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Wednesday, July 25, 2012

John 1:1-14 Sermon


Just Words
Grace Mercy and Peace from God our Father, and Savior Jesus Christ.  AMEN
In the Beginning was …
1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.  3 And God said, “Let there be” and there was.  Words have power.  Words have so much power that we teach our children sayings like, “Sticks and Stones may break my bone, but Words will never hurt me.” Or, “I’m rubber, You’re Glue, Whatever you say bounces off me, and sticks to you.” Or, “Don’t worry, they didn’t mean anything by that, it was just words.”  If it were really true that what others said did not affect us, would we really need those sayings.  Words can hurt more than cuts, and words can heal more than a bandaid.  We as Christians especially need to remember that the Word, is more than just words.
A few years ago there was a TV show called Firefly, which managed to create a future that combined the genres space and cowboys.  The show didn’t last all that long, but it was interesting how the shows creator took a view on traditions and faith.  One of the characters was called Shepherd, and he could be likened to a future Franciscan monk.   His order does not believe in possessions or marriage, he has rules on how he must dress and look, and he is called to reach out to the lost.  In his travels, he ends up on a space ship of questionable morality and one of its passengers is a girl who is a genius in her own right, but is unable to function in normal everyday life.  He sees it as his mission to reach to this crew and this girl.  Unfortunately for him, to the girl, his bible was broken.  In one of my favorite scenes with these two characters, he walks in and she is furiously trying to “fix” his bible by ripping out pages, scratching out sections that don’t make sense, and rewriting other parts, mumbling and babbling things like "So we'll integrate non-progressional evolution theory with God's creation of Eden”  and "Noah's Ark is a problem - "We'll have to call it early quantumstate phenomenon - Only way to fit five-thousand species of mammal on the same boat -" In her highly logical mind she had to try and make the words make sense in her own special way.  Shepherd attempts to tell her " You don't fix the Bible!" "It's not about making sense. It's about believing in something, and letting that belief be real enough to change your life. It's about 'faith'." "You don't fix faith, River. It fixes you."  In the end though the girl just responds,  looking up at him, sweet, sincere, deadpan. "It's broken. It doesn't make sense."
The show’s writer, who claims to be an atheist, reveals a lot about how we view the bible, and what happens when we underestimate God’s Word to be “just words”.  Churches that focus on the pretty stories and leave out the non-politically correct, do so in the name of education and academic learning. The popular phrase, “the bible is just a book”  attempts to reduce the Scriptures down to just words, words that can be picked and chosen, and if they disagree with you, discarded for something else.  Learned professors, and average people are attempting to figure out which words are just words, and which words are worth listening to.  They are trying to use reason to understand the unknowable, because so often we as human beings hide behind the defense of “its just words”.
Our Words
We us the defense of “just words” because many of our own words, whether intentional or not are words of destruction, words of misrepresentation, and literally just words, words without actions. 
Words of destruction
The whole point of the children’s rhymes at the beginning of this sermon is to protect ourselves from words of destruction.  Children say some mean things, and it hurts when you are the subject of that criticizing.  As bad as children can be, Adults can be much worse though.  A child will call someone a “Meany Face” to their face, but an adult may not be quite as direct.  A few words here and there out of ear shot of the victim can be much worse than any direct insult.  Even the truth can be used to destroy someone unfairly.  Words and truths can be used as weapons, and it is not a pretty sight.  A fist fight lasts at most a couple minutes, but words of destruction last a very long time.  We destroy each other with our words, but it’s ok, it’s just words. 
Words without actions
Then there are our words of promises but without actions.  The popular, “I promise to be better about picking up after myself honey.”  Is almost always followed by a, I’m sorry, I forgot.  For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.  It is easy to make quick promises to ourselves, to each other, and to God, but if they’re not followed through, we might as well have said no.  The empty promises lead only to heart ache.  They were only just words.
Words of misrepresentation
Finally  there are the words of misrepresentations.  These is important because some of the biggest deceptions come not from bold face lying, but a simple twisting of the truth.  White lies, omissions, and exaggerations, all still misrepresent the truth.  Jesus said, “Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”  One the first “minor” deceptions was Adam to God  “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”  While this was technically truth, it was not the whole truth.  Many white lies are intended to protect someone.  But what happens when the truth comes out?  It is much worse on the person than finding out in the first place.  What does it matter, its just a white lie, its just words.
God’s Word
God’s word is different though.  John 1 is very clear what that word is like.  1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.  They are words of creation, words of Life, and words of light. 
Words of Creation
The First spoken words of the bible, come from the mouth of God.  “Let there be light,” and there was light.  When ever God says, let there be, there is the result of his words.  Not only did he simply create, he sustains, comforts and protects.  He sent his spirit to be the counselor.  We have his WORD.  And just his Word brought forth a new creation, the heavens and the earth and all that dwells in it.
Words of Life
            And his words to his creation Adam and Eve were words of life and promise. “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” This was not a hollow promise, instead we are the children of our first father and mother.  When the actions of humanity brought forth death, God declared the truth, that death had entered the world.  But he did not leave humanity alone.  He sent his prophets into the world promising a messiah that would lift them out of their despair, and he would be called, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. Where our words reveal our inaction, his words reveal his actions. All of his Words bring life.
Words of Light
The light of God reveals the truth of his words. “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  The light that shines into the darkness reveals our sinfulness, our inability to bring forth goodness or light.  The light that shines reveals that not everything is as good as we want to believe it is.   He promised death if Adam and Eve ate of the fruit, and death did come.  But the light that reveals our brokenness also reveals himself to us.  Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  His powerful word calls us his own.
Jesus is God’s Word
It was in this power of speaking the Word of creation, life, and light that god spoke to his people.
9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 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.
That true and faithful Word, is Jesus Christ our Lord, the one who came as a baby in a town called Bethlehem, raised by the virgin mother and carpenter who adopted him as his own.  This was the Word of God clothed in the flesh of man to fulfill his promises to all people that a new heaven and a new earth shall rein.  Where there are no words of destruction, words without action, and words of misrepresentation.  And this cannot truly make sense to us, because what have we done to be worthy of the grace of God in Jesus Christ?  Can we claim that we found him through our own ability? No.  Can we claim an inherent goodness?  No.  Can we claim anything? Never.  But it is through the Word that calls us by the Gospel into new life that we have fellowship with him.  He has washed us clean in the blood of the lamb, invited us to his supper, and through the mysteries of the Word and Sacraments, we have been made into a new Adam, we have life, and we have the light that shines for all to see.
Our words really are just words.  They have no truth or power.  But the Word of God goes beyond anything that we can understand.  Our understanding may be broken, but his Word never will.  When he speaks it is more than just words.  Amen