In Him Was Life

[00:00:04] Amen. [00:00:06] Let's pray. [00:00:08] Lord God, as we come to your word in John, chapter one, these words, as you tell us in your word, are spiritually discerned. So we seek your holy spirit to open our eyes that we might see wondrous things. In your word, work wonderfully. Encourage us. Point us towards life, towards Christ, who is life. [00:00:38] And I seek your spirit's unction to proclaim your word. And I pray this in Jesus name. Amen. [00:00:45] Well, in your Bibles, our sermon text is John, chapter one. I'll be reading the first five verses. [00:00:55] Hear now the word of God from John, chapter one, beginning in verse one. [00:01:02] In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God. And the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made. That was made. [00:01:17] In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. [00:01:29] Amen. This is God's word. You may be seated. [00:01:47] If you notice, in verse four, it says in him was life, that one word, life. [00:01:54] Think about it. Everyone seeks after life. [00:02:00] Rich or poor, tall or short, male, female, gen, alpha, gen Z, gen Y, baby Boomer. I don't know what other generations I left out. [00:02:11] Whether you're brave or you're fearful. Whether you're an introvert or an extrovert or somewhere in between. Whether you're educated, uneducated, whether you're healthy, whether you're ill. Whether you're african, asian, south american, australian, north american. Whether you're Republican, Democrat, independent, liberal, conservative, progressive, traditional. Whether you're Catholic, whether you're Mormon, whether you're Hindu, whether you're an atheist, whether you're agnostic. Everybody seeks after life. [00:02:44] Everyone pursues life. In fact, pursuing life seems to be the very business of life. [00:02:55] And I would suggest that even the very reason you're here this morning is you're seeking after life, are you not? [00:03:04] And here's what's so extraordinarily remarkable and even exceedingly relevant to every single man, woman, or child on the face of the earth. It's that verse four here in John chapter one announces the very thing, the ultimate thing, that every single human being is seeking after life. [00:03:26] In fact, verse four announces the very source, life, real life, the life that we can never really seem to lay hold of on our own. It says in him was life. In other words, it's in Christ that true life, real life, even everlasting life, is to be found. And everyone seems to be seeking life everywhere, everywhere else but in Christ. And that's one of the great problems of the world. [00:03:58] And so we're going to look through these first four verses here to come to see some of the depths and some of the implications of this heart and soul filling life that is found only in Christ. [00:04:11] And in fact, this all fits so beautifully with the very purpose for which the apostle John wrote this gospel. Right near the end, in chapter 20, verse 31, John says, but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in his name. [00:04:38] Beginning he says, he's life, and at the end he says, this is why it's written, so you can find life, the very thing that humanity is always pursuing, always seeking after, and yet apart from Christ, always eludes our grasp. [00:04:56] So let's begin by reviewing a bit of what we learned a few weeks ago. Was it three weeks ago that I was last here? What we learned about the glory of Christ in terms of who and what he is. And then we'll take it maybe even a little bit deeper, a little bit further here. [00:05:15] So again, let's look at verse one here. I just absolutely love these words, which, you know, echo genesis one. But in the beginning was the word. [00:05:30] What John is telling us here is that at the very beginning of the universe, at the very first instant of creation, when all things came into being, the word was already there. [00:05:43] The word already existed, in other words. And really, this is mind blowing. Jesus Christ has always existed and he has never not existed. [00:05:58] That's what John is trying to tell us here. And of course, this means that Jesus Christ is the eternal, always existing God. [00:06:10] Secondly, if we move down to verse three here, and just taking a peek at it, listen carefully to what verse three is telling us about Jesus. And really, I think, about life itself. It says all things were made through him, and without him or apart from him was not anything made that was made. [00:06:35] This is how big and huge and mighty and powerful the savior God who you've gathered here this morning to worship really and truly is for your life. [00:06:51] When you feel like your worries and your fears and your problems and your circumstances are just too big for Christ, when you fear that Christ may not have actual control over your life and what's going on, in fact, if you fear that he can't be in control of your topsy turvy life, well, you have to realize he is the one that brought all of this into existence. [00:07:22] All things were made through him. And without him, was not anything made that was made. The all powerful creator is powerful enough to be in control of whatever's going on in your life. And if you're trusting Christ, he has the power. He is going to bring you safely home to eternity, safely through it all, and yet another faith and hope building truth that emerges here from this. [00:07:58] And it is an incredible truth. [00:08:02] You see this mighty, huge, all powerful creator, the word, the Lord Jesus Christ, even though he is bigger than the universe, and that means he's bigger than your problems, but even though he's bigger than the universe, and even though he is the eternal creator, God who brought all things into being, now, please don't miss this. Hang in here. He is not sitting above the earth. [00:08:28] He's not sitting above your life and above this world. Impersonal, cold, uncaring, unfeeling, unseeing, unnoticing. [00:08:40] The word Jesus Christ, the one who brought all of this into existence, including you, he profoundly cares. [00:08:52] He sees your condition, he sees your life. [00:08:59] And he foresaw your life, by the way, and he personally did something. [00:09:06] Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which means what God with us, you see? And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. [00:09:26] God the Father saw our condition, and because he possesses incredible compassion, he sent his precious, only begotten son into our hurting, sin infested, sin plagued world to save us. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him would not perish but have what? Life. [00:09:51] Everlasting life. This is a caring God, a God who sees and who becomes involved. [00:09:58] He gets his hands dirty in real life, in this world, in the incarnation. [00:10:06] And so Christ, the word, which is already announced right here in the first few verses of John, chapter one. Truly, Christ is about life, the very thing that we're all seeking to pursue. [00:10:20] And he's about life not only when things are going really well, but he is life and love and compassion. For even when life is confusing and hard and difficult and hurting. [00:10:38] Now, taking these realities, these facts about Christ, even further and even deeper, remember verse one. We're told the word that's Jesus. The word was God. [00:10:52] The greek word translated as with is profound. [00:10:57] The word was with God. That greek word with is profound in its implications. [00:11:05] Christ and God the Father were dwelling with one another even before the universe came into existence, and they were dwelling in a relationship. [00:11:20] And that alone has far reaching implications for us because we all need love, relationship warmth, don't we? That's a fundamental need of human beings, all of us. In other words, God is not a cold, impersonal force or some such thing. [00:11:45] The one God exists in three persons, Father, son, Holy Spirit. And even before time began, they had lived, always lived, in an active relationship. [00:12:01] Again, that's what we need. That's why family is so needful. That's why friends, you know, to be completely isolated, would be unhealthy for us. [00:12:13] They lived, have always existed in an active relationship with one another. [00:12:20] They communicate with one another. They're in communion with one another. They love one another. [00:12:27] And the glories of John's statement here, and the word was with God, it only gets better. This tells us that a deep part of God, being God, involves qualities like love, warmth, interaction, talking, communicating, relating, even enjoying one another in so many science fiction movies. And I personally, I like those really corny 1950s science fictions, you know, and, you know, the blob, for example. I mean, they're crazy, but I don't know, I enjoy them. But so often they're about evil aliens whose only intentions are, well, bad for us, right? They want to take over the world. They want to kill all of humanity or whatever it is. They're driven, the aliens, the monsters, are driven by bad intentions for planet earth. In fact, if you and that, that taps on a fear deep down fear that we all possess and even take the idea of strangers. We're afraid of strangers, aren't we? People who are different, people who we don't know, we often view strangers themselves as a threat. But think about God. [00:13:54] From even before time began, God was overflowing with love. [00:14:02] What a contrast to those fifties and even later Sci-Fi movies. [00:14:08] God was overflowing with love and with relationship and with warmth. It's part of who and what God is. [00:14:20] And here's the massive irony. [00:14:23] What mankind does is flee from this very God that we need. [00:14:32] We flee from him as if rather than love, he's an evil alien whose only agenda is to destroy our lives. [00:14:42] Isn't that how people tend to react to God? And thus, as the apostle Paul points out in romans one, verse 18, humanity, by our unrighteousness, we're always suppressing the truth about God. We're always. Again, it's as if he's some evil alien whose only intention. He's looking down from heaven at you and going, how can I mess up your life? [00:15:09] So, taking this further, look at John one here in verse 18. [00:15:16] No one has ever seen God, the only God who is at the father's side. [00:15:22] Has that ever struck you? Who is at the father's side? [00:15:27] Other translations better capture the warmth and relationship between Christ and the father of verse 18 a little bit better. The new american standard no man has seen God at any time, the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father or the net. Translation no one has ever seen God, the only one himself, God, who is in the closest fellowship with the Father. [00:15:56] Isn't that something? So here's a theological statement. No one has ever seen God, the only God. And later he tells us God is spirit. And then he adds to that, who is at the father's side? [00:16:06] Profound theological truth. And suddenly relationship. It's so integral to God, and we need to let that sink in, sink into our hearts. So can you see what we're getting at here in the trinity? There is the sheer unrestrained joy of intimacy, closeness, love, warmth, fullness of heart, the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father. That's why first John 416 tells us, God is love through all eternity. Even before the universe was created, even before time began, the Father was loving the Son, and the Son was loving the Father, and the Father was loving the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit was loving the Father, and the Son was loving the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit was loving the Son. Love within the Trinity, forever and ever and ever before creation, there has always existed love. That's why love exists, is because God is love. [00:17:23] And so if you take the muslim God, there's a problem of a lack of love in their view of God because they don't have God is love. And so you have a lot of, you have a problem of a lack of love. Even in their religion, this is critical. God is love forever and ever and ever. There has always been love, warmth, friendship, affection, tenderness, enjoyment in one another, joy in one another. This is life we're talking about. This is what we need. This is what humanity is always trying to seek, always trying to lay hold of, always trying to pursue, and it just eludes, slips through our grasp. And the fact that Jesus, as well as the Father and the Holy Spirit is personal, they're persons. This means that we who are created in his image can know him relationship. We can know him personally and enter into a living relationship with him through faith in him. And ultimately that's life. [00:18:33] Read Jesus prayer, high priesthood prayer in John 17, for example, the apostle John actually experienced some of this warmth and intimacy with Christ at the last Supper, where we read in John, chapter 13, verse 35, about John. It describes John as leaning back on Jesus breast. [00:18:56] And he said, Lord, who is it? But that picture of the physical position of John, he's leaning on Jesus. There's that intimate closeness with God incarnate. In him was life. [00:19:15] That's what we need, and that's what we will experience in full when Jesus returns and we're in eternity and we're glorified and, oh, it's going to be incredible. So that's important to catch these little relationships notes that are sort of inserted in these verses here. John was leaning on Jesus breast. What a picture of intimacy and friendship and closeness and warmth and security. Again, that's life for Jesus himself to be life to the full. That then should come as no surprise after what we've just been briefly looking at so far here. [00:20:02] And so, again, continuing this whole idea, verse one tells us something truly wonderful. [00:20:09] The word was with God. [00:20:13] With God. In other words, what we're told about God is that he's a personal God. God is a holy trinity composed of three persons existing in an eternal relationship of. Of mutual love. He's with God. It isn't, you know, when you begin to put all this together in scripture, it isn't just that Jesus, let's say, was nearby God, you know, sort of a physical proximity, although, you know, you don't have creation yet. So I'm trying to use, you know, terms for our existence. But with God, it's a relationship term especially. [00:20:53] He was with God, and so he's a personal God. [00:20:58] This brings us to the very reason for which God created us. [00:21:04] Timothy Keller can be a slightly controversial person, but he can write some really profound things. And here's what he writes about the reason for which God created us. [00:21:18] He writes, in fact, he's addressing these very verses here. He writes, in the life of the Godhead from all eternity. What were they doing? [00:21:31] They were communicating. [00:21:33] They were pouring out into one another's souls love, joy, communication and pleasure in degrees and depth and power. We can't imagine thereby, as it were, forming a ring of inexpressible, glorious joy, pouring back and forth like mirrors. [00:21:55] This is what the Holy Spirit, the Father, the Son, were doing with one another. [00:22:02] Keller continues. Finally, they said, let us make man in our own image creatively, with tremendous joy. They decided they were going to create a race of persons who could step into this ring of joy, a race of persons in the image of God, meaning personal and rational and capable of relationship and communication, who were also capable of being little mirrors reflecting back to God, though on a smaller scale, his own boundless wisdom, righteous joy, nobility, greatness, pleasure and delight. In other words, God created us in his own image so that we could know God and share in and experience, obviously on a lesser scale, what God has always known and enjoyed within the Trinity. Love, joy, intimacy and worth. [00:22:57] You see, that's why we were created, to experience this, to know this. And it's a beautiful, awesome thing. [00:23:10] Now this all should give tremendous gospel depth then to the first part of verse four. [00:23:21] In him was life. That's sort of the whole key statement for this sermon in Christ is life. Think about it. Christ himself possesses life, and he's the true and the living God and all life, true life, fullness of life, comes from him and through him. It's to be found in him. He's the source. And yet what is humanity always doing? Looking everywhere else, pursuing life everywhere else but in Christ, apart from God's gracious intervention? [00:23:58] And in fact, this life which God impart, Christ imparts is a major theme in John's gospel. In the ESV, we encounter the word life some 47 times in John's gospel. It's such an important word. John's Gospel begins with this theme here in verse four, verse four. And it also ends in chapter 20, verse 31, which I read earlier. But these are written so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that by believing you might have life in his name, in his life, that you may have life in his name kind of the bookends of John's gospel. [00:24:39] Just a couple other verses. In John, chapter five, verse 26, Jesus reveals, for as the father has life in himself, and we're not just talking about biological functioning. [00:24:55] Are biological chemicals all working so that we see and we hear and we have locomotion and. And we're talking about something far deeper, far more profound. [00:25:07] For as the father has life in himself, so he is granted the Son also to have life in himself. [00:25:15] And then John 1010, the thief only comes to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they might have life and have it abundantly. [00:25:30] And John 14 six, Jesus teaches, I am the way and the truth. [00:25:37] And if you just kind of cut it off there, you might have something kind of cognitive, but I am the way, the truth and the life. You see that which we need truth, but we need truth in order to find and pursue life itself. [00:25:56] And so let me just insert a little comment at this point. We're not just talking about eternal life, life going on and on and on in heaven with Christ and the new heavens and the new earth, that kind of thing. We're talking about also a quality of life. We're talking about life. It is as we are created to live it, as life is meant to be. We're even talking about life beginning right now. [00:26:27] I keep mentioning this in the sermons, my drive here. I listened to audio books. This time I was listening to a theology of biblical counseling by Heath Lambert, and I'm listening to him talk about, well, what is biblical counseling? And so forth. I realized even with this topic here, that life in him is life, is life even beginning now? Because so many of our problems come about from sin, our disordered understanding of where to find life and how to pursue things. And Christ's word guides us into a properly ordered, well lived life. So even for now, in him as life, it's not just for eternity, okay? It's even now, as, for example, you're sitting here and you're hearing God's word preached and correcting our path so that we can repent and pursue life in Christ and live life properly. Micah six eight earlier, with our confession of sin, it's even now, it begins even now. God's word is life. It's teaching us how to live life where real life is to be found, how to live what to turn away from, what to repent of, what, you know, sins to confess and how to turn to God. And we could go on and on, but that'd be another sermon, wouldn't that? Unpacking all of that. [00:27:55] So with all of this, consider that famous line from St. Augustine, or Augustine, if you prefer. [00:28:05] I can't remember anymore. But Sinclair Ferguson once said, if you say Augustine, you're from this part of the United Kingdom. And if you say Augustine, you're from this other part of the United Kingdom, and I can't remember which is which, I would like to. But anyway, Saint Augustine, you have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you. [00:28:31] That's true. That's a profound truth. We are created for him and our hearts are restless. Just look at the history of humanity, mankind. [00:28:43] We're restless people until we find our rest life in him. [00:28:50] Remember, everybody seeks afterlife, right? Every a two year old seeks afterlife. A 15 year old is seeking afterlife. An 85 year old is seeking afterlife. And so consider we're all created in the image of God. And this is why our hearts will forever be restless. Our hearts will forever be empty, unfilled, without rest, without peace, until we enter into an intimate heart and soul filling eternal relationship of life with the living one in whose image we are made. [00:29:25] And this John 17 and this is eternal life that they know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you've sent. [00:29:35] This is such a faith and hope building aspect of our salvation, the sheer soul filling joy of an eternal living relationship with the one in whose image we are created. This is what Adam and Eve lost in the garden. And this is what Christ as the second Adam has regained for us. [00:29:59] What about you? [00:30:01] Do you possess this hope, this life, this eternal life, heart and soul filling warmth and love for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. [00:30:20] Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed. In the name of the only son of God. Amen. Let's pray. [00:30:38] Lord God, as we go through our daily lives, even the rest of today in this coming week, help us to remember in him was life. [00:30:55] As we're living our life, pursuing life, seeking life, choosing what we choose, getting upset with things that get in the way of our pursuing life and so on. [00:31:06] Help us remember in him is life. He's the way, he's the truth, he's the life. [00:31:16] So help us to continually correct our paths back towards Christ and seeking ultimate life in him and even seeking life lived for his glory and to enjoy him forever. Help us to do this. And for anyone here who does not believe yet, give them life in Christ. Give them faith that they might believe. In the name of the Son of God, I pray all of this in Jesus wonderful name. Amen.