Jesus - Light of the World.

Jesus - Light of the World.

The bible talks about light coming into a dark world so today I'd like to talk about Jesus - Light of the World.  Let's start by looking at a few scriptures from the book of John and see how we can relate them to our lives.

John introduces the concept in Chapter 1v1-9.

Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Joh 1:2  He was with God in the beginning.
Joh 1:3  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
Joh 1:4  In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
Joh 1:5  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Joh 1:6  There was a man sent from God whose name was John.
Joh 1:7  He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.
Joh 1:8  He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
Joh 1:9  The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.

John used this terminology because Jesus himself described himself as light.  John records this later in the book.

In John 8v12 Jesus said,

"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

This was said in the context of the woman who was caught in adultery just after he invited anyone who had not sinned to cast the first stone and when no one did, he said neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.

She was in a dark place, she had been naughty, got caught, nearly got killed but Jesus had shown her grace. He gave her new life which He likens to light.  There was an association between light and life.  Remember we just read in John 1 "In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. "

John also records Jesus describing himself but not only himself but God the father as light in Chapter 12v44-48.

Joh 12:44  Then Jesus cried out, "Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me.
Joh 12:45  The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me.
Joh 12:46  I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.
Joh 12:47  "If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.
Joh 12:48  There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day.

This is an interesting passage - notice that Jesus was saying that when we look at him we see God the father - so we see that Jesus is the revelation of God.  John 1 we read that the word was with God and the word was God.  He reveals the Father's heart.

Notice, He did not come to judge but to save, and it is only those who reject him and do not accept His words that are judged.  Notice too there is a difference in terminology between hearing the word and not keeping, and rejecting Him and not accepting His words.  As we'll see later people have blind folds on so don't see it clearly until they are removed.  

If you hear and don't do, you are not judged, but if you hear and reject you are judged.  Revelation talks about the consequences of those who refuse to repent.  You see a picture here of God's grace - and confirmation he doesn't want any to perish - but it also confirms the fact people have the option of rejecting him and not repenting.  This seems preposterous, but we see suicide bombers all over the place nowadays so we can't discount people rejecting the gift of life if they think there's a better alternative elsewhere!!

We can read this in parallel with the most famous passage of all - John 3v16-18

Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Joh 3:17  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Joh 3:18  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

We see that Jesus came to save not condemn, to give life not death, so we see the heart of God yet again. And - if we read on we see Him described as Light.

Joh 3:19  This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
Joh 3:20  Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.
Joh 3:21  But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

Many crimes are committed at night - and the phrase used is "under the cover of darkness".  Along with apathy and irrelevance, this is the third biggest obstacle for churches to preach the gospel.  People actually enjoy their sinful behaviour and do not want it exposed as being wrong.

Ok that's a generalisation and I realise that some people steal out of necessity as they are desperate, but if you look at the Hatton Garden jewel thieves for example, they went further than providing for their families.  Under the cover of darkness they excavated a tunnel to break in to the vault and they were careful not to be exposed.

For someone to live in the light is to be exposed to scrutiny and be accountable for their actions.  For example the snooping saga has people infuriated because if the Government suspects you of anything they can check your internet and phone records - but if you are not doing anything wrong why would you care??  If you live in Christ, you live in the light. Yes your mistakes are exposed, but in Christ they have also been paid for.

The other occurrence of Jesus describing himself as Light in John is in John 9 when Jesus encountered a blind man and the disciples asked who had sinned to cause his blindness - Jesus said

Joh 9:3  "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.
Joh 9:4  As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.
Joh_9:5  While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

Some will say that illness and trials are caused by sin, and if you want to be rid of them you must work very hard and have faith, thus treating God as a puppet who can be manipulated. This health and wealth thinking is very damaging as it can make people feel that it's all their fault.  Jesus on the other hand said that the blind man was not a victim of sin, but that it was for the works of God to be displayed - so that the man and all around could see the light of God defeating the darkness of the man's trial.  It also exposed the gulf between legalistic observance of the old covenant sabbath and Jesus way of expressing the law as love God and love your neighbour - the man was healed on the sabbath so they accused him of sinning and this was not the only occasion when Jesus put love above law.  Anyhow that's another story.

By flitting around a few passages in John we see the picture of God emerging.  Under the old covenant law, Israel proved itself incapable of living up to God's standards, so God in his love and grace sent his son into a dark world.  Jesus turned the law on its head by saying you can't even think about sinning so made it even more difficult.  But - instead of leaving in the darkness of sin, Jesus was the light that was to guide people to God, all people, not just Israel.  Jesus did not come to condemn but bring life and that's true for us also.  We should not condemn people for not following God - we should love them as God does and be a light to guide them to Him.  Not our own light - that can be dim sometimes but reflect the light of God and let his presence burst out of us.

Yes, we have a role to play.

In Matt 5 Jesus said

Mat 5:14  "You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.
Mat 5:15  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
Mat 5:16  In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

This all sounds great in theory and we should be perfect examples and everyone will glorify God because they see how great we are.  However, we're not perfect are we, so we can feel inadequate.  Don't worry - life throws all sorts at us - both good and bad - and it's easy for one of two things to happen.

1. Everything is going good so we don't see the light of God because we think we're ok on our own.  Perhaps we take God's love for granted and lose focus.  It's good to remind ourselves how much we rely on God's grace as we are not perfect on our own despite how much we'd like to be or think we are.  God's grace is there for us despite ourselves so don't feel either inadequate or proud of our own efforts.  Jesus has done all that's required for our salvation.

2. Secondly we can be so focussed on the dark stuff that it obscures the light.  As we read in 2 Cor 4v4 the enemy not only throws bad stuff at us, he also blinds people from seeing the light of God.  We should not condemn people therefore if they don't follow the word right now.  Even believers can find it hard to feel the comfort and see the light sometimes because Satan tries his best to obscure it - and that's ok - we're human.  To quote Disney Pixar  "Beyond the cloud, the sun is shining, even though we can't quite make it out".  Can you name the film. __ Cars __  

Remember that the light is always there and darkness in itself is nothing.  The enemy can't dark something - all he can do is put stuff in front of the light to make it difficult to see.

In Llanelli when I gave this message I illustrated the point by putting this blind fold on Clara and asking if she could see the light.  The expected answer was no - illustrating the point that Satan blinds people.  But she said Yes - which illustrates another point whilst Satan puts  things in the way - light still penetrates the darkness.  We discovered that when Clara went further away the light grew dimmer and dimmer and disappeared.  The light was however still there, just the blind fold was more effective.  When God is working on someone, they are drawn to the light and the clearer the light becomes until eventually the blind fold is ineffective and they see the full picture.  The light is however there throughout. We sang Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet - if someone has a blindfold on and they can see a light and follow it - they can be led through dangers as long as they keep straight ahead following it.  The word of God provides that guidance.  God may use us to be that light to draw people to him, but if we hide it, it makes it much more difficult - but wait - God is still more powerful!

I refer to the Martin Luther King Jr quote again. "Darkness cannot drive out darkness only light can do that, Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that."

When we see the darkness and hate around us, let's pray that we can be beacons of God's light and love to those we come in contact with.  Let's thank God that through his Grace, God has revealed his light to us and the blind fold of the enemy has been torn.  Let's pray for Jesus return when the darkness will be a thing of the past and the world will be lit by the glory of God.

So in conclusion, when we think about the incarnation, think about the fact that Jesus is described as light which shines in a dark world.  God saw that people could not be shining lights on their own so he sent Jesus to become one of us.  Remember the Martin Luther King quote - darkness can not drive out darkness - man cannot do it by themselves - only light can drive out darkness - man needed Jesus intervention to light the way to God and new life.  Let us be lights in this dark world by reflecting the light and love of God.  Wouldn't that be a great gift this Christmas.


Scriptures from Today's NIV.