· It is a good time to ask ourselves who we are really celebrating and to explore who this Jesus Christ is that so many claim to celebrate.
· How we answer the question of who Jesus is will define whether or not we are truly disciples of Jesus Christ.
· If we are to truly grow as disciples of Jesus Christ, we must grow in our understanding of who He is.
· If we are to go and make disciples of those all around us, we must be able to share with others who Jesus is.
Main Scripture Text: John 1:1-18
· If you don’t know who someone is, you are bound to treat them differently, than if you really know who they are.
· The question for each of us today is, how do we treat Jesus Christ – is it in light of what we know about Him?
· Do you know Jesus Christ personally for who he really is? How well do you know Jesus? Who is Jesus to you? Is He the One you love the most? Are you grateful for Jesus? Do you live for Him?
Jesus is the eternal Son of God who came to reveal the truth and make men alive in Him
· No matter whether you call yourself a Christian or not, you will be held accountable for how you respond to Jesus
· Will you respond to Him in faith, believe in His name, receive Him and become a child of God?
· Or will you reject the truth that Jesus reveals and be rejected by God?
· Jesus is not someone we can just treat as a sentimental baby at Christmas – He is none other than God Himself and we must respond to Him one way or another.
· Jesus promised to acknowledge before the Father anyone who acknowledges Him before men or deny anyone before the Father who denies Him before men. ( Matt 10:33-34)
· Like Jesus’ question to Peter and His disciples, He asks everyone who do you say that I am?
1. Jesus is the eternal Word of God (1-2)
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.”
· Before anything else was, the “Word” was.
· The Greek word which we have translated in English as the Word refers to the outward expression of something, to speech or message.
· And this word that we have translated in English as “Word” also points back to the revelation of God’s “Word” in the Old testament.
· Every time we see God’s Word spoken of in the Old Testament, it is His powerful self-expression in Creation; in the revelation of God and in salvation.
· John helps us see that God’s Word is the ultimate self-disclosure of God in the person of His own Son.
· In Genesis 1:3 and Psalm 33:6, the Word of God is tied to the powerful activity of God in creation. Throughout the creation narrative, God simple speaks and His powerful Word creates.
· In Jeremiah 1:4, Isaiah 9:8, Ezekiel 33:7 and Amos 3:1-8, the Word is active in revelation
· In Psalm 107:20 and Isaiah 55:1, the Word is active in deliverance
· In Isaiah, it is the “Word” of the Lord that comes to Isaiah.
· In Isaiah 55:11 and Psalm 29:3 God’s Word brings both deliverance and judgment
· In Psalm 107:20, God sends forth His word, heals them and rescues them from the grave.
“The word was with God, God's eternal fellow ; the Word was God, God's own self… And John intends that the whole of his gospel shall be read in light of this verse. The deeds and words of Jesus are the deeds and words of God; if this be not true the book is blasphemous.” –D.A Carson
· The Word was together with God. From the very beginning, the Son was God and the Son was with the Father.
· So, the Word both was with God and was God Himself – the Word was a distinct person from God the Father yet “God’s own self”.
2. Jesus is the Creator (3,10)
“All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
· The Word Himself was the very agent of God’s creation and He was the originator of everything that existed and He was with God before anything was made.
· In fact, one could say that the starting point of the gospel was in the Word – the Son of God - and it was before the beginning of the entire universe.
Colossians 1:16-17 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities- all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Hebrews 1:2-3 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
· The Word of God came to the world in the law, in prophecy, in deliverance, in judgment and mercy, in wisdom and in personal appearances in the Old Testament, but in all those cases the world did not know Him or acknowledge Him as their Creator.
· If we recognize Jesus as the Creator, it will enable us to really trust in Him not only for salvation but for our every day life.
· Surely, if He created everything, then He also has power over every area of our lives and we can trust in Him.
3. Jesus is the giver of life and light (4-5,9)
4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
· When Jesus came, His arrival was a bright light shining into a dark world and His arrival announced that God had come to be with man.
· In the Word was life. All of life flowed from Him and the life was the light of men.
Revelation 22:4-5 “They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
· Jesus is the light of the world and we will one day see Him as he truly is.
· And Jesus, this “Word” of God, shares the same, self-existing, self-sustaining life as God the Father Himself
John 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"
John 14:6 …"I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
· We know that left to ourselves, we would love darkness because our deeds are evil (John 3:19)
· At times it may even seem that the dark world has overcome the light
· But in the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the Word of God has brought the light of redemption and the light of His new creation to all mankind.
· The Son of God, Jesus Christ is the only One who truly enlightens mankind
· Verse 9 also speaks of the ultimate love of God to send the true light, His own Son, into the midst of sinful humanity that was actively rebelling against Him.
· Some upon whom the light shines flee from it, so that their deeds are not exposed. But others receive this revelation of God and are saved.
4. Jesus is the promised Son of God (7-8, 15)
· For hundreds of years, the coming of the Messiah had been prophesied
· In fact, the Old Testament includes about sixty different prophecies, with more than 300 references, of the coming of the Messiah that were all fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ.
· The purpose of John the Baptist’s coming was to bear witness about the light – the life that is in the Word.
· He was the final Old Testament prophet who prepared the way for Jesus and revealed the true light of the world, when he cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”
5. Jesus is the only giver of grace & truth (14,16-18)
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 and dwelt among us – the Word was born as a baby – the Creator became creature. It is astounding that the Creator and giver of life would Himself condescend to become man.
· The supreme revelation of God is seen in the person of Jesus Christ
Hebrews 1:1-2 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
· As FF Bruce has said, “When the Word became flesh, God became man”
· The Word of God lived amongst us. He was not distant; He is not unrelatable. He took on frail human flesh and identified with our experience in every way yet He did not sin
· The same glory of God that made His presence known in the tabernacle of old, came to make the presence of God known in the human tabernacle of Jesus.
· The phrase “dwelt among us” reminds us of when God tabernacle, or pitched His tent, amongst His people because He wanted them to be close to them.
· Jesus came and tabernacled in the world because He wanted the world to believe in Him and come to God through Him.
“I think what pitching a tent with us implies is that God wants to be on familiar terms with us. He wants to be close. He wants a lot of interaction. If you come into a community and build a huge palace with a wall around it, it says one thing about your desires to be with the people. But if you pitch a tent in my backyard, you will probably use my bathroom and eat often at my table. This is why God became human. He came to pitch a tent in our human backyard so that we would have a lot of dealings with him.” – John Piper
· Jesus glory was displayed in all of the signs and wonders that attested to who He was and is.
· In His death and resurrection, we have seen the glory of God, conquering sin and death
· God’s glory is His goodness and we have seen the glory of God in His goodness in the person of His Son made flesh
· Jesus displayed God’s glory in His compassion. He demonstrated God’s glory in being slow to anger, rich in love and faithfulness, in forgiving even those who crucified Him
18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.
· Jesus, the very Word of God – who is God the Son, fully God and at the Father’s side, has made God the Father known to us.
· Prior to the Word becoming flesh, there was no way for man to know God or to see God and apart from seeing Jesus for who He is, there is no way for sinful mankind to know God
· But now, Jesus has broken the impenetrable barrier to God and He has made God known to mankind.
· Jesus is the ultimate disclosure of God Himself
· God wants to be seen and known in the person of his Son.
6. We can receive Jesus or reject Him (11-13)
11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
· Even the very people that God called to be His own people, the people of Israel, did not receive Him.
12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
· Receiving Jesus is to believe, to trust in Him completely for who He is as the true giver of life and light.
· And to receive Him in this way, is to acknowledge all of His claimsof who He was and is and gratefully confess Him as Lord.
· This verse says that when anyone receives Him, they have the right to become children of God.
· Those who had no right previously. Those who could make no claims to be children of God, could become children of God by believing in His name – by receiving Him for who He is and trusting in Him for light and life.
13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
· All those who become children of God are not born of their own will, they are not born of any sort of fleshly activity or work, they are not born of human bloodlines or descent – amazingly, all those who receive Him are born again by the will of God Himself.
· New birth – as Jesus told Nicodemus, is nothing other than an act of God to make one born again
So, who is this Jesus? He is the eternal Son of God who came to reveal the truth so that we would be made alive in Him
· We all have a choice – we can reject God by rejecting who Jesus is or we can receive Jesus by believing in His name, asking Him to forgive us all of our sins, and trusting in Him to forgive us and make us alive in Him
“God came not just to show us grace but to give us grace; and we must receive it. God doesn't just want to stock your head with knowledge about his truth and grace, he wants you to receive it and experience it” – John Piper
· And for all those who receive Him, not only did Jesus come and live among us so that we can know Him from His life in the past though, Jesus promised to give us the Holy Spirit to live in us today. And He promised He would never leave us nor forsake us.
· We see in Revelation that one day, God will live with man again.
· Because of Jesus, not only has our fellowship with God been restored and can we now have free access to His throne of grace to receive mercy and help in our time of need, one day we will live with God forever.
Revelation 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God
Potential Application Questions:
1. How has your view of who Jesus is grown?
2. How does knowing that Jesus is the eternal Word of God help you trust Him?
3. Where have you been tempted to think of Jesus as smaller than He really is?
4. How have you treated Jesus differently than who He really is?
5. How does knowing that Jesus is the Creator of everything enable us to trust His power to orchestrate every detail of our daily lives for His glory and our good?
6. As a Christian, where have you sometimes looked for light and life outside of Jesus Christ?
7. How has seeing Jesus as the giver of truth and grace encouraged you to go to Him in prayer?
8. How does it change your view of Jesus to think of Him as “pitching a tent with us”, “in our human backyard” as John Piper said?
