The Mission of Christmas

Albert Einstein once said, Evil is simply the absence of God.

It is just like darkness and cold.

A word that man has created to describe the absence of God.

Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's presence in his heart.

It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat, or the darkness that comes when there is no light.

It is, as Albert Einstein said, darkness simply the absence of light.

Is darkness simply the absence of light?

Well, I don't think he's right completely.

I think the Bible tells us something different.

When the Bible describes the events of Christmas as a light having dawned on a people walking in darkness, as is quoted in Isaiah 9, 2 and Matthew 4, 16, a light is dawned on a people walking in darkness, I think biblically it means more than the fact that people lacked light.

And you can see this in John 1, 4.

In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The Bible teaches that there is a darkness in the world, which is quite literally the personification of evil.

The Greek word for this evil is diabolos.

We know this as the devil.

Today's passage cuts straight to the truth about darkness and evil.

1 John 3, 7 to 8 is our main passage.

We're going to get to Genesis along the way.

But if you have a Bible and you want to follow along, please turn to 1 John, chapter 3, 7 to 8.

We are working through a five-part series, including Christmas Day and the next Sunday, looking at the letter of 1 John.

Verse 7 to 8 tells us, The devil has been sinning from the beginning.

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.

Amen.

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.

I think there are three key truths to see this morning.

Darkness.

The darkness is real.

The darkness has works.

And the good news is the darkness has been overcome by the light.

The darkness is real.

The Christmas season is filled with distraction.

Is that a fair statement?

There are a lot of distractions.

Clearly, if Christmas is really all about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, you could be forgiven for losing sight of this truth.

And of course, that is the truth.

As we juggle organizing presents and general busyness and as we call it, the silly season, our family gatherings.

Karen mentioned in her prayer that sometimes it's hard as we gather and sometimes there is forgiveness required.

You could also be forgiven for completely forgetting that Christmas was a time where the good pressed into the evil.

You could be forgiven for forgetting that it's a time when light pushed forwards into the darkness.

When the living God made a decisive and authoritative move towards reclaiming what had been lost by a fallen angel.

There is a spiritual reality going on every Christmas.

In fact, every day that we live, the Bible tells us in many places, certainly one that many of us know well is Ephesians 6.

There is a struggle that is occurring in humanity's existence.

It's not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

You may not realize this or remember it, but the Bible gives a clear insight into what happened in the spiritual realms on that first Christmas morning when the light pressed into the darkness.

Let me read a passage that's not often read out at Christmas, Chapter 12 of Revelation, verse 1.

A great sign appeared in heaven.

A woman clothed with the sun with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.

She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.

This is Mary giving birth to Jesus.

Then another sign appeared in heaven, an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its head.

Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth.

The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth so that it might devour her child the moment he was born.

It sounds a lot like Herod, doesn't it?

With the massacre of the infants.

She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.

Is there anyone other than Jesus?

Who will do that?

And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.

The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1260 days.

Then war broke out in heaven.

Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was not strong enough and they lost their place in heaven.

The great dragon was hurled down, that ancient serpent called the devil or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.

He was hurled to the earth and his angels with him.

Now, Revelation is an awkward, challenging book to understand.

It's written in an apocalyptic genre, so we're not going to try to unpack it all, but that is an insight into a moment in history that we see that the curtain pulled back, and we see what was going on in the spiritual realm.

The light broke into the darkness, and this darkness was more than just the absence of light.

The darkness was and is real.

Christmas is a season of juxtaposition, isn't it?

We know it's about peace on earth, and everywhere you go in the shopping centres, there's talk of peace, and yet we know we don't quite have it yet.

It's a time of rest and relational renewal, and yet often we are very busy, and we experience relational angst.

There is a juxtaposition.

The cute and powerless, let's face it, it looks like that, the cute and powerless nativity scenes are in tension with what Christmas is actually all about.

The powerful moving behind the scenes of anything but cute and cuddly.

The most powerful forces in the universe, the light of God's grace in Christ defeating the work of the evil one.

So, every Christmas, when we read of the people walking in darkness and light having dawned, I hope this Christmas we can remember the darkness is real.

Not just the absence of light, the darkness is real.

And the darkness has works.

One John says, the devil has been sinning from the beginning.

You know, the devil is the original deconstructionist, isn't he?

He's the original deconstructionist.

The works of the devil, I think, can be summarized under three headings.

Disorientation, deceit and death.

Deconstruction of truth can be a great thing if the truth is false.

Isn't that true?

I mean, deconstructing misinformation and disinformation is a good thing.

But if it's true, deconstruction of truth, which is often happening regarding the truth of the Bible, is actually typically a work of the evil one.

From the very beginning, the diabolos, the devil, deconstructed the words of God the Father, and the result was disorientation, a lostness, deceit, and maybe deceit came first, and ultimately death.

Genesis 3, he said to the woman, did God really say, you must not eat from any tree in the garden?

Deconstruction.

Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating the tree, they were warned not to fruit from the tree, they were warned not to eat from, and the result was sin, guilt, shame.

They are disoriented from their home and their relationship with God, the Father, they're hiding from him, they're lost, they're deceived by the evil one, the devil, the serpent, the ancient dragon, and in receipt of death as the consequence for their sin.

Genesis 3 tells us about the result, the sweat of your brow, you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken, for dust you are, and to dust you will return.

The darkness is real.

The darkness has works, disorientation, deceit, death.

And even back then, there is the spark of hope, isn't there?

The response that God gives at the end of the curse.

I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers.

He will crush your head, talking of the serpent, and you will strike his heel.

The first hope of a saviour of humankind.

The virgin will give birth to a child.

The seed of the woman.

The hope of the nations are light for those walking in darkness.

1 John 3, 8 says, The reason the son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.

Can you see how it's coming together?

The darkness is real.

There's a spiritual force that is powerful.

The diabolos, the devil, the ancient dragon who is out to destroy.

And he has works, disorientation, deceit, death.

But the darkness has been overcome by the light.

A little earlier in this passage, if you just look back in your Bible to verse 5 of chapter 3, we're told, you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins.

So there are these two truths about why he appeared.

Jesus appeared, Christmas is his appearing.

He appeared to take away our sins.

And in doing that, verse 7 and 8, he appeared to destroy the works of the devil.

So can you see how the two are joined?

Sin is linked to the works of the devil.

And Christmas, which leads to Easter, the appearing of the son of man, the son of God, is to destroy the works of the devil and therefore deal with the sin of humanity.

Disorientation, deceit, death, all connected to the results and reasons for sin.

Jesus is the Christmas Light, singular, the light of the world.

So how does he destroy the works of the enemies?

With John 14.6, we've been suggesting that the Gospel of John is written by the same Apostle John, who wrote 1, 2, 3 John, the letters.

So let's look at John 14.6, the way that Jesus destroys the works of the devil.

He says, I am the way.

I am the truth, and I am the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.

He is the way.

We don't need to be disoriented.

Hallelujah.

He is the truth.

We don't need to be deceived.

And he is the life.

We don't need to suffer the consequence of death for sin.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Christmas is a celebration of the light which dawned and defeated the darkness.

Jesus talks, doesn't he, about the lost son and before that, the lost coin and the lost sheep?

Because sin confuses.

Sin spins us around.

Sin gets us dizzy.

Sin disorientates.

Sin makes us feel lost.

I wonder if you would agree that despair is a common fruit of the work of the devil.

To feel a sense of lostness.

It's the work of the devil at the core.

It's not only the work of the devil.

We can be lost without his work, but in the style, the trademark style of 1 John, he just says it how it is, like a proverbial statement.

These are the works of the evil one.

He causes the disorientation and lostness that we experience.

And you can also, I think, experience disorientation from another d-word, disordered loves.

When good things become god things, when good things we allow to become idols, disordered loves are all part of the devil's package of disorientation.

Deceit is the second calling card of the devil.

Remember when Jesus was being tempted, representing us as the second Adam.

It was all about deceit.

Lie after lie from the evil one.

And we can expect that, can't we?

The evil one to lie.

So I wonder, have you been lied to by the evil one, by darkness, personified by the reality who is the devil?

He says things like this, and he said it at the start in Genesis 3.

He says things like, God cannot be trusted.

You can't trust him.

He says things like, love is not real.

Lust is what is real.

It's what you need.

God's good promises, they're not worth waiting for because you can't trust him.

Take tomorrow into your hands is the lie of the evil one.

Another lie of deceit is, sin is not really that bad.

Has anyone heard that lie?

Sin is not really that bad.

But it is.

Sin leads to death.

To say, I'm just experimenting with a different pathway of life, if it's rejecting the word of God, it is a lie.

Jesus is the truth.

His words are true.

His warnings are true.

He's the light of the world.

His promise of grace and forgiveness are true.

His teachings about what to depend on for your tomorrows are true, because he is the truth.

And in the kingdom of God, the truth defeats the lies.

So are you walking in the truth of the light of the world, Christmas Light, Jesus who came to show us the way, the truth and the life, death.

The works of the devil produce death, because sin leads to death.

The Christmas Light came to defeat death.

When John is wrapping up his letter, one John, Ben will be touching on this next Sunday.

But I just wanted to look at it a bit, because it's such a wonderful summary In John 5, one John 5, it says, Who is it that overcomes the world?

As Ben said last week, the world is the organized flesh, the collective societal darkness.

Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God overcomes the world.

This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ.

He did not come by water only, but by water and blood.

It's an interesting description, isn't it?

That you find in 1 John.

Jesus was born of the Virgin, born of waters broken, is fully human.

And then He was born of waters of baptism to represent humanity as fully Israel.

And then He was born the Saviour of the world by blood, His blood shed on the cross.

And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth, for there are three that testify, the Spirit, the water, and the blood.

And the three are in agreement.

He's human, born of water.

He's human, born of water in baptism.

He is fully God, the Spirit.

This is the one who destroys the works of the devil, none other than Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Verse 9, we accept human testimony, but God's testimony is greater, because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his son.

Whoever believes in the Son of God, accepts this testimony.

Whoever does not believe, God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his son.

And this is the testimony.

God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his son.

Whoever has the son has life, whoever does not have the son of God does not have life.

Again, this is John's style, isn't it?

It's just so clear.

God has given us eternal life.

Not every human being gets to live forever, because it's a gift.

We lost eternal life when Adam and Eve sinned, and when we sinned, backing up their first sin.

We don't get to live forever without the gift of salvation found only in Christ.

God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

Whoever has the Son has life.

Whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

It can't be any clearer.

Jesus, in His birth, life, death and resurrection has defeated the works of the devil.

Is there a hallelujah?

Jesus came, it's so important, born of the virgin, of the water, the seed of the woman, perfect human, so that He could give His perfect blood after living a perfect life on the cross, and then death could not hold Him down because He was perfectly righteous and He was God.

And He rose again from the grave and has defeated the work of the devil.

The disorientation and the lostness, that has been solved in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

He says, I am the way.

Trust me, I'm the way.

Listen to my words, put them into practice.

Remember what Jesus said at the end of the sermon on the Mount?

Anyone who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who builds his house on the sand when the storm comes.

It will come down with a great crash because you have not built your life or I have not built my life on the rock.

That is the way.

He has defeated the works of the evil one, of disorientation and lostness, the deceit.

We are given the truth and the judgment that hangs over every one of us because of sin, which is death, is taken away in the sun.

Whoever has the sun has life, life forevermore, eternal life.

So can I ask you, have you crossed over from death to life?

Maybe online, you're watching this or watching it in the future.

Have you crossed over from death to life?

We are expecting my mum to pass away soon.

She's sort of at the end of a race, and we've been talking to her, as you do at the end of a life, and you say, are you ready to meet Jesus?

And she says, I have peace.

She knows Jesus.

Do you have that peace?

Because I was talking to Maxie about it this morning.

When you have a genuine faith in Christ, the result of that, knowing that you have the way, the truth and the life, is peace.

Amen.

It's what we talk about at Christmas.

It's peace.

It's like, I'm okay with whatever God brings me for tomorrow, because I'm safe in the sun.

I have crossed over.

You know what the most beautiful thing about life in the sun is?

You have your last breath whenever it is on this earth, and no one knows when it is, and your first next breath after exhaling is in the presence of Jesus.

Hallelujah.

That's life in the sun.

You've already crossed over.

We have begun eternal life, so can I plead with you if you have not accepted the gift that is eternal life in the sun?

Please do it.

Turn from your sin and say, Lord, have mercy on me.

I want to put my trust in the Son of God.

I wonder if we could stand.

Steph and Ben are going to lead us in some more worship.

I'd love to pray a blessing over our lives.

If the Lord tarries over the generations, that will follow.

I'm thinking about that with my mum.

She's got eight grandkids and eight great grandkids so far.

We pray into those generations, don't we?

That the Lord would bless and the truth of the way, the truth and the life would be shared again and again.

So let's pray.

Lord God, we stand here in need of the light of the world.

Each of us outside of Christ walk in darkness.

We confess that we need a Saviour and we confess those of us who believe it, that you are our Saviour, Lord Jesus.

For those who need to come to you Lord, would you draw them now by your grace?

Thank you for the promise of eternal life of complete restoration, of complete forgiveness through the blood of Christ by faith alone in Jesus.

It's too amazing for words, the salvation you have offered.

Lord, I pray for those here, for generations who will follow.

We pray for a strong testimony of the redeemed.

We know that Revelation says, the evil one is defeated by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony.

And so, Lord Jesus, may we testify to our friends and family and to our siblings and to the generations that follow, for some many generations, may we, at Christmas, this Christmas, get to testify to your glory, to what you have done, Lord Jesus, on the cross.

May there be blessing that flows through the generations.

May the testimony that the work of the devil has been destroyed be told again and again.

And all the people said.

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