I go to the same coffee place to work on my sermon for, I don't know, about three years now.
It's usually, most of the time, the same place.
And a little bit after I started going there to work on it on weekdays in the mornings,
towards the end of the day, I'd see a group of mainly ladies.
90% of the time, 95% of the time, it would be a group of three to five ladies who would come in together.
And I figured out almost immediately that they were probably Jehovah Witnesses.
And it turns out that they were.
And so, just about maybe two or three times a week when I was there, they would come in.
They'd all sit and have coffee and they'd all look at me.
Not because I'm something special, but because I was working on my sermon, I had a Bible out.
And they'd notice the Bible and they'd look at me.
And eventually they'd start to smile and I found out that what they did is that they were witnessing,
as they would call it, going house to house and witnessing in that region.
And to get a bit of a break, they'd all have coffee together.
And they have a name for it, which I can't remember what the name is for it.
But Jehovah Witnesses have a name for it.
And so, we'd be fine and I'd say, oh, they noticed that I was reading the Bible
and I told them I was a pastor and I was a Christian and all of that stuff.
But I knew that at some point in time, a particular encounter was going to come.
And sure enough, after several months, a time came when a woman around my age with her daughter,
and her daughter was, in a sense, a professional missionary.
She had been working outside of the country for several years and that's all she did.
She made her living going.
She raised support to go door to door and try to convert people to becoming Jehovah Witnesses.
And so, the day came when there was just the two of them came in and they saw me
and they came and sat down with me and I was waiting for something like this to eventually happen.
So, we had a conversation that went about 45 minutes.
It was a very interesting conversation.
And this isn't by the way to boast.
Maybe it's a bad thing, but they've never wanted to have a conversation with me since.
But it, and it wasn't because I was mean or rude, but just because I know a little bit about Jehovah Witnesses.
And they have a pattern, they have a type of thing that they go through,
several different conversation patterns that they like to go through.
So, if you ever get a talk with a Jehovah Witness, one of the best things to do is to knock them off.
There are different little streams of conversation that they have.
And they started to talk to me and I said to them, after we'd been talking for about five minutes,
I said, one of the reasons I could never be a Christian, I mean a Jehovah Witness,
is because you ultimately don't believe that God is love.
And they were very offended by it.
Well, they weren't offended.
They were just surprised.
They assured me that they believed that God was love.
And I said, well, here's the problem.
You believe that there's only this one God, that God is one, and you believe that God is love.
But if God has just always been one, then before he created human beings, who was there for him to love?
Like before he created angels, who was there for God to love?
Is God sort of, was God sort of a needy God that he had to create angels and then human beings
so that he could have somebody to love?
But if he has a, if he's a needy type of God that has to create somebody so that he can love them,
well, then how is he God if he has these particular needs?
And we went down this path because they would try to defend it.
They'd never, I guess, come across an argument about one of the problems with their belief
is that they couldn't believe that God is love.
It culminated in me, of course, talking about not only the love that existed between,
anyway, they just, they didn't quite know what to deal with it.
Now, I mention all of this because the Bible text, which we just read a couple of moments ago,
and we're going to look at John chapter one, verses one to five,
is a very, very, very important part of the Bible.
I don't know if it's still the case, but when I was trying to learn Greek,
the first place that you would go to try to learn Greek was actually these verses.
It's very simple.
It's almost of the level of see Dick run, run Dick run, see Jane run, run Jane run,
like the type of very beginning simple words.
But on one level, they're very simple, but on the other level,
every word is very, very profound and very, very carefully crafted.
And it tells us something which is quite astounding.
So if you get your Bibles out and look at John one, we're going to begin reading it.
And by the way, this isn't just sort of an academic thing to talk with Muslims or Jehovah Witnesses.
The fact of the matter is, is that love is unbelievably important to us as human beings,
and especially in this cultural moment.
We, in our moment, our culture has this constant huge desire and hunger for love.
The more institutions break down, the more relationships break down,
the more marriages break down, the greater desire and hunger of our hearts is for love.
And we might be confused about what love looks like.
We might be confused about how love relates to justice.
But there's this huge cultural desire for love.
It fuels the transgender movement.
It fuels the LGBTQ movement.
It fuels our concern for First Nations people and their concerns.
There's this huge hunger for love.
So to look at whether or not, like how we can understand love and base it,
it's not just an academic thing.
It's very relevant and very deeply important to each one of us.
So in mind of that, listen to this.
It doesn't sound like it's talking about love, but it really is.
Listen to this.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.
Now, we can talk a little bit about why it is that Jesus,
because that's ultimately who they're talking about, is described as the Word.
Maybe I'll say a few things about it in a moment.
But actually, if you could bring up the first point, Andrew, that would be very helpful.
What, amongst other things, this text of Scripture is telling us
is that love is deeper and older than creation itself.
Love is deeper and older than creation itself.
That's what the Bible is teaching here.
You see, this word, was, is a really important word.
Listen again to the Bible.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.
Sorry, not was, it's the word with.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
And twice in these few verses, it uses the word with.
And we might think, well, with, like George, what's so special about the word with?
Well, in the original language, there's two different ways that the word with could be used.
One way would be to say, Louise, my car broke down.
Could you come and pick me up?
And then she says, well, where are you?
And I can say, I'm with the car.
Okay, I'm with the car.
And in the original language, there'd be a way of using with,
which means that you're just sort of with something.
Something, you're with it, you're with either something which is impersonal,
or you're with something, so you're with something which is just impersonal,
or you're with someone in an impersonal way.
Because it would be the same word as I'm with the car,
as saying I'm with some people at the bus stop.
I'm at the bus stop.
Are you there by yourself?
She might say, no, no, there's some other people.
I'm here with some other people.
But it's just, it's no different really than just me being with some objects.
And there's another way in the original language of using the word with,
which implies that there's a personal connection.
And more than a personal connection, a relationship of intimacy and love.
We would use it that way if I, maybe somebody, well, I know,
back when I was in my earlier church, my previous church,
there was a fellow who had to go to court because he'd been accused of something.
And I actually believe that in this particular case,
I have to say in this particular case, because he was not unfamiliar to the police,
but in this particular case, I think he was completely and utterly innocent.
In fact, I had good reasons to know that he was probably completely and utterly innocent.
He'd been accused of something he didn't do.
And I'll call him Bob.
I almost said his real name.
And I said to him, Bob, I'm with you.
I'm with you on this.
And I'll go with you to court because I'm with you.
And when you use that word with in that type of a sense,
like I put my arm on him, so I'm with you.
I'm with you, Bob.
I'm with you on this.
We'll go to this together.
And I'll sit with you because I'm with you.
And so in the original language, there's a way of saying with,
which implies this personal relationship.
It's a relationship that only a person can have with another person.
And it's not sort of just formal or impersonal.
It's a very personal connection.
And that's the word which is used here in John chapter 1.
In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God.
But it's telling us that it's a person, the word.
However we understand why it is that John used this word, the word,
to begin to describe Jesus, I mean, we can meditate upon that.
We can, the poets and the prayer warriors, we can meditate upon that.
We can think upon it.
The artist can imagine why it is that God would choose this word
to describe the second person of the Trinity.
But at the very, very heart of this text is before there were stars,
before there was a galaxy, before there were human beings,
before there were angels,
before anything existed that does exist,
in the beginning, the word was with the Father.
And the Father was with the word.
And both are God, but there's still only one God.
They're with each other.
There's a personal relationship.
It's a love relationship.
And that exists before anything that exists.
So you see, from the Christian account,
we can say that love is deeper and older than creation itself,
because it's only in the Bible.
It's only in the doctrine of the Trinity.
Islam has no basis to believe this.
And Orthodox Judaism, it would be a puzzle within Orthodox Judaism,
a puzzle that, on one level, they know that God is love,
because it's, in fact, in the Old Testament scriptures, the Tanakh,
I'm going to get it wrong, because I can't get the full phlegm,
but chesed, God's faithful covenant love,
is one of the most important ways to describe love.
But you have this idea, this truth that God is love in the Old Testament,
but at the same time, they have to puzzle over how is it that God could be a God of love
if there was no one other than him.
But from the Bible, from Jesus, from his death and resurrection,
we understand this deeper truth that from all eternity,
there is the Father loving the Son and the Son loving the Father.
And that love that existed between the Father and the Son from all eternity,
it was a deep love, an eternal love, and a true love,
and it is out of that love that things are created.
So listen to it again.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
In fact, I would suggest that it's only in the Bible,
only through what Christ has revealed to us,
that we in fact have a way to truly understand and base
this deepest desire of our hearts to know love.
You know, the central myth of our culture
is the myth of naturalistic evolution.
And at the very, very center of that myth
is the belief that after time and chance work to create life,
the way that we came about
was through two simple truths.
The strong eat the weak.
The strong adapt, the weak die.
And how on earth do you derive from the strong eat the weak
or the strong adapt and the weak die,
therefore love one another?
Therefore love...
That doesn't follow.
I mean, what really follows is
I should be able to eat the weak
until I become weak.
Or I should be able to adapt
so that I will survive
and it sucks to be weak.
And as we all know, that's so unsatisfying
because eventually if we live long enough,
we become weak.
We begin weak.
Some of us never are anything other than weak.
But we always end up weak.
And we can't be weaker than dying.
And in such a context,
there's this profound affirmation
and teaching in the Bible
that in the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
Actually, Andrew, I missed the point.
Can you put up the second point?
Basically, just as a matter of thinking,
something or someone,
somewhat or some who,
I know it sounds like a Dr. Seuss line,
but something or someone,
somewhat or some who,
has to have no beginning.
Like that's just the case.
And we just have to be so grateful
in our culture
that our culture still is living off
the remnants of the Christian story
because if the thing that has no beginning
is a what,
if the thing that has no beginning is a thing,
then how do persons come to be?
And how do they have value
and how do they have dignity?
And why is it that
that if things and what's
are the most basic
with no beginning
and no end,
that human beings exist
and seem to be made
with this unceasing hunger for love?
And we Christians have to learn
to not be intimidated
by the myth
of naturalistic evolution.
and to be comfortable
and confident
that there's very simple ways
how the Christian story
is completely compatible
with the true findings of science
and say,
it is a who,
a person that has no beginning.
In fact, it's more than a who.
It's,
well, one who,
just one God,
but the Father and the Son
who know each other as persons,
who love each other as persons
from all eternity.
And out of them being persons
and out of them being love,
they created human beings.
Now,
I'm a man of a certain age
and I have a certain type of context
and for those of us
of a certain age
and a certain context,
what would evangelists
give to people
that they wanted
to try to become Christians
or what would evangelists
give somebody
who had just become
a Christian to study?
And for those of us
who are of a certain age
and have a certain context,
the answer would be
the Gospel of John.
That's what,
that's what,
in,
I don't know if they still,
if in many places
it's still done,
but the Gospel of John
would be what would be given
to a person
who either wants to be,
that you want them
to become a Christian
and you want them
to find out about Jesus
so they'll become a Christian
or after they become a Christian,
how they can know Jesus more.
You'd give them
the Gospel of John.
Why is it
that that is the case
and why is it
that we should maybe
get back to it?
If you turn in John's Gospel
to chapter 20,
verse 30,
you'll see the answer.
Turn in your Bibles
to John chapter 20,
verse 30 and 31.
And here's what John writes,
right towards the end
of the Gospel.
I keep sort of
walking into that.
I guess you can't see that
from the other,
from the image.
And it says this,
just almost before
the very end
of John's Gospel,
John reveals
why he wrote
John's Gospel.
He says,
Now Jesus did many
other signs
in the presence
of the disciples,
which are not written
in this book,
but these 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.
Like, just say that
verse 31.
Why did John
write the Gospel?
Why, as John
is beginning to write
his Gospel,
and as he's starting
with chapter 1,
verse 1,
and as he does
chapter 2,
and chapter 3,
all the way through
John's Gospel,
John said,
I wrote everything,
everything that I wrote,
I had a purpose.
And my purpose
is my hope
that as you read this,
you will come
to believe
that Jesus
is the Christ,
the Messiah,
that he is
the Son of God,
and that by believing
him,
you may have
life
in his name.
That's why
John wrote
his Gospel,
and that's why
for many, many
generations
in many, many
different cultures,
the Gospel of John
would be the Gospel
that was given
to people.
And some of you
might say,
George,
if you say that
to us,
that sort of
means that
it can't be true.
But that's
not the case
at all.
It's not the case.
It's,
John knows
that he's writing
this,
that it's going
to be,
there's going
to be pushback,
there's going
to be people
who disagree
with it.
When our church,
because we used
to be part
of the Anglican
Church of Canada,
and over a
very important
doctrinal issue
that was an issue
of salvation,
we felt that
we could no longer
be part of the
Anglican Church
of Canada,
and we walked
away,
and we used
to own a
building and
have property,
and our former
church sued us,
and then we went
to mediation
before going to
court,
and in mediation,
both sides say
why they're right.
They share the facts
of history,
they share the
legal facts,
they share the
legal principles,
and each side
puts them in
such a form
to convince
the mediator
that the facts
stand with
their position.
And that's how
we have to
understand what
John is doing.
John isn't
saying,
so I just sat
down and invented
as many interesting
stories as I
possibly could,
and I just sat
down and invented
as many fables
and fairy tales
and myths
and marketing
things as I
possibly could
so I could
hoodwink you.
If you go and
you look at the
very last words
of John's gospel,
look at chapter
21,
verse 25,
actually verse
24,
you'll see what
John,
how he actually
closes his words.
So he shared
with us that his
whole point is to
talk about,
just to share the
way that Jesus
talked when he
was being far
more philosophical
and poetic and
mystical and
intimate,
and to share
some of these
key conversations
with Jesus.
He's going to
share them with
us so that we
can know Jesus.
And then look at
how it ends his
gospel,
verse 24 of
chapter 21.
This is the
disciple who
is bearing,
he just recounted
an incident with
somebody,
and he's saying,
listen,
I'm that guy.
I'm that guy
that I just told
you about in the
story.
This is the
disciple,
verse 24,
who is bearing
witness or
testimony.
It's a legal
word.
I am bearing
testimony about
these things.
It's a word from
the courts who
has written these
things that we
may know that
his testimony is
true.
It's a word from
the courts.
Now,
there are
therefore many
other things that
Jesus did.
Were every one
of them to be
written,
I suppose that
the world
itself could not
contain the
books that would
be written.
In other words,
John is saying,
I'm just
bearing witness
and testimony
to what actually
happened so that
you might come
to believe in
Jesus.
Now,
I share this
with you because
this is the
first Sunday
of quite a few
Sundays where we're
going to go through
John's Gospel,
and I encourage you
to read along with
me.
In fact,
to read ahead of
me so that when
you come to church
you've looked at
the text itself.
But it means that
every time you read
John's Gospel,
what you can
always ask
yourself is
saying,
why did John
include this
there?
What is it
that he is
saying here
that will help
me to believe?
Like,
why is this
important to
understand who
Jesus is and
come to believe
in him?
That's not a,
that's in fact
the question that
you need to ask
if you're to
actually read the
Gospel of John
properly.
How does this
fit in with
this?
How does this
fit in with
this?
That at the
end,
I am to
believe that
Jesus is the
Christ,
the Son of
God,
I'm to
believe in
him,
and I'm
to have
life.
How does
that contribute
every little
bit to this
ultimate purpose
of John?
Well,
just in
closing,
turn back to
the beginning
of John's
Gospel,
chapter 1.
Chapter 1,
verse 1.
And let's
just read
these five
verses that
we're looking
at today.
Next Sunday
morning at
10,
we're going
to look at
verses 6
to 13.
And if
you don't
come both
times on
Christmas Eve,
you can listen
to them later
online.
And Sunday
evening,
which is
Christmas Eve
evening,
I'll look at
verse 14.
And then on
Christmas morning,
and I know
only me and a
couple of
others will be
at all three
of the services,
but I'm going
to do a
different sermon
in the morning
and the evening
and on
Christmas morning.
I'll look at
verses 15
to 18.
But listen to
these first
five verses.
In the beginning
was the Word,
and the Word
was with God,
and the Word
was God.
He was in the
beginning with
God.
In other words,
just pause for a
second.
Before anything
else existed,
the Word and
God the Father
existed and
were with each
other in love
and intimacy
and communion
and similar
purpose.
And then
verse 3,
all things
were made
through Him.
All things
were made
through Him,
and without
Him was not
anything made
that was made.
It's making
a claim about
donkeys and
horses and
birds and
mountains and
hills and
stars and
planets and
moons and
galaxies.
All things
were made
through Him,
and without
Him was
not anything
made that
was made.
In Him
was life,
and the
life was
the light
of men.
The light
shines in
the darkness,
and the
darkness has
not overcome
it.
Listen to
verse 4 and
5 again.
In Him
was life,
and the
life was
the light
of men.
The light
shines in
the darkness,
and the
darkness has
not overcome
it.
If you
could put
up the
next point,
please,
Andrew,
that would
be very
helpful.
Here's the
thing which
the Bible
is teaching,
is that the
Creator became
the Redeemer.
The Creator,
it will be up
there in a
moment.
Oh,
sorry,
it's a
previous point.
Did I?
Sent you
two emails.
Okay,
well,
listen,
while that's
getting
sorted out,
it's only
five words,
so you can
remember them.
The Creator
became the
Redeemer.
The Creator
became the
Redeemer.
So what this
Bible text is
telling us here,
if you look at
this,
what it's
saying,
and John
probably knew
about the
other gospel
accounts,
and John
knew all
about the
story of
Jesus,
and so
what John
is saying
is that
when you
see the
baby being
laid in
the manger,
you see
the Creator
of all
things being
laid in
the manger.
When you
see the
baby being
laid in
the manger,
you are
seeing the
life that
is light
being laid
in the
manger.
When you
see Jesus
throughout the
gospel of
John talking,
when you
see him
teaching,
who are you
seeing teaching?
You are
seeing the
Creator of
all things
who's entered
into his
creation.
It is the
Creator who
is teaching.
When you
see Jesus
teaching,
it is the
life that
is light
who is
teaching.
That's who's
teaching.
And then when
you see Jesus
hanging on the
cross,
who is
hanging on
the cross?
The Creator
of all things
is hanging
on the cross.
When you
see Jesus
hanging on
the cross,
who do
you see?
You see
the life
that is
light
hanging on
the cross.
That's what
you see.
It is the
Creator who
enters into
our created
order to
save us.
Now, if you
could put the
final point up,
now that I'm
not too
confused,
to turn to
Christ is
to turn to
the life
that is
light.
To stay
turned away
from Christ
is to
continue to
walk in
darkness.
To turn
to Christ
is to turn
to the life
that is
light.
To stay
turned away
from Christ
is to
continue to
walk in
darkness.
That's what
the Bible
is teaching.
Notice
here it
says,
in him
was life
and the
life was
the light
of men.
The light
shines in
the darkness
and the
darkness
has not
overcome
it.
Some of
your Bible
versions
might say
that the
darkness
has not
comprehended
it.
And maybe
the better
translation
would be,
because both
words are
included in
the original
language,
some versions
might use
the word
master,
which is a
really good
word,
because you
know how
you master
a subject?
Or you
master some
other person,
you wrestle
somebody and
master them
down.
And so what
the Bible is
saying is that
darkness didn't
come from God,
there's this
problem of
human darkness.
And human
darkness and
supernatural
darkness, by
its very
nature, it
can't understand
light and it
can't understand
life.
By its very
nature, it
can't understand
God and it
can't understand
Jesus.
And darkness,
whether it's
human darkness
or supernatural
darkness, not
only can it
not truly
understand, it
also can't
overcome, because
what it can't
understand it
wants to
overcome.
But darkness
will never
overcome God,
it will never
overcome the
life that is
light.
It just cannot
master it in
any type of a
sense.
And what's so
important about
this teaching,
that it is the
life of the
world who is
the light of
the world,
that comes to
be born in
Bethlehem and
die upon the
cross, is it
tells us that
human and
supernatural
darkness is
so unbelievably
powerful, and I
use the word
unbelievably on
purpose, it is
so unbelievably
powerful and so
unbelievably dangerous
to us, far
worse than our
worst nightmares,
that only the
life who is the
light could
deliver human
beings from it.
It tells us
something about
the power of
darkness and the
power of evil,
and its power to
blind us as
human beings,
who keep thinking
that we somehow
by our own
efforts can
make ourselves
right, where
some effort can
fulfill the
hole in our
heart that
hungers for
love, that by
our own efforts
can become
somehow God-like,
and the text is
telling us that
there's something
about the
darkness which
is so much
more powerful
than we can
ever truly
understand, that
our need is,
and our doom
is worse than
our worst
nightmares.
that it
requires the
light, the
life who is
the light, to
be the one to
deal with it.
But at the
same time, it
is telling us
that we are
loved more
than we can
ever believe,
because we are
so deeply
loved by
God, that
God himself
would come to
die for you
and me, that
we are so
deeply loved
and so
deeply precious
to God, that
the life who
gives light
would hang on
the cross for
you and me.
This story is
setting before
us the depth
of our danger
and need, and
the depths and
heights of
God's love for
you and me, and
his hope that
we will believe
in Jesus, who
is the life of
the world, the
light of the
world, the
creator of the
world, the
sustainer of the
world, the end
of all of our
longings and of
our yearnings.
That's how
John begins to
introduce Jesus
to us.
Could you
please stand?
So as we're
watching the
pageant, which
is going to
begin in about
five minutes, and
when we see the
really cute kids
and the cute
adults who are
helping them, and
we see the
little baby, John
wants us to
remember who
is it, who
is in the
manger, and
the creator of
all things is in
the manger.
Who is it who
is in the
manger?
It is the
life that gives
light that is
in the manger.
That is who is
in the manger.
And why is the
creator of the
world in the
manger?
Why is the
life that gives
light in the
manger?
That you and
I might come to
know Jesus as
our Savior and
walk with him.
Let's bow our
heads in prayer.
Father, we ask
that your Holy
Spirit would
move in hearts
and minds and
wills and
imaginations and
in our dreams and
in our nightmares,
that your Holy
Spirit would move
very powerfully in
us this morning,
that your Holy
Spirit would draw
us to Jesus, that
we would hear
these words, that
we would believe
them, that they
would be engraved
on the command
center of our
lives, to know
who it is that
died on the
cross for us, who
it is that entered
into this world for
us.
Father, may that
be engraved in
our heart, that
we might know
Jesus, that he
might know us, that
we might know him
as our Savior, that
we might know him
as our Lord.
Father, help us to
know Jesus, to know
him more and more,
and rest in him and
walk with him.
And this we ask in
the name of Jesus,
your Son and our
Savior.
Amen.