Who and Why?

From the beginning of the existence of man, man has had an incredible searching

expectation of there being something out there.

We know from the Bible that Adam and Eve had a living and active encounter with the God of creation.

But even after them, when man wandered away from God, there's always been this

hole in the heart of man that seems to sense and know that there is something

or someone beyond our own existence.

We have always believed that there is something else out there.

So throughout history, man has had this fascination for the worlds beyond us

and the possibility of something else out there.

We've had television shows about alien life forms.

We've had theories and conspiracy theories of aliens from other planets being

secretly housed in warehouses in deserts out west.

The religion of Scientology is founded on the belief that alien life beings

came in the beginning and inhabited this earth to bring about a utopia for themselves here on earth.

We're seeing a lot in the news today about UFOs and the question about alien life forms among us.

And if you've ever taught grade school or junior high, you will know that there

truly are alien life forms among us.

Romans 1 and 2 tells us that creation itself gives testimony to man that he

is not alone and that something exists outside of this creation.

In fact, man has this innate sense that something else is the someone who created it.

Man has always believed in the existence of something else out there,

but has denied the existence of God.

That's what Romans 1 tells us. we all know we have this sense that something

had to create it, but we have denied it in our own human ego.

So with this as an understanding for the basis of all mankind's search for the

unknown, let's look at the story of the coming of God.

The gospel writer and apostle John comes onto the seen to introduce us to the

life that is out there and the life who has come to live right here among us.

This is John's story of Christ's coming found in John chapter 1 verses 1 through 14.

John 1:1–14

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

He was with God in the beginning.

Through him all things were made. Without him nothing was made that has been made.

In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

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

There was a man sent from God whose name was John.

He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.".

He himself was not the light. He came only as a witness to the light.

The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him,

the world did not recognize him.

He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name,

he gave the right to become children of God, children born not of natural descent

nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son who came from the

Father, full of grace and truth.

John was probably one who saw more and heard more than any of the other disciples,

with the possible exception of Peter.

He was one of the Lord's closest friends.

Therefore, when we open John's gospel, we do so in anticipation of what the

disciple whom Jesus loved will say to us.

We know that he had a firsthand experience of being with the master Jesus.

John would have probably known more about Jesus than any other person involved with the Christ.

The Gospel of John was one of the last books of the New Testament to be written.

It appears to have been written from the city of Ephesus, where the apostle

served as pastor after the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in 70 A.D..

From all indications, John wrote this gospel toward the end of the first century.

The synoptic gospels, meaning the gospels that are synonymous,

the first three gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, had already been written and

circulated, as well as the letters written by Paul and Peter.

For this reason, John does not retrace many of the events already described

and recorded in those other gospels. He does not write a chronological biography of the life of Jesus.

His purpose is not to detail the ministry of Jesus.

John is selective in what he includes, and his selections point to a distinct purpose,

one he provides for us in chapter 20 of John, verses 30 through 31,

when he says, Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples,

which are not recorded in this book.

But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah,

the Son of God, and by believing you may have life in his name.

So in his purpose statement, John offers two primary reasons for his writing.

One, that you might believe that,

Jesus is the Christ, or the Messiah, and the Son of God, a divine person,

and that by believing, you may have life.

While the other Gospels told us most of the stories about Jesus' birth,

life, death, and resurrection, John's Gospel gets to the meat of the matter.

He didn't just write to tell the what, he wrote to tell us about the who.

Thus, John's purpose centers on telling us who Jesus is and why should we believe in him and on him.

In essence, Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and we should believe on him

because of who he is and because he provides life to those who believe on him.

The matter of Christianity is Jesus is both God and man, and he came for us to give us life.

From the opening section of the gospel, John addresses this question, who is Jesus?

The first verses of the book written by John, most often called the prologue,

contain a summary of John's most reflective convictions about our Lord.

In these verses, we find one of the most elevated and complex statements concerning

Jesus' identity in all of Scripture.

John focuses the central fact of our Christian faith.

Christianity is not a philosophy. It's not a religion.

It is a person. And that person is fundamental to our faith.

When the apostles were first called Christian in Antioch,

It means little Christs, and it was actually given to them almost as a derogatory term.

And two, remove Jesus from Christianity is like taking numbers out of math. It simply can't be done.

It is to strip Christianity of its most essential component.

While all other religions, world religions, focus upon the teaching ideas,

philosophies of their founders and teachers,

Christianity is about an intimate relationship with a person who just so happens to be God.

And that's why Jesus Christ is the most astonishing individual in human history.

More books have been written, music composed, pictures painted,

and drama performed about Jesus than any other person.

In fact, years ago when we were in Peoria and I was substitute teaching in the

band, or in music, excuse me, in music class.

It was interesting. I was subbing in music history class, and the very first

lesson that was there was that music was created in the very beginning to sing praise to God.

That's what music came about, is people began just singing out their praises to God.

And isn't it interesting, all of that is focused on worshiping God.

Why? Why did the other great figures come and go?

Why do others fade into the pages of history, but Jesus Christ looms as large

as in modern society as he did 2,000 years ago?

Why is he the most powerful personality to ever appear on this planet?

And if you don't believe that he's the most powerful person to ever appear in

this planet, why are so many people trying to discredit him?

That stands to reason they're so hard-hearted trying to defeat what Christ is

all about that it's almost proving his existence.

So there's a question that John answers in the prologue. Who is Jesus?

And if John's purpose in writing this gospel is so that the reader,

according to John 20, verses 30 and 31, might believe in Jesus as Christ and

John 20:30

Lord, and that the reader might have life in his name,

then we can continue to look at this first chapter of John to set the basis

of who Jesus is and why we can believe on him for life.

First, we can believe on Jesus because he is God. Verses 1 and 2 tell us that.

John begins the gospel in an unusual way.

Unlike the synoptic writers who begin their account of Jesus in a historical

context, John opens the gospel in eternity in who is Jesus from the beginning.

The Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word spoke everything into existence.

Under divine revelation and inspiration, John was not content to begin his story

as Mark did with the story of John the Baptist, nor was it enough as Luke did

to go back to the birth narratives and the lineage of Jesus.

John didn't even go back with Matthew to the genealogy of Abraham and the roots

of Israel and all with Luke in the beginning of the human race.

John moves beyond human history and gets right to the crux of the matter.

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

Do these words sound familiar? They should.

It sounds just a lot like the words in Genesis 1.1.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And so in this gospel, John starts with God.

In the Bible, you cannot go any farther back than God. There is no one or no thing before God.

He has always been and always will be.

And that is where John begins, in eternity past with God's purpose.

What does he tell us? In the beginning was the Word. In the beginning, God.

Recognize the significance of what John says here. In the beginning from all

eternity, the Word, who was the Son of God, existed.

In other words, the Word has eternally existed.

It does not take an intelligent person to recognize that whoever the Word is,

he must be pretty important.

Who is the word in the text?

Better yet, why did John choose to identify this individual as the word instead

of just giving us his name?

This term, the word, comes from the Greek word logos.

And while logos is not a very well-known English word, it was very common in first century Greek.

And it is a word that John used to capture the attention of his diverse audience.

Many times people think the word logos means word, but to the Greeks,

logos represented the foundation of everything in the universe.

Everything began with logos.

It is the rational principle from which everything came, a creative,

stabilizing, governing force, much like the force of Star Wars.

This concept of logos, or the word, is not a passive spoken word,

but an active performing word like, and God spoke, let there be light.

To the Hebrews, the logos was identified with the word of God.

In the Old Testament, the word of God is connected with God's active power.

His word represented his actions in creation, his revelation to man.

God's word came to the prophets, his deliverance, his covenant,

his guidance, and his judgment.

All of this is included in this concept of the word speaking creation into existence.

God set it all into motion with the word that created.

The word of God represented his actions, his self-revelation,

how God revealed himself.

So when John uses the word logos, it's a term that appeals to both Greeks and Hebrews.

It's a term that captured the attention of the Greek philosophers,

the Jewish scholars, and the average citizen.

It was familiar to everyone at that time. But what does John tell us about the word in these verses?

Now that he has captured the attention of his audience, what does he tell us about the word?

He has identified the word as the who, but what is he telling us about those?

There are three divine traits of this word. One, the Word is eternally God.

He says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.

And then in those few words, he informs us that the Word has always existed.

And then he says, and the Word was God.

Also, John states that the Word has always been there. He has always been face-to-face with God.

John indicates that the word is separate and distinguishable from God,

but it's a separate person, but yet it's part of the three-in-one.

He is a separate person, but he's there with God. The word of life was with

the Father and was manifest to us.

God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

In just a few simple but profound words, John offers a glimpse of the Trinity,

as I did in one of my kids' time early on when I was here.

I took a banana, and I don't know if you've noticed this, but if you take a

banana and you start peeling, if you stick your finger down through it,

it will divide in three equal pieces.

And that's like the Trinity of God.

God is three distinct persons separate from each other, but completely equal.

They have different functions, they have different purposes, but it's all one God.

You could not say that that banana is anything less than banana without those parts. It is banana.

Same thing with God. God is all in one.

So the second thing we see, the second trait is the word is equally God,

as I said here. The word was God.

He's not a God or a part of God in a little G verse, but like all other religions have us believe.

In fact, the Islam believes that Jesus is the great, or Esau as it pronounced

it, is the greatest prophet, but he's not God.

As much as the Father is God, even so the Word of God is God.

He's equal with God, and he's part of the Godhead.

And then the Word is also essentially God. What John tells us in these short

verses is that everything that makes God who he is, everything that makes God

God, the word possesses.

In fact, John talks about this in John chapter.

16 or 17, when it talks the words of Jesus, everything I have came from the

Father, and the Father is in me as I am in you.

And so he is equally God.

The Word is as much God as the Father, and he is essentially God.

And we see that he is truly God.

And so the second thing we see on this is that we believe on Jesus because he's the creator.

John, in verse 3, John turns from the Word's relationship to God to his relationship with creation.

Jesus is the creator. Now, we talk about God being the creator, and that's true.

God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit in the Trinity is the creator,

but Jesus spoke it into existence.

The apostle forms us that not only was the word present at creation,

he was the agent of creation.

All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made.

Everything that exists does so because of the word of God.

Apart from him, there's no existence. God revealed himself to man in two primary

ways, through creation, which is natural revelation, and then through his word,

which is special revelation.

God's revelation is tied to creation. Romans 1 tells us that,

like I said before, everybody knows that there is God.

They can look and see what's created and know that there is a creator.

But we have denied that as such.

Therefore, nothing is outside of God's activity.

He's in control of everything.

So John's premise, number one, is believe on God because he is God,

and number two, believe on Jesus because he's God.

Number two, believe on Jesus because he is the one through whom and by whom

all things were created.

And three, believe on Jesus because he's the originator of light and life.

This is found in verses 4 and 5. John moves now from creation in general to

the most significant element of creation, and that is life itself. The.

Magazine that the Free Methodists put out—it's online now, not in actual handout—is

called Light and Life, and that is where this came from.

Jesus is the light and life. Life is one of John's distinctive characteristics of Jesus.

He uses the word 36 times, whereas no other New Testament book uses it more than 17 times.

The spiritual concept of life is important to John.

God breathed into man, and he became a living being.

The gift of life is important. Just to wake up each morning is truly a gift.

Even when your bones hurt when you try to get out of bed, it's truly a gift.

If I told you that you only had 24 hours to live, you'd probably run out with

purpose in your life to get everything done that you'd wanted to get done before you were gone.

And there would probably be things that you wouldn't do because you realized

with 24 hours left, they're not very important.

But then if I told you that I had forgotten to tell you when I should have,

and really should have told you that you only had 24 hours yesterday, day.

You'd probably feel downcast and hopeless, like, there's no way I'm going to

get it all done. I don't have any purpose anymore.

Life is an important concept in the Gospel of John.

And here in the beginning, opening verses, the apostle reminds us that only

in Jesus is spiritual life obtained.

He is the originator of life.

Light's another important concept and thought in his Gospel.

The Word of God, Jesus, is also the creator of physical life,

light, excuse me, and the originator of spiritual life and light.

Light is often contrasted spiritually with darkness.

In fact, I've said this before, darkness is simply the absence of light.

If we blocked all these windows and all the cracks under the doors,

turned off all the lights, it would be dark in here because darkness is simply the absence of light.

So when Jesus identifies himself as the light of the world, he's speaking light

into existence in the creation, and he also is the light of the world.

Light represents God's deliverance to the sinful, darkened souls of humanity.

In verse 5, John contrasts the light of God and the darkness of sinful humanity.

The spiritual light cannot be extinguished by the darkness of this world.

Darkness will not put out a candle, right?

And in fact, the spiritual light has come to overcome the darkness and throw

darkness away. If you were to walk into a totally dark room—.

With not even a hint of light. You'd feel depressed and would probably refuse

to move for fear that you'd walk into something or fall into an unseen hole,

or you'd feel like something is in that dark room waiting to grab you.

You would sit there just in fear, not knowing what to do.

The fear of darkness and the unknown is overwhelmingly powerful,

but in the time that it takes to light a candle, the entire room lights up before your eyes.

If you were to be in a completely dark room and light one candle,

it would lighten up the whole room, even the corners of that room.

Just a small amount of candle power overcomes darkness.

Yet we're now told by John that the light of the world has come.

The prophet says the people walking in darkness have seen a great light.

Remember, John is writing this gospel after the resurrection.

He knows that Jesus Christ could not be overcome by spiritual darkness of this

world. He knows that Jesus is the victor.

He knows that light shines continually in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it.

In fact, in the vacuum of space, if uninterrupted, a single light travels thousands of miles.

In fact, we see the light of stars that are millions of light years away from

us, and we see that light penetrates through any darkness.

Darkness cannot overcome light, but darkness is always overcome by light.

So why should we believe on Jesus? Because he's the originator of light and life.

He brings life to the spiritually dead hearts of sinful humanity.

He brings light to the darkest souls that are darkened by sin,

and he is the originator of light and life.

One thing we will constantly be reminded of in John's gospel,

the message of Jesus demands a response.

He is the one who created.

He is the light in life. And in him, we have life and is only in him.

In fact, it is in John chapter 14 that we see those verses that Jesus spoke.

John 14 · chapter mention

I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me. We are forced into that decision,

even in the opening verses.

Will we believe in Jesus, in whom John claims him to be, or will we deny him?

Paul wrote these words in his letter to the church at Philippi and to all Christians,

and I think I'm going to have you stand, and this will be our benediction.

Have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage.

Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.

Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,

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.