Christmas Eve 2025 - The Light of the World
Notes
Transcript
Welcome
The Christ Candle
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and by him all things hold together. 18 He is also the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile everything to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. 21 Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds as expressed in your evil actions. 22 But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before him—23 if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become a servant of it.
Prayer
Worship through Song
Worship through Song
Introduction
Introduction
Good evening everyone. Thank you for being here tonight as we continue to anchor our hearts and minds to our Lord and Savior. Tonight we have lit the Christ candle. The one who brings our only Hope, greatest Joy, calmest peace, and deepest love.
The advent season is ment to help draw our attention and grow our anticipation of the celebration of birth of our savior. Each week the anticipation grows in the expectation that our savior is born. With the final candle representing the birth of the Messiah. What looks like such a little flame represents the true light that gives life is coming into the world.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light. 9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.
He who has no beginning, who was with God, who is God, who all things were created through, empties himself and comes into his own creation as the child who will be born. In him is life and the light of man. There is a continual theme of light and darkness in the scriptures.
During creation God created light and separated it from the darkness. So why does John speak of the light that will come into the world? Or in other words, why does the Word, God, need to come into the world as light.
God is Light
God is Light
When we look at what John is communicating, we first must look to how God is described in scripture. He says that Jesus is the true light that was coming into the world. The Psalmist writes of God as one who is wrapped in light.
1 My soul, bless the Lord! Lord my God, you are very great; you are clothed with majesty and splendor. 2 He wraps himself in light as if it were a robe, spreading out the sky like a canopy,
Light is used as a picture of what is pure, clean, revealing, glorifying, and life giving. And God is one who is light.
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him.
The true light is coming into the world. He is coming to shine in the darkness. For what purpose? Why must the one who is light step out of heaven and be born in fragile humanity to shine in the darkness. It said that…
4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men.
Life and light are intertwined in the incarnation of God, in the birth of our Lord. Jesus came to be light for men and women who are in need of being rescued from the darkness. There are two groups of people separated by this imagery of light and darkness.
Jesus Rescues from Darkness
Jesus Rescues from Darkness
Jesus said that those that follow him would never walk in darkness but have the light of life.
12 Jesus spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me will never walk in the darkness but will have the light of life.”
Jesus has come into the world so that those that believe in him will not remain in darkness.
46 I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me would not remain in darkness.
There is a darkness that envelops the world that people must be rescued from. The darkness that each and every person is in before the light of the gospel is shown to them and they believe in its message.
17 I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
A darkness that they are comfortable in, confident in, and in their own minds happy in. A darkness that is so natural.
17 Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thoughts. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts. 19 They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more.
Those that are in the darkness know no other reality. Their minds are filled with ignorance and futility. They are callous and have hard stones for hearts. This is the mind of the unbeliever.
In Plato's Allegory of the Cave, he describes prisoners chained in a cave, only able to see shadows on a wall, which they mistake for reality.
Illumination that is uncomfortable and takes time to adjust too. Then there is a pity or compassion on those still in the cave. So they return and it is uncomfortable again, they are called crazy as they cannot see what you have seen. They must turn from the wall and see for themselves.
Those that we seen as wise now are seen a fools.
11 But the one who hates his brother or sister is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and doesn’t know where he’s going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
The reality is that without the revelation of God’s light, people are like those that sit staring at a wall of shadows believing that they see the world clearly and even when others come and tell them the good news that there is something outside that is the true light. They will ridicule and reject the truth.
19 This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed.
Those that believe are rescued from the dominion of darkness.
13 He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.
For he shines in the darkness.
5 That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.
Those that are called out of the darkness and brought into the kingdom of light are called to a great thing.
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
The life and light of Jesus brings great changes to the believer. And they are called to walk in the newness of this life and to live differently, to live in the light. There is this constant call to turn from the darkness you were in to the light that you now are.
Walk in the Light
Walk in the Light
8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light—9 for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth—10 testing what is pleasing to the Lord.
We are to walk as children of light, children of the light that came into the world. This is a new way of life.
11 Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them.
For we no longer belong to the darkness.
5 For you are all children of light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or the darkness.
There is a constant battle with the light and darkness. The kingdom of light and the world of darkness. There are these constant reminder to not live in the darkness anymore. As we read God’s word, starting with the gospel that brings life, we find that it truly is a lamp unto our feet.
105 Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path.
We used to bang around in the darkness of sin thinking that every thing was ok and good. But when the light is shown when the word is read and allowed to affect our minds we find the uncomfortable and challenging reality that things must change. That my view of the world is wrong. That my pride needs to be crushed. That my motives and affections need to change.
There is always a choice to be made when the word shines a light on the path. Do you take a step forward against your own flesh and desire, towards the righteousness of God that is your new self.
23 to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth.
The choice to move forward in the reality of the truth and life against the majority, the popular, the powerful, towards the Lord or be drawn to go back and sit down and stare at the shadows again. Settling for the false dark world that produces death instead of life.
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him. 6 If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. 7 If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
The world draws us to the darkness or keeps us there with many false promises that that do not fulfill in the end.
Instead we should be drawn and lead by the light and truth.
3 Send your light and your truth; let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy mountain, to your dwelling place.
And the Lord is our light and salvation and the stronghold of our lives.
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom should I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life— whom should I dread?
God’s children are called to be the light of the world.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
Do you hide your light as to not offend the world around you? Keeping what ever work Christ has done in your life as secret as possible so that you do not cause discomfort or conflict. Refusing to be transformed any more than necessary, content in having the light inside but staying conformed to the world and sitting in the darkness.
2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
I don’t know about you but I want to be able to discern what the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God is. But that can only happen in the light.
Have you ever walked up to a house in the country at night? A house is neither light or dark in itself. It depends on what is inside. There may be no light at all and everything blends seamlessly into the darkness around the house. Other houses may look dark from outside but when you get close to the window there may be a small flame of a single candle in the center of the home. As you peak inside not much is revealed not much in known but there is a source of light.
Other homes can be seen from miles away. The light seems to reject the darkness around it. It not only reveals what is inside the home but also shines out across the country side giving light to the world outside pushing back the darkness around it.
It is not the house that is at work but the light that is inside of it.
There are two eternal destinations described in the bible. The first is the eternal darkness for all who reject the life and light that has came into the world.
12 But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
10 He was in the world, and the world was created through him, and yet the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
The second is the final destination of all who believe in the one who gives light.
1 Then he showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the city’s main street. The tree of life was on each side of the river, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations, 3 and there will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 Night will be no more; people will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will give them light, and they will reign forever and ever.
12 But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name, 13 who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God. 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.
Conclusion
Conclusion
We gather tonight as children of light and of life. The single candle representing the coming light into the world. The God of creation redeeming his own people from their own destruction.
11 Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord.
Prayer
Song
