Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” John 8:12 [See also: John 9:1-7; 12:34-36, 44-46.]
We’ve been in this series “Jesus in Blue Jeans” to emphasize that Jesus came to help us with our every day problems. He doesn’t just love people who bask in the limelight. He loves them but He loves ordinary “blue jeans” people too.
One area He wants to help us deal with is the dark times of life. We all have dark times. I don’t care who you are, you’re going to suffer some dark times. Times when you’re tempted to despair or be depressed, discouraged and disappointed, doubtful and fearful, worrisome and anxious. There are going to be times when you need a light to shine in your darkness that you cannot produce on your own. The Good News is Jesus wants to be your light!
There are billions of people who are yet to find Jesus. People who are living in a dark void, seeking for the light that can bring love, joy and purpose to their mundane and meaningless existence. They can’t seem to find a way out of the darkness and it leads to many problems. If you’re one of those people Jesus wants to be your light.
Without the light of Jesus, navigating the dark is a lonesome and fearful path. I’ll give you an example on a physical plane.
In the Pacific Northwest, where it’s overcast most days, lots of people suffer from light deprivation, which can result in mood swings and depression. There’s even a scientific name for this problem: “Seasonal Affective Disorder,“ or S.A.D. People suffering from S.A.D. have to set up special light panels in their homes and get heavy doses of illumination in order to be happy campers.
Our minds and bodies need light. We can’t survive without it. Light revitalizes our physical and emotional being. They used to punish criminals by putting them in dark dungeons because they knew it was a terrible punishment. I think most of us agree that life without light is dreary.
The same thing is true spiritually. We can’t survive without the Son of God lighting up our spiritual lives. Our shadowy hearts, tinged by selfishness and confusion, need His light. Plus, we sorely need the light of the world to come and revitalize our lives because we live in a dark world. If we don’t have the light that Jesus offers our lives become spiritually sad.
The Good News is Jesus came so that we don’t have to live in the dark. We’re going to see today how we can allow Jesus to revitalize our lives. How His light can take us from depression and disappointment, doubt and fear…how He can bring love, joy, purpose, power and peace so that we can lead a meaningful life.
So far in our series “Jesus in Blue Jeans” we’ve looked at a couple of word pictures Jesus painted of Himself. These self-portraits paint His amazing desire to get close to us and to care for us even though we’re made from dirt and He’s the God of the universe who made us. Jesus in blue jeans is God putting Himself down on our level in order to be our friend!
These word pictures depict a Savior who doesn’t want us to be sad, but on the contrary, He wants us to live a “rich and satisfying life.” (John 10:10) That’s what Jesus said when He spoke of Himself as the Great Shepherd that sacrifices His life for His sheep. In this series we’ve also seen Him as “the bread that gives life,” a satisfying life here and “forever life” hereafter.
Today we’re going to look at one more word picture that Jesus paints of Himself that shows how who He is meets our practical, every day needs. “I am the light of the world,” Jesus said.
He did not say, “I have the light,” or, “I can show you the light.” He said, “I am the light.”
I want us to understand first,
I. WHY I NEED GOD’S LIGHT
Why did Jesus paint this word picture of Himself as the light of the world?
1. I need God’s light because my heart is dark without it.
To understand better what Jesus meant when He said, “I am the light of the world” it helps first of all to get a grip on the context in which Jesus made this declaration. Everything that Jesus said had perfect timing. When He said, “I am the light of the world,” He purposely chose a certain backdrop.
Jesus had been attending the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles or “Booths” and he was teaching in the temple. The Feast of Booths was a big and joyful celebration that took place during the time of harvest. There was music and dancing. Hearts were light and cheerful. But the people were not just celebrating the harvest. They were recalling the time that God had provided for their ancestors in the wilderness. They built dwellings made of tree branches to symbolize God’s ability to take care of His people even in the direst of circumstances.
Into this happy occasion enter Jesus’ enemies to create an ugly scene. In a pitiful effort to disrupt His ministry in this time of joy and celebration they brought a woman to Him who had been caught committing adultery. They thought they could catch Jesus off guard by reminding Him that the Old Testament law called for her to be executed by having stones thrown at her until she died.
But in a remarkable turn of events, Jesus challenges them with the famous phrase, “He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone.” Since no one could meet that requirement, Jesus turned to the woman and forgave her sin, telling her to use this as an opportunity to turn her life around.
After the religious legalists departed and Jesus went back to teaching during the Celebration of Booths is when Jesus declared "I am the light of the world."
Here’s Jesus trying to celebrate the feast, and all the while His enemies, who are walking in darkness, are trying to disrupt His ministry and teaching. So He boldly proclaims Himself as the source of spiritual illumination.
So what’s that got to do with me?
The Jewish religious leaders were in the dark. Anyone who fails to allow for God’s forgiveness is in the dark. They were so far in the dark that they didn’t even understand God’s forgiveness and restoration. All they saw was judgment. “Stone this woman to death because she has sinned against the law.”
Jesus’ demonstration illustrates that before we throw rocks at others we need to look in the mirror. None of us has kept all of God’s law. We’re all guilty. We all need Christ’s forgiveness. WE ALL NEED CHRIST’S LIGHT because every one of us has a dark heart. Not just this woman who had sinned but all of us.
You say, “but I haven’t been guilty of adultery.” Well first of all, remember that Jesus said, “whoever has looked on a woman and lusted after her has already committed adultery in his heart.” Have you ever lusted?
But let’s say you’ve never committed the act of adultery. That’s great. Keep it up. Just don’t get too smug in thinking that you don’t have a dark heart. The Bible says all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and every one of us has a deceitful heart.
"The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out." Jeremiah 17:9 (Msg)
So I need Christ’s light because my heart is dark without it. If you can’t admit that you have a darkened heart then you will eventually come to ruin.
In Charles Colson’s book, “Born Again,” which details his experiences related to Watergate, Colson shares one of President Nixon’s problems — he could never admit he was wrong in anything. In fact, Colson says, even when Nixon obviously had a cold — nose running, face red, sneezing, all the symptoms — he would never admit it.
Each one of us has to admit it. Without the light of Jesus our hearts are dark. We each need Christ’s light.
But secondly,
2. I need God’s light because I confront darkness daily.
Jesus wasn’t trying to negate the harmfulness of sin when He denied the woman’s accusers the right to stone her to death. The fact that He admonished the women to “go and sin no more” shows that He recognized the destructive nature of sin. This didn’t mean that He was expecting her to live a sinless life from there on out. He knew that she would continue to be tempted and that she would sometimes sin. So why did He say, “Go and sin no more?”
He wanted her to turn her life around from darkness into light. He wanted her to see and understand why He had given us His laws. The religious leaders didn’t get the purpose of the law. They thought it was solely for the purpose of condemnation. God’s laws are also for our benefit. When we break God’s laws we end up breaking our own hearts. He loves us so much that He has given us boundaries.
The incident with the adulterous woman shows how God exhibits His grace toward us and forgives us when we cross those boundaries and come to Him for forgiveness. The Bible says “His mercies are new every morning.” (Lamentations 3:23) And that’s good because we need them every morning! Each new day brings fresh confrontations with the darkness that is in our hearts and in the culture around us.
But God also wants us to be able to learn from our mistakes. “Go and sin no more” doesn’t mean we can possibly live a sin-free life. But it does mean that our understanding can change. My perspective about the darkness of sin and how it damages my happiness and my relationships need to change.
I’m going to be confronting sin daily so I need God’s light every day. And the Good New is Christ is the light of the world and He wants to help keep me from wandering in darkness.
So I need Christ’s light because my heart is dark without it and because I confront darkness every day. But,
II. HOW I CAN CLAIM CHRIST’S LIGHT TO REJUVENATE MY LIFE
How to I go from A to B? From knowing that I have a dark heart and live in a dark world and realizing that I need Christ’s light every day – to being able to appropriate that light – being able to put Christ’s light to work in my every day life?
To find that out let’s read the text from John chapter eight where Jesus’ “I am the light of the world” declaration is unveiled.
12…Jesus…said, "I am the Light of the world. He who follows Me will not be walking in the dark, but will have the Light which is Life."
13Whereupon the Pharisees told Him, "You are testifying on Your own behalf; Your testimony is not valid and is worthless."
14Jesus answered, "Even if I do testify on My own behalf, My testimony is true and reliable and valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.
15You [set yourselves up to] judge according to the flesh (by what you see). [You condemn by external, human standards.] I do not [set Myself up to] judge or condemn or sentence anyone.
16Yet even if I do judge, My judgment is true [My decision is right]; for I am not alone [in making it], but [there are two of Us] I and the Father, Who sent Me.
17In your [own] Law it is written that the testimony (evidence) of two persons is reliable and valid.
18I am One [of the Two] bearing testimony concerning Myself; and My Father, Who sent Me, He also testifies about Me."
19Then they said to Him, "Where is this Father of Yours? Jesus answered, You know My Father as little as you know Me. If you knew Me, you would know My Father also."
20Jesus said these things in the treasury while He was teaching in the temple [court]; but no one ventured to arrest Him, because His hour had not yet come. John 8:12-20 (Amp)
How do Christ’s words here help me to revitalize my life in those times when I’m fighting darkness? It may be the darkness of personal sin, it may be the darkness of trials or testing, it may be that I’ve let my attitude become negative because of all the darkness in the culture around me. What did Jesus say here, after revealing Himself as “the light of the world,” what did Jesus say that helps light up my world?
1. Christ’s light rejuvenates my life when I place relationships before rules.
Sound familiar? I hope it does! This is what we have been discovering in every one of the “Jesus in Blue Jeans” passages. Every time Jesus broke through the preposterous baloney of false spirituality He had to make this clear. Rules without relationships are ruinous!
Rules have their place, especially God’s rules. He gave us boundaries to protect us. When we cross the lines we do so at our own peril. But God didn’t give us these rules without proving in every way that He wants to have a personal relationship with each one of us. God is not a God of rules without relationships.
Whenever this principle gets out of whack in the church and in the lives of Christ followers there’s always trouble. When people emphasize their rules over loving relationships there’s going to be a confrontation.
Deb and I have been married 30 years and I still don’t keep all of her rules and she still doesn’t keep all of mine. Don’t laugh at me! You have rules at your house too. You may not call them that and we don’t either but that’s what they are. People have rules about how they roll up the toothpaste tube. I read about a couple being counseled by a pastor and one of the wife’s main complaints was that her husband simply wouldn’t roll up the toothpaste tube. According to her it was destroying their marriage. Isn’t that silly? Loving relationships have to overlook when others don’t keep our rules.
The religionists started a squabble with Jesus over whether or not He had the right, according to the law, to be a “witness” of Himself by claiming to be “the light of the world.” Jewish courts would not allow a person to bear witness of himself. But light has to bear witness to itself. The only people who cannot see the light are blind people! And these guys were spiritually blind!
John began his Good News account talking about this very problem.
(Jn 1:5) The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
(Jn 3:19) This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
In a tenement district in New York City, a boy in ragged clothes was seen with a small piece of broken mirror in his hand. Holding it high in the air he moved it slowly back and forth, watching the narrow slit of a window above him as he did so. "What are you doing?" a man suddenly demanded as he shook the youngster roughly by the shoulder. "Like most boys in this neighborhood, you’re probably up to some mischief, aren’t you?" The boy looked up into the stern face of his accuser and said, "See that window up there? Well, I have a little brother who has a room on that floor. He’s disabled. The only sunlight he ever sees is what I shine up to him with my mirror!"
The Pharisees were so insensitive and unloving.
Please don’t let your life become insensitive and unloving like the Pharisees. They just wanted to play spiritual FBI in everyone else’s life without caring about how people hurt and why they may make the mistakes they do, and yes, even commit the sins they commit.
They judged on the basis of externals alone. In verse 15 Jesus said, “You [set yourselves up to] judge according to the flesh (by what you see). [You condemn by external, human standards.] I do not [set Myself up to] judge or condemn or sentence anyone.”
Rules-keeping people judge by externals and give little or no thought to what’s in people’s hearts. But living by loving relationships tries to understand the other person. Christ’s light comes when I let love guide the application of the law.
I can hear what some of you are saying in your minds right now. “That’s why people live such messy lives. They take advantage of the grace of God because they think God loves them so much that they can live any way they want to live.”
Do you think that you and I need to be protecting God from all the people taking advantage of His grace? When I find I have that attitude in my heart and mind all I have to do is think about how much I’ve taken advantage of the grace of God!
As long as I have a rules-keeping attitude instead of loving relationship attitude I will walk in darkness. But when I begin to love people – JUST AS CHRIST LOVES ME – then I will be walking in His light.
That’s the first step on how Christ’s light rejuvenates my life. Relationships before rules. And secondly,
2. Christ’s light rejuvenates my life when I reflect His light to others.
In verses 16 and 18 Jesus reminded His adversaries that His Father had sent Him. In others words, Jesus had a second witness that could testify that He was “the light of the world.” If they had known the Father they would have know this. They wouldn’t have been arguing about the validity of Christ’s testimony.
But the point I want to emphasize is that the Father “sent” the Son.
And, in a later statement Jesus adds to the implications of His Father having sent Him. He says this to His followers after His resurrection.
“…As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” John 20:21b (NLT)
Not only is Christ “the light of the world,” and this next Scripture contains one of the most challenging statements Jesus made to those of us who are His followers, He said,
14 “YOU are the light of the world — like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father." Matthew 5:14-16 (NLT)
When I reflect Christ’s light to others I plug into a plan and a purpose established long ago. This is a tremendously undeserved yet equally extravagant opportunity that God has given to each one of us who follow the Son whom He sent.
I can let my good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise my heavenly Father!
Life is no longer meaningless and mundane. There’s no longer any darkness. I’ve seen the light. I know what I’m here for. God has a plan. I have a purpose. If I will plug into God’s plan and purpose my life will be rejuvenated!
If I’m a follower of Christ I wasn’t called to just shine my light in flashlight parties where we just shine our lights on one another. We were called to shine our lights into the darkness where it is really needed. I need to spend less time in my well-lit world and more time in the darkness!
Our lives are full of urgent demands but I will be rejuvenated when I shine Christ’s light by doing good deeds.
I must get over the mistaken notion that I don’t know what to say or do so its better to say or do nothing than to say or do the wrong thing.
I’ve got to keep trying even when my initial efforts don’t show results.
I can’t afford to be insensitive to the needs and hurts and even the sins of others like the Pharisees were.
