Аз съм… светлината на света

John 8

Introduction

I first came to Bulgaria 33 years ago. And there have been a lot of good times and some difficult ones.

I have been so blessed by the depths of close friendships here in Bulgaria. For that I am very thankful.

But I have had difficult times… for example, with the language. The first time I tried to speak Bulgarian - “мляко”.

One of the best things about being a missionary is that you are always learning something new.

Recently, I started driving lessons (шофьорски курсове). I have a license (книжка) and have been driving for a long time but decided to get my Bulgarian driver’s license.

So… every week I get in my driving instructor’s little car and drive around Svishtov at 20 kph and park forward, backwards and sideways. To be honest it’s a little boring (досадно).

But I have been learning a lot because I am studying for the written test (листовки). My test will be on Tuesday. Not so easy…

Bulgarian driving test…

[SLIDE 2] Crosswalk

[SLIDE 3]Train crossing

[SLIDE 4] „Броят на ПТП-тата в България е най-висок в условия на полумрак.“

When do most accidents occur? At twilight (полумрак)

I kept getting this answer wrong because I thought that most accidents would occur at night… it’s dark, car lights in your eyes, can’t see the numerous potholes (дупките) that are everywhere around Svishtov…

But no. Most accidents occur at twilight (полумрак).

For two reasons (1) your eyes haven’t adjusted (не са се приспособили) to the change in the light (2) in the twilight (полумрак) you often think you see something, but what you think you see is not reality.

You swerve to miss a big pothole, but it’s actually only a shadow on the road from a tree.

This principle is also true in our spiritual lives.

We are driving through life… some at 20kph and others at 120kph… or 240kph… and all around us is not total darkness, but twilight (полумрак)

The world around us is not in total darkness (тотална тъмнина), but in a grey twilight (полумрак) which confuses our vision.

And… this is why we see so many spiritual accidents (катастрофи) in our world.

Many of us have been through them personally.

And you see them in the lives of your family members and friends.

Today we are going to look at a spiritual accident (катастрофа)

We are going to look at the worldviews (светогледи) people have that cause these spiritual accidents (катастрофи) and how we, as people who know Jesus Christ, can avoid them.

Turn with me to John 8. We will begin reading verse 2.

Полумрак… The Light is within me

[SLIDE 5] “И рано сутринта пак дойде в храма; а целият народ идваше при Него и Той седна и ги поучаваше. И книжниците и фарисеите доведоха при Него една жена, хваната в прелюбодейство, и като я поставиха насред, Му казаха: Учителю, тази жена бе хваната в самото дело на прелюбодейство. Моисей ни е заповядал в закона да убиваме такива с камъни. А Ти какво ще кажеш за нея?” Йоан 8:2-5

What we are looking at is a spiritual accident (духовна катастрофа).

A woman has cheated on her husband and the law in the Old Testament is clear.

“Ако някой лежи с омъжена жена, тогава и двамата да бъдат убити – мъжът, който е лежал с жената, и жената. Така да премахнеш злото от Израил.” Второзаконие 22:22

Now in the society that we live in this is commonplace (обичайно). Outside the Christian church it is almost expected that a man will NOT be faithful to his wife and the wife will NOT be faithful to her husband.

Interesting… that if you ask most young people what the word “прелюбодейство” means they don’t know.

This word came up in a text we were reading for one of my 10th grade English classes and I was not surprised that they didn’t know the word “adultery” in English, but I was surprised because no one knew the word in Bulgarian.

“We don’t have that word in Bulgarian.” There is a word, but they just didn’t know it.

Cheating (изневяра) is only one example of our society that lives in twilight (полумрак)

We see all kinds of problems… destroyed relationships, егоизъм, алчност, гордост, и т.н.

These are all symptoms of a society that is driving 200kph in twilight (полумрак) without the light.

But these are the symptoms… the cause of this is something different.

The cause (причината) comes from thinking that I know what is best… I have (У мене) the answer to my happiness.

The light is within me… and I can know what will make me happy inside myself.

I AM the light. Not Jesus… ME!

How many spiritual accidents (катастрофи) have you seen because someone thought that by doing this “thing” they would be happy, but the result was only съкрушени сърца и развалени взаимоотношения?

The first thing we must realize is that the light is NOT within us.

You friends who are Buddhist or Дъновист will not agree with you, but the light is NOT within us.

And we prove this every single day.

How many of us have done something we thought would make us happy but in the end, it was a total wreck? … All of us.

How often do you see your friends making horrible decisions, and for some unknown reason they think that this is a great idea?

The light is not within us.

This ONE THING will explain why our society has so many spiritual accidents (катастрофи).

We are driving at 200kph through life thinking that we can see in this spiritual twilight (полумрак), but we do not have the light within us.

What we think is a straight road actually has a turn and we wreck.

The light is NOT within us. We are NOT the light of the world.

The first step is recognizing this. BUT… if we are not careful, we can overcorrect (коригираме прекалено много).

When you are driving a car in the snow and ice and it starts to slide (плъзга), an inexperienced driver will overcorrect and make the situation worse.

This can also happen to someone spiritually.

We see this in verse 6. Let’s take a look.

Полумрак… The Light is in religion

[SLIDE 6] „И това казаха да Го изпитат, за да имат за какво да Го обвиняват. А Исус се наведе надолу и пишеше с пръст по земята. Но като продължаваха да Го питат, Той се изправи и им каза: Който от вас е безгрешен, нека пръв хвърли камък по нея. И пак се наведе надолу и пишеше с пръст по земята. А те, като чуха това, разотидоха се един по един, като се почна от по-старите, та до последните; а Исус остана сам с жената, която стоеше насред.“ Йоан 8:6-9

Most people in our society think that the light is within them, EVEN THOUGH it’s obvious that we cannot see clearly in this twilight (полумрак).

Other people, like the ones in this story, are like those that are trying to test (изпитат) Jesus.

They look for the light in religion and traditions.

In the time of this story Israel was under Roman slavery and many Jews believed that if they were faithful to ALL the laws in the Old Testament that God would free them from slavery.

In our day we see people who are having a lot of problems in life… and they become very religious or very traditional.

You have to go to the Orthodox church every holiday, light a candle, pray to the saints, eat an odd number (нечетен) of foods on holidays, to go and pray at this monastery, to bath in only cold water, etc.

AND… if I do all of these things, I will be able to see in this twilight (полумрак) world.

But this is just an exchange (размяна) of one kind of blindness for another.

Do these religious people even see this desperate (отчаяна) woman here? No.

She is just a tool for them to use and throw away. These religious people don’t even see her and the spiritual catastrophe that is her life.

I don’t know what Jesus wrote in the ground (с пръст по земята). Maybe it’s not even important. Perhaps it was to just give time to these religious men to really SEE this woman and her tragedy.

Holding on to religion and to traditions do not give us light that we need.

We live in a twilight (полумрак) world. The light that will help us see clearly is not found in religion.

So, how can we see clearly in this twilight (полумрак)? Let’s look at verse 10.

The Light is in a relationship with Jesus

[SLIDE 7] “И когато се изправи, Исус ѝ каза: Жено, къде са онези? Никой ли не те осъди? И тя отговори: Никой, Господи. Исус каза: И Аз не те осъждам; иди си, отсега нататък не съгрешавай вече. Тогава Исус отново им говорѝ: Аз съм светлината на света; който Ме следва, няма да ходи в тъмнината, но ще има светлината на живота.” Йоан 8:10-12

The light we are looking for is NOT in us NOR is it found in traditions. The light we need is Jesus Christ.

I want you to imagine the scene:

Jesus and all these other people are in the temple.

[SLIDE 8] This is during the Feast of Tabernacles (Празник на шатрите [Сукот])

This feast (празник) was for the Jews to remember the time they spent in the desert after God freed them from slavery. For one week, everyone would live in tents. And they remembered the time when God led them through the desert – a pillar of clouds by day and a pillar of fire by night (облачен стълб през деня и огнен стълб през нощта.).

To symbolize this during the feast the whole temple is filled with giant lamps. There are lamps giving light all over the temple to symbolize the light of God leading them through the desert to the promised land.

Jesus is standing there with all these lamps around Him and He says I AM the light of the world.

That light that led you through the desert. That was Me. I led you from slavery to freedom.

This woman was in slavery. She thought that the light was in her, but it wasn’t.

These religious people claimed to have the light, but they did not.

You will not find the light you need in our twilight (полумрачен) world in religion or in yourself.

Jesus is the light of the world.

Only in Jesus will you find the light you need to not wreck your life.

Conclusion

I know some of you feel the heaviness of our twilight (полумрачен) world today.

Like this woman you have believed that the light was in you. Maybe you thought that certain actions could make you happy, but all you found was more darkness.

Maybe you have searched for the light in religion or traditions, but all you have found there is more accusations (осъждания)

The light you long for is found only in Jesus.

[SLIDE 9] Jesus said, “Аз съм светлината на света; който Ме следва, няма да ходи в тъмнината, но ще има светлината на живота.”

You don’t have to live in twilight (полумрак) anymore.

BUT… to have the light you must follow Jesus.

You see… Jesus will not give you the light. It is not something that He is going to give to you because He IS the light. So… the only way we can see is to be next to Jesus.

For some of you this is all new. You have never really followed Jesus.

All you know is that this world is dark, and you need light.

That is a good start. Talk to your pastor or a friend her about how you can start walking with Jesus… how you can start walking in the light…

Others of you know Jesus and you have followed Him…but… lately things seem a little darker around you because you haven’t been walking close to Jesus.

Look at what it says, “който Ме следва, няма да ходи в тъмнината”

When we stop following Jesus, things start to get dark.

So, I would encourage you. Go back and do again the things that brought light to your life… the habits that helped you walk with Jesus.

(1) Prayer… (2) studying the Bible with other people in the church… (3) being willing to serve in the church and help your pastor.

All of these things help us walk in the light, because Jesus is the light of the world.

521 души – people died in accidents on the road in Bulgaria in 2023. Almost 10,000 people injured. This is an awful tragedy.

But let me ask you… how many spiritual accidents do we see happen every day with our co-workers or family member?

Destroyed marriages, murder, suicides, anger, hate, betrayal…

Friends, our society needs the light of the world. It needs Jesus.

For most of your friends and family, you are the only person with the light they know.

So, let the light of Jesus shine in you. Let them see that there is light in our twilight (полумрачен) world.

And that Jesus is the Light of the World! Amen.