The light of the World: Christ and the Church in the World

What way is the Christian to live in the world?  Our contemporary society struggles with this.  How do our beliefs affect how we are to vote, or in any way tell others to live? Well you must start with one key moment in history.  One that continues now forever more.  The incarnation itself.  So I will start off what I hope to be a series with a sermon as an introduction that you may think on it, and desire to live with Christ truly as lord of your life, and lord of all.

John 1:1-14

 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life,[a] and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.  9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own,[b] and his own people[c] did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.  14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

A good image, light, there’s something warming and comforting about light.  As a child many if not all of us and myself included, found comfort in having a light on at night.  I remember as a child the comfort I found in the light against the fears of what lay in the darkness.  All things can be seen by the light and nothing hid.  And while we eventually learned to sleep without a nightlight (right?), there is a greater darkness, that of sin and death which plagues this world. The light (Christ) has come to save us out of this darkness.

What kind of a person then would not choose the light?  A better question is what person would? Nobody, and indeed many of Christ’s own people denied the loving God who showed his love by dwelling among us and the world crucified him for his love.  Done in the darkness our deeds are wicked, for they are our deeds apart from God as a God and in his place.  What little good we do is still done while we are in the darkness.  The current Dalai Lama who is not the previous Dalai Lama said, “Be your own light”.  This has been the story of man.  Every other religion is a search for God trying to climb into the heavens on our own and be our own light . But we have God who came down searching for us, down the mountain we could not climb, down into the darkness into our form against our wishes.  Some form of asceticism, some form of pious living drawn from in ourselves.  Islam, Judaism have law, eastern religions have Karma.   Do good, don’t hurt others, earn God’s favor Like the Dalai Lama shows and we all live, we wish to be our own light, but how can the darkness give itself light? Those who have only darkness in themselves can only produce darkness and moreover men love the darkness rather than the light, because it hides their evil deeds, and wickedness, and as Christians we are not to do as such but we are not to hide in the darkness but be children of the light.

If Christ be the light and his kingdom of light, Satan is Darkness and his dominion the dominion of Darkness of which we were all at one time a part, or if you are now, I pray you may not remain so.  But if we did not and cannot choose the light, how is one born of the light (we couldn’t even be born at the fist of our own will?  How does one leave the darkness and enter into the comfort of this the only light of the world and be born again?
            We who receive him become children of light. Were this not so none would be here and none would be saved, but in what manner do we receive him, having neither the will nor ability to leave the darkness and enter the light?  Not by those born of the will of the flesh or by the will of man but of the will of God.  Nothing we could do as carriers of darkness could make us bring forth light.  We needed one who is light to light give us light, and that is Christ came for exactly this, being himself the light of the world.

And where light is Darkness cannot remain.  Where light is present Darkness cannot be.  When one turns on a light in a room or lights a candle, where does the darkness go?  The Darkness cannot bear to stand in the presence of the light; it runs and hides in shadow.  It cannot form a wall and claim half, a quarter or any of the room.  Not one half is lit but the whole of the room with it.  The light came into the world, and the darkness could not overcome it!

And the light was the word and was with God, and the Word was God, two persons one, with the holy spirit three but one God.  Christ is not a God, he is God, Christ is not a light, he is the light, Christ is not a word, he is the word, he is not a way, he is the way.  This person, through whom all the world was made, took on his creation, taking on flesh.  As the word, he is the agent of his father, having created the world, and now come into the world to enact salvation.  Echoing Genesis 1, there is a new beginning now in Christ, as by the light the darkness scatters, and all things are made new.  In Genesis 1 God said, let there be light.  Now the one who made the light has come into the world, as its light.

Christ attends tabernacles in John 8.  In this feast the people remembered their wilderness wandering and built small erect booths on the housetops and in the streets where they and those coming to celebrate the festival could find shelter, and remember how God was present in the tabernacle with them in the wilderness.  There were special water rituals symbolizing the rock in the wilderness (to us Christ the rock, and giving the water of life).  Through a torch ceremony the whole of the temple mount ceremony was lit, lighting as they said the whole of the city and visible so far off that those coming could see it miles away symbolizing how God’s salvation would extend to the whole world.  It is during this feast, Christ proclaimed of himself “I am the light of the world” with this lit temple as background.
            This light dwelt among us, the light TABERNACLED among us literally.  Christ came into this world for this purpose and today is so in his people in the power of the Holy Spirit (as we are temples of our God), where his spirit is he is also.  Through his work in us Christ lights the world.

John takes this imagery from Christ who speaks much of this, and you are made vessels that his light is in the world.  Jesus’ in Matthew 5:16.

 “¹⁵Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

As those saved by the light, the world can see the light in us and this is our calling.  This was widely held and today lost, John Winthrop references this in his sermon a city on a hill saying you are the light of the world.  Africa was called the Dark Continent not out of racism, but because Africa, was under the blanket of spiritual darkness and without the light of the Gospel, it was a call to bring them the light.

There is a song you all know, and maybe you don’t know its true meaning, I know our society today has forgotten and even uses it in commercials to sell things or in school tell children they can do anything they themselves desire because of the self-esteem education they receive, I remember in grade school with my peers being taught to sing it while many of them remained in the darkness. It goes.
            “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.  Let the whole world see this little light of mine.” How far we’ve fallen back into the darkness that such a beautiful children’s hymn has had its meaning so perverted, our society took a candle and placed it under basket.  But do not fear, nothing overcomes the light that is in us in Christ Jesus.  We are called to be different from the world, to be a light in the darkness as agents of the light. Christ lightens the darkness , let the whole world see the light that is in you placed there by the only God that they too may know him, the only light of the world our lord and savior Jesus Christ.

Let us pray
            Our God and light unto the darkness, we glorify your name for that while we were yet sinners, lost in the darkness you found us and gave us light, and brought us out of the darkness by your will, not by our flesh for we would have you not.  You made us new, gave us a new song to sing and called us to be a light unto the world by your true light in Christ Jesus.  May Darkness flee, and all the world see.  The Glory and love of our God and the light, Christ Jesus, Amen

^Sermon ends here 

As such, we are indwelt to be the light of the world, the salt of the earth.  To put Christ out of the public sphere is to put our light under a basket and to cease to be salty.  I will develop this and detail it's secular origins further but I leave you with that question "what does it look like to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth?  It is through us he acts, through you and me he is the light of the world.  Go live it.  God bless, and I hope to write again soon.