Carrying Light Into Darkness

Intro

Football is in the air. Here's the thing I love about football. There's just something about being at a game that just unites a community. There's just something about the air during the game, the lights coming on, the smell of popcorn and the people eating their concession snacks. You got the band playing. There's noise, there's life. You got kids that are are are trying to find a spot close to the field where they can play their own pick up game of football. You got parents high fiving other people in the stands that they don't even know because someone scored a touchdown. There's this something about being a part of a team that unites a community.

I'm a big proponent of team sports because I think it teaches you valuable lessons that you'll carry with you for the rest of your life as you work within teams. Again, it's something about it that just brings people together. And you can apply this to any team, it doesn't have to be football. Yeah, it could be any team that context that you're thinking about. Teams are unified around the common goal, it’s to persevere and to win. And that goal brings about a greater community. It's not just the people on the field. It's not just the people on the court. In the water, I mean, it's people that are watching on TV, it's the people in the stands, it's the people following the social media pages. Teams have a way to unite a greater community.

Question

Did you know that God has his own team? God has his own team.

Now I don't wanna tell you this or give any scary bedtime stories or anything to scare you, but I want you to know the truth.

There is a spiritual war happening right now. As I speak, there is a battle for your soul. And we pray that the Spirit of the Lord fills this place and protects us. But the reality is this, there's still some of you who are deciding which team you're playing for.

So there's a battle for your soul right now, and I want you to know that God is fighting on your behalf and He wants you on His team. And when we are on God's team, we are united around his mission, which is to persevere until the very end, and bring as many people as we can over to God's team where life abounds.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew chapters 5-7, Jesus, he preaches this sermon. It's a very practical sermon where he tells people how we ought to live. And then the rest of the book of Matthew, he, Jesus lives in a way that shows us how to live. But in this Sermon on the Mount as it’s called in Matthew chapter 5, Jesus has his team huddled together. And he tells them this in Matthew 5:14.

He says,

You are the light of the world. Like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.

Doesn't that sound like a great mission? You are the light of the world. Who's the light? We are the light. Say it with me. Who's the light? We are the light. And here's where we're going for the next couple of weeks.

We are the light of the world, because of the light that lives in us.

This sermon series is just going to be 2 weeks, and it’s titled City on a Hill because a city on a hill cannot be hidden and we're not going to hide our light.

And as we carry this theme of light for the next couple of weeks there's a passage of scripture that really stands out. That's John chapter 1.

The apostle John wrote this gospel. Like the other gospel writers, John gives his account of how it all began.

Except, John doesn't start with the birth of Jesus. John starts at the beginning, a creation account. And here's how John starts his book.

The Gospel of John 1:1, this is what we read

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.

That's John chapter 1:1-2

Now if you go to the very beginning of your Bible. When you go to Genesis chapter one, you're gonna read the same words there “In the beginning.”

What's the beginning? Well, there's all kinds of people that have tried to talk about the beginning, and one of the most common approaches to how life and everything started is called The Big Bang Theory.

Dr. Marshall’s Science Class/Big Bang

I remember my freshman year in a science class at Kentucky Christian University, and I had Dr Mitch Marshal for science at 8:00am every Tuesday and Thursday. And I loved him, he was such a nice guy, but I hated his class. I had the worst time getting to that class. I didn’t like science, I was bored, none of my friends were in that class, so I missed a lot. I actually missed so much class that Dr. Marshall kept me after class one day and said, “Ben, you know if you miss one more class, you automatically fail.” And I was like man I don’t know I can’t do it, I can’t get out of bed and wake up that early. And then he said this, and this is why I felt so bad and not liking his class, he said, “what if I call you every Tuesday and Thursday at 7:30am, will that help?” I said can we make 7:45? I’ll just sleep in my clothes. He said nope 7:30. I said ok. So he called me every Tuesday and Thursday at 7:30 and said Good morning Ben, I’ll see you in 30 minutes. And I would get up and go on to class.

But it was in that science class that my faith and what was being taught in the world collided for the first time.

Now I'm sure that there are some things that were taught in high school that probably conflicted with my faith that just went right over my head because I wasn't paying attention. But I do remember this science class, I did listen on this particular day, we were talking about creation. And Dr Marshall was telling us about theories that were taught in other Universities, schools, so that we could be informed and one of those theories was how it all began with a bang. And that the Earth was this soupy material. And out of the soupy waters of the earth, a couple of molecules just so happened to come together. And when these couple of molecules came together with the soupy waters of the earth, they just so happened to crawl out of the waters onto the bank, these couple molecules, they were like goo in the waters and they crawled up out of the water on the bank. And from that goo all life, animals, and humanity evolved.

Now you tell me what makes more sense now, all that stuff that I just said, about a couple of molecules randomly coming together in the waters and then just so happened to crawl out onto the bank and form some type of goo, or “In the beginning God created.”

I align with Giesler and Turuks book. They have a very catchy title and the title of the book is

“I don't have enough Faith to be an Atheist.”

And here's what the say, they talk about, It takes more faith to say that nobody plus nothing equals everything. Now, now, think about that for a moment. Nobody in this room right now would say 0 + 0 = 1,000,000. And they say this, they say it's not nobody plus nothing equals everything, but it's

Somebody plus nothing equals everything.

And here at the church we believe that that somebody is God, that in the beginning God created out of Nothing.

Matter is not eternal, but it had to be created by something divine. The divine is God. Only God has the power to create everything out of nothing.

Now Ben, you just said we're in a series on light. Why are you talking about creation and validating that God is the creator? Because when we read the phrases In the Beginning God Created and, In the Beginning Was the Word, those phrases link purpose and value to your life.

I want you to know that you are not some type of goo that just crawled up out of the water. But God created you with meaning and purpose. God breathed life into the nostrils of humanity. Because we were created with purpose and meaning, and that value was demonstrated in God's craft in the very first book of the Bible, and the apostle John is going to connect that value with the cross of Jesus.

People aren't crucified for some type of goo. But a Savior, the Son of the Almighty God, who was crucified on the cross in a brutal way, because the Son of God was there at the beginning and knows how much your life means. That you are valuable.

John writes that Jesus was there at the very beginning, verse three. He writes

Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

That's him. That's Jesus as the Son of God.

Now in the previous couple verses there at the beginning of John 1, John alludes to Jesus at The Word, and if you're reading it there in the text, you saw on the screen, it's the Word capital W. And maybe you've heard this. That term in the Greek means logos. John's using the term logos now. Maybe you've heard about that word before, but stay with me because this is huge in the 1st century culture.

He had the Stoics, who were followers of a Greco-roman philosophy, they held the term logos to mean order and reason. It was their logic for how the world operated.

They didn't use the term logos to mean a personal God or a relational God. They used the term logos to mean a God who is just concerned about order and reason.

So you have the Stoics, how do we keep everything in order?

And then you have a 1st century Jew named Philo who merged his Jewish theology with Greek philosophy.

Now in the 1st century, as you would know, Greek philosophy was huge.

So you got this guy named Philo who's who's both a Jewish person and has his theology and then he has his his Greek philosophy, who he learned, his Greek philosophy, he patterned that after the Philosopher Plato. And maybe you've studied Plato before.

Plato believed in two different worlds. You had that higher world where perfection existed. Then you had this lower world where there was imperfection and the reality of humanity. And he said that this lower world longed to be in the higher world, but there is a separation, and you couldn't get there.

So Philo says, OK, there's that philosophy, the Greek philosophy I believe, and let's bring in my theology. What about we have this higher world and this lower world and the space in between? What if we called this space the Logos? And how God can still remain distant yet communicate with this lower world.

So, stay with me. Logos was being circulated by different groups, different philosophies. It was a familiar term in the 1st century, and I love that John knows it. I love that John starts out, he says, hey, I've got the answer for you. I know what you've been looking for. He's like, you want to order and reason. I know who created that. You want to know how a perfect God can interact with an imperfect world. I have the answer for you too. It's Jesus. He's the answer to all your philosophies and how you're trying to make sense of everything. He's the logos. He's the Word, it’s Jesus.

If you're following along jump down to verse 14,

The Word, that’s the Logos, became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

 God did not stay distant from an imperfect world, no God became his own agent. The Logos became flesh and came into the world that He created.

John knew that those in the 1st century were searching for truth and there were many philosophies surrounding science that offered answers to what they're experiencing and John just comes right out and says, hey, stop looking, it's Jesus.

He goes on to write:

We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son who came from the Father, full of grace and full of truth

2000 years ago, people searched for truth.

John didn't waste any time explaining who it was, and I want you to know the same truth today. It's Jesus. One way that Satan fights for your soul is to make you believe that you don't matter. To make you believe that you're just some type of goo and that you are mistakes make you worthless. That's garbage and a lie. Don't believe it.

And I love that John doesn't start with just the birth of Jesus, but he takes it back to creation because God's grace started at creation at the very beginning.

And I'm going to say this slowly because maybe there's somebody in here that needs to hear this today. God created you. With value. God loves you, and that was demonstrated by the Creator coming to earth, which led him to the cross. He didn't stay distant, but he came into the world. He put on flesh, and it's important that we grasp the power of these first few verses in the Gospel of John because that helps us grasp the power at the end of John. The Creator became flesh, the flesh went to the cross, demonstrating our value and God's love.

And I want you to believe the truth. Because when you believe the truth, you can receive what it offers. Here's what John says in chapter 20:31

These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Jesus offers life both here and for all of eternity. Satan tries to take that life away from you.

Jesus gives it to you freely.

John ends his gospel talking about life.

Let's go back because that's how he begins at John chapter 1, verse 3.

Through him all things were made. Nothing was made that has been made verse 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Jesus wants you to experience the life and the light that He offers. Let’s follow this other equation.

Life = light.

Light = victory.

There's a battle for your soul. And you want to be on the winning team. Darkness cannot and will not prevail. Darkness will try to make you believe it's lies, but light always overcomes it. The way that we get the light in us is to accept the life and the light that Jesus offers us.

So I question, have you joined Jesus's team? Have you joined the side of truth in life? Are you still on the side of lies and death?

We said this earlier, we said we are the light of the world because of the light that lives in us. But here's what we got to know first. Before we can shine Jesus's light into the world, it first needs to shine in our hearts.

So how do we do this? Ones is this,

Acknowledge the battle

Acknowledge that the battle is real. The Apostle Paul came to this realization. Some of you may know about Paul's story.

Paul first denied Jesus and he persecuted people who claim to follow him. Then he met the grace of Jesus and he spent the rest of his life trying to prevent people from making the same mistake that he had made. And he wanted people to know, hey, the battle is real, there's a battle for your soul. And he wanted to assure that people were on the side of Jesus. I love how he worded it this way to the church in Corinth, 2 Corinthians chapter 4:1. He says,

Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways. We do not use deception, nor do we distort the Word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly, we commend ourselves to everyone's conscious in the sight of God. And if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled for those who are perishing. Catch us with me, The God of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light. That's the battle, The light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Again, Paul saying he's echoing what we're reading. There's a battle that's taking place, and if you're not careful, you're going to be blinded and unable to see the light.

He goes on in verse 5

For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your servant for Jesus's sake. For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness” made his light shine, shine where? Shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed on the face of Christ.

Paul saying, Hey, there's two sides here. There's deception versus truth. There's darkness versus light. When we're on the side of light and truth, God's light shines in our hearts. So acknowledge the battle is real.

2. Assess whose team we are on.

Now we live in KY. And there are 2 teams that I think each Kentuckian has to choose at some point of their life. University of Kentucky, with it’s 8 National championships, most NCAA tournament appearances, 17 Final Four appearances, or Louisville.  That's it. You have to choose one! You can’t say, “I hope KY wins but if Louisville does I’ll be happy for them.” No! You can’t do that! And I think Louisville fans would agree with me on this. I can love them as people. I’ll even go as far as saying I think Pat Kelsey is a likeable guy. But, I hope he loses every game he plays while being the coach at Louisville. As a KY fan, in my opinion, the only acceptable time cheer for Louisville is if they’re playing Duke. And still you’re praying for a tie then. But that’s it, you got to pick one.

When it comes to following Jesus, you're either following Him or you're not. There's no kind of, well, I don't know, I mean, I kind of am a little bit, you know, maybe. I mean, there's no him hauling around here. Kind of got one foot in, one foot out. I can tell you this, OK, at the pearly gates, they're going to ask, do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of living God? And if you're saying, well, kind of. Could be. I don't know man, maybe a little bit.

There's no maybes and kind of’s getting in.

Now, I don't say that or be that straightforward to be mean. I say that because I love you and I care about you, I want you to know the truth. And the truth is this, that Jesus Christ, the Logos, the Word, put on flesh and came to this earth because He knows how important your life is. And so he laid his life down.

So we have to make that decision to follow Jesus on this side of eternity.

We got to assess whose team are we on.

And then

3. Act. Make a decision.

Let your desired destination determine your decision.

There are two times really throughout the year that I feel culturally we kind of hit the pause and the reset button. One of those is at the beginning of the year.

We get through the craziness and the busyness of Christmas and we get to the beginning of the year like, OK, we're going to start getting things in order.

The second time is around the time when school starts, so it gets through the crazy and business of the summer, and now it's like, OK, we're gonna get things back in order.

I’m telling you don’t wait for a particular season, or holiday, or event, if you need to give your life to Jesus, do it today, but we are not promised tomorrow. If you've been following Jesus but you feel that you have drifted, recommit your relationship to Him and let him start rebuilding your relationship with Him.

If you've yet to decide to follow Jesus, to declare Him as the Lord of your life, to repent from the sins that are holding you back, to be obedient to Him in baptism, I encourage you to make that decision today.

Paul said that the same God who created light in the midst of chaos and darkness at the beginning of creation, places his supernatural light in our hearts when we choose to follow Him.

One evening this past week, we had a little campfire at the house. It’s that time of year right? I love sitting by the fire drinking a cup of coffee, while the sun sets. Julia and the kids were out for a while and they went to get showers and I stayed out until well past dark. I finally decided it was time to go in and so I picked up my coffee cup, and picked up my chair, and some other things that I needed to take in. As I’m walking in the dark with my hands full carrying everything back to the house, I trip over a piece of wood, which causes me to kick the dog that’s walking too close, and I almost drop my favorite coffee mug. Do you have a coffee mug? I have like 5 that I keep in rotation. But I was carrying a bunch of stuff that I probably shouldn't have in the dark.

Has that ever happened to you? Now listen, I'm not talking about physical darkness. I'm not talking about tripping over a dog. I'm talking about life. Have you been carrying something that's been weighing you down and that's been holding you back? You know when we give our lives over to Jesus, here's the cool thing, He carries the things that we weren't meant to carry. He illuminates our path so that we can see what's next.

Tina & Julia

Paul said, to the church in Corinth, I want you to know the light. I want you to know what it’s like to follow him and and here's what it means, here's the goodness of when you follow the light of Jesus. He goes on to say in

2 Corinthians verse 7, the very next verse after he talks about the light, he says,

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed, perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed.

How's this made possible? Because darkness cannot overcome light.

My friend, if you are not walking in the light of Jesus, guess what? You will be crushed. You will be in despair. Your soul will fill the crushing weight of life. But if you give your life over to Jesus? And walk in his light, you’ll feel the release of the burdens. See the same God who spoke light to darkness, He wants to speak light into our lives.

So I ask you, whose team are you on? Do you have the light of Jesus in your heart? We're going to sing a song, and some of the words of this song say,

He wraps himself in light, Darkness tries to hide, And trembles at His voice, How Great is our God

Age to age he stands, Time is in his hands, Beginning and the end, How Great is our God

Proclaim: Name above all names, Worthy of all praise, My heart will sing, How Great is our God

I don’t know where you are this morning, but if you don’t know Jesus, today is the day. The altars are open if you feel you need to come down.

If you have followed Jesus but you feel you’ve slipped away from him, maybe you’ve allowed darkness to come in, let him rebuild you today and restore you and your relationship with him. Don’t let the enemy tell you your mistakes have made you worthless because you are a child of the Almighty God.

You prayer warriors out there, you’re this soldiers in this war that is happening as we speak on someone’s soul. Fight for them, intercede for them, maybe you need to come to the altar and lay them at the feet of Jesus. Pray.

Jesus is telling his team you're going to be the light of the world, a city on the hill that cannot be hidden.