Sermon, 15 Nov 21 John 3: 20

Come into the Light

Sermon:

John 3: 20, Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.

Sister in Christ

“Light” is a common theme in the gospel of John. The purpose of light is to illuminate(mencerahkan) and to make it brighter and more visible. Jesus Himself is the light of the world, “I am the light for the world! Follow me, and you won’t be walking in the dark. You will have the light that gives life.”

Au do Panondang ni portibion, Na so tupa mardalan di na holom na mangihuthon Ahu, di ibana do tahe panondang hangoluan (John 1:4-9;8:12, 9:5; 12:35-36, 46).

The Greek term of “evil,” or “wicked,” is phaula, which also means “worthless,” “base,” or “no good.”

A life without God may seem satisfying, for a while (Hebrews 11:25), but it’s ultimately hopeless, worthless, and ends in disaster, “Ai aha ma anttong gunana di jolma I nang liat portibion diomo anggo mago do hosanna? “(Mark 8:36).

He came from eternity into time to illuminate what salvation is all about. “Light” is truth revealed about Jesus’ mission on earth. The Gospel of God revealed about God’s mission on this earth. Light reveals truth, and exposes what was hidden. According to verse 19, is the reason why many people reject Jesus.

Many people would prefer to hide in darkness, rather than be exposed by the light (John 1:5; John 8:12)

His life, and His teachings, expose every single person as a sinner (Romans 3:10), and the things we do as morally wrong (Romans 4:7). It’s crucial to remember that those who are saved are not “better” than those who reject Christ—they are simply sinners who confess and believe (1 John 1:6–7).

Sister in Christ, we understand, we realize that all of us as a sinner, we understand our position where we are and who we are, as we know it from the light itself.

This Bible text call us:

Come and do not hate the light

You are invited to come to the light not to hate the light, for those who hate the light is evil.

Light and darkness is the rhytms of the day, we passed through the condition of being in a darkness and in the light. The darkness can be understood as the absent of the light, while the light has come, the darkness fade away.

In the Bible, light has always been a symbol of holiness, goodness, knowledge, wisdom, grace, hope, and God’s revelation.

By contrast, darkness has been associated with evil, sin, and despair(putus asa).

The presence of light as a metaphor of truth, good, knowledge, life, etc. In the first Chapter of the Genesis, Jhwh Elohim – God as Creator is described as creating light and seeing the light to be good.

What is importance of light?

The importance of light, we depend on it. No life without light

Light is the source of all life on our planet. The importance of light could be comprehended as plants synthesize nutrients from light using chlorophyll, and filter the air we breathe. Animals and humans depend on plants for survival. Therefore, everything depends on the light in some way.

Light is the main source of energy for all living organisms. Plants, main sustainers of life, are crucial in this conversion process and need light for photosynthesis that enables them to make their own food and food for others. And, perhaps more importantly, photosynthesis produces oxygen too!

Talking about darknes, at least three types of darkness;

There is physical darkness, the absence of light we cannot see around clearly. Our eyes need light to see—but where there is no light, we cannot see the beauty in front of us or the dangers upon us. We must have light to see—God created us that way and keeps light on earth and part of His created order through the sun and moon.

Thomas Alva Edison the inventor of the light bulb didn’t create light—just the light bulb—God created light. Without it we have physical darkness. The advantages of knowledge and technology produce the various of light bulb, LED Lamp more savely than before.

Then there is mental darkness. This is when we don’t have knowledge or understanding and darkness is a symbol of ignorance or confusion. This can happen if you just don’t know something or are mentally blind to something. Mental darkness can relate to not knowing something about the world, or not knowing something about God in the heavens.

Paul talked about this in 2 Corinthians 4:6 when he wrote, “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” ( “Dari dalam gelap akan terbit terang!”, Ia juga yang membuat terang-Nya bercahaya di dalam hati kita, supaya kita beroleh terang dari pengetahuan tentang kemuliaan Allah yang nampak pada wajah Kristus)

There is a moment when God literally opens our minds with His light to have knowledge of Him. Elsewhere in Scripture, it talked about the darkness of the minds of those who don’t know God. He hasn’t given them a knowledge of His special grace.

Spiritual darkness. In the New Testament, the use of “Light” and “darkness” is almost always referring to a spiritual status. Spiritual darkness is the absence of God in our life. A Great example of that is 1 Peter 2:9, when talking about those who have faith in Jesus Christ and says, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

“No more Fear…” , by the true light everything is clear, there is a hope there is a salvation.

The True Light guides us pass through hopeless, suffering, anxiety and fearing no longer remain in us, by doing something meaningful, more actions and expanding impacts for others continually. No more fear to expose our deed, by doing the truth, the whole life truly guiding by his Words. The negative impacts from the shift to online learning during the Covid-19 crisis are so many, but let us see that we are taught to see the value that we got during the pandemic;

Need creativity to looking for a better way on education process.
We accept e-learning, learning/teaching from home as the best way on this time
Google helps students and teachers in Indonesia to be able to continue learning outside of

School or campus.

At least we realize, we are grateful that the light came into our life and the light itself helps us to find a way when it seems there is no way. So, we are delight to come to the light not hiding and doing everything in the darkness. God be with us and God bless our activities on this day. Amen

Sumber: Pdt. Marugum Simangunsong, M.Th