When the Lights Went Out

Last week started new series More Than A Manger. Looking at how the Bible is actually a story - how a good God made a beautiful world, how it become broken, and what he’s done and is doing to heal and restore it - and us. The four big movements of this story are Creation - which we looked at last week, Fall, Redemption, and New Creation. And the hinge of this epic story was a baby placed in a manger 2,000 years ago. Manger scenes are used as decorations. They make for sappy nostalgia. But as we’ll see in our series, his coming is about way more than a manger.

I’ve called our second message When The Lights Went Out. Let me set it up by asking a question: Why do we light candles or hang lights on our homes and trees around Christmastime?

One answer comes from pre-Christian history. In the northern hemisphere, winter is the darkest time of year. Darkness pressed in swallowing the daylight and warmth and growth. So ancient ppl would light candles, have bonfires, and hang greenery to express their hope that the light would come again.

But digging deeper I think that within us is a visceral fear of darkness. It conjures feelings of danger and the fear of what’s “out there” lurking to get us. Darkness awakens our monsters. Anyone who’s ever had a parent look under their bed or in their closet at bedtime knows what I’m talking about.

I think our fear of the dark in part is a buried memory of when light abounded. We saw last week how a good God made a good world for us to thrive in. There was night, but there was never darkness. There wasn’t the darkness of fear, loss, and death. Somewhere in our memory we know the the way the world is, and they way our lives are, are not how it’s supposed to be.

The reason we light candles—the reason we string lights on our homes—is because the darkness is real. That during the longest nights of the year, we need the promise of light. And yet the story the Bible is telling is that the deepest darkness isn't outside; it's inside, in us. Our spiritual darkness began with a moment of doubt and disobedience in a perfect garden. This moment plunged humanity into a reality where two big questions hang over all of us. This morning, we going to look at the question that made the lights go out, and at the promise of the manger that would turn them back on. The manger is more than a manger; The manger is God’s promise that the darkness won’t win.

Pray …

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“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.” (Genesis 3:1–7, NIV)

Here is where the Bible says the lights went out. Sometimes we evangelical Christians read this and get lost in trying to explain or defend how a snake could talk, instead of paying attention to what the dang thing said! Because the serpent asks the first question that still hangs over us today.

Did God really say?

What the author wants us to see is that this evil entity - described as a serpent and which the Bible would later call ha satan (the adversary) - wasn’t asking a sincere question seeking clarity. It is introducing suspicion regarding God’s character. It is sowing doubt in God’s goodness and sufficiency. When he asks “Did God really say?” he is ultimately insinuating that God is holding out of them, denying them something that would be good.

He introduces doubt.

He completely ignores the broad permission they already have - everything is theirs to enjoy.

He highlights this single prohibition.

And then lies that this will give them something they already possess - God’s likeness. He entices them to satisfy their desires apart from God. And when they did the world went dark.

After all this time, Satan’s tactics haven’t really changed. He implants doubt in God’s goodness. When bad things happen, how many times is our first response “Where is God? How could he let this happen?” He convinces us that God doesn’t have our best interests at heart and is withholding something good from us. And he entices us to satisfy our desire in illegitimate way. Every time we’re tempted to sleep with someone - or fantasize about someone - who is not our spouse, every time we’re enticed to go to that porn site, every time we’re bedazzled to buy that 27th pair of black pumps or fishing rod, the message is still the same: you must satisfy your needs and desires apart from God.

This question that caused the lights to go out still hangs over your head today, “Did God really say?” How you answer is the difference between the light and the dark.

Let’s keep reading...

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“Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”” (Genesis 3:8–13, NIV)

Here we find the second big question that hangs over each of us:

Where are you?

We need to understand that when God asked that question, he wasn’t inquiring about their location. He was asking about their relation. He is saying that those who were once near have moved away from him. I want you to notice some things:

God already knew what happened. And because they couldn’t come to him,

He came to them. Already he is bridging the gap we caused. And in coming to them,

He called out to them. And in calling out,

He invited them to confess.

They feel shame over their sin. The Lord draws them out so that he can heal and restore. His heart has always and ever been to have relationship with us. When he asks them “Where are you?” he already has a plan to turn the lights back on.

This is the second big question that hangs over your head still. God asks “Where are you?” Are you near to him or are you far away. And in asking, he is coming near to you bc his desire is that you would come out of hiding and be reunited to him.

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We don’t have time to go deeply into the consequences of our first parents choice contained in the next few verses. Let me just give an overview. God says there will be:

Increased pain in childbirth.

Conflict in marriage.

Work that was intended to be good and satisfying will now be burdensome.

Ultimately, they will die.

I think it’s important to clarify that I don’t read these consequences as prescriptive - that God is going to do this to them - but as descriptive - God is telling them that this will be the fallout because they’ve chosen to act apart from him. I’ve said it before, sin carries it’s own death consequences.

The point is that here is the Bible’s explanation as to why our world is in the state that it’s in. The consequences of the choice made in Eden still ripple down to us today. This explains why we suffer from brokenness, pain, oppression, disease, war, poverty, and everything else in between. I think that is easy for us to see. We’re faced with examples every day.

But lest we think we are victims, we also have to confess that we’ve been participants in the same sin as our first parents. When asked “Did God really say?” we also have tasted the forbidden fruit, thinking that it could give us something that God was withholding. We want to believe that evil is just “out there”. But the Bible serves as a mirror showing us that the real evil we face is “in here”.

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Satan raised a question, and our first parent’s choice - and our own continuing choices - made the lights go out. Thank God the story doesn’t end here. I’m going to read verse 15 and then jumping to the end of the chapter...

“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”” (Genesis 3:15, NIV)

“The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” (Genesis 3:21–24, NIV)

In the midst of darkness and death coming because of sin, we also see the first glimmer of the Gospel. God lit a candle that guides us all the way to the manger. We see that...

As the world is plunged into darkness he made the promise of redemption: The offspring of the woman would crush the serpents head. Eve may have failed, but God promised that her failure wouldn’t be final. Someday someone from her own family tree would undo the failure of Eden. By the way, your failures aren’t final either. The manger, and the child within, is the fulfillment of God’s promise to rid the world of the darkness we caused.

God clothes them. They try to atone for their sin with fig leaves, but atonement is something only God can do. So he makes the first sacrifice, substituting the life of an animal to cover their sin and shame. As the story moves forward, we see that this foreshadowed another sacrifice - the Lamb of God, the Son of God - who took our place, atoned for our sin, and covered our shame. The truth is that whatever horrible things you’ve done, they aren’t simply covered up by Jesus - they are removed entirely. And if you think you’re not all that bad - which might be the greatest sin - Jesus’ atonement heals you too.

He protects them from making their condition eternal. God was unwilling that his humans would live eternally apart from him in this fallen state. So he protects them and preserves them until he can enact his ultimate plan. The apostle Paul speaks of this plan in his letter to the Galatians: “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.” Galatians‬ ‭4‬:‭4‬-‭5‬ ‭NRSV‬‬ In Jesus, not only is sin forgiven; the way back to the tree of life is restored.

Instead of telling you specific ways to apply the message, let me just ask you some questions and allow the Holy Spirit to speak:

Where are you trying to find fulfillment and satisfaction apart from God? To say it another way, where are you listening to the voice of the deceiver ask “Did God really say?”

Where do you blame-shift, pointing the finger at others or making excuses instead of owning your sin before God? God is still asking “Where are you?” but it requires honesty on your part.

What fig leaves are you using to hide from God or others?

Maybe the most important application question is where are you attempting to cover your own sin and shame instead of turning to the redeemer? Jesus our Messiah, the baby born in a manger, is the hinge of history that everything else swings on. Do you know him? Have you ever asked him to apply his atoning sacrifice to you? If not, I want to give you the opportunity to do that now.

Heavenly Father, I know I have done wrong and that I deserve to suffer the consequences. But I believe Jesus died to take my place, and that he suffered death for me so that I won’t have to. I am making the decision right now to surrender myself to you and make Jesus my Lord. Please forgive my sin and make me your child forever. Amen.

Let me know if you’ve made this decision...

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O Little Town of Bethlehem is probably one of the most well loved Christmas hymns of all time. It was written in 1865 by a minister named Phillip Brooks. 1865 was a difficult year. The US was just ending a 4 year long civil war. Abraham Lincoln had been assassinated. So Brooks took a sabbatical to the Holy Land. He was so moved by the peace he experienced in Bethlehem that when he returned to the states he composed this poem which was later set to music by his organist:

O little town of Bethlehem How still we see thee lie Above thy deep and dreamless sleep The silent stars go by Yet in thy dark streets shineth The everlasting Light The hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee tonight

“Yet in thy dark street shineth the everlasting light”. Or as the apostle John put it 2,000 years before, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” (John 1:5, NRSV) All your hopes and and all your fears are satisfied in our humble God who was born in a manger.

Why do we light candles and hang lights? Because The manger assures us that darkness won’t win. With the coming of Jesus, the lights have come back on.

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Invite people to stand.

Invite Communion/ministry team forward.

Every Sunday we close our time by receiving Communion together. This symbolic meal reminds us of Jesus’ sacrifice. It proclaims the gospel that Christ has died, Christ has risen, and Christ will come again. It is the source of our spiritual nourishment. We believe Jesus is present with us as we receive his body and blood.

We think Jesus invites everyone to this table. If it’s your first time, or you’re not even sure yet where you stand with Jesus, we think he would welcome you here. If you would like to participate, after I pray step into the nearest aisle. Someone at the front will take a piece of bread dipped in wine and offer it to you as the body and blood of Jesus. If you prefer not to have wine, close your hands together and that will be the sign for them to give you a sealed container with grape juice and a wafer.

What is the Spirit doing this morning?…

As we go into our time of Communion let’s rejoice with all God’s people in God’s promises found in Jeremiah:

“How precious is your steadfast love, O God! All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.” (Psalm 36:7–9, NRSV)

Thank him that through the blood of his cross he has washed our sins away. Through his victorious resurrection he has guaranteed us eternal life. Through his ascension and the outpouring of the Spirit he has made us one with you.

We remember Him who for us and for our salvation, on the night that he was betrayed...

Come Holy Spirit and overshadow these elements. Let them be for us your body and blood so that we can participate in your redemptive work for us. May we find mercy, healing and salvation through the finished work of the cross. Amen.

Invite the worship team to receive Communion first.