“Darkness or Light?”

Jesus loved to used word pictures and speak in parables. Here in our text, he actually lays down three layers of meaning. On the surface layer, he points out that a lamp is no good under a bowl, because the light is blocked; the purpose of light is to give illumination and direction. So light is not to be hidden. Then on a second layer, he says our eyes are like a lamp to the body. Through the eyes, vision enters into our brains. But there is a third layer of meaning that gets down to spiritual truth. The eye is actually a picture of your mind, and if your mind is good at discerning information, your body (life) will be filled with light. Jesus issues a stern warning about making sure your inner life is light instead of darkness. And as we have been concerning ourselves with how we as a church family can march onward, together, it follows then that

We must each make sure our inner life is light

The eye is a symbol of the mind. It is the way we look at things. The eye observes, but it is the mind that perceives. What Jesus is saying is that if your eye is good you have a spiritual mind that sees everything clearly and truly. Your whole body is full of light. Life is in focus with everything in its proper perspective.

Ray Stedman

Throughout the scriptures, darkness is a symbol for wickedness and evil. And light is a symbol of goodness and purity. Satan is called the prince of darkness and Jesus is the Light of the world. Jesus described hell as a place of outer darkness. Heaven is full of light and doesn’t even need the sun to shine, because the glory of the Lord illuminates it. So the main point of what Jesus is saying is a contrast between spiritual darkness and his wonderful light. So, in this, we will talk about the darkness and then we’ll study the light. First, we must

Be Alarmed at the Darkness Around Us

Seldom do we ever get to experience total darkness. I’ve told you all before about a place known as Portal 31 in Lynch, Kentucky, where we’ve sent mission teams these last four years. At one point, they warned us they were going to turn out the lights in that old coal mine. When they did, it became so dark I could not see my hand in front of my face. I thought if I was alone in that cave, it would be impossible to find my way out without some kind of light. Then the lights were turned back on and it was amazing how much light simple bulbs could offer in that setting.

We live in a culture that is spiritually and morally in darkness as well. I love America, and I’m glad to be an American, but I grieve because our culture is leading the world in pornography, divorce, and violence. Our culture is growing more and more wicked.

This was homecoming week at our high school and they apparently have daily themes. One of the dress-up days was “soccer moms” and “BBQ dads.” Seemingly harmless, you’d think. I don’t quite know all the inner-workings, but I try to follow as much as the school puts out on social media and I’ve tuned in to the social media accounts that has student-based content on it. My interest there is to understand the minds and lives of our teenagers. Any way, what I saw online from Devine’s own young people was both disheartening and frightening to me. There were videos of students acting out various scenes between “soccer moms” and “BBQ dads” and it was absolutely alarming to me just how easily the students alluded to adultery, fornication, divorce, and pride. And the most alarming videos online attempted to couch them all in humor.

Now, don’t villainize the kids. What they’re communicating is something about the accumulation of life’s experiences that they’ve likely had no control over…they’ve simply been exposed to darkness in some way or another. And at the same time, can I suggest to you that adultery, fornication, divorce, and rampant pride are not laughing matters? But you know, to me, the greatest danger is not what is happening in our culture. The greatest danger is how Christians are not alarmed by it.

Let me mention two dark dangers among us:

We have grown accustomed to the darkness

On special occasions Yvette and I have gone on a date to restaurants where the lighting is very subdued and dim. It’s so dark you can hardly read the menu. When you see the prices, you know why they want to keep it dark! But when you sit there for a few minutes, you gradually begin to be able to see more clearly. Is it because they have turned up the lights? No, but because, over time, your eyes get adjusted to the darkness. When it comes to the spiritual and moral climate around us, the same thing has happened.

Jesus said,

John 3:19 ESV

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

In this world of spiritual and moral darkness, too many Christians have simply adjusted their spiritual sight and have grown accustomed to the darkness. What should alarm us only amuses us.

Think of a gardener who neglects their plants. Over time, weeds take over, choking the life out of the flowers. The gardener becomes so accustomed to the weeds that they don’t notice how the beautiful blooms are suffocating. This image mirrors how sin can creep into our lives unnoticed, gradually choking out the good things God wants to grow in our hearts.

It’s the old frog-in-the-kettle scenario you’ve heard before. You put a frog in hot water and it will try to escape. But if you put a frog in lukewarm water and slowly and gradually raise the temperature, he will swim around happily until, without realizing it, he dies from the heat of the water. Over the past few years the devil has been slowly but surely raising the temperature of our culture. It’s been getting darker and darker at such a gradual rate we haven’t even noticed it.

In the name of tolerance, we now embrace things that used to disgust us. Listen to the works of the Dr. Martin Luther King:

He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Another dark danger for us is that

We have mistaken the darkness for light

Look again at what Jesus said in Luke 11:35 “Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness.” He was warning us of the danger of mistaking darkness for light. The Bible says:

Isaiah 5:20 (ESV)

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

As Christians we have not only gotten accustomed to darkness, but many Christians no longer are willing to call sin, sin. We give sin all kinds of pretty names to make it seem more acceptable. We don’t call it adultery any longer; we call it an affair. It’s no longer sodomy; it’s a gay lifestyle. Get the picture?

I will tell you, I don’t think we will hate sin until we see sin as God sees sin. And I got to thinking and have discovered from A-Z, man sees sin differently than from the way God sees sin:

Man sees sin as an Accident, God sees sin as Abomination;

Man sees sin as a Blunder, God sees sin as Blindness;

Man sees sin as a Chance; God sees sin as a Choice;

Man sees sin as a Disease, God sees sin as Death;

Man calls sin Error, God calls sin Enmity;

Man sees sin as Fascination, God sees sin as Fatal;

Man sees sin as Glamour; God sees sin as Gruesome–we must see sin the way God sees sin!

Man sees sin as Habit, God sees sin as Hellish;

Man sees sin as Innocence, God sees sin as Immoral;

Man sees sin as a Joke; God sees sin as Judgement;

Man sees sin as Know-how; God sees sin as a Knock-out;

Man sees sin as Looking; God sees sin as Lusting;

Man sees sin as Mischievous, God sees sin as Misery;

What man calls Natural, God sees as Naughty;

Man sees sin as Opportunity; God sees sin as Opposition;

Man sees sin as Performance, God sees sin as Pathetic.-We must see sin the way God sees sin!

Man sees sin as a Quota, God sees sin as Quicksand;

Man sees sin as Rational, God sees sin as Repulsive;

Man sees sin as Safe, God calls sin a Scandal;

Man calls sin a Treat, God calls sin Treason;

Man calls sin Usual, God calls sin Ugly;

Man calls sin in Vogue, God calls sin Vulgar;

Man calls sin Weakness, God calls sin Wickedness;

Man calls sin an X-ray, God calls sin X-rated;

Man calls sin Yummy, God calls sin Yucky;

Man calls sin Zealous, God calls sin Zero.

From A to Z we must see sin as God sees sin! We will never hate and deplore sin in our lives and in our church until we stop calling it by these nice, pet names. God hates sin; we must, too. The darkness around us is growing darker. We have gotten used to the darkness and we have started calling darkness light.

The Bible says:

Ephesians 5:11 ESV

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.

Jesus is saying although we live in a world full of darkness, we must live in the light; we must dare to be different. You may find yourself without any one else around you because cowards are afraid to live in the light, but remember, Christ is there with you.

Envision a lone lighthouse standing firm against a stormy sea, while ships swirl around hoping to find their way. That lighthouse, though all alone, beams its light bright into the darkness, guiding lost vessels safely to shore. As Christians, we might stand alone at times in our faith, much like that lighthouse. But in doing so, we shine the gospel light which can guide others home, proving that standing alone in faith doesn’t mean being isolated but rather being a beacon in the storm.

You and I should be alarmed at the darkness around us, but you must

Be Alert to the Light Within You

In Luke 11:34, Jesus said a person’s life may be filled with light or filled with darkness. He is speaking of an inner light–a light within your heart. We often speak of someone being “lighthearted” if they are happy and carefree. But here, Jesus uses the symbol of light to teach us a person’s inner life can either be illuminated with God’s goodness or be filled with darkness and wickedness. How much light is dwelling in your heart today?

You may be tempted to say, “Well, I have some light and some darkness there.” Sorry, but light and darkness are mutually exclusive—they can’t exist together. Some people wonder how to get rid of some of the old habits and deeds of darkness. If you walk into a dark room, you don’t have to sweep out the darkness, all you have to do is to introduce light–and the darkness is gone.

If you really want your heart to stay filled with light, you should know, there are three good sources of light:

Source of Light: God’s Son reigning in your heart

Jesus was born into a world lost in the darkness of sin and proclaimed, “I am the light of the world.” The Apostle John wrote: John 1:4–5 “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” One of the most basic elements of the entire universe is light. Light is all around us, and yet is somewhat mysterious. Have you ever heard of the theory of relativity? Someone said the theory of relativity is “if you have money, you will have relatives you didn’t know about.” That may be true, but it’s not the real theory of relativity. When Albert Einstein was trying to develop a way to relate energy to mass, he used the speed of light as the point of reference. He did this because he believed light was the only constant in the physical universe. Thus, he formulated that energy was equal to mass times the speed of light squared (E=mc2).

Light is truly amazing. It travels at the speed of 186,234 miles per second. To demonstrate that, if I could fire a gun due east and it traveled at the speed of light hugging the contour of the earth, it would circle the globe and penetrate my body seven times in less than a second. That’s fast! Today, voice and data streams are carried on light in fiber optic cables. And one of the most basic descriptions of God is found in

1 John 1:5 (ESV)

… God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

If you want to be light-hearted, you must allow the light of Jesus to shine into your heart. Genesis 1:1 tells us before creation there was darkness and chaos and God simply said, “Light, be!” and there was light. When you surrender your life to Jesus and confess him as your personal Lord and Savior, he comes to the chaos and darkness of your sinful heart and “re-creates” it. He says, “Light, be!” and your heart fills with the light of his goodness and righteousness. The choice is yours: dark-hearted or lighthearted.

Imagine a cabin in the woods, surrounded by trees that block out the sun. Inside, it feels cold and lonely. But the moment a door opens, sunlight floods in, transforming the space into a warm, welcoming refuge. Similarly, when we surrender our life to Christ, our hearts are opened to the light He offers, transforming our very existence. Ephesians 5:8 says, 'For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.' Embracing that light brings joy and peace we desperately crave.

Source of Light: God’s Word revealed in your heart

There is another light God wants to shine into your darkness and that is the light of his Word. The Bible says, Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Have you ever seen a cartoon where a person gets an idea and a light bulb clicks on in their mind? That’s what Jesus is talking about. When the truth of God’s Word fills your mind, there will be light. People are searching for truth today. I believe ultimate truth is only found in God’s Word. Every time I read God’s Word I’m asking the Lord to illuminate my ignorance. God’s Word is a light for our pathway; that means God gave us his Word not to simply be studied, but to guide our lives, to give us direction. Some people study the Bible like a first-year medical student studies a cadaver. They take it apart and dissect it, but, to them, it’s just a dead book of religious history. God’s Word is to be used like a flashlight to illuminate our way. Sometimes God only illuminates the next few steps when we want to see the “whole picture.”

Most books I read, I put them down and never read them again. But I’ve read God’s Word dozens of times, and I’ll read it until the day I die because God keeps using it to light my pathway. Some people would like for God to instantly reveal ALL the truth there is to know. If he did that, you couldn’t handle it. It would be like trying to eat all the food you’ll ever eat for the rest of your life at one sitting–you couldn’t hold it!

Imagine if you could download the entirety of the Bible into your brain like a smartphone app. You'd sit down, hit 'install,' and bam! You'd have all the stories of David, the wisdom of Proverbs, and the prophecies of Revelation all at once. But then, what if you couldn't make sense of it all?

Just like with technology, sometimes the best understanding comes with time, experience, and a little bit of curiosity.

Any of y’all enjoy brisket? Do you know how you cook one? The cooking method is low and slow to bring out all the flavor and make it tender for each bite. Do you know what you should never do to prepare a brisket? You should never microwave a brisket. You’d never appreciate the result if you did.

Do you feel like you are stumbling around in a moral darkness? Get into God’s Word and he will use it to light you way.

Source of Light: God’s children reflecting light to others

There is one more good source of light, and it is us! When Jesus spoke about putting a lamp so it will give light everyone can see, he was speaking of the need for us to let our light shine. If you don’t have an inner light, you certainly won’t have a light to shine.

A five-year-old girl was preparing for the Christmas play in her Sunday School. Each child had only one line about Jesus. Some said, “I am the bread of life” or “I am the resurrection and the life.” Her one line was “I am the light of the world.” She rehearsed and rehearsed with her mom before the play. But when the time came for her line, she froze. From the side stage her mother whispered, “I am the light of the world!” Again a little louder she whispered, “I am the light of the world.” Finally her daughter looked at her and turned to the people and delivered her line: “My mother is the light of the world!”

Jesus did say he was the light of the world, but then he said we are the light of the world, too. He told us to Matthew 5:16 “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.”

Which one is it? Is he the light of the world, or are we? Yes. But there is a big difference between his light and our light. It’s the difference between our sun and moon. The sun generates its own light, but the moon only reflects the light of the sun. The same is true with us. Jesus radiates light, and we reflect the light. You can’t let your light shine unless Jesus is living and shining in your life.

Our world needs the light of Jesus now more than ever. The Bible says,

Ephesians 5:8–10 (ESV)

for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true)…

and also

Philippians 2:15–16 (ESV)

children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life …

Have you ever seen someone who is almost visibly shining with the glory of God? You can almost see the light of Jesus shining out through their eyes. Jesus said your eye is the lamp of the body; that also means his light can shine out through your eyes. People can lie with their lips and lie with their words, but they can seldom lie with their eyes.

In Acts 6, when Stephen stood before the Sanhedrin, the Bible says everyone looked at him and they saw he had a face like that of an angel. Angels are often described as having shining faces. Stephen was literally shining for Jesus. Moments later they stoned him to death.

Our job is to shine for Jesus, too. We live in a dark world. It’s getting darker, and we have gotten accustomed to the darkness. What a tragedy! The only hope for Devine is Jesus. The only hope for our world is Jesus. And Jesus wants to shine his light through you.

One reason I’m so passionate to take the light of Jesus out of this church is because there is so much spiritual darkness everywhere. But you don’t have to go to Kentucky or Bolivia to let your light shine and you don’t have to die like Stephen for your light to shine. God just wants you to let his light shine through you wherever you are.

Jesus warned us we should not put our candle under a bushel, but we need to let it shine so everyone can see it. There’s a pastor who tells a story about when he was in college. That pastor had a friend who was not a Christian. The now-pastor had been wanting to witness to his friend, but he kept putting it off. One day that now-pastor and his friend were playing tennis. When they approached the net to pick up some balls, the now-pastor bent over and a gospel tract fell out his pocket to the court. His friend asked him what it was. The now-pastor says it would have been so easy to have handed him the tract and asked him to read it but he hid his light under a bushel. He picked up the tract and stuck it back into his pocket and said, “Oh it’s nothing.” The very next day, the now-pastor learned his friend had died in an automobile accident a few hours after they finished playing tennis.

That pastor said he promised God he would never hide his light again. Do you know someone who needs to see your light? There are thousands of people around us living in darkness and although they may not be saying with their lips, they are saying by their lifestyles: “Give me some light, brother. Give me some light, sister!”

Do you see the light? Will you be the light?