I Wonder as I Wander

I hope you don't mind, but I am taking a break from our study in John for the Christmas season and thought I would do the same on my blog. So here is my first sermon originally written by David Jenkins and then changed up for our folks.

John 1:14-18
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.

As John brings the prologue to his gospel to a close, the last five verses - verses 14 through 18 - are like the mighty finale of a musical composition played by some great symphony orchestra. We hear the rolling of drums, the crashing of cymbals - the entire percussion section of the orchestra comes alive. The fingers of the harpist fly across the strings and the trumpets blast.

In these five verses three arresting facts surface regarding the incarnation of our Lord - the mystery by which God became man. First of all, let's note:

1. The great condescension (v. 14a); The Word became flesh and took up residence among us.

To condescend means to lower oneself to a level not normally occupied - physically, mentally, or socially.

It means to descend voluntarily to the level of another person. And with human beings, this is not always done with kindness. Sometimes there is an air of contempt, snobbery, and haughtiness in human condescension.

But there is another side to the use of this word. It also means to be graciously willing to do something regarded as beneath one's dignity. This is what God did when He became flesh. With a mysterious mixture of Divine grace and love, He performed the greatest act of condescension of all time and eternity.

The Word that John personified is the very expression and manifestation of God. The creative power of God was in the Word (1:3). With such limitless power, the Word of God condescended to be compressed into human flesh. This is the mystery of the incarnation.

 Mystery is one of our English words that cover a lot of territory. There are many kinds of mysteries.
In the world of literature, there are the "who-done-its" of the Agatha Christie style of writing that are entertaining for those who enjoy that type of reading.

Innumerable scientific mysteries exist, such as the process of photosynthesis by which light transforms carbon dioxide and water into plant food. Today, there is the mystery of space and the knowledge being gained from observing the vast unknown.

Yet the greatest of all mysteries is that of the incarnation of the Son of God - that moment in time and eternity when God chose, by His own methods, to become man. John purposely used the crude, blunt word, "flesh." The sophisticated Greeks recoiled from the word flesh in regard to Deity. Flesh, to them, was corruptible, temporary, and doomed to be destroyed and cast aside. No God would deal with anything as degrading as human flesh. Yet that is exactly what God did. He entered human flesh, which stands for the whole person.

In becoming flesh, God accepted the limitations of humanity. He became vulnerable to those natural human weaknesses that accompany our flesh - hunger, thirst, physical weariness, and pain. He experienced the emotional traumas we experience - disappointment, sorrow, hurt, loneliness, and rejection.

Because Christ Jesus had no sin nature, He did this without the taint of sin. While Christ Jesus committed no sin while He was on earth, He experienced sin in a way that was far more overwhelming than committing sin. Why did He cry out in Gethsemane in horror? What caused Him to sweat "great drops of blood," and to plead with His Heavenly Father, "Abba, Father! All things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me" (Mark 14:36)? He was not about to succumb to some temptation to sin. It was worse than that. He was about to "drink the cup" containing all the sordid sins of mankind compressed together. He became sin for us.

John said that Christ Jesus "lived for a while among us." Literally, that means He "pitched His tent" or "cast His lot" with us. He “moved in” with us.

2. The amazing discovery (v. 14b); We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. Another word of deep significance in this description of our Lord's incarnation is glory.

Human beings can achieve a degree of earthly glory. A person performs some outstanding deed, some benevolent act, or makes a great monetary contribution to some worthy cause. Often this person receives honor in a blaze of glory, admiration, and appreciation. 

A degree of human glory is attached to a person who makes some astounding discovery that makes life easier or more pleasant or safer for us. Someone like Jonas Salk who perfected the polio vaccine, or Louis Pasteur, whose process made milk and milk products safer for human consumption.

The first time we see the glory of God is when He declares, "Let there be light" (Genesis 1:3). What light was that? It was not the physical light of the sun, because the sun and stars had not yet been created. It was the glory of God in all of His heavenly brightness. God's glory filled the earth with indescribable beauty.

The glory of God appeared next in the mysterious cloud that hovered over the Israelites from the crossing of the Red Sea until they entered the Promised Land 40 years later. But when John wrote, "We have seen his glory." He wrote of the glory of God in Christ Jesus. This glory was manifested every time Christ Jesus performed a miracle. It was manifested in His life-changing teachings that got the attention of the people, convicted them of their sins, and showed them God's desire to forgive them and make them His children. Christ Jesus' glory was revealed when He was transfigured with Moses and Elijah before Peter, James, and John.

What about now? Is it possible for us to observe His glory today? Yes we can. You see God's glory does not abide in one body now, as it did in the earthly body of Christ Jesus. Through the Person of the Holy Spirit, this glory dwells within each and every believer. It is present not just in the stained-glass experiences we have in our corporate worship assemblies, but in the marketplace on Monday, in the school room, on the athletic field, and in everyday tasks in the home.

We can express the glory of God with supernatural effectiveness. Christ Jesus reacted to human suffering when He healed sick and crippled bodies. Christ Jesus showed His glory to human hunger when He fed the multitudes, and to human sorrow when He raised Lazarus and the widow of Nain's (nah-in') son from the dead. We express God's glory when we pray with someone or for someone. When we help a neighbor having a rough time out. When ever we show the love of Christ we are showing God's glory.

The crowning statement John made provided:

3. The startling revelation (v. 18); No one has ever seen God. The only Son - the One who is at the Father's side - He has revealed Him.

Moses had an overwhelming desire to "see God" (Exodus 33:18-20). It was not mere human curiosity, but the compulsion of a man who bore the awesome responsibility of leading Israel out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. Often Moses reached the point of exasperation because of the people's rebellion against his leadership. Feeling the extreme loneliness and sense of failure every leader feels, Moses believed that if he could only see God's glory, he could press on.

John declared that, in Christ Jesus, we have the full revelation of God. No longer is He a faraway, mysterious Being, awesome and unapproachable in His glory and majesty. Instead Christ Jesus communicated the love and tenderness of our God through His teachings and His compassion toward sinful, hurting, desperate people. 

"No man ever spoke like this!" (John 7:46), His enemies said of Him. "This man really was God's Son!" (Mark 15:39), the Roman centurion who led those who crucified said of Him. Christ Jesus gave to the world the eternal revelation of who God is and what He longs to become to those who will place their trust in Him.

Conclusion:

What can you say about Christ Jesus today? You can observe His glory, not with the natural eye, but with the eyes of your soul. You can know what God is like through a personal encounter with His Son, the Lord Christ Jesus. You can experience the wonder that Joseph experienced when the angel revealed to him that his beloved Mary would give birth to the Son of God, who would be the Word made flesh.