Christmas: John 8:1 & Matthew 5:14: The Light of the World

One of the most exciting things about Christmas is all the lights. Did you ever wonder why we use so many lights and candles at Christmas?

JOHN 8:1 AND MATTHEW 5:14: THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

INTRODUCTION

We are now in the Christmas season. Everywhere we see the Christmas lights. Lights have been used to celebrate Jesus all through the ages. It used to be candles. Churches were full of candles. I have heard about churches where each worshiper would bring his or her candle into the dark church and when everyone arrived and was seated the church would be ablaze with light.
These candles have a deep spiritual significance. To understand their significance will help us to celebrate Christmas as it ought to be celebrated.
I have two texts for today’s message. The first is John 8:1: Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” And the second is Matthew 5:14: Jesus said, “You are the light of the world.”
We will take up each of these ideas in turn and see how they help us understand what God has done for us and what he expects of us.
I hope that these thoughts will help us prepare spiritually to celebrate Christmas as it ought to be celebrated.

I. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.”

A. You know that John begins his story of Jesus long before Bethlehem, Mary, Joseph, the shepherds and the wise men. John begins his story of Jesus before the beginning of time—in the eternity before there was even a world.

Here is how John begins his story of Jesus:

“In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God;
all things were made by him,
and without him was not anything made that was made.
In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:1-14).

Just as we express ourselves with words, so God expresses himself with his “Word,” which is Jesus.
Jesus came into the world to show us in a human life the heart of God.
Probably one of the first Bible verses we learned in Sunday school was, “God so loved the world, that he sent his only-begotten Son, so that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”
When John wrote: “In him was life and the life was the light of men,” he is telling us two most important things about the Lord Jesus.

Jesus is life and Jesus is light: true life, life that never ends, and the light of the knowledge of God.

John is not picturing for us the sunlight that turns the night into day when he says Jesus was “The light shining in the darkness.”
Do you remember when a carnival used to come to town how they would shine those great spotlights into the air?
They didn’t light up the sky, but they pierced the sky with a bright shaft piercing the darkness.

Or imagine yourself on a pitch-dark day out at sea with only the stars above twinkling with a faint light.
And then you see a lighthouse. And the lighthouse cutting a hole in the blackness with its bright bar of light.

B. John says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

I can remember as a child being lost in the darkness.
The night was much darker when we were children and we didn’t have lights all around us.
The farm where Charlotte grew up had no electricity. The night was really dark and the outhouse was some distance from the house.
The nights were dark, even in the city, where I lived
I lived in the city, but I remember gazing at the Milky Way from my cot on the sleeping porch.

In ancient cities darkness could be terrifying.
A few days ago I read in a history book about the danger of life in ancient Rome.
Night was a time of great danger. Criminals abounded in the darkness.
When dark came people locked themselves in their houses.
Shops were closed and chains drawn across the doors.
If rich people went outside they took slaves with them carrying torches.

So for John, darkness is a good metaphor for a world full of sin and sorrow and evil and danger.
And the darkness—the Bible tells us—is not only all around us in the world; it is also in our own hearts, if they are without God.

But “light,” in the Bible represents peace and joy and holiness and love.
These are the qualities that Jesus brings into our world and into the life of everyone who receives him as Lord and Savior.
We have experienced this.
Even when we experience disappointments and illness and sadness, God dwells within and cheers us with his light.

So when you see the candles and all the bright lights this Christmas, remember that they represent Jesus, the light in a dark world.

II. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said to his followers: “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16).

A. Isn’t that interesting; not only is Jesus the Light of the World, but you and I—if we are followers of Jesus—are also lights in the world.

Jesus is present in our world mainly in the lives of his people.
The people of the world can no longer see Jesus, but they can see you and me.
And our job in the world is to reflect the light of Jesus to those around us.
And Jesus says that the way to do that is by our “good works”—works of kindness and generosity and compassion.

B. We Christians believers need to consider how we can be lights in a dark world.

Here is a conversation a teacher overheard on the playground:
One boy said to another, “None of us ever wants to play with Mike. He’s such a nerd. But whenever the coach asks us to choose a partner for doubles, you always choose to play with Mike. Nobody will play with Mike. Why do you play with him?”
The other boy responded quietly, “That’s why I play with him.”
That boy was reflecting the light of Jesus in the world.

A girl in the seventh grade went to a school party. But nobody greeted her or talked to her. She sat by herself in a corner wishing she hadn’t come. A wise teacher noticed and came over to her and pointed out to her that there were other lonely people at the party just like her. She said, “Why don’t you go over and talk to some of them?”
She spent the rest of the evening seeking out the wall-flowers and offering them her friendship. By the time the party was over she had had a wonderful time.
That girl was serving Jesus. That girl was letting her light shine in the world.
She had begun to come to Sunday school all by herself, but in the end she won her entire family to Christ.

My Aunt Ruth lived to be over 100. She spent the last years in a nursing home in Dallas. In order to share her faith with others in the nursing home she ordered multiple copies of the devotional booklet, The Upper Room. When the housekeeper or nurse aides came into her room, she would offer them a copy. It got so that some of the employees of the home looked forward to receiving these little devotional booklets and would come in and ask for them. This was Aunt Ruth’s way of letting the light of Jesus shine in her life.

In Ephesians 5:8 we read: “Once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light.”
Last week we sang in church a beautiful hymn. It began like this:
“I want to walk as a child of the light;
I want to follow Jesus.”

CONCLUSION

A small girl in a church junior choir was chosen to lead the procession for a Christmas candlelight service. After the service, she said to her mother: “I looked back and saw all those people coming behind me, and I was scared!”
Each of us is in a procession of believers that has been processing through history and will continue until Jesus returns.
Each of us is following a procession. But each of us is also leading a procession—children, younger friends, students, younger friends.

How we live influences the lives and decisions of all who follow us.

Think about how much you owe in your walk with God to those who came before you and taught you by their example. And take seriously your role as a light-bearer for Jesus.

“Jesus bids us shine with a clear pure light,
Like a little candle burning in the night.
In this world of darkness so let us shine.
You in your small corner, and I in mine.”