Sermon Date 02-13-2011 In The Beginning Word (Chuck Gohn)
The book of John, chapter 1. We are going to be looking at the first 18 verses. As we look at these 18 verses, what we want to be reminded of is the first 18 verses are known as the prologue to the gospel of John. A prologue is basically an introduction that kind of sets the themes for what John will be talking about in the later chapters. As we read through this, I want you to see if you can maybe identify some of those key themes that will come in the later chapters. I will be reading from the New International Version. (Scripture read here.)
What words did you hear? What are some of the words that jumped off the page that may indicate some of the themes that are coming down the road? Light. Word. Life. Darkness. Grace. Child. Born. Belief. These are the key themes that are coming down the road that you may have heard as you listened to that prologue of John. What you didn’t hear was the Christmas story. Some of the other gospels begin with the Christmas story. The story of baby Jesus and the three kings and no room at the inn and that sort of thing. It is not that John didn’t think the Christmas story is not important. It is not that he thought it was unnecessary. He thinks it is very important. In John’s gospel, instead of putting the emphasis on who Jesus was as a historical figure, he wants to put the emphasis on who Jesus is for all eternity right now and forever. John emphasis is that the readers might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. By believing, you would have life in his name. You say, Chuck, how do you know that? I say I cheated a little bit and I jumped back to the end of the book in chapter 20 where he writes “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” That is the purpose of John writing that book. We are going to be going through the entire book of John over the next several months. Although I would like to spend a lot of time on a lot of verses, unfortunately I don’t have enough time to do that, but we will read through the entire book of John. I think it is a good idea to periodically study through an entire book because some people never read through an entire book or letter in the Bible. Some of you were here several years ago when I went through the book of Ephesians and maybe a year or so ago when I went through the book of Nehemiah. I think it is good to periodically go through one of the gospel stories, Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. That is where we really get to know Jesus. Why did you pick John? I say because I like the book of John. More importantly, John does a good job of convicting people to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. In a church like this, I cannot assume that everybody who comes in here has the belief in Jesus as the Son of God and more importantly that they have accepted Jesus as their Lord. Periodically, it is a good idea for myself and Chris and to a certain extent Debbie with the music to present the gospel. What better way to present the gospel than simply go through the gospel of John. For some of you who have been here for years or been a Christian for years, you may think I am already a Christian I know enough about Jesus. I would say maybe going through the book of John is going to fill in some gaps in your thinking and possibly may even convert some of you. Not necessarily convert you into a Christian or convert your belief system but maybe convert your view of God from a low view to a high view. We can be Christians for so long that our view of God starts diminishing and going down. Pretty soon what happens is the name of Jesus is just the same as it is other names. John or Bill or Jesus. Sometimes we just need some help lifting up the name of Jesus because we are told as Christians to lift the name of Jesus high like we sang in that song. Some of you are good at lifting the names of Steelers players. You have a jersey with the name of your favorite Steeler. I don’t see anybody coming in with a jersey that says Jesus. We lift the name of Steelers high that probably shouldn’t be lifted too high, but yet we won’t lift the name of Jesus high. That is what we are going to do over the next several months; try to figure out how to lift the name of Jesus a little bit higher to raise your view of Jesus.
You think that is a tall order. How are you going to do that? I am not sure. When I started thinking about going through the book of John it really kind of stressed me out because I really felt like I cannot do it. I cannot use the right words and come up with creative illustrations that would lift the name of Jesus high. I finally got peace when the realization was that I don’t have to do it. All I have to do is be faithful about going through the book of John and throwing in some catchy illustrations that get your attention but more importantly maybe popping the lid off a few of these themes and particular words to release the spirit of God and let the spirit of God go out and go forth to land where he wants to land on the hearts and minds and souls of the people that need to be lifting the name of Jesus a little bit higher. That is what we are going to do. That is good stuff but where are you going to start. I say why don’t we be like John and start “In the beginning…” because we find “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” This one verse is probably the most important verse in the book of John if not the entire Bible. What John is doing here pretty much up front is saying that this person, Jesus, is no ordinary man. He is a God-man. He is a superman. He is setting this straight up front. Then what he will do is fill it in and confirm it as he goes through the rest of the chapters. Up front he is laying some very core beliefs about Jesus out that should immediately begin to lift your own view of Jesus. He does it by the select use of a few words.
In the remaining minutes, we are just going to look at a couple of these words. The first word simply being the word word. If you notice “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.” Three uses of the word word. The 21st century reader would say why does John get so complicated. Why doesn’t he just plug Jesus’ name in there? Why doesn’t he just say in the beginning was Jesus and Jesus was with God and Jesus was God. Wouldn’t that have been easier? It probably would but he is not writing to the 21st century reader. He is writing to the first century readers which were made up of two categories of people; primarily the Jews and the Greeks. The people who believed in God of the Old Testament and the people who believed in all sorts of gods out there. That is the audience that he was speaking to. He wanted to get their attention. He used this word word. They didn’t hear word. They heard the Greek word which is logos. In the beginning was the logos and the logos was with God and the logos was God. That is what they heard. Some of you may have heard of the word logos and some of you haven’t. The word Legos comes from logos and really the meaning of Legos is not that much different than logos. It has the idea of little pieces of something that are put together to create something new and great. When we think about when the Greeks were listening and they heard the word logos, they heard something big and enormous out there that they would call divine reason. It is hard to explain the Greek’s view of it, but the easiest way to think of the Greek’s view is to think about the Wizard of Oz. Think about the brain out there. I think that is the closest way to think about what the Greeks thought. They thought that there was a divine controlling mind in the universe. They would not call it God. It was the controlling force in the universe that had all the wisdom and knowledge and would speak forth and make things happen. The problem is the Greeks didn’t know whether it was going to be good things or bad things. They really believed in fate. They called it cruel fate. They were subject to the whim of this thing out there that they would call divine reason that could speak life or death just like that.
The Jews on the other hand had a different view of the word. When they heard logos, the Jews would have referred it back to Hebrew which was dabar. They would be thinking of the word of God but not only the spoken word. They would hear the personality behind the word. We think of word and we just think of this thing that goes out there. They would connect the word to the character behind that word. That is why in the olden days before there was writing on contracts, your word was gold. When somebody said you have my word on this that meant that you had the character that goes behind the word. Today we can’t say that. The Jews were thinking of the word of God going forth when they thought logos. The personality and the power behind it going forth to create. Going forth to judge. Going forth to redeem and restore. That is what they were thinking when they would hear logos. We actually see that in Genesis 1:1 where it says “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and God spoke into creation.” But we see it really well in Psalm 33:6 that says “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.” That is what they were thinking. You could put logos in there. They were saying basically by the breath of God, the words spoken, the related breath, all the stars in the universe came into being. What John is doing is he is saying that term that you use, logos, I have a name for it. That name is Jesus. That is what he is saying. That is what he is starting to lay out there. We don’t know because he doesn’t even mention the name of Jesus until later in the first chapter. You get a hint of it around verse 14 if you were paying attention. He says “The word became flesh and made his dwelling with us.” That in itself was something unthinkable that God or the logos would somehow dirty himself by taking on human flesh. They always separated the spiritual from the material world. John was just really enraging them by this, but he was getting their attention. That gives you a little bit of understanding of what they were thinking and why John used the word word. Basically, he goes on in the rest of the chapter and says sit around and I am going to tell you about this Word named Jesus. In the later part of the first chapter, he starts introducing John the Baptist, the proclaimer of the word, the herald of the word of Jesus Christ. So that is the first word I want to consider.
The second word I want to consider is what I would call a little word. A little word called was. In the Bible there is no such thing as an insignificant word. There may be little words but they are not insignificant. Little words make the difference between good doctrine and bad doctrine. It is the little words you have to watch. This word was is one of those words. What John is doing by his placement, he is introducing some key attributes of Jesus. Three in particular. The first attribute he is introducing is Jesus’ preexistence. “In the beginning was the word…” What he is saying here is that Jesus existed before all time. Before time as we know it. In other words, contrary to what some people would say, Jesus did not first come on the scene during the Christmas story in the manger. He didn’t even come on the scene in Genesis when God spoke into creation and spoke Adam into creation and all the animals and Eve. He was before that. He preexisted. The literal translation of this could be when the beginning began, the word was already there. That is the only way you can say it. This is beyond our comprehension but that is the truth. That is what John is saying. When the beginning began, Jesus was already there. He was already there. He was there hanging out with the Father and the Spirit, which is actually the second attribute of Jesus. The idea that Jesus was there with the Father and the Spirit yet at the same time he was distinct from the spirit. When it says “The word was with God” what that means is he was in fellowship with God the Father and the Spirit. Yet at the same time he was distinct from the Father and the Spirit. The word here is actually a word that means face to face. It is like they were literally almost face to face. They were so close that they were one yet at the same time they were separate identities. In a way it is a picture of a good marriage. Did anybody use when they got married the two shall become one flesh? It would be nice if we took that seriously. The point is not that you would become totally one and lose your identity. No that you would be one yet distinct. The problem with marriage is that when they come together, one spouse tries to rob the other spouse of their identity. That is when you have problems. God created everybody with a distinct identity, a distinct personality that you were meant to bring in to your marriage while maintaining this oneness of marriage and that is the picture of the trinity. If you have ever seen a symbol of the trinity, it is three circles connected together and then one big circle around it. One God eternally existent in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Keeping that oneness while at the same time retaining that individual identity. So the word was with God in this eternal fellowship, in this eternal community that sets the example for everything from marriage to the church. The cool thing about it is that Jesus invites us in to that community.
When John is praying for his disciples, he gives what is called the High Priestly Prayer. John 17:20 says “My prayer is not for them alone (speaking of the disciples). I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.” Then he goes on in 23 to say “I in them and you in me – may they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” He invites us into that union. Is that worth lifting the name of Jesus high for? He is not just thinking about the Father and the Spirit. He is thinking about us and says he wants to invite you into that eternal triune God. It talks again about proof of his preexistence in 24. It says “Father I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.” Before the world was created, God loved the Son. The Son is not a created being like Adam. He is not a created being like us. We know that the Word was in the beginning. We know that the Word was with God. The real kicker is the Word was God. This is one I could spend probably a year just talking about the significance of this. To keep it short, what he is saying is contrary to popular opinion; Jesus was not just a mere man. He was not a mere teacher. He was a good teacher. He was not simply a prophet that some would say. He was a prophet but he wasn’t just a prophet. Some would say that he is on par with an angel. He is probably as good as an angel but really he is better than an angel. He is God. He is God. How can he be God? Once again, one God, three persons. That is what Christians believe. We believe in one God eternally existing in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I guarantee that this got the attention of the Jews especially. They were monotheistic. One God only. They might acknowledge the spirit, but they believed in one God. This enraged them. You could say Jesus never said he was God. You are right. He never said he was God because he couldn’t say he was God alone. He wouldn’t say that. But he did make a statement in the book of John about chapter 8. When he was talking to the Pharisees and got talking about Abraham and basically implied that he knew Abraham. They said you are only 30 years old. How can you know Abraham? He goes on to say “‘I tell you the truth,’ Jesus answered, ‘before Abraham was born, I am!’ At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.” Why did they want to stone him? What was he saying? Where did you see I am before? In the Old Testament and the burning bush. Moses was nervous about going to free the Hebrew slaves and he said to God I don’t really want to go. Who should I say sent me? He says just tell them that I am sent you. When they hear I am, they are thinking this is getting serious. He is putting himself on equality with God and that is why they were going to stone him. He enraged them by saying that. He was putting himself on par with God. He was basically calling himself God.
“In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.” Even today, the idea of Jesus as God is hard to swallow for so many people. They would look at Jesus as a good teacher, a moral guy, a historical figure on part with Gandhi or Lincoln or Kennedy. But think of him as God? Some cults out there really get enraged by this. So much so that they would change the very word of God to satisfy their distorted view of Jesus. When I say a cult, I am thinking of the Jehovah Witnesses. They are cults. A cult is something that stands outside of what we would call orthodox Christianity. Orthodox being the general consensus of all Christian denominations and they stand apart from that. They stand outside of that. Their own translation. Their own scholars. They do not buy into the Christian translation. I got one of their Bibles. I went on the internet to find out how they say John 1:1. This is from their New World Translation. Read it and tell me what is wrong. It says “A God.” Do you see how the word A changed the whole verse? Lowered the status of Jesus by a simple letter A. Everything else is okay. “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was A god.” It changes the whole meaning. It changes their whole view of God. It is hard to worship A god. Which God is he? Is he on par with Zeus? Which god is he? They changed that because they do not believe that Jesus is the Christ. They do not believe that he is divine. They do not believe in the trinity. They are around. They are targeting the Nepalese community because they are vulnerable. They are new to this country and trying to make friends. They are bringing their nice little bibles to them. The New World Translation. They are giving it to them for free. They are taking them. Did anybody ever have a Jehovah Witness come to your house before? They want to give you these nice bibles and cartoons. At least what I can say for Jehovah Witnesses is they are out sharing their faith unlike a lot of Christians. Unfortunately, they do it because of they are works based. They believe they are going to work themselves into heaven. If you want to get rid of the Jehovah Witnesses, the next time they come to your door and they say something like why don’t you want our stuff, just say honestly I can’t sit here and argue theology with you. All I know is you have a low view of Jesus and that is the difference. Maybe they will go away. Maybe they won’t. I have a better idea. If you want to get rid of them on a permanent basis, the next time they come to your door and want to give you one of these bibles, take it and say “Wow I can keep this? I can have this? I can do whatever I want with it?” They say it is all yours. Then what you do is open the bible to John 1 and take a red pen like I did and fix the typo. Cross out A and capitalize the G in red. When they say what are you doing, just say I am fixing the typo and I want to give it back to you. I guarantee this bible will never find its way into the hands of another person. They won’t give it out again because of that one change of a typo changes their whole theology. That is the only verse that you have to know when they come to your door. Just mark it out. Cross out the A and capitalize the G and give it back to them. You probably won’t see them again.
In closing, the ancient Christians would use symbols to represent different books of the Bible. The symbol that they chose for the book of John was the eagle. I did a little research on why the eagle. The eagle rises high above everything. When you think of the eagle, you think of loftiness. You think of height. The whole purpose of John’s gospel is to raise up our view of Jesus. To lift the name of Jesus high. Why? Because “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” Let us pray.
