Who is Jesus pt 2
21/12/08
John 1:1-18
Last week: 1st 3 verses - Jesus is the Word, He is God, He is the Creator
Read: John 1:1-5
Next 2 things that John wants us to know about Jesus – He is light and life. What does it really mean to us that…
Jesus is THE Light and THE Life
John 14:6 – “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”
These are exclusive claims. Jesus is not one light among many, or one source of life among many. He is the one true light, and He is the only source of true life.
John here summarises Jesus’ claim to be the way and the truth by describing Jesus as “the light”. Without the light you cannot see the way to go, without the light you cannot tell truth from error.
- Isaiah 50 – Isaiah prophesies that
One of the great tragedies for many Christians is that Jesus has been reduced to one voice among many. We listen to too many experts who tell us the sorts of things we like to hear (we reject the experts who tell us things we don’t like!) We mimic our parents, whether we want to or not. We follow our friends, whether we realise it or not. We indulge the desires that rage within us, and fall for temptations that work on us from the outside. Among all this noise the still, small voice of the Spirit which says “Look to Jesus. Follow Him.” sometimes gets drowned out. We walk by the light of these other blazing torches instead of walking by the light of Jesus and allowing Him to be “THE Way” for us. - What has light to do with truth? Why are people often afraid of the dark? Because in the dark we cannot tell what is really going on. Our fears and imaginings can become real because there is not enough light to expose them as being false.
It’s the same for us. It is easy for us to believe all sorts of things that make sense and seem very real to us. But it is only when they are exposed to the truth of Jesus that they are shown to be true or not. Our own common sense or the wisdom of others is not the benchmark, it is Jesus Christ Himself who is the Light.
Jesus’ Life is our Light
v.4 - In him was life, and that life was the light of men.
How are we to receive the life of Jesus?
This verse tells us that the life was the light of men. We have learnt already that light shows us how to walk and what to believe – it shows us the way and the truth. Let’s start by examining the truth:
vv. 10 – 13
10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who received 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.
Believing in Jesus as our Saviour and Lord is how we receive life. All of us were born of natural descent. Some of us were born as a result of a conscious decision on our parents’ part, some may not have been! But the only way to be born again – to receive eternal life – is to be born of God. That is a gift that God gives all those who believe in Jesus.
However once we receive life we must then get on and live it. How do we do that? By living by the light of Jesus as “THE Way”. We have to follow Him!
This light that shows us how to live is in fact Jesus’ life! Life - the real, abundant life that God intends for all His children - was perfectly demonstrated for us in Jesus. The Christian life is more than just a list of things to believe in. It’s not a list of requirements to fulfil – do’s and don’ts. It is modelling ourselves after Jesus. That’s why the earliest Christians were called Disciples, and Christianity was simply known as “The Way”. Christianity is all about following Jesus, not just believing in Him. Believing in Jesus is how the journey begins, but if you really believe, you must follow. If you follow, you will taste life. Not the fake, unsatisfying life that this world offers, but the abundant life that is only found in Jesus.
1 John 1:5 – 2:6
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all a sin.
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
2 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for b the sins of the whole world.
3 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. 4 The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love c is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
Even when Jesus physically walked the Earth, He was rejected by the religious, and we must recognise that you and I can make exactly that mistake.
We can’t claim to believe in Jesus as The Truth, but not follow Him as The Way. They must go together if we are to receive Him as The Life.
Will we reject the Light or Live by it?
v.5 - The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it[1]
- “understood” – comprehended, grasped, mastered, overcome – grabbing hold of. In other words, the darkness couldn’t handle the light!
- What happens when you see a bright light after being in darkness? It hurts! We naturally turn away. That’s exactly what happens in a spiritual sense. Sometimes looking at Jesus is painful, it’s uncomfortable. Our spiritual eyes need to adjust. However once we get used to living in the light of Jesus, darkness becomes very unappealing and even frightening.
- Example 1: I remember the light of Jesus showing up after I had criticised a Christian group whose methods I found questionable. The realization came to me that I had prepared to condemn this group on the basis of my impressions and very little real information. I had certainly never done the biblical thing and gone to them directly with my concerns and listened to their response, so how dare sit in judgement on them? I was being arrogant and self-righteous. That’s not a warm and fuzzy thing for the light of Jesus to expose! The truth is often not easy to take hold of. It is easier to remain in darkness when it comes to who we really are and how we live. Yet that realisation was incredibly helpful to me. As I have become less critical of others, I have had more freedom to glean good things from them and worry less about the things I don’t like. That has been a huge blessing to me. I also can reasonably expect others to treat me in the way that I treat them, and so unity and trust can be built up in the Body of Christ.
- Example 2: Thinking about buying / renting a house. The values of our culture: separate bedrooms for each child, plenty of space – different activity areas for TV, games, dining etc. The cost of this dream is way too high! Is this really what Jesus wants for us – living separately from even our own family and especially from our neighbours. Carolyn being forced to work outside the home simply to help pay off the house. Is this the ministry God has called her to, or is it a “necessity” brought about because we have made a decision based on the values of darkness instead of the truth of Jesus? Does Jesus want us to be mastered by a mortgage? What are the alternatives? Smaller house? Sharing a house? Building in room for hospitality? There are many possible answers. What matters is that we ask the questions! Let’s bring the light of Jesus to bear on the real issues of our lives. To often we ask God to provide the thing that we think we need (based on the values of darkness) instead of asking God to show us what He is providing!
- Example 3: The more Jesus shows me of the suffering in this world, the more I am convinced that I am not allowed to seek my own comfort, but must seek to be a part of His body which is reaching out to serve and to love. I’m not sure yet exactly what I must do, but there are some ideas that are forming and there are things that I’m trying. It starts with the small things, like only buying coffee that comes from fair trade sources (some of the coffee we buy in shops and café’s comes from farmers who were paid less for it than what it cost them to grow it, or grown on plantations where children are held in slavery. People get away with this abuse be we as the consumers don’t care enough to ask where our products come from). Things like taking the time to stop and talk to someone when I don’t feel comfortable or have other things to do. It’s very often in the little things of life that we make a real difference, like when Jesus spoke kindly to a woman while sitting by a well, instead of just having a nap while waiting for His disciples to get back with lunch!
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