(I used Andy Stanley’s outlining method of me, we, God, you, we. You will see those broken down in the text of sermon. Also, I blacked out the windows and turned off the lights so that it was as dark as I could get it. Lights out where it says DARK and lights back on when it says LIGHT.)
Dare Something Different: Jesus, the Light of the World
John 1:4-5; Matthew 4:12-17
John 1:4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
Matthew 4:12 Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee. 13 And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: 15 "The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: 16 The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death Light has dawned." 17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Prayer
Me
There are some areas of my life where I don’t want just everybody looking. Don’t get me wrong, there isn’t anything “major,” I’m not starting an “I have sinned” speech or anything. It is just a few things, let me give you some general examples. The last thing I do at night before I go to bed is take off my socks, which I do while sitting on my bed. And when I do I toss them in the floor next to the bed, and sometimes I pick them up the next morning, but most often I don’t. So quite often there is a small mound of socks next to the wall by my bed, and when someone stops by the house that mound of socks is the first thing I think about. I’ll welcome whoever it is to the house, and then I’ll make my way by our bedroom door and pull it closed.
There are some other issues as well like stupid little things that make me angry some times, and a little bit of self doubt that creeps in on Saturday nights as I am thinking about what I am going to share the next morning.
We
My guess is that this is true for you as well. Maybe you’ve been a follower of Jesus for awhile, or maybe you’re still checking things out, but there are areas of your life that you would rather no one look at with a microscope.
Maybe it is an attitude that you have toward someone. Like the guy who said, “What do you do when you miss your mother-in-law?” RELOAD! Perhaps there is an integrity issue and you are not completely honest in some area at home or at work. Maybe there is a secret sin that no one knows about, and somehow you have managed to convince yourself that God doesn’t see into that area of your life, or at least you try not to think about what God sees you do.
We talk about Jesus as the Light of the World as a joyful pronouncement, but we have to realize that Jesus presence cuts both ways. It is a blessing, but it can also be painful. So what does it mean to us that Jesus is the Light of the World, and why is it that, even as a follower of Jesus, many times it is more comfortable not to invite Him into different areas of our life?
God
The first thing I want us to look at this morning is the broader context of Jesus coming. There was a period between the Old and New Testaments of about 400 years, we have talked about this before, it is called the, cleverly enough, the Intertestamental Period. This period lasted for approximately 400 years, and it was a very dark period of time for God’s people, the Jews.
During this time there was an acknowledgement by the Jews and their leaders that God had stopped talking to them. There were no prophets that came to them, to guide them or chastise them (and you know what it means when someone doesn’t even care enough anymore to try and correct you). The Romans moved in and various governors that ruled the region brought with them various levels of oppression.
The most notable of the oppressors was Antiochus Epiphanies (if you don’t like your name or middle name, now you have a reason to be grateful). He conquered Jerusalem, and slaughtered a pig on the altar in the Holy of Holies, thus desecrating the temple. He forced the Jews to eat pork and if they refused whole families were killed, starting with the youngest and moving to the oldest.
A group rose up to drive back the Romans called the Maccabes, but after they regained Jerusalem and restored worship in the temple (this story is the origin of the Hanukkah story by the way) they became corrupt and starting selling the office of high priest and making other deals with the Romans to benefit their family.
If you were a Jew during this time, there was certainly reason for despair. By all accounts God had abandoned you, you were oppressed by the greatest and strongest nation in the history of the world, and even your own leaders were corrupt and taking advantage of the common people.
It was against this backdrop of darkness and despair that Jesus was born. After 400 years of silence from God.
Is it any wonder that the Pharisees were so ridged in their attitudes. You have met people who have had a hard upbringing or a hard life with difficult circumstances, maybe that could describe your life. When people grow up having to live constantly in survival mode it makes them hard and ridged.
But Jesus came to penetrate the darkness. In our first text from John 1, we are told that the darkness could not “comprehend” Jesus. This word “comprehend” has three facets, but the first is just as it sounds, the darkness could not understand Jesus.
When someone is hard, when they have become accustomed to everyone in their lives taking advantage of them, to always having to look out for themselves, then it is impossible for them to understand it when someone actually loves them or cares for them. They are always waiting for the catch.
Maybe that is a hurdle for you in relating to God. You feel like He is driving a bargain that is really in His own best interest. That He will love you if you will behave a certain way. That the “light of Jesus” is just a search light trying to find something in your life to condemn.
However, that could not be farther from the truth.
In order to understand the Light of Jesus, let’s talk a little about darkness for a minute.
DARK
When we are in the darkness, something that you will notice is that you can’t see very far. When we are walking in the darkness in our lives, or just in a specific area of our lives, we cannot see very far. Either we don’t care about what is right, or we are trying to hide an issue from others.
This leads to something else, and that is that we live according to our feelings. When you can’t see very far in an issue, when you can’t see what the ramifications are for your life or the lives of others, then you just do what feels good and you avoid what feels bad.
And when you are living in the darkness, let me tell you one thing that feels really bad . . . LIGHT.
So, when we have an area of darkness in our lives it leads us to be very shortsighted. We see this most clearly in other people. Have every seen someone doing something stupid, maybe doing it over and over, and you just can’t understand how they can’t see the damage that they are doing? It is because darkness leaves us unable to evaluate something based on any standard other than emotions.
This leads us to live lives of highs and lows and we try to feel our way through life. One day you are high as a kite, and the next week you are suicidal, or ferociously angry, or completely lacking in self-confidence.
What Jesus wants to do is shine a light into every area of your life where there is darkness, and free you from living this emotional, yo-yo existence. But the lesson that we learn from bringing light into our darkness is that it is painful.
I get frustrated sometimes when all anyone talks about with Jesus is the joy and peace. Joy and peace is something that comes at the end of a process that starts out in a very painful way. I can have joy and peace in an area of my life only after Jesus has illuminated it and lead me on the path toward repentance and restoration. The light comes into my life and all of the sudden I see the weakness, smallness, flaws in me – there is no joy in that!
Our second passage today from Matthew 4
Matthew 4:12 Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee. 13 And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: 15 "The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: 16 The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death Light has dawned." 17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
The Greek word that is translated “repent” is a compound word, meta = after and noeo = knowledge. So literally it means that after you know something you change your course. Little kid touches a hot stove, and now they won’t touch a cold stove either.
That knowledge that leads to repentance only comes when we allow the light of Christ to shine into whatever area of our lives that we have denied Him access.
You
Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.
Psalm 119:130 The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.
The primary way in which the light of God pierces our darkness is through the Word of God. It comes to us through reading the Bible, through hearing sermons, through conversations with trusted Christian friends. (And I say Christian friends, because others living in darkness will just counsel you to do what feels good, because that is what they do because they too are living in darkness).
But the examination of this light is not a search light looking for another reason to condemn you. Instead Psalm 112:4 -
Psalm 112:4 Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness; He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.
John 3:17 "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
We
What if we could do this? All of us allow the light of Christ to penetrate every area of our lives so that there were no more places of dark uncertainty ruled by our emotions. If we could take the energy that we devote to protecting these vulnerable places in our lives and devote it, instead, to serving God and loving those around us?
You
I want us to begin this process this morning. John 16:13 says that the Holy Spirit “will guide you into all truth.” Maybe you are sitting here this morning and you know exactly what area or areas of your life you have not let the light of Christ penetrate, then ask the Holy Spirit to begin the process in you of showing you how to repent in those areas and turn them over to God. Ask Him to stir the word of God in your heart to help you.
Maybe nothing comes immediately to your mind, then I want you to humble your heart before the Lord this morning, and ask the Holy Spirit to show you any areas that you have not allowed Jesus access to in your life.
You can sit there and do nothing, then you can leave here and celebrate Christmas just like you always do, or you can truly acknowledge the reason that Jesus came as the Light of the World, to help you step out of the darkness and into His marvelous light.
As our musicians come, let us pray. Holy Spirit penetrate our hearts, my heart too, bring us into your light, move in this place today.
NKJ Ephesians 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
