Christmas at MVC // Week 1

God’s Perfect Message
John 1:1-5   Dec 8, 2019   

1. Introduction:
   1. So what is the big deal about Christmas?
      1. Christians are working very hard to keep the word “Christmas” as part of our culture at this time of year as we wish people a “Merry Christmas” but they are losing the battle while many in our own country are working hard to remove the word Christmas and turn it into a “Happy Holiday” time.
      2. So why is the word Christmas so important to Christians?
         1. The answer is simply this: Christmas is all about Christ, not about gifts, decorations and parties.
         2. Christmas is the day that Christians celebrate God coming into this world to take up residence here among the very people He
      3. During this series, we will be looking at John 1:1-18 week by week. The heart of this section is about this: “Jesus coming into this world to reveal God!”  It starts with the fact that He is the Word and it ends with the statement that He came to explain Him.
         1. Everything in between talks about this and the fact of how man responded to Jesus’ coming.
         2. As I read this watch for these two things –
            1. First Jesus revealing, disclosing to us, pulling back the curtain for us just what God is like and what He does.
            2. Secondly how man responded to that unveiling of God!
         3. Before I read let me explain something about this whole section.
            1. It is the introduction to the whole book and it previews many of the things that will be more fully developed in the book.
            2. As you read the book, you more fully understand these concepts so that when you come back to the introduction you will better understand that part of the book and the cycle goes on!
            3. Read 1-18
         4. Today we are going to be looking at John 1:1-5 as we begin to better understand what Christmas is all about and why Jesus, God Himself, came!

• I am calling this message today “God’s perfect message was not understood by the world” Let’s start with the idea of

1. God’s perfect message
   1. I get this from the first 3 ½ verses in John 1. Let me reread 1a.
   2. The word “Word” is referring to Jesus as we read just a few minutes ago in v14 that the Word became flesh and dwelt right here on earth among us! That is referring to Jesus!
      1. It describes Jesus as “the Word”. “Word” simply means the content of a communications, the message itself
      2. In the church world, I am called a preacher the one who speaks, but my sermon is the content that I speak. It is the difference between a messenger and the message that they bring.  A singer and the song, the music and the words!
      3. This passage is not saying that Jesus is the preacher, the messenger, or the prophet but rather He Himself is the very sermon, the very message, the very content God wants people to know.
      4. He is God’s message, God’s sermon become flesh. So who He is, what He does and what He says is the perfect representation and communication of who God is, what God does and what God says!
   3. The reason that I say He is God’s perfect message is because the first 3 1/2 verses indicate strongly and clearly that the Word Himself was God Himself. As I read these first 3 ½ verses note the many ways it refers to the Word as God Himself.  Read 1-4a
      1. First of all note that it clearly states that this Word was God v1c
      2. In verse two it speaks of His eternality because it re-emphasizes what v1 said that He was in the beginning with God.
      3. Start of v4 “in Him was life” as we read the rest of John we understand the life that is referred to here is the “eternal life” “the very life of God” that only God has!
      4. John 1:1-3 is a clear allusion to Genesis 1:1
         1. Read Genesis 1:1
         2. Genesis 1:1 makes it clear that God created the heavens and the earth and here in verse 3 it is clear everything that has been created has been created through Jesus.
      5. This is not the only place in the Bible that says everything was created through or by Jesus and that He is the perfect representation of God and what He wants to say to us! turn to Heb 1:1
         1. Read Hebrews 1:1-3b
         2. You see God the Father is the source of creation; Jesus is the agent of creation as the One through whom God created everything.
      6. Thus, we see in John 1 and Hebrews 1 that Jesus as God makes the perfect flesh and blood message of just who God is, what He does, what He says and what He wants from the very people He created!
      7. Jesus as God and creator we were made by Him and for Him.
         1. Read Colossians 1:15-17
         2. “Firstborn” is a reference to His position and rights in creation not the fact that He was born or created
         3. He could not be the perfect image or exact representation of God if He was born or created because God is eternal and uncreated.

• So man has been created by Jesus and for Jesus, how did man respond to this perfect message, the perfect representation of who God is, does, says, wants? This perfect message was…
• Not understood by the world
  1. That is amazing, the picture could not be clearer, the message could not be better, the living illustration could not be more accurate yet man did not understand it.
  2. Read v4-5
  3. Light and darkness in Scripture are used primarily to indicate one of two things either moral light and darkness or knowledge.
     1. When our lifestyle is not according to the Bible it means we are walking in darkness, when it is consistent we are walking in the light
     2. And when we do not understand God’s message either in the Bible or in His Son we are in the dark and when we get it we have light
  4. This passage is indicating that Jesus came into a dark world, a world that was full of moral darkness and intellectual darkness about the things of God. He was God’s light that shined into the darkness!
     1. He was God’s knowledge, God’s sermon, God’s perfect message, God’s word to this world!
     2. Note how man responded.
        1. Read the end of v5
        2. He did not get it! He was like “what?” it flew right over his head.
        3. Comprehend – simply means understand. The Light, the perfect message was put right in front of them and they did not understand it.
     3. The Bible teaches us this is the common experience of those who do not know Jesus.
        1. Read 1 Corinthians 2:14 so that means Jesus, the Bible, the things of God are on a different frequency than the heart and mind of the man who does not know Jesus. Spiritual things are comprehended at a supernatural level, spiritual FM frequency; the natural man, the person without God, operates on an AM frequency!  
        2. Read 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 – Man is blind! There is a big difference between being blind and blindfolded.
           1. Blindfolded means you have the capacity to see but something is blocking your view. Remove the blindfold and you will see.
           2. Blind means you do not even have the capacity to see. Remove the blindfold and you still will not see
        3. Reread 2 Corinthians 4:4 – Satan is the one who blinded them – so this is a supernatural thing.
        4. Bottom line a person who does not know Jesus is on a different frequency, and does not even have the capacity to understand and comprehend spiritual things. On top of it, Satan is sealing all of that in.
     4. The world had Jesus, God’s Word, God’s Perfect Message walking and talking right in front of them and they missed it, they did not get it, they did not understand Him, they could not, they did not even have the capacity to since they are on a different spiritual frequency and Satanically blinded.

• So what does that mean to you and me?

1. Application
   1. First, we must recognize deep within our hearts that someone’s salvation is a miracle performed by God that is as big as the resurrection of Jesus Christ or the miraculous birth of Jesus being born of a virgin. A miracle that will give man a new frequency in his heart and mind, give him sight to his spiritually blind eyes and bind Satan from holding him back
      1. Read John 1:12-13
      2. We will speak more about that on Christmas Eve
   2. But if you are here this morning and deep in your heart, you say I want that, I am beginning to see it that is evidence that God is drawing you to Himself, He is at work to begin that miracle in your life.
      1. Invite to believe