CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE
THE LIGHT OF CHRIST
DR. JIM DIXON
DECEMBER 24, 2004
JOHN 1:1-17
In the United States there are many holidays that are fun for the whole family. This was also true in Israel in biblical times. There were many holidays that were fun for the whole family, but there was one holiday more fun than any other and that holiday was called The Feast of Tabernacles—sometimes called The Feast of Ingathering, sometimes called The Festival of Booths. This festival took place in the fall after the harvest. There was plenty of food. People were in good moods. It was a pilgrimage festival so all the Jews throughout Israel came to the Holy City of Jerusalem and everyone was with their extended family. It was a 7-day festival and for those seven days families built booths. They built small temporary shelters, kind of tent-like structures to commemorate the years of wilderness wandering. But for the children and for all the kids, it kind of seemed like camping out.
Of course the first evening of this 7-day festival involved the illumination of the temple, a ceremony called the Illumination of the Temple, and this was a ceremony children would never forget. The four giant golden candelabras on the Temple Mount were lit by four young men who were of the priestly tribe, and they would take pitchers of oil from four large golden bulls and they would climb their ladders to the top of these giant candelabras and they would light the torches. The entire Temple Mount radiated light. The light penetrated the darkness as the light just swept over the city of Jerusalem, lighting courtyards and squares and city streets. It was a night like no other, a night where the darkness was kept at bay. Families stayed up all night long. It was a time of games and it was a time of eating and it was a time of singing. It was The Feast of Tabernacles. It was the Illumination of the Temple. It was a festival of light.
The Bible tells us in John’s Gospel in the 7th and 8th chapters that it was in this context that Jesus made his incredible announcement to the world, “I am the light of the world.” What a statement. Of course, you look back at Isaiah, chapter 9, and it is prophesied, “Unto us a child is born. Unto us a Son is given. The government shall be upon His shoulder. His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace. Of His Kingdom and of its increase there shall be no end.”
In that same chapter, Isaiah 9, in the second verse, we’re told that this child born would be light penetrating to the deepest darkness. Of course in the prologue to John’s Gospel, our scripture for tonight, it is said, “The true light which enlightens every man was coming into the world.” What does that mean, to say this baby born in Bethlehem was light?
It means two things. We draw our two life lessons tonight on this Christmas Eve from these two truths. First of all, in the Bible, light is a metaphor for life. To say that Jesus is light means that Jesus offers you life. We can understand this even in the physical sense. We live in a solar system that surrounds a star we call the sun. That sun radiates light and that light gives life. The surface of the sun is 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, pretty hot, and yet it pales when it compares to the temperature at the core of the sun where thermo-nuclear reactions are taking place. The temperature at the core of the sun is an incomprehensible 27,000,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit. It you could take a speck at the corner of the sun the size of a grain of sand, it would be so powerful that it would incinerate a human being standing a thousand miles away. But of course the earth is 93,000,000,000 miles from the sun and as the sun radiates light and sends forth and emits energy, only one 2 billionth of the sun’s light and energy reaches the planet Earth and that’s just right. That light is just right for life. If we did not have that light, this planet would be in a whole lot of trouble.
Scientists—geologists and paleontologists—tell us that 65 million years ago a huge asteroid hit this earth and the region of what is today the Yucatan Peninsula and this asteroid created a vast crater with a circumference of many miles and it changed the course of life on earth. We’re told that a dust canopy of millions of tons of dust and debris went heavenward. It went into the atmosphere of the earth and it formed a dust canopy that just enveloped planet Earth. Scientists believe that very little of the sun’s light was able to penetrate to the earth’s surface and so on earth the process of photosynthesis began to cease. Plants began to die. Herbivores began to die and finally carnivores began to die. Scientists call it the Crustaceous Tertiary Mass Extinction and some scientists believe that it brought about the demise of the dinosaurs. We do not know, but we do know that without light this earth is in a whole lot of trouble.
I remember some years ago my wife Barb and I went on vacation up to Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. We stopped along the way at the Wind Cave National Monument, 60 miles of subterranean caves and caverns. You don’t want to go down into that vast system of caves all by yourself. We went with a young woman who was our guide and the caves are lit by electrical power. As we traveled some distance far beneath the surface of the earth, we went into this cavern and this young lady turned off the electricity. This vast cavern became utterly dark. It was a kind of darkness deeper than Barb and I had ever seen. This young lady lit a match and it was amazing how one match could bring light to that whole cavern.
It was summertime but we didn’t see any flowers growing there. There were no trees, no lawns to mow. It was void of life and void of light. God wants us to understand our souls are like that apart from Christ. Your inward being, your innermost person, your essence, is in utter darkness and devoid of life apart from He who is the Light of the World.
Now when the Bible says that Jesus is the Light of the World, it’s talking about the life that He brings and it’s a special kind of life. It’s divine life. In the prologue of John, it says, “In Him was life and the life was the light of man.” Life and light. The word for life there is zoe. It’s different from the Greek word bios or the Greek word psyche. This word zoe means, “divine life.” In the Bible it’s used to describe life as only God has it. And so, in Jesus is divine life.
When Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” Again, the word life is zoe, divine life. Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life and that you might have it abundantly.” Again, the word is zoe. It’s divine life. Jesus said, ego ame hey zoe, I am the Life. I am the Divine Life. The Bible says, “God loved the world so much He sent His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life,” and the word is zoe. It’s Divine Life.
I hope you understand divine life is very different than physical life. Each and every one of us in this worship center and in our Christmas faith have physical life and physical life is sometimes happy or not, depending on the happenings of our life. Physical life is very temporary, very transitory. Divine life is different. Of course physically some of us here will live for another 10 years. Some will live for another 70 years. None of us know. I mean, I know I’m not going to live another 70 years. I don’t think I’m going to make it to 129, but it doesn’t matter because I have Divine Life. I was given Divine Life when I prayed with my mother when I was 5 years old. My mom was here at the first service sitting with me. When I was 5 years old, 54 years ago, I knelt with her in the living room of our home and I asked Jesus to come into my heart and to forgive me of my sins and to be my Savior and to be my Lord and He gave me Divine Life. My mother is almost 92 years old. I hope she lives to 120 but it doesn’t matter because she has Divine Life.
Understand that Divine Life has unquenchable joy. Divine Life has a sense of purpose that cannot be conquered. Divine Life is eternal. It never ends. Maybe you’re thinking, “Well, I’d like some of that.” Maybe you’re thinking, “I’d like Divine Life and how can I have it?” The Bible says you must be borne again. Anagennao is the Greek word meaning, “You must be born from above. You must be borne again.” Jesus promises that happens when you embrace Him as your Savior and your Lord and as you make that commitment to life for Him. At that moment He will tabernacle within you and He will give you Divine Life. What an incredible promise.
Of course some people call that experience of rebirth a conversion experience. I want you to see kind of a little bit of a humorous glimpse of a conversion experience. Here’s a clip from the movie, How the Grinch Stole Christmas starring Jim Carrey:
“The Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. Christmas, he thought doesn’t come from a star. Maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more.” *Sounds of fighting.* “Yes, help me. I’m spinning.” “And what happened then?” “Well, in Whoville they say the Grinch’s small heart grew three sizes that day.” Grinch: “What’s happening to me? I’m all toasty inside and I’m leaking. Oh Max, I love ya!”
Well I don’t think any of us have had a conversion experience quite like that but that’s Hollywood’s view, that’s Ron Howard’s view, that’s Jim Carrey’s view of a conversion experience and the Grinch saw the deeper meaning of Christmas and was given a new heart. He came to the light and he found a new life.
Of course the Bible tells us that in a sense there is a Grinch. The Bible tells us that he is the Prince of Darkness and his name is Satan and the Devil. He’ll never have a conversion experience and he doesn’t want you to have one either. He doesn’t want you ever to come to the Light. He doesn’t want you to ever find Divine Life. But, you see, Jesus came into the world that you might have Divine Life and this is the longing in His heart for you. It’s what Christmas is really all about.
In the year 1985 a man named Roy Harold Scherer, Jr. was dying in a California hospital. Roy Scherer, Jr., was 60 years old and tragically he was dying of AIDS. He had been a Hollywood movie star in the 50s and the 60s and Roy Scherer, Jr. had made a lot of big movies. In the 1970s he became a television star and he starred in McMillan and Wife and many other TV shows. Of course the stage name of Roy Scherer, Jr. was Rock Hudson. As Rock Hudson was dying in that California hospital, one of his good friends came to him and that good friend was named Pat Boone. Pat Boone was and is a Christian and he had one hope, one longing in his heart as he went to the hospital and that is that his friend Rock Hudson would accept Jesus Christ and come to the light. Rock Hudson did that day as Pat Boone explained the gospel and the love of Jesus, what happened on the cross. Rock Hudson cried and he asked Jesus into his heart and took Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Just ten years ago, Pat Boone’s daughter, Debbie Boone, was here at our church and she put on a concert. At that time she was well known for the song “You Light Up My Life.” She sang many Christian songs here at the concert. I remember as we gathered in my office with Debbie, some of us, to pray, her hands were just shaking. She said that as her father loved to see people come to Jesus Christ, she said that was her greatest love too, to see people come to Jesus Christ. At the end of the concert, I remember she was crying and she said, “I just hope that somebody found Christ.”
I hope you understand that’s how we feel here at Cherry Hills Community Church. We long to see people come into the light. We long to see people come to Jesus and find the Divine Life that only Jesus can give.
Well, finally and briefly, there’s another meaning of light in the Bible. When the Bible says that Jesus is the light of the world, the true light which enlightens every man, it means that Jesus is truth. Oftentimes in the Bible light is a metaphor for truth and even that phrase, “True light which enlightens every man who was coming into the world,” means the true light which gives truth to every man was coming into the world. “The Word became flesh and dwelled among us, full of grace and truth.” Of course it was Jesus who said to Pilate, “For this I was born, for this I came into the world: that I might bear witness to the truth.” Pilate said, “What is truth?” Of course Jesus once said, “Ego ame hey Alathea.” “I am the Truth.”
We should understand that Jesus is not talking about scientific truth. Certainly in His essence He is deity and God is the source of all truth but God has given us minds, He’s given us brains, and He expects us to explore the scientific truths that are waiting to be discovered, but Jesus came to give moral truth. When you look in the Bible, light is almost always a symbol of moral truth. In Jesus we find the light. In Jesus we find the moral truth and so come to the light that you might find Divine Life and walk in the light because His light is moral truth.
In this last election, exit polls showed that many Americans were concerned about moral values. Of course those who took the exit polls never bothered to ask people what they meant by moral values. I think for many Republicans, moral values refers to the sanctity of marriage, the sanctity of human life, and sexual morality. I think for many Democrats moral values refer to the environment, to our stewardship of the earth, the poor, and to the issues of social justice.
All of these things have to do with light. All of these things have to do with moral truth, but if you’ve come to the light, if you’ve come to Jesus Christ, then you don’t take your values from your political affiliation. You don’t draw your sense of light and truth from the Republican Party or the Democratic Party but only from Christ because He is the light of the world. And so if you’re a follower of Christ, then you find moral truth in Him and in His Word. It’s not easy. There are a lot of complex issues, but if you’re a follower of Jesus Christ and you’ve come into His light, you’re seeking first and foremost to please Him and sometimes you have to take the principals He gave us and apply them to the complex and the hard situations, but if you’re a follower of Christ, you’re always seeking to honor His light and you’re always seeking to honor Him. It’s not easy because the Bible says we live in a world that’s in darkness. The Bible says, “Many people prefer the darkness to the light.”
Jesus is not always politically correct and there are a lot of people who kind of hate the light. I remember 31 years ago when Barb and I moved here to Colorado and I became a Pastor at Faith Presbyterian Church in Aurora. Many men in the congregation would ask me if I would go to lunch with them and I would say. “Sure, where do you want to meet?” Sometimes they’d say, “Let’s meet at Pfeiffer’s Restaurant. It was a restaurant on East Colfax. I don’t know whether it’s still there today. It was really more like a bar restaurant and they had great cinnamon rolls and wonderful sandwiches. It was very dark inside. When you would go in there to meet somebody at first it was so dark you couldn’t see anything. You couldn’t even find the person you were meeting. You just kind of wait for somebody to call your name and wander over in that direction.
After you were in the restaurant for a while, your eyes began to adapt. You then are able to see things as you grow accustomed to the darkness and pretty soon you could see throughout the restaurant. Of course the hard moment came when you left and walked out the restaurant door into that bright Colorado sun. The light was just offensive. You would just want to turn around and go back inside. It hurt your eyes.
I think there are people in our culture and in our world that when they hear the light of Christ, they react like that. It’s hard for them. What He says about sexuality doesn’t fit what most people think. What He says about the poor and compassion and social justice doesn’t fit most people’s lifestyle and behavior. The light is offensive to people but remember… Maybe some of you are struggling. Maybe you feel like you’re not walking in the light. Maybe you know there’s darkness in your life. Remember His truth, His light, is for our good.
In biblical times there was a lighthouse built on the Island of Pharos, which was across from the Egyptian city of Alexandria. This lighthouse had been built by Ptolemy Soter, which means, ”Ptolemy the Savior.” He was the King of the Egyptian and Ptolemaic Empire. The lighthouse was at that time one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, this lighthouse at Pharos. According to Josephus, the ancient historian, it radiated light 40 miles in every direction and the flames, historians tell us, that burn atop the Lighthouse at Pharos were continually lit for 1,000 years. Yet it was all for the good of people, that they might see the truth about the shoreline, that they might see the truth about where other ships were located, that they might see the truth about where the reefs and rocks were so that they wouldn’t be shipwrecked. That is what the light was for. Christ wants you to understand that’s what He’s all about. That’s what His light is all about. That’s what His word is all about, that we would not be shipwrecked. If you feel shipwrecked tonight on this Christmas Eve and you know there’s an area of your life you need to repent of, do it tonight. Come back to the light. It’s for your good and the beauty of the gospel is that Jesus Christ stands willing to forgive. He died for us in substitutionary atonement. When you go to Him in repentance and say, “Lord, forgive me. Wash me whiter than snow,” He does.
Let this Christmas Eve be for all of us who believe a new beginning when we resolve we’re going to walk in the light and we’re going to line our thoughts up with His light and our actions up with His light and we’re going to be in the Word every day. Let it be a new beginning, that we be in the Word and prayer every day.
Many of you who come to Christmas Eve services rarely come to church, but if you believe in Jesus Christ and you say you walk in the light, begin to walk in the light and let this be a new beginning and resolve that you’re going to spend a little more time in the Body of Christ with the fellowship of believers. Don’t leave this place and let it be business as usual. Let this be a special night, a life-changing night.
You know Jesus is going to come again. He’s going to come in power and glory and the world will see His Light. There are many titles given to Jesus Christ and some of them are light titles. One of my favorite light titles given to Jesus Christ is the title Morning Star.
Of course, for the Romans the Morning Star was called Venus, named after the goddess of love. For the Greeks, the Morning Star was called Phosphorus which means “light bringer,” and the Morning Star was also called Proinos Aster which means, “Early Star.” The strange thing is that in the Bible both of these words are titles for Christ. The word Proinos Aster is a title of Christ and Phosphorus is a title of Christ. He’s the Light Bringer. He’s the Morning Star. He’s the Early Star. He’s going to usher in the new day and that day is coming. But, you see, there’s a sense in which today can be a new day. Today could be a new day because He’s the light now. He invites you to come to Him that he might give you divine life and He invites you to resolve tonight that you will walk with Him in His life. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.