Church Requel
In The Beginning (For Us)
We continue our sermon series from the Gospel of John. Today we consider the very beginning - at least for us - found in John 1:1-2.
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Church Requel
2 Marion Ave, Mansfield, OH 44903, USA
Thursday 11:00 AM
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In The Beginning (For Us) - John 1:1-2
Over the past six months as we have visited with my dad each week, we very deliberately drive through Norton, Ohio. As I turn south off I-76 onto Cleve-Mass Rd., I see where I came from. It is very much a return to my roots. In two weeks I will be joining in with 75 of my high school classmates as we celebrate our 65th birthdays together. We will be gathering in a local watering hole right next to the football field where we partied together every Friday night in the fall. Another returning to our roots. Another look at our beginning.
Today I want to talk to you about our Christian beginning. We find this in John 1:1-2. Let’s read it together.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” John 1:1-2
Whose Beginning?
If we are not careful it is easy to think of this as God’s beginning or of Jesus’ beginning or of the beginning of the Jesus story or of the beginning of the Bible - the start of the story. And indeed it IS the start of the story - but whose story? Whose beginning?
It is the beginning of OUR story and when I use the word, “OUR,” I am using the widest possible application to that word. It is the beginning of the story of humanity, but also the beginning of all creation. We are just one of the creatures created. The point of this narrative is that if we go back to the very beginning of all things and of all creatures, back in the beginning we will find the Word.
Last week we established that when the gospel writer and preacher and disciple, John, uses this word, “Word,” that he is referring to Jesus. We know that because in verse 14 we discover that this Word became flesh. This Word took upon Himself skin and bones. His name was Jesus. The gospels of Matthew and Luke tell us the story of Joseph and Mary and the birth of baby Jesus. Each one gives us a lineage of the families of Mary and the families of Joseph that led to the birth of Jesus.
But John starts much farther back. He starts his gospel with the same words as Genesis, “In the beginning…” Let’s not forget how significant this is. When the rabbis remembered the books of the Old Testament, their names of the books were the first words of the book. So they didn’t call the first book, “Genesis,” but rather “In the beginning.” It was the “in the beginning” book. Actually that’s what Genesis means as well, but we accept it as another word, as a title.
John grabs ahold of that famous name, “In the beginning” to tell the beginning of his gospel. In that sense he is doing the same as Matthew and Luke. But he goes back much farther. He’s telling us that the beginning of his story does not start at a manger but rather his story starts at the beginning of all stories. He is telling us that if we go back to the parents of Joseph and Mary and then back to their parents and then back to their parents and on and on and on back as far as it goes - all the way back to the “in the beginning,” there we find Jesus. He’s already there - in the beginning. The beginning of the story of the gospel is the beginning of the story of everything. Jesus is not just the babe in the manger - He is the Prequel to the manger, to Mary and Joseph, to all the humans and all the creatures before them… if we go all the way back to the “in the beginning,” there we find Jesus.
The LOGOS in the beginning.
John knows that his readers know (his parishioners know - those who heard his sermons would know - and assuming you also would know) that the famous word that follows, “In the beginning,” was one word - “God!” But John does not use the word, “God,” - Theos. He uses the word, “Logos.” And in so doing, he is making Logos equivalent to Theos. You go all the way back to the beginning, before anything was created and you find “God.” Another way of saying the same thing is you go all the way back to the beginning, before anything was created and you find “Logos.”
What is Logos and why would John have used this word? Logos is the Greek word meaning “Word” or “Reason.” The translation “thought” is probably the best single word since it means the faculty of reason and ALSO the thought outwardly expressed through the vehicle of language. These two ideas of thought and speech are blended in the single term, Logos. When we read the Genesis story of creation, each day of chapter one we see, “And God said…” God thought it, God put his thoughts into words, and it was done. This entire concept of “God thought it and God said it” is the term Logos - the God Who thought, the God Who said, and it was so!
This term, “Logos” is what your English translations translate as “Word.” And we know that this is also the formal name that John is using for the story of Jesus. That’s why we began last week with verse 14 rather than verse 1. “The Word became flesh and dwelled among us.” This is the description of the Incarnation - of God becoming man and revealing Himself to us. This Word, the Logos, is the God-man, Jesus, Whom John also refers to as the Son of God.
So if you want to know more about this Jesus, this Word, this Logos, you don’t just go back to a manger in Bethlehem in 3 BC. No! You must go much farther back - long before all creation, back to before our very beginning. All the way back there is where you will find Jesus, the Word, the Logos. When you go all the way back there, there are two things you should know about this Jesus, this Word, this Logos.
1st - This Logos Was WITH GOD
So we go all the way back to the beginning of creation, before anything and everything you know or have every known, before anything or anyone has every known, and we find God and with God is this Logos, the Word. That’s what there was. A God relationship. God and Logos, Whom John identifies in verse 14 as the Son of God. So at the beginning there is God the Father and God the Son, according to John 1:1. The Logos, the Word was WITH GOD. But wait, there’s more!
2nd - This Logos WAS GOD
There was more than just relationship WITH GOD. The Logos was HIMSELF God! “The Word was with God and the Word was God!” This is a mind-blowing statement because we can’t possibly truly understand how someone can be WITH another person AND AT THE SAME TIME also BE that person. But this is what John is preaching.
Jesus was with God. Period. Jesus was God. Period.
Do you remember how back in April I taught you all about the Hebrew means of Chiasms? This was a Hebrew linguistic way of pointing to the most important thing being said? It’s very different than how we do it in the modern English-speaking world. We begin with a thesis statement. We then support what we’ve said with multiple statements. We then restate the thesis as a closing statement.
But Chiasms are different. We say something at the beginning and then find another way of saying the same thing at the end. Inside of those two statements we say another thing as the second from the beginning and the second from the end. This continues like this until we get to the middle - the really important thing is always found in the middle.
At the beginning of his gospel, John says “In the beginning…” and at the end of verse 2 “in the beginning.” On the inside of this we have “The Word was with God.” Right in the middle we have “the Word was God.”
In other words, John is telling us that if you want to understand the most important thing about Jesus - it’s not that he was born a baby in the manger and proclaimed himself to be God and proved it by all the miracles. It’s not even the most important thing that Jesus was always with God even before the beginning of Creation or that Jesus was God’s Son. The most important thing about Jesus, the Word, this Logos, is that Jesus was and always was - even when nothing else was in existence - Jesus was and always has been… God!
Here are 5 reasons why knowing this Logos, Word, Jesus is so important to you and to your faith…
#1 - Your faith is not about you.
We often fashion our Christian faith around what we do or how we respond. Pray the sinner’s prayer. Live the Christian life. Do the right things and not the wrong things. Read your Bible. Say your prayers. Give generously. All those things are important.
But when we go back to the beginning, it’s not about you kneeling at an altar of prayer or living the right life or believing the right things. When we go back to the beginning - we find there is a before the beginning - and at the before the beginning - there is Jesus, who was with God and indeed who WAS God!
#2 - Your faith is not about the people or place you come from.
We sometimes wonder about our own heritage. Some of us grew up in the church and had the benefit of Christian families. But it’s not about where you came from, because if you go back far enough all of us come from the same place - from the Creator God. We know that Person. His name is Jesus. He was with God and indeed WAS God!
#3 - When we know the Beginning, then we also know the End.
We often get confused trying to figure out how all this is going to end. Some of us get wrapped up in the politics of the day. Or the theologies of our denominations. Or the right way to interpret the Revelation. All that is important.
But here’s what’s even more important. If you know the God (Jesus, Word, Logos) Who was here before the beginning and Who created the beginning and Who was so interested in the final outcome that He would insert Himself into the middle of that creation as the man Jesus, then what is there to worry about? Where is the concern? God’s got this! This Logos is not only the God of the beginning but He will be the Logos of the end as well!
#4 - Nothing and no one is greater than this Logos.
We all suffer from bad eyesight when it comes to our spiritual view. John 1:1-2 are the glasses we need to put on whenever we come across a problem or a circumstance or an illness or anything else that doesn’t go the way we want it to go. What is it that you fear today? You know the very Logos Who was here in the beginning before you or what’s got you scared was ever in existence. Where is your confidence? If it’s in yourself or another person or a political party or even a church or a pastor or even a most precious loved one - you will be disappointed and let down. Place your confidence in the Logos, the Word Who was with God and was God.
#5 - This Logos is living and wants to be with you!
Because the rest of this Word of God - the Bible - that comes between the two “in the beginnings” confirms that this Logos, this Word, this Jesus is also with you - right here and right now! This Logos, this Word, was not just there at the beginning, but is here now. He is alive and well. He is the Living Word of God. This same Logos, this Living Word of God, is keenly interested in you. This same Logos loves you. This same Logos that was with God… also desires greatly to be with you. Do you know Him? Are you with Him? Is He with you? Do you know the Living Word of God?
Over the past six months as we have visited with my dad each week, we very deliberately drive through Norton, Ohio. As I turn south off I-76 onto Cleve-Mass Rd., I see where I came from. It is very much a return to my roots. In two weeks I will be joining in with 75 of my high school classmates as we celebrate our 65th birthdays together. We will be gathering in a local watering hole right next to the football field where we partied together every Friday night in the fall. Another returning to our roots. Another look at our beginning.
Today I want to talk to you about our Christian beginning. We find this in John 1:1-2. Let’s read it together.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” John 1:1-2
Whose Beginning?
If we are not careful it is easy to think of this as God’s beginning or of Jesus’ beginning or of the beginning of the Jesus story or of the beginning of the Bible - the start of the story. And indeed it IS the start of the story - but whose story? Whose beginning?
It is the beginning of OUR story and when I use the word, “OUR,” I am using the widest possible application to that word. It is the beginning of the story of humanity, but also the beginning of all creation. We are just one of the creatures created. The point of this narrative is that if we go back to the very beginning of all things and of all creatures, back in the beginning we will find the Word.
Last week we established that when the gospel writer and preacher and disciple, John, uses this word, “Word,” that he is referring to Jesus. We know that because in verse 14 we discover that this Word became flesh. This Word took upon Himself skin and bones. His name was Jesus. The gospels of Matthew and Luke tell us the story of Joseph and Mary and the birth of baby Jesus. Each one gives us a lineage of the families of Mary and the families of Joseph that led to the birth of Jesus.
But John starts much farther back. He starts his gospel with the same words as Genesis, “In the beginning…” Let’s not forget how significant this is. When the rabbis remembered the books of the Old Testament, their names of the books were the first words of the book. So they didn’t call the first book, “Genesis,” but rather “In the beginning.” It was the “in the beginning” book. Actually that’s what Genesis means as well, but we accept it as another word, as a title.
John grabs ahold of that famous name, “In the beginning” to tell the beginning of his gospel. In that sense he is doing the same as Matthew and Luke. But he goes back much farther. He’s telling us that the beginning of his story does not start at a manger but rather his story starts at the beginning of all stories. He is telling us that if we go back to the parents of Joseph and Mary and then back to their parents and then back to their parents and on and on and on back as far as it goes - all the way back to the “in the beginning,” there we find Jesus. He’s already there - in the beginning. The beginning of the story of the gospel is the beginning of the story of everything. Jesus is not just the babe in the manger - He is the Prequel to the manger, to Mary and Joseph, to all the humans and all the creatures before them… if we go all the way back to the “in the beginning,” there we find Jesus.
The LOGOS in the beginning.
John knows that his readers know (his parishioners know - those who heard his sermons would know - and assuming you also would know) that the famous word that follows, “In the beginning,” was one word - “God!” But John does not use the word, “God,” - Theos. He uses the word, “Logos.” And in so doing, he is making Logos equivalent to Theos. You go all the way back to the beginning, before anything was created and you find “God.” Another way of saying the same thing is you go all the way back to the beginning, before anything was created and you find “Logos.”
What is Logos and why would John have used this word? Logos is the Greek word meaning “Word” or “Reason.” The translation “thought” is probably the best single word since it means the faculty of reason and ALSO the thought outwardly expressed through the vehicle of language. These two ideas of thought and speech are blended in the single term, Logos. When we read the Genesis story of creation, each day of chapter one we see, “And God said…” God thought it, God put his thoughts into words, and it was done. This entire concept of “God thought it and God said it” is the term Logos - the God Who thought, the God Who said, and it was so!
This term, “Logos” is what your English translations translate as “Word.” And we know that this is also the formal name that John is using for the story of Jesus. That’s why we began last week with verse 14 rather than verse 1. “The Word became flesh and dwelled among us.” This is the description of the Incarnation - of God becoming man and revealing Himself to us. This Word, the Logos, is the God-man, Jesus, Whom John also refers to as the Son of God.
So if you want to know more about this Jesus, this Word, this Logos, you don’t just go back to a manger in Bethlehem in 3 BC. No! You must go much farther back - long before all creation, back to before our very beginning. All the way back there is where you will find Jesus, the Word, the Logos. When you go all the way back there, there are two things you should know about this Jesus, this Word, this Logos.
1st - This Logos Was WITH GOD
So we go all the way back to the beginning of creation, before anything and everything you know or have every known, before anything or anyone has every known, and we find God and with God is this Logos, the Word. That’s what there was. A God relationship. God and Logos, Whom John identifies in verse 14 as the Son of God. So at the beginning there is God the Father and God the Son, according to John 1:1. The Logos, the Word was WITH GOD. But wait, there’s more!
2nd - This Logos WAS GOD
There was more than just relationship WITH GOD. The Logos was HIMSELF God! “The Word was with God and the Word was God!” This is a mind-blowing statement because we can’t possibly truly understand how someone can be WITH another person AND AT THE SAME TIME also BE that person. But this is what John is preaching.
Jesus was with God. Period. Jesus was God. Period.
Do you remember how back in April I taught you all about the Hebrew means of Chiasms? This was a Hebrew linguistic way of pointing to the most important thing being said? It’s very different than how we do it in the modern English-speaking world. We begin with a thesis statement. We then support what we’ve said with multiple statements. We then restate the thesis as a closing statement.
But Chiasms are different. We say something at the beginning and then find another way of saying the same thing at the end. Inside of those two statements we say another thing as the second from the beginning and the second from the end. This continues like this until we get to the middle - the really important thing is always found in the middle.
At the beginning of his gospel, John says “In the beginning…” and at the end of verse 2 “in the beginning.” On the inside of this we have “The Word was with God.” Right in the middle we have “the Word was God.”
In other words, John is telling us that if you want to understand the most important thing about Jesus - it’s not that he was born a baby in the manger and proclaimed himself to be God and proved it by all the miracles. It’s not even the most important thing that Jesus was always with God even before the beginning of Creation or that Jesus was God’s Son. The most important thing about Jesus, the Word, this Logos, is that Jesus was and always was - even when nothing else was in existence - Jesus was and always has been… God!
Here are 5 reasons why knowing this Logos, Word, Jesus is so important to you and to your faith…
#1 - Your faith is not about you.
We often fashion our Christian faith around what we do or how we respond. Pray the sinner’s prayer. Live the Christian life. Do the right things and not the wrong things. Read your Bible. Say your prayers. Give generously. All those things are important.
But when we go back to the beginning, it’s not about you kneeling at an altar of prayer or living the right life or believing the right things. When we go back to the beginning - we find there is a before the beginning - and at the before the beginning - there is Jesus, who was with God and indeed who WAS God!
#2 - Your faith is not about the people or place you come from.
We sometimes wonder about our own heritage. Some of us grew up in the church and had the benefit of Christian families. But it’s not about where you came from, because if you go back far enough all of us come from the same place - from the Creator God. We know that Person. His name is Jesus. He was with God and indeed WAS God!
#3 - When we know the Beginning, then we also know the End.
We often get confused trying to figure out how all this is going to end. Some of us get wrapped up in the politics of the day. Or the theologies of our denominations. Or the right way to interpret the Revelation. All that is important.
But here’s what’s even more important. If you know the God (Jesus, Word, Logos) Who was here before the beginning and Who created the beginning and Who was so interested in the final outcome that He would insert Himself into the middle of that creation as the man Jesus, then what is there to worry about? Where is the concern? God’s got this! This Logos is not only the God of the beginning but He will be the Logos of the end as well!
#4 - Nothing and no one is greater than this Logos.
We all suffer from bad eyesight when it comes to our spiritual view. John 1:1-2 are the glasses we need to put on whenever we come across a problem or a circumstance or an illness or anything else that doesn’t go the way we want it to go. What is it that you fear today? You know the very Logos Who was here in the beginning before you or what’s got you scared was ever in existence. Where is your confidence? If it’s in yourself or another person or a political party or even a church or a pastor or even a most precious loved one - you will be disappointed and let down. Place your confidence in the Logos, the Word Who was with God and was God.
#5 - This Logos is living and wants to be with you!
Because the rest of this Word of God - the Bible - that comes between the two “in the beginnings” confirms that this Logos, this Word, this Jesus is also with you - right here and right now! This Logos, this Word, was not just there at the beginning, but is here now. He is alive and well. He is the Living Word of God. This same Logos, this Living Word of God, is keenly interested in you. This same Logos loves you. This same Logos that was with God… also desires greatly to be with you. Do you know Him? Are you with Him? Is He with you? Do you know the Living Word of God?