“In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
– John 1:1
Growing up in the 1950s was hard for Mary. She knew that she was different from the other kids. You see, Mary was born with a cleft palate. So, every day, kids stared at her and teased her about her misshapen lip, crooked nose and garbled speech. So, Mary grew up hating the fact that she was “different.” She was convinced that no one, outside her family, could ever love her … until she entered Mrs. Leonard’s class. Mrs. Leonard had a warm smile, shiny brown hair, and most importantly, she was kind—especially to hurting children.
One day, it was time for the teacher to give the children their annual hearing test. It was called the “whisper test,” and it was given by having a child walk across the room, then repeat something that the teacher whispered. Teachers would often say things like, “The sky is blue,” or “What color are your shoes?”
But not on that day. When it was Mary’s turn, God must have put the words in Mrs. Leonard’s mouth, because they changed Mary’s life forever. From across the room, Mary heard Mrs. Leonard speak these seven words as clear as a bell: “I wish you were my little girl.”
Words … are … powerful. And the most powerful of all is the Word of God, sent to us in the form of His son, Jesus Christ. Today I’d like to look at just one verse from scripture—but what a powerful verse it is: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).
John writes in very simple language—but at the same time, the content of John is incredibly deep. Martin Luther said, “Never in my life have I read a book written in simpler words than this, and yet the words are inexpressible!” Many evangelists help to reach the lost by giving them, not an entire Bible, but the Gospel of John. Why? Because it saves lives, with its simple language and direct message about God’s love.
Around the time John wrote his gospel, people had been studying and quoting an influential Greek philosopher named Heraclitus for over 500 years. Heraclitus believed the universe operates according to a orderly structure. All the laws of physics, mathematics, logic and morality could be traced to this one ordering principle, which he called “logos.” That translates as ‘the Word.” “Logos” was a big concept in those days: the idea of an uncreated divine mind that gives order and meaning to the universe.
So, the Apostle John basically adopted the concept. In John 1:1, he’s saying: “You know OF a single orderly Source. You know OF the uncreated divine mind. Well, this orderly Source is a living, breathing being. This uncreated divine mind is a person. The logos—the Word—is Jesus Christ. And the news gets even better. The Word of God is knowable. You can actually know Him personally. You can talk with Him, fellowship with Him and love Him. In fact, He beat you to it. He has already been talking with you, reaching out to fellowship with you and loving you long before you ever thought about loving Him.”
The Gospel of John teaches us, over and over, that the Intelligent Design stems from an Intelligent Designer, and that Intelligent Designer is knowable and is worthy of our trust. In fact, the greatest privilege in life is to be able to personally know and trust the Word of God.
I’d like to offer three life lessons from this important verse:
Life Lesson #1: For almost 2,000
years, the Gospel of John has been a tool in God’s hand to lead hundreds of
millions of people to salvation in Christ. One of the most loving things you can do is to share
the Word of God with those around you. You and I can’t open a single closed
mind, soften a single hard heart, or save a single lost soul. But the Word of
God CAN. Jesus Christ
Life Lesson #2: Because Jesus is the Word of God, He can bring order to all the chaos in your life. As the Word of God, Jesus Christ is, by definition, the One who creates and maintains order in the universe. The unchanging laws of physics … the amazing order in mathematics … the beautiful symmetry of music … Jesus did ALL of that! He created unfathomable order in an otherwise disorderly and chaotic universe. And if Jesus can bring order to an entire universe, what do you think the chances are that He can bring order to the chaos in your life?
Life Lesson #3: Because Jesus is the Word of God, He can bring meaning to all the meaninglessness in your life. Never forget: God … doesn’t … waste … anything. He can take anything in your past—good, bad or ugly—and somehow use it for His glory. He can use your past addictions, your criminal record or your broken marriage for His glory. He can use every sin, every failure, every screw-up for His glory—if you’ll only hand them over to Him and let Him work all things together for good. In God’s Kingdom, nothing is meaningless. Even if it’s out of His plan, Jesus Christ can weave it into His plan … IF you’ll let Him.
Every day people ask, “How could Jesus Christ possibly make something good or useful out of my mess?” I don’t know HOW He does it. All I can tell you is, He DOES it. And that shouldn’t surprise us, because He is the Word of God.
Dane Davis is the
pastor of Impact Christian Church. Join us at our great NEW worship location in
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