2. 1. He Came! John 1: 1-18 (p. 977)

3. What if God were one of us? Joan Osborne’s 1995 hit song – “One of us” God was one of us !!!  Our series:  How He lived... How we should live  Incarnation – “becoming flesh”  Incarnational Living – Living as Jesus lived. Julie Andrews (Sound of Music): Let’s start at the very beginning...

4. 1. The Mighty WORD of the Universe Word [Logos] = Jesus  John doesn’t say “Jesus”, he says “Logos” [Word]  What does he mean? Greeks:  A Loaded term – thought or reason, or expression of thought (speech)  Philosophical term: the thought / reason / soul of the universe  The life force of the cosmos, the rational principle by which everything existed  Stoics: Logos was like “the Force” in Star Wars.

5. 1. The Mighty WORD of the Universe... Jews:  “Word” and “wisdom” personified in the Old Testament.  God’s “word” is action, it makes things happen.  Gen 1:3; Ps 33:6; Isa 55:11; Ps 29.  It “came” to the prophets (Hos 1:1; Mic 1:1; Zech 7:8) John:  Takes this deeply meaningful word – and gives it a radically new meaning

6. 1. The Mighty WORD of the Universe... The truth about the “Logos”  Logos – with God in the beginning (at the origin)  Logos – is God  Logos – created everything  Logos – light and life for all people  Logos - came into the world ! ? ! ? ! ??? !!  The world didn’t recognize him (in spite of a forerunner)  Those who did recognize & believe – became children of God.

7. 2. The WORD became FLESH ! The Logos became Sarx !  He was born in a stable  He lived as a carpenter  He was a small town redneck  He had a “provincial” accent  He owned nothing  He had no pedigree or family connections. The mighty Logos of the universe became SARX !!!

8. 2. The WORD became FLESH ! And we saw his Glory. His glory was his GOODNESS, not his appearance!  He was very, very good – Full of Grace and Truth  Moses (Exodus 33 – 34) – God shows His Glory (Ex 33:18-19, 34:6)  “My GOODNESS” (33:19)... “abounding in Love and Faithfulness” (34:6) The Logos became Sarx...... we saw his goodness – His Grace & Truth

10. 3. Becoming “Flesh” is NOT IS  Beautiful  Despised(Isa 53:2,3)  Self Indulgent  A Servant (Mk 10:45)  Comfortable  A Shepherd (Jn 10:11)  Safe  Threatened (Jn 10:31)  Luxurious  No home (Mt 8:20)  Entertaining  Sacrificing(Phil 2:8)  Convenient  Available(Mt 9:36)

11. 3. Becoming Flesh... Phil 2: 5-11  “he did not CLING to equality with God... He gave up his divine priviliges” How do we become flesh?  How are we Characterized?  Are we engaging with the struggles of our world... Or is it just an adjunct? The mighty Word Became Flesh! Obedient to death on a cross!

12. What about the Blessings of Knowing Christ? Our spirituality...  Not like the hip stuff around us  Making us feel better about ourselves  Based on the word who became flesh  Reaches deep into our souls – fixes what is broken.  A spirituality of God’s presence with us. The Word became flesh so that we could be made whole! Now we live out that wholeness.