Scripture: John 1.1-5,10-18 and Ephesians 1.3-14
(Psalm 147.7-11 as Scripture of Praise/Preparation)
I. Words have lost their meaning in our culture
A. Love—I love ice cream, I love my wife.
B. “How are you doing?” Fine
1. non-descript, vague
2. When we ask, do we really want to hear how the person is doing?
3. What if we’re having a really good day, but that person is having a really bad day, do we really want to hear what’s going on in their lives?
4. We might get depressed, too!
5. Fine—most of us do not want to burden others with our problems, we don’t want to bring anyone else down.
C. What are some words that may have lost some of their meaning in our culture?
II. Purpose of John’s book (20.30-31)
A. “written so that you (plural) may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” (Some manuscripts have: “written so that you may continue to believe”)
B. Admitted that the gospel is not complete—contains only a portion of what Jesus did—but that is not the point.
III. (ho logos)- “The Word” (John 1.1)
A. Hebrew Thought
1. More than mere sounds—words actually did things.
Professor John Paterson: “The spoken word to the Hebrew was fearfully alive. . . . It was a unit of energy charged with power.”
2. “Love” was between people and God—not ice cream.
a) An intimate exchange of feelings and thoughts
b) Key=exchange…ice cream does not respond to us when we share our feelings or thoughts with it.
3. Words had so much power the Hebrew language had fewer than 10,000 words. Compare with Greek: more than 200,000 words.
4. Modern poet tells story of a hero
a) Could not re-tell his story to tribe for lack of words.
b) A man arose “afflicted with the necessary magic of words.”
c) Told the story in terms so vivid and so moving that “the words became alive and walked up and down in the hearts of his hearers.”
5. Poem by Will Carleton
“Boys flying kites haul in
their white-winged birds;
You can’t do that way when
you’re flying words:
‘Careful with fire,’ is good advice
we know,
‘Careful with words,’ is ten times
doubly so.
Thoughts expressed may
sometimes fall back dead,
But God himself can’t kill
them when they’re said.”
6. OT examples of the power of words:
a) Isaac blessing Jacob instead of Esau (Gen. 27)
b) Creation in Genesis 1: “And God said . . . and it was so.”
7. This is the power of the WORD!
B. Greek Thought
1. Also more than mere sounds, but the Word was the “divine principle of reason.”
2. Thought and reason ruled the Greek world.
3. Acc. to Greek philosopher Heraclitus, everything in the world is in flux.
a) One can never step into the same river twice.
b) Step in then step out.
c) Step in again, it’s a different river.
d) The previous water has flowed on and it is a different river.
e) Everything in the world was like this, acc. to Heraclitus.
4. But, Heraclitus asked, if everything is constantly changing, why was life not complete chaos? How can there be any sense in a world where there was constant flux and change?
a) Answer: change/flux was not haphazard; rather, controlled and ordered
b) The controlling factor: the (logos)—the Word, the reason of the creator.
c) There is a pattern to the physical world, a purpose, a plan, a design, controlled by the (logos).
5. Ability to judge from right and wrong given by (ho logos)—all order of life.
C. John’s use of (logos)
1. John brought the power and the reason together in his gospel in v. 14, and the (logos) became flesh
2. “the mind of God became a person.”
IV. And the (logos) became flesh (sarx) (v.14)
A. “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” v. 14
B. Central theme of the Gospel
1. This is the reason John wrote this gospel
2. Talked about the word of God.
a) powerful, creative, dynamic
b) agent of creation
c) guiding directing, controlling word (as Heraclitus stated) which puts order into the universe.
C. These concepts were known to both the Hebrews and the Greeks
1. But then a startling statement: this word, with all its power and direction, became FLESH!
2. Actual, physical expression of the Word=Jesus
a) (theaomai)= used more than 20x in NT
always used to mean actual, physical sight
b) the (logos) became actual flesh in the person of Jesus
c) not a spiritual vision, actual flesh
D. This was an unheard of concept
1. Paul writes of the FLESH in terms of human weaknesses being embodied in the flesh—flesh=sin
2. Throughout the Greek kingdom, the flesh was considered evil and distained, compared to the Spirit which was holy and revered.
3. John was walking on new territory combining these two concepts—why would he do this?
V. John’s story tells us that as our knowledge of God grows, our relationship with God changes
A. Seeming dichotomy of the OT and NT concept of “God” (two different gods?)
B. OT God is often seen as a God of power and judgment and destruction
C. NT God is often seen as a God of compassion and love—a God who seeks intimacy with us
D. God hasn’t changed, our knowledge of God has changed (NT God)
1. Child learning math: must be learned in steps
a) Cannot learn calculus right away
b) Start with arithmetic
c) Then algebra
d) Then trigonometry
e) Then calculus
2. Music
a) Don’t start with Bach
b) Start with Old McDonald Had a Farm
c) Learn rhythm, beat, tones
d) Learn how sounds go together
e) Then, slowly, as knowledge of musical theory grows (whether you know the proper names or not, but start understanding music), move up toward the more complex pieces.
E. OT was an early stage in human understandings of God
1. Not until Jesus came could people see the fullness of God—a more complete picture (v.16)
2. Through Jesus, through our increasing knowledge of God in our hearts as well as in our minds, we receive God’s grace again and again.
3. When we can look at the tiniest building blocks of human life and realize the power and the directing force of God that is evident in those molecules we can see the fullness of God
a) Not a vengeful God
b) But a loving God who wants to be in a relationship with us.
c) A fair God who is not going to just give us all the answers right away—we must work through the stages.
4. God of the OT has many instances of compassion and love as he continued to stay by the Hebrews, even as they ignored God and even forsook him.
VI. Closing
A. So when we think about John’s concept of the Word
1. Realize the stages that were gone through to get to that point
a) the Hebrew’s understanding of the power of words, which many of us still hold today, but don’t always apply
b) the Greek’s understanding of the word as the guiding force in the universe, that which gives all things order and reason
c) Finally, both of these things coming together in the person of Jesus—all powerful, yet the guiding force in our lives.
2. And finally, the grace we receive because we realize that Jesus wants us and continues to reveal his grace
a) When we love as Christ loves, his grace is revealed
b) When we give thanks for all we have been given, Christ’s grace is revealed
c) When we ask for healing—whether physical, emotional, or spiritual—his grace is revealed.
3. The issue then is the matter of whether we are willing to realize it or not; whether we are willing to accept it or not; whether we are able to humble ourselves enough so that our eyes may be opened to it or not.
B. So when we share words with one another, we need to be careful about what we say—as Will Carleton said, “Thoughts expressed may sometimes fall back dead, But God himself can’t kill them when they’re said.”
1. Have compassion for one another as Jesus taught us through his Word (his power, his acts of grace)
2. If we feel it and think it, our words (our guiding force, out actions) will reflect it just as God’s word of grace was reflected in Jesus.
