John 1:14-18 - Experience Grace: Needing to be Near Jesus

You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.

Our passion is to experience and express grace. Join us.

Amen.

Turn with me, if you will, to John chapter 1.

John 1 · chapter mention

John 1 will be on the screen behind me or on page 886 of the Bible in the pew in front of you,

if you want to follow along there.

The new year is a great time to examine some of your core commitments, isn't it?

Some of the values that are foundational to who you are as a person or as a church as well.

It's an important thing for us corporately to do.

As a church that seeks to see God's kingdom advanced,

Southwood's particular mission statement is to experience and express grace.

If you've been here a little while, you've probably heard or read that somewhere.

We tend to talk about it quite a bit.

But it's only helpful to us if we actually know what we mean.

It's cute to be able to say something like that, but if you don't know what you mean,

when you say it, it doesn't help you very much, does it?

I mentioned earlier that next weekend is our Express Grace Conference.

So the second half of Experience and Express Grace, we're going to talk a lot about next weekend

to focus on what it means for us to share God's goodness with others, with those around us.

But I thought this morning we would look for a few minutes at what we mean when we say experience grace,

the first part of the mission statement.

Experience grace.

Is that something that happens in some kind of out-of-body, mountaintop experience?

I have this experience of grace and I don't even know what happened.

How often does it happen?

How would I know if I've experienced grace?

What's it all about?

And there are a lot of angles we could take on that,

but this morning I want to look at John 1, beginning at verse 14.

And we'll read a few verses here and then talk about the experience of God's grace together

from this passage and a few others as well.

God's holy word in John 1,

where John has up to this point introduced the word of God,

who has been with God since before time began.

And John says he is in fact truly God himself.

Then in verse 14 he says this about the word.

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.

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 from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.

For the law was given through Moses.

Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

No one has ever seen God.

The only God who is at the Father's side,

He has made him known.

Will you pray with me?

Father, our desire as we have rejoiced this morning in your love for us

is that we would know you more.

We want to know more of who you are and what you are like,

of the things that you love and the desires you have for us.

And we rejoice that Jesus is the one who has made you known to us.

Who has been the perfect image of God in the flesh.

Who has made the Father we have not seen known to us.

And so as we open your word this morning,

would we see him clearly.

Would we know more of who you are

and of what your heart is for us from your word.

Would you teach us by your spirit, we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

When I say kindness,

whose face pops into your mind?

Is there someone you know who oozes the sugary sweetness

and you feel like when you've left a conversation with that person,

you've just experienced the essence of kindness.

The kindest person I've ever met.

What if I said prideful?

Or stuck up?

Or snooty?

Would you have a different face come to mind?

Does somebody else pop into your head?

He's everything that's wrong with people who think that they're wonderful and amazing

and drive me crazy.

His face pops into my mind.

The essence of pride and arrogance.

When we talk about grace,

we don't merely mean an abstract theological concept.

That something we would vaguely sense or experience in some unusual way.

Rather, we're talking about a person.

The word become flesh.

Jesus himself.

Jesus is described here in verse 14 as full of grace and truth.

And he's so full of grace that from his fullness,

the very essence of who he is and his character,

overflows to us what?

Grace upon grace.

Like they were just singing for us.

From who Jesus is, that's what oozes out of him.

Another version translates this verse.

Grace upon grace.

From the fullness of his grace,

we have all received one blessing after another.

One blessing after another.

Grace upon grace from Jesus.

In fact, the grace of God in the flesh, right?

Where God gave his people the good gift of the law through Moses.

Grace upon grace.

And then he sent in the very person of Jesus his grace again.

Grace in the flesh.

Grace is God's goodness and favor that we could never deserve or earn.

But that Jesus embodied and brought to us when he took on flesh.

His coming to us brought grace to us.

Grace.

Grace.

Grace.

So grace then is a person.

It's a person who in the first chapter of John's gospel alone,

if you just read through the rest of this chapter,

we find out he did many things for us that we could never deserve or earn.

He brought light into our darkness.

Made those of us who were God's enemies his children.

That's grace.

He accomplished what mankind had failed to do for centuries in living a life of obedience to God.

And he also died for the sins of the world.

Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

That's grace.

So when we talk about experiencing grace,

it's not just some mystical intangible concept.

We're talking about being near Jesus.

He himself is grace.

And it overflows from him to us over and over.

Grace upon grace.

And that's actually the idea that this passage has

and that is in many other places in the Scripture.

That we don't just need a quick exposure to Jesus.

A one-time dose of grace that fixes us forever.

However, this passage and many others teach that we live all our lives

in moment-by-moment dependence on the grace of God in Jesus Christ.

That's why we say our mission is to experience grace.

That's where we start.

Not that we would have a goal of one day, someday,

maybe finally experiencing God's grace for the first time.

But that every day, not just once,

not once in the future, not once in the past,

but every day present,

I need to experience His amazing grace to me.

To be overwhelmed by the kindness and favor of God

poured into my life in ways I could never earn or deserve.

I need to be filled and fueled by the grace of Jesus.

By God's unending and undeserving love for me.

That's what the Bible says it means to continue to live in Christ.

Experiencing His grace.

And that seems pretty simple to say

that experiencing grace is just be near Jesus

and grace overflows into you.

Just be near Jesus.

Why don't we find ourselves drinking from that fountain,

so to speak, more regularly?

Why is it not your experience and my experience

that I'm constantly being filled up and fueled and driven

and every thought shaped by the amazing love

that God has for me in Jesus?

Why is that not the way we live all the time?

I think one primary reason

is that we don't always feel and remember

our need to be near Jesus.

Here's a definition for experiencing grace

you can write down if you want.

Constant needs constantly met in Christ.

It's not real complicated.

I don't intend it to be profound.

But think of people who clearly experience

the grace of Jesus during His earthly ministry.

Over and over again,

these are people who have very clear needs

that Jesus meets with His grace.

Think of blind Bartimaeus in Mark chapter 10

Mark 10 · chapter mention

who stands by the side of the road

and hears Jesus is coming down the road

and cries out,

Son of David, have mercy on me!

And Jesus stops and comes over and asks him,

What do you want me to do for you?

And the grace of Jesus overflows to Bartimaeus

and he receives His sight, doesn't he?

Think of the sinful woman in Luke 7

who's so aware of her need for forgiveness

that she comes to be near Jesus

and sit at His feet.

She does more than that.

She pours expensive perfume on Him

and wipes His feet with her hair

as she cries over Him.

And grace overflows to her

as Jesus tells her what?

Your sins are forgiven.

Think of the paralytic in Mark chapter 2.

Mark 2 · chapter mention

You may have heard the story in Sunday school.

He's so desperate to be near Jesus

that when he can't get in the house,

what do his friends do for him?

They take him outside,

they climb up,

cut a hole in the roof

and lower him down right in front of Jesus.

And the grace of Jesus overflows to him

and Jesus says,

your sins are forgiven

and He heals His body.

Constant needs,

constantly met in Christ.

All of these,

and there are many others we could cite,

all of these people

are deeply aware of their need for Jesus,

aren't they?

They know that they need Him.

They know they're desperate.

A blind man,

a sinful woman,

a paralytic,

desperate to be near Jesus.

So here's the point for us.

You won't experience grace

to meet your needs

if you don't have any.

You won't experience grace

to forgive your sin

if you don't have any.

You won't experience grace

for your failures

if you don't have any.

You won't experience grace

to give direction in your confusion

if you never have any.

You won't experience grace

to be sufficient in your weakness

if you don't have any.

Do you regularly think of yourself

as needy?

Sinful?

Confused?

Weak?

Is that how you think of yourself?

Is your relationship with God

one in which you're constantly telling Him

how much you need His direction?

How much you need His strength for that day?

How much you need His forgiveness

for your sin?

God have mercy on me, a sinner.

Like the tax collector

praying in the temple,

crying out to God

and Jesus says,

that man went home

in a right relationship with God.

That's how you relate to God.

God have mercy on me, a sinner.

I need your help.

For many of us,

that doesn't sound like our

day in and day out relationship with God, does it?

Doesn't sound like your prayer life

constantly crying out,

God have mercy on me,

a sinner.

I need you so desperately.

I'm weak.

I'm needy.

I'm confused.

I need you.

For many of us,

our day in, day out relationship with God

is based on merit,

worthiness,

performance,

strength.

God was gracious to me

once upon a time.

I talk about grace,

but now I relate to God

based on how well I'm doing.

God, I'm a pretty good person.

I mean, I'm better than the next guy,

so I expect some pretty good things to happen.

God, I thank you.

I'm moral and not like this other guy

or these people I read about.

Sounds like the Pharisee

praying opposite the tax collector

who says those things

and Jesus says of him

he had a wrong kind of relationship with God.

He didn't know how to relate to God.

He said,

I'm more spiritual than they are.

I'm more moral than she is.

More faithful than he is.

And Jesus said,

that's not how you relate to God.

Quick side note

and preview of next weekend

and expressing grace.

When that's what our relationship with God

is based on,

that's what our relationship with others

is based on too.

Is he performing well enough

to earn my favor today?

Is she worthy of my love today?

And if you're not experiencing grace

for needy, sinful, failing,

confused, weak you,

you'll have no grace

and very little time

for the needy, sinful failures

in your life.

For those who are confused

and weak in your circles of influence.

If none of that grace

is being poured into you,

none of it will be overflowing

to anyone around you.

That's a preview of next weekend.

It's a sad reality to imagine

not having any grace

for people like that in our lives.

Nothing to pour through us

and flow over into them

in their great need.

But perhaps if you can imagine

this morning even sadder

than not having grace for others

is that you will not merely

have missed grace.

You will have missed Jesus.

The grace of God

expressed in a person.

Jesus didn't come for the healthy

who have no need of a doctor.

For the successful

who have no need of His strength.

For those who figured it out

and have no need of His wisdom.

For the put together

who have no need of His help.

Jesus came

not for those.

He came for those

who are poor

in spirit.

Who don't think

they can handle life

on their own.

Who know how desperately

they need Him.

And that reality

should be unsettling

to those of us

who largely are

are part of a strong

and capable

and successful culture.

People in a church

where we can look

strong and capable

and successful.

And the reality is

that it should shake us up

a little bit.

Because those aren't just

my words

trying to make you feel bad.

Those are the words of Jesus

about who He came for

aren't they?

It's not the healthy

who need a doctor

but the sick.

I've come not to call

righteous

but sinners.

Jesus came for sinners.

He came to save them.

To rescue them.

For those who know

they need to experience

His grace.

You and I need

to be near Jesus.

For today we need Him.

For tomorrow we need Him.

For parenting we need

His patience.

For engaging with

co-workers we need

His wisdom.

For relationships

we need His forgiveness.

For all of these things

and many more

we need to experience

His grace.

We need to be crying out to Him.

Drawing near to Him

in prayer, right?

That's moment by moment

experiencing His grace.

Seeking for God

to give us His sustaining

and directing grace

for our lives.

We ought to be

regularly repenting.

Of our sin.

Where we turn back

and come near to Jesus

and seek His forgiving grace.

We need to be reading

His word

and talking about Him

with our friends.

Having Him near us

in every aspect of life.

Every relationship we have

so that His overflowing grace

is our greatest joy.

Our highest desire.

The thing that we

can't stop thinking

and talking about.

And that would be

a really good sermon

especially around New Year's

wouldn't it?

Be near Jesus more.

Read the Bible.

Pray.

Come to church.

Have Jesus impact

all of your life.

And we should

and all of those things

are good.

We need more time with Him.

We need to be near Jesus.

But it's even better

than that.

Our hope is even better

and more exciting

than just

you need to be with Jesus

more

although we do.

The good news is

that Jesus

comes to us.

That's part of His

overflowing grace.

Is that Jesus

actually comes

to be near us.

Have you forgotten

Christmas already?

Isn't that what we

just celebrated?

What about verse 14?

What does it say?

The Word became flesh

and made His dwelling

among us.

Among needy,

weak,

failing people.

Jesus said

I will live there.

I will come to them.

The Word became flesh

and made His dwelling

among us.

He wanted to get

so near to us

that His grace

would spill onto us

so that we could

experience His grace.

That's why He came.

He wants to spill

His grace onto you

even more than you

want to run

and get it from Him.

He came

so that His grace

would overflow

to you.

In Memphis

where I grew up

there's this

wonderful place

called St. Jude

Children's Research Hospital.

You've probably

heard of it.

They treat their children

who are suffering

with cancer.

Children from all

over the globe.

In fact,

one from our

Southwood family

just this past year

that they took

great care of.

Every December

there's a college

football bowl game

in Memphis

called the Liberty Bowl.

And so two teams

come in,

different teams

each time,

to play perhaps

the biggest football game

played in Memphis

all year.

And lots of kids

are excited

to go to the game.

They want to go

see their favorite

players,

see these two teams

play football

against each other.

And every year,

ahead of the Liberty Bowl

itself,

those teams

would visit St. Jude

and they would

bring the game

to the kids

who were too sick

to come to the game

themselves.

You'd always see

in the paper

every year

a picture of the quarterback

with his arm

around a five-year-old

bald-headed

cancer

patient

from St. Jude.

The guy who perhaps

embodied the essence

of football

and all the excitement

about this game

that was coming to town

in the mind

of this kid

actually coming

to bring the experience

of the Liberty Bowl

into the hospital room

of a young kid.

And that's what Jesus

has done for us.

Jesus,

the embodiment

of grace himself,

has come to you

and brought grace

to your hospital room

that you couldn't leave

because you were too sick.

When you couldn't leave

the shackles

of what you've done,

of the terrible things

that rack your memories

and you can't get away

from them

to come to Jesus,

he came to you.

Maybe for you

it's the shackles

of your own

self-obsession.

The success

that you've experienced

and you realize

you only think

about yourself

and you can't get away

from that

to come

and cry out to Jesus

and Jesus

comes to you.

This table

reminds us

that he didn't just

do that once.

That he is still

coming to us.

That he knows

we still need him.

That he still needs

to bring his grace

to us.

His grace is for you

to experience again

this morning.

That's why he said

we should do this

so often.

Because we continue

to need him.

Because we continue

to need to be filled up

with his grace.

We declare at this table

that we are still

not strong enough.

That we're still

not smart enough.

That we're still

not successful enough

on our own

to come to Jesus.

But we declare

at the same time

that he has come

to us.

And we taste

as we come

his grace for us again.

We experience

his grace

again this morning.

Constant needs

to you and me.

Constantly met

in Christ.

Paul tells us

of the words

of institution

that Jesus gave

on the night

he was betrayed.

He took bread

and when he'd given

thanks he broke it

and said this is my body

which is for you.

Do this in remembrance

of me.

In the same way also

he took the cup

after supper

saying this cup

is the new covenant

in my blood.

Do this as often

as you drink it

in remembrance of me.

For as often

as you eat this bread

and drink the cup

you proclaim

the Lord's death.

until he comes.

This is not the table

of Southwood

or the Presbyterian church.

This is the Lord's table.

And Jesus has

set it before us

this morning

so that we would

taste and experience

his grace again.

And he invites

he's the one

extending the invitation

to you

to everyone

who has truly

trusted in him

for their salvation.

who's made a public

profession of that faith

by joining a church

a body of Christ.

he invites you

to come

and to feast

this morning.

Come and eat.

If you don't know him

if you've never

trusted Jesus

for yourself

don't come

to this table

don't come

and proclaim

outwardly

something that's

not true

inwardly.

Instead

we would love

to invite you

to come

and to know

Jesus himself.

The one who would

come toward you

this morning.

I'd ask you

to consider

are you

this morning

okay

on your own?

Are you

good enough?

Strong enough?

Wise enough?

Capable enough

to handle

life

on your own?

Or

do you

need

someone else?

Do you need

the help

of another?

Someone who would

come to you

and offer himself

for you?

Do you need

his grace?

Perhaps

this morning

what it could be

is a chance

to realize

that you can

stop exhausting

yourself

trying to make

God happy

and for the first

time

know that someone

else has done

that for you

that Jesus

has done that

in your place

and you can

come near to him

and experience

his grace

in a person

in Jesus

himself

nothing would

make us more

excited than to

get to talk

with you about

him

to tell you

about his

grace for you

let's pray

and then we'll

come to this

table together

father we

thank you

that you

know our

need

we are

needy

people

and so our

hope and our

joy is that

our needs

have been

fully met

in Jesus

would this

table be a

reminder

of that

to us

as we

sit and

meditate on

our own

need

we equally

and even

more so

see your

abundant

provision

for that

need

through your

son

we ask in

his name

amen

for more

information

visit us

online

at

southwood.org

you