Christmas Eve Service: Luke 2:8-21 | The Hope of God's Light

This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

We've passed the winter solstice, and we anticipate daylight, more daylight, each day.

But you won't feel it until April, don't worry.

But somehow the thought of that little bit more of daylight makes us happier.

It lifts us.

But daylight still passes quickly, does it not?

It arrives late in the morning.

It disappears too early in the afternoon.

Sometimes life is like that, isn't it?

Sometimes it feels like there are brief moments of light, but darkness approaches far too quickly.

We can feel that about the past.

Perhaps there's guilt or shame or past sinful choices.

Past things that you were just caught up in.

Perhaps there's things that you regret.

We can also feel that encroachment of darkness by the present, can't we?

It could be caused by a seemingly inescapable situation, such as disease or finances, or maybe a sinful habit or a sinful relationship.

And the future?

Well, who knows what it brings?

Are we confident in what will come?

The world changes by the second.

So what confidence or what hope is there to escape the darkness?

The Bible tells us there is hope.

But our hope is not in escaping the darkness that plagues life, past, present, or future.

Our hope is in the arrival of a light that overcomes the darkness.

In John chapter 1, the Apostle John speaks of the arrival of the light.

John 1 · chapter mention

And I invite you for a few moments to consider what the apostle wrote about the hope of God's light in a way that maybe you've never done before.

I want us to compare John's words about the arrival of the light of the world to the announcement by the angels to those shepherds on a dark night.

I read the account of the angels and the shepherds earlier.

I'll read now a few verses from John chapter 1, beginning in verse 9, where it says, The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

John 1 · chapter mention

He 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, he gave the right, the authorization to bel 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 born of God.

And so the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

And John says, We beheld his glory.

Glory is of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

For from his fullness we've all received grace upon grace.

For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth through Jesus Christ.

No one has ever seen God, but the only God who is at the Father's side has made him known.

It's far too much for us to think about and talk about tonight.

But I want to share with you three avenues of hope provided by God's promised light.

John here gives us hope by the light's coming into the world.

He gives us hope by the light coming to redeem those to whom God gives new birth.

And John gives us hope by his coming to reveal God's glory and grace.

We see these three displays of hope lived out in the angels and the shepherds on the night of Christ's birth.

We see it mostly by way of a strange contrast.

Stunning contrasts, we might even say, that lead to the hope of God's promise when we put John's statements side by side with Luke's account of those angels and the shepherds.

You see, John reveals here that the stunning hope in the glory of God came to dwell among us.

How amazing is that?

That the eternal light would come to dwell among us.

But on the night of the Lord's birth, angelic glory, heavenly glory, filled the night skies.

It filled the night skies as the light of the world was wrapped in flesh and bone and strips of cloth, swaddled as an infant.

I'm sure that the glory of the angels was made much grander by the darkness of that night.

Yet the light of the world left the glories of heaven and concealed his radiant glory in human form in order to give us eternal hope if we put our trust in him.

John reveals to us the stunning hope of Christ's coming in the flesh to redeem those born of the will of God.

You know, on the night of the Lord's birth, shepherds abandoned their sheep on the hillside.

Have you ever wondered what happened to those sheep?

Strange thought.

They left their duty.

Their duty was to keep those sheep.

They abandoned their sheep on the hillside just as the good shepherd left his glory to seek out his sheep on the hills of the world.

It's stunning that God the Son would not hold on to the glory of his deity, but would instead veil that deity by becoming like us.

See, the coming of God's light, veiled in flesh, gives us the opportunity to receive him as our shepherd and to be gathered by him as daughters and sons.

But viewed from God's perspective, if we set aside our perspective and look at it from the realm of heaven, he came to seek out his sheep and to rescue them by bringing them out of darkness and into his glorious light.

I'm sure that the shepherd seeking out the swaddled infant was made more glorious by abandoning their sheep on the lonely hills.

Emmanuel's birth was made more glorious by his laying aside his glory to seek out his sheep.

And that selfless act should give us hope that he desires to gather us in and to care for us.

As he said on that day, I am the light of the world.

What glories are you chasing after?

Are you still trying to desperately care for your sheep?

Or have you abandoned your seat to seek the Savior and His glory?

John reveals here the stunning hope of Christ's coming in the flesh to reveal God's glory and grace.

The word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory.

Glory is of this only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

On the night of the Lord's birth, shepherds left behind the glory of the angels in the heavens to see the greater glory in a manger.

The light of the world left behind the glory of the Godhead to reveal the Father's glory and grace to those who desperately need it.

The infant Christ came to reveal the glory and grace of the invisible God, veiled in flesh, the Godhead see.

Abandon whatever you have, whatever you're putting your trust in, and find your hope in the light of the world, wrapped in flesh, swaddled as an infant, who came to give his life for you.

Would you pray with me?

Lord Jesus, we see we we are in awe of you.

That you would come to seek us out as our good shepherd, leaving behind the glories of the Godhead in heaven, setting that aside, wrapping yourself in flesh, so that you might experience all that we've experienced, so that we might be rescued from our darkness.

Lord, may our nights never be silent, but be filled with praise and honor and glory for the one who came to give us light and life.

Amen.

That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.

Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.

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