Pastor Jonny continued our I AM series this week. We continued looking in book of John, Jesus has 7 I AM sayings, explaining to His Disciples who He is, what His mission was, and how we can come into right relationship with Him.
Last week looked at the first I AM, when Jesus declared Himself as the Bread of Life.
This week, we looked as Him as the Light of the world.
12Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”
13The Pharisees replied, “You are making those claims about yourself! Such testimony is not valid.”
14Jesus told them, “These claims are valid even though I make them about myself. For I know where I came from and where I am going, but you don’t know this about me. 15You judge me by human standards, but I do not judge anyone. 16And if I did, my judgment would be correct in every respect because I am not alone. The Fathera who sent me is with me. 17Your own law says that if two people agree about something, their witness is accepted as fact.b 18I am one witness, and my Father who sent me is the other.”
19“Where is your father?” they asked.
Jesus answered, “Since you don’t know who I am, you don’t know who my Father is. If you knew me, you would also know my Father.” 20Jesus made these statements while he was teaching in the section of the Temple known as the Treasury. But he was not arrested, because his timec had not yet come.
(John 8:12-20)
Prior to this passage, the Pharisees had caught a woman in adultery. Jesus told them “you without sin cast the first stone and none of the Pharisees could cast a stone at her, as they all recognised they had sin in their lives. Jesus is the only one who could have done that. He knew the law better than the Pharisees. The Pharisees loved living by the law, so Jesus used the law to show them their sin.
The Bible shows us that we all fall short of the glory of God, and Jesus came to show us that, but He also came to show us that there is hope beyond that. Jesus is the light of the world. He wants to radiate His light into all the dark areas of our lives. He is the way for us to get right with the Father.
Jesus is the light of the world
This is a beautiful vivid picture. Who doesn’t love light? He brings light and He is light. We shouldn’t hide the light in us, but we should let it shine (as the song sings).
In John 1:5, we see Jesus described as “the light shines in the darkness and the darkness can never extinguish it”. Jesus conquered the darkness and the darkness couldn’t come close to extinguishing His light!
There is never a battle between darkness and light. When you switch a light on, the darkness always flees. The only way darkness can ever win is if there is no light. At night, darkness doesn’t overpower the light, but darkness is the absence of sun. Darkness can only win in the absence of light. It’s only when we don’t want Jesus’ light shining in areas of our lives that darkness can get a foothold.
Jesus is light for the world
Jesus wasn’t just revealing Himself through a metaphor. He was trying to reveal more about His mission here on earth as well.
He took on the sin of the world to cast out darkness. It doesn’t matter what you look like, what your bank account looks like, what your past looks like, Jesus came to bring light for you. His purpose was you, to love you and provide light and save you from keep tripping up in the darkness that you used to live in. We all need Him.
The more you sit in the dark, the more you get accustomed to, and adapt to the dark. This is a metaphor for how we live our lives. If we don’t shine the light into al areas of our lives, we can get used to living in the darkness, developing coping mechanisms and secretly enjoying our sin.
The longer we stay in the dark, the harder it is to imagine turning the lights on. Christians going through relationship breakdown or loss or financial ruin refer to the period as a dark period. This is because they have lost faith in Jesus, they have lost the light.
But do not worry, because Jesus has come to free you from the power and penalty of the sin in your life. The only way you can do this is through turning to Jesus, shining a light on the things you’ve hidden in the darkness in your life and believing in Him for eternal life.
Turn to Jesus and boldly approach the throne of grace today.