The Light in You

Luke 11:33-36 - “The Light in You”

Answering the Question: How does Jesus Call you to live? And what is your response?

Last Week Recap (HS ONLY):

Learned that Jesus calls us to take up our cross daily and follow him:

1. Jesus is HONEST about what it COST to follow HIM

2. You must give up this LIFE, or you will lose your LIFE

3. To be a FOLLOWER of Jesus is to not be ASHAMED of Jesus

This week: How Does Jesus Call you to live? And What is Your Response?

JESUS CALLS YOU TO BE A LIGHT

Passage: Luke 11:33-35,

“33) No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light”.

“34) Your eye is the lamb of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness”.

“35) Therefore, be careful lest the light in you be darkness”

Before we dive into the passage, it is important to note that LIGHT & DARKNESS are often used as metaphors or a way of explaining the spiritual condition

In other words, LIGHT & DARKNESS show and represent spiritual things that are contrary and opposite of each other.

LIGHT:

Good

God

Believers

More Powerful/Dominant

Light shows & represents: Life (Psalm 56:13), Salvation (Proverbs 6:23), and the Divine Presence of God (Exodus 10:23)

DARKNESS:

Evil

Evil Forces

Unbelievers

Weaker/submits to the light

Darkness shows & represents: The Wicked (Proverbs 2:13), Judgment (Exodus 10:21), and Death (Psalm 88:12)

In Genesis 1:3, We see that God says “let there be light and there was light”

From the very beginning God uses light to push back and set the boundary for darkness… for where light is… darkness can not hide … darkness always submits to the authority and power of the light…

In the same way that God uses light in creation to separate the darkness, he uses Jesus to be the light of our life and soul, forgiving us from our sin and defeating the darkness of this world…

POINT #1) Jesus is the LIGHT

John 8:12 says,

“[Jesus speaking] I am the LIGHT of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life”

In other words, Before Jesus, I was in darkness, desiring evil, without hope, engrossed and covered with death, and lost because I lived in darkness…

When John 8:12 says, “I am the light of the world”, it means after Jesus Christ saved me, Jesus gave me hope when I was hopeless, Jesus gave me a desire to good when all I desired was bad and evil, Jesus gave me life and something to live for instead of death, Jesus found me and showed me the path to love, grace, and mercy and I was no longer lost… My point is I can now SEE!

Question: If I were to examine the timeline of your life… from the time you were born up until this very moment… would I see a life that is lost in darkness… and blind? Or would I see a life that can see because it has the light of Jesus?

In other words are you lost in darkness or found in the light of Jesus?

A. If there is no light you are blind…

B. If you are unable to see Jesus as your Savior you are blind

How do I know if I am lost in darkness or found in the light of Jesus?

Look at John 8:12, says “whoever follows me will not walk in darkness”…

Walk in Darkness = to live a life that does not submit to light - Jesus

Walk in Darkness = to live in sin and not repent of it or confess it

Walk in Darkness = to worry only about yourself and not other people

Walk in Darkness = TO love only yourself and what you want…

Walk in Darkness = To love what you want and your sin more than what Jesus did for you on the cross…

Walk in Darkness = to live a life that does not talk to or communicate to God, hiding away from the grace and love of Jesus Christ…

If you are walking in darkness… I hope and pray that you would turn to the Light of salvation which is Jesus…

If you do have the light of Jesus… are you sharing it with others?

POINT #2) Jesus wants you share and display the his light

Luke 11:33, says, “33) No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light”.

My mother-in-law loves Jesus, in fact whenever we talk to each other, 99.9% of the time, she finds a way to bring it back to Jesus… she is so filled with the light of Jesus Christ that she can not help but to talk about him… She puts him on full display in her life… she does not hide the fact that Jesus has changed her life… and she has surrounded and prioritized her life with telling other people about Jesus through counseling, life group, and loving her family…

I know without a doubt that she has the light of Jesus in her… because I see it every time I interact with her…

There was a young man I went to college with his name was Matthew. He may have been 5’5, small and skinny guy. When he was younger he had multiple surgeries done to his brain for health reasons, and because of that he would constantly sway his head… it was difficult for him to maintain eye contact… it affected how he walked, spoke, thought, and lived his life… He had every reason to bitter, angry, and upset with his circumstance and with God… But he preached/gave a message one time in chapel at college in front of the students… in the message he put on a suite and tie… because he was so excited about talking about the light of his life Jesus Christ and he wanted to glorify and honor him to the best of his ability… when he spoke of his disabilities he was nothing but grateful for the opportunity to live and know Jesus Christ… when you spoke to him he glowed with light of Christ… he put the light of Jesus on full display in his life…

What about you? Do you put on full display the light of Jesus Christ in your life? Or do you shrink and try to hide and suppress it?

Luke 8:16 says, “”And no one, after lighting a lamp, covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a lampstand, so that those who come in can see the light”

LIGHT = Any object that serves as a source of illumination

Jesus should be the object of illumination in your life…

Jesus should be what is illuminating in your life… when others interact with you, see you, talk to you, see what you post, see how you treat your family and friends, they should see Jesus the light of Jesus illuminated within you!

God calls you to tell others and share the light of Jesus Christ in your life...

If you are doing that, I want to encourage you to continue to show the light of Jesus and share it with others… never stop illuminating Jesus Christ… continue to help others see that Jesus is the light!

But if you are someone who knows that Jesus is light… yet is concealing or hiding that light, my question would be why? Why hide the light of Jesus, when God calls us to illuminate Jesus in our life?

POINT #3) You are HEALTHY when your eye is fixed on JESUS

“ 34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. 35 Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness.”

He elaborates: “When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness.” In other words, if your eye sees me for who I really am, then you are full of light; but if you don’t see me for who I am, then you are full of darkness.

Then Jesus says, “Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness.” In other words, there is much that passes for light through the eye that is not light. There are many bright things in the world that keep us from seeing the true light of Christ—just like city lights keep you from seeing the stars.

Questions: