Heaven and Earth: Joyfully Pointing to Light | December 14, 2025

How did you come to faith? Someone loved you and Jesus enough to introduce you to him! Today’s sermon for the Third Sunday of Advent reflects on John the Baptist as a witness who points beyond himself to the true Light of the world.

God uses ordinary people like us to share extraordinary good news. As we light the candle of joy, we’re reminded that we are not the light—but we are sent to testify to it.

Today’s Scripture readings are Isaiah 61:10-11, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24, and John 1:6-8, 19-28. This is the third week of our Advent 2025 series, Heaven and Earth based on Will Willimon’s book Heaven and Earth: Advent and the Incarnation. This sermon was only preached at Christ the King, as Living Hope’s worship was shaped around a Sunday School Christmas program. Here’s the worship livestream from Christ the King and the sermon podcast audio: 

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Grace and peace from the One who was, who is, and who is to come, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

After Wednesday’s midweek Advent service, a woman introduced herself to me and said it was her first time at our church. I responded something like, “Great – how’d you find out about this service?”

I hope it came across a little more welcoming than that, but we hadn’t really advertised midweek Advent services, so I wasn’t necessarily expecting newcomers. It turns out she’s new to the area and had been checking out both Christ the King and Living Hope online, and really likes the Holden Evening Prayer service.

But on a wider level, I think I could ask that same question to all of you. How’d find out about worship? Who told you to come? Not just to Christ the King on December 14 to this particular service, but how did you hear about worship, about faith?

None of us just ended up here; someone told us. Someone told you about faith, someone brought you to church, or if they didn’t bring you with them, someone told you to go check out the church.

Maybe it was a parent who brought you to be baptized, or you followed a grandparent’s example. Perhaps a classmate invited you to a college Bible study.

Maybe a pastor, or (Willimon suggests) “maybe your witness was a wild-eyed preacher like John who said just the right words to you whereby you ‘saw the light.’ as we sometime say.”

The Holy Spirit sent someone to be a witness for you. By God’s grace, someone pointed you toward the good news. We know Jesus because someone introduced him to us.

In today’s gospel reading, we hear again about John the Baptist, the forerunner to Jesus. Last week we encountered John in the wilderness challenging people to repent and be baptized, to allow God to transform their lives.

This week, we hear him clarifying his message. People are excited God is obviously working through him, and he wants to be explicitly clear that he is not Jesus; he is not the Messiah—he’s there as a witness to point to the Messiah, to prepare the way. John’s on the advance team, and he doesn’t want anyone to mistake him for the main act.

I can relate. One thing I’ve learned as a pastor is almost every little kid gets confused at some point and mixes up the pastor with Jesus. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a kid point to me and say “Jesus!”

Parents say “We’re going to church and we’re going to learn about Jesus,” so when they see somebody up in front talking—especially wearing a robe—they assume that must be Jesus. And whenever I can, I try to be very clear—I’m here to talk about Jesus. I am not Jesus.

John’s a helpful role model. “This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ He confessed and did not deny it, but he confessed, ‘I am not the Messiah.’” He has come to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.

Well then, they ask him, who are you? What authority do you have? And he points to the one who is coming after him, the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. A little later, seeing Jesus, he’ll say, “Look, here is the Lamb of God.” Jesus is the Messiah, the savior, not John.

But John’s role as witness is important. He’s nobody in particular, but through him, people encounter God. They see the light.

This story of John calls us in two ways. First, we are called to listen to John’s witness. Meet Jesus, come into the light. Repent, change your life, and follow God. Prepare the way of the Lord. Get ready.

And once we’ve met Jesus, once we’ve experienced God’s work in our lives, we are called to join John in his witness.

We talked the other week about the difficulty of Advent waiting, how hard it is to get excited about Jesus coming when we don’t know how long we’re waiting. Heaven is coming to earth, but the promises aren’t all fulfilled yet, we’re in the liminal space waiting in the in-between. So what do we do in the meantime?

We wait. And we witness. We point to the light. And our waiting and our witnessing must be active, not passive.

Willimon writes:

“Please note: John the Baptizer doesn’t sit in Jerusalem, keep office hours, and welcome people who want to have a discussion about God; John goes out to the wilderness and preaches to them whether they asked for it or not. Just like Jesus. Church, in the light of John the Baptist, preacher of the Light, is not a ‘Come to us’ sort of thing. “‘We’ll come to you’ is more in the spirit of John 1.

None of you can tell this good news to yourself. Somebody had to love Jesus enough, love us enough, to take the time to tell us the story, to live and walk in the light so that we were attracted to it.

‘This is the friendliest church in town. When one of us is in need, we’ve got one another’s back. We’re a loving, caring family here.’ Sorry, that’s not good enough for the God who, through the witness of John, came out and got us and expects us to go forth as well.”

On the third week of Advent, we light the candle of joy, because we know the joy of following Jesus. We know the joy of the gospel. We know it’s good news, this story of God bending towards us, this promise that God is intervening in our world, light dawning in the shadows of our lives.

Isaiah says, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my whole being shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation.”

Paul tells the Thessalonians, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances.” Not that we should be thankful for everything, but that no matter what’s going on, we can be joyful because we know the love of Jesus. The light of the world is shining among us.

Rooted in Christ, rooted in this good news, we are able to live with joy—not always happiness, but joy.

And we can share this good news with others. We are the people in the desert who know where the oasis is, calling others to come to the water, to drink and live.

Our call, siblings in Christ, is to be a witness for our neighbors. To share our joy. To share where we’ve found hope. To testify, to point to the light of the world.

Maybe one way to do that is to invite someone to come with you to Christmas worship. There are little invite cards on the usher table you can take and hand out.

Maybe being a witness involves listening to a friend as they recite their list of ailments and wonder about the future. Sometimes being a witness means standing against injustice, letting our neighbors on the margins know they are seen, that in a society determined to cast them aside, they matter to God.

The thousands of diapers we delivered on Wednesday were a testimony to God’s love and care.

Being a witness means sharing joy, celebrating and thanking God. It means lamenting with those who lament, and sharing hope. Praying for one another, praying for the Holy Spirit to shine through us.

There was a person sent from God, whose name was Ellen, or Paul, Michelle, or Reneè, Sharon, or Tom.

They came as witnesses to testify to the light, so that all might believe through them. They themselves were not the light, but they came to testify to the light.
Amen

Other sermon in this year’s Heaven and Earth Advent series:
Week 1: Meanwhile, We Hope and Wait
Week 2: Love’s Surprising Interruption
Week 4: Rejoicing at Peace