WCF Family Service - 12 August 2023.

Light

There are 7 different ‘I am’ sayings in John’s Gospel! Does anyone know them...

John 6:35 “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (see John 6:48 & John 6:51).

John 8:12 “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.””

John 10:9 “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.” (see John 10:7).

John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (see John 10:14).

John 11:25 “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,”

John 14:6 “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”(see John 15:1).

Seven great sayings, all of which are backed up by the character and authority of the One speaking them who declares Himself, “I AM” - John 8:58, “Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” for which the Jews were prepared to stone Jesus for blasphemy because in their opinion, “you, being a man, make yourself God.”(John 10:33).

We are thinking of the second of these great sayings - “I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD” Part 1 - Light a large candle - Jesus, light of the world, We welcome You here today. Open our eyes to see You, That we might worship and adore You. Amen.

Jesus’ claim to be ‘the light of the world’ was made against the background of another Jewish practice at the Feast of Tabernacles, the great candle-lighting ceremonies that took place each night except on an intervening sabbath

A passage from the Mishnah (Sukkah 5:2–3) describes these ceremonies: “At the close of the first Festival-day of the Feast they went down to the Court of the Women where they had made a great amendment. There were golden candlesticks there with four golden bowls on the top of them and four ladders to each candlestick, and four youths of the priestly stock and in their hands jars of oil holding a hundred and twenty logs which they poured into all the bowls. They made wicks from the worn out drawers and girdles of the priests and with them they set the candlesticks alight, and there was not a courtyard in Jerusalem that did not reflect the light of the Beth ha-She’ubah.”

Jesus presented himself as the light of the world at the Feast of Tabernacles; a festival during which great candles lit up the courtyards of Jerusalem every night. He is claiming to be the One who lights up every home and every heart!

Light is GOOD – it scares away the darkness; it enables us to see clearly; it can help warm up the cold air.

Think of the importance of the light in your bedroom when its dark - read; watch out for spiders; help you cope if your scared of the dark!

I want you to imagine for a moment that you are fast asleep in your bed and suddenly you wake up in the middle of the night and it is pitch black. You are feeling rather frightened as you cannot see anything. Would this (Hold up a lamp) be good news or bad news? It would be good news wouldn’t it, as you would be able to see things again.

Now imagine that you are walking through the woods and suddenly it has become really dark and you are struggling to see the path ahead. Would this (Hold up torch) be good news or bad news? It would be good news wouldn’t it as you would be able to see the path ahead.

And finally imagine that you are the captain of a ship out on the sea at night and that you need to avoid hitting the rocks as you come into shore. Would this (Show lighthouse or picture of lighthouse) be good news or bad news? It would be good news wouldn’t it as you would be able to see to avoid the rocks.

In many different situations that we find ourselves in, we know that light is good news, because it makes it possible for us to see.

Think of the GREAT LIGHT TO RULE THE DAY - the Sun! Let me tell you some FACTS ABOUT THE SUN – Let’s play TRUE OR FALSE!

The Sun is very big. In fact, 1.3 million Earths could fit inside the Sun!

The Sun is the star at the centre of our solar system.

The Sun is responsible for the Earth’s climate and weather.

The Sun is an almost perfect sphere.

The centre of the Sun has a temperature of 15 million degrees Celsius.

The Sun consists of all the colours mixed together, so it appears white to our eyes.

The Sun can blind us if we look directly at it.

It takes eight minutes for light from the Sun to reach Earth.

THEY WERE ALL TRUE! - I tricked you! You need to know the truth about the sun, just as you need to KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT GOD’S SON, JESUS  - Jesus said: “I am the light of the world”

Shall we learn it as a memory verse? - John 8:12. “I am the light of the world. Light Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life”

By Jesus, you can have knowledge and understanding of the truth; by Him you can come to know God and by Him you can have eternal life!

Think of it like this, you are here in Whitby and we are a sea-fairing town with two lighthouses on either side of the harbour, designed to bring the ships safely back to harbour. Jesus is our LIGHTHOUSE and He can carry us safely back to shore! -

He will lead us on the safe path through life - YouTube Song: “My lighthouse” (Rend Collective)

PART 2 - John 8:12 “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Jesus’ claim to be the light of the world had its roots in OT prophecies, especially:

Isaiah 42:6 ““I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations,”

Isaiah 49:6 “I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

And also it’s rooted in the OT Exodus story in Exodus 13:21-22 “And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.”

Jesus is claiming to be the God who kept the Jews safe from the dangers in the wilderness. Safe from all sorts of physical dangers like deadly insects and dangerous animals.

Safe at night, when faced with pitch darkness and all that darkness does to the human imagination!

The pillar of fire was a symbol of God’s presence with His people. A reminder that God is with us!

When Jesus makes this claim, the Jews would remember Psalm 27:1: “The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear?”

In Jesus, our LIGHT OF THE WORLD, “God is with us”(Matt 1:23) so we don’t need to be afraid for as Jesus promised, “whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Remember that the very first thing, God created was LIGHT!

“Let there be light”(Gen 1:3) - Why? Because LIGHT is needed for Life! Because LIGHT illumines the darkness(Gen 1:2) and because LIGHT allows us to see the creative works of God as the Spirit of God “hovers” and creates, at command of the Word of God!

Paul says something incredible about this in 2Corinthians 4:6 “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

When we see Jesus, we see God. When we come to know Jesus; when we come to follow Jesus by accepting His teaching and committing our lives to Him in discipleship, we will no longer walk in the darkness; we will no longer be ignorant of the truth that leads to life; they will no longer live under “the power of the evil one” (cf. 1 John 5:19) for God ‘has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves’ (Col. 1:13).

And for those who follow Jesus have come into the light; have received the light and there is no mmore darkness; no more death! For as life in the darkness culminates in death, life in the light of Christ culminates in eternal life; it is ‘the light of life’.

As John says in John 1:4 ‘In him was life, and that life was the light of men’ (1:4). To come to Christ means coming to the one in whom is found the life of God, and that life is the light of men, the light of life.

I want to end this talk by referring to the healing of two blind men found in Luke 18:35-43 and John 9. “As he drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” And he cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” And those who were in front rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.”

When this blind man heard that Jesus was passing by He had the light, the understanding to cry out “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

And he would not be put off buy those who thought him to bad; too cursed; too unimportant for Jesus - no one is! He could see that for all his blindness

And then, when Jesus spoke to Him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” Nothing seemd more important to him that having light to see!

But he got more than this! He discovered that he had faith in Jesus - “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” Notice, Jesus does not take credit for it! Thi8s man had faith from God and he exercised his faith in asking Jesus tyo heal Him and once Jesus healed him, he gave glory to God!

Faith made him well not just giving him his sight back but saving his soul for all eternity!

Jesus, the light of the world said that if we follow Him, we will have the light of life:

We need faith in Jesus. Faith that He can do whatever He says He can do and we just need to trust Him with our lives!

He will keep us on the safe path through life. He will ensure that we do not “walk in darkness.”

Just as the blind man’s life was totally changed….no longer did he have to walk in darkness, Everything changed because he could now see and walk in the light. Jesus can transform our lives, if we follow Him!

Most of us are not physically blind like the man in our Bible story, but we are all spiritually blind and walking in darkness until Jesus opens our spiritual eyes. When Jesus opens our spiritual eyes, we are able to see God as He really is; His goodness, His love, His holiness and His beauty.

When Jesus opens our spiritual eyes, we are able to see the darkness of the sin that we often choose to walk in;  the darkness of greed, lies, selfishness, jealousy, bad temper and other sins.

If we choose to follow Jesus, His promise to us is that we will never walk in darkness. We will see things as they really are.

And when we come to Jesus, we will feel and experience the change! Just as another blind man in John chapter 9, experienced Him; His power and His grace.

“As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.  As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing. His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” Some claimed that he was. Others said, “No, he only looks like him.” But he himself insisted, “I am the man.” “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked. He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”(vs 1-10) “They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided. Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” The man replied, “He is a prophet.” They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?” “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.” He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”(vs 13-25).

“I once was lost but now am found; was blind but now I see!”(John Newton).

The hymn has known so many lives. Over 250 years old—it has been sung in churches and at funerals. It is a civil rights anthem, a civil religion anthem, a folk song, and a pop culture icon. It has been featured on The Simpsons, Cheers, and Star Trek, and it gave expression to America’s grief in the days and weeks after 9/11. It’s been covered by devoutly Christian artists, such as Johnny Cash and Aretha Franklin, but also by Willie Nelson, Ani DiFranco, and the Dropkick Murphys.

In 2016, it was sung by Barack Obama during his eulogy for Clementa Pinckney, one of nine Black Christians killed by a white supremacist in a church in Charleston.

Jesus is:

the light of the world and the light of OUR world also!

He will lead us on the safe path through life (point at the lighthouse)

He will help us see things as they really are (point at the lamp) so that we are not walking in darkness.

He promises us His presence and that He will never leave us. (Hold up your candle and light it. “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”(Matthew 28:40)

When we have Jesus living so close to us, we don’t need to be afraid of anything, because He is God. He is present. He is powerful and He has promised that all will be well!