Light of Christ

CHRISTMAS TIME IS HERE

Welcome to Christmas Eve service - here on the eve of the day we celebrate Christ’s birth - tied with Resurrection Sunday as the two single-most important Christian celebrations of the year. The day our mighty God humbled Himself to take on human flesh and dwell among us, reversing the order of what we’d expect of a holy, all-powerful King and to eventually succumb to a horrible, terrible death for the purpose of sacrificing Himself that we might have exactly what this advent is celebrating:

HOPE (Angie) - expectation in the waiting, to be tied and anchored in hope, to be active in pursuit of what is hoped for; Jesus is our hope, and He’s coming soon to take us home

PEACE (Manfred) - The opportunity to have peace with God, to know peace through justification [just as if I’ve never sinned]; Jesus is our peace

JOY (Salve & Kasia) - Christ is our Joy - to be in a state of joy, not the world’s idea of a joy that’s temporary, but to have joy that carries us through life’s sorrows; He is our joy

LOVE (Joel) - God is Love, the purest form and active essence of Love; Jesus is love, and is love in action; Greater love has no man than this - to lay his life down for his friend. Jesus calls us friends, and laid his life down for us so we could see what it means to love from a Godly love - agape love.

All these subjects culminating to the arrival of all in one illumination - the arrival of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the savior of the world…wrapped in swaddling cloths.

We have this season of advent to remind us of two things - 1, that God came into this world, became flesh and dwelt among us, and 2, that there is a Second Return of Christ our Lord.

We get to use these candles - maybe you have them at home as well - as a symbol of each aspect of advent.

The beauty of this is as each one becomes lit, the light they emit together becomes brighter each week - ultimately culminating into the 5th candle, the Light of Christ having finally entered this world.

His arrival portrays the power He would leverage in this world - one of humility, sacrifice, and righteousness; He would literally provide salvation for the entire world.

ADVENT - ARRIVAL

It is His advent - His arrival that we celebrate in the Christmas season.

He came for you and for me

You are worth Jesus to God. You are special, created within mind of a genius, master-creator God who thought of you and said, “YES! I love him/her! I’m going to create him/her.”

Once upon a time, one single cell from your dad found one single cell from your mom - each one carrying 23 chromosomes, each half of your dad/mom and combined to form an entirely new creation, Stemming from 4 nucleotides into a new DNA strand that is a 3 Billion character description of who you are.

And if you take that DNA from that one cell of 3 billion characters - it would be six feet long....and take 96 years to read.

Never one like you and never one to be like you. And from that instruction guide, that one cell sets out to build 76 Trillion cells in your body.

[video of conception flash]

And in the moment that these two simple cells collide, there is an inexplicable flash of light that is the moment of conception

You are a miracle, and you are brilliant. And you have come a long, long way.

3 Days Old

Here you are 3 days old, a full weight of 16 cells.

16 Cell embryo on the tip of a safety pin.

16 cells on the way to 76 Trillion cells in your body.

4-5 Months Old

5 months - Here’s another miracle:

1 Million optic nerve endings leave brain and 1 Million optic nerve endings leave eyeball and meet 1 for 1

Still have blinders on…so mysteriously at 5 and 6 month mark, a cutting device separates the skin over your eyes and you finally have eye lids that will one day open and allow light in at a thrilling 300,000 km/s to those optic receivers, traveling those 1Million optic nerves and translated in your mind to experience the illumination that we know is sight.

It’s amazing! You are a wonder! You are a miracle!

I love the science of the human eye. There are so many studies on how the human eye functions, and still to this day the most advance technology in the world is the human eye. The colors of the iris and patterns of your retina identifies you more accurately than your thumb print. The way you perceive the world is the way your mind transfers, collates, and translates the information sent from your eye. And because of LIGHT, you’re able to understand and relate to the world around you.

The world revealed to you by light refracting and reflecting all around us, captured by our eyes and transformed into an image we can understand and know.

Through light - you and I can be known.

It seems then as we study scripture and observe the world around us…God has a thing for light. It was the very first thing He created, when the world was void and formless, and darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters, God said, LET THERE BE LIGHT.

God’s desire is for you and me this morning, for Him to do a great work in your life, He wants you to see it. He wants you to see from glory to glory. He wants you to observe the change that takes place within you as He brings you from glory to glory. From victory to victory. From healing to healing. From deliverance to deliverance. From freedom to freedom. From salvation to salvation. From miracle to miracle.

The Scoffer…Bah Humbug.

One of the big arguments from secular society is that Christmas doesn’t line up with Jesus’s actual birth. And this is true, we don’t deny that. We don’t actually know the exact date He was born. We are given timelines to infer - such as understanding when shepherds would bring their flocks down from the mountains to graze on the stubs of the most recent harvest:

Luke 2:8 “In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock.”

John 1:14 “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

That dwelling among us in the original text refers to tabernacling among us.

Both of these scriptures refer to the time of the Feast of Tabernacles - the harvest season mid Sept to early November

Which is a really interesting notion to consider because to be conceived nine months prior could have been during the Feast of Lights - Jesus, the Light of the World, conceived in a flash during the feast of Lights.

And as interesting as all this is, and without the exact date of His birth on record, we have the date of December 25th to celebrate Christmas, for nearly 1000 years now and I don’t see that changing any time soon.

If that’s one of your personal arguments this morning for intentionally being less festive in this most wonderful time of the year, I probably won’t change your mind this morning.

So all I can assure you is that we’d best be more interested in the Second Advent - the soon return of our Lord Jesus - AMEN!

We have seen a Great Light

Isaiah 9:2 “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; a light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness.”

We see the beginnings of this gospel message in in the Christmas story found in Luke 2:1-20

Luke 2:1–20 CSB

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole empire should be registered. This first registration took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So everyone went to be registered, each to his own town. Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David, to be registered along with Mary, who was engaged to him and was pregnant. While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. Then she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him tightly in cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger.” Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people he favors! When the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the manger. After seeing them, they reported the message they were told about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had seen and heard, which were just as they had been told.

So we see here the shepherds, the darkness of night, receiving the message of the Messiah with the Glory of the Lord shining around them; the message of light through light of the Light of the world!

It’s in this same way that we who believe have each received the revelation of Christ have received this epiphany, this revelation, this illumination from the Father.

Jesus is the Son of God.

He came to this world in the humblest of ways, born and laid in a bed he didn’t own.

He lived a life experiencing all that we have yet knew no sin.

He was falsely accused, terribly beaten, abandoned by loved ones, despised and rebuked.

He was tortured and killed in the most humiliating of ways.

He was laid in a borrowed tomb.

And on the 3rd day he arose from the dead having defeated death, hell, and the grave.

And is today sitting at the right hand of the Father, waiting, anticipating with all Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love to come and take us home.

That Light is a Gift

He was and is the perfect gift, the gift that keeps on giving.

He spent Himself once that all who should believe should always have access to Him - freely given, never out of touch or out of reach.

His priceless blood shed never losing value, never losing relevance, never losing its power.

His message is Peace. His purpose is Hope. His status is Joy. And His essence is Love.

And Jesus says Himself John 9:5 “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.””

Jesus’s time on earth began with a flash within Mary’s womb, and He will forever reign as the glory of God, shining eternally as Revelation 21:23 “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb.”

Jesus said in John 12:32 “As for me, if I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all people to myself.””

He was talking about being raised up on the cross - suspended between holy and unholy and making Himself the bridge between.

And we see Him - as the light of the world - drawing people to Himself that He may be THE way for all of us to come to the Father.

Psalms says in 27:1 - “The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? Of whom shall I be afraid?” 1 John 1 tells us “God is light. There is no darkness in him at all.” Light is very present and timely. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it. You can’t turn up or increase the dark. You simply have less light.

Jesus said in John 8 that “[He] is the light of the world, and anyone who follows Him will never walk in darkness”

This is the beautiful thing about Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path.” John 1, the Word made flesh and dwelt among us - that Word, being Jesus Himself, is a lamp for your fee and a light for your path.”

He illuminates the darkness, and is completely victorious. He literally lights up the world around us.

Where He leads me, I will follow - why? Because I can see where I’m going! I can see - have hope, have peace, have joy, and love because I can see what’s going on around me.

Those that walk in darkness - without Christ - have that aimless feeling. Pointless, boundless, purposeless. And attempt to fill that void with the things of this dark world.

But we weren’t made for darkness! We are living miracles - lived out by the Miracle of miracles - established to witness His glory and majesty and wonder of a brilliantly amazing and loving Father.

You need to be reminded this morning, you are worth Jesus to God.

Augustine quote: “Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering.”

And the prophet Jeremiah reminds us yet, you have a God who emphatically “knows the thoughts that He thinks towards you, who has plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.”

And here’s the revelation, the illumination that I want you to grab hold of today - this Merry Christmas Eve and Christmas Day: Jeremiah 29:12-14

Jeremiah 29:12–14 (CSB)

You will call to me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. I will be found by you”—this is the Lord’s declaration...

Found.

You were once lost in darkness.

You’ve seen a great light.

Now you’re found.

Now you’re known.

Let the Light In

Found. I was once lost but now I’m found.

I know what Christ has done for me, and I know the darkness I’ve had to walk through - even to be here with you today.

It is totally by God’s grace and mercy and love.

That is who He is.

If you’ve not had the pleasure and privilege of knowing Jesus as your peace, hope, joy, and love - as your salvation. I’d like to introduce Him to you today.

If you’ve not had the ability to recognize Him as your Lord and Savior, if you’ve not completely given your life over to Jesus, I reflect on this scripture:

2 Corinthians 4:4–6 “In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’s sake. For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.”

It is not God’s desire for you this morning to live in darkness, to live in fear, to live in desolation and have a woeful spirit.

God’s desire for you this morning is to have Himself. He is your Christmas gift now and always.

Would you let the light in?