A few questions to get your minds thinking as we head in to today’s sermon. First one. . .
Q: How many evolutionists does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Just one but it will take a million years.
Q: How many Psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Only one, but the bulb has got to really WANT to change.
Q: How many ‘Real Men’ does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None: ‘Real Men’ aren’t afraid of the dark.
Q: How many ‘Real Women’ does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None: A ‘Real Woman’ would have plenty of real men around to do it.
Q: How many jugglers does it take to change a light bulb?
A: One, but it takes at least three light bulbs.
Q: How many football players does it take to change a light bulb?
A: The entire team! And they all get a semester’s credit for it!
Q: How many board meetings does it take to get a light bulb changed?
A: This topic was resumed from last week’s discussion,
but is incomplete pending resolution of some action items.
It will be continued next week.
Q. How many Floridians does it take to change a light bulb?
A. Don’t know for sure, they’re still counting.
We are up to “I am. . .” statement number two. Two out of seven “I am. . .” statements that Jesus makes in the Gospel of John, giving us insight into who He is. This time Jesus says, “I am the light of the world.”
Last Sunday we took a look at some tough teachings, some tough insights into how Jesus might think and act when we looked at the story of the healing of the blind man which makes up John chapter 9. An entire chapter dedicated to this single event.
And at the end of our time together, I suggested that this chapter isn’t so much about a blind man being healed, as it is about providing some glimpses into how we tend to respond to Jesus miraculous working. I encouraged you to think this week about how you respond to miracles. To Jesus mighty hand doing the unthinkable. And I encouraged you to take those places where you need a miracle. Those places in your own life in need of healing, and begin praying that God would heal them.
Late last summer, early fall we went through 40 Days of Prayer together entitled, “Hope for Healing.” I have continued to pray over that list of areas where you wrote down a desire for healing, and we have seen a number of those prayers answered. Miracles of healing within our midst. Never give up. Never surrender to Satan’s promptings to loose faith. Continue to believe in God’s ability to heal.
Within that chapter, the 9th chapter of John’s gospel, Jesus revealed an “I am. . .” statement about himself. There are how many of these statements in the Gospel of John? And how many primary miracles? Right. We have seen the feeding of the 5,000, and the healing of the blind man. We have already looked at Jesus teaching when He said, “I am the bread of life.” And in chapter 9, we come across a second. In this chapter, Jesus declares in verse 5 (read).
Now, in actuality, this is not the first time He has made this declaration. Turn back to chapter 8, and let’s look at His initial proclamation that He is the light of the world. John chapter 8 (read through verse 12).
A little boy forgot his lines in a Sunday School presentation, and his mother was in the front row to prompt him. She gestured and formed the words silently with her lips, but it did not help. Her son’s memory was blank. Finally, she leaned forward and whispered the cue, "I am the light of the world."
The child beamed and with great feeling and a loud clear voice said, "My mother is the light of the world!"
Well, actually Jesus tells us that He is the light of the world. What is He saying? What is He revealing about Himself that we can glean from this statement?
Let’s start back at the beginning of John. Right out of the gate in John chapter 1 (read through verse 4).
1. THE LIGHT OF MEN IS THE LIFE FOUND IN CHRIST
That was the purpose of Jesus life. Within Jesus is life. And that life is what illuminates our lives. What gives us the ability to see and navigate through our lives.
While on maneuvers, a battleship lookout noted a light in the dark, foggy night. After noting the light’s coordinates, the captain recognized his ship was on a collision course with the other vessel. The captain instructed, “Signal the ship: We are on a collision course, advise you change course 20 degrees.”
The return signal countered, “Advisable for you to change course 20 degrees.” The captain signaled, “I’m a captain, change course 20 degrees.” The response was, “I’m a seaman second class, you’d better change course 20 degrees.”
By this time the captain was furious. His signal curtly ordered, “I’m a battleship. Change course 20 degrees.” The reply: “I’m a lighthouse. You make the call.”
The light of man, according to the word of God, is the life of Christ. It is the lighthouse. It is fixed. Secure. Unchanging. Unwavering. It isn’t like a spot light that we get to adjust, and shine in the direction we want it to go. It is the life of Christ that was sent to earth, lived for three decades among us, died on the cross, rose from the dead, ascended to the Father, and now is that lighthouse that is to be the light of man which guides us.
Unfortunately, there is the past, present and future truth of verse 5 (read). You see. . .
2. DARKNESS DOES NOT COMPREHEND LIGHT
There is an intriguing story told about a university professor. In this modern day of chain emails, and urban legend. . .it is nearly impossible to verify the truth of such stories, but it is compelling none the less.
A University professor at a well known institution of higher learning challenged his students with this question. “Did God create everything that exists?” One student bravely replied, “Yes he did!”
“God created everything?” The professor asked. “Yes sir, he certainly did,” the student replied.
The professor answered, “If God created everything; then God created evil. And, since evil exists, and according to the principal that our works define who we are, then we can assume God is evil.”
The student became quiet and did not answer the professor’s hypothetical definition.
The professor, quite pleased with himself, boasted to the students that he had proven once more that the Christian faith was a myth.
Another student raised his hand and said, “May I ask you a question, professor?”
“Of course”, replied the professor. The student stood up and asked, “Professor, does cold exist?”
“What kind of question is this? Of course it exists. Have you never been cold?” The other students snickered at the young man’s question.
The young man replied, “In fact sir, cold does not exist. According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat. Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-460 F) is the total absence of heat; and all matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have no heat.”
The student continued, “Professor, does darkness exist?” The professor responded, “Of course it does.”
The student replied, “Once again you are wrong sir, darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light. Light we can study, but not darkness. In fact, we can use Newton’s prism to break white light into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each color. You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a world of darkness and illuminate it. How can you know how dark a certain space is? You measure the amount of light present. Isn’t this correct? Darkness is a term used by man to describe what happens when there is no light present.”
Finally the young man asked the professor, “Sir, does evil exist?” Now uncertain, the professor responded, “Of course, as I have already said. We see it everyday. It is in the daily examples of man’s inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.”
To this the student replied, “Evil does not exist, sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God’s love present in his heart. It’s like the cold that comes when there is no heat, or the darkness that comes when there is no light.”
The professor sat down. The young student’s name, Albert Einstein.
You see darkness does not comprehend the light, because the two can’t mix. Think about it. How do you mix darkness and light? If you bring light into the darkness, it is no longer dark. (Example of childhood trip to Mammoth Caves.)
Look at another professor and student encounter. Jesus is the professor, and the student is a man named Nicodemus. Follows right out of maybe the most famous verse in the entire Bible. Turn over a couple pages to John 3:16 (read through verse 21).
Darkness does not comprehend light. Or maybe a better way to say it is. . .darkness does not want to comprehend light. It is repulsed by it. Why? Because it knows that light exposes it, and eliminates it. You can’t have darkness where you have light. Darkness is in literal terms the absence of light.
And that brings us back to one of our leadoff passages of today. John chapter 8. An incredible example of light exposing darkness.
These scribes and Pharisees, and people in the crowd are all good and ready to stone this woman. They have caught her in sin. They know the law. A + B = C. Adultery, plus the law equals stoning.
But then they make the mistake of asking the light of the world what they should do. And the light of the world exposes their darkness. John 8:7 (read through verse 12).
But this is what I want you to be sure and see. The church today so often gets only half of that message. But catch all of what Jesus says. Because. . .
3. THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD PROVIDES HOPE
Notice that Jesus turned and spoke to “them” again. Follow this with me. Apparently, these people have dropped their stones and left. Jesus is alone with this woman. But there is some transition to verse 12, because it tells us that He is again speaking to a crowd of people. Speaking to “them”, probably meaning the scribes and Pharisees. Verse 13 seems to clearly point to that fact.
And what does Jesus tell them? “Yea, you have sin. Yea, the light of my life exposes the darkness in yours. So you can’t throw a stone. But you don’t have to walk in darkness. There is hope. You can have the light of life. If you will just follow me.”
You see, through the years the church has specialized in a message of guilt, sin, and shame. And the light that is Jesus doesn’t overlook the wrongs and sins of our lives. But it does offer hope to walk in the light.
The church is not supposed to be some talking head Rush Limbaughs of the world. Pointing out everything that is wrong, but not doing a blasted thing to provide hope of any solutions. True light doesn’t just point out darkness. It provides escape from the darkness.
(Flashlight Camping Analogy)
And you may have noticed that now we have transitioned in our reflections from Jesus being the light of the world to us. . .the church being the light. And that is Biblical. Look at what Jesus said in our passage last week. John 9:5 (read).
It was part of the plan all along that the responsibility of serving as light in this world would transition from Jesus to us. He was the light, as long as He walked the earth. But when He ascended to the Father, He handed the candle, the flashlight, the life of light over to us. Turn over to John 12:35 (read through verse 36a).
You see. . .
4. WE ARE TO BE SONS OF THE LIGHT
According to Rick Warren, there are two basic reasons people don’t know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior: one, they have never met a Christian; and two, they have met a Christian. Think about that for a minute.
If you asked a whole bunch of people who aren’t Christians, why they aren’t. Many will answer that either one, they have never met a Christian. Or God forbid, two, they have met a Christian. Christian influence is no small matter. We are to be sons of the light.
There were two cars waiting at a stoplight. The light turned green, but the man did not notice it. A woman in the car behind him is watching traffic pass around them. The woman begins pounding on her steering wheel and yelling at the man to move. The man does not move. The woman is going ballistic inside her car, ranting and raving at the man, pounding on her steering wheel and dash.
The light turns yellow. The woman begins to blow the car horn, flips him off, and screams curses at the man. The man, hearing the commotion, looks up, sees the yellow light and accelerates through the intersection just as the light turns red.
The woman is beside herself, screaming in frustration as she misses her chance to get through the intersection.
As she is still in mid-rant, she hears a tap on her window and looks up into the barrel of a gun held by a very serious looking police officer. The police officer tells her to shut off her car while keeping both hands in sight. She complies, speechless at what is happening. After she shuts off the engine, the police officer orders her to exit her car with her hands up. She gets out of the car and he orders her to turn and place her hands on her car. She turns, places her hands on the car roof and quickly is cuffed and hustled into the patrol car. She is too bewildered by the chain of events to ask any questions and is driven to the police station where she is fingerprinted, photographed, searched, booked and placed in a cell.
After a couple of hours, a police officer approaches the cell and opens the door for her. She is escorted back to the booking desk where the original officer is waiting with her personal effects. He hands her the bag containing her things, and says, “I’m really sorry for this mistake. But you see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping that guy off, and cussing a blue streak at the car in front of you, and then I noticed the ‘Choose Life’ license plate holder, the ‘What Would Jesus Do’ and ‘Follow Me to Sunday School’ bumper stickers, and the chrome plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk, so naturally I assumed you had stolen the car.”
Do you know any people in your life who aren’t Christians because they have met one? They have met someone who has been charged with being a son of light, but hasn’t accepted the challenge. Or has been so busy penetrating the sins of the world with a laser beam like light that they haven’t offered any help, encouragement, or guidance. Haven’t come along side the lost with the flashlight and said, let me help you find your way.
Jesus never ignored the adulterous woman’s sin, He just offered her the hope of the light of the world. Jesus didn’t assume that since the man was blind, he was perfect. He just offered him the hope of the light of the world.
So let’s drill this down to where you are sitting. One of two scenarios. The first. . .you are trapped in darkness. Might be an inappropriate relationship. Might be drug, alcohol, or some other form of substance abuse or addiction. Might be depression, fear, constant anxiety. All you know for sure is that when you look into your soul, when you look at your life. . .it is very dark.
If that’s you. . .I’ve got great news. Jesus, the light of the world, has passed his life of light onto us here at Stonewall Wesleyan Church, and we are ready to shine light into those dark places of your life. Not a condemning, judging, ostracizing light. But a light of hope, and direction, and promise.
And in just a moment, if that is your scenario, I’m going to give you a chance to step into the light.
Second scenario, you know you have been charged with being light in your workplace, at your home, in your neighborhood. . .but you know you have behaved more like the woman in the car. Your testimony and lifestyle has been anything but light. Again. . .I’ve got great news. Jesus is ready to re-light your candle, recharge your batteries, or flip your switch back to the on position. However you want to look at it. He wants to come to you with his forgiveness and grace, and offer you the opportunity to once again be light in a dark and dying world.
So we are going to pray. And if you have walked away from the light. Stepped into the shadows in recent days. I’m going to give you too a chance to step back into the light.
Let’s pray.
