This morning, I began with Jesus’ next declaration in the Sermon on the Mount: “You are the light of the world.”[1] This is an identity-statement about all believers in Jesus Christ our Lord. Because he is the light of the world, we are the light of the world in him, and so we must shine the life of Christ everywhere we go.
However, we aren’t to picture this as the moon reflecting the light of the sun. That’s too impersonal. It makes us a passive reflector of light when Jesus said we ARE the light of the world.
A much better image is the one Jesus gave us when he said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”[2] In the same way as we are extensions of Christ as branches of his vine, we are the light of the world shining the light of Christ.
One of the places where Jesus referred to himself as the light of the world was this one in John 8:12 where Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Jesus as the vine IS the light of the world, and Jesus’ disciples “have the light of life” in them as the branches, which also makes us the light of the world in Christ.
However, what God had in mind for me this morning was in the context of this passage in John 9:3-5.
Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
This is jam-packed with things to talk about! It begins with the disciples asking Jesus whether a blind man had his ailment because of his sin or his parents’ sin. Jesus’ reply answers their specific question, but then elaborates on the work of God in this very situation.
One thing that stood out was that Jesus’ light would be useless to a blind man who couldn’t see it, so he used the miracle of healing to show that his light not only illuminates the darkness, but it gives sight to the blind so they can see it! This is true of the church as we are the ambassadors of the good news of great joy. The gospel gives sight to the blind so they can see “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”[3]
But the bigger thing that stood out for me personally was that I am not to define God’s work in my life by my sins, or by my parents’ sins. It doesn’t matter what we have done, and it doesn’t matter what anyone has done to us, all the effects of living in a sinful world merely set the stage for God’s work. The man’s situation was not about sin, but about the stage that was set that “the works of God might be displayed in him.”
Suddenly it was so clear. My life is what it is so God can show his works to the world through me in the very story that is mine and no one else’s. And that tied right in with how Jesus elaborated on us being the light of the world back in the Sermon on the Mount:
A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor 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. (Matthew 5)
Part of us shining as the light of the world is that people “may see your good works and give glory to our Father who is in heaven.” Jesus as the vine showed how he was doing the works of the Father, and we as the branches show how we are doing the works that give glory to the Father.
And today, God’s encouragement turns me from feeling down on
myself because of my sins, or from depressing myself with things that have been
done to me, to looking at the way my weaknesses in life are the stage on which
he can show himself strong and faithful. And so, I eagerly look for what God is
doing in me that I can shine into the lives of others around me so that people
would be blessed with my good works, and God would be glorified in the bearing
of much fruit.
© 2024
Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8
Email: in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English
Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition:
2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News
Publishers.)
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