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People like to go home for Christmas. We long for familiar sights and sounds and smells. We sing songs about going home to celebrate Christmas.
I’ll be home for Christmas
You can plan on me
Please have snow and mistletoe
And presents on the tree
Oh, there’s no place like home for the holidays
‘Cause no matter how far away you roam
If you want to be happy in a million ways
For the holidays, you can’t beat home, sweet home!
There is no Christmas
Like a home Christmas
With your Dad and Mother
Sis an’ Brother there
But Christmas isn’t about going home. It’s about leaving home. That’s what Jesus did. He left His heavenly home to come down to this dark world.
Review
How the Gospels begin:
• Mark begins his Gospel with the ministry of Jesus.
• Matthew and Luke begin their Gospels with the birth of Jesus.
• John begins his Gospel with the preexistence of Jesus (His life before His birth in Bethlehem).
“The Word” (Greek: logos) = Jesus
As our words reveal who we are, so “the Word” (Jesus) reveals who God is.
1. WHAT JESUS ALWAYS WAS
a. He was always existing (1:1a). “In the beginning was the Word.” When the beginning began, Jesus was already there. He is eternal. He did not have a beginning.
b. He was always with God (1:1b). “And the Word was with God.” Before there was anyone, Jesus enjoyed a personal relationship with God.
c. He was always God (1:1c). “And the Word was God.”
2. WHAT JESUS BECAME
a. He became a man (1:14a). “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” Jesus is God in the flesh. He is the God-man. He is fully God and fully man.
b. He became our Savior. The name “Jesus” means “the LORD saves.” “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).
The real message of Christmas: God became a man so that He could die for us! John 1:1-18 is not about a message that offers hope; it is about the message that is the only hope.
1. He is the CREATOR.
“Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made” (v. 3).
Jesus was the agent of creation: “Through him all things were made.”
Some people say that Jesus was the first creation of God and through Him God created everything else. But this verse is clear: “Without him nothing was made that has been made.” Everything that has been made was made by Jesus. If Jesus was created, He would have to have been created by Himself, which would require Him to both exist and not exist at the same time (impossible!).
He created both light and life:
• “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light,” and there was light” (Genesis 1:1-3).
• “The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7).
2. He came to earth to bring us LIGHT and LIFE (vv. 4-5).
“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned” (Isaiah 9:2).
If Christ had not come to earth, we would forever live in darkness. What does darkness symbolize?
• CONFUSION
“Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night…” (John 3:1-2). In the darkness of confusion, Nicodemus misunderstood the new birth.
• HOPELESSNESS
“Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark…” (John 20:1). In the darkness of hopelessness, the followers of Jesus thought this was the end.
Illustration: The Westroads Mall massacre – This past Wednesday, Robert Hawkins opened fire in a mall in Omaha, Nebraska, killing eight people and injuring several others. He had recently broken up with a girlfriend and lost his job at a McDonald’s. In a suicide note, he wrote, “I’ve just snapped. I can’t take this meaningless existence anymore. I’ve been a constant disappointment and that trend would have only continued.”
• SIN
“…[Judas] went out. And it was night” (John 13:2). In the darkness of sin, Judas betrayed Jesus.
Sin = commitment to self (righteousness = commitment to God). Judas followed Jesus because he wanted a revolution. When he realized that Jesus wasn’t going to do what he wanted Him to do, he betrayed Jesus.
Illustration: Robert Hawkins, though depressed, was still devoted to himself. In his suicide note, he wrote about how he would “be famous” because of the killings.
Jesus doesn’t want anyone to live in spiritual confusion, hopelessness, and sin. He said, “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness” (John 12:46).
Two translations of verse 5b:
• “…the darkness has not UNDERSTOOD the light.”
• “…the darkness has not OVERCOME the light.”
Perhaps John wants us to read it both ways: darkness could not “understand” the light (could not grasp with the mind), and darkness could not “overcome” the light (could not grasp it with the hand).
Because the hearts and minds of people are dark, Jesus was rejected (misunderstood) and crucified. But light is STRONGER than darkness.
Illustration: No matter how dark a room is, a candle will always shine.
The crucifixion and resurrection prove that light is more powerful than darkness:
• “It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour [from noon to three in the afternoon], for the sun stopped shinning” (Luke 23:44-45a).
• “After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb” (Matthew 28:1).
The darkness of the CRUCIFIXION led to the light of RESURRECTION MORNING. Light has overcome darkness.
Illustration: Light reveals. A flashlight reveals what is in a dark room.
Jesus came to reveal many truths to us:
a. Jesus is the light who reveals the ONLY WAY to eternal life.
“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
Illustration: The teaching that Christ is the light of men reminds us of the Israelites who—after their exodus from Egypt, and during their time in the dark wilderness—followed the pillar of light. Those who followed it and did not rebel against its guidance reached Canaan. The others had died in the desert. We could say that a “second exodus” is currently underway. Followers of Christ are leaving the darkness of this world and entering the light of God’s kingdom.
b. Jesus is the light who reveals the HOPE of eternal life.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not sent his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16-17).
c. Jesus is the light who reveals the FREEDOM of eternal life.
“If you hold to my teaching you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32).
“I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:34-36).
There is a connection between hope and spiritual freedom. You don’t need to get all you can because this is not all there is. You are free not to live for yourself.
Invitation
Challenge
Followers of Christ are LIGHTS who reflect His glory:
• “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:5).
• “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14).
