John 1:1-18 - The Word Became Flesh
Sermon by Pastor Brent Kompelien
September 4, 2022
INTRO (SLIDE 1)
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good.”
These are the opening words of the Bible from Genesis chapter 1. And they were the words that the astronauts of Apollo 8 read aloud on a live television broadcast as they orbited the moon on Christmas Eve 1968. (SLIDE 2)
As Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders became the first human beings to leave earth and travel to another heavenly body, they were not so much struck with the uniqueness of the desolate and lifeless moon, but with the spectacular sight of the Earth as it rose over the lunar horizon in all its beauty and warmth and brightness and life.
From a quarter-million miles away, they couldn’t help but read aloud the account of creation to bring glory to the Creator, being in awe of the goodness of what God had made. (SLIDE 3)
Friends, by His word God has spoken and caused his glory to shine forth in the darkness. He created with purpose, with order, with beauty, and he has given light and life to everything.
You see, the first account of creation tells us that God existed before all things. He simply spoke his word, and out of nothing he made a universe with awe-inspiring complexity and beauty. God caused the light of his glory to be revealed through his words spoken into the darkness.
This morning, we are going to see that God has done a work of new creation. The Word has come in the flesh, bringing the perfect light of God’s own presence into the darkness of this world, as the Creator himself comes to dwell in glory among us. Whoa!
Welcome to the Gospel of John. We are embarking today on a series through John’s gospel called “Full of Grace and Truth.” Over the coming months, we are going to encounter the Living Word, Jesus Christ, in a deeply personal and powerful way.
Here’s my prayer for this series: I don’t want us to merely talk about Jesus, as though he is a distant and detached figure of history or unfeeling and arbitrary god. I want us to truly come to see, know, love, and worship the Jesus whose presence is in us and among us, who deeply loves us, and who reveals to us the very heart of God.
ILLUST — I had a pastoral mentor tell me years ago that we need to be careful that we don’t merely talk about God and forget to commune with God. He used the illustration of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. He said that when the Serpent talked with Eve, this was the first time anyone had talked about God as though God wasn’t there. The first deception was to think that you can act as though God isn’t here. That’s not what we want to do here as a church, to have theological conversations as though God’s very presence isn’t here among us. It is God’s presence that matters most, and knowing him intimately will transform you.
Open with me to the Gospel of John. Let me tell you a little bit about this book.
The writer is Apostle John, son of Zebedee and brother of the Apostle James. Jesus called James and John the “sons of thunder.” Evidently, they were kind of like the bash brothers.
John likely wrote this gospel near the end of his life around the year 80 AD. And he wrote this book with a specific purpose that he makes very clear at the end of the book itself. In John 20:31 John writes, “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
We are going to see this purpose come to light right away at the beginning of the book, because John immediately addresses this question: Who is Jesus?
PROP — As we read the opening of John’s gospel, we are going to see the words of creation spoken again. We are going to see the most radical and awe-inspiring truth that Jesus is God himself in the flesh, the Creator coming to dwell among his creation, bringing his light and life to all who receive him.
Let’s read John 1:1-18. As I read, I want you to listen to the specific words that John uses that parallel the original creation account in Genesis 1. READ John 1:1-18.
ORG SENT — Here’s how we are going to tackle this passage. We are going to answer the question, “Who is Jesus?” by looking at how John tells a story of an act of new creation as God speaks again to bring the Light of his presence to make his glory known. Let’s start with verse 1 to see the answers to this question.
MAIN 1 — Jesus is God (vv. 1-2). (SLIDE 4a)
Did you notice some familiar words as John opens his gospel? “In the beginning…” Where did we hear that before? Genesis 1:1 of course, which says, “In the beginning God…”
It is no accident that John uses these exact words. John draws us back to the moment of creation in order to show how Jesus is Lord over the original creation, and therefore he is Lord over the new creation!
(SLIDE 4b) Genesis — “In the beginning God…” = God is pre-existent
(SLIDE 4c) John — “In the beginning was the Word…” = Jesus is pre-existent
Jesus was with God, and Jesus was God.
He is a unique person of the Trinity
But he is equally divine and of the same essence and being as the Father and the Spirit.
What does John mean when he calls Jesus “the Word”? This is the word “logos” (SLIDE 4d)
In the Greek world, the Logos was the logic or rationale for why everything exists. (SLIDE 4e) It was the organizing principle that animated everything and gave the world order and purpose. It was an abstract and philosophical concept, not a personal being.
In the Jewish world, (SLIDE 4f) the Word is connected to God’s powerful activity in creation as he speaks everything into being, in revealing truth as he gives his commands and laws, in deliverance as he promises to redeem a people, and in judgment as he pronounces the defeat of sin and evil.
KEY: John is leveraging a term that forces both Greeks and Jews to consider a whole new vision of reality: Jesus is the key to everything. (SLIDE 4g)
Jesus is the logic of creation, the organizing principle of all things, and the source of purpose and meaning for everything.
And Jesus is the agent of God’s powerful spoken word in the act of creation, in revealing truth, in delivering his people, and in judging sin and evil.
The Word is God. The Word is Lord over all. The Word is God’s glory shining in the darkness.
MAIN 2 — Jesus is Creator (vv. 3-4). (SLIDE 5a)
READ vv. 3-4.
This word “through” means that Jesus is the agent or instrument of creation. Everything was made by his actions, by his activity.
This reminds me of the Christ hymn in Colossians 1:15-16, (SLIDE 5b) “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.”
“Through” = Jesus is the agent of creation. (SLIDE 5c)
“For” = Jesus is the purpose or goal of creation. (SLIDE 5d)
APPLY — Friends, this applies to you! You exist because Jesus created you, and you exist FOR him. The purpose or goal of your life is to exist for him, to live for him, to be like him, and to bring glory to him. In fact, the whole cosmos belongs to him and exists for his glory.
ILLUST — Sometimes this truth can be difficult to grasp day-by-day. When we go out those door into the real world, we can struggle to live consistently as though Christ actually is Creator and Lord of all.
Pastor and theologian Michael Reeves put it this way in a book called Rejoicing in Christ, “We can sing of Christ’s love on Sunday—and there it is true—but walking home through the streets, past the people and the places where Real Life goes on, we don’t feel it is really Christ’s world. As if the universe is a neutral place. As if Christianity is just something we have smeared on top of Real Life. Jesus is reduced to being little more than a comforting nibble of spiritual chocolate, an imaginary friend who ‘saves souls’ but not much else. The Bible knows no such piffling and laughable Christlet…The Lord of the cosmos will have a cosmic purpose: to renew his entire world, destroying evil from it forever.”
You see, when John asserts that Jesus is the Creator, he is making the boldest claim possible: The Jesus who was born in a stable, who called John from a fishing boat, who ate and slept, who laughed and wept, who loved and healed, and who commissioned his disciples to bring the good news of his coming into the world, this Jesus is the one who made John and is the purpose for John’s existence. Wow!
MAIN 3 — Jesus is the Light (vv. 5-13). (SLIDE 6a)
These verses introduce the most important theme in the entire gospel of John: Light.
The Apostle John loves to use light in his writing, including in 1, 2, and 3 John.
But here, there is a specific connection to the creation account in Genesis that we need to make sure we understand.
(SLIDE 6b) In Genesis 1, the darkness and emptiness became light and fullness at the Word of God.
(SLIDE 6c) In John 1, we see that darkness is overcome by the Light of life, who is the Word of God.
What is different about John’s gospel is that darkness is not merely emptiness, but it represents the presence of evil and sin.
But what is also different about John’s gospel is that the Word of God is not merely spoken words, but it is the presence of God himself in the flesh!
KEY: The coming of Jesus Christ in his incarnation is a greater, grander, more permanent and perfect dawning of the Light of a new creation! Sin and evil and death have cursed the current creation, but God has once again said, “Let there be light,” and God’s own Son has come in the flesh!
In verse 5, the word “overcome” is sometimes translated as “understood”. John intentionally chose this word to draw out two nuances of Jesus as the Light of life.
(SLIDE 6d) Overcome = Light always defeats darkness. Light is the undefeated champion! We know this when we turn on a flashlight in the middle of the night. The darkness never wins!
(SLIDE 6e) Understood = Evil cannot comprehend Jesus. Verses 9-11 introduces the idea that Jesus will be rejected. Later on in John 3:19-20, Jesus himself tells Nicodemus that evil people will reject Jesus because they love darkness. They don’t want to know the Light of the World because his light will always expose their sin.
But there’s good news, and it comes in verse 12, “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”
To receive means that Jesus is a gift. (SLIDE 6f) He gives you himself. Only through him, the true Light and the Lord of creation, will you have life.
MAIN 4 — Jesus is the God-Man (v. 14). (SLIDE 7a)
Let me read verse 14 again. READ v. 14.
Pastor Andrew Wilson said about this verse, “You have just read perhaps the most outrageous sentence in history…the Word became flesh. How could the eternal and transcendent God become human?” To this day, this is the biggest problem that Jews and Muslims have with Christianity.
The word that John uses here to describe this reality is the word “made his dwelling”. (SLIDE 7b) This is the same word as the word “tabernacle” in the Old Testament. John is making a direct connection here to the Tabernacle and Temple of the Old Testament.
In the Tabernacle, God’s presence was in the cube-shaped Holy of Holies, above the Mercy Seat, between the cherubim, above the Ark of the Covenant that contained the stone tablets of the 10 Commandments, a jar of manna, an Aaron’s budded staff.
It was behind the curtain of the Holy of Holies that the presence of God dwelled, literally “pitched a tent” among his people.
KEY — This is the radical claim that John is making: (SLIDE 7c) The Creator God pitched his dwelling place among us, not in a tent, but as a human being! WHOA!
Now God is not hidden, he is visible to all.
Now God is not distant, he is near.
Now God is not unapproachable, he is reaching out to us!
If this is true, then we shouldn’t be surprised by anything that happens in the gospels! If Jesus is God in the flesh, then it would be weird if the storm didn’t go quiet at his command. It would be strange if people weren’t healed by his touch. It would be unthinkable that death could keep him in the grave. We should never be surprised at what Jesus can do.
But we can’t miss the end of the sentence here, because for all the glory and power of this reality that Jesus is God in the flesh, John makes sure we know the characteristics of how Jesus embodies the very nature of God.
The text says that Jesus is “full of grace and truth.” (SLIDE 7d)
ILLUST — The theologian John Stott once said that grace and truth cannot be separated. If separated, grace becomes a fluffy pillow and truth becomes a hammer. (SLIDE 7e)
In today’s world, some people will say “God is love” and who are we to tell people who they can and can’t love. Just have grace for everyone, let them decide their own truth.
But others will say that truth is truth, and we need to make people understand the right way and live by the right rules at all costs. They will bludgeon people with truth, but have no love or care for others, and they are like a clanging cymbal as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13.
IMPORTANT — Jesus is always FULL of graciousness and always FULL of truthfulness. He always loves and cares and has perfect compassion. But he also always holds fully to the truth.
APPLY — Friends, if we are going to be like Jesus, then we aren’t going to offer fluffy pillows or hammers. We will offer the truth in love, gracious and yet never budging on what is right.
MAIN 5 — Jesus is the Grace-Giver (vv. 15-17). (SLIDE 8a)
Look again with me at verses 16-17. READ vv. 16-17.
This verse sheds a lot of light on how we are to understand the Old Testament. (SLIDE 8b)
You see, God choosing Abraham and forming the nation of Israel was a gift of his grace. God giving his law and revealing to them how to follow him was a gift of his grace. God’s promise of deliverance through a Messiah was a gift of his grace. At every step along the way, God shows his kindness to undeserving people.
(SLIDE 8c) KEY — The coming of Jesus is the fulfillment God’s grace. It is the ultimate expression of God’s kindness, the pinnacle of his love.
This is why Jesus himself says in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
Jesus is the fulfillment and purpose of all of the Old Testament! That is incredible!
MAIN 6 — Jesus is God’s Son (v. 18). (SLIDE 9a)
The last answer to the question “Who is Jesus?” (SLIDE 9b) is in verse 18. READ v. 18.
Friends, if you want to know God, Jesus is the only answer. (SLIDE 9c) He is God and he has made God known.
You see, as we continue through the Gospel of John, we are going to see the intimate details of who Jesus is.
We are going to see his compassion.
We are going to see his wisdom.
We are going to see his power.
We are going to see his authority.
We are going to see his humility.
We are going to see his very heart.
APPLY
I’ll say it again, (SLIDE 9d) my prayer for us is that we would truly come to see, know, love, and worship the Jesus whose presence is in us and among us, who deeply loves us, and who reveals to us the very heart of God.
ILLUST — I want to leave you with the words of an old hymn written by Josiah Condor two hundred years ago:
Thou art the everlasting Word,
The Father’s only Son;
God manifestly seen and heard,
And Heaven’s beloved One.
Worthy, O Lamb of God, art Thou
That every knee to Thee should bow.
In Thee most perfectly expressed
The Father’s glorious shine;
Of the full Deity possessed,
Eternally divine.
Worthy, O Lamb of God, art Thou
That every knee to Thee should bow.
True image of the Infinite,
Who essence is concealed;
Brightness of uncreated light;
The heart of God revealed.
Worthy, O Lamb of God, art Thou
That every knee to Thee should bow.