Sunday Recap 1/1/17 “What does it mean to be light of the world?”
There is no greater emphasis we could start this new year with an emphasis of Jesus as light as we ask God to renew our hearts as we start 2017 – from the hurt, frustration, disappointment, or if you are incredibly joyful as you think about this past year…that God would increase that in this coming year.
As we stand in the gap of Christmas and our new sermon series, starting next week, we answered this big picture question, “What does it mean to be light of the world?”
And to answer that, we read Isaiah 60:1-5, 10-16.
1 Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. 2 For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. 3 And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. 4 Lift up your eyes all around, and see; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried on the hip. 5 Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and exult, because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
10 Foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you; for in my wrath I struck you, but in my favor I have had mercy on you. 11 Your gates shall be open continually; day and night they shall not be shut, that people may bring to you the wealth of the nations, with their kings led in procession. 12 For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; those nations shall be utterly laid waste. 13 The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the cypress, the plane, and the pine, to beautify the place of my sanctuary, and I will make the place of my feet glorious. 14 The sons of those who afflicted you shall come bending low to you, and all who despised you shall bow down at your feet; they shall call you the City of the LORD, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. 15 Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, with no one passing through, I will make you majestic forever, a joy from age to age. 16 You shall suck the milk of nations; you shall nurse at the breast of kings; and you shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
We answered that question by seeing that,
- God is light of the word
- You can be light to the world
- All because Jesus is light of the world
God is light of the world
1 Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. 2 For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you.
We see in these verses the imagery of the sun in the sky. The word sun isn’t being used but God is being likened to the sun. “the glory of the Lord has RISEN upon you….darkness….but the Lord will ARISE upon you”. Then we looked at 3 aspects of sunlight, life, truth, and beauty/joy and how God typifies each of them.
Vs. 1 & 2 liken God to the Sun then goes on from there to a remarkable statement….that the nations will come to your light. They show God rising on us and now we become light magnets and the world is drawn to our beauty.
What we see is that, You can be light of the world.
3 And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. 4 Lift up your eyes all around, and see; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried on the hip. 5 Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and exult, because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
What we are being told is that if the light of God has really risen on you THEN you are the light of the world. The objective reality of God’s light becomes the subjective experience and reality of your life!!!
The light rises on us and then the nations are drawn to us. We become the light of the world. In the sermon on the mount, Jesus turns to his disciples and say what to them? He says “you are the light of the world”. He says this to encourage and remind his followers that this is the reality for them.
We then went through those 3 aspects of sunlight/God from earlier and saw how we can bring life, truth, and beauty/joy to others.
We can do it all because Jesus is light of the world
Vs.10 – “for in my wrath I struck you, but in my favor I have had mercy on you.” Vs. 15 – “Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, with no one passing through, I will make you majestic forever” Vs. 16b – “you shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
A redeemer was something very specific in Israel. If you were about to lose your land and about to have to work off your debt by going into indentured servanthood. You were about to lose your everything, you only had one hope….that would have been a redeemer. In Israel that was a kinsman. It someone who was a relative of yours. They would come in and bear the cost, pay the debt and enable you to be free and in a very real sense ransom you. And that’s exactly what Jesus did for us. And when that reality takes root we are changed and it flows through every area of our life.
God is using each of us to help grow each other. Let 2017 be a year of
- Meaningful conversation – people you get together with all the time and often very little meaningful dialogue happens. Let’s change that and ask & share what’s really going on in our heart and life.
- Great listening – we are often so quick to speak, correct, interrupt. Rather let’s plan to sit and listen, taking in all others are saying. Let’s get off our phones and our attempts to multitask and be wholly present.
- A willingness to admit mistakes – that means wrongful actions that you have done and also our avoiding of people that are difficult to love. Let’s be quick to admit our mistakes and our giving and receiving of grace in these areas.
- Incredible action – As we think about the coming year let’s make bold insane plans that apart from Christ work in you, you would never be able to do.