MILK
John 1.14
May 26th 2013
Welcome.
Let me remind you that we have a prayer sheet where you can put names of people in need of prayer.
After our study we’ll read them and pray over them together.
Let’s pray.
Okay, just for some clarification and reaffirmation.
I am a firm believer in growth. Part and parcel to growth of ANY kind is change.
Change typically presents us with new challenges and difficulties.
In the name of our quest to worship God in “Spirit and in truth” it is my purpose and intent as pastor to lead whomever graces this place into a dynamic, discipled relationship with the King.
I am perfectly aware of HOW inviting we could make our gatherings. Do you know how well a live band rocking out cool Jesus tunes would go over in here?
But I am certain this approach (while immediately inviting) will NOT increase your faith or strength in being His disciples.
So today, at this first gathering in our own location (so to speak) I want to address something that I believe is often misunderstood – worship – then we will get into our verse by verse study of John (or Hebrews).
When we worship anything, we
Recognize it as someone or something that is worthy of honor, allegiance and adoration.
It is not about us (at all). It is not about what we like or what we resonate too – worship is not about us – it is all about the thing or being that is being honored.
Jesus said that the Father seeks to be worshipped in Spirit and in truth.
We can no more control or invoke the Holy Spirit than we can the wind.
The Holy Spirit operates like the wind. We cannot capture Him and make Him present or bring Him forward with amplification or better presentations. That is emotionalism guising itself as spirit, as worship, as God present.
No, the Holy Spirit moves according to the mind and will of God. So we invite and wait upon Him to move. The Spirit. Not the emotions or things that work upon them.
So that is the Spirit.
Then we have the truth.
In John 17:17 when Jesus prayed to the Father and He said, speaking about His disciples:
“Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word . . . is truth.”
With the Father’s Word being truth – I believe hearing, singing, memorizing and reflecting on it is one of the best ways to worship God in Spirit AND in truth.
(beat)
We are calling this place “the factory” for two reasons. First and foremost it is dedicated to producing disciples of Christ.
This does not happen through human attempts or systems but by His Spirit AND the hearing and learning His word.
Therefore our focus will always be on His Word.
The formula is biblically simple:
By hearing the word, faith is produced (Romans 10). When faith is present, hope abides. And when faith and hope are at work, the potential for a disciple to love as God wants us to love grows commensurately.
We realize how people love music that appeals to the heart and emotions in church. But we are convinced that in and through reading and hearing His word people will grow more legitimately as believers.
So there it is.
After singing these next passages put to song we will then take a few minutes and converse with our God through silent prayer.
When we come back, I am going to present to you all names of people who need prayer among us (if you aren’t aware we have a clip-board list available for you place a name which we’ll pray over as a group ) . . . then we’ll get into our verse by verse teaching.
So now . . . the Word in Song.
WORSHIP
CORPORATE PRAYER
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
Alright, we’re are in the first chapter of the Gospel of John.
We spent the last two weeks talking about verses 1 and 2 and last week we got into three and four.
But let’s look at four again as it launches us into the rest of our study today.
In verse four John says
John 1:4 In him (Jesus) was life; and the life was the light of men.
There’s a lot we can say about light but I’m going to limit the conversation a bit. What I will say is first, well before He came to the world, scripture said He would be
As we said last week, Isaiah prophesied of Him in Isaiah 9:2 saying:
“The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.”
Now think about this, when Isaiah wrote, “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light, and they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined,” who was he talking about?
Maybe we could ask:
Who on this earth walk in darkness and in the shadow of death? All of us right? So, from this passage and others we can conclude that Jesus, the Light, came into the world and shined unto all.
Then Ephesians 5:13 says something interesting about Light. Listen to this.
“But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.”
In other words, all things that are discovered or revealed are made to appear by the light, and anything that reveals truth is light.
Jesus says of Himself in John 8:12:
“I am the light of the world;” and in John 12:35 He says,
“I am come as a light into the world.”
The meaning is this, Jesus, as the Light, the Life, the Word of God, is the
Revealer (He all makes things manifest)
Once He ascended, the Holy Spirit came to reveal the light to all humankind.
Verse five then says:
5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
Throughout the Bible darkness is synonymous with ignorance, guilt, and even misery and captivity.
Later in Jesus ministry he will go to the synagogue and stand and read from the Old Testament.
The passages He chooses to read say:
Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
And then He sat down and all the eyes of those in the synagogue were on Him and what does He do? He says:
“Today this scripture is fulfilled in your ears.”
Meaning, the Messiah just read to you.
As the light, He takes any and all who long and seek to be free from the bondage and imprisonments of this world and He sets them free . . . by revealing to them Truth.
Paradoxically, whatever advancements are made are made because the Light of the World revealed them, but no matter what advancement is made it is irrelevant if those who revel in it do not see the Great Light . . . and comprehend it.
As you know, the world fell into a state of ignorance. Prior to the fall I would suggest that all knowledge was available to Adam and Eve as they dwelled in light.
But with sin comes obfuscation, darkness, and therefore captivity.
So when Jesus was born (became incarnate) a light, rather THE light shined into the darkness that had long covered the earth.
But as verse five says,
“But the darkness comprehended it not.”
Now the word comprehend or comprehended means understand or understood, but this does not seem to be the best English word that could have been used.
The Greek word for it is katalambano, and it really means to reach out and seize it.
Grab it up, like you would free loaves of fresh bread if you were starving.
Jesus, as the light, came into the dark world, but the world did not gobble Him up.
Didn’t receive Him. Didn’t receive or admit the rays of light the darkness was so thick that in many places the light could not penetrate it.
Looking at it another way (the way the Bible uses the word darkness) men were so ignorant, so guilty, so debased, that they did not appreciate the value of his instructions and revelations – so they despised and rejected him.
Did the light come? Yes.
Did it and does it shine? Yes.
Does it shine to all men and women? Yes.
Still? Yes.
But . . . the darkness (in the full sense of the word is so dark) many cannot . . . will not see Him as the light.
They will see everyone, and everything else . . . because everything and everyone else is dark. But the light cannot permeate their person.
All the way back in Moses day, after the COI had wandered forty years in the desert, Moses called them together.
And there they stood, in clothes and in shoes that did not wear out over that time of constant travel, and he tells them that they had been show great miracles but he adds in Deuteronomy 29:4
“Yet the LORD hath not given you (which means they didn’t possess) an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.”
When Jesus was on earth He was talking and teaching the Jewish leaders truth and then He said (in John 8:43-45):
43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.
In Matthew 13 (beginning at verse 13) Jesus is asked by His twelve why He teaches in parables and He replies:
I speak to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
15 For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
Then He says to the twelve, AND to those of you who see the light –
16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
And so it still is.
The great mass of men, sunk in sin, or loving vain babblings or philosophies, or their lives in the dark will not receive his teachings, and be enlightened and saved.
There is no affinity for His light because they love all that is in this world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life (which are not of the Father) but are of this fallen world.
Ever try and share truth and light with someone who cannot, will not, or refuses to see or hear?
Hard as this is for some of us to believe, Jesus Himself told us why this is.
In chapter three of this very Gospel, beginning at verse 17, Jesus says in His late-night conversation with Nicodemus:
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
You want to know why people cannot, will not, or refuse to hear and see and desire to understand the Light that came into this world? Listen to what Jesus says –
“men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”
They love the darkness MORE than Light – why?
Because in the dark their deeds, which are nothing but manifestations of their hearts, are hidden. But in the Light of the World (Christ) their deeds are revealed!
We’ve all experienced this haven’t we – since we have all had to come to the cross at some point in our lives.
And we’ve all experienced the fact that our former, unregenerated lives were full of darkness (no matter how well or poorly we OUTWARDLY lived) – !
Compared to who Christ is, and what He said, and what He commands of us, the Light revealed our darkness – and we found ourselves guilty, reproved.
That’s not a fun place to be. And so people love the darkness, and the comfort it affords them, rather than to have their real selves exposed by the light.
The other day as I was working in Einstein’s bagels a retired professional basketball player – one of the tallest to every play in the NBA – came into the place.
He was in a suit and alone – all seven foot six of him. People recognized him and heaped the praises as they passed by.
Some took pictures.
As things calmed down and he continued to eat I grabbed a single page tract. On the headline it asks:
Can you guess what Smith book this is?
And below the headline it gives ____ points about Smith’s book, including:
(read list)
As I approached him he looked up and smiled, thinking I was another fan. I put the paper in front of him and said I wanna give you something to read.
Immediately he refused, saying, “No, no, no, no, no – NOT interested.”
I continued to hold it there for a second and then I say cheerfully, “Why not?”
I’m not sure anyone ever challenges this man and his reaction told me he did NOT appreciate my question!
“Because I’m eating my breakfast he snapped.” Admittedly I was a bit nervous at this. I waited a second or two . . .(beat) then I said, “You wanna take it with you?”
“No,” he snapped.
“Alright, alright,” I said walking back to my table.
Now I am of the opinion, that this man, who has been greatly blessed in this life – seven feet six, a thirteen year career in the NBA, attractive spouse, a temple marriage, six children, founder of a respected outreach program to at-risk kids and living in a state where stature and status are qualifications that produce near worship – I am of the opinion that he loves what he has more than truth . . . more than light . . . because the darkness is here, and rewarding.
And he would not take one second of time to hear otherwise.
When he got up to leave I think he knew he came out a little more livid than he would have liked, so he smiled at me.
I said, “come sit down with me – let’s talk for a minute. You’ve been on a mission, right?”
He emptied his trash into the can silently so I added.
“Was LDS forty years.”
He looked up and said,
“I’ll sit and talk with you but not about religion. And yes, I’ve been on a mission. What’s your name? he asked.
“Shawn,” I replied.
“So is mine,” he said ducking to get out the door, “see you later Shawn,” he said, and walked out the door.
So we pray – we pray that eyes and ears will open, and they will seek light to shine in the darkness.
Verse six, where John begins to present us with his narrative and says:
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
Now, because we are going to get another full chapter plus on the mission of John the Baptist in this chapter beginning at verse 19 I am not going to talk about the Baptist (yet).
Nevertheless, John the Beloved seems to reiterate here (and in other places) that John the Baptist was not the promised Messiah but wants to point out what the Baptists true office was.
You see, many people though the Baptist was the Messiah so John takes the time to correct this.
Interestingly, he does admit that the Baptist was sent from God–that he was divinely commissioned – but just not the Anointed One who came FROM heaven.
John the Baptist made a lot of disciples. Matthew 3:5 says it this way:
“Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.”
And later in this chapter we’ll hear where the Pharisees come to him and ask him if he is the Messiah.
Because many of the disciples of John the Baptist remained at Ephesus (the place where John is supposed to have written this gospel – and we know this from Acts chapter 19) it is thought that maybe there was rumor that the Baptist was truly the Christ and so John wrote to clear any of these types of rumors away.
In the first four verses of this Gospel John has endeavored to say Jesus was divine – and if you remember last week and the week before he did a pretty good job of it.
But now, he is easing us into the idea that the Word became a man, and as man, the promised Messiah. And the first witness he is going to give of this is John the Baptist. He goes on (verse 7)
7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
John the Baptist came to prepare the way for the ministry and mission of the Messiah.
The witness that he gave was prophesied by Isaiah hundreds of years earlier in Isaiah 40:3:
“The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”
His cry was to call Israel to repentance in preparation of receiving the witness of the promised Messiah.
“Repent of your sinful ways,” from turning from the true and living God and prepare yourselves to receive the promised Messiah,” we could almost hear him say.
Remember, the word repent means to “change ones mind,” so John the Baptist was crying, “Change your minds, Israel, about all you have once thought, and about all the false traditions you have embraced for centuries –the Messiah is here!”
And as a means to show that they were ready to receive the promised Messiah John Baptized them in water, a very, very emblematic action among the Jews which pictured cleansing from sin.
Part of the reason John came was to be the one who pointed out to the watching Jew who the promised Messiah was – to bear witness of the Light – which he does (as we will see). From this I would suggest that John the Baptist was not so much a reformer as a witness of the Light of the world, or Lamb of God.
And John the beloved writes, “that all (men) through Him, might believe.”
As an FYI, the word “men” in this verse is absent from older mss, so really the verse reads:
“That all through him might believe.”
Additionally, the “through him” line refers to John the Baptist, that all through the Baptists intermediary witness, might believe Jesus to be the light and life, the Savior of the world.
Therefore, John the Baptist baptized them, saying, according to Acts 19:4 “That they should believe on him who should come after him.”
From this I think he produced the general expectation that the Messiah was about to come.
John the Baptists testimony
1 – was made when he had no personal acquaintance with Jesus of Nazareth (We’ll read about this later) so we know there was no concerted effort or collusion on their parts to deceive (John 1:31).
2 – came from a man who was considered “by all” (Matthew 21:26) to be a prophet of God.
3 – was given in advance (before the Messiah showed up) to show or prove divine endorsement, and
4 – came selflessly (as all witnesses of the Christ ought to come). What I mean by this is there was no self-interest in the witness. In fact, John the Baptist only suffered once his witness was given. See, he was very popular. As we said, many people wanted to believe he was the promised Messiah and so it was evidently in his power to form a large group and be regarded by them as the Christ.
Of course, the Baptist was cut from better cloth and instead of exalting himself, chose to perform his work and then decrease so that the true light of the world would increase. John the Beloved goes on in verse 8, confirming (again and in another way)
8 He (John the Baptist) was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
And then he adds, speaking of Jesus:
9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
Here in nine John does something intriguing – first, he differentiates between light and “the true light.”
In other words, there is one, single, solitary True Light, and then because this light is called True, there must be light that is untrue, limited, unworthy of our confidence, and one that will burn out.
True light never fails and never goes out. But all other lights will fail – extinguish – fail us.
Every flashlight, every fire, torch, a fuel generated flame, will go out.
Every sun and star is doomed and every light shining in every eye or from every countenance will fail.
But not the true light. It came into the world and it ascended from it victorious! Upon, through and from Him we can always count on eternal illumination.
Interestingly enough, in the realm of false light, there are also evil false lights, not just failing lights.
We recall where Jesus said in Matthew 6:22, or the sermon on the mount, that:
“The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!“
Is it possible for people to be light, to appear as light, to emit light, and for that light to be darkness?
Absolutely.
Paul said some amazing stuff in 2nd Corinthians 11 beginning at verse 12, saying:
2nd Corinthians 11:12 But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.
13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
We know from scripture that when angels show up light beams, but Paul said in Galatians 1:8
Galatians 1:8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
In other words, there are lights, false lights, and the True Light – don’t confuse them.
For the purveyors of false light can be extremely convincing, even as though they are from heaven, even a light bearing who is Satan in disguise.
This is why we do NOT rely or trust in visions or manifestations or revelations even if they are basking in light – they can be counterfeits . . . but why we turn and test all things . . . by ???? The Word.
John completes what we call verse nine with
9 That (Jesus) was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
What does this mean?
Exactly what it says.
The whole human race was, was and is lighted by Christ.
The trouble is in the original language we are unsure what “which cometh” refers to.
Some versions translate that it refers to every man coming into the world, and some versions refer to “the light coming into the world.”
Joh 1:9 (KJV) [That] was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
Joh 1:9 (NKJV) That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.
Joh 1:9 (MKJV) He was the true Light; [He] enlightens every man coming into the world.
Joh 1:9 (TCNT) That was the True Light which enlightens every man coming into the world.
Joh 1:9 (ASV) There was the true light, [even the light] which lighteth every man, coming into the world.
Joh 1:9 (BBE) The true light, which gives light to every man, was then coming into the world.
Joh 1:9 (DBY) The true light was that which, coming into the world, lightens every man.
Joh 1:9 (MNT) The true Light, which enlightens every man, was then coming into the world.
Joh 1:9 (RSV) The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world.
Joh 1:9 (WEB) The true light that enlightens everyone was coming into the world.
Joh 1:9 (YLT) He was the true Light, which doth enlighten every man, coming to the world;
You will have to decide how you think it ought to be relative to the rest of scripture.
In my opinion if it speaks of the light enlightening every man who comes into the world OR that “the true Light was that which illumines every man by its coming into the world” is not a hill to die on . . . but it can bring about some different opinions on various matters.
In the end of it all, however, what we CAN say is every man on earth is enlightened by Him.
Romans tells us that as a result, all men do know the truth, they do recognize God in and through one means or another, and that we will all be responsible for either ignoring the light or embracing it, before God in the end.
There may be exceptions to this in severely retarded people, infants, or crack babies – I don’t know.
Hear again, in closing for today, what Jesus said in John 3 to Nicodemus:
Listen closely to John 3:19-21 where Jesus said:
“And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.”
Let’s pray.
(include those whose names are on the list
THEME SONG STANDING ISAIAH 33:22
