Many years ago, when I was in high
school, I liked to run. Rarely anymore do I get the urge to run. Now and then I
get a little stir crazy and I’ll go running, but it’s pretty rare. But in high
school I loved to run. Now for this story to make sense, I need to explain a
little bit about where I grew up. I grew up back a ¼ mile lane just off of 224
right between
Now, not only is it crazy to run that
far, but I would also do most of my running at night. It’s cooler at night.
It’s peaceful. There’s nothing too distracting. I liked running at night. Well
one night I decided to go for a run, and it was a little foggy out. I was on
the second leg of my run, about halfway down the grass runway, when I stopped.
And I looked around and I noticed that it was so foggy and so dark that I
couldn’t see a single light. Not a star, not the moon, not a security light,
nothing. And there was no wind. It was perfectly calm and completely dark. And
I can remember thinking at first, “wow, this is really cool!” There aren’t too
many places where you can go and you can look all around and not see a single
electric or natural light. But then I began to feel a little uneasy. Even when
you know you are out in the open and there’s nothing there, it doesn’t seem
like a good idea to run when you can’t see your hand in front of your face. And
I had turned around enough looking to see if I could see any electric lights
that I had lost my bearings.
So I turned and pointed myself in the
direction that I thought would take me back down the runway. I wasn’t too
panicked, because I knew if I’d stay walking in a straight line I’d eventually come
to something I’d recognize, but still the only thought in my mind was, “This
run is over. Let’s go home!” As I kept walking forward, I knew I was still on
the lane because the lane was grass and on either side were bean fields.
Eventually, I began to make out a tiny light, and my eyes focused on it. It was
a security light next to my grandpa’s barn. And I just pointed myself at that
light and I took off running. I wanted out of the dark as fast as possible.
Now all of us, I don’t care who you
are, all of us prefer light over dark. Even if you won’t admit to being scared
of the dark, you know you are. Take any bad situation, and add darkness to it,
and immediately it gets worse, right? That’s why no horror movies take place in
a bright, sunny meadow. Your car breaks down: that’s bad. Your car breaks down
at night: that’s worse.
We’re like moths, right? We are
attracted to the light. So it’s no wonder that Jesus uses light as a metaphor
when he says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk
in darkness but will have the light of life.” Now, take it from someone who has
walked in the darkness, walking in light it better. Again he said, “We must
work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one
can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
So what do we learn from these two
passages? The first thing that we see is that Jesus is the source of light in
the world. And what does a light do? A light guides, like a lighthouse. It
keeps you on the right path. The light that I saw when I was running guided me
home. Jesus certainly acts as our guide through life, doesn’t he? The teachings
of the gospels, the way he lived his life, it’s all a guide for us, a guide for
how we should go about living our lives.
A light also reveals. Has anyone ever
had a surprise party thrown for them? You walk into a dark house and when you
flip on the light, it reveals all the people hiding and the decorations and the
presents. A light reveals. It makes things visible that previously were not
visible. Jesus is the light of the world, and he has revealed things that
previously were not seen. The scriptures tell us that when Jesus was
resurrected he opened up or revealed the scriptures to his disciples. He revealed
what was already there, but before he came, no one could see. He revealed many
truths about life that were always there but people just couldn’t see. They
couldn’t see that turning the other cheek is better than an eye for an eye.
They couldn’t see that God desires your heart and not just that you obey all
the laws. Jesus revealed what it meant to live for God.
So a light guides and a light reveals,
and a light removes darkness. That seems pretty obvious. A light removes
darkness. Light and darkness cannot coexist. Where there is light, darkness has
to leave. It cannot be so dark that you turn on a flashlight or light a candle
and the darkness consumes it. In the same way, Jesus removed darkness. He
removed evil. Where he was, sin could not be. If he touched you, you were made
well. Jesus, the light of the world, removed darkness.
So let me recap for you a little bit.
This passage of scripture found in John 8:12, and 9:5&6 tells us that Jesus
said “I AM the light of the world.” Jesus is the source of light in the world.
And we said that as the light of the world, Jesus guides, Jesus reveals, and
Jesus removes darkness.
Now the second thing that we can learn
from this passage is a truth that is very simple and very fundamental but it is
often overlooked and we always try to break this simple rule, this truth. The
second truth from this passage is that since Jesus is the source of light in
the world…we are NOT the source of light in the world. Jesus is the source of
light in the world…we are NOT the source of light in the world.
This is the trouble the Pharisees of
Jesus’ time had, and it’s the same trouble that we have today, within the
church and elsewhere. We’ve got this idea that we know how to fix the world. We
can guide the world, we can reveal new and wonderful truths to the world, and
we can get rid of all the darkness in the world. And we try to do it. And we
try to do it by creating really catchy programs with 5 simple steps to changing
your life. 4 steps to improving your marriage. 8 steps to getting debt free.
And we create catchy titles with great acronyms.
“I’ve got three steps to better abs
with my Super Ab program! Just remember ABS! A for Always do crunches. B for
Buy my workout DVD. S for Shipping and handling not included.” And we think:
“Gasp! That spells ABS! It must work!” And all of these things, we think, will
make us happy. Will lead us down the road towards success or a better life or
whatever it is that we are looking for. It’s like we’re running down this dark
runway in the fog, heading towards that light, but we get distracted by
fireflies off to the side. We think, “That’s a pretty light,” but that light
that we were following fades. So we follow another firefly and another and
another until we are so far off the path that we can’t even see the light were
running towards in the first place.
People are not the source of light for
the world. No man…not me, not any preacher you see on TV, no therapist or
sociologist or anyone…is the source of light in this world. None of us are
worth following. No person or any program they are touting has all the answers.
Sorry Dr. Phil, sorry Oprah. All that stuff is nice, but it is not a guide to
fulfillment and it is definitely no substitute for Jesus, who is the true
source of light for this world.
Now, I want to be clear on something.
I said that we are not the source of light for the world. But guess what: we
are still a light. Jesus said in Matthew 5:14, “YOU are the light of the
world.” And in verse 16, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may
see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” So in John Jesus
says, that he is the light of the world, but in Matthew he says that we are the
light of the world. OK, prepare to have your mind blown. This is great stuff.
Jesus is the source of light in the
world. We are not. That’s true, we know that. So how is it that we are the
light of the world? I want you to think about something…on a normal night, if
you were to go outside and look up, what it is brightest thing you would see in
the sky? Not a star, not some man-made light, but the moon. The moon is the
brightest light in the night sky. When it’s a full moon, there is sometimes
enough light to read by, it’s so bright.
Do you have any idea how much light
the moon produces? Zero. The moon produces no light. All of the light that
comes from the moon is reflected from the sun. In essence, the moon is a giant
mirror. In essence, the moon is standing in the night sky saying, “Hey, you
might not be able to see the sun right now…but in case you forgot, here’s what
the sun is like. The sun is bright. The sun guides and reveals and removes
darkness. Let me show you the light of the sun.”
Video
I don’t know about you, but I want to
shine like the moon. I want to be a reflection of the light of Christ onto the
world. So that means none of me can get in the way, because every part of me
that I let get in the way keeps me from being able to fully reflect the beauty
and the glory and the power that is the light of Christ.
So as you go out this week, there are
three questions I want you to ask yourself: Am I letting the light of Christ
guide me, reveal to me, and remove darkness from my life? Am I letting the
light of Christ do it’s work? The second question is, am I following the wrong
light? Am I trying to follow my own light or some scheme that some guy came up
with that is distracting me from following the true light? Finally, am I doing
everything that I can to shine the light of Christ to the rest of the world, so
that there is no way those who are out running in the darkness can miss it? Am
I shining like the moon for Jesus? When people look at me, are they only seeing
his reflection?
As we sing our closing song, I want
you to especially hear the words of the last verse, “As we gaze on your kingly
brightness, so our faces display your likeness, every changing from glory to
glory, mirrored here may our lives tell your story. Shine on me!” Would stand
with me as we sing song 2173 in The Faith We Sing, and sing loud and with
praise for the one who is the true source of light in this world.
Jesus
is the source of light
We
are not the source of the light
We
can reflect the light of Christ
Van Buren United
Pastor Dan Metzger