John 1:1-17

John 1:1-17 is in need of a good paraphrasing. Allow me to attempt my own.

“In the beginning there was the Word. This Word was with God. This Word was God. He was with God at the very beginning. All things were made through Him. Everything. Nothing was made without Him. In Him was life. This life was the enlightenment of mankind. This light shines in the darkness. The darkness does not overcome the light.
A man sent from God, whose name was John, came as a witness to this light, so that all might believe through the light. He himself was not the light. He was a witness to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming. The Word was in the world that was made through Him, but ironically this same world did not know Him. He came to His own people whom He created, and they did not even accept Him. But for the few who did accept Him, He gave them the right to become the children of God. They were not children of blood, nor the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but they were born of God.
And this Word, He became flesh, and lived among us. We have seen his glory. Glory that only the Son from the Father can have, full of grace and truth. And from His infinite glory storehouse we have received and unending supply of grace. Through Moses came the law. Through Jesus Christ (the Word, the light) came grace and truth.”

If you are still confused, let me break this passage down even more. Let’s see if you got out of it what I got out of it. Jesus Christ is the Word. In the Word was light and life. The light enlightens. The Word was with God. The Word was also the same God who created everything. The Word became human, and made His home among us in order to enlighten us. So. Jesus Christ is Creator God a.k.a. “the word” who became human, and made his home among us. He possesses life and enlightens us. If we will accept him as such, he will make us children of God.
Does that make sense?
Perhaps it makes sense and it doesn’t. Perhaps you understand what the passage is saying, but don’t quite understand how what the passage is saying is true. Perhaps you are wondering why the Apostle John used such confusing language. To be fair, John’s Greek was a little strange even in Greek. He is repetitive and often says the same thing he just said in a different way. But you ask: “If John wanted us to know that Jesus is God. Why didn’t he just say, “Jesus is God”. The mostly likely answer is that John didn’t just want us to know that Jesus is God, but that He is the Word. He is not simply indwelt by God, but He actually is the God who created everything. He is, so to speak, the inherent logic of the universe, He is the one that the Apostle Paul says, “holds everything together”. John wants us to know this so as to communicate the extent of Jesus’ condescension in “becoming flesh”. He is God and I mean God; the one and only God, the God who made every single thing, the God in whom all our hope rests, the God who shines light in the darkness, I mean God, the heretofore, unseen God of everything, God became a human, and his earthly name was Jesus.
The reason He came, John tells us is to enlighten us, and to shine God’s light in the darkness that is this world. At least in this chapter. In fact the book of John can be seen as a treatise on why God sent Jesus at all. In John 10 Jesus says explicitly, “I have come that you might have life, and that you might have it more abundantly.” In John 3 Jesus says, “[That God] gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life” This is pretty consistent with John’s comments in Chapter One when he said “In Him was life and the life was the light of men” He came essentially to enlighten us to eternal life. Apparently God thought that the best way to show us the way to life was through becoming one of us.
Every year we celebrate Christmas. And the truth is for many of us that we celebrate family, and/or consumerism, and/or Christmas specials, and/or Rudolph. Somewhere in the back of our minds we know that this is really about Jesus. Everyday is really about Jesus. And Jesus made every day. And everyday is another day to think about, and contemplate, and meditate on Jesus’ becoming one of us, so that we can know God, so that we can be enlightened, so that we can have life. And Christmas is also the perfect time to think about being like Jesus ourselves. God did not just ignore us in our situation. He did not simply condemn us. He did just send us a memo., He came down. He became one of us. He identified Himself with our situation. He modeled for us what ministry is. May we not forget Jesus this Christmas and what He has done for us. May we also not forget that we are called to be his disciples, to follow in his footsteps, to be (here’s the word) incarnational, to be the light in the darkness, to bring life and hope. May we realize, as God has modeled for us, that the best way to do this is to “dwell among them”, identify with their situation, break into their world, and show them what Jesus showed them. God. If you’re thinking about a good Christmas gift, how about eternal life? Merry Christmas!

Good Books

I, Pastor Matt, in case you were not aware, enjoy reading. I'd like to now have a list of all sorts of books that I think you all should read. I will put them into different categories as well. It should be self explanatory.

The Basics
*There are a lot of theology books out there. In my opinion the best systematic theology book is Wayne Grudem's.
*"Walk Thru the Bible" by Bruce Wilkinson

The Deeper Stuff
*"Knowing God" by J.I. Packer
*"The Pursuit of God" by A.W. Tozer

Not For the Faint of Heart
*C.S Lewis. Read anything and everything by him. (The ones that I recommend in particular are: "The Great Divorce", "Mere Christianity", "The Chronicles of Narnia Series"{fiction}, "The Screwtape Letters".

*The Man Who Was Thursday" by G.K. Chesterton

*The Cost of Discipleship" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

*Desiring God" by John Piper (The thing with Piper is if you read him once you simultaneously read both everything he and Jonathan Edwards ever wrote)

For the Truly Adventurous
*"The Gagging of God" by D.A. Carson (It's 600 pages long and would be worth it if it were 1000, one of the most important books on postmodern culture you could get. Be warned this is the furthest thing from an easy read)

*"Confessions" by Augustine. (Despite my penchant for hyperbole, I have to say that next to Jesus, and Paul stands Augustine as one of the three most influential figures in the Western World. In other words if you don't read Augustine, then you might as well only read the Bible)

Fiction
*"The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck

Personal Favorites
*Plato's Republic
*"The Irresistible Revolution" by Shane Claiborne
*"The Meaning of the City" by Jacques Ellul. (This one's a little crazy)