Advent Week 1 12/2/18 John 1:1-18 Some thoughts surrounding the sermon passage: Some of the most ironic words of all Scripture are found in this iconic passage. He came to His own, to the people He had made, on the planet He had made, and they, for the most part did not recognize Him for who He was. But we must now fight off what C.S. Lewis calls chronological snobbery, and realize had we lived during Jesus’ visitation to earth, we may well have not seen the light either. Oh, but for His grace…
“The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.” Nothing has light that has light apart from Jesus giving it light. We exist only because He says so. There is a common grace or a common light that if weren’t present, the earth would be uninhabitable. Beyond that, when God breathed life into man, we received a light and a life the rest of creation does not have. This is not salvation, but to some extent saves us from living totally by instinct – until we realize the need for our own salvation.
“The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” (Acts 17:24,25)
When Jesus did take on human flesh it literally says he “tabernacled” among us (John 1:14). The tabernacle was the mobile habitation of God, where He chose to dwell during a time in the Old Testament. Later it became the temple where His Spirit rested and was at home. Today, He finds His resting place in us of all places, the now temple of the Holy Spirit. He lives in us. It was kind of silly to think we could make a habitation suitable for Him. But as we are made in His image it does make sense that this form we live in would be quite suitable for Him.
“Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.” (Acts 17:29) It also then makes sense that He would not like us making any image of Him as an idol or a false image.
We cannot control God in any way shape or form. Thanks be to God He took on human flesh to be like us to be the payment for our sin in His body.
We are not the light, He is. We are merely to reflect or let His light shine through us. This is what John the baptizer did. John 1:6,7 - “There was a man, sent from God, whose name was _________. He came for a witness, that he might bear witness of the light, that all (some) might believe through him.”
So unless your name is John and it’s already there, put your name in the blank. This is to be our truest appropriate and good response to the light coming to us. By all means, let it shine. Matthew 5:13-16;1 Corinthians 9:22
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