Having been in the ministry for over twenty years I have accumulated many sermons for one passage of scripture. The Christmas day reading from John’s gospel is a prime example.
I have 6 sermons covering the first 14 verses of Chapter 1. I offer them to you and challenge you to pick one of the themes and spend some time considering where the bullet points lead you. If there happens to be a lull following the Christmas week perhaps you might like to consider a second helping. We can over indulge with regard to partying and eating and we can also feast on God’s word in this season. Unlike the usual television programmes these thoughts are the opposite of being ‘in no particular order’. There is a progression of thought but they can be studied in isolation.
John 1:1-14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. 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.
NIV: New International Version
John 1:1-6 The Will of God declared / The Work of God described / The Witness to be demonstrated.
John 1: 5 The Contrast / The Conflict / The Conquest
John 1: 6-7 A Man with a message / A Man with a Master / A Man with a Ministry.
John 1: 9-12 The Test / The Tragedy / The Triumph.
John 1:13 Conversation not of human origin / Conversion not by human effort / Conversation by heavenly grace
John 1: 14 The Limitation / The Lowliness / The Love / The Loveliness
God Bless
Doug