Opening illustration: Thomas Edison invented the electric light bulb in 1879. Twenty-two years later, in 1901, one of the newfangled gadgets was hung and turned on in the Livermore, Calif., Fire Department. It’s still there, and still on. The old bulb has almost never been turned off in 117 years.
By today’s standards it should have burned out 900 times by now. The bulb, hand-blown, with a thick carbon filament, was made, it is said, by the Shelby Electric Company, which did not become one of the giants of the nation, for an obvious reason. The Shelby Company made light bulbs to last, and nobody ever reordered.
The bulb is accorded an awesome respect by Fire Captain Kirby Slate and his men. In a time of planted and planned obsolescence, when gadgets are forever falling apart or burning out or breaking up, it’s reassuring to watch a dusty 117-year-old light bulb shine on and on and on. His promises are never failing.
Introduction: It must always be borne in mind that light is a common theme in both Old and New Testaments, so that it is not necessary for us to find the source of Jesus’ great saying in any non-biblical place. Elsewhere we read that God is light (I John 1:5) and Jesus Himself said that His followers were ‘the light of the world’ (Matt. 5:14; the expression is identical with that used here). Paul can also speak of Christians as ‘lights in the world’ (Phil. 2:15). It is, of course, plain that such terms must be applied to believers in a sense different from that in which they are applied to Christ. He is the fundamental source of the world’s illumination.
How does Jesus being the light of Christmas impact us?
1. Jesus “The LIGHT of Christmas” makes us little lights in this world (John 12:36)
“While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” When you believe in Jesus as your precious light, when you follow him as your truth and your wisdom and your way and your beauty, you have his life, you are “a son of light.” You are begotten into the family of light. And this light will never go out. In the moment of death, when the world thinks “all the lights go out,” for you it will be the light of heaven.
And the reason I say this emphasis on Jesus’s relationship with the Father in verse 12 — “I am the light of the world” — is that the way Jesus is the light of the world is precisely by being one with the Father. Jesus is the light of the world because he comes from the Father and speaks for the Father and is going to the Father and is one with the Father. So these words of interaction with the Jews look like a detour from “I am the light of the world,” but in fact, they are constantly pointing to the way he is the light of the world — by coming from the Father and going to the Father and being one with the Father. Therefore, our relationship with Jesus determines whether we are genuinely the little lights in the world.
Illustration: Drive through the Ozark Mountains across the lake with the lights reflecting in the waters.
2. You will NOT WALK in Darkness (v. 12b)
Darkness comes about in the absence of light, and that even one little matchstick can bring light to a very dark room. Let me put a small riddle to you. If you were in a very dark room and had a lantern, a lamp and a candle, but only 1 matchstick, which would you light first? Would it be the lantern? Maybe it would be the candle? (Pause). Actually, what you would have to light first would be the matchstick!!
The whole world is not being lightened — at least not yet. In fact, he says, “Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness.” Which means that if we don’t follow him, we do walk in darkness. So being “the light of the world” doesn’t mean removing all darkness from the world as he walks through the world. Here’s what it implies:
• Jesus’s being “the light of the world” means the world has no other light than him. If there is going to be a light for the world, it will be Jesus. It is Jesus or darkness. There is no third alternative. No other light.
• It means, therefore, that all the world, and everyone in it needs Jesus as their light.
• It means that the world was made for this light. This is not a foreign light. This is the light of the owner of the world. When this light comes, it not only makes sin plain as foreign and ugly, but it also makes everything good in the world shine with its full and true beauty. This world was made to be illumined by this light. This light of Christ is native to the world.
• And finally, Jesus being “the light of the world” means that that one day this world will be filled with this light as the waters cover the sea, and all darkness, and all the works of darkness, and all the sons of darkness will be cast out. That’s why Jesus called hell “outer darkness” (Matthew 8:12; 22:13; 25:30). In that day, all will be light. Jesus, the radiance of the Father, will fill the world!
It takes an outside source of light to light up the darkness, and that’s exactly what Jesus did when He came at Christmas time.
3. You will HAVE the Light of Life (v. 12c)
Notice the last phrase of verse 12: “You will have the light of life.” What is the connection between light and life? John 1:4 gives the answer: “In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” The life gives the light. The life Jesus has, and the life he shares with those who follow him, gives them light. That is, we are dead and blind to the light until the life of Jesus is imparted to us by God’s Spirit, and then we see. The light that comes from new, spiritual, eye-opening life — the life that gives sight to the blind soul, eternal life-giving eternal sight.
When you follow Him, you have him — you have him as the light of life. “I am the light … Whoever follows me … will have the light …” You will have me, he says, as your light. If you follow me, you have me. I am yours. I am your Shepherd and your Sacrifice and your Living Water and your Bread from Heaven and your God, and your Light.
Application: Jesus said, "I am the Light of the World." This is your Savior who died for you. He transforms us; he leads us. He is Light for everyone. Do you have him in your life?
If you have the light of Christ in you, you can do amazing things:
• The light in you can inspire others around you.
• With the light in you, you can reach the lost.
• Your light can radically change many lives.
• Christ’s light in us can love others.
• Without this light of Christ in our lives, we would be lost in the darkness.
So, shine God’s love for the world to see!
