I Am The Light Of The World Series

I AM: The Light of the World

John 8:12-21

Pastor Jefferson M. Williams

Chenoa Baptist Church

9-30-2020

Darkness that can be felt

When I was a kid, my parents took me to Mammoth Caves in Kentucky. On the tour, we stopped and the guide told us that they were going to turn out of the lights. He told us not to move and that the lights would come back on soon.

I’ve never experienced anything like the darkness that happened when the lights went out. I literally couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. I felt dizzy. I couldn’t tell up from down. The darkness was palpable and honestly terrifying!

Moses described the 10th plague in Egypt as “darkness that could be felt” (Ex 10:21-23).

That was a great description of our experience in that cave that day. The darkness could be felt. It was suffocating. I’m not claustrophobic but it felt like the darkness was closing in on me.

After about 30 seconds, the lights came back on and there was a lot of nervous laughter in the group. We were all thankful for the light because the darkness can be overwhelming.

In our culture, we talk about light a lot.

If someone doesn’t understand something, they are said to be “in the dark.” But when they finally get it, we say that the “lights came on.”

People need hope and they look for the “light at the end of the tunnel.”

When we observe someone acting differently than we thought, we “see them in a new light.”

What happens in cartoons when some has an idea? A light bulb appears above their heads.

When we approve someone project, we give the “green light.”

When we expose something, we are said to “bring it to light.”

The Police sang that Roxanne didn’t have to “put on the red light.” Debbie Boone crooned, “You Light up my life.” Rush sang about living in “the Limelight.” Journey paid tribute to their hometown San Francisco with “Lights.” The Weekend sings about “Blinding Lights.” And Thomas Rhett encouraged us to “Be a Light” in the middle of a dark and chaotic world.

The Bread of Life

Last week, we began our new sermon series on the “I AM” statements of Jesus with His words, “I AM the bread of Life.”

After feeding 20,000 + with five small barley biscuits and two small fish, the people decide that he must the great prophet that Moses spoke of and started planning to kidnap Him and make Him king by force.

Jesus wanted nothing to do with that coronation so He sent His disciples to the other side of the lake and He took a stroll later that night to join them.

The people searched high and low for Him and finally found Him on the other side of the lake.

They attempt to debate with the Son of God and demand a sign like Moses gave them in the wilderness.

You fed 20,000 for a day. Amazing! Wow! Moses fed 2 million people for 40 years in the desert with manna from heaven.

Jesus has to give the religious leaders a theology lesson and remind them that Moses was a man and he didn’t have any ability to call down manna from heaven. The manna was given by His Father.

They sarcastically request that He give them some of that bread.

Jesus stands and responds:

[Slide] “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 8:35)

Jesus then contrasts two kinds of bread. There is a kind of bread that doesn’t last. That is temporary. That is not life sustaining.

To put all your effort, to “work” toward this kind of bread would be a tragedy. An ultimate waste of a life.

We search for happiness, contentment, truth, love - only to find that what the world offers is only a shadow.

Augustine famously wrote that “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rests in you.”

But Jesus says there is another kind of bread. One that cannot spoil and endures to eternal life. If you eat this bread you will never hunger or thirst spiritually again. This bread is soul-food in the best sense of the word.

We saw the crowds’ reaction.

For some of them, the teaching was just too much.

For others, they bailed on Him completely.

But Peter who spoke for the ones that stayed boldly proclaimed:

“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:68-69)

He is the Messiah who satisfies the deep longings of our hearts.