Text:  John 1:14-18

There are some persons it’s very good to know.  Work somewhere for a while and people will tell you.  Get to know that person.  He or she can help you, guide you, give you good advice.

When I was thinking about college, I didn’t have a clue.  Neither did my mom or dad who had not gone to college.  But our next door neighbor was a superintendent of schools.  He was glad to help.  He asked us a few questions and then gave us a list of colleges to investigate.  He sure saved us a lot of time and effort.  He was a good person to know.

We all have people like that in our lives.  Those who helped us at a critical time.  Those that helped change the direction or gave direction to our lives.  They made a difference.  Maybe a big difference.  It was or is important to know them.

Today the apostle John holds up such a person before us.  One who made an awesome difference in his life.  Not someone who might be good for you to know, but someone who is absolutely essential for you to know.  I pray that you may know him a little better when I say Amen.  And I pray that you come to know him a whole bunch more in 2014.

Know Jesus
I.  Know the Word made flesh
II.  Know his fullness for you
III.  Know God

            In the very first verse of John’s gospel he makes this unusual statement:  In the beginning was the Word.  Then in verse 14, he tells us the Word became flesh.  I don’t know how many times I’ve read that and thought it strange for him to call Jesus the Word but I didn’t really dig in to see what John was saying.  I moved right on to something else.

Not today.  Let’s talk about the Word.  In Greek, it’s Logos.  The Logos became flesh.  And here remember that John was intending this Gospel not just for his fellow Jews, but also for the Gentiles, the Greeks, the Romans, the Asians.  The Logos or Word doesn’t mean much to us but it said something to all those people.  It got them thinking from whatever their starting point was.  The Jew would remember that by the Word of the Lord were the heavens made.  The Greek mind might think of the Logos as the essential principle before all else.  But for both of them the Word was the starting point of all things.  They would both agree, in the beginning was the Word.

There John met them with his gospel.  And here John takes us by the hand to know the Word.  He helps us to see that the Word is more than a principle.  The Word is more than a powerful expression of God that created this universe and everything in it.  John wants us to know that the Word is a person, a living being and the source of life.  The Word was a person and that person was not just with God at the beginning.  The Word was God.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  This is a tremendous mystery. An offense to some.  A truth others refuse to accept.  A mystery to us all.  The mystery of the incarnation.  In Jesus’ human body would live all the fullness of God.  And think of that word, dwelling.  It comes from a word that means tent.  You know, that cloth shelter we put up against the rain and wind.   You might say, Almighty God humbled himself to tent in our weak human flesh,– but not to shelter himself.   He came as our flesh and blood brother to shelter us from our death, the wages of our sin.  That’s why the other day I went to the ICU and pointed a dying man to Jesus- the Word made flesh.  For Jesus came as our brother to suffer our death, to conquer it and give us life.  Know Jesus.  Know the Word made flesh.

We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and only.  John was there to see Jesus suspend the laws of nature and change water into wine.  He was there on that mountaintop as Jesus’ face shone with the brightness of the sun.  He was there in that room after Jesus’ death when Jesus came among them risen from the grave.  And he was there with the others when Jesus ascended back to heaven.  Know Jesus.  Know the Word made flesh.

Another John knew him too .  John the Baptist. Listen.  He cries out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ ” It’s a bit tricky to follow John there.  But understand when he says, he was before me.  Not before John the Baptist as in weeks or months or years.  Jesus was before John from all eternity.  If John did not know that before, he sure knew it after he baptized Jesus and heard the Father say.  This is my beloved Son.  He knew Jesus.  He knew the Word made flesh.

And now it comes back to you.  What does this mean to you?  How shallow our faith can be.  And we can let all kinds of stuff distract us and steal the joy that is here for us.  I know.  I do it too.  But whatever it is, does it really matter?  When all is said or done does it really matter when compared to something so big and wonderful as this?  So look where the Holy Spirit is calling you.  Know Jesus.  Know the Word made flesh.  Know his fullness for you.

Fullness, that’s a word that goes with the Holidays.  Fullness.  What you feel when you push back from the table after eating that second piece of pie.  Fullness. For Christmas, someone gave me a great big bucket full of popcorn, three different kinds.  That caramel corn is great.  Yet as full as it was, that bucket is now running on empty.

How different our Jesus.  [He] came from the Father full of grace and truth (14)…  For the law was given through Moses grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (17)  What picture comes to mind with Moses?  One is this.  Moses coming down that mountain with those two tablets of stone.  On them God has inscribed his commandments, what it means to be righteous before him.  But we know what that Law says about us.  Not that we are righteous but that we are people soaked to the skin with the guilt of our sin.

But Jesus came from the Father full of grace and truth.  Not half full and you supply the rest. And not full for a time and then empty like my bucket of popcorn.  But full of grace and truth.  Think of his Supper.  It’s all about that.  Whenever you come.  It’s about the grace of God’s forgiveness purchased with the body he offered on a cross and the blood He shed for you.  His supper is about grace and truth.  The truth of what Jesus gives you.  His body and blood to assure you that you are forgiven, that all is well. Know his fullness for you.  Don’t pass it up.  Something so precious.

And not just in his supper.  In his gospel, know his fullness for you. There he comes to us again and again with grace and truth.  When we are troubled or lonely, he reminds us, I am with you always.  When we fear death, we can remember his promise.  Because I live, you also will live.  And can’t we say the same as John? .  From the fullness of his grace we have received one blessing after another.  Grace upon grace.  Know Jesus, dear friend.  Know his fullness for you.  Know Jesus, dear friend.  Know God.

I know lots of people, but then again I don’t really.     I went to school with some of them years ago.  I served with some of them in the Coast Guard.  I palled around with some of them.  But most of them I haven’t seen in years.  I know them, but not really.

What does it mean to know God?  Well it means much more than knowing that he exists.  That there is a god.  It means much more than knowing he created us and this world.  To know God, to really know him, means much more than that.

But how?  We can’t go and talk with God face to face.  In fact, the Bible says, no one can see God and live.  Of course if you know your Bible, you know there were times when God gave a vision of himself, to Moses and others,  a partial glimpse.  But what John writes here is true.  No one has ever seen God… So how can we know him?

The night before Jesus died for us all, his disciples were upset and confused.  At one point Phillip said to him. Lord, show us the Father.  In other words, reveal him to us. Remember Jesus’ answer?  Don’t you know me Philipp even after I have been among you for such a long time.  Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.

We know God when we know Jesus.  For Jesus was not just an important prophet.  He was not just a great religious teacher. Listen again:  ⁸ No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only,  who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.  Here again we have a great big mystery.  Don’t try to figure it out.  Keep it simple.  Know Jesus.  Know God.  Know the Son, you know the Father who sent him.

So this is our assignment for 2014.  Not from me, your pastor, but from the God the Holy Spirit who gives us these words:  Grow.  Grow in the grace and knowledge of your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Know Jesus.  Grow in his Word.  Amen