The Word in the Hood

Message Transcription

I'm what's known as a coda child of deaf adults. Both my parents are deaf. American Sign Language is my first language. I grew up in the deaf community, served in deaf ministry for many, many years, exclusively deaf ministry until coming to Pioneer Bible Translators. Uh served in Ethiopia for a number of years at the Deaf Bible Society. Uh, we launched a mobile app called the Deaf Bible App. It was the first Bible app of its kind that had sign language translation content, partnered with an organization out of Council Bluffs, Iowa called Deaf Missions to take their New Testament, which had been distributed over ten years on VHS and DVD at the time around 6000 copies. And in the first year of going digital through a mobile app, we had over 103,000 installs in the United States, and so focused many years on Scripture access and distribution and funding of sign language translation projects. And then, of course, came over to Pioneer Bible in 2020, mostly because I was excited about the work they were doing and that marriage between the work of Bible translation and planting churches, you can't do discipleship and church planting and evangelism without a Bible. You can try, but it doesn't go very well. And it's really, really hard to do Bible translation well in order to see life transformation among the people. If that's not partnered with evangelism and discipleship and church planting, because I don't I don't know what your book of revelation says, but mine does not say that John saw before the throne a library with a Bible in every language.

It says he saw a people from every nation, tribe and tongue a people. The goal of Bible translation is that people would come to know the message that the Bible talks about. And that's really what I want to dive in this morning. Um, we had a long text in John one. Uh, I want us to kind of go through John chapter one. We're going to look at a few other places and really see three things here. I want us to see that the word is authority, and we'll explain that. I want us to see that the word is authority. And then I want us to see that the word is available and accessible. And then third, the responsibility for us as believers to advance the word's availability and accessibility to the nations. So it's really, really important. John one. As we just read verses one through 18, we see and let me back up a little bit. We're going to talk about two John's. There are two John's that are being referred to here in this text. So if you're new to the Bible it could be quite confusing. So we've got John the disciple, the apostle, the one that walked with Jesus that is pending, that is writing this gospel. And then that John is referring to another man named John the Baptist.

So I don't want us to kind of get lost on which John we're talking about. But John the Disciple begins this gospel with this really incredible introduction when he says, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He starts off his story by saying, hey, I want to tell you about a word, this thing. But this thing is really, really important. Not only is it timeless, has it been around from the beginning, echoing the beginning of Genesis. So for any reader of this gospel, they would recognize what he was referring to as when he says in the beginning. So in the beginning was this word. And not just was it there it was with God. That's a pretty powerful position. And then he goes even deeper and he says, not only was it with God, this word was God. He is God. This word, this word that John is talking about. John the disciple, is really, really important here. This is something that's been around for all eternity. It's like first out of the gate. He's trying to tell us that I'm fixing to set the stage, that everything else to come in my writing here is based on this, this principle here, that this thing that is the word is extremely important, is extremely powerful. But I want you to see what happens as he moves into verse two, because he says, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.

And then he goes right into saying he was with God in the beginning. Well, that's an important transition here in the text. The disciple John is telling us something really important that this word that he's referring to isn't a thing. It's not just some thing that existed with God or some nature of God, or some like, accessory of God. This thing is a he. This thing is a person. This is a really important detail that we shouldn't miss, not just for Bible translation, but for us as we engage in the text. Regardless of what society tells us, pronouns are important. Because it tells us something specific, that John is making a deep move here in crafting our understanding of what he's going to share with us about this Christ, that this word, this power, this authority that was in the beginning, this authority that was timeless, this authority that was with God, this authority that is God isn't a thing, but it is a person. And he continues through his text and it describing this person, that through this person, through him all things were made. Through him was life and the life that was the light of all mankind. He tells us that without this word, without this person, there is nothing that exists.

He said. If you take him out of the equation, we have nothing. When he tells us that without him nothing was made that has been made. Everything exists because of this being, because of this word. And then he begins to transition in verse six, that there was a man who had been sent from God, whose name was John. So this is John the Baptist. And he came as a witness to testify about the light. And the next several verses are quite powerful, because this witness comes onto the scene and he starts declaring that there is a light coming and starts preaching this message that this sun, this Messiah, this Christ figure was coming, this word is coming. And the religious leaders are getting quite frustrated and he continues to deny, no, it's not me, it's not me. There's someone else that's coming that's greater than I. And then John the disciple, I always I feel like he he just keeps leading us on in this text. He keeps telling us there's a being that's that's existed from all eternity that has all authority, all power. With God is God, exist in the world today, and I'm waiting for him to just who is it, man? Who is this person? Who is this person that you're talking about? And you get down to like verses 19 and 20. We didn't read this, but he says now, this was John's testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was.

He said, I'm not the Messiah. And finally, later he answers that he is coming. He's coming. Have you ever played the game clue? Has anybody ever played clue? You remember that board game? It was kind of the whodunit mystery board game. And, you know, somebody had died and you're trying to figure out who did it. And you're wondering, you know, it's like Mr. Plum in the library with a wrench is that bring back some nostalgia for people? I feel like that's what's going on. It's a whodunit mystery. We're trying to figure out where John is taking us in the text to to who this great being is. And it's not until verse 29 to 30 where it says, the next day, John the Baptist sees Jesus coming after he's been questioned and interrogated about what this message is that he's preaching. He sees Jesus coming toward him. And he said, look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is the one I meant when I said, A man comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me. So John the Disciple is kind of commentating here on the message that John the Baptist had been preaching to show us. Finally, the whodunit was he's pointing to Jesus in Jerusalem with a heel that this word that was from all time, this he, this him that is the light of the world is Jesus Christ.

That is. It was a big deal. I don't know if it strikes you as as a big deal, but it should. This should impact every believer's life. Anyone that claims to follow Jesus should be impacted by this, because we're being told here in the gospel that this Jesus existed from the beginning, that not only was this Jesus with God, this Jesus is God, that through Jesus all things were created. And through Jesus all things were upheld. And through Jesus he is the light of the world. This Jesus is really, really important. And if he is all things and we claim to follow this Jesus and believe this message about Jesus, where do we go to find this Jesus? Where do we go? Hebrews one one through three tells us, in the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways. But in these last days he has spoken to us by His Son. That's Jesus, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. And after he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven. This Jesus, we are told here in Hebrews.

That we find him in this text. We find him in the scriptures. Jesus's words, the words of the father were spoken in those last days, and these things were pinned here in our Bibles. We find Jesus in the Scripture and in all of the scriptures. The whole Bible, my friends, is about Jesus. We get into acts chapter two. Peter does this incredible expository sermon on like Joel and the Psalms talking about Jesus. Jesus in Luke 24, verses 25 through 27, tells us himself that the whole Bible. And when he was talking about this, I remind you, they didn't have the New Testament yet. He's talking about the Old Testament. He says in 24 verse 25, Jesus says to them, if you remember the story on the road to Emmaus, he had the two guys walking. They were kind of gloomy because their Savior had just been killed in Jerusalem. And Jesus appears to them and he's basically like, hey guys, why so blue? This is not the NIV translation, but hey guys, why so blue? And they're like, hey, haven't you heard, haven't you heard everything that's just happened? And they're just in despair? And Jesus says to them. How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? And beginning it says, beginning with Moses, the prophets, and the writings.

He explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself. Jesus goes through the Torah. Then he goes through the prophets writings, and he goes through the Psalms, and he teaches them how all of these things spoke of him. They were about him. Our whole Bible is about this Jesus. You may have heard it said that in the Old Testament, Jesus is predicted. In the Gospels, Jesus is revealed in the acts, Jesus is preached. In the epistles, Jesus is explained, and in revelation Jesus is expected. Our whole Bibles, friend, is about Jesus. And so today, where is authority found for us? Who is authority? What has authority in our lives as believers? The answer is Jesus. And where do we find Jesus? We find Jesus in the Scripture. We find his teaching in the Scripture, and we know that the spirit is alive and is moving among the church and his people. When we come to our Bibles and do our devotionals and our quiet time and prepare for our teaching, we got to do as Martin Luther once said when he said, we come to the Bible as the shepherds went to the manger expecting to see Jesus, expecting to find Jesus. Do you live? And engage with the scriptures with that kind of expectation. Expecting that Jesus, who has been around from all eternity, is going to show up and is going to reveal himself to you.

I hope you do. At the time that John's writing this text, there had been a massive shift within the church of the day. We know that from the beginning, from from Genesis one all the way to revelation 22. There is this restoration plan that God has given where he is. He is intending to restore all things. He is intending to redeem a people. He is intending to make all things right and make all things new. And through the initial covenant that was given to Abraham and through the initial, if we call it church at the time, the intention, the laws, the sacrifices, all these things were meant to make way so people could connect with God. So there could be connection and restoration and reconciliation with God. And yet, as men do, they added things to the law. They added things to the process. They added things to the sacrifice. And so suddenly we see Jesus come on the scene. If you've ever heard of the the incarnation of Jesus, when he leaves his heavenly place and he puts on flesh and he comes into the world, the text where he says, he he considered these things not, not, not a thing to be grasped. His nature. He humbled himself. He gave these things up. He came into the world to be among us. To be available to make God accessible to people. In verse ten, it says he was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world didn't recognize him.

And so in verse 14 it says the word Jesus 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. I really like, uh, I don't use this as a text to teach from, but I do like to read the message. And I like Eugene Peterson's kind of summary of that verse. The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us when he said the word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. I just love that. God made himself available and accessible through flesh, which is what men know, which is what women know. We know this. It's the language we speak in the Bible translation world. We talk about this as like the common vernacular, a big word that just means how y'all talk, right? When we do translation, when we teach, when we preach, we often talk about contextualization. How do we say things in a way that people are going to understand? When we do Bible translation, we often talk about this. It's like, how are people communicating with one another at the coffee shop or the pub or wherever it is they're gathering? How do people talk and the language they're using in that natural setting? That's how we want to present the gospel, because it's the one they use most fluently and naturally.

And so for mankind, figuring out how do we engage with this God that seems so distant? He he made himself available and accessible by Christ, putting on flesh and blood and moving into the neighborhood, living among us, living incarnationally. And we know that the primary reason for that was so that we would have a justifiable means for salvation, so that he would die on the cross, flesh on the cross, for sins he did not commit. But for the sins of the world. But he made a way for all men to be reconciled with God through this. Paul often mirrors this approach, this kind of moving into the neighborhood approach, putting on that of the people and moving in. When he goes into Athens and he studies what they worship and he studies who they are. It's not unlike the little joke at the beginning. Like, I wouldn't know what a rectum is, but how do people talk to one another? How do people engage with one another? How do they build connection with one another? Paul does this. Jesus doesn't have to be this great mystery for us as the church, and he doesn't have to be a great mystery for the world. Jesus is available and accessible to us are the Word of God is available and accessible to us? Do you know, today we have hundreds and hundreds of Bibles available to us in the English language.

I have a friend that owns a chain of Christian bookstores, and he said at one time in their catalog of of Bibles, they had over 700. Types between versions and copies, and different kinds of Bibles in their catalog 700. Maybe a little abnormal, but who brought a print Bible with him today? Who brought a print Bible? Uh, what what version did you bring? You know, if you're embarrassed to answer that, I apologize. But what version Bible did you bring today to someone over here? Tell me, NIV, did anyone bring something that wasn't an I? That's not an NIV. What do you have? New King James in RSV. Anyone bring something different than that? Nlt who said the message? Message? Anything else? Something different than those? King James. Something else. Sorry in E.T. anyone bring something else than that RSV ESV. All right. There you go. We have a lot of versions right here in this room. I mean, we have lots of versions, like you said, from the ESV to the NIV, to the NIV, to the Nrsv, to the King James Version, the New King James Version, the NLT, net, Kev, CEB, the NASB, the CSB, CSB. If you're a MacArthur, the legacy by whatever your flavor is, you can get any Bible you want. And today, if you if you need it with some red letters.

So you know when Jesus is talking, you can get those. You can get it with kind of like gold outline. You can get it with tabs. You can get it with tassels. Some of you probably have ones with five tassels. You can get ones with cross references. You can get ones with margins. So you can like journal or doodle or whatever it is you do. You can get ones that have blue letters now where the spirit's talking, you can get ones that are study Bibles, any, any Bible teacher, pastor, whatever they call it. They can have their own study Bible these days, and there are many of them out there. You can have commentaries, you can have apologetic commentaries. You can have ones that include systematic theology, biblical theology, historical theology, whatever kind of flavor Bible you want your kids Bible, my first kids Bible, my baby's first Bible, teen girls Bible, teen boy's Bible. They have Hunter's edition Bibles where they're camouflaged because we know what every hunter is doing on that morning is reading their Bible. You get the policemen's edition, the commemorative military edition, you can get Fireman's Edition, you can get the kind of the honor Bible you can get. All these different kinds of Bibles are available to you. And if you were to say, yeah, J.R., I'm just not much of a reader here, I don't know. I don't read very well. You can get it in audio on YouVersion Bible is Bible.

All these platforms have it in audio and you say, wow, that guy's voice is just kind of boring. You can have a lady read it to you. You can have a Nigerian reading it to you in English with a Nigerian accent, a South African, an East Indian. You can have a you can have an Irishman reading you the English Bible if you wanted to. I saw something the other day, should you dare Snoop Dogg audio Bible. And you say, well, I don't know. It's just kind of a monotone single voice. You can get the dramatized versions where every time a person speaks, they have their own voice actor that's making the sound effects and their sound effects. And it says, And Jesus moved into the marketplace, and you hear the sheep in the background overlaid with music. You can have all of that. And you say, well, J.R., I'm not a reader. I'm not a listener. You can get Lumo Films where they've shot a whole series of film and have just overlaid the dramatized audio Bible onto it, so you can watch it play out in front of you as you're listening to the scripture. We have an embarrassment of riches available to us today in the English language, available and accessible. This thing that we say is the ultimate authority in our lives. This Jesus that we claim to follow, available and accessible to us in our language.

And yet and yet for 1200 language groups around the world, their Bibles look just like this one. That no matter where they turn to, when they're looking for hope, they can turn page after page after page and they will get nothing. Nothing. Where do you go? When a family member has been diagnosed with a debilitating disease, where do you go for hope? Where do you go when there's been another government coup and your country is in chaos and upheaval? Where do you go? When you just feel like there's just nothing left. There's not an encouraging prayer card that can be sent. There's not a scripture to turn to. 1200 language groups around the world have not a single verse of Scripture in their language. Friends, it's the responsibility of the believer to advance the availability and accessibility of the word around the world. Matthew 28. We know this passage, this being that has all authority. Jesus comes to them and says in verse 18, all authority in heaven on earth has been given to me. And what does he do with all of this authority? He says, therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you. And encourages a minute. And surely I'm with you always to the very end of the age.

It's important for us to remember here. It's so easy to fall into the the axe dilemma, where Peter preaches that message in acts two and thousands of people come to faith. And suddenly what Jesus said in acts one eight doesn't happen where he says, you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, ends of the earth, where they get a little too comfortable because the ministry model worked. He preached this great sermon 5000 people come to Faith Mega church overnight and no one goes anywhere. Until acts eight one, after Paul threw Saul and persecution has occurred, and then in acts eight one it says, and then the believers were scattered to where? Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. God's going to accomplish his mission of making Jesus known among the nations. Don't we want to be part of him doing that? Jesus does not say, just make many, many, many, many, many disciples in one nation. He's very specific to say, make disciples in all the nations. Go and make disciples in all the nations. And it doesn't mean we close the doors and shut down shop and everybody move away. But it does mean that we're intentional as a local church. You know this. I look at the flags and I can see this, that the affectedness Broadway of your ministry here is not in your seating capacity, but it's in your sending. It's going to be.

Are you sending people to the next hood over to the neighborhood in Nairobi, to the neighborhoods in the Nuba mountains of Sudan, to the neighborhoods in Tunisia, to the neighborhoods in Papua New Guinea, to the neighborhoods in Azerbaijan, to the neighborhoods in Guangzhou, China? Are we constantly doing that? Because that's how we'll know we're doing this right? Because followers of Jesus in our discipleship, in becoming more like Jesus, we end up doing the things Jesus did. And the things that Jesus did were to declare that the kingdom of God has come, that the kingdom has come. We become proclaimers of this Jesus, and we don't want to do anything else with radical joy, just like the Samaritan woman. Of just declaring. He just told me every wicked thing about me. Let me tell you what this Jesus did for my life. Do you have that? Do you want that? Running short on time here. One more thing and I'll be out of your way. In 1378, there was a minister that began to struggle with this issue of authority, and he began to ask himself the question, where does authority lie? Does it a lie in the institution or in the scriptures? And he concluded for himself that authority rested in the scriptures. And so in 1381, Wycliffe began the translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into the English language, because his people, the English speaking people, did not have a Bible in their language.

He dies. In December of 1384, and in 1401 the anti Wycliffe Statute was passed, persecuting his followers. In 1408, the Constitution of Oxford named Wycliffe and all unauthorised translations as a crime punishable with charges of heresy. In 1415, the Council of Constance had Wyclif named for heresy, and all his writings were banned, and in 1428 we're talking nearly a half century, the half century after this man's been dead. The Pope confirms the charges of heresy against Wycliffe, and they have his corpse exhumed. They dug his body up or whatever was left of it, burned up whatever they had, and dumped it in the river to be a to be a warning to all that would follow in this path. 12 years later, Gutenberg invents the printing press, which we know would change the game. And then, nearly a hundred years after this warning, in 1523, another teacher began to wrestle with the question where does authority lie? Is it a lie in the institution with men or in the scriptures? And he concluded, it was in the scriptures. And he said, well, if it's in the scriptures, then my people should have access to the Scripture. So in 23, following these new rules, Tyndale sought permission to do a translation. He was denied. So he continued anyway, and in 1525 completed the first New Testament. In 26 it was banned, and whatever copies they could find were burned.

But the printing press, the Lord's providence through the printing press, meant they couldn't acquire all of the copies. In 29 1529, Tyndale was seized and named or was named as a heretic. In 35 they finally captured him, and in 1536 he was found guilty for heresy, sentenced to be burned at the stake, but before being burned as he was tied there, he shouts, he had a little bit of John the Baptist in him. He shouts out, Lord, open the eyes of the king! And in outrage the people strangle him to death and then burned his dead body at the stake. Do you want to be a Bible translator? But his answer was his prayer was answered in 1611, when the King finally commissions what becomes known as the King James Version. People suffer dearly so that we could have this abundance of resources in our language. People suffered dearly. But look at what the Lord did through oftentimes through persecution. Uh, the Lord breeds preaching. The Lord breeds proclamation. That acts 1881 paradox, that he uses these things to scatter the people, his people, believers to the nations, and to make him known. Today, we are blessed to serve with you. Serving in 31 countries, 126 language communities, impacting 191 million people, specifically through the ministry of the Harrisons and the porters. I remind you that that we exist not to do missions for a local church, but to do it with the local church, because the commission here is given to you.

It's given to the local church. It's the local church's responsibility to send to the nations and to mobilize people to the nations and to reach the nations. And we're simply here to say, how can we help you, Broadway, be successful in doing that? How can we help you? To make Christ known so that the flags in this room double. You may not need another building campaign, but no one would question the effectiveness of the ministry of this congregation. Because they would say the reason they don't build a building is because their people keep getting sent out. That's what we want. That's what we want to see. Is your people among the nations. So today, we're so honored to be with you to have our Bible translation display here for you. I would encourage you after the service as you go through, uh, to pick up one of our prayer cards. And as you look at the Bibles that have been completed and those that are in progress, you're going to come to a section of Bible stands that have nothing on them. They represent these Bibles, the ones where language groups have nothing. My encouragement is that you don't just pray that the Lord sends someone to these people groups. My encouragement would be that your prayer would be specific, that you would begin praying, Lord, who might you be calling from Broadway next? That's going to go to one of these people groups.

Lord, who would you call from among us that's going to go to these people groups? Second. You'll see some of these cards out there. And I know next week is the big missions emphasis Sunday. But I would ask you to take one of these and pray as well. You have given so generously to the ministry of the Harrisons and the porters, and the ministry that we do together around the world. And I would just encourage you to continue to be generous. Generosity begets generosity. We operate in God math. We believe that God could reach the nations from right here in this room. He could do it. And so I'd ask you to pray and pray and seek what the Lord would have you do to do two things to accomplish the goal next week and not just hit the goal, but to exceed the goal. Because if you bring in more than the number that was put on the screen, it's not like we're going to be wondering how we're supposed to do this. There's plenty of work to be funded around the world, plenty of people that are in need around the world, plenty of people, groups around the world that are sitting in desperation, just waiting for someone to bring them some kind of hope. But there's got to be more than this.

And we sit here knowing that there is. We know that there's more than this. We ask you to pray. We ask you to give. And genuinely, we ask you to go. You may not think you have the skills to be a Bible translator, but you might have the skills to be an evangelist. You might have the skills to do pastoral training and minister training. You might have the skills to be an administrative support to some of our teams. You might have the skills to help us figure out how do we build a facility for training in rebel controlled Nuba mountains? It may be you. Don't, don't, don't cut yourself short. If you think it could be you, talk to somebody. Talk to Carl, talk to myself. Talk to Rich, who'll be out there with us and just say, hey, I have no idea if it's me, but I want to pray about that and we will join in prayer with you for that. Friends, what an opportunity we have as Jesus took on flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. We have the opportunity to partner with him in his mission of taking him to all the neighborhoods that he doesn't exist in yet. That's the call that we've been given. Would you join me in prayer? Lord, we thank you. We thank you for your word. We thank you that you have given to us so freely and abundantly.

Lord, may we not take these things for granted. Father, I thank you for Broadway. I thank you for their ministry. I thank you for the reach that you have had through them and their people. Lord, may your face shine upon them. May you go before them and be beside them and behind them. Father. And would you bless their congregation for generations to come? That when people speak of this church, they would say they're a church that is about making Jesus great among the nations. And it's not just a sign in the lobby, they're doing it. Would you bring that to fruition here, and would you continue to do that and multiply that? Father, would you multiply the prayers of this church? Would you multiply the sending of this church? Would you multiply the giving of this church that this people would be known as it was in the New Testament, that they counted nothing as their own, but they gave freely from everything they had so that no one had need. And father, today we weep because we see 1200 language groups around the world who are doing great, desperate need that don't have your word and don't know what a Jesus is. Stir our hearts, Lord, that we would be compelled to do all we can. To tell them it's not a what, it's a who and that he came for them. I ask these things in Christ's name. Amen.