Jesus, the Word
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Vision for 2019
Vision for 2019
Over the next year or so, I’m planning to go through the Gospel of John chapter by chapter. We’ll stop here and there for a mini-series on pertinent topics but I would like us to start and finish at least one gospel so that we can develop a fuller picture of who Jesus is and the things that he taught. And there are multiple reasons why we are going to take this much time on one book of the Bible but the two main purposes are for spiritual formation and personal transformation. Let me quickly define what those two things are so that we can all have a common point of reference.
Spiritual formation, from a Christian perspective, can be defined as the life and the presence of Christ shaping the human soul. For the sake of abbreviation, when I’m making a reference to our souls, I’m referring to the center of the human spirit, heart, and will which is the way the Scriptures use this word. I know that this sounds very mystical for our tech oriented crowd but if you really think about it everything you come in contact with shapes your soul and eventually affects who you are becoming. Friday night I went to see Volta, the new Cirque du Soleil show here in the city. Underneath all of the great physical feats of the performers is a not so subtle new age spirituality that begins to draw your heart into the show. People who would generally freak out about praying in tongues at church seem to have no problem sitting through the new age incantations that serves as the musical background for most of the performances. Everything is so nicely packaged to reinforce the message of the show which is don’t conform to society because you should have the freedom to be whoever or whatever you want to be. It is an incredibly appealing message.
Everything is competing for your soul. The shows you watch, the podcasts you listen to, the type of work you do, and even the people that you decide to surround yourself with. And in this great vortex of competing voices, it is easy to become deaf to the Word of God. Certainly the Word does not have all the glitz and the glamour that the messaging of the world comes packaged in but we will learn today and throughout our study of the Gospel of John, the substance of the Christian message that makes it so different from everything else we hear. It is this Word that alone can lead to our personal transformation, which Dallas Willard defines as “a revolution of character, which proceeds by changing people from the inside through ongoing personal relationship to God in Christ and to one another. It is one that changes their ideas, beliefs, feelings, and habits of choice, as well as their bodily tendencies and social relations.”
If there is one thing that I am praying for in 2019 as we go through this study is that we would begin to see this personal transformation that comes through an intimate knowledge of Jesus Christ. Collectively, when a church is filled with people whose lives are being transformed by the Word of God, they begin to change the world around them. That is what I am excited for in this new year. With that in mind, let’s turn to the first chapter of the Gospel of John.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Over the years, I have preached multiple messages out of this passage and there is probably enough material just in this section of the gospel alone to preach another 10 messages. I won’t do that to you but I do need to point how just how rich this text is and if there is any section of Bible that proves divine inspiration, it would be these 14 verses. The fact that this was penned not by some great philosopher or theologian but by a simple uneducated fisherman makes these words even that much more astounding.
For the sake of our study, there are three points that I want to highlight:
Jesus is the Word (or the logos)
The Word is the source of life.
That life is the light of all men.
Each of these points could be a message on its own but I want us to get the bigger picture of where the gospel of John is leading us.
When John tells us that “Jesus is the Word” he used a Greek term which those in that culture which would have been familiar with. It was the word logos. In Greek philosophy logos was the rational principle that gave order to the universe. This abstract principle became equated with the power of creation because in the eyes of the Greek philosophers, there seemed to be a logical and rational order to the world. So John used the word logos to say that this divine power is God who then decided to become real flesh and blood. And in doing so, the Word became more than just words, it became more than dare I say the Scriptures. In Christ, the Word became a reality that would come alive within us, turning hearts of stone into hearts of flesh. Jesus came out of the words of Scripture so that we would have more than a philosophy, more than a moral code and even more than a prophecy, we would have God himself living within us. If this is true, it is an incredible truth.
Every time I learn a little more about ancient Greek culture, the more that I marvel at the timing of Jesus’ life. The apostle Paul tells us that Jesus came in the fullness of time, that everything was aligned perfectly so that He would have maximum impact in his 30 years on earth. An example of that is how the teaching of Socrates prepared the ancient world philosophically to receive Christ. One of the stories that he tells is the myth of Theuth and Thamus. Theuth is the god of invention and one day he comes to Thamus to show him his latest work, the invention of writing and tries to convince the king that this new technology has to be spread throughout his kingdom. The king being very wise has his doubts about how great this new invention would be and he replies to the god of invention:
The Bible says, “For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people” (). John Maxwell says: “He literally had to come in the flesh to satisfy God. He had to die for our sins to satisfy the Father. That’s why when he said, ‘Father, if it’s possible let this cup pass from me.’ God said, ‘It’s not possible. You have to satisfy me. You must. The sinless Son of God must die on the cross.”
“What you have discovered is a receipt for recollection, not for memory. As for wisdom, your pupils will have the reputation for it without the reality: they will receive a quantity of information without proper instruction, and in consequence be thought very knowledgeable when they are for the most part ignorant. And because they are filled with the conceit of wisdom instead of real wisdom they will be a burden to society.”
And I want you to consider what Jesus says in in light of this caution towards the written word. In a dialogue with the Pharisees and religious leaders of the time, men who would have considered themselves to be experts in the Scriptures, Jesus tells them:
You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,
Without the reality of Jesus Christ, the Scriptures are inadequate because they just remain words but once He came to us in the flesh, the Word of God became living and active, sharper than any double edged sword, piercing to the division of spirit and soul. Until Jesus becomes the greatest reality in your life, the word of God is largely powerless to do what it was intended to do, which is to give you life from the inside out. The Word embodied in the person of Christ is the source of life, both to create it and transform it.
I know that for modern people, its hard to imagine that words can have that kind of power, even if is the Word of God. Now purely from an earthly perspective, we tend to underestimate the power of language both in its verbal and written forms. (Jeremiah and I enjoy playing Civilization, which is a computer game that gives you godlike power to direct the development of human history.) I think the development of language and specifically writing is highly undervalued in this game because if you think about it is the foundational piece to the rise of human civilization as we know it today. In fact, I think what distinguishes human life from all other forms of life is our ability to articulate and communicate our thoughts through our words. If we couldn’t speak and we were limited to barks and whistles and howls and grunts, no one would know how smart we were. I have this sneaking suspicion that my dog is pretty smart and at more intuitive than some people but we would never know because he can’t talk. Without words, all of our intellect would be trapped inside our own minds but because we can somehow form our thoughts into words, this then gives us the ability to create, not just inanimate objects but ideas and relationships, stories and dreams that we can share with others.
I think the development of writing is highly undervalued in this game because if you think about it is the foundational piece to the rise of human civilization as we know it todayIn fact, I think what distinguishes human life from all other forms of life is our ability to articulate and communicate our thoughts through our words. If we couldn’t speak and were limited to barks and whistles and howls and grunts, no one would know how smart we were. I have this sneaking suspicion that my dog is smarter or at least more intuitive than some people but we would never know because he can’t talk. Without words, all of our intellect would be trapped inside our own minds but because we can somehow form our thoughts into words, this then gives us the ability to create, not only inanimate objects but ideas and relationships, stories and dreams for the future.
From the beginning,
The biological sciences teach us that all life is based on a simple language with a mere 4 letters in its alphabet, ATCG. Based on the sequence of these 4 letters, God was able to create millions of creatures.
One of the core tenets of the Christian faith is that God has eternally existed as one being in three persons. This would mean that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have always had a way to speak to one another. There has always been a heavenly dialogue and in time the Father spoke through the Son to bring creation into existence. And if God would have stopped after creating space, time, the stars, and the planets, it would have been very good, a remarkable display of power. But that version of creation would be less than what it could be. So God created the earth and all the living creatures in the sea, in the air, and on the land. And again if God stopped there it would have been very good but it would still fall short of His glory. The ultimate expression of God was the creation of human life made in his own likeness.
I think the development of writing is highly undervalued in this game because if you think about it is the foundational piece to the rise of human civilization as we know it today. This is the gift that God has shared with mankind because from the very beginning before even time itself, Jesus was the Word, and He was with God because He is God. The ultimate expression of the second person of the Trinity is the creation of life. If God would have stopped after creating space, time, the stars, and the planets. It would have been very good, a remarkable display of power but that version of creation would be less than what it could be. So God created the earth and all the living creatures in the sea, in the air, and on the land. And again if God stopped there it would have been very good but it would still fall short.
The biological sciences teach us that all life is based on a simple language with a mere 4 letters in its alphabet, ATCG. Based on the sequence of these 4 letters, God was able to create millions of creatures. Francis Collins, who was the head of the Human Genome Project, wrote a book about 10 years ago entitled “The Language of God” and in it he reasons that this common language that runs through all of life must point to one intelligent designer. Based on the mapping of the human genome, we now know that our closet genetic relative is the chimpanzee, 96-98% genetic similarity. For the sake of comparison tigers and domestic cats share about 95% genetic similarity but that is no surprise because they are not that all that different. And this is where science fails to explain the utter mystery of why this 2 to 4% difference has led to such a vast evolutionary gap between us and our supposed closest relative. It is a quantum leap that cannot be explained scientifically. And the scientists who continue to say that we are not that different from other animals are totally delusional. We went from babbling and howling idiots to creatures that have learned to harness the power of the atom, the imagination to explore the vast reaches of space, and the curiosity to unlock the secrets of life. It would appear that human life goes far beyond the mere sequence of our genetic code.
The Word of God from its its first pages explains this difference as the imago dei, the image of God placed inside the human soul. We are the only creatures formed in his image and given the ability to reason and understand His Word, so that they would love him and worship him freely. But as part of being made like Him, he also gave us god-like power with the potential for incredible good or incomprehensible evil, to receive his Word or to reject it. Sadly, much of the world has rejected his Word not realizing that if God could create all this with an alphabet of 4 letters, those are children’s blocks in his hands. Imagine the life that he could create with His very Word?
The biological sciences teach us that all life is based on a simple language with a mere 4 letters in its alphabet, ATCG. Based on the sequence of these 4 letters, God was able to create millions of creatures. Francis Collins, who was the head of the Human Genome Project, wrote a book about 10 years ago entitled “The Language of God” and in it he reasons that this common language that runs through all of life must point to one intelligent designer. But the thing that was the clincher in his journey of faith was the scientific mystery surrounding the theory of the evolution of man. Based on the mapping of the human genome, we now know that our closet genetic relative is the chimpanzee, 96-98% genetic similarity. But what biologist can’t tell you is the utter mystery of why the 2 to 4% difference has led to such a vast evolutionary gap between two species that appear to come from the same ancestor. We went from babbling and howling idiots to creatures that have learned to harness the power of the atom, the imagination to explore the vast reaches of space, and the curiosity to unlock the secrets of life. For the sake of comparison tigers and domestic cats share about 95% genetic similarity but that is nor surprise because they are not that all that different.
Jesus came to show us in person what human life was meant to look like when it is lived with God’s Word as its spiritual DNA. And this life that was lived in perfect obedience to the Word is the light to all people. What other religion do you know whose God came in person? Buddha did not claim to be God, nor did he claim to have come from God. He was in search of the divine principle — the word become word. And neither did Mohammed claim to be God, only a prophet of God and author of the Koran. In all of the other world religions we have the word become word — a verbal revelation: writings, injunctions and moral codes. Only in Christianity does the Word become flesh. Even the Jews have only the word becoming word — the prophets and the law of Moses. In Jesus Christ, God did not just reveal his will or his laws, he revealed himself. Nothing less would do. If the Word only became word then our contact with God would only be intellectual.
What other religion do you know whose God came in person? Buddha did not claim to be God, nor did he claim to have come from God. He was in search of the divine principle — the word become word. And neither did Mohammed claim to be God, only a prophet of God and author of the Koran. In all of the other world religions we have the word become word — a verbal revelation: writings, injunctions and moral codes. Only in Christianity does the Word become flesh. Even the Jews have only the word becoming word — the prophets and the law of Moses. In Jesus Christ, God did not just reveal his will or his laws, he revealed himself. Nothing less would do. If the Word only became word then our contact with God would only be intellectual.
And Jesus came to show us in person what human life was meant to look like when it is lived with God’s Word as its spiritual DNA. And this life that was lived in perfect obedience to the Word is the light to all people. What other religion do you know whose God came in person? Buddha did not claim to be God, nor did he claim to have come from God. He was in search of the divine principle — the word become word. And neither did Mohammed claim to be God, only a prophet of God and author of the Koran. In all of the other world religions we have the word become word — a verbal revelation: writings, injunctions and moral codes. Only in Christianity does the Word become flesh. Even the Jews have only the word becoming word — the prophets and the law of Moses. In Jesus Christ, God did not just reveal his will or his laws, he revealed himself. Nothing less would do. If the Word only became word then our contact with God would only be intellectual.
What other religion do you know whose God came in person? Buddha did not claim to be God, nor did he claim to have come from God. He was in search of the divine principle — the word become word. And neither did Mohammed claim to be God, only a prophet of God and author of the Koran. In all of the other world religions we have the word become word — a verbal revelation: writings, injunctions and moral codes. Only in Christianity does the Word become flesh. Even the Jews have only the word becoming word — the prophets and the law of Moses. In Jesus Christ, God did not just reveal his will or his laws, he revealed himself. Nothing less would do. If the Word only became word then our contact with God would only be intellectual.
But the Word has become flesh, and now he is personal. The Word is standing in front of us and he is calling our name. As we read the Bible we are not just acquiring knowledge, Jesus begins to emerge from the Scripture, much like he does in the picture by the Korean artist. Suddenly, we are reading more than words, we are experiencing a person. Something real is happening. More than our thinking is being affected, we are being touched and changed at the deepest place of our beings. It is not an idea (the Word) coming into our heads, it is one person communicating with another person (flesh). The Scriptures come alive, because the Word has become flesh. Jesus steps out of the pages and into our lives.
“The Scriptures will give Christ to you in an intimacy so close that he would be less visible to you if he stood before your very eyes.” Erasmus, Renaissance Christian
“Here the door is thrown wide open for the understanding of the Holy Scripture, that is, that everything must be understood in relation to Christ.” “…the entire Scripture deals only with Christ everywhere.” Martin Luther, father of the Reformation