The Logos & The Light

INTRODUCTION:

“Every year, when we gather for the Broadview Christmas Eve Candlelight service, it feels the same in all the best ways.

The room is full of family and friends. Kids are all matching in their their Christmas outfits.

We sing the carols we always sing.

We dim the house lights, light the Christ Candle, pass around the flame and end with ‘Silent Night.’

Many of you could do it with your eyes closed because you’ve done it so many times.

That familiarity is a gift. It’s nostalgic. It’s warm. It’s a rich Christian tradition.

For many, this night is one of the most cherished family traditions of the whole year.

It feels safe, warm and predictable—almost like for one hour the world finally slows down and everything is calm and bright.

And that’s where the gift of familiarity can also be a dangerous liability.

We can feel all the right feelings, say all the right words, and still completely miss the true message of Christmas.

Nostalgia can become a soft blanket we pull over our eyes and blind ourselves to what Christmas is all about. We blind ourselves to what that original Christmas was really like.

The first Christmas was not calm and sentimental; it was shocking and offensive.

It confronts us with two truths most people—including very religious people—do not want to hear:

We are sinful people who can’t save ourselves.

We are lost people who can’t find our way home.

That is what makes the message of Christmas so hard to take.

Christmas morning in the Gospel of John shows each problem and their answer. .

John 1:1–4 CSB

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.

John doesn’t start his Gospel like Matthew, Mark or Luke. It’s a totally different animal because he has a totally different purpose.

John is saying two things about Jesus in this passage. Both of them are scandalous if you have the ears to hear them:

Jesus is the Logos who saves us from our sin.

Jesus is the Light who shows us how to live.

Let’s take those one at a time.”

Jesus the Word

The first word John uses to describe the identity of Jesus is translated as “The Word” by most english translations.

In the original language it’s the Greek word “logos” which is packed with philosophical significance

At base, the word just means “word.” It could be a simple as a person’s speech or utterance. It could be even deeper in the sense of meaning or significance.

Greek stoics, however, took the word even further. For them, logos, was “divine rationality.” It was the rational principle that ordered and animated the cosmos.

John is writing for an audience that would’ve “gone there” in their mind but he’s also echoing the Old Testament in the opening lines of Genesis.

Genesis 1:1–3 CSB

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Moses repeats that refrain throughout Genesis 1. ALL creation came to be through the spoken Word of God.

Jesus is the author of creation. Not only was he “with God” in the beginning. All that is came to be through his creative agency.

This is something the New Testament affirms again and again. (John 1:10; Col 1:15-17; 1 Cor 8:6; Eph 3:9; Heb 1:2; Rev 4:11; 3:14)

This is an incredible claim by the apostle John. He’s saying at least three things in John 1:1.

Jesus is eternal and uncreated.

Jesus is distinct from the Father.

Jesus is fully divine in his essence.

Between the God the Father and God the Son there is a unity of essence and a distinction of persons.

Defending The Trinity

This is a paradox that some cannot not abide. Attempts have been made to diminish one side or the other.

Some will argue that Jesus was “part” of creation.

Unlike God the Father who is eternal and without origin, Jesus “came to be” and before then “was not.”

This heresy began with the Arians and persists today with the Jehovah Witnesses and LDS Church.

The obvious problem with this view is John 1:1. The word was with God and the Word WAS God. In case you didn’t catch it, John repeats it again more explicitly. John 1:18

John 1:18 CSB

18 No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side—he has revealed him.

The prevalence of Arianism led the early church to produce the Nicean Creed in 325AD.

It happened at meeting known as the Council of Nicea.

318 church leaders representing global Christianity at the time gathered together to establish what the Church believed.

At the conclusion of that gathering they affirmed the following.

Jesus is light from light, True God from True God. (Jesus is not semi-God)

Jesus was begotten but not made. (Jesus is not “part of the creation)

God the Father and God the Son are of “one substance.”

This gathering also produced a creed with the following affirmation and anathema.

We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten from the Father, only-begotten, that is, from the substance of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, of one substance with the Father... But as for those who say, “There was when He was not,” or “Before being born He was not,” or that He came into existence out of nothing, or who assert that the Son of God is of a different substance or created—the Catholic and apostolic Church anathematizes.

So when we say at Christmas that Jesus is the “logos” we’re proclaiming something scandalous and profound.

Jesus is the uncreated and eternal God who has taken on flesh so that he might save us.

The Word Our Savior

Why is it important that Jesus be the Word? Why is it “not enough” that he’s just another human?

The reason is because of the problem that we face.

The problem of human is sin is something humans CANNOT fix.

No human can defeat it because we’ve been defeated by it. We were born into this world with a sickness we can’t cure.

John alludes to this later in his passage. John 1:10-11

John 1:10–11 CSB

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.

This sounds crazy but it’s true. It’s the effect of sin on the human heart.

We are born spiritually blind, morally crooked and relationally hostile to God.

Sin isn’t just “out there.” It’s “in here.” It’s in our bloodline. Every child of Adam is born into Adam’s curse, shaped by it’s corruption. Eventually, without fail, we will participate it its rebellion.

This isn’t a feel good Christmas vibe but it’s true nonetheless.

Jesus had to come because our problem was unfixable. We don’t just make mistakes. We’ve commited divine treason.

The seriousness of an offense is often measured by the one we sin against. (wall vs police officer vs king)

Our sin is really cosmic treason. It’s sin against the holy and eternal God. He can’t be just and just “wave it away” like nothing.

The scripture never talks about sin in that way.

If God is just he can’t pretend evil isn’t evil. But if God is good he must oppose that which destroys his creatures.

So in his great love for us, the crown of his creation, he sent Jesus to be a savior and do what we could not.

Jesus is fully God because we don’t need advice. We need a savior who can rescue.

For that savior to do that work he had to be UNLIKE us in important ways.

He cannot be “created.”

He could not have the stain of sin.

Only a perfect and eternal priest could atone for our sinful eternal guilt.

Only an eternal priest can deal with sin that deserves an eternal judgment.

A human priest can represent humans but he cannot deliver them. He cannot save them.

Only God can do that. We need a perfect priest and an indestructible priesthood.

Jesus is that priest and he has accomplished that priestly work.

Jesus Our Life

But Jesus is not just the Word who saves us from our sin.

Jesus is also our light who shows us how to live.

Let’s keep reading John’s passage.

John 1:4–9 CSB

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.

In case you didn’t count them, John uses the word light seven times. (that’s not an accident!)

Light is another word that has theological significance. It also harkens back to Genesis 1.

Before creation, the earth was formless and empty; darkness covered the surface of the watery depths and the Spirit of the Lord hovered over the waters. Gen 1:3-4

Genesis 1:3–4 CSB

3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.

From the very beginning darkness and light have been separate from one another.

No matter how dark a room may be, even the smallest light can penetrate it.

Light stands for order, life, goodness and God’s presence. Darkness represent chaos, emptiness and separation from God.

John doesn’t just say that there’s light in “the world.” He says that true light has entered into this world through the God-man Jesus Christ.

In JESUS was life and that life was the light of men.

Person Not Ethics

Jesus is the light. It’s not his teaching. It’s not his ethics. It’s not any thing outside of him. It’s his person. He IS life. Jesus IS light.

Jesus is the blazing sun that vanquishes the midnight. The darkness did not, cannot, will not extinguish the light of Christ.

That’s the story of Christmas, is it not?

Satan tried and tried to extinguish the light of the world. He persuaded Herod to kill every first born son in the region.

He tempted Jospeh to abandon Mary and her child.

There was a lot of darkness on that first Christmas night. When we think about Christmas we usually think about the opposite.

We think about the lights on the tree, lights on the house, warm feelings, family gatherings. But the original Christmas wasn’t cozy.

That world and our world was steeped in deep darkness. It wasn’t just sinful choices or mistakes.

They were in such darkness that they didn’t even recognize the author of creation when he came.

John 1:10–11 CSB

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.

Darkness HATES the light. Why? Because light exposes the darkness.

John 3:19 CSB

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.

That’s the offense of Christmas. It’s not a cute baby being born in a stable.

It’s the eternal God of heaven stepping into our mess to rescue rebels who didn’t want rescuing.

Show Us The Way

Jesus is Light from true light. God from true God. And only true light could over come the darkness.

As the Word, Jesus saves us from our sin.

As the Light, Jesus shows us how to live.

Notice what John says. The LIFE of Jesus was the LIGHT of men. Jesus is showing us, through his life, what true life is.

John 1:4 CSB

4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

Jesus shows us a better way. John 8:12

John 8:12 CSB

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.”

He shows us how to love when the world shows us hate.

He shows us how to forgive when the world holds a grudge.

He shows us how to serve when the world is climbing ladders.

He shows us the word of truth is a world full of lies.

Jesus is the true light that never flickers and never fades.

He doesn’t only expose our sin he breaks the power of sin so we can be free. He guides our steps so we can live differently.

The Offense and Invitation

The real message of Christmas is offensive and unsettling. Don’t let the nostalgia blind you of that fact.

Christmas tells us we have a problem no man can fix.

It tells us we live in darkness and will not receive the light.

But it also tells us of a savior who is the light of the world.

The just and merciful God took on flesh in Jesus Christ. We have seen his glory. John 1:14

John 1:14 CSB

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.

For you to have this life, you must be born again. Not of the will of the flesh, or the will of man. You must be born of God.

How does that work? It’s a miracle of grace. According to John, there’s only one thing you must do: receive and believe. John 1:12

John 1:12 CSB

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,

When we receive Jesus - when we believe in His name. He gives us the right to become children of God.

We become “born again” not by human effort or the will of man. We become God’s children through grace and regeneration.