Christmas Eve: A Great Light

The Light Dawns in the Darkness

• Luke 1:76-79 “And you, my little son, will be called the prophet of the Most High, because you will prepare the way for the Lord. You will tell his people how to find salvation through forgiveness of their sins. Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace.”
• Matthew 4:16 "...the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. And for those who lived in the land where death casts its shadow, a light has shined.”
• John 1:1-14 In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. God sent a man, John the Baptist, to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light. The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God. So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.

Jesus is the Light

• John 8:12 Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”
• John 12:44-48 Jesus shouted to the crowds, “If you trust me, you are trusting not only me, but also God who sent me. For when you see me, you are seeing the one who sent me. I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark. I will not judge those who hear me but don’t obey me, for I have come to save the world and not to judge it. But all who reject me and my message will be judged on the day of judgment by the truth I have spoken.

Called out of Darkness into the Light

• John 3:16-21 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”
• 1 Peter 2:9 … you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.
• Colossians 1:13-14 For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.
• Ephesians 1:18 I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.
• Ephesians 5:8-9 For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.
• 1 John 1:5-7 This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

Living in the Light

• 2 Corinthians 4:6-7 For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.
• Philippians 2:15b Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.
• Luke 11:33-34 “No one lights a lamp and then hides it or puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where its light can be seen by all who enter the house. Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when it is bad, your body is filled with darkness. Make sure that the light you think you have is not actually darkness. If you are filled with light, with no dark corners, then your whole life will be radiant, as though a floodlight were filling you with light.”
• Matthew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father."

As we prepare to light our candles from the Christ candle tonight, I want to leave you with one final passage about this infant of Whom we have sung tonight:

• Colossians 3:15-22 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.

Just as the original disciples received the light from Jesus Himself, so we are here tonight because that Light has gone forward across the globe and down through the corridors of time. Our world is growing darker by the day, but as we heard earlier, "the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it."

You are all here tonight because you have seen at least a glimpse of that Light. To those of you who have stepped out of darkness into that glorious Light, I say to you, "Let your light shine." Live for Christ with an ever-increasing radiance, making Him known not only through your words, but through your very lives. Be bold and courageous! If God is for you, who can be against you?

To those of you who aren't quite convinced yet of His reality, of His deity, of His relationship to us in the 21st century, I say to you, "Come closer". Search out this Word. Ask questions. Investigate. Use your minds, and follow your hearts. Most of all, be willing to accept the possibility that if He is truly real, He is more than willing to make Himself known to you in a way that will be very real and meaningful to you. Those who ask, receive. Those who seek, find. To those who knock, the door will be opened.

In fact, Jesus Himself declares, "Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends." This is the true meaning of Christmas -- that God Himself desires a relationship with you, and went to the ultimate extreme to make a way for us to be made right with Him.

If you are not sure if you are saved tonight, or if you know for a fact that you aren't, tonight is the night. Don't wait another minute, as we never know when our time is up. Scripture says that "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9)." Can you say that you believe that He is who He claimed to be? And are you willing to make Him Lord of your life -- to turn from your sin and toward Him? If the answers to these two questions is "yes," then God has accepted you as His, and even now, Jesus tells us, the angels are rejoicing in heaven.

As we light our candles and sing, take a look around the room and see how this one light shared with others can transform our surroundings from being shrouded in darkness to being bathed in glorious Light.