Text: John 1:1-14
Subject: Who is Jesus of Nazareth?
Complement: he is God incarnate.
Big idea: "God moved into the neighbourhood.”
John 1 - The Word Became Flesh - Divine Creator:
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. 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 all mankind.
Light v. darkness
5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.
Forerunner:
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.
REJECTION… (How is this possible?)
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 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.
Children of God;
12 Yet to all who did receive 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.
Incarnation
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
15 (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) 16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.
New Moses
17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and[b] is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
Introduction:/attention…
A newly published Book – “We Who Wrestle With God”… Jordan Peterson.
• …Do You???
The Younger Generation Is indeed wrestling with God… here are some other books to help…
• Book – “Mere Christianity” by C.S. Lewis
• Book – T. Keller - Reason For God
• Book – Lee Strobel - The Case For Faith… The Case For Christ…
**THE NO. 1 QUESTION FOR THE AGES… ? WHO IS JESUS OF NAZARETH?
• A mythical figure? … like many others before and since…
Greek mythology was all over the roman empire – gods aplenty … Greek world – gods aplenty…
• …Jews – anticipated the long awaited a messiah – prophets spoke of his coming… they mostly saw him coming as a revolutionary… - HE WAS seen through a political prism.
(even Peter asked Jesus – “lord, at this time will you restore the kingdom to Israel?”)
…Lord, When Will You Make Israel Great Again?”
• Others think Jesus was merely a remarkable moral teacher ( golden rule) that over time became the basis of a new religion…
• Just A Prophet say the Muslims – and they prevent evangelism among their people.
• JW ? say Jesus was a created son of God – but not God.
• Mormons ? Jesus was a man who became a god (-- Rather than God who became man!!!)
• in the early centuries of Christian faith Christian heresies arose …
*… he was good – but not god… just human – with some distinction… with layers of myth/miracles piled on.
• At the turn of the 4th cent. Arius, a priest of Egypt, Alexandria, began to preach that Jesus Christ, was not truly equal to the Father, nor therefore could he be "true God of true God."
He was nothing more than a creature immensely more perfect than any other creature, but a creature, nonetheless. (ARIANISM) …
• …DOCETISTS ... claimed that Christ was a mere phantom who only seemed to live and suffer. He did not have a real human body.
• Jews/Judaism – (his cultural heritage) …stumbled on several points
• 1. His humility – a baby in Bethlehem?…from Nazareth ?
• 2. His confrontation with religious authority – he claimed divinity !!!
• 3. His crucifixion. (Cursed is one upon a tree…)
• 4. His physical disappearance …
• 5. His failure to transform society – Israel in particular
…so, creeds were formed to combat heresy & STRENGTHEN DISCIPLES - there was no printing press... bibles were not available to the public.
Therefore, memorization mattered a great deal - so creeds proved helpful in discipleship.
• Earliest – “Jesus is Lord”
Christological hymn of Philippians 2:6-11
Nicene creed
• Apostles creed
• Chalcedon – 451 A.D.
•
Today ? many people are ignorant of Jesus – ignore him – haven’t read the bible…
They see him as a religious option – among many other equally valid options.
= “polytheism” (many gods) (Not monotheism)
**Pantheism – there is a mysterious spiritual “energy” in the universe – this is a form of idolatry… these are gods with pagan roots and are ultimately “man-made”
**Result – instead of humanity being made in God’s image – God is made in our image!
...Transition…/context) …The author… John, son of Zebedee…
• Fisherman
• Jewish observant
• Rural life
• Synagogue is centre of community – rabbi
• 3 years as Jesus disciple
• “the one whom Jesus loves”
• Longest living
• Last gospel to be written – more reflection time?
• More speeches by Jesus
• High Christology – 7 i am statements.
• A theological birth explanation…
Purpose of the book – “believe” – 84 times! (more than the 3 synoptics combined)
• John is more preacher than storyteller (Luke)…
• more theologian than philosopher
• More deductive than inductive.
I. John Provides The Solution To The Identity Of Jesus…/Prologue!
IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD (LOGOS ) – AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD – AND THE WORD WAS GOD.
**Notice the echo of Genesis 1 ;
…”in the beginning… (CREATION) – now NEW CREATION!
“the Word”… (Logos)
Logos … a term used in philosophy, psychology and rhetoric, as well as religion - meaning a form of rational discourse
**Aristotle (384–322 BC )(student of Plato) … first systematized the usage of “logos”/ “word”, making it one of the three principles of rhetoric alongside ethos and pathos.
The word ????? (logos) evolved from a primarily mathematical term to one identified with speech and rationality.
At a basic level, logos means “to pick up, collect, count up, give account [in a bookkeeping sense]”—the act of bringing concrete items into relation with one another.
Mathematicians used it to describe ratios.
Logos eventually came to communicate the idea of “giving an account” in the sense of explaining a story.
… logos came to mean all that language involves—both the act of sharing information and the thought that produces language.
By the time Latin gained prominence, the Greek term logos was translated with the term
“oratio”, referring to speech or the way inward thoughts are expressed, and
“ratio”, referring to inward thinking
…philosophers began to refer to the explanation for order and balance in the universe as a cosmic logos.
According to these philosophers, humans can explain things through language because they share in this cosmic logos or rationality.
Then Greek philosophers gave logos metaphysical meaning. He understood logos as a principle of universal coherence and
They described the order of the universe by the concept of “logos”
**Meet Philo ? 20 BC – 50 AD ( AJew, living in Alexandria, Egypt)
***Philo identified the “logos” as eternally begotten by God, calling it the first begotten son of the uncreated Father.
** “logos”, said Philo, is the cosmic bond holding all things together. **
The logos was seen as an essential intermediate entity - existing between God, who was completely transcendent, and the material universe.
• John’s Gospel clearly relies on the same conceptual framework for understanding logos.
• In John’s prologue, God creates by way of the logos (John 1:3), similar to Philo’s teachings.
• The logos is the only begotten Son of the Father (John 1:14), who acts as mediator between God and the people who do not know God (John 1:18), also like in Philo.
***The major difference between Philo and John comes with John’s identification of the logos with the historical person of Jesus.
*The idea of the incarnation of the logos (John 1:14) provided Christianity with the vocabulary one of its foundational beliefs – the deity of Jesus
So John is able to make an ontological statement about the character of God and his son – “in the beginning was the Word(Logos) – and the word (LOGOS) was with God – and the Word(LOGOS) was God.”
This parallels Genesis 1:1…indicating a new kind of creation …Out of the chaos brought by sin, God will now bring order and hope!
? *Whatever we can say about God we can and must say about Jesus
*John intends the whole of his gospel be read in light of this verse; the deeds and words of Jesus are the deeds and words of God!
So, Jesus is not only the greatest of teachers; messiah and God incarnate.
**Here in John 1:1 We Have The Most Complete And Explicit Statement Of The Pre-Existence Of Christ In The Entire Bible.
Jesus’ being, his essence, his very being is one with God!
o Jesus Claim: I And The Father Are One.
o John 14:9…If You Have Seen Me, You Have Seen The Father.
o Thomas: “My Lord And My God.” {End Of The Book}
II. VV. 3-5: JESUS IS CREATOR AND LIFE-GIVER: V. 3
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 all mankind.
5 The light shines in the (chaos) darkness, and the darkness (chaos/disorder) has not overcome it.
Echoes of Genesis – “let there be light…creation of the cosmos…creatures… God breathes life into Adam…
Darkness (Chaos) is over the “face of the deep”…
? Shows his superiority over all creation
? He is the source of all life!
? His life brings light to replace the darkness
Darkness is present, but it will not overcome logos/word/Christos
Evil…Darkness…Opposition To Jesus Will Intensify As The Book Unfolds…
? Communism Did Not Overcome Jesus…
? Materialism Will Not Overcome Jesus!
? Where Sin Abounds Grace Will Much More Abound!
? “Ai” Will Not Overcome Or Replace The Logos.
III. THIRD STROPHE: “…LOGOS COMES TO US - AND YET IS PUSHED AWAY…”
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 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. 12 Yet to all who did receive 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.
• The true light …coming!
• World did not recognize it him – honor or worship him
• Ultimate rejection – by his own people.
• To receive Jesus the logos – the one who makes sense of all things – to receive and believe = children of God//born of God!!!
•
JOHN’S COSMOLOGY—"the world” ? a term to describe humanity set against God; yet God loves the world and has come to redeem it; there will be rejection and conflict but Jesus will prevail—even though on a cross…because his resurrection will be his triumph.
D. A. Carson writes: The "world" in John is a symbol for all that is in rebellion against God, all that is loveless and disobedient, all that is selfish and sinful.
…Jews are not coming to faith—rather it is Greeks…
…this is quite a paradox…his own reject him…Greeks come to him…
(this is where the church is going to go/grow…see book of Acts)
IV. FOURTH STROPHE: CLIMAX – INCARNATION!
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
…
“…became flesh”!!!
For the very first time God is seen!!! – because in the OT “…no one can look on God”
Moses saw God as a fire in a bush…
Moses said “show me your glory” – God said “my goodness will pass by” – while you are tucked in the cleft in the rock…
= (I am veiled – and you are veiled)
…Moses on mt. Sinai to receive the 10 words – his face glowed.
• God appeared to Israel in the Exodus as fire at night and a cloud by day.
• The temple (Tabernacle) mediated God’s presence to Israel.
• For the high priest – he went into the holy of holies – once a year on the day of atonement (Yom Kippur) – in priestly robes – with blood.
• God “appeared” to Solomon in a cloud…
**But now in Jesus we have a full revelation of God – i and the Father are one – if you have seen me – you have seen the father also.
The logos became human flesh and blood.!!! Shocker!!
This is called the doctrine of the incarnation… invisible no more … he is now here in Jesus of Nazareth.
Maybe it was indeed too much to take in… too unbelievable!!!
Soren Kierkegaard? “…there is an infinite gulf between God and mankind… there is also a great chasm between the sinfulness of mankind and the holiness of God.
“…without a sense of sin there is no true Christianity.”
***This infinite gulf between God and mankind can only be bridged by God himself – this he has done in the incarnation of Jesus Christ.
Even so, this revelation still met with rejection by his own people – verse 5 “…he came unto his own – for 3 years – yet he met with rejection, hostility, mockery and false accusers leading to his death at the hands of Pilate and the roman empire.
*** Now let me drop a footnote here –
we may ask the question of historical fact –
“who killed Jesus?” – but this renders an insufficient answer – Pilate (~OK)
…the deeper and proper answer is …. “NO-ONE” … no one killed Jesus !!!
– rather, he surrendered his life to save us undeserving sinners… in fact this is why he came – to rescue and redeem us… to restore our broken relationship – our alienation against God and his law.
…Kierkegaard continues… faith, he says, isn’t merely an intellectual decision… it’s so much bigger than that… yes, it is rooted in truth and logic and fact – but even that is not enough to contain and comprehend God – it requires faith to close the infinite gap between us.
Faith & belief is therefore a spiritual event – which God initiates – he calls us – he sends his son to us – Jesus is God’s self-revelation.
It reaches into the deepest part of the human creature – our very soul – that which separates us from other living beings – animals, birds, creatures of the sea.
Now, all of this tells us there’s more going on in gospel proclamation than we can grasp or reduce to human reason.
For some people – reason is the clinching piece…for others it may be a testimony of a friend… of course the mysterious role of prayer must be factored in too.
But ultimately, God speaks… God calls… the Holy Spirit works in our souls.
As Paul said - One plants – another waters – but only God can makes things grow - only God saves.
Application –we are called to incarnational Christianity!
Therefore we must all answer the question of who is Jesus?
#1 Q – are you a believer – are you saved?
– do you accept or reject Jesus?
(do you believe in him? … and, “do you love him?”
This question can be related to marriage – which begins our most intimate relationship … that brings us to a journey to truly know someone.
It has been said… “love is blind – but marriage is a real eye-opener.”
( that is, you can only truly know your spouse in a committed relationship of marriage – so it is with God!!!)
Guys…Do you remember the time you asked your girl to marry you?
… in marriage - that’s when you really get to know each other!
**In Tim Keller’s book on marriage he says this…
“We never know whom we marry - we just think we do … for Marriage being the enormous thing it is, means we are not the same person after we have entered it - the primary problem is learning to love and care for the stranger to whom you find yourself married. Page 38
So also in our relationship with God – don’t wait until every reservation and question is settled.
You must ask yourself –
#1 do i believe God loves me? – and …
#2 – do i love God –
and then, by beginning a relationship with him you will learn to love him more…(!)
There’s a hymn that goes like this –
“the longer i serve him the sweeter he grows –
the more that i love him more love he bestows.
Each day is like heaven, my heart overflows
the longer i serve him the sweeter he grows.
The word became flesh means…
God initiates & wants to communicate to us —not just ideas/concepts. {self-revelation}
God is accessible to us all—not just mystics or scholars
“Dwell among us” = whatever you have exp. Jesus has already been there…
• Addiction – not exactly – but fighting demons – yes.
• Divorce – not exactly – but betrayal, yes.
**And Jesus never gave in – which means he experienced the full extent of the temptation – more than when we capitulate under its sway.
• Grief – yes.
• Anger – yes
• Slander – yes.
Therefore, Jesus has Compassion toward us;
See Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Grace and truth? BONO…
"It's a mind-blowing concept that the God who created the universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people, but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between grace and karma."
… karma is central to all religions, Bono explained:
What you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics—in physical laws—every action is met by an equal or an opposite one.
And yet, along comes this idea called grace to upend all that "as you reap, so you will sow" stuff. Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I've done a lot of stupid stuff….
It doesn't excuse my mistakes, but I'm holding out for grace. I'm holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don't have to depend on my own religiosity.
APPLICATION:
1. incarnational xty…means this? just as Jesus came and dwelt among us…we too must live out (incarnate) the gospel.
2. These Things Were Written That You May Believe… And By Believing Have Life In His Name
3. Jesus Is The Source Of Life
Nicene Creed:
We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, and born of the Father before all ages. (God of God) light of light, true God of true God. Begotten not made, consubstantial to the Father, by whom all things were made. Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven. And was incarnate of the Holy Ghost and of the Virgin Mary and was made man; was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate, suffered and was buried; and the third day rose again according to the Scriptures. And ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of the Father, and shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, of whose Kingdom there shall be no end. And (I believe) in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who together with the Father and the Son is to be adored and glorified, who spoke by the Prophets. And one holy, apostolic Church. We confess one baptism and the remission of sins. And we look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen."
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity;
I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Jesus:
"I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.
He would either be a lunatic—or else he would be the Devil of hell. You must make your choice.
Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse.
You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God.
But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being just a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us.
