The God Who Loves Surprises
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Some of you may have heard the story of the three blind men who approached an elephant. One went to the trunk and discovered what that was all about. Another went to the whole body and began discovering what that was all about. Another went to the hind legs and bejegan feeling around, discovering what those were all about. Then they met and compared notes, obviously coming up with different perspectives of what they looked like. As we come today back to John, I am going back to Chapter 1. I admit it was a little bit selfish, I started my series of John with Chapter 2 and someone wrote me an email and said, “How could you start with Chapter 2 when everything in John is in Chapter 1, and what John is about begins with Chapter 1?”Well, that is true, except that John, it is kind of like what we used to be taught in writing essays for our school. We were always taught in your first paragraph tell people what you are going to talk about. Then in the paper, prove what you talked about. Then in the end, tell them again what you talked about. And, John does exactly that. So, in a sense, even starting in the middle, you get what was in the beginning. But we are going to start in the beginning, just over the next few weeks and do Chapter 1. In some sense it is one of the most wonderful chapters of Scripture and it is possibly one of the most difficult – kind of like the three blind men that come from different perspectives, you could come at this passage from many, many different perspectives.
But, as we begin, I want you to listen to the words of Steve Brown, one of my favorite preachers, who says, “At the beginning of Genesis, God began time, but in Jesus Christ God made the hours count. In the beginning of Genesis, God created the process, but God in Christ gave us the process meaning. In the beginning God instituted his plan, but in Christ God unveiled the plan for us to see.”
Follow along these words and let them sink in and rejoice in them, for they are wonderful. (John 1:1-18)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ ” From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.
Would you pray with me?
Lord God we come to these mysterious verses and yet so powerful, so clear in so many ways. Though we have heard them so many times before, we pray that you would open them up to our hearts and minds once again that we may hear and believe, that we may find hope and strength, and a foundation, that we may find you. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Well, as I have done many times as I have gone through John, before I get into the sermon proper, I have a couple of observations to make. The first observation is that God is a God of process. We find that process through John. “There came a man who was sent from God, his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning the light, so that through him all men might believe.” The Bible reveals a God, who is a God of process, a God who does his homework, a God who works carefully over sometimes hundred of years to bring about what he is going to bring about. You find that in God’s dealing with the Israelites, over and over again. God chooses a small group of people and then we see it right away. Abraham, well it takes decades for a promise to be fulfilled of a son. Then it takes hundreds of years after that, they all go to Egypt and then four hundred years later they receive this promise of the new land. Then hundreds of years later through many, many processes and through many, many promises, the Messiah is born. You know, I have to admit, God is kind of frustrating sometimes, because we want things now, or at least in a couple of days. Can you image waiting forty years to have a promise fulfilled. I mean to go into the desert you have a promised land you are going to guys – in forty years. How many of us would wait? We see it all over the world, God working in process. We see it in this particular passage. God working for hundreds of years so that people might understand what Jesus was about.
One of the most mysterious verses and the hardest verses in the Bible, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God,” what does that mean? Well if you were a Greek living in Jesus’ time, you would have read this and you would have understood it. If you were an Israelite, you would have understood it. Why? Because God was plowing the field, God was preparing the way for this word to be understood by them. Now bear with me for a minute, about five-hundred years before Jesus there was a philosopher named Heraclitus. You may never have heard of him but everybody back then knew who he was. Heraclitus came up with the idea that everything is changing all the time. He gave this illustration. He said, “Suppose you were to put your foot in a river. Well, in three seconds later, it would not be the same river.” No, it is not. That river you stepped in is down there. So everything is changing, but just because everything is changing doesn’t mean everything is chaos. He came up with the idea of the logos, or the mind of God, or the word of God which controlled everything so that change was controlled change. This was an idea that found its way into philosophy of Aristotle and Plato and everybody else for hundreds of years. So when John writes this, if you were a Greek, you would go, “Oh, I know what he is talking about.” So would you if you were a Hebrew because we find, in a little different way, but we find it throughout the Bible. Now when we say the word, word, it is kind of nothing to us; but for a Hebrew, when something was said, it was practically done, especially the word of God. The word of God was something: “’Let there be light,’” and there was light.” We see this idea again and again that God’s Word goes out and it doesn’t go out void. It happens. So a Hebrew could realize that, “Hey, I know what he is talking about, this idea of a word who was with God and was God.”
Of course, John has a little different something in mind; but God, in his processes over hundreds of years, worked on it so that people would understand it. Then history too, actually this could be worth a whole sermon to talk about how right at the time Jesus was born, well what happened? Well it just so happened that the Roman roads had been built and so there was a path for the word to go out on. Missionaries could go, travel, which fifty years before that was not possible was now possible. All kinds of things… God had worked out as a God of processes. Now what does that mean to you and me? Well, God is a God of process. You know God can do things all at once but often doesn’t. Often God will work in someone’s heart for years before they can come to Christ. God will often work in churches, something that doesn’t happen for years and years and years and that is frustrating to pastors, believe me. But God works with people and people don’t change very quickly. None of us do.
You know, I was listening to Don Draayer the other day, and some of you could give the same testimony, how you have been in Faith Church for years and years and watched Faith Church have up and down and up and down and having the big picture of our Church. Right now we are going through a little bit of a rough patch. We all go through rough patches from time to time and the question is not that we are going through rough patches, but what is God saying to us? Well, in general, God asks the same question through rough patches: Do you really believe I am in charge? Do you really believe that with what is happening to you that I still love you and I am with you? Do you still love me? God is a God of process and always works through process over time, sometimes over hundred years, certainly for many years at a time. And that is what God is up to.
But observation number two, God is a God of process. God is also a God of surprises. I was surprised not to see the surprise, but… God is a God of surprises. You know, the Messiah had been promised for hundreds of years. Everybody knew he was going to be very special, he was going to be the son of David, he was going to be a king, he was going to be very powerful; but that idea that he would be God was sort of hidden, or at least it was not plain. And “surprise, surprise, surprise,”… a good old Gomer Pyle. Could you imagine being Mary and hearing: “Guess what? You are going to be a virgin and you are going to have a child.” “Really? Who am I?” “You’re nobody. That’s the surprise!” Joseph asked the same question: “Who am I?” “You’re nobody. That’s the surprise!” Jesus is the son of somebody from Nazareth. That’s the surprise! All kinds of surprises… God loves surprises. Again and again and again we see God being a God of surprises. So the surprise is just as true light gives light to every man in the world, but the surprise is also in verse 14, which says, “The Word became flesh and dwelt for a while among us.” No one anticipated that surprise, and that is still an issue, isn’t it? If that surprise is true this man we are talking about is actually God in the flesh. Again, what does that mean to you and me? Well in the process we have to have patience. You should always be aware that he may surprise you, and don’t miss his surprises; and surprise equals change sometimes, or at least something different that we are not used to. Be on the lookout because God is one of those Gods that likes to give presents, who likes to give presents and then wants you to not open them until Christmas. You might miss it.
There is a wonderful story about a professor who sat at this desk one evening working on the next day’s lectures. His housekeeper had laid a day’s mail and his papers at his desk and he began to shuffle through them discarding most in the waste basket. He then noticed a magazine which was not even addressed to him but delivered to his office by mistake. It fell open to an article titled “The Needs of the Congo Mission.” Casually he began to read when he was suddenly consumed by these words: “The need is great. We have no one to work in the northern province in the central Congo and it is my prayer as I write this article that God would lay his hand on one on whom already the Master’s eyes have been cast and that he or she will be called to this place to help us.” And so many years ago, Professor Albert Schweitzer closed the magazine and wrote in his diary “My search is over.” And he gave himself to the Congo.
That little article hidden in a periodical intended for someone else was placed by accident, so-called, in Schweitzer’s mailbox and by chance he noticed the title and it leapt out at him. Chance? No – a surprise that he did not miss.
Now to the sermon proper: This is basic stuff, so you have heard it before, but, we need to hear it again, and again. What was John about? What was that first thing he was trying to prove in his essay, if you will? …that Jesus was God. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” And we find out who the Word was in verse 14, “The Word became flesh and dwelt for a while among us.” What does this mean? Well, it means we can know the truth about who God is when we know Jesus. We can know the truth about who God is when we know Jesus. Of course, that is the debate all over the world. Who is God? What is God? What is his nature like? We can look at Jesus and see who God is. That is the message. The Bible, particularly the New Testament, is all about Jesus.
I read a great story about a young man who went to Sunday school for the first time. When he got home his mother asked him about it. She said, “Who is your teacher?” He said, “I don’t know but she must have been Jesus’ grandmother.” “Why is that?” she asked. “Because that is all she ever talked about.”
The Bible is about Jesus, and Jesus is who God is. There are so many other things we can say. Because Jesus is God, his death is significant on the cross. It makes it a much more huge thing. But first and foremost I just simply want to say to you that don’t forget who Jesus is. In one of the great mistakes in history, there are two and I will give you the other one in just a minute, is to diminish who Jesus is. A lot of theologians do that. Some have said “He is just a great man.” Well, he was a great man. But he wasn’t “just” a great man. He wasn’t “just” a human being who did everything right. He was God, in the flesh. And that is what we believe. Don’t make the mistake of just reading parts of who Jesus is; in other words, I don’t recommend a red letter edition of the New Testament, because, again, the Bible is about Jesus, not just what Jesus says. Don’t pick out just a piece about Jesus. I am particularly thinking that in almost every church I know, including this one, there is a picture of Jesus sitting around with children and lambs. There is nothing wrong with that. Please don’t hear me say that. Matter of fact, if you walk out right here there is a wonderful one right to the right. It is great. But, don’t stop there. You see, when bad things happen and things really go to pot, gentle Jesus meek and mild isn’t enough. Gentle Jesus meek and mild is not enough. You see, Jesus is also not only the one who met with children; he was the one who calmed the storm. He is not only the one who welcomed everybody, but he is also the one who raised the dead. He had power to help you where you are. And yes, he is your friend. That is one of the amazing messages of the Bible, that God becomes our friend as well as our Lord and Master; but he is also Lord and Master. He is God, and can help you in whatever situation you happen to be in. All of us face them from time to time. There are many of you facing things right now; I know you are, wherever you are.
So Jesus is God, but Jesus is also fully human, fully human. You should memorize this verse. It is one that you should memorize, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” That word dwelling is very significant because it literally means that Jesus “tabernacled” among us. The reference is to the tabernacle the Old Testament which is where God lived in the midst of his people; or if you want to say it in a more modern way for them, “templed” among us. He lived, he made a tent, he made his dwelling among us, full of the One and only. And Jesus is human. Another group of people over history has said that Jesus was “just” divine; in other words, when he showed up as human he was just an appearance. He wasn’t really a human being. But, no. He is both. He is both. He not only raises the dead, he weeps for the dead. He not only calms the storm, yet, before that storm he lays exhausted in the boat. He is afraid when he comes to the cross. He is able to die, really, truly die. He is able to understand you and me.
One of the experiences I had in Afghanistan was we had a soldier get killed and they brought his body from where he had been killed to our base at Sharana. There were a lot of his friends that were there. That is why they brought them there and part of my job as a chaplain was to be with them as they grieved over him. We actually brought about ten guys at a time into the presence of the body. He was all wrapped up and that sort of thing and we prayed. The very last guy was his best friend. He says, “I want to see him.” I said, “Really?” You see, I have to admit I was kind of worried about that because if he wants to see him, you never know what you are going to get when you take off the wrappings. “Yes, I want to see him.” “O.K.” So we did. I won’t give you details. It wasn’t so bad but, we prayed over him. I could look at the guy and I knew the questions he was asking. “Why my friend?” “Why now?” He didn’t ask them, but I knew. You really can’t answer those questions in those moments. Or when you sit in the presence of a parent that has lost a child, or anyone, why them? Why now? Or when somebody is given the diagnosis of the big C, of cancer, or whatever it happens to be, “Why me?” “Why now?” Sometimes we can’t really give the answer except to point to Jesus. You might say, well, ya, but what is that about? You know, God not only knows about suffering, he knows about it because he experienced it. He knows about injustice because he experienced it. He knows about being human because he experienced it. Yes, I point to Jesus. It doesn’t answer the question of why at that moment, but God is going to win in the end. He is going to win in the end. But, he knows what you are going through, not only because he is God and knows everything, but he has experienced it. That is the amazing thing. Yes, Jesus was fully human.
We are going to talk a lot more. This is the last point for today. We are going talk about more of what John says, but it is important to see that Jesus is the Word of God. He is the Word of God and that he is able to talk about and be who God is more than anyone.
I love the story I heard about a woman who went into a butcher shop and she wanted some chicken. The butcher said, “Ma’am, I am sorry, we are out of chicken.” But she just wouldn’t hear it. She wanted chicken and she was determined to have chicken. She kept saying, “I want some chicken,” and the butcher kept trying to say we are out of chicken. This went on for several minutes. Finally, he looked at her and said, “Ma’am, can you tell me how to spell pot in potato?”
“P,O,T. O.K. Can you tell me how to spell tom in tomato?
“T,O,M. O.K. Can you tell me how to spell stink in chicken?
She said, “Sir, there is no stink in chicken.”
He said, “Ma’am that is what I have been trying to tell you for a half hour.”
God has been communicating to us for centuries and we don’t get it. The Greeks used to talk about an unknown God. WE find that in Acts, Chapter 17. In the Middle Ages, they talked about how God is hidden from people. In the modern era, God is silent and even dead in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Right now, I think God is mostly irrelevant for a lot of people because we have become so me-centered that, “if God doesn’t speak to me where I am, he doesn’t really have anything to say to me.” But, the fact is that God has been shouting at us for centuries. “The heavens declare the glory of God. The stars proclaim his handiwork.” The Bible has been written and God has sent prophet after prophet, person after person, and still we have not heard. So God sent forth his Son as the Word, the embodiment of the Word, and said, “If you want to know what I am like, here I am. Here I am.” I said before that God is a God of surprises, and this is the greatest surprise and yet it shouldn’t be because of who God is.
Paul Harvey tells a great story, you may have heard it. He tells it better than I will, but it is a story about a man who was at home on Christmas Eve and his wife had begged him to go to Christmas Eve services. He had refused as he had for many years. Somehow it just didn’t touch him, what it was all about. He couldn’t figure it out. As he was sitting there, he heard the music from the church. He heard a thump at the window, then another thump, and another thump. He looked out and he noticed that many birds were flying into the window because they wanted to get to the warmth of the light in his house. So he went outside and he decided he wanted to help them, so he went out to his barn and he opened the doors and turned on the light out there in the hope that maybe they would go into the barn and find warmth there. But they just didn’t get it.
As he heard the music from the church it dawned on him. He said, “I know how I could get them into the barn. If I were one of them, I could tell them.” And that is what Jesus did. Jesus became one of us, not only to speak the word of God to us but to be the Word of God. And the question for all of us is not the fact of that, but whether we believe it or not; because the promise is this, that “he who received him might become a child of God” and receive means to believe and believe means to receive.
This Christmas, do you believe it, do you really believe it?
Would you pray with me?
Lord God for all of us we ask the same question, because from time to time all of us have lapses in faith or we need to grow in our faith and see a bigger picture of you. We pray for that this Christmas as we hear the words sung to us, talked to us, we feel your presence and see who you are. May we move to a deeper level of our faith and for some, to a new faith in the Lord and Savior, the Word of God, Jesus our Lord. And it is in his name we pray. Amen.