Latest / Finding Jesus Again / Episode 23; Walk in the Light
Transcript
- Episode 23: Welcome to Finding Jesus again. We're going to be reading from John chapter twelve, verse thirty-one. Now judgment is upon this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. Now he was saying this to indicate what kind of death he was going to die. Then the crowd answered him, We have heard from the law that the Christ is to remain forever. And how is it that you say the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? So Jesus said to them, For a little while longer the light is among you. Walk while you have the light, so that darkness will not overtake you also. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he's going. While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become sons of light. They asked who is the Son of Man? He told them it was him. Why are they doubting it now? But Jesus responds to them about the light. He shifts the conversation from intellectual to know the truth. You don't have to understand it all, but you gotta trust me. Do you trust him? Even though you don't understand him, do you trust him? He shifted it from saying, Look, okay, I I'm not even gonna try to explain to you what's going on or how or why it's going on, because you will understand at one point. Right now, walk in the light. And be sons of the light. Follow the light. And back to this light analogy. Believe in the light, walk in the light, become sons of the light. What does that mean? What exactly does that mean to be sons of the light? Well, all the way back in John chapter 1 12, he talked about those who believe in him and those who receive him will be called sons of God. And here again in this scripture. He's he's referring to that again and saying that you can be sons of the light, that there's a greater calling for us than not just being his followers, but being sons of God, being called to be children of God and to be sons of the light. You can be surrounded by light, but still choose to walk in the darkness. Well, I'm telling you today to walk in the light. Follow Jesus one step at a time, walk in the light. Sometimes walking in the dark is just easier. Sometimes it's just easier to walk in the dark because maybe we're familiar with the darkness. And even though we may stumble every once in a while, it's just easier not to see. It's easier not to clearly see the issues that are going on in our lives or or the problems that we have. It's easier just to try to be ignorant of everything that's going on and just keep stumbling around in the darkness. But Jesus is telling us. That the light has come and that we need to walk in the light. Before Jesus said believe in the light, but now he's saying to walk in the light. And we need to unpack that. What exactly does that mean to walk in the light? Up until now, he's talking about believing in the light, understanding what the light is, understanding that he is the light. But walking in the light means to live for him. It means Changing some things about the way we live. There's been a big emphasis in this podcast about simply believing and receiving. Up until this point, there's been a big emphasis about Jesus not coming to judge, but coming to love. And this entire book has been about just showing who Jesus is and showing how much he loves us. But here he's saying, okay, now you need to walk in the light. Now it's it's not enough just to believe and receive. Now it's time to walk in it. It's called growth. We have to grow. We can't just take baby steps forever. There comes a point when we when we have to grow and we have to begin to walk in the light of Jesus, to follow him, to live like him. And we're going to talk a little bit more about that in in season two of the podcast because. I believe that the book of John really emphasizes who Jesus is and how much Jesus loves and what Jesus came to do. Well, in season two of Finding Jesus again, we're going to start looking at the words of Jesus in the book of Matthew. And this is where we're going to find the things that he taught, and we're going to learn how to walk in the light and how to really follow Jesus. Let's pick back up in verse thirty-six. While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become sons of light. These things Jesus proclaimed, and he went away and hid himself from them. Again, I think that goes back to that beginning verse where he just says that his that his soul's troubled, his spirit's troubled, that he just needed to get away from everybody and and just have some time alone, or maybe have some time alone from God. He hid himself from them. Verse 37. But though he had performed so many signs in their sight, they still were not believing in him. This happened so that the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke would be fulfilled. Lord, who has believed our report? And to him who has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For this reason he could not believe, for Isaiah said again, He has blinded their eyes, and he hardened their heart, so that they will not see with their eyes and understand with their heart, and be converted. And so I will not heal them. These things Isaiah said. Because he saw his glory and he spoke about him. Nevertheless, many, even though the rulers believed in him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing him, so they would not be excommunicated from the synagogue, for they loved the approval of people rather than the approval of man. Many believed, but didn't want to admit it. They were ashamed. They were afraid of of the g of the church. They were seeking the approval of people rather than the approval of God. They didn't want to confess their belief because they were afraid of what people would say about them. So that's my question to you today is is are you afraid of what people will say about you if you say you're a believer? Are you seeking the approval of your friends or the approval of the church that you go to? Or are you seeking the approval of God? Whose approval are you seeking? Are you ashamed to say that you're a follower of Christ? Are you ashamed to say that that God is leading you in a new direction? Let's finish out the chapter, verse forty-four. Now Jesus cried out and said, The one who believes in me does not believe only in me, but also in him who sent me. And the one who sees me sees him who sent me. I have come as light unto the world, so that no one who believes in me will remain in darkness. Again. Here he talks about light. If you believe in the light, you won't remain in darkness. If anyone hears my teachings and does not keep them, I do not judge him, for I do not come to judge the world, but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not accept my teachings has one who judges him. The word which I spoke, that will judge him on the last day. For I did not speak on my own, but the Father himself who sent me has given me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life, therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father told me. So he starts off here by saying, Look, you see the Father in me. I'm the light of the world. You are judged not by me. I didn't come to judge, but you're judged by my words. Jesus' words, they bring a choice. And judgment is the choice that we make. So what we will be judged by is what Jesus said. We will be judged by what he said. We'll be judged by whether or not we follow his teachings, not by Jesus, but by whether or not we follow what he said. And what did he say? He said, believe in me. He said, love one another. He said, walk in the light. He said, receive me, receive my forgiveness, receive my love. He said to follow me. And how do we follow someone? Like how do we how do we follow Jesus? We follow Jesus by by doing the things that he does, by living the way that he lives, by loving how he loves, by treating people the way he treats, by rejecting the darkness. I want to reemphasize verse forty seven. If anyone hears my teachings and does not keep them, I don't judge them, but he is judged by the word. So we have to keep his teachings. It is important. That we keep his teachings. So again, in season two of Finding Jesus again, we're really going to dive into his teachings. The book of John really doesn't expound too much on his teachings, but it really emphasizes who Jesus is and what he came to do. But we're going to move to the book of Matthew after we're done with the book of John, and we're really going to dive into his teachings and find out what exactly he says. And what it means to follow him. But for today, I want to encourage you to believe in the light, believe that the light has come into the world, to receive the light, to receive the light of Jesus into your life, to let all the darkness be chased away, and also to walk in the light. You don't just receive the light into your life and he's hidden there and you never revisit that, but we walk in that light continually. Verse 48 talks about rejecting Jesus and rejecting his teachings. Well, wrestling with your faith and looking for answers isn't rejection. I want to encourage you with that. Rejecting religion isn't rejecting Jesus. And just because you may be struggling with where you are and struggling with what you're going through or struggling with religion or struggling with what you're taught, that doesn't mean that you're rejecting Jesus. You're just rejecting tradition or rejecting religion. I think one of the problems in the church is that maybe we have spent more time telling people that Jesus has come to judge than telling people why Jesus has come. And I think that that that's really the crux of what the book of John is about is understanding who Jesus is and understanding what Jesus came to do and why Jesus came to do it. He came because he loves us. He didn't come in this world to judge us, but he came because we were judged already, and he wanted to save us from judgment. A lot of the problem that the church has had is that it it has emphasized judgment and it has not emphasized enough love. Now I understand that there is a pendulum that can sometimes swing too far to one side or the other, and there has to be a healthy balance, but I think that's the important word right there, and that is Balance. We got to have a healthy balance of understanding what it means to receive the light and also to walk in the light. Verse 50, and I know that his commandment is eternal life. God's goal, his purpose, his plan, his commandment is eternal life. That's the message. That's the message right there. Eternal life. That's the purpose, eternal life. That's the reason Jesus came, eternal life. Want to read that verse 50 again. His commandment is eternal life. Jesus' whole reason for coming is to fulfill God's commandment of eternal life. God wants you to have eternal life. God wants you to win. God wants you to live forever. God wants the best for you. And that's why He sent Jesus to die on a cross for our sins. Thank you so much for joining us today for this episode. We'll see you tomorrow as we continue our journey of finding Jesus again.