The Light That Conquers

Feb 21, 1960

John 12: 35-43

Sunday Morning

Last week there appeared an article in the Garden Grove paper that discussed the benefits of light in combatting crime. The article said that 12 times as many crimes of violence occur at night as in the daytime. Other statics were that in Salt Lake City 95.5% of assaults took place at night. In Minneapolis 92% of burglaries happened after dark, and in Pittsburg 85% of stolen cars were taken under cover of darkness.

Because of this, different cities tried experiments in night lighting and crimes dropped immediately. Ney York City brightly lit up a lil square block area known for violent crimes, and major crimes such as assault dropped by 49%. One police chief in a large city even has gone so far as to say " A good street light is as valuable as a good policeman."

I found this article rather interesting as its praise of the value of light in combatting crime. For long ages men did not even venture out at night because of the dangers hiding in the darkness. All though history men have been struggling to receive more light to ward off the forces. But we are not here today to talk about street lights, but about a light which the Bible says men do not want. And this is a light which conquers evil far more effectively than any street lights. This light is expressed in the words of John 8:12 "I am the light of the world. "The light which men need, the light which conquers evil in Jesus Christ. Today we find Jesus talking about himself as the light of the world and we read: "Jesus said to them "The light is with you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you."

This word "light" is a central world in the Gospel. In the Gospel of John there is a cosmic struggle between light and darkness. The ruler of the forces of light is the light, Jesus Christ, and the ruler of darkness is Satan, the adversary. As John looks at the world, he sees our word, the cosmos, the habitation of men, as being in a very real and a very hostile. darkness. But the world is not completely lost, because the light, Jesus Christ has come to save men, to give them the light.

In the gospel of John all those on the side of light are those who have accepted Christ as Savior, and all those on the side of and under the influence of darkness are those who have not as yet accepted Christ as Savior.

All of this puts a certain reflection on what happens in our world. When our neighbor goes and gets drunk and comes home and beats his wife, John would say he belongs to the darkness. Wjen the Communists wipe out thousands of Hungarians, John would say this is due to the power of darkness whose ruler is the adversary. The sad fact on all of this is that even the nice fellow next door or the sweet lady across the street, if they have not yet accepted Christ as Savior, belong to the realm of darkness.

In fact, according to John, the fellow next door or the sweet lady across the street, if they are without christ not only are on the side of darkness, but they actually want to believe in darkness. John says all men without Christ actually love darkness as we read in John 3:19 "And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light.

According to John, darkness is the state in which men feel at home; it is the state of affairs in which men feel at ease. (illegible) Now are we your "stive" your neighbor, John would not say he is "compelled" of no good as we think of a world of darkness.

Another sad fact of this existence apart from Christ is that it is bondage. It is bondage to Satan who is the present ruler of the world as John 12:31 declares.

But 1900 years ago a man was born into a world of darkness. He was born in a stable. "He grew up as other men. He worked at a trade. But he had a certain look, a look of love and compassion. And he had a mission which was fulfilled at a place called Golgotha. This man, says John was the light, the hope of the world. He came to a world of darkness. He came to a world living in sin and miser. He came to a world of men who will cheat on their income tax, or kill their brother, or gossip about their neighbor, or get gain by payola. The question now remains what kind of light is Jesus to the world?

I think the first thing we can say is that Jesus as the light of the world is a revealing light. You see, Jesus as the Light of the World reveals things as they are. There is no false mask, no disguise in the presence of Jesus. In life we can act, we can say hello and talk nice to our neighbor while we may feel like kick him in the shins at times. In life we can act very fine and righteous while inwardly we know that we have envy, greed, lust, hate and a hundred other sins. As Shakespeare has said, life is a great drama and we as men are continual actors. We are often strutting back and forth with false faces. But in the presence of God there is no acting. In the presence of God the curtain falls and false face comes off. Jesus as the Light reveals our greed, our envy, our jealousy, and all of our other sins.

You have all seen the strong search lights used for advertisement purposes. To look into one for long would be blinding. A thief standing ten feet away from one of these light pinpointed on him would be very effectively revealed. But Jesus as the Light of the World brings a light to focus on our sins which reveals our sins more effectively that a million searchlights would reveal a thief standing right in front of them.

As Isaiah and Ezekiel stood in the blinding presence of God they were overcome with the overwhelming glory of God and its revelation of sin. There are no false fronts, no false smiles in the presence of Jesus. There is only a blinding revelation of our sin. Jesus reveals all that a man was, is, or ever will be.

I think another thing we can say about Jesus as the Light of the World is that He is a guiding light. I believe this is brought out in this world "walking." Our text reads: "Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes." What happens to men who walk in the dark?" They stumble. I am sure that all of you have had this unpleasant experience of groggily getting up in the middle of the night and banging you toes against a chair which you are sure at that time your wife purposely put there. Thus it is with us as men. If we do not have Christ we stumble, we bang our spiritual and moral toes.

According to John; man without Christ is in darkness. He is not in a proper orientation to life. Man without Christ does not see things in the right way. One of the big rebukes of Christ was "Having eyes, see you not?"

The great artist, Turner, was once painting one of his masterpieces and a sightseer looked over his shoulder and said; "Why Mr. Turner, I never saw any such light and color in nature as you put on your canvas!" Thus it is with us as men, we do not see life as we should. We walk in darkness; we do not see God's purposes; we do not see how we should love our brother; we do not see the glory and the majesty of God.

The story is told of how E. Stanley Jones, the great missionary, was travelling in the mountains of Switzerland. As they were traveling up a path suddenly there was a turn and a majestic and awe inspiring mountain came into view. At the sight of this grandeur Stanley Jones is said to have broken into conversation with God as though a third companion were present. This is what Jesus wants to do for us. He wants to guide us into the presence of God. He ants us to get out of the darkness of sin and have us see the world in the right way. He wants us to see Gods way for our lives. He wants to lead us on right spiritual paths. He wants us to see the right colors in the great canvas of life.

But we as men do not wish to be exposed; we put up defenses. As the Bible says: "Men loves darkness rather than light. In war there are many defenses. There are barbed wire fences; there are mine fields; there are defenses of heavy gun fire. And thus it is with faith. Men put up many defenses.

Some men put up the defense of intellect. they may say that it doesn't stand to reason that God should die for men. Some may say that it doesn't make sense that salvation should be by faith alone and not by works.

Man may go digging through philosophy and comparative religions to find an answer for existence. Kant, or Plato or Aristotle, or Mohammad, or Budda, or Father Divine may all be followed and studied in an attempt to find a meaning for life. Some of the other religions and philosophical traditions may sound as logical as our faith. Take Nietzeche for example. He declared man's importance simply lay in his role as a means for some future development of man. This sounds logical to many men. Or you may say that all religions basically believe in the same God. So one is as good as the other, and this too sounds logical. Or the man on the street may say that it doesn't make sense that a loving God would condemn good average people who pay their taxes, never steal and never kill. And this sound logical. You might even say its not logical that a man is supposed to dedicate his entire life to Christ.

However, whether we like it or not, God did not give us a faith that always makes sense of conforms to reason. God did not consult us when He made the stars and He didn't consult us when He sent Christ. Saving faith is no an argument or reason. Saving faith is surrender; surrender of our entire selves, our reason and all to Christ. We may and we should reason out our faith and find out what we believe and why. But ultimately faith is a diving encounter, with He who said "I am the Light of the World." His Savior approaches us through his word and sacraments.

As we meet Christ through Word and Sacraments things can happen. As we behold Him we see His nail pieces hands; we see the love and compassion in His eyes; and we feel His divine presence. In this encounter with this Christ, this man who said "I am the Light of the World," we find the place where intellect ends. For as Christ approaches us we can only bow in humility and accept him as our Lord and our God, or reject him. It is not intellect, but surrender our our entire being that determines saving faith.

We have discussed the defense of in ellect. There are many others. I would also like to think of a defense that keeps us from being effective as Christians. It "sends" to smother our light as Christians. It is expressed in these words in our text: "Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharises they did not confess it. For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God."

I am talking about the defense of objectivity, or respectability. We use to cover our emotion. People can go to football games and holler and shout. People can brag about the pick-up, the comfort and gas mileage of a new car. Young people fall in love and say very emotional things. Women brag about new stoves or dishwashers. Men brag about jobs. But faith? That is something different. People say we must be quiet or we must not talk about faith, we must feel deep in ourselves. Lets no be radical.

It is easy to see where this coolness, this detachment, this respectability may come. It is part of the nature of all of us. We do not want to be thought of as different; we do not want to be ridiculed. We can face hatred, but laughter or ridicule is tough. If we take the middle course we will not get ridiculed. If we do not get out on the limb, there is no chance of limb breaking. I a man never talks in love, he will never be hurt by love. If we never take chances we will never lose. This is also the case with our faith. If we never get too excited about it, we wont get hurt. Man won't ridicule or laugh at us if we take the nice comfortable middle way. Some of the Jews who believed in Christ day, but they did not witness because they wanted the praise of men because of this, we often avoid getting out on the limb of ridicule.

Our raith however, whether we like it or not, sets us out on the limb. It is an emotional thing to follow Christ. It was only as Peter and James and John and the others really, so to speak, stuck out their chins for Christ that they knew what is really involved in faith. Take a football game for instance. WHere is the thrill and the excitement? It is in the heat of the game where the score is uncertain. To sit on the sidelines and wait until the score is certain before getting into the game is to miss most of the thrill of football. This is also the case with Christ. To really get in and play ball; to witness and work for CHrist is to find where the thrill and challenge of the Christian life is.

Emotion: No great poem, no great novel, no great play was ever produced without emotion. Try to have actors produce a good movie without emotion. Try to fall in love without emotion. Try to write a great piece of music without emotion. I am not saying we should be raving fanatics or foolish polyana Christians, we have a good Lutheran tradition with dignity and "reverence" emotion, commitment, real dedication, an active witness is at the very fibre of our faith.

And You will find that Christ and the apostles were very much emotionally involved with faith. Remember, the Bible even says Jesus wept because of the sins of men.

We have talked about Christ as the Light of the World. We have talked about Christ as a revealing and guiding light, and we also have talked about some defenses of intellect and cool respectability. But we must remember that despite any defenses or oppositions that may be made to Christ, the Light of the World, Christ is above a conquering light.

There is this eternal struggle between light and dark, between good and evil. The world is in tension and only one side can win. The outcome of this battle has already been decided. It was decided 1900 years ago with the coming of a man to this world of darkness who called himself Jesus Christ, the Son of God, "very God of every God", the Light of the World. At the present time the battle is being fought in enemy occupied territories with the forces of darkness on all sides. We see manifestations of this force in wars, in murder, in communism, in payola, in hate, in lies, in drunkenness.

The battle continues to rage and we are Go's underground. Our commander and chief issues orders through His Word, through his Sacraments, through prayer, through worship. Each time we approach God in prayer or worship or any other means, we so to get our messages through God's wireless.

And we have our marching orders. You are the Light of the World. Our job is to brings God's work to men that they might see their sin and repent. Our Bible reads "A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Let your light so shine before men, that they might see your good works and give glory to you Father who is in heaven." These are strange marching orders; we are told to expose ourselves to the enemy, we are told to not put out lights under a bushel. We are to be in the words of Luther, "little Christ's."

As you let your light shine, you will see unhappy homes; you will see families with continual arguments. You will see lonely people. You will see people who seem to be - and probably are - very happy in their quest after social prestige, or material possessions, or happy just taking life easy and taking each day as it comes.

Regardless of their state, happy or unhappy, the Gospel of John tells us that men without Christ walk in Darkness, their existence is not illuminated by the LIght of Christ. They are missing the purpose for which they were born. Skotia, darkness, inhabits the life of that neighbor of yours without Christ.

The battle is going on between light and darkness, and we are Go's forces. Christ revealing is a guiding conquering light and He will come one day with his heavenly host to proclaim final victory over darkness. The Light will be victorious. Meanwhile our purpose, our calling form our Savior, our commander in chief, is to bring His light to lost men. May we have the compassion, the love, the intelligence, the emotion, the burning zeel, that will help usher men into the presence of Christ. May we present Christ, the "Light of the World" to lost men that they might exclaim "My Lord and My God."

Behold my Brother!

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.