"The Gift of Light"
John 1:1-5, 10-14
What is darkness?
The Bible talks about darkness quite a bit.
Let's look at a few examples.
Proverbs 4:19 says: "The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble."
In Ephesians 4:11 we are warned: "Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness..."
And way back in Genesis Chapter 1, we are told that "the earth was formless and empty, [and that] darkness was over the surface of the deep..."
And then, of course, God spoke His Word saying: "Let there be light, and there was light.
God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness."
In the passage Brenda read earlier the prophet Isaiah says a day will come when, "The people walking in darkness" will see "a great light."
In Matthew Chapter 4 we are told that Jesus is the fulfillment of that prophecy.
And in the Scripture we just read from John Chapter 1 we are told that "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness doesn't extinguish the light."
It's been said that "In this one verse, a universe of meaning is contained."
And one of the things we must come to grips with is "there is darkness."
I was having a conversation with someone a couple days ago.
She was telling me about her childhood.
She said that as a child, her mother was an alcoholic and didn't take her to church.
She spent most of her teen years going to heavy metal concerts, fooling around with boys, drinking and taking drugs.
She said that she thought that "everyone lived like that."
She said that she didn't know there was any other way.
Sometime in the late 1980's she went to some huge Christian Rock concert.
She said that she looked around and wondered to herself, "Where in the world did all these people come from?"
And one day, she remembers standing in her driveway as God spoke to her soul.
He told her that there was another way to live, and that He had great plans for her life if she would only follow Him.
That woman is the secretary of our Chattanooga District of the United Methodist Church.
"The people walking in darkness have seen a great light.
On those living in a pitch-dark land, light has dawned...
...A child is born to us, a son is given to us...
...He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace."
"In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God...
...Everything came into being through the Word, and without the Word nothing came into being.
What came into being through the Word was life, and the life was the light for all people.
The light shines in the darkness..."
There is darkness.
Sometimes, in the Bible, the word darkness just means it's nighttime.
But more often, darkness represents the evil which has crept into God's world, polluting the goodness, the order and the purpose.
And we see the darkness used this way throughout John's Gospel.
In John Chapter 3 Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night--the darkness that represents doubt and fear struggling to find faith.
Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus leads Jesus to say: "the light has come into the world, and the people loved darkness rather than light."
The blind man in John Chapter 9 becomes the symbol for the spiritual blindness of Jesus' enemies.
Even though they could see physically, they still walked in darkness.
When Judas goes out to betray Jesus, John summarizes the evil about to be unleashed with the simple statement, "And it was night."
And today, we see the truth that there is much darkness in our world.
We know of ways that evil corrupts what should be good.
We see the darkness which has crept into creation in things that happen naturally.
Tsunamis kill thousands.
Millions die from drought and famine.
Tiny babies battle cancer.
Alzheimer's eats away at a person's mind.
Surely, these things are part of the darkness.
They are not part of the order and goodness God intended.
We can't help but see the darkness in society and politics.
We see it when businesses get rich from ripping off the poor.
We see it in the drug war which is fueled by human weakness and spread by the callous indifference to human life.
The darkness becomes nearly pitch black when we talk about child sex trafficking, terrorism, and genocides.
How can people, created by God, loved by God, become so full of hatred and violence?
There is darkness.
And there is darkness inside of each one of us.
More than one person has noted that our culture wants to live, not only in the denial of death, but also in the denial of darkness.
But if we deny the existence of darkness, how can we possibly be saved?
Of the religious leaders of Jesus day, our Lord said that "they are blind guides."
And, "If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit."
In a number of Jesus' parables separation from God's Kingdom is described as a place of utter "darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth."
So, let's make the confession.
Let Jesus take the scales off our eyes.
There IS darkness.
But there is more.
For the Scripture says: "The light shines in the darkness..."
We are saved, our spiritual birth occurs when we turn away from all the artificial lights that distract us and enter into the darkness so that we see the true Light that has come into the world.
If we get real and honest, we will see the Light of God.
John says, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness doesn't extinguish the light."
Other versions say, "The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it."
It's important to notice that "the light shines" in the present tense.
The darkness did not overcome it.
The darkness tried but failed.
The Light rose from the dead and claimed victory over hell, death, the devil, the darkness!!!
The Light is stronger than the darkness, and smarter than the darkness.
No matter how persistent the darkness is...
...no matter how dark the darkness seems to be...
...no matter how evil the darkness becomes...
...it cannot win!!!
God's Light continues to shine.
John Chapter 1 tells us: "The light was in the world, and the world came into being through the light, but the world didn't recognize the light.
The light came to his own people, and his own people didn't welcome him.
But those who did welcome him, those who believed in his name, he authorized to become God's children, born not from blood nor from human desire or passion, but born from God."
One writer puts it this way: "It is not that we are strangers to God.
Rather we are prodigals who have left home and now need to be restored to the family.
We all have that divine breath which came to the human race at creation, when God breathed into the creature of clay the stuff of divine life.
Now it is a matter of our coming back into the family which is rightly our home.
There are many times when you and I need to remember that our rightful human place is in the family of God.
I must tell myself this.
Whatever another human being may seem to be at a given moment, no matter how dark and unlovable that person has become, he or she is still someone whose original family ties are with God.
I dare not give up on any human being; because he or she has the potential, by God's action in Jesus Christ to rejoin the heavenly family.
Nor can I give up on myself.
On those days when I look at myself more harshly that I would ever look on another human being--when I can see nothing good in me--I must remember that my eternal roots are in the family of God, and that God wants so much for His family to be whole that He took on human flesh and made His home with us.
And through faith in Him, we are given the power to become children of God."
That's something to throw at our "enemy the devil [who] prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."
That's something to throw at the teeth of despair, self-loathing and fear.
That is Light in the darkness--it's the final word to speak to hell itself!!!
The Light is stronger than the darkness, smarter than the darkness.
And this is not just wishful thinking; it's not just looking on the bright side.
It is faith.
And that faith is a gift of God.
It is a faith that refuses to give up, refuses to surrender to the darkness of the world.
It's a faith that claims the promise of the victory of the light.
And it's a faith which is put into action, as we seek to bring God's light to the darkened parts of our world, sharing Christ's love and healing with those who are plunged into the deepest part of the darkness, of the misery, of the lie, of hell!!!
Our enemy is the devil.
Our enemy is the darkness.
And it is looking for someone to devour.
The Old Testament tell us that God gave our human race an utterly beautiful start by setting us in a garden of paradise.
But we human beings rebelled against God and gave into sin.
As a result we became wayward and lost.
By creation we were the children of God, but by our own choice we became the children of the devil.
And finally, if we reject God, we become the children of destruction.
When we stop and think about the condition of our world, that isn't too hard to believe.
Just look at the daily headlines.
War, hate, prejudice, hunger, poverty: these words are the language of hell--of the darkness.
And these things seem to dominate our human scene.
It's a far cry from Eden.
Something has gone violently wrong.
But God wants our relationship with Him to be restored.
So the eternal God came into this corrupt, painful, dangerous world and lived among us.
God shared the sadness, the danger, the pain of our world.
God the Light shined and continues to shine in the darkness--there is no other way.
God so loves you and me.
The whole life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus--is at the very heart of Christmas.
We can't celebrate Christmas without Easter in view.
(Pause)
The darkness is real.
But, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness doesn't extinguish the light."
Light is stronger than darkness.
Do we recognize the Light Who has come into our midst?
Have we received Him, really, for Who He is?
If not, will we be born, on this day, not from blood nor from human desire or passion?
Will we become, with Him, the Children of God?
