Sermon: Jesus in the Camp

John 1:1-18

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend[a] it.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.[b]
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own,[c] and His own[d] did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’” 16 And[e] of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son,[f] who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

Sermon

The first week I was in college I met my roommate named Mel. Mel was, well, and interesting fellow. I came to Trinity College because I wanted to go to a Christian college where I could play football. Mel came to college because he had an opportunity to play college football that was close to home. I was the goofy naive guy from Alaska. He was the worldly wise guy from suburban Milwaukee.





We had two weeks of football camp with just the football team before people came in to campus. It was simply eat, workout, eat, workout, eat, meetings, sleep every night. But soon camp broke and that joyous moment came when the girls came to campus. Mel’s car was being “fixed” at home (I never saw said car in his short tenure at the school), and I was without a car. Mel had a girlfriend, but he was working at making a few more girl friends, and brought me along as his wingman.




He offered me tidbits of his worldly wisdom. We visited with a gal, who when she found out I was from Alaska and had never been in the city of Chicago, so she offered to drive us around and give us a brief tour of the city. Mel was stoked. He asked me how I thought she looked. I said I thought she was cute. He agreed. Then he gave me a nugget of insight. It was dark outside. He said, “Girls always look cuter when it is dark out. I bet she is just average looking in the light of day”.

I did not really care. I did not believe the gal was awfully interested in me, and I seemed to be a wingman for Mel in this situation anyway. I was just excited to see Chicago. I had been in a town in Alaska without a stoplight for goodness sake, and I had never been to a town with over a million people, unless you count driving through the Portland and Seattle metro areas hoping parents did not get us lost. And it was fun. And they both got a kick out of me looking at the city like a five year old looking under the Christmas tree on Christmas morning.




Anyway, we met up with the gal the next day, and Mel was right. Much better looking in a dimly lit campus than in the full light of day. Now Mel’s lifestyle was such that I believe this insight was most likely fueled by drinking too much at parties at high school, and engaging in bad behavior that left him with a few regrets when he sobered up. But I have remembered the insight to this day, and think it is a factual truth, not just about attractiveness of the opposite sex. Food looks much better in a dimly lit restaurant. Christmas trees, when purchased late at night, can reveal flaws once you get them home as well.

And while we are on the subject of how things appear in the dark, I wonder if any of you have ever been in a church, or this church, in the dark, late at night, and been totally creeped out. I have. In fact, I can officially say that every church that I have served I have had to walk around in the dark and work alone at night in. And every one of those churches, while I have been alone in them late at night has been creepy.

Most churches are uniquely constructed. They have had additions built. They have unique plumbing, heating and wiring systems. And most of them make mysterious noises when you least expect them to make any noise. It can be quite disconcerting. Probably the most disconcerting was the church in Kansas City that I served named Armourdale Baptist Church. Armourdale was in what they called a transitional neighborhood, which means that it used to be nice, but now was getting run down and higher crime rates etc. The church was built in a flood plain, and there was a series of pumps that kept the basement of the church from flooding. The result was that both the heating system and the plumbing “popped” at times. And at times their were cars backfiring outside. And at times there were gunshots. To a skiddish country boy, all three of the sounds sounded eerily similar. Especially when working on a term paper at midnight.

Once again, as I will explain, the gospel of John in verses 14-18 plays on our ideas of light and sight. It takes a different angle on what it means for Jesus to be God’s light in the world as it again amplifies the truths shared in John 1.





Once again, John 1:14-18 has some clear words and concepts that are important that are easy to pick up on as you read through the passage. One of those phrases is “grace and truth”, “glory”, and “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”. But you will have to bear with me to figure out what the story of how people look when its dark out and the fear factor of churches at nighttime relate to Jesus as the light of the world.

First let us look at the phrase, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The word, we heard in verse 1, was with God in the beginning, and at the same time was God. The Word, according to John, is also shorthand for Jesus. So when John is saying “the Word” became flesh, he is saying that God took on human form in the person of Jesus Christ. He who spoke the world into existence and yet he was humbling himself to take on human form, to be dependent on some gal in her late teens to raise him and change his diapers, and some Average Joe to teach him how to hunt, fish, and build stuff. (in case you did not get the pun, Jesus’ father’s name was Joseph, so average Joe kind of fits)

The interesting part to me in this phrase though is the second half of the phrase. The words that say the Word “dwelt among us”. The word for dwelling there is interesting. Because the word could have said that Jesus came and built a house in our new subdivision, or moved into his palace. It did not. The world for dwelt among us here literally means that Jesus set up his tent and made camp in our campground.

This is special for a number of reasons. First it speaks to me because it speaks of a Jesus who was not afraid to get smelly and dirty. Not uncomfortable with being tired and sweaty. Jesus was a savior who is not afraid to roll his sleeves up and get in the middle of our mess with us in order to reach us, and save us, and help us to find the “Jesus-kind” of life both in this life and the hereafter that he offers. I am glad he is that kind of savior, because if Jesus does not get down in the middle of my messiness and failures with me I will be lost, but with him and have hope and the possibility of growth, change, and new life.


But as you dig even deeper with this phrase “he dwelt among us” you find an allusion to something that happened in the Old Testament. Early in the Bible, God made a promise to a man named Abraham, that he would make his decendants a great nation. In the second book of the Bible, the book of Exodus, we find that Abraham’s decendants do not have their nation yet. As a matter of fact, they are slaves in Egypt. Through a series of miracles God leads Abraham’s decendants, called Israel, out of slavery and they end up spending 40 years walking around and camping in the wilderness until God gives them the green light to enter the Promised Land. While they were in the wilderness, and even after, the Jews had a big tent in the middle of camp that was their worship center. This was called a tabernacle. The tabernacle was covered by a cloud by day, and by a pillar of fire at night. When it says that Jesus is set up his tent in the midst of the camp, it is also saying that God is like the tabernacle in the middle of the camp. Guiding. Leading us by his light through the fire and the cloud.




Which is interesting, because this passage speaks of Jesus as the glory, and the glory of the only begotten of the father. This word “glory” refers to an extrabiblical Hebrew concept called the “Shekina” of God. Shekina glory is a word that describes the power and presence of God revealed through light. It in a minimal sense refers to the light over the tabernacle. It refers, actually, to the overwhelming blinding light when we are in God’s presence. No one has ever seen God and lived, John says, but people have seen Jesus. And Jesus is God in the flesh. The Word dwelt among us.

So Jesus is like this blinding light, this light of God’s presence. This presence that is not over there, but right among us. But how do we see this light? How is this light manifest through the life of Jesus?

The Bible says that the glory of God is demonstrated to us through grace and truth. Grace and truth. These three words are used together twice. They are essential to understand.

First, let us look at the word “truth”. The word truth, most literally, means uncovered. Completely visible. Unhidden. Something that is exposed to the clear light of day.

The world is scary when it is covered in darkness. Like the situations I shared about at the beginning of this sermon, life without light is confusing. When you live in darkness your sight isn’t so sharp, your ears are hypervigilant, and your mind plays tricks on you. You see things that look attractive in the dark, when it is partially hidden. But when it is exposed to the light of day, it does not look nearly as attractive. And things that seems scary when you are living your life in the dark don’t seem nearly so scary when they are exposed to the light of Christ.

Jesus has this amazing way, just by his word, and just by his presence, of making the world look a little different. You look on the glory of Christ, the light of Christ, and you start realizing that those attitudes, those behaviors, those things that looked so beautiful without Him, matter nothing at all when he has come into your life. And those circumstances and situations that might have scared us and frightened us, that have occupied so much of our time and energy, when we see them in the light of Christ, and his power, do not seem nearly so scary and frightening.

This is why, later in John, the Bible says that “the truth will set you free”. Once you allow Jesus to have full reign in your life, the lies that you were trapped by no longer have any power.

And that is all because he dwelt among us. He came to be with us. He lived a life and spoke words that illumined us to the way things really were, instead of the way they assumed they were when we were in the dark.

And finally, when our lives and our souls are uncovered, and we have nothing to hide from and we cannot hide, well, then we find this thing called “grace”.

Grace means unmerited favor, or an undeserved gift. It speaks of God loving us when we don’t deserve it. God forgiving us when we cannot earn his forgiveness.

But today, I think it is important to remember it also means to remember that in Jesus that God did not leave us alone. Nor does he leave us alone.

God is not just “out there”. When we hear the “Word dwelt among us” we know that God’s presence is “right here”. His Word is “right here”. His hope is “right here”. His guidance is “right here”. We don’t have to stumble in the dark, mistaking the ugly things in this life for the beautiful. We have the light of Jesus’ truth to show us what is true and what is beautiful. We don’t have to live our life full of fear, anxiety,and paranoia. We have the light of Jesus to show us that the things that scared us most really have no power except for the power that we give them. His beauty is “right here” among us. His truth is “right here” among us.

And that presence. That light. That hope. That truth. That closeness we can with Jesus. That is truly unmerited favor. That is truly an undeserved gift. That God has set up camp with us. That is nothing but grace. Right here. For you.