Jesus – The Word Of God

Intro.: There are a number of things that will impress visitors to our church.

1. One of those things will be support that we have for each other – how we care for one another

2. Others might find the fact that we place a great importance on the word of God to be significant

3. There may be others that find our history to be signifant – with a church that is approaching 200 years of ministry in

4. There are others, but I would be amiss to not to mention that one of the most attractive parts of our church are the stained glass windows that adorn the building.

5. There are seven windows in the sanctuary proper – and five more in the northex area.

6. It is the seven windows in this room that we will use as the outline for the sermons of Lent.

Trans: During the next seven weeks we will look at each of these windows.

1. Today we want to look at Jesus who John calls the Word of God

2. Next week is Scout Sunday – it seems like a good Sunday to discuss Jesus' relationship to the children

3. Jesus was not only the Word of God, he was also King of Kings and Lord of Lords

4. The last Sunday of March we move to take a look at Jesus' relationship to the Old Testament.

5. April will begin with a look at the picture of Jesus as an infant

6. A week later, on Palm Sunday, we will reflect about the darkest day in human history – the day they put Jesus on the Cross

7. Finally, on Easter Sunday, we will look at Jesus, the good shepherd.

Read: John 1:1-5, 10-14; I John 1:1-4

Pray

1. Jesus as the Word has roots that go back before creation.

   1. Look again at the passage we read this morning - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.ⁱ

   2. He was there when the world was spoken into existence.

   3. He was there with God when He created Adam and Eve

(Ill.) My wife and I like to watch the clouds. She is convinced that she can even tell the weather by looking at the clouds. For example, she tells me that when the clouds are pink, she can predict that it is going to snow. I don't know if she is right or wrong – I do wonder if Jesus was as excited about the first clouds that appeared on the horizon after creation? Was he as amazed at the shapes and colors? Did he stand back and see elephants or dinosaurs or airplanes in the shapes formed by those clouds?

4. Jesus Christ, the word of God, was present at the beginning of creation. Was he as awe struck with creation as we are today?
   
   

2. Jesus is both the source of life and light.

   1. John 1:4-5 says, “In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.”ⁱⁱ

(Ill.) In June 1982 a massive solar flare was emitted from the sun. The energy in this flare was so high, that the scientific instruments designed to measure such things went off the scale. In less than 20 minutes, that single flare released more energy than all the natural and manufactured energy the earth uses in a single year. Here was a tremendous source of energy – but we had no way to capture it, no way to use it. It was lost to the vastness of space.

Jesus can be compared to that solar flare – he as so much light and life to give to us, that we fail to use it all. He wants to touch our lives in so many ways, but we miss it, we fail to see him at work, or we are so ingrained to our lives, that we do not call on the life and light that Jesus wants to provide.ⁱⁱⁱ

2. You will remember that Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.”

3. But someplace we missed it – though we are the greatest part of God's creation, we would have been there at his crucifixion. Perhaps you would want to scream, “Not me.” But remember, Peter was there; Paul, if not there, was active in trying to destroy the church just a few years later.

4. Yet, Jesus did not reject Peter, Jesus still went after Paul. And he is there ready for you.

5. He offers us, as broken as we are, his light and life. Now we only need to respond.
   
   

3. The Word became flesh.

   1. That is what John 1:14 says.

   2. Christ gave up his crown, so we could gain ours.

   3. Jesus shed his royal robes, so that we could sit at the foot of the King of Kings.

   4. Today, we begin the celebration of Lent – but without the birth of Christ, there could be no celebration of his death.

(Ill.) John Stott, a superb preacher from the 60's and 70's, once wrote, “It is fitting that a supernatural person should enter and leave the earth in a supernatural way. This is in fact what the New Testament teaches and the Church believes. His birth was natural, but His conception was supernatural. His death was natural, but His resurrection was supernatural.”

5. And it was so we could enjoy God's grace rather than His wrath.
   
   

4. The Word is to be proclaimed.

   1. Take one more look at I John 1:1-4

   2. When we talk about proclaiming the word of God, it is not just the scriptures that we are to proclaim, it is Jesus, the Word become flesh.

   3. To witness is not merely to invite someone to church, though this may be part of it.

   4. To witness is not merely to tell someone to read their Bible, though that may be part of it.

   5. To witness is to offer our world Jesus Christ – with the power to hear, with the power to take our brokenness and remake it into something that God can and will use.

   6. I hope that as we meet here week after week, that what is offered is a person who loves you and cares for you more than any other.

   7. We offer Jesus.

Pray

iThe Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Jn 1:1-3). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

iiThe Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Jn 1:4-5). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

iiiHurley, V. (2000, c1995). Speaker's sourcebook of new illustrations (electronic ed.) (Page 44). Dallas: Word Publishers.