“What Makes A Hero: Old, New, Covenant”

What Makes A Hero? The Death-Defying Ministry of Jesus Christ

“Old, New, and Covenant”

John 1:1-18 (New Revised Standard Version)

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 came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

Successful change means listening to years of wisdom while capturing the passion of new ideas.

Without journeying through all of God’s story in Scripture, Jesus makes little sense. Jesus isn’t so much an innovator as one who remembers God’s story and fulfills it.

In John, the premise of the entire Gospel is laid out, and that is Jesus embodies God’s Word.

“Word”- It is the root from where we get our word logic. When John speaks of the “word,” he is talking about the mind and heart of God.

The God who created the universe wants to be known by human beings.

What we see in Jesus is a picture of who God is and always has been. God’s plan with Jesus wasn’t new. It was simply a new way to fulfill it.

The Christian church was never meant to be a sect or adaptation of Judaism.

Jesus fulfills the intent of the OT Scripture.

The law reveals the nature and will of God; Jesus Christ reveals the nature and will of God.

But while the law could only point out sin and condemn people, Jesus Christ gave his life to bring forgiveness of sin and salvation.

Jesus Christ was in the beginning with God, older than time itself, but the covenant established on the cross and in the empty tomb offers us a new life rooted in mercy, forgiveness, grace, and love.

Luke’s is the only Gospel in which Jesus says at the Last Supper that the cup is the blood of a “new covenant” (Luke 22:20).

Because Luke is written to Gentiles, they were new to God’s covenant of grace, mercy, and love.

It’s not that the covenant was new; rather, Luke’s community was newly welcomed.