Sermon Tone Analysis

December 28, 1997

RMCC SMW

John 1.14-18

 

                 “What Do You See When You See Jesus?”

 

1.

"Show Me Your Glory"

If there is a summary of John's gospel, it is this Prologue, these opening 18 verses.

And if there is a summary of this Prologue it is to be found here in these final five verse.

And it is here that John speaks as an eyewitness.

He tells us what he has /seen /when he saw Jesus.

Listen:

V.14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

V.15 John testifies concerning him.

He cries out, saying, 'This was he of whom I said, He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'"

v.16 From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.

V.17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

V.18 No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only,  who is at the Father's side, has made him known.

\\ John, what do you see when you saw Jesus?

John replies: "I saw the glory, grace and truth of God, the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, in the flesh."

God's glory, grace, and truth -- this is what John says he saw in Jesus.

But not simply God's glory, grace and truth, but God's glory, grace and truth /seen/.

And this is most important.

Do you know why?

Because John, the Jew, cannot help but recall an incident that had taken place more than a thousand years before, an incident which became for the people of Israel a defining moment in discovering who was their God.

It was a moment that became engraved on the minds of God's prophets even as it began with a great prophet pleading with God -- /"Show me your glory."/

Do you remember who it was?

That's right -- Moses.

It was Moses the desperate man making a desperate prayer to God, for he had just heard God say the most terrible thing of all: AI will not go with you."

Sure Israel would go, go to the promised land, but God wouldn't go with them.

Sure God would send an angel to go with Israel, go to the promised land, but he himself would not go with them.

\\ Why? God told Moses why.

AI will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way."

Moses knew that but still pleaded with God to go with them, to dwell with his people.

Moses said in effect, the gift is great but greater is the Giver.

The promised land is great, but I want you -- O Lord.

And the Lord loved Moses for that and said, "Yes, I will go with you."

And at that Moses asked "Show me your glory -- show me the kind of God you really are."

And God said to Moses, no man can see God and live.

But I will show you the back of my glory.

And the next day in the cleft of the rock, Moses saw God's glory and heard God declare: "*I am the Lord, the Lord, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin."*

It was that glorious declaration of God's glory, grace and truth that echoed down through the centuries.

You find it in the praises of the psalmist, in the prayers of the godly, and in the preaching of the prophets.

And now says John, to his amazement and ours, that glory that Moses caught a glimpse of we have seen . .

.  in Jesus.

Do you see what John is saying?

He is saying that Moses' prayer, "Show me your glory" is fully and finally answered in Jesus.

When* v.14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us."

*There, says John, in seeing Jesus "*We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."*

\\ 2.      What Is God's Glory?

A.      So then, what is God's glory?

Wherein is God's glory revealed in Jesus?

And John answers: In this is God's glory -- /the Word becoming flesh./

By pointing this out, John says two profound things about Jesus.

1]       The first is that Jesus is fully God.

The Word, when he became flesh, didn't stop being the Word -- God.  John doesn't say that the Word /changed/ into flesh.

He says the Word /became/ flesh.

The Son of God, when he became man, didn't stop being the Son of God.

Jesus was fully God.

2]       The second truth is that Jesus was fully man.

God, the Word, the One and Only from the Father, became /flesh/.

It is language that shocks.

John could have said, the Word became a man and he would have spoken the truth.

But lest any should misconstrue whom Jesus was, John uses the strongest language to describe what happened.

The Word became /flesh/.

Why is this so important?

It is important for at least two reasons, the one theological and the other practical.

\\ 1]  FIRST, THE THEOLOGICAL REASON (for our theology undergirds our practice).

One of the chief heresies that has plagued the church and was present in John's day is the teaching that says the following.

"Spirit is good and matter is evil.

Spirit is real and matter is unreal.

Thus, God, who is Spirit, would never, could never enter into this world of matter, of flesh."

This teaching has been perennially present among the religions of the world.

You'll find it in Hinduism, New Ageism, and Christian Science.

You find it taught by Buddha, Plato, Mary Baker Eddy and even Shirley McLean.

For that reason, John is all the more concerned to state emphatically the unequivocal truth about Jesus.

Hence, he says not "that the Word became man," but that the Word became flesh!"

He writes to shock because the truth is shocking.

The Word, the Son of God, who dwelt in unapproachable light, who was before the beginning with God and was God, became flesh.

And becoming flesh, he did not stop being the Word of God, the Son of God.

Do you see how radical this truth is?  Jesus is not half God and half man.

He is fully God (the Word) and fully man (flesh).

Who is God?

What kind of God made us and cares for us and loves us -- the God who became flesh.

\\ And that leads us to the Practical importance of this truth.

2] GOD DWELLS WITH US.  John says: "And the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us."

This too is part of God's glory.

If there is anything distinctive about the Christian faith it is that /God/ dwelt among man as a man.

Not merely visit, but dwell with.

You see, the religions of the east say that man is god, that each person has a god-spark in them, and that God is an impersonal force.

Thus, the biblical idea of "God with us" is  meaningless for them.

And the religions of the west (Judaism and Islam) admit that God is person but say that God cannot dwell with man.

But John says God has dwelt with us.

"*And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

And we beheld his glory, glory of the One and Only from the Father."*

That is why Jesus could say to Thomas: "If you've seen me you've seen the Father.

You've seen the glory of God's One and Only.

\\ Now I've said that this is the practical importance of the doctrine.

How so?

Let me give you a brief answer by way of illustration.

As a pastor I have heard frequently people say something like this: "Oh, God doesn't know what my suffering is like.