The Light Shines in the Darkness

Good morning and welcome to NHCC. Please open your Bibles to John 1.

Last week- God is light- in Him there is no darkness.

Turn our attention to Jesus.

Reminder of why we both observe and celebrate the season of Advent.

Candles- light of hope and peace.

Read John 1:1–14.

Pray.

The prologue as introduction.

Themes that we find throughout John’s gospel- life, light, witness, the world.

A major problem introduced.

Jesus came into the world but was not received in His true identity.

John 3:36- “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

John 20:30–31- “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

John’s gospel is written as a solution to the world’s greatest problem.

If God is light without any darkness, how will such light take care of the greatest problem- the rejection of life and light.

1. Jesus is the source of all life.

John 1:1–4- “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.”

John begins His gospel with a description of who Jesus is.

The Word was with God.

The nature of the trinity- Jesus is distinct from the Father.

Athanasian Creed (400-600 ASD- “We worship one God in Trinity, and the Trinity in unity, neither confounding their persons nor dividing the essence. For the person of the Father is a distinct person, the person of the Son is another, and that of the Holy Spirit is yet another.”

The Word was God.

Athanasian Creed- “Thus, the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God. Yet there are not three Gods; there is but one God.”

Fighting the heresy of gnosticism, John writes that Jesus is indeed fully God.

Then sets out to describe the implications of these dual truths.

As such, Jesus is present and active in creation.

All things made through Jesus.

And God said. Jesus is the creative agent through which God created all of existence.

Colossians 1:16–17- “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

If this is true, then Jesus is the source of all life, which is where John turns in v. 4.

In Jesus is life, and this life that Jesus both is AND possesses is the necessary light for all of mankind.

Man is in constant need of both light and life, a mind that is changed and a heart that is changed. Jesus is the solution to both.

2. Jesus is not able to be defeated.

John 1:5- “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

A couple of important points to make about this one sentence.

First, the light shines into the darkness.

Notice what is not said. The light separates from the darkness.

Reminded this morning of the goodness and

Second, when the light shines into the darkness, the darkness hasn’t overcome it.

We often talk about the attributes of God, one of which we focus on is His omnipotence.

Perhaps we often consider omnipotence shown in the offensive direction, meaning all that God is able to do.

Do we often enough consider the other side of the coin? Specifically, what anything outside of God is powerless to do TO Him?

The godhead, Father, Son and Spirit, are all not able to be defeated.

Shown most clearly throughout the entire life of Jesus. Everything about Jesus screams insignificance, and yet, here we are.

3. Jesus is unnatural.

John 1:9–12- “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,”

Light comes into the darkness, Jesus enters into the world for which He is responsible, meaning it has been created through Him and He has given it any semblance of life that it has.

When Jesus comes into such a world, even into His very own people, the nation of Israel, nobody recognized Him for who He is.

I think there is a reason that we read it in this order.

First, the world did not know Him. Second, His own people didn’t receive Him.

The darkness rejects the light. Doesn’t defeat the light, rejects the light.

What is our takeaway here?

The gospel is not easy, even natural, to receive.

Consider what sinfulness is, and what the gospel challenges in our sinfulness.

Sin says to put yourself at the center of the universe, worship yourself, seek the worship of others, make others submit to your will, pursue your own desires at any and all cost.

Jesus steps in as light that reveals what true life is and says that such life looks different.

It will never be found by our own efforts, but it is the way we were created to live, sharing in the life and character of God Himself.

Rather than a me-centric life, all of life revolves around knowing God as He is, loving God, and making Him known.

Rather than seeking the worship of others, we share with others the One who is truly worthy of all of our worship.

Rather than making others submit to our wishes, we seek to serve the needs of others at all costs. We serve God through serving everyone God puts in our path.

Finally, rather than pursuing our desires, God says He will give us a new heart with new desires for loving and honoring God.

When these changes have not happened, will we say that want them?

The darkness will not see the beauty of the light.

Know the nature of what we are up against. There is no natural desire within us to receive Jesus.

We are to speak the gospel regularly but we are to bathe the message in prayer.

We ask God’s Spirit to do His work

4. John sets the example.

How are we to respond to all of this? Clear definition of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done.

If not a follower of Jesus, turning from the life once lived to receive Christ and the life He gives.

Receive God’s grace through faith in Jesus. Be baptized into a new life- raised from spiritual death, walking in new spiritual life.

Center your life on Jesus rather than on self. Live as He lived, serve as He served, love as He loved.

But then what? If you’ve received Jesus, now what? Back in the middle of our text is given a wonderful blueprint for life in Jesus.

John 1:6–8- “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.”

Immediately after this opening prologue, John introduces us to John the Baptist.

All we see John the Baptist doing is a constant ministry centered on the person of Jesus. He cannot stop speaking of Jesus.

John 1:26–27- “John answered them, ‘I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.’”

John 1:29- “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’”

Slowly, John’s gospel turns away from the ministry of John to transition to the greater ministry of Jesus.

John 3:30- “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

John the Baptist shows how life in Jesus is meant to be lived. Everything he does, everything he says, points to Jesus.

He was born with a purpose, and that purpose was to make Jesus known. Are we not born again into the very same purpose?

John was not the light, but came to spread the light of Jesus. We are to do the same.

To rightly understand such a purpose completely transforms all of life. In the home, at school, in the workplace, at the dinner table, on the sports field.

We are always navigating problems and considering how to solve them. Might we ponder what John gives as the ultimate problem to all of life and how God might use us to bring about a solution to the problem?

5. How does this prepare our hearts to celebrate the incarnation?

John 1:12–14- “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

John’s prologue is all about the incarnation, is it not?

This morning we consider the peace of Jesus. Perhaps this is the message that most needs to be heard this Christmas season.

This season could be defined a couple of ways for you. Noisy, stressful, filled with conflict, mourning loss. What we find necessary is peace.

Phillips Brooks- “Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light; the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.”

We recognize this morning the dark streets in need of the light of Jesus.

Our hopes and fears, as well as the hopes and fears of others, are meant to be brought into the presence of Jesus.

He came into the world in order that we, and others, might have life, described as the light of men.

Have we received the peace of God this advent season? Are we living in it? Like John the Baptist, are we witnesses to it?