The Light of Christmas

You can grab your message notes that you were handed as you walked in or you can download them at TLC.org/notes as we launch into our brand new series called Shadow and Light. Hi, my name is Adrian and one of the pastors here. Thank you so much for joining us today. You know, just a couple of weeks ago I led worship up here with some friends. Last week I did announcements like you heard Mark do earlier. Today I'm going to preach, and then next week I'll be in the parking lot washing cars just because I don't have enough to do around here. So I'm not gonna wash cars next week, so don't—if next week you're like, "Why is my car not washed?"—it was a joke.

I'm excited to kick off Advent 2021. It is one of my favorite times of the year, but I know what some of you are thinking because maybe, like me, you didn't grow up doing Advent or celebrating Advent. I don't even know how to say that phrase, but you're not sure what it is. Your question is, "What is Advent?" Maybe for you, the only exposure to it, like me, were these cardboard calendars. You go to Target and they're just right there at the checkout line, like, "Buy this thing!" You open it, there's a little chocolate under here for every day of them, and in my mind, I'm like, "Advent is about chocolate." But did you know there are more—there are different kinds of Advent calendars more than just chocolate? Like, if you don't like sweets, you can get this one—this is a Pringles Advent calendar. So, Pringles fans out there, if you want a little something a little more spicy, there are hot sauce Advent calendars, there are coffee Advent calendars, there are beer Advent calendars. Oh, some guys are like, "Huh? Excuse me?" You want that? They have socks, they have makeup tools, but by far the worst Advent calendar I saw was this slime. My kids are here and they're like, "What do you mean? That's the best Advent calendar!" If you are a parent of children my kids' age, like in elementary school, you know about this substance from Satan. It is—

After the service last—the last service, somebody's like, "I'm a preschool teacher." She had like—she was like traumatized because this is the thing about slime: your kids will go to school and they'll do some science project, I guess science is involved with it, and they make the slime and they bring it home and they're like, "Look at this thing I made!" and it's like all goopy. At first, you think, "Oh cool, you made that! Awesome!" They put it on their desk, and then they come the next day and there are two jars. Like, "How did that happen?" Then the next day there's 16 jars! It multiplies. I don't know the science behind that. Parent, you know they want—they use their allowance money to buy it, they get it as gifts, they want to make it, it's everywhere. It's in especially in the carpet and it just does not come out. And I know my landlords, I think they might be watching this service, I apologize when we move out, there's slime everywhere. And you want me now to buy a box of 24 more jars of this stuff? No, thank you!

It begs the question: What does this have to do with Christmas? Here's the answer: nothing. These calendars have nothing to do with Christmas. They're full of stuff and these people—these companies want you to buy them. You know that makeup one? You know how much that thing cost? $400! So some people are like, "No, make sense! 23 days of just skincare?" Whatever it is, it doesn't have anything to do with—there's no baby, there's no manger, there's not even a donkey on it. So what is Advent all about? Well, the word Advent literally means arrival, and when it's used at Christmas time, it refers to two Advents: the first Advent being when the Messiah, Jesus, was born, and the second Advent of Jesus when the Messiah returns.

You know, promises about these two Advents are found all throughout the Bible, and during the four weeks leading up to Christmas, starting today, Christians all over the world remember these promises and meditate on them. And here's why it's so relevant for us today to think about, to meditate, to remember these promises about the Advent: because those promises have sustained Jews and Christians for centuries upon centuries who've gone through many different dark times—times of war, times of civil and political unrest, times of plagues. You know, it's symbolic that Advent comes during the darkest time of the year because the theme of Advent, if you're to boil it down into one sentence, the theme of Advent is this: this darkness will not last. It's the reason we light the Advent candles and we adorn the campus and on our stage with lights. It's to symbolically remember, and I want you to say this phrase with me—let's say it together: this darkness will not last.

I like how Tish Oxenrider puts it in her Advent devotional, Shadow and Light, kind of where we got the name for this series. They were available at the lobby bookstore, but they sold out. They're gonna try to get more; you can find them in other places. But there's lots of different Advent devotionals, by the way, it's still available at the bookstore if you want to grab one. I bought this one, Shadow and Light, for our family to start tonight with our candles. But in this book, Tish writes this: this season is a recognition of the current state of life here on earth, acknowledging the fraught tension of living between the time of the already—first Advent of God—and the not yet of its full redemptive completion. Advent is about remembering that Christ has already come to save the world while recognizing that the work of redemption will not be finished until he comes again.

This season of Advent is about waiting, anticipation. It's the feeling children get, you know, like counting down the days to Christmas. I mean, that's the real reason you have these Advent calendars with doors, you know, so you can count down like one, two, three. But your kids are like, "Can I just eat them all?" You know, but they are just waiting for Christmas to come. Like my daughter will ask, "How many sleeps until Christmas?" I try to—you know, we try to use it as like a math exercise, and we said yesterday was 28 days till Christmas. Today is—and she says, "Just tell me!" Yes, ma'am! 28! They just can't wait, just counting down the sleeps as those boxes appear under the tree. They just wonder and anticipate what is in the box.

The whole theme of Shadow and Light is a big idea in the book of Isaiah. He was writing—I'm sorry, I got lost for a second talking about my kids. My kids are staring at me like, "Don't talk about me!" But each week what we're gonna do is anxiously await the day Christmas comes, and we're gonna do that in lots of different ways as we go through our services and the scriptures we read and the songs that we sing. And you know what's interesting is each week we're looking at scriptures—the same scriptures that inspired Handel in his musical piece, Handel's Messiah, that many of you know. It includes the Hallelujah Chorus, and in a couple weeks, like you heard Mark mention, there is gonna be a hundred-voice choir here on stage singing selections from Messiah. It will be a beautiful, beautiful weekend!

But those lyrics that you hear, a lot of them mostly come from one book, and that's the book of Isaiah. And this whole theme that darkness will not last—the theme of shadow and light is a big idea in Isaiah. He was writing several centuries before Jesus was born, and the people Isaiah is writing to, they are going through some very dark times. The northern part of Israel has been overrun by Assyria; the southern part of Israel is about to be threatened by the Babylonian army. They're experiencing inflation and unrest and famine, and people began to abandon their faith in God. And it's to these people living in that darkness that Isaiah writes in chapter 9, verse 2: The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.

What we're gonna do today is look at three things: the reality of darkness, the promise of light, and what our response to the light should be. We're gonna start with the reality of darkness. You know, darkness, if you think about it, it's one of—like it's a primal fear, right? You're afraid of the dark as a kid, and if some of you, maybe you're like me, you're still a little afraid of the dark. For me, the scariest—the most afraid I get of the dark is turning off a light and then having to leave that room or building. And you know, like that span of time of walking in the darkness—that happened to me last night. I had to come to my office real quick and turn off the light, and I don't know why, but like the darkness in the church is scarier for some reason. I'm like, "The devil's like, yeah, I'm gonna get you where you work at the church!" Like a run-up.

But similar to that, one of the most scary experiences of my life was when I lived in Florida. Before we moved to California, we lived in Florida. I worked at a church; I was a youth pastor for many years. And one of my jobs as a youth pastor was at the end of our youth night was to lock up the building and arm the alarm for this building. Now, the genius who designed this building and put this alarm in decided that they would put the lights for the building on one side of this building, and on the total opposite side they would put the alarm thing next to the front door. I'm like, "What? Why don't you put them next to each other?" Maybe they thought it would be funny, you know? Because let me tell you what happens. I'm gonna describe to you the horrific series of events that would happen every Wednesday night in a small dark town in South Florida.

At the end of the night, we had a great youth night. Everybody's gone; it's like 10 p.m. I've finished cleaning. I go to this light, and then I like limber up. I start to stretch; I don't want to pull a hamstring and like get, you know, fall in the middle of the darkness. And I get into sort of a runner stance, like getting ready, and I practice a couple times. "Okay, I'm ready!" So then I put my hand near the light, hit the light, and I sprint as fast as I can. Now I know where I'm going, so I go right to the front door, right to that alarm, and then as fast as I can, I start hitting this alarm code. Now, I don't know if you have an alarm, but if you don't, the alarm companies have put behind these buttons the loudest beeping that has ever existed. So when you hit this alarm, beep beep, it has now awakened all the creatures in the darkness—the demonic spirits that are like, "Oh, an alarm sound! Somebody must be here! It must be Adrian!" So I'm just hitting it as fast as I can. I hit "arm," and then these alarm companies have decided they need you to know you can't be in the building when it is armed, so get out of here! And it's like a homing beacon now to all the hordes of hell now flying towards me as I kick the door open. I slam it shut. It is like 10 seconds that that whole thing took, but the scariest 10 seconds of my life! I'm a little scared remembering why, because darkness is scary.

I mean, partly because I think as a kid I watched way too many scary movies that I wasn't supposed to watch. It was the '80s, so my parents were like, "You want to watch that? Okay!" But darkness is not just the absence of light; that's not just the darkness we're talking about. Because there are many people listening right now, you are experiencing darkness yourself. Maybe it's a dread and hopelessness because of COVID, or maybe it's cancer, maybe it's grief or finances or issues in your family. Maybe you're just overwhelmed by injustice and the oppression and racism and hate we see in our world, or maybe it's a sin from your past or sin in your present. But what darkness are you experiencing? What are those creatures hiding in the shadows in your life right now that are keeping you up at night? That's the kind of darkness that Isaiah and his audience are experiencing.

So let's talk about their darkness. What did it look like? We're gonna back up to the previous chapter of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 8, and see what their darkness is all about. And what we find out is living in this darkness, with all the chaos going in their lives, instead of turning to God, the thing that they do—the first thing that they do is look to unreliable sources of information. Isaiah chapter 8, verse 19, it says, When someone tells you to consult mediums and spirits who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? Instead of looking up to God, they looked into the darkness and into the shadows for help. And we still see that today, right? There are so many voices out there—false prophets today trying to fill our minds with darkness. You know, they had mediums; we have media.

Verse 20: Consult God's instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. No light! You can't be enlightened by the darkness. And then because of this, they keep going to these dark places for information and for help, and they get discouragement after discouragement. Verse 21: Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land. When they are famished, they will become enraged and looking upward will curse their king and their God. Like I said, they were experiencing inflation and famine, which led to hunger, which led to anger and political upheaval, and people began to abandon their faith. And where did that land them? Hopelessness. Verse 22: Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness. This might sound familiar to some of you experiencing darkness today. They're suffering, and they find themselves in deep despair.

I want you to think about whatever darkness you might be facing or in the middle of or living in right now, and this is the question: Are you ready for light? Isaiah, this is where he comes in and says God has a promise of light, and the promise is this: that there is hope. The promise of Advent, Isaiah 9:1: Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. And I want to check this out; we're gonna spend some time here. In the past, he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future, he will honor Galilee of the nations by the way of the sea beyond the Jordan.

Now, we might be tempted just to skip over this because, like, weird names and like geography and like, "I don't know what any of this means," but there is some really cool, rich stuff in here—some real cool prophetic words Isaiah is telling Israel. So what we're gonna do is do a quick geography lesson. Zebulun and Naphtali are in the northern part of Israel, the same part that had been overrun by armies and was a land full of chaos and distress because those armies ran rampant there because of their rebellion against God, their sin. And so Isaiah, who is writing this centuries before Jesus would come, is saying that in this land, this rebellious region, God is gonna use it. God is going to honor it.

And then he talks about the way of the sea. Now, the way of the sea is this road that goes up along the coast and then crosses the desert to the Sea of Galilee and then sort of hugs the coast. Today you can look it up as the Via Maris; it's the current—it's still a road there you can go. I mean, back then it was paved—not for cars, but for camels—and it was a highway, and it was the best way to get across this desert. And so many merchants would go through there; many foreigners would go through there. A lot of trade happened through there. The way of the sea road was very popular. But you know who else went through there? It was very nice and easy and laid really well for an army to roll through, and so army after army after army would run through the way of the sea and lay all these lands to waste. So this place was filled with darkness and suffering.

What Isaiah is saying is that one day God would turn that around. He would take this rebellious part of this region and honor it, and he's gonna use this place to bless all those other—to influence and bless all those other nations. Because guess what? This is what's really cool: when you go to Matthew, the first book of the gospel, he talks about where Jesus would begin his ministry—in Capernaum. You know where that is? Right here! What Isaiah is doing is he's giving them the street address of where Jesus is gonna show up. He's saying where the darkness was the thickest, where the enemy armies had trampled, where the people had abandoned God, it's going to be the exact place I'm going to use to bring the Messiah, Jesus, where he's gonna come, he's going to heal, and he's going to teach. How cool is that?

And then he continues in verse 2: The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. What I love about this verse right here, it doesn't say people who think that they're in darkness, who feel like they might be in darkness. No! You are living in the land of deep darkness! You are walking in darkness! What God is saying is this: you don't have to ignore your darkness; you don't have to push it away and pretend like everything is okay, because the Christmas story is full of darkness and pain and despair, because that's the point. The point is this: that in the middle of the pain and the darkness of our own sin and of the darkness of this world, into that darkness the light of Jesus came to shine. God is saying even though these people were unfaithful to me and rebellious, I will bring them out of darkness because of my love. You know what that's called? That is called God's grace. He doesn't say, "Come to my light over here." No, he says, "I'm coming into your darkness." He comes to those of us walking in darkness. He's not about showing up to the rigidly religious people who think they're perfect. No, he comes to those of us right in the middle of our mess, the darkness of this world, the darkness of our sin. He does that because he loves us.

Let's skip to verse 5. It says this: Every warrior's boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning; will be fuel for the fire. What is—what's going on here? I want you to think about the people that he's writing to. They are living in a place that has been trampled by warriors' boots and that have been burned by the rages of war and have been filled with the blood of death because of all the ravages of war that have come through their region. And what Isaiah is saying is there is gonna be no more war, no more pain. Why not? Verse 6: For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. One day he will rule in perfect peace and justice, and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. It will be gone because the light has come! Amen!

You know that passage that we just read? Beautiful, huge part of Handel's Messiah. René is gonna do a deep dive in that passage later in our series, but the message is this: no more injustice, no more suffering, no more unrighteousness, no more evil. God wins! And it was such a beautiful message to his readers back then, centuries before Jesus, and it is a beautiful message for us today. So we have the reality of darkness, this promise of light, and now what is Isaiah calling these people to do? How are we to respond to the light? Well, simply, number one: you receive the light. You know, the problem with Israel is they kept looking around this way to the darkness, to the shadows instead of looking to the light. And we need to do the same. We keep looking into the darkness for some kind of hope and some kind of light, but we need to go to the one whose light never fades, who will never leave or forsake you, who has already come to rescue you through his death and his resurrection, and who is coming again to right all wrongs and to make everything new. Receive the light of Jesus.

John, in his gospel, in the first chapter, he talks all about Jesus, and in verse 4 he says this: 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. All you have to do is receive this light that does not fade—the gift of his salvation through grace. And just a few verses later, John continues and says in verse 12: Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. I want you to remember this message of Christmas: Jesus didn't come to those who just have it all together, who just figured it out on their own. No, he came—his light shined to show us our need of a Savior, and all you have to do is receive it.

And every time I talk about this, I want to just say, you might be sitting in this pew—in the pew you're sitting in. Maybe you've been sitting in that same exact spot for many, many years, or maybe you're watching us and you've been with us for a long time, or maybe it's your first time. But you know what? You say, "Adrian, I've never actually taken that step of faith to say I put my trust in Jesus." I've been coming to church, but you know what? There's way too much darkness; there's way too much mess. I gotta figure this out before I come to God. This is the message: his light shines in your darkness, and all you have to do is when you see the light and realize you need a Savior is just to receive his gift of love for you. The Bible says all you have to do is say that: "God, I see the light. I see my need of a Savior, and I believe that you died on the cross for my sins. You rose from the dead through the power of the Holy Spirit. I believe and I put my trust in you." That's all you have to do.

And maybe you did that just right now. There's no special thing, and that's the—you know, that's like the scandalous part of the grace of God is it's—that's it! You just receive what he freely gives. And then after you receive, after you become a child of God, a child of light, God calls us to number two: reflect the light. You know, God's plan for us when we become his children is to shine his light and share his love to the world. Jesus talks about this in his sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew chapter 5. And in there, in verse 14, this is how he describes us: You are the light of the world. What? Jesus is the light of the world! What does he mean by you are the light of the world? What does that look like?

You know, my youngest daughter, who's here, Penelope, she recently was at a friend's house and they made this craft, and she brought it home, and it was really cool. It was this piece of soap she made. Soap! Isn't she awesome? Good job! There's more to the soap; it glows in the dark! And she loves things that glow in the dark. And she brought it home and she's like—she calls me up, "Ah!" which is "Dad" in Korean. She's like, "Come with me to the closet and close the door!" And I'm like, "Oh cool!" 'Cause it glows in the dark. So how does this thing glow in the dark, and what does this have to do with us reflecting God's light to the world? Well, you and I are like this soap right here. Within this soap, there is something that glows. And if we turn off all the lights in the room—as they slowly go off—you will see—and if somebody can close that door, thank you—the light of the sun is ruining my illustration! All right, you'll see it kind of glows. You can kind of see that. Okay, yeah, all right, you're like, "It doesn't glow that well!" But if I take this light and I shine it onto this glow-in-the-dark soap that my wonderful daughter made—great job, Penelope—and shine it on there, it soaks up all this light, and then it reflects the light.

Oh, you can turn the light back on! Man, I just have to say this: last night, you know, as Mark's here, as people who speak, we like—maybe we'll try this illustration. Is it gonna work? Last night I'm like, "I don't know this candle thing if it's gonna work." And then I heard, "Oh, it worked the last service!" It was like, "Oh!" And one person clapped! This service, dude, take that, René! Look how good! I'm joking; he was watching the service! No, I'm just joking! Oh man! But great job, Penelope! What am I talking about? This happened every time. I'm like thrown off by the reaction. Within us is something that can shine out. You know, the cool thing is when you accept—when you put your faith in Jesus, you know the Bible says that he fills you with his Spirit to empower you to live the life he has called you to live. And so the Spirit of God lives within you. But I think what we have to do is soak in the light to become more like him.

Well, watch this! Paul writes this in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 18: So all of us who have had that veil removed—and what he's talking about there is those of you who have understood that Jesus' death and resurrection brings you salvation—you've become a child of God. You then now can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord, who is Spirit, makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his image. What he's saying there is the more and more we meditate on and think about and contemplate and understand the gospel of God and in the scriptures, and as we worship together, as we soak in this light of Christ, we then become more and more like him. That's what Advent is all about—this time of anticipation. We spend time meditating on the scriptures about the arrival, the Advent, his first Advent, his second Advent. We read these scriptures; we sing songs; we use Advent devotionals like we will at our home. Maybe you have one, and like candles, you can watch our daily devotionals at TLC.org/devo to start your day with scripture. You can join us each weekend like you are right now as we celebrate and we meditate and we remember these promises of the Advent and celebrate the goodness of God.

When we do that, when we soak in the light of Jesus, we then can reflect his light to the world. But you know what that looks like? Becoming more like Jesus is living like Jesus, loving like Jesus. In that same sermon, he calls us the light of the world, and he says, "You know, you don't hide a light. When you light a lamp, you put it up so people can see it, so it can light the way." And then he says in verse 16: In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. What it looks like to soak in the light of Jesus, to become more like him, is to love like him and show that love and that light through our good deeds. And what a great opportunity we have in this season to do that!

You walked in and saw all those trees in that lobby full of ornaments of children whose parents are incarcerated or who have some other trouble who can't buy a gift, and you have the opportunity to do that—to share the light of God, of Christ, to them. You have opportunities here at Twin Lakes Church to join a volunteer team, maybe even on a weekend as we welcome more and more folks onto our campus this time of year—maybe for the first time, people who are looking for hope, looking for light in this darkness, and you can shine your light, the love of Jesus, as you welcome them in. You find ways to serve and love your community. Find ways to serve and love your neighbors, your family, your friends. One really cool way we got to do that as a community, as a church community, was through our fall food drive. Please come back next weekend as we announce the totals to see how brightly we shine the light of Jesus to our community.

Receive his light, soak in the light of Jesus, and reflect the light. I'm gonna wrap up our time by going back to the big idea of Advent, and it's this: this darkness will not last forever. Would you say with me, "This darkness will not last forever"? And I want you to think about the darkness you might be facing or experiencing right now—the sorrows and your grief and your pain. And let's say it together: this darkness will not last forever. Think of COVID; think of cancer, and let's say it: this darkness will not last forever. Think of injustice and oppression and hate and racism, and let's say it: this darkness will not last forever. Because listen, church, you know what held Israel through defeat and despair? Because they would be defeated and they would face despair and they would face darkness. Christians in the first century, the early church, would face persecution. All through history, they would face persecution and death. But what they held on to, what sustained them, was this hope that this darkness will not last forever, and it can sustain you today. Remember this: this darkness will not last forever. You know why? Because the light of Jesus has come! Amen!

Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your love and your grace and your light. God, it overwhelms us to think, Lord, that in the middle of our own darkness, of our own sin, of our own past, God, that your light shines. Lord, and it reveals that, Lord, we are hopeless without you. But God, you offer us a way; you offer us hope; you offer us life—a new life, salvation through your grace and your love and your mercy. And so, God, tonight we celebrate; we remember your death from the cross, your resurrection from the dead, and that, God, our belief, our confession, and that brings us salvation into your family, into your kingdom. And that, God, you fill us with your Spirit to live out this life. You empower us to be more like you and to shine your light to the world. And so, God, that is my prayer for us as a church around the world and as a church right here in Aptos, Twin Lakes Church—that, God, you would help us to see the light, to soak, receive that light, to soak in your life, and to be a light to our world, especially in the darkest times that we face. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.