By Rev. Juliet Schimpf
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Broadcast Notes
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LINK to CFRA broadcast of Sunday, January 15th, 2017
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I do want to say “Thank you” to Anne Matthews, a former Board Member of ‘Good News in the Morning’. Thank you, Anne, for making today’s broadcast possible through your generous support!
A Fresh Start for 2017
* In John 1, three concepts are used in reference to Jesus Christ: the Word, the Light of the world, and the Lamb of God.
* Together, these three CONCEPTS REPRESENT:
1. A NEW COMFORT: GOD WITH US
2. A NEW CONFIDENCE: GOD FOR US
3. A NEW CHANCE: GOD WITHIN US
* Some of us today need comfort; some renewed confidence; others need a new chance.
A NEW COMFORT: GOD WITH US--
CHRIST THE WORD
· A. THE WORD IS FULLY DIVINE;
o The Gospel of Matthew traces Christ’s genealogy back to Abraham. The Gospel of Luke traces His roots to the first human, Adam. But the Gospel of John reaches beyond physical creation to state that Christ—the logos or Word—has always existed.
o JOHN 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
o THE WORD IS CO-ETERNAL, CO-EXISTENT, AND CO-EQUAL WITH GOD
o A literal translation of the first phrase is: “In beginning”—not “In the beginning”. The phrase lacks a definite article. In eternity past, before the beginning of anything
o Charles Swindoll: “In the indefinite expanse of timeless existence, in a beginning that had no beginning, the Word’ was existing in an eternal, infinite ‘present’. The verb translated “was” represents the imperfect past tense of the Greek verb eimi, “to be”. So the literal rendering of John’s first sentence is: “in beginning was existing the Word.”
COMFORT 1
o B. THE WORD IS FULLY HUMAN
§ NOTICE THE PRONOUN “HE” IS USED IN REFERENCE TO THE WORD IN VERSE 2: “HE WAS WITH GOD IN THE BEGINNING”
o JOHN 1:14 “AND THE WORD BECAME FLESH”
o John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh” –“flesh” (SARX) is used here (instead of “man”) to highlight the humanity of Jesus—His vulnerability and capability of suffering
o JESUS IS GOD WITH SKIN
§ Believe it or not, in John’s day, most had no problem accepting the deity of Christ. They were more troubled by His humanity. The influence of Plato permeated every aspect of religion and philosophy so that anything tangible came to be seen as inherently evil. One branch of philosophy—DOCETISM—suggested that Christ only seemed to be tangible, but was in fact a heavenly apparition. The so-called Gnostic gospels tell stories of how Jesus created the illusion of eating food while never actually digesting it or needing to relieve Himself. John’s terminology was unashamedly offensive to these false teachers. John’s Gospel says, in effect, “The Word became meat.” He lived among us in the material world.
o 1John1:1 the apostle puts it in unmistakable terms: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched--this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.”
o MAX LUCADO: Some questions for Joseph: “Did you and Jesus arm wrestle? Did he ever let you win?” Some questions for Mary: “Did the thought ever occur to you that the God to whom you were praying was asleep under your own roof? Did he ever come home with a black eye? Did you ever scold him? Did you ever accidentally call him Father? Did you ever think, ‘That’s God eating my soup’?”
o DIETRICH BONHOEFFER: “Only a suffering God can help”—God is not indifferent to human tragedy and pain
· COMFORT 2:
o John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and lived among us”
§ NIV: “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.”—the word “dwell” translates literally as “pitched his tent or tabernacle among us” and harks back to the tabernacle of Israel’s wilderness wanderings.
§ THE MESSAGE: “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the NEIGHBOURHOOD.”
o Put simply, we have a God who can relate to us!
o HEBREWS 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.”
o JEAN VANIER: “The Word became flesh to communicate to us human beings caught in the mud, the pain, the fears and the brokenness of existence, the life, the joy, the communion, the ecstatic gift of love that is the source of all love and life and unity in our universe and that is the very life of God.”
o FBC = CHURCH IN HEART OF PERTH WITH HEART FOR PERTH
o HOT CHOCOLATE
A NEW CONFIDENCE: GOD FOR US--
CHRIST THE LIGHT
● JOHN 1:9 “The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.” [John 8:12: “I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD”]
● 1. CAUSE FOR CONFIDENCE:
* John 1:5 “The light shines in the darkness AND THE DARKNESS DID NOT OVERCOME IT.”
§ TLB “DID NOT EXTINGUISH”
§ NEB “DID NOT “MASTER”—the darkness did not grasp or comprehend the light
* John 16:33 [Jesus speaking] “In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
o F.F. Bruce: what the Evangelist has in mind here [re. the term “light”] is the spiritual illumination that dispels the darkness of sin and unbelief….here light is to be understood ethically: light is a synonym of goodness and truth, while darkness is a synonym of evil and falsehood.
· ROBBIE PARKER—EMILY PARKER….
· John 1:9 “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.”
o “TRUE” (alethes) IS NOT THE MOST ACCURATE TRANSLATION—alethinos means “real or genuine as opposed to unreal”…so what John is saying is that Jesus is the real light come to enlighten and to illumine them…..before Jesus came there were other lights which men followed; some were flickers of the truth…but Jesus is the only genuine light…
· 2. CONFIDENCE: John 1:4 “In Him was life, and the life was the light of all people”.
o JOHN 10:10 ‘I HAVE COME THAT THEY MAY HAVE LIFE, AND HAVE IT TO THE FULL…”
o JOHN 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” John 11:25 “Jesus said to her [Martha] ‘I am the resurrection and the life.“
o Life will not be easy.
- We have to wrestle with:
- Its cruel tests,
- Its snarling temptations
- Its bitter failures
- Its pressures in a competitive world
o Zoe (life) is used here to designate the divine, eternal life of God (EPHE. 4:18)…..Human beings are born with natural life—called psuche in Greek (translated “soul”, “personality”, or “life”), but they do not possess eternal life. This life can be received only by believing in the one who possesses the zoe life—namely, Jesus Christ
o Life is a an offer! It is used 36 times in John ‘s gospel.
o Romans 8:31 “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
o Luke 1:37 “for nothing will be impossible with God”
o 1 John 5:4 “for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world.”
A NEW CHANCE: GOD WITHIN US--
CHRIST THE LAMB OF GOD
· THE WORD NOT ONLY MOVES INTO THE NEIGHBOURHOOD; HE ALSO MOVES INTO US!
· HOW DOES A NEW CHANCE COME ABOUT?—GRACE!!!!
o John 1:14 “and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth”
o John 1:16 “From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.”
o John 1:17 “The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
● PHILIP YANCEY: “___[GRACE]_____ is Christianity’s best gift to the world.”
● HOW IS CHRIST’S BIRTH CONNECTED TO GRACE (I.E. A NEW CHANCE IN LIFE)—THE LAMB
- THE GOSPEL OF JOHN ANSWERS THE CENTRAL QUESTION IN THE OLD TESTAMENT—NAMELY, “WHERE IS THE LAMB?” (GENESIS 22:7)
- JOHN 1: 36 “LOOK (BEHOLD)—HERE IS THE LAMB OF THE GOD!”
o JOHN 1:29 “Here is the Lamb off “God who takes away the sin of the world.”
● A SPIRITUAL REBIRTH—OR A NEW CHANCE—IS ON OFFER!
o WE MUST COME TO GOD AND ACCEPT THE GIFT OF HIMSELF
o THIS MEANS ACCEPTING BOTH THE GIFT OF THE BABY IN THE MANGER AND ALSO THE GIFT OF THE MAN ON THE CROSS
o WHICH MEANS VIEWING THE MANGER THROUGH THE SHADOW OF THE CROSS
o JOHN 1:12 “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”
o 1 John 5:4 “for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world.”
o Philippians 2:6 “[JESUS CHRIST] Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!”
* those habits, those sins….
THE TRANSCENDENT GOD DARED TO BE AN IMMANENT GOD!
* baby in manger is neither cute nor quaint; he is awe-inspiring!
- PAUL: Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”
o BOTTOM LINE: YOU ARE NOT ALONE (“I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU NOR FORSAKE YOU”)
o SAINT ANSELM: “The virgin birth has never been a major stumbling block in my struggle with Christianity; it’s far less mind-boggling than the Power of all Creation stooping so low as to become ___ONE OF US______.”
o MATTHEW 1:23 “they will call him Immanuel—which means, “God with us”—more proof of the deity of Christ; He is God
· [BULLETIN] C.S. LEWIS: “God cannot give us happiness and peace apart from ___HIMSELF___, because it is not there. There is no such thing.”
o
· ● ISAIAH 9 “2 The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.”
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.”
2. FURTHER CAUSE FOR CONFIDENCE
- 2 CORINTHIANS 4:6 “God has made this light shine in our hearts...”
- Of what does the light consist? NASB: Verse 6: “light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ”
- COLOSSIANS 1:27 “CHRIST IN YOU, THE HOPE OF GLORY”
- 2 Corinthians 4:7: “we have this treasure in JARS OF CLAY, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves…”—NLT “that’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us.”
- 2 CORINTHIANS 4: 8-9
- A. “We are pressed on every side by troubles…BUT WE ARE NOT CRUSHED.”
- B. “We are perplexed…BUT NOT DRIVEN TO DESPAIR”
- C. “We are hunted down…BUT NEVER ABANDONED BY GOD”
- D. “We get mowed down…BUT WE ARE NOT DESTROYED”
● 2 CORINTHIANS 12:9-10 NIV “But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Rev. Juliet Schimpf
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