One bible verse which many people have heard, some the words of this verse and others just the reference, is John 3:16, but I don't know that such a lot of people know much about the words which are surrounding this verse.
These words fall amongst others which are in a response Jesus gives to Nicodemus. Have you heard of Nicodemus? He was a Pharisee back in the day, a high up religious top notch haughty positioned bloke. Anyway, none of the pharisee's liked Jesus because he was no one special like them but was teaching the people things which weren't written in the books they'd studied AND even worse, the people were actually listening to him when they should have been listening to them. Pharisees loved their position of power. Anyway, instead of just rivalling Jesus and trying to get him to trap himself Nicodemus actually admits that Jesus is a teacher from God! WOW! That is huge for a pharisee to even admit such a thing. And Nicodemus than continues to question Jesus about who He IS, like he wants to know, to understand. You see, Nicodemus was who the pharisees should have been, rather than who they had become.
And so these words come amidst this response from Jesus to Nicodemus*.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. - John 3:16-17
But it is the words which follow these which I would like to focus on today. Jesus continues...
He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God. - John 3:18-21
Who is the light? If you don't know the answer to this and you can't tell from this passage than you really should read some of my older blogs in this series but to give you the heads up for now, the light is Jesus!
And what is darkness? It is things of this world, or rather to put it simply for you, things of Satan, of The Devil. What are these things you might ask? Well, basically, anything which is not of God - that's a lot!
The passage which influenced me in naming this blog was from Matthew which also ties in quite well with this passage as it talks about light and works and I would really like to draw the same thing out of both passages.
You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. - Matthew 5: 14-16
The thing is that people quite often mis-interpret these passages or miss the basics that they already know. Like we know that Jesus is the light. But these passages are often misinterpreted to say that our good works are the light to others. WRONG! And doing bad deeds does not mean that we are without light either. The light, Our light, is and always will be Jesus.
What these verses are saying is that by following Jesus, by truly following Him, He will shine His lights on your works that they may be seen if they are good or bad. If we are doing bad deeds we don't want them to be shone to be bad but would rather stay in the shadows, perhaps of denial. But if we know Jesus, He will actively begin to change us from the inside out and His light will shine through us showing our good deeds as a product of what He is doing in us that He may be glorified.
So, Let's let our light shine - whether it be that is show our good deeds or our bad deeds. Only once we let Him be our light, accept Him over the darkness can He really work us from the inside out, actively changing us to become more and more like Him. Praise be to God.
*These two verses may not be Jesus actual words but possibly John's kind of commentary throughout this gospel. Either way, this message as outlined here for you today, does not change.
Q: What do you think would have been a 'normal' pharisees response to hearing Jesus say those things?
Coming Up: Shine, Part 5
God Bless
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