“I AM: The Jesus We Think We Know”
Part 2 – Light of the World
NewSong Church – 07/29/07
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**NOTE: THIS IS A CONCEPT OUTLINE FOR THIS MESSAGE, NOT THE FULL MANUSCRIPT. GRAPHICS AND MULTIMEDIA ARE AVAILABLE TO SUPPORT THIS SERIES.
Impressions
I was reminded of a time when I was a teenager and my family and I were visiting Kiev in Ukraine, where I grew up. My dad and I share a real love for early church history and so we decided to take a tour of some of the ancient Orthodox monasteries of Kiev.
We came to this one monastery that had the usual stuff that tourists enjoyed – a traditional service being held in the sanctuary; chapels and prayer walls where you could stop and pray; gift-shops where you could buy a souvenir to remind you of the prayer walls and the service. But this monastery also had something else that many tourists were not interested in – they had catacombs. Miles and miles of tunnels running under the monastery and the city itself. These catacombs were the early dwellings of the first missionaries to Kiev and portions of them had been opened to the public to go down, visit the prayer rooms, and pay respect to the men and women of faith who had brought the Gospel to the country centuries ago.
We prepared to go down by first entering a small room where we had to remove our shoes and put on soft slippers to minimize wear and tear on the floor. We were then handed a small booklet containing information about the missionaries, priests, and saints that we would find on display in their respective rooms. And lastly, we were handed a candle about the size of a regular pencil. Thus prepared, we entered into the catacombs.
The first thing I noticed is that these were built for small people who had no fear of enclosed spaces. The ceiling was only about 6’ high, and the tunnel was wide enough for one person to go down at a time. Everything was just carved into the rock – stairs, shelves, doorways, rooms – everything. I also noticed that there were no interior lights. Nothing had been added to aid in lighting the tunnels or the rooms, so you had to do everything by the light of your little candle. Every now and then, a large candelabra filled with pieces of candle would sit in the middle of a room to shed light on the relics, artifacts, and occupants of each dwelling. But in the tunnel, it was just you and your one candle.
You can imagine that this was a pretty dimly lit journey. You can then also imagine the panic that swept through the group of us that had traveled down when a gust of wind breezed through the tunnel, extinguishing our candles and leaving us in pitch black darkness. It is hard to describe the disorientation, confusion, and fear that one feels when in a small enclosed area with no light and no knowledge of where to go or how to get out. Though it lasted only a few seconds, it seemed like forever before someone fished a lighter out of their pocket and began to relight candles.
Darkness is perceived in many ways.
• It is often associated with our deepest fears.
• It can be the setting for tragedy and terror.
• It plays host to the unknown and unexplained.
• Going to write a mystery/thriller? Set it at night, in the rain. Create the mood of tension, unease, suspicion.
Some people are very unnerved by darkness – most kids do not want to sleep in complete darkness. I know that in my home, the minute the bulb in my daughter’s nightlight burns out I’m going to have a visitor trying to wake me up to do a mid-night repair.
• Darkness plays with our minds and imaginations
• It takes away our ability to control situations by removing our ability to identify potential hazards and dangers.
• Left to wander in pitch blackness, someone is going to hurt something.
The Darkness Condition
One of the great dangers about darkness is that we don’t always recognize it in out lives, and therefore are unaware of it. We are literally blind to it, whether consciously or not. We think we are okay, we think we have life figured out, we think we are on top of our game when suddenly we find ourselves in a position that we weren’t expecting, a situation that we had never anticipated, we find ourselves, like in the catacombs, disoriented and lost.
• Ignorant
Darkness is often metaphorically used to describe our ignorance – we are “in the dark” about a certain subject matter or issue. It is used to reflect our level of understanding. For all of us, there are areas that we are aware that we have very little knowledge. But we also have areas where we believe ourselves to be quite knowledgeable, and we may even go as far as to communicate that information, possibly – until someone else comes along who corrects us and highlights our ignorance. No one likes to be shown up. No one likes to have the opinions and ideas that they have formed to be tossed out or disregarded. But in light of truth, if those opinions and ideas don’t hold up, they become examples of ignorance, of darkness – and we must choose whether we will trade them in or hold on to them and keep them.
• Deceived
Love covers a multitude of sins, but so does low-lighting. Without light to shine, we do not always notice detail, imperfections, or the true condition of things. We can easily be deceived into accepting something that we would otherwise reject because in the dark we cannot see and judge clearly.
• Sinful
“But the way of the wicked is like total darkness. They have no idea what they are stumbling over.” Prov. 4:19
The Bible often refers to sin and unrighteousness as living in darkness. It examines our spiritual condition, and makes the powerful statement that a life lived without a relationship with God is a life spent in darkness. In our lives we have made choices as to how we are going to live, what our priorities are, and what our ultimate purpose in life is going to be – for many people, living a “good life,” while pursuing the “good things” it has to offer is “good enough.” The Bible teaches us that this is nowhere near the kind of relationship that God wants to have with us; that He wants a relationship that is ongoing and continually growing. But many people choose to live life their way; they willingly choose to live in darkness while claiming to see everything clearly.
Isaiah 9:2
The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine.
We are continuing our series this morning as we look at who Jesus says he is. We are attempting to shed light on our understanding, knowledge, and experience of Jesus Christ. Our goal is not only to know more about Jesus, but to know Jesus intimately, and to have our lives changed by the power of the statements that he is making about himself. Last week we looked at Jesus’ claim to divinity and at how people struggle to accept him beyond their initial impressions. This week, we are looking at his second statement “I Am the Light of the World.”
What Do You Say?
John 8 1:-5
Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd. “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”
A woman is brought to Jesus at dawn
• This woman has been caught in a sin punishable by death
• She needed an escape or else her life was going to be lost
• The Law demanded her death, punishment to atone her crime
• And the Pharisees are ready to enforce the sentence
They are hoping to trap Jesus by making him choose to either follow the Law as God commanded and approve the execution or to disobey the Law by releasing the woman
• Either answer seems impossible
• If he says “stone her” he loses his reputation and credibility with the people he is teaching, and his teachings on love and forgiveness would be discredited by his hypocrisy
• If he says “release her” it allows the Pharisees to accuse him of breaking the Law and encouraging and teaching others to disregard it as well, and would lead to his arrest
Impersonations
The Pharisees address Jesus as ”Teacher”
• They are paying lip-service to him, but they have no interest in learning
• They have decided what is truth for them, and refuse to accept any other option – especially if it disagrees with them.
This is especially noticeable in what they ask, “What do you say?”
• There are basically two ways to ask this question
• Sincerely, with a desire to understand new revelation and change life accordingly
• To assume that you are already right and correct, and you are looking to either gain support for your position or to discredit someone else.
The Pharisees definitely qualified for the latter category
• They hated the thought that someone would lay claim to revelation and understanding about God that was greater and deeper than their own
• Jesus would often use the Pharisees as an example of how not to seek God – “see how he’s doing that? Take a good look. Now, don’t do that.”
Jesus Confronted the Darkness of the Pharisees
Jesus saw through their trap, and he decides that he will make a statement here that will be confrontational and hard for many of his listeners. He exposes the darkness of the Pharisees spiritual lives; he puts his finger on their arrogance that suggested that they were somehow better than this woman just because they kept more rules.
“Well, I’m not perfect, but I didn’t do that.” Arrogance will always keep us in the dark. It will keep us blind; we become more fixated on the shortcomings of those around us, that not only do we lessen the extent of our own, we start to believe they don’t exist. That we’re okay.
Jesus looks at the Pharisees, stones in hand, and writes in the sand – we can speculate what he wrote
• Perhaps the commandments, which no one can keep successfully
• Maybe the actual sins and failures of those accusing
Whatever he writes, he follows it up with a statement that cuts these men to their core – “Let the person who has no sin, who deserves no punishment themselves, who cannot be held guilty on any count – let this person be the first to carry out the sentence. Throw your stone.”
Jesus Confronted the Darkness of the Woman
Jesus looks at this woman
• She is probably huddled on the ground, terrified
• Expecting the first blow to come
• Preparing to die
Imagine the thoughts going through her head – this isn’t how she wanted to die.
This isn’t the way she wanted to live. Her lifestyle that said she was “good enough” had failed her. If only she could do it over, if only she had another chance…
• Then she realizes that everything has become very quiet.
• Her accusers are gone
• And only Jesus is standing there waiting for her
Go and sin no more – leave the darkness; walk in light.
This woman experiences a powerful truth when it comes to escaping darkness – to leave the darkness of our present lives and begin to walk into the light of Jesus’ life means
• facing Jesus one on one
• laying our lives open before him
• receiving his forgiveness – “neither do I accuse you”
• choosing to follow his way of life – “go and sin no more”
I John 1: 5-7
This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
Lights
Jesus does not stop with the Pharisees and the woman though – he sees the crowd gathered around him, having witnessed this event
And he speaks to their darkness as well
Cultural Significance
This whole event has taken place in the Treasury during a time called the Feast of Lights. In the Treasury, probably very close to where everything took place, were great golden lamps used provide light. There was also a large candelabra that was lit to symbolize the pillar of fire which was God’s presence that led the people of Israel through the desert by night during the time of Moses.
Jesus looks around at the people come to celebrate this feast and he makes his second statement – I am the Light of the World.
• He is saying, “I represent God’s presence here on Earth”
• I am God, here on earth
• And I have come to lead you out of your spiritual darkness
• And bring you to a place of light
• To free you from the blackness of sin
• And illuminate your life with grace and truth
John 12:35-36
Jesus replied, “My light will shine for you just a little longer. Walk in the light while you can, so the darkness will not overtake you. Those who walk in the darkness cannot see where they are going. Put your trust in the light while there is still time; then you will become children of the light.”
Living in the Light of Christ
• Living in the Light means leaving the Darkness
• Light guides our way
• Light shows me who I am
• Light brings us life
Ephesians 5:1-9
Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God. Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the Kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. Don’t participate in the things these people do. For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.
