John 1:1-5

September 13, 2009

Sermon 1in a Series
Carl Schmahl
Warrenton Presbyterian Church
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1: 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
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He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through 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 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not [understood] it.

Today I am beginning a series of sermons which will take us through the Gospel of John.
I chose to focus on John for this series because this Gospel gives us a perspective on
Jesus which is very different from the picture of Jesus presented in Matthew, Mark, and
Luke.

Each of the four Gospels deals with Jesus’ question: “Who do you say that I am?” (Mark
8:29). Each of them confesses that Jesus is the Son of God who died for our sins on the
Cross and was raised from the dead to bring us to God. But the first three Gospels focus
more on Jesus’ humanity than his divinity.

Matthew says that Jesus is the Son of David, the rightful King of Israel, the fulfillment of
the Old Testament promises of a Messiah sent from God to redeem His people through
his death and resurrection. For Mark, Jesus is the suffering Servant of God who saves
his people by remaining faithful and obedient unto death on the Cross. Luke stresses the
perfect humanity of Jesus as the second Adam who succeeds where the first Adam failed.

When we come to the fourth Gospel all of that changes. Like the others, John records
Jesus’ teachings and his disputes with the leaders of Israel, and he shows us some of
Jesus’ miracles. But John’s portrait of Jesus is different from the others because from the
very first verse, John emphasizes the divinity of Jesus. Yes, Jesus is the Son of David,
the Messiah promised in the Old Testament, but he is much, much more. Jesus is the
Suffering Servant who remains faithful unto death, but he is much, much more. Jesus is
the perfect, representative human being who does what Adam failed to do, but he is
much, much more.

John was an eyewitness to the life and ministry of Jesus, and he wrote this Gospel to lift
the veil of flesh and blood so as to reveal the inner truth about Jesus, which is that Jesus
was – and is – one with God the Father. This unity is so complete that John quotes Jesus
as saying: “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30), and in another place: “Whoever has
seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). For John, the words and deeds of the man
Jesus perfectly reveal the mind and will of the invisible God.

In addition to that, John wants us to know that because Jesus is one with the Father, he
has both the authority to forgive our sins and the power to give eternal life to everyone
who believes in him. In chapter 5 Jesus says: “as the Father raises the dead and gives
them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will [. . .] Truly, truly, I say to you,
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whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come
into judgment, but has passed from death to life” (John 5:21, 24). In chapter 10 Jesus
says: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them
eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand”
(John 10:27, 28).

These are extravagant claims. If you or I or any other human being made claims like
these about ourselves we would either be lying or crazy. But John shows us that Jesus
was neither lying nor crazy. Jesus could make these claims about himself because of who
he is. So from the very first verse, John shows us the inner reality of Jesus.

The first 18 verses of John are a prologue, an introduction in which John sets the stage for
the rest of the Gospel. Today we are looking at the first five verses of this introduction
where John emphasizes some basic facts about the inner reality of Jesus.

Fact One: Jesus is “the Word of God” (vv. 1, 2): “In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.”
What is John getting at here? What does it mean to say that Jesus is: “The Word of
God”?

Here’s how we can get a handle on it. If you want to learn about another person, you can
do that in a couple of ways. You can learn a lot about a person simply by watching his
behavior. How a person uses his money or prioritizes his time, the sites he visits on the
internet, the company he keeps, and so on, all reveal the content of a person’s character.

The same thing is true of God. The Apostle Paul tells us that in the act of creation God
revealed “his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature” (Romans
1:20). This means that, merely by observing and meditating on the physical world, we
can conclude that the world is the product of an infinitely powerful, infinitely wise,
divine Being Who is worthy of our respect. God’s behavior reveals something of His
character.

But behavior has its limits. Behavior can conceal as much as it reveals. If you really
want to learn about another person, the best way is to get that person to start talking.
Why? Because words are how we communicate meaning. Specifically, words can
communicate what is going inside another person in a way that behavior alone cannot.

So, as “the Word of God” Jesus is God speaking to us of His hidden character which
would otherwise remain invisible, incomprehensible, and unknowable by us. As “the
Word of God” Jesus communicates God’s power, His wisdom, His holiness, and also His
grace and compassion toward people like us. But that’s not all.
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Fact Two: “The Word of God” embodied in the man Jesus was present “in the
beginning” when God created the heavens and the earth, as we read in Genesis 1. This
means that Jesus was no ordinary man whose story begins with his birth in Nazareth or
his childhood in Galilee. When Jesus was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the
Virgin Mary, “the Word of God” which already existed “in the beginning” when the
Lord said: “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3) came down from heaven, and united itself
with human flesh, and entered human history and experience.

Fact Three: “The Word of God was with God.” This means that “the Word of God”
which came down from heaven and entered the world as the man Jesus of Nazareth was
one with God in mind, will, and purpose. This unity of mind, will, and purpose between
“the Word” and God is so intimate and complete that John goes on to say that: “the
Word was God.”

Fact Four: “The Word of God” embodied in the man Jesus is the divine power which
created everything that exists (v. 3): “All things were made through him, and without
him was not anything made that was made.” During Jesus’ earthly ministry people were
astonished by his miraculous power to heal sickness and disability. Even his enemies
admitted that he possessed unprecedented power. John says that this power was the same
creative, dynamic, divine power which created everything that exists – including you and
me.

Fact Five: “The Word of God” embodied in the man Jesus is not only the source of all
that exists, it is also the source of all life (v. 4a): “In him was life. . .”

One of the most perplexing unsolved challenges to the materialist worldview is the
question: “How did life arise out of non-living matter?” The DNA code is the software
program which controls all living creatures, but the DNA code is not itself alive. Life
seems to be something different which is joined to matter for a time, and then departs at
death when living creatures decompose and return to dust. John says that “The Word of
God” embodied in the man Jesus is the source of all life. If this is true, then it was no
big deal when Jesus stood before the tomb of his friend Lazarus who had been dead and
buried for four days and “cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out” (John 11:43),
and Lazarus obeyed. And it is no big deal when Jesus says that he gives eternal life to
everyone who believe in his name.

Fact Six: “The Word of God” embodied in the man Jesus is: “the light of men. . .” This
means, that Jesus illuminates what it means to be truly human.

God intended for us human creatures to walk with Him in the light of His own truth and
righteousness and joy and love. But we don’t do that, do we? We don’t feel the presence
of God in our lives. We think goodness is tedious and evil appealing. We give little or
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no thought to God from one moment to the next, and when we do think about Him it’s
usually because we want something from Him, and we pout when if don’t get it, or take it
for granted if we do. All of this is what it means to be in darkness. But Jesus is the
embodiment of “the Word of God” who illuminates what it means to live in the light as
God intended.

Finally: As the embodiment of “the Word of God” the man Jesus is not understood by a
world where darkness reigns (v. 5): “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness
has not [understood] it.” Even in a country as proudly – and superficially – Christian as
America, people don’t get Jesus.

As a pastor I try to keep up on what’s happening in the religious scene in America. It

seems to me that all too many of our churches have demoted Jesus, and have lost the
conviction that he is “the Word of God” who humbled himself and came down from
heaven to bring salvation to everyone who believes in his name. Instead, some churches
preach Jesus as our home boy, or as a fellow partisan in the culture wars who endorses
our personal political and social causes, or as a sugar daddy who gives us what we want
provided we believe hard enough, or as an all-tolerant non-judgmental therapist who
accepts us as we are and never, ever offends us by requiring us to turn away from our sins
to righteousness. Even today, “the Word of God” is the light that shines in the darkness,
but the darkness does not understand him.

When we put all of the claims of these first five verses together, they boil down to one
very simple statement: whatever God is, Jesus is. While simple, this statement is an
earth-shattering claim. But if this claim is true, and Jesus is “the Word of God” in human
flesh, then two things follow.

First: There is no other human being who can rightfully claim to reveal God as Jesus
does. No preacher, no prophet, no mystical guru, no holy man knows God the Father as
Jesus knows Him. If we wish to learn of God, then Jesus Christ is our only reliable
teacher and guide.
Second: If the claims that John makes about Jesus in these verses are true, then it follows
that Peter was telling the truth in his sermon in Jerusalem: “there is salvation in no one
else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be
saved” (Acts 4:12). In some churchly circles today it has become fashionable to claim
that all roads lead to God, that all religions are legitimate paths to the divine. In some
ways I can understand the appeal of universalism. But the fact is that if Jesus is who
John says he is, then no religion can lead us to God, only “the Word of God” come down
from heaven can do that.

Friends, the Apostle John was passionate about Jesus Christ because he saw in the man
Jesus something that far surpasses mere human wisdom and power and ability. John saw
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that Jesus is “the Word of God” come to earth. The Apostle Paul shared John’s passion
for Jesus, which is why he could sing in that great hymn in Philippians: “ though he was
in the form of God, [he] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made
himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And
being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of
death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on
him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:6-12).

My hope and prayer for this series of sermons is that if you do not share this passion for
Jesus Christ, you will. And if you do share it, you will draw even closer to him in faith,
love and gratitude for his mercy to you.