The Gospel of John – Sermon One
Read: John 1:1-18
Head – Helpful Information for Understanding Today’s Passage
The Gospel of John is easiest to understand if you break it down into two halves.
The First Half – Chapters 1-12: In the first half of the Gospel we have the public message and ministry of Jesus. In these first 12 chapters, the reader can still stand off to a distance, detached from Jesus, viewing him and weighing his words from an outsider’s perspective; though every story confronts us with a decision about who Jesus is and what that means and requires of us.
The Second Half – Chapters 13-21: In the second half of the Gospel we have the private words and teachings of Jesus, which he gave only to his closest followers. This kind of information is not available to the detached, “objective” observer. In fact, the reader will not be able to grasp the true significance of these chapters without a heart that desires to know Jesus and draw near to him.
The Great Fulfillment of the Old Testament Story
John uses seven Old Testament figures to show how Jesus transcends the great pillars of the Hebrew Faith. The point is not to diminish the worth of the Old Testament or to show its inferiority. John’s goal is to show us that everything that was great, beautiful, and true about the Hebrew faith has been completed and brought to perfection in Jesus.
Obviously, the Gospel of John is making some very radical claims about Jesus. The writer is not neutral about his subject and neither should we be.
Heart – The Personal Connection
The Gospel of John is about New Beginnings
The Bible begins with these words: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.” -Genesis 1:1-3
Genesis tells the story of a God called Elohim, who creates a very good world which he very much loves. And, in the first three verses of this story, we learn some very important things about this God. Elohim creates, speaks and moves among and above creation, fluttering like a dove. In other words, he is a creator, word, and spirit.
The Gospel of John begins the story of Jesus by anchoring it to the story of Genesis one. John will talk about God as a creator. He will speak of Jesus as the eternal Word of the Father, through whom God spoke all things into existence. And, he will speak of the Holy Spirit taking the form of a dove. Let’s explore this further.
In Genesis chapters 1 & 2 there is no difference between the physical realm and spiritual realm. The two overlap and are intertwined. Heaven and earth are one place. There is not an other place you go when you die because sin and death have not yet invaded and spoiled God’s creation. God is not absent. And, he dwells among his people. Heaven and earth are as they are supposed to be.
It is in Genesis chapter 3 that a rupture takes place in creation. Sin and death, those noxious forces of chaos, are set loose in the world and disrupt God’s plans for creation. Sin causes a regression and the world begins to move in the wrong direction.
Now, if you jump to the end of the Biblical story, to the Book of Revelation, you will find that the story ends with heaven and earth becoming one again. It ends as the story began, with heaven and earth coming together, and with God dwelling among his people. Sin and death are no more. What that means is that if you were to take sin out of the Biblical story, the Bible would be only a pamphlet of four chapters. You would be left with the first two and last two chapters.
Two thousand years before Jesus, God used Moses to tell his people that he had a plan to put it all back together. And, through Moses, God gave the Torah, heavenly instructions, that would give us a rough sketch of what that plan would look like.
Thus, John 1:16-17 reads: “From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; God’s unfailing love and faithfulness through Jesus Christ.”
Some translations add the word “but” in between the two phrases, making it sound like the Torah, given through Moses, was awful, but that Jesus gave love and grace. One was bad, the other good. This implies that God’s original plan was flawed. It failed. And so, God scraped it and replaced it with another plan. If this were true, then Jesus would be God’s Plan B.
But that is not what the text teaches at all. And, the word “but” is not in the Greek text. God’s plan was laid out in the Torah, which was given by Moses. But Jesus provides us with the power to carry out the plan. Or more accurately, Jesus comes in the power of God to fulfill the plans laid out in the Torah. In other words, Jesus is not Plan B. He is the completion of Plan A.
Jesus is greater than Moses in that Moses could only deliver the blueprints. It is Jesus who has come to build the dwelling place for us to be with God. To put it another way, Jesus comes to put heaven and earth back together, as one. Jesus is the voice of God, by which God spoke the universe into being. Jesus is the wisdom of God, which we see in every physical law, mathematical idea, philosophical concept, and physical, musical principal, and artistic symmetry. This eternal, infinite, divine Son of God becomes finite and steps into the story he started that he might redeem from the inside out. It is as if a great novelist were to become part of her own story. The darkness of this world resisted Jesus and but could not snuff out his life, for he himself is Life.
As odd as it may sound, a part of why Jesus came was to experience this rejection, as a part of the cost of saving us. When verse ten speaks of his own not “recognizing him,” that does not mean that they simply failed to see who he was, but that they, we, rejected him.”
But to all who accept him, he gives eternal life. That is a salvation that we cannot give to ourselves or make happen. Nor can we earn it. But we can receive it by faith. Jesus is the Glory of God. He is the radiance and the splendor of the Almighty. To know him is to stand in the presence of God.
Here is how Paul says in it in Colossians 1:19-20:
“For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by the means of Christ’s blood on the cross.”
Jesus has the power, the love, and the grace to make all things new, including you and me.
Hands – The Practical Application
In just a few minutes, we will participate in our Wesleyan Covenant Service, whereby we will recommit ourselves to Christ and his work. As we do, I want you to ask yourself, in the presence of God, what needs to be put back together in your life? Think of Jesus as a great Contractor who can restore any home, any life, any soul. What part of your life needs to come under his supervision, that it might be restored? What part of your life needs a new beginning?
In order to be strong in our faith, to walk and not grow weary, we need a people with whom to walk. Christians in the 21st century face many headwinds, opposition, and chaos, as we navigate these uncertain times. Even congregations are in danger of going awry. I urge our congregation to consider prayerfully the decision to align with the Global Methodist Church. Traveling with them will mean having more than 4,200 congregations, spread throughout the world, to encourage us and help us navigate all that is before us.
Across the world, Wesleyan/Methodists make up the sixth largest Christian tradition. To make a conscious decision to stay apart of this family, will help ensure stability, conviction, and clarity for our congregation in the years to come.
A Prayer
The Word Made Flesh
John 1:1-18
Blessed Jesus, Voice of God, through whom God spoke creation into being: we know that all of life comes from you, and that to honor you is to honor creation, to honor life, to honor the dignity of others, and to honor our very being.
We confess that in the darkness of our harried lives, we have been unable to recognize and understand you. But we rejoice, for the Light of your love shines through the thick vale that has hidden your face from our eyes.
We praise you, for you were willing to set aside your glory, becoming human that the Divine might be accessible and available to us.
And though you still make yourself present through the Spirit, we are so often incapable, or unwilling to perceive and accept the gift of your self-giving grace.
By your mercy, help us to receive our place among your children, for your truth and mercy show us the heart of the Father. Amen.