Sermon Tone Analysis

In today’s passage Jesus makes the statement I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

This is one of the 7 well known I am statements in the bible.

Yet it seems as though Jesus as little to say about it.

If you continue reading you might notice that Jesus never brings up light again.

Instead he brings up his relationship with the Father over 8 times in John 8:12-30.

Did Jesus get off on a rabbit trail here?

I don’t think so.

Rather I believe Jesus was using the light to describe his relationship with us and the Father.

Look with me at John 8:12-20 as we consider 3 ways Jesus is the light that reveals the Father to us.

Light Penetrates

Have you ever been in a dark cave or an interior room with the lights off and the doors shut.

It is pitch black there is no light whatsoever.

You can literally not see your hand in front of your face.

Strain as you might vision is impossible.

Our eyes were made for seeing in the light and without it we are blind.

Yet if you light even a little match suddenly you can see.

The tiniest light penetrates the darkness and allows us to see the world around us.

We also know if you had multiple light sources or more powerful ones we can see farther and better.

With enough light we can drive out the darkness and see clearly.

In the same way Jesus gives his light to the entire world.

He did not come that a few might be saved or that some might know God, but rather he died that all the world could be saved.

His sacrifice is sufficient for all mankind, yet they must choose to leave the darkness and come to the light.

Think again of the cave imagine living in a dark cave for your entire life never having seen light.

Then suddenly a bright light appears.

It hurts your eyes and you cannot bear to look at it.

Yet somehow your inner self knows that this is the way its supposed to be.

You were made to be in the light so you have a choice you can either stay in the light enduring the pain until your eyes become accustomed to it, or you can run back to the comfort of darkness.

Being confronted with Jesus is no simple thing, as we see the perfection of Jesus, the demands he makes of how to live and what is right the unbeliever is confronted with their sin and the pain of that is real and it is easy to sit on this side of the light and know it would be better for them to come and be with us but let us not forget the pain they are in after living a lifetime in the darkness they have a life of sin that has been thrown in their face, a God that is perfect and holy and righteous the complete opposite of all they have known and this God loves them and died for them that they might have life.

This is often too much for the unbeliever to handle and so they run back to the darkness to hide.

Our duty as Christians is to gently take Christ again and again to them that he penetrates their lives, and they see and experience his light in their own lives and over time they come to a saving faith in him.

Yet this is not a one and done experience but requires faithfulness and patience on the part of the believer to help those lost in the darkness to see the light, to see Christ, as the Good thing the gracious loving God that he is.

Light Reveals the Truth

Light allows us to see things as they really are

Without light we would be just like the kids groping in the darkness trying to decipher what something is and often coming to the wrong conclusions because we are blind.

Yet light allows us to see the truth and with it we analyze the world around us.

We can tell how far it is from one place to another or what obstacles may be in our path, we identify objects for what they are, We even recognize people animals and plants because of the light.

Yet the Bible says that despite all that we can not see the true nature of the world because its true nature is spiritual.

Their is a whole realm of life that we are blind too, and it is the true world.

God is spirit, heaven is spirit, we ourselves the Bible says are spirit, and are simply clothed in flesh.

This body is no more the real me than the clothes that I wear.

You see we are blind, blind to the truths of God, who we are, blind to the nature of our enemy, blind even to our own sin.

This is why Jesus says he is the light of the world because just as light allows us to see the world around us Jesus came that we might know the truth about God, heaven, ourselves, sins, satan.

The reason Jesus brings up the relationship between him and the Father so many times is he is trying to reveal God to us.

Listen to his words I know where I came from and where I am going

He came from heaven from the throne of God, who better to tell us about heaven about who God really is than Jesus, the son of God, who came from the very throne of God.

Furthermore we can trust that he really did come from heaven because God himself testifies it by the miracles Jesus has been doing.

He also speaks verbally on the behalf of Jesus at the baptism and the Transfiguration.

God says Jesus is his own son.

You want to know who God is how he acts what he wants from you how to please him look to Jesus.

What did he say what did he do?

Remember Jesus words in John 5:19

and again in John 12:49

John 12:49

Light gives Life

If you remember back to science class we learned that the light from the sun allows plants to generate food through photosynthesis and then animals eat the plants or eat other animals that ate the plants and so we gain energy.

Thus the light of our sun provides life to all the world.

Yet this life Jesus says is not real life.

John 10:10

The phrasing here is that Jesus came to give us true life, this life is not real life because it is marred by sin and we are separated from God. Jesus came to cleanse us of our sin and restore us to a right relationship with God.

Jesus says in John 14:6

Thus we see that Jesus is not only the giver of life but also the source of life.

Without Him we cannot have life.

Now we can see the importance of knowing Jesus and knowing the Father.

To know Jesus is to know the Father and to know them is to know the giver and source of life.

If you don’t know Jesus, you don’t know God and you don’t have real life but rather you are the living dead.

You may seem alive but really you are dead inside, dead in your sin.

Do you wonder why you are depressed and no matter what you do you can’t find lasting joy and peace, are you constantly in turmoil and misery.

Could it be that you have been missing the source of life itself could it be that you need Jesus?

Invitation

Will you accept him today and experience the joy of true life that only he can provide.

Will you choose today to submit to his rule of your life that you can truly live?

admit your sin and your guilt before God and turn away from its darkness to the light of God, and choose today to walk in the light and submit to him as Lord of your life, and He will give you true life.

For those of you that are Christians, are you still walking in the light or have you journeyed back into the darkness and need to come back to the light, you too can repent and find forgiveness in Jesus.

Maybe you are walking with him but out of fear or a desire for comfort you are not sharing the light with others.

Let us get up and take the light of Christ with us boldly into the world around us that they might see the light repent and come to him to receive true life.

Will you join me in going to world to share the light of Christ today?