God Became Human
John 1:1-18 1/2/2005
This morning I want to focus on the Word, as in the Word of God, the Word, as in the Word is God, and the words of our mouths. I’d like you to please open a Bible to the Book of John, Chapter 1. I ask you to keep your Bibles open to this page throughout my message this morning because we are focusing intently on the Word and words.
John 1:1-2: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” I checked several popular translations of the Bible, including the King James, the New King James, the NRSV and the New American Standard and I discovered that each of those translations reads verse 1 exactly the same: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
What does John mean by “the Word?” In John’s day, The Word was a term used by both theologians and philosophers, both Hebrew and Greek, and they used it in many different ways. In the Old Testament, The Word was what made the earth and heavens. John 1 verse 3: All things came into being through him and without him not one thing came into being.” In Genesis, the first book of the Bible, God speaks creation into existence. Psalm 33:6 says, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all their host by the breath of His mouth. God speaks the word and it happens: heaven and earth, ocean and stream, trees and grass, birds and fish, animals and humans. Everything, seen and unseen, called into being by God’s spoken word.
John presents God as speaking salvation into existence. Here in John 1 God’s word takes human form in the person of Jesus. Jesus is the Word and Jesus speaks the word and salvation—being rescued from hell, having our sins erased—happens.
The Word of God became human in Jesus Christ and lived among us, so that we could see the perfect grace and truth of God at work in human lives. In Jesus, God’s Word is not only 66 books spread out over a thousand-plus pages; it is also a living, breathing, loving, forgiving, healing, teaching, leading, guiding, correcting, consoling, challenging and comforting human being.
Verse 4 and 5: What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.” The darkness—evil—never has and never will overcome the Light, which is Jesus. Sometimes when it’s really dark in our lives, really dark inside us, even, we forget all about “the Light of all people,” Jesus Christ, who brings the light to all situations. Jesus is not a Word we sit down and read. Instead, he’s a Word we watch and hear and imitate and follow. And then we have life…and light.
Let’s look now at verses 6-9: “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.”
Now, I want to clarify something. John, the writer of this book of the Bible, says in verse 6, “There was a man sent from God whose name was John.” There are actually two Johns in the Bible, John the disciple, who wrote the book of John, First, Second and Third John, and the book of Revelation. That is the John who is writing here.
But the other John, the one “sent from God whose name is John,” is John the Baptist. John the Baptist didn’t write any of the Bible. John the Baptist was a cousin to Jesus. Just as each of us are given specific tasks to do for God while we are earth, John the Baptist’s role was to tell others about Jesus, the “light.” He was to prepare them for Jesus’ ministry. He did so by preaching repentance and baptizing people wherever he went.
When we follow the leading of Jesus, He lights the path ahead of us so we can see how to live. We can then avoid walking blindly and falling into the trap of sin. In the same way, once we have been taught to follow Jesus, we, too are to prepare the way for others God places in our lives. We are to reflect His light to unbelievers and be examples of Jesus. Have you allowed the light of Christ to shine into your life? (PAUSE FOR REFLECTION) Do you shine that same light into the lives of others?
To follow this Word-made-human is to accept that Jesus is at the heart of our interpretation of Scripture. Does a particular interpretation conform to the teaching, activity, example, life, death and resurrection of Jesus? If so, then it’s a correct interpretation, and a valid form of instruction. If not, then it’s gotta go.
Pick a difficult problem, any difficult problem: capital punishment, abortion, war, gay rights. Then plug in a popular Christian solution, and ask yourself, “Does this solution conform to the example of Jesus Christ? Does it support his great commandment to love the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind - and to love your neighbor as yourself? Does it spread the love given by God, commanded by God and shown by Jesus?” If it fits the life and teaching of Christ, you’ve got a winner.
Verses 10-13: He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
Although Christ as God-in-the-flesh created the world “in the beginning,” the people he created didn’t know him and didn’t accept him. How true that is, still today! But…BUT…all who receive him, who believe in his name, he gave power to become children of God. Have you ever tapped into that power? Have you ever even realized you have the power? If you are a child of God, walking in the Light of Christ, God gives you power. His Word says it, I believe it.
Think about your earthly parents. Perhaps you have hair or eyes the same color. I’m sure you have personality traits and other recognizable things that are like your parents. Now think about God as your parent, think about yourself as God’s child, His offspring. He also passes on to you His attributes, of love, kindness, giving, peace, joy. And it says here, as well as other places in the Scriptures, He gave us power. That power includes resisting temptations that lead us into darkness and sin. But why shouldn’t that power include performing miracles in His name? I believe it does, if only we can overcome the world and walk in Jesus’ footsteps.
Verses 14-18 sums up our passage: 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. From his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 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. And the Word became flesh. By becoming human, the Word—Jesus Christ—became the perfect teacher, the perfect example, and the perfect sacrifice. The perfect teacher: In Jesus’ life we can see how God thinks and therefore, how we should think. The perfect example: Jesus gives us a model of what we are to become, he shows us how to live and he gives us power to live that way. The perfect sacrifice: Jesus came as a sacrifice for all sins—no more bloody animals killed upon the altar because his death satisfied God’s requirements for removing sin. God knew that we needed the Word in a form we could relate to: human. And Jesus experienced everything we have—grief, love, laughter, fellowship, death of friends, rejection, temptation. Anything we experience, Jesus understands, because he came to earth as a human being. When he was born, God became a man. He was not part man and part God, he was completely both. Colossians 2:9 says, “in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” Jesus makes God plain as day.
And there you have it. John shows Jesus as fully human and fully God. Although Jesus took it upon himself to be completely human and lived on earth as a man, he never stopped being the eternal God who has always existed as the Creator of all things and the source of eternal life. This is the truth about Jesus and the foundation of all truth. If we cannot or do not believe this basic truth, we will not have enough faith to trust our lives to him, to trust our lives after death to him. That is why John wrote this Gospel, to build faith and confidence in Jesus Christ so that we may believe he truly was and is the Son of God. When we finally believe, then we have a story to tell to others. BENEDICTION: May the light always shine in your darkness. May your ears always hear the Word. May grace upon grace be yours, and may the glory of the Father’s only Son be known to you now and forever. Amen.
