John 1:1-18 (When God Became
a Human Being!)
Intro:
As a Pastor I often get called upon to officiate at a Memorial Service.
A)Always interesting: Especially if someone I didn’t know well
B) Memorial Services are
times to reflect / to honor / to remember the life
of a loved one.
1) Often
include open sharing. People
share this is what I remember about – this is why __ was special to me.
C) Usually not a time where
someone gets up to bad mouth the Deceased! -
Two Brothers – Million dollars – Saint
1) Dirty
rotten scoundrel – but compared to his brother … saint!
Memorial
services are usually a time where you learn about the Character / the faith of
… /
A)What Kind of person / Husband / Father / Christian / what stood for / what
he stood against.
B) Well here in the first 18
verses of John 1 – The apostle John gives us a description not of His deceased
friend
1) But of His living Lord
C) John reveals an extensive
and comprehensive description to answer the Question
who is Jesus?
D)
V.1-18 commonly called the prologue –
1) I like Thesis { A dissertation containing the results conclusions of
research.
E) Here he stats his Thesis
– The rest of the book – he presents the evidence.
RD V.1-18
Intro:
Gospel of John – One of the last books written in the NT
A)Written by John – Apostle of Jesus – First to follow – last to die.
B) Close
to Jesus – Man of means: He Left family fishing business to follow
Christ
1)
Cousin of Jesus – He knew Him – though much younger { Mom
Salome
Sister to Mary/ John the Baptist was also related
C) Imagine Baby sitting
those three – The Prophet / Apostle / Messiah
John
the B. – Behold Here comes my cousin Jesus out of the
Kitchen
D) It is interesting that
John knowing the family background of Jesus knowing him in some way as a Kid
1)
Is so overwhelmingly convinced – He is the Messiah
But
John’s purpose in writing is different – from Matthews – Matthew – Portrays
Jesus as Messiah – OT Prophecy
A)John Portrays – Jesus as Divine – God in Human Flesh !
B) That is his purpose in
writing – John 20:31 “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.”
C) And yet he also goes to
great lengths to point out how the Divine became flesh-
became Human.
1)
Therefore He uses the name Jesus – more than any other gospel writer.
D) Matthew: 151 times / Mark
17 / Luke 88 / John 247 times
E) Although he mentions the
name Jesus more than any other gospel writer – that is not where how starts
1) He goes to pre Genesis –
In the beginning –
John
Begins In the beginning was the Word
A)A word is something that communicates – The term Word in the Greek is
Logos.
B)
The Greeks used “the Word” in two ways. It could mean a person’s thoughts or
reason, or it might refer to a person’s speech, the expression of thoughts.
B)
As a philosophical term, logos conveyed the
rational principle that governed the universe,
1)even the creative energy that generated the universe.
C)Plato declared that the Logos, was
the foundation of everything on earth.
1)
Everything flowed from the Logos. The earth, Plato said, was simply a shadow of
the reality of the logos that existed somewhere in the heavens.
The
Jews took the Greek concept of the logos one step further.
A)Whereas Plato said behind everything there’s a perfect thought (logos), the Jews said
that behind the thought there must be a perfect thinker.
B)So John Begins with the Existence of God but then – he blows our minds by
declaring –
The Word was w/ God – the word was God.
V.2
He was in
the beginning with God.= He – Person /
V.14
–And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,
V.17-18 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came
through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten
Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
C) John Makes
it Clear the Word is a person and that Person is Jesus Christ the Son of God.
In
the Beginning was the Logos – the Word – The Logos was with God and the Logos
was God – or Literally – God was the Logos – or God was in the Word.
A)The word was speaks of a continual existence – Always there
continually in existence.
B)
The Word was and continually always has been w/ God
1) and the Word was and continually always
has been God
2) and God was and has continually always been the Word.
Now
if you talk to a JW they will tell you that according to Greek Scholars – there
should be an a – in v.1 – The Word was a god.
A)Jesus is not God – he is a god little g –
The Kingdom Interlinear their translation
B) Problem is there is no
Greek Scholar alive who would agree with that claim –
1)and the ones they quote they quote out of context AT Robertson and Julius Mantey – have gone on record to refute their claims
"A GROSSLY MISLEADING
TRANSLATION. It is neither scholarly nor
reasonable to translate John 1:1 ‘the Word was a god.’ But of all the scholars
in the world, so far as we know, none have translated this verse as Jehovah’s
Witnesses have done." (Dr. Julius R. Mantey)
In a letter to the
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society dated July 11, 1974, Mantey
even demanded a public apology for these repeated misquotings—as
well he requested their discontinuance of the use of his grammar: After citing
numerous examples of mistranslations, Mantey writes:
In view of the
preceding facts, especially because you have been quoting me out of context, I
herewith request you not to quote the Manual Grammar of the Greek New
Testament again, which you have been doing for 24 years. Also
that you not quote it or me in any of your publications from this time on.
Also that you publicly and immediately apologize in the Watchtower
magazine, since my words had no relevance to the absence of the article before theos in John 1:1…. On the
page before the Preface in the grammar are these words: "All rights
reserved—no part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission
in writing from the publisher." If you have such permission, please send
me a photocopy of it. If you do not heed these requests you will suffer the
consequences.
Regretfully
yours,
Julius
R. Mantey6
This
is where John Begins: Jesus is the Logos – He is the Word. – Jesus is the Logos
who reveals God to us.
A)When God spoke in the Old Testament it would often times be described like
this. “And the Word of the Lord came to Isaiah”
B) or the “Word of the Lord
came to Elijah” When the Children of
C)
The heavens and the earth were created by, “The Word of the Lord”.
1)
God created, God saved.
God delivered
2)
God communicated, by His powerful Word.
God expressed it, and it happened.
D)The Jewish listener would have picked up on this immediately.
1)
They understood the Logos, the Word of God.
E)
John was declaring – All those times in the
OT we read of God speaking – the Word of the Lord – that was Jesus.
Jesus is the Creator: V.3 “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing
was made that was made.”
A)Nine times in Genesis chapter 1 it records “And
God said”.
And
God said, “Let there be light” /
B)and God said, “let there be dry land in
the midst of the water, and God said, “let
the earth bring forth grass and herb and every kind of plant” and God said, “let there be two great lights to
rule the sky” and God said, “let the
earth bring forth living creatures,” and God said,
‘let us make man in our own image”
C) Each
time the Word spoke, creation poured forth.
1)
The Word – the Logos was Jesus
Phillip Keller Classic –
Shepherd … Psalm 23 – God the Father was the Author – the originator of
Creation.
A)It was in His mind first all that took Shape.
B) God the Son, Jesus, is
the artisan- the artist – the creator of all that exist
1) He brought into being all
that had been originally formulated in His fathers mind.
C) God the Holy Spirit is
the agent who presents these facts to both my mind and my spiritual
understanding so that they become both real and relative to me as an
individual.
D) Gen
1 God is Elohim – Plural – compound unity –
Let us make man in our image. Doctrine
of the Trinity –
1) 3 Person/ 3 distinct
personalities – One incredible Being !
E) God the Son was
responsible for speaking the World into existence.
Hebrews
1:1-2
God has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has
appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
The
Word the Logos
was the artist: Creative energy flowed from His spoken Word.
A)Here is what is also amazing: Created is Bara Baw-
raw = to create something out of nothing.
B)There is another Hebrew
word that means to make something out of existing materials,
like fashioning a chair out of
pieces of wood,
1)But that is not what Jesus is
doing here, He is speaking these things into existence out of nothing,
C) It goes from the mind of God, through the Word of
God, into reality.
1)Universes
and planets and flowers and trees and every living thing, spoken into existence by the omnipotent Word of God.
Reveals
to us the Creativity of Christ
A)Every MT/ Plant / Flower/ Oceans / Every Star – Painted by Jesus
B) Made for our enjoyment!
C) Declares His Power and
Glory!
D) Talk more about the
Creative Power of Jesus on Sunday – Continue
But For the sake of time tonight lets Continue V.4
In
Him was Life.
A)Not only is Jesus the creator of all life, but
He is the source of that which makes it all come alive. He is the Fountain Head
of life
B) The Greek term used for “life” is zoe; it is always used to describe the divine, eternal life in the Gospel
of John.
C) Real life – What man is craving for –
longing after – Greatest Pursuit.
That life is found in Him – In Him was life and that life
was the light of men.
A)The divine life embodied in Christ brought unique light
to people
B) Light exposes – the Light of Jesus – exposed that we were
sinners – He was the perfect man
C) Light also illuminates – See God – V.18 Declared Him – Exegis – to exposit –
D) Light directs – Reveals the way: The way to God. To life –
Shirley
Mclaine – New Ager – On the
Beach – I am God
She
was conducting one of her Seminars at the Long Beach Arena Teaching people
about their own Divinity During the seminar she had everyone light a candle –
they turned off the lights so those candles good be seen shinning in the dark.
She said – Just those candles have individual flames – all of you have the
divine light with in you. Well Just as she said that the smoke from the candles
set off the sprinkler system in the arena and all of those divine lights were
extinguished
GOOD TIMING LORD
In
Him was Light – Light was the Light of Men –
V.5
And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness
did not comprehend it.
A)The Greek word translated “comprehend” can mean either “extinguish” or
“understand.”
B)Both meanings are applicable in this verse, for the darkness could neither
understand nor extinguish Jesus.
C)
For three hours, the earth was darkened when it seemed the Light of the World
was extinguished
1) But
three days later, He was back—to shine in our hearts as the Bright and Morning
Star
D) Insight Why resist – John 3 Men loved darkness – hated the light
because it exposed their evil deeds
Now
On Sunday in our Intro we noted – John’s Style – 7 signs / 7 witnesses / 7 I am
statements
A)1st Witness RD V.6-8
B) Here, John the apostle
introduces us to John the Baptist.
1)
As a prophet, John the Baptist spoke to people on behalf of God.
2)
As a priest (Luke 1:5), he spoke to God on behalf of the people.
C)
That’s what ministry is all about. Ministry is both prophetic and
priestly—talking to people about God and talking to God about people.
John
was sent to bear witness to the Light – Same as us.
Purpose
so that all men through him might
believe.
A)The Calvinist will try to tell you that Salvation is only for the a select
few
B)
John declares – the heart of God is that all men might believe.
1)
The person that irritates you the most – God loves incredibly and wants them to
be saved.
V.10
John moves back to Jesus – Read v.10-11
A)John notes one of the greatest tragedies in mankind - The world that He
made didn’t recognize Him –
B)The wind did – The
waves did – The water did – supported him
1)
The Donkey did { never ridden / the Rocks did –
C)
But man didn’t – His own – his own people didn’t receive him they didn’t
welcome him in .
D) Filled his heart with
sorrow – still does – Oh
V.12
But – Great word – Most didn’t receive him – But some
did
A)Received = accepted – welcomed in. Word that
speaks both of Love and submission – Accepted into the Heart to make it your
home
B)
Paul said the Lord wants to dwell in your hearts –
1)
Be at Home like a member of the family – not a guest – not an intruder –
C) To receive is predicated
upon Faith – for those who believe
1)
More than an intellectual assent – Cling to trust in rely upon.
D)
Here is what happens to those who take that step: The right to be Children of
God
In Greek right means
“authority or permission.” In this context, it
speaks of God granting the right or giving the privilege for the new birth.
No one can attain this new birth by his or her own power,
merit, or ability. Only God can grant it.
RDV. John 1:12-13
12 But as many as received Him, to them He
gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13
who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of God.
Not obtained through Descent: Not of blood – not about your family bloodline
A)Grandpa was a great Christian – 40 Preachers in your family – doesn’t
matter you still need to make a decision
B) Not obtained through Desire: Not the will of the flesh
1) Romans tells us there are really not that
seek after God – Not the will of the flesh
C)Starts with God – the initiator – reveals to our hearts the need
D) Not obtained through Determination: not the will of man - If I just try hard enough
D) Man can’t will Himself into a relationship
with God
1) Gift received when I receive Christ – thru
faith.