The Christmas season is here! It’s a season of joy and celebration for some of us as we dream a little bit about the things we’ve always wanted. But it’s also a season of despair and sadness for some of us as we obsess over the things we’ve always wanted but never seem to get.
I remember growing up in a broken family and struggling with my feelings of joy contrasted with feelings of despair and loneliness. On the one hand, I looked forward to spending time with my extended family while secretly dreaming about getting the things I’d hoped for throughout the year. But I also remember a deep feeling of dread and depression that would overtake me as I thought about how deeply I wanted our family to be whole again.
I lived for years without experiencing the joy of receiving everything I wanted. Every year, I hoped my dad would come home. Every year, I hoped the new guy my mom was with would become the father I desperately wanted. And, somewhere in the midst of coping with all of my unmet desires I developed a habit of making the things I wanted into things I needed which in turn made the things I needed into things I didn’t want.
We all deal with this right? Don’t we all make the things we desperately want into things we desperately need? And don’t we find it far too easy to resist the things we actually need because we’re so focused on the things we really want? What do you really want? What do you want so bad that you can almost taste it? What unresolved wants have you made into absolute needs?
For some of us it’s wealth. For others it’s a relationship. For some of us it’s a stable job. And for others it’s the dream of physical health. I think the Christmas season has a tendency to awaken a lot of unresolved wants that we’ve turned into needs. And it’s hard to know where to turn in the midst of having our unresolved wants brought to the front of our consciousness. And that’s where I pray Jesus meets us today.
John 1:1 – 13…
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God.
John begins by taking us back to the beginning. When we think of the beginning of the Christmas story, we think of baby Jesus in the manger. And that’s how the other gospel accounts begin. But John takes us back to the beginning with his words “In the beginning”. John’s opening words are a throwback to the very first words of Genesis where Moses says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth.” (Gen. 1:1)
According to one scholar, John wants to give us a theology of Christmas not merely the story of Christmas. In other words, John wants to help us understand how the truth of Christmas intersects with the deepest desires and wants of humanity. And John does this in these thirteen verses by showing us that Jesus is the divine Word and the light of the world who gives us the right to become children of God. What more could we really want? What else could we really need?
#1: Jesus Is The Divine Word (1 – 3)
In the first three verses of our passage, John explains that Jesus is the divine Word who has existed since the beginning and has sovereignly created and ruled over all created things. John says it this way “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” Jesus is the divine Word.
This really is a profound statement. In John’s day, no different than our day, there were teachers and experts spreading their message of false hope. In John’s day, these teachers taught that Jesus was not God but that he was merely a created being who was a good man that did some good things that we should model our lives after. We see this all over our social media feeds and our cable TV stations and in our conversations.
But don’t miss this, when someone teaches you that Jesus is not God then the underlying lie that you begin to believe is that Jesus is not good enough to meet your needs and therefore you should look elsewhere to satisfy your deep cravings and desires. In other words, if Jesus isn’t God, then it’s up to you to chase down the things you want. It’s up to you to satisfy your desires. It’s up to you to be the one who holds the keys over your destiny because Jesus is incapable of satisfying you or ruling over you if he is not God.
But John confronts this false teaching because he knows that Jesus is the Divine Word. He knows that Jesus was in the beginning. He knows that Jesus was with God the Father and God the Spirit. He knows that Jesus is God. He knows that everything that was created was created through Jesus who is the Word of God. When God the Father spoke all of creation into existence he spoke his Word, which is Christ, and the power of his Word was his breathe which is his Spirit. This is the triune Godhead in action from the beginning.
When I think about the sufficiency of God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit I am convicted of my sinful habit of making my momentary wants into eternal needs. The relationships I obsess over on this earth are a drop in the bucket compared to the ocean of the life-giving relationship with the Father, Son and Spirit. The security and the acceptance I deeply want to have from other people or in my vocation is a cheap substitute for the eternal security and acceptance that I can experience in relationship with the Father, Son and Spirit.
But where do I go when I realize I’ve made my wants into needs? What is it that I actually need? What need have I been resisting? I think the simplest application from this first point is the Word of God. Jesus is the Divine Word of God. Therefore, if I’m going to repent from making earthly relationships more important than my relationship with God then I must get my face into the Word of God. When I get my face into the Word of God, and when my nose has ink stains on it from burying my head in God’s Word, I come face to face with Jesus who is the Divine Word.
And in those moments I am satisfied. All of my wants begin to dissipate as the true needs of my soul are met in the presence of Christ. When I begin to submerge myself in God’s Word I meet Jesus the Divine Word and he jumps into the front seat of the automobile of my life and everything else that I was pursuing, everything that I wanted more than Jesus takes the back seat to Jesus who is the Divine Word. Jesus is the divine Word and the light of the world who gives me the right to become children of God. What more could I really want? What else could I really need?
#2. Jesus Is The Light Of The World (4 – 9)
In verses four through nine, John explains that Jesus is the light of the world. When God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit created the world, they created it to be full of life. In the beginning the world was the good life. Everything you could ever want was right there in front of you. This is the story of the Garden of Eden. But we know the story right? Adam and Eve became impatient and they lose all sense of self-control as they begin to believe the lies of the serpent. They begin to believe that maybe God isn’t good enough. That maybe God is withholding something from them. They develop a craving for things that God instructed them to stay away from and then those cravings, those desires, those wants became ultimate needs and their true needs became a bad taste in their mouth.
And then they gave in and fed their hunger. And then they became sick. And then they hungered for more of what made them sick in the first place. And they became even more sick. And then they began to want more of what continued to make them sick. And then they hid from God because they were ashamed and they tried to cover their sickness and nakedness with leaves. They wanted to hide from God and they wanted to cover their own shame and in doing so they missed the point that they really needed God to do this work of removing their shame and guilt.
And then before long, the good life was no longer the good life. The good life was now the rotten life. The good life was now the rotten secret life of sin sickness. The good life was now the rotten life of walking in the darkness. The good life was no longer a life of testifying to God’s goodness it was now the rotten life of living in deceitfulness and shame and separation from God. The good old life of the Garden of Eden had been destroyed with one bite of what God said no to and now Adam and Eve lived in the rotten life of their own creation.
This is why John continues by saying that “In him (Christ) was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John (the Baptist, who announced Jesus’ coming). He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He (John the Baptist) was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.” Jesus is the light of the world. Jesus came to restore our broken lives. Jesus came to shine the light of his presence into the darkest spaces of sin and hurt and shame in our hearts. Jesus came to transform us into witnesses of his grace and love. Jesus is the true light that burns brighter than every false light that I thought would light up my world. Jesus is the light of the world that came to restore the good life to every rotten and broken life.
I am increasingly convicted about how I’ve taken the things that I want and turned them into things that I need while resisting and rejecting what I actually need in my intoxicated state of being. This is not about a struggle with drunkenness. (Although it could be for some of you listening) This is about the intoxicating feeling we all get when we get closer to that thing we’ve always wanted that we’ve turned into an absolute need. Can you feel the excitement of getting closer to something you’ve always wanted that you’ve turned into an ultimate need?
This is about being controlled by my wants to the extent that I resist and reject what I actually need. When I do this, I trade the good life of following Christ for the rotten life of following my unsatisfied wants. I run headlong away from the light of Christ that gives me a good life and I chase after the rotten life that leads me into darkness and ruins my witness and leaves me in the shackles of secret sin deep within the caves of my shame and my guilt and my regret and my fear. Have you been to that place recently? Have you gotten trapped by making your wants into ultimate needs? Have you been resisting and rejecting the things you actually need?
Jesus is the true light of the world. Yes, we celebrate his birth during this time of year. But it’s so much more than that. The Christmas story is amazing and miraculous. And really, the most amazing and miraculous piece of the story is not so much the birth of Christ (although it is amazing and miraculous) but it’s this truth that Jesus is the true light of the world that gives true life to dead people.
The practical steps for you and I as we hear this is to step into the light and walk in the light. Step out of darkness. Step out of your secret pursuit of satisfying the wants that you’ve made into ultimate needs. Step into true confession. Step into living a true good life that gives attention to Jesus. Step into witnessing or proclaiming the power of the Son of God in your life. Stop trading the presence of the light of the world for cheap substitutes.
The job security you want is a cheap substitute. That relationship you want is a cheap substitute. The isolation you want is a cheap substitute. That drug or that substance you want is a cheap substitute. That secret habit late at night when you’re browsing the Internet is a cheap substitute. Jesus is the true light of the world who came to restore our broken lives by replacing the cheap substitutes with himself. Jesus is who we really need. Jesus is the divine Word and the light of the world who gives us the right to become children of God. What more could I really want? What more could I really need?
#3. Jesus Gives Us The Right To Become Children Of God (10 – 13)
In verses ten through thirteen, John explains that Jesus gives us the right to become children of God. When I think about my rights I begin to think and behave like a little boy sometimes. I begin to think that God owes me something in this world. I begin to think that I deserve a better life than what I have now. I begin to think that I am entitled to whatever I want. I get frustrated when the wants that I’ve made into needs don’t get met. I begin to think, feel and behave like a little boy throwing a temper tantrum in the middle of the floor on Christmas when I don’t get the gift I’ve always wanted. And when I do this I miss the actual needs that are being met or the needs that need to be met in that moment. I find it easy to dismiss the truth that Jesus is the one who gives me the right. My rights do not begin within me. My rights begin in Christ from the beginning.
I actually think this is the catch or the hook of the entire passage we are studying today. It’s far too easy to make our wants into needs that we get deceived into believing that we have the right to satisfy. John says that Jesus “was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God.” Jesus gives us the right to become children of God which means that all of our other rights are secondary to that primary right and then flow out of that right. But do not be mistaken. Our rights begin and end with Jesus. Jesus gives us the right.
John’s original hearers had resisted and rejected Jesus. They believed they were entitled to something more. They believed that God owed them someone better than Jesus. Even though Jesus was physically standing among them doing miraculous things they rejected what they needed because of what they wanted. Even though the Creator of all things created was present among his creation, his creation crucified him. They actually wanted to crucify him and in some crazy twist, they needed to crucify him.
This is where Jesus meets us in the midst of our making the things we want into the things we need while making the things we need into the things we do not want. The cross of Christ is where all of our wants and needs meet Jesus who is the Divine Word and the light of men who gives us the right to become children of God. Do you know this Jesus? Not just the Christmas story about Jesus as a baby in a manger. Do you know Jesus the person who created you? Do you know Jesus the Divine Word of God? Do you know Jesus the light of the world? Do you know Jesus the one whom the world rejected and nailed to a cross? Do you know Jesus the one who gives you the right to become a son or daughter of God?
Have you made your wants into needs? Have you believed you’re your want for a relationship with someone is greater than your need for Jesus? Have you believed that your want for job security is greater than your need for Jesus? Have you believed that your want for acceptance or power is greater than your need for Jesus? Jesus is who we need. Have you rejected and decided that you don’t want the person you really need? Jesus is the divine Word and the light of the world who gives us the right to become children of God. What more could I really want? What more could I really need?
Conclusion…
The people John is writing to didn’t know Jesus, they didn’t receive Jesus and they didn’t believe Jesus. They chased what they knew. They pursued what they wanted. And they proved what they believed. They knew that the pursuit of power, success, acceptance, fame, fortune and pleasure felt good so they chased it. They wanted it so much they believed they needed it and therefore they thought they were entitled to it. And in the midst of chasing whatever they believed would satisfy what they wanted, they ultimately rejected the person they really needed. And the person they really needed was Jesus.
But there’s good news for us here. For every one of who has made our wants into ultimate demands while making our needs into unwanted waste, there’s a nugget of the gospel in this passage where John says “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” And in those words, in the powerful Word of God, the Spirit of God can create new hearts that want what they truly need. You may have walked in here making your wants into needs but in this moment the Spirit of God may be making your needs into wants. It is the Spirit of God who reveals our need for Christ and makes us into people who actually want him. Do you have a habit of making the things you want into things you need which in turn makes the things you need into things you don’t want? If you want Jesus, the Divine Word and the Light of the world to set you free from your sin then the good news is that he gives you the right to become a child of God. What more could you really want? What more could you really need?