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The Gospel of John: The Word Became Flesh John 1:1-14

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  1. Every good story has an opening that tells you what kind of story you’re in.

  2. John opens his gospel not in Bethlehem, not at a birth, but before time itself.

  3. Because John wants us to understand this from the start: Jesus is not just a teacher who showed up—He is God who stepped in.

  4. John 20:30-31

    John 20:30–31

  5. Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe x that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

  6. Today we are starting our new study of the gospel of John. We will be in John through May. This summer will dive into the book of Galatians. This fall we are going to look at the kings of Israel from the Old Testament. Just to give you some insight to our teaching here we try to preach through books of the bible and to give us some balance from January through spring we are in a gospel, summer we are in a NT letter and the fall we spend time in the OT.

  7. John is one of my favorite gospels it is laid out differently from the other three. Where the others like Luke is much more chronological, John builds his gospel on seven “I Am” statements of Jesus. Jesus feeds thousands with 5 loaves and 2 fish and then John shares Jesus teaching that He is the bread of life.

  8. John tells us here at the end of his gospel that he wrote it so that we would believe that Jesus is the messiah the Son of God and that by believing we may have life in His name.

  9. Some say that we Christians have “blind” faith. While it’s true faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1). The Apostle John wrote this gospel so we would have evidence of who Jesus is and would believe in Him and by believing have life in Jesus.

    Hebrews 11:1

  10. Lets dig into John 1 and see who this Jesus is.

  11. John 1:1-2

    John 1:1–2

  12. In these 1st five verses John makes four startling claims about Jesus.

  13. A number of scholars think that the opening of John’s gospel was a early Christian hymn. While it’s complex and theologically deep. We cant miss John’s main point. Jesus is God!

  14. These 1st verses draw our minds back to Genesis 1. “In the beginning.” This wont be the last parallel that John will bring us back to from Genesis 1. John tells us Jesus is the word, He is God and He always has been. He was with God and was God.

  15. The New Testament was written in Greek and what we are reading are reliable English translations. The Greek word that John uses here for “word” is logos. Logos is deep with meaning. For John logos is the incarnation of both the wisdom of God and the active agent of God. And nothing is lost as the word God descended to earth and became flesh. The Word doesn’t merely represent God’s thoughts. He is God in the flesh. Incarnate. God invades human history.

  16. Jesus is the logos the word. Jesus is God. Jesus was with God at the beginning of creation. Although Jesus is equal with God the Father in honors, attributes, names, deeds and seat. Jesus becomes nothing to accomplish the Father’s will. Paul puts it this way.

  17. Philippians 2:6-8

    Philippians 2:6–8

  18. Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!

  19. Jesus humbled himself becoming a man. Then even thought He was without sin He became sin so in Him we might be reconciled to God. Even humbling himself to the point of death of a cross. For you and me. Jesus sacrificed self for the needy, hurting and lost.

  20. Now admittedly it’s difficult to swallow this claim that Jesus God in the flesh. But this is the truth that John and Paul testify to.

  21. CS Lewis said in his book Mere Christianity, “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse"

  22. Jesus was either a liar deceiving people and claiming to be something He was not, a lunatic believing these lies about himself, or else He was and is as John, Peter, Paul and even Jesus himself claimed to be, the Lord.

  23. Jesus claims that He is God and Jesus tells us here. But we see this through the rest of Jesus’ life and ministry.

  24. • Jesus accepts worship as God. Peter falls down and worships Jesus as God in Luke 5:8-9

    Luke 5:8–9

  25. • Jesus performs works unique to God. Forgiving sins Mark 2:10

    Mark 2:10

  26. • Jesus was either a liar, a lunatic or as John tells us Jesus is the Word, God in the flesh and we should bow down and surrender to Him as our Lord.

  27. John also tells us that Jesus is the creator of Life.

  28. John 1:3-5

    John 1:3–5

  29. Through Jesus all things were made. Jesus was the active agent which carried out the will of God the Father in creation. This idea of Jesus being the Word in creation can easily be seen in Genesis 1. God said it… and it was so. Then God says in Genesis 1:26, Let “us” make man in “our” image. There was a plurality of God’s person at creation that John is pointing us to.

    Genesis 1:26

  30. When John says that Jesus was with God and was God, he is pointing us to a truth Christians have wrestled with from the very beginning.

  31. The Bible teaches that there is one God—not many.

  32. And yet, throughout Scripture, we see three distinct persons who each fully possess the nature of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

  33. The word Trinity is not found in the Bible, but the truth of the Trinity is found all over the Bible.

  34. Scripture shows us that:

  35. • The Father has the attributes, authority, and glory of God.

  36. • The Son, Jesus, has the attributes, authority, and glory of God.

  37. • The Holy Spirit has the attributes, authority, and glory of God.

  38. And yet the Bible is equally clear: there is only one God.

  39. To help describe this, early Christians used two words:

  40. being and persons.

  41. Being describes what God is.

  42. Persons describes who God is.

  43. God is one being who eternally exists as three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

  44. Not three gods. One God.

  45. We see this even at creation. In Genesis 1, the Spirit of God is hovering over the waters. God speaks creation into existence through His Word. And God says, “Let us make man in our image.”

  46. We see it again when Jesus sends out His disciples:

  47. “Go and make disciples, baptizing them in the one name—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”

  48. This is not a contradiction. It is a mystery. And it’s exactly the kind of mystery we would expect when we are talking about an infinite God.

  49. We are finite people trying to describe an eternal, all-knowing, all-powerful God.

  50. So no explanation will ever be complete.

  51. But this is what John wants us to see:

  52. Jesus is not part of God.

  53. Jesus is not a created being.

  54. Jesus is fully God, eternally with the Father, and one with Him.

  55. And because Jesus is God, He can give life.

  56. And because Jesus is God, He can bring light into our darkness.

  57. When you walk into a room and flip on the light the darkness doesn’t stay, it is drive out by the light. Jesus the light, came into the dark world and conquered the darkness. Overcoming sin and death. The world even through it was made through Jesus, they didn’t recognize the light.

  58. John 1:6-11

    John 1:6–11

  59. John the Baptist, not John the apostle that is writing this gospel, came to prepare the way and to testify to the light. To Jesus. Notice what it says, John came so that all might believe in Jesus. John was not the light but was a witness to the light.

  60. Yet the world did not understand or receive Jesus. They didn’t believe that Jesus is the Messiah the Son of God. Jesus indeed is the most misunderstood figure in human history.

  61. Jesus is the Word, logos, Jesus is God, He is the creator of life and the light of the world. Jesus came to give light to everyone. But not everyone accepts or receives Him. Here’s the promise attached to belief.

  62. John 1:12-13

    John 1:12–13

  63. Jesus is the Word, God, creator of life, light of the world. Everyone who receives Him, believes in His name, have the right to become children of God. Not because who their parents are, not because of their pasts, not because they deserve it. But despite the fact we don’t. Those who by faith receive Jesus can be adopted into the family of God.

  64. It's for this reason that Jesus came in the flesh. So that we would believe in Jesus and by believing we would have life.

  65. John 1:14

    John 1:14

  66. Jesus set up camp among us. He humbled himself taking on flesh. He who had no sin became sin so we can have life. The word became flesh. Through Jesus we see the glory of God. Paul sums it up this way.

  67. Colossians 1:15-20

    Colossians 1:15–20

  68. The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

  69. Jesus is the image of God, the glory of God, The fullness of God dwells in Him. He created all things and sustains all things. Jesus has reconciled all things through His blood shed on the cross.

  70. Through Jesus alone everyone, even you and me, who receives Him can have life. Believe – Jesus is who He claimed to be

  71. Jesus is the word that became flesh, He is with God and He is God, He is the creator of life and the light to the world.

  72. Ask: Where are you forming your beliefs about Jesus from?

  73. • Social media?

  74. • Politics?

  75. • Cultural Christianity?

  76. • Personal preference?

  77. •

  78. This week, read John 1 slowly—every day. Ask one question: Who does this text say Jesus really is? Not who I want Him to be.

  79. God’s children, we are known by our fruit. Fruit that proves our adoption. Is your life growing brighter or dimmer? Children of God believe in Jesus, they love each other, they love God and keep His commandments, they battle and fight against sin. What does the fruit of your life say about your adoption?

  80. 1 John 2:9-10

    1 John 2:9–10

  81. Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister q is still in the darkness. 10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.

  82. 1 John 3:1-3

    1 John 3:1–3

  83. See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, r we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

  84. Light exposes and transforms. We trust that Jesus is all we need and transformed by His light.

  85. This week examine yourself:

  86. • Is there hidden sin in your life?

  87. • Is there ongoing bitterness you have toward a brother or sister?

  88. • Is there compromise you’ve made peace with. Confess it to God.

  89. Identify one area where you’ve been managing darkness instead of bringing it into the light—and take one step of repentance this week.

  90. If you are a child of God adopted through Jesus, start living like it. Purify yourselves. And be witness to the light.

  91. Witness – Like John, testify to the light. People think witnessing means preaching; John shows it means pointing.

  92. All of us go out to build authentic relationships with the lost in our community and around the world and to communicate the gospel of Jesus. So that everyone discover their relationship with Jesus. Adoption as Children of God. So that everyone might believe in the name of Jesus and by believing have life. Write down one name—just one—of someone in your life who needs the light of Jesus. Pray for them daily and look for an opportunity this month to share your story.

  93. Jesus is not just a good teacher. He is either a liar, a lunatic, or Lord. Jesus is my Lord. Is He yours?

  94. Friends, receive Him. Believe in Jesus, be adopted as a child of God today. Believe and receive. Repent of your sins and surrender your life to Him, meet Him in baptism today. Jesus is God in the flesh and he has come to save you.