The Gospel Of Renewal John 1 Series

Series: Renew – The Gospel of Renewal!

Sermon 1: The Gospel of Renewal (John 1:1-18)

Thesis: The Gospel is all the about the Good News of renewal offered by Jesus! Jesus has the power and ability to create new – to bring life out of anything – He just has to speak it into existence! John the closest to Jesus knew Jesus the best and he says He was God in the Flesh and was a part of Creation. He in essence says, “Why would you not want to be as close to Him as you can be?”

Scripture John 1:1-18

The Word Became Flesh

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.

4In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

5The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

6There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John.

7He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.

8He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

9The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

10He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.

11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.

12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—

13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

15John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”

16From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.

17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

18No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.

Introduction:

John’s purpose in writing his eyewitness account of Jesus Christ. He states it clearly in John 20:31, “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”

Gospel mean “Good News” – the good news of renewal! The good news of the Word! The good news of The Light! All of this is introduced by the author of the Gospel of John – this book is written by a person who knew Jesus intimately and personally – a friend – a confidant – a person who was with Jesus in the thick and thin of His life.

John knew Jesus and He writes the Gospel so we too can know Jesus and get closer to Him.

Jesus had an inner circle. The Bible offers plenty of examples of this truth. As a matter of fact, he had several circles or rings of relationships around him.

We cannot settle for a dry shallow view of Christianity in our life and just know of God we must be willing to go deeper into a relationship with God to actually know God intimately. Jesus always called His followers to a closer more intimate relationship with Him. Yes, grace is an unconditional gift which opens the door to a relationship with the Lord but intimacy with Jesus is a closer relationship that comes from a relentless pursuit of Him and a passion to know Him better

This is the essence of the type of Christianity Jesus emphasized in His teachings, modeled in His ministry and this is what the Bible promotes as the ultimate goal of all who follow Jesus. It’s also the sign of a disciple of Jesus Christ. It’s promoted by Jesus as there being nothing better in life than to draw near and be closer with Him.

I. In the Gospels we discover 6 levels of relationship (or connection) with Jesus according to Robert Crosby from His book “The One Jesus Loves.” He defines these rings of relationship in the following way:

a. The crowds – Jesus drew a crowd – impressive crowds 10,000 or more people would come hear Him and see Him. This represents the outermost ring of association with Jesus and the least commitment to Him. Crosby states, “The crowds represent those who follow Jesus to the places of watching and listening” (The One Jesus Loves, Page 13).