The World’s Most Important Word - Part A

So in the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God. And then it says the Word was God. Such a simple statement. Such a profound deep truth. Jesus, the living Word, is God in a body. All that God is, is in the Word Jesus.

Welcome to Connect with Skip Weekend Edition. While it's difficult to truly quantify, there are probably around 250,000 words in the English language. And that's counting all the current dictionary entries, around 50,000 words that are now considered obsolete, and almost 10,000 words that are considered derivatives or sub-entries. That's a lot of words. But today here on Connect with Skip Weekend Edition, we're going to talk about just one, the most important word in the world. Is it possible to even say there's one word that's more important than all the others? Well, we'll find out in just a moment.

But before we do that, we have an excellent resource for you this month at connectwithskip.com. Some people find comfort in the status quo. Others just can't wait to challenge it. If this were a recovery meeting, I would begin by saying my name is Skip and I'm a non-conformist.

How about you? Do you go with the flow or swim against the current? The truth is, going against the status quo can be difficult, but following Jesus requires it. The Bible's account of Daniel shows how God can transform lives by one person's willingness to defy what's normal.

I like to think of it this way. When the waves of life came crashing down, Daniel decided to go surfing. He thought, I'm going to ride these waves. If these waves are the will of God for my life, I'm going to learn how to master these things and I'm going to get propelled forward. Learn to soar above the status quo with Skip Heitzig's book Defying Normal. It's our way of saying thanks for your gift of $35 or more to help connect more people to God's Word. And when you give, we'll also include the booklet What on Earth Am I Here For? by Rick Warren. These two resources will help you stand out from the crowd for God's glory.

Visit connectwithskip.com slash offer to give online securely today or call 800-922-1888. Today, we'll be in John chapter one. So if you find that spot in your Bible, Skip Heitzig gets us started today with helping us understand just how many words we use in our daily lives. I have a book in my library.

I brought it with me. It's called The Words You Should Know. The Words You Should Know, 1200 essential words in every educated, every educated person should be able to use and define. This was given to me by a friend.

I guess he thought I needed help. Words you should know, and I need all the help I can get. The average first person spends one fifth of his or her life talking. A fifth of a person's total life, you can fill a 50-page book every day.

Now, some do that more and some do that less, and I'm not going to get into who's who. But suffice it to say that at the end of an average lifetime, you could fill 3,000 volumes, or 1,500,000 pages of words that you use. Words. What is the most important word ever? What is the most vital word ever? What are the most important words that a person can speak? Well, some have suggested the words of the most important words. Some have suggested the words, I love you, are the world's most important words.

And that's sweet and that's sentimental, and there's something to that. Those are wonderful words to hear. If you were to look to some of the success gurus, they would say that it goes like this. The six most important words in the world are, I admit I made a mistake. The five most important words are, good job. The four most important words are, what is your opinion? The three most important words, if you please. The two most important words, thank you. And the most important word is the word you, they say. The word you. Today, I want to talk to you about the world's most important word, and it is not you. John's thesis, John's premise in these introductory verses of the Gospel of John, it could be said is the world's most important word, and the word is Jesus.

Jesus. He calls him the word. He begins very vague in this book to some of us, very abstruse when he says, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. But if we keep reading a little further, the identity comes clear in verse 14, the word became flesh. And even in verse two, the word is given a personal pronoun. He was in the beginning with God. So as we follow John's thinking through the first chapter of the word, and then he, and then he became flesh, and then finally down in verse 17, where Jesus Christ is mentioned, we get the idea that he's speaking about Jesus Christ, and he calls him the word.

Jesus is the world's most important word. Even Noah Webster would agree. You know, the dictionary guy, Webster's dictionary. I have a copy with me this morning.

It's a little bit different than most. It is the copy of the original Webster's dictionary from 1828. I don't know if you know this or not, but Noah Webster was a strong believer and defender of the gospel. And you get that in this dictionary. Well, I turned just for fun to the term word in his dictionary. And you know how there's several definitions in dictionaries of a single word, depending on how it's used.

So he begins predictably. Word. An articulate or vocal sound or a combination of articulate and vocal sounds uttered by the human voice and by custom expressing an idea or ideas.

A single component of human speech or language. Now that's how we know the term to be, but you keep following his definitions. He, Noah Webster, says this as a definition of word Christ. And then he says John chapter one. Even Noah Webster would say in the original dictionary, you won't find it in the more modern ones that the world's most important word word is Christ.

Now, why is that? Why is Jesus the world's most important word? Because he's the only guy that can fix the mess. He's the only hope of all of humanity, of all of history that can fix the mess and the problems. Peter said in Acts chapter four, nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. And Paul will write to the Philippians that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow and every tongue should confess that he is Lord. So let's meet him in these opening verses and let's see Jesus, the word in relation to God, number one, in relation to the universe, number two, and in relation to mankind, number three, verse one, John one. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. All things were made through him and without him nothing was made that was made. In him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it.

Now this morning, I'm going to beg your attention because we're going to talk about a few of the nuances and particulars about this sentence construction. It's very simple language. If you've ever studied Greek in seminary, they always take you first to the writings of John because he's the easiest guy to understand.

Though he writes in simple language, his truths are very deep and very profound. The first two verses tell us about the word in relation to God and tell us plainly that he existed always. In the beginning, those three words transport us all the way back to what? Genesis. Genesis one, the first book in the Bible. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. But John takes us back before Genesis one. In the beginning was the word. Not in the beginning the word began but in the beginning the word was and it means was already continuing. So way back in the beginning before there was ever a beginning, Christ was existing. You say, I don't quite understand that.

You're in good company. Neither do I. Neither does any intellect.

I've read a lot of books on this subject and this is one of the imponderables. And let me just say that though the truth is plain, to understand it as humans is very difficult, nigh unto impossible or impossible. And if you try to approach the gospel of John merely with your intellect, it will be crucified.

You have to approach this with faith, faith in your heart. Because some of these statements that he makes, simple as they may sound, are very profound and very deep. Now he calls Jesus the word.

In the beginning was the word and we find out that that is Jesus. That seems like an odd way to introduce a person, doesn't it? Call him the word? It sounds so impersonal.

What does this title refer to? Because when you and I hear the term the word, we think like Noah Webster in his first definition. It's a little unit of language. But if you and I lived 2000 years ago and read these words, we would get it immediately, whether you were secular or you were religious. In the Jewish world, the term word was pregnant with significance. Because you see, the Jews explained everything God did by his word. His word is responsible for everything. Everything was made through his word. How often in the Old Testament does it say and the word of the Lord came to. So to the Jewish mind, anytime God touches man, he does it through his word.

And they gave it the term, the word or the Memra, M-E-M-R-A. That's an Aramaic word. I don't know if you've heard of the Targums, but the Targums are Jewish writings. And a Targum is where you take a portion of the Old Testament in Hebrew and translate it into Aramaic. Aramaic was the language of the captivity. If you ever saw The Passion of the Christ, the language in that movie was Aramaic.

Now it's a dead language. Back then, that's what people spoke in Israel, Aramaic. Well, in the Targums was this term Memra, M-E-M-R-A, which means word. And it was the self-expression of God. Just like an author would use a word to express himself, God expresses himself through his Memra. But in the Targums, these Jewish writings, they would often take the word God out of a sentence and put in the term Memra or word for the name of God itself, because they didn't want to break the third commandment and utter the name of God in any foolish capacity.

So to a Jewish person, when you say the word, they would think of not only the expression of God, but God himself, the very name of God. And then the term to the Greeks was also significant. The word in Greek is logos, or as many say today, logos, but it's logos, word. And the Greeks noticed that the universe was pretty ordered and regular, that there were set orbits and there were schedules that a schedules that the sun rose predictably every day, so to speak, and set every day, that the stars seem to move in a pattern, a set pattern, that seasons would regularly come and go. And so the Greeks would say, why?

What is the reason for this regular movement? And their explanation was the logos, the word, this nondescript, impersonal force or ordering principle called the logos. Philosophers like Heraclitus in the 500 BC said, it is the omnipresent wisdom by which all things are steered. So he talked about it as this something floating around out there, those were his words, floating around out there, that is reason and mind and intelligence and justice.

And that was called the logos. Philo, the Jewish philosopher used the term 1300 times in his writings to describe divine intelligence. So by using the term, John is taking secular and religious people and embracing them all, putting the whole world in his arms, so to speak, and presenting Jesus to them. Oh, you Greeks talk about the word, the ordering principle, you Jews speak about the expression of God and the name of God. I want you both to know that that is in one body and his name is Jesus. He is the word.

He is what you guys are talking about. Now notice it says and the word was with God and then it says and the word was God. It's very interesting the word that says with God, it actually means face to face. It's prostan theon and it means that Jesus and the father were intimately associated with each other. They were face to face in their relationship.

It speaks of a continuing intimacy with. The word was with God. You have to understand something that grammatically, this is the only way John could express what he's expressing about Jesus. Because he he wants to say that Jesus is separate from the father. The word was with God, but then he says the word was God and I'll show you how that works.

They're not the same person. They're both God or in the God head, but they are individual and they are separate. So Jesus was with God face to face with the father in eternity past.

Just think about that for a moment in eternity past. Jesus Christ, Jesus, the son in intimate face to face unbroken, unparalleled, unmatched fellowship with the father until Jesus decided to give it up. To give it up and cooperating with the father's plan. Jesus in the incarnation stepped into our world and he gave up that face to face intimacy and fellowship for a time. It says in Philippians, Jesus, though he didn't consider equality with God, something to be grasped because he was God, he emptied himself.

He became a man, a human being. And if you you want to understand the magnitude of the love of Jesus Christ and coming to this world, you just got to read a little bit further in John in the 17th chapter in verse five, Jesus prays to the father's what he says, the glory that I had with you before the world was, I want that restored father. Remember when he prayed that the glory that we had restored to me, the glory that we had before this world was that glory, that wonderful fellowship, that intimacy of me and you and you and I, and I want that back.

Jesus gave it up temporarily. So in the beginning was the word, the word was with God. And then it says the word was God. Such a simple statement, such a profound deep truth. Jesus, the living word is God in a body. All that God is, is in the word Jesus. Now in six weeks, you and I'll be singing that truth in a famous Christmas carol.

And one of the verses sounds like this, veiled in flesh, the Godhead see hail incarnate deity hark the herald angel sing glory to the newborn King. This is the truth that is expressed. Here's the word.

Here's the word. He was with God, close, intimate, and he was God. Now the Jehovah witnesses have a little bit of trouble with this.

In fact, they deny it. They have a translation called the new world translation where it is translated in the beginning was the word and the word was with God. And the word was a God, a God. And that's because they say, well, you know, in the Greek, John left out the definite article, which must mean that Jesus is a sub God. And so they translated in the beginning was the word. The word is with God. The word was a God.

Well, that's a poor translation. John, when he writes this leaves out the definite article. The is the article for the God. You see a lot of times in Greek, you would say ha theos, the God. And John left out the, the, the article.

And here's why. If John were to say, Jesus was ha theos, he would contradict what he just said when he said the word was with God, because by using the article, he would be saying Jesus and the father are the self same person. So in Greek, you leave out the definite article and you transpose the words to show essence or nature. And so literally it reads, please follow me still, literally it reads, and God was the word.

Theos en halagas. Now, a few years ago, I had a Jehovah witness knock on my door and two of them actually an older one and training a younger one. And I said, Oh, this is going to be fun.

And because the younger one is always looking to the older one to know how to answer evangelical Christians. So he came to the door and we were talking and it was a matter of minutes where we dealt with Jesus being God. And I just said to him, well, the Bible says, Jesus is God.

And it sort of ruffled his feathers. And he said, never does the New Testament declare Jesus as God. And I said, well, it's so apparent it's all over the place. So he said, okay, John chapter one, verse one. And he starts quoting this in the Greek. He said, it says the word is a God. I said, are you sure about that?

You want to go there? Because now you just now you have more problems because now you have two gods. If Jesus is a God, now you've got two gods. You've got bigger problems than before you came to this door.

No, no. In the Greek, it's a God. I said, okay, just a minute. And I went to my study and got my Greek New Testament. And I opened it up and I said, okay, so show that to me. And he said, I can't read that. I said, okay, here's what it says. So there is no God. And I said, you will notice that those two words, subject and object are transposed because John wants us to know that Jesus, the word, though separate from the Father has the exact same nature as God. We had a wonderful conversation.

It didn't last that long. Now look at verse two. Verse two is, and here again, John is so simple in his terms.

It's profound, but it's just the simplest terms he restates verse one. He, he, it's a person, the word he was in the beginning with God. Brothers and sisters, because Jesus Christ is God, that's what the scripture declares him to be in no uncertain terms. To say he is anything less than God is blasphemy.

It's not to be messed with. In fact, you ought to know this, that though cults and religions will ascribe everything else to Jesus, other than deity. Oh, he's a nice guy. He's a good man.

He's a wonderful example. On and on and on. Everything but being God. Because of that, you need to know, and I need to know this. You know, words are powerful. They affect us in so many different ways, but none have had the same kind of impact as the word made flesh, Jesus Christ. If that word hasn't impacted your life yet, perhaps now is the time to let it do so.

And if you'd like a copy of today's study, it's available on CD for just $4 plus shipping. When you call us at 1-800-922-1888 or when you visit connectwithskip.com, we'll continue with our study of what the most important word is and why it's so important next time. So I hope you can join us right here in Connect with Skip weekend edition, a presentation of Connection Communications. Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot of the cross.

Cast your burdens on his word. Make a connection. A connection. A connection. Connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.