I Am The Light Of The World

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Introduction

A lot of what the Bible talks about is ideas or frameworks done by way of comparison. What I mean is this, the Bible spends a lot of time comparing two things, so that we can see and know the difference between the right thing and the wrong thing. For instance, the reason we can savor the sweetness of salvation is because we’ve tasted the bitterness of sin.

But more than just that, I think the Bible puts a lot of subjects in a very black and white context, when no room for gray. That’s not to say there aren’t places where mystery resides or anything like that, but in areas concerning what God expects from us, the Scriptures make it very clear what is right and what is wrong. What is good and what is evil. What is the works of the flesh and what is the fruit of the spirit.

I don’t think there is any greater contrast found the Scripture though than our topic today - light and dark. The Bible starts off with this topic. It starts off with the idea of darkness. God creates the earth and deep darkness is over the face of it, so the very next thing he creates is light.

Darkness and light have existed pretty much since the beginning and throughout scripture we see that darkness is representative of many things, which we will talk about a few today, but it’s mainly representative of evil. Light on the other hand is show to be good and not just good, but the ultimate good.

This idea is not just in the Bible, but it has infiltrated all of society. In Star Wars for instance, there are two sides of the force - the light side and the dark side. So there is an instinctive knowledge that we have about this metaphor because we have all lived it in some form or fashion.

I can remember being a little guy and being afraid of the dark. Wanting my mom to come and stay in my room with me because the darkness scared me. I didn’t like it.

We can forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.

Plato

Now Plato is hitting on something spiritually, even though he didn’t understand it. When it comes to Jesus, when it comes to light, men and women are afraid of the light. People in our world typically run from it. And the big reason behind that is because light exposes what was being hid in the darkness. We use darkness to hide in. But light exposes the deeds done in the dark. This is why confession is so powerful for the soul. When we confess, we are bringing our darkness out into the light, where it is properly dealt with. You receive forgiveness when you expose the darkness of your heart. You receive conviction if God exposes the darkness of your heart and you receive condemnation if you remain in the darkness.

If this is your first Sunday with us, you are joining us in the midst of a series called, “I Am” about the seven “I Am” statements found in the gospel of John. We have already talked about most of them and today and next week we are tackling the last two. Next week we will talk about Jesus statement, I am the true vine, but today we are looking at “I am the Light of the world.”

Turn with me to John 8. We will have the words on the screen and notes are loaded into the Cornerstone Church app.

John 8:12–19 ESV

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

We are picking up in the midst of a conversation Jesus is having with a group of Pharisees in the treasury as he taught in the temple. I’m not going to spend as much time on the context today because the first statement tells us that Jesus made this declaration more than once. He likely said this several times over the course of his ministry.

Now, this is the first time he says it in the gospel of John, but John starts the statement with “Again Jesus spoke to them...” so John is emphasizing that Jesus has said this before this point in time and my personal guess is he said this many times after this point in time as well, which makes the context not as important as the statement itself.

Jesus declares himself to be the Light of the world. Now there is a lot to be said about this, but let’s just remember why we are looking at these statements. Each statement gives us a look into the heart of who God is. It tells us about him. It reveals his identity to us. Last week we talked about how Jesus is the Bread of Life and how that connects with his identity as Jehovah-Jireh, our God our provider.

This statement here gives us a look into who God really is. The apostle John would later put it this way in his first letter...

1 John 1:5–7 ESV

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

John doesn’t beat around the bush. God is light and in him is no darkness at all. So darkness is the opposite of who God is. It’s the absence of God in some sense. God is an all consuming light. And what that teaches us is that as we follow him, we are in the light and as we stray from him we are entering into darkness. These are key, fundamental concepts of the Christian faith.

Now I want to point out that last part of this statement and we are going to move into my first point. Jesus says that he is the light of the world. The world is a key part of that statement. He doesn’t proclaim himself to be the light of Israel, even though he is. He claims to be the light of the world - the whole world - not just part of it, but the whole world.

Too often we miss this. From the beginning, the Christian religion has had an emphasis on the world. The object has always been to take this message to the uttermost parts of the world. The goal has always been to see the conversion of every person to Jesus Christ. Our heart, our longing must be one of evangelization.

And this is the reason why…my first point. The World is walking in darkness.

The World Is Walking In Darkness

Our world is trapped in deep darkness. You don’t need me to tell you that. Turn on the news, read Facebook, whatever you need to do, but the world is walking around in complete and utter darkness. There really is no other explanation for the things we are seeing in our society.

This darkness is pervasive and touches all the main areas of life - education, relationships, arts and entertainment, sex, politics and it’s most certainly infiltrated the church as well. The world is walking in darkness, but the American church isn’t doing much better.

So let’s do a little definition work for darkness, so that we all know what the Bible means when it’s talking about darkness.

Darkness represents at least three different things in Scripture -

Evil - The world itself is in darkness. It doesn’t have the light, because it rejected the light.

Sin - Our hearts are darkened by sin.

Ignorance - Our minds are darkened because we have not seen the light in a certain area of our lives.

Now that we have looked at darkness. Light is much easier to define.

Jesus Is The True Light

Jesus is light. God is light. When we look at Jesus we see light. This is both metaphorically and literally. As the prophets of old got glimpses of God, they described him as someone who shines like the sun. He is made of pure light.

The Apostle John gets a vision of who Jesus is and he says that his face was like pure light. He describes Jesus like this...

Revelation 1:16 ESV

In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

In other words, Jesus is light. Now I need to get a little more specific. He is true light. There are counterfeit lights in the world. Paul gives us this insight.

2 Corinthians 11:14 ESV

And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

Just because you see some light doesn’t mean you are looking at God. Now, here’s how I think we are to tell the difference between the true light and counterfeit light. Counterfeit light always seeks to magnify itself. Satan isn’t seeking to give his glory to anyone else. He’s only seeking to steal your light from you. He wants you to worship him.

Jesus on the other hand gives his light to men who in turn magnify and glorify him. Jesus gives life to men and that life is the light of men. In other words, Jesus in us gives our lives light. It puts light in us. We reflect Him.

John 1:4 ESV

In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

Satan only mimics what he sees Jesus doing. But he is full of pride and doesn’t spread life. In the end he only leads to more darkness. When we follow a counterfeit light, we are walking a path of darkness. When we follow Jesus, he lights our path and it leads to life.

Jesus says, I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. We are to follow Jesus. The World is to follow Jesus. If you aren’t following Jesus, you are in darkness. I don’t care how nice you are, how many cars you own, how big your house is, how good your kids behave, what you have in your bank account. The only thing that matters is this…are you following Jesus? If so, you are walking in the light.

Walking In The Light

I believe that walking in the light isn’t just about salvation. It’s about every area of life. We start down the path of light at salvation, but every issue we face is either an area of darkness or an area of light in our lives. We have to let him lead us into the light in every area of our life.

When we think about light, it does some pretty amazing things. I came up with a few this morning, I hope they will help you. The first one...

It Illuminates

When we walk in the light, it illuminates our minds, our hearts and our paths.

Our mind is illuminated by the light of his word. He reveals his word to us and it rids of us spiritual ignorance. I thought I understood life until I met Jesus. I didn’t realize how ignorant I was until he revealed it to me. Light illuminates. It exposes those dark areas.

It illuminates our hearts. Jesus presence in our hearts, brings the light of life into us. We reflect his light. He is the light and he brings that light to our hearts. In some practical terms, we experience true joy in our hearts because he is the light.

It illuminates our path. The Word of God, Jesus, lights our path. The image here is that even though we may be in this world, which is full of darkness, Jesus is what illuminates the darkness so that we can see the path the he wants us to walk.

Produces Growth

When light hits plants, it causes photosynthesis, which is the process of light energy being converted into chemical energy, which produces growth in the plants. I think something similar happens to us, when we walk in the light, it produces growth in us.

The closer we get to the Light, the more growth we see in our lives. Our lives will produce fruit the closer we get to Jesus. Now, let’s make sure we define fruit, it’s not worldly success, it’s character. It’s the fruit of the Spirit.

When we follow Him, his light produces growth of spiritual fruit in our heart. Jesus loves gardening analogies - planting seeds, good soil, watering, etc. I think he uses those because of his declaration that he is the light. He plants the seeds in our hearts, like love and joy, and then his presence, his light helps those things grow in us. It produces spiritual growth in our lives.

It Gives Power

Light gives power. There’s a lot of focus nowadays on solar energy. There’s a lot of ways we are trying to figure out how to harness the power of the sun. I had a customer years ago in Greensboro who put solar panels all over the roof of their building. They haven’t paid an electric bill in years. In fact, they were selling their power to Duke Energy.

Now, I still think the technology and cost to benefit ratio isn’t there yet on solar, but it’s getting there. On the spiritual side of things, walking in his light gives us power. Jesus promised us when he ascended to be with the Father that we would receive power.

Acts 1:8 ESV

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Light has the ability to bring power. It empowers us to do God’s work on the earth. And I could really spend a lot of time on this, but I can’t today. But know this, Paul was more concerned about people knowing God through power rather than by wisdom. He tells the church in Corinth, 1 Corinthians 2:2–5 “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

Like Paul’s day, many in the church have resorted to trying to convince people with wisdom and lofty arguments rather than by power. The problem is this, when you are convinced by wisdom, someone else could come along and change your mind with eloquent speech and the appearance of wisdom. But when you have experienced the power of God. You’ve seen him come in and change your life in a way that words can’t even express, no one can convince you otherwise.

My testimony is a testimony of the power of God. He saved me not with wisdom but with power. He turned my life around when I had nothing to offer him. He used his resurrection power in me to create a new life where a dead man once sat. He changed me through His power.

Why did he do this? It brings me to my main point...

We Carry His Light To The World

This is my main application point for today. Because Jesus is the light of the world, how then should we live? What should we do? We are to carry his light into the world. Because He is the Light and that light is reflected by us into the rest of the world.

This is the essence of evangelism. We evangelize by bringing light into the dark places. Jesus not only said that HE was the Light of the World. He said, WE are the light of the world.

Matthew 5:14–16 ESV

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Part of what Jesus expects us to do is spread the light by doing good works. One of the good works we talked about last week is simply believing in Jesus. If you believe in Jesus, that he is God and that he died for your sins and resurrected on the third day, that will change your life. People will see that change.

More than that though is that we are saved to do good works, (Ephesians 2:10). That means we help the poor, we love our neighbors, we feed the hungry, we serve the widows and the orphans. Part of what God expects from us is extremely practical. Now we have to be careful here. Sometimes we expect our works to do all the talking, but in reality, our works and our mouths are supposed to express the same thing, passionate love for Jesus. So do not fall into the trap that our works do all the talking and we keep silent. That’s the big lie of the spirit of this age. We can just keep silent. If you love someone, you cannot keep silent. It’s impossible.

If you find yourself in a place where it’s hard to talk about Jesus, let me submit to you that perhaps your probably isn’t what you think it is. It sounds like your problem may not be a talking problem, but a love problem. The closer you get to him, the more your love grows toward him, the more you will talk about him. It’s a relationship that goes hand-in-hand.

Conclusion

To end today, I’d like to invite you to make a commitment to spread the light of Christ to this world. Your call to action is this. Share Jesus this week. Find at least one person and share Jesus with them. That’s not a lot to ask, but for some of you, it might be intimidating. As we sing, I’m going to ask you to pray about who you will talk to and what you might say. If you are feeling fearful about this, come up front and grab me and I’ll pray for you, that God will increase your boldness. Let’s stand and sing.