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Turn with me in your Bible to John chapter 1, verse 6
Our civilization is on the brink of destruction. Our very lives are at a precipice of no return. The precise origin of this destruction is difficult to pinpoint, but let’s begin in the 1800’s when the foundation of the Bible was removed from higher education, even theological training. Eventually, we come to the 60’s when the sexual revolution took over. “Freedom!” was the serpent’s lie while family was on the altar ready to be sacrificed. And that’s exactly what we’ve seen: the destruction of the family.
After the nuclear family was successfully destroyed, something else was noticed. Kids’ egos deflated more and more. Of course, now with parents no longer being respected (or even being parents), and the family being something that just “gets in the way,” no wonder children had no foundation to prepare them for the rest of their life. In stead of trying to fix and heal families, the culture decided the best way to fix the problem was to inflate the kid’s ego. Self-esteem training became in vogue in the 80s and 90s. There’s only so much the air pump of flattery can pump up before the balloon pops.
So, what happens when the balloon pops? Well, then the scotch tape of therapy is applied so that the ego can be inflated again. Therapeutic culture is upsurging in our country right now. Essayist Joseph Epstein notes this in his article for the Wallstreet Journal, Today’s College Classroom is a Therapy Session. He taught for years at Northwestern University. He says instructors are to have safe, nurturing, ant-racist spaces. What’s left behind is that teachers are ought to teach. He saw seven teachers were awarded with a teaching award. Of those seven award winners, a majority are so welcoming and supportive, so ready to foster inclusive learning spaces. No where was anything mentioned of their teaching skills. Feeling safe and good about oneself is the fastest growing religion in our country.
The church in America, by in large, instead of standing firm on the gospel, has combined this new religion with itself. Jesus is just one of the ways you can now feel safe and better about yourself. People go to church, read their Bible, pray, and all the rest just to “feel better!” But be warned: Jesus is not a means to an end.
Let me be clear. Therapy is not bad. Going to church does in some sense can make us feel better. The distortion comes in when our only and primary goal within Christianity is to attain something other than God himself. What can be better than God?
The moments in life that are most fulfilling are not self-inflating, but self-forgetting. One of my favorite hobbies when I lived in North Georgia was to go and hike in the mountains. What if, I climbed 3 miles up to the top of Mt. Yonah, looked off the top of the cliff face at the amazing view and proclaimed, “Wow! I am just so great!” Many of you would think I’m crazy. The point of taking on the arduous task of climbing a mountain is to get to the top and lose your self in the wonder of the view. I want to submit to you that many people go to churches across this nation just like that crazy person. Many people wake up early Sunday morning, get pampered up, drive to the church, walk in the door, “Wow! I feel better. Look how great I am. I’m sure Jesus will make me safe. I’m sure Jesus will make me feel better about myself.” The point of worship is not to make you feel good, but so that you lose yourself in experiencing the wonder of our glorious Christ. Him I proclaim to us today.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of 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.
John the evangelist opens his epistle with proclaiming that Jesus is God and with God. Jesus is also the Word, the very revelation of God. John switches his metaphor in verse 5 to “light,” a light which is the life of men. The commentator D.A. Carson notes that light and life are universal religious terms (every religion uses these terms), but these aren’t generic terms we can interpret anyway we want. John is a man fully immersed in the scripture (just see how often Revelation alludes to the Old Testament, for instance). To fully understand these metaphors of light and life, we need to understand how the Bible utilizes them.
The Bible pictures all of humanity dwelling in darkness. Darkness is a place of destruction. Jeremiah prophecies concerning the lying prophets, “Therefore their way shall be to them
like slippery paths in the darkness,
into which they shall be driven and fall,
for I will bring disaster upon them
in the year of their punishment,
declares the Lord.” Jer 23:12
Darkness is a place of ignorance, confusion, and oppression. One of the curses for disobeying the Mosaic covenant is, “The Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind, 29 and you shall grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. And you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you. “ Dt. 28:28-9
Darkness is a place of depression and hopelessness. Job laments in Job 30:26, “
But when I hoped for good, evil came, and when I waited for light, darkness came.”
Darkness is a place of death. The psalmist sings in Psalm 107:10-11, “Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,
prisoners in affliction and in irons,
11 for they had rebelled against the words of God,
and spurned the counsel of the Most High.”
Darkness is a metaphor for chaos. In the beginning darkness was over the face of the deep (Gen 1:2) which God brough order to. The Fall of mankind in Genesis 3 brought all mankind to dwell in darkness, a place of death, destruction, disorder, desolation, and dumbness. We sat in chains, prisoners to our own selfish desires, groping with a way out to no avail. In our dark dungeons, we demand safety, comfort, and therapy, but none of those things bring us light.
Into this environment enters Jesus, the light of the world. This light brings salvation to our dark dungeons of existence if we accept Jesus’s message about himself. This light is so amazing displayed to all men. Like the stary host shining bright on a dark night. Like the mountain peek view that can bee seen for miles. Like the endless ocean in the breezy salt air. John stands up when this light appears and shouts, “Glory!” Like John, Christians live to put God’s grandeur on display.
When we sit on the mountain peak, we converse about the view. When we watch gymnastic, we dazzle in the performance. When we live in the light of Christ, we proclaim that to others. Are you so enamored with what Christ has done for you that you have it on your lips?
The passage goes on from John the Baptist talking about two responses to Jesus. The first group rejects him. Look at verse 9-10
“9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. “
When we notice that we are not blown away by the light Christ brings, we need to find out why. Perhaps, like the verse says, it is ignorance. An untrained ear listening to a classical violinist may find it uninteresting or even scoff, “So what?” But the violinist whose trained so hard his fingers bleed knows just how immaculate the performance is. In the same way, when we loose sight of how dark the darkness is or how glorious Christ truly is, we too can lose the awe factor in our savior.
Look at verse 11. “11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”
Now, in this context, “his own people” is specifically referring to the Jewish people. He was the Jewish Messiah promised long ago, come to dwell with his own people. But he was rejected. Outright rejection is easy to spot and it’s becoming all too common in our society. It should still be shocking nonetheless. People who dwell in darkness, misery, enslaved to their own passions leading them to destruction are thrown a rope of escape, but instead, like bugs after a rock has been lifted up, scurry to bury themselves further into their filth. Thus, it says in John 3:19, “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” People like this hardly find themselves in church, but if that describes you, if you’re sitting here in appearance only but secretly deep down you despise the things of Christ and love your wickedness, repent! Christ cares for you! He’s not looking for you to clean yourself up first, run to him, cling to Jesus!
The other form of rejection is far more insidious and self-deceptive. One time, a missionary to India shared a story that has stuck with me over the years. As you may know, Hindus (the majority in India) are very Polytheistic. They worship a loooot of gods. Maybe upwards of even 33 million! This missionary was using an evangicube to share the gospel through a translator with one particular Hindu in his little shop. An evangicube is a pretty handy device that has pictures, it can fold, unfold, fold back up explaining man’s sinful condition and what Jesus did in his death, burial and resurrection. Well, this particular Hindu seemed very interested, so interested in fact that he offered to buy the cube off of the missionary.
At first the missionary was taken aback, “did he just understand this, get converted and want to share the gospel with others?” he wondered. But then he looked back and saw an insence bowl and several other little statues. He realized that the Hindu wanted to add Jesus to his collection of gods. The missionary took the depiction of Jesus and slammed it against itself proclaiming, “this is just a picture, Jesus is at the right hand of God!”
It’s easy to see the problem when someone is adding Jesus to their collections of gods to be used just like the others. People here in America also use Jesus to meet their ulterior motives. People dwell in darkness and bask in the light for its benefits, but turn around and walk in darkness. Do not be deceived. “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” (1 John 1:6). Are you in a relationship with Christ for the benefits he provides? Are you waiting on the millions Jesus promised you via the false teacher on TV? Are you waiting for therapist Jesus to inflate your ego? Are you waiting on Genie Jesus to grant your wishes? Are you waiting for Heaven is for Real Jesus to whisk you into heaven? Do you feel most loved by God when he makes much of you, or when He, at great cost to himself, allows you to make much of him?
Your greatest joy is not found in all your needs being met, but instead when you lose yourself in the greatest thing in all the universe. Anything we want or desire more than Jesus, anything, is an idol. Whether it’s fame or famine, fortune or folly, freedom or friendship, anything we want more than Jesus is an idol. We must seek and savor Jesus, because only in him will we truly find satisfaction and joy.
But there’s another response to Jesus: receiving him. “12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
A beautiful promise is given to those who receive Jesus, you are given the right to become children of God. What does it mean to “receive” Jesus? Does that mean to walk the aisle, pray a prayer, and forget about it? Like opening your door to a needy neighbor and letting them in for a few hours so you feel better about yourself as a human being. And when that neighbor leaves, you remark to your spouse, “I’m sure glad he’s gone.” That’s how a lot of evangelists paint Jesus. Jesus just needs you to open the door, come on now, he’s too weak to do it on his own! Your life is great already, just add Jesus on top!
The verse itself gives clues as to what receive means. The word refers to welcoming, for sure. The verse goes on to say, who believes in his name. “Name” is a figure of speech. When we pray, “in the name of Jesus, “ that is not literal. We don’t bend down, write his name in chalk on the ground, stand in it and begin to pray. So, what does it mean? It’s not a magic formula we add to the end of our prayer so he can grant our wishes. Say, that your running down the street and someone yells out, “stop in the name of the law!” Well, you better stop running and pay attention. Name here, carries the weight of authority. If I say, “I preaching in the name of our pastor,” or an ambassador says, “I proclaim in the name of the king,” it’s referring to that very person. Their whole self, authority, teaching and all. When one believes in the name of Jesus, this is not talking about buffet Jesus. The Jesus where we pick and choose what we like and leave behind the rest. Beleiving in Jesus name is “acceptance of Jesus to the full extent of his revelation”.[1]
Belief implies an element of risk because the believer is literally staking his life upon the claim that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God. [2] Thus, receiving Jesus is staking your entire life on the claims that Jesus made. We receive Christ as whole, all of him and his claims. We receive Christ with our all, not double-minded. We receive Christ as our sustenance, nothing else can satisfy.
What happens in result of receiving Jesus in this way? Becoming children of God. “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.” 1 John 3:1. The Bible often uses the phrase “children of man” as a generic term for humanity. “Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.” Psalm 66:5. Thus in Christ we become “children of God,” a new type of humanity. Hosea 1:10 says, “Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.”
Your condition as a child of man is one of darkness and gloom and misery, seeking for answers, maybe even using Jesus and a church to satisfy your own selfish desires. But when we turn to Jesus we are transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his beloved Son. If you have rejected Jesus outright or even by just using him to get something else, now is the time to receive him fully. “Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts” Heb 3:15 and Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. Heb 4:1
For you, Christian, who call in Jesus name, whose soul is satisfied in nothing else. Today, we need the reminder we are children of God. This year, 2020, has been marked by far more chaos than other years in recent history. Fires, hurricanes, earthquakes, viral epidemics, racial injustices. The children of man are in darkness are groping for an answer: more safe spaces, more education, more government, more comfort, more prosperity, more psychologists, and on and on the list goes. Listen, you are a child of God. Your hope and faith cannot be ultimately places in any of these things. Our only hope is Jesus.
Look at verse 14, “The word became flesh and dwelt among us.” If what can bring us the most joy is discovering and savoring the greatest good, the most loving thing God can do for us to glorify himself. God desires out of his loving-kindness to give us joy. And oftentimes we distort not only God into our own image, but what we think is best for us into our own image. What is the thing that will make you the happiest? What can you not live without? That is the thing that you believe it would be for God to give you. And if he withholds that “thing” (item, idea, individual. . . anything) from you then you conclude one of two things: Either God does not exist –or- God does not want the best for me.
What do you want the most? To feel safe? To feel loved? To feel good about yourself? That other person you lust after? A happy home? A successful career? Good grades? The clock to run forward so you can get out of this place?
The greatest need you have is to get a glimpse of the glory of God and put your face in the dirt like Moses. To see the very throne room of God and cry out, “Woe is me, I’m undone!” like Isaiah. God has been gracious, patient, and intentional to make that very thing happen.
What prevented God from moving in and doing this right away? More than Satan, more than your stubbornness, it was his own justice and wrath. You see, when God dwelled with his rebellious people in the wilderness, plagues and fires often broke out. Not because he was some capricious tyrant trying to capitulate a people to his will. But rather, because in Him, the judge of all the earth, justice must be meted out. “Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?”
How can God give us the very best, his very presence, without giving us what we deserve? This is what his cross accomplished for us. God’s wrath headed for our sin went on our substitute. Our wicked ways were placed on him and put to death. Fellowship with God once broken by our rebellion Christ reunited in a glorious exchange!
Jesus became human and put his tabernacle among us! Don’t you see? This is Yahweh of the Old Testament come in the flesh, and we have seen his glory! Like Moses, like Isaiah, look to Jesus. Look and live!
Let’s pray.
[1] Word Biblical Commentary; Beasley-Murray
[2] Paul Washer The Gospel Call and True Conversion 49.
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