Light of the World

Welcome

Notices

Birthdays:

Mays: Philip, Nathan, Erica

June: Jane, Miro, Eunice

Prayer

This I Believe

Introduction

Recap where we are so far:

Chapter 1 - Jesus the word, the word was with God, and the word WAS God. He’s also the light, the light comes into the world.

Chapter 2 - the wedding at Cana (water into wine) + Jesus cleanses the temple

Chapter 3 - Nicodemus, Born again, ‘For God So Loved the world...’ (John 3:16)

Chapter 4 - Woman of Samaria, worship in spirit and truth

Chapter 5 - Healing at the pool, Jewish leaders get angry because Jesus calls God His Father and says He is equal with them.

Chapter 6 - Jesus feeds the 5000 + bread of life discourse ‘I am the bread of life’ (+ Jesus walks on water)

Chapter 7 - Feast of tabernacles, Jesus is at the temple and he boldly announces by saying whoever believes in Him, rivers of living water will flow out of the belly of the believer. Jesus is saying He is the source of true living water just as He is the true bread of life.

Chapter 8 - Last week -> the woman caught in adultery

Now today’s passage!

In today’s passage we are still at the temple, at the feast of tabernacles, and remember that this was a festival was not just a time where:

The Jews made a pilgrimmage journey to Jerusalem and slept in tents for a week to remember God’s help in the 40 years in the wilderness

Also a time when they had the water pouring ceremony to remember not only the past when God provided water in the wilderness, but also to the future when God will also pour out the water of his Holy Spirit at the end of this age. And just as Jesus said ‘I am the bread of life’ in chapter 6, Jesus said in chapter 7 that He is the true living water that this festival represented (John 7:37-38).

But there is another aspect to this feast -> there is a light-ceremony as well. Let me explain.

Jesus is the light of the world

In today’s passage, we see Jesus saying ‘I am the light of the world’ - this is the 2nd of the 7 ‘I am’ sayings of Jesus.

And it’s really important that Jesus said this at the temple during the feast of tabernacles, because the feast of tabernacles was a time when they had this important light ceremony as well. Each night during the week long festival, there was a candle-lighting ceremony in the huge court of the temple - there were these 4 large golden lamps, which were these large pillars with a huge bowl on the top with oil, and people would climb a ladder to pour oil into this bowl and set it alight. And the fire would burn so bright that these 4 large oil lamps would light up the entire court of the temple at night (remember there was no electricity during this time!), and people would dance before these lamps with torches in their hands, singing and praising God, while others played instruments, and this celebration of joy continued all night until the dawn when the sun rose again.

And what did the light ceremony mean? The light from the candle symbolised the glory of God, God’s presence. Remember in the wilderness, the glory of God would appear before the Israelites as a great pillar of fire? And remember when Solomon built the temple, the glory of God filled the temple? Jesus is saying ‘I am that light - I am the fire that led you in the wilderness for 40 years, I am the light that filled the temple that you built me during the time of Solomon’. Jesus was claiming to be God (cf. John 1:14).

But why is that important to us? Because when Jesus says ‘I am the light of the world’, not only is he claiming to be the light, God Himself, but He is also claiming to do everything that the light will do. Well then what is the light meant to do?

When the Old Testament speaks about light, it isn’t just talking about God’s glory and presence - it also talks about what the light does.

Read Isaiah 49:6 “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

Jesus is saying that that as the light, as God, He is the one who will bring salvation to not only Israel, but to for all the nations, for you and me. He is saying that He is the pillar of fire that guided, protected, and saved Israel for 40 years through the dangers and troubles of the wilderness. Remember, we are those in the darkness (John 1:10; John 3:19), with no hope of life, goodness, or truth, and it is only in Jesus Christ whose light shines in this dark world that we have any hope (John 1:9-13; John 3:21).

In John, the words ‘light’ and ‘life’ are constantly joined together. Let’s look at 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” It is only in Jesus, as the true light of this world, that we have any hope of true life, eternal life, in this world, because without him, even though we may not realise it, we are in darkness, sin and death.

And as the true light, Jesus doesn’t just claim to be the light (ie, God), and he doesn’t just do what the light does (which is to save all of us from darkness), but He also gives us this life - see how in 8:12b, it says we ‘will have the light of life’. We share in the very light that Jesus Christ gives. And as those who have this light, we cannot keep this light for ourselves!

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

Read Philippians 2:15 “that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world”

So not only does Jesus shine his light upon us in the darkness so save us, but He gives us His light so that we have his light - and this light comes into us so that it may go out to others, so that others may share in the light and life of Christ as well through us.

It is only through the cross that we can see the true light

But so often, we feel like our lives are fine. We feel like we are not in the darkness. We feel like we do have light in this life, even without Jesus. And that is because, even though the light is shining, we are blind to that light. Then how can we see the true light, Jesus Christ? How is that we see come to realise that Jesus truly is God, not just in our heads, but in our hearts? How do we receive the light of salvation that Jesus offers? How do we receive the very light of Christ so that we can share that light with others?

We need to look to the cross.

Read John 8:28 “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, (and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.)”

When it speaks of ‘lifted up’, it is talking about the crucifixion of Jesus. And although our English Bible’s say ‘I am He’, it is actually better translated as just ‘I am’. What does that remind you of?

The burning bush scene of Exodus 3, where God reveals Himself to Moses as the ‘I am who I am’. This is very similar to that divine name of God in the OT, YHWH, which the Jews considered so sacred and holy that they never dared to actually say it - and over hundreds of years of not actually saying it, the Jews forgetting how to pronounce this name! So when Jesus says ‘hen you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he’ Jesus is saying that it is only through the cross, the crucifixion, that they will realise that Jesus is the ‘I am’ - the very divine God Himself, that the Jews never dared to speak the name of.

It is through the cross that we can know Jesus as the very divine God, the true light, who saves us from darkness and sin, and who gives His own light so that we can be a light to others. It is only through the cross that we can genuinely, from the heart, come to believe that this man Jesus, 2000 years ago, was truly the Christ, the Messiah, our Saviour, the true divine Son of God in the flesh.

How often do you think about the cross? Do you actually believe in the cross? We hear about the cross so much that we don’t actually realise the significance of the cross that much in our lives - it just becomes like a neutral and abstract idea in our heads with no real emotion or weight attached to it, and it’s just something we think about every now and then, maybe when we come to church on a Sunday. But the cross was a brutal method of torture and punishment by the Romans that was reserved only for the worst of criminals, and it was the ultimate shame you could bring on someone - but God chose this very torture and execution method to reveal who He is, only through the cross do we actually come to know and believe the ‘I Am’, Jesus Christ. The cross isn’t just an idea: it is the turning point of all human history, the cross is the truth that our lives are shaped by, the cross should be something that changes how you think, talk, behave, live. The cross is everything. If you cannot describe what the cross is and why that is important for your faith, if the cross is something you just think about on a Sunday and the rest of the week you forget about it, I would seriously challenge you today to re-evaluate, what is your faith based on? What is your relationship with God based on? How are you living your life of faith? Because the cross is the only hope we have in this hopeless world, and the only light we have in the darkness of this world; it is the central truth for all Christians and how they live their lives. So I would encourage everyone here today, dive and delve deep into the cross, because it is only in the cross that we discover the riches mercies and love of Christ that he showed for us through his death.

Ending song: Here I Am To Worship

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