John 1:1-5 (Part 1)

Well, good morning to you. Please take your copy of God's Word and join me in John chapter 1.

John 1 · chapter mention

Last week I introduced the Gospel according to John to you. I developed some of its themes with selected text.

Today we're going to look at John chapter 1 verses 1 through 5.

John 1:1–5

And I have a pretty good feeling this will be part 1 of 2 of our look at this text.

These days are distracted days.

According to a 2015 study released by none other than Microsoft, the average attention span of an American is 8.25 seconds.

Less than that of a goldfish.

I didn't take the time, really care too much, to understand their definition of attention span.

I don't really know what they meant.

But we are undoubtedly distracted people.

The issue affects young and old alike.

Older folks, which I'm starting to count myself one of, like to look at younger generations and point out all the problems with them.

But it doesn't just lie with young folks.

I was having blood work done a couple of weeks ago, as older people do.

And as I waited there, there were 20-something, 60 to 70-somethings, and every single one of them, every single one of them, was staring and scrolling on a phone screen.

It was shocking.

It was shocking.

So I decided that day to be a rebel young guy and sat there and did nothing.

I just stared at the wall in rebellion against them.

You need to think about how you can be less distracted.

The church needs to think about how we can help.

The church shouldn't attempt to coddle this problem, but should rather push back against it.

The majority way, I believe, we can help one another is to gather earnestly to fix our attention heavenward.

We also live in very self-centered days.

New technology and all the marketing that comes to us through it places you at the very center of the universe.

It seeks to cater to your every whim when you demand it.

We don't watch TV on a schedule anymore, if you think about that.

When I was a child, you saw the show or you didn't see the show.

Maybe someday they would syndicate it and they'd come back around, but you had to schedule your life around their schedule.

We don't do that any longer.

I was listening to a podcast, and I'll add, at my convenience and on demand,

and one of the guys speaking pointed out that even when we pull up maps these days,

we don't look at a map and then locate ourselves on the map,

but the map locates us at the center of it all the time.

I never had considered that, right?

My map puts me at the middle of everything.

This is a problem.

This is a problem.

Everything at our fingertips on demand.

The church should most certainly push back at this point also.

You are not the center of the universe,

and very little in reality revolves around you.

We gather to worship the one who is, in fact, at the center of everything.

Now, I didn't live in John's day.

I'm only living in mine, and I can make commentary on our distractedness and our self-centeredness,

but have no idea the general mentality of John's early readers.

However, if I were to guess, I suggest to you that they also needed their attention fixed beyond themselves

and the den of the world in which they lived.

I would guess that John means to grab their attention and ours in the way that he opens his gospel account.

It's rather striking the way he begins this account of Jesus' life.

Let's push back this morning together against distraction and against self-centered tendencies

in order to behold the Lord Jesus Christ in John chapter 1, verses 1 through 5.

John 1:1–5

Before I read it, beloved, I want to remind you that this is God's word to us.

John wrote it with an original audience in mind as he wrote it,

But God worked in him supernaturally as a word to us, written for his glory and our good,

that we might believe its promises, obey its commands, and have affection for its author.

May we hear it and respond accordingly to it.

I'll begin reading in verse 1.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.

In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

In the first five verses, John introduces to us Jesus without using his Hebrew name in the following five ways.

We see Jesus as the Word.

We see that Jesus is pre-existent.

We see that Jesus is the Creator.

We see Jesus is self-existent.

And we see Jesus is the unquenchable light.

And I believe that this is the point that I'll bring up.

I'll save it until next Lord's Day as we consider the resurrection together.

The Puritan John Owen wrote in his book entitled,

The Glory of Christ, which I really commend to you.

It's a difficult read, but it's a great read.

The Glory of Christ, the following, and I quote,

The revelation made of Christ in the blessed gospel is far more excellent, more glorious,

more filled with rays of divine wisdom and goodness than the whole creation.

And the just comprehension of it, if attainable, can contain or afford.

Without this knowledge, the mind of man, priding itself in other inventions and discoveries,

is wrapped up in darkness and confusion.

This, therefore, he's talking about Jesus Christ, the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This, therefore, deserves the severest of our thoughts,

the best of our meditations, and our utmost diligence in them.

For if our future blessedness shall consist in living where he is and beholding his glory,

what better preparation can there be for it

than a constant previous contemplation of that glory as revealed in the gospel,

that by a view of it we may gradually be transformed into the same glory.

The Christian eternity will be filled with the wonderment of Christ.

So, Owen is arguing, we should seek to know him now,

that he might be exalted in our minds and in our lives.

Perhaps in some small measure, the Lord will use this time to bless us to that wonderful end.

Let's look first that Jesus is introduced as the Word.

John says in the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The Word, Word, was an interesting choice for John to make as an introductory title for Jesus.

The Greek word logos was packed full of meaning for John's Gentile readers.

Greek philosophers used this word to refer to the abstract principle of reason and order in the universe.

With something out there kind of a furial, the logos,

the source from which all of this comes is the way they used that word.

It was an unknown source of creation and wisdom.

So, John, in this opening verse, presents Jesus as the personification of creative power and reason.

He's about to say, this logos that you use in your thinking can, in fact, be known.

John's Jewish readers would have also understood this word to be packed full of meaning.

They knew that God spoke the world into existence with mighty words.

That He made covenants with His people with words,

gave them wisdom through the written law,

counseled prophets and kings,

and revealed the Scripture, the Old Testament Scripture,

through spoken words.

So, to John's first century Jewish readers,

John introduces Jesus as the incarnation of divine power and revelation.

I would have loved to have sat with a Gentile believer who had just read this opening phrase,

and a Jewish believer who had just read this opening phrase,

and hear them talk about all that it meant to them

as they think about Jesus as the word,

the logos of God.

John, in introducing Jesus as the word,

draws straight lines to His divinity,

but lest anyone might be confused,

he tells us that He was with God in the beginning,

and that He is God.

I won't take the time this morning to plumb the depths of Trinitarian theology.

John's going to give us plenty of chances for that in the coming months together.

However, for now, I want you to see that Jesus,

before time as we know it and understand it,

dwelt as God in Trinitarian unity.

The author of Hebrews says in chapter 1 and verse 3 of Hebrews,

He is the radiance of the glory of God

and the exact imprint of His nature.

The exact imprint.

He is God Himself.

It is a great wonder that Jesus should humble Himself

to take the form of a man in order to suffer His Father's wrath

for our sin.

We ought to think and think and think

about the innate nature of Christ.

Charles Wesley gives us some hint of this wonder in his song,

And Can It Be That I Should Gain,

that I'm about to read to you.

It's verse 2, I believe.

It's on the back of your bulletin

with a rather unfortunate typo,

but I'll read it without the typo.

Charles Wesley wrote this,

He left his Father's throne above,

so free, so infinite, His grace,

emptied himself of all but love,

and bled for Adam's helpless race.

Tis mercy all, immense and free,

for, oh my God, it found out me.

Amazing love, how can it be

that thou, my God, should die for me?

Jesus is the Word.

The personification of creative power and reason.

The incarnation of divine power and revelation.

Jesus is God.

Secondly, and it follows,

that Jesus is preexistent.

We see at the very beginning of verse 1,

John tells us,

As God, Jesus was in the beginning.

And then he repeats it again in verse 2.

Do not be confused.

He was in the beginning,

and He was in the beginning,

is what John does.

The Greek word for beginning means source or origin.

It's meant to draw our minds back to Genesis chapter 1 and verse 1.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

In the beginning God created,

it's referring to the time before the universe began.

The verb was in the imperfect tense

describes continual action in the past.

And so we could render,

verse 2,

He was always being in the beginning with God.

These two verses in no way suggest

that Jesus was created.

And if anybody tells you otherwise,

you should stop listening to the following things they say.

Jesus was not created.

He was.

Jesus just is.

Marcus Dodds,

in the Expositors Bible Commentary,

says this,

quote,

The word did not then begin to be,

but at that point at which all else began to be,

He already was.

In the beginning,

place it where you may,

the word already existed.

In other words,

the logos,

before time,

eternal.

Paul writes in the first part of Colossians chapter 1,

Colossians 1:17

verse 17,

Jesus is before all things.

He preexisted everything we know to be as God.

The third thing that we see John introduce Jesus as

is the Creator in verse 3.

He says here,

All things were made through Him,

and without Him was not anything made that was made.

And I love,

there's a carefulness,

there's an economy of words going on here,

but he repeats things that seem to matter so very much.

Right?

He's not going to leave us unclear at this point.

All things made through Him,

and without Him,

not anything made that was made.

All of it,

every bit of it,

made by Jesus.

Travel with me at this point over to Colossians chapter 1.

Colossians 1 · chapter mention

I think you'll appreciate seeing a few things I'd like to mention here.

I just read the beginning of verse 17.

I think the text that those words are set in will serve us well at this point.

A bit of an expansion on what John is communicating here.

Colossians 1,

Colossians 1:16

verse 16 and 17.

For by Him,

Paul writes,

Christ,

for by Him all things were created,

in heaven and on earth,

visible and invisible,

whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities,

all things were created through Him.

So a bit of an expansion on the idea.

Less economic in his use of words.

All things created through Him,

and then at the end of verse 16,

and for Him.

And He is before all things,

and in Him all things hold together.

Jesus Christ,

Paul and John tell us,

is the Creator and the Sustainer of all things.

Everything that we can see,

and everything that we cannot see,

were created by Jesus and for Jesus.

This is a magnificent thought.

This is a thought,

I think an undistracted person

would spend a lot of time considering.

It should absolutely capture our minds.

Everything made by Him and for Him.

The entire universe was created

to what end?

To what end?

To the end of His praise.

To the end of His praise.

Maybe the reason that we are so tempted

to worship paltry things

is that we don't...

Verse 1,

The heavens declare the glory of God,

and the sky above proclaims His handiwork.

Lift your eyes up from your screen.

This is a novel idea.

Go outside when it's dark.

Pay attention to all that has been created

and be in awe.

This universe was made by Christ

and it was made for Him.

Paul goes on to tell us

that He's the Sustainer of all things.

He says at the end of verse 17,

And in Him all things hold together.

The author of Hebrews says in chapter 1, verse 3,

He upholds the universe

by the word of His power.

And if sometime you want to

muse entertainingly with me,

ask me about Jonathan Edwards

and his theory of continual creation.

I'd love to talk with you about it.

It's fascinating.

Not only were all things created by Jesus Christ

and set into motion by Him,

but all things are also sustained by Him.

Everything goes until He says,

Stop.

And everything stops until He says,

Go.

It's all happening by His command.

Now, everything in the universe

is made of atoms.

Protons, electrons, neutrons.

If you've not learned this yet, you will.

If you've learned it,

you've probably long forgotten it.

It's incredible.

Everything is made of atoms.

Scientists have labored over the past century

to explain away the existence of God.

It sometimes seems like the whole point of science these days

is to explain away God.

But they have failed to explain

how it is that the atom remains in its orbital state.

How does an atom remain an atom?

Carl K. Darula, physicist,

is cited in a book entitled

The Atom Speaks

in reference to what scientists are calling

the strong nuclear force.

This is what they call that power

that holds an atom together.

The strong nuclear force.

He says this, quote,

Do you grasp what this implies?

It implies that all the nuclei

have no right to be alive at all.

Indeed, they should never have been created.

And if created,

they should have blown up instantly.

Yet, here they all are.

Some inflexible inhibition

is holding them relentlessly together.

The nature of the inhibition

is also a secret.

One thus far reserved

by nature herself.

What he's saying is,

we don't have any scientific reason

to understand why it is

that anything holds together.

Why do I hold together?

Why does anything you're viewing right now

stay in the shape that it's in

and not just burst into atoms

flying everywhere?

It's a secret, he says,

one thus far reserved

by nature herself.

Science hasn't answered this question,

but the Bible has.

If you'll allow,

the strong nuclear force

is Jesus Christ

and the word of his power.

Jesus is the creator

and he is the sustainer

of all things.

Back in John 1, verse 3,

John 1:3

all things made through him

and without him

was not anything made

that was made.

Ah.

We should stand in awe

of this truth.

Fourthly,

Jesus is self-existent.

self-existent.

We see this in the first part

of verse 4.

In him was life.

In him.

He possessed life.

Ontology is the study

of the nature of being.

The beginning of verse 4

is a brilliant ontological statement.

In him was life.

The word translated life

is used all throughout

John's gospel

and always refers

to spiritual

and eternal life.

Jesus possesses

within himself

life.

This is something

often referred to

as

auseity.

His auseity.

Jesus is

ause,

which is from the Latin.

It just means

of

self.

And it's

an incredibly

important doctrine

and a doctrine

that is constantly

under attack.

You want to be discerning

as you listen

and read

all of the wonderful

resources that are out there.

If people are attacking

the auseity of God,

his self-existence,

you should be very cautious

about what follows.

Everything

that has been created

needs

some

power source

to sustain it.

the plant

needs

nutrients

and water

and sunlight.

Our cars

need

fuel

and tragically

expensive

maintenance.

We need

food

and water

and shelter

and some of us

need

tragically expensive

maintenance.

I could go on

and on

and on,

but I hope

that you see

the point.

Everything

created,

all of it,

cannot sustain

itself.

It tends

toward

entropy.

It needs

something to

input into it

for it to

continue

on.

Not so

with Jesus.

He is

self-existent.

His divine

nature needs

no inputs

to go on.

No fuel,

no energy

input,

always

existing,

never

created.

He

just

is.

everything

created

is in

some

form

of

process.

And

very

tragically,

there are

theologians

today that

have invented

a thing

called

process

theology

that

suggests

that

God

is

responding

to us

and that

his

very

nature

is at

change.

Does

God

respond

to us?

Of course

he does.

But is

who he

is

responding

to us?

No,

not

ever.

Once

again,

be very

careful

if anybody

seems to

be promoting

process

theology.

John

tells us

in no

uncertain

terms,

Jesus

is.

He

exists.

In

him

was

life.

Later

in John,

John records

these

astounding

words.

This is

John 8

and verse

58.

Jesus

says this,

Truly,

truly,

I say

to you,

before

Abraham

was,

I

am.

This

is a

reference

to

Exodus

3.14

where God

responds to

a fearful

question that

Moses asked

him.

He says,

Who shall

I say

sent

me?

And God

says to

Moses,

I am

who

I

am.

And he

said,

Say this

to the

people of

Israel,

I

am

has

sent

me

to

you.

This

is this

idea

of

aseity.

I

need

not

appeal

to

some

other

authority.

Tell

them

my

name

is

I

exist.

I

am.

Nothing

changes

me.

I

am

who

I

am.

This

is an

astonishing

thing for

Jesus to

say because

he rightly

was claiming

to be

God.

Unchanging,

immovable

God.

Everything

in the

universe

is

becoming

moving from

one state

to another.

If you

can recognize

this about

yourself,

you will be

so glad

to know

that Jesus

is.

John

goes on

to say,

Jesus

possesses

life and

he says,

the life

was the

light

of men.

And we'll

pick up

more of

this,

I think,

next week.

But the

themes of

life and

light are

prominent

in John's

gospel.

Here we

see the

two

clearly

connected

in a

metaphor

that speaks

to the

contrast

of Jesus

against

all

that is

evil

in the

world.

We,

I think,

take

light for

granted.

We have

light in

abundance.

It is

everywhere.

But if you

lived in a

time when

the only

source of

light was

from a

flame,

oil,

wood,

you had

to produce,

this

metaphor would

likely have

had a

more felt

impact on

you.

Just a

couple weeks

ago, I

took my

middle son,

Judah, on

his ride

of passage

trip.

He turned

13 this

year.

And he

wanted to

go to the

Okefenokee

swamp and

camp out

in the

swamp.

And so

the first

night we

paddled

some 10

miles to

an island

called

Floyd's

Island and

had

the

noisiest

night of

camping I

have ever

experienced.

There are

a lot of

critters in

the woods,

in the

swamp.

I am

fairly

confident that

an orangutan

lives out

there somewhere.

It was

loud.

And we

were in a

tent and we

had the

rain fly on

and there

were noises

I just

would have

loved to

have seen

what in

the world

they were.

And I

wasn't terribly

frightened,

but I will

admit there

are some

noises I

would have

really liked

to know.

what they

were.

But just

before we

went to

bed,

one of the

things reported,

as a caution

to put your

food up safely

because bears

do make it

out onto

this island.

Somehow they

travel through

the swamp and

they make it

out onto

this island.

And so you

want to be

mindful of

that kind

of thing.

And something

large came

through the

woods.

And I've

done a lot

of camping,

I've done

a lot of

hunting,

you know,

there's the

squirrel pouncing

around,

makes a lot

of noise.

This was not

a squirrel.

It was

large.

And Judah

and I both

were very glad

for all the

lights that we

had on us.

We were able

to illuminate

the woods

which noise

was coming

from and

never saw

what was

making the

noise.

But boy,

were we glad

that we

weren't huddled

around a

campfire,

wondering what

was coming

through the

woods our

way.

I think we

take light

for granted.

And this

idea of

the life

that's in

Jesus being

the light

of men

may take

a little

more careful

thoughtfulness

on our

part.

Light

scatters

the unseen.

Light

brings

security.

The themes

of life

and light

are seen

connected

elsewhere in

the Bible.

Psalm 36

Psalms 36:9

verse 9

For with you

is the fountain

of life.

In your

light do we

see light.

In Corinthians

chapter 4

and verse 4

there Paul

talks about

the light

of the gospel

of the glory

of Christ

who is

the image

of God.

And then

Jesus in

John chapter 8

John 8:12

verse 12

says I am

the light

of the world.

whoever

follows me

will not

walk in

darkness

but will

have

the light

of life.

So

Jesus

is

self

existent

and we're

going to see

next week

that the

light that he

brings

most certainly

was not

conquered

by

the darkness.

Jesus

is the

word.

Jesus

is

preexistent.

Jesus

is the

creator

and Jesus

is

self

existent.

So what?

What do we

do?

Jesus

is just

being

introduced

to us.

Let's

move on.

Let's

get quickly

to the

application.

There's

so much

to be

considered

here though.

First,

if you

have not

placed

faith

in

Christ's

person

and

work,

if you

dwell

in

darkness,

if you

understand

the weight

of your

sin,

your

offense

against

the

holy

God,

repent and

believe.

Turn

by faith

in

Christ.

The

whole

point

of

the

book

of

John

is

that

you

might

believe

that

Jesus

is

the

Christ

and

have

eternal

life

in

him.

If

you

have

placed

faith

in

Christ's

person

and

his

work,

worship.

Worship.

Praise

him.

Beloved,

what we

think about

the most

and talk

about the

most

and spend

our money

and our

energy

on,

says a

lot

about what

we

worship.

And we

ought to

take the

time to

think about

our week.

Just think

about last

week.

Start at

Monday and

go through

now and

think about

how you

spent the

things you

have, the

resources you

have.

What did

you spend

them on?

It may

communicate

much to

you that

needs to

be repented

of.

Our minds

should be

full of

the glories

of Christ.

I think

John intends

to really

capture us

in these

opening

verses,

to work

to that

very end

before he

gets biographical

at all.

Because of

who Jesus

is, we

can cast

all our

anxieties,

our fears,

our doubts,

our troubles,

our depressions

on him.

There's no

situation that

escapes his

attention or

his power.

There is no

circumstance that

surprises him or

evades his

providential

control.

He is our

confidence in

life and

in death.

The reality of

who Jesus

is makes

sure all

the promises

of God to

those of us

who have

believed in

him.

We should

worship.

And as part

of that

worship, we

should share.

He is

the reason

we boldly

share the

good news

of his

kingdom.

If our

affections are

rightly turned

toward him,

we will want

to talk

about him.

We will look

for every

opportunity we

have to tell

people about

this Christ,

this Lord

and Savior

of our

souls.

Maybe we

be a

people who

are told

to shut

up.

They don't

want to hear

this anymore.

We should

be talking

that much

about this

person that

we love

so dearly.

The reality

of who Jesus

is demands

our affections

and it

demands our

obedience.

Let's pray

together.