 |
|
 |
Scripture Readings |
         
|
Printable
version of this week's sermonMt Hope Church Sunday Sermon John 1:1-18 Speaker Bob Metzger Hear these words from the disciple Jesus loved. (John 1:1-18 NIV) 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 men. 5.The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. 6.There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men 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 every man 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. 11. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- 13. children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.14. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15. John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, `He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'" 16. From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. 17. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known. May the Lord add His blessing to the reading of His word. I talked to the children this morning about my Christmas present, my game. One of the things that makes it special is that it was a gift from my son. This is quite a game. It comes on two CD’s for this game, which is a lot. That is a lot of information on those two little disks. There is a lot of things that has to happen before everything comes together and you can see it on the screen. One thing that had to happen was my computer had to be reborn because it didn’t have enough video card to play this game. I think that is a little bit like the way we are sometimes. When we don’t get enough of this ( the bible), when you are a little bit short in the word, we are kind of like our video card is overloaded. You get a little bit of the picture, but you don’t get it all became the memory is not big enough to take it all in. To me, I think that is the way we are before we start to believe in the word. Before we look into the manual and get an appreciation for the tremendous love, the tremendous power and strength of our God who created the world just by speaking. This is our God who in the beginning created it all. Go back in Genesis and you can read that beautiful story, and it tells us where it began. Not the big bang, not the evolution, but the very essence of the power of the universe, is our God. It is His power that holds together the atoms. It is His power that makes us into the form that we are. He created it all and then from the dust He creates man. Genesis tells us that. A beautiful way of putting it. I don’t know how or when it happened, but I know that God created us. And as He put that clay together, He breathed into us the breath of life. Ruah. Spirit. The Hebrew word for that is Spirit. The breath of life. The breath that is our spirit in us is God’s spirit. Without Him it would not have happened. And the word was with God. You look at me a little puzzled. What is word? The Greek word is logikos. And actually what it means is that Jesus Christ was with God in the beginning. This is the basis of our God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. This is all one. So Jesus was there at the beginning of the world. 3. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. He was there. Paul tells us that the only way we are going to understand Christ is if we are told about him. Or if we read the word. This is the only way we are going to know him is to read the manual. To get in here and realize that this is a love story written for us. Jesus was there at the beginning. Nothing was made that was not made. He was there. This is the power of our God. This is the one who is our life. There are a lot of people who don’t think God has anything to do with them. There are a lot who don’t think there is a God. There is a lot of people who think God is a nice concept. All of these people, everyone, is subject to God. Who of you here has ever slipped on ice? Probably this week, haven’t we? Know why you slipped on ice? Because the coefficient of friction was too low. Coefficient of friction is a term of physics. Physics is a study of motion. The natural phenomena. Isiac Newton came up with the idea that for every force there is a counter force. Everything in nature is balanced. All this study of physics is a study of what God put together at the beginning. We invented the science of physics, we didn’t invent the thing physics studies, God invented that. It goes back to that force I was telling you about that binds together the smallest particle. There is a force there and we don’t know where it comes from, where it started, or what it was. But I know. It is the very power of God that holds together this universe He created. And the only thing that keeps it together is His grace. And that is tremendous grace. And listen to what this grace did. And John witnesses to this. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. This is what John was putting forth. And he says, John the Baptist was saying that, now John the disciple that Jesus loved says, He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. If we don’t recognize a father, how can re recognize the son? But on the other hand, you think about who the father is. What power and majesty that absolutely holds your body together. We realize that he sent to us his only son. The very most precious thing he has. I had a hard time with this until I had a son, and a granddaughter. When you realize the preciousness, the very wonderful feeling and bond you have with your children, to send them to die for someone you don’t even know. We don’t possess that kind of love, do we? There is no way. But God does. The very grace of God, the powerful king of the universe would send his son into this world. And yes, He was the light and then men rejected him. And he knew they would reject him. He knew they would persecute him. He knew they would flog him. He knew they would put him on a cross. That somehow satan looked like he was going to win this. But then we get down to John 28, we get down to Matthew 20, we get down to the end of the story - not the end of the story, this is the end of the beginning. Like to song says, the tomb was empty. Death could not hold the King of the Universe. Death could not hold His son. Death could not hold our friend and savior. If you look at the gospels, John’s gospel is one of feeling and heart. John wanted you to know the divinity of Jesus Christ. But Matthew, Mark and Luke wanted you to know the man. They recounted a lot of daily things in Jesus’ life, especially Luke. And we know that the son of God was on earth in the flesh just like you and I who hungered, got tired, got thirsty, who suffered death with one great difference. He conquered death for us. He didn’t have to come down here and do that. He didn’t have to do that for us, but he did. Because he loved us enough. You don’t have to go too far in John to find that at John 3:16. For God so loved the world, that he sent his only begotten son that none should parish but have everlasting life. This is the promise. This is our God. This is the one who made you. The one who loved you enough to do the very supreme thing for you. But how many times do we forget that? How many times do we go on your own way and think, ‘I’m doing good, I’m doing fine’? No problems. I think a lot of us as soon as we walk out this door we think that. Not a lot of us, but I’m putting me in that, too. I tend to forget that very often. What I want you to know today is that in the manual, if you pick it up as often as you can, look in there and realize that there is someone there that loves you. There is someone there who will be with you through eternity. Someone who will be there with you. In my father’s house there are many, many mansions. And I am going there to prepare a place for you. And he is doing that. That place is prepared for us right now. So we can live like that. And the thing He would have us do is to help him to bring that light into the world. Let someone else know that the light of the world is Jesus Christ. The way to eternal life is Jesus Christ. That he is the answer to their problems. He didn’t promise you a rose garden, did he? He promised you eternal life, but he didn’t say it would be easy. And truly, even for his own family it wasn’t easy because Simeon told Mary there would be a sword that would pierce her own heart. There would be sadness, and sorrow. There will be sadness and sorrow in our life even as we follow the Saviour. But we know there is nothing the world can do to us. Nothing satan can do to us out there that will keep us from eternal life, from being with Christ. Just as that thief was on the cross next to him, this day you shall be with me in paradise. What a promise. That is the promise of the book. Read it and try to put it in your hearts and know that through his manual we can live our lives and live lives full and peace and joy and happiness. This is the way. There is the way, the cross. Like the song says, it leads home. So read the manual. Get your video card updated. Get your heart right. Get ready for Him because He seeks you. Amen? Amen. |
|
|
