| January 2, 2000 | Christ Our Mystery | John 1:1-18
Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Perhaps one of the greatest dangers is that we become comfortable with our understanding of Christianity and chiefly our understanding of Christ. It is a risk that we become complacent, for then we are open to all sorts of cults and others who distort our faith. They lead us away from the truth. We see this in many books, magazines, and broadcast media. Martin Luther said that every heresy has its origin in a mistake in understanding Christ.
A lack of depth in understanding who Christ is and what He is about leads people to say, for example, that every church is about the same. They have not come to an understanding of what different churches teach about Christ, for then they would see great differences. This is a great danger, for then ideas which are mistaken have the opportunity to sneak in under the cover of apparent safety, for we all believe the same.
We become open to these evil influences when we stop coming to Bible Studies. We do it when we stop studying Scripture on our own. We do it when we fail to ask questions and seek answers. We introduce a terrible problem with our understanding that Confirmation is something from which you graduate and Sunday School is for the youth. There are times when it would seem best that we do away with Confirmation and Sunday School and instead go to required education for all ages.
If we do not make our faith and understanding of Christ our number one possession in this life, we open ourselves to danger of going astray. If we do not make it a top priority to continue to grow in knowledge and understanding, we are open to being led by deceivers into falsehood. The text says: "The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it." Let this not be said of us.
Christmas is a wonderful time to learn more about Christ. We continue now in the season of Christmas, which lasts from December 25 to Epiphany, January 6th. Today we have the Second Sunday after Christmas. We continue to explore the mysteries of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, coming to dwell among us. Let us explore several questions today:
Our first question is why did Christ come? Why did God come in the manner of a man, taking flesh and blood into godhood? The answer comes in our text in first with the definition of who God is and then what humanity's response to this God. The text says: "He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made." Who is God? The creator of all things. Colossians 1:16-17 says, "For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist."
He is also the origin of life, as it notes: "In him was life, and that life was the light of men." In other words, God gives us our very life. He gives it as a gift at our birth and even more profound, continues to give us the gift of life each day as He preserves and maintains us at every second. He gives life to all living things.
Now, what is the response of the human race to this God? "The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it." "The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him." The response of sinful humankind to an almighty creator and preserver is-to reject Him and rebel against Him. Our inborn sin leads us to turn from God, though He has done so much for us. John 3:19 says "...the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."
So, our sin kept us from reaching out to God. It kept us in rebellion. And God needed to come to us. He needed to come to save us.
Now we consider: Who is Christ? It is summarized in two parts: He is true God and He is true man. He is both. Christ was always true God from eternity. In other words, there was no beginning-He always was. He became true man as He was conceived as a human baby in Mary's womb and then brought forth as a child. God took on human form.
The text says: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." This emphasizes the nature of the Word as always existing. The Word was in the beginning. It also says the Word is to be understood as God. At the beginning of time, as now, the Word was God. It goes on to say that the Word was the same God who made all things in the world. This Word of God is identified as Christ by saying the Word became flesh. Also, Revelation 19:13 explains who the rider of the white horse is Jesus Christ, saying, "He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God."
What else do we know about who Christ is? We know that Christ is true man. We know this because the Word became flesh. We know we are speaking of a human being, that is, one who has flesh. This Word "made his dwelling among us." This means He came to live among us. He came to live as a man. The text says, "He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him." In other words, Jesus Christ was coming to His own type of being when He came to us. He came to the same type of which He was a member. He came as a human being to us human beings.
He came to live under the law, as a man subject to God's law. Galatians 4:4 "But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law." He lived a perfect life under this Law.
Jesus was made man, just as we are. He was made man because of His special relationship toward us. Hebrews 2:17 reads, "Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people."
Who is Christ? He is true God and true man.
What Did Jesus Do? First, He made God known to us. He revealed His glory. "We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." The glory of God had not been revealed previously. In Exodus 33:20 God told Moses, "You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live." This is a result of our sins which make us unpresentable to God. However, in Jesus Christ we saw God. This very action shows the grace of which He was full. Grace to forgive our sins. So our text concludes: "No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known." Jesus made God known to us.
Jesus made know that God does indeed love us. Though our sins were a problem, God came to us and dwelt among us to reconcile and repair our broken relationship. 1 John 4:9 "In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him."
Jesus also brought His light to all peoples. No, He doesn't stop at Israel, but shines into all the world. Isaiah 49:6 says: "It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth." The text says: "The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world." That true light came into the world. Now the promise is made to all people: "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God." This is an open promise, made to all people.
Jesus came as the Son of God to be the Word among us. Thus His life and existence spoke the Word of God to us. God spoke to us by His Son. This was spoken of by Hebrews 1:1-2 "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds."
What else did Jesus do? He came to be one of us. As being of our flesh, He came to us. God presenting Himself as a gift-our very own flesh to be a demonstration of God's grace. He dwelt among us. Finally, He suffered and died for us upon the cross, paying there the penalty for our sins. Then He rose again and was the first-fruits of those who rise to eternal life. We shall follow.
Now: What blessings do we have because of Christ? We start with having light. His light shines into our darkness and lights the way for us through death and into eternal life. Christ is our light and our salvation. "The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world." John 8:12 "Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, 'I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.'" In John 9:5, Jesus promises "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." He gives us light to bring us out of the darkness. John 12:46 "I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness."
Another blessing we have because of Christ is eternal life. "In him was life, and that life was the light of men." Because Christ took away the punishment we had deserved, He freed us to live. Because He defeated death, being resurrected from the grave, He gives us eternal life. John 5:11 "And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son."
A third blessing we have is the adoption as sons. Our sins and rebellion against our heavenly Father have separated us from Him. He sent His one and only natural son so that we, the lost children, might be adopted as sons. "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God--children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." We become these adoptive children as we believe in Christ, who frees us from our sins and makes us children of God. Hence, Galatians 3:26 "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus." Notice how it was God's choice to make us children. It is not of human decision. It is not that you or I decided to become a child, but it is God's pure grace that calls us to receive Jesus. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to keep us from rejecting the gift of Christ. And so we are given the blessing of being God's adoptive children.
Christ came at Christmas because we were sinners in need of saving. Christ is true God and true man. He came to reveal God to us, demonstrating God's love and being a light to all people. He came to be the Word of God speaking to us and live among us. Because of Jesus, we are blessed with light, eternal life, and the adoption as sons of God. What a joy to know this grace and truth, revealed to us through the Word made flesh, the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.