Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would come and touch our hearts to hear your written word
and your word proclaimed that we might trust you, walk with you more faithfully today and in the days ahead.
This we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
Yeah, George is right. We are a little bit of a moving target, but it's wonderful to be back in Canada for a season.
So by way of introduction, I would just simply say, first of all, thank you for many of you have prayed for me and Stella
as we've been gallivanting around lately in the last nine years or so in the Global South, Global South countries,
which has been wonderful for me as someone who tries to think about the faith in the global sense, local and global, obviously,
but also to learn about what God is doing around the world and something that we might try and learn here as well together.
The other point by way of introduction would just be, maybe I'll put it in the form of a question.
What is going on these days as a missionary comes back?
Because I'm a somewhat unconventional missionary as a spouse of a diplomat and everything,
but a missionary nevertheless, teaching here and there in different settings abroad.
What's going on when a missionary comes back?
Well, is it a sort of global crossing whereby the missionary leaves the mission frontier and comes back to headquarters, as it were?
Sort of, but not exactly.
Is it the reverse or the reverse so that we can say that the missionary has been sent from a place where Christianity is now thriving and blossoming and come back to a new mission frontier?
Well, yes, partly, but not precisely, not exactly.
I think part of the problem is that modern life and technology have virtually abolished that distance between places.
And that's an interesting thing in itself, which I won't try to explore here.
I'm sure some of you do better job of that than I would.
But if we assume that there are still boundaries to be crossed,
that I think it has to do with recognizing the layers that are there that exist in most places,
particularly in the world's urban spaces, the ones I know the best,
even though I'm living way out in the boondocks, which, by the way, is a word from Tagalog,
which I learned way back in the Philippines.
Modern Cairo, which we came from recently, has its cultural layers.
The fascinating ones that make life there rich and interesting.
There's the broad Islamic layer, which I'm sure you'd be aware of.
There's the Coptic layer, which claims an even more ancient past.
And there's the cosmopolitan layer that transcends those first two
and takes up a whole array of expats, expatriates, students, diplomats, entrepreneurs, refugees even.
And in the mix would be Egyptians who have a lot of international experience.
And that's that third layer, which we came to know the best.
As far as I can tell as an immigrant in Canada, you can probably tell from my accent I'm not exactly a local,
I think there are at least three layers here, too.
You can identify the largely Christian one, where you still hear echoes and catch glimpses of a landscape,
of a Canada that thought of the nation's identity and calling in pretty much biblical terms.
He shall have dominion, right, from sea to sea.
And then there's the layer that I encountered when I first came back in the 80s.
And that was the layer that promoted and celebrated multiculturalism
and that connects most immediately with that cosmopolitan Cairo that I described.
Faith there is largely privatized, right?
It's assumed that the important things in life lie somewhere really beyond our churches and synagogues and mosques.
And then there's that layer that we're trying to come to terms with today.
Let's call it a post-multicultural layer, if you like,
where individual preference appears to be sovereign, but really isn't anything like that at all.
In fact, there's a new public belief system that is emerging,
a new religion that seems to be in the making.
Bill C-4, which George referred to a couple of weeks back, I think,
a conversion therapy bill, which, as many of you know, passed unanimously
and which will take effect in a few days' time,
uses language that we'd be familiar with in our multicultural layer,
declaring that no particular sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression
is to be preferred over another.
It sounds multicultural.
It sounds multi-something.
In other words, we apparently celebrate our differences.
But then comes a massive shift that happened as we were sleeping, it seems,
or maybe as the ubiquitous cannabis.
We were inhaling that.
I don't know.
But we're apparently agreeing that if my aim is to explore a, quote,
integrated personal identity, then it can only happen in one direction,
because the law will criminalize anything or anyone that encourages me
to transition from any non-heterosexual identity or category to a heterosexual one.
Now, Egyptian society and Canadian society are, in this regard, at opposite ends.
The distance is palpable.
But in at least one way, they come together.
And I was discussing this with George the other day.
You face trouble in one way or another if you attempt to convert in the wrong direction.
What does all of this have to do with Jesus?
The word made flesh.
Well, I think it has to do with the question of how we get our bearings,
how we think of history, even.
Let me ask you, do you think that history has a center?
Given the layers that I've spoken about,
some people today might say that this sort of question can't really get us anywhere.
They might say if there's any kind of center at all,
well, it's behind it.
It wouldn't be in history, but it's behind it.
For all we know, history is one constant flow, they would say,
going nowhere in particular.
And what you see really is an illusion.
What's real is in the mind.
What's real is what you and I imagine to be real.
Others might say, no, there's a center to history,
and it's the place where we can feel that steady march of progress.
We might still have some folks around who think along these lines.
It's the place where we know we're making progress
as we make the world a better place.
And then others would say, no, there is a center in history,
but it's not there.
The real center is where you find people trying,
through natural abilities,
to submit to the way of a religious leader
who was given a final and decisive word from God
that supersedes all earlier words which have been corrupted.
Well, the problem with these three views is that they leave us stranded in the end,
turned in on ourselves and our own devices.
In the first, if history is an illusion,
and I'm going to try to make sense of my own life,
I'm left to put myself at the center of everything.
So the center of history is in my mind,
and I'm left to make up what is true and right for myself as I go along,
at least until it clashes with what someone else thinks is true and right.
In the second case, if the center of history is a steady but impersonal march of progress,
I'm left struggling to make it into a footnote of history.
I'm left secretly but desperately hoping that the book I'm writing
or the institution I founded or the children I raised
will really leave their mark
so that someone somewhere down the road will remember me.
So that it can be said,
in 2022, Jones had one million followers on Twitter.
In the third case,
if the center of history is in submission to God's latest revelation,
then I'm left to rely on my own will and wisdom
as I try to make myself worthy of acceptance.
I'm left with just one more system of self-salvation.
So either way, we're turned in on ourselves.
And here I remember what C.S. Lewis said about that.
Look for yourself, he said,
and you'll find in the long run only hatred and loneliness,
despair, rage, ruin, and decay.
But look for Christ and you will find him
and with him everything else thrown in.
As followers of Jesus,
we know that the center of history is found in Christ Jesus,
born of a virgin,
crucified under Pontius Pilate,
risen, ascended, and coming again.
And all this points to the fact
that the Bible reveals marvelous truths about history.
The world of space and time had a real beginning,
one that we didn't invent.
From Genesis, we know that God made the world
and that it was good.
From Romans 8,
we know that history has a real end,
not one that we've come up with,
but one that God is himself working out
through his loving, providential care.
Creation's wiring, if you like,
makes it lean into the future
when God's people will be revealed for who they are.
Just as we who are his children by grace
long for that full adoption
and resurrection by the Holy Spirit's power
at work in us already.
And at the center between creation
and the new creation
is the firstborn of all creation.
as Colossians 1.15 puts it.
We're talking, of course,
about the one who became flesh
and dwelt among us in John 1.14.
We're talking about Jesus.
Who is this Jesus?
Well, as we reflect on John 1,
1 to 14 together,
one thing needs to be clear.
The question, who is Jesus,
is not an academic question only.
In fact, it's not even that primarily.
It's a question that's very personal.
That's not to say that every person
makes up whatever they like
about the question in answer to it.
It's that as soon as we look into the question,
we find ourselves,
our whole identity and our whole purpose
bound up with the question.
That is, we're brought to a place of decision.
We're brought to a place
where we have to engage individually
the testimony of eyewitnesses
to his life, death, resurrection, and ascension.
We're brought to a place
where we must say either,
yes, I will follow Jesus,
or no, I can't go to that banquet right now.
Don't trouble me now,
as we sang in youth group,
eons, or not ages ago.
I think 40 years ago,
we sang that in a youth group in Mexico City.
You might ask,
well, why do we need eyewitnesses?
Ever pondered that question?
Why do we need those eyewitnesses?
Can't God just tell us directly
without having to use human beings?
Seem a lot more convenient in many places.
Presumably God could tell us directly
without human eyewitnesses,
but is that what he's chosen to do?
As Christians,
we take as our starting point,
we take our starting point
what God has actually done,
not what he might have done
or what he should have done,
you know,
if you're thinking like us.
What God has seen fit to do
is to come among us in Jesus,
in history,
and have certain people
bear witness to that.
That's why John declared in verse 14,
as we read,
the word became flesh
and dwelt among us,
and we have seen his glory.
Glory as the only son from the Father,
full of grace and truth.
Now, as much as we might be tempted
to brush aside
the whole question
of reliable human witnesses
on the assumption
that human witnesses
inevitably garble things
and mislead us,
whenever we do dismiss them,
we make a huge mistake.
That's because the Bible
has human witnesses
on full display,
front and center,
if you like,
so that to discredit them
is to miss something
that's at the heart
of God's self-disclosure.
It's this bearing witness.
If I gave this talk a title,
it would be
bearing witness to Jesus.
Remember how Jesus himself
raised the matter
of bearing witness
to his identity.
In Matthew 16,
13 to 14,
we read,
when Jesus came
to the region
of Caesarea Philippi,
the Roman capital
of Judea at the time,
he asked his disciples,
who do people say
the Son of Man is?
They answered,
some say John the Baptist,
others say Elijah,
and others Jeremiah,
or one of the prophets.
Having heard of Jesus,
of his miracles,
and his teachings,
people would have naturally
come up with some answers.
They were bound to do that.
And Jesus isn't here
simply being curious.
What he wants,
in the first place,
is for the disciples
to make a report.
And what is their report?
Well, Jesus,
what they're saying about you
is this.
You're either John the Baptist,
because you're announcing
the coming kingdom,
or maybe you're Elijah,
because Malachi said
that he would come back again.
Or maybe you're Jeremiah,
because you talk about
a new covenant,
as he did.
And what does Jesus do
at this point?
Does he say,
well,
let me set it straight then,
and let me tell you
who I am.
No, he doesn't.
He says then,
so who do you say
that I am?
And Peter answers,
you're the Christ,
the Son of the living God.
And Jesus is delighted
to hear this,
because he says,
blessed are you,
Simon Barjona.
His delight is striking.
Have you wondered why
he was so pleased
to hear Peter's confession?
Is it because he's impressed
with Peter?
Evidently not.
I think he's pleased
because he has the opportunity,
Jesus here,
has the opportunity
to bear witness
to what the Father is doing.
That's why he goes on
to tell his disciples
that Peter didn't
come to know this
through any natural means,
but that the Father
revealed it to him.
So Jesus here
is bearing witness.
Let's appreciate
the way God
makes himself known here,
starting from the human side,
because in John 1
it's going to be
the inverse.
starting from the human side,
from below,
among the people,
there's a kind of knowing
that only gets us so far.
Having heard of Jesus,
of his miracles,
of his teaching,
people were naturally
going to come up
with answers.
They were bound
to do that
because under Roman rule
and eager for their liberation,
they were naturally
going to take an interest
in this man
who spoke
of God's kingdom.
Now,
and then among
the disciples,
Peter comes to know
that Jesus is the Christ
as the Father
reveals it to him.
And not just Peter,
evidently,
because Jesus
tells all the disciples
not to tell anyone
that he is the Christ.
What's important
is that
when Peter declares
this truth,
Jesus reveals
that it's the Father's
work in him.
And then,
as I said,
in John 1,
we start from God.
The pattern
of witness-bearing
begins there,
from God's side,
from above.
In the beginning,
says John,
echoing the first words
of Genesis,
in the beginning
was the Word
and the Word
was with God
and the Word
was God.
What do we learn
in these first
five verses
about this God?
Well,
first,
we learn
that there was
never a time
when God
was without Word.
The Word
of God
always was.
He was in the beginning
with God,
says verse 2.
Second,
we learn
that God
has made everything
through the Word.
Verse 3,
what this means
is that
creation
bears witness,
if you like,
to him.
Because David,
it will almost
echo David's
word in Psalm 19,
1,
for the heavens
declare
the glory
of God
and the sky
above
proclaims
his handiwork.
Third,
we learn
that our God
doesn't remain
aloof,
detached,
because it's
in his nature
to be a God
for us.
How do we know this?
Well,
we know it
because his Word
is life.
And this life
is the light
of men,
verse 4.
So the Father
is already
bearing witness
to himself
through creation
and through
the Word
that is
the light
that shines
in the darkness
of the world
and of our lives,
verse 5.
So up to this
point,
we haven't heard
about Jesus
yet,
right?
We've heard,
but we do
meet him
in verse 14
as we've read,
and the Word
became flesh
and dwelt among us.
To lead us
to this Jesus,
God raises up
whom?
A witness,
John the Baptist,
who bears witness
to the light
that according
to verse 9
was coming
into the world.
What kind
of ministry
must John the Baptist
have?
Well,
the kind,
first of all,
that simply
bears witness
to the light
since he himself
is not the light,
verse 8.
Otherwise,
John the Baptist
could have drawn
attention to himself,
said,
hey,
come follow me.
But instead,
he says,
prepare the way
of the Lord,
who is the Son
of God,
if you read
further down,
verse 34,
and Lamb of God
who takes away
the sin of the world,
verse 29.
In the second place,
John the Baptist's
ministry had to be
the kind that
convicted men
and women
of sin,
of rebellion.
The fact is,
God's work
in creation
is sufficient
to move us
to gratitude,
gratitude,
but in our
sinful nature,
we refuse
to do that,
to give thanks.
And so that
it can be said
of us
in verse 10,
the world
did not know him.
This is consistent
with what Paul
has to say
in Romans 1
about the human
heart becoming
darkened
through a refusal
to honor the God
who's made himself
known
right there
in creation.
So bearing
similar witness
to that of
John the Baptist,
are eyewitnesses
who can say,
and we beheld
his glory,
verse 14.
Who are these
who beheld
his glory?
Because after all,
not everyone
perceived
Jesus' glory.
Not everyone
received him
as one full
of grace
and truth.
How do we know
this?
Well, it's clear
from what Paul
says in
1 Corinthians 1
about the message
of the cross
being foolishness
to the Greeks
with their passion
for human wisdom
apart from grace
and a stumbling block
to the Jews
with passion
for signs
for their own sake.
So who perceived
Jesus' glory?
Verse 12
gives us
the answer.
Those who received
him,
those who believed
in his name.
And who were these?
Well,
verse 13
answers that.
It's the same ones
who were born
not of blood
nor of the will
of the flesh
nor of the will
of man
but of God.
So you and I
today,
wherever we are,
picking up
John's gospel
and turning
right to the end,
we can hear
God say to us
through these
early witnesses,
these things
are written
so that you
may believe
that Jesus
is the Christ,
the Son of God
and that by believing
you may have life
in his name.
You see the,
you see how
we have the
God,
God-bearing witness
right through
his word,
creation
and then
John the Baptist
bearing witness,
the gospel writers
bearing witness
and we too
being invited
and called
to do the same.
So how can we
turn these truths,
how can these truths
comfort us
today
even as they
challenge us?
Let me just make
three brief points.
The first word
of comfort
for us today
is that by trusting
in Jesus
we come to know
the living God.
To receive the light
that has come
into the world
in Jesus
is to receive
the life of Jesus.
It's to become
by adoption
what he is
by nature.
But here's the
challenge,
isn't it?
And it has to do
with what the Bible
means by knowing
God.
We like to
trust the sight
that our physical
eyes give us.
We think that
it's pretty reliable
that to see
is to believe.
But what kind
of seeing
is appropriate
to knowledge
of God?
We have to reckon
with John 1.18
a little further down
which says
no man has seen
God.
We'd like to
think that it
makes no sense
to say this
any longer
this sight of
the word
made flesh.
But the problem
is many see
without seeing.
Many people
cross paths
with Jesus
but never had
the spiritual
eyes to see
that he was
sent from God.
And that's why
John Calvin
can say
no man has
seen God
means that
God dwells
in inaccessible
light
and therefore
cannot be known
except in Christ
who is his
lively image.
knowledge.
If we then
ask what it
means to
know Jesus
God's
lively image
today
the Bible
teaches that
this knowing
is a knowing
that's oriented
more to the
ear than to
the eye.
Where do we
see that?
Verse 18
tells us that
the only God
who's at the
Father's
side
he has
made him
known.
Where the
literal meaning
of to make
known is to
declare
to narrate.
So the glory
of Jesus
was perceived
by faith
in the beauty
of his whole
message
his whole life
and death
and resurrection
in what one
commentator
calls the
moral splendor
of his
whole ministry.
The moral
splendor of his
whole ministry.
The second
word of comfort
this morning
is that as we
find ourselves
in Christ
Jesus
we're not
stranded
in history.
We're not
left to turn
inward
looking for
meaning within
ourselves.
We're not
striving desperately
to leave
footprints that
others will
admire
after we
move on.
And we're
not left
trying to
save ourselves
either.
This is
because if
we find
ourselves in
Christ we're
already at
the only
center that
matters.
The center
where we
anticipate the
resurrection of
our bodies
and our
full adoption
as sons and
daughters as
God has
promised.
If
Colossians
115 calls
Jesus the
firstborn of
all creation
it's not
because he's
the first
created being
as some
imagine.
It's that
if that's the
case our
hope is no
hope at
all.
The verses
that follow
immediately
after tell
us exactly
what the
title first
born of
all creation
involves.
It means
all things
were created
in him
by him
and for
him.
That all
things hold
together.
That glorious
passage in
Colossians
hold together
in him.
That in him
all the
fullness of
God was
pleased to
dwell.
And that
all things
are to be
finally reconciled
in him
through his
sacrificial
death on
the cross.
A third
word of
comfort and
challenge for
us is that
we can
experience the
joy of
bearing witness.
Experience the
joy of
bearing witness.
Here we have
the privilege of
commending the
faith to
others of
trying as
Alistair
McGrath put
it nicely to
allow the
full wonder
and brilliance
of the
Christian faith
to be
understood and
appreciated.
I once met
a pastor in
Peru who
in his
university years
had tried on
for size the
various philosophies
that are there
and religions
only to find
emptiness inside
and as we
went out
together doing
something I
don't get to do
often enough but
that we did
there in Peru
and that that
was to go out
in the parks
and town
squares just
preaching and
putting on
skits and
drawing others
to hear the
message as
we went out
together I
remember one
moment when he
turned to me and
he said really
really full of
joy and full of
full of conviction
apart from the
gospel what else
is there it was
as if he had
said like Peter
to whom shall we
go you have the
words of eternal
life and we
have believed and
have come to
know that you're
the holy one of
God John 6
68 to 69
so how can we
bear witness
within the layers
that we that we
come to know in
different places
well I'll just
mention three in
closing as we
hear of great
numbers of
Muslims coming
to Christ in
countries like
Iran I think we
can be confident
today that our
message of God's
love in Jesus
will be used by
him to move
some to put their
trust in him
we pray many
the Holy Spirit
may even be
preparing the
heart of someone
that you meet
this week so
that when you do
speak of Jesus
confidently
calmly just
bearing witness
your friend will
warm to the
message and it
won't be through
your eloquence it
won't be through
anything that you
had worked on
days on end to
prepare it'll just
be through your
quiet witness that
this person will
seriously consider
what you have to
say and it's a
remarkable thing to
see happen my
friend a tennis
buddy in Cairo he
has not yet trusted
in Jesus as far as
I know but he's
someone I was able
to talk to on
several occasions
he was actually
praying for my
conversion to
Islam right and
and very excited
you know to discuss
things with me and
so I took that as a
as a good thing he
took this stuff
seriously and
praying for my
conversion even as
he did that I was
I was able to
invite him to
consider how the
resurrection of
Jesus if true
changes everything
and that Jesus
being raised for
our justification as
Paul says that you
and I wouldn't
don't have to try to
self-justify by our
own efforts perhaps
in another space or
realm God is drawing
someone from that
cosmopolitan world that
we know well in that
space where Cairo and
Toronto and Buenos
Aires meet where it
seems like the most
important things in
life revolve around
things that I've had to
cultivate a certain
amount of well let's
just say I need to be
ready for the the the
wine and cheeses and
and stuff around the
diplomatic life abroad
but where conversation
revolves around the
wines that you import
sports and leisure and
so on with a bit of
maybe philanthropy
thrown in but even
there we see signs of
longing don't we
longing for something
that only God can
satisfy and so
perhaps God is in the
present in the present
pandemic drawing people
through this sense that
this world after all has
an expiry date and
moving people to to be
aware of their own
need and that we too
can be be ready to
bear witness or
consider a modern
spiritual but not
religious pagan who
can make use of the
rights and ceremonies
of whichever religion is
most handy right without
taking any of the
teachings too
seriously it's common
enough this person
believes that God is a
great impersonal energy
that flows in and
through everything the
Christ and the cosmos
are basically the same
reality and that the
road of salvation that I
travel is made as I
walk it in other words
that I have the power
within me to make my
road a good one or a
bad one and to define
what is good and right
for me well consider
this this is the road
many of us tried to
walk on until we
realized that it leads
straight into the land
of self-worship and
emptiness we walked
along it until someone
through God's sheer
mercy bore witness that
Jesus Christ has done the
work of laying out the
road ahead of us so
that we don't have to
invent it so let me
challenge you with this
we've just celebrated
Christmas it's the one
time when people all
over the world Cairo
Manila everywhere even
many who wouldn't claim
to be Christians seeing
of the things that we've
looked at this morning
the incarnation the
coming of Emmanuel God
with us it's a story
that has become
routine and the
wonder of it has been
to some extent tamed
domesticated for some
who sing it it's a
message about
humanity's nobler
qualities perhaps even
about humans becoming
God or little gods
for others it's a nice
story but not to be
taken seriously as the
good news of God's
dealings with sinful
humanity in real time
and place and a real
place in history so to
hear the message what do
we need to do to hear
the message we have to
listen as it were on our
knees as if for the
first time we have to
consider the awesome
paradox that's there in
that remember that line
from Graham Kendrick some
years ago I'm telling you
my age again that the
hands that flung stars
into space to cruel
nails surrendered and
with our whole lives we
have to hold on to the
glorious hope that the
same one who came into
the world and who died
and rose again and
ascended into heaven is
the one who's coming
back for all those who
are waiting for his
appearing shall we
pray father would you
take these songs we've
sung and the words we've
heard and and burn your
truth into us that we
might find greater hope
greater joy greater
boldness to be salt and
light in the world that
you in the places you've
placed us in whichever
layers of society that
you call us to and give
us the opportunity to
interact with we thank
you for bringing us out
of darkness into the
marvelous light of your
son and we thank you
for the health that you
give us for the the
strength that you give
us from day to day this
we we ask and pray in
Jesus's name
amen
Thank you.