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Tuesday
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. - John 1:1-5
The Gospel of John was penned by the aged Apostle in about 85 AD. It was the last of the four Gospels to be written. At the time John wrote his gospel, 50 years had passed since Christ has been on the earth. John sits with pen in hand and the Holy Spirit brings back memories. Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, John didn’t make a single mistake and he didn’t forget a thing!
By the time this book was circulated among the Christian community, the other Gospels were household words. People the world over had already the accounts of the life of Christ as recorded by Matthew, Mark and Luke. These first three Gospels are called the Synoptic Gospels. The word "synoptic" means "to see together." This means that the first three Gospels contain many of the same stories and teachings, but told from a different angle. Yet, each fully inspired by the Lord.
John's Gospel is different! In the pages of this wonderful book, we see a side of Christ that the other Gospel writers do not touch on in quite the same way.
When Jesus came preaching repentance (Mark 1:15) people thought He was strange. When He began to heal and perform miracles, they thought He was a prophet sent by God, (John 3:2). When He spoke the Word of God with power, men thought He was amazing (Luke 4:36). However, when Jesus claimed equality with God, men thought He was crazy.
The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.” - John 19:7
He stopped being a blessing or a curiosity and became a controversy when He claimed to be God, John 14:9!
People still grapple with these truths! They are willing to accept the humble Christ, the teaching Christ, the meek Christ, the dead Christ, the serving Christ. However, they will not give acknowledgment to the God/Man Jesus Christ. He is still 100 % God and 100% man all wrapped up in one. It is best summed up by Paul in Phil. 2:5-8. In these amazing verses, the Apostle sets forth in clear, concise language, the fact that Jesus existed before Bethlehem. That He willing humbled Himself and came to this world in the condition of a servant. Jesus is God in human flesh!
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. - Philippians 2:5-8
Jeff Frazier
Monday
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. - John 1:1-5
Each gospel is distinct in its own way. In Matthew, for example, Jesus Christ is presented as the promised king and Messiah of Israel. Consequently Matthew's message to Israel and the world is this: Behold your king. Mark, on the other hand, does not present Christ as king, but presents Him as a servant/prophet. And that's the reason there's no genealogy in Mark because no servant had a genealogy that mattered. Mark's message to the world is behold your servant. When you come to Luke's gospel you see that Luke presented Christ as the perfect man walking among the people of the world and so Luke's message is behold the man.
Matthew wants us to behold the king, Mark wants us to behold the servant, Luke wants us to behold the man, that is the humanity of Christ. When we come to the gospel of John we see a completely dimension. We see when we begin the gospel of John that heaven opens up and the first thing that happens is the eternal Son of God descends. God and man, in one blessed and glorious person, the eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ. John's message is behold your God! And his revelation was written to establish the truth of the divinity and the deity of Jesus Christ, that He is absolute total God of very God living in a human body. He is not half-God, half-man, He is total God and total man. And so the genealogy that John presents doesn't name any human beings. It goes right back to the time before time, the time of eternity, and says that He was there when it all began. That's His genealogy. He didn't start; he always was. So John presents to us God.
In the first three verses John presents His pre-existence that He is from eternity. In verse 1, John writes, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God." John ascends beyond the beginning of Genesis 1. the very first words of Genesis say, "In the beginning God created the world." This is a different beginning. God says in the very beginning of beginnings. From the very beginning of beginnings, which never began, the Word, Christ was there. He always was. He never came into existence because He always was. In the beginning of beginnings before beginnings even began God was. Just the first three words, in the beginning transport us into a realm that is absolutely beyond comprehension. Praise God if you feel like you cannot quite grasp this, because if you could fully understand, then you’d be God.
John 1 is one of those sweeping inspirational passages that surpasses human thought. In the beginning past, when the heavens and the earth were created, the Word already existed. From all eternity the Word existed. The Word was in the beginning of beginnings. The Word was not created. It never began. It always was. And when God set out to create this world the Word was already there, and the Word, of course, refers to Jesus Christ!
Oh Lord, you have spoken to us through Your written word the Bible, and You continue to speak to us today through Your Holy Spirit and as the living Word Jesus. Help us to hear what you have to say, open our minds and our hearts that we might receive Your Word to us - Amen.
Jeff Frazier
To listen to the audio version, click here.
Friday, Dec. 5
John 1:1-14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 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.
Just a few weeks from now our family will gather around a brightly decorated Christmas tree and take turns opening gifts. Most of the gifts will be wrapped in traditional holiday wrapping paper; but our boys have developed their own tradition of creative gift wrapping. Every Christmas they draw names out of a hat to see which brother they will give a gift to and, once they have chosen the gift, part of the fun is wrapping it in an unusual way.
Sometimes that means the gift is wrapped with duct-tape. Sometimes it means the gift is hidden in 7 different boxes, each wrapped and hidden inside a larger box. Sometimes it means the gift is wrapped in newspaper, or even a plain brown paper bag. Sometimes the gift is hidden somewhere in the house and has to be found through a series of scavenger hunt clues.
So the wrapping of the gift has actually become part of the gift.
So it is, John says, with the gift God gives in Jesus.
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.
Yesterday we saw that in Jesus the glory of God becomes visible. Today we see that the gift God gives is wrapped in human flesh; and in that flesh we receive both grace and truth.
Let’s take “truth” first.
Jesus is the truth of God because he reveals our sinful condition. John writes:
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
It is the nature of light to reveal. Jesus is the light that reveals both the glory of God and the sinful brokenness of the world. In Jesus we see God’s goodness and holiness as well as our own need for that goodness and holiness.
And because the light reveals the truth about our condition we often recoil from the light and retreat into darkness where we can hide from God and from ourselves.
This is what John means when he says, He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
The light of truth is threatening and we often seek to avoid coming face to face with truth.
But, John says, Jesus is also full of grace. The grace of God is what allows us to face the truth about ourselves.
Jesus is the grace of God because through his suffering and death he covers our debt and provides for our salvation.
Hebrews 2:17
For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.
Jesus is full of grace and truth because God is full of grace and truth.
Jesus offers grace and truth because both are necessary for our salvation.
Truth without grace is harsh and condemning.
Grace without truth is license and permissiveness.
Grace with truth means our sins can be acknowledged and forgiven.
This is the gift God has wrapped in flesh and offered to us.
This is the gift of Jesus.
Pastor Brian Coffey
To listen to the audio version, click here.
Thursday, Dec. 4
John 1:14
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.
This past August I spent three days in the Boundary Waters between Minnesota and Canada. I joined my son, several of his old high school church buddies, and a couple of other Dads on a camping and fishing trip.
Since my son and I have no outdoor skills to speak of it was our job to set up the tents, which we managed to do without significant bodily injury.
We spent three glorious days in the wild; fishing, sitting around a campfire and sleeping in tents.
Did I mention it was three days?
Well, the second day it was raining too hard to fish so we all gathered in the largest tent and spent the afternoon hanging out, telling manly stories, playing cards and napping. Four college age guys and three men in their 50‘s in one tent for about five hours.
It was...how do I say it... “close!”
We were most definitely with each other!
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us
The Greek word John uses for “dwelled” means to “set up a tent.”
To us to “set up a tent” sounds temporary...like a three day camping trip. But in that culture it meant something much different; it meant something permanent.
The meaning is closer to “God moved into the neighborhood.”
Setting up his tent means that God has come near.
He has come to dwell in our world; to walk our streets; to commute with us to work; to eat at our tables.
He has come so that we can know what God is like.
John writes:
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.
Johns says that in Jesus we see three things; glory, grace and truth. We’ll talk about grace and truth tomorrow; but let’s start with glory today.
John says that Jesus is the glory of God made visible.
Hebrews 1:1-2
In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being,
In Jesus we see the glory of God, and that glory is seen in a surprising way! For this glory is not seen in flashes of lightning from the sky; or in untold riches of heavenly splendor; but in human flesh that suffered, bled and died.
In Jesus we see the glory of a God who is willing to enter the brokenness and pain of our world.
When we think of glory, we usually think of a person of great fame or importance or power. We typically think of glory as that which belongs only to a very select few. Glory is beyond the reach and experience of ordinary people.
Not so, says John.
In Jesus God’s glory came to earth; in Jesus God’s glory became visible; in Jesus God’s glory came to us.
Pastor Brian Coffey
To listen to the audio version, click here.
Wednesday, Dec. 3
John 1:14
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.
Like most pastors I am often invited into people’s lives at times of great suffering and pain.
I serve as an on-call chaplain for our local hospital so there are several weeks during the year when I am on-call to respond to emergency situations. As you can imagine, when I get that call from the hospital, it’s never good news.
In June of this past summer it was Saturday of my on-call week and I hadn’t had a call all week. In fact, I had kind of forgotten that I was even on call.
Then my cell phone rang late in the afternoon and I looked at the number and recognized it as the hospital, and I remembered I was on call.
When I answered the head ER nurse said they had just brought in a 4 year-old little boy who had drowned in a swimming pool. She said doctors were working on him but it didn’t look good. Could I come in and be with the family?
By the time I arrived at the hospital the boy had already died and his parents were thrust into the agony of grief and loss. It was one of the most difficult and painful situations I have ever encountered.
One of the great questions of human life is, “Why is there suffering and evil in the world?”
This is a very difficult question but to answer we have to start with the love of God.
Sin and evil exist because God created everything that is in love. With love comes freedom and with freedom comes the possibility of sin and evil.
For example:
I love my children. I could prevent them from doing evil or experiencing evil by chaining them in their rooms their whole lives. Nothing bad would happen. But that would not be love at all.
So, as parents, we teach, we give boundaries, we discipline, but because we love our children we eventually must give them freedom.
So when God took on flesh; when Jesus entered this world, he entered the same world that we live in; a world created in love but broken by sin.
In Jesus God became vulnerable to suffering.
Isaiah 53:3
He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
In Jesus God entered into at least three kinds of human suffering.
First, he became vulnerable to physical suffering. This is most visible, of course, as he endured the pain and torture of the cross. But we can also assume that fi he fell and skinned his knee as a child he would have also experienced physical pain.
Second, in Jesus God became vulnerable to what could simply be called basic human needs. Jesus knew what it was to be hungry and thirsty; to be dog-tired and in need of rest.
Third, and perhaps most significantly, in Jesus God became vulnerable to spiritual suffering.
Temptation is a form of spiritual suffering.
Matthew’s gospel tells the story of Satan tempting Jesus in the wilderness. I think most of us tend to underestimate this aspect of Jesus’ humanity. In Hebrews 4:25 we read:
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet he did not sin.
Jesus also experienced the agony of spiritual abandonment. Scripture tells us that as he was dying on the cross he cried out: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Jesus also suffered terrible injustice and unfairness.
Sometimes people ask: “Why is life so unfair?” or even, “Is God fair?”
Jesus is God’s answer to that question. If “fairness” means; “If I am a good person, will good things happen to me?” Then the answer is “No, not always.”
God is love; God is just; but in this life, in this world, there is no such thing as “fairness.”
Jesus was without sin; lived a perfect human existence; yet suffered almost unimaginable injustice and cruelty.
The gospel is not about fairness, it’s about grace. And grace is this:
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son...
Pastor Brian Coffey
To listen to the audio version, click here.
Tuesday, Dec. 2
John 1:1-14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 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.
A few years ago actor and director Mel Gibson made a film entitled, “The Passion of the Christ.” The movie was a graphic and powerful portrayal of the sufferings of Jesus during his final hours on earth. While the film did touch on the resurrection, it focused mainly on Jesus’ suffering, his “passion.”
Along the way Gibson included a number of “flashback” scenes that told something of the story of Jesus’ life before the cross. One scene, in particular, I found very moving.
In the scene Jesus is an adult man working in his small carpentry shop, which seems to be behind the home he shared with his mother. Mary watches her son as he finishes work on a table and then asks him if he is hungry. He says, “Yes, I am.”
Just a simple scene from an ordinary day. We don’t know much about Jesus’ life before his public ministry began, but we do know that he was a man who got hungry.
John concludes the brilliant introduction to his gospel with:
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.
Word and flesh.
He wants us to see right off the bat that Jesus is both God man; fully divine and fully human. This is crucial because if Jesus is not the eternal Word; if Jesus is not God, if Jesus was just another good, religious, moral, human teacher, then all Christian theology collapses.
Throughout history there have been two major categories of heresies (false teachings) when it comes to Jesus. One set of heresies claims that Jesus was only human and not divine.
There have been a number of variations of this heresy throughout history, including include Arianism, Ebionitism, and Adoptionism. They each deny that Jesus was truly God, but rather was simply a extraordinary man that God blessed with supernatural powers.
This is also the most popular misunderstanding about Jesus in our culture today. Many, many people believe that Jesus was a great man in history; an influential spiritual teacher like Buddha or Gandhi or Mohammed, but do not believe Jesus is God.
The problem is, of course, that Jesus himself claimed to be God.
John 14:9
Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.
Furthermore, claiming to be the Son of God was the very very reason he was put to death on the cross.
John 5:18
For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
Some of the earliest creeds of the church, creeds that Christians still recite together today, were developed to correct this false teaching about Jesus.
Nicene Creed (325 AD)
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.
This part of the creed focuses on the divinity of Christ; stating clearly that Jesus was indeed God.
The significance of this claim cannot be overstated. For if Jesus was not fully God then God did not take on flesh; and if God did not take on flesh then he did not give himself as a perfect sacrifice for our sins and Christianity is nothing but a religious hoax.
But, scripture says, Jesus was also flesh; he was fully human.
The Chalcedonian Creed is very long but includes this pasage:
...our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man, of a reasonable soul and body; consubstantial with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to the Manhood; in all things like unto us, without sin...
This creed was written to combat the heresy of Docetism; which claimed Jesus was divine but not really human. Jesus only seemed to have a body; only seemed to be human.
Again, the problem is that the Bible goes to great lengths to establish the humanity of Jesus of Nazareth.
He was born of a human mother.
He was tempted.
He wept at the death of a friend.
We’ll talk much more about this in a minute, but he experienced physical hunger, thirst, pain and death.
John says that not only was Jesus the eternal Word of God, and therefore God himself, but that the “word became flesh.”
Jesus didn’t “seem” to be human.
Jesus didn’t just “inhabit” a human body.
Jesus was the God with skin.
But why does flesh matter?
The incarnation matters because it makes the gospel possible! Flesh makes forgiveness possible!
In Hebrews 9:22 Paul writes:
Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
Blood only comes from real flesh, from a real physical body. If Jesus were only divine, only spirit; or if Jesus was a heavenly being, like an angel, he would not be flesh and blood. But because He took on human flesh could He be the sacrifice to atone for our sins.
In 1 John 1:7 we read:
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
The incarnation matters because it makes death and resurrection possible.
If God did not become flesh, Jesus could not have really died; and therefore could not have really risen from the dead.
In 1 Corinthians 15:14-17 Paul writes:
And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith... And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
What we need to see here as that the Word became flesh not just so we can put manger scenes in our yards or send quaint Christmas cards to each other! The incarnation matters; the baby in the manger matters, because without him, without his flesh, there is no gospel!
Pastor Brian Coffey
To listen to the audio version, click here.
Monday, Dec. 1
John 1:1-14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 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.
Twice a year at our church we celebrate what we call “The Dedication of Children.” It’s a brief ceremony in which parents covenant before God to raise their children in the Christian faith. We observe this ceremony in the context of a worship service because we want to emphasize the importance of families in the process of spiritual development.
Since we can have anywhere from 5 to 25 children being dedicated the whole thing can be a bit unpredictable. You never know when a child will pull on the mike, or have a sudden bodily function, or just look at you and scream.
It can be a little messy; just like life.
Whenever I dedicate children these days I always think back to when my wife and I dedicated our own children years ago. I also find myself remembering the anticipation and joy of the the birth of our first son.
We had waited almost 5 years after being married, so we were very excited to become parents.
Like many new parents of our generation we signed up for Lamaze classes and learned all the techniques that were supposed to help with the birthing process. I was enthusiastic about my role as “coach” and dutifully practiced my breathing so I would be able to be a great support for my wife.
Then the time came and all the training and classes went right out the window.
First of all, the labor process took like three days; we just weren’t prepared for that.
And then, after what seemed like a thousand hours, when it was time for the baby to be born there was a complication and our doctor ordered an emergency C-section.
Things got very scary very fast. Lots of technicians and nurses showed up and within a couple of minutes my wife was in surgery and I was watching helplessly from behind a screen. Terrified.
All of a sudden I saw the doctor reach down and then he held up my new-born son for me to see...and he was ...blue?
Later I found out that it’s quite normal for newborns to look like baby squids but I must missed that in the classes. I was totally unprepared for that color!
The whole thing was just messier and “earthier” than I had expected.
Then two days later they wrapped our now beautiful baby up in a blanket and told us we could take him home.
Just like that.
We didn’t have to take a test; they didn’t hand us an owner’s manual or a detailed instruction booklet. They just handed us our baby, “Congratulations, have fun!”
I remember feeling a strange combination of overwhelming joy and almost paralyzing fear.
“What in the world are we doing!?”
In his soaring introduction to his gospel John identifies Jesus as the eternal Word of God through whom the universe was created (which we will cover in next weeks “10 Minutes with God”). Then he concludes with:
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.
Whoa!
Sometimes I think we’ve become so familiar with what we call the “Story of Christmas” that we no longer hear, see and feel the shock and awe of it all.
The Word became flesh.
God took on skin and breath and hair.
Really? The God who created the universe by speaking it into existence would humble himself to be born into this world through a human mother? He would take on flesh with all it’s frailties and pains and indignities? He would subject himself to hunger and thirst and fatigue; to love and grief and loneliness?
What for? What in the world is God doing?
Author Frederick Buechner says it this way:
The Word became flesh. Ultimate Mystery born with a skull you could crush one-handed. Incarnation. It is not tame. It is not beautiful. It is uninhabitable terror. It is unthinkable darkness riven with unbearable light. Agonized laboring led to it, vast upheavals of intergalactic space, time split apart, a wrenching and tearing of the very sinews of reality itself. You can only cover your eyes and shudder before it, before this: “God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God… who for us and for our salvation,” as the Nicene Creed puts it, “came down from heaven.”
The Apostle John says it this way:
“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us...”
Pastor Brian Coffey
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