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 came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing
came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and
the life was the Light of men. 5 The Light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness did not comprehend it. 6 There came a man sent
from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to testify
about the Light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He was
not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light. 9 There was
the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.
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, and those who were
His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to
them He gave the right to become children of God, even 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 saw His glory, glory as of
the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John
testified about Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I
said, 'He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He
existed before me.'" 16 For of His fullness we have all received,
and grace upon grace. 17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace
and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen
God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the
Father, He has explained Him.

EDUCATION FOR EXULTATION

We began the last decade of the 20th century by putting up a
building for exultation; God willing, we will begin the first
decade of the 21st century by putting up a building for education.
That is the order of priority, but it is not the order of life.
Exultation in God is first in the order of importance. But it
doesn't come first in life. In life, true education precedes true
exultation. Learning truth precedes loving truth. Right reflection
on God precedes right affection for God. Seeing the glory of Christ
precedes savoring the glory of Christ. Good theology is the
foundation of great doxology. That's the order of life.

So we call the vision behind and beneath this new building,
EDUCATION FOR EXULTATION. The word "for" means that what we know
and believe and teach about God is foundational for all our worship
- not just the corporate worship in this building, but the
exultation in God that overflows in lives of love, where others
will see the glory of God (Matthew 5:16). Our education of children
and youth and adults aims at exultation. Or, which is the same
thing, it aims at "spreading a passion for the supremacy of God in
all things for the joy of all peoples."

God Is Alone and God Is Sovereign

I said last week that my task in these next ten weeks is to
relate this vision of EDUCATION FOR EXULTATION to the larger
picture of what we are about here at Bethlehem. What do we as a
church exist for, and how does this vision - this plan and this
building - fit in to that larger picture? We began with the
foundation of the foundation. We began with God. And in particular
with the deity of God - the God-ness of God - or the sovereignty of
God. "You are My witnesses, declares the LORD (Yahweh), and I am
God. Even from eternity I am He, and there is none who can deliver
out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?" (Isaiah 43:12b-13).
"I am God . . . I am He" - that's the deity of God. "I act and no
one can turn it" - that's the sovereignty of God (see also Isaiah
14:27; 45:5-7; 46:9-10). And of this, God says, "You are my
witnesses."

This is the foundation of our EDUCATION FOR EXULTATION. We will
teach that Yahweh is God and that God is sovereign, and that this
is wonderful news because it is the foundation of all his grace and
all his promises. Therefore, it is the foundation of true and high
and passionate exultation. We will say to our children and to our
youth and to each other and to anyone who will listen the words of
Deuteronomy 4:39, "Know [!] therefore today, and take it to your
heart [!], that the LORD, He is God in heaven above and on the
earth below; there is no other." That is the foundation of
EDUCATION FOR EXULTATION: God is God alone, and God is
sovereign.

Jesus Is God

Today, I add one thing to this, one huge thing: Jesus is God.
When we say EDUCATION FOR EXULTATION - IN GOD, we mean EDUCATION
FOR EXULTATION - IN JESUS. When we say "We exist to spread a
passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all
peoples," we mean, "We exist to spread a passion for the supremacy
of Jesus Christ in all things for the joy of all peoples."

To see the basis of this from the Bible, look with me at our
text and let's make three observations.

1. Jesus Christ, who is called "the Word," is the eternal
God.

John 1:1-3, "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 apart from Him nothing
came into being that has come into being."

The main thing to see here is the statement at the end of verse
1: "The Word was God." Here Jesus Christ is called "the Word." We
will see that in just a moment from verses 14 and 17. Verse 3
clarifies what it means for "the Word" to be God. "All things came
into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being
that has come into being." In other words, he did not come into
being. All that did come into being came into being through him. He
has always existed.

This clarifies what is meant by "in the beginning." Not just "at
the time of creation," but at the time before anything came into
being. The Word was with God and the Word was God because the Word
never had a beginning. The Word is co-eternal with God the Father.
He is not the Father, because he was "with God" the Father. But he
is equally God with God the Father because "the Word was God."

That is the first observation.

2. The Word became flesh; that is, God was united with a human
nature in one Person, and was truly man and truly God who lived in
history as Jesus Christ.

Verse 14: "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we
saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full
of grace and truth." Then in verse 17 this Person called "the Word"
is named: "For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth
were realized through Jesus Christ." So Jesus Christ is "the Word"
who was in the beginning with God and who was God.

3. If you receive him, you become a child of God and enjoy
everlasting waves of grace.

Combine verses 12 and 16: "But as many as received Him, to them
He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who
believe in His name. . .. For of His fullness we have all received,
and grace upon grace." If you receive him for who he really is, you
are granted to be a child of God and that means receiving "grace
upon grace" that corresponds to his fullness -which is an infinite
fullness. And so the waves never cease. And so our exultation in
Jesus Christ will never cease. His fullness is inexhaustible and it
will overflow with waves of grace forever and ever and never run
dry or become stagnant.

This is because, as Colossians 2:9 says, "In Him all the
fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form." His fullness is the
fullness of "deity". Therefore, it is an infinite fullness, and the
grace that flows from infinite fullness is infinite grace.
Therefore, we will exult in Jesus Christ with ever-new and
ever-increasing joy forever and ever. This is the aim of all our
education - namely, exultation in Jesus Christ, who is God -
forever and ever.

The Price We must Pay

We will talk next week about why the Word was made flesh - why
Jesus Christ came: the central act of history, the death of the Son
of God for sin. But this morning I want to draw attention to a
price we must pay if we are going to pursue EDUCATION FOR
EXULTATION in Jesus as God. The price is going to be controversy.
On the way to exultation in Jesus, education inevitably leads to
disputation. Why is this?

We live in a world of sin and futility and finitude. 2 Timothy
4:3 makes it clear that "the time will come when they will not
endure sound doctrine." In Acts 20:30 Paul warns the elders of
Ephesus, "From among your own selves men will arise, speaking
perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them." And 1 John
4:1-2 says specifically, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but
test the spirits to see whether they are from God. . . . By this
you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus
Christ has come in the flesh is from God."

If you believe in Truth and make it the foundation of your
education, you will have adversaries. I say this because I want you
to have a realistic view, and not a romantic one, about what it
will mean in the coming years to be a part of Bethlehem Baptist
Church and a part of EDUCATION FOR EXULTATION. Most of us love
exultation. But we don't love disputation. We would love to move
straight from education to exultation all the time. From learning
the truth to leaping with joy. From meditation to celebration
without any disputation. That would be wonderful. But it would be
cheap and short-lived, perhaps a generation
or so. And then true
celebration would collapse.

An Illustration of the Cost

Let me give you just one illustration so that you can count the
cost, whether you want to be a part of a fellowship that will have
to pay the price of controversy. Last September I wrote an
editorial that was printed in the Minneapolis StarTribune. It had
to do with the deity and supremacy of Jesus Christ, and
specifically, it had to do with whether Christians should try to
win Jewish people to Christ. In it I said,

According to the New Testament, Jesus Christ is the fulfillment
of all the hopes of Israel. He is the yes to all God's promises (2
Corinthians 1:20). He is the Messiah (Mark 14:61-62; Matthew 16:16;
John 20:31; Acts 9:22; 1 John 2:22; 5:1). To reject him is to
reject God the Father, and to confess him as Lord of your life is
to be reconciled to God. "Whoever denies the Son does not have the
Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also" (1 John
2:23). . . . Even though it is perceived as offensive by many
Jewish people, the . . . call for prayer that Israel would believe
on her Messiah is a profoundly loving act. For "he who has the Son
has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the
life" (1 John 5:12).

In other words, if you don't worship Jesus, you don't worship
God. "He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who
sent Him" (John 5:23). This is what it means to educate on the
basis of the radical truth that Jesus is God. And if we do this, we
will bring out strong opposition.

Four pastors of major, influential churches in Minneapolis
(three Protestant and one Catholic) signed a letter to the editor
that said this:

The Rev. Piper . . . claims that the . . . appeal [to pray that
Jewish people accept Jesus as their Messiah] is a "profoundly
loving" act. But genuine love does not harbor the kind of
aggressive agenda that is implicit in visions of "Christianizing"
the world. Love, including the agape that lies at the heart of the
Christian gospel, is more respectful and less intrusive, more open
and less controlling than that. Unfortunately, "arrogant" is the
right word to describe any attempts at proselytizing - in this case
the effort of Christians to "win over" their Jewish brothers and
sisters. Thoughtful Christians will disassociate themselves from
any such effort. (Letter submitted to the Editor of the
StarTribune, Oct. 12, 1999, and faxed to me. Part of it was
published in the paper.)

The saddest thing about this letter is not that it puts you and
me in the category of arrogant, unthinking, and unloving people
(which it does), but that the shepherds of major Christian churches
do not believe faith in Christ is essential for salvation.

True Education Is Founded on Biblical Truth

So let's be very clear as we move forward in the vision of
EDUCATION FOR EXULTATION. We love exultation. That is the goal of
all things: joyful, loving, humble, soul-satisfying exultation in
Jesus Christ, "who is over all, God blessed for ever" (Romans 9:5).
We don't love disputation and confrontation. We long for the day
when controversy will no longer be necessary for "the defense and
confirmation of the Gospel" (Philippians 1:7). But until then, true
education will be founded on Biblical truth. And Biblical truth
will include the glorious realities that Yahweh is God and God is
sovereign and Jesus is God. And "he who does not honor the Son does
not honor the Father who sent Him" (John 5:23). And "he who does
not have the Son of God does not have the life" (1 John 5:12).

So in the coming weeks, as you ponder whether you want to be a
part this vision of EDUCATION FOR EXULTATION, weigh seriously
whether you believe it is loving or arrogant to say that Jesus is
God and to call all people who don't believe in him to be
reconciled to God through him. Don't be naive. Christianity is a
life and death issue. It is not a therapy to make things go better.
It is a conviction about reality and a faith that in some places
can get you killed, and in other places will get you criticized. We
are not playing games.

At stake in EDUCATION FOR EXULTATION are the lives of our
children and our own lives and the lives of many others. But we
have learned as a church from hard experience and from Romans 5:3
to "exult in tribulation" because it produces hope. And so, even
the tribulation of controversy can lead to deeper and sweeter
exultation in God. John Owen put it like this, over three hundred
years ago: "When we have communion with God in the doctrine we
contend for - then shall we be garrisoned by the grace of God
against all the assaults of men."* Communion with God. There's the
key. We will not just argue about Christ or discuss him or analyze
him. But we will know him and trust him and commune with him and
exult in him. That's the goal of EDUCATION FOR EXULTATION. And not
for us only, but for the whole world. Pray earnestly as we move
toward it, and ask God to show you where you fit.