The Transforming Power of Light
Series: Biblical Guide to Wilderness Survival
November 9, 2011
Video Clip: "Monsters Inc."
That scene from Pixars "Monsters Inc.", kind of summed up for me every fear I had as a child. How many of you believed that there was a monster under you bed? I did! When I was a kid...night-time was "monster time"! Since I've grown up, I don't believe there monsters under my bed anymore, but there are still times I'm afraid of the dark. And so, this morning I want to talk to you about the differences between darkness and light, and how you can overcome the "grown up kind" of fear of the dark. It's amazing how many verses in the bible deal with darkness and light. It's a metaphor God uses all through the bible. One of those places is in the book of Numbers, chapter 8. In case you haven't been here (and I understand that many of you are guests this morning, so I want to catch you up a bit.) We've been studying the 3rd book in the bible...called "Numbers".
Now, at first when you try to read it, it seems kind of boring...(lots of numbers!)...but the more you understand what you're reading the more fascinating and powerful it gets. "Numbers' is the story of God's people moving from 400 years of being Egyptian slaves...through the desert...to a land that God promised them. The land of Israel. And if you think about it, we've got a lot in common with them. God wants to deliver us from the slavery of sin, and bring us to the promised land of heaven. But before we get there...we have to go through the desert. In case you didn't realize it...life in this world is like a desert. There are some good times, but most of the time, it's a struggle! There are hardships, sickness, pain, trials... and if we're going to get to heaven, we're going to have to trust in God to help us find the way!
It's been 8 chapters now...and they're still getting ready to go. There was a lot of preparation that needed to take place before you moved over a million men, women and children across 100's of miles of desert. Thankfully, God said that He would PERSONALLY go with them. But because He was holy and they weren't, He needed to make sure that they didn't get to close, or His holiness would vaporize them in an instant. It'd be kind of like having a 'nuclear reactor' in your backyard...it's power would provide you with protection and security...but if you got to close...and if you don't take certain precautions ...you're going to die!
The place that God dwelt was called, "The Tabernacle", it lit. means, "dwelling place". It looked like a huge tent on the outside, but it was basically a portable temple, that was set up and taken down whenever they stopped travelling. Inside, every piece of furniture had a purpose and a reason. The piece of furniture we're going to talk about with this morning is what is called the "Lampstand". (Stick with me here and I think this is all going to make sense to you in a few minutes). READ Numbers 8:1-4. Now, there were no windows in the tabernacle, and so the purpose of the lampstand was to give light to the priests so that they could go about their duties. The "lampstand" looked like this...(show picture). It's actually called a 'menorah'. It was made out of pure gold, and it weighed about 94 lbs. I checked the price of gold & it would be worth $2.5 million at today's prices! The lamps on each branch burned pure olive oil and would have cast a soft glow throughout the entire room. Since the room was walled with planks surfaced with thin sheets of pure gold, the effect would have been stunning.
But the lampstand was more than just an appliance, it was meant to convey a message. As part of the grand opening of the tabernacle, God specifically instructed Moses and Aaron (the head priest) to set up 7 lights on the lampstand, in such a way that they faced forward and threw their light in front of the lampstand. Now why was God being so anal about this detail? Well, as we're leaning, God has a reason for everything He does. Never doubt that!
And the reason He specifically required the light to shine forward, was because of what the lampstand symbolized. It symbolized God Himself! The 7 lamps on it represented the completeness and perfection of God's presence. And the light that came from the lampstand represented God's favor and His blessing shining forward, out into the darkness!
I don't know if you realize it or not...but
* God doesn't want to ruin your life...He wants to bless it!
* God doesn't want to send you to hell...He wants to get you to heaven!
* God's not trying to restrict you or give you a bunch of rules that you have to follow, and make your life miserable...NO! God wants to free you. Free you from what? Free you from darkness. Free you from bondage and slavery to self!
And the truth of that is found when you understand the nature of darkness and light. See, if God is light...then what is darkness? It's the absence of God! (pause) Let me put it another way, darkness is what exists apart from God. In Genesis it tells us that God created light...He didn't create darkness! That's because darkness is what exists without God.
Let's take a few minutes to get back to basics and compare the characteristics of darkness to light...1st of all...
1. Darkness = Chaos... while
Light = Order
In the ancient imagination, darkness was a problem. It represented the forces of chaos, disorder & confusion. It still does. So it's interesting that in Gen.1 we see God hovering over the formless, empty, chaos of the earth. v2 says..."Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Sprit of God was hovering over the waters." So, when God says in vs.3..."Let there be light"...the bible is telling us is that God has POWER over the forces of darkness, and death and chaos!
Is that where you are this morning? In chaos? Are you confused about life? Confused about what life is all about and where you fit in it all? Is your life a mess? Does it kind of look like your teenagers room? If that's the case, then you need to know that the further you get from the light, the greater the chaos in your life! The further you are from God this morning...the greater the chaos in your relationships, the greater the chaos and confusion in your heart... the more messed up your life becomes. If you're in the darkness this morning, then you feel like disorder, confusion, & disarray are ruling your life...that's what darkness does. Your life is out of control...and only God can help you change that!
Because "light" represents order and peace. The second that God said, "Let there be light"...darkness didn't have a chance! Light puts chaos to flight! You see that everytime you walk into a room in your home at night and flick on the light switch. When you turn on a light in your house, do you hear grunting and groaning like there's a wrestling match between darkness and light? NO! Light wins without a fight! It's instant! No contest! Well, that's how it is when the light of God comes into your life...darkness has to go!
Light is unconquerable! See, all the darkness in the world can't extinguish the tiniest flame! That's why the bible says in John 1:5 ...And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not put it out!"
I like lighthouses...at last count I have 31 of them in my small office. I like them because regardless of the storm, regardless of the forces of nature that pound at them, regardless of the fog...they keep shining the light. The offer hope and safety. Sanctuary from the chaos of the pounding waves. It's a great image of God to me. Ephesians 5:13... "It is possible for light to turn the thing it shines upon, into light also." When the light of God shines in on my life, it brightens me up and it takes me out of that pit of despair. The light of God fills my life and I start glowing into the darkness, showing other people the way. Which leads to the 2nd difference between darkness and light...
2. Darkness = Lostness
Light = Guidance
Have you ever been lost in a dark room? It's scary! One of the ladies in our church was telling me recently of how she took a raft trip and at one point they were taken into a cave, where it was pitch black (ask Traci).
It's a scary thing to be lost in the dark. I know people who are lost in the darkness of this world and are running scared! They don't have a clue where they are, or where they're going in life. Darkness is stumbling around in life, tripping and stubbing my toe on the furniture...wondering why things don't work out. It's frustrating, because you are getting beat up, but don't know why. So you start asking yourself, "When am I going to get a break?", but no break comes. Darkness, is wondering why life is turning out so bad, and not having a clue about why things are happening to me, or how to find my way out of the cave!
It's like driving around blindly in a fog. We in the Bay Area understand that! I have a friend that told me the story of his dad who was up in age. One night he was coming out of church, and because of the fog couldn't see 2 feet. He pulled out onto the road, and all he could see were the tail lights of a car in front of him, so he decided to follow that car as closely as possible. He followed him down the freeway for miles...when all the sudden he just stops! No warning or anything. So my friends dad rear-ends him. Angrily he gets out of his car yelling, "What in the world do you think you're doing stopping without warning like that?" The guy looks at him with a shocked expression and says very calmly "Well, sir I stopped because... this is my driveway." Ohhh...
The bible says in John 12:35 "The one who walks in the dark doesn't know where he's going." He's drifting; with no clear objective. Do you ever lose your way? Do you ever feel like you're up in a cloud and your head is in a fog? The one who walks in the dark doesn't know where he's going. Have you ever felt like that? If you do, that's because you're in the dark!
Darkness", communicates blindness, but Light" is a metaphor for vision, sight and truth, knowledge and wisdom. Physically your eyes can't see without light. Walking in the light is like finding the switch in a dark room, flipping it on and seeing all the furniture that you were tripping over. It's gaining insight. It's realizing that my main problem is that I don't have a relationship with the "God of light", who knows everything. It's beginning to understand that sinful actions have consequences and lead me deeper into more confusion and darkness.
Walking in the light is knowing that there's a reliable source who will always give you the right advice and never steer you in the wrong direction. Is there any place in the world you can get that kind of advice? Yes. It's called God's word. It won't steer you the wrong way. The bible says in Ps.119...Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. --Ps.119-105. It is the only reliable guide for life. It's a flashlight. It illuminates. It keeps you from stumbling, helps you to see things clearly. God's words bring light!
3rdly,
3. Darkness = HIDING
Light = ILLUMINATION
Darkness is a metaphor for hiding. Evil lurks in the night. If you doubt that, check out the latest horror movie! Anybody get those big German Cockroaches in house? Horrible things! (make finger motions). My office is in my garage and so I spray insecticide around the house, but somehow they still get in my office and ALWAYS die at the foot of my desk. It's like they're saying, "Must...make...my last confession...before I die!" It's to the point that before I go into garage, I reach around the door and turn on light. If they're in there, as soon as the light goes on, they freeze for a second..."Uh oh, I'm caught! RUN!" and they run right at me! Freaks me out! They're running from the light. Cockroaches prefer darkness to the light, because of the nature of their activities.
Light has the ability to reveal the truth in all it's ugliness or beauty. The truth is...each of us is a cockroach at heart! The bible says in John 3:19-20 that 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed." I know lots of people like that! Instead of moving towards the light, towards the truth, they're running away from it...scared, resisting the truth. We don't want somebody to tell us that what we're doing is wrong. We don't want to deal with our unforgiveness, or our emotional hurt...we prefer the dark because we're afraid of being exposed for what we really are. So we scurry for a dark corner. In fact if we even suspect that we might be exposed to the light...we run. We run from the bible, the church, pastors or that Christian we know at work.
Listen up... Your true nature is exposed by your response to the light. --Eph.5:12,13, says..." It's a shame even to talk about these things done in secret. 13 All things can be seen when they're in the light. Everything that can be seen is in the light.". Light is revealing, it's transparent, it's open to change. It's open to the truth. Is that you? When confronted with what's wrong with you, do you embrace it, or do you resist it? Or do you try and shoot the messenger because you hate the light he/she brings? Do you rationalize your wrong actions? Or do you openly admit them? If you're not open to changing...you're giving into your 'cockroach nature"...you're living in the darkness...not the light. The Bible says in 1 John 1:5 "God is light; in him there is no darkness at all" So, If we're in the light, as HE is in the light...there are no shadows, no hidden places, no secrets to be hidden any longer!
Lastly...
4. Darkness = Death
Light = Life
Death is always a place of darkness. That's why we wear "black" to a funeral. Is there anything darker than death without God? That's because just as darkness is the absence of light...eternal death is the absence of God. That's what 'hell' is all about. It's separation from God for eternity. A very dark place! Remember that 'menorah' we talked about that was shining in the darkness of the tabernacle? Remember what it represented? Sure! the "light of blessing" that God wanted to shine on the people of the world, right? Well, how does He do that in real life? I mean, how does that work in yours and my life? The answer is found in John 8...
Before I read, let me share with you what was going on in this passage. People from all over Israel had gathered in the temple on the last night of what was called, "The Feast of the Tabernacle". To commemorate the lighting of the menorah (we talked about in Numbers 8), and the blessings that God promised to shine onto his people... to celebrate the way God guided them through the dark days of their wilderness journey...there was a ceremony called "The Illumination of the Temple". It was a big deal! So many people showed up that they had to construct spectator stands in order to handle them all, as they gathered to watch a remarkable spectacle of lights. Kind of like the "Parade of Lights" at Disneyland.
4 great "menorah's" were placed in the center of the huge courtyard, and at one dramatic moment, they were all set ablaze. It was said that the radiance from these menorah would light up the entire skyline of Jerusalem. You could cut the excitement with a knife.
Now, imagine as you're watching this incredible scene, that all the sudden a man walks into the center of the courtyard. He stops and stands in the center of the four blazing menora's. Everyone in the crowd stops talking and there's silence. All eyes are on this man. People are wondering "Who is this?" And then they begin to realize that it's none other than Jesus of Nazareth! Slowly he points to the menorah...His voice rings out like thunder and he shouts these words found in John 8:12... "I ...am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." - John 8:12 (NIV)
They were startled and shocked! "Light" was synonymous with God Himself, and now He was saying almost exactly what God said in Gen.1 when He created the world. He was equating Himself with being that person! "Just as God's presence was with you in the desert...now His presence is here in person! I am the light of life!" Jesus was a bold stripe! Wow! He wasn't afraid of anything! Now listen...because just as boldly as He walked into the middle of that courtyard so many years ago...He wants to walk into the middle of your darkness this morning. He's saying to YOU..."l am the light of the world...I am where you're going to find true life, nowhere else...follow me!"
I can tell that some of you doubt that. It's almost too good to be true. It's like a few years ago when some friends of ours had their 1st child, a little girl. Shortly after her birth she developed jaundice. (Jaundice is a liver disorder that caused the whites of her eyes and her skin to turn very yellow). The doctor told them that this is a potentially devastating disorder, but fortunately there is an easy cure for it. All you have to do is put the baby under a special light. The skin absorbs this light and it stimulates the liver to function properly.
Now my friend could have responded by saying, "Wait a minute! That's sounds too easy! Put her under a light? That's it? I've got a better idea...what if instead of that, we just scrubbed her with soap and dipped her in bleach? I'm sure if we really scrubbed her hard enough we could get her skin coloring back to normal." The doctor would have said, "You don't understand. There's only one way to cure jaundice." Our friends could have replied, "I don't like this "only way" thing. How about if we just ignore it and pretend that everything's ok? Yea, if we sincerely believe that we don't have to do anything, then in the end everything's going to work out?" The doctor would have said, "You're going to jeopardize the life of your child if you do that. There's only one way to cure jaundice. You're hesitant because it sounds too easy. But look at the credentials on my wall, look at my medical degree. I studied medicine for years. I've cured countless babies of jaundice. I know what I'm talking about. Trust me based on my credentials."
Would anybody accuse those parents of being narrow minded if they trusted that doctor when he said there's only "one way", "one course" of treatment that would cure their little girl? Would it be "narrow-minded" for them to pursue that course of treatment? It's not arrogant to act upon the evidence. The truth of the matter is we all have a terminal illness called sin. The reason that those of us who are Christians cling to Jesus Christ is because not only is Hes the great physician, but He's the LIGHT of the world! He's the only one that can cure. We can try to scrub away our sins by trying to do good deeds, but it's not going to work. We can ignore it and hope it all goes away. But it won't disappear. We can sincerely think there is another way of dealing with it, but we'd be sincerely wrong. The truth of the matter is, only the great physician offers the treatment that will erase the stain of our sin. Thankfully, He is the LIGHT of the world, and so when we turn to Him, and walk into His light...we'll be cured of our death causing disease.
Everyone of us are in 1 of 3 positions, when it comes to "the light" this morning...Listen closely and see where you are...
1. Some of you are in the dark right now. Your life is filled with chaos, confusion, frustration. Admit it...you're lost without a flashlight.
2. Some of you came out of the dark, but because of your stubbornness and pride, you're going right back in.
3. Some of you have come out of dark, and you still remember the confusion of it all, and so you never want to go back!
So where do you turn when you're in the dark and don't know where you are in life... What's the answer? 1 Samuel 22:29, "You Lord, are my light; you dispel my darkness." How does Christ do that? He says, "I'm the light of the world." He came to light up our life and dispel our darkness. To bring truth and direction, purpose in the chaos. Now, it's one thing to know there's a light in the world. It's another thing to follow that light. The point is, you can choose darkness or light. You can choose to live in the dark this morning, or you can choose to live in the light. God shines the sun on everybody. But you can go live in a cave. It's your choice. God shows you the light but you can choose to go blindfolded or say, "I'm going to close my eyes. I'm not going to look" and enforce darkness on your own life. But, if you want to get out of the "dark days", then you have to choose to start living in the light. That's your choice.
Everyone came to this F&F day service for many different reasons. Some of you came out of habit. Some of you came out of curiosity. Some of you came because a friend or relative or somebody cared about you invited you. It really doesn't matter HOW you came, the fact is... you're not here by accident. You may be Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Baptist, Mormon, Lutheran, or Episcopalian, Presbyterian whatever. You may not have any kind of religious background...It doesn't matter, because we're not talking about religion this morning. I'm talking about a relationship to Jesus Christ. He wants to say something to you. "I'm the light of the world, and I want to light up your life. I want to have a personal relationship with you. Not only will I take away the darkness of your sin, but I'll take away the confusion and the frustration that goes with it.
The 1st step for many of you is that you need to receive God's gift to you -- His Son, Jesus Christ. You need to receive that gift and say, " Jesus Christ, I accept the gift of You. Put Yourself, Your Spirit, Your light in my life." If you haven't done that, why don't you do it now? The answer to the darkness in our hearts and minds is found in having a personal relationship with the light of the world...Jesus. The light of the world pierces our darkness. He penetrates our minds like a laser, showing us the way out of our dark place, our despair, giving us hope and purpose and meaning! He's the source of guidance and He clears up the chaos.
Some of you have already made that decision. You made it in the past and maybe you've drifted away from the light and now you're as lost as you ever were. Your heart has grown cold. You've gotten away from what you know. What would Jesus say to you? "Come on home! Come back home."
Some of you have been in some very dark places in your life. Places so dark that you believe you're the only one that's ever been there. Maybe at the end of a drug high, or an alcohol binge. Maybe at the depths of depression...where there was no light. The darkness of divorce...places of hopelessness despair. Well, it's into that place that Jesus boldly breaks in and says...I've been where you are, I've suffered in the deepest darkest places, I've been to the Garden of Gethsemane where I plead for my life, I've been to Calvary where I called out to my Father, and He turned His back on me...not because I did anything...but because I was suffering in Your place. But I also resurrected from the deepest, darkest place of all...DEATH! And I'm here to say..."I am the light of the world." If you'll put your trust in me, I'll lead you out of the darkness and into the light of life! Are you ready to do that this morning?
Prayer...
