Christmas Lights

Sermon Summary:

This Christmas season, we’re invited to explore the profound symbolism of light through the lens of Isaiah’s prophecy. The story of Christmas lights isn’t just about festive decorations, but a powerful metaphor for Christ as the true Light of the World. Isaiah 42 paints a vivid picture of the coming Messiah as God’s chosen servant, filled with the Spirit, bringing justice and hope to all nations. This servant, later revealed as Jesus, doesn’t come with loud proclamations or forceful conquests, but with gentleness and compassion. As we reflect on this, we’re challenged to embody Christ’s light in our own lives, bringing hope and freedom to those in darkness. The passage reminds us that God’s plan of salvation stretches far beyond our immediate circumstances, inviting us to see our role in His grand narrative of redemption.

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Sermon Points:

CONTEXT: Isaiah received the prophecy recorded in Isaiah 42 during the reign of Hezekiah, King of Judah. Hezekiah led Judah in spiritual renewal as king. He began his service as king in 727 BC and he died in 686 BC. Isaiah received a vision from God that foretold the coming exile of Judah some 100 years later. This vision also included the prophetic proclamation of God’s deliverance of Judah from the Babylonians.

FURTHER CONTEXT: Psalm 137:1-6

THE SERVANT: God revealed to Isaiah that He was sending His Servant as the Deliverer!

THE SERVANT:
-God’s servant
-Chosen by God
-Anointed by God
-A Shepherd

THE SERVANT’S CALL:
-Righteousness
-Covenant
-Light
-Freedom
-Glory

Key Takeaways:

• The history of Christmas lights, from Martin Luther to modern electric displays
• Isaiah’s prophecy of the servant (Messiah) and its fulfillment in Jesus
• The characteristics of the Messiah as described by Isaiah: gentle, compassionate, and bringing justice
• Jesus as the true light of the world, bringing freedom and hope
• Christians are called to reflect Christ’s light in the world

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Scripture References:

• Isaiah 42:1-9
• Matthew 12:15-21
• Luke 4:18-21

Stories:

• The invention of electric Christmas lights by Edward Johnson in 1882
• The lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree
• The community in Baltimore connecting houses with Christmas lights
• The psalmist’s lament in Babylon (Psalm 137)
• Jesus reading from Isaiah in the Nazareth synagogue
• The pastor’s experience delivering packages to a bar and observing the contrast between light and darkness
• The pastor’s grandson discovering the power of a flashlight
• The unique Starbucks at CIA headquarters where names aren’t used on cups

Transcript

Well, thank you, Michael, and Worship Team for leading us in worship today on this Advent Sunday. I want to talk to y’all today about Christmas lights. So, I don’t know if y’all know who is credited with inventing Christmas lights, but supposedly, as the story goes, it was Martin Luther. Sometime in the 16th century, as the story goes, Luther felt led to place candles on a Christmas tree in his home. What could possibly go wrong with that? But that has evolved, and I think about when I was a kid growing up, when we were decorating our home for Christmas. In those days, the only lights that we had when I was a little boy were glass bulb lights. Some of y’all remember those? And so, my dad was always the one that would string them, and inevitably, what? You know, they wouldn’t work, and so we developed the fine art of, there’s something about flicking, thumping things that are electric that makes them work. You know, that’s kind of how it goes. And then, if you couldn’t get that, well, then you’d have to unscrew them, and daddy would inevitably hand them to us, and we always had hardwood floors, and you know how little boys are. And so, you would drop them. They would shatter everywhere. It was my dad’s way of getting in the Christmas spirit every year. It was really awesome, and it was a very, I have a lot of fun memories of those days. Anyway, sorry. But, and then in my own life, you know, we’ve done lights for years. We used to live in Interlochen, and y’all know what that’s like. And now, we left Interlochen. Now, my daughter has moved in to Interlochen, and I was over there the other day helping, thinking I moved out of here, you know. But, somehow, we’re back magically. And then, I don’t know what it is about lights, even now the new ones. When you plug them in in the garage, they all work. There’s something that happens with the barometric pressure when you go outside and actually put them on something, and then they don’t work. It’s just a fascinating thing. Well, so who actually invented Christmas, electric Christmas lights? You know, there is actually a person. Let me show you. Here’s the photo. Thomas? Edison is on the left, and Edward Johnson is on the right. Edison, obviously, much more famous. Edward Johnson on the right, he worked for the American Telegraph Company. And in 1871, he hired Thomas Edison, who was a young, budding inventor. And after working with Edison for a while, Johnson noticed that this young man, Edison, was quite the entrepreneur, very intelligent man. Eventually, Edison leaves the American Telegraph Company, and once electricity begins to make its way, he started his own company, the Edison Electric Company. He hired Johnson. They were really good friends. So Johnson went to work for him. Well, actually, what happened was, it was December the 22nd of 1882, at his home in New York City, Edward Johnson decided to put electric lights on a Christmas tree. And as best we can tell, that’s the first time it ever happened in history. Here’s a photo of that tree. Obviously, it’s beautiful, as you all can tell. Kind of looks like the Charlie Brown Christmas tree. But it actually had 80 red and white electric lights that worked. He called a friend of his, who was a columnist for the Detroit Post and Tribune, a very famous columnist. And this guy wrote about how incredible this was. And so Johnson was a marketer. So guess what was available the very next year? Let me show you. You could order. You could order these box of Christmas lights from the Edison Electric Company, or let us, the decorative lighting. They were called lamps in those days. And they came in a box like this. Let me show you the next one. Here’s what they looked like when you got them. So, we’ve come a long way, have we not, from those days? Christmas trees now are just routinely lit up with lights. But there was a time in our country’s history when that just didn’t happen. It took a while for the president. It didn’t actually light up a Christmas tree in Washington, D.C. at the White House. And now, of course, they’re everywhere. In fact, this past couple weeks ago, Cindy was in New York City for a meeting. And it was time, the day she got there was the lighting of the Rockefeller tree. And it’s been there, a tree, since 1931. This one has more than 80 lights. It’s 75 feet tall. And it has 50,000. And the star on top of it has 3 million lighted crystals that light it up. And it is quite a sight. The first one was placed in 1931 by a group of construction workers who were just building the Rockefeller Plaza. And they just strung and did some handmade ornaments. Well, it has evolved into this. And now, as y’all know, it’s not just our Christmas trees. Do y’all know that now every year during this season, the research I’ve done, we Americans buy about 150 million sets of lights. It’s best we can tell about 80 million homes in America will be lit up for Christmas. According to the research, every December, 6% of all the electrical energy in America goes to power the lights that we use. And y’all know it’s more than just now our trees. Y’all remember me telling y’all the story? A couple weeks ago, how in Baltimore, Maryland, right outside of Baltimore, in that community, the guy knew that his neighbor was having a really hard time. She was depressed and grieving. Y’all remember that? And he strung Christmas lights from his house to her house. It’s in the Rogers Forge community. Well, here’s a photo from that community. This is how they do it. Now, the lights are just strung all the way across the street, connecting house to house, basically sending the message that we’re all in this together. That photo is actually from 2020. And so, Christmas lights. It’s actually a festive thing. I enjoy it. I love Christmas. We love to decorate at our home. And it’s a fun thing to do. And, however, here’s what I want us to do this morning. I want us to talk about Christmas lights. But if I can, I want us to use Isaiah as the foundation of our conversation. Because Isaiah, believe it or not, has something to say about Christmas lights. And we’re going to go all the way back. Some 700 years before Christ to look at this text. So, look with me at Isaiah 42 as we think about Christmas lights together this morning. Here’s the prophetic word from Isaiah. Isaiah, his tenor changes. This is a long book, 66 pages. Page 40, the tenor changes a little bit. And it becomes very poetic, incredibly prophetic. It has even led some. It has led some scholars to think that maybe someone different wrote the rest of Isaiah. Chapters 1 through 39, one author. Later, other authors, at least one, maybe two. I am of a mind that it’s Isaiah. When this text, when this book is quoted in the New Testament, Isaiah always gets the credit. We have no textual evidence except for complete manuscript that always has existed together. There’s enough sharing of vocabulary and ideas, I believe, across the internet. There’s enough information in the entire book to believe it has one author. And so, I believe Isaiah is the author of all of it. So, let’s read these words, Isaiah 42, verse 1. Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight. I will put my spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness, he will bring forth justice. He will not falter or be discouraged, till he establishes justice on earth. In his teachings, the islands will put their hope. This is what God the Lord says. The creator of the heavens who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people and life to those who walk on it. I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness. I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you. I will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles. To open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison, and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. I am the Lord. That is my name. I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols. See, the former things have taken place and new things I declare. And before they spring into being, I announce them to you. Now, I want to… Remind us or maybe share with us the context of this passage. Remember, we’ve talked about this in this series. The role of the Old Testament prophet was twofold. One, the prophet was to foretell. That means he preached to his own generation. He also would foretell, which means that God gave visions to these men and they would look beyond their current situation and their own horizon and they would have visions. They would have visions of the future. If you still have your Bibles open, if you look back at verse 9, God says, Before these things spring into being, I announce them to you. So, the prophet sometimes had a word about the future beyond the scope of their lifetime. Isaiah 42 fits into that particular expression of the role of the prophet. Here’s what’s happening when Isaiah pens these words, Isaiah 42. The context is he received the prophecy, recorded in Isaiah 42, during the reign of King Hezekiah in Judah. Hezekiah was a very good and godly king for the most part and he led Judah in a spiritual renewal as king. Now, depending on how you date Hezekiah and some of the events around him, he was king somewhere around 727 B.C. or so, give or take a few years, we’re not sure. He dies around 686.

He received a vision from God during the reign of Hezekiah, Isaiah did, where God foretold the coming exile of Judah some hundred years later. This vision also included the prophetic proclamation of God’s deliverance of Judah from the Babylonians. Here’s what’s happening. Y’all remember we talked last week about how Israel was divided into two nations, Israel to the north, Judah to the south. The Assyrians in 726. 21 B.C. conquered the ten tribes to the north. They conquered the northern kingdom. Hezekiah was then king of all that remained. And that were primarily two tribes, Judah and Benjamin. Handful of Levites scattered among them. In fact, when you and I use the word Jews, that really comes from the tribe Judah. It’s a shortened version of Judah. Hezekiah was king of the remnant. The larger… The larger kingdom of Israel was lost. The Assyrians intermarried with them, carried some of them off, and they disappeared in antiquity. Judah was fearful because Assyria was such a huge superpower. They were fearful they would come and overrun them as well. Y’all remember that story though? God intervened. 185,000 of their soldiers died in one night. And the Assyrians ran back home and never really threatened Judah again. However, Hezekiah was king when all that happened. And so he was trying to determine how to best lead Judah into the future. The Babylonians eventually are going to overrun the Assyrians. And if you read the story of the second Kings, even in Isaiah, Hezekiah decided to host a group of folks from Babylon. So they came and visited. And he showed them around and Isaiah came to him and said, who were these people? And Hezekiah said, well, they were Babylonians. And Isaiah said, so what did you show them? He said, well, I showed them the treasures of Israel. I showed them the temple. I showed them the treasury in the temple. Isaiah said, the day is coming when Babylon will return. The next time they come, they won’t come looking at your treasures. They will come take these treasures and they will conquer Judah. Isaiah also said, not only will they conquer Judah, they will take some of you back to Babylon, but they will also take some of you back with them. And then Isaiah began to prophesy about that. A hundred years later, it’s going to come true. Isaiah saw a time where the Babylonians would come into Judah, overrun Jerusalem, capture the leading citizens of Judah, and take them some 800 miles back to Babylon. Isaiah also saw a time when God would send a deliverer to them, and he would allow them to return back home to Jerusalem. And Isaiah saw all of that. Some six, almost 700 years before Christ. And so consequently, about a hundred years later, it happened. Nebuchadnezzar led an army from Babylon to Judah. He conquered the army of Judah. He made his way all the way to Jerusalem. When he got to Jerusalem, he tore the wall down around Jerusalem. He came inside the city. He destroyed the temple, plundered it first. He took all the treasures of Israel, all the artifacts of David and Solomon, and transported all that back to Babylon. And to add insult to injury, he took many of the leading Jews with them, and challenged them to make a home in Babylon. Isaiah prophesied about all of that. It was a very, very dark chapter in the life of the people of God. It’s known by theologians as the exile. Now, how were the people feeling? What was the tenor of the Jews who were captured in Babylon? Well, just imagine. They were discouraged. Jerusalem was destroyed. The temple had been burned down. Nebuchadnezzar’s army had proven to be more powerful than theirs. It was a season of questioning and confusion. In fact, we actually have messages in the Scripture about it. Let me just read it to you real quickly. If you were to look at Psalm 137, the psalmist was in Babylon after all this happened. And he writes about his experience in Babylon. Here’s what he says. By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. That’s Jerusalem. There on the poplars we hung our harps. For there our captors asked us for songs. Our tormentors demanded songs of joy. They said, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. And then the psalmist asked this question in verse 4 of Psalm 137. How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land? If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy. This psalmist was in Babylon. After the exile. The Babylonians knew the Jews were festive people. They wrote poetry. They wrote music. And so they said, Sing us your music. We know you know it. Sing it to us. And the psalmist says this in verse 4. How can we sing the Lord’s song in Babylon? How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange place? But then he says this. If we forget it, if we forget Jerusalem, I hope that my right hand can’t hear it. I can’t ever play another musical instrument. As a matter of fact, I hope that my tongue clings to the roof of my mouth and I can’t say anything else until I can sing the Lord’s song. In other words, the poet said, Yes, we can sing the Lord’s song in a strange land. Let me just as an aside say to you, you may find yourself sometimes in a very strange place. And you may be wondering, Can I sing the Lord’s song here? And you know what the answer is? Yes. It’s always yes. You can sing the Lord’s song anywhere because God is always with you. And these Jews had to learn He was with them in Babylon. He had not forgotten them. Isaiah had prophesied about it. So if we go back to Isaiah 42, you’ve got these Jews in a very difficult place, very discouraged, and yet God gives Isaiah a vision about what’s going to happen next. He has not forgotten them. In fact, He’s going to send them a deliverer. And as Isaiah starts writing about that, here’s what happens to Isaiah. His eyes begin to move beyond the horizon of his own day. His eyes begin to move even further into the future. And Isaiah starts to write about a very special person. And he chooses to refer to that person under the leadership of the Spirit. Look at chapter 42 if you still have your Bibles open. Look at verse 1. The NIV doesn’t quite capture the Hebrew. The Hebrew says, Behold! Look! It says. And here’s the word. Servant. I’m going to send a servant. God revealed to Isaiah that He was sending His servant as the deliverer. And here’s what’s about to happen in the book of Isaiah. He’s going to write some songs about the servant. This is the first one. He’s not done. He’s going to write more about him in Isaiah 49. Isaiah 50. Isaiah 52 and 53. There are four of these songs. As a matter of fact, next Sunday we’re going to look at the last one. Isaiah 53. This final song in this quartet of music that Isaiah puts together as he sees this servant. So the threads start getting woven together. The vision was intended to be an encouragement to God’s people at the time. God hasn’t forgotten you. God’s going to send someone to care for you. However, Isaiah, under the inspiration of the Spirit, gets carried beyond Babylon. And he starts to look at his gaze on into the future. In fact, his vision here in Isaiah 42 is going to stretch from Babylon to Bethlehem. And this servant is going to be someone that will be described more fully in Isaiah. And ultimately will find fulfillment in the Messiah Himself. The Lord Jesus. Hallelujah. Now how do we know that? Well, because we have theologians who’ve helped us. One of those theologians is Matthew. Let me just share with you what Matthew says. In Matthew 12, Jesus was in a situation with the Jewish leaders. And they were frustrated with Jesus. And they decided they might just kill Him. Jesus knew it wasn’t time for Him to die. So Matthew in his Gospel tells us what happens next in Matthew 12, verse 15. He’s aware of this, this plot to kill Him. Jesus withdrew from that place and a large crowd followed Him. He healed all who were ill. He warned them not to tell others about Him. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah. So Matthew is writing the story of Jesus. Trying to help us understand who Jesus really is. And he says, I’ve got to go all the way back 700 years. And capture Isaiah 42 and now apply it to Jesus. Here’s what he says, verse 18. Here’s my servant whom I’ve chosen. The one I love and whom I delight. I’ll put my spirit on him and he will proclaim justice to the nations, to the ethne, to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel or cry out. No one will hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break. A smoldering wick he will not snuff out till he has brought justice through to victory. In his name, the nations, the ethne, the people, the Gentiles will put their hope. Matthew says, this prophecy of this servant is now found its fulfillment in Jesus. So who is Jesus? Well, he’s the servant of the servant passages in Isaiah. So in other words, this story is an ancient story, the one we celebrate at Christmas. If we really want to fully understand who Jesus is, we’ve got to go way back in time. Further than 2,000 years to when he was born. We’ve got to go even further back. We’ve got to go back to these ancient prophecies and go all the way back to the book of Isaiah. So we can truly celebrate who Jesus is. He really is the servant. And that’s what we celebrate at Christmas. Now, with that said, are y’all still with me? So let’s talk about him. How is Jesus described, how is the Messiah described some 700 years before his birth? Well, let’s just look at what Isaiah says. Look at, again, if you have your Bibles open, look at chapter 42. Here’s the first thing. He’s God’s servant. He’s my servant, God says. Here is my servant. This is who I’m sending. He’s mine. I will uphold him, he says. Next, notice he’s chosen by God. It’s not accidental. He is, verse 1, my chosen one, he says, in whom I delight. I’m delighting in him. Notice he’s not going to fulfill this function in his own power. Look at the rest of verse 1. I’m going to put my spirit on him. To enable him to accomplish what I set before him. Do y’all remember Matthew also tells us the story in Matthew 3 of Jesus being baptized? And y’all remember what happened when Jesus was baptized when he came up out of the water? Matthew tells the story and all of a sudden we saw the Spirit of God descending upon him, falling upon him. He was anointed by the Spirit. And then Matthew says, we heard a voice from heaven that said, this is my son. He pleases me. In other words, here’s the fulfillment. The anointing of the Messiah. The one who pleases God. And he’s going to fulfill this role. And notice how he’s going to do it, y’all. I don’t know how y’all would have done it. If you want to truly deliver the world, if you want to change the world, how would you have done it? Would you have chosen to have this special baby born in Rome? That just seems to stand to reason in that era. Maybe born in a royal family. But that’s not what God chose for you. As a matter of fact, God chose this young, somewhat probably teenaged maiden in Nazareth. Of all places. And y’all remember what people in the first century said about Nazareth, didn’t you? What did they say? Can anything good come out of Nazareth? It was this backwater village. Not only that, this obscure guy, Joseph. This little couple. Chosen by God. And then they go to this small village outside of Jerusalem in Bethlehem. And God chooses to send that baby in that fashion to change this world. How like God. And I don’t know what else you think he should have done. Once he grew up, what do you think he should have done? I mean, if you’re going to change the world. I mean, surely you move to Rome. Surely you lead an army. Surely you take over a government. That’s what you do. I mean, think about my world I live in right now. We live in a loud world. Lord, help me. Is this not the loudest world? Everybody talks incessantly. I listen to some of these people that talk on all of our media. And they talk every day, all day. And I wonder, when do y’all ever stop and think? You know, I get paid to talk. But I don’t talk all the time. I actually take time to not talk. To sit and listen and think. And I just wonder, why is it that you think you can talk all the time? Here’s the problem. Most of these people have to say something. I would rather them have something to say. If that means being quiet for a little while, then be quiet for a little while. I’m fine. So how do you think the Messiah should function? Well, I want to show you. Here’s what he says. He’s going to be a shepherd. He’s going to be really different. Look at verse 2. He’s not going to shout and cry out in the streets. That’s not how the Messiah is going to work. Look at verse 3. He’s going to be compassionate. In fact, a bruised reed, he’s going to have enough dexterity to not further break it. If there’s a smoldering wick, he’ll have the ability to somehow manage it without snuffing it out. There’s a gentleness to him. He’s going to be faithful. He’s going to act with justice. He’s not going to be discouraged. In fact, he’s going to function in such a way. That he is going to spread his justice across the world. And notice, he’s going to be a teacher, verse 4. Turns out, God has chosen to do this through a shepherd, a servant. That’s who this Messiah will be. Isaiah saw it so long ago. When you start thinking about that, no wonder the people of his day had a hard time recognizing him as Messiah. They were looking for a loud, warrior, overcomer. Here’s what I would say. It turns out in my own culture, people have a hard time recognizing Jesus. Because here’s what I’ve discovered. So many people want to craft Jesus in their own image. And then they’ll follow him. As if the point of all this is to make Jesus like us. He’s already been like us. Here’s the point. Jesus is trying to make us like him. And so you and I as followers of Jesus, we have to take on the character of Jesus. We allow the Holy Spirit to not just anoint us but guide us and fill us and empower us so that we can be like Jesus. Because that’s what our world needs. That’s what God chose to send. So it tells me if the world needed that then, the world needs it today. And you and I are to reflect that kind of glory in our world. So what was the call of the servant? Well, let’s just look at what he’s supposed to do. If you’ll notice, look at verse 6. He said, I’ve called you. Here’s the personal word to the servant, righteousness. In other words, this servant, this Messiah, is going to demonstrate the character of God. He’s going to show the world what is right. As a matter of fact, he’s going to put things right. That’s what he came to do. And notice, he’s not going to do it just any old way. Look at the rest of verse 6. We’re going to make a covenant through him. You see, God is a covenant-making God. That’s how he relates to his people. He always has. And then he told the prophet Jeremiah that one day there’s going to be a new covenant. And that new covenant is going to be written on the hearts of the people. And what did Jesus say at the institution of the Lord’s Supper? Jesus himself said, this is the new covenant sealed in my blood. And so Jesus brought the new covenant. But then, y’all, look at what else it says he’s going to do. Look at who he’s going to be. Look at verse 6, the end of it. He’s going to be a light for the Gentiles. Don’t you love that? A light shining in darkness. Light is powerful. Light transcends more than just the darkness of Israel. The light of the Messiah extends to the entire world, to all the nations. Light is powerful. amazing what it can do. So in other words, the Messiah is going to be the light of the world is what the text teaches us. And that is exactly what Jesus said about himself. So it turns out, who is the inventor of Christmas lights? Well, it’s not Martin Luther. I mean, shout out to Martin Luther. It’s not even Edward Johnson. It turns out that God is the original inventor of the Christmas light. And that Christmas light is none other than Jesus Christ himself. Our Savior, the Messiah, the servant. Now when the light comes, what does he bring to people? He brings to us what we need. I want you to look at verse 7. He frees us from imprisonment. Freedom. That’s what Jesus came to do, to set people free. Captivated by themselves, their own imprisonment. He came to release people from darkness. That’s what he came to do. As a matter of fact, y’all remember when Jesus went to Nazareth as a grown man? He returned home to Nazareth. Luke tells us about it in verse 4. He gets there, and he goes into the synagogue to worship. And you remember they’re reading one of the scrolls, and he decides to be the reader. And he stands up to read, and guess what he’s reading? Isaiah. The very book we’re reading. He reads a different passage, but it’s the same imagery. He reads this. Luke says in Luke 4, 18, The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he’s anointed me to proclaim the good news, the good news of the poor. He sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. That’s Isaiah 60. Very similar imagery to Isaiah 42. Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, sat down, the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying this to them, Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Now, who talks like that? He said, Let me read you the prophecy of the Messiah, and now you’re looking at him. Who talks like that? The Messiah. And he backed it up with his life, his teachings, and he brought freedom. He brought light. Light is powerful, y’all. Y’all know that, right? You know, when I was in seminary, I worked for a company called TexPak. I drove a truck for TexPak back in those days. I don’t even know that TexPak still exists, to be honest with you. We had those big blue trucks, and I worked every morning delivering packages all over. I started at the hospital district in Fort Worth, and my route ended on Division Street at the border of Arlington and Fort Worth where the funeral home or the cemetery is. But one of my last stops sometimes, there was a bar on Division Street, and I would usually get there about 1130 in the morning. I didn’t go there every day, but I went there plenty. And it was the most interesting thing, y’all. When I would get to that bar, about 1130 in the morning, bright sunshine outside, and I would open the door of that bar, and it would be pitch dark in there, and I could not see one thing. I just had to, because you see, not only you have to get adjusted to light, you got to get adjusted to darkness. If you’ve been walking in the light, you got to get used to darkness. So I had to kind of stand there and get my bearings. You know what happened every single time? Every single time. There were guys in there at the bar at 1130 in the morning. You know what they would always do when I opened that door? Guess what they would do? They’d do this. In other words, that light was so bright. Now, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong being in the bar at 1130 in the morning. That’s not my point. What I’m saying is, that’s on you as far as I’m concerned, what I’m saying is, though, there’s something about dark and light. You know, last night at our house, our whole family was at our house last night, and we were having a great time with little Gideon, our little two-year-old. It was his first time to experiment with a flashlight. So Mimi gave him a little, you know, one of those little flashlights. Very powerful though nowadays. You know what I mean? Well, guess what we had to do? We had to go in, me and him, we had to go in a room, flip out all the lights, and let him say what he always says. Poppy, it’s dark. And then we said, well, just push this little button right there. I wish y’all all could have been there with him. When he pushed that button, and all of a sudden the light came, and he went, he just started putting it everywhere. All the things he recognized in our room. Every Christmas I get a moment, that was my moment, when my little grandson saw the power and the force of light. Oh, my goodness. I hope I don’t ever get too far from that. Because when the light comes, everything changes. Now, I get it. Light exposes, right?

Y’all know, you see it as it is, right? But, but you know, the light of Christ didn’t come to expose everything to condemn us. That’s, that’s, that’s not it. He came to help us understand reality, to show us how deep our need is. And he exposes us, so that we can find our way to his healing. That, that’s the point. Because he brings hope. Light energizes. Light also guides. And that’s what Christmas is about. These Christmas lights are a celebration that the light of the world has come to this world. But you know what the light brings? You know what the Messiah is going to bring? Glory. I want you to notice this text. Look at verse 8. God says, I’m not going to yield my glory. When this Messiah comes, glory. What did the Apostle John say in John 1, verse 14? The word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. The glory of the one and only. Because the light of Christ has come. And now you and I reflect that light. That’s our job, to be reflectors of the light. You know, I’m not, I’m not much on Starbucks, I’ll be honest. I’m not a coffee drinker. I only drink coffee to be with Cindy, to be honest with you. And it all tastes the same to me. You can buy me a cup of coffee from McDonald’s. You can buy me one from Dunkin Donuts. You can buy me one from Starbucks. And I’ll tell you right now, I ain’t a connoisseur. It all tastes like coffee to me, and I just don’t like coffee. So, our cafe we have here at the church, y’all know there’s a drink in that cafe, named after me, the D-Dub. You know, my, that’s my nickname here, D-Dub, D-W. Here’s the beautiful thing about the D-Dub. I don’t even know what’s in it. I just know it doesn’t taste like coffee. So, that’s why it’s named after me. You gotta doctor it all up. Put a bunch of stuff in it. I think they put like seaweed, and kale, and vitamin C, and there’s all kind of, you need to get it. It’s really, really good. But that, I don’t, I don’t, so I don’t really do Starbucks, unless I’m pretty much with Cindy. Do y’all know at Starbucks, so here’s what happens. When you order a cup of coffee, they’ll take the cup, and they’ll say, and they’ll get a pen, and they’ll say, can I have a, a name? Thank you, Ada. A name. And they’ll write your name on it. All Starbucks do that, except one. I read an article about Starbucks store number one. It’s located at Langley, at the CIA headquarters.

And the baristas have an agreement, with all the people that work at the CIA, they never ask for a name. Because everybody there, is undercover. And so they have to make little notes about them. You know, the, you know, the Almond Joy Mocha guy. Whatever it is y’all call those drinks you buy there. I don’t remember what they all are. Cindy usually orders for me. So they got them listed that way, but you can’t give them their name. They won’t give their name, because they’re all undercover. Now come on y’all. We do not need one more undercover Christian. We got enough of them. We need the light of Christ to shine through us, so this world can know who Jesus is. So Christmas lights, I love them. But I love more than just the ones you have to plug into a wall. We’re the Christmas lights. And we’re supposed to have the light of Christ reflected through us, so that this world can meet the real light of the world, find their way on the Jesus way, and truly celebrate Christmas for what it really means. May it be so. Let’s pray together.

Lord, we’re grateful, for this time that we can gather together.