Walking In Light, Truth, And Love Series

Our Spiritual Walk #4

Walking in Light, Truth, and Love

John 12:35

CHCC – July 6, 2014

INTRODUCTION:

OK now, we’re ready to start the actual walk. We’ve learned about the difference between the narrow and broad way so we know which path to stay on … and which to avoid like the plague. We have put off the old man and all his bad habits, and have thrown off all the sins and weights that hinder us. Now, we have put on the new man, the full armor, and the virtues. We are prepared and ready to go forward on our daily walk. So now, what does the actual spiritual walk look like?

1. WALK IN THE LIGHT

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 the darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not know where he is going. Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light.’”

Jesus said this when his days on earth were about to end. He told the crowds that he would only be with them for a short while longer, and that they should walk in his light while it was available to them.

When John the Apostle wrote his gospel about Jesus, he stated in John 1:4-5, in him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” On the basis of what John wrote, what can we already see about the light?

• Jesus himself IS the light, and what He teaches is light

• Those living without Christ are living and walking in darkness and unable to understand the light.

• Those who put their trust in the light of Christ will become sons of light.

Most religions talk a lot about “enlightenment.” But a lot of these teachings are not real light at all … in fact they are just variations of darkness. In Matthew 6:23 Jesus said, “When your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!”

So how can we tell the difference between what is CALLED light and what is actually REAL light?

John wrote about this dilemma when he introduced Christ as light in the gospel. He wrote, concerning Jesus as light in the midst of darkness, John 3:19, “This is the verdict; Light has come into the world but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear his deeds will be exposed.”

There’s a reason that most crime happens in the dark of night. And there’s a reason that most security systems include a bright light and cameras. There’s an assumption that criminals will run away if you shine a light on them. That’s what John was explaining when he said men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.

But that same lighted security system has an opposite effect if your deeds are innocent. Our pueblo meets at the McFarlin’s and they have a light that comes on when you approach the front walk. We walk in that light … no one runs away from it. We appreciate walking in it! That’s what Paul meant when he wrote, “You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.”

Walking in LIGHT is step one because walking in darkness won’t work. But we must appreciate and seek the light. Just as plants need the light to grow, we need light from God to grow into the fullness of Christ.

2. WALK IN THE TRUTH

3 John 1:3-4, “It gave me great joy to have some brothers come and tell about your faithfulness to the truth and how you continue to walk in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”

When I first thought about it, it seemed like walking in the Light and walking in the Truth were pretty much the same thing. After all, Jesus is LIGHT and Jesus is TRUTH. God’s Word is LIGHT and God’s Word is TRUTH. One morning when I was taking my 30-minute walk, I asked God to give me insight into the differences between walking in the light and walking in truth. It was while I was showering after my walk that a word popped into my mind like a flash of insight: binoculars.

That one word led me to think about how we prefer to see things with BOTH eyes. In fact, if someone loses sight in one eye, they lose the sense of depth perception that binocular vision gives. I think this applies to the importance of walking in both LIGHT and TRUTH.