The Word Became Flesh, and We Beheld His Glory

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The Word Became Flesh, and We Beheld His Glory

John 1:1-5, 14-18; February 7, 2021; Don Willeman

February 7, 2021 • Don Willeman • John 1:1–5, John 1:14–18

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“...the mystery...that Almighty God would come down...in the person of Jesus Christ and became one of us.... There is really nothing like that incredible social inversion of Almighty God coming here and living with us and dying with us.”

~Anne Rice, author of The Vampire Chronicles

“. . . John in his use of Logos [i.e. Word] is cutting clean across one of the fundamental Greek ideas. The Greeks thought of the gods as detached from the world, as regarding its struggles and heartaches and joys and fears with serene divine lack of feeling. John’s idea of the Logos conveys exactly the opposite idea. John’s Logos does not show us a God who is serenely detached, but a God who is passionately involved.”

~Leon Morris (1914-2006), Australian New Testament scholar

“The Son is the Father’s All.”

~Athanasius (c. 196-373 AD), North African theologian and church leader

“The heart of Christianity is a myth which is also a fact…. By becoming fact it does not cease to be myth: that is the miracle…. Those who do not know that this great myth became Fact…are, indeed, to be pitied. But Christians also need to be…reminded that…[Christianity] carries with it into the world of Fact all the properties of a myth. God is more than a god, not less…. We must not be ashamed of the mythical radiance resting in our theology.”

~C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), writer and academic at both Oxford and Cambridge

“God had one son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering.”

~St. Augustine (354-430), bishop in North Africa

“… if we would see the glory of God, it appears most in grace, and mercy, and lovingkindness, and such sweet attributes…. We must take God, not as considered [abstractly]…, but God in Christ; for other notions of god are terrible.”

~Richard Sibbes (1577-1635), English theologian

“The Gospel of John opens with Jesus Christ in the bosom of God, and closes with the sinner in the bosom of Jesus Christ.”

~D. L. Moody (1837-1899), founder of Northfield Mount Hermon Schools (MA)

“Because Jesus Christ is a man, He feels what we feel. Because He is God, He can do something about it.”

~Tony Evans, pastor and author

SERMON PASSAGE

selected passages

John 1 (NIV)

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it….

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

15 (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) 16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

Exodus 33 (ESV)

18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” 19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” 21 And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, 22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”

Exodus 34 (ESV)

4 So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone. 5 The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty…

Psalm 85 (ESV)

7 Show us your steadfast love, O Lord,
and grant us your salvation.
8 Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,
for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints;
but let them not turn back to folly.
9 Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him,
that glory may dwell in our land.
10 Steadfast love and faithfulness meet;
righteousness and peace kiss each other.

Living for the Glory of God, Part 7: Living into our New Identity

August 6, 2023 • Don Willeman • John 14:18–20, John 15:4–5, Colossians 2:6–15

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION “Man is literally split in two: he has an awareness of his own splendid uniqueness in that he sticks out of nature with a towering majesty, and yet he goes back into the ground a few feet in order blindly and dumbly to rot and disappear forever.” ~Ernest Becker (1927-1974) in The Denial of Death “Religion used to be the opium of the people. To those suffering humiliation, pain, illness, and serfdom, religion promised the reward of an afterlife. But now, we are witnessing a transformation, a true opium of the people is the belief in nothingness after death, the huge solace, the huge comfort of thinking that for our betrayals, our greed, our cowardice, our murders, we are not going to be judged.” ~Czesław Miłosz (1911-2004), Polish-American poet and Nobel Laureate, regarded as one of the great poets of the 20th century “The final dignity of a thing is its glory—that is, the realizing of its built-in potential for good…. The true glory of all objects appears when they do what they were made to do.” ~J.I. Packer & Thomas Howard in Christianity: The True Humanism “The glory of God is man fully alive, and the life of man is the vision of God.” ~Irenaeus (c.130-c.202), early Christian leader in Against Heresies “Living according to the truth is the most authentic way to live because it’s what we were made for.” ~Alisa Childers, singer-songwriter and author “…a Christian lives not in himself, but in Christ and in his neighbor…. He lives in Christ through faith, in his neighbor through love. By faith he is caught up beyond himself into God. By love he descends beneath himself into his neighbor.” ~Martin Luther (1483-1546), German reformer SERMON PASSAGE selected passages (ESV) John 14 – The Words of Jesus 18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. John 15 – The Words of Jesus 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. Colossians 2 6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. 8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

Living for the Glory of God, Part 6: Overcoming Sin by Beholding God’s Glory

July 30, 2023 • Don Willeman • 1 John 3:1–10, John 17:22–26, Colossians 3:1–4

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION “Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is.” ~Albert Camus (1913-1960), French journalist and philosopher “Man cannot endure his own littleness unless he can translate it into meaningfulness on the largest possible level.” ~Ernest Becker (1924-1974), in The Denial of Death “…over the past few decades, people have lost a sense of their own sinfulness. Children are raised amid a chorus of applause. Politics has become less about institutional restraint and more about giving voters whatever they want at that second. Joe DiMaggio didn’t ostentatiously admire his own home runs, but now athletes routinely celebrate themselves as part of the self-branding process.” ~David Brooks in The New York Times “‘You are enough’ is a message that enslaves people…. It burdens them with the obligation of being the source of their own joy, contentment, and peace.” “You are not enough, but when your trust is placed in Jesus, his enough-ness is transferred to you.” ~Alisa Childers, singer, songwriter, and author “The true penitent, though he dreads punishment, much more dreads sin…” ~Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) “Modern secularism (which insists on keeping faith private) and modern pietism (which keeps Jesus safely contained in the hearts of individual believers) are usually assumed to be adversaries. But this feud is ultimately a battle between brothers. They share conceptual DNA with Marcion and the Gnostics.” ~Ken Myers, contemporary Christian thinker “It is not a question of whether we worship, but what we worship.” “We are what we love. And love takes practice.” ~James K. A. Smith, Canadian-born contemporary philosopher “The glory of God is man fully alive, and the life of man is the vision of God.” ~Irenaeus (c.130-c.202), early Christian leader in Against Heresies SERMON PASSAGE selected passages John 1 (ESV) 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 1 John 3 (ESV) 1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. 4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. 8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. John 17 (ESV) – The Words of Jesus 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them…. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them. Colossians 3 (NASB95) 1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

Living for the Glory of God, Part 5: Fighting Sin

July 23, 2023 • Don Willeman • Colossians 3:1–10

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION “…God does not let himself be surpassed in generosity, but surpasses our generosity in endless ways.” ~Martin Luther (1483-1546) in Annotations on Ecclesiastes “Unbelief doesn’t see God as the ultimate good. So it can’t see sin as the ultimate evil.” ~Jackie Hill Perry, writer and hip-hop artist “Sin is a deep interior dislocation of the soul.” ~Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957), English writer and poet “Be killing sin or it will be killing you.” “…longing, breathing, and panting after deliverance is a grace in itself, that hath a mighty power to conform the soul into the likeness of the thing longed after.” ~John Owen (1616-1683), English academic and theologian “The Christian’s motto should not be ‘Let go and let God’ but ‘Trust God and get going.’” ~J.I. Packer (1926-2020), English-born Canadian theologian God declares us righteous “…upon the justice of Christ given and imputed to us, and not upon the holiness and grace that is inherent in us.” ~Gasparo Contarini (1483-1542), Italian Diplomat and Cardinal “Because faith alone justifies… publicans and prostitutes will be first in the kingdom of heaven.” ~Hilary of Poitiers, key 4th century Christian leader “If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. But if you look at Christ you’ll be at rest.” ~Corrie Ten Boom (1892-1983), Dutch watchmaker and Holocaust survivor SERMON PASSAGE selected passages John 17 (ESV) 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them…. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them. Colossians 3 (NASB95) 1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. 5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. 6 For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, 7 and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him… John 8 (NASB95) 34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. 36 So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. 1 John 2 (NASB95) 15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. 1 John 3 (NASB95) 1 See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.