Light From Light

AI Transcript

Amen. Thank you, Trisha. That actually goes very well with what we're looking at this morning. If you have your Bible, you can turn to the book of Revelation. We're going to pause, not Revelation, sorry, we're pausing Revelation for a few weeks. We'll get it back in the new year. The book of John, John chapter one, you can begin to make your way there. Let me go ahead and pray for us and then we'll open up God's word together.

Yeah, Lord, thank you for the opportunity to gather here.

Lord, thank you that you are sovereign. You know all things. You know all people. You know all that every person in here is facing. And so I pray, Lord, that you'd give each of us what we know not. You teach us what we are not. You'd make us what we have not. You'd give us now through your word in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. As I said, we're in John chapter one. We are pausing.

This just to enter into this season a little bit this Advent season one of the things that we've tried to do in our nine years as a church is to just remind one another that We do not exist on an island to ourselves that we are connected to something historic and rooted we join with the Saints from Generations and centuries ago and wherever we can we want to just say This is our moment. We are playing our part one link in the chain

Others will come behind us unless Jesus comes back sooner. But yeah we have a historic and rooted faith. so Advent is one of those times that we can do that. So we we do we go through catechisms like this. We go through liturgy because we're not our own. We go through liturgies of the season. Advent is this time in the church. It comes from the Latin word Adventus. It means coming or arrival. We almost always exclusively think of it as.

Jesus is first coming but that's actually not the purpose of Advent in church history. It's one of the purposes to be sure. But what what what the church did in about the fourth century and forward that they realized as the days were getting dark and that is not only physical but spiritual that they needed some hope and they needed to stir a longing and train and and disciple in themselves a longing for

hope. And so they looked back at the first coming the first Advent. They held on to that as a God who keeps his promises but they also looked forward to the second coming. What we've been studying in the book of Revelation and they held on to these two realities as they lived in the middle and in some dark times to train themselves. so Advent was a time of fasting of prayer. Some refer to it as the

the Christmas lint season where you pause, you fast, you pray, you confess sin. And so this is a way that the church has trained themselves to long for that which really matters. So this year we're going to pick up on the theme of light. each this week, next week, and then Christmas Eve, we're going to focus on this. And because it's one of the key themes around this time of year.

We put up lights, we decorate our house with lights, we look towards the light. We all need light. And we need that physically, spiritually, emotionally, relationally. We all need light. I came to realize after growing up in Colorado where we have a lot of days of sunshine that I actually need light. So we moved to Brno, Czech Republic to do church planting there.

We landed on December 17th, not knowing anyone, not knowing the culture, not knowing the language, not having any friends, having come from some great, amazing ministry elsewhere. But as we landed there, in more ways than one, it was dark. My daughters would tell you that as you cross the border from Austria into the Czech Republic, they would feel a darkness descend.

There was a spiritual darkness. That's why we were going to be light there, but you could feel it. But there was a physical darkness as well. I remember not only was it just gray and overcast like for six months straight, like the fog was so thick that I couldn't see from here to the back of the room in our yard. And this is where we landed, December 17th. And so we tried to do what we could to try to brighten it up and make a home. And so we went and bought lights. We made about 35 trips to Ikea.

And we're like, got to get a tree. We got to get a tree in this place. so where else would you go to get trees, real trees than Ikea? So that's the only place we had seen. And so they sent me on to go get the tree by myself. That's the first problem. But I went to go get a tree. I showed up there. There's like two, maybe three trees. And they're all like five feet foot tall. And I found the thickest one I could. And it was like five foot tall and like,

eight foot wide. It was a bush really. And I brought it home and to this day my wife and daughters roast me for that tree. Like like remember that Charlie Brown bush that you brought into our house. I'm like it was the only option. Like why you roasting me. Like I should have sent you. But that's what we had. We put lights on it. But yeah those dark days literally and physically spiritually.

I experienced for the first time in my life seasonal affective disorder. Winter blues. A kind of seasonal depression. I come to learn later that a lot of my other friends and missionaries, that they would get these happy lamps where for the first 20 minutes of the day you just kind of take in light. I didn't know that. I was just like, man, this sucks. on so many levels. Like this sucks. I felt...

like a pressure on my chest. was hard to breathe at times. I'm like, what is wrong with me? I've never felt this in my life. And yeah, again, because we need light. We were made for light. We were made for light on all these different levels. And that's true for all of us. Like this time of year, there's a lot of great things, but there is a lot of expectation on these things.

And there's a lot of misplaced expectation and hopes and dreams like, we're going to get together as a family and we're all going to get along. Well, good luck with that. Or there's pressure like, I got to find the perfect gift and this will help and unlock this relationship. Good luck with that. Or there's desires and longings that you would receive the perfect gift. But everyone's telling you, if you get the Red Rider BB gun, you'll shoot your eye out. There's just pressure to this time.

And far from being, for many people, far from being the most wonderful time of the year, the pressure of the season actually is a very difficult time of the year. Maybe that's your story here today. Maybe you're like, man, I don't feel any of this. In fact, all this just reminds me of the brokenness of this world. When I think of Christmas, I often think very fondly of my mother.

how she loved love love Christmas. And even as a single mom, would she would make it a magical time. She'd decorate the house. She'd put up the tree. She'd start putting gifts under the tree and it would just grow. But Christmas morning would come down and and there was just a ton more. And it was a magical, great time. And then as we started having our own daughters like she she went overboard to bless them and and to to make this a great time whenever.

she could for their lives. And every year we think of her as where we put up her Christmas village. But it's also a reminder that she's not here. When she was in her 50s, she got ALS and died in her 50s from ALS. And she should be here. And so you're like, man, this season is awesome. And yet the season is a reminder that not all is as it should be.

wait to this season. It is the most wonderful time of the year not because of what is happening but because of what happened. That's why we say that and I want to look at that we want to look at that over the next few weeks so if you have your Bible we're in John chapter 1 but let me just remind you of John's story. John is writing this gospel possibly the same John who wrote Revelation and if that's the case he probably wrote both of these at the

Near or at the same time. But John is an old man now looking back on his life and all that he's seen when he wants to sit down and tell the story of Jesus. John when he was a teenager, probably the youngest disciple, just a teenage boy, a rabbi comes along the shore at the Sea of Galilee and says, John I want you to follow me and he...

leaves his nets and he leaves his boats and he leaves his family and he begins a three year journey of traveling with Jesus and learning about the kingdom of God and seeing just amazing miracles and the teachings of God and the heart of God and he's absolutely transformed by that. He comes to believe that Jesus is who he says he is and that Jesus will do all that he promises he will do. John was there when Jesus was betrayed.

And though he initially scattered, unlike the other disciples, we know that John came back and kind of stood near to the events. And he writes from firsthand experience of all that they were doing to Jesus and his beatings and his floggings. He was nearby when they took Jesus to the hill at Golgotha, stripped him naked, gambled for his clothes, and then raised him up after driving thick seven-inch nails through his wrists and his ankles. He saw

Jesus hanging there, bleeding out, struggling for air. He was there. John records in chapter 19 that when Jesus looked and he saw his mother Mary and then he saw John nearby, he said to John, John, this is now your mother. Take care of.

So John then from that day forward would take Mary to live with him and he would care for her until her death. He would take her to Ephesus where she would spend out the rest of her days. But he had this tight, tight, close relationship with Mary. Think about that. He knew the story of Christmas. He knew all the details. If anyone knew the details.

of the angels and the shepherds and the wise men and King Herod and the flight to Egypt. It would have been John. John could have heard that story. Mary telling other people and him asking questions all the time. But we know that three days later, explosive joy comes on the scene, back on the scene. John encounters the resurrected Jesus. And from that day forward, every day of the rest of his life, he is

telling the story of Jesus. He's come to believe He is who He says He is and that He'll do all that He promises He will do. We read about it in the book of Acts. And He goes to Ephesus. He helps plant that church. But now John is an old man and he's seen some things. He believed that Jesus is who He says He is, but even still, He's lived through very dark days. He was there when His first

When his friend Stephen becomes the first martyr for his testimony about Jesus. He saw them stone him. He saw a young man named Saul on the side giving approval and directing the stones. He was there when he heard about that same Saul coming to believe Jesus is the Messiah and saw Saul grow and become a leader of the church. He saw some very very dark days when

When Nero turned Rome's attention to the persecution of both the Jewish people and this new Jewish cult called Christians, he saw friends and church members dragged off to the slave markets in Rome. He heard about how they were being crucified, put to death, dipped in tar, burned alive to light Nero's gardens. He heard the reports or he was there.

When in the 70 A.D. when the Spasian by the direction of Nero rolls in with the Roman army into Palestine, rolling Jewish town after Jewish Jewish town, dragging off men, women and children to the slave markets in Rome. He heard about or he was there when the Spasian surrounded the Jerusalem, left his son in charge, and for seven months they they surrounded Jerusalem. No one could go in or out.

People were dying of starvation, plagues were breaking out. And then finally Rome breaks through, burns down the temple. Very dark days indeed. Again, his life was not a fairy tale life. And again, if this is the same John or if he knew the other John who wrote Revelation at the end of the first century there looking back and

And they're saying, it looks like it feels like darkness is triumphant. And so he sits down to write his gospel. And in the sitting down of writing his gospel, he does not start where Matthew, Mark and Luke start. He doesn't start with the details about the angels and the shepherds and the birth announcement. None of that, he says before any of that can have an effect on us. We've got to go somewhere else.

even though he would have been the one that knew all the details. So it's significant to us to think about where John starts his gospel. John chapter one, verse one. says, in the beginning was the Word. Now we know from down in verse 14 that that means Jesus. The Word is Jesus. And there's a lot that could be said on that. That could be a sermon in itself. But let me...

Just put Jesus's name in there just to be crystal clear. In the beginning was Jesus. And Jesus was with God. And Jesus was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Jesus all things were made. Without Jesus nothing was made that has been made. Jesus or John doesn't start with Luke and Matthew start with the genealogy. He's like no no we got to go.

further back than that. got to go back. We got to reach back to eternity past to begin the story of Jesus. In fact there is no beginning to the story of Jesus. That's John's point. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God. This is intentional language that is echoing Genesis chapter one. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. John wants us to know the very first thing you and I should know about Jesus is that he is part of the

triune God. That's the whole. In the beginning was Jesus. And Jesus was with God and Jesus was God. Again this is intentional triune language. Three persons, one essence. That's where John wants us to ponder the person, the eternal nature and character of Jesus. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made. Without Him

nothing has been made. We should take some time to consider the nature of Jesus. Not just Jesus as an infant. That is an amazing part of the story to be sure. But Jesus as the infinite one. Jesus who is the creator of all things. The way the apostle Paul writes it in his letter to the Colossians is this.

Chapter one verse 16 I'll put on the screen says for in Jesus all things were created things in heaven and on earth visible and invisible whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities all things have been created through Jesus and for Jesus reason the whole universe exists he is before all things and in Jesus all things hold together and he is the head of the body the church.

He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead so that in everything Jesus might have the supremacy for God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Jesus. It is staggering to think about. If we would just maybe take some time to pause in this very busy season to think about the eternal

nature of our God. To ponder in the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God. It is staggering to the intellect. Or as Sinclair Ferguson said, I saw him in a clip this week, he said this, he says, if your intellect has never been staggered by the reality of the incarnation, then you don't know what the incarnation means. This is what John wants us to get.

The story of Jesus didn't start at the birth of Jesus. No, what happens at the birth is this infinite triune God. takes on a second nature. He enters into our flesh. This is amazing. But before all that, this is the one who cherubim and seraphim constantly proclaim his play phrase. This is one who speaks and quasars and black holes and galaxies and the universe comes into existence.

This is the one who is worthy of all praise, honor, and glory. He is all majestic. He's glorious. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords before there is anything. This is Jesus. John wants us to be blown away by this fact. goes on. He goes on to describe this Jesus in Jesus, verse four, was life. And that life...

was the light of all mankind. In John's gospel, often when it says life, he is using a Greek word, zoe. It means spiritual life. He could have used the word bios, biological life, but his point in his gospel is in Jesus is where we find spiritual, eternal life. And only in Jesus is where we find that. There's bios everywhere, but life is in

Jesus, Zoe is in Jesus and that life was the light of all mankind. This is life. Now, he says this life is the light of all mankind. That is good news, as I've already said, we need light. But our relationship to light is fraught with tension, isn't it? On the one hand, we need light. To show us the way to...

to lead us home, to bring a hope and lightness to our lives. We need light physically, spiritually, emotionally, relationally. We need light. But on the other hand, we don't like the light because it exposes us. His light is all-encompassing light. His light is such that He knows everything, every thought, every deed.

every action, every motive of the heart. His light lights that up and we scatter from that. In fact, that's what it says in John 3 19. Here's the verdict. Light has come in the world, but men love darkness because their deeds were evil. And so there is this on this one hand, we are drawn to light. It's the only light that can lead us home. On the other hand, we don't want to be exposed for who we are actually are. There's darkness in our hearts, but this is

What makes the gospel so beautiful friends? This is what's amazing. As Pastor Tim Keller would often say, the gospel is this, that on the one hand, because of the light, you will see that you are more broken, sinful, and in need than you ever thought you possibly could be. That's what the light does. Man, I am really lost. And on the other hand, because of the light, because

God knows everything and yet and still He still sends His Son. You are more loved and accepted and beheld by God than you could ever dream was possible.

exposes us but it leads us home if we would just step in to the light. This is why we want to have a culture of repentance in our church. Not because we want to just focus on our sin but because when we bring it into the light now we can take it home to God and say, I know who you are. I know what you've done. I know what you will do and yet I still come. I still enter in to bring you life and

light well then in verse five he says it says this the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it the light shines in the darkness light always wins right it can seem like and it can feel like in our lives that the darkness is winning but but wherever you bring light you can see the light

Darkness cannot extinguish the light. Where there is light, it always wins. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. Listen, friends, if you've walked with Jesus long enough, you know this to be true personally. mean, I'm looking out.

in this crowd and I see so many of you. You've walked through the valleys of the shadow of death.

Light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. Again, I know your stories. I see you. It's a privilege to be a pastor. Like almost everyone I'm looking at, I'm thinking of these stories. man, those were dark days. But light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.

light shines in the dark. mean, again, I could just go on and on and on. If you walk with Jesus long enough, you know the reality of this verse. Light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome.

Few years ago we were in Amsterdam. We were visiting with some church planners and some people doing ministry there. Amsterdam is this beautiful city that is incredibly dark spiritually.

You know, there's the whole red light district and everything and the people of Amsterdam are very permissive and they're like, isn't it great that we have all this, but we're dealing with these ministry leaders and they're like, let me tell you about what they think is so great. These women are coerced, they're trafficked here. These are image bearers who are forced to give themselves away to man after man, to after man. It's just a, it's a dark, dark place. And as we're walking through these, this red light district with our daughters and

Jen has this necklace and the necklace actually had a verse on it. It's John 1 5. The light shines on the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it. She was just like hold on to that just as that reminder and whatever we're going through the light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it. Again this is my story. This is your story. Advent is an invitation to the church to

train our eyes to build in us hope and focus a right longing in our hearts. So how should we respond? I wrote about four different ways that we could respond here and there's many, but I decided just to give you one. Just one. This week, at some point this week, however the rhythm of your life looks, I would just encourage you to take some time to wonder.

To train your wonder at the truth of the eternal and glorious nature of Jesus. Just pause. Maybe read these five verses. Maybe memorize these five verses. Maybe fast and pray like the church has done for centuries. Maybe miss some lunches or 24 hours where you just ponder the character, the nature of who Jesus was and is.

and is to come. Train your longing. Train your hope. This is the most wonderful time of year. Not because of what is happening necessarily, but because of what has happened. God came near. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Through Him all things were made. Without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life,

And that life was the light of man. Light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it. Amen. Amen. Let me pray for us.