Well, here we are, Christmas is upon us once again! Christmas is a beautiful time of year that, for many people, is full of joy and celebration. For others though, Christmas is just another reminder of all that is wrong with the world and all that is broken in our lives.

I admit, I stand with a foot in each of those camps. The momentary joys of a consumer-based holiday will never erase the darkness of the world we live in. All of the gift-giving, all the family gatherings, all the holiday food we can stuff ourselves with, will never erase the darkness we fumble our way through on a daily basis. 

An annual holiday will never erase the loss of a loved one. It will never erase the dysfunction of a marriage or a family. It will never erase the deep wounds from a friend who turned into a traitor. It will never erase the effects of Satan, Sin, and Death on our lives.

Yet, at the same time, this is a season of immense joy because it is an opportunity to press pause in the midst of the darkness and to pull the strings of a really bright light in the person and work of our crucified, risen, and returning Savior. In this season, we are reminded that Jesus came into this world as a little baby to be an eternal light in the midst of the darkness. This is the essence of what our passage says today:

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. 4In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

You see, John, the author of this gospel and one of Jesus’ closest disciples when he walked the earth, knows that nothing this world can offer will ever satisfy or erase the effects of living in this dark world (Mark 3:17; Acts 1:13; John 19:25 – 27). This dark and broken world has nothing to offer to the believer that will satisfy or erase the darkness we struggle against.

While there is some debate among scholars as to who actually authored this book, early church tradition along with the inner testimony of the book itself, attributes authorship to “the disciple whom Jesus loved” better known as John, the brother of James, one of the Sons of Zebedee, or better yet, one of “The Sons of Thunder” (John 13:23; 19:26-27; 20:2-10; 21:7, 23, 24; Mark 3:17).2

All throughout this gospel, John speaks with thundering authority regarding the person and work of Jesus Christ as he steps out of his perfect place in heaven and into the flesh of this sin-infected present darkness we call earth. He steps into our darkened world, for the sole purpose of waging war against that very darkness by becoming our substitute at the cross of Calvary so that we could become sons and daughters of God by faith in his shed blood and broken body.

John literally makes his purpose for writing this book crystal clear in John 20:31 where he says that he wrote this book so “that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name”. This purpose statement for this book – while not immediately obvious – is a thundering attack against a false teaching, commonly called Gnosticism, that was beginning to infect the church.3

Gnosticism is basically a false teaching that says that all physical matter is evil and that everything in the spiritual realm is good, therefore, we as physical beings cannot know God because he is spiritual and good, and that our good God could not have created the physical world, so he created lesser gods or emanations of his being to create physical matter.4

This of course leads to the natural conclusion, that Jesus could not have been fully human and fully divine – as the Bible teaches and as the church has historically believed – which means that Jesus could not have physically paid the debt of our sin at the cross.5 This is why the opening 18 verses of the gospel of John are commonly referred to as a poetic song that was designed to be a massive shot across the bow against the false teachings of Gnosticism.

One commentator says this about these opening verses, he says that “The key to [understanding] the Gospel of John… is provided by the [opening] 17-verse hymnodic prologue.  Those poetic words” he says, “are a kind of hostile takeover of the Gnostic doctrine” because “The Gospel of John makes the natural appeal to Christ as the only son of God, while also rejecting the notion of a completely unknowable first god of the Gnostics.”6

So, John is literally lobbing bombs right out the gate against false teachers or false gospels because he knows that they will only lead people into further bondage in the darkness. You see, the darkness of this world, the darkness of Satan, Sin, and Death would have you believe false teachings that tell you that you are “A-OK” because you are not as bad as that other person. 

On the flip side, the darkness would have you to believe that you are beyond help and doomed to eternal damnation – which is absolutely true if you have not truly believed in Jesus Christ and are now walking in repentance as you hold onto the light of the world.

One commentator notes that, “Despite the unrelenting darkness of this world, God has entered our world, which stands at enmity [or war and opposition] with him” and “he does so through human flesh, embracing our own creatureliness” which is a picture that is “so potent that darkness cannot defeat it” because “even though Jesus is persecuted, tried, and crucified, John affirms that the light cannot be extinguished” according to verse 5 of our text today.7

I do not know about you, but the last thing I need to hear in this present darkness we find ourselves in, is a sermon full of three life principles for building my best life now so that I can experience all the joys this world has to offer. I also do not need to hear about a fairy tale version of a loving god who is ok with my sin, and never calls me to a life of holiness, and wants me to find a crowd of friends who never speak a harsh word to me about my sin. 

There are impotent churches everywhere preaching this kind of false gospel amidst the darkness of this world. The biproduct of that kind of preaching creates weak, so-called believers, who live in open sin, resist any kind of correction, make a mockery of God’s church, will never allow you to question their relationship with Jesus, and are headed straight to hell as they mock the bloody cross of Christ. 

Sadly, this is oftentimes the testimony of the modern church, simply because some people have a false understanding of God’s loving grace and they love their relationship with the darkness far more than submitting to the One who came into this world to expel the very darkness that is killing them. 

This is why John wrote four other books in the Bible: 1 – 3 John and The Revelation. You see, John, our beloved Son of Thunder, loves to take on the darkness in his writings because he personally knew the One who came to be the light of the world; he loves to speak, thunderously about the One who came to vanquish the darkness and all of the false gospels that lurk in its shadows. 

Verse 5 of our passage today says that the darkness of this world has not overcome the light of the world, who is Jesus. In 1 John 1:5 – 6, John says that “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” So, why do I draw our attention to all of this as an introduction to our study today? 

I simply draw our attention to John’s purpose for writing this gospel, the false teachings he was confronting, and his harsh words about the reality of some who love the darkness more than they love Christ – even as they verbally proclaim Christ – because I feel the weight of the responsibility of warning you against the soft or false gospels of Christmas that would make much of the love of God while ignoring the holiness of God.

I would never want you to think that God in his love invites you to come to him without recognizing the true cost of discipleship and the fruit of repentance that must accompany your confession of faith. Christmas preaching should not be all unicorns and rainbows. Christmas preaching should force us to think deeply about how to resist the darkness, how to actually hate the darkness, how to not walk in the darkness, and how to become lights in this dark world as we hold onto the light who is Christ.

What is the point here? The point is this: the darkness of this world is alive and well within every one of us, and it is alive and well around every one of us, and we all need to hold onto the light that will never go out. The question is: How do we hold onto the light who is Christ amidst the darkness? The words of our passage today, give us strings to pull that are attached to the light bulb who is Christ himself. When we pull those strings, we are enabled to hold onto the light who is Christ.

STRING #1: JESUS IS THE WORD (V. 1)

The first string we need to pull, in order to hold onto the light who is Christ amidst the darkness, is the string that reminds us that Jesus is the Word. In verse 1, John says that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” In other words, Jesus is the eternal Word of God in the flesh; he literally is the personification of God himself.

The very Bible that you and I hold in our hands, existed long before physical things were created, in the person of Jesus Christ. And in the birth of Christ, which we celebrate in this season, the Word – the Bible – became flesh as our Immanuel, God with us, in the flesh. 

To know God is to know Jesus and to know Jesus is to consume His Word – the Bible. Your relationship with Jesus rises and falls on your relationship with the Word of God. Hold onto your Bible and you will hold onto the light who is Christ Jesus in this dark world.

STRING #2: JESUS IS THE CREATOR (VV. 2 – 3)

The second string we need to pull in order to hold onto the light who is Christ amidst the darkness, is the string that reminds us that Jesus is the Creator. In verses 2 – 3, John says that the Word, who is Christ Jesus, “was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” 

In other words, Jesus being the Word of God, is the Creator of all physical things since God spoke, and at his Word, the Spirit of God created all things out of nothing. Can you see how vast this doctrine is? It is so deep and so wide, and so bright that the darkness cannot withstand it. No false teaching, no false gospel, and no false believer can stand under its light unless the light of Jesus who is our Creator lives within the believer.

If your relationship with Jesus is on tilt, it is not because you need a better friend crowd, it is not because you need a better job, a better spouse, a better family, a new shiny thing, or less drama in your life. If your relationship with Jesus is growing dim in this dark world, it is simply because you are not pulling the string of Jesus as your Creator-God.

To know Jesus as your Creator-God, is to know and to hold onto the truth that He and He alone is the One who created you and is in the process of recreating you into his own image out of the dark, filthy, corridors of Satan, Sin, and Death’s hold over your life. 

To know Jesus as your Creator-God is to know him as the One who is recreating or transforming your life from the inside out as His Word has its effect on the inner workings of your heart. Pull that string, the string of Jesus as your Creator who is recreating you into his own image, and you will hold onto the light who is Christ Jesus amidst this dark and perverse world.

STRING #3: JESUS IS THE LIFE-LIGHT (VV. 4 – 5)

The third string we need to pull, in order to hold onto the light who is Christ amidst the darkness, is the string that reminds us that Jesus is the Life-Light. In verses 4 – 5, John says that, in Christ, “was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” We must remember that the only time a room is dark is when the light has been turned off.

The main reason that the church is full of Sunday-Christians – those so-called believers who live in outright sin throughout the week, grace the doors of a church gathering 1 – 2 times per month at best, resist the harsh preaching of the gospel that warns of the dangers of eternity in hell, and rejects the words of pastors, leaders and other brothers and sisters in Christ – the only reason for Sunday-Christians such as this, is because the light of Christ has been turned off for far too long and there is no viable or vibrant spiritual life within them.

If you want to be a bright light in this dark world, if you desire to have the light of Christ shining brightly in and through you, you must pull the string of Jesus as your life-light because only Christ alone can fill you with the eternal life that shines as a bright light into the depths of your soul. This is what a relationship with Jesus looks like. This relationship with Jesus is not an individual journey; it is a communal journey that walks in the light with the other light bearers.

That kind of relationship, the kind that is tethered to a daily walking in the light of Christ, that kind of relationship is the one that draws you into deeper community with other believers. Pulling the string of Christ as your life-light is what causes you to hunger and to thirst for more of Christ in a community of other believers who are full of the same life-light. Anything less than this and the light goes out and the darkness prevails – as is the story of so many so-called professing believers today.

APPLICATION…

By way of application, my aim today was to present Christ to you in a similar fashion to John as he wrote these first few words of his gospel to a church that was in danger of believing a false gospel, trusting in a false Jesus, and walking in darkness as a result of that threat.

All too often, Jesus is treated like a butler who comes at our beck and call. Or we treat him like our homeboy or our ride or die who is more like a bubblehead doll on the dash of our car. Or we treat him like he is our favorite talking head on the news broadcast we listen to and we think he is our cultural warrior who will fix all the dang people problems in the world. 

These false Messiahs have absolutely no power to save you from Satan, Sin, and Death. They have no power to transform your life. They will not lead you into a vibrant, light shining, life that hell is afraid of. They will lead you to do whatever your little heart desires and you will dress it up in religious language as your soul speeds down a highway to eternal separation from God in a place called hell.

But if you desire to be a light in the darkness, if you desire to truly know the lover of your soul, if you truly want to walk in a closer relationship with Jesus in this dark, perverse, and fallen world amidst all of the false teaching and all of the false brothers and sisters who come your way, if you want to know Christ and to make him known as John is doing in our passage today, you only need to deepen your relationship with the Word of God.

The only way you will pull the strings of Christ as the eternal Word who came in the flesh, and Christ as the Creator who alone has the power to recreate your life, and Christ as the life-light who fills your life with his eternal light… the only way to pull those strings and hold onto Christ amidst the darkness of this world, is to deepen your relationship with the Word of God – the Bible.

I hear so many people making excuses for the lack of bible study in their lives today. People say they do not like to read even though they read social media posts, sports articles, and news posts all day long. Other people say they do not understand the Bible, so they just give up on the One who gave his life at the cross to save them. 

I applaud those of you who press into the hard work of studying the Bible and it does my heart good as a pastor and a brother in Christ, to know so many of you who ask questions, and seek out resources, and lean into the hard work of studying together as a church family.

I will leave you with one last image that I pray will help you as you learn to pull the strings of the light bulb so that Christ can shine more brightly in and through you as you navigate this dark world, we all live in. That last image is the image of a plate full of food. Seems appropriate since we will all be eating lots of food over the next few weeks.

Imagine a plate of food with meat, potatoes, vegetables, and fruit, with a glass of water next to it. You need this plate of food every day to be a well-nourished Christian – to deepen your relationship with Jesus, to resist the slippery slope of becoming a Sunday-Christian. Without this plate of food, your relationship with Jesus will suffer, the light of his presence will grow dim if not go dark altogether, and your life will be full of darkness. You need this plate of life-giving, light brightening food every day.

The meat on the plate represents the main and largest portion of your consumption of God’s Word daily. I typically consume this portion through a Bible in One Year reading plan on the Bible App. Through this plan, you will read – or listen to – 4 – 8 chapters of the Bible. I always have it read the passages to me and it takes about 15min per day. I do not have to understand every detail and I do not dive deep into the chapters; I merely get it in me and let the Spirit highlight things I need to remember that day.

The potatoes on the plate represents a daily devotional – usually a 1 – 2 page devotional that I read over lunch or first thing in the morning. It takes me about 15min or so. I am currently using Spurgeon’s mini commentary on the Psalms for this. In the past, Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening devotionals worked well.

The vegetables represent Christ-centered, biblically based music. I love a wide variety of music from rap to hard rock to country. My most go-to music is Shane and Shane’s albums on the Psalms along with a variety of artists like Disciple, Skillet, and lately Wolves at the Gate (if you like hard core rock).

The fruit on the plate represents daily Bible verses and social media posts that are centered on the preaching of historically faithful preachers such as Spurgeon, Calvin, Luther, etc.

Finally, the glass of water represents sermons from other faithful preachers like Martynn Lloyd Jones, John Piper, and guys in our networks/denominations. A sermon a day keeps the devil away – that is my mantra. Takes me 30 – 45 minutes when I am driving or going to sleep.

CONCLUSION…

In conclusion, if you want to pull the strings of Christ as the Word, and the Creator/Recreator, and the Life-Light so that you can hold onto Jesus in this dark and perverse world, eat a full plate of the Word of God daily. Study large chunks of the Bible daily. Read a daily devotional. Listen to Christ centered music. Reorient your social media scrolling to be full of Bible based things. Listen to other faithful preachers.

Christ will shine brightly in and through the lives of believers who deepen their relationship with him by consuming Him through Bible study. This is why Jesus said in one of his famous “I AM” statements that “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35) and that no one can stay alive by eating physical bread only.

That famous “I AM” statement along with others is what got Jesus crucified because in using the “I AM” title, he was designating himself as God in the flesh. When we consume the Bible, we are in a sense, consuming Christ as the spiritual bread that will sustain our spiritual lives. 

So this Christmas season, I pray that you would fall more in love with Jesus because he loved you first, he came in the flesh as the embodiment of God, he lived the perfect life that none of us can live, he gave his life as a ransom so that we could be set free from the darkness of Satan, Sin, and Death, he left the tomb empty on the third day so that we too could experience the victory of a new resurrected life, and then he ascended into heaven with a promise to return for those who belong to him.

Jesus is the light that the darkness can never vanquish. Loss of friends, loss of health, loss of wealth, Satan’s condemnation, Sin’s temptation, Death’s hollow taunts, all got nothing on the light who is Christ Jesus – Crucified, Risen, and Returning! Deepen your relationship with Christ my friends! 

Open your Bibles, sit at the foot of a bloody cross, look into the doorway of that empty tomb, be filled with hope in the promise of eternity, pull the strings of Jesus the Word, Jesus the Creator, and Jesus the Life-Light, and He will shine brightly into the dark places of your heart and into the dark places of this world. – Amen!!

1 Unless otherwise specified, all Bible references are to the English Standard Version Bible, The New Classic Reference Edition (ESV) (Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, 2001).

2 Graham, Burge, Lynn H., Cohick, and Gene L., Green, The New Testament in Antiquity, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2009), 225 – 227.

3 The Gospel of John and the Gnostic Myth of Redemption: https://stottilien.com/2017/12/24/the-gospel-of-john-and-the-gnostic-myth-of-redemption/

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid.

6 Ibid.

7 Graham, Burge, Lynn H., Cohick, and Gene L., Green, The New Testament in Antiquity, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2009), 219 – 220.