You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.
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Good morning, everyone. How are y'all this morning?
I guess that's inappropriate to ask. You can't really answer that question at the moment.
I've just realized that. My name's Reed, and I'm glad to be with y'all.
Nine years ago, you helped start, and you were a huge part of starting the ministry that now is a huge part of my life, RUF, at UAH.
You called Brad and Caroline Tubasing into town. Do you realize it was nine years ago?
Many of you were part of that very beginning stage of the ministry, and my family, we've been here for three years now,
ending our third year on the campus at UAH, and we're so thankful for the ministry at UAH.
Thankful for you starting it and being a huge financial and prayer partner of ours in that ministry.
Many of you on an individual level, and certainly as a church, you are a huge part of it.
I just want to say thank you while I have the chance.
We love what we're doing at UAH, and we're thankful for the work the Lord is doing there through RUF.
UAH is a very changing community. I don't know if you've been around the campus much lately.
I know many of our students. There's one walking in. Hi, Rosie.
Many of our students are here this morning. Get to know the new UAH.
It's changed a lot over the last even five years, even three years since I've been there.
There's a lot more campus life now. There's a lot more campus community.
They just built this new $26 million student life facility that's great,
and we feel like RUF is kind of at the center of what UAH is wanting to become more,
and that is a campus where there's a community presence where students feel cared for
and interact with one another and have a great time.
So there's a thriving Greek community and intramurals and lots of other fun things going on.
The Lord's blessing our work there. We're thankful to be there.
Thank you for being a part of it with us.
We're going to consider a passage this morning from John chapter 1 and John chapter 8
that we will read together here in a moment on the Jesus being the light of the world.
So if you're into outlines and that sort of thing, and I imagine a few of you are,
my outline for this morning will be the miracle of light, the ministry of light, and the mission of light.
And I think you'll see that even in this passage as we read.
So let's begin in John chapter 1, and then we'll go to chapter 8.
This is the Word of the Lord.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
And over to John chapter 8.
Beginning in verse 12, Jesus speaks to them, saying,
I am the light of the world.
Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
So the Pharisee said to Him,
You are bearing witness about Yourself.
Your testimony is not true.
Jesus answered,
Even if I do bear witness about Myself, My testimony is true.
For I know where I came from and where I am going,
but You do not know where I come from or where I am going.
You judge according to the flesh.
I judge no one.
Yet even if I do judge, My judgment is true.
For it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent Me.
In Your law, it is written that the testimony of two people is true.
I am the one who bears witness about Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness about Me.
And they said to Him,
Therefore, where is your Father?
Jesus answered,
You know neither Me nor My Father.
If you knew Me, you would know My Father also.
These words He spoke in the treasury as He taught in the temple,
but no one arrested Him because His hour had not yet come.
The grass withers and the flowers fade,
but the Word of our Lord will stand forever.
Let's pray.
Oh God, Your testimony is true.
I pray that as we consider it this morning,
we would see where You are the light of the world,
even in our own lives,
in our community, in our churches.
That we would know the abiding presence,
the comforting presence of the healing light of the gospel.
I pray that I would.
I pray, Lord, that You would speak to me through me this morning.
Your Word would produce abundant fruit that is to Your glory.
I pray that the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts together
would be pleasing in Your sight,
O Lord, our Rock and Redeemer.
We ask in Jesus' name.
Amen.
I don't know if you realize this,
but next week,
I believe it's a week from tomorrow,
marks the four-year anniversary of those awful April 27th storms
that rolled through this community.
four years ago.
My family was not here yet.
We moved the summer after those storms.
I watched from the distance.
I was watching the news every day
following those storms and the aftermath.
But many of you did not watch from your TVs.
You lived it.
You were here.
I've heard countless stories of what life was like there
on April 27th,
and even the following days and weeks thereafter.
One of the themes that keeps coming up,
if it's not devastation of life,
it's devastation of property,
this idea of this devastating darkness
that existed in that post-tornado community.
I was talking with one of our students just last week
who was a senior in high school when those storms hit,
and she described for me the next several days
of the darkness that existed at night.
I understand there was a curfew
because obviously the power was out for many days.
I know upwards of over a week,
at least in some areas.
And she talked about the…
She said,
I've never heard such a terrible sound
as the silence at night.
When your power is out,
if you don't have a generator.
And she said,
even the dogs stop barking.
I don't know what that means,
but that's a scary thought.
I want you to picture
that post-tornado storm darkness.
You have it in your minds,
what it was like to live in that darkness?
I think that's the setting of Genesis 1.
Before creation,
two things existed,
God and darkness.
And God speaks into the darkness
and everything changes in a moment.
That darkness that existed
was the very setting of Genesis 1.
And do you realize the first words
that God speaks,
at least in recorded Scripture for us,
are these words.
He says,
Let there be light.
So there was darkness,
and into the darkness,
God spoke and light
shattered the darkness away.
And we start to see this
as a regular theme
of how God deals with His people
throughout the Old Testament
and the New.
You start to see this idea
of light and darkness
come up a lot,
and it's an interesting study to do.
If you don't have a devotional life right now,
just go search for light and darkness.
It's all through the Old Testament.
The Exodus story
gives a perfect illustration.
When the Israelites
were leaving that bondage in Egypt,
God sent the abiding presence
of the pillar of cloud by day
and the pillar of fire by night.
The light penetrating the darkness,
which was a regular reminder
to God's people
that He was with them
and that He cared for them
and He had not forgotten them,
and that He would lead them
in the midst of the darkness.
Various authors
begin to pick up on this theme.
Thereafter,
you have it in the poets.
Even David writes,
the Lord is my light
and my salvation.
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life.
Whom should I be afraid?
Psalm 119 famously says,
the Word,
your Word is a lamp
into my feet
and a light into my path.
And then in Proverbs,
for the commandment is a lamp
and the teaching a light.
It continues into the prophets.
Isaiah gives the same imagery
when he prophesies
of the coming salvation of God,
and you know what he described it as?
The light of salvation
coming into the darkness.
He says,
I will make you as a light
for the nation
that my salvation may reach
to the ends of the earth.
There's many more places we could go,
but I want you to start to see
that this is God's MO.
What He does
is speaks into the darkness.
He provides His presence
as light
scattering the darkness away.
It's what He's been doing
since the beginning,
since He first said,
let there be light.
It's what He did
all throughout the Old Testament.
And then we come
to John chapter 1.
And it's interesting
how John's gospel begins
with those very same three words
of Genesis 1,
in the beginning.
But this time,
the light that shines
in the darkness
doesn't just hang in the air,
but it takes on a body.
The words of God
aren't just spoken,
but they are now personified.
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
And John says,
in Him was life,
and that life
was the light
of men.
And the light shines
in the darkness.
The light shines
in the darkness,
and the darkness
has not overcome it.
In the beginning,
God spoke light
into the darkness.
And in the beginning,
His Word
shattered the darkness away.
And now Jesus comes along,
and He says,
and I am
the light.
The thing we need to see
from the very beginning
is that Jesus Christ
is the guiding light
of God,
revealing God's truth
to God's people.
He is the miracle
of light
made manifest,
the light embodied.
He is now
the personified provision
of God
for His people,
the light to shine
into our darkened worlds.
And so what does Jesus
as the light
do
for His people?
There's a lot
we could demonstrate
about what light does.
Obviously,
but I want to narrow it down
to two very simple things
that light does
in our lives
and that Jesus does
being the ministry of light.
First,
the light scatters
the darkness away.
Light and darkness
do not coexist.
They are not friends.
They are opposed
to each other.
There's either light
in a room
or there is darkness.
At night,
we only see darkness
unless a light
is shining.
Why is that?
Because light scatters
the darkness away.
And so when God speaks
into the darkness,
it moves away.
Now, here's the way
to illustrate it.
My wife and I
are both from
South Alabama originally.
We've lived out of state
for a number of years
before we came back
to this side of Alabama,
which is not,
by the way,
Alabama.
Huntsville is not Alabama.
I like it a lot.
I like it better
than Alabama
in some ways.
It's not Alabama.
I'm from South Alabama
and one of the things
that I...
We missed a lot
when we moved.
So we lived in Utah
for a couple of years
before we came back here.
And there's a lot
I missed about living
in the deep South.
I missed fried okra.
I missed boiled peanuts.
I missed sweet tea.
It's getting to be lunchtime.
I'm thinking of...
Okay, there's some other things
I missed too besides food.
There's also things
that I did not miss
about living in the South
and I didn't realize this
until we moved back.
And one of those things
came very quickly.
So we have a little house
in Madison
and this back deck
of our house
that we like to
when the weather
starts getting nicer
like it is now.
We have a grill back there
and we'll cook for the girls
and sometimes we'll,
you know,
have a dinner at the table.
And one of the things
that I realized
that I did not miss
about living in Alabama
was what happened
after we were grilling
one night
and we had cooked
hamburgers or something
and afterwards
we put the girls to bed
and I went back
to clean up
from the grilling
and the picnic
kind of scene.
And I turned the lights on
and you know those cockroaches
the size of iPhones?
I did not realize
how much I did not miss
those things.
Those are awfully frightening.
They're like the size
of wharf rats.
And all of a sudden
my deck was just full of them.
Do you know how to get rid
of cockroaches
besides paying a company?
There are good companies
that will do it.
Maybe some of you
are in that line of work.
But besides doing that,
one very simple way
that you can get rid
of cockroaches
from your back deck
is this.
You turn on the lights.
Right?
That's how it works.
You turn on the lights
and the cockroaches flee.
Here's what's interesting.
Jesus says in another place
in John's Gospel,
He says,
light has come into the world
but men loved darkness
rather than light
because their deeds
were evil.
He says,
everyone who does evil
hates the light
and will not come into the light
for fear that his deeds
will be exposed.
Do you know what Jesus is saying?
He's saying that we are like cockroaches
who hate the presence of the light.
When the light comes on,
we want to scatter
and run back into the darkness.
We fear exposure.
We are comfortable
in the shadows
and hiding.
We don't want to be known.
And the light of the gospel,
the ministry of the light of Jesus
is that he shines the light
into the dark places
of our lives
where we do not want him to work.
And he wants to scatter
the darkness away.
This happens in two senses.
One, this is the condition
of our hearts
before the salvation.
Our hearts are that
post-tornado darkness.
As we are lost
in the bondage
of our own sin,
where we are
in our rebellion,
where we are bent
against God,
want nothing to do with him,
that is the darkness
that exists within our hearts.
And so what the light
of the gospel does
is it shines in
to that darkness,
revealing the truth
of the gospel,
scattering the darkness away.
But it's what Jesus
continues to do
in the process
we call sanctification.
So not only in salvation,
but also in sanctification.
And this is what
makes us uncomfortable.
Because it sounds great
for Jesus to shine
the light of the gospel
into our hearts
initially to scatter
the darkness away,
but that's where we want
him to stop.
But he doesn't.
Because the ministry
of the light
is to scatter
the darkness away
over and over
and over and over again
because he's not comfortable
with us hiding.
If you have a teenager,
you know what this is like
when you flick the light on
early in the morning
and they just start screaming
and put the covers
over their head
because the light
is just too bright
for them early in the morning,
we are comfortable.
We are comfortable
living in the shadows.
And so maybe,
maybe you're hiding now.
You are fearing exposure
in your lives.
And we are very creative
about the way we hide.
We are.
We're very creative.
Even on Sunday mornings,
you look very nice,
by the way.
Everyone looks good.
I wore a suit for you.
We look like we have
our act together today.
We can shake hands
after the service.
How was your week?
Great.
How was yours?
Very good.
Good.
Have a good week.
And that's as far
as we want to go with people
because we don't want people
to know what's really going on.
The things that we are
deathly afraid of.
The issues that keep us up
at night.
The sins that we are hiding
that we, if someone found out
about death, we feel that
we would be undone,
we want to hide.
It's the same sin
from the very beginning.
After the first sin
in Genesis 3,
what did Adam and Eve do?
They jumped behind the bushes
for fear of being exposed.
And so the first thing
we have to see
that the light does
is it scatters
the darkness away
and it's something
that he is very committed to.
Jesus wants to shine
the light
into our darkened stories
in order for us
to not just be exposed
but in order for us
to be healed.
Because there is no healing
in the shadows.
Jesus shines the light
of the gospel
into the darkest places
of our lives
so that we will be freed
from the bondage,
loved and accepted
and experience his grace
and his mercy.
that we will be happy
and healthy.
And so he wants us
to be exposed
in order to be healed.
And so the second thing
that the light does,
it scatters the darkness away
but also the light
reveals a path.
Parents of young children
know this to be true
more than anyone else.
I experienced it
just this week.
You know,
the middle of the night,
like 3 a.m.
when that scream comes
from the bedroom
and you take off
across the house
to figure out
what's going on
with one of your kids
and then that Lego.
Y'all are there.
You know it.
Or the torturous
hardened head
of that Barbie doll
and you step on it.
It's very simple.
I don't do
very good illustrations.
My illustrations
are very simple.
What do we need to do?
You turn on the light
to see the path
to walk through.
That's what light does
is it gives us
a healthy path
to walk in.
Here's the second thing
that the light
of the gospel
does for us
is it shows us
where to move.
When Jesus says,
I am the light
of the world,
He is shining a light
into the dark places
so that the truth
of God
will radiate
in the midst of it.
You may feel
that you're in a dark
and directionless place
right now
in your own home
or in your life.
You're unsure
about the future.
Maybe something's going on
in your career
or in your job.
You don't quite know
where to go.
This is something
we deal with regularly
with our students,
especially our seniors.
We have a senior dinner
tonight
and many of them
are still jobless.
Graduation's here
in a week and a half,
two weeks from today,
I think.
They're jobless.
They don't know
what's ahead.
There's a lot of pressure
on college students
to get it figured out.
Even your freshman year,
you've got to get
your major down.
You've got to get
that co-op lined up
so that you will have
the career of your dreams
at age 22
and you better have
your family life
planned out then too.
If you don't meet
your mate by your senior year,
you're doomed.
That's not true.
That's just the idea
that our culture
keeps telling our…
It's not true, students.
There's this pressure
that we feel
we have to have
it all figured out
and some of you
may be there even now
feeling the pressure.
We need to know
that the light
of the gospel
is shining
the path of God
for our lives,
that He leads us,
He cares for us,
He leads us
through His Word,
He leads us
through His Spirit,
and He leads us
through His church.
Even as a church,
maybe you feel there now.
I enjoy talking
with different members
of your search committee
recently
and just hearing
of how the process
is going.
You've got a great
search committee
put in place,
but even as a church,
maybe you're wondering
what is the future.
You need to know
that just as the
cloud by day
and the fire by night
was a continual reminder
of God's people
that He was with them,
that He was leading them
and guiding them
and protecting them,
Jesus,
as the light of the gospel,
is the continual reminder
that we can look to
to see that Jesus
is with us,
that He cares
more than we do
about the future
of this church
and of your family,
of your children.
Jesus cares
and He is leading
and He is guiding
and He is protecting.
One scholar
named Hendrickson
who I love to read a lot
on New Testament works,
he says on this passage,
he said,
to the ignorant,
Jesus proclaims wisdom.
To the impure,
He proclaims holiness.
To those in sadness,
He proclaims gladness.
We could expand
on this too, right?
To those in despair,
Jesus proclaims hope.
To the lonely,
He proclaims the presence
and the love of God.
To the broken,
He brings healing.
To the fearful,
He brings comfort.
This is the ministry
of the light.
Bringing hope and holiness,
life and godliness,
joy and meaning
and purpose
and the very presence
of God
into the darkness.
And many of you know
that it is in the darkness
that the light shines
most bright.
And some of you
are sitting in that darkness now
and that is where
the light of the gospel
will begin to glow.
It's like riding
in the back country roads
late at night.
You see the stars
like never before.
Some of you are there
even now
and that's where
the light of the gospel
will shine most bright.
This is what Jesus
is committed to.
This is His mission.
It's really interesting to me
where this passage
is stuck in John's gospel.
I was just reading
through this yesterday
and it struck me
that right before this passage,
right before Jesus says,
I am the light of the world,
He turns to an adulterous,
sinful woman
who is about to be
stoned to death.
That's the passage
just before this.
And He looks at her
and He says,
I do not condemn you.
Go and sin no more.
And then just after
this passage
is when Jesus heals
the man born blind.
Do you remember this story
where this young man
was blind
and the Pharisees
were trying to trick Jesus
and they were asking Him,
why is He blind?
Is it because of His sin
or the sin of His parents?
And Jesus says,
neither.
You're wrong on both accounts.
I'll tell you why
this man was born blind
so that the works of God
may be made manifest
in His life.
And Jesus heals him
through this incredible miracle
in the way He heals him.
And for the first time,
this man sees light.
And Jesus looks at him
and He says,
do you see me?
I am the light of the world.
Here's what's interesting.
Book ended on this
John chapter 8 revelation
of Jesus saying,
I am the light of the world
is a woman forgiven
of her sins
and a man healed
of his blindness.
The mission of the light
of Jesus
is that He is uninterested
in leaving us in our sins.
and what He is committed to
is giving us sight.
And He will not stop
until that happens.
How does Jesus
do those two things?
Very briefly,
and I want to end
with this picture.
How does the light
accomplish His mission?
By entering
into the darkness.
And I don't just mean
into the world.
It's true that the incarnation
is Jesus leaving
the comforts of heaven
and entering into
the darkness of the earth.
That is very true
and that's how He identifies
with us in our own sin
and our own struggle.
He enters into the darkness.
But remember that we said
that the light of God
in the Old Testament
meant the presence of God
and the guidance of God
for His people?
It's the same today,
but we've got to see
that the light went out
for a moment.
The light had to actually
go out for the moment
in order for us
to know the light
of the world
in our own lives.
And here's what I mean.
Do you remember the scene?
The scene on the day
that the light went out
when Jesus hung on the cross
and the darkness came over
the face of the earth.
There's a moment
where this post-tornado darkness
covered the face of the earth
once again.
And it was at this moment
that Jesus somehow
lost the presence
of the Father for a time.
I don't know
what all that means.
I went to seminary.
I studied stuff.
I don't get it.
But I know that the light
went out for a moment.
The only way
that we will ever see
a glimmer of light
in our darkness
is to see that Jesus,
the light,
took on the full extent
of our darkness
when He took on the cross.
that He went into the darkness
so that we could be delivered
from it.
That the presence of the Father
left Jesus for a time
so that we would know
the abiding presence
of the Father
for all of eternity.
And this is why Jesus can promise,
I am the light of the world.
Whoever follows me
will never walk in darkness,
but will have the light of life.
So do you believe Him?
If you've been looking for light
to fill your darkness,
and we have,
look no further
than the light
that Jesus offers.
If you're a Christian
and you're in hiding,
hide no more.
If you're unclear
about where to go
in your life,
look to the light,
the guiding light of God
to lead you.
And maybe for some of you,
you've never experienced
the healing power
of the gospel
for the first time.
You've always seen Jesus
as someone
who's just kind of against you.
I want you to hear
that the light of the world
promises to heal
your brokenheartedness.
He promises to save you
from the darkness
that you find yourself in.
Trust in the light
of the gospel
for your own salvation.
Some of you may be thinking
that you're hiding even now
and you found creative ways
to do it.
You need to remember
that sometimes
we have to be exposed
in order to be healed.
We have to be brought out
from behind the bushes
in order to be
in the presence
of the Father once again.
Maybe you're confused.
You're hurting.
You're directionless.
The light of the comforting
presence of God
is to remember
that He is near.
The resurrection
gives us great hope
to know
that the presence
of the Father
has not left us
but He is ever with us.
and it helps us
in our darkness.
Let me just say
that this isn't
the last time
Jesus says
I am the light
of the world.
Actually,
it's not even
the last time
He uses the phrase
the light of the world.
I want to end
with this application.
It's really amazing
to me that
even though Jesus
says that
He is the light
of the world
and that we need
His light
to shine into
our darkness
to scatter
the darkness away
and to bring healing,
He actually tells us
that He's not
in this mission alone.
Because in one
of the other Gospels
when Jesus was preaching
in the Sermon on the Mount,
even though here
He says
I am the light
of the world
in the Sermon on the Mount,
He says something
remarkably different.
You know what He says?
He says,
you are the light
of the world.
That's a very strange
thing to say.
If we've been talking
about what Jesus
is the light
of the world does
and now He looks
at His people
and He says,
and you are
the light of the world.
He said,
a town built on a hill
cannot be hidden.
Neither do people
light a lamp
and put it under a bowl.
Instead,
they put it on a stand
and it gives light
to everyone in the house.
In the same way,
let your light
shine before others
that they may see
your good deeds
and glorify your Father
in heaven.
If you've been invited
into the light,
Jesus now turns
and says,
and you are
the light.
This has significant
implication for us
on a personal level
and on a corporate level.
that God has called you
to be the light
of the world
in your workplace,
whether that's
on the Arsenal
or in Huntsville Hospital
or in the school system.
That God has called you
to that place
to be a shining beacon
of light
to point others
toward where healing
comes from.
In your home,
one of the hardest places
it is to be light,
right?
God calls us
to shine the light
into the darkness
even in our own homes
to point our children
and our spouses
toward the one
who heals,
the one who brings us
out of hiding,
the one who works
on our behalf.
Even as a church,
this has tremendous
applications.
That God has called you
here to South Huntsville
and Southwood
has a rich history
of impacting
this community
and even people
all across the country
and all across the world
have been impacted
by the ministry
of Southwood Presbyterian Church.
As you move in
and you're in this
transitional kind of phase
looking forward,
God has called you
to be a light
pointing people
over and over again
to the healing
that Jesus brings,
relational healing,
healing from our own
sins and sorrows
into the darkness
where God speaks.
He's called you
to proclaim
the light of the gospel
to this community.
Jesus is the light
of the world
shining the hope
of His gospel
into the daily darkness
of our lives
and He invites us
to be the light
of the world
shining the hope
of the gospel
into the daily lives
of the people around us.
understand it was
maybe eight or nine
days later
after the storms
hit
that the lights
came back on
and as I came in
a year later
I noticed that
this community
seemed different
because of the events
of what just happened
over the last year.
The numbers of people
who lost their lives
and the families
that were affected
and the loss of property
and even the fears
that just set in
to your lives
every time you hear
that storm sound
once again
but eventually
the lights came back on
and everything
was different.
You've been through
darkness somewhere
in your lives
in your community
and your home
now you see
that the light
of Jesus
shines even brighter.
Let others see
the light of the gospel
too.
Let's pray.
Jesus, you are committed.
You are committed
to bringing us
out of darkness.
Jesus, you are committed
that our sin
would not have
the final say
that death even
would not have
the final word.
You are so committed
that you entered
into the darkness
by entering
into this earth.
You entered
into the darkness
in the most real way
by dying on the cross
for our sins.
Jesus, may we
hold out
the light
of the gospel
to ourselves,
to our family,
to the community
around us
and say
this is where
healing comes from.
This is worth
everything
that we would shine
the light
of the gospel
more and more
so that people
would see
the hope
of the healing
light of Jesus
all of their days.
We ask
for your glory
alone.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.
For more information,
visit us online
at southwood.org.