Jesus Is... - The Light of the World

I think it's safe to say we're living in a dark world. When you look at Israel, when you look at what's happening in Sudan, when you look at the war in Ukraine, when you look at the hostility and the darkness and the anger and the violence, here's the question, where's the light and how do you get it? Today, Jesus will answer that question for you and me in a powerful way.

Stay with me. Chip's our Bible teacher for this international teaching and discipleship ministry focused on helping Christians live like Christians. While we're in the middle of our newest series, Jesus Is taught by Chip and his son Ryan Ingram, lead pastor at Awakening Church in San Jose, California. Thanks for joining us as we continue learning about the seven foundational attributes of Christ laid out for us in the Gospel of John. Today, Ryan will talk about Jesus as the light of the world.

There's a lot of content to cover, so go to John chapter eight in your Bible as we join Ryan with his message. It was the summer before my 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. And what happens at a camp like something like this often happens is a little summer lava, a little camp, you know, fling. I met this girl, not Jenny, just so you know, 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 Hermon. And so one night we go to her family's house, we're playing cards and games.

It was great. And it's time for me to come home. It's like 10 o'clock at night or 11. I don't know what time it was, but 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 there because there's no cell phones. No light. I get lost. Eventually 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. 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.

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 backside. I didn't know this.

I came up to the backside of the main part of the campus of Mount Hermon 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 I go, where did that come from?

What do I do with the darkness within me? We've been looking at Jesus's 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 life. Like what do you do with the darkness of this world? What do you do with the darkness that's within? Jesus is saying, 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's teachings and we study, we often miss 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. Those are the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of Tabernacles celebrates and remembers 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 build a hut or a booth.

We would call it 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 in 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 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 Sukkot 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 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. And then you would actually go up into the temple. And the first area then would be the court of women. And this is where the treasury was and the tithes and offerings would be given. There would be 12 huge horns.

They're called 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 unless they were offering a sacrifice. And then you had the inner place, the holy of holies and the court of priests and all of those areas.

So Jesus is in the court of women. Now here's what was happening during the feast of Sukkot or tabernacle. On the very first day of the feast of Sukkot, they would build these huge stands in the court of women 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 candelabras in there and they would light this. Minute it got to dusk and evening, they would light these candelabras. 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 into 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 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 and they're brilliant. That's fantastic.

By the way, they're going to go out, they're going to 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. You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and we'll continue our series, Jesus Is, in just a second. But let me ask you, do you feel bombarded by negative, depressing or even sinful thoughts? If you want some help to overcome them, join us after the teaching, as Chip talks about the importance of renewing our minds with God's word and highlights a resource that can help you take every thought captive.

So stick around to learn more. With that, here again is our guest teacher, Ryan Ingram. I recently went light shopping, like light bulb shopping. 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 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 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.

And 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.

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 into my feet. Like if you want to be guided in life, Jesus says, I'm a guide for your 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 going to 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 only Jesus can dispel the darkness and the chaos in your life. Only Jesus. 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 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 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 headed in that direction. Whoever looks at Jesus says, I'm going to follow 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 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 five, verse eight.

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? Cause I think that's where a lot of followers of Jesus are. We're in the light. We placed 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 hello, 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. 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's the light that prevails. 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 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. What we need is more technology, right?

Technology. You know that when the first computers were being introduced into the workplace, the idea was to cut your workload in half so you worked less? 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, we just need more education.

Friends, I've 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, to go, no, only Jesus will prevail over the darkness of this world. 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 had 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 dawned. 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. In this line, the light of life is this messianic hope, an 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.

Here's the question. What do we do with the darkness right now? What about all the darkness around your workplace, all the darkness around your neighborhood? Jesus had this great line. I'm the light of the world. And then he looks at his followers. He says, until I return and I restore and make all things right, you are the light of the world. Jesus is the light of the world that dispels the darkness and he placed you here to be light in this city.

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 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. I remember years ago she shared this story about her daughter. She was pushing her daughter in Walmart in a cart and she was, you know how they get you with those things that you're walking out with and one was this flashlight and it had 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 and my light will work. See, in this room is a beautiful thing. This is filled with a bunch of light. But you were designed to go and be the light in a dark world.

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 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. You've been listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Ryan Ingram has been our guest teacher for this program, The Light of the World, from our series Jesus Is.

He and Chip will be back in studio shortly to share their application for this message. It's been said that one of the wonderful things about knowing God is that there's always more to know. So even though God is infinite, it can still be a joy for us to learn more and more about who He is. And that's what Chip and his son Ryan Ingram are doing in this series based in the Gospel of John. Join us as they highlight seven phrases Jesus used to describe Himself that gave us a more spectacular glimpse into His character, authority, and love for us.

If you missed any part of this series, catch up through the Chip Ingram app or at livingontheedge.org. Well, I'm joined in studio now by our Bible teacher, Chip Ingram. And Chip, everyone goes through seasons of their life where they feel spiritually stuck. And when we try to dig ourselves out, we get overwhelmed and defeated. Well, take a minute, if you would, and talk about how you've dealt with this struggle in the past.

Well, I want you to know I developed a habit about 30 years ago. When I would get stuck, what I realized was I was believing lies, or I'd had struggles that continued over and over and over. And I needed to attack the lies, not just my behavior or my emotions. And so I came up with these cards, and we call them truth cards. For example, I get frustrated when people interrupt my schedule, when they cut in front of me, because down deep what I believe is my stuff, my time, and me is more important than other people.

Now, that's hard to actually admit. So what I wrote on the card is, I get frustrated and angry when people interrupt my life, dot, dot, dot. And then I write on the bottom, stop. Then I flip the card over, and from John 13, Jesus says, If I, being your Lord and Master, serve you, blessed are you when you do this for one another. And so what I realize is that blessedness comes from service, but instead of trying hard and beating myself up, these truth cards, I read them over in the morning, I read them over at night, I identify a few lies, and then I get the truth. And so we've made these up for you, and let me tell you, it has radically changed my life. Love to put them in your hands, because transformation doesn't happen by trying hard.

Transformation happens by renewing our minds. Amen, Chip. Well, to order your set of Gospel of John truth cards, go to LivingOnTheEdge.org, or call us at 888-333-6003. As you read through and meditate on these 21 cards, you'll expose the lies we've bought or fallen into and replace them with the rock-solid truth of God's Word. To learn more about this helpful tool, visit LivingOnTheEdge.org, or call 888-333-6003.

App listeners tap Special Offers. Well, with that, here again is Chip and Ryan to share some application for us to think about. Ryan, thanks for teaching today, and you wrapped up that message by explaining how Jesus passed the baton to us to be light in this dark world. Now, I think most of us who are followers of Jesus get, yes, we need to be the light. Can I just ask you personally, especially because we live here in the Bay Area, what's God teaching you about how to be the light in your world? I don't mean as a pastor. I mean just as a regular person here. And what would you say to that person who after listening to this message said, you know, I really want to be more of or a better light. What could you say to them to help them take that next step?

Sure thing, Dad. First, I think we need to recognize that our very presence brings light to the environments we step into. Before we think about being the light as something we do, it's important to realize it's something we are.

The Spirit of the living God, the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, lives and dwells in every single believer, empowering them to live a new life. The hope, joy, and peace we bring into the spaces we go is light to a hurting world. I remember when Jenny and I were first married, she got a job at a coffee shop in downtown Chicago. The first day on the job, one of her coworkers turned to her and said, You're a Christian, aren't you?

Now, Jenny didn't wear any cross-shaped necklaces or clothing or use kind of Christianese language. Her presence, stepping into a fairly dark place, lit up the room in a noticeable way. Before we do anything, we are, already are, the light of the world. We carry the presence of Jesus into every space we go into, and it's noticeable.

And secondly, we often think that being the light requires something big from us or some significant act, but it's actually found in the little everyday activities. For example, when my kids were little, we hung a swing in a tree in our front yard. My tendency was to be a backyard family.

It's quieter, it's safer, and separate from our neighbors, unfortunately. It was amazing what just a simple swing did. Our kids wanted me to push them, neighbors' kids would walk by and use it, and most importantly, it got us out front in proximity with our neighbors, and we began to build relationships and friendships. Now that my kids are teenagers, I have two boys that play a lot of basketball.

For hours every week, I sit in the bleachers next to other parents from my boys' team. It's an opportunity for me to be the light to both parents and the teammates of my boys. Truly getting to know and care for them, praying for opportunities for Jesus to, like, speak and move in conversations.

And the old adage is really true. People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. And so being the light of the world begins with really fundamentally caring about people, praying for them, and then simply looking for opportunities to introduce them to Jesus. Thanks, Ryan. And before we go, let me quickly tell you about a resource we've developed that'll help you better engage the people around you on a spiritual level. It's our good friend Aaron Pierce's book, Not Beyond Reach. In it, he unpacks a new perspective toward evangelism that centers around friendship, intentional conversations, and of course, the gospel. To learn more about Not Beyond Reach by Aaron Pierce, visit specialoffersatlivingontheedge.org or the Chip Ingram app. We'll listen to it next time as our guest teacher, Ryan Ingram, picks up in our series, Jesus Is. Until then, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge. ...