I Am: The Light of the World

Light in our lives

Intro: A dark basement, a no good awful very bad day, and a glow across the room. As I walked toward it I realized it was a key chain. A cross that glowed in the dark.

93 million miles and travels 8 minutes to get to the earth. Photons are without mass.

Galileo went blind from looking at the sun.

Light affects our everyday needs;

Photosynthesis

Vitamin D

sight is 100% dependent on light.

Affects our moods ( we are happier in the sunshine)

We need light to live! To exist we cannot be apart from light.

Jesus declares “ I am the Light of the World”

Context:

Festival of Tabernacles in the Temple of Jerusalem

Primary practice is a celebration of lights on the last night! In which the celebrants would stay up all night with large lamps to light the courtyard. Could be seen all over Jerusalem.

The fire was to remind Israel of God leading them by fire at night and a pillar of smoke in the day.

John 8-9 heavy contrast between light and dark, seeing and unseeing

Response of the Pharisees is that Jesus is a blasphemer and seek to stone him.

Why would the Pharisees respond in this way?

Deuteronomy 13:1–5 NRSV

If prophets or those who divine by dreams appear among you and promise you omens or portents, and the omens or the portents declared by them take place, and they say, “Let us follow other gods” (whom you have not known) “and let us serve them,” you must not heed the words of those prophets or those who divine by dreams; for the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you indeed love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul. The Lord your God you shall follow, him alone you shall fear, his commandments you shall keep, his voice you shall obey, him you shall serve, and to him you shall hold fast. But those prophets or those who divine by dreams shall be put to death for having spoken treason against the Lord your God—who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery—to turn you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

Psalm 118:22–23 “The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.”

John’s Gospel from its beginning has equated Jesus’s identity as being God, Jn 1: 1-3. The God from Gen. 1:1 is the same as the Son of Man.

The Conflict of Light and Dark

Darkness is the absence of light and light obliterates darkness.

Violent language but isn’t it violent when God rips you out of the cave into the light. Darkness cannot overcome the light.

Jesus is: Phos

Why did Jesus come? God came to share his presence with us!

The Source: Psalm 36:9 “For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.”

The Sustainer: Isaiah 46:4 “even to your old age I am he, even when you turn gray I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.”

The Sanctify-er : Ephesians 1:13 “In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit;”

Jesus is the fulfillment and extension of the Festival of Sukkot (Booths). He is the light in their midst. It is Jesus that is the fulfillment of Revelation 22:5“And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.”

Jesus creates conflict.

Acts 4:18–19 “So they called them and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge;”

He reveals our sinfulness. Nothing is hidden from God.

Selfishness, pride, ego, idolatry, ungenerous living. he reveals what drives us.

Jesus calls us to surrender to the light and come out of the darkness. We must decide.

There is no other name in which we can be saved.

Exclusive, inclusive, and authoritative.

Once you are in the light you have no excuses.

Jesus undoes the chaos.

Our Response

To be light that reflects the very nature of God.

The moon has no source of light of its own. It reflects the sun.

Isaiah 49:6 “he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.””

Matthew 5:14 ““You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.”

“You have no time to lose; see that you redeem every moment that remains. Remove everything out of the way, be it ever so small… that might anyways obstruct your lowliness and meekness, your seriousness of spirit, your single intention to glorify God, in all your thoughts and words and actions.” John Wesley

We have come face to face with the light of creation. There is no denying, ignoring, or escaping it. When we come face to face with the living WORD of God we must either accept him as Lord or we must dethrone him and perish. The choice is upon us: Walk in the Light or in the darkness. Before Abraham was, Jesus is. God came to bring us out of the dark.