I Am The Light Of The World Series

I AM the light of the world

John 8:12-20

We begin a new message series this morning, and it is part of the sub theme, “taking Jesus' message seriously.” We will be looking at the 7 I AM statements or identity of Jesus in the Gospel of John. This morning we will study what Jesus reveals of himself when he said, I am the light of the world.

If you were to reveal something about yourself that others may not know, how would you describe yourself? Think of something about yourself that others may not know. You are a good listener? Or maybe you are talkative?

How would you describe yourself using what is around this room? For the good listener, you might say, I am the fly on the wall. For the talkative, you might say, I am the microphone. Share first your I am statement and then what that reveal.

Now we could get to know one another better through this I am statement exercise, but we would not make a study of it and preach on it. So why are we studying and preaching on what Jesus says about himself?

Because what he says about himself is extraordinary and not always easily understood. And when we understand correctly, we will relate to Jesus correctly. We will better understand why we worship and obey him.

Our text this morning is John 8:12-20. Scripture Reader

To understand what Jesus wanted to reveal about himself and his identity, we will look at the Context , the Challenge and the Credibility of what Jesus said.

First, the context of what Jesus said. John 7:37, 8:12, 20

When one of our daughters was young, she love to watch the cartoon, Prince of Egypt. This was about Moses and the exodus story. She would watch it over and over again.

One day at the supermarket while my daughter was sitting in the shopping cart, Susan pushed the cart down the aisle next to a Caucasian lady. To Susan’s horror my daughter blurted out, let my people go! Susan immediately said something like, you mean when Moses said to Pharaoh?

When Susan put what my daughter said into context, it gave the correct meaning to what was said. Likewise, when we put what Jesus said into context, It will provide the correct meaning to what was said. Verse 12

To have context, We start a chapter back, in John 7:37 where we read Jesus speaking on the last day of the feast. This was feast of the tabernacle where the Jewish people celebrate God leading them out of the wilderness into the promised land. God used a great cloud by day turned into a great fire by night to guide the Jewish people.

We also gain context in John 8:20 that Jesus was in the temple near the place where the offerings were put. This is also the place in the temple where the lighting of giant lamps took place. These giant lamps served to remind the Jewish people of how God was with them in the wilderness in the fire by night.

So when Jesus said “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life,” the Jewish people understood that Jesus was saying he was God or at least God’s chosen Savior as with the wilderness experience.

Some say Jesus was a great philosopher, a religious teacher or a spiritual leader. They have not understood his claim to be the light of the world in context. Nor have they understood why the religious leaders challenged his identity. Jesus claimed to be God or the Messiah, God’s chosen One to save the world from God’s judgment of sin.

1 John 1:5 reads, “ This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”

C.S. Lewis made the observation in his book, Mere Christianity, that Jesus was either a liar, a lunatic or Lord (God). Jesus did not leave himself the option of being a prophet or a moral teacher. A prophet or a moral teacher would not claim to be God.

Second, the challenge to what Jesus said. John 8:13 and 19

in verse 13 The Pharisees challenge Jesus claim To be the Messiah, the chosen one by God to save the world from the penalty of sin. They basically asked, why should we take your word as true? There have been other false messiahs before you. Furthermore, we are expecting a Messiah Who would save us from the Roman oppression of the Jews. Where is your army?

Sometimes we miss God and what he is doing because of past disappointments and current expectations. An old issue of the Focus on the Family magazine had an interview with Johnny Hart, the cartoonist for the comic strip, BC. The magazine reprinted one of his cartoons.