The Word in the Beginning (John 1:1-3)

Where do you turn when things don’t go your way or when it seems like things are falling apart around you? Where do you turn? I don’t want you to give the answer you KNOW you should give. I want you to think about the REAL answer. Think about the last time something went wrong and you felt lost and confused, or hurt, or ashamed. Where did you turn in those moments? Did you turn to your friends for help? Did you turn to your family for help? Did you turn to yourself for help? Did you tell yourself, “I need to be strong enough to make it through this time of trial. I need to do (insert here) in order pull myself out of this situation.” Where did you turn?

I also want you to think about how you respond on the other side of the coin. Where do you turn when things go great or when you’re really excited? Where do you turn? Most likely, you probably turn to the same people. You run to your friends to tell them the good news or you run to your family to let them know. Or you do a little dance in the privacy of your room as you celebrate. Where do you turn?

Thanksgiving morning, I came across a quote by Neil Plantinga (the previous president of Calvin Theological Seminary) that I appreciated very. He said, “It must be an odd feeling to be thankful to nobody in particular. [We] often see this odd thing happening on Thanksgiving Day. Everyone ... seems to be thankful ‘in general.’ It’s very strange. It’s a little like being married in general.” In same way that you cannot be married in general, it must be focused toward another person, you cannot be thankful in general, it must be focused toward another person. The question is always, “Who am I thankful to?” or to connect this with my first comments, “Who do I turn to for help?” I pray that our passage today can make direct our answers to those questions. [Read John 1:1-3]

Since I’ve been at Faith Community Church, we’ve been dealing with longer passages of scripture. I wanted to change things up—switch into a lower gear—and spend some time slowly working our way through a passage of scripture a few verses at a time. Over the years, I’ve found that it’s very important to do both—look at big passages and look at smaller chunks. When we look at the big passages, it helps us see/understand the bigger picture. When we look at the smaller chunks, it forces us to dig deeper and meditate more fully on the passage. It’s my prayer that we will be able to do that during this season of Advent.

I also like to do this during Advent because it forces us to slow down a bit. You see, when we follow the church calendar, Advent is different that Christmas. The word Advent means “coming.” We look forward to the coming of Jesus Christ (in remembrance of his first coming and looking forward to his second coming), which means that Advent is a season of waiting—waiting for someone to arrive. Yet, we do not live in a culture that likes to wait. We want things and we want them NOW! We don’t want to wait for Christmas. We want it now. Taking a look at a few verses a week, forces us to slow down and wait. It forces us to be more meditative as we wait. The Word will become Flesh (Jesus will be born) but we won’t be talking about it for a few weeks. You have to wait. As we wait, we will be spending some time looking at what it means for the Word to take on Flesh—what it means for Jesus to be born into this world. Let this season of Advent be a contemplative one where we take the time to truly understand the One who entered our world as Savior and who will come again as King.

John gives us a lot to think about as we ponder the question, “Who is this One we celebrate being born into the world?” He begins with this majestic line that should stop us in our tracks. He says, “In the beginning was the Word…” (John 1:1, NIV). In the beginning was the Word. Does that remind you of anything? It should. Our Advent reading this week already connected some of those dots. When we read, “In the beginning was the Word…” we should automatically think about “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1, NIV). John is intentionally bringing our thoughts to this verse and making a connection to the Word—who he later explicitly says is Jesus. (Note: I realize you may have questions about why John uses the term “Word” for Jesus. I’ll give you a heads up that we will talk about that further in a couple weeks. You’ll have to wait for the answer).

So, John intentionally brings our minds back to this event—of the creation of the world—and says Jesus was already there. The NIV says, “In the beginning was the Word…” but it’s hard to get a solid translation of what the Greek says in this passage. The word “was” is in a tense of the Greek that shows something is happening continually in the past. An example of this in english would be if I was describing by children bugging me about buying some candy and I said, “They just kept on nagging me.” It was something that was continually happening in the past. That’s what is said about Jesus. It could be translated as saying, “In the beginning, the Word was already existing.” That means Jesus was around before creation.

Now, take a moment to take in what I just said. Jesus existed before creation, before the universe, before anything that is ever came to be. Let that sink in. To get a little philosophical (but not too much), there is a connection between Time and Matter—created things. If there are no created things, then there is no time. Understand? So, if Jesus existed before there were created things, it means he existed when there was no time—he existed outside of time—eternal.

Can we just take a moment to let that sink in? It really is a mind-blowing reality.

Then, John makes another connection. He says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1, NIV). So, John describes Jesus as existing before creation—outside of time—and then says that He was already existing with God and was already existing as God. Now, I understand that this is hard to grasp at first, but at it’s core this is describing the doctrine of the Trinity. The Belgic Confession describes the Trinity by saying, “In keeping with this truth and the Word of God we believe in one God, who is one single essence, in whom there are three persons, really, truly, and eternally distinct…” (Belgic Confession, Article 8). So we have one God in essence with three distinct persons. This is why John can say that Jesus was already existing as God, because he was of the same essence as God. Yet, John can also say that Jesus was already existing WITH God, because Jesus is eternally distinct from the Father, and the Holy Spirit. Yes, I understand that this can be confusing at time and hard to understand. However, it is another beautifully mind-blowing reality of the God we worship. He is so far beyond our comprehension that we cannot begin to grasp nor fully-understand Him.

This is also important as we look at Jesus’ birth. The Father did not take on flesh, nor did the Spirit, only the Son. The Father did not sleep with Mary and impregnate her—as some false religions would propose. Neither did the Holy Spirit simply inhabit a human child. No. Jesus, the one who already existed before creation, who already existed with God, and already existed as God, took on flesh and was born as a child.

What makes this even more incredible is what John says next. He says, “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” (John 1:3, NIV). Through Jesus all things were made. Nothing that has been made—nothing that exists—exists apart from Jesus. Now, I think it’s important to emphasize this point because I don’t think we typically think about Jesus in this regard. We typically ONLY think about Jesus as Savior. Yet, John is opening our eyes further. All things were created through the One who already existed before creation, who already existed with God, and already existed as God. So that we can see that Scripture speaks in this same way elsewhere, let’s look a couple other verses, one from Colossians and another from Hebrews. From Colossians: “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.” (Colossians 1:16, NIV). Then in Hebrews it says: “…in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.” (Hebrews 1:1–3, NIV).

So, not only were all things created by Jesus but all things are SUSTAINED by Jesus. So, as you look around at creation, you need to know that it came from Jesus. As you enjoy the trees, and the sunsets, and the lakes, and the snow (maybe?), you need to know that it came from Jesus. Yet, it’s more than that. Everything that has been made has come from Him. As you enjoy your house, or your car, or your job, or your family, you need to know that they all came from Jesus (everything that has been made has come through Jesus). Yet, there’s even more. Jesus also sustains everything he created. As we enjoy our hearts beating, our lungs breathing, our stomachs digesting, our brains operating, we need to know that all of those things come from Jesus. ANY and EVERY blessing you have had in the past, have at the moment, or will have in the future come from Jesus.

Now, let’s go back to our original question: “Where do we turn in times of trial and/or thankfulness?” We find ourselves given the “Sunday school answer:” Jesus. If he is the fountain of every blessing in our lives, let us make sure to give him credit for those blessings. Let us make sure we don’t give the credit to someone else or try to take credit for it ourselves. Let us make sure we give credit to where credit is due. Jesus have given you anything you have—give him credit. Sure, go celebrate those blessing with family and friends, or do a little dance in the privacy of your bedroom, but make sure are celebrating the fact that Jesus gave you those blessings.

This also means that we must seek Jesus for every need in our lives. If he is the fountain of every blessing, he is also the solution to every problem. He is the only one who can truly provide for every one of our needs. Let us make sure we seek those needs from Him.

I remember when the Spirit really convicted me of not turning to Jesus with my needs. I remember the Spirit impressing on my heart that I was turning everywhere but Jesus when I found myself in a difficult time. I was looking for support from everyone and everything but Jesus. The Spirit convicted me that when I find myself in difficult situations, I NEED to turn to Jesus first. My first response should be to hit my knees in prayer and seek Him to provide for my needs. One of my next responses should be to OPEN His Word and seek guidance on how to move forward, or to understand more fully how He will meet this need in my life. These are very practical ways to turn to Jesus in the midst of trial. Pray and Read. Sure, you should also rely on your friends and family and church community for support. Yet, make sure you are turning to Jesus FIRST and seeking Him first. Also, make sure that your friends and family and church community are pointing you back to Jesus in their support. If they are not pointing you to Jesus, they are pointing you away from the ONLY one who can provide for your needs.

I also want to take a moment to point out that this is the essence of the Christian Life. Five hundred years ago John Calvin was saying the same thing. One author writes, “These two key gestures—‘seeking’ every good from God and ‘crediting’ God with every good—make out the primary practical contours of the Christian life for Calvin…” (Matthew Boulton, Life in God, p. 80). To connect these two ideas with Christian practices let’s shorten “seeking every good from God” and call it PRAYER and shorten “crediting God with every good” and call it PRAISE. That is the Christian life, one that is a continual, circular pattern of prayer and praise to the one who disburses all blessings.

This is the beginning of the Christmas story. Matthew and Luke begin their gospels with the birth of Jesus. Mark begins his gospel with the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. John begins WAY before that. John is telling us that the Christmas story doesn’t begin with Jesus’ birth, nor does it begin at creation. The Christmas story began before “the beginning”—it began before creation. The Christmas story begins as we see all of creation coming into being through the eternal Word. The Christmas story continues as we see that same Word sustaining that creation. We enter that story—and respond to that story—as we lives that revolve around prayer and praise to Jesus—the One who gives us gifts every single moment of every single day.