The Word- January 4, 2009
John 1:1-18
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being (4) in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.
5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
15 (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ “) 16 From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.
This is the Word of the Lord…
Learning that words represent things, or thoughts, or even people; that is a key part of what educators today call Reading Readiness. That area of education, in turn, emphasizes that much of the groundwork for reading actually begins before a person ever opens a book. This helps to explain the long-standing truism that parents are actually the most important factor in predicting the successful development of a child’s ability to learn to read.
Wise parents know they need to start working on skills for reading before their child begins school. The child that comes prepared, knowing that letters make words; that words represent things; and that reading opens the world of knowledge to us, does better in school than those who have no preparation, and come with a neutral or negative attitude about reading. That preparation, begun at a very early age, follows us throughout life in our ability both to read and to reason.
For the Greeks, the ability to reason was summarized with the concept of their word “Logos” which we translate in English as “Word.” The “logos” is intimately connected to the ability to think abstractly, beyond things that are purely physical. The Greeks considered it an attribute of godhood. In fact, a whole school of thinking called Gnosticism was based upon valuing knowledge. It equated knowledge with divinity, and the knowledge of the “logos” was part of their religious thinking. There was, therefore, great meaning involved when the early followers of Christ described Him as the Logos, because the logos was already considered the unifying force in nature.
The Gospel writer John is also saying a whole lot when he says in today’s passage that Jesus Christ is the “Logos” or Word. It is no accident that this passage takes us back to the very beginning of the Bible, where the book of Genesis tells us about the creation of the world. The phrase: “in the beginning” is unique to Genesis, so its use here forces us to think about possible connections between Jesus and the creation of all things.
We don’t have to look very far or think very hard about it. John spells things out for us. The Word was with God in the beginning when all things were made. That means that Jesus did not just appear on Christmas morning. He always existed with God, even though He did not enter into human form until Christmas. Only God can say that He always existed, so Jesus Christ is God.
Beyond that, the plan of God becoming human to suffer and die and pay the price for our sins was arranged from before the beginning of time. Jesus was not God’s plan B when He looked down one day and found that people were sinners. As the great Chinese evangelist Watchman Nee was fond of saying: “There are no surprises in heaven.” Christmas was part of the plan from the beginning when God created all things, including human beings He knew would fall from grace.
Did you happen to notice how things actually occurred during the time of creation in the Genesis text we read earlier? Using the exact words from that text, a pattern is unmistakable:
God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” And it was so. God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so.
That process continues throughout the entire creation narrative. How does creation occur in Genesis? God says something, and it is so. Is it then coincidental that Jesus is described as the Word. and that the Word is the creative force of God’s power? Hardly. It is the glorious truth of creation.
Again, John makes it clear for us, just in case there is any confusion here that might have caused us to miss the point. In our sermon passage, he says of Jesus: “All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.” Jesus is actively involved in creation. He is the Word, and the Word is what God speaks when things come into existence.
Recently, I was amazed to find the use of the word “word” in ghetto slang is actually very close to the Biblical use of the word. For instance, if two men were looking at a new car one of them just purchased, the conversation might have the first man saying: “These wheels are fine, dog! In response, the second man might say: “Word. Too fine for you dog.”
In case you have not been “on the street” for a while, allow me to interpret. The first man is saying: “I admire your nice car my friend.” It will soon be the talk of the whole neighborhood. The second man responds: “You are absolutely correct. It is a fine car, and the best thing on the street. But don’t get any ideas about using it. I might not even allow you to ride in it. I remember what you did to your cousin’s car.”
The use of the word “word” here means you have captured the truth of the situation correctly, and I agree with you. Word embodies more than mere agreement though. It also captures an entire concept. What matters for our friends on the street today is that one of them has a fine new car. The gospel writer John tells us that no one has seen God, but Jesus has revealed Him to us through His life and death and resurrection from the dead. That is what matters for all of us when John says that Jesus is the “Word.” Jesus communicates for God for all of creation.
Jesus is not only both God and human in His natures; He is also equal in power to the Father. Even though tradition tells us that creation is the work of the Father, we see here that the Son and the Spirit (the one hovering over the waters) were coactive with the Father in the process. (So much for the traditional explanation of the Trinity based on the unique roles of the Father, Son, and Spirit. Actually, it is fine to start from there, but it is a simplified view of the three persons of the Trinity that ignores some important Scriptural passages that complicate the Trinity for us.)
You may have heard the story about a scientist who thought God was no longer necessary. Considering the recently gained ability to clone animals and create simple life forms, the self assured professor challenged God to create a new life form. Then, he bent over, picked up a hand full of dirt and started off to the laboratory. Not so fast came the voice from above. You get your own dirt.
That is the trick, is it not? God creates out of nothing. He does not use someone else’s dirt. The theological term is “Ex Nihilo,” and it means creating something out of nothing. Beyond that, the scientist has missed the point that God does not play around when creating something. God speaks and it is created. (To avoid confusion here, let me make it clear that this is not at all like people who are said to be able to “make something out of nothing” because they can say something and get people to argue about it. I have known a few people like that myself, and their abilities are not like God’s. “Ex Nihilo” is something entirely different. God creates something of value out of nothing, rather than creating something of absolutely no value out of nothing that matters.)
Recently Ginger and I wanted to do something special with our granddaughter Grace who just turned 6 years old. So, we decided to go to the new King Tut exhibit now showing in Atlanta. The program was impressive, even though it does require one to be on your feet for a very long time. When not thinking about my feet, I began to think about the way in which the Egyptians viewed the whole process of mummification. They believed it ensured the remembrance of a Pharaoh long after death. In turn, that remembrance would earn them eternal life after death, along with the pantheon of gods they revered.
It struck me that they were so near and yet so far away from the truth of Jesus Christ. Like us, they desired to live forever, but they placed their faith in mere humans and imaginary gods that had no real power. The Pharaohs never did anything beyond the capability of a human being, and they never taught the righteousness and love of the God we serve. People served them out of fear, not love. Clearly, they were simply elevated human beings, something like the celebrities some people sometimes idolize today.
Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” because He alone provides a way for us to live eternally with the one true God, and because He alone reveals who God is to us through His life and ministry, and because He is indeed the answer to the question of how to live a meaningful life. In His life, He has shown us God’s love for us and demonstrated how our lives can be meaningful when we place our faith in Him.
As a church family, we have struggled lately with heavy burdens of illness and loss. Unlike those who do not know Christ, we should not be surprised by these things. Paul reminds us, in his letter to the Thessalonians, that we do not suffer as those who have no hope. We know that life is not about avoiding pain and hardship. In fact, it is precisely in the hard times that we grow within ourselves and within the Lord.
I am always amazed but never surprised to find people who say they have given up on God because God did not prevent a tragedy from occurring in their life. Would any of us choose to serve a God that merely responded on call to make things go according to our desires? If you think about it, that God would be a mere robot and not much of a god at all. While having power, that god would have no wisdom, no sense of justice in the world and no choice but to obey our sometimes self-destructive desires.
I can only guess that people who want that kind of a god have never moved from the faith of a child to the faith of an adult. Of course, that is exactly what happens when people stop going to church in their teenage years. They never give themselves a chance to understand the Bible from the perspective of an adult.
When Paul tells us in Philippians that he is able to do all things through Christ Jesus, he is not talking specifically about moving mountains or changing the world. He makes the statement in a passage where he discusses how it is hard to be rich and how it is hard to be poor. Both conditions have their own set of temptations. Yet, in either situation, he has found abundant life in Jesus Christ who strengthens him.
Friends, if you have not suffered lately, watch out! It is likely that some challenge lies just around the corner. It is that way for all of us. We can choose only what our reaction will be when it comes to us, not whether it is coming our way. Of course, we can also choose to reach out to others in their time of need. We are a family, a church family. That is what families do for each other.
There is good news right now for those in the midst of the hard times. The same Jesus who took on our humanity understands our suffering. He himself tells us in the gospel of Matthew: Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. The child that experienced the love of His mother Mary on Christmas morning offers the love of God to each of us each day of our lives.
I thank God when people come with prayer requests to share with this church family. However, it is even more exciting for me when people share the results of answered prayer. I suspect it is a bit like the 10 lepers that Jesus cured of their disease. Only one came back to praise Him and give Him the honor and the glory that was due. Sometimes people are so relieved when prayers are answered that they fail to give God proper thanks for what He has done.
Have you heard the Word? That little baby, born on Christmas morning, is the same God that created the universe and everything in it. He came to earth to bring us eternal life with Him in Heaven by paying the price for our sins on Calvary. The manger and the cross are bound together in God’s gracious plan for you and me.
Jesus is life Himself. He overcomes death and has power over it. To all those who place their trust in Him, He has given power to become the children of God, born not just of flesh and blood, but also of the Spirit of God into a new life that is eternal. The world stills groans under the weight of sin, but we know there is purpose and meaning in it all because the One who speaks to us on behalf of God has said it is so.
Today we share in Jesus Christ through our study of the written word of God. He is also the living Word, both in His life 2,000 years ago, and in the hearts of believers everywhere today. When we share what He does in our lives, our testimony of Him and to Him becomes the spoken word. Truly, He was in the beginning, and He was with God, and He was and is God. In the language of the Greeks and of the street langauge of today too, Jesus is the Word.
And all God’s children said: “Amen.”
