Knox, Port Carling & Zion, Torrance Presbyterian Charge

Sunday May 3, 2020

Message: Jesus, the Word and Wisdom of God

Reverend Glynis Faith

Genesis 1:26-31 (NIV)

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

²⁷ So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

²⁹ Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. ³⁰ And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

³¹ God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

 John 1:1-5 (NIV)

The Word Became Flesh

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 1:10-14 (NIV)

¹⁰ He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:16-18  (NIV)

¹⁶ Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit – God – the blessed Trinity. A perfect, loving, equal relationship. From this relationship – from this image we were created.

It is a simple, yet complex relationship. Many years ago, try as I might, I could not wrap my head around it. But through prayer, God gave me understanding. It was a beautiful moment when I first grasped the Trinity. To explain the Trinity, we often use theological language that, if we are honest, is still a struggle to fully understand. Sometimes we use material items for visuals as examples (shell, yolk, egg) (water, steam, ice), which helps, but also opens more questions.

But to allow God to reveal Godself to us is a different thing, as it creates a deeper understanding – a spiritual understanding that requires no specific written formula. It is God who created us, and He can grant us the wisdom to know all we need to know and be all we were created to be. From the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit is the Trinitarian pattern by which God has always worked, and it is through this pattern the Godhead is revealed to us. We pray to the Father, through the Son, and by the Spirit we grow in our understanding and faith.

From the moment we open Scripture we are introduced to the Trinity as God speaks, the Spirit hovers and creation comes into being through the Word. The voice of God confirms this by saying, “Let us make humankind in our Image.”

The words ‘us’ and ‘our’ indicates a relationship and confirms to the readers that Christ is eternal.

John begins his Gospel, not with the incarnation of Christ, but with the eternal presence of Christ in Creation “present in the beginning,” John also confirms the divine relationship, saying  Jesus, the Word, was “with God in the beginning.” – with God.

John goes on to clarify that the nature of Jesus was divine, telling us that , “the Word was God.” Yet he also makes clear that Jesus was fully human, “he took on flesh.”

In Genesis God speaks and what God speaks comes to be through the Word. The Word, as used by John, comes from the Greek Logos. There have been many ways to define logos throughout history – reason – speech – opinion – account – argument – discourse. John helps clarify his use of logos by including theos (divine) and incarnate. Church fathers, such as Jerome and Augustine preferred to translate logos as ‘the Living Word.’

The Greek, Logos, is often associated with the Greek, Sophia, through their defined connection to the word reason. Logos – the Word and Sophia – Wisdom, gain added definition through their Christian usage as the Logos – Word of God and the Sophia – Wisdom of God. Both are attributed to Jesus – the Word of God and the Wisdom of God.

Sophia wisdom, or reason is internal. Logos reason is expressed externally. Therefore, true reason, or wisdom is both internally motivated and externally expressed. True Wisdom is about character. It is more than knowledge and more that doing, it is the combination of knowing what is righteous and just, and choosing to live out what we know.

John’s Gospel helps us identify Jesus, the Word and the Wisdom of God, found in Genesis. Jesus, the eternal and divine One through Whom the Father is revealed to us.

In the beginning God spoke and through His Living Word what He spoke was revealed. Light shone through the darkness, sky and water and earth were set in their respective places, vegetation came forth and was given the seed of life for a continuous cycle, the water, sky and land were filled with living creatures. And is was all very good – just as the Father had willed it to be.

In Genesis Jesus is revealed to us as eternal (in the beginning), as divine (we are made in His image) and as the revealing Word of God through whom all things were made. God’s Wisdom is witnessed in the balance and goodness of creation.

Through sin, the eternal relationship between God and those created in His image was broken, and as a journey through Genesis reveals, humanity often forgot their Creator, God. But the Father did not give up on humanity – on us. Before the sentence against humanity was passed down, a promise was made to the descendants of Adam and Eve – a Seed from Eve would come to crush the Tempter. Jesus, the Word and Wisdom of God was the promised seed that would crush the serpents head (Genesis 3:15).

Jesus, the second person in the Trinity, is the mediator who continually reveals God to us. Scripture announces the Son to us, sharing the many faucets of Christ from both the Old and New Testaments. When we open Scripture and seek God with all our hearts He is revealed, and we are blessed.

Today, the Father continues to work through the Son by His Spirit. Jesus, as revealed in Scripture points us to the Father’s great love, compassion, mercy and grace and calls His Church to continue His earthly ministry. You and I, empowered by the Spirit, work through Christ to point to the Love of God.

When the church structures closed down there was a sense of chaos – how do we – what do we – how can we….

But the church is the people – you and I. The church is empowered by the Spirit to live through Christ – to live out our ministry in the world. We are still the church – the Holy Spirit is still present and the Word of God still works through us if we allow the Wisdom of God to teach and guide us.

All that we do with, in, through and for Jesus points the way to God. We are the church, when we live out God’s will for our lives by loving God and loving neighbour, so until the church structures reopen, I challenge each of you to seek God’s will through Jesus, the Word and Wisdom of the Father, and then join with the Spirit in sharing the Good News with everyone you know. AMEN