Jesus, The Ultimate Word of God John 1:1-14

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1 1 Sermon Notes for December 22, 2002 Jesus, The Ultimate Word of God John 1:1-14 Introduction A. The CONFUSION Of Words. 1. A school superintendent told his assistant superintendent the following: Next Thursday at 10:30 a.m. Haley s Comet will appear over this area. This is an event which occurs only once every 75 years. Call the school principals and have them assemble their teachers and classes on their athletic fields and explain this phenomenon to them. If it rains, then cancel the day s observation and have the classes meet in the auditorium to see a film about the comet. Assistant superintendent to school principals: By order of the superintendent of schools, next Thursday at 10:30 Haley s Comet will appear over your athletic field. If it rains, then cancel the day s classes and report to the auditorium with your teachers and students where you will be shown films, a phenomenal event which occurs only once every 75 years. Principals to teachers: By order of the phenomenal superintendent of schools, at 10:30 next Thursday Haley s Comet will appear in the auditorium. In case of rain over the athletic field, the superintendent will give another order-something which occurs only once every 75 years. Teachers to students: Next Thursday at 10:30 the superintendent of schools will appear in our school auditorium with Haley s Comet; something which occurs once every 75 years. If it rains, the superintendent will cancel the comet and will order us out to our phenomenal athletic field. Students to parents: When it rains next Thursday at 10:30 over the school athletic field, the phenomenal 75 year old superintendent of schools will cancel all classes and appear before the school in the auditorium accompanied by Bill Haley and the Comets. 2. The Ten Commandments contain 297 words. The Bill of Rights is stated in 463 words. Lincoln s Gettysburg Address contains 266 words. A recent federal directive to regulate the price of cabbage contains 26,911 words. Atlanta Journal B. The COMMITMENT Of Words. 1. There is a word, there are words: but we want to look today at THE WORD. 2. First by looking at John 1:1 a. Called by one: The most compact and pulsating theological statement in all of Scripture. b. And by another: The force of what John says is so staggering that the words almost seem to bend under the weight that they are made to bear. C. The COMPLETENESS Of THE WORD. 1. So, we will look beyond words to THE WORD. a. THE DEFINITIVE WORD OF ALL WORDS.

2 b. The word that is above all words. 2. Because this is the way that the Christ-child is described to us: the Word made flesh in the form of a baby. a. Let s look at just who this baby is. b. Let s see God s verbal statement that He made in a manager in Bethlehem. I. The PREEMINENCE Of The Word. A. The ESSENCE Of The Word. Vs. 1 In the beginning was the word 1. The word (logos) as seen by the Hebrews. a. To the Hebrew, or the Jew, words were very, very special. 1. The Jew would see the word logos Greek for word. 2. The Hebrew language has only 10,000 words, while the Greek language has 200, The Hebrew and Middle Easterner used words carefully, sparingly and meaningfully. Once when Sir George Adam Smith was traveling in the desert in the East, a group of Moslems gave the party the customary greeting: Peace be upon you. At the moment they failed to notice that he was a Christian. When they discovered that they had spoken a blessing to an infidel, they hurried back to ask for the blessing back again. 4. The importance of the blessing was given to the oldest Hebrew son very, very important words. b. To the Hebrew, words were very, very powerful. 1. The Hebrews linked action and even power to words. a. Words were not simply spoken. b. They had an intended message and effect on the bearer. c. Look at these Old Testament examples: 1. Genesis 1:3 And God SAID... let there be light. 2. Genesis 1:9 And God SAID... let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water. 3. Psalms 33:6 By the WORD of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. 4. Isaiah 55:11 So is my WORD that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. d. If God spoke, then things happened that was the power of God s Word. 2. But the word for the Hebrew was also a deed done. a. It was something in concrete. b. When God spoke it was a fact! 2

3 c. John uses the Hebrew s understanding of a word by using THE WORD to make his point. 1. In fact, he is referring to Genesis by saying in verse 1, In the beginning was the Word! a. The Hebrews would clearly understand the reference to Genesis by these words. b. As one has said, it was a form of shorthand to use in the beginning. c. The Jew would then associate the creation of the world and the word. 2. So, for the Jew, this was a MOMUMENTAL STATEMENT! a. And the word is definite, concrete, real and powerful. b. And He was, like God, IN THE BEGINNING. c. So, if God spoke, THEN THE WORD SPOKE... IN THE BEGINNING! 2. The word (logos) as seen by the Greeks. a. The genius of John was that not only did he speak to the Jews, his audience was as well, the Greeks. 1. How would he make a clear statement to them as well? 2. How would he reveal to the lack of understanding that the Greeks had of the coming Messiah? b. Notice the understanding of THE WORD by the Greeks. 1. John used the Greek word logos in John To the Greek, the word logos was a MONUMENTAL and FOUNDATIONAL word. a. To the Greeks, the logos represented the soul of the universe. b. It was the rational principle from which everything came, a creative, stabilizing force of the universe. c. The Greeks saw the logos as common universal law, that which was the truth. d. It would in some ways parallel The Force of the Star Wars saga. c. Notice the understanding of the Greek philosophers of the logos. 1. In 560 B.C., philosopher Heraclitus put forth the idea that everything in life was in a state of flux; changing each and every day. a. However, in spite of constant change in the universe, life was NOT in complete chaos why? b. Heraclitus reasoned that all of life, even in its change, was ordered and controlled by the logos, the reason of God. 3

4 c. To Heraclitus, the logos was the principle of order in the universe. 2. The Greek Stoics agreed with Heraclitus. a. The Stoics asked, what created order in the universe? What kept the stars on their course? What made the tides ebb and flow? b. Their answer was that all things were controlled by the logos of God. 3. The word (logus) as seen by BOTH the Hebrews AND the Greeks. a. There was a Jewish philosopher and historian, Philo. 1. He had made it his business in life to study the wisdom of two worlds, the Jewish and the Greek. a. No man knew the Jewish Scriptures as he knew them. b. And no Jew ever knew the greatness of Greek thought as he knew them. 2. He combined both the Hebrew and Greek concepts together. b. Philo held that the: 1. The logos was the oldest thing in the world - the instrument through which God had made the world. 2. The logos was the pilot of the universe. 3. The logos gave man the ability to reason and power to think. 4. The word (logus) as seen by the WORLD. a. How brilliant John was in speaking so specifically to both worlds! 1. To the Hebrews he said: a. Since words are so special and scarce b. Since words have power and concreteness c. Here is your ULTIMATE WORD JESUS! WHO SAYS IT AND IT IS DONE! 2. To the Greeks he said: a. Here is the personal explanation for the center of the universe. b. Wm. Barclay For centuries you have been thinking and writing and dreaming about the logos, the power which made the world, the power which keeps the order of the world, the power by which men think and reason and know, the power by which men come into contact with God. Jesus is the logos come down to earth. The word became flesh. To put it another way, the mind of God became a person. c. This Force that you have been talking about IS JESUS! 3.To US, the logos is the answer to life. b. John knew EXACTLY what he was doing in using the word logos. B. The EXISTENCE Of The Word. Vs. 1 And the Word was with God. 4

5 1. John continues his theology lesson about the word by saying that this word, Jesus, was with God IN THE BEGINNING! a. Continuing the thought for the Greeks that Jesus had ALWAYS EXISTED. b. Clearly teaching that the logos, the word, was PREEXISTANT! c. In fact, John says it three times in verse one and two. 1. Vs. 1 - In the beginning was the word. a. The Jew would clearly understand this text taken from Genesis 1:1. b. They couldn t miss it. 2. Vs. 1 - And the word was with God. 3. Vs. 2 He was with God in the beginning. a. In case you missed this truth in verse one, b. John says it even more clearly. 2. The Greek tense was also helpful to understanding what was being said. a. John used the verb was in the imperfect tense. b. This means: 1. was continuing 2. Thus the verse should say: (Kent Hughes) In the beginning was continuing the word, and the word was continuing with God, and the word was continually God. 3. Kent Hughes says that another way of looking at it would be to say: Jesus always was wasing. 3. Jesus Himself would make this same statement as He dealt with the religious leaders in John 8: a. Jesus builds on the position of His preexistence. b. As He uses the present tense verb in 8:58. EGO EIMI I AM! (i.e. I was wasing. ) C. The EQUALITY Of The Word. And the word was God. 1. Of all of the statements that John will make, this is the most dramatic and overwhelming. 2. For what he is saying is this: a. Not only is Jesus the logos of God. 1. The power and direction of all creation and all of life; the one who holds it together. 2. The one who has always been because He was and is with God. b. It is much, much more than that the logos, the word, Jesus the Messiah IS GOD HIMSELF! c. But I want us to see several grammatical points from the Greek. 1. One: In the Greek, the words actually read like this: God (Theos) was (en) the (ho) Word (logos), a. The word logos has the article the and thus becomes the subject of the sentence. b. The word God does NOT have an article so it becomes the predicate. 5

6 c. Thus, because of the construction in the Greek; we learn: 1. All the emphasis falls as the subject logos the Word Jesus. 2. The Greek should say: JESUS WAS GOD! 2. Two: When the subject and direct object are connected with a being verb (to be), a. the direct object becomes the predicate nominative OR THE SAME THING AS THE SUBJECT. b. The verse should read, THE WORD WAS GOD. THEY ARE THE SAME! D. The EXTENT Of The Word. 1. He is the Lord. Vs. 3 - Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. a. John is putting the finishing touches on explaining who Jesus is by saying that not only was He the logos, and preexistent God. HE CREATED ALL THINGS. b. To the Greek, this would explain why there was order in the universe BECAUSE HE CREATED THE UNIVERSE! c. To the Hebrew, this view of Jesus being the creator would be supported in the Old Testament. 1. John 38:1-18 (read) 2. Proverbs 8:27-31 (read) 2. He is the light. Vs. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. a. Jesus created the physical light (natural revelation). Hughes There are about 100 billion stars in the average galaxy, and there are at least one hundred million galaxies in known space. Einstein believed that we have scanned with our largest telescopes only one billionth of theoretical space. This means that there are probably something like 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars in space (ten octillion). How many is that? 1,000 thousands = a million; 1,000 millions = a billion; 1,000 billions = a trillion; 1,000 trillions = a quadrillion; 1,000 quadrillions = a quintillion; 1,000 quintillions = a sextillion; 1,000 sextillions = a septillion; 1,000 septillions = an octillion. So ten octillion is a 10 with twenty-seven zeros behind it. And Jesus created them all! b. But Jesus is more. He is the spiritual light (special revelation). II. The POVERTY Of Jesus. A. The HUMANITY Of Jesus. 1. His flesh. Vs. 14 The word became flesh. a. After seeing all that the logos, Jesus, is and has done, HOW AMAZING IT IS WHAT JOHN SAYS HERE! 6

7 1. That logos, the center of creation and sustainer of the universe, BECAME A PERSON, A HUMAN! 2. You can t misinterpret what John is saying here because he uses the Greek word sarx flesh. a. the body of a man b. the substance of the living body which covers the bones and is permeated with blood 3. BUT DON T UNDERESTIMATE WHAT JESUS, the logos did. a. He left it all: His power, place and glory for mankind. b. This illustration makes a good point: Author and Pastor Leith Anderson writes: Several years ago I was visiting Manila and was taken, of all places, to the Manila garbage dump and saw something beyond belief. Tens of thousands of people make their homes on that dump site. They ve constructed shacks out of the things other people have thrown away. And they send their children out early every morning to scavenge for food out of other people s garbage, so they can have family meals. People have been born and grown up there on the garbage dump. They have had their families, their children, their shacks, their garbage to eat, finished out their lives, and died there without ever going anywhere else, even in the city of Manila. It is an astonishing thing... AND JESUS CAME FROM HEAVEN TO A GARBAGE DUMP. b. DON T MISS THIS AT CHRISTMAS: 1. LOOK WHAT HE WAS AND IS. 2. AND LOOK WHAT HE BECAME THIS IS THE STORY OF CHRISTMAS! 2. His life. Vs. 14a The word became flesh and lived for awhile among us. a. To make his point to the Jews, John uses a term that they would understand. b. John says that Jesus lived for awhile among us. 1. This Greek word for lived is skenoo from a word meaning to dwell or to tabernacle. a. John uses this word to connect it with the tabernacle in the Old Testament. b. The tabernacle had two functions: 1. It was the center of worship for the Jewish people. 2. It went wherever they went. c. John is CLEARLY desiring to make Jesus THE TABERNACLE who dwelt in the flesh on this earth. HE IS THE TABERNACLE! 2. Also, the Greek word skenoo, actually is derived from an Old Testament Hebrew word shakon. a. The Hebrew word shakan meant to dwell. 7

8 8 b. From where the Hebrews got the word shekinah. c. John is saying not only that Jesus is the tabernacle, the place of worship for the Jews, He is also the manifestation and glory of God the shekinah, the location of the glory and blessings of God. B. The HUMILITY Of Jesus. 1. The reputation of Jesus. Vs He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. a. ALTHOUGH HE WAS THE LOGOS, the creator, sustainer of the world... b. ALTHOUGH HE WAS THE MANIFESTATION of God The rejection of Jesus. a. HE WAS REJECTED! b. CAN YOU IMAGINE THAT! 1. Look who He is. 2. Look what He gave up. c. And then rejected: 1. As if He left heaven and went to join the garbage people in Manila and was turned away from the garbage dump! 2. Look who rejected Jesus: a. The innkeeper in Bethlehem b. King Herod c. His brothers d. His disciples e. The Jews 3. A poor family was farming some land during the Depression. There was one son in this family, and his parents wanted the best for him. So they scrimped and saved so they could send him to college. After he had been gone for a year or so, his parents, who loved him very much, wanted to see him again. Again they saved, sold some things, and went to visit their son. They arrived on campus, poorly dressed in their farm clothes. Seeing their son with some other boys, the father ran over to him. Son, son, it s your father, he said. The son looked at his father without showing any sign of recognition. The father said again, Son, it s your father and mother. We ve come to see you. The boy, perhaps embarrassed by his parents poverty, turned to the other students and said, I don t know who this is. He must be crazy. III. The POSITION Of The Word. A. INFORMATION Is NOT SUFFICIENT. 1. I m sure the Hebrews and the Greeks were impressed with the way the Apostle John spoke directly to their culture. a. To the Hebrews

9 1. The logos DOES speak with power. 2. HE IS REAL: THE MESSIAH! 3. But how many responded to the call? b. To the Greeks 1. They had heard about the logos all of their lives, 2. but was Jesus REALLY the cause and solution to all of life? c. To you: 1. Hey, it s interesting to think that Jesus could be the essence of life, the solution to life and the power for life, 2. I will think about it. 2. But this information will not change your life, if it remains only information. B. INVITATION Is SECURITY. Vs He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. 1. John couldn t be clearer. a. You must receive the logos. 1. The word receive means a. to take by the hand b. to take to one s own c. to receive what is offered d. to receive a person e. to give him access to one s self 2. You must take this logos into your life. b. You must believe the logos. 1. John makes the point even clearer. 2. He uses the Greek word pisteuo. a. It means more than merely believe. It means to commit to; to put confidence in; to entrust. b. To trust in the one who has been set before you; the logos the word of God. 2. The decision couldn t be more obvious. Conclusion: 1. The Greeks were right the logos is the center of the universe, the essence of life. 2. Have you thought about why Jesus uses THE WORD? a. What is a word? 1. a word communicates 2. a word tells you about something or someone a. hot, cold b. beautiful b. But John uses THE WORD. 1. THE WORD CAME TO THIS EARTH. a. THE STATEMENT OF LIFE. b. THE ESSENCE OF LIFE. c. THE MEANING OF LIFE. 2. So that when you understand THE WORD, you understand LIFE! 9

10 10 3. Don t miss this opportunity to finally understand what all of life is about. a. God has given us His ultimate Word. b. A man by the name of Gwang Hyuk Rhee has created a most interesting picture of Jesus Christ. 1. After escaping from Communist occupied Korea, he began a project that took him some 30 years to complete. 2. His drawings involved using words of the New Testament to complete a drawing of Jesus in pen and ink. a. For his portrait of Jesus he used the entire 181,259 words and 838,380 letters of the New Testament. b. Using these words alone, Rhee created a majestic portrait of Jesus Christ standing on a high mountain above the world revealing the Lord of the universe calling us to Himself and at the same time, coming to us. Below Jesus are seen the children of the world. 3. If you could look closely at the portrait, you would see all of the words of the New Testament that make up the portrait of Jesus. a. The figure of Christ is not imposed onto the words; the words reveal the picture of Christ as they are inked light and dark to reveal the picture of Christ. b. The words have become flesh. 4. Sometimes, we are too close to see it. a. Many people have spent their lives looking at such words as: 1. purpose 2. meaning 3. peace 4. joy b. But you don t understand how to achieve these attitudes, c. Until you take a few steps back and see that the words and attitudes are found in THE WORD of God, Jesus Christ. d. THIS IS WHY Jesus was sent 2,000 years ago. 1. TO THE STATEMENT of life. 2. TO BE THE MEANING of life. 3. TO BE THE ESSENCE of life. Will you receive Him today? I challenge you to find out THE ULTIMATE STATEMENT OF WHAT LIFE IS ALL ABOUT!