Sermon: Practical Christmas #4
Bible Passage: John 1:1-14
I. A brief discussion on logos
1. Heraclitus (BC 560 in Ephesus) introduced the term logos to explain about the orderly functioning of the world—for him, logos was the mind of God
2. The Stoics used logos to refer to a divine principle that permeates the orderly universe
3. For Philo of Alexandria, logos was the oldest thing in the world which was instrumental in the creation of the world—for him, logos was the thought of God
4. The people of Israel believed that “the Word” or “the Word of God” is not just a sound, but is “Itself/Himself” divine,
5. In the Old Testament, the spoken word of God is called dabar, it has a theology of the Word
i. The Word was the basis for the covenant with Abraham (e.g., Gen 15:1)— The Word was the foundation for the establishment of Israel’s laws (e.g., Exod 24:3–4) and the giving of the Ten Commandments (e.g., Deut 5:5)
ii. The Word was a clue to the closeness of the relationship of Israel with God (e.g., 1 Sam 3:1)
iii. The Word was the source for the proclamations of the prophets (e.g., 1 Kgs 13:20; 18:1; Isa 1:10; Hos 1:1; Joel 1:1)
iv. The Word was the key or way to enlightenment (e.g., Ps 119:1050 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path)
v. For the writer of the Fourth Gospel, Jesus is the Word, the logos, and the dabar i.e., the meeting place of their theological and philosophical thinking
vi. The world of thinking converse at Jesus!
II. John 1:1-5
1. Existed beyond time (v. 1)
2. Is/was in close reciprocal communion with God (v. 1, 2)
3. Was the instrument and agent in creation (v. 2)
4. Is the source of life (v. 4)
i. The Fourth Gospel begins and ends with the concept “life”
ii. The word “life” occurs 36 times in the Gospel
a. “Life” is the opposite of condemnation, destruction, and death
b. John 3:16: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life
c. John 10:10: I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly
d. John 5:24: “I tell you the solemn truth, the one who hears my message and believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, but has crossed over from death to life
e. John 6:51: I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats from this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh
f. John 5:40: you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life
g. John 10:28: I give them eternal life, and they will never perish
h. John 11:25: I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even if he dies
i. Until we accept Jesus and take him as our Savior, we cannot say we live at all
j. Those who live Christless merely exist, but they do not know what life is—life is “be connected with God through Jesus and live in this world”
k. Jesus is the one person who can make life worth living, and in whose company, death is only the prelude to fuller life
5. Is the one who dispels darkness in human being
i. He is the one person who can save life from becoming a chaos
ii. Left to ourselves, we are at the mercy of our passions and our fears
III. Tragedy
1. Verse 10: “He was in the world, and the world was created by him, but the world did not recognize him”
2. Verse 11: “He came to what was his own, but his own people did not receive him”
IV. Blessing of Christmas
1. Verse 12: “to all who have received him—those who believe in his name—he has given the right to become God’s children”
2. Verse 14: “the Word became flesh and took up residence among us”
V. Message
1. Jesus gives life
2. Jesus gives light
3. Jesus makes sinners “children of God”
4. Jesus is the visible presence of God
Take Away:
Follow the leadership of Jesus in your daily life