The Word                                     John 1:1-6

The past few years I’ve begun the year by examining a different gospel. This year I want to work through the gospel of John.

First, we need to look at who John is. John is Jewish. He’s a follower of Jesus. And he describes himself several times in his gospel as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”

I want to take a minute and look at this. At first this sounds like John is conceited, “Jesus loves me, too bad for you,” but this is not why he calls himself this. John called himself “the disciple whom Jesus loved” because he understood God’s love more than the other disciples did, and this is because he was the only disciple at the foot of the cross when Jesus was crucified. His “nickname” does not imply that Jesus didn’t love the others, it shows John’s confidence in Jesus’ love, and it’s tempered with humility because he knows Jesus loves him because of who Jesus is, not because of what John did.

If I asked you who you are, you’d probably give me your name. Depending on the conversation, you might tell me you’re a Christian. But I bet not one of us would say, “I’m the one God loves.” But you know what? We should. It’s not self-serving, it’s the truth of the divine. God loves you. God loves you more than can be described. I am a Christian whom God loves. It shows I understand that God loves me not because of the great things I say or do, God loves me because of who he is.

Many scholars believe that the gospels were not actually written by Mark or Matthew but were written by one of their followers or students decades after Christ. These same studiers of scripture do, however, believe it is the apostle John who penned this gospel. It’s also interesting to note that the other disciples died hard deaths, Peter and Andrew were crucified, others were beheaded, but John lives a long life and dies of natural causes. This John is also the one Jesus gave his revelation, the last book of the Bible, too. Revelation 1:1, “The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John.”

Each of the gospel authors had different focuses and audiences. The focus of John is the divinity of Jesus; John 20:31, “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John is writing to the church to show them they are not wrong in their belief that Jesus is God. He’s also writing to unbelievers to show them that Jesus is God and their faith and trust in him is never misplaced. As John’s purpose is to show Jesus is God, he jumps right in right at the beginning of his writing.

We all know Genesis is the first book of the Bible and it describes the creation; but John starts even before this, back to when there was only God. John 1:1, “In the beginning there was only God, and with God was the Word, and the Word was God.”

Here is the difference between Christianity and some other “religions.” Some religions and cults teach that a man can become enlightened enough to become God, The Bible teaches that Almighty God, creator of heaven and earth and all life, became a man in the person of Jesus.

Now I want to look at this term, “the Word.” The easy assumption is the Word is the person, Jesus. That is true, but there’s more here than just this. “The Word” refers to Jesus destiny. Matthew 24:35, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”

I work for money. But my money will slip from my fingers, my life will pass out of my body.

I’ve heard people talk about how a certain politician is the only one who will keep things the same. They can be a little ambiguous about what those things are, but the truth is, everything changes, just look at all the changes that have occurred in our lifetimes. Change is inevitable. What is important today will not be tomorrow. What is valuable today will not be tomorrow.

Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Jesus’ destiny is he’ll reign forever. God’s Word will never change, fail, or let you down. Jesus was there before the water and land separated, and he will be there after the earth passes from existence. John shows us the only thing we can count on with total security is the Word of God.

“The Word” refers to Jesus’ divinity. “The Priority of Knowing God” by Peter Deison includes this story about Ramad, a thief in India. While robbing a home he picked up their Bible intent on using its pages to roll cigarettes. The Bible was written in his language and as he tore out the pages, he began to read them. And one night after reading, he got on his knees and asked the Lord Jesus to forgive him and to save him. After this he turned himself in to the police and while in prison, he led others to Christ.

John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Jesus is divine and only he can offer and lead you to forgiveness and salvation.

“The Word” refers to Jesus’ dwelling. John 1:14, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” The Word of God came out of the glory and majesty of heaven, took on flesh, and lived among those who turned their backs on him.

Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” When you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, your old sinful life dies, it dies up on that cross and you are resurrected with the glory and perfection of the living Christ. And the best part is you don’t have to wait for it, from the moment you believe Christ lives within you, he is infused into every cell in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God.”

Many religions have gods who live separate from men, up on a mountain, down in a cave. Our Lord Jesus isn’t in some far-off place, he lives inside us. This is the glory and power of our Lord, the one true God and creator.

John 14:9, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” John’s goal is to show Jesus and the Father are one and the same, and he starts his argument for this immediately and powerfully. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) But John also wants us to understand how this reality affects us as the faithful. Jesus is the Word of God. He is the embodiment of all that God is. That in itself is powerful enough for us, but he goes on to show us more about “the Word of God.”

“The Word” shows us Jesus’ divinity. Jesus is the Lord who left the glory of heaven and became a man and lived among other men. And only Jesus was given up for you, only Jesus can offer God’s salvation to you.

“The Word” shows us Jesus’ destiny. He is constant, never changing. And he’s the one thing we can always depend on.

“The Word” shows us Jesus’ dwelling place. Jesus is with you always, inside your very being. He is a part of you and you are a part of him, never to be separated.

And the last thing I want to say today; take a lesson from John. You are the person Jesus loves. Take comfort in that. Take joy in that. Be proud of that. And confess that.

Amen