“Light of the World”
Have you ever gotten out of bed at night and stumped your toe on the bed or the door jam? It’s not a good feeling. Darkness is dangerous.
Making a decision in the dark can lead to regrettable consequences.
Back in the days before electricity, a tightfisted farmer was taking his hired man to task for carrying a lighted lantern when he went calling on his girl. He said, “Why, when I went a-courtin’ I never carried one of them things with me, I went in the dark.”
“Yes,” said the hired man, “and look what you got!” Darkness is dangerous.
John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (v. 4) In him was life and that life was the light of men. (v. 5) The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
(v. 6) There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. (v. 9) The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.”
Christmas is all about God coming to earth.
Christmas is all about the Light of the World coming to dwell with us.
Are you scared of the dark?
I remember – as a teenager - walking through the darkness of a haunted house. Scared to death. I should have never gone through there. But I wanted to impress a good looking girl. Actually, it was a good excuse to hold her hand.
A grandpa was walking in the woods with his grandson, talking about the things of life. The grandpa asked, “Do you know where we are?”
“No grandpa.”
“Well, then, I guess you are lost.”
The boy smiled and said, “No, grandpa. I’m not lost I am with you.”
Whenever we have to walk in the dark, we have the tendency to walk behind someone – hopefully someone who knows the way.
The dictionary defines the word “Light” as “something that makes vision possible.”
Seeing things the way they really are.
Could it be that when an individual receives Jesus Christ into their heart – the Light of the World – they begin to see things the way they really are?
1) Jesus is . . . the Light of the World (John 1:4)
John 8:12 “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
A Hindu trader in India once asked a missionary, “What do you put on your face to make it shine?” With surprise, the man of God answered, “I don’t put anything on it.” His questioner began to lose patience and said emphatically, “Yes, you do.! All of you who believe in Jesus seem to have it. I’ve seen in the towns of Agra and Surat, and even in the city of Bombay.” Suddenly the Christian understood and his face glowed even more as he said, “Now I know what you mean, and I will tell you the secret. It’s not something we put on from the outside but something that comes from within. It’s the reflection of the light of God in our hearts.”
Did you know that an absence of sunlight can cause blindness? Animals who live out their lives in complete absence of light are commonly blind. Mules kept in mines become blind. Horses kept in dark stables and denied sunlight become blind.
We need light.
Tim Hughes wrote the words to this song . . .
Light of the world You stepped down into darkness
Opened my eyes, let me see
Beauty that made this heart adore You
Hope of a life spent with You
Here I am to worship, here I am to bow down
Here I am to say that You’re my God
You’re altogether lovely, altogether worthy
Altogether wonderful to me
Characteristics of light:
a) Light gives growth. Those of you who have a garden and enjoy growing things know the importance of sunlight for your plants and flowers. Most plants will die very quickly without light.
The sun is the source of energy for all plants and indirectly, all animals.
Likewise, Jesus Christ, represents spiritual growth in your life and mine. You cannot grow and mature in you faith without Jesus Christ. You have a choice. You can choose to live in the darkness of this world, and put to death your spiritual life, or you can choose to live in the Light of Jesus Christ, and experience spiritual maturity. The choice is yours.
b) Light pierces darkness.
Darkness cannot co-exists with light. When you walk into a dark room all you have to do is turn on the light switch and the darkness flees. Just turn on the light.
Light pierces darkness. Likewise, when you bring Jesus into the room of your heart, darkness has to flee. It has no choice. Light always overcomes darkness.
c) Light reveals dirt.
The problem of many believers today is that we want a relative God in whom there is some darkness. We don't mind a God of light, as long as there is some darkness. Because if there is a little darkness in God, then He won't get that upset over my little sins. As long as I don't do the big stuff, then God shouldn't get that upset at me. John says, God is light and in Him, there is NO darkness at all.
A while back, Shalyse and I were riding in my car, and the sun was shining in at a different angle. She pointed out that the dash board was dusty. This was something that I had failed to notice, so I asked her if would help me clean my car. She said, "Yes." So, one of these days, we’ll get around to cleaning my car.
When the light of God shines on our heart, our eyes are opened to see some dust and dirt that we hadn’t noticed before. And we are challenged to do something about it. God is light and His light reveals – even when we don’t like what we see.
That’s why so many people don’t like to go to church on a regular basis. They won’t want to hear the preacher speaking about sin. They are convicted. They’d rather stay home in bed, or stay home watching TV, instead of hearing the Word of God preached about the difference between right and wrong, good and evil, light and darkness.
2) Jesus is . . . . not always understood by the world. (John 1:5)
(v. 5) The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
A non-believing university professor at a well known
institution of higher learning challenged his students with this question. “Did
God create everything that exists?” One student bravely replied, “Yes he did!”
“God created everything?” The professor asked. “Yes sir, he certainly did,”
the student replied.
The professor answered, “If God created everything; then God created evil.
And, since evil exists, and according to the principal that our works define who
we are, then we can assume God is evil.”
The student became quiet and did not answer the professor’s hypothetical
definition.
The professor, quite pleased with himself, boasted to the students that he had
proven once more that the Christian faith was a myth.
Another student raised his hand and said, “May I ask you a question, professor?”
“Of course”, replied the professor. The student stood up and asked, “Professor,
does cold exist?”
“What kind of question is this? Of course it exists. Have you never been
cold?” The other students snickered at the young man’s question.
The young man replied, “In fact sir, cold does not exist. According to the
laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat. Every
body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat
is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-460 F)
is the total absence of heat; and all matter becomes inert and incapable of
reaction at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We have created this word to
describe how we feel if we have no heat.”
The student continued, “Professor, does darkness exist?” The professor
responded, “Of course it does.”
The student replied, “Once again you are wrong sir, darkness does not exist
either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light. Light we can study, but not
darkness. In fact, we can use Newton’s prism to break white light into many
colors and study the various wavelengths of each color. You cannot measure
darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a world of darkness and
illuminate it. How can you know how dark a certain space is? You measure the
amount of light present. Isn’t this correct? Darkness is a term used by man to
describe what happens when there is no light present.”
Finally the young man asked the professor, “Sir, does evil exist?” Now
uncertain, the professor responded, “Of course, as I have already said. We see
it everyday. It is in the daily examples of man’s inhumanity to man. It is in
the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These
manifestations are nothing else but evil.”
To this the student replied, “Evil does not exist, sir, or at least it does
not exist unto itself. 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.
God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not
have God’s love present 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.”
The professor sat down. The young student’s name, Albert Einstein.
You see darkness does not comprehend the light, because the two can’t mix.
Think about it. How do you mix darkness and light? If you bring light into the
darkness, it is no longer dark.
Darkness does not comprehend light. Or maybe a better way to say it is. .
.darkness does not want to comprehend light. It is repulsed by it. Why? Because
it knows that light exposes it, and eliminates it. You can’t have darkness where
you have light. Darkness is in literal terms “the absence of light.”
Could it be that depression is simply . . . the absence of God?
Could it be that hatred is simply . . . the absence of God?
Could it be that sin is simply . . . the absence of God?
Do you remember the first action that God took when He created the universe? "And God said, let there be . . . light." The first thing God did was to create what he is. Light. What God did was to begin to reveal part of His character. The reason that the sun exists is not because of a compilation of energy that led to an explosion that resulted in a ball of heat. No. The reason the sun exists is because God created it and put it there. God reached into Himself, pulled out a handful of Shekinah glory and hurled into space where it belongs.
God is light. And then He created lesser lights, like the moon and the stars, which feed off of the sun. The moon and the stars were placed there by God the Father so that when nighttime comes, it won't be pitch dark. So after God created the sun and placed it where it belongs, He then created you and I, and offered us the gift of salvation and life, and then said now, you are Children of Light, and just as the moon and starts feed off of the sun, you are to be spiritual lights that feed off of me. So that as we walk in the darkness of this world, it won't be pitch black, because Christians are shining.
3) Jesus is . . . the Shekinah Glory of God!
John 1:14 “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
The God of the Old Testament was a God of light. God appeared to Moses as a burning bush. God led the people of Israel out of slavery into the promised land by appearing to them as a pillar of fire at night and a cloud by day. This image of God is called the Shekinah Glory of God!!
Revelation 21:23 “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light and the Lamb is its lamp.”
The Lord Jesus Christ whom we exalt at Christmas is not just a baby in a manger.
He is not a character in a children’s story. He is far more.
The first time he came, he came veiled in the form of a child.
The next time He comes, and we believe it will be soon, He will come unveiled, and it will be abundantly and immediately clear to all the world just who He really is.
The first time He came, a star marked his arrival.
The next time He comes, the whole heavens will roll up like a scroll, and all the stars will fall out of the sky, and He himself will light it.
The first time He came, wise men and shepherds brought Him gifts.
The next time He comes, He will bring gifts, rewards for His own.
The first time He came, there was no room for Him.
The next time he comes, the whole world will not be able to contain His glory.
The first time He came, only a few attended His arrival – some shepherds and some wise men.
The Next time He comes, every eye shall see Him.
The first time He came as a baby. Soon He will come as sovereign King and Lord.