03-11-08 Sermon Review

Every Wednesday night I will try to post a summary transcript of the sermon as well as some of my own personal thoughts on the sermon for your meditation. I pray these sermon reviews will be helpful for you all to digest the Word and to have the Word richly dwell within you. I also hope these posts will be helpful when you miss a Sunday service by allowing you to keep up with what's being preached on Sundays and be fed through the week. With that said, let's have our first sermon review!

John 1:1 The Gospel According to John

This Gospel is indeed a precious Gospel. It is my favorite book in the bible and if I had to read only one book of the bible for the rest of my life, the Gospel according to John would be it. But it's also one of the books I've studied the least. So I am very excited to start this exposition on the Gospel According to John.

The author of this precious Gospel is John the Apostle. Though that seems obvious to us, there are those who would like to say that the Apostle didn't really write this Gospel. This is so that they can attack the inerrancy of Scripture. But internal and external evidence shows that John is indeed the author of this Gospel. Irenaus, an early church Father, attributes this book to John. The significance of that testimony is that Irenaus was a disciple under Polycarp who was a disciple under John. Irenaus most likely learned from Polycarp that it was John that wrote this Gospel.

The internal evidence also shows that John is most likely the author. The disciple of Jesus who wrote the Gospel calls himself repeatedly "the disciple whom Jesus loved." Along with that clue is the fact that the name John never appears in this book, though it appears significantly in the other Gospels. Through such process of elimination, the internal evidence affirms that John is indeed the author.

Now, what is the significance that John is the author of this book? First, John was a close associate of Jesus and witnessed the ministry of Jesus first-hand. John talked and walked with the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, this book is an eye-witness account of Jesus. We should not think at all that the Gospel is not an accurate representation of the historical facts. They are. John wrote the Gospel.

Second, John thought a lot about the person and work of Jesus Christ. The Gospel was written near the end of the first-century when John was quite old. Approximately forty years have gone by since John had last seen Jesus with his own eyes. Those forty years was undoubtedly a time of deep meditation for the Apostle as he ministered to countless Christians. The Gospel is not simply an accurate representation from an eye-witness account, it is also infused with the tender meditation and thoughts of an Apostle who spent a considerable time thinking about the person of Christ.

Third, John was persecuted for Christ. Though John was not martyred for the sake of Christ, it is undoubted that he was persecuted. According to Polycarp, John was boiled alive in hot oil because of his love for Christ. Amazingly, he survived and was later exiled to the island of Patmos where he supposedly wrote this Gospel. John loved Jesus. He beheld Him, he thought about Him, he was persecuted for Him. It is this kind of an author who writes this precious Gospel for us.

John writes this book with a purpose. In John 2o:31, he writes, "but these things have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name." He writes this book to display Jesus as the Christ. He also writes this book that those who read it might believe on Him and have life. This is why I'm so excited to study this book. I pray as the text is exposited and as you come to understand the meaning of the text, that you would come to see clearly who Jesus is. And if you have not yet believed in Him, that you would. And if you already believe in Him, that your faith in Him and delight in Him will ever grow stronger.

Now that we're done with the introduction, let us get into the text. John 1:1 reads, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." As stated earlier, John writes to explain who Jesus is (i.e. Christ, the Son of God). Consistent with his purpose, he begins his Gospel by making a BOLD assertion about the person of Christ. I guess you can say this verse is his thesis. There are four things that John attributes to Christ here in this verse that is very important for us to understand.

1. Jesus is the Word. I find it very significant that the verse does not say, "In the beginning was Jesus, and Jesus was with God, and Jesus was God." It substitutes "Jesus" with "the Word." Now the Greek for "Word" is "logos," and it has a wide range of meaning. But John must be attributing the Jewish concept of the Word to Jesus. The Word to the Jew meant the power of God in creation and the revelation of God to His people. It is this concept that is attributed to Jesus. He is the creative power; He was the agent the Father used for creation (cf. John1:3). He was also the revelation of God. Hebrews 1:2 says God "in these last days has spoken to us in His Son." Therefore, Jesus is the perfect representation of the Father, He comes to reveal the Father to us.

2. Jesus is Eternal. The verse starts "In the beginning." Jesus was there in the beginning. There was no time when Jesus was not, He always was. When there was nothing, Jesus was. In fact, because of His eternal nature, all things that exist must be dependent upon Him for their existence. The bible tells us that all things are "from Him and through Him and for Him" (Romans 11:36). You can't have the world without Jesus.

3. Jesus is a Person. The verse states that "the Word was with God." This Greek construction used here most often times refers to personal relationships. That is to say Sam with Jim vs. rice with eggs. Jesus in the beginning was with God. This means that Jesus had a personal relationship with God before the world began. How amazing! The world, contrary to popular belief, was not created because God was lonely and wanted to have friends. He was never lonely and He never will be. This also stresses the importance of relationships in our lives! Especially that within the Church. What an awesome thought that believers partake in a fellowship that is modeled after this divine fellowship between Father and Son.

4. Jesus is God. Now this last statement is probably the most significant of all. This statement has baffled the theologians mind for centuries. Jesus was both with God, and was God. Separate persons, yet equal. The Greek construction here literally means, "Everything God was Jesus was." It is the most precise way to have attribute deity to Christ without making Him the same person as God the Father. Oh the wonder of the Trinity. But I doubt that John wrote this to just baffle us with the complexity of the Trinity. He wanted us to understand that Jesus is not just a friend, He is supremely above us. He is Lord. He is God. This verse should not leave us trying to solve the mystery of the Trinity. This verse should spur worship to Jesus and submission to Jesus.

What a grand introduction to the Gospel the Apostle sets before us! It is my desire that we all come to a greater delight in Jesus as we see how the Apostle shows us the wonders of Jesus in the rest of the Gospel.