Deo Gloria
Sermon for January 5, 2020
Pastor Martin Bentz
Text: John 1:14-18
Theme: Do You See What I See?
- The Word made flesh
- The ultimate revelation of God and his grace
“Do you see what I see?” The words come from a familiar Christmas carol, “Do You Hear What I Hear?” The song reminds us of some of the unique and extraordinary aspects of the Christmas story: a special star in the sky, a song sung by angels ringing through the night, a Child who is worthy of our silver and gold and who will bring us goodness and light.
This morning the apostle John does something similar, not in words from a Christmas carol, but in words he recorded in the first chapter of his gospel. You see, John got to see Jesus, firsthand, with his own eyes. He got to see the many miracles Jesus performed. He got to listen to his sermons and his parables as he taught people about God and about the kingdom of God. He witnessed firsthand Jesus’ suffering and death on Calvary’s cross and his resurrection on the third day. And in these verses he helps us see what he saw. He helps us see who that baby born in a manger really is: that he is the Word made flesh, and that he is the ultimate revelation of God and his grace.
“The Word became flesh,” John says. Such simple words, and yet they describe such a marvelous mystery, one that is difficult for our minds to comprehend. “The Word” is a phrase John uses to describe Jesus, the eternal Son of God, the second person of the Trinity. Back in the opening verses of this chapter, John says that the Word was with God back in the beginning and that he had a hand in creating all things. The sun and moon and stars in the sky—he made them. The mountains and rivers, the trees and the flowers—he made them. The lions and the elephants, the eagles and the whales—he made them too. “Through him all things were made”(v. 3). So yes, Jesus, the Word, was with God back in the beginning when all things were made. He was with God and he was God.
John drives home this point with another phrase he uses in v. 14. He refers to Jesus as “the One and Only Son who came from the Father.” The Greek word John uses is monogenes. It’s a word that was used to describe Isaac, the only son of Abraham. It’s also a word that was used to describe unique things, special things, things that are one of a kind. The Hope Diamond is a very rare and special diamond, a one of a kind. The Mona Lisa is a very rare and special painting, a one of a kind. Sometimes the Bible refers to believers as children of God or sons of God. We had an example of that in last Sunday’s sermon text. But Jesus is different. Jesus is special. He is one of a kind. Jesus is the only eternal Son of God. He is the only Son of God who is truly divine. He is the only Son of God who was not created by God but actually lived in heaven with God and came down to earth from God. He is the one and only Son of God. Wow! That’s some pretty heavy stuff, some pretty meaty stuff. We could spend the rest of the morning just talking about that; but there’s more, something even more amazing.
“The Word became flesh,” John says. The infinite God became a finite human being. The Creator became a creature. The all-powerful God became a weak and lowly human. The immortal God became a mortal man. How? How could something like that happen? I don’t know. I can’t explain it, but that’s what John says happened. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” This is what John saw in Jesus. This is what John saw in that baby who was born in Bethlehem: the Son of God in human flesh. Do you see it too?
So why? Why would the eternal Son of God take on human flesh and blood and become one of us? John provides a couple of answers in the verses we have before us. The first goes back to that title John used for Jesus: the Word. If you had a message you wanted to communicate to someone, how would you do it? Now days I think many would just send a text. It’s fast. It’s direct. And you usually get a timely response. Some might send an email. Others might send a letter or give them a call, especially if the message is pretty important. But what do you do if the message you want to convey is something really, really important and you want to make absolutely sure the person receives the message and you want to make absolutely sure the person understands the message? Then what would you do? Let’s say, for example, you wanted to propose to your girlfriend. Would you send her a text message and say, “Hey, will you marry me?” Of course not. Would you send her an email or write a little note and drop it in the mail. No way. This is too important. You would go and deliver that message yourself. You would ask her yourself, in person, so there’s no mistake, no misunderstanding. That’s what happened when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. God had a message he wanted to communicate to the world, to people like John, to people like you and me. He wanted to make absolutely sure we received the message and that there was no mistake, no misunderstanding. So he came to deliver the message himself, in person. Jesus is the Word. He is God’s message to you and me and all people.
And what message did he come to deliver? The message of our salvation, the message of how we could be rescued from sin and death and have eternal life. There had been a lot of confusion about that message over the centuries, a lot of confusion about how sin is atoned for and how a person gains entrance into heaven. Still is today. There still is a lot of confusion about sin and atoning for sin and how a person gets into heaven. There really shouldn’t be, at least not about sin, because God made that pretty clear through Moses. Through Moses God gave us the law. He gave us the 10 Commandments. Through Moses he commanded us to obey his commandments, no exceptions. Through Moses he made it clear what the punishment for breaking his commandments is. Every time you sinned, you had to take a lamb or a goat or some other animal to the temple and that animal had to die. The message was unmistakable: The wages of sin is death.
So how do we fix that problem? How do we atone for our sins and escape the penalty of death? There’s been plenty of confusion about that too, hasn’t there? Some people think they can atone for their sins by making some kind of sacrifice, by giving some kind of special offering to God: a lamb, a bull, a million dollar donation. Others think that they can atone for their sins by being good and doing good: helping out at the local food pantry, giving to the needy at Christmas, donating blood at the hospital. Still others think they don’t have to make up for their sins because they are good enough for God just the way they are. What a bunch of baloney! And what a confusing mess!
So Jesus came to set the record straight. He came to proclaim the truth about salvation and the way to heaven. And it’s not what any of us would have expected. Who would have thought that when it comes to fixing what we did wrong, when it comes to atoning for our sins, God would take care of it for us? Who would have thought that God would send a substitute to suffer the punishment for our sins and secure a place for us in heaven? And who would ever have thought that God would send his own Son to be that substitute? Would you? Would you be willing to have your son serve detention for the bully at school? Would you be willing to have your son spend time in jail for the guy who stole the packages off your neighbor’s front porch? Would you be willing to have your son sentenced to death row for the gang member who killed a mother and her baby in a drive by shooting? I wouldn’t. That wouldn’t be fair. That wouldn’t be right. They should have to pay the penalty for what they did. They should have to suffer the punishment for their crimes, not my son. But that’s the very reason God sent his Son into this world, to take our place and suffer the punishment for our sins. And no, that isn’t fair. Instead it’s grace, amazing grace, abounding grace. And more than anything grace is what defines God. It’s what he’s really like.
Listen again to what John says in the last verse of our text: “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.” Has anyone here ever seen God? Has anyone here ever had a conversation with God so you can tell us what he’s like? Me neither. So how do we know what God is like? Because Jesus has told us. Because Jesus has shown us what he’s really like.
He showed what God is like when he set aside his divine glory and power and took on human flesh and blood. He showed what God is like when he set aside the glory of heaven and was born in a stable with animals. He showed what God is like when he healed the sick, when he fed the hungry, when he comforted the broken-hearted, when he brought the dead back to life. And most of all he showed what God is like when he took our sins upon himself and gave his life on Calvary’s cross so that we might be forgiven, so that we might not die but might have eternal life. Over and over and over again Jesus showed us that God is a God of grace, a God of infinite love and compassion, a God who is willing to give and give and give some more, a God who is willing to hold nothing back, willing to do anything and give up anything, even his own Son, so that he might help others, so that he might rescue others, so that he might save you and me.
And another wonderful thing about God and his grace is that it never runs out. John says it like this in v. 16: “From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.” Literally what John says is that “we have all received grace after grace” or “grace in place of grace.” The idea is that of an exchange, like what stores allow you to do with a Christmas present you don’t like. You can take it back to the store and exchange it for something else. God gives us grace, the gift of free forgiveness for all our sins. And the next day we can go to God’s store and exchange it for more grace. And the next day we can go back and exchange it for more grace. And even though we committed so many sins last year and used so much of God’s grace last year, we can go to his store this year and exchange it for even more grace. And we can do the same next year and the year after that and the year after that. God’s grace is abundant. God’s grace is unlimited. God’s grace is overflowing. It never, ever runs out, which means there is more than enough grace for all our days and more than enough grace for all our sins, thanks to Jesus, that baby who was born in Bethlehem, the one who is full of grace and truth.
Do you see it? Do you see what John saw, what he saw in Jesus, what he saw in that baby who was born in Bethlehem? That baby was no ordinary baby. He is the Word of God made flesh. He is the ultimate revelation of God and his grace. This is what makes Christmas such a special celebration. This is what makes the birth of Jesus something worth celebrating and singing about every year. Amen.