Episode Transcript
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I will read versus one through fourteen. This is the word of God.
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In the beginning was the word,
and the word was with God, and
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the word was God. He was
in the beginning with God. All things
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were made through him and without him
was not anything made. That was made
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in him was life, and the
life was the light of men. The
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light shines in the darkness and the
darkness has not overcome it. There was
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a man sent from God whose name
was John. He came as a witness,
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to bear witness about the light that
all might believe through him. He
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was not the light, but came
to bear witness about the light. The
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true light which in light, or
the true light which gives light to everyone,
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was coming into the world. He
was in the world and the world
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was made through him. Yet the
world did not know him. He came
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to his own and his own people
did not receive him, but to all
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who did receive him, who believed
in his name, he gave the right
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to become children of God, who
were born not of blood, nor of
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the will of the flesh, nor
of the will of man, but of
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God. In the word, became
flesh and dwelt among us, and we
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have seen his glory, glory as
of the only son from the father,
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full of grace and truth. Then
this the psalm that we sang earlier.
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I'm going to flip back there and
read it to you, Psalm thirty four,
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as a lot of it feels to
me very much like the proverbs do
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on their number of literary reasons for
that. One of them is these contrasts,
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not just a sign of proverbs but
one of the things we often find
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in scriptures. I want to read
one of them to you. It's Psalm
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three thousand, four hundred and twenty
one. Affliction will slay the wicked.
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This is, of course, said
in the context where the wicked are slaying
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those who are afflicting those afflicting the
afflicted. I guess would be the way
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to say that there is. There
are in scripture many of these kinds of
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things, these contrasts between the way
things really are and the way things seem
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to be, and there are many
reasons for this. One is that God,
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God likes to humble us, I'll
put it that way. He changes
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events in the world, he makes
them unpredictable, is what I mean to
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say, so that we can't predict
them, so that we will be humbled
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so that we will trust him and
know that we are not gods and goddesses
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to decide our own faith, but
we must always rely on him. There's
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another reason that things are not always
what they seem, and that is because
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of our sin. In our sin, we often fix our eyes on the
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things of this world blind and I'm
denying the things that are above particularly God
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himself. And so things are not
as they seem because we perceive them wrongly,
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not because they are presented to US
wrongly. A mountain is a mountain,
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a tree is a tree, and
yet we worship these things. This
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is not God's fault, it is
ours, exchanging the glory of God for
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created things. And there's yet another
reason why things are not always as they
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seem. One is sin and ignorance, another is that God keeps us on
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our toes on purpose, and yet
a third one is that it's in the
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veiling of things that God gives us
grace. He comes to us with all
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of his glory and his might,
but in a way that we can understand.
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That's a gracious thing. I'm God
comes to us when he comes into
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the world, he comes fully God. He doesn't leave what Jesus doesn't leave
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his divinity up in heaven for a
while and then come down and be a
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man for a while. Now he
is fully, God fully divine and he
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takes on flesh, but it's veiled
and it's veiled, Paul says. And
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Corinthians to confound the wise. He
comes in weakness and all add two weak
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ones to show the wisdom in the
power of God. Paul says to the
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Corinthian Church, he says, not
many of you were honorable, not many
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of you were wise. We weren't. The CORINTHIAN church and the Church in
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general throughout history has not been a
great collection of all the most wonderful people
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throughout the world. The Church has
often been a collection of misfits and outcasts
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and people that are marginalized and on
the edges, people that struggle and are
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poor, people that are burdened and
weighed down. In the Gospels we are
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reminded frequently that it is the tax
collectors and the prostitutes who came to Jesus
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when all of the learned leaders and
theologians and those who should have known much
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better, I failed to even come. This is cond these are contrast,
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then, on the one hand you
have the great glory and holiness of God
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and on the other hand here are
tax collectors and prostitutes coming into that glory,
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being welcomed into his presence. But
this is the way God has chosen
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and it is our very salvation.
And we are reminded of this in John
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Chapter One, where we are told
that in the beginning was the word,
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and the word was with God,
and the word was God. This word
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is not an idea or a thing, but a person, John tells us,
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for it was he. He was
in the beginning with God, and
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this person, who is, of
course, Jesus, John Identifies Him as
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something beyond what is fully expressible.
He was with God and he was God,
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and he of course remains God.
Jesus was not, as the Aryan
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heresy said, one of the created
beings, one of the higher order created
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creatures. Know, John says he
was in the beginning with God and all
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things were made through him and without
him was not anything made. That was
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made. Jesus is the Creator,
the one who said in the beginning,
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let there be light. He is
the one who create aided the world,
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and it was through Jesus that this
world was made. The father spoke his
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word and it was done, and
now he is speaking a new word through
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the word, a word which will
bring light into the world, light that
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shines in the darkness, and darkness
will not overcome it. Darkness, the
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darkness has not overcome it. The
light that comes into the world in some
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ways is so bright. We remember
the Shining Star that the wiseman follow,
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the angels, glorious in the sky. Then, other ways, so veiled
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there was, at night Mary and
Joseph among the sensus. Jesus for many
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years a child growing in wisdom,
knowledge and stature. And even when he
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does his works, they often are
veiled in various ways. They're done in
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his ways and in his time,
not as everyone thinks will happen. But
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nevertheless, even though it's not always
what we expect, even though it's not
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always what it seems, Jesus is
the true light, and we read this
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a doubt. This in verse nine. He was the true light and which
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gives light to everyone. He was
in the world and the world was made
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through him. Yet the world did
not know him. Verse Twelve, but
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to all who did receive him,
who believed in his name, he gave
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the right to become children of God. This great work of God is Jesus,
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comes into the world as described as
light, light which causes us.
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Light is something which causes us to
see. It's light which gives knowledge,
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it's light which gives wisdom, it's
light which takes away fear because there's no
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more darkness. It's light which gives
life to like the sun, to the
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plants. In verse thirteen, we
read that this is the very this is
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the case for us because when we
believe in him, we are born not
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of blood, nor of the will
of the flesh, nor of the will
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of man, but of God.
These contrasts are our great hope, a
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contrast that, on the one hand, here we stand, in some ways
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looking no different than the day before
we became a Christian, and yet entirely
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different, having our sins pardoned,
knowing the light of God, being born
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of God and now having a right
to him or to him and to his
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inheritance that he gives to us.
I want to read to you now more
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of these contrasts and in an expression
of these, from him three hundred and
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three, if you would turn there
with me, please. This is different
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than the one that I had marked
in your bulletins. I changed my mind
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him three hundred and three. This
is a hymn, a marked by these
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contrasts. Are marked by, on
the one hand, helping us to understand
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in these biblical terms and the greatness
and the glory of God, and yet
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the way in which he comes to
us and to whom he comes. Like
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to read this with you and then
we'll sing it together. All praise to
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you, eternal Lord, clothed in
our human flesh and blood, a manger
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choosing for your throne, while worlds
on worlds are yours alone. The skies
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did once before you bow. A
Virgin's arms contain you. Now the angels
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who in You, who rejoiced,
now listen for your infant voice, a
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little child. You are our guest, that weary ones in you may rest,
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forlorn and lowly. Is your birth, that we may rise to heaven
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from Earth. You came to us
in darkest night to make us children of
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the light, to make us,
in the realms divine as your own.
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Angels Round you shine all this for
us. Your love has done by this
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to you. Our love is one
for this. We tune our cheerful lays
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and shout our thanks in ceaseless praise. These are the things that we ought
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to be considering when we consider what
it means that Jesus came into this world
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and dwelt among us. But the
God of God, light of light,
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Very God, very a very God
who commands the whole host of angels,
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comes and rests in a mother's arms
that we might be saved from our sins.
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