The Light in the Darkness

My name is René, one of the pastors here. Again, Merry Christmas to you. I want to invite you to grab your message notes that look like this. As we continue our Advent series, we've been looking at the very first few verses of the Gospel of John chapter 1, where he talks all about the light that came into our dark world.

And as we get into our discussion of the light coming into our darkness, I want to enter into it with a couple of questions. First of all, and shout it out if you know the answer, start easy. What day is Christmas? Go ahead and shout that out. Not a trick question. December 25th, very, very good. There's no prize, but you know, you get the no prize.

All right, second question. Now wait before you answer it. What day is Jesus's birthday? This is kind of a trick question because it's probably not December 25th. And this is not like some new scholarly discovery. Christians have always known this from the very first days of Christianity. Jesus was probably born sometime in the springtime.

And how do we know this? Well, because the Bible says shepherds were keeping watch over their flocks at night and shepherds only keep watch over their flocks at night if the ewes are having lambs. And that usually happens in the springtime. So he was probably born sometime in the spring. How many of you were born in the spring? Can I see a show of hands? Like me, also a spring baby. See, Jesus was born probably some time around your birthday.

So the question is, why do we celebrate Christmas on December 25th? Well, the Romans had a feast. Every year they called the Feast of the Invincible Sun. In Latin, it was called Invicti Solis on December 25th. And here's why they threw this party. It was the darkest time of year, right, in the northern hemisphere. And since it was the darkest time of year, they needed a reminder psychologically that darkness has not won.

The night will not keep on getting longer. And so to kind of raise everybody's spirits, they threw a big celebration, they had a big feast, the darkness will not win. And I think these ancient people were actually onto something. Because people can tend to get kind of depressed in the wintertime when you can't see the sun. In fact, modern researchers actually have a name for this. You may know it, Seasonal Affective Disorder.

I big time experienced this. How many of you are subject to seasonal affective disorder? When the night gets long, you kind of get depressed. I am definitely like this. I Googled this this week. There were over 1,170,000 websites devoted to tips for curing seasonal affective disorder. So apparently a lot of us struggle with this. And they did in ancient days too.

So the Romans tried to counteract that depressed feeling with a party celebrating light and celebrating the invincible sun that would start to have longer days again, right around December 25th, every single year. And later, when Christians came along and they wanted to celebrate the birthday of Jesus, they said, "Well, we don't know the exact date of his birth, so we have to choose one of the 365 days and we cannot possibly choose a more appropriate day, a more symbolic day than December 25th."

Because for us, they said, it's the feast of the invincible sun. Really, S-O-N. Because his light is invincible and the darkness will not overcome it. And they were basing that on a very specific passage of Scripture. And it's the passage we're going to look at in today's message. If you have your Bibles, open to John 1:4–5.

All Christmas season here at Twin Lakes Church, we're looking at the first verses of the Gospel of John chapter 1, sort of a Heaven's eye view of the Christmas story. So let me do a quick recap for you. Last weekend, Mark did a phenomenal job with the first three verses. And I would like us all to read them out loud together. Let's start with John 1:1. Look up at the screen. Here we go. Let's read it together.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made. Without Him nothing was made that has been made." In other words, he's saying, "He is God." And then, he says later, "The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us." And John's saying, "That's what happened at Christmas time."

Last weekend, Mark did a great job talking about how this literal anene is the one who created the cosmos. And everything in the whole universe actually zeroed down to our world, came to our earth, and became a flesh and blood, real human baby. A baby, much like, well, my grandson, just for example, just a handy example. Or any other baby that you could cuddle.

But the point is, he was not just an apparition. He was not just some Star Wars-y type, you know, force or something. The point is that God made you and me for relationship. And He went to incredible lengths to establish that relationship with us. So that was last weekend now, this week's verses. And let's read these verses out loud together. Let me hear you.

"In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." The darkness has not overcome it. Say that phrase out loud with me again. The darkness has not overcome it. Anybody need that reminder here today? Anybody feel like things are kind of somehow feeling kind of dark, kind of scary in the world?

A lot of people in America and around the world are feeling that way. One national magazine recent cover, "The Age of Fear." Why is America so afraid? Well, here's one reason. It says, "Studies link hours of news consumption to overall levels of anxiety." That's for sure. As one expert says, "We start receiving notifications as soon as any disaster happens." So there's a false sense of involvement that we didn't have 150 years ago, right?

150 years ago, only God had that kind of omniscience, not even 50 years ago. And what they go on to say in the article is that most news media and even most entertainment media, just in the last 10 years or so, has boiled down its message to basically this. It is dark, and the darkness is advancing, and the advance of the darkness is inexorable, and you should be afraid.

Now, why have they honed the message down to that? Because you listen to that message. Because you don't tune away from that station when the message is, "It's super scary out there, and the darkness is advancing, so you should be really scared." But I am here to tell you that is actually not a Christian message. And I just want to challenge you right now that some of you who are feeling so depressed and so anxious right now, every time you read the news, there's another dark thing.

Every morning there's more bad news. Even your conversations lately have been all about the dark things, and even your thoughts have been all about the dark things. I want to challenge you to take a look at the light that shines in the darkness. I want to challenge you very straightforwardly to take responsibility yourself to create an alternative media environment in your own mind, a godly personal media culture that's based not just on what people are going to spoon feed you, but based on the eternal truths found in these verses.

We're going to look at three truths about the eternal light that bring hope in the darkness. When you feel this week like all is dark, take charge of your thoughts, take charge of your emotions, and remind yourselves of these three truths. You got to know these. You got to jot these down. Ready? Number one, the light shines for all. God does not leave people in the dark. The light shines for all.

And this is important. This is deep now. Look up at me for just a second here because this first point, this is rich. And this answers a point that a lot of people have. It's a question you may have had yourself for sure. Other people have asked you this question and it's this. If Jesus came to save the world, what about all the people before Jesus? If Jesus came to save the world, what about all the people who haven't yet heard about Jesus? It's a good question.

Now there's a couple of simplistic answers that you hear. Some people say, "Well, they all go to hell." That's simple. That's easy. Wraps it up in a nice little bow, right? Some people say, "Well, they all go to heaven." Also very simplistic. The Bible is a little bit more nuanced. And I think you will love to see what the Bible says.

Did you notice what John says here? In John 1:4 he says about Jesus, "In him was life, and that life was the light of a few select people." No, that life was the light of who? All mankind. And John is kind of like, "In case you didn't get that." He echoes it a few verses later in John 1:9, "The true light that gives light to me and my friends at my church." No, the true light that gives light to who? Everyone was coming into the world.

This was radical when he said this in the first century because people thought of the Jewish Messiah, Jesus, they thought of him coming just for the Jewish people, but you start to see the disciples' eyes open all through the book of Acts. We studied it this fall. Oh, he came for the whole earth actually.

There's a very biblically conservative, very respected scholar taught at Princeton, F.F. Bruce. He translates John 1:9 this way, "The true light that enlightens who?" Everyone was coming into the world. Throughout Acts, let me just throw some Acts verses. We just finished a study of Acts. Paul says in Acts 14, "In the past, he, God, has let the nations, all the nations of the earth all through history, go their own way, but God has not left himself without testimony." Even in these cultures that didn't get the Bible, he has not left himself without testimony.

And in the next verse he goes on to say, "Through the crops, through the sun, through the rain, through the simple joys of life, God has been bringing a message of his love and power to all of these people." In Acts 17, Paul's talking to the Athenians, and he's talking about how God has intervened in every single culture ever since the beginning of human history. And he says, "God did this so that they would what? Seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, even though he's not far from any one of us."

Over in Romans 1:20, Paul says, "For since," watch this now, "For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen being understood from what has been made creation so that people are without excuse." What's this all about? Let me give you a five-dollar term here. It's what theologians call general revelation.

Scripture is called special revelation and creation, God's message seen in creation, seen in the crops and in the fields and the sunsets and sunrises and the beautiful redwood trees and the ocean, that's general revelation from God to everybody on the planet. Let me give you an analogy, just kind of a show of hands here. This is kind of a deep film, very theologically rich, but I'm just curious, how many of you have seen the movie Finding Dory? Can I see a show of hands? That's a great movie, but just a little spoiler alert, it is about Dory trying to find her parents, right?

Well, it turns out that Dory's parents live in a spot here in the Monterey Bay, and they have been laboriously leaving seashell paths in every direction, like spokes in a wheel going out to every spot they can get to in the whole ocean that lead, if followed, that lead all the way home. Now, Dory has to respond, she has to follow the paths, but the seashell trails she finds eventually lead home, and she's reunited with her mom and dad.

Well, you could say that your heavenly father has left seashell paths everywhere for everyone that if followed lead back home. Now, just to be clear, the Bible does not teach that everyone is saved or goes to heaven. It does teach that everyone has general revelation so that they can seek God and reach out to Him and perhaps find Him. God has left seashell paths that if followed can lead back home to Jesus Christ.

Missionaries and pastors and whoever works with people all over the world have seen this so many times. Just one quick example, Johann Kombrik, who's a ministry partner of ours in Africa, he works in South Africa, Zambia, Botswana. He was on his way to a village, I think it was in Zambia, with this African friend of his, but that road was washed out so they had to take a detour, and when he was going through this unplanned destination, all kinds of people in this village that he had no plans to go to kept going up to him as he introduced himself and said what he did for a living, he's a pastor, they said, "Oh, oh, you're finally here. She's been waiting for both of you guys."

Didn't know who they were talking about and they direct him to a woman who lives there in the village and she says, "I'm so glad to see you," and he says, "would you please explain this to me?" And she says, "well, I've just been praying to God that He would lead me closer to Him. I've been praying that for months and one night in a dream an angel told me two men will come to you with the words that you're seeking." And Johann said, "Wow, I can't wait to see if they're going to show up. Can I stay?" No, he didn't say that. He preached there and with her as the first member, they began a Jesus movement in that village and pastors and missionaries can tell you a thousand stories like this.

His light really does shine for all and this is not theoretical because here's what this means. Just think about your own life right now. There is a seashell path in your life that God put because He loves you so much. He left a trail for you to follow home. What was it for you? Maybe you saw the sun and the sea and all those blessings and you sensed there was something there pulling you closer to God and then maybe it was a song you heard on the radio or maybe it was a book you read and maybe not even like a religious book but it brought you one seashell closer and maybe your path led through recovery groups, through 12-step groups, or through some friends you made and now you find yourself here.

And the question is, will you keep following the trail all the way home and then keep following wherever He leads? See the beautiful thing is that John is saying is we don't have to give up. We don't have to feel like the task is insuperable. God leaves these paths everywhere. His light shines for everyone, everywhere on the planet and we don't even have to, you know, God is the one who's orchestrating all of that.

Now hang on with your questions because watch the next couple of points. Number two we see in these verses how the light shines in darkness, invincibly. The light shines in darkness, invincibly and this is huge. Verse 5 of John chapter 1, "The light shines in the darkness." Now watch this. Greek grammar geeks like my friend Mark Spurlock will tell you that the verb shine is in what's called the present active indicative tense. Now show of hands for those of you for whom that changed your life. Can I see a show of hands there? Good. Mark and Carol and Todd raise their hands. That's good but what that means is this.

The light is shining even now. It's a verb tense that we don't really have it in English but it kind of means perpetual motion. It has not been extinguished. It never will be extinguished. The light shines. It is shining and say this next phrase again out loud with me and the darkness has not overcome it. Now say it like you mean it. The darkness has not overcome it. Now look up here for a minute.

I want you to imagine who wrote those words and what he had seen in his life. The gospel of John was written by who? John. Very good. And John was probably the youngest of all the original 12 apostles. So by the time he writes this he was probably in his 90s. He's an old man and all of his original friends from that era they're gone. And so he's lonely and scholars say he probably wrote this somewhere around 90 AD. Now if you know just a little bit about history right think of what he has seen.

If he's in his 90s and he's writing this in 90 AD think of what he has lived through when he says these words. John could go all the way back to King Herod who ruled Jerusalem when Jesus was born who tried to kill Jesus when Jesus was only a baby. And then John could fast forward to the persecution against Christians the very first one by Nero the first Caesar in around 60 AD who was the one who started the persecution against the Christians. Nero killed his friend Paul. Nero killed John's friend Peter.

And John could look back on what happened when this next guy General Vespasian looks like a boxer or something doesn't he? General Vespasian. And he took the Roman army into Judea right. What we call Israel today. And Vespasian's armies slaughtered thousands of John's fellow Jewish people. And John lived through that. And then John lived through the time when the Romans besieged the holy city of Jerusalem where John and think of the amazing experiences in his life that John lived through in the city of Jerusalem.

Think of John walking and the beauty of the Temple Mount with Jesus. And in around 70 AD the Roman armies cut off the city of Jerusalem from all supplies for seven months. People in Jerusalem had nothing to eat. They had no medical care. The plague took over and the Roman armies did that so that in seven months they could just stroll in and slaughter people at will and they'd be too weak to resist.

And on the Temple Mount where the people withdrew the Roman army slaughtered tens of thousands of people and then they proceeded to scrape off all of the beautiful temple buildings and deforest the whole city of Jerusalem in an attempt to completely wipe out the Jewish culture that John was a part of. And John had lived through that. And then John could fast forward to the time when the holy menorah and all the other gold of the temple was actually taken off to Rome as seen in this scene from the Arch of Titus.

John was alive when this happened when this arch was carved. And then 10 years later John was alive when Domitian the Roman emperor in the 80s went crazy. First sign Domitian was going crazy was he killed his own son. That's a sign that you might not have it all together. And then Domitian turned his wrath against the Christians and the Jews. He decided he would kill all Christians. He heard that some Roman senators had become Christians and Domitian called them all to his palace and he killed them.

He personally killed his own Roman senators. And then he decreed that all sons of David which in those days meant Christians and Jews should be killed. He went down to Jerusalem and he had the archbishop of Jerusalem who in those days was the leader of the Christian church killed. And then Domitian came to John who wrote the verses that we're studying today. And Domitian said you believe in baptism. I'm going to baptize you in boiling oil. And he immersed John in oil up to his neck. Can you imagine the burns and the pains and when John didn't die from that Domitian had him banished to the island of Patmos.

And then after Domitian died John returns to the mainland to write his gospel. And he says through all that bloodshed I just described through all those wars through all that chaos through all that darkness that we can't even imagine. He says you know what actually the light is still shining and all of that darkness has not has not and and hang on just a second John goes wait wait the darkness is not he searches for the right word over a comet.

And the Greek word he uses there watch this it's like our English word mastered because it has a double meaning. It can mean both it hasn't mastered it like it hasn't learned it. It hasn't figured it out and it can mean it hasn't mastered it like it hasn't conquered it. And so John's going that is the perfect word because not only is the darkness not overcome the light it doesn't even understand it.

And so the light shines in the darkness and the darkness say it has not overcome it. This is such a powerful truth because we are at a moment in our lives and we are at a season in our history right now where people look around the world and it seems like every time you open up the newspaper there's some other dark thing and you can give in sometimes to despair or to anger and all kinds of other dark emotions. And if anybody could have felt like that legitimately it was John.

But as he's about to explain in the rest of his gospel when things seemed personally darkest for him when his friend and master Jesus was tortured and crucified and was dead dead over three days later John is about to say he's about to say I couldn't believe this happened but I personally he's about to say raced to his tomb and I looked inside and he wasn't there anymore and then I saw and I heard and I touched the resurrected Christ.

The darkness could not overcome him and so having lived through all that John can say believe me in him was life and that life was the light of all mankind and that light keeps shining in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. Herod couldn't do it Nero couldn't do it the destruction of the temple couldn't do it the death of Jesus hadn't done it the darkness won't overcome it not then not now not ever can I get some agreement from the church of Jesus here today cling to that don't let despair take you over.

You know you heard Valerie a couple of weeks ago if you and if you were not here to hear Valerie talk about this man get the message Val kicked off this Advent series two weeks ago about three weeks ago she and our team were over helping out with refugee relief on the border of Iraq and they were helping you know there's there's thousands millions of refugees they're fleeing the wars in Syria and Iraq and almost all the people that they helped had been victims of Isis and they lost everything this this family here on the screen was one of the families Val met.

These people fled Iraq and they literally have lost everything they ever had in life everything except for each other they lost their house they lost their car they lost all their belongings they lost all their money they lost their businesses everything is gone and yet this man looked at Valerie our Valerie from Twin Lakes Church three weeks ago this is not Sunday school propaganda here right and he said listen I gotta tell you believe it or not I actually have more joy in my life now because I'm closer to the Lord now he was giving testimony to exactly what John is saying here.

Yes there is pitch black darkness except ah there's a light that keeps shining and the darkness has not overcome it. Listen this really means no matter what you read in the news no matter what you see in the headlines no matter what keeps you up with fear at night gripping you you can say the truth is the light keeps shining and the darkness will not ever not ever overcome it.

And then finally and this is where it all comes home number three John says the light shines through you and me the light shines through you and me and listen this one just might blow your mind if you really let yourself think about it because watch this later in John John 8:12 Jesus says say this out loud with me I am the light of the world most of us here are here because we agree with that that's right Jesus is awesome he's the light of the world.

Here's something mind-bending Jesus Christ himself also says in Matthew 5 you are the light of the world. I want you to do something that might be uncomfortable for you say that phrase again I am the light of the world say it out loud I am the light of the world that's true of Jesus and true of you according to Jesus anybody else get uncomfortable by that now what can that possibly what does that mean it can't mean that Jesus and me or Jesus and you are are the same Jesus is the source of light like the sun and we're like the moon we reflect it.

It's kind of like when we light our candles at the candlelight service we're not the source of light we don't create it in our candle we just receive it but then what we can do is we hold up the light if you look at that picture there there's not really much artificial light in that picture that the whole room here this room is all being lit by little lights that people have received and are holding up together.

And that's what happens when as a church we give to the food bank when as a church we buy presents for the angel tree christmas tree grove his light shines as Jesus says through your good deeds those cans of food you brought in that toy you're bringing in for the salvation army that clinic and classroom in India that you supported as part of the 2020 vision project that opened this year each one a seashell on the path home and some people are going to see those and will follow them when the light shines through you and me they'll follow them all the way home to Jesus Christ and find salvation.

Let me just show you what that might look like for you in the next couple of weeks I want to close with a story and this is a great true story it just happened about a month ago the first part of this it's a true story about a woman named Tara watch this Tara has a daughter a little daughter named Nora about the same age as some of these kids in the kids choir but Nora is the very youngest of those kids she's just four years old and on Nora's birthday recently they went to the grocery store and it's very busy it's packed with shoppers holiday shoppers for thanksgiving.

And this little four year old sees a guy and she says mommy mommy mommy can i go talk to that man and her mom says well i guess and Nora little four-year-old Nora just makes a b-line for an elderly gentleman and says hi old person and he says well hi little girl and she says my name is Nora and today is my birthday and he says well that's really neat how old are you and she says i am four how old are you and they have a nice little conversation and at the end of it the man kneels down and he says i cannot tell you Nora how much you have brightened my day just by coming over and saying hi to me.

Well they part but the story doesn't end there after they're done shopping Nora says mommy i just have a feeling can we try to find that old person again and i want you to get a picture of him and me together and so they looked and they looked and they found him and this is the picture that Tara took of Nora and the old man in the grocery store and she posts this on her facebook page she called it the picture of Nora and the old man.

Well the story doesn't end there because they exchange contact info they found out his name is Dan Peterson and all during that next week Nora starts saying can we go visit my friend Dan the old man and about three times during the next week they go over just to stay high and they start having play dates and this is what it looks like they just hang out together he reads her stories well her mom framed that original facebook picture of Nora and Dan and this is how she goes to bed at night now clutching her picture of her and her new old man friend.

But the story doesn't end there because once it got posted to facebook it got shared and shared and a friend of a friend of a friend saw it and sent this private message to the mom quote you have no idea how much it means to me that your daughter did this because Dan Peterson is a close friend of mine and he probably didn't tell your daughter this but two months ago he lost his beloved wife he's been in such a deep dark depression and somehow your daughter knew it and she is being used by God to help him.

The light shines in the darkness and the darkness is not overcome it but the story doesn't end there because two weekends ago my good friend Kurt Harlow Harlow who is one of the preaching pastors at Bayside Church up near Granite Bay he heard this story and so he uses it as an illustration in his sermon and after church just two weeks ago up there he goes into the lobby saying hi to some people and he sees a family just crying so he goes over he says is there anything wrong they go no not at all it's just that they say you have no idea how relevant that message is to us because our four-year-old daughter Mia has been befriending a widower named Roger who lives just across the street from us and she's been inviting him to church for months and today is the first day he came the day you told that story.

And so Kurt took a picture of them and I got it and this is Mia and Roger up at Bayside two weeks ago and you know what I'd love to be able to say and the story doesn't end there because can you be Mia can you be Nora to the Rogers and the Dans in your life Mark mentioned these invitation cards we got thousands of them out at the tables in the lobby all kind eight different services of different sorts happening on Christmas weekend you know what there are people in your life who are looking for a place to go you won't offend them if you invite them they're looking for a place already they just don't know where to go.

And I want to suggest that you pray about this and think who are the Dans who are the Rogers on my street in my neighborhood maybe in my friendship circle or at work who can I be like Mia or be like Nora to who's having some dark days where I can be a light and you can let the light shine through you and through me.

Well let's wrap this up so what's my response to all this we've been looking at how John starts his gospel let's look at how he ends it why did he write all this not just to kind of like blow your mind John says Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not recorded in this book but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name notice how he says you God didn't just come to save the world he came for you.

And so John is still saying through something he wrote 2,000 years ago almost how about you what do you think are you following the path home if you receive and believe in the light of Christ then you can have a life in his name and I just want to give us all a chance to open our lives to that light right now in prayer would you bow your heads and your hearts with me let's pray heavenly father thank you so much for the light and thank you that the darkest of all the darkness can't ever put it out and Lord I just pray that if it's never been personal before that people would say Lord I don't even understand it all but I want to receive the light of the world Jesus Christ into my life I want to shine with a light far greater than something I can just produce myself I want the light of God shining through me as much as I understand I want to receive that light now and I want to keep on following in Jesus name amen.