VBS NIGHT 4

Shine Jesus’ Light

Anybody afraid of the dark?

Where is the darkest place you’ve ever been?

Is anybody afraid of the light?

I’m afraid of bad sunburns…

But in general I’d say more people are afraid of the dark than they are of the light.

Has anyone ever heard their parents say, “Nothing good happens after midnight?”

What do they mean by that?

They just mean things are more dangerous at night time, so it’s better to be at home or in a safe place rather than getting in trouble in the dark.

But still, there are still fun things we do in the darkness.

Hide and seek, road trips, waffle house…

You know what though, can you imagine it being dark all the time and the sun never coming up? That might be fun for a few days, but after a while, that would start to get freaky.

Deep down I think we all have a fear that there is something lurking in the shadows that is waiting to get us.

If we aren’t aware enough of our surroundings in the dark, then one day it will get us.

In the morning though, what comes up?

When the sun comes up, the sun shines on everything.

There may still be shadows and hidden places, but the sun is welcoming.

The sun eliminates the darkness everywhere that its light touches and we experience the joy of day time.

In thinking about all of this,

Can darkness ever overcome light?

No...

Think about it

Light always overcomes darkness, Darkness can’t overcome the light.

That’s a great metaphor for what Jesus did on the cross.

I want you to read 2 more passages of Scripture today then we are going to discuss it.

In groups of 4 or 5 read

JOhn 19:16-30.

and John 20:1-10.

John 20:27-28.

Answer these questions:

What was dark in these verses?

What was the moments of light?

How did Jesus meet the needs of others?

DEBRIEF:

John 1:4-5 “4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

1 John 1:5 “5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.”

In both of these verses we can see that Jesus will never stop shining on mankind.

He will never stop revealing Himself.

He will never stop showing grace and mercy.

He will never stop proclaiming that He is the God of the universe.

But he still allows darkness.

Why?

Because God is after our hearts, not our behavior.

If God just wanted everyone to follow Him and love Him, he would have forced us to do that, but then at that point, forced love is no love at all.

Jesus gave us the ability to choose Him.

Why? SO that He would reach our motivations and our hearts.

Imagine waking up everyday and refusing to acknowledge that the sun is shining.

You’d be crazy right?

But that’s what sin does. It keeps us in darkness.

It tries to prevent us from seeing the light of Christ.

But what John 1 says is that darkness will never overcome the light.

All sin can do is be a shadow. It tries to put a barrier between you and the light, but all we need to remember is that if we just step into the light of Christ we are free…

Because as 1 John 1:5 says, in Jesus, there is no darkness at all.

As we close this week out,

Can we talk about marriage for a moment.

Sometimes marriages fail.

A shadow disrupts the light of marriage and sometimes turns the lights out.

My parents are divorced, some of you may have divorced parents, or others of you know friends or other family members who have experienced this.

You know what the start of divorce is?

It’s not pet peeves.

It’s not someone being annoying.

It’s actually someone realizing their spouse isn’t as great as they initially thought they were...

That’s the thought.

Then, that person begins looking for joy elsewhere.

I pray none of you in this room ever experience that yourself with a spouse, but can I just tell you that no husband, no wife, will satisfy you the way Jesus will.

In fact it goes far beyond just marriage.

NO car, no game, no achievement, no success, no human could ever satisfy the deepest desires of your heart.

God loves you in a way that He will never leave you.

People may leave you or abandon you.

But Jesus won’t

I know that because the Bible is thousands of pages long.

The reason it’s so long is because it tells us about a God who was willing to kick down lots of doors and destroy lots of shadows to show us the light that HE

Jesus… Would die on the cross for us to pay the debt of sin we owe.

THat he would rise from the grave that we could have new life.

And when he Looked at Thomas in John 20, He doesn’t belittle Thomas’ doubt.

He meets Thomas in His doubt.

Why? Because he’s trying to reach Thomas’s motivations, not his behavior.

God wasn’t just tolerating Thomas’ doubt.

God doesn’t just tolerate you.

He loves you.

He meets you where you are.

And he’s calling you to Himself.

In all your mess. IN all your success. In all your failure.

Jesus is the light of the world wanting to remind all of us to come out of the shadows

To truly be alive in HIm.

Are you?

Are you living in the light of Christ?