The!Word!Became!Flesh! John!1:1418! …...2011/12/10 · ! 3!...
Transcript of The!Word!Became!Flesh! John!1:1418! …...2011/12/10 · ! 3!...
1
The Word Became Flesh John 1:1-‐18 October 18, 2009 Peter Hiett Hey, let's dance! Everybody stand up. On the screen you'll see the best song ever written by mortal man. It's absolutely glorious: "Freebird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd. [A picture of “Freebird” sheet music appears on the screen.]
And now we are going to dance to it. Ready and go! Man that was really bad. Your dance did not express the glory inherent in that song. Maybe if you people knew how to read sheet music. Maybe you're not smart enough. Maybe you don't try hard enough. So sit down and I'll show you how it's done. Ben, I'm going to concentrate and try really hard. I'll start dancing and you play the music. [Peter puts on a headband and starts dancing hard and fast. “Freebird” begins playing, but the music is soft and slow.]
2
How was that? I was dancing too fast? Okay, let's try again. Same song. Susan, let's slow dance. [Peter and Susan begin dancing slowly. “Freebird” begins playing but now it’s loud and fast.] How was that? "Ben, was that the same song?" BEN: [from the sound booth] "Yes it was the same song, but you were in the wrong place and the wrong time." You mean the song changes? Dang! Dancing is incredibly complicated. It takes a whole bunch of coordination. It's like reason transformed into energy and applied to space and time. But you know there are some incredibly smart people that can't dance well at all, and some incredibly determined people that can't dance worth squat. Yet when someone does dance, it's like a manifestation of beauty, love, life, and reason -‐-‐ all the stuff we talked about last week. It's like reason in the flesh -‐-‐ music in flesh as I've been alluding to for several Sundays. Music is reason. It's all about the logical coordination of harmonic oscillations communicated through pressure waves in the atmosphere. Notes on a guitar string are particular frequencies and wavelengths of vibrations that produce resonant waves in the strings. Like this: [Justin plays a chord on the guitar] When several strings vibrate at different resonant frequencies and wavelengths yet in integral relation to each other in space and time, they form harmonies: extremely logical and complex physical and mathematical relations. Music is math, logic, and reason. So Elvis Pressley or Jimmy page may in fact be better mathematicians or philosophers than Albert Einstein and Plato. They don't comprehend the reason, but the reason comprehends them. They can't explain the math, but they are intuitive mathematicians. Music is reason. And that's a little surprising because music feels like emotion and emotion is unreasonable. But maybe, just like music, emotion isn't unreasonable: it’s super reasonable. It's too many reasons for us to comprehend with our conscious mind, it’s reason that bypasses the conscious mind and is felt with our whole body.
3
You see, music expresses emotion. So if I play an A major on the guitar [Justin plays an A major chord], it feels right and happy and whole. What is that? It's the logic of harmonic oscillations in integral relation one to another -‐-‐ it's consonance. But if I play an A minor [Justin plays and A minor chord], it feels kind of sad and pensive, and we’re no longer thinking of candy and ice cream, we’re thinking of Clint Eastwood in “High Plains Drifter,” riding across the plain and longing for justice. And what is that? It's dissonance. It's one vibration a half-‐step off. So you hear an A minor and long for an A major. And you see it's all profoundly reasonable, so reasonable, you don't think, it you feel it. I used to listen to “Freebird” -‐-‐ the fast part -‐-‐ and then ski with more courage. I’d feel courage -‐-‐ probably too much. So music is reason in the atmosphere and all around you, like spirit. And dancing is like music having become flesh. Dancing is profoundly reasonable, but it's not simply your reason. You can't dance through the power of your own reason. A high IQ and strong will does not make a great dancer. You must surrender your reason to a greater reason, and then you can dance. You can't comprehend the music, but the music will comprehend you. Last week we talked about the Logos: word, logic, and reason. You may have thought, "I can't comprehend that." Well it doesn't matter because it, or I should say He, can comprehend you. "The rhythm is going get you." Let me put it another way: God isn't asking you to comprehend the Logos, he's asking you to dance. Your life is to be a dance, and if you say, “I can't dance,” that's kind of strange. Because any little kid... can dance. Last week we started reading the Gospel of John. John 1:1-‐5 "In the beginning was the word [the Logos-‐-‐the reason] and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” “Cannot comprehend it.” Last time we talked about the Greek philosophical idea that the Logos [reason] was the underlying and unifying fabric of reality. "Logos" is an incredibly rich Greek idea. Yet it also translates an incredibly rich Hebrew idea: the word “davar” which means word and thing. To the Hebrew, a word was a thing and a thing was a word. And the word of God is more than just a thing; it's a person. Remember in Genesis, the word of God comes to Abraham and Abraham talks to him as a man -‐-‐ the God man.
4
In Genesis, God speaks everything into existence with that word. And in Proverbs 8 that word seems to talk -‐-‐ call himself/herself wisdom: Proverbs 8:22 -‐-‐ 36 "The Lord possessed me at the
beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old.
Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord, but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death."
That's wisdom; and in Proverbs, it appears almost synonymous with knowledge. You remember that in the Garden of Eden, there was the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil." It was like wisdom hung on that tree. Adam and Eve took it and tried to control it, consume it, and so killed it -‐-‐ killed him. They took it, but that doesn't mean that God doesn't want to give it -‐-‐ give him, wisdom, the word. Now the law [the Ten Commandments] is referred to as the ten words, but not the word, the Living Word. Perhaps the ten words are like the word crucified and cut in pieces -‐-‐ I don't know. But I think the ten words reference the Living Word in the same way that notes on a page reference a song. They are a reference to the song, but in a very simplistic and dead way. They are true, but you can’t dance to it. To dance to it, someone needs to breathe life into it -‐-‐ to fulfill it. Jesus said, "I came to fully fill the law." And he is the Life. In the beginning, God created everything with his word -‐-‐ the Reason. Creation is the manifestation of the Reason -‐-‐ God's word. A word is a vibration of meaning in the atmosphere and God's Word is the song. In the finished creation [in John's Revelation] everything is singing. All is song. Creation is a manifestation of a song. Like this: [video clip of a visualization in iTunes of the music].
5
You've seen this on your computer. Sound waves become light waves. Everything you see is that: the visualization of a song. In the “Silmarillion” [prequel to J.R.R. Tolkien's “The Lord of the Rings”], Tolkien pictures God singing all things into existence through his angels. But then one angel, Melkor (Satan), begins singing arrogant and dissonant notes. His discord was and is evil. But Iluvatar, who is God, stands and sings, such that even the discordant notes of Melkor are brought into a deeper and more beautiful harmony-‐-‐as if in the very place that “sin increased, grace abounded all the more,” as if every A minor increases the beauty of A major, as if every dissonance will one day reveal God's resonant consonance. In the Silmarillion, God then cries out "And thou, Melkor [it's Satan], shalt see no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite. For he that attempteth this shall prove but mine instrument in the devising of things more wonderful, which he himself has not imagined." You know, the death of Christ on the tree appeared to be Satan's greatest victory. But God raised Christ from the dead revealing it to be Satan's greatest defeat-‐-‐indeed the very revelation of the rhythm and logic of God song. All creation is the manifestation of that song. Now you may say, “That's beautiful poetry and a lovely metaphor” ... but I'm not so sure it is a metaphor. If you know much about physics, you know what I'm saying sounds a lot like string theory -‐-‐ the predominant theory of everything. String theory combines Einstein's theory of relativity and quantum mechanics by positing that all reality is made up of one-‐dimensional strings vibrating in something like ten dimensions of space/time producing all physical reality. Now I'll quote Wikipedia, this is not some pastor illustration book: "... any elementary particles should be thought of as a tiny vibrating line rather than as a point. The string can vibrate in different modes, just as a guitar string can produce different notes, and in every mode appear as a different particle." In “The Elegant Universe” physicist Brian Green of Colombia University writes: "What appear to be different elementary particles are actually different ‘notes’ on a fundamental string. The universe... is akin to a cosmic symphony.” All creation is the manifestation of God's song.
6
In the “Chronicles of Narnia,” Aslan the lion sings Narnia into existence. As he sings, land, water, trees, flowers, and animals spring into existence pulsating with life in rhythm to the song. The children witness it along with her Uncle Andrew. The song has a marvelous effect on the children but a terrible effect on Uncle Andrew. See, he is a magician. Magicians try to control supernatural forces for their own ends rather than letting the supernatural control them for God sends. In that way, they're just like the scribes and Pharisees. Uncle Andrew hates the lion’s song and the lion that is singing it. That is, he hates that the lion is in control, and he is not. Lewis writes: "And the longer and more beautifully the lion sang, the harder Uncle Andrew tried to make himself believe that he could hear nothing but roaring. Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed. Uncle Andrew did. He soon did hear nothing but roaring in Aslan’s song. Soon he couldn't have heard anything else even if he wanted to. And when at last Aslan spoke and said, "Narnia awake," he didn't hear any words: he heard only a snarl.” According to Scripture, all creation is a manifestation of God's word, just like a dance manifests song. Most of creation has no choice but to dance. But what if God wanted to make a creature in his own image, a creature that could hear this song and choose to dance. Uncle Andrew was made by the song but chose not to dance. We have all been created with the word and made by a song to a point. Yet two thousand years ago, outside Jerusalem, we crucified the Word to stop the song. He piped and we would not dance. For we wanted to control the dance -‐-‐ we wanted to lead. So we took Wisdom, took the Knowledge of Good and Evil, to seize control and crucified the Word, the Reason, the music, the Lord of the Dance and now we all wonder, "is it too late to dance?" …to dance like little children dance-‐-‐in freedom-‐-‐because they want to. John 1:4-‐14 "In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. But true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave [‘exousia’-‐-‐ it means the ‘power of choice’] power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only son from the father.” "Dwelt" among us-‐-‐literally: he "tabernacled," he "sanctuaried," among us. And just like the temple, was filled with the glory of the eternal fire. So he was filled with grace and truth, which is the eternal fire. John 1:16 "and from His fullness have we all received, grace upon grace."
7
That probably means grace without limit. It may also mean grace after grace. So the law was a form of grace; it was like the sheet music. But Jesus is the dance. The law is good, but you can't dance to it. Jesus Christ is the song, and has become the dance -‐-‐ reason in flesh, body and blood given to us. He gives us the power of choice, to choose him and dance in freedom. John 1:17-‐18 "for the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the father, He has made Him known." "Exagasato" -‐-‐ exegesis. Literally Jesus has "exegeted" the Father. In seminary, I took classes on exegetical methods to exegete Scripture and understand God. Jesus exegetes God the way they dance exegetes a song. Jesus is and Jesus reveals the meaning behind all those confusing and even terrifying Old Testament passages. Two thousand years ago, Jesus read the sheet music and sometimes they even heard God's word. They had the law and the prophets, but they did not and could not see what it meant until they saw Jesus: the word in flesh. They read the sheet music, but Jesus is the dance. 1. So when they all expected Jesus to condemn an adulterous and pelt her with stones, Jesus forgave her and condemned their condemnation. 2. When we would expect him to rebuke folks at a wedding party for drinking too much, he turned water into wine. 3. Whereas John wants to call down fire on the Samaritans, Jesus sits by a well and offers a sinful Samaritan woman living water. John's Gospel is the record of Jesus's dance. It's so important that you watch him dance as you listen to the song and read the sheet music, for the life of Christ exegetes God and even exegetes the sheet music. For years I was taught that the sheet music revealed that God presided over an unending torture chamber that exhibited his glory. But the more I watched Jesus dance (in Scripture in my life), the more it seemed like that idea didn't fit his dance. Then when I looked at the sheet music, I couldn't find it there either, terrifying things—yes-‐-‐but endless torture for torture's sake -‐-‐ no. Jesus is a dance that reveals the meaning of the sheet music. Jesus is the meaning of all Scripture. You see, we can twist scripture almost any way we want. Religious folks even turn into a science to justify hate. We can twist Scripture any way we want until we watch the dance-‐-‐Jesus. Until we ask, "does this look like Jesus?" WWJD: "What Would Jesus Do?" That is the most advanced and rational of all theological contemplation and biblical exegesis.
8
Two thousand years ago they read the sheet music, but Jesus revealed the dance. 4. When they expected Jesus to honor their religion and respect their authority, Jesus entered the temple and literally tore it apart crying, "destroy this temple, and I will rebuild it in three days." 5. When they all expected Jesus to seize his crown and lead a revolution against the pagan oppression of Rome, Jesus chose to let them crown Him with thorns and die in their place. See the Romans and the Jews, indeed all humanity, wanted to control the dance -‐-‐ to seize it and possess it. And so they nailed the dance to a tree. But when they cut into Jesus they revealed the very heart of the dance: the love of God poured out -‐-‐ Grace and Truth, Justice that is Mercy, the Life, Light, and Love of God. The death of Jesus was the most ugly, vile, dissonant, and discordant note ever struck on the face of the earth. But God took that discordant note and transformed it into the revelation of all harmony; the revelation of His glory and the rhythm of his heart. They crucified the dance and expected him to stay dead. But he rose from the grave reconciling all creation to God that all creation would dance and that the children of God would choose to dance in freedom. So how do we dance? The sheet music reveals some dance steps and you know them:
• don't murder • don't steal • don't lie • don’t commit adultery • don't covet • do give to the poor • do honor your mom and dad • do study your Bible • do things that look like love
With our reason and our will, we can do some dance steps but that's not dancing! And if we think it's dancing, will never dance. For to dance is to forget the dance steps yet fulfill the dance steps. To dance is grace and truth expressed in absolute freedom. So how do we learn to dance? We dance with him. That is, we listen to the music and we let him lead.
9
Dirty Dancing clip
Well it's the truth. We can only learn to dance by dancing with Jesus. When we learn to dance, the dance spreads through the whole camp. Although they despise the dancer and his dance, he teaches us to dance and the dance saves the whole camp for the dance is grace and truth that is mercy. It spreads until all our dancing. Now you may be thinking, "Nice metaphor: Patrick Swayze is Jesus, and we're the Bride of Christ learning to dance with Jesus... but I don't see Jesus!" Believe me, I know how you feel. I think Jesus is still inviting us to dance, romancing our hearts into surrender. He's very subtle and unimposing. But you will see Jesus I guarantee it, and when you do say, “Let's dance.” We say, “I don't see Jesus, and I don't hear the music, but look and listen.” On the night he was betrayed, He took bread and broke it saying, "This is my body given to you." In the same manner, He took the cup saying, "This is the new covenant in my blood." This is the rhythm of the dance. This is the most reasonable thing on earth. This is the Logos made flesh for the love of you. "He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not." This is where you come to know him -‐-‐ the rhythm: the logic, the heartbeat of the dance. In this fallen world it looks like pain, but it turns to ecstasy. In this fallen world it appears unreasonable, but it is the reason for all things. At this table you come to know the dance, but soon you will see: the dance is all around you.
[Two pairs of feet are shown, one male and one female. One of the female feet accidentally steps on the male feet. The man (Johnny) takes the girl’s (Frances’s) hand and puts it on his heart. ] Johnny: It’s a feeling. A heartbeat. Gugung gugung. Close your eyes. 1,2,3,4. 1,2,3,4. 1,2,3,4. [The couple begins to dance.]
Breath. [The couple is dancing beautifully on stage at the end. Johnny jumps out into the crowd at the end of the dance. Various people in the crowd begin dancing. The clip ends with the entire room dancing to the music.]
10
Robin Gun wrote the following:
She stood a short distance from her guardian at the park this afternoon, her distinctive features revealing that although her body blossomed into young adulthood, her mind would always remain a child's.... caught up in fighting over a shovel, they didn't notice when the wind changed. But she did. A wild autumn wind spinning leaves into amber flurries... Then my rosy-‐cheeked boy stood tall, watching with a wide-‐eyed fascination the gyrating dance of the Down’s syndrome girl as she scooped up leaves and showered herself with a twirling rain of autumn jubilation.
With each twist and hop she sang deep, earthy grunts -‐-‐ a canticle of praise meant only for the One whose breath causes the leaves to tremble from the trees... In the rearview mirror I study her one more time through misty eyes. And then the tears come. Not tears of pity for her. The tears are for me. For I am far too sophisticated to publicly shout praises to my Creator.
I am whole and intelligent and normal, and so I weep because I will never know the severe mercy that frees such a child and bids her come dance in the autumn leaves.
I don't know about Robin Gun, but this table is that severe mercy. To come this table is to surrender your reason. I mean your lust for power and control, your knowledge of good and evil, your pride and fear, it is to confess your sin. To come to this table is to surrender your reason and receive God's reason -‐-‐ the unstoppable, unending dance of love. You really are the bride of Christ. You really are the little children of God. You really are the dancing body of his spirit. Make your whole life a dance because you listen to the music and you follow His lead. Communion Benediction
11
Now let me just say, there were probably some of you that were a little stressed. Because whenever I start to talk about “The Dance” people then wonder, “Is the preacher expecting me to dance right now right now?” I’m talking about the dance of your life. If you want to dance in the sanctuary where we’re worshiping that’s great—go for it. But if you’re nervous about dancing, don’t. In fact, if you’re scared and worried about dancing, then you won’t dance in freedom. I think we think the job of the pastor is to give us the sheet music. So you come to church to get more sheet music and then you take it home and try to dance. You try to do each step just so and just right. But that’s not dancing. That’s practicing dance steps, and that’s thinking about yourself. You see, the key to dancing is getting your mind off yourself and judging yourself and on to Him. He’s standing in front of you, and He’s lifting your face, and he’s saying: “Look at me. Stop looking at your feet. Stop looking at yourself, and look at me. I love you.” And when you believe that, you’ll start to dance. He’s the Lord of the Dance and He wants to dance with you in freedom So believe the gospel in Jesus name and you will dance. Amen.
Disclaimer: This document is a draft and has not been edited by the author. Therefore, there may be discrepancies. Some discrepancies may be minor; some may have to do with theology. When in doubt, please refer to the audio version of the sermon on this website and don’t be shy about informing us of errors.