Rev. Sean Carroll: Hello, everybody, and Merry Christmas. I hope that you are all able to enjoy some rest, some excellent time with friends and family, and we're enjoying the season of the year. As we anticipate New Year's coming up in just a couple of days, I wanna spend some time looking at a very important passage. What did we just celebrate? That's a question that we're gonna ask ourselves today.
And I know because sometimes we can get lost in the shuffle, we don't stop and think about that question. Earlier this year, I went to a cross country meet with my family. And if you've ever been to a cross country meet, you know that the starting line is this ridiculously long straight line, there's 200 kids all lined up, and they're sweaty, and they're energized, and they're ready to go. And they all start at the same time at the same moment. Before they start, they're each doing their own warm up.
So I'm out there with my son, and he's doing a warm up. And there's a group behind me that's getting hyped up, and they're excited. And then all of a sudden, they start singing. Happy birthday. And immediately immediately, I I turn around and I'm like, I'm so here for this.
I start singing happy birthday to you, and then eventually, everybody, 200 people are all singing happy birthday to you. Have you ever done this? Has this ever happened to you? What happens next? What happens when we get to the line, happy birthday, dear?
But nobody knows the person's name except for this small group. So we all try to quiet, and we all try to listen in to what's happening. You see, no one except the small team knew the real reason that we were celebrating happy birthday. Now don't get me wrong. It's fun to celebrate.
It was really fun to join in, but we didn't fully and truly know the person that we were celebrating. Christmas can kind of be like that. It's a blast that we rip open presents. We celebrate with family. We have excellent meals.
There's time for rest. If you're like me, you definitely sneak in several afternoon naps. I don't know what tradition is in your family. Maybe you like white lights. Maybe you like colored lights.
Maybe it's pumpkin pie. Maybe it's eggnog. We all have our traditions. But do we really know the person that we are celebrating? Today, I wanna take a deep dive into who Christmas is celebrating.
And in light of that, as we approach New Year's, learning what does that mean for us. By the way, that was an excellent pun about light. You just don't know it yet. So let's listen in, and you'll figure it out. Anyways, we'll pray, and we'll get into it.
Heavenly father, thank you for this day. Lord, thank you for coming and making yourself known to us, being found in human likeness as baby Jesus and living the life that we couldn't live. Lord, as we anticipate a new year in front of us, a new year that you have created us, Lord, I ask that you will bless us so that we can be a blessing to those around us. Lord, may we continue to shine your light into the world. Whatever is not of me, may it fall away.
And whatever you want people to hear today and whatever you need me to learn, Lord, may you teach us and teach me so that we can continue to be your sons and daughters and shine your light into the world. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Jesus is the reason for the season. Have have you ever seen this sign around?
Maybe you have this sign in your house. Maybe you're one of the people that rolls their eye when you see this sign. Whatever type of person you are, that's exactly what we're talking about today. We're gonna learn about Jesus as our creator, and then we're gonna learn about Jesus as our light. And then after learning about both of those things, how then do we respond to our creator and our light?
The passage that was read today was the beginning of the gospel according to John, the good news of John. However, it steals heavily from another passage in scripture. Does it remind you of something else? Let me read the beginning of this passage again from John one. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.
He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made, and without him, nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Now I wanna read a passage from the first book of the Bible.
The first book, the creation account, where everything gets created. It's the origin story of how things began. It was written more than a thousand years before John even existed. It starts this way, Genesis one. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. And God said, let there be light, and there was light. And God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness he called night.
There was evening, and there was morning the first day. Do you see the similarities there? John says, in the beginning was the word. Through him, all things were made. Genesis says, in the beginning, God created.
And then again, John says, the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. And in Genesis, God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. John was very, very explicitly saying whoever this word is, is clearly God. And then to clear the air even more, a few verses later, John explains the passage about John the Baptist, who is not the same person who wrote this book. He says this.
He says that John the Baptist came to testify about him, this word. And anyone who was living during that time can tell you that John the Baptist spent all of his time talking and testifying about Jesus. Imagine if I said Tom Brady, seven times Super Bowl champion, MVP, football star, came to testify about the ball. What type of ball am I talking about? I think there's no confusion.
Right? I'm talking about a football. And in the same way, during that time, in that context, there was no confusion about who the word is because that's all that John talked about. He talked about Jesus. And if you read the rest of the Gospel of John, it also makes it pretty clear that Jesus is the word of God.
But let's let's bring it down a little bit further to make sure that we are all on the same page. John one one. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him, all things were made, and without him, nothing was made that has been made.
In the beginning was. Before time was created, before anything existed, in the beginning was. Now not to nerd out too much, but the Hebrew verb for was here is an imperfect. Right? And basically means continuously.
It has continuously existed from the beginning was the word. There was never a time when it did not exist. It always existed, and it always will. So now we establish that the word, whatever it is or whoever it is, has been existing since forever. What what else do we see in this verse?
Well, the word was with God. Jesus was with God. They're two distinct persons. This verse is one of the, actually, the best evidences for the trinity, the father, the son, and the holy spirit existing together in three persons simultaneously. By saying that the word was with god, it lets us know that there were two persons in this together.
So this word, Jesus, has existed forever, and he was with god. And we can assume that God also has existed forever. But we see something else here too. The word was God. I love the way that this simple verse walks us through a whole argument in such a short time.
Hey, did you know that Jesus existed forever? Wait, wait, wait. You mean that God didn't create him? No, no, no. He was with God in the beginning.
Oh, with God? So then he wasn't God? No. He was God. They were together, and they always have been.
It's like, woah, that's crazy. Right? And and so at this point, people like myself and and maybe you want some more clarity. Okay. So what are you saying here?
And then John says, let me walk you through it. Through him, all things were made. Nothing that was made was made without him. I'm gonna draw you a very simple chart if I can. This is a chart that has two sides.
It has the top and the bottom. On the top is everything that was not created, and on the bottom is everything that was created. Alright. So on the bottom, we have everything that was created. In this box includes you, me.
It includes the world. It includes technology. It includes the government. It also includes AI, artificial intelligence. All of these things were created.
On the top are things that were not created. If they were not created, then they were the creator. The creator is what created everything. And the beauty of this is is that because you and I were made in the image of God, we too like to create things. And so there's artists that create beautiful music and painting, and there's people that are architects that design buildings, and these are all created things that create more beauty.
So let's recap. One, that the word Jesus has always existed. He was hanging out with God the father, number two. He is also God, number three. And number four, everything that was created was created by him.
Okay. So that's Jesus as our creator. Now let's look at Jesus as our light. Verse four. In him was life, and that life was the light of men.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Again, this parallels the Genesis account, the creation of the world, that the light was there. If you read Genesis and you read it chronologically, you will see that the light existed before there was any sun, moon, or stars. So while there was nothing created that yet makes light, the light was there. And that's because the light is Jesus who has always existed with God.
He is the true light, true life. It also goes on in this passage to talk about John the Baptist came to testify about the light. John testified about Jesus. Jesus is the light, the light of men. If Tom Brady was talking about a field, you would understand that he was talking about a football field.
It's the only option. If John is talking about light, the light is Jesus. And I do wanna make a quick note that says, the light of men in this passage, that should really be translated into all humanity. In the context, it says mankind, but it means all of humanity. Jesus is the life of all humanity, aka he created all of us, and he breathed life into all of us.
John then goes on to make a very simple but true statement. Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. But if we dig a little deeper, we can understand the metaphor. If light equals life, then darkness most likely equals death. Death is a result of sin and then humanity's fall from grace.
And that's the beauty of the metaphor. Let me show you something. I have a candle here, and when there's darkness around, you can see that the light escapes. But if I light this candle, the darkness flees. So during the darkness, it is free to rain.
It's free to do whatever it wants. There's no power in darkness. But if the light is there, the darkness cannot exist. When I light this candle, the darkness can literally do nothing. The presence of light means the absence of darkness.
Darkness can only exist where there is no light. The two are not opposites. Light conquers darkness. Life, therefore, conquers death. It's not a choice of opposites.
It come it's a complete swallowing up of life over death. Death can only exist where life is not found. And if Jesus is that light, he is that life. He came to us. And so if you and I, if we have Jesus, we have life, and death has no power over us.
Isn't that comforting? Now the thing that I love about this metaphor is that it is comforting. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. If the light of the world, Jesus, is with us, that mean death cannot overcome us. It's not an equal war of where you have an angel on one shoulder and then you have a devil on the other shoulder and you're waging war and you're doing good things and bad things.
It's not where good fruit is on this side and then the bad fruit is over here. The good things that you were doing over here, then the evil things that you were doing are over here. Whichever one gets more, that's the side that wins. No. It is not a battle.
The presence of Jesus means that death is not present, not even a little bit. That's how light works. If the light is there, there is no darkness. No death. Now personally, I have at times tried to weigh my good deeds against my bad deeds, to weigh my good fruit against my bad fruit.
And I ask myself, am I actually doing enough good things to be called a child of God and to get into heaven? But that is exactly where this verse becomes the comfort. The light. The life that gets me into eternal life is not measured by my good deeds. They are measured on the light of the world, and in him is no darkness, no death.
Isn't that comforting? So why did this creator, the light of the world, even come? Well, John answers that as well. The true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
He came to his own, and his own did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, children born not of blood nor of the desire or will of man, but born of God. And to be honest, this part is bittersweet. Jesus, who is God, who always existed with God, who is the son along with the father, in him, who is life, he came to his own people, the people that worship God the father, and they didn't recognize him. They didn't receive him.
Humanity, without the light of the world, was walking in darkness, and in that darkness was unable to recognize the light. However, where I wanna focus is the line that says, to all who did receive him. That really means anyone and everyone who wants to. The beauty of the gospel is that it is open to all people, to all humanity. It's available to you.
It's available to me, and it's even available to the person that we don't like very much. That's the good news. Without Jesus, we were all walking in darkness. And it is only because of the love of God in sending his son Jesus that we even have access to the lake. Now if you're out there today and wondering if Jesus is available to you, the answer is yes.
He is. Listen. To all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. Those who believed, Jesus gave them the right to be children of God, not born of blood, but born of God. Now if I could talk to a minute to those of us who have become children of God, I have a challenge for us.
And as an aside, if you wanna join that group today and become a child of God for the first time by believing in Jesus, welcome. You're in. Isn't that amazing? That is all that it takes is to believe in the name of Jesus, and you will be saved. If you're wrestling through that or you're not sure what that means or you're new to this whole thing, I would love to take time and sit down with you and grab a cup of coffee.
So please do not hesitate to email me, and we'll grab a coffee at our wonderful coffee shop in Northville called Renew. But when we are given the right to become children of God, not because we have earned it, but because it was given freely by the light of men, Jesus, then we must endeavor to act like children of God. In my house, we have what's called the Carroll rule. That's my last name, Sean Carroll. And the Carroll rule is this, everyone can play.
We started it when the kids were little to talk about how when they were playing with their friends, you needed to invite everybody into it. Probably it happened because as I have six kids, there was times when they didn't all get along and they didn't let their siblings play. And we said, no. No. No.
What's the Carroll rule? Everyone needs to be allowed to play. And the reason that we have the rule is because everyone has value because everyone was created in the image of God, and so everyone needs to be allowed to join. It's actually grown into a way of life in our house, and it goes beyond play into everything and everyone. There's always room for one more.
But sometimes, there's dissent among the ranks. The kids will say, but I don't want to invite so and so in. And here's my response. Well, as long as you're part of this family in this house, these are the rules. You must abide by the Carroll rule.
When you're an adult, you get to make your own family and have your own rules in your own house. But as long as you're here, everyone can play. And that's what John is kinda getting at here. To all who believe, to anyone and everyone who believes, they are given the right to be children of God. But as children of God, we must act like it.
It's not because we need to earn something, but because we are already part of the family. And that's the way that this family acts. We talked about Jesus being the light of all humanity. And here's how I would describe what the light looks like. It looks like love.
It looks like kindness and joy and peace and patience. It looks like keeping no records of wrong, of turning the other cheek, of gentleness, of telling the truth. It means standing in the gap for the orphan, the widow, the sojourner. It means loving our enemy. It looks like hope.
It looks like giving a voice to the voiceless. It looks like visiting the prisoner, feeding the poor, and inviting the stranger in, and it looks like sharing that with everyone we know. If you are a part of the same family, then you too have the light in you. And as children, it becomes our responsibility to shine that light. The light is not ours.
It is a reflection of Jesus. And so here's the question as we enter the new year. Does my life reflect the light and hope of the world? Do I create what I have been created to shine? Do I love well as a child of God by the hope that is found in Jesus?
And do I point people towards him? If, like me, you ever feel inadequate of this, let me leave you with one more comfort during this season, the last verse that we talked about. The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. And here is the most beautiful part of the Christmas season. This is what we are celebrating, that the creator entered his own creation.
God became man, and he experienced everything that we have experienced as humanity. And that which we could not do, he did on our behalf. He shined the light of God onto all humanity, and it cost him his life. And that death on a cross is what has given us the right to become children of God. How will you respond this new year?
Let's pray. Heavenly father, we fall short in front of you. Lord, sometimes when we wish to shine light, we shine darkness. And, Lord, so we ask forgiveness for that. But, Lord, what I am so thankful for, what is so comforting is that it's not our light that we are shining, but yours.
And the light that you came when you entered this world was for anyone and for everyone, and for all who believe on your name. Lord, I am grateful that you came for me, that you died for my sins, or that you have given me new life and the right to be called your child. And so I praise you today. Lord, may that be our heart and our prayer this new season. And may we shine your light before men so that others may see our good deeds and glorify you in heaven.
In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of your own doing, it is a gift of God, not as a result of work so that no one can boast. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Friends, may you walk in those good works and shine the light of God in the New Year. Go in peace.
Amen. Happy New Year.