There are all kinds of names for Jesus in the Bible—Savior, Emmanuel, Lord, Messiah. But there’s another name we can pick up from John 3:17: “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (NIV). Jesus was the sent One.

That was Jesus’ everyday consciousness. “I’m a sent one. I’m not blowing around here like a leaf in the wind. I’m sent.”

Why did God send Jesus into the world? To shine as a light in a very dark place.

The Father looked down and saw the world lying in gross darkness—sin, rebellion, fake religion, formalism, corruption. And He sent Jesus to shine so people could see with clarity.

This is what Christmas is all about. If we miss this, we miss everything about Christmas.

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12, NIV). He didn’t have a halo around His head, like in some of the artwork in famous museums. No, Jesus was a spiritual light. He came to show us the salvation of God.

Jesus was sent to show God’s compassion on outcasts and people soiled by sin—the rejects and the sick. He came to shine His light on people nobody else wanted to be around.

General William Booth and his wife, Katherine, were part of the Methodist church in England. The Methodists had started out in the 1700s standing against legalism. But by the 1800s, when the Booths were alive, the Methodist church had gotten as stiff and aloof and elitist as the legalism they had fought against.

There were children in London working sixteen-hour days and being taken advantage of in all kinds of nasty ways. The religious churches didn’t want them. “Are you kidding me? We’ve got nice carpet and pews, and you’re going to bring in kids from that part of London? Come on!”

The Booths rebelled against that fake religion. They started the Salvation Army and went right to those poor, rejected, hurting people and started preaching the gospel!

And those people came. “What are you doing here?”

“We love you. We want to help you.”

“What? You want to talk to us?”

What can we learn from the sent One this Christmas?

Notice what Jesus said in John 20:21: “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (NIV).

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world,” but He also said, “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14, NIV). We can’t be the light in the same sense Jesus is, but we can have spiritual light from our faith in Christ.

We’re to shine our light in dark places—to help people who are bumping into things in the darkness, ruining their lives. We have to get involved! If we don’t do it, who will?

This Christmas, let’s shine our lights. Let’s go to the people nobody else wants. We are sent ones! Jesus did what the Father asked—we can too.

Prayer

Oh, Jesus, we hear You saying that You’ve sent us. Make us spiritual Christians. Make us like You. Help us not to judge and condemn people but to bring the message of salvation to all—shining a light for them to see. Amen.

For More Encouragement