Jesus Is: Light of the World | Part 2

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for tuning in.

Hey, welcome to Awakening Church.

We're in a series we started last week called Jesus Is, where we're really asking the question: who is Jesus or who did Jesus say he is?

I think anybody who has any intellectual integrity really needs to ask those questions.

Like, who is he?

I mean, he fundamentally reshaped the world as we know it in only three years.

And so we're asking this question and looking at his very words of what did he say?

And why does it matter to us today?

And I have a little bit of a confession.

Um, I haven't been so nervous for a series in a really long time.

Last week I was super nervous.

This week, again.

It almost each week feels like Easter to me right now.

Like, like, like that level of nervousness of like, oh gush, gush, I can't even get gush, whatever that is, gush.

Right?

I want to get it right.

I don't want to mess it up.

And so would you pray with me as we begin?

Because that's where we need to start.

Heavenly Father, we invite you here, ask for you to speak.

God, would you get me out of the way?

And may your word be clear.

May we hear from you, respond to your word, be changed by you, and make us a people who are more and more like your son Jesus.

And it's in his name we pray.

And all gets people said.

Amen.

It was the summer before my um freshman year of high school.

My dad was teaching at a family camp, actually, just over the hill in the Santa Cruz Mountains called Mount Hermon.

Um, I was there, woo, yeah.

If you're gonna woo, woo, let's do it, all right?

There you go.

Because we got baptisms coming up later, and we really need to woo, okay?

Um, so so my dad's teaching at this camp.

I'm there with him, my little sister's there, my older brothers are off in college.

And what happens at a camp like something like this often happens is a little summer love, a little camp, you know, flinging.

I met this girl, not Jenny, uh, just so you know, and and I met this girl like, oh my goodness, and this little, you know, 15-year-old heart went fluttering, and we started hanging out, and her family actually owned a cabin or a house in the mountains there, right on the property of Mount Herman.

And so one night we go to her family's house, we're playing cards and games, it was great, and it was time for me to come home.

It's like 10 o'clock at night or 11.

I don't know what time it was.

Um, but it that night there was no moon, it was pitch black, and I'm walking home in the woods there, and I get lost.

Again, if you remember, this is the 90s, there's no cell phone coverage either.

Uh, there, because there's no cell phones.

Um, no light.

I get lost.

Eventually, I I get off the path as well.

I'm wandering for about an hour, not really sure where I'm at.

I'm under the canopy of the redwoods.

Uh eventually I just go like I start running.

I don't know why.

That's what a 15-year-old does when they're lost and scared.

Like it's spooky, you're disoriented.

You're hearing woo, you know.

And it wasn't like the good woo that just happened here, it was like the bad woo, right?

I'm freaking out.

I fall down a ravine, I stumble down it because I'm running.

And so then now I'm kind of like cut up and bruised.

And eventually, after wandering what felt like for hours, I see this little glimmer of light through the trees, and so I make my way towards the light, and I'm actually on the back side.

I didn't know this.

Uh, came up to the back side of the main part of the campus of Mount Herman, and I was finally, finally there.

There's something about the dark, isn't there?

I mean, growing up, maybe you like me were scared of the dark.

It's disorienting, it's stumbling, it's hard to navigate.

And when we look at the world around us, and we see the events on the news, and we just look at how people act around us, it's easy to look at and go, man, the world's pretty dark, right?

There's a lot of disorientation, there's a lot of things that are scary out there.

How do we navigate the darkness of the world around us?

How do we navigate the pain, the suffering, the tragedy, the systemic injustice?

How do we navigate greed and exploitation, anger, hate, and violence, the ideology and the world system that is so counter to human flourishing?

How do we navigate the world around us?

And I think even a deeper and bigger question is what do I do with the darkness within me?

Because it's easy to look out there and the darkness of the world out there, isn't it?

But it's honestly, there's a lot more darkness in here than I care to admit, right?

And what do I do with the darkness and the confusion and the pain and the hurts and the doubt and the crises and the thoughts that bubble up that go, where did that come from?

What do I do with the darkness within me?

We've been looking at Jesus' I am statements in the Gospel of John, where he's declaring who he is.

And in the second I am statement, Jesus has this line that's so powerful, so clarifying, and if it's true, filled with immense hope.

And he says this declaration.

I am the light of the world.

I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of light.

Like, what do you do with the darkness of this world?

What do you do with the darkness that's within?

Jesus is saying, You guess what?

Light has dawned and I've shown up on the scene.

I'm here to expel the darkness.

No, when we read Jesus' teachings and we study, we often miss uh when he's saying things and where he's saying them.

We miss those because we read it and we're not familiar with the Jewish context or the Jewish calendar and some of these sort of things.

And sometimes, doesn't it feel like Jesus just says stuff like, who says that anyways, right?

You know, it's like I am the light of the world.

Like he just showed up to a house party.

He's like, What's up, guys?

Um, turns the light on and off.

Fun trick, huh?

I'm the light of the world.

Right?

That's not what happened.

It was the Feast of Tabernacles.

Sakot.

Or booth.

When he made this statement.

Now, the Feast of Tabernacles celebrates and remembers uh God's provision for the people of Israel as they wandered in the wilderness.

And what they would do for seven days is literally every Jewish family, they would they would build a hut or a booth.

We'd call it a tent, uh, but they actually had to build theirs, not buy theirs.

And they would build a tent and they would live outside for seven days, and they would rehearse the wilderness together, and they would remember God's provision in the wilderness, in the dry land, God's provision of water through the rock and the wilderness and the dryness of the desert land.

And then they would remember that God provided for them.

You can read this in Exodus uh 13, verse 21.

He provided direction for them through a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

And they're remembering this.

And so the two big pictures of Secat or Tabernacle, the feast of tabernacle, is this water and this fire, this light.

And Jesus in chapter seven, if you'll read, already says that he's the living water and he identifies with the water, that that same water that brought life in the desert barren land.

Jesus says, I'm here.

And then in chapter eight, he says, Guess what?

I am the light of the world.

You know, that light that led our ancestors, that led you through the darkness and protected you, has arrived here.

Now that's what was happening when Jesus says, I am the light of the world, but this is where he said it.

It gets even better.

He actually said it in the area known as the court of women.

And I got a little slide.

It's actually in the temple of God here for you, the Jewish temple.

It had multiple courts, and each court was a different level of access.

And so the outer court was the court of Gentiles.

Many or most, maybe all of us, most of us, that's as far as we could go.

The court of gentiles, huge, massive area.

And then you would actually go up into the temple, and you would the first area then would be the court of women.

And this is where the treasury was, and the tithes and offerings uh would be given.

There would be 12 uh huge horns.

They're called um horns because they were shaped like a horn.

They're golden, and where you'd throw your treasury or your gifts into.

And this was the court of women.

This is as far as women could go in the Jewish temple, and unless they were offering a sacrifice.

And then you had the inner place, uh, the Holy of Holies, and the court of priests, and the all of those areas.

So Jesus is in the court of women.

Now, here's what was happening during the Feast of Sukkut or Tabernacle.

On the very first day of the Feast of Sukkut, uh, they would build these huge stands in the court of women's so that everybody could come in and participate and be a part of this.

They would build these stands and they would put four massive uh candelabras in there, and they would light this minute it got to dusk and evening, they would light these candle abras, and it would lit such a brilliant flame that it lit up the entire, all of the courts were completely lit up.

And all night long, I mean, thousands of people all gathered in this court, and all night long the wisest and the most righteous of men would dance and sing unto the Lord.

It was this brilliant party, and just can imagine, remember, there's no electricity, and all of a sudden the temple is set aflame with fire and light for the entire night.

And some uh scholars suggest this happened every single night for seven days, and it's here in that court with that light that Jesus then declares I am the light of the world.

You see those lights up there, those candelabras, they're bright and they're amazing, they're brilliant.

That's fantastic.

By the way, they're gonna go out, they're gonna be taken down.

I am the light that never extinguishes.

I am the light of the world.

And the first thing I want you to notice about Jesus' statement about who Jesus is, is that Jesus is not one of many lights in the world.

And he didn't leave that option available to us.

We like Jesus is a good teacher, he's a nice guy, he did a lot of good works.

He made claims that did not leave that available to us.

He didn't say, I am a light.

He said, No, I am the light of the world.

Here's what I want you to realize.

Jesus' claim is exclusive.

It's not popular right now.

It's exclusive.

There is one light, and it's inclusive.

I am the light, but who's the light for?

Read it up there, and it's in yellow.

You don't have to guess.

The world.

For every single person on the planet, which was not even in the minds and thoughts of the ancient-day people.

It was prophesied through the prophecies in the Jewish scriptures that there would be this messianic light, this light, this person that would come that would be a light even for the Gentiles.

But you know what?

Your God's protected you and was just for you.

And Jesus says, No, I'm for everyone.

I'm for everyone.

Yeah, there's only one light here, but my light isn't just for the right people, the perfect people, the religious people.

I am for every single person.

Um I I recently went light shopping, like light bulb shopping.

How many of you bought button?

I speak for a living.

Have bought light bulbs.

Yeah.

Isn't that crazy?

Have you gone to the aisle?

Like I was standing at the aisle.

I was overwhelmed.

I used to be overwhelmed with eggs.

Now I'm overwhelmed with light bulbs.

Right?

I mean, just think about this.

There's there's like globe light bulbs, there's candle light bulbs, there's tube light bulbs, there's Edison light bulbs, there's, you know, I'm like, there's LED light bulbs, there's smart light bulbs, there's there's 40, 60, 80, 100 watt light bulbs, there's soft light, there's bright light, there's warm light, there's so many light bulbs.

And then I have a bin, I meant to bring it.

I have a bin in my, you know, one of our closets of light bulbs.

Of just random different kind of light bulbs.

And here's what we think, and the way we think about it, is you have your light, I have my light, and I have this little bulb, and you have this little bulb.

And the reality is, is there is only one light of the world.

And what we do, and the way we think about it, is Jesus is a nice light for me.

Right?

Jesus works for you.

Awesome.

But he doesn't work for me.

Wrong.

You have your light, I have my light.

Jesus says, No, I am the light.

Isn't that a radical shift to the way we're thinking and the way we've thought about things?

No, no, no, Ryan.

You just have to look within yourself.

The divine spark.

By the way, the divine spark is not Christian, it is Gnostic and New Age.

It is not Jesus.

Stop looking within yourself, start looking to Jesus.

I am the light.

It's exclusive and inclusive.

It's exclusive.

He's the only one.

It's inclusive.

It's available.

He's available to anyone.

And the beautiful part is the light is not a nice idea.

The light isn't a set of beliefs.

The light isn't a philosophy.

The light is a person.

It's Jesus.

And when you have the light of Jesus, you have Jesus himself.

So what does light do?

Let me give you just three things that light does.

And the first is the reason we don't want to embrace Jesus as the light of the world.

Even as Christians.

The first is light reveals.

Light does two things.

It illuminates truth or reality and it exposes what was dark and hidden.

That's why we don't want Jesus to be the light of the world, because it illuminates what's true and what's real.

And as long as we're living in the dark, we can feel good about ourselves, and we don't have to look in the mirror and see what's actually going on.

It's not lit up for everybody to see.

And so we're going, you know what, I'm just fine, and I'm looking at you, and you're just fine.

But the minute you turn on the lights, you go, whoa, baby.

Because we don't want to have our hearts exposed.

It exposes.

Light exposes the hidden parts and reveals what's in the dark.

It illuminates what's true.

Light allows us to see things as they really are.

And then it exposes the darkness, the lies, and the falsehood.

Oh, we need this today.

Christians, you need this today.

Where instead of looking for something else to reveal truth, you look to Jesus and go, You're the light of the world.

Only you can illuminate my life and show me reality.

Instead of letting everything else and everyone else define reality.

First thing it does is light reveals.

The second thing it does is light guides.

Light guides.

One of the concepts for light in the Jewish tradition was the idea that light, the Torah or the Word of God was light, that it guides and it directs, right?

Psalm 119 says, Your word is a lamp unto my feet.

Like if you want to be guided in life, Jesus says, I'm a guide for your life.

If you want to know how the flourishing way of life, if you don't want to get lost on the path and fall into the ravine like Ingram, then you know what?

Hello, look to me and I will guide you.

You got lots of people with good hearted advice.

But he says, I'm the one who will guide you.

Light reveals, light guides, and then light brings life.

I was gonna say light grows, but things grow even without it.

But light is necessary for life, and the reality is nothing good grows in the dark, does it?

Can you think about anything good that grows in the dark?

Yeah, it's a fungi.

And the truth is, in your life, nothing good grows in the dark.

And so we live in secrets and we live in shame and we live stuck because we won't step into the light.

And he says, No, actually, it's life.

It's life.

I want to give you life.

Would you step into the light?

Jesus is not one among many lights, he is the light.

Let me ask you, who or what are you looking to to light your life?

Who or what are you looking to to bring light, to bring guidance, to bring life to your life?

And so and so only Jesus can dispel the darkness and the chaos in your life.

Only Jesus.

If he is really, I told you, if this statement is true, it is so powerful and so wonderful and so hope-filled.

Only Jesus, and what good news, because then you don't have to search and run after so many things hoping this thing will work.

Only Jesus will dispel the darkness and the chaos, the emptiness, the loneliness, the generational sin, the secret life that you have within.

Those evil thoughts, the brokenness in you and relationships, your need to control, need to measure up, to prove your worth, to manipulate others to get what you want, to have your way.

Only Jesus can dispel the darkness and the chaos.

And I love this.

His next line says, I'm the light of the world.

Whoever, open invitation.

Whoever follows.

Me will never walk in the darkness.

The people of Israel were wandering in the wilderness.

There was a pillar, like I said, a fire by night and a cloud by day.

Some scholars actually think that cloud was actually covered the entire group to protect them from the harm of the sun and the pillar by night to not only guide and lead them, but to protect them.

And wherever the pillar moved, then the people moved.

So when Jesus says, Whoever follows me, he's drawing on the people of Israel's rich understanding of the light in the wilderness that was the light or the Shekinah glory of God, his manifest presence that was leading them in the wilderness.

And he says, If you follow me, like the people of Israel followed the light.

So wherever it moves, you move.

When it moved, you know what they did?

They packed up their tents and they got a walking.

He says, Whoever follows me, whoever looks at Jesus and says, the direction you're headed, I'm heading in that direction.

Whoever looks at Jesus and says, Whatever you say, I'll do, I'm gonna follow you.

I'm getting after you.

And so as you move, I move.

Whoever follows me will what?

Will never walk in darkness.

Never be stumbling around, groping around, trying to wonder and hope and figure it out.

Now, this picture uh for the early followers of Jesus really became a significant picture.

And as you read through the New Testament, you'll see it, this living in darkness and walking in the light.

And the apostle Paul picks this picture up in Ephesians chapter 8, verse, or Ephesians chapter 5.

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

There's only six chapters in Ephesians.

Ephesians chapter 5, verse 8.

Ephesians 5:8

And he says, for notice this, this is so incredible.

For once you were darkness.

Not just in darkness, you were darkness.

Like the state of your soul was darkness.

But now you are light.

How?

In the Lord.

Like your position, your standing is in the Lord.

And because you're in the Lord, because you're in Christ Jesus, you are now light.

It is your standing, not because of something that is of you, but he is the light.

Then it says live, and right above live, would you write the word walk?

It's the Greek word for walk.

Walk as children of the light.

So I can be in the light, but not walking in the light.

You catch that?

Because I think that's where a lot of followers of Jesus are.

We're in the light, we place our faith in him, but we're not following him.

There's a big difference.

I put my faith in you, I believe in you, and I have my fire insurance.

So hell level, when I die, heaven, here I go, but I'm not following you, I'm not walking in the light.

And you're wondering where the chaos and the darkness inside and why Jesus isn't working.

Walk in the light.

Friend?

Walk in the light.

Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness.

Live as children of the light, for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.

Don't you want that a part of your life?

And find out what pleases the Lord.

If I'm following you, I just want to please you.

Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

It's shameful even to mention, although he did above this verse previous to this, what the disobedient do in secret.

But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, and everything that is illuminated becomes the light.

That is why it says, wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

Only Jesus can dispel the darkness and chaos in your life.

And here's what we're looking to in our culture in our day that is the dispeller of darkness.

It's called self-help.

Right?

Did you know the self-help industry globally is a, let me get this right,$43 billion a year industry?

Self-improvement, self-empowerment, self-realization, self-fulfillment, the human potential movement, self.

Look within yourself.

Jesus, or Paul says, you were darkness.

Look within yourself.

There's nothing in there but darkness.

Look to Jesus.

Look to Jesus.

Jesus is not one among many lights.

Only Jesus can dispel the darkness and chaos of your life.

And this might come as a big aha.

But Jesus is the light that prevails over the darkness of the world.

He says, Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

Earlier, John opens up his gospel and he begins with this Genesis narrative.

And he he reframes it in the idea of who Jesus is.

In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.

He goes on to say that in him this word was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

That is good news.

Especially when you're walking in the most discouraging difficult times, that the light of Christ will never be snuffed out and darkness will never overcome it.

But the minute you turn on the light, darkness flees.

See, we don't actually think Jesus is going to be the light that prevails over the darkness of the world.

In our culture, we think technology is.

You laugh now.

Because what did it do?

It increased your work.

And then now you carry it everywhere.

Is it light in life or is it soul sucking?

I don't know.

You tell me.

But we think technology will.

We think no, if we just need more education.

Friends, I got news for you.

We have more technology, we have more education, and we have more darkness in our world.

It's time for followers of Jesus to actually believe this.

And throughout scripture, you see this juxtaposition, the light of life and the shadow of death.

That fundamentally we live in a land that is the shadow of death.

Light doesn't cast shadows, by the way, objects do.

And what has cast a shadow over humanity is death.

Prophesied Isaiah of this messianic one who would come.

He says, The people walking in darkness have seen a great light on those living in the land of the shadow of death.

A light has done.

The light of the world stepped into darkness, took on the shadow that has cast over us despair and hopelessness, death in relationships, and death ultimately.

And took on death itself, rose again.

And there was this, there in this line, the light of life is this messianic hope and eschatological hope that Jesus not only has conquered death now, but he will return and restore and he will make all things right.

You can be confident that a better tomorrow awaits because of the resurrection of Jesus.

And so we as followers of Jesus are to be the most hope-filled, light-filled people in the midst of the darkest moments.

The light of life.

Says, Until I return and I restore and make all things right, you are the light of the world.

A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bush.

No, they light a lamp and put it on a stand so everyone can see.

In the same way, let your light so shine before men that they see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Jesus is the light of the world that dispels the darkness, and he placed you here to be light in this city.

What if God has you in Silicon Valley on purpose?

What if he's placed you at your workplace on purpose?

What if the feeling like you're the only one who knows Jesus in your workplace and everybody's against you is actually something beautiful because you are a light, and what happens is you don't need a whole lot of light.

And in a dark place, the minute you put turn on the light, boom, you get a C.

And he's placed you there to bring truth and grace and love and hope and life.

Yesterday, my wife and daughter were at IF, and the closing speaker was Christine Kane, which is, she's, if you haven't ever heard of her, she's one of the best preachers in the world, period.

Um I remember years ago she shared this story about her daughter.

She was pushing her daughter uh in Walmart on a in a cart, and she um it was you know how they get you with those things that you're walking out with, and one was this flashlight, and it had you know some character on it.

Mommy, can I get this?

And she says, Okay.

And she's flicking it on and off.

And you know how Walmart is, it's just like super lit.

So they're in the checkout, super lit, and flipping it on and off.

And then you know what she said in the line?

She said, Mommy, let's go find some darkness.

So my light will work.

See, in this room is a beautiful thing.

This is this is filled with a bunch of light.

But you were designed to go and be the light in a dark world.

Where your heart, imagine if we were a church where you said, you know what, my calling and my purpose with the light of the world is now the light of Jesus living and dwelling inside of me.

I am a child of the light.

I am going to walk in the light, and as a result, everywhere I go, I bring the light of Jesus.

I bring hope and life and truth and salvation.

And so I'm finding some darkness, and it's not hard to find in the Silicon Valley.

And so, hello, I'm showing up, and I am the light of the world, and my presence, just my presence makes a difference.

Your presence makes a difference.

I want to close this way.

I've been wrestling with this one.

We're gonna have baptisms, and we do practice spontaneous baptisms, and maybe you have never been baptized and you want to get baptized, and even as I'm talking, you're like, you know what?

I just sense like that is that taking a step into the light today for me.

Our prayer team and some of our pastoral team is gonna be in the back as we worship.

I want you to go back there and just go, you know, today's my day to step, follow him.

Jesus said, be baptized.

That's part of following him, your public identification as a follower of Jesus.

But I've been wrestling with this as we close.

Like, not just an idea and like, oh, I had my heart stirred a little bit, but no, I want to step into the light.

And if you need to step into the light this morning, I'm talking to Jesus followers.

And maybe there's been some stuff that has been a secret and hiding in dark that you need the light to shine and expose.

Maybe you've been trying to do life your own way and you need his light to guide.

Maybe you've been searching for some areas and things to bring life, and you finally go, Jesus, your light alone brings life.

I want to do something, and so I want to invite you to stand.

We're gonna continue to worship, but if you are in a place where you need to step into the light, and I had to do it earlier.

I was on my knees up here uh earlier, and I'm not saying that just to tell you, but it just was God was exposing something as we were worshiping.

I was in the light and he was exposing sin in my heart, and I had to get before him and get on my face.

And so as we worship, would you get before him and get on your face?

And if you need to step into the light, would you do that by literally just coming forward and getting on your knees and allowing his light to shine on you?

We hope you are blessed by this message.

Please subscribe to our podcast for access to every episode as they're uploaded.

And hey, we'd love to connect with you.

Take a next step by filling out our virtual connection card at awakeningchurch.com slash card.