darkness.
The purpose - the main purpose of Jesus coming in the flesh - is to separate light from darkness. That is the purpose of the Word. And if this doesn't happen we are lost.
If we don't understand this act of creation we are going to be lost. Turn forward almost to the end of the New Testament to 1 John. 1 John 1:5
Just so we are clear.
We have the Gospel of John … which we are focusing on today.
Then there are the letters of John … 1, 2, 3 John.
Then there is the book of Revelation … also written by John.
These are all written by the same person … John the disciple of Jesus.
With this in mind let’s read:-
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his Word is not in us. 2:1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 1:5-2:2)
That is the issue in a nutshell. Jesus has come … as the Word Jesus has come … to help us to understand that there is a difference between the light and the darkness. And he has come to show us what that difference is.
There are many people … and rightly so …. people who I meet who say “I am a Christian.”
I know they are Christians. I believe they are Christians.
I know that in our congregation … and in many congregations … there is a high commitment to Jesus.
But in this space where the is such a level of commitment we also need to recognise that we still need to be reminded of the Word.
Because on the one hand we say … well a lot of us say … “I am a Christian and I want to live like a Christian.”
But then we get to the end of the week and we realise … well we realise that we are all pretty stupid.
And I say that with a lot of love. I am stupid and so are you because we say this so often don't we. We say, “I am a Christian and I want to live in the light.” Yet how often do we find ourselves struggling to live in that light?
Part of the reason we don’t live in the light is because we have no understood what it means that Jesus has come as the Word.
The problem is this.
Jesus has come to bring light. When we live in the light our life goes well and there is peace. The moment we stop living in the light, and start living in darkness, then everything starts falling to pieces.
Let me give you a few examples.
Now when give these examples I don’t necessarily have anyone specifically in mind.
So if the description fits you it is not because I have been looking at your life.
It is because Jesus wants you to hear.
So if the shoe fits … take it up with Jesus.
My relationships have fallen into a bit of a rut.
I hear it from people who are husbands and wives. We are struggling together.
I hear it when people are courting. We are trying to build a relationship and it doesn’t seem to be working … we are not moving forward … we are struggling to connect.
The teenager says to me … I am struggling to connect with my parents. My parents don’t understand me.
My kids … “I don’t connect with them anymore.”
So there is this whole area of relationships taking place.
Where people are struggling … they are in a rut … they are struggling to even build relationships.
There is a sense of loneliness.
When I hear situations like this I ask the same question
… not exactly in the same way
… but with the same intention.
I ask them the question; Are you working on your spiritual life together?
Are you as couple … as a dating couple … as a married couple … are you reading the Bible together. Are you opening God’s Word and reading God’s Word and being mutually challenged by God’s Word.
Are you courting … or growing your marriage … or building relationship … on the foundation that is Jesus? A mutual relationship with Jesus where the word of God is central in that relationship?
Or do you just try and do everything on your own strength?
Do you as a family … are you reading God’s Word together and talking about it?
Reading Scripture together.
Doing devotions around the table together.
Or an night time before bed reading the Scripture.
And are you praying together?
Are you seeking the Lord for the blessings that He has … for each other?
Are you bringing the needs and concerns and fears and … everything … together in prayer?
Are you praying for transformation … out of the struggles and difficulties and challenges.
Bringing all of this before God.
Try that. This is my pastoral encouragement to you. Try living life this way.
Yet so many people will look at this advice and think … and even say … “It seems so simple.”
Yet here is the reality of the Scriptures.
It was never meant to be complicated … Jesus didn’t come with a complicated formula.
Well …
There is a sense where it is.
You can have the Bible. And you can choose one book of the Bible. Even a book with only a few chapters.
You can do that and then study that Scripture for a whole life-time … and still not fully understand the depth of the Scriptures.
It is complicated in that sense.
But it is also simple.
Because when Jesus invites us into a relationship with Himself, what does He say?
9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9).
That is not complicated is it?
Very simple.
There is another occasions when a religious leader comes to Jesus and says, “What is the greatest commandment?”
This guy is expecting a long discussion.
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:37-40
Jesus summaries the whole of the Old Testament into three sentences.
Two phrases … love God … and love your neighbour.
It is pretty simple.
Stop loving God … and you end up with complexity and darkness.
Stop loving your neighbour … and again you end up with complexity and darkness.
Just because the answer sounds simple it doesn’t mean it is wrong or impractical.
In fact I think it will improve relationships. Because if you are sitting with other people and you are talking about the Scriptures … and you are praying for each other … it is hard for your relationship to fall into a rut.
It is hard to ignore someone you are praying for regularly.
This is why Jesus came as the Word.
Because it is the Word because it is the Word which sustains us.
It has been sustaining everyone in the Old Testament from the beginning of Genesis … up to the time of Jesus.
“In the beginning was the Word.”
God was speaking to His people.
And people were being transformed.
And people were connected.
The Word is so important.
Let’s have a think about another area of life. That part of my life which causes me to say, “I feel guilty about my past.”
It is another common conversation that comes up.
And it can be a whole range of issues and situations that cause the guilt.
- Regret over decisions made … and the outcome of those decisions.
- It could be ongoing hurt that is in place because of the past.
- It could be that because of the past I keep making the same mistakes all the time.
- Or the past has put me in a place where I keep blaming others for my situation.
And again the Word of God is a practical help.
Jesus comes as the Word to shine the light. And the light which is shone here comes by answer the question … Do you need to be controlled by your past?
That is the question.
Do the Scriptures say, “You need to be controlled by your past?”
Here are four verses only.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9)
Do you have to be controlled by your past?
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1)
Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things (Philippians 4:8)
Just these four verses alone … only four verses in the whole of Scripture.
Then think about your life. And the guilt which you carry.
The circumstances which have come about because of the way your past unfolded.
If you just put these four verses in place how different would your life be?
You see Jesus has come as the Word to shine the light.
To show us that there is a way to move forward.
We could keep spending time looking at a whole range of situations and keep seeing the same truth. But the advantage of the time and age we live in is that we all have easy and free access to powerful resources to help us to find these things for yourself.
One place to start looking is www.biblehub.com.
Another is www.biblegateway.com.
These resources have heaps of Bible translations and links and searches.
And you can have these programs and you can say, :God I want you to help me to shine the light of your Word in my life … and the area that I struggle with is “anger”.
So in the search area you type a-n-g-e-r.
And this search will bring you to the Scriptures to tell you want the Scripture says about anger.
The light gets shone.
In Beginning was The Word.
The Word was there to shine light and to give light.
When the Word became flesh the purpose was still the same … to shine the light.So that you don’t have to stay in the darkness.
Can you see why the Word is so important?
Jesus as the logos.
Jesus as the Word.
It is all about coming into the light and allowing God to keep shining the light.
But you are not going to see the Word … or come into the light … if the only time we open our Bible is when we read it together on Sunday.
And we are not going to see the Word … or come into the light … if we make our lives so busy that we can’t give God more than a few minutes once a week.
But we are not going to see the Word … or come into the light … if we keep allowing ourselves to be so easily consumed by digital distractions.
What a powerful name that we have for Jesus.
In a world which is so fixated on images, and pictures, and digital visualisation …
Jesus comes and his primary name, and His very first name … is the Word.
How important is that Word.
Before everything existed.
Before anything was in place.
Jesus was the … ho logos … he was and is the Word.
The who Word made declarations and promises.
The who Word taught wisdom and how God wants us to live according to His Word.
The Word who speaks and the Word who dialogues.
The who Word gives reasons, and Word who tells us that we will need to give an account for our life.
The Word which confronts the spiritually arrogant and comforts the spiritually broken.
The Word which was logical and relational.
The Word who told stories, taught doctrine, and silenced tricksters.
Everything we need is right here - in the Scripture.
And so the life choice from here is very clear.
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)
If you are going to see the light the first question you need to ask is, “Do I recognise the Word?”
Jesus as the logos.
You are not going to see the light until you have recognised the Word.
And then once you have recognised the Word
12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12)
That is your identity.
If we do recognise Him. What is stopping us from listening to Him?
As the Word who is speaking from even before the beginning.
Prayer
