Rev. Wayne A. Lawson
Pastor, First Baptist Church
Ardmore, Oklahoma
Pastor@firstbaptist.org
TITLE: GIVE ME SOME WORD
SCRIPTURE: ST. JOHN 1:1-5
St. John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. 2. The same was in the beginning with
God. 3. All things were made by him; and without him was not
anything made that was made. 4. In him was life; and the life was
the light of men. 5. And the light shineth in darkness; and the
darkness comprehended it not.
Many times I am presented a question not only from children but every
now and then entertained by adults that I have the opportunity to
witness - they too present the same question. They ask during the
course of evangelizing - "HOW DID GOD GET TO BE?" We have a
mechanism that has been placed in us by society that causes us to
wonder about the beginning of things. GENESIS 1 and ST. JOHN 1 tell
us about the beginning of things.
· In the Genesis account we are exposed to the HYMN OF CREATION or
the POEM OF THE DAWN - deals with COSMOLOGY
· INORGANIC ERA = Cosmic Light - The Firmament - Dry Land
· ORGANIC ERA = The Luminaries - the Lower Animals - Land Animals
· CULMINATED with the Creation of Man
In this we must understand God is not a THING, and He did not BEGIN.
He simply IS. He was already there when TIME began, and He will be
there when Time CEASES to be. John tells us in our text this morning
that the WORD, who took on human nature and lived among men as Jesus
of Nazareth was a part of the divine being ALWAYS. When all things
began, the Word (Jesus) already was. What I want to wake up in your
spirit this morning is the fact that the WORD is the expression of
God’s mind, and the way He communicates to the mind of men.
Verse 1 (Read) may literally be translated "THE WORD WAS FACE TO FACE
WITH GOD, AND GOD WAS THE WORD." To avoid any misunderstanding, Vs.
2 Repeats the declaration - "THE SAME WAS IN THE BEGINNING WITH GOD."
The New English Bible TRANSLATES -- "THE WORD DWELT WITH GOD, AND
WHAT GOD WAS, THE WORD WAS." Some of you are with me this morning,
but others are shaking their head, trying to digest and make sense
out of this text. We are going to take our time during this
preaching hour - somebody look at your Neighbor and say neighbor -
Give Me Some Word!
The GREEK term for WORD is "LOGOS." Logos means REASON or
REVELATION. In the Gospel of John it indicates Christ as "THE WORD"
the complete Revelation of God to man, yet eternally existent. Now
stay with me this morning, I will bring this together and make it
plain for us. We were taught in SEMINARY that when you introduce
your sermon the first two to three minutes is critical. It is during
that time that you will either capture the attention of the
congregation or they will tune you out, if the later happens it is
very difficult to bring you back into the message.
The principle is somewhat like reading a book or a novel. Have you
ever sat down and begun reading a new book and after three or four
chapters it just bored you and you closed the book and made another
selection that is to say you closed it, put it away and read
something else? You know how good writers try to select fascinating
items from their times as an opening. They do this to grab a
reader’s interest from the very first line. Well, JOHN did
precisely that. In his day there was a PHILOSOPHICAL TERM which was
popular with religious thinkers.
· They said the True God - the Absolute God was UNKNOWABLE
· There were evidences of His workings and interventions within
space and
time
· Agreed that God personally revealed Himself through certain
Writings
(Moses)
· Personally revealed Himself through certain Manifestations or
THEOPHANIES
(Angel of the Lord/Burning Bush)
It was about A.D. 50, some forty years before John wrote his Gospel,
PHILO, a Jew of Alexandria, COINED a word that lumped all the
knowable things of God into a single package. That word was LOGOS.
In this word "LOGOS" was compressed all that the JEWS and GREEKS knew
of the reasoning and manifestations of God. It was a useful term and
people soon began to refer to the "Logos" rather than go into detail
about the way God worked in human affairs. So the term "Logos" was
the common way of referring to God’s revelation of Himself. When
those asked what is it that God does and how does He interact with
mankind - they would simply express that "GOD IS THE LOGOS." There
was an understanding here as to how our God worked in humanity.
By the time John was ready to begin the writing of his Gospel, the
term LOGOS was the common way of referring to God’s revelation of
Himself. Of course it was an ABSTRACT an IMPERSONAL Reference. No
one ever thought of ASCRIBING it to an individual; that is, no one
until John when he was praying about how to begin writing this
particular Gospel that it might enhance the Synoptic writers. And
then the Holy Spirit communicated to John saying why not use this
term that most are familiar with. Holy Spirit said John you can use
this as a POINT OF ORDER and let your readers know that JESUS is the
LOGOS in which they are so found of referencing. There are some that
think the only function of the Holy Spirit is to cause you to JUMP,
SHOUT, and RUN AROUND the church Sunday after Sunday. Therefore, if
we are not looking all ugly and Bad Extensions falling out of our
head - throwing blankets over sisters when they fall out - then the
Holy Spirit is not present. I want you to know that I learned just
as John learned 2,000 years ago, the Holy Spirit will TALK to Us -
LED and GUIDE us into all TRUTH. The Holy Spirit is not all about
the Shout, He is the INTELLIGENT factor within us that will not
only cause you to SHOUT when everyone is in close Proximity to RUN
when no when is Chasing you and to JUMP when you are not frightened -
but will also Lead us to LIVE a CHRISTLIKE LIFE when we come back
down - only happen by understanding the Word.
In our text, without delay the writer presents the Central Figure of
the Gospel, but does not call him Jesus or Christ = the Anointed One
and his Anointing. At this point he is the "Logos" (Word). In
John’s day all classes of readers would have understood its
suitability here, where revelation is the keynote. But the unique
feature is that the Logos is also the Son of the Father, who became
incarnate in order to reveal God fully to mankind. I am trying to
bring you with me this morning. You need to see this -- Without any
apology John states bluntly, "This Logos people are referring to is a
PERSON. He is a specific Person, and I am going to identify Him for
you. He is none other than Jesus, the Christ of God." So what am I
saying that "Logos" means? Logos is a Greek term for WORD. It does
not mean "word" as a part of speech, that which you find in a
sentence.
It has an altogether different meaning, yet it is not unfamiliar to
us. Our major vehicle of communicating to each other is through the
avenue of WORDS. An idea can be transferred from my mind to yours by
means of a word. If I say "DOG," at once a picture forms in your
imagination. If I add the word "ROTWEILLER" likely you see the same
thing in your mind, I see in mine. Therefore, the image I have in my
mind is TRANSFERRED to your mind by means of a WORD communicated from
me. It is in this sense that John uses the term WORD (Logos), for
that is exactly how it was employed by the religious thinkers of his
day. It meant the COMMUNICATION of ideas from GOD to MAN.
If follows then, that when Jesus speaks, Ideas are Passing from the
Mind of God to those who Hear. That is why we understand that it is
the WORD OF GOD THAT KEEPS US AND SUSTAINS US. This is why it
bothers me during afternoon programs when Choirs have completed their
songs they march out of the choir loft - down the isles of the
Church - out the door - to parking lot - in their vehicles - and go
home - before the Word is ever preached. It bothers me to see the
Church body emotional during the choir songs and sit on the Preached
Word until the preacher WHOOPS and HOLLERS. We have the LOGOS
confused with EMOTIONALISM - therefore, God’s people parish for a
lack of knowledge. Somebody say Give Me Some Word.
Let me try to close this morning. One more thing we need to
understand in this text. There are THREE (3) things the Logos
brought to man LIGHT - LIFE and SONSHIP.
· LIGHT is REVELATION. It Dispels Darkness -- it clears up
Mystery -- it makes clear what is already here -- it enables some
to find their way
· PSALM 119:105 "THY WORD IS A LAMP UNTO MY FEET, AND A LIGHT UNTO
MY PATH."
· The Logos dispelled our darkness by revealing God as our Heavenly
Father
- this is why Jesus said in the model prayer - when you pray you
should say "OUR FATHER WHO ART IN HEAVEN"
· Light is also the source of LIFE - just as the Sun is the source
of life in growing things. As the Logos penetrates the spirit man we
begin to grow in God’s grace. Not only do we participate in life but
we can have LIFE MORE ABUNDANTLY.
· When the Light shines on us and we have Life in Christ then we
become the SONS OF GOD.
This is what the Logos came to do, and the darkness of the world did
not quench that light. The light was in the world, but the world did
not apprehend or comprehend it. John does not tell us the "HOW" of
this mystery, he is not the author of the doctrine of the Virgin
Birth -- John is only interested in the "WHY." We need to
understand the Word of God and apply the Word the Logos to our
everyday living, being a HEARER OF THE WORD is not enough we must
become DOERS OF THE WORD.
-- I need the Logos - the Word today
-- I can slack on the Choir but Give Me Some Word
-- Deacons don’t have to Pray angelically but Give Me Some Word
-- Praise Team does not have to Harmonize but Give Me Some Word
-- Can’t Slack on the Word - Can’t half step on the Word
-- I can live with a poor BARBER - I can live with a poor BANKER -
I can live with a poor CHEF - but I can’t live with a poor Preacher
of the Word you have to know your Craft, walk worthy of your Vocation
of that which you have been called.
-- Give Me Some Word - When I am down and out Give Me Some Word --
When my head is hung low Give Me Some Word -- When I mistreat you,
Give Me Some Word -- When I can’t see my way through, Give Me Some
Word -- When you know that I am doing wrong, Give Me Some Word
-- I tell you this morning that I found out the Logos - the Word is
my Counselor - Therapist - Calming Factor - Psychiatrist
- When I misbehave the Word will Fix me -- When I fall out it is
only the Word that can Fix me -- When I mis-step the Word will
bring me back into fellowship - Give Me Some Word
