Student Christmas Message

Big Idea: Jesus is the light of the world.

Passage: John 8:12, Isaiah 9:2, 6-7, 2 Corinthians 4:6

Introduction:

Christmas can be a crazy time of the year. There’s lots of different events, parties, family gatherings, and tests…

How many of you have had a big test or are going to have a big test soon?

Often our focus is on gifts and things that we might be able to get if we ask our parents nicely enough.

We become easily distracted and our lives come January feel a bit empty when we say goodbye to all of the craziness that is this holiday season.

What if I told you that Christmas wasn’t meant to be that way?

You see, in the Bible, we see that Christmas is a celebration of the fact that Jesus came into this world as a baby, and He would one day save everyone from their sins.

Christmas is meant to be a holy time of the year, where we set aside time to focus our attention on God, and yet we miss that when we are so distracted by other things.

Last week, we were blessed with an awesome message through the music that was played at Night of Hope, and that message was this - Jesus is with us, and He is King over all things.

Emmanuel: That word means that God is with us. We know that because we’ve talked about the fact that when we choose to follow God, His Holy Spirit lives inside of us.

This is also to recognize the fact that Jesus came to this world to be with us. He took on human form, even though He was God and didn’t need to, he did it anyway, and saved us from our sin.

Tonight, I want to look at another title for Jesus in Scripture that we sing about especially during this time of year - Light of the World.

Scripture:

John 8:12

Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”

Now I want to use an illustration here, and I’m going to need the help of my tech guys for this next portion.

Go ahead and turn out the lights in the room.

(Turn on flashlight) How many of you have a flashlight at home?

I’m sure all of you are answering right now and I just can’t see you.

Notice though, that the room is almost completely dark when we turned out the lights. I’ve actually been in a couple buildings where the lights have been turned out completely, and it gets super dark.

What do we normally feel in the darkness?

Fear

Worry of the unknown

We have no sense of direction; we might trip on something…

But when we introduce light into the equation, we can find our way.

All of a sudden, there’s hope. We can see things.

Light illuminates the darkness.

What’s interesting in this room is I can still see you even without this flashlight, and that's just because of the little bit of light coming from different parts of the room.

Light impacts the darkness in a mighty way.

So why does Jesus refer to Himself as the light of the world?

His light brings hope

Isaiah 9:2, 6-7

The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine.

For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!

It brings hope even today as we shine Christ’s light for others to see! People recognize that there is goodness and love in this world, and we are able to point them to who it comes from - God.

His light brings life

In that verse in John, Jesus says that the light He brings will provide life!

He’s referring to the fact that his purpose was to come to this world, be born as a baby, live a perfect life, so that He could be the perfect sacrifice for our sins, and in the end, we might have eternal life through Him!

This new life is so much better! We understand that we have purpose, our identity is placed in someone that loves us, and we are filled with the Holy Spirit who empowers us to live for Jesus.

His light illuminates who God is

This comes as a result of being in relationship with God.

2 Corinthians 4:6

For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.

Those who are followers of Christ in this room should be striving to know God better. I am encouraged by the fact that there are many who are doing that - whether by getting a streak on the Bible app for reading God’s Word, or by coming on Sunday nights, or on another night during the week to learn more.

You have shown you are hungry to know more about who God is, and my hope and prayer is that this would be the pursuit of our entire student group.

To know God, is to have hope and life. To know God, is to be loved by Him. To know God, means that you know who you were created to be, and you can live that out with purpose.

Conclusion:

Let us seek to know God more and more, and let’s focus on Him this Christmas.