Lost & Found (2)
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Light of the World
Light of the World
Introduction
Here is our structure for the next few weeks
This week we are looking at Jesus as the Light of the World
Next week, it will be the year 2022. We have some important announcements for the church
We have been walking through an eldership process with a few guys. We are going to talk about eldership as a church and present a few guys who we would like to propose for eldership.
The following week, January 9, 2022, we are going to dive back into our series on the Superiority of Jesus and look at the book of Hebrews. We will recap the book of Hebrews and dive into Hebrews 3:7-19.
If you would like to read ahead or brush up on that topic, this is the best time to do that!
Lost & Found
This is the last sermon in our Lost & Found series.
We have looked at the names of Jesus that are found in Isaiah 9:6.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Jesus is our Wonderful Counselor, our Mighty God, our Everlasting Father, and our Prince of Peace.
These are all things that we have a tendency to lose sight of in our lives.
I hope these have been good reminders of who Jesus is.
Today, we are taking another verse from Isaiah 9. Remember Isaiah 9 is a Messianic prophecy about Jesus.
We have focused on verse 6, but there is more in that chapter about Jesus. Today’s journey into Jesus being the Light of the World stems from the beginning of this prophecy.
Read Isaiah 9:2.
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.
Pray.
Topic
Define key points of this verse
This verse sets up a metaphor
It is not talking about somewhere at some time people were walking around in darkness and suddenly there was a light.
And because of this, everyone celebrated because the sun came up.
The metaphor here is that there are people who live in a form of darkness.
Then something would come and represent light in contrast to the darkness they were living in.
The words for light and darkness here are translated very accurately. It is a very simple metaphor.
However, there is one very neat little tidbit that I feel adds some contextual understanding and adds some word picture to our understanding of this word
Deep Darkness-Tsalmevet
There are a few other places this word is used. It is a unique word.
The most common and familiar usage of this word in the OT scriptures is found in Psalm 23:4.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Do you remember how that chapter starts?
“The Lord is my Shepherd”
Back to Isaiah 9, we see that there are people who are in the valley of the shadow of death.
They are without a shepherd. They are in the darkness.
Darkness
What is darkness? What is light?
Before we dive into this topic, I want to talk about the properties of light and darkness
Have you ever taken one of those trips into a cave? They like give you all of the warnings beforehand.
If you are afraid of the dark, or claustrophobic, or a few other things, they don’t recommend this activity?
If it has a warning sign, it is probably pretty cool.
You get really deep into the cave, then they stop and turn off the lights.
That is a feeling that you will never be able to replicate in your life.
It is dark. It feels cold. Even if it isn’t cold, I always get a shiver in my spine.
You feel alone. You know there are people around you, but when you cannot see them, it is as if they weren’t there.
I remember going with my kids to one of those trips to Gardner caves when they were in elementary school.
When the lights went out, I was making sure to touch my kids.
It is an eerie feeling. Even thought the lights were out, I feared for the safety of my kids.
I couldn’t see them.
Darkness is a consuming, fear inducing phenomena.
But there is something about darkness that we need to know.
I can open up a box of darkness in a light room and it has no effect.
But I can open up a box of light in a dark room and it has tremendous effect
Light drives out darkness
This is a good and great reality…if you have light.
But if you don’t have any source of light, then this truth could remain true, but it would be a pointless reality.
Which is why this metaphor for Jesus brings such tremendous contrast.
In this metaphor, people are walking around in darkness. And a great light has dawned upon them.
They have been given a light
From themselves, there is no light. There is no understanding of that light.
But God has sent something that provides light.
Jesus Enters the Picture
Without beating this horse to death, we know the prophecy spoken of in Isaiah 9 is about Jesus.
If you missed that jump, please check out one of our last sermons in this series.
One of Jesus’ disciples named John wrote his account about the life of Christ.
However, he went about this task in a different way than did the other authors.
John built upon this metaphor in his description of Jesus.
Read John 1:1-9
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
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.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John.
He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.
He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.
Later on in the book of John, he identifies some very interesting words of Jesus
John 8:12
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
In these passages, we find two things at work.
First of all, the metaphor identifies where the darkness is.
Second of all, it identifies who the light is
As we have seen, Jesus is the light that has come. But who is in darkness?
“The World”
Jesus said, “I am the light of THE WORLD”
It is interesting when we look at that phrase, “The world” in the NT.
John 3:16-19
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
John 9:5
While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
John 12:46
I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.
John 12:35
Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going.
The world
Darkness
Cannot create its own light
Darkness equals death
Light equals life
Light equals direction (Wonderful counselor)
Jesus is the light of the world and is Himself life
This sounds very similar to what we talked about when we discussed Jesus as the Father of Eternity.
Jesus said that this is eternal life, that they know the Father and know me.
Without Jesus there is no light in the world. With Jesus there is light.
Today
In our world today this reality remains. I want you to think about this.
There is darkness in our world. In that darkness is all sorts of living.
We talked about this when we talked about Jesus being the Mighty God.
People set themselves up to follow their gods. To worship their gods. They set their hopes on their gods. Ultimately, everyone lives with faith.
Faith that their path is right. Faith that their decisions are true.
In our world, there is no light. No one has created light. No one generates light.
There is no light in our world today.
To follow the metaphor, we all live in the valley of the shadow of death.
But Jesus has shined his light.
It is a light of hope. A light of truth.
It is a light that enables us to see things according to His Kingdom
Remember that He is the Prince of Peace.
True sight does not exist unless it is supplemented by the light.
If you lived in Gardner caves, it doesn’t matter if you are Ray Charles blind or have 20/20 vision. Your eyes mean nothing without light.
In the same way, our ability to see this world as God created it can only happen if we have the Light.
So, let’s look at a few ways the light impacts our lives.
The light in our lives
1 John 1:5-7
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
Jesus is the light. When we follow Him as His disciples, we strive to become Chrstlike.
That does not mean that we begin to generate our own light. Rather, the light of Jesus Christ is seen through us.
More and more and more, we strive to follow Jesus.
There was a phrase that was used around the time of Jesus. It was a call of discipleship.
“May you be covered in the dust of your rabbi”
The idea is that you follow your rabbi so closely that the dust from his shoes kicks up and covers you.
May you walk so closely to Jesus that his light bounces off of you and is seen in the world around you.
Here is the problem with the light in our lives, it does not let you stay where you are.
If you wake up in the middle of the night and you are laying there in the pitch black, you may believe your house is clean.
You may get up and walk around, and as you walk around the reality is that you will find how clean your house actually is!
You may step on legos, stub your toe on a 25 lb dumbbell you left on the floor.
Your house seems clean when the lights are off.
But when the lights are on, we see the dustbunnies!
You can certainly try to clean your house in the dark. But it will be an exercise in futility.
The light in our church
Much like with our own lives, the light is what draws us together in community.
1 John 1.7
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
The light is what brings us together. It is what unites us.
Of any group in the world, Christians ought to be the most unified and loving of one another that any group of human beings ever gathered.
So why are there over 45,000 denominations of Jesus followers out there? I’m not saying that we are all fighting with each other, but we certainly do not put out a unified front to the world.
Last week, we showed that quick clip about world peace.
Why doesn’t the world look to the church as the first possible solution to peace?
Because we claim to have the light, but often walk in darkness.
Here is the thing. The church is the body of Christ
The light should exude from our gathering.
That is why unity, and relationship are so important.
But relationship without discipleship is just friends without the light.
There is a reason for our light
The light in the world
What is the point of light? It radiates.
It brings light into darkness and drives out darkness.
Matthew 5:14-16
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.
Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
I would gather that most of us in this room are followers of Jesus
We come to church, we are encouraged, we learn, we worship, we are convicted of sin.
All of this happens on a weekly basis.
But, is this idea of having a church building our bowl?
Do we all dutifully walk with our lights into our bowls then light them up for the other people with lights to see?
I am not saying that there is anything wrong with letting your light shine at church.
But if the only place your light shines is at church, then something is wrong.
A light is designed to go to where there is darkness, then it is supposed to radiate the light in that place.
So the big question is, “How do we do this?”
I think we usually ask this question as a skillset question.
If I only knew how to lead someone to faith in Jesus, then I would be able to do it.
I want to tell you something. I believe the problem in the church is not a problem of skill. It is a problem of heart.
If it was a problem of skill, I would be getting phone calls all the time saying, “I talked to my friend about Jesus. They want to respond to him. But I don’t know what to do next!”
That is when I would need to sit down and give some training on how to take the next step.
So why don’t we do this.
I’ll drive to the core of this matter. It is fear.
I am afraid of saying or doing anything that might bring rejection.
I mean, it is interesting. The light changes our lives. It equips us to love our neighbor.
We serve those around us. The gospel opens the door as we live transformed lives.
The gospel brings us the relationships, but for fear of losing the relationships, we say nothing.
The gospel produced the plant, but fear kept it unfruitful.
Conclusion
I want to end with a few thoughts on all of these things. I could give a strong and motivating talk about how we need to share our faith and how we need to change our lives.
But I’ll tell you something. I have stopped trying to be the Holy Spirit when I preach. He does His job very well. In fact, He does His job better than I do His job.
We have the light of Jesus in our lives
Have you ever found that the opposite of this is true? Satan plays in the dark.
Jesus came to save us. To bring us light. Not to bring us condemnation.
But all of us have places of our lives where Satan isolates you. He puts you in the darkness
That dark place where you feel all alone.
That dark place where there is no warmth
You condemn yourself. You believe lies. You live in fear.
This is how Satan plays. I want you to know this.
Jesus knows you are a sinner. Jesus knows you struggle. He died for you anyways.
He wants to save sinners. Heal the broken, set the captives free.
He wants to be the light you need to see your situation correctly.
Will you let Him?
We have Jesus as the light of our church
There will always be conflict within the church
That is because there are always people in the church
Our unity does not come from everyone agreeing with you.
Our unity comes from everyone aligning with Jesus.
Last and most importantly, it is my prayer that we don’t become the brightest bowl in Newport.
Rather our church building and structure are the lampstand, not the bowl.
Do you care that loved ones don’t know Jesus?
How much?
The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
Here are a couple of truths that the light shows us
This world is not as important as eternity
There is truth
There is meaning in this life
This life can be wasted and lost