Welcome to Wednesday. It’s good to be midway through our week in the Pastor’s workshop.
Our message this week is: “Begin with Basics: Shine a Light”. Our Scriptures are: Genesis 1:1-3, John 1:6-9 and Matthew 5:14-16. Our key thought is: Make it your mission to shine a light!
On Wednesdays we look at the context for a text. What was the world into which the Word was originally written or spoken? Is there a contrast we need to note so we can more fully understand the Word and its impact in the world?
As we said last week, when we refer to “Creation”, we leave the scientific explanation of “what the world was like” to the physicists. What we can do is approach these texts as an existential description of the gracious work of God from the Beginning.
What we find in the Genesis passage and the accompanying John and Matthew texts is the great spiritual interplay of “darkness” and “light”. This dynamic is highlighted in many religions. Christianity is not unique in this regard.
What is special about our faith is how we understand this reality embodied in the relationship of Jesus Christ, the Light of Life, with a dark and empty world without God’s saving love. This is our primary understanding of this dualism of “light” and “dark”.
Here are some of the most famous “darkness” and “light” verses in the Scriptures. You can see how they integrate the faith of bringing Light to Life through Jesus Christ in a dark world.
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness, on them light has shined. Isaiah 9:2
Arise, shine; for your light has come, the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Isaiah 60:1
4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. John 1:4-5
And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. John 3:19
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” John 8:12
For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. II Corinthians 4:6
For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light. Ephesians 5:8
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; 7 but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. I John 1:5-7
As you read through these Scriptures you can see how the Bible moves from God saying, “Let there be light”, to Jesus being the “Light of Life”, to us “walking in the light as He is in the light”. This progression is unique to our Christian faith.
As we prepare for our message on Sunday we want to make sure our sermon incorporates this interplay of “darkness” and “light” in our imagery and illustrations. But more than our message, we want to make sure our daily living incorporates shining Christ’s light through our good words and works of love. (Matthew 5)
In that gift I invite you to go out and “shine your light” with someone who needs their day brightened! And we’ll you see you again tomorrow in the Pastor’s Workshop.
Prayer: Gracious God, thank You for the gift of today. As the sun comes up, it reminds me of how Your light shines into my life. By my faith in Jesus, let Your light shine through me to those who need to know the light of Your love. In the name of Jesus, the Light of the world, I pray.