John 1:6-14: The Greatest Rescue Mission Ever

John 1:6-14 – The Greatest Rescue Mission Ever

This morning, we’re going to continue our series through the Gospel of John. Last week, we started the series by looking at the first few verses of John 1. And this week, we’re going to pick up where we left off with a message entitled “The Greatest Rescue Mission Ever.” That’s the title of our message, and it ties in very nicely with Christmas because that’s the reason we have Christmas. That’s the reason Jesus was born into this world. It was all a part of God’s rescue mission.

But before we really get into that, we first have to understand why we needed rescue. After all, rescue sounds a little strange if we’re not sure why we need it. Like if you’re just sitting at home one evening, relaxing and enjoying a movie, and all of a sudden a stranger breaks down your front door and tells you he’s come to rescue you, you’re probably not going to appreciate it very much…because as far as you know, you didn’t have any need of rescue. It was totally unnecessary for this guy to break down your door and barge into your house the way he did. But let’s imagine the guy told you that the whole top section of your house was on fire and you then ran outside and saw it for yourself. Then, things would be a lot different. That guy wouldn’t be an annoyance to you but rather someone to whom you owe a huge debt of gratitude. 

So before we talk about the great rescue mission that Jesus was seeking to accomplish by being born into the world, we first have to understand what we needed to be rescued from. The Bible teaches that you and I and everyone else in the world are actually in a very desperate situation. You see, we’re guilty of rebelling against God. God’s told us not to do certain things, and we’ve done those things. And God’s told us that we should be doing other things, and we’ve failed to do those things. So both the things we do and the things we don’t do are contrary to what God desires. And this applies to everyone. As the Bible says in Psalm 14:2-3, “The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.” And this rebellion goes all the way down to the core of our being—to our heart. In our hearts, we love ourselves and are devoted to ourselves rather than loving God and being devoted to God. And because of this rebellion, the Bible says that we deserve to be punished, just like any criminal deserves to be punished. And God plans to give us the sentence that we deserve by consigning us to hell for all eternity. You know, hell isn’t something Christians made up in order to scare people into obedience. It’s something Jesus himself taught on many different occasions, and then he proved that his teachings were true by rising from the dead. So do you see why our situation is so desperate? This is why we need rescue. 

Thankfully, however, Jesus accomplished the greatest rescue mission the world has ever known when he entered this world in that lowly Bethlehem manger. It may not have seemed like very much at the time, but it was actually the beginning of a rescue operation of epic proportions. Let’s read more about it. Please turn with me to John 1. If you’re using the Story Bibles we provide, that’s on page 735. As I mentioned, the main point of this passage is that Jesus accomplished the greatest rescue mission the world has ever known. And it can be summed up under two headings: what Jesus did and what Jesus offers. What Jesus did and what Jesus offers. 

What Jesus Did

So first we’ll look at what Jesus did, and that’s found in verses 14-18 of John 1. But before we read those verses, let’s set the scene by looking at verses 1-3 that we covered last week. John 1:1-3: “In the beginning was the Word [and, remember, we said that refers to Jesus: Jesus is “the Word,” capital “W,” because he’s God’s definitive message to us, God’s communication, God’s self-expression, so…] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” So “the Word” refers to Jesus, and this “Word” was not only “with God,” as it says, but actually “was God.” Think about that. Like we said last week, Jesus wasn’t merely like God or almost God or very close to God. He actually was God. He possessed all the glory and all the majesty and all the splendor of God himself. Then it says that everything in this universe was made through him. He created it all. He was owner and ruler over it all. That was his status before Bethlehem. Jesus had both infinite glory and unsurpassed supremacy. And yet, look what he did in our main text, John 1:14-18: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.'") For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.”

The most important part of that passage is the first five words: “and the Word became flesh.” This “Word” who, as we remember from verse 1, was “with God” and “was God,” who possessed such glory and supremacy—this “Word” left behind the glories of his heavenly existence and became one of us. He entered the brokenness of our world. Let that sink in. Just scan over the news headlines on any given day, you’ll instantly be reminded of what a messed-up place this world is—Aleppo, terrorism, hunger, hatred. And yet, Jesus left his heavenly paradise in order to enter this messed-up world. And he didn’t even enter it as a king or some kind of important ruler. He entered it in stunning humility—as a helpless infant in a dirty manger in the backwater town of Bethlehem. That’s what we celebrate on Christmas. 

And don’t forget that the Bethlehem manger was only one stop on the way to Jesus’ ultimate destination. The reason he was born in Bethlehem was so that, one day, he could die in Jerusalem—on a cross, as a sacrifice for our sins. You see, by dying on the cross, Jesus took upon himself the punishment for sin we deserved. Remember, we had rebelled against God. But God loved us so much that he sent his own Son Jesus to suffer our punishment. And by his death, together with his subsequent resurrection from the dead, Jesus completed his great rescue mission. And we get to enjoy the benefits of that as we turn away from our sins and put our trust in Jesus as our great Rescuer. 

And the reason Bethlehem was so necessary for all of this to work is because Jesus had to be a real human being in order to pay for the sins of human beings on the cross. You might compare it to the way Congress works. If someone wants to represent the people of Pennsylvania in the United States Congress, what’s one of the requirements for doing that? Among other things, one of the requirements is that they have to live in Pennsylvania. They have to actually be a resident of the state they’re trying to represent. If they’re from Ohio, they’re not allowed to represent us. And in a similar way, in order for Jesus to represent humanity on the cross and serve as our substitute and bear our sins, he had to be a real human being himself. In the words of verse 14, that’s why it was so important and so necessary for “the Word” to actually become “flesh”—a real, flesh-and-blood human being. So last week, we learned why it was so important for Jesus to be God, since only if he was God would his blood have sufficient value to pay for our sins. And this week, we learn the corresponding truth that Jesus had to be not only 100% God but also 100% human in order to pay for the sins of humanity on the cross. 

Now, keep in mind that Jesus didn’t have to do any of this. He was under no obligation to do anything to rescue us. He could have just remained in heaven, aloof from our sorrows and suffering, ignoring our miserable condition. But he didn’t. That’s what “grace” means. It means Jesus did something for us he didn’t have to do—something we didn’t deserve in the least. That’s why verse 14 says that Jesus was “full of grace” and why verse 16 says that “from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.” And that’s why Christmas should be such a big celebration. It’s the entry point of God’s saving grace into this world. God desired to rescue us from our miserable condition, so he became one of us in order to accomplish that rescue. 

It reminds me of a story I shared earlier this year about the two Moravian missionaries from the 1700’s. Perhaps some of you remember it. The story was originally told by Paris Reidhead, a pastor who went to be with the Lord a long time ago. According to Reidhead, “Two young Moravians heard of an island in the West Indies where an atheist British owner had 2000 to 3000 slaves. And the owner had said, ‘No preacher, no clergyman, will ever stay on this island. If he's shipwrecked, we'll keep him in a separate house until he has to leave, but he's never going to talk to any of us about God, I'm through with all that nonsense.’ So 3,000 slaves who had been brought from Africa to an island in the Atlantic were basically doomed not only to toil in the sugar cane fields under the burning sun but to live and die without ever hearing about Christ. But two young Germans in their 20's from the Moravian denomination heard about their plight. And they were willing to do whatever it took to reach these people with the gospel and spread the fame of Jesus.  So they voluntarily sold themselves into a lifetime of slavery. And as the rest of the Moravian community came to see the two you men off as they boarded the ship that would take them to their destination, they were all understandably emotional, and there was plenty of weeping, especially from their families. Was their extreme sacrifice wise? Was it necessary? As the ship slipped away with the tide and the gap widened, the young men linked arms, raised their hands and shouted across the spreading gap, ‘May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering.’” That’s pretty intense. Those two young men were so burdened for the plight of those slaves on that island, they gained access to them in the only way they were able to. They became slaves themselves. Up to that point, they enjoyed freedom. But they became slaves in order to share the gospel with the slaves and give them hope for eternity. 

And in a similar way, Jesus left the glories of heaven and became one of us in order to save us. Philippians 2:6-8 says it this way, speaking of Christ: “though he was in the form of God, [he] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of man. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Just as a lifeguard often has to not only throw out a flotation device but actually jump into the water himself in order to save a person who’s drowning, Jesus understood that he had to enter our world and take on human form in order to save us. And he was willing to do that. 

Looking back at our main text, in verse 14, notice how it says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory.” What kind of “glory” is John talking about? In what way had John “seen his glory”? I believe he’s talking about the “glory” of Jesus’ humility, the “glory” of his condescension, the “glory” of his love, and ultimately the “glory” of his sacrifice on the cross. That’s the kind of “glory” Jesus possessed during his earthly ministry. Even though the cross would typically be a mark of great shame to such an extent that the Romans would only crucify criminals who came from the rabble of society, the cross was for Jesus a mark of his glory. And indeed it is an indescribable glory—a glory that surpasses any glory we see anywhere else in the world.  

What Jesus Offers

And because of his glorious condescension and because of his glorious sacrifice, Jesus is able to offer us something we desperately need. I told you we were going to examine Jesus’ rescue mission under two headings. So having looked first at “what Jesus did,” let’s now look at “what Jesus offers.” What Jesus offers. And to see that, we’re actually going to back up in our main text to verses 10-13. Read with me: “He was in the world [talking about Jesus], and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

Now, as we see in this passage, Jesus offers some incredible blessings that we’ll examine in greater detail in a moment. But first, John describes how not everyone wanted to receive these blessings. Verse 10: even though “the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.” And verse 11: “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.” How ironic! Jesus created this world, but most of the world rejected him. Even most of his own people, the Jewish people, didn’t want to have anything to do with him. Imagine coming home from a hard day of work and discovering that you’re locked out of your house. Somehow, you had forgotten to bring your house key with you, and you’re locked out. And not only that, but you can see the rest of your family through the window enjoying themselves and having a good time together but motioning for you to go away and leave them alone. And even when you keep knocking and ringing the doorbell, they refuse to let you in. Of course, that will probably never happen to any of us, but that’s what happened to Jesus. He was rejected by those he came to save. Ultimately, however, it was their loss. They forfeited the blessings they could have enjoyed—specifically, the blessing of salvation.

But not everyone rejected Jesus. Verse 12: “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” “Children of God.” That’s the first way this passage describes what Jesus offers. You see, in our natural condition, we’re cut off from God and from the privileges that come with being in God’s family. Remember: we’re sinful. But through Christ, we can be adopted into God’s family and enjoy perfect love and acceptance as a child of God. You know, it seems like everyone has a natural desire to belong somewhere. We don’t want to feel like an outcast—unloved and unwanted. We’re desperate to belong. That’s a big reason many people buy cars they can barely afford and clothes that are way too expensive. They want to be seen as belonging to a particular group of people—namely, a successful group. Others try to fulfill their desire to belong by conforming to the standards of other groups. And there’s a good reason why we have such a strong desire to belong: we were created to belong. That’s the way God wired us. But he created us to belong to a specific group: his family as his own children—loved, welcomed, accepted. 

However, in order to be a child of God, you have to be born into the family. That’s why verse 13 describes the “children of God” by saying that they’re children “who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” So this isn’t talking about a physical birth. As the verse states, it’s not a birth that originates in the human birthing process or any kind of human decision. It’s a spiritual birth—a kind of rebirth, if you will. And this passage describes it that way because in this birth or rebirth, the person experiences a change within them that’s so radical, it’s as if they’ve been born a second time. They’re a completely different person on the inside. They possess new desires, new priorities, new motives, new goals, and a completely new outlook on life. That’s what it means to be a Christian. That’s what’s entailed in receiving the salvation Jesus offers. It’s about experiencing the most profound kind of change you can imagine—an inward change that reaches all the way to your heart. 

Conclusion

A lot of people don’t understand that. They view Christianity as a series of self-help techniques. They think we basically just take certain steps to change ourselves and better ourselves and form new habits and become a better person. But that’s actually the opposite of what the Bible teaches. The Bible helps us see that, in reality, we’re hopelessly polluted with sin and entirely beyond repairing and that our only hope is to experience a new birth. In the words of verse 13, being born not of anything human but rather born “of God.” It’s kind of like receiving a spiritual heart transplant. Our old sinful heart is taken out, and we receive a new heart, a heart that loves God and the things of God.

So if your idea of religion merely consists of you trying really hard to measure up to God’s instructions only to fail time and time again and then feel guilty, I want you to know this morning that Jesus is your ticket to freedom from that. In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus gives an invitation: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” This morning, you have the opportunity to let Jesus carry your burden. God never meant for you to be your own Savior. He knows you can’t. He knows we’re no more able to fix ourselves than someone with a failing heart is able to give themselves a heart transplant. That’s why he sent his Son Jesus into this world. That’s the whole reason we have Christmas and Bethlehem and the manger. God was providing someone who could do for you and me what we could never do for ourselves. So let me encourage you not to wait another minute to start trusting Jesus and relying on his merit instead of your own. 

And maybe you’ve already done that. Well, this Christmas, you have the opportunity to rejoice in Christ anew and afresh. Remind yourself that you don’t have to earn God’s favor or acceptance. You don’t have to maintain a certain level of performance for God to accept you. Instead, you can rest in Christ. Every time you see a nativity scene and every time you hear about Jesus being born, remind yourself that the reason he came was to provide everything that was required for your salvation.