Living As Light in a Dark World

We started this journey seeking for this series, simply seeking answers, seeking truth. The Scriptures tell us:

Deuteronomy 4:29 ESV

But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

And God Himself said through the prophet Jeremiah,

Jeremiah 29:13 ESV

You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

In Proverbs 8:17

Proverbs 8:17 ESV

I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.

And Jesus said, Mt 7:7

Matthew 7:7 ESV

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

Finally in the book of Acts 17:26-28

Acts 17:26–28 ESV

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

There’s a promise in there that I’m sure many of you caught.

If you seek … you will find …if you seek with all your heart.

All your heart…hmmm.

Could that be it?

Years ago I was leading a children’s sermon, I’m sure I’ve told this story before, and I was reflecting on Jesus saying in Mark 12:30

Mark 12:30 ESV

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

And this little boy pipes up and says, “But Pastor Murph, if I love God with all I don’t have anything left!”

Ah, from the mouths of babes, right?

Seeking, loving God with all, leaving nothing out.

Our culture doesn’t go all in on much these days. We hold back. One of the frustrating things is that some groups of people will commit to being somewhere but then not show because something “better” came up. Ask any organization that has members, churches included, people don’t join as readily.

In our world today when we see so much darkness, people are longing for light. Jesus told us Mt 5:14

Matthew 5:14 ESV

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

So when we talk about shining light in a world of darkness the first thing we have to check is:

Are You Plugged In?

I’ve heard this when I called customer support for my computer when I couldn’t get the screen to light up. “Is it plugged in?” This seems like such an obvious question, but my “techy” friends have said I’d be surprised how often this is the issue.

Start with the obvious, right?

So why don’t we do that with our faith. I talk with people who say their faith just doesn’t feel as viable as it once did. When I ask if they are plugged in -

-plugged in to a Bible preaching church

-plugged in to a small group

for those who feel their faith is weakening more often than not the answer is “No.” You need to be plugged in if you’re going to power up. Turns out these tech support questions work for our faith as well. That brings us to the next step:

Is Your Power Turned On?

My tech support friends get frustrated having to ask such simple questions, and yet these first two questions are critical to be sure that that a computer is able to function properly.

A few years ago when my mom and I were living in our old house we’d lost power in a snow storm. That wasn’t unusual. We’d simply camp out. We closed off one group rooms, the kitchen, dining room and the den, with the wood stove and stoke the fire. I cooked a meal on the wood stove, and we pulled out a card table and were playing a board game by candle light as we sat in the darkness of no power.

The phone rang, and I picked it up, it was the neighbor asking if we now had power, “no, I don’t think so,” I said. Then I opened the door to the rest of the house. Every other room was ablaze in light as the power was now on, but the switch in the room we were in wasn’t turned on.

The power grid was clearly available to us, but we didn’t have our power (at least in the room we were in) turned on.

Is Your System Asleep?

The next question the tech support person asked me when I couldn’t get my screen to turn on was yet another obvious question, was the system asleep?

If you haven’t used your computer for a while the monitor or screen often turns off, or goes to sleep. After a bit longer your entire system will go to sleep.

If we’re going to shine light in a world of darkness, we can’t be asleep. Jesus told us:

Matthew 7:7 ESV

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

Now in context that is a statement regarding our prayers to God, but there are several verbs there we ought to consider.

Matthew 7:7 (ESV)

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

So let’s look at these briefly:

ASK - this is where we need to go to the source and ASK God for our needs and wants. Now, we know that not everything we want is good for us, just like not everything a child asks for at Christmas is necessarily good for them. God knows what is best for us and listens to our needs and wants and like any good father he responds.

SEEK - this is where we seek to honor God with whatever it is that we were asking for in the first place. What is God showing us - are we watching, looking, seeking after it?

KNOCK - this is the action step. Faith is not just a spiritual exercise, or even a mental exercise. It’s not something we do only internally, privately, and secretly. There is a very outward and public aspect to our faith and it is to actually do something about it.

In James we read,

James 1:22–24 ESV

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.

When I was a young teen, my mom was driving my sisters and I down from the mountains after a weekend of skiing. On the way down our right rear tire blew out (something that is very rare today, but was more common then). So, there we were stranded by the side of the road and it’s time to change the tire.

This was going to be an adventure. My older sister was in driver’s ed at the time and she took charge, “I know what to do!” She got the jack out and you had to put it together. She asked, “Where are the instructions?”

My mom answered, “I threw them out.”

I asked, “Did you read them first?”

She said, “Yes,” a bit insulted by the question.

“What’d they say?”

Mom: “I don’t remember,” and we all laughed.

We did get the spare tire on and got home safely that day, it just took a bit longer than if we’d known what we were doing.

But how often does the same thing happen in our faith. Here is the instruction manual.

“Did you read the instructions?”

Yes.

“What’d they say?”

“I can’t remember.”

We began our series reading from John 8 :32

John 8:32 ESV

and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Here’s the verse in context:

John 8:31–32 ESV

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Let’s examine that a bit.

If you abide

John 8:31 (ESV)

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,

live in, reside, - this is your place where you set up residence,

Where?

John 8:31 (ESV)

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,

Living in what Jesus taught. then you are His disciples.

If we’re not in the Word, we can’t know the word.

If we don’t know the word, we can’t do the word.

and then we get to verse 32, John 8:32

John 8:32 ESV

and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

If we’re not seeking the Truth, we can’t know the truth.

If we don’t know the truth, we can’t live the truth.

If we don’t know and live the truth, the truth cannot set us free.

We all want to be free.

We began our series with the phrase from this country’s Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self evident...” and we began our journey for truth. But truth leads somewhere it takes us away from the deception, it’s solid, its grounded in reality.

And from this verse, “the truth will set you free.”

Free? Free from what?

Again, we’re talking about truth. As we’ve developed this series truth is objective, not subjective. In other words it is based in fact and reality, not in opinion or general consensus. Truth was and is and will be, it is unchanging.

So let’s talk about truth -

• You are loved

You are loved as is, where you are, God loves you.

• You are loved

• You are valued

If you don’t think you’re loved think of the value that God assigns to you when God’s willing to send His one and only Son to die for your sins.

• You are loved

• You are valued

• People’s opinions don’t define you

You’re free from the subjective judgments of others - there is only One who can deem your worth, and He has spoken.

You are free to live with nothing to hide, because whether you admit it or not we all know that you’re a sinner.

You are free to live with nothing to fear, since we already know you’re a sinner (and our own sin as well) you can have confidence that we’re in the same boat.

You are free to live with nothing to lose, having given up our own pride and self righteousness relying solely on God’s work through Christ to make us the person we are to be, we can go for it. We can live large not worried about what others think. We can live for the audience of One.

The Westminster Confession:

Q: What is the chief end of man?

A: The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

If you are seeking to live your life to the fullest, it’s not about doing it all on your own, or in your own way. The best life you can possibly live is the life you were designed for, and that is a life in relationship with God, glorifying Him.

Let’s live free as lights to this world. Jesus said,

Matthew 5:14–16 ESV

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 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.

To God be the glory! AMEN!