The Light Of The World

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." - John 3:16 KJV

Jesus is the illumination of God's love.

"And God said, Let there be light: and there was light." - Genesis 1:3 KJV

God wanted to make it possible for us to see things that were far away in this creation He was making so He illuminated it.

"Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." - John 8:12 KJV

Yes! Yes! Yes! He Is the light that lights every man and shows us the love of the Father. Love is invisible unless you show it... It is unknown unless you say it. God didn't hide His love. He showed us His love.

"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to [give] the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." - 2 Corinthians 4:6 KJV

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Truth Brings Order

I hope everyone who is reading this has been in a place where they heard something in a moment that utterly changed their life. Truth. When you hear it order comes in. Perspective comes in. Light shines into darkness. For some it might have been in a movie or a song. I hope we have personal relationships where deep truth is shared. It might have come in the form of humor.

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." - John 14:6 KJV

Jesus claimed to be 'The Truth'... Wow... that is a wild claim. It is on par with claiming to be uniquely divine in origin... The only Son of God.

I have been in rooms where chaos reigned. There was no order or just disfunctional order and there is great vunerablity there because a charismatic force can just enter and take over with little resistance.

Then there is the ordered place or person. Integrity is there. Illumination and yes even healing... Can words heal? I say 'Yes' if the illness is disfunction and function is restored there can be healing.

Let's both say truth things today... not just factually true but deep truths that heal... the only way we can do that is if we 'know' the Truth with a capital 'T'... if 'He' is what we are talking about and what we say aligns with how things really are then what we say matters. It can restore order in a world where people 'lie down in darkness'. If we see Jesus we see a 'great light' and that light can shine in us and through us to others.

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Predictors versus Indicators

The past is not a very good predictor of the future. I see many Bible teachers using the what has happened to try and say what will happen. Historians also. They are rarely right.

One thing many Bible teachers do get right, from my viewpoint at least, is that things do happen for a reason. Nothing is random. Events get pushed along by some force, or forces really, because there are always several reasons that something has happened.

We can see 'indicators' and then we make choices based on those things. The wise know how to spot indicators that are not obvious to the untrained eye. "for we walk by faith, not by sight." - 2 Corinthians 5:7 ESV

Character is a good indicator. Our 'Faith' is based on God's demonstrated character. That applies to people also and loosely to groups but because leadership changes hands and circumstances change even that is not the best 'predictor'.

"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire." - 2 Peter 1:3-4 ESV

God tells us certain things about what he will do and how He thinks and that information is 'precious' because it gives us hope in a very uncertain world.

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The Stranger Becomes A Friend

Thinking about faith this morning. Really this word means trust and in order to trust we must be aware of a thing and some of it's attributes.

The word 'stranger' is used for a person who is an unknown quantity. We know they exist but we don't know much about them other than that they are different from us in some way. They are outsiders.

"You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, 'He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us'? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, ' God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.' " - James 4:4-6 ESV

This speaks to me. A stranger could be an enemy or they could become a friend.

"For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him." - Romans 8:5-9 ESV

Some teach that the natural man hates God and the soul needs 'help' from God in order to believe in Him but when i look in the scriptures i see that individuals see God as a stranger and God is estranged from man and will never 'buy into' the system we have created that is outside His holiness.

"But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility." - Ephesians 2:13-16 ESV

The fallen man sees God as a powerful stranger who made rules and then demanded we follow them but the cross shows us a God who loves us and bridges the gap by coming to us and serving us. If we look at God through the lens of the Gospel we see that He Is a friend and not an enemy.

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." - Hebrews 11:1-6 KJV

I could go on and quote the whole chapter...

Faith is seeing God as He Is and that pleases Him. It is impossible to please God if we see Him as a stranger or an enemy. Once we see that He loves us we can give Him love in return and that is a glorious exchange.

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Winning, Giving And Worship

Worshiping this morning... Jesus is amazing... He has put His righteousness on our account... we can be winners in Him and there don't need to be any losers in order for us to win...

"And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, 'Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death...' " - Revelation 12:10-11 ESV

The accuser has not been cast down yet. This is a future event but the path to victory is the same.

"He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes." - Mark 6:38 KJV

I'm looking at my lunch and I have a little but not much... still... I'm worshiping and giving it to Jesus to bless.

The accusation is that we only have enough for ourselves and even then it may not be enough. The promise is that we win by... 'the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death'... my life... my lunch... my bread... my fish... or we can give it to Jesus.

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Fellowship That Illuminates Truth

Jesus is sitting on a throne in Heaven right now and the people that have gone before us who believed in Him are there also. I often wonder what that must be like. It must make Jesus very happy that those people are there. He Is God who forever took on the 'form' of a man and people need people no matter who you are.

Jesus really had no one to fellowship with on Earth that understood Him. You can see His frustration at times...

"And Jesus answered, "O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me."" - Matthew 17:17 ESV

"Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?" - John 14:8-9 ESV

So many things must have seemed 'self-evident' to Him but the people around Him were blind to those realities.

As a thirty year old man He met with an older teacher in Israel that seemed to know some things. Most of the other teachers stood against Him but not this one. This one wanted to meet and talk...

"Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him." Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" Jesus answered him, "Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?" - John 3:1-12 ESV

I read this and see Jesus as a 30 year old man hoping to connect with an older respected person but they hit a wall because the older man is blind to what Jesus plainly sees as true.

Ministry is often filled with times when we converse with others and find that they know something deeply that we were blind to. Then on other days we know something that the Spirit taught us that the other person is blind to and gracious interaction is needed to bridge that gap.

"Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit." - Matthew 15:14 ESV

So true.

If we find someone who sees beyond what we see it is wise to be quiet and listen. The Spirit will give witness and we have scripture to act as a guide. Real wisdom will never fall outside what scripture says. Wisdom from above will be illuminated by scripture and will connect concept to concept. Jesus will be central. Grace will be in the mix. God will become bigger and Heaven will seem closer.

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Seven Attributes Of Jesus Revealed To Seven Churches

In order to have eternal perspective in any given situation you and I need to know something specific about God. We need to know who He Is and how He functions...

"Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; I know thy works..." - Revelation 2:1-2a KJV

"And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive; I know thy works..." - Revelation 2:8-9a KJV

"And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges; I know thy works..." - Revelation 2:12-13a KJV

"And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet [are] like fine brass; I know thy works.." - Revelation 2:18-19a KJV

"And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works..." - Revelation 3:1 KJV

"And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; I know thy works..." - Revelation 3:7-8 KJV

"And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works..." - Revelation 3:14-15 KJV

Seven is a number representing completion is the Bible. That concept comes from the Hebrew. It is why we have seven days in a week. Seven days give us a complete cycle. God is addressing seven Churches in these chapters for a reason. These seven statements are things that the 'angel' (leader/representative) needed to know about Jesus. Putting them all together gives us a complete view of what we need to know to handle every problem we face.

Every statement is followed by 'I know thy works'. Jesus is telling us and them who He Is and that He sees what they are doing. That order is important because we need to think that way also. We are wise if we look at Jesus to see who His Is first then put what we are doing second and in the context of who He Is.

I'm going to read these seven statements again and again today because they are special. You can't see this in nature, anthropology or through self examination. This is who Jesus Is and only He can tell us that and He does so we can be equipped. It will change what we do and when we do it if we know what God says here about Himself.

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