The Baby born, the darkness doomed

I go to the same coffee place to work on my sermon for, I don't know, about three years now.

It's usually, most of the time, the same place.

And a little bit after I started going there to work on it on weekdays in the mornings,

towards the end of the day, I'd see a group of mainly ladies.

90% of the time, 95% of the time, it would be a group of three to five ladies who would come in together.

And I figured out almost immediately that they were probably Jehovah Witnesses.

And it turns out that they were.

And so, just about maybe two or three times a week when I was there, they would come in.

They'd all sit and have coffee and they'd all look at me.

Not because I'm something special, but because I was working on my sermon, I had a Bible out.

And they'd notice the Bible and they'd look at me.

And eventually they'd start to smile and I found out that what they did is that they were witnessing,

as they would call it, going house to house and witnessing in that region.

And to get a bit of a break, they'd all have coffee together.

And they have a name for it, which I can't remember what the name is for it.

But Jehovah Witnesses have a name for it.

And so, we'd be fine and I'd say, oh, they noticed that I was reading the Bible

and I told them I was a pastor and I was a Christian and all of that stuff.

But I knew that at some point in time, a particular encounter was going to come.

And sure enough, after several months, a time came when a woman around my age with her daughter,

and her daughter was, in a sense, a professional missionary.

She had been working outside of the country for several years and that's all she did.

She made her living going.

She raised support to go door to door and try to convert people to becoming Jehovah Witnesses.

And so, the day came when there was just the two of them came in and they saw me

and they came and sat down with me and I was waiting for something like this to eventually happen.

So, we had a conversation that went about 45 minutes.

It was a very interesting conversation.

And this isn't by the way to boast.

Maybe it's a bad thing, but they've never wanted to have a conversation with me since.

But it, and it wasn't because I was mean or rude, but just because I know a little bit about Jehovah Witnesses.

And they have a pattern, they have a type of thing that they go through,

several different conversation patterns that they like to go through.

So, if you ever get a talk with a Jehovah Witness, one of the best things to do is to knock them off.

There are different little streams of conversation that they have.

And they started to talk to me and I said to them, after we'd been talking for about five minutes,

I said, one of the reasons I could never be a Christian, I mean a Jehovah Witness,

is because you ultimately don't believe that God is love.

And they were very offended by it.

Well, they weren't offended.

They were just surprised.

They assured me that they believed that God was love.

And I said, well, here's the problem.

You believe that there's only this one God, that God is one, and you believe that God is love.

But if God has just always been one, then before he created human beings, who was there for him to love?

Like before he created angels, who was there for God to love?

Is God sort of, was God sort of a needy God that he had to create angels and then human beings

so that he could have somebody to love?

But if he has a, if he's a needy type of God that has to create somebody so that he can love them,

well, then how is he God if he has these particular needs?

And we went down this path because they would try to defend it.

They'd never, I guess, come across an argument about one of the problems with their belief

is that they couldn't believe that God is love.

It culminated in me, of course, talking about not only the love that existed between,

anyway, they just, they didn't quite know what to deal with it.

Now, I mention all of this because the Bible text, which we just read a couple of moments ago,

and we're going to look at John chapter one, verses one to five,

is a very, very, very important part of the Bible.

I don't know if it's still the case, but when I was trying to learn Greek,

the first place that you would go to try to learn Greek was actually these verses.

It's very simple.

It's almost of the level of see Dick run, run Dick run, see Jane run, run Jane run,

like the type of very beginning simple words.

But on one level, they're very simple, but on the other level,

every word is very, very profound and very, very carefully crafted.

And it tells us something which is quite astounding.

So if you get your Bibles out and look at John one, we're going to begin reading it.

And by the way, this isn't just sort of an academic thing to talk with Muslims or Jehovah Witnesses.

The fact of the matter is, is that love is unbelievably important to us as human beings,

and especially in this cultural moment.

We, in our moment, our culture has this constant huge desire and hunger for love.

The more institutions break down, the more relationships break down,

the more marriages break down, the greater desire and hunger of our hearts is for love.

And we might be confused about what love looks like.

We might be confused about how love relates to justice.

But there's this huge cultural desire for love.

It fuels the transgender movement.

It fuels the LGBTQ movement.

It fuels our concern for First Nations people and their concerns.

There's this huge hunger for love.

So to look at whether or not, like how we can understand love and base it,

it's not just an academic thing.

It's very relevant and very deeply important to each one of us.

So in mind of that, listen to this.

It doesn't sound like it's talking about love, but it really is.

Listen to this.

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.

Now, we can talk a little bit about why it is that Jesus,

because that's ultimately who they're talking about, is described as the Word.

Maybe I'll say a few things about it in a moment.

But actually, if you could bring up the first point, Andrew, that would be very helpful.

What, amongst other things, this text of Scripture is telling us

is that love is deeper and older than creation itself.

Love is deeper and older than creation itself.

That's what the Bible is teaching here.

You see, this word, was, is a really important word.

Listen again to the Bible.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.

Sorry, not was, it's the word with.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

And twice in these few verses, it uses the word with.

And we might think, well, with, like George, what's so special about the word with?

Well, in the original language, there's two different ways that the word with could be used.

One way would be to say, Louise, my car broke down.

Could you come and pick me up?

And then she says, well, where are you?

And I can say, I'm with the car.

Okay, I'm with the car.

And in the original language, there'd be a way of using with,

which means that you're just sort of with something.

Something, you're with it, you're with either something which is impersonal,

or you're with something, so you're with something which is just impersonal,

or you're with someone in an impersonal way.

Because it would be the same word as I'm with the car,

as saying I'm with some people at the bus stop.

I'm at the bus stop.

Are you there by yourself?

She might say, no, no, there's some other people.

I'm here with some other people.

But it's just, it's no different really than just me being with some objects.

And there's another way in the original language of using the word with,

which implies that there's a personal connection.

And more than a personal connection, a relationship of intimacy and love.

We would use it that way if I, maybe somebody, well, I know,

back when I was in my earlier church, my previous church,

there was a fellow who had to go to court because he'd been accused of something.

And I actually believe that in this particular case,

I have to say in this particular case, because he was not unfamiliar to the police,

but in this particular case, I think he was completely and utterly innocent.

In fact, I had good reasons to know that he was probably completely and utterly innocent.

He'd been accused of something he didn't do.

And I'll call him Bob.

I almost said his real name.

And I said to him, Bob, I'm with you.

I'm with you on this.

And I'll go with you to court because I'm with you.

And when you use that word with in that type of a sense,

like I put my arm on him, so I'm with you.

I'm with you, Bob.

I'm with you on this.

We'll go to this together.

And I'll sit with you because I'm with you.

And so in the original language, there's a way of saying with,

which implies this personal relationship.

It's a relationship that only a person can have with another person.

And it's not sort of just formal or impersonal.

It's a very personal connection.

And that's the word which is used here in John chapter 1.

John 1 · chapter mention

In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God.

But it's telling us that it's a person, the word.

However we understand why it is that John used this word, the word,

to begin to describe Jesus, I mean, we can meditate upon that.

We can, the poets and the prayer warriors, we can meditate upon that.

We can think upon it.

The artist can imagine why it is that God would choose this word

to describe the second person of the Trinity.

But at the very, very heart of this text is before there were stars,

before there was a galaxy, before there were human beings,

before there were angels,

before anything existed that does exist,

in the beginning, the word was with the Father.

And the Father was with the word.

And both are God, but there's still only one God.

They're with each other.

There's a personal relationship.

It's a love relationship.

And that exists before anything that exists.

So you see, from the Christian account,

we can say that love is deeper and older than creation itself,

because it's only in the Bible.

It's only in the doctrine of the Trinity.

Islam has no basis to believe this.

And Orthodox Judaism, it would be a puzzle within Orthodox Judaism,

a puzzle that, on one level, they know that God is love,

because it's, in fact, in the Old Testament scriptures, the Tanakh,

I'm going to get it wrong, because I can't get the full phlegm,

but chesed, God's faithful covenant love,

is one of the most important ways to describe love.

But you have this idea, this truth that God is love in the Old Testament,

but at the same time, they have to puzzle over how is it that God could be a God of love

if there was no one other than him.

But from the Bible, from Jesus, from his death and resurrection,

we understand this deeper truth that from all eternity,

there is the Father loving the Son and the Son loving the Father.

And that love that existed between the Father and the Son from all eternity,

it was a deep love, an eternal love, and a true love,

and it is out of that love that things are created.

So listen to it again.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

In fact, I would suggest that it's only in the Bible,

only through what Christ has revealed to us,

that we in fact have a way to truly understand and base

this deepest desire of our hearts to know love.

You know, the central myth of our culture

is the myth of naturalistic evolution.

And at the very, very center of that myth

is the belief that after time and chance work to create life,

the way that we came about

was through two simple truths.

The strong eat the weak.

The strong adapt, the weak die.

And how on earth do you derive from the strong eat the weak

or the strong adapt and the weak die,

therefore love one another?

Therefore love...

That doesn't follow.

I mean, what really follows is

I should be able to eat the weak

until I become weak.

Or I should be able to adapt

so that I will survive

and it sucks to be weak.

And as we all know, that's so unsatisfying

because eventually if we live long enough,

we become weak.

We begin weak.

Some of us never are anything other than weak.

But we always end up weak.

And we can't be weaker than dying.

And in such a context,

there's this profound affirmation

and teaching in the Bible

that in the beginning was the Word

and the Word was with God

and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

Actually, Andrew, I missed the point.

Can you put up the second point?

Basically, just as a matter of thinking,

something or someone,

somewhat or some who,

I know it sounds like a Dr. Seuss line,

but something or someone,

somewhat or some who,

has to have no beginning.

Like that's just the case.

And we just have to be so grateful

in our culture

that our culture still is living off

the remnants of the Christian story

because if the thing that has no beginning

is a what,

if the thing that has no beginning is a thing,

then how do persons come to be?

And how do they have value

and how do they have dignity?

And why is it that

that if things and what's

are the most basic

with no beginning

and no end,

that human beings exist

and seem to be made

with this unceasing hunger for love?

And we Christians have to learn

to not be intimidated

by the myth

of naturalistic evolution.

and to be comfortable

and confident

that there's very simple ways

how the Christian story

is completely compatible

with the true findings of science

and say,

it is a who,

a person that has no beginning.

In fact, it's more than a who.

It's,

well, one who,

just one God,

but the Father and the Son

who know each other as persons,

who love each other as persons

from all eternity.

And out of them being persons

and out of them being love,

they created human beings.

Now,

I'm a man of a certain age

and I have a certain type of context

and for those of us

of a certain age

and a certain context,

what would evangelists

give to people

that they wanted

to try to become Christians

or what would evangelists

give somebody

who had just become

a Christian to study?

And for those of us

who are of a certain age

and have a certain context,

the answer would be

the Gospel of John.

That's what,

that's what,

in,

I don't know if they still,

if in many places

it's still done,

but the Gospel of John

would be what would be given

to a person

who either wants to be,

that you want them

to become a Christian

and you want them

to find out about Jesus

so they'll become a Christian

or after they become a Christian,

how they can know Jesus more.

You'd give them

the Gospel of John.

Why is it

that that is the case

and why is it

that we should maybe

get back to it?

If you turn in John's Gospel

to chapter 20,

verse 30,

you'll see the answer.

Turn in your Bibles

to John chapter 20,

John 20:30

verse 30 and 31.

And here's what John writes,

right towards the end

of the Gospel.

I keep sort of

walking into that.

I guess you can't see that

from the other,

from the image.

And it says this,

just almost before

the very end

of John's Gospel,

John reveals

why he wrote

John's Gospel.

He says,

Now Jesus did many

other signs

in the presence

of the disciples,

which are not written

in this book,

but these are written

so that

you may believe

that Jesus

is the Christ,

the Son of God,

and that by believing

you may have life

in his name.

Like, just say that

verse 31.

Why did John

write the Gospel?

Why, as John

is beginning to write

his Gospel,

and as he's starting

with chapter 1,

verse 1,

and as he does

chapter 2,

and chapter 3,

all the way through

John's Gospel,

John said,

I wrote everything,

everything that I wrote,

I had a purpose.

And my purpose

is my hope

that as you read this,

you will come

to believe

that Jesus

is the Christ,

the Messiah,

that he is

the Son of God,

and that by believing

him,

you may have

life

in his name.

That's why

John wrote

his Gospel,

and that's why

for many, many

generations

in many, many

different cultures,

the Gospel of John

would be the Gospel

that was given

to people.

And some of you

might say,

George,

if you say that

to us,

that sort of

means that

it can't be true.

But that's

not the case

at all.

It's not the case.

It's,

John knows

that he's writing

this,

that it's going

to be,

there's going

to be pushback,

there's going

to be people

who disagree

with it.

When our church,

because we used

to be part

of the Anglican

Church of Canada,

and over a

very important

doctrinal issue

that was an issue

of salvation,

we felt that

we could no longer

be part of the

Anglican Church

of Canada,

and we walked

away,

and we used

to own a

building and

have property,

and our former

church sued us,

and then we went

to mediation

before going to

court,

and in mediation,

both sides say

why they're right.

They share the facts

of history,

they share the

legal facts,

they share the

legal principles,

and each side

puts them in

such a form

to convince

the mediator

that the facts

stand with

their position.

And that's how

we have to

understand what

John is doing.

John isn't

saying,

so I just sat

down and invented

as many interesting

stories as I

possibly could,

and I just sat

down and invented

as many fables

and fairy tales

and myths

and marketing

things as I

possibly could

so I could

hoodwink you.

If you go and

you look at the

very last words

of John's gospel,

look at chapter

21,

verse 25,

actually verse

24,

you'll see what

John,

how he actually

closes his words.

So he shared

with us that his

whole point is to

talk about,

just to share the

way that Jesus

talked when he

was being far

more philosophical

and poetic and

mystical and

intimate,

and to share

some of these

key conversations

with Jesus.

He's going to

share them with

us so that we

can know Jesus.

And then look at

how it ends his

gospel,

verse 24 of

chapter 21.

This is the

disciple who

is bearing,

he just recounted

an incident with

somebody,

and he's saying,

listen,

I'm that guy.

I'm that guy

that I just told

you about in the

story.

This is the

disciple,

verse 24,

who is bearing

witness or

testimony.

It's a legal

word.

I am bearing

testimony about

these things.

It's a word from

the courts who

has written these

things that we

may know that

his testimony is

true.

It's a word from

the courts.

Now,

there are

therefore many

other things that

Jesus did.

Were every one

of them to be

written,

I suppose that

the world

itself could not

contain the

books that would

be written.

In other words,

John is saying,

I'm just

bearing witness

and testimony

to what actually

happened so that

you might come

to believe in

Jesus.

Now,

I share this

with you because

this is the

first Sunday

of quite a few

Sundays where we're

going to go through

John's Gospel,

and I encourage you

to read along with

me.

In fact,

to read ahead of

me so that when

you come to church

you've looked at

the text itself.

But it means that

every time you read

John's Gospel,

what you can

always ask

yourself is

saying,

why did John

include this

there?

What is it

that he is

saying here

that will help

me to believe?

Like,

why is this

important to

understand who

Jesus is and

come to believe

in him?

That's not a,

that's in fact

the question that

you need to ask

if you're to

actually read the

Gospel of John

properly.

How does this

fit in with

this?

How does this

fit in with

this?

That at the

end,

I am to

believe that

Jesus is the

Christ,

the Son of

God,

I'm to

believe in

him,

and I'm

to have

life.

How does

that contribute

every little

bit to this

ultimate purpose

of John?

Well,

just in

closing,

turn back to

the beginning

of John's

Gospel,

chapter 1.

Chapter 1,

verse 1.

And let's

just read

these five

verses that

we're looking

at today.

Next Sunday

morning at

10,

we're going

to look at

verses 6

to 13.

And if

you don't

come both

times on

Christmas Eve,

you can listen

to them later

online.

And Sunday

evening,

which is

Christmas Eve

evening,

I'll look at

verse 14.

And then on

Christmas morning,

and I know

only me and a

couple of

others will be

at all three

of the services,

but I'm going

to do a

different sermon

in the morning

and the evening

and on

Christmas morning.

I'll look at

verses 15

to 18.

But listen to

these first

five verses.

In the beginning

was the Word,

and the Word

was with God,

and the Word

was God.

He was in the

beginning with

God.

In other words,

just pause for a

second.

Before anything

else existed,

the Word and

God the Father

existed and

were with each

other in love

and intimacy

and communion

and similar

purpose.

And then

verse 3,

all things

were made

through Him.

All things

were made

through Him,

and without

Him was not

anything made

that was made.

It's making

a claim about

donkeys and

horses and

birds and

mountains and

hills and

stars and

planets and

moons and

galaxies.

All things

were made

through Him,

and without

Him was

not anything

made that

was 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.

Listen to

verse 4 and

5 again.

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.

If you

could put

up the

next point,

please,

Andrew,

that would

be very

helpful.

Here's the

thing which

the Bible

is teaching,

is that the

Creator became

the Redeemer.

The Creator,

it will be up

there in a

moment.

Oh,

sorry,

it's a

previous point.

Did I?

Sent you

two emails.

Okay,

well,

listen,

while that's

getting

sorted out,

it's only

five words,

so you can

remember them.

The Creator

became the

Redeemer.

The Creator

became the

Redeemer.

So what this

Bible text is

telling us here,

if you look at

this,

what it's

saying,

and John

probably knew

about the

other gospel

accounts,

and John

knew all

about the

story of

Jesus,

and so

what John

is saying

is that

when you

see the

baby being

laid in

the manger,

you see

the Creator

of all

things being

laid in

the manger.

When you

see the

baby being

laid in

the manger,

you are

seeing the

life that

is light

being laid

in the

manger.

When you

see Jesus

throughout the

gospel of

John talking,

when you

see him

teaching,

who are you

seeing teaching?

You are

seeing the

Creator of

all things

who's entered

into his

creation.

It is the

Creator who

is teaching.

When you

see Jesus

teaching,

it is the

life that

is light

who is

teaching.

That's who's

teaching.

And then when

you see Jesus

hanging on the

cross,

who is

hanging on

the cross?

The Creator

of all things

is hanging

on the cross.

When you

see Jesus

hanging on

the cross,

who do

you see?

You see

the life

that is

light

hanging on

the cross.

That's what

you see.

It is the

Creator who

enters into

our created

order to

save us.

Now, if you

could put the

final point up,

now that I'm

not too

confused,

to turn to

Christ is

to turn to

the life

that is

light.

To stay

turned away

from Christ

is to

continue to

walk in

darkness.

To turn

to Christ

is to turn

to the life

that is

light.

To stay

turned away

from Christ

is to

continue to

walk in

darkness.

That's what

the Bible

is teaching.

Notice

here it

says,

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.

Some of

your Bible

versions

might say

that the

darkness

has not

comprehended

it.

And maybe

the better

translation

would be,

because both

words are

included in

the original

language,

some versions

might use

the word

master,

which is a

really good

word,

because you

know how

you master

a subject?

Or you

master some

other person,

you wrestle

somebody and

master them

down.

And so what

the Bible is

saying is that

darkness didn't

come from God,

there's this

problem of

human darkness.

And human

darkness and

supernatural

darkness, by

its very

nature, it

can't understand

light and it

can't understand

life.

By its very

nature, it

can't understand

God and it

can't understand

Jesus.

And darkness,

whether it's

human darkness

or supernatural

darkness, not

only can it

not truly

understand, it

also can't

overcome, because

what it can't

understand it

wants to

overcome.

But darkness

will never

overcome God,

it will never

overcome the

life that is

light.

It just cannot

master it in

any type of a

sense.

And what's so

important about

this teaching,

that it is the

life of the

world who is

the light of

the world,

that comes to

be born in

Bethlehem and

die upon the

cross, is it

tells us that

human and

supernatural

darkness is

so unbelievably

powerful, and I

use the word

unbelievably on

purpose, it is

so unbelievably

powerful and so

unbelievably dangerous

to us, far

worse than our

worst nightmares,

that only the

life who is the

light could

deliver human

beings from it.

It tells us

something about

the power of

darkness and the

power of evil,

and its power to

blind us as

human beings,

who keep thinking

that we somehow

by our own

efforts can

make ourselves

right, where

some effort can

fulfill the

hole in our

heart that

hungers for

love, that by

our own efforts

can become

somehow God-like,

and the text is

telling us that

there's something

about the

darkness which

is so much

more powerful

than we can

ever truly

understand, that

our need is,

and our doom

is worse than

our worst

nightmares.

that it

requires the

light, the

life who is

the light, to

be the one to

deal with it.

But at the

same time, it

is telling us

that we are

loved more

than we can

ever believe,

because we are

so deeply

loved by

God, that

God himself

would come to

die for you

and me, that

we are so

deeply loved

and so

deeply precious

to God, that

the life who

gives light

would hang on

the cross for

you and me.

This story is

setting before

us the depth

of our danger

and need, and

the depths and

heights of

God's love for

you and me, and

his hope that

we will believe

in Jesus, who

is the life of

the world, the

light of the

world, the

creator of the

world, the

sustainer of the

world, the end

of all of our

longings and of

our yearnings.

That's how

John begins to

introduce Jesus

to us.

Could you

please stand?

So as we're

watching the

pageant, which

is going to

begin in about

five minutes, and

when we see the

really cute kids

and the cute

adults who are

helping them, and

we see the

little baby, John

wants us to

remember who

is it, who

is in the

manger, and

the creator of

all things is in

the manger.

Who is it who

is in the

manger?

It is the

life that gives

light that is

in the manger.

That is who is

in the manger.

And why is the

creator of the

world in the

manger?

Why is the

life that gives

light in the

manger?

That you and

I might come to

know Jesus as

our Savior and

walk with him.

Let's bow our

heads in prayer.

Father, we ask

that your Holy

Spirit would

move in hearts

and minds and

wills and

imaginations and

in our dreams and

in our nightmares,

that your Holy

Spirit would move

very powerfully in

us this morning,

that your Holy

Spirit would draw

us to Jesus, that

we would hear

these words, that

we would believe

them, that they

would be engraved

on the command

center of our

lives, to know

who it is that

died on the

cross for us, who

it is that entered

into this world for

us.

Father, may that

be engraved in

our heart, that

we might know

Jesus, that he

might know us, that

we might know him

as our Savior, that

we might know him

as our Lord.

Father, help us to

know Jesus, to know

him more and more,

and rest in him and

walk with him.

And this we ask in

the name of Jesus,

your Son and our

Savior.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.