The Beauty of Jesus

I am sure that most of you have heard and read this morning's text more than just a few times - and that you have seen some helpful things in it. What I'd like to do this morning is take what you know and go further with it. I don’t expect that I will tell you much that you've never heard before, but I do hope that as a result of this morning’s sermon you will not just understand better but also feel more deeply what John is getting at in our text.

Please listen as I read our text: ‘And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.’

The first thing that I'd like to do is translate a church word. As you know, I have a thing about church words. They don't communicate. The problem is not with the words, of course. The problem is with us. We read the word and don't stop to make sure that we know what we’ve just read. So, the church word I want to translate is 'glory'. I know that I've offered a substitute for this word in the past, but review is often a good thing. A good translation of 'glory' is 'beauty'. What John is writing here is that he saw Jesus' beauty. He saw something that was so attractive that it drew him to Jesus. What he saw stole his heart. This fits with what I said last week: believing in Jesus is about receiving Jesus, the person. We receive Jesus, we follow Him, not because we are supposed to but because His beauty draws us to him and makes us eager to do whatever He says. It is in this way that we enjoy Him. And that's what happened to John. He saw Jesus' beauty, and his life was changed forever. This morning’s text is about the beauty of Jesus. Actually, that is what he is doing in all of his Gospel. So, let’s see how John presents the beauty of Jesus here.

Let's start with the phrase, ‘He dwelt among us’. As many of you know, this is tied to what happened to the people of God in the Old Testament. The Greek words that John uses make this clear. Right after Moses led Israel out of Egypt, they spent some time at Mt. Sinai. While there, God instructed them to build the Tabernacle, a tent. This tent itself was divided into two sections. The first section was called the Holy Place. The second section of the tent was called the Holy of Holies. Of all the places that might be considered holy, this was the holiest of them. And the reason for that is obvious. God was there. I know that God is everywhere. Yet, there was something different about this holiest of places. God’s special presence was there. You see, this second section had only one item in it: the Ark of the Covenant. This was a wooden box covered inside and out with gold. God had associated His presence with this golden box. There was a unique connection between it and Him. So, if you were to ask an Israelite back then, ‘Where is your God?’, he would point to the tent where this golden box was and tell you, ‘He’s in there, in that tent.’ Now, God is not the box and God is not in the box. But He understood that His people needed to know for sure: ‘our God is with us’. And He knew that having something physical to confirm that helps. So, God took this box and made it the symbol of His presence. The Ark of the Covenant was a sacrament of His presence among His people. So, in a special way, from the days of wilderness wandering on, it was clear: God was with His people. Within the Tabernacle there was the sacrament of God’s presence, this golden box. Thus the people would know and could say, ‘God dwells with us. We know that because we can see Him. He’s over there in that tent.’

John draws on this when he writes the phrase, ‘and He dwelt among us’. You could translate his words as, ‘and He pitched His tent among us’. Do you see what John is doing? He first points to the Word and then to the tent with the Ark of the Covenant in it. He’s making a connection. What the golden box was to the people of God back then, the Word, Jesus, is to us today – except more so. The Ark was the picture, and Jesus is the reality. And the point that John is making is all about intimacy. Our God is not some distant deity. He is near, and I mean that both physically and emotionally. He dwells with us, just as He was with Israel in the desert. Isn’t that what the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is about? And so, we can say, just as they could, ‘Here we are in this desert wasteland. So much can go wrong here. We could die of thirst. We might starve. Marauders might come and kill us. Should we be anxious? No. Our God is with us. He lives among us. Jesus has come.’

Now, to develop that just a bit, let me pose this question. Does our God still live among us? Or is that something only for Bible times? What did Jesus say? ‘And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.’ Is our God still living among His people? Absolutely! In fact, it’s even better than when Jesus was physically here. There is a progression. The Ark is the picture. Jesus is the first expression of the reality. But the people of Jesus’ day could experience that reality only when they were in His presence. We live in the age of the Spirit where the people of God experience the presence of their God all the time. Jesus is with each of you by the Spirit. What awaits is the last step when your experience of our God will be even more intense and intimate. And it grows from that point on, for the rest of eternity.

So, do you see what John is writing about? Jesus is God with us, our God who is lives among us. He is the God who has drawn near. And that is true not just for the people of the first century. It’s true for you now. Here is the beauty of Jesus.

Now, let’s add the first phrase of our text.  ‘The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.’ Here, it is clear we are no longer talking about a golden box as the symbol of God’s presence. Now we’re talking about a body, flesh and blood, a person. God, the Word, walked this world. And He didn’t do it as an angel. Angels are not human. They don’t have physical bodies. They may look like us, but they aren’t one of us. They are spirits. They are sent to earth to do a little this or that, and then, when they are done, they return home to heaven until they are sent back to earth for another brief visit among these silly creatures called humanity. That’s not Jesus. No, we’re talking about incarnation. God, the Word became meat. That’s what the word ‘incarnation’ literally means. And that’s what John means. The Word, an eternal spirit, became meat. He wasn’t like some angel. He became one of us and lived in this world and dealt with what that means.

So, He was conceived as a little blob in Mary’s womb and was born into our dark, out of control world, a place filled with anger, gossip, quarrels and selfishness. He grew up, experiencing the same things that we have: diaper rash, skinned knees, confusion, disappointment. In Joseph’s carpentry shop He had to learn things like measuring and cutting wood. He learned those skills by making mistakes. His hammer sometimes hit the wrong nail, and when it did, He hurt. And there were times when He did some fine work and enjoyed the sense of accomplishment that that gave Him. Then, He began His ministry. He was misunderstood and not just by Pharisees but, worse, by His own family. He was frustrated as He tried to train twelve guys who just didn’t get it. He was despised by some and loved by others. He experienced exhilaration when He saw people rescued from the darkness, and deep sadness when others went further into that darkness. The climax of His becoming flesh, becoming one of us, was suffering, physically and worse, on the Cross. Jesus lived here just like we do. He became one of us.

It’s here that I mention one way in which He is not like us. Consider this. One day, you weren’t and then the next there you are and that without anyone consulting you on the matter. You had no choice about being conceived and born. It was decided for you. But Jesus did have a choice. He could have stayed far away in heaven. From that distant perch He could have said, ‘How sad. Too bad they have to deal with such evil’, and then returned to His conversation with the angels. But that’s not what happened. He made a choice. ‘The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.’

There’s still more in our text. ‘And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.’ Let’s take truth first. The notion of truth is a major theme in John. So, for a couple of examples, we have, ‘Truly, truly I say to you…’ ‘I am the true vine…’  ‘You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.’ For John, there are two aspects to truth. First, there is what is true in contrast with what is partial, incomplete, mere picture. When Jesus describes Himself as the true bread of heaven He is comparing Himself with the bread in the desert, the manna. That bread was a picture of Him. (And so is the bread that you had for breakfast.) He is the reality that they point to. That bread is partial, but He is what is true. That is a picture. He is reality. Then, there is the other aspect of truth, the true versus the false; truth versus lies. And here, we are back to the theme of light against darkness. Jesus is the truth against Satan who is the father of lies. I will develop these aspects more in future sermons. But here is the basic idea. We live in a world that is still filled with darkness. It is confusing, and it’s dangerous. Do you what to understand reality and be rescued from the lies that surround you? Your only hope for this is Jesus. He is full of truth.

Now, John also tells us that Jesus is full of grace. Another church word. How shall we translate ‘grace’? It’s God’s favorable attitude to you. So, for one example, from Genesis: ‘And Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.’ Because of this favor, God told Noah to build a boat. As a result, he and his family were kept safe from the coming flood. Grace is all about God’s favor. Or to say that in a slightly different way, it’s about you becoming God’s favorite. Being God’s favorite is part of what it means to be His child. Each of you is God’s favorite child. That may sound odd, but it’s true. At my mother’s funeral each of us three, my brother, my sister and I, had an opportunity to say something. When it was my brother’s turn, one thing he said was that Mom made each one of us kids feel as if he or she was her favorite – and he was right. Now, if my mother could do that, I’m sure that our heavenly Father can do it. Each of you is His favorite. That is what grace is about, the favor of God, being His favorite child.

Now, let’s develop this with a couple of questions. How did we become God’s favorites? You all know the answer. We have been blessed with God’s favor because of Jesus. Jesus has taken us from being enemies of God to being His favorites. That is Jesus’ gift to us. He is full of grace. Now, to the next question, and this one is more difficult. How do we maintain this status as the Father’s favorites? What do we do to make sure that He will continue to favor us? Now, the answer will seem obvious. We are to obey Him. There is only one problem with that answer. It’s wrong. To get the right answer we have to go back to the first question: How did we become God’s favorites? Let’s answer this with more detail. There is only one way to received God’s favor. You need to pass the test. Now, this test is not a paper and pencil test. This is a how-do-you-choose-to-live-each-moment-of-each-day test. To pass, you have to get 100%. How have we done? We have all failed. Now, there are those who comfort themselves by saying, ‘At least I did better than lots of others.’ Well, the fact is that we’ve not just failed the test. We’ve all gotten zeros. We got all the questions wrong. All of them. So, you see, we all have done equally badly on this test. There are lots of people who do not believe that they did all that badly on the test. But the reason that they think that is that they look on the outside while God looks at the heart.

Now, Jesus also took the test. And He passed it. His choices for each moment of each day were always right. (Can you imagine: always right.) And He didn’t take the test as Deity. Remember, He became one of us. So, He got 100%, the only person ever to do that. And here’s where we come to the heart of the Gospel. Jesus offers a swap. He will give His 100% to anyone and will take their zero. And when someone accepts His offer, the Father (just like a grade-school teacher) puts 100% next to his name in His grade book. That’s what the Father did with you. Next to your name is 100%. You’ve passed the test – because of Jesus. According to the Father’s bookkeeping, you have 100%. And so, you have become one of His favorites.

Now, we’re ready for that second question: How do we maintain this status as the Father’s favorites? And the right answer is now clear. We do nothing. There is, after all, nothing that needs to be done. You’ve passed the test. It’s in the grade book. Done deal, end of story. 100% is 100%. And that 100% belongs to you. There is nothing for you to do to maintain your status as God’s favorite. Grace!

Now, the expected response: ‘But if that’s true, then people will think that it doesn’t matter what they do. They will sin more and more. That can’t be the right answer.’ What is interesting is that people said the same thing about the Gospel that Luther and Calvin preached. And what’s even more interesting is that Paul was also accused of the same thing. He deals with it in Romans. You can look it up.

‘But what about obedience? We’re supposed to obey God, right? And isn’t that how we maintain this status? Isn’t that how we stay on God’s good side? Isn’t that how we stay God’s favorites?’ Well, let’s look at this. There is an assumption here that needs to be exposed. Here it is: we can obey well enough to maintain our status. Really?!? What would be your grade if you took that test over? Do you think you would pass? Could you get that 100%? Just think about this past week. Would you have gotten 100%? No, we would all still fail, and it would still be a zero. So, how can our attempts at obedience maintain any status? Our best works are still filthy rags.

‘But, shouldn’t we work at obeying God?’ Oh absolutely! Obedience is one of the goals of the Gospel. But, we do not work at obedience in order to keep God happy with us. And we don’t, first, because we know that it won’t work. Our obedience isn’t good enough. But also – and this is really where the Gospel is really great – we don’t have to work at trying to keep God happy with us. We already have 100% written next to our name in the grade book. There is no ‘maintaining our status’. What Jesus has done maintains it for us. We do work at obeying the Father, but not because we have to. We obey Him because we want to. And that, by the way, is also how Luther and Calvin and, more importantly, Paul before them also respond to their accusers. To connect this to something from last week, the desire to work at obeying is one of the results of being born of God and having His life in us. We have been changed. Now, we want to obey. We still do a crumby job of it. But that’s okay. Jesus has passed the test for us.

That’s what grace is about. Anything else is trying to save yourself by being good enough. And that’s what John means when he writes that Jesus is full of grace. Jesus overflows with this grace and He gives it to you.

Now, back to my goal for this sermon. So, do you feel some more of the beauty of Jesus? I hope so. Trying to act like a Christian because you’re supposed to is deadly. But following Jesus because He has stolen your heart with His beauty is something completely different.