Live Free with Josh Howerton - The Word Became Flesh | Ep. 237 | Tuesday, January 2, 2024

Episode Date: January 2, 2024

If you had lived during the time Jesus was on earth, what is the first thing you would have written to others? John starts his Gospel by telling us that Jesus is the Word, the eternal one, who created everything. Jesus is God in the flesh, the ruler of all and the light in our dark world. Through Him, we can have hope and life. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, what is up, everybody? Let me say it again for those of you who might have missed yesterday's episode. Happy New Year. Thanks for joining us on the Daily Drive. If you're new to this, welcome. So grateful that you're joining us. My name is Mike Bro, and together we spend a few minutes Monday through Friday just diving into God's Word and trying to get to know him a little better every day. And to accomplish that, we're going to be looking at the life of Jesus as recorded by his closest friend, John, for as long as it takes us to walk through it. Now, I've said it a bunch. on this podcast, but Jesus didn't come just to lay down his life for our sins. That's a huge deal. But he also came to show us what God is really like. I mean, you want to know what God looks like?

You want to know what God thinks like, talks like, cares like, listens like, loves like, feels like, take a look at Jesus. I'm praying that our time together each day will be revolutionary for you like it has been for me, not because of some, you know, bald guy talking into a mic on a podcast, but because you got to meet Jesus one-on-one. You've got to meet Jesus one. You've got to be revolutionary. to know Jesus better, and he changed your life. So, you ready to jump in? John wrote this gospel between 70 and 100 AD. He also wrote first, second, third John, in the book of Revelation. He was a former fisherman by trade, and he got to personally hang out in Jesus' inner circle with his brother James and his close friend and fellow fisherman Peter.

And he writes this with such deep affection. And he's not as much concerned with chronological order as much as Luke and some of the other Gospels. John's writing more like a raving fan. It's like he's saying, oh, and another thing. Oh, and let me tell you. And there's this one time, oh, and you would not believe what we witnessed this one day. I'm telling you, this is going to blow you away. That's the whole feel of John's gospel.

So much so that he closes by saying, I saw and heard so many incredible things. There's no way I would have the space to write them all down. There's not like a library in the entire world that's big enough to contain all the things that could be written about Jesus. But these things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name. So John's whole goal is for you and me to get to know Jesus

and the life that Jesus came to bring. And here's how he starts. Now, I'm going to be reading from the New Living Translation, and John begins by referring to Jesus as the eternal Word. He says this, in the beginning, the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. So John wants us to know right off the bat

that he is not just writing about some incredible guy, a really good man who accomplished extraordinary things with his short life. Oh, now Jesus was all of that. But John wants us to know that he was, he is, always has been, and always will be God. He wasn't just around since the beginning of time. He is the beginning. He is the divine one that John essentially wrote when the beginning began, the word was already there.

The idea is that the word existed before creation or before even time. Now, the word word is the translation of the ancient Greek word Lagos. You may have heard that term thrown around. And the idea of Lagos had deep, rich roots in both Jewish and Greek thinking. In the mind of the ancient Jews, the phrase the word of God was used to refer to God himself. And the Greek philosopher saw the Lagos as the power that puts like sense and order into the world. They saw the Lagos as the ultimate reason that controlled all things. So John meets the original readers right where they were saying,

You know for centuries. Y'all have been talking, thinking, and writing about the word about the Lagos. Now let me tell you who he is. John explains Jesus in terms they already understood. He said, he existed. in the beginning with God. God created everything through him and nothing was created except through him. John sets up here one of the most basic foundations of our faith, the reality of what's called the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, distinct in their person

and their roles, yet all equally God. Now I've heard a bunch of lame attempts to explain this concept like an apple with the peeling the corn and the fruit and even Neapolitan ice cream, three different flavors all melting into one, there really is no good analogy. Because there is no one like God. The fact that I can't explain how all this works makes me trust his higher ways even more, and makes me fall to my knees in worship of a God who is that big and that unique, and that otherly, and that powerful and creative and loving and eternal. And this is how John introduces us to Jesus. He's saying, he's that God. He's that God. In fact, he is the one. who created everything. The word gave life to everything that was created, verse four. Through him,

all things were made. Without him, nothing was made that has been made. Paul echoes this over in Colossus chapter one when he writes these words, Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created, this supreme over all creation. For through him, God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see of the things we can't, such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else,

and he holds all creation together. And here's John saying, my friend, my Lord, my Savior, Jesus, was not just another created being. He is the creator. Now, it might seem like I'm dropping names here, but the guy I got to hang out with for three years, He's the designer of DNA.

He came up with the cardiovascular system, the central nervous system. He's the maker of snowflakes and butterflies and elephants. He paints the skies every morning and every night with his glory. He is the eternal word who in the beginning said, let there be light. And there was light. Then verse 4 and 5 he says, And his life brought light to everyone. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.

I talked about this recently in a message before Christmas. how there are certain properties of light, how light guides and light warms and light brightens and light is indiscriminate, but in its beams to everybody. But the best thing about light is that it always wins. I mean, think about that. When light shows up, darkness has no choice but the leave. And man, that is such good news for a dark world. And can you imagine how dark this world would be without the light of Jesus? So I'm praying today that the light of Jesus will light up your world as we dig into all of this. And maybe today you'll let him use you to shine a light on somebody else.

See you back tomorrow. Have a great day. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out.

For more information about all digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.compt.combe.combe.com slash daily drive.