The King is Coming - The King is Here 

John 1:1-18

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

This season of advent is the lead-in to Christmas – to the arrival of the infant King, oft prophesied, long-awaited, rarely recognised. 

How does the King come? And what happens when he is here? Does anything change?
John 1:1-5

John explains the arrival of the King in language that was designed to cross the cultural divides of that time – he picks up images from the Jewish Hebraic culture and language and he draws in Hellenistic Greek and Roman thoughts – all with the Greek word "Logos", translated as “word”, and this idea of God revealing himself to us through word, through being, through thought, through speech, through creative action.

And though God reveals himself, he is not always recognised – the darkness has not understood the light (verse 5), the world did not recognise him (verse 10).

Many people around us, and maybe some of you here, don’t understand God’s revelation, don’t recognise him. There is no God they say, he is a figment of your imagination, your drug of choice to help you get through the day. Prove his existence to me, they ask.

But God doesn’t ask you to prove his existence, he asks you to believe in him (verse 12).

The ant can’t prove the existence of the explorer who treads on the anthill, the blind cave fish can’t prove the existence of the diver with his flashlight. Only if a man were to be born as an ant could he point the way to a greater being; only if a diver were be born as a blind fish could he point the way. Just so, we can’t comprehend the greatness of God but he has chosen to reveal himself to us as one of us. The King has come and the King is here in Jesus. Do we understand him, do we recognise him?

We believe in a King who is close, not distant; who is revealed, not hidden. But the only reason we can know Him is because He has chosen to reveal Himself to us, to come to us. Verse 14 - "God has moved into the neighbourhood". (Message).

The King is Coming - The King is Here.

There is a spectacular thing that happens when the King is here and we believe in him.
Everything changes when we recognise him. A transformation takes place in our very existence - many people in this room have gone through such a transformation.

When I was 17 I took my driving test in my parents’ Volkswagen Minibus. Sit up and beg, horizontal steering wheel, 3ft long long gear lever which felt like a poker moving coals in the fireplace. I passed and as soon as I got home they let me go for a drive on my own. What had changed? The freedom. No one with me. No L plates. Status of driver.


Marriage – just graduated, living on my own in a flat in Weetwood, 1981. Then married to Alison. What changed? Companionship, cleanliness, heathy eating, sex, identity, social life, future trajectory, reduced independence, shared finances. Single to married. Foot loose and fancy free to lifelong commitment.

Parent – Despite several months’ warning, in August 1988, I found myself wandering down the baby aisle in Sainsbury’s in a bemused state. Which nappies? Blue ones I suppose, and the smallest I guess? Looking blankly at the shelves with no idea what the labels on the products meant. What had changed? Identity – added father to label of husband. Sleep, social life, choices, money, sex. Sudden interest by our parents and others.

(Last week I was talking to a lecturer at the Law School. He changed from a career targeted as a partner in a leading Leeds law firm to a lecturer in law. He gave up the potential for a highly paid partnership on the birth of his daughter. He said, everything changed when she was born and he was late getting home because of a work commitment. She hadn’t chosen to be the daughter of a workaholic, driven, ambitious lawyer and he decided to change his life). 

Everything changes

What I am trying to say is that at certain points we turn a corner, or someone appears in our life, and everything changes. That's what happens when the King comes.

In verses 10-13 John introduces another idea which also crosses cultures and languages. He introduces a transformational concept, he says that when the King is here there is something radical and transformational on offer for those who believe. It’s hard to grasp the revolutionary idea he presents.

Listen to this. Verse 12, “To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, children born not of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

I went from being a learner driver to being licensed, from being single to being married, from being a husband to being a father. Big changes to my life and identity – but nothing compared to this.

You may remember that John uses this language later on when he describes Jesus answering Nicodemus’ question, “How can I be born again?” (John 3).

We are invited to believe in him. And when we do he says that through the power of the Holy Spirit we become children of God, we become family by adoption. A result of faith.

Adoption

Two things happen when you are adopted into God’s family:

• Relationship with the Parent
• Relationship with each other

Relationship with the Father

The bible was written in patriarchal times and so it is natural that the grammar often denotes male gender - father rather than mother, son rather than daughter. But there is no gender allocated to God in the bible. God is above gender and the use of God as Father and Jesus as Son is a language category not a theological gender distinction.

There are plenty of times when God is spoken of using feminine categories and gender neutral categories. For example God is described as breast-feeding his people (not sure what UKIP would make of that) and Jesus talks about gathering his chicks like a mother hen.

In Genesis 1 God says, “Let us make mankind in our own image… male and female he created them.” God created gender, he is above gender distinctions.
So when we talk about God the father we are not referring to his masculinity but to a relationship.

Some of us have great parents and the image of God the father helps us. Others don’t, and describing God as our father may raise negative thoughts in our minds.

Whatever your experience of fatherhood I encourage you to find a way to contemplate God with all the best aspects of fatherhood and motherhood.

The first thing that happens when we are adopted into God’s family is that we develop a new relationship with him as our parent:

• We know Him as Father. The Holy Spirit of Jesus fills us and releases in us a language of love, saying Abba, Daddy, Papa, Father. 
  Galatians 4:4-7 But when the time arrived that was set by God the Father, God sent his Son, born among us of a woman, born under the conditions of the law so that he might redeem those of us who have been kidnapped by the law. Thus we have been set free to experience our rightful heritage. You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, “Papa! Father!” Doesn’t that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child? And if you are a child, you’re also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance. (Message)
   
• He understands us. Even more than those of you who are parents know your children, he knows you. He gets you. You are not a puzzle to him.
  Psalm 103:13-14 As parents feel for their children, God feels for those who fear him. He knows us inside and out, keeps in mind that we’re made of mud. (Message)
   
• He gives gifts.
  Matthew 7:11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! (NIV)
   
• A daily putting-right with Him. Not the salvation repentance of our first encounter with God but asking for forgiveness, getting straight with Him every day.
  Matthew 6:9-13 Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. (NIV) 
   
• God the Father disciplines us. Often we need to be brought up short, chastened, helped back into line.
  Hebrews 12:5-6 Have you forgotten how good parents treat children, and that God regards you as his children? My dear child, don’t shrug off God’s discipline, but don’t be crushed by it either. It’s the child he loves that he disciplines; the child he embraces, he also corrects. (Message)
   
• Children are called to suffer with him.
  Romans 8:17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. (NLT) 
   
• We become heirs – we are privileged recipients of God’s rich heritage, as seen in the life of Jesus. 
  Romans 8:17, Galatians 4:7 (see above)

 

The second thing that happens when we are adopted into God’s family is that we gain new: relationships with each other

• The dominant term in the New Testament for speaking about other members of the church is as brothers and sisters. It implies a deep intimacy. 1 Timothy 5:1-2 Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity. (NIV)

• Children honour their parents, a strong biblical tradition. We live our lives in ways that bring honour to the King.
  2 Corinthians 8:23 “As for our brothers, they are representatives of the churches and an honour to Christ.” (NIV)
  Romans 15:7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. 

• Jesus sends us out with authority. As heirs with Him in privileges and authority, as brothers and sisters, as princes and princesses in the Kingdom we are to exercise the power of the King.
  Luke 9:1, Matthew 10:1

• We change our behaviour to imitate the Father.
  Ephesians 5:1 Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behaviour from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. (Message)

One anothers

There are many occasions in the New Testament when the phrase “one another” is used. There are 9 occasions in the New Testament where we are told simply to, “love one another”. Here are the verbs and adverbs that go with “one another”.

When we are adopted into this family our behaviour changes. It is not just a vertical relationship – God and me, Father and son or daughter – it is a horizontal relationship – you and me, brothers and sisters.

See the attached document for a full list - it makes a good bible study, full of injunctions to:
Be DEVOTED to one another, LIVE IN HARMONY with one another, STOP PASSING JUDGMENT on one another, ACCEPT one another, SERVE one another, be KIND AND COMPASSIONATE to one another, FORGIVING each other, SUBMIT to one another, BEAR WITH each other, ENCOURAGE one another, do not give up MEETING together, LIVE IN HARMONY with one another, OFFER HOSPITALITY to one another,  clothe yourselves with HUMILITY toward one another... And Jesus sums it up by pointing out, “By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you LOVE one another”. John 13:35 

The King is Coming – and has already come. It’s not a passing item of news which will disappear off the news-cycle in 24 hours. The King is here – revealed as the word, the logos, of God.

And the King says that if you will receive him and believe in his name you will be adopted into his family. And that is one of those events that changes everything, transforms everything.

You too can be a child of God, inheriting the enormous privileges of the kingdom. Knowing the King as your own Father and having him know and love you; inheriting a whole family of brothers and sisters with whom to learn to live a Kingdom life.

You are chosen and invited. Believe in Jesus’ name and move from a solitary walk into a family which follows Him. Enjoy the huge privileges of adoption into the King’s family. The King is here and when we believe in him, through the power of his Holy Spirit, we become children of the King, we become family by adoption.