December 27, 2009 Pastor Tim Pusey

THE ORIGINAL CHRISTMAS LIGHT
John 1:1-9

It was a Sunday evening in September, somewhere around 15 years ago. We were living in the Cleveland, Ohio area in the community of Bedford. Evidently one or two of the kids were not feeling well that evening, and by some fluke of our nature we gave into letting all three stay home from church that Sunday night. They were just at that age when they didn’t necessarily have to have a babysitter with them, at least for short periods of time. It seems that maybe Cindy and I both had something before or after church because we were gone for a couple of hours.

When we returned home it was already dark outside. I pulled the car into the garage as normal, and we got out of the car. But as we approached the door that went into the house, we saw a sign—a handwritten sign on the door that said, “Don’t turn on any lights! Enjoy the show!” It was obviously one of the kids’ handwriting. We stepped into the house a bit precariously, wondering what our kids were up to!

As we stepped from the kitchen into the living room, we couldn’t believe our eyes! These three kids of ours, one or two of whom were obviously not as sick as we had been led to believe, had fully decorated the house for Christmas—in September! The tree was up and fully lighted, with all the ornaments strung on it. Wall decorations which we generally put out at Christmas were on the walls. Christmas candles glowed in their normal places. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that Saint Nicholas soon would be there—but it was September! There were lights strung various places around the room. It looked beautiful—and the kids were giddy with excitement!

I guess our family has always enjoyed Christmas! And I hope I never get to the place where I don’t enjoy the beautiful lights of Christmas! Some of the displays are absolutely beautiful!

There’s a reason for all the lights during the Christmas season. Let me share with you about the original Christmas light. Let’s look at the beginning of John’s Gospel—
[Read John 1:1-9 NIV]

This “Prologue” to John’s Gospel is one of the most crucial passages in the Bible and is, according to some, the definitive exposition of the Person of Christ. Jesus is called the “Word”—translated from the Greek word “Logos.” This unique name for Jesus Christ occurs only four times in the New Testament as a name—and John is the only writer who uses it. Since words reveal the thoughts of one person to another, Christ as the Eternal Word is a revelation of God to man. John declares that the Word, Jesus, is none other than God Himself—not only bringing the Word but incorporating it in His own Person, Life and Being. The Word was completely God—and, as John states, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Jesus is the eternal God of the ages who had come in human flesh—truly God and truly man. And the Gospel of John tells the reality of the God-Man living in a sinful world, dying for it, and rising again in resurrected life.

I particularly want us to note what Scripture tells us about Jesus being our Light. John wrote,
In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it (John 1:4-5).

Most of us find darkness a pretty unsettling kind of thing, don’t we? Perhaps some of you are staying in someone else’s home for the holiday or maybe you will be during the next few days—but have you ever gotten up in the middle of the night in a strange house and found yourself stumbling around in total darkness? I remember staying in my grandparents’ basement when I was young—and in the little room in the basement that had no window, it was totally black! Not only was it easy to get disoriented, but it was also more than just a little bit unnerving as a kid! Total darkness is not a good thing! We really need some kind of light source to help us make our way through the darkness!

Moral darkness is pretty frightening, too, isn’t it? The darkness of evil and immorality in our world isn’t even a pretty thought to be having just a few days after Christmas! We’re still in Christmas mode—so I’m sure we’d all rather not think about it, but we know that it’s there, don’t we? It troubles us. It sometimes seems like such a heavy thing upon us, particularly if we’re finding ourselves disoriented by that darkness or if someone we love is lost in that darkness.

But it’s amazing what even a little bit of light can do! I was told a few years ago that in pitch darkness you can see a candle three miles away! Perhaps you’ve noticed how light penetrates darkness when you’ve flown at night. I’m always fascinated looking at the lights below, particularly the lights clustering around a city. But it’s amazing that even at the height at which a plane flies, when it’s pitch dark outside, you can spot a single light piercing that darkness on the land below!

In that same way, the light of Jesus broke into the darkness of our world and shattered that darkness. Christ is the Light shining in contrast to the darkness of this sinful world. On that first Christmas night, the glory of God shone through that baby boy—and shepherds on the hillside gathered in to worship Him. The light continued to shine as wise men from afar traveled to worship this new Christ child. The light astounded the people in the temple when Jesus was still a boy. That light became more and more radiant during the years of Jesus’ earthly ministry. And while there were those who thought they could extinguish that light, never did the light of Christ seem to shine brighter than when the crucified Savior appeared as the Risen Lord!

Into our dark world which sometimes seems consumed with its own evils, Jesus came to bring the light of God—and with that light came salvation, direction, guidance, personal peace, and the new understanding that God loves us and reaches out to us with His marvelous grace. He reaches out for our hand—so that He can lead us through this dark world and eventually on beyond it to where we can someday see the fullness of His glory! It’s a wonderful thing! “It’s a Wonderful Life!”

Please understand that light doesn’t make all the bad stuff go away. Seeing the Light doesn’t do away with all the darkness in our world! No one can guarantee that it’s going to go away any time soon! But when Christ casts His light upon your life, you can see your way through it and avoid the pitfalls!

In the last church I pastored they had a tradition of doing a Good Friday “Tenebrae” service. The title means “the service of shadows.” Throughout the service, the crowd is increasingly left in more and more darkness to experience the darkness of the night when Christ was crucified. By the end of the service, all light is removed except for the single “Christ candle” which I as pastor would carry out of the sanctuary at the close of the service before the crowd would depart in silence. It generally was very effective, but I remember one year when we had some serious challenges. For one thing, someone had, with good intentions, trimmed the wick of the Christ candle—but they had trimmed it so short that the candle wouldn’t stay lit! I had to blast it several times with a long lighter and even pour off some of the wax as discreetly as one can do when you’re standing front and center before a crowd with most of the light shining where you are!

But there was another problem that arose during that service. There was a miscommunication about when the lights were to go completely out. We had an ensemble of singers on the platform who sang throughout the service, and who sang the very last song—a very somber song regarding the death of Jesus Christ. It was the last thing that would happen before the Christ candle was carried out. All the lights except the lights on their music stands were to go out before they sang the last song, “Even the Heavens Are Weeping.” But to our singers’ dismay, the light technician had misunderstood, and he killed every light—including the lights on their music stands.

I didn’t even know they were in such a panic behind me, because I was sweating over keeping the Christ candle burning. But they were frantic—and had no choice but to keep going! Frankly, they did such a good job of bluffing their way through the song that I didn’t know until after the service what had happened to them. I was told later that the man at the piano was flailing his arm in the air, as if the light tech could see his panicked gesture to turn their music stand lights back on! One guy, who had only sung the music a few times, got out his cell phone and held it up to the music score in a desperate effort for more light! In this very sacred moment in the service, they were frantically desperate for light! Oh how we value light that pierces our darkness!

But we also must acknowledge that Christ’s Light isn’t always shining as brightly in our world as we might like! Occasionally we find it difficult to make our way through the darkness and difficult to know how to step through that darkness, because the light just doesn’t seem adequate at the moment. In recent years, my eyes started playing dirty tricks on me, and I found that some print is just too small or faint to read, especially if there’s not good light shining on it! And so I have to lean into the light, or go to the light source. Perhaps in those times when we are frustrated that the Light shining in our lives doesn’t seem to be adequate, we might picture ourselves holding onto the One who has the light. If you’ve ever walked a dark trail, you know that the one who has the flashlight is the one you want to be near! Sometimes the best we can do is hold onto the One who’s carrying the flashlight—trusting the light to be enough for our steps, even though we may not be able to see our way as clearly as He can.

What Christians throughout the ages have discovered is the same that I have found to be true in my own life: The Light of Christ cannot be snuffed out; His Light just keeps shining! And as long as I walk in fellowship with Him, in close proximity to Him, there is always enough light to make my way through the darkness of our sinful world. It may feel a little like we’re teetering on the edge at times, but His light has always been enough.

In the First Epistle of John—found further back in our New Testaments, we read:
God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
1 John 1:5b-7
Jesus is the Light. Our challenge is to walk in that Light day after day—and it’s not just our challenge…it’s our privilege and it’s our salvation!

Look back with me at one more thing that John’s Gospel tells us in this Prologue. Verses 6 through 8 speak of John the Baptist.
There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
John 1:6-8
Jesus also spoke of us shining our lights in this world. In the Sermon on the Mount, He said,
You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:14-16
Just as John the Baptist was a witness to the Light of Christ in our world, so are we. As His children—those whom Christ has given the right to become “children of God”—we are most definitely His witnesses in our world. We are to shine His light brightly wherever we are and wherever we go! It’s part of our identity as His children—we embody Christ’s Light to our world!

We’re about to begin a new year—2010! It doesn’t seem possible that ten years have passed since we rolled into the year 2000 amidst all the furor and panic of Y2K. It doesn’t seem possible that we can be wrapping up 2009—but I suppose we say that about every year, don’t we? And with the New Year comes the opportunity for fresh starts. Many of us will start on diets and exercise programs after the first of the year—having thoroughly sabotaged past efforts by all the Christmas goodies we’ve devoured throughout these days!

And as we look toward a new year, I want to challenge the children of God to commit to truly being the Church in the year ahead, truly embodying the Light of Jesus Christ in our sin-darkened world. Let’s search for ways to shine our light where it needs to be shining! Let’s make sure we’re removing all the “bowls” that might cover up this Light of Christ and keep that light from shining brightly where it needs to be shining!

What a wonderful privilege it is to be Christ’s light in our world! Do you realize how significant it is that God would entrust to us such a thing—that we would embody the Light of Jesus Christ in our world today?! It’s the highest of all honors! And so I challenge you once again to be Christ’s Light in your world! Let’s do all we can to put that Light where it’s most needed!

It can all be a bit overwhelming some times, can’t it? And we wonder how the light of our little lives can make much of a difference in all the moral darkness in our world. But I want to leave an impression with you before we conclude—and I might prepare you all for the fact that in a moment, all of the lights in the sanctuary are going to go out. I don’t want anyone panicking and I don’t want anyone thinking that we’ve lost electricity. So if you’re ready…let there be darkness. (All lights go out)

Amazing, isn’t it, how bright our candles seem now in this darkened room. It’s pretty dark—except for the light of these candles. Funny, isn’t it, that we didn’t even notice the light of the candles until the light was diminished. Now they seem very pronounced—just as the Light of our lives is pronounced when we let that Light shine where there is spiritual darkness.

Jesus came into a world of darkness—and He Himself is our Light. And His light shines so brightly! No one can ever snuff out the Light of Christ, though many have tried. Oh how the Light of Jesus Christ does shine in the darkness!—making all the difference in the world! May His Light break through your darkness today—and may we together embody His Light in our world!