Christmas Lights
Sermon Audio
Sermon Notes
Today we’re starting a new series called “The Christmas Dichotomy.” It’s called the Christmas Dichotomy and it’s all about bridging the gap between two Christmas narratives. The word dichotomy means “to divide” or “to contrast” two different things, and every year during the month of December we’re faced with a Christmas Dichotomy, a division, a contrast between two different narratives. It’s a dichotomy, a division, a contrast between the Culture’s Narrative and the Christian Narrative of Christmas. This series is about bridging the gap between those two narratives. It’s about bridging the gap because every year millions of people, millions of both Christians and non-Christians celebrate this season with a clash of narratives. On the one side we have some non-Christians who feel like they can’t ever escape the Christian narrative, they feel their beliefs keep getting intruded on having to listen to traditional Christmas music in public settings like our malls. We also have the American Atheists group launching their billboard campaigns with a spin on President Trump’s campaign stating, “Make Christmas great again, by skipping church.” On the other side we have some Christians who get frustrated over our Culture's narrative changing the meaning of Christmas, and companies teaching their employees to say ‘Happy Holidays’ instead of ‘Merry Christmas.’ We also have the boycotting Christian who runs around telling everybody to boycott Starbucks because their cups didn’t say “Merry Christmas,” leaving the non-Christian world walking away from the Christmas season learning more about boycotting coffee cups, than about Jesus.
Look here’s my point, it’s that the Christmas Dichotomy is real, the clash between the two Christmas narratives is real, and this series is about bridging the gap between those two narratives. It’s about bridging the gap, it’s about teaching those of you who aren’t Christians that not all Christians are boycotting Christians who are ready to declare war on you. In fact one of the things I’ll teach you is that there’s actually elements in your narrative we agree with, I’ll teach you what some of those elements are, but I’ll also teach you how those elements can have even greater significance for your life if you align them with Jesus. As for those of you who are Christians, this series is about teaching you that we don’t have to be boycotting Christians who declare war on our culture every time this season comes around, instead we can build gospel bridges by using elements of our Culture’s Narrative to point to Jesus. It’s about teaching you to build gospel bridges, not gospel barricades. It’s a teaching that’ll go far beyond this Christmas season, because there’s gospel bridges to be built in your everyday conversations, with those who allow you to enter into the personal narrative of their lives. As for today, today we’re gonna talk about an element of agreement for Christians and non-Christians which is Christmas lights. Both Christians and non-Christians use Christmas lights to celebrate the Christmas season, and today I’m gonna show you how those lights can have even greater significance in Jesus. So let’s turn our bible’s to Isaiah 8:19 and get into it. The title of today’s message is “Christmas Lights.”
Context:
Here’s your context. The book of Isaiah is a book in the bible written by a man named Isaiah who’s considered to be a great prophet. He writes this book during a time when the Jews were devastated by the Assyrian army, so it’s a very dark time for the Jews, and whenever the bible talks about darkness it’s usually referring to the evil and suffering in our world. It’s evil, suffering, sin, violence, oppression, abuse of power, genocides, refugees runing from genocides, it’s all dark things we see in our world today. So the dark world the Jews are walking in, is the same dark world we’re walking in, and the solution the Jews try to use to fix their dark world, is the same solution we try to use to fix our dark world. It’s the solution that our dark world can be fixed not by God, but by ourselves, which Isaiah states in Isaiah 8:19. Check it out.
The Word:
Isaiah 8:19 states this, “And when they say to you, ‘Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,’ should not a people inquire of their God?...” Notice that Isaiah says instead of turning to God, the Jews were turning to mediums, to necromancers, to spiritists to help fix their problems in this dark world. He even states this in vs. 22.
Vs. 22 states, “And they will look to the earth...” They will look “to the earth,” meaning the Jews were looking to human resources, to experts, scholars, even to themselves to fix their problems, and just like they thought they could save the world through intellect and innovation, we think we can save our world through intellect and innovation. We look to our state, our government, our stocks, our educators, our military, our technology to fix our dark world, but it always leads to the same results. It’s failed attempts at being saviors, failed attempts at being able to fix our dark world. “So what are you saying pastor, we shouldn’t do anything to try and fix the problems in our world?” No I’m not saying that, of course we should do what we can to fix the problems in our world. God’s given us brains, skills, gifts, resources and we should use those things as best we can to help fix some of the world’s problems. But at the end of the day there’s gonna be some problems, some darkness we just can’t fix, we just can’t save ourselves from. You know it, and I know it. There’s just some things, some evil, some suffering, sins, problems, darkness in our lives and world we’re not gonna be able to fix or save ourselves from regardless of how advanced our sciences and technology gets. But like the Jews we’ll ignore God, try to fix those problems on our own, and God will let us play our mini savior roles until we finally realize we can’t save ourselves, we’re in need of Him. That’s what Isaiah’s trying to tell the Jews. He’s trying to tell them to wake up to the fact that they’re facing a problem, they’re facing a darkness they can’t save themselves from, so they need God’s help, they need to turn to God to save them. Look it’s not a mistake to want to save our dark world, it’s a mistake to think you can...It’s not a mistake to want to save our dark world, it’s a mistake to think you can... There’s only one light that can save our dark world, and that light is Jesus...If we don’t turn to our Savior for help, the alternative is more darkness, which is what Isaiah says next.
Again vs 22, “And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.” He says if we don’t turn to God for help, if we don’t turn to God as our savior, if we keep trying to play mini saviors, it’s only gonna lead to more “distress and darkness,” and not just darkness, but “thick darkness.” It’ll be thick darkness because eventually you’ll face a situation, a job loss, a severed relationship, a terminal illness, something that neither you nor the experts can save you from. Eventually you’ll face a situation where you’ll cry for help, but nobody will be able to help you, and if you don’t have God as your savior, it’ll be a hopeless, lonely, thick, dark time for you. Scholar, educator, and best selling author Tim Keller put it like this, “If you don’t believe there’s a God or a supernatural transcendent dimension to reality, and you turn to science to illuminate you, things end up looking even darker…That Man is the product of causes; that his origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms…that all the labors of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system...and that the whole temple of Man’s achievement, must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins...That is a dark view indeed!” Like Isaiah, Keller’s saying our humanity can only take us so far, and if there’s no God or life after death, then our entire lives are pointless because everything we’re doing is headed to a dark end. But Isaiah’s about to give us some hope. His point so far is that our world’s dark, we can’t save ourselves, therefore we need God to save us, we need God to shine his light into our dark world, and Isaiah’s about to point us to that light. Let’s go to Isaiah 9:2-6. It’s not a mistake to want to save our dark world, it’s a mistake to think you can. There’s only one light that can save our dark world, and that light is Jesus.
Isaiah 9:2-6 states this, “The people who walked in darkness...” The people, meaning the Jews, they “walked in darkness.” Isaiah says they walked in darkness, and he says this not just because of the dark Assyrian army, but also because of the darkness of other empires like the Babylonians and Romans. Isaiah’s using a literary form here called “prophetic perfect,” which is where you use a verb in the past tense, but it has future implications. In this case he uses the verb “walked” in the past tense, because he’s talking about a vision he already had, but that vision has future implications. The future implications are that the Jews have walked in darkness because of the Assyrian army, but they’re also gonna walk in darkness in the future with other empires like the Babylonians and Romans. Simply put, he’s saying the Jews are facing dark times now, but they’re also gonna face some dark years ahead. They walked, and will keep walking in darkness.
Again vs. 2, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.” Notice Isaiah doesn’t say the light came FROM them, or FROM the earth, rather he says “ON them has light shone.” He says ON them has light shone, meaning the light didn’t come from humanity or the earth they’re seeking answers from, it came from beyond humanity and the earth. Again, it’s because we can’t save ourselves so we need a savior to save us, and none of this should be a foreign concept to you. I mean think about all the narratives in our books and movies, it’s always the same narratives. It’s always humanity needs saving and there’s a savior who saves us. The Hunger Games, Star Wars, Descendants, all the Marvel movies. It’s always humanity needs a savior and there’s a savior who saves us. Why is that? Why is it that all throughout human history, in every culture, the same story’s being told about humanity needing saving and there’s a savior who saves us? I mean you would think the authors in our world would be creative enough to come up with a new narrative, but they don’t. Historically it’s the same narrative just with different characters and graphics. Outside of that it’s always the same big ideas. There’s evil, suffering, darkness, someone’s in trouble and needs a savior. The reason that’s always the narrative is because it’s God’s narrative in the bible and He put that narrative in the hearts of humanity, in the hearts of every culture so we’d realize we’re in trouble in this dark world, and we need Him to save us.
Look Christianity gives us a very realistic message about our dark world. It’s not a message like the unrealistic optimist who says, “Don’t worry about all the issues you’re facing. You just need to tighten up your bootstraps, put in your mouthpiece, and fight harder because you can conquer your giants.” It’s also not a message like the pessimist who says “Your life stinks, our world stinks, everybody stinks, so just go to bed because tomorrow’s gonna stink.” Christianity’s message isn’t like those messages. It’s a realistic message that says “Things are bad, our world is dark, and you’re gonna have some issues, some giants you can’t save yourself from. But it’s gonna be okay, you’re not gonna be doomed forever, because there’s a Savior who loves you and is willing to save you.” Isaiah’s message, the Christian message is a realistic message about our need for a savior, and how Jesus is that savior who came to save us and shine a light on our dark world. It’s not a mistake to want to save our dark world, it’s a mistake to think you can. There’s only one light that can save our dark world, and that light is Jesus.
Again vs. 2, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. 3 You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. 4 For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. 5 For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.” Notice the text shifts from the Jews walking in darkness to walking in joy and victory. It’s a future joy and victory over defeating the Assyrians, Babylonians, Romans, Satan, all sin, evil, suffering, and darkness. It’s a future joy and victory that comes because the light’s come and shined on our dark world. Simply put, Isaiah’s saying the light, our Savior will bring a future joy and victory to those he shines upon. It’s the complete opposite of what he says life will be like for those without the light. Life without the light, life without the Savior will lead to increased, thick, darkness. But in vs. 3 he says life with the light, life with the Savior will lead to “increased joy.” It’ll lad to ever increasing joy. It’s not a mistake to want to save our dark world, it’s a mistake to think you can. There’s only one light that can save our dark world, and that light is Jesus.
Vs. 6, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” These are all references, all titles given to Jesus. Isaiah’s predicting the future birth of Jesus, he’s predicting that when Jesus comes he’ll shine his light upon us, and 700 years later, 700 years after Isaiah predicted all this, Jesus put on flesh entered himself into human history as a baby boy, and shined his light upon us beginning the process of saving and redeeming our dark world. His light hasn’t fully radiated our dark world, which is why there’s still darkness, but when he came he shined his light upon us and began the process of saving and redeeming our dark world. This is why it’s so appropriate for us to celebrate Christmas with Christmas lights. In fact it’s the very reason why Christmas lights got started to begin with. The whole Christmas light tradition actually started in Germany around the 17th century when the Germans put candles in Christmas trees to symbolize the light of Jesus. It’s actually believed that Martin Luther was the one who first started this tradition, and the tradition continued until a business partner of Thomas Edison’s by the name of Edward Johnson created the first strand of Christmas lights. It was a strand of 80 red, white, and blue bulbs, “Merica,” and that’s how it all started. Christmas lights started as a symbol of the light of Jesus, and today both the Culture’s narrative and the Christian narrative uses Christmas lights to celebrate this season.
Now for those of you who aren’t Christians, Christmas lights can have an even greater significance when you align them with Jesus, because they become a reminder that Jesus is your savior who came to save you from this dark world. Look what makes our narratives so different is that Christians already admit their need for a savior, their need for Jesus, but you haven’t. That’s the major difference between our narratives. It’s that you haven’t admitted your need for a savior, your need for Jesus, but a time will come when you’ll face a sin, a struggle, a dark issue you won’t be able to save yourself from, and the greatest of those situations will be your death bed. When you’re on your death bed you’ll cry for help, but nobody will be able to help you. You’ll want a savior, but nobody will be able to save you. When you’re on your death bed all the lights you’ve turned to in this world will go out, and they won’t be able to save you. The only light that’ll never go out is the light of Jesus, because he’s the only one who’s been able to live, die, and rise again to prove it. His light’s the only light that’ll keep going, even when all other lights go out. If you receive him as your light you’ll have not a perfect struggle free life, instead you’ll have a perfect Savior named Jesus who will always see you through the struggles of this life, and he’ll take you with him into eternal life. So do what Isaiah told the Jews to do, which is to repent of your sins and turn to Jesus who lived, died, and rose again for your sins. Admit you’re a sinner who needs saving, and ask Jesus to save you. Stop trying to be your own mini savior, and receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior. It’s what your Christmas lights point to.
For those of you who are Christians, Christmas lights should be a reminder to us that Jesus didn’t come to boycott our culture, he came to shine his light upon our culture and to transform it from within. The very message of the gospel is a bridge builder. It’s about Jesus infusing himself into our culture through the incarnational birth, to transform it from within, to shine his light upon our dark world. So we don’t need to live at war with our culture, instead we need to shine the light of the gospel in our culture. Are there some things we should reject about our culture’s narrative such as the American Atheists claiming there’s no God? Yes of course we should reject such things, but we should always try to find gospel bridges so we can shine the light of the gospel in our culture. Christmas lights are a reminder of that, they’re a reminder that Jesus didn’t boycott us, he shined his light upon us. So we shouldn’t boycott our culture, we should try to find gospel bridges so we can shine the light of the gospel on our culture.
The Big Idea:
Let’s get to the big idea. Here’s the big idea. It’s not a mistake to want to save our dark world, it’s a mistake to think you can...It’s not a mistake to want to save our dark world, it’s a mistake to think you can...There’s only one light that can save our dark world, and that light is Jesus...So what’s your functional savior?..What’s your functional savior, meaning what are you turning to or seeking after that you think will save you from your worries, your struggles, your discontentment, your darkness? We all have them, we all have our little functional saviors we turn to thinking they’ll save us or solve our problems. It can be drugs, alcohol, food, sex...It can be marriage, dating, relationships...It can be comfort, security, money, a successful career or ministry. There’s all kinds of things we treat as functional saviors thinking they’ll solve all our problems, and if we’re honest with ourselves, we’d have to admit we’re a lot more like the Jews than we’d like to admit. I mean sometimes I get all frustrated and bitter towards God when He doesn’t do what I want, and instead of turning to Him I’ll turn inward to myself or outward to the world, “to the earth” like Isaiah said. I’ll turn to my functional earthly saviors first, instead of turning to God first. We all do it, we all turn to the earth like the Jews did, we all turn to our functional saviors thinking they’ll solve our problems. What are those functional saviors for you?
The great prophet Isaiah reminds us that at the end of the day there’s only one true Savior, and that Savior is Jesus. It’s okay to turn to the earth for help, turn to doctors, counselors, pastors, friends, family for help, but at the end of the day those lights are limited, functional, mini saviors that’ll eventually go out. Jesus is the only Savior whose light will never go out, and like Isaiah said if you ignore him as your light, it’ll lead to increasing, thick, darkness. But if you turn to him as your greatest light, then you’ll be able to face the darkest hours of your life, even your final hour of this life, and it won’t be the end of your life because his light will continue to shine upon you. He’s the only light that’ll never go out, even when all other lights you turn to fail. Christmas lights are a reminder of that, Communion is a reminder that. Communion is a reminder of who Jesus is and what he came to do. It’s a reminder that Jesus is our savior, and he came to save us by living, dying, and rising again for our sins. It’s a reminder that the darkness of sin, suffering, Satan, and the grave couldn’t snuff out his light, nor will it snuff out ours...
COMMUNION
In just a minute we’re gonna pass some plates with bread and cups on it. As the plates come by take a piece of bread and a cup, and hold it in your hands until I explain communion. For those of you who aren’t Christians, all we ask is for you to repent of your sins, believe in the gospel, believe Jesus was God who put on flesh to live, die, and rise again for your sins, so you can partake in this meal. If you’re not willing to do that, if you’re not willing to repent and believe in the gospel, then just allow the bread and cups to pass you by so you can observe what communion is, and partake in it when you’re ready to receive the gospel. Let’s go ahead and pass the plates, and as the plates pass, be thinking about what functional saviors you’ve been turning to over Jesus, and repent of those things...On the night Jesus was betrayed he was gathering with his disciples sharing a meal with them. He took the bread, blessed it, gave thanks for it, and then he broke it saying, “This is my body which is about to be broken for you. As often as you eat of it, do so in remembrance of me, in remembrance of who I am and what I’ve done for you, in remembrance of the gospel.” Then after supper was ended he took the cup, blessed it, gave thanks for it, and said, “This cup is a symbol of my blood which is to be shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. As often as you drink of it, do so in remembrance of me, in remembrance of the gospel.” City Awakening let’s eat, let’s drink, and let’s take a few minutes to thank him for shinning the light of his grace upon us again. Then we’ll worship.