JESUS CAME TO BE OUR LIGHT

Christmas Message ❧ Part 1

John 12:46 ❧ Pastor, Dr. John Denney

Lately a number of people have lamented with me how they are struggling with the long dark days of winter.  I don’t blame them!  It doesn’t get light until well after 7 in the morning and a brief seven or so hours later it’s getting dark again! Not to mention the sun seems to stay hidden behind thick clouds when it is out!  If you’re struggling with winter’s long dark days, I have some good news for you. The good news is today, December 22, literally marks a new beginning.  Yesterday was the longest day of winter (winter solstice).  From here forward every day is going to have more sunlight than the day before!  The bleakest days of winter’s darkness are now behind us!  It’s not an accident we celebrate Jesus’ birth in the darkest part of winter.  Jesus said it this way: I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness(John 12:46, NAS).  Jesus is not talking about physical darkness though, but a darkness that is both personal as well as spiritual.  He’s saying what we already know, our world is dark – especially during Christmas.  Our world is full of people who are living in darkness.  They’re trying to figure out why they’re here.  I don’t think there is another time of the year where personal as well as spiritual darkness seems more intense.  People struggle with feeling lonely, or empty, or depressed throughout the year, but not nearly as much as they do at Christmas.  It’s much of the reason the heartwarming movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” is considered one of the greatest Christmas films of all time.  Everyone can relate in one way or another to the depressed George Bailey.  He is so disillusioned with his life that he wants to end it on Christmas Eve.  The truth is everyone has dark gloomy days that seem to have no end to them.  That’s why Christmas is so important.  When Jesus said I have come as Light into the word,He was not saying He came as a light, but The Light.  He is The Answer we’re looking for to find our way out of personal and spiritual darkness.  He is saying, “I know you have dark days in your life. That’s why I came into the world.”  Light dispels darkness.  John 1 says The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it(John 1:5, NLT). Light always overcomes darkness.  How is Jesus our Light? Let me suggest four ways: 1) He is our encouragement when we are discouraged.  2) He is our peace when we are distressed.  3) He is our guidance when we are doubtful. 4) He is our joy when we are depressed.   Jesus came to be our light that overcomes our discouragement, our distress, our doubt, our depression.    

1. Jesus is our encouragement when we are discouraged.  We all have times of discouragement.  Life doesn’t always work out the way we expect.  If there is anyone who understood this cliche well, it was Mary and Jospeh.  We tend to see the first Christmas as though it was a walk through the park.  It was anything but that.  It seems every turn of the way they experienced discouragement.  Can you imagine what it must have been like for Mary, a fifteen-year-old or so girl, explaining to her parents how she was unexpectedly pregnant? “Mom, Dad, I’ve got something to tell you.”  Or, how she must have broke the news to Joseph her fiancé?  The moment Gabriel the angel told Mary she would be the mother of the Savior of the world, her life as well as Joseph’s took a sudden and radical turn. The Bible doesn’t tell us, but we can only imagine they were rejected, ridiculed, looked down on from others.  To make matters worse, when she was nine months pregnant she had to ride a donkey for over six days covering more than 90 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem.  Ladies, can you imagine being nine months pregnant and riding on a donkey over a bumpy road for six days?! When they finally arrive, the only place they can find is a crude smelly stable for animals! No Best Western. No Howard Johnsons. No Motel 6. No Tom Bodett to leave the light on for them.  And as if all the trying hardships, rejections, misunderstandings were not enough, Mary had to give birth alone.  No midwife, no family, no friends. Alone.  It makes you wonder if there were moments when both Mary and Joseph struggled with feelings of serious discouragement.  Moments when they wondered if God was really on their side.  Why didn’t God make it easier?  

Yet, God did not abandon them.  The Bible tells us: The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time (Psalm 34:18-19, NLT). The first Christmas had some pretty major obstacles, but God encouraged them every step of the way.  God speaks to Joseph no less than three separate times through an angel.  God placed people around both Mary and Joseph that understood their dilemma.  Shortly after Mary is told she is pregnant; she learns the angel Gabriel paid her uncle Zechariahs a visit informing him his elderly wife Elizabeth was going to miraculously have a child as well! No sooner is Jesus born then Mary and Joseph are visited by a fear-raddled but overjoyed group of shepherds who’d just been visited a multitude of heavenly angels.  Eight days later, they are greeted by an elderly man named Simeon and an aged prophetess named Anna.  Their circumstances were difficult, but God met them at every turn of the way.  I’ve always appreciated the words of the great missionary J. Hudson Taylor who said, It doesn’t matter how great the pressure is.  What really matters is where the pressure lies – whether it comes between you and God or whether it presses you nearer His heart. 

1. Jesus is our peace when we are distressed.  The words stress and Christmas go together.  Stress is a Christmas reality.  Peace for many during this time is a painful illusion. The first Christmas was no different.  Jesus’ birth caused the intensity level of stress to skyrocket for just about everyone involved.  King Herod, all the people of Jerusalem, the Magi, Mary and Joseph.  Stress is like a highly contagious disease.  Even though their situation was stressful like a speeding rollercoaster of emotions, the Bible never says Mary and Joseph were stressed out.  One of the reasons I think it doesn’t is because God’s peace was greater than their circumstances.  They knew they were walking in God’s will.  Some people think if you’re living in God’s will, everything will go smoothly.  I can tell you the person who says that has never walked in God’s will!  Things don’t go smoothly.  Sometimes they get harder.  The Bible tells us when we are in God’s will, He gives us His peace that is greater than our circumstances.  Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus(Philippians 4:7, NLT).  Through Jesus we can have God’s peace that is greater than our circumstances. 

1. Jesus is our guidance when we are doubtful. In John 12 Jesus said, Those who walk in the darkness cannot see where they are going (John 12:35).  Have you ever felt like you’re just drifting through life, unsure where you’re going? That’s what Jesus is saying here.  Your mind and heart are in a constant fog of doubt.  God gave us His Word, the Bible, to guide us through life’s fog.  Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path (Psalm 119:105).  More than once Mary and Joseph were able to make sense of what was happening and where they were going because of God’s Word.  God never tells us we won’t have times of doubt, but He does tell us His Word will be our compass to guide us. 

1. Jesus is our joy when we are depressed.  God does not promise us we will never feel depressed, miserable, down.  Some of the greatest saints in the Bible seriously wrestled with intense feelings of dark depression. When we’re in the throes of depression, the last thing we want is to be around a group of festive fanatics who think you should be happy simply because it is Christmas! When we’re battling depression, it doesn’t make sense how others can be joyful.  It’s not that God doesn’t care that we’re depressed.  Just the opposite.  God often uses depression in our lives to get our attention, to turn us to Him. The Bible tells us when we turn our lives over to God, darkness is disappearing, and the true light is already shining(1 John 2:8). When the light of Christ shines in your life it lifts you out of the pit of despair.  The way you turn on the light of Christ in your life is by turning to God and asking Him to be forgive you of your sins and come into your life.  You place your hope and trust completely in God.  That’s what Mary and Joseph did.  At any moment they could have chosen a different route than God’s.  Mary could have said, “No,” to the angel Gabriel.  Jospeh could have refused to obey God.  But they didn’t. They chose to live in the light of God’s will – despite the outward pressures and inward struggles.

Prayer

Thank You Heavenly Father for sending Your Son Jesus Christ to be our Light, to show us who You are, and to rescue us from a world of darkness.  I believe Jesus is the Savior of the world You promise in Your Word.  Right now, I ask the Lord Jesus Christ to be my personal Savior, to forgive me of my sins, and to come into my life.  I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins and rose to life again on the third day.  I surrender my life to You and want to live a life of trusting You and knowing You just like Mary and Joseph did.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.