River Road Church Baptist

January 4, 2004

Dr. Cecil E. Sherman

“John Introduces Jesus”

John 1:1-18

Throughout the text, there is a third idea – rejection. The world did not known him, is the way it’s put in the tenth verse. In the 11 th verse it says, “His own people rejected him,” meaning he was alien, from another place, of a different nature. Later on John would argue that because Jesus was of a different nature that was the real reason he was crucified. He’s from other, he doesn’t think like us. This is also the early church’s explanation for why Christians were treated roughly. They think a different way, they’re different, and there is a sense in which this idea yet lives and ought to live. It is not enough for a church person to live a moral life as defined in the statutes by the State of Virginia. There is a higher standard. We bought into it voluntarily, we agreed to look at things, we agreed to a moral standard that is nearer to the ideas of Jesus and if you don’t think Jesus’ ideas are elevated, read Matthew 5 where he takes the law, “You have heard it said of old, thou shall not kill.” Jesus kicks it up – “don’t be angry, don’t hate, and don’t have enmity. You have heard it said of old, do not commit adultery.” He raises the bar – “don’t lust. You have heard it said of old, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. I say to you…you have heard it said of old, love your enemies, or hate your enemies and love those who are like you.” He raised the bar. He said we are to love our enemies. You say, That’s too much. I agree. I just go in and out of that ethic. On my good ways I’m nudging in that direction. You see he’s defining Jesus from the start. He’s raising the standard. The world rejected him because he was somebody different.

Next idea – the world became flesh. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. That’s not John, that’s Paul. But he borrowed all these people who had ideas that overlapped and were entangled with each other. When Jesus came, God came near and lived among us and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. He says, in Moses, you got the law; in Christ, you got grace and truth. That’s what my illustration was a while ago about you have heard it said of old - up, up, up. So there’s paganism, there’s Moses, and there’s Jesus. Most of us who take church pretty seriously are pretty close to Old Testament people. I am. I don’t kill, steal, commit adultery and you’re like me. You’re as good or better than I am. But John is saying from the start—Jesus raised the bar. He’s grace and truth. Once again, paganism, Moses – up here. That’s why the Christian life is a journey and salvation is a process and we’re trying to move from where we started and we can get to the Old Testament level. Pretty good. John says from the start, Jesus is beyond the law; he’s grace and truth. When we rise to our profession, we are grace and truth to each other and to the culture in which we live, which is sometimes pretty close to darkness.

Now John abandoned Jewish thought and packaged the story of Jesus in forms the Greek/Gentile mind could understand. We’re not ancient Greeks. What does this mean to us in plain language? Quickly – God came near in Jesus. That’s the claim of the Christian religion, that the best picture we have of the face of God is a good look at Jesus. Phillip said, “Show us the father and it will satisfy us.” Jesus answered him, “Have I been with you this long? Phillip, don’t you get it? If you’ve seen me you’ve seen the father. That’s the best picture you’re going to get.”

Second idea – Jesus and his ideas are strange, different from the ways of the world we live in. Follow Jesus and you’re a little bit out of step. Enough’s been said about that.

Third idea – believing in Jesus changes our relationship to God. All of us are children of God by creation. Belief in this Jesus makes us twice children of God and when we believe, we come to see things, moral and spiritual, in a different way. So ends the thought for the day.

CES; lmk, mt