John 1:6-10 New International Version (NIV)
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
Today I am continuing our sermon series through John. It is important to learn the book of John it is one of the greatest witness tools ever created. It is essential in Christian teachings. I spoke last week briefly on verse five so I am going to add below. It is for someone but I am not sure yet.
5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
The light is not overcome, nothing overcomes God. His light shows what it is supposed to show and unveils its mystery. He gives life from birth into the world. Our God is the God of life, he is light. There are several passages where we are to be a radiant people sharing him in joy. We must never loose anything else. We must reflect his brightness and let it saturate our hearts to share. He lit up the world. Joyfully set in radiance and he did not lose his light. We must not lose ours. Though when first up we can not hold the light at its fullness we adjust to its message of radiance. Light must not lose it radiance. Though we adjust we must not harden our hearts to the light. It's joy should remain fresh. To do this is easy when you receive the Holy Spirit and never ask leave him. He is gentle to have so you don't get tired of him. The walk or the path maybe hard but your Comforter is always there. The light comes in and takes over the darkness. Let it's energy shine, let it's warm come, let it fill the earth with glory. Let it shine like the new day.
I want us to understand John. Youngest of all disciples, wrote much of the new testament with 3 letters 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, Revelation, and the gospel of John.
Wikipedia states this about the Apostle John.
"John the Apostle (Aramaic: ܝܘܚܢܢ ܫܠܝܚܐ Yohanan Shliha; Hebrew: יוחנן בן זבדי Yohanan ben Zavdi; Koine Greek: Ἰωάννης; Latin: Ioannes; c. AD 6-100) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament, which refers to him as Ἰωάννης. He was the son of Zebedee and Salome. His brother was James,
who was another of the Twelve Apostles. Christian tradition holds that
he outlived the remaining apostles and that he was the only one to die
of natural causes: Judas Iscariot died by suicide, while the other ten all are considered to have died a martyr's death. This is because the Church Fathers considered him the same person as John the Evangelist, John of Patmos, John the Elder and the Beloved Disciple,
although modern theologians and scholars have not formed a consensus on
the relative identities of these men. The traditions of most Christian
denominations have held that John the Apostle is the author of several
books of the New Testament."
7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.
John had great faith, he suffered for his fate near the end of his life.John was in Christian tradition dumped into a vat of oil as punishment and banished to the island of Patmos. He believed much in his faith.
Verse 8
8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
The disciples stopped self worship even John the Baptist preached against it. Where John the Baptist said, he was not worthy to untie the shoes of Jesus.
After doing a Miracle Acts 14:8-15 they tried to worship Barnabas as Zeus and Paul as Hermes. Paul quickly stopped their worship. Only Jesus deserves to be praised.
God deserves him honor and we must worship God Monotheistically. That means we only worship one God.
As it says in the 10 commandments: "Worship the Lord God only and him only shall you serve."
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
God did not play favorites but tried to reach out to every person. Jesus was born out of wedlock, though Mary was a virgin. He was seen as a common man that changed the world. We face scorn every once in a while Jesus faced it in his day. He became sin on the cross and faced the full scorn of the cross as he absorbed our sins. His face was maimed as the thorns and the beatings took place. He suffered for his faith as the King who takes our sin.Though he faced the scorn he arose. Scorn was vanquished.
The light shines again.
The Lord wants me to preach on John for a while in a series of sermon. He wants me to be an expert in John. I have covered this gospel before but not in depth for a long series of John, like John Piper with Romans or Matt Chandler with 1st Corinthians. I am going to do my best to cover this well. This first sermon is mainly on John 1:5 I am going to cover the beginning verses as well. It is very poetic John 1. It is the most glorious introduction of God in the bible. The most gloriously made. It deserves high applause.
I want to read John 1 as a starter.
John 1
I want to cover the first 5 verses that we can read again.
John 1 New International Version (NIV)
The Word Became Flesh
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
You can compare God many different ways.This section of scripture God is personified several different ways. As the Word, he was there with God seen and known as the word, waiting in the beginning to be seen in glory. The Son waited till his glory, at perfect timing to arise and be known. Though he was known for other things than what he was brought he came in truth.In light he shined and was made known. All glory belongs to him and he is righteousness on the Earth. I want to share his glory that he brought and I John brings it. These words in my paraphrase of the section 1:1-5 show more than just the section but the word of John's heart for the things he is communicating. God is the light, the beginning of the word, he shared with us in our beginning. He shares the light it brought out of the darkness like a flash of lightening to a candle being lit.He shared it and lit a city. He lit it in its light. God writes through John his testimony of the people of God who knew Jesus and were changed by God. He knew us, all of us and were changed by his testimony. He wrote the word and declared it to us. Jesus in the beginning gathered disciples. Some first from John declared to go by the Spirit. Some in the city where he went some through the others he was told by God to ask to follow him. In this section of scripture, John 1 he starts to gather followers. He as a Rabbi he gathered in grace where God took him. Many men wanted to be his disciples.A rabbi could choose disciples easy and man would follow a following and a rabbi. So God gathers in grace and power. John the Baptist his cousin, gathered a following and the Pharisees asked him if he was the Messiah. He said no and stated he was preparing a way for the messiah the one who was to come. The lamb, the light of the world who would bring forgiveness into the world. So here lies the testament of the first chapter of John. He gathered Simon Peter and Andrew. Phillip and Nathanael. He declared Simon Peter and Andrew they would see if they came and to Nathanael that he would see the Son of man ascending and descending with angels from heaven. Thus he gathered all his disciples. We too have much to learn from this passage about gathering our own disciples. He gathered a businessman which he helped gather more fish. Together they had a place to make a business grow but he poured in the real message to keep Peter righteous. He poured into Peter James and John the most. These were most idealistic of Jesus to pour into. Peter the businessman who became the head of the church, James his natural brother for his family line and John the youngest who would carry his message longest. God made them leaders and they loved Jesus. This is the beginning of what happened. John writes poetically about Jesus. In this text it has been shared dynamically in different versions giving a depth seen to the text. I want to show you some errors that people make with John 1. The Arians split off God as separate deities. Saying that the Word was a God instead of the word was God. The word comes from Jesus who is God Jehovah. We must see these as the Word becoming flesh. It is prophecy being shown to come through Jesus's fulfillment. It is showing the word became flesh through the birth of God who came at his father's will in heaven. It is a personification at its best. He is light, life, grace,law, word that became flesh. John is confirmed of his authority throughout the gospel as he portrays a strong message of love from his teacher. Miracles brought the ministry to life as Jesus displayed the power of God and prophecy became fulfilled in their healing. It guided their ministry. Macroprophecy and day to day prophecy was fulfilled. It was a fast three years for Jesus and the disciples working constantly the crowds after John the Baptist passed and miracles happened. Healings happened and Jesus brought sight to the blind. In the beginning of Jesus's birth John's ministry was started. The miracles of the angels appearing and mute John the Baptist father becoming unmute at giving the name of John the Baptist, showed especially that God was going to work mightly through John the Baptist. Jesus has been first from the beginning as his word came first.
His life is remarkable deserving first at everything we do. His life marks our destiny, we should always remember him.He is not dead. We must remember he resurrected. In power he arose. God was not defeated on the cross, joy went before him on the cross and then he died ready for the Lord to bring him back. He prophecized his death and his resurrection many times. He is the light of all mankind as he rose in victory given the title of king to the Jews.
He is the life that we honor. Let's bestow him the honor.
Nothing can overcome his light.
