Sermon Tone Analysis

In 1873, a Belgian Catholic priest named Joseph Damien De Veuster began a ministry among the lepers on the Hawaiian Island of Molokai.

He had been assigned to Hawaii in 1864 to normal pastoral work with the islanders.

Moved by the horrendous plight of the lepers of Molokai island, he volunteered when his bishop asked if there might be any priest who would minister to the needs of the lepers.

When he arrived at the colony, he immediately began to greet each one of the lepers in hopes of building friendships.

Wherever he turned, however, the lepers shunned him.

It seemed as though every door was closed.

He poured his life into his work, erecting a Chapel, building homes, changing dressings and burying the dead.

But it was to no avail!

No one responded to his ministry.

After 12 years Father Damien made the decision to leave.

Dejectedly, he made his way to the docks to board a ship to take him back to Belgium.

As he stood on the dock he wrung his hands nervously as he recounted his futile ministry among the lepers.

As he did he looked down at his hands, he noticed some mysterious white spots and felt some numbness.

Immediately he knew that he had contracted leprosy!

He returned to the leper colony and to his work.

Quickly the word about his disease spread through the colony.

Within a matter of hours everyone knew.

Hundreds gathered outside his little house.

They all understood his pain, fear, and uncertainty about the future.

But what was the biggest surprise was the following Sunday, as Father Damien arrived at the Chapel, he found hundreds of worshipers gathered.

By the time the service began, there were many more with standing room only and many gathered outside the Chapel.

His ministry from then on became enormously successful.

The reason?

He was one of them.

He understood and empathized with them.

And this is the heart of the passage this morning: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us."

!

I. THE LIVING WORD IS THE ETERNAL SON OF GOD

* /“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”/ (John 1:1, NIV84)

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In the beginning – these words are suggestive of the opening words of Genesis

#.

Genesis begins with the creation of the world and tells us of God's creative efforts

#. in John 1:1, the apostle goes behind the creation account into eternity itself and tells us the story behind the story

#. that story is of an eternal Christ in glory with the Father, high and lifted up and on his throne long before creation ever took place

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Jesus is the Word

#. words are verbal expressions used to convey the meaning of our thoughts and intents

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Jesus Christ—as the Word—is the living expression of God's thoughts and intents toward sinners

#. everything God wanted to tell us, He said it in and through the life and words of His only begotten Son

#. why is it so important that the very first portrait John paints of Jesus is that of the eternal Son of God?

* ILLUS.

Adrian Rogers once told the story of a little girl who became afraid during a thunderstorm.

The rain was falling and the lightening was crackling.

A father laid there in bed listening for what he knew was coming.

Soon, his daughter’s small voice penetrated the stillness of the night.

It came from the bedroom across the hall.

"Daddy, I'm scared!"

The father responded with, "Honey, don't be afraid, Daddy's right across the hall."

After a very brief pause the little voice is heard again, "I'm still scared."

The father respond, "You don't need to be afraid God is with you.

God loves you."

This time the pause is longer . . .

but the voice returns, "I know that, Daddy; but I want someone with skin on!"

#.

Jesus was God with skin on!

#. after thousands of years of telling His people that he really loved them, God the Father demonstrated his love for us by coming in the flesh in the person of His Son

#. in our vv.

1-2 the Apostle John makes three sweeping assertions that affirm once and for all the deity of the one whom he had come to know so well

#.

this very first Portrait of Christ set’s the stage for all the rest

#. if we don’t get this first portrait right the other twenty simply do not matter

{{{"

!! A. SWEEPING ASSERTION #1: JESUS IS ONE WITH THE HEAVENLY FATHER

* /“ ... the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”/ (John 1:1, NIV84)

#.

Jesus is and forever has been and always will be eternal with the Father

#. three times in the first verse John uses the word was

#. for those of you who may be interested the word was is the imperfect form of the verb to be in the original Greek

#. we have no real translation for the verb in the English

#. in the Greek language—the language the N.T. was written in—it's a word which expresses timelessness

#. thus, we might read the verse like this: In the beginning always was the Word, and the Word always was with God, and the Word always was God

#. before time was created, Jesus existed

* Pro 8:27-30 /"I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep, when he established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep, when he gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep his command, and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.

Then I was the craftsman at his side.

I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence,"/

#. who was present when God set the heavens in place?

#. it surely wasn’t the Psalmist

#. here is God the Son declaring his presence in eternity past when God the Father was busy flinging galaxies into space!

#.

Jesus has absolute equality with our Heavenly Father /" ... the Word was with God ..."/

#. the nature of Christ has been at issue since the earliest days of the Church

#. there were many false or inadequate views of His eternal nature and character

#. some have maintained that Jesus was merely human and had great wisdom and spiritual insight

#. some have believed that Jesus was adopted by God at his baptism and was divine only until he was abandoned by God at His crucifixion

#. a few have advanced the idea that Jesus is divine, but not on equal footing with the Father

#. in other words, Jesus is God, but not as god as God is

#. the Apostle John is clear—Jesus is God come in the flesh

#.

Jesus was /not created/

#.

Jesus is /not co-God/

#.

He is /not 2nd-fiddle/

#. when the verse says /". . . the Word was with God . .

."/ it literally says the Jesus was /face to face/ or /eyeball to eyeball/ with God

#. the idea is that of complete equality

#.

Jesus is God come to us in the flesh /". . .

and the Word was God . .

."/

#. this is not a statement that the Apostle John would have made lightly

#. he was a Palestinian Jew who was fiercely monotheistic

* ILLUS.

As a pious Jew, John would have begun every morning of his life reciting the Shema Yisrael—the Jewish confession: /"Hear, O Israel: the LORD is our God, the LORD is one,"/ from Deut.

6:4.

#. to declare that a mere man was God in the flesh was as blasphemous a blasphemy a Jew could utter

#. unless the man in question is not merely a man

#. he makes this incredulous affirmation because John spent three years by the side of Jesus listening and watching

#. there is absolutely no doubt in his mind as to the true identity of Jesus

* /“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.

The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.

We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us.

And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.”/

(1 John 1:1–3, NIV84)