John began his Gospel quite differently from the rest of the Gospel writers. The rest started with the historical accounts of the events that took place.
· Matthew and Luke talked about circumstances leading to Jesus’ birth.
· Mark started off with Jesus entering into ministry, writing about a prophet John the Baptist who was preaching a message of repentance, preparing the people’s heart for the arrival of Jesus.
· JOHN talked about John the Baptist too, and the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. But before he launched into this, he took first 14 verses to lay down clearly the theme of his book - Gospel message - that Jesus is the Son of God who came to save all man.
At the end of his book, John said that he has seen all that Jesus has said and done. He said, "Jesus did many other miraculous signs in our presence, which are not recorded in this book because if every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written." (20:30, 21:25) but "these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name." (20:31). In other words, I have written all that you need to know in order to be saved.
Therefore John spent the first 14 verses of his book to paint us the entire picture of God’s salvation plan for mankind. Look closely and we’ll see a few things today:
(1) GOD’S STRONG DESIRE TO COMMUNICATE WITH MAN
We see a movement in this passage - John tells us (John 1:1-3):
"1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning. 3Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made."
God and His Word - Jesus - they are eternal. They’ve been there from the beginning. John takes us further back than the book of Genesis - Genesis tells us what God did in the beginning, John gave us a snapshot of God before He created anything.
The first picture we see of Jesus Christ is this - He is God. Eternal and infinite, uncreated. He is the Creator, for "through Him all things were created". Genesis tells us God spoke and the world was created... All things were created through the Word. In Him was life - in order words, all living things - including you and me - exist today because of Him. He sustains life in this universe, therefore without Him nothing exists.
And then as you read on, John painted a movement...
v.5 "the light shines in the darkness...."
v.9 "the true light... was coming into the world." And then...
v.10 "He was in the world..."
v.11 "He came to that which was His own..."
v.14 "The Word became flesh..."
The Creator came into His creation - the world He made. The Creator became flesh and made His dwelling among His creatures. This "movement" is great and significant. Imagine this:
· Jesus who owns the universe, came into this world, and had to find a place to be born.
· Jesus who is Almighty, came into this world, and needed to be carried by human hands.
· Jesus who has everything in His control, came into this world and was despised by man.
This CONDESCENSION was a big thing. Martin Luther: "The mystery of the humanity of Christ, that he sunk himself into our flesh, is beyond all human understanding."
Why? Why did God do such a thing? John uses these words: "He came to His own..." (v.11); He wants us to be "children of God" (v.12). God desires a relationship with us. This desire, or love to have fellowship with us is so great that He is willing to do whatever He can to make this possible, even if it means the sacrifice of Jesus.
Soren Kierkegaard, the great Danish theologian told this story:
A prince who wanted to find a maiden suitable to be his queen. One day while running an errand in the local village for his father he passed through a poor section. As he glanced out the windows of the carriage his eyes fell upon a beautiful peasant maiden. During the ensuing days he often passed by the young lady and soon fell in love. But he had a problem. How would he seek her hand?
He could order her to marry him. But even a prince wants his bride to marry him freely and voluntarily and not through coercion. He could put on his most splendid uniform and drive up to her front door in a carriage drawn by six horses. But if he did this he would never be certain that the maiden loved him or was simply overwhelmed with all of the splendor.
The prince came up with another solution. He would give up his kingly robe. He moved, into the village, entering not with a crown but in the garb of a peasant. He lived among the people, shared their interests and concerns, and talked their language. In time the maiden grew to love him for who he was and because he had first loved her.
This very simple, almost childlike story, is what John is describing here - God came and lived among us. He has to reveal Himself to us in an understandable way, and this is precisely what Jesus did - became flesh just like you and me. He made Himself understandable.
Phil 2:6-9 "6Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross!"
I am glad that this happened, because it shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that God desires to reach down to me... God is beyond my reach, but I’m not beyond His reach. He lowered Himself so that I can reach Him. Christ’s birth brought the infinite God within reach of finite man.
And I come to understand His heart to me - He loves me and longs to communicate His love to me. He wants to bless me and save me! (E.g. Family members frantically trying to reach their loved ones in New York after the Sept 11 tragedy... phone calls, nearby friends, flying in...)
Bros/sis, God God desires to communicate with you today. We are made to have fellowship with God and He loves that! He wants you to spend time with Him, to listen to His Word and share our life events with Him. Do that everyday... God treasures your time with Him. Whether in devotion or prayer, spend time with Him. He delights in that!
Secondly, it gives us a first hand view of who God is. When people ask what God is like, we as Christians point to the person of Jesus Christ. God himself is incomprehensible, but in Jesus Christ we get a glimpse of His glory, His grace and truth (v.14). In Jesus Christ we comprehended God’s great love... that God, who created the stars and the universe, is willing to go all of the way, even to a cross, so that a single person may be redeemed. That is what God is like. We came to know because of Jesus Christ.
And this is the second thing we learnt today:
(2) GOD MEETS US WHERE WE ARE - at the point of our need.
We were lost - in darkness, we needed light and God gave us the Light.
We needed life - for we are condemned to die in our sin - and "in Him was life" (v.4).
Jesus was God’s way of meeting us where we were to take us where we could never go.
What do man really need?
If our greatest need is money, God may have sent us a banker.
If our greatest need is knowledge, God may have sent us a teacher.
If our greatest need is wisdom, God may have sent us a philosopher.
If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer.
But our greatest need was forgiveness - forgiveness of our sin against God..., so God sent us a Redeemer who would pay His way to buy us back! "... you are to give him the name JESUS, because he will save his people from their sins." (Matt 1:21)
And so esus put on human skin and everything that comes with it. The Son of God sacrificed Himself so that we can become sons and daughters of God.
John 1:12-13 "Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God."
We can now go home to where He is, because we are His children. Jesus made all these possible because He fulfilled the righteous demand of the Father, that sin be paid for in full.
Bros/sis, if God did all He can to meet us at the point of our need, and save us from our sin and death... then today, we can be rest assured He can do the same. He has not changed. He will meet you at the point of your need today. If He made such a great sacrifice to save your soul, is there any greater need than that that He cannot meet, or is not willing to do?
Rom 8:32 "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?"
Hymn 272 Tell It To Jesus - "Are you weary, are you heavy-hearted, tell it to Jesus. Are you anxious what shall be tomorrow, tell it to Jesus." Jesus will meet you at the point of your need.
Hymn 279 What A Friend We Have In Jesus - "O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer!"
CONCLUSION
Only God Himself can thoroughly express who He is to us. Only God could make Himself fully known. If our Creator choose to conceal Himself, we will never know Him. But He came... in the person of Jesus Christ. And we saw His heart...
(1) He longs to have fellowship with us - spend time with Him everyday
(2) He meets us where we are, at the point of our need - lay down your burdens at the cross.
