Main Idea: The promise of light is good news for people who admit they are in the dark.

This morning as we continue our series "The Revolution of Christmas," we’re going to talk about how that Jesus Christ is the true spiritual light for persons willing to admit they are living in spiritual darkness. When I prepared this message I had to admit that for most of you this message would be helpful but not fully applicable. The reason for saying that is that you already affirm and believe the major premise of this message. You have accepted and believed that Jesus Christ is the one true spiritual light for the world and you have begun an eternal relationship with Jesus for yourself. You believe that he is the one who has brought you out of spiritual darkness into a place of spiritual light. For you, the testimony of the blind man Jesus healed in John 9 is your own: "I was blind and now I can see" (John 9:25). For you, there is nothing to prove and no reason to doubt because you now know and see all things with a spiritual connection and understanding given to you through Jesus Christ.

Not everyone, however, is like you. There are persons who, when it comes to the reality of Jesus Christ providing spiritual light for spiritual darkness, not only deny the existence of the Light, they want to destroy any idea that there is a light. They are blinded by the Light all around them and prefer the darkness of their denial of its presence. Others are persons who have become so familiar with the Light that they no longer see its power. They are in darkness made only darker because they refuse to be exposed to the Light’s force and strength. Still there are some—and their number only grows—who are seeking for the Light. They see their own darkness and know that without light they will never find the life spiritually, for which they seek.

It is those three kinds of people we find in our story of the wise men searching for Jesus. We will meet one who wanted to destroy the Light, others who were blinded to the Light, and the wise men who came in search for the Light. Today you may be like one of these three. You may be hearing, for whatever reason, this message about light and darkness and despise the idea of the Light’s existence. You could be a person who is so settled in your relationship to the Light and are comfortable with the darkness, that you ignore its impact. Still you could be that person who knows the Light is there and more and more ache for the darkness to be removed so that the Light can surround you. For each person—denying the Light, blinded by the Light or seeking for the Light—there is good news: there’s light, light in the person of Jesus Christ! That is why Jesus would say that part of the revolution he brought would focus on the good news "that the blind will see."

The New Testament gospels record multiple occasions of Jesus’ restoring sight to persons who were blind. Some were healed in groups along with other diseases (Luke 7:21). Others were more individual such as the man named Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46ff) or the man born blind already mentioned in John 9. The gospels tell of Jesus using various ways to restore sight to blind people. In some cases he spoke, others he touched them and still others he made a sort of compress and applied it to the person’s eyes. Through his three years of ministry Jesus brought the gift of miraculous physical sight to persons living in the darkness of physical blindness.

Yet Jesus confronted another kind of blindness that was far more than physical. Physical blindness would prevent a person from enjoying the sight of God’s creation but spiritual blindness would prevent a person from experiencing God’s eternity. One kind of spiritual blindness that Jesus confronted was the blindness of persons who denied the reality of the Light and tried to destroy it. More often, this type of blindness was seen in people like Pilate and Herod, who when presented with Jesus, wanted to debate him rather than follow him. Pilate ultimately ordered his crucifixion by washing his hands in front of the crowds calling for Jesus’ death and saying, "I am innocent of this man’s blood." Pilate would never see even though the light blazed before him. He preferred the darkness of his denial rather than stepping into the light.

Over and over again Jesus confronted the tragedy of spiritual blindness in those who supposedly could see God. Jesus would say about these spiritual leaders that they were "blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch" (Matt. 15:14). He would later rail against the Jewish spiritual leaders because no matter what he said or did, they still refused to see, calling them "fools and blind men" (Matt. 23:17). For those who refused to admit their darkness, Jesus reserved his most scathing judgment by saying, "You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?"

There was, however, a third kind of spiritual blindness that Jesus was able to heal. With the other types he could only watch in frustration and anger at the stubborn refusal to see. Yet there were others who sought out Jesus because they knew they were in a darkness for which he was the only light of hope. People like Nicodemus, who came to Jesus at night (John 3). Others like the Roman officer whose servant was extremely ill and he came to Jesus asking for healing for his servant (Matt. 8). For those who admitted their blindness Jesus was willing and eager to expose them to the light of who he really was. For these who sought Jesus, the promise of light was good news, for they admitted they were in the dark.

Each type of spiritual blindness was foreshadowed in the story of the wise men following the star to Bethlehem to find Jesus. The wise men were thought to be astrologers from either modern day Iraq or Iran who observed the appearance of a phenomenal star in the sky. They chose to follow the path of that star’s movements and it led them ultimately to the home where Jesus was living with his mother Mary and her husband Joseph. Along their journey they encountered others who did not welcome the star’s appearance and significance as they did. For the star’s light led them to the Light of the world. For the others they would meet, it meant only a retreat further into spiritual darkness.

The first person they met on their journey is Herod, who was considered to be the king of the Jews. Herod was a ruthless, puppet king of the Romans. Herod would and did murder his own family if it meant protecting his ability to rule as king. The news of another king being born only brought fear and panic to Herod, which resulted in his doing everything he could to make sure this child, if there was one, would not live. (Matt. 2:1-18) Herod, when it came to the Light, denied the Light and wanted to destroy it.

There have always been those who have sought to deny the existence of the Light and have tried to destroy any evidence that the Light is even there. Currently, there is a strong movement among the scientific and philosophical communities to eradicate not only the idea of God but especially Christianity from our minds. Richard Dawkins in his new book The God Delusion says that the irrational belief in God is not only wrong but has resulted in intolerance, oppression, bigotry, arrogance, child abuse, homophobia, abortion-clinic bombings, cruelties to women, war, suicide bombers, education that prevents the advancement of science and the break up of Brittney Spears’ marriage. (O.K., I made up that last one!). Sam Harris in his book Letter to a Christian Nation calls it a "moral and intellectual emergency," for America to abandon any vestige of Christian belief if we are to progress into the 21^st century. (p. xii)

People like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, are like Herod retreating further into darkness, still thinking they have the light. The message of the light of Jesus Christ is anything but good news, because they cannot admit they are in the dark. While they may write, speak, deny the reality of the light, hoping to ultimately destroy it, they cannot. John would write, "The light shines through the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it" (John 1:5).

You or someone you know may feel that the world would be a better place if there were no Christians and no reason for the celebration of Christ’s coming as the Light of the world. While I would want you to feel otherwise, I cannot force you. You may choose to persist in your denial of the Light and long for its destruction. Yet know this: the Light will still shine. The light that led to Bethlehem’s cradle cannot be extinguished. You might as well mount a campaign to extinguish the sun, for the Light will still shine long after your voice is silenced. The Light still calls you to find its brilliance in spite of your denial. "The blind will see" whether you choose to believe or not.

While Herod may have wanted to destroy the Light, the leading Jewish religious leaders were blinded by the Light that was all around them. What I find curious about the response of the Jewish leaders was that when they were asked by Herod to determine where the Messiah would be born, they knew exactly where that was all along. Yet here were three very wealthy foreigners who show up asking about the child’s birth because they had seen a star signifying the birth of a Jewish king. My question is, "Was not the same star available for them to see as well?" I mean God didn’t have some sort of "dual sky" miracle going on. It was the same sky. They both had the same opportunity. The very ones who should have seen every sign were blind to what the wise men saw.

Why could they not see? They could not see because they had become comfortable with their role as the keeper of the Light they forgot to actually see the Light. They could tell you all about the Old Testament promises of when the Messiah would come but could not see that God was at work in their day! That is the danger of spiritual blindness! It is possible to have all the answers to all the questions but there is no reality to them. It is possible to have Light all around you but you can’t see that God is truly at work right now.

For me, this is the persistent haunting question that we face as a church and as Christians in our modern world: Are we so comfortable with being "keepers of the Light" that we are blinded to the presence and power of God all around us? Have we become so at ease in our shadows that we can’t recognize the brilliance of God’s Light shining into our world? Are we so foolish to keep arguing about how the Light shines that we ignore the radiance? That is the danger of spiritual blindness. May we not be those who when others come seeking the Light only point to ancient texts but not to the Living Presence of God among us!

Herod wanted to destroy the Light. The Jewish leaders were blind to the Light. The wise men, however, were those who were searching for the Light. Whatever deep knowledge they had examined had caused them to look out into the skies and see one phenomenal new star. They saw something that hadn’t been there before and they let it speak to the deepest yearning of their soul. They determined that the only way they would be at peace was to follow the star. This is what they did until at last it guided them to Bethlehem where Jesus and his earthly family lived. In some of the most poetic, magnificent language of the New Testament, Matthew describes their response:

"When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! They entered the house where the child and his mother, Mary, were, and they fell down before him and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh" (Matt. 2:10-11). They had allowed their search for the Light to take them to the tiny feet of the infant King.

When I let my mind stop and I open my eyes, I can see that people are still searching for the Light. They may not know that or call it that but that is what is happening. I was watching TV this past week and happened to catch Barbara Walters interviewing actress Angelina Jolie. Angelia Jolie commented that she reached a place where she had everything that career and money could offer but she wasn’t satisfied. She believed that children will give her that. What was important to me was that here was someone who is totally identified with everything that marks achievement but is willing to admit, "I’m still seeking more."

There are thousands upon thousands of people within our own community who, I believe, are searching for the Light. They are filling our mall but not our churches. They may not know or say that they are searching for the Light, but they know that there is something more. There are persons, millions of persons, all across our nation who are searching for the Light. There are billions of people around our world who are searching for the Light. People, all kinds of people, are still searching for the Light. That search for many ends at the nail-scarred feet of the Risen Lord Jesus Christ.

The question is: What star will guide them today? I believe that God’s Spirit is at work in our world moving people—all kinds of people—to himself. Yet the truth is you and I are the ones who are the light that will guide them out of their darkness so that their search might end at Jesus’ feet. We are the ones today who are the voice and hands of Christ to open the eyes of those blind in spiritual darkness to tell them the good news that there’s light!

Recently Dr. Troy Prince died after 86 wonderful years of service as a minister of the gospel. I had the honor of conducting his service. One of the great accomplishments of his ministry was serving as the Executive Director of the Alaska Baptist State Convention. During his service there he had spent some time working in a very remote area, and one Eskimo man was reached for Christ. The man told Dr. Prince, after coming to faith that he always knew there was someone "out there," he just didn’t know what to call it. But now, because of Dr. Prince, he knew his name was Jesus. A man who had lived all of his life in spiritual darkness now knew there was Light and his name was Jesus.

You and I cannot give physical sight to person’s who are blind. Yet we can enable the blind to see by being the star that leads them to the Light of Jesus Christ. We have good news to tell persons who are in the dark. We can tell them, "There’s Light! Light in Jesus Christ!"

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro