Light Your World
Jerry Watts
Matthew 5:14-16
The Bible opens with these words, ''In the beginning God created the heavens and earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.'' What is evident from these words is that God didn't have to invent darkness, it has always existed. By definition, darkness is the 'absence of light.' Just because God didn't invent darkness doesn't mean He doesn't control darkness - for darkness can become a tool and even weapon in His hand. God used the darkness as the ninth plague, he used the darkness to keep Pharaoh from the Jewish nation at the Red Sea (Exo 14 says, ''Cloud'' while Joshua 24 says, ''Darkness'').
As the concept of darkness is developed in the Bible, it is representative of evil, lost, and needy. The pervasiveness of darkness can almost be felt, when in Matthew 4, Jesus quotes Isaiah saying, ''The people who walked in darkness.'' Many will ask, ''What people walked (lived) in darkness?'' The answer is 'all the people.' Before Jesus, people walked in darkness longing and looking forward to the light. Since Jesus, people are walking in darkness until they see the light. Jesus is the fulfilment of the prophetic words, ''The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light'' and that light is Jesus. Marry these words to John 1 which says, ''The light shined in the darkness'' and you come away with two truth; 1) In its natural state the world is in darkness, 2) Jesus is the light which the world needs and longs for.
We need light in this world which is permeated by darkness. Last week I spent 20 minutes making the case or argument about this world. Outside the church, the world is in a tailspin because when you stumble along in darkness, you hurt yourself. Inside the church, the world sees disunity, infighting, hypocrisy, and a spirit of selfishness. We really need some light in this world.
(READ TEXT) - To read this text is to get the sense that Jesus is calling us to ...
Jerry Watts
Matthew 5:14-16
The Bible opens with these words, ''In the beginning God created the heavens and earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.'' What is evident from these words is that God didn't have to invent darkness, it has always existed. By definition, darkness is the 'absence of light.' Just because God didn't invent darkness doesn't mean He doesn't control darkness - for darkness can become a tool and even weapon in His hand. God used the darkness as the ninth plague, he used the darkness to keep Pharaoh from the Jewish nation at the Red Sea (Exo 14 says, ''Cloud'' while Joshua 24 says, ''Darkness'').
As the concept of darkness is developed in the Bible, it is representative of evil, lost, and needy. The pervasiveness of darkness can almost be felt, when in Matthew 4, Jesus quotes Isaiah saying, ''The people who walked in darkness.'' Many will ask, ''What people walked (lived) in darkness?'' The answer is 'all the people.' Before Jesus, people walked in darkness longing and looking forward to the light. Since Jesus, people are walking in darkness until they see the light. Jesus is the fulfilment of the prophetic words, ''The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light'' and that light is Jesus. Marry these words to John 1 which says, ''The light shined in the darkness'' and you come away with two truth; 1) In its natural state the world is in darkness, 2) Jesus is the light which the world needs and longs for.
We need light in this world which is permeated by darkness. Last week I spent 20 minutes making the case or argument about this world. Outside the church, the world is in a tailspin because when you stumble along in darkness, you hurt yourself. Inside the church, the world sees disunity, infighting, hypocrisy, and a spirit of selfishness. We really need some light in this world.
(READ TEXT) - To read this text is to get the sense that Jesus is calling us to ...
There are 8328 characters in the full content. This excerpt only shows a 2000 character sample of the full content.
Price: $5.99 or 1 credit
