Good morning, friends! We’re in week 2 of our I AM series in the Gospel of John. This series is based on the most important question Jesus ever asked—and still asks us today which is “Who do you say I am?” As we look to answer that, we can find ourselves in the Gospel According to John. One unique feature of John’s Gospel is the seven ‘I AM’ statements—where Jesus reveals that he is Yahweh and shows us who he is.We’re going to focus on the second I AM statement today.

Now, I’m about to say something controversial here: I am not a huge fan of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. You know the one with Clark Griswald? I just don’t think Chevy Chase is very funny or a good actor…I’m sorry. But, in that film, Clark is obsessed with decorating his home with as many Christmas lights as possible. He finally lights in a glorious moment in the film but it only flickers for a little bit. But in those few moments when the house is lit up, it’s glorious. The rest of the neighborhood looks dark compared to the light.

When I was working on the sermon for this week, I was reminded of that film because the light served as a beacon of hope for Clark that his Christmas and life were okay. But, that hope flickered and faded. So, today, we’re going to be in John 8:12 where we see Jesus as the Light of the World. He’s a better light than the Griswold house at Christmas and you best believe he’s going to stay lit for more than a few seconds.

So today, we’ll see how Jesus is the light of the world who gives us life, guides us, exposes our sin, and transforms us to reflect him.

Will you join me in standing as we hear the words of Christ?

Light gives and sustains life.

If you’ve been reading the Gospel of John with us, I’m hoping you can remember how John 1 began. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. It also tells us that the true light that gave light to everyone came in the world. He was in the world and though he made the world, the world did not recognize him. So, that’s who John says Jesus is. But, who does Jesus himself see him as? He sees himself as the light of the world. Why is that significant?

If you’re a gardener or a succulent fan, you know the importance of light. We’re going to take it back to high-school science class and I’m hoping Brett Powell will correct me if I get photosynthesis wrong. Plants absorb light from the sun, convert that to energy, and use the energy to grow. What happens if plants don’t get enough light? Well, they die – snuffing out what could have been a beautiful reflection of God’s glory. And we don’t even think about it—but without light, life collapses. Here’s what’s so surprising about Jesus’ claim: he is saying I am that light that brings life!

In the same way, before Christ came, it would have seemed like the darkness was winning. Human beings fell into deeper and deeper dysfunction but Jesus arrived as the Light of the World. He came to bring light to the dark deeds of Satan and the poisonous effects of sin in us.  Jesus doesn’t just bring light—he is the light. His life, death, and resurrection reveal that light to us. In the light of Christ, he offers new life – the life that we were meant to have. Jesus knows that without him as our light source, we will find ourselves in trouble. Paul echoes this same truth in Romans—life by the Spirit, death apart from Christ.

Now, that’s a harder pill to swallow. It’s often at this point that many skeptics (myself included before I came to faith in Christ) will balk at God or make the claim that Jesus seemed like a kind of cool teacher but I don’t believe the idea that he is God. But if Jesus is a good teacher, that means you have to seriously reconcile with what he said. Jesus doesn’t say he’s a light or an option for your spirituality—he says he’s the light. If that’s true, he doesn’t just help us—he defines reality. And if he rose from the dead, we don’t get to ignore him.

So, dear friends, have you chosen to allow the light of the world to give you new life? Do you rely on the Spirit to sustain your new life? Plants don’t create the light—they simply receive it and grow. We can receive more of God’s light through our time in the Word, prayer, serving, giving, worshipping together, and enjoying God’s good creation. I want us all to be healthy believers basking in the glory of Christ’s light.

Thankfully, light doesn’t just give us life and leave us to fend for ourselves. Light is actually a helpful tool for us here…

Light guides us when we cannot see.

Jesus’ timing of his declaration that he is the light of the world couldn’t have better placed, he intentionally set this up. What do I mean? In John 7, we get a timeline from John that is critical to us understanding the audacity of Jesus’ claim. John 7 tells us that this discourse happened during the Festival of Tabernacles or Sukkot. For those of you unfamiliar with Jewish holidays, the Festival of Tabernacles is an annual holiday for the Jewish people that they still celebrate to this day. It’s a holiday to commemorate how Yahweh protected Israel in the desert after the Exodus from Egypt. How did he protect them? Exodus 13 tells us: the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light. Those pillars were the very presence of the LORD in all of his dazzling glory and splendor.

Now, the desert is extremely dark at night. For a large group of people roaming the desert, they are an easy target for enemies. So, how does God help them? He gives them a pillar of fire so they could see. So as Jesus says he is the “Light of the World”, the Festival of Tabernacles is going on full-swing – the temple is lit up with multiple torches, lights, and huge menorahs with massive candles. They would burn these torches and candles all night and it would shine across the city of Jerusalem to remind the people of how God lit up the desert with his presence. On the final night of the festival, the Levitical priests would extinguish the torches and the candles to signify that the glory of the Lord had departed Jerusalem in the days of Ezekiel so now they had to wait for the glory to return with the messiah. All this is going on and this is when Jesus says: “I AM the light of the world.”

Do you see how audacious that claim is now that you know the background? We didn’t read the rest of chapter 8 but this is where the religious leaders get really really upset with Jesus because they get it: they understand that Jesus is making the claim that he is God in the flesh, the glory has returned to Israel, and he is giving light to the world. Since he is the light of the world, that means those who follow him won’t walk in darkness just like Israel wouldn’t walk in darkness when God’s presence was with them in the pillar of fire.

When I was a kid, I was on a travel basketball team. And God bless my parents because each Saturday was filled with a tournament somewhere far away and we didn’t know how to get there. In those days, there was a website called MapQuest which you could use to print out directions. In those days, if you missed an exit, you were really stuck because there wasn’t an app telling you: “Recalculating.” There was one particular tournament that was somewhere in the Harrisburg area and keep in mind that my parents both grew up and worked in the Baltimore most of their lives so they never went to Harrisburg. We got so lost at that tournament but eventually, we saw a Bass Pro Shops which anchored our sense of direction and guided us back towards the right exit. It was a multi-day tournament and Bass Pro Shops served as an anchor for us to know our exit that was easy to miss was coming up. Bass Pro Shops helped us get to our destination.

And in the same way, that’s how Jesus being the Light of the World guides us today. In our life, we are going to walk through times where we feel like we’re lost, disoriented, or wondering where God is. Take heart knowing that the Light of the World is your King and he can be the one who brings you through your time in the wilderness just like he did for Israel.

Light guides us but in guiding us, it also does something that we don’t always appreciate. Light…

Light exposes what is in the dark.

Jesus gives us a shocking statement in John 3:19-21 (read this). People loved the darkness instead of light…why? Because the light exposes the evil deeds and sin for what they are. Verse 21 makes the case that if you live by the truth (ie. Follow Jesus), you step out from the dark and step into the light. So if Jesus is the Light of the World, that means he exposes the things that are kept in the dark. What do we keep in the dark then?  

Sin. And sin thrives in darkness. When we try to cover it up or hide it, it spirals out of control. Think with me the story of King David – 2 Samuel tells us that David did everything right in the Lord’s sight except his situation with Uriah and Bathsheba. As he saw Bathsheba, he desired her and took advantage of her. So, there’s the sin of adultery and sex outside of marriage. But, what happens next? Turns out, Bathsheba is pregnant which is a problem for David because Bathsheba’s husband will find out. So, he calls Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, back from the war and sends him home to Bathsheba hoping that they’ll be intimate so Uriah will believe the child is his. But Uriah is a principled man and doesn’t think it’s right to go home when his brothers are fighting. So, he sleeps at the palace. The next night, he gets Uriah drunk to try to send him home and still, Uriah stays at the palace. David switches up strategies and tells Joab to allow Uriah to be killed by Israel’s enemies by withdrawing the line of troops from Uriah. Joab does this and Uriah dies.

You see because sin is like black mold that it’s in a basement. Black mold thrives in humid and dark spaces which is why it often ends up spreading in basements. But if you look at a house with black mold in the basement, it won’t really be seen. You can even walk into the first floor and not notice it. Everything looks just okay. Here’s the thing though: just because it’s not noticeable right now, doesn’t mean it’s safe. If you don’t deal with black mold, it continues to spread and cause some serious issueswhy would you leave black mold in your basement? Why not deal with it?

And that’s my question for us all today: do you treat your sin like black mold in a basement? On the surface level, you look okay – you’re here today, that’s a good start. You pray sometimes. But deep down, there is sin in your life that you’re terrified of others finding out. You feel like God certaintly won’t forgive you this time. You’ve created your own prison and do you know how you get out? David’s saga will show us how.

The prophet Nathan confronts David of his sin. Nathan forces David to bring the sin into the light and out of darkness. David recognizes the errors of his ways and cries out to God for forgiveness. He eventually pens one of the most well known Psalms praising God for his forgiveness and pleas with God to make him white as snow. Why does God work that way?

John tells us that Jesus is full of grace and truth. Truth because if he is truly THE light of the world, that means he has the power to expose all the ugly things within us and within our world. Being the light, nothing is hidden from Christ’s eyes. But he’s also full of grace because if he is truly THE light, he sees the ugliness and died for those sins and rose to new life to display his power over death itself. The darkness of death couldn’t overcome Jesus. And in the same way, the darkness of our sin is no match for bright and powerful love of Christ. All it takes is crying out for forgiveness like King David. John says in one of his later letters that if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth isn’t in us. But if we walk in the light and confess our sin, we find forgiveness and cleansing from our unrighteousness.

So today, my brothers and sisters: what stuff do you need to bring into the light? I hope you don’t feel like I’m harping on sin too much but that’s the truth of Christ’s character. But as you step into the light, you won’t find condemnation – you’ll find the life and freedom that you desire but it’s only available if you’re willing to live without secrets or sin hiding in your heart. Allow the light of Christ to expose it and find the healing you need.

When you continue to walk in the light by allowing Jesus to work in the messy parts of your soul, the Spirit slowly changes you. Where you once felt condemnation, you begin to feel freedom and love found in Christ. As you’re changing, you can change those around you which is our last point:

Light reflects and shines beautifully.

Shortly after the temple conversation, Jesus leaves the temple and encounters a man who had been blind from birth. Jesus again uses the title of being the Light of the World. Jesus spits in the mud, puts it on the man’s eyes, and the man is healed. This man was living in darkness since he was born, imagine that with me. But all of a sudden, he meets Jesus, the light of the world, who brings him out of physical darkness.

Soon after, the man is being interrogated by the religious leaders. He is exuberant as he shares his testimony despite the leaders annoyance at him. He boldly declares that if Jesus isn’t sent from God, he couldn’t do anything. Later on, Jesus catches up with him and the man who was blind worships Jesus. Because his life was changed by the Light of the World, he was able to reflect that light and shine it in his encounters recorded in John and I’m sure in the rest of his life.

Worship team, come on up!

And it’s the same way for us today – if we follow the light of the world, that light is now in us. We were blind once when we were lost in the darkness of sin. But, Jesus Christ came to shine his light in our lives, to die for us while we were still sinners, and to rise again showing sin and death doesn’t have the final word anymore. Unlike Clark’s house in Christmas vacation, Jesus doesn’t flicker or go out. His light doesn’t fail and he won’t fail you.

I want you to ask yourself: Are you living in the light—or still hiding in the dark? While we worship God through this last son, ask yourself that question. If there’s something that is still hiding in the dark, I’m going to invite you to be vulnerable and share that struggle with a friend or member of the prayer team. So, I invite you to come out of the darkness, step into his light, and live a life where God’s glory shines brightly through you. Amen?