December 28, 2025: In the Beginning Was the Word - John 1:1-18

Our culture loves origin stories.

There's something about knowing where someone comes from that

fascinates us. As we learn more about them, we

can appreciate them more fully in the background of their

story. There are at least 2 main types

of origin stories. The 1st is the rags to riches

story. This is when a nobody becomes a

somebody. People with obscure backgrounds

and little influence become leaders and world changers.

These could be superheroes like Captain America or Spider Man,

or maybe fairy tales like Cinderella and Aladdin.

In real life, we might think of wealthy people like Warren

Buffett and Andrew Carnegie, or maybe influential people like

Abraham Lincoln or even Genghis Khan.

The second type of origin story is significantly less common and

perhaps less often told. This is the riches to rags

story. This is when a rich person loses

everything they have, either willingly or unwillingly giving

it up for the kids in the room. Humpty Dumpty is a classic

example of unwilling loss. There he sits comfortably on his

wall. Bam, great fall.

Lots of rags. And because I'm a pastor here at

UCC, I have to mention Lord of the Rings at least once in a

calendar year. It's my last chance.

So another good example is Frodo Baggins.

He's living in the Shire with privilege and wealth, and he

leaves it to go on an excruciating journey for the

good of Middle Earth. In real life, we see this in

stories of soldiers who enlist to leave the comfort of their

home to defend it from evil. We see it in women like Saint

Clair of Assisi, who was born as a noble yet gave up her wealth

and social status in order to serve the lowly.

One reason that we love origin stories is the vision that they

cast. If Peter Parker could turn into

a world saving hero known as Spider Man, then maybe I could

do something big too. If Richard Winters could

volunteer as an average soldier in World War 2 and save the

lives of so many through his sacrifice, then maybe I could

find it in myself to do something noble as well.

These stories give us hope for our potential.

They give us examples to look up to.

Christmas is an origin story, and it begins before the angels,

the shepherds, the town of Bethlehem, or even the prophets.

The beginning is where our text places us today.

The scope of the Christmas story situates our hero in the most

splendid riches beyond what we could possibly imagine.

Once that becomes clear, the depth of his sacrifice and the

riches he brings for his own can be that much more beautiful to

us. This story goes beyond the hero

himself to the lives he saved. Christmas is the story of riches

to rags for one, so that there might be rags to riches for

many, riches to rags for one, and rags to riches for many.

First, the riches to rags. If you'd like to follow along,

we are continuing in John's Gospel chapter one verse.

One in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God. Well, let's talk about the Word.

What is it? What does this mean?

Rather than just looking to Greek thought from the time of

this writing in John's time, we can also better under this,

better understand this term by looking to the Jewish context of

its use in the Bible's use of it up until this point.

The Old Testament in several places speaks of the Word of God

as a way in which He creates. The way in which He creates.

For example, Psalm 33 By the word of the Lord the heavens

were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.

We later see this paired with the Word of Wisdom as a creating

person in Proverbs chapter 8. When He established the heavens,

Proverbs 8 · chapter mention

I was there. When He drew a circle on the

face of the deep, When He made firm the skies above, when he

established the fountains of the deep, when He assigned to the

sea its limits so that the waters might not transgress his

command, when He marked out the foundations of the earth, then I

was beside him like a master Workman, and I was daily his

delight, rejoicing before him, always rejoicing in his

inhabited world, and delighting in the children of man.

It was the Word, God's wisdom spoken and embodied through whom

and by whom the world was created.

But what about the New Testament?

The Christ is specifically referred to as the Word 4 times

here in John chapter one in the first verse we've just read,

later on in verse 14, then in John's first letter, and then

again in Revelation chapter 19 at Jesus return.

Revelation 19 · chapter mention

So both the Old Testament and the New make this connection

between the Word and God's creative power, and then between

the Word and a person. And if we're going to sound a

little more philosophical, what is a word?

More broadly, it expresses and reflects the inner life of a

person, revealing it to someone else.

And this is exactly what Jesus does.

He is the very expression and reflection of the mind of God,

revealing Him to us, as Jesus says in John 14.

Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.

But was Jesus just a reflection of God?

No, from eternity, in the very beginning the Word existed.

He was with God, and He was God. Jesus the Word is not just the

Son expressing and revealing God the Father, but He is God

Himself, God the Son. Back to our passage, verse 2.

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.

So this isn't just physical life, though that is certainly

true. If life here is connected with

the lights of men, then we have to see this as even more than

just our physical lives here on earth.

Darkness is the sin of this world.

By contrast, the light must be salvation, eternal life with

God, free from sin and darkness again in him was life.

The Word of God is eternal life itself.

He is light and salvation from our sin and darkness.

Later in John's Gospel, Jesus tells us very clearly, I am the

way, the truth and the life. He doesn't point to life.

He doesn't give us advice just on how to live a better life.

He is the life and the light of salvation.

So why does this matter? We have to see Jesus for who he

is, for all of the riches in light of his eternal existence.

And if we recognize that, and at the same time we look at the

rags of the dying, rotting world around us, we begin to see its

contrast with the light and life of Jesus from eternity.

We begin to see how much scarier and darker our world is without

Him and we begin to appreciate the light and life of eternity

that He promises if we will receive Him.

When I was a kid we had a basement.

It was our craft room and I was down there a lot because I loved

crafts and cross stitch sewing and it was a great place to be.

But the basement itself was a very scary place.

The house was built in 1842. The walls were crumbly.

They had names carved into them and dates from those names from

hundreds of years before. There were cobwebs in the

corners, very dark and damp. We even had a dehumidifier

running 24/7 with a hose that went right to a drain constantly

full. Well, I took for granted that as

I entered the basement that I could turn the light on at the

top of the stairs and go down to do my crafting and you know I

would be pretty innocently working down there and some

member of my family thought it would be funny to shut the light

off and close the door. This happened over and over.

Why was this funny? Because in my terror they knew

that I would let out a high pitched girlish scream.

Oh, what fun for them. Now, I might not have screamed

with such terror if we had a different kind of basement,

maybe a finished basement, maybe 1, built a few years ago with a

little carpet, a closed ceiling, big egress windows to let in a

little bit of lights. It'd be a different context, but

the context of that scary darkness meant the light was

that much more precious to me. The contrast was that much

greater. I needed that light to save me

from the horrors of that dark place.

Jesus isn't just a convenient light that's nice to have, He is

the light we need to be able to see, to be able to function, to

rescue us from the horrors of the darkness.

His richness of light in contrast with the rags of our

darkness, reveals how much he gave up to be born as a human

here on earth. The light shines in the

darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Continuing in our passage, verse 6, there was a man sent from God

whose name was John. This is John the Baptist,

different from the apostle John who wrote this gospel.

Here John the Baptist's ministry is affirmed.

He was sent from God. He was sent in the line of the

prophets of the Old Testament to prepare the way for Jesus.

John the Baptist told people to repent and to prepare themselves

to receive their Savior the Messiah, and that message of

repentance and salvation was from God.

Verse 7. He, John the Baptist, came as a

witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe

through him. He was not the light, but came

to bear witness about the light. We see another contrast, no

longer the Word who was God, but a man sent from God.

The term came can also be translated as made.

It's the same Greek term that's used earlier in verse 3 where it

says all things were made through the word.

Again, a sharp contrast. The word was eternal.

John the Baptist, though an important witness, was only a

created man. What was his job?

To bear witness about the light, to testify to the light in

John's own words in chapter 3, he must increase, but I must

decrease. We can get pretty obsessed with

our own stories. It's not that our stories don't

matter. It is really important to

reflect on your life and to promote deeper self

understanding. But when our stories focus

primarily on ourselves, and we don't use them to point to the

greater story of God's redeeming love, then we miss it.

While we definitely bear witness about the light and point others

to it, we are not necessarily the light itself.

We bear the light, we spread the light, but we are not the

Messiah. He must increase, but I must

decrease. When I first began leading

worship, I started to feel a lot of pressure to get everything

right all the time. Musicians, artists in general,

are notorious for being perfectionists.

Can I get an Amen? It's easy to feel the weight of

the gospel on our shoulders, as if one wrong note might destroy

our witness to the world. But Pastor Dan gave me this book

by Zach Hicks called, fittingly enough, the Worship Pastor.

And in each chapter it walks through metaphors for the roles

a worship pastor takes on in their job.

The worship pastor as disciple maker, the worship pastor as war

general, as curator, tour guide and more.

But the best chapter and the best metaphor was the conclusion

which I did not expect. The worship pastor as failure.

The author goes on to confess that the person described in

this book does not exist. It's a standard and a calling we

could never live up to. And yet he also reminds us that

the person described exists in Jesus Christ himself.

All of our success is in him and through him.

He is the worship pastor we all long for so that I don't have to

be perfect. And the author goes on and

everywhere he talks about a worship pastor in this quote, I

want you to fill in the blank for yourself.

He says we are qualified, worthy, and able because Jesus

is qualified, worthy, and able. This is a freeing, inspiring,

faith producing worship and gendering word to every failed

fill in the blank. It means we're free to take a

stab at this thing called fill in the blank, even in the deep

awareness that we are not adequate to the task.

We're free to soar. We're free to crash and burn.

We're free to strive. We're free to rest.

The burden is lifted and the pressure's off.

Zach Hicks is not advocating for laziness or for indifference.

He's arguing against the weight of perfection or feeling like

you have to be the light itself instead of pointing to the light

and bearing the light that comes from outside of you.

When we fail all too often, that is an opportunity to point

others to Jesus because they can see that much more plainly that

you are not the Messiah. For my work calling, it's being

a worship pastor. What could you put in the blank?

Is it your job or could it maybe be a role you play in your

family, whether a grandparents, a child, a sibling, a parent?

John's testimony is that even the greatness of his ministry

paled in comparison to the perfection of Christ.

John was a mortal man. Jesus is the eternal word of God

from eternity. We are meant to point beyond

ourselves to Him, and that is tremendously freeing.

We can trust Him to be the true light.

Even the best of our rags fall short.

And so they point to the riches of Christ, and not only the

riches He came from, but we also point to the riches that He

promises that are yet to come. Yes, Christ left the wealth of

eternity to enter into our poverty of darkness, but the

riches to rags story for Him is what promises A rags to riches

story for us. And this brings us to our next

point, the rags to riches for many.

Let's keep reading. In verse 9, the true light,

which gives light to everyone was coming into the world.

Here's the theme of light again tied in with the origin story of

the word. We also see a connection with

the origin story of the earth, the creation narrative.

The theme of light coming into the world is for more than just

Christmas time, though that's when we certainly highlight it.

We can remember Genesis chapter 1 when God says let there be

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

light and there was light. That was the created light.

What we have here is Jesus, the light of salvation, the light of

eternity, which was not created. This is eternal uncreated light

that is now coming into a created world.

It was not made. This light already existed.

The change is simply one of location.

It is now coming into this world, this realm from the

heavenly realms, where it has always been the true light,

which gives light to everyone. And the term could also be

translated as illumines or enlightens everyone.

It's more than just a shining external light.

This is an inner light. The light of salvation was

coming into the world, not just a small corner, but the whole

world. So the offer is for everyone.

The light is given freely for all, but not all will receive

this gift. The verse 10.

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

the world did not know him. He came to His own, and his own

people did not receive Him. And we can let that sit in, sink

in for a moment. The world that was made through

Jesus did not know him. The people that God made from an

out for outpouring of love and overflowing abundance of love.

The people God made not because he needed us, but because he

loved us and He desired that we should exist.

He came to us and we said no thanks.

We did not know Him, We did not receive Him.

His own would rather stay in their rags and receive His

riches in glory. But for those who will make room

in their hearts for Jesus, look at what He promises.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in His name, He

gave the right to become children of God, who were born

not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of

man, but of God. Our rags without Jesus are worse

than being orphans without him. We belong to the Prince of this

world, the evil one. That's who we're born of.

We have the worst parent imaginable, but if we believe in

the name of Jesus, we have the right to become children of the

best Father, the heavenly Father, the one true God.

We're not just welcomed in kind of lukewarm, like he kind of

lets us sit there as long as we're nice and we behave.

You know, once we believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior,

being a child of God is our right.

He belongs to us. He is ours.

And this new birth as a child of God, as a Jesus follower, can't

happen in our own strength. It's not through the will of the

flesh or the will of man, but of God.

It doesn't happen by our own striving and good works.

It happens through God's will, and that is a will that will

never be thwarted. If it is God's will that we are

born again in Him, then nothing can undo that.

Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Not death, life, angels, rulers, things happening right now, or

things that are yet to happen. No powers, not a single thing

and all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ

Jesus. If we are born of God, we belong

to Him. That is glorious wealth and the

extraordinary riches we receive are because of the rags Christ

took on verse 14. And the Word became flesh and

dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only

Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The Word became flesh, the expression and reflection of the

mind and wisdom of God, the one who existed with Him for

eternity. God Himself, the uncreated One

through whom all things were created.

He took on a human body. And this is a full grace.

It's not just a baked potato with a little bit of salt and a

little bit of water. It's a full grace.

It's loaded baked potato from the Barking Cow and Gaston,

overflowing with cheese and sour cream and green onions and all

the stuff that you're not supposed to eat.

It's magnificent. Jesus is full of grace and

truth. And then we have a repetition of

Jesus being greater than John. John bore witness about him and

cried out, This was he of whom I said, he who comes after me,

ranks before me, because he was before me.

And then we get back to the grace, verse 16.

For from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.

For the law was given through Moses.

Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

This is a familiar verse for us, grace upon grace.

We use it a lot, but let's go just a little bit deeper with

it. The verse in context here is

connected closely with the Mosaic law being the first grace

and then the grace and truth of Jesus being a pawn or on top of

this grace already given. More concretely, God was so

generous and good to guide us with the law of Moses and the 10

commandments. Beyond that was good, but on top

of all of that, even better than that, God fulfills that law with

the grace and truth of Jesus. He gives the first grace of

telling us the way to live in righteousness.

And then he also provides the means, the ability of the way to

fulfill the requirements of the law through the grace of Jesus.

And this doesn't happen through getting the behavior right and

our own lives. It happens through the perfect

life and obedience and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

To close out our passage, verse 18, no one has ever seen God,

the only God who is at the Father's side.

He has made Him known. Let's put it another way to

rephrase the verse. God is eternal and dwells in

approachable light. His glory is so bright that we

could never look directly at it. Jesus Christ is God Himself who

dwells in perfect unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit

sitting at His right hand. One God forever blessed.

This very same God that is too glorious to be seen has now been

made known to poor rag clothed sinners like us.

He left the perfection of Paradise in heaven, not only to

show us the Father, but to make us know Him deeply, intimately,

closely know Him. He left his palace and slept in

a feeding through in order to make him known.

Second Corinthians chapter 8 For you know the grace of our Lord

2 Corinthians 8 · chapter mention

Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he

became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

The story is riches to rags for him, so that it might be rags to

riches for us to know the Father, to be known by him, to

dwell in an intimate relationship with the one true

God. This is wealth and riches beyond

all measure. 1 Christian put it this way.

Here in his wonder of wonders, he came below to raise me above.

He was born like me, that I might become like Him.

Herein is love. When I cannot rise to Him, He

draws near on wings of grace to raise me to Himself.

Herein is power. When Deity and humanity were

infinitely apart, He united them in indissoluble unity, the

uncreated and the created. Herein is wisdom when I was

undone with no will to return to Him, It's no intellect to devise

recovery. He came, God Incarnate, to save

me to the uttermost as man, to die my death, to shed satisfying

blood on my behalf, to work out a perfect righteousness for me.

All glory be to Christ our King. Let us pray together.

Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of Jesus, and

we thank you for the reminder that all things pale in

comparison to Him. We thank you for his humility

and we pray that you would show us how we may walk in His way,

how we may rest in His salvation, that our strivings

may cease, that we may point others to the true light that

was coming into the world. We pray this in Jesus name and

by the Spirit, Amen.