All right, we're going to be in John chapter 12, so you can go
ahead and open up your Bible and turn there.
We're going to actually be in John for two more weeks and then
we're going to take a little bit of a break.
We're we've been preaching through the whole book of John.
It's been over a year now. And so this week and then next
week we're going to finish up chapter 12.
We're going to have a guest pastor here preaching next week
and we'll do some baptisms next Sunday as well.
And then we're going to take a break and preach through the one
of the Old Testament books of prophets called Malachi.
So excited to have AI think 8 week series and that after this
1 John chapter 12. What's the purpose of life?
You ever asked that question? I'm not going to get too deep or
philosophical this morning, but it's a question we always ask
and especially when life is we don't have vision for life or
things are are going hard at times.
What what do we make sense of the hard things in life?
What do we do with this thing that's happening in my life?
Why God, why is this happening here?
Sometimes we even say the timing of this couldn't even been worse
and we just lose vision, we lose purpose and life.
We're going to be talking about purpose today.
There's a there's a line that Jesus says in John 12.
He says for this purpose, I have come to this hour.
That's the main thrust of our teaching today.
Jesus says for this purpose, I have come to this hour.
Jesus has incredible clarity on his life, on the reason for his
life, on his aim, and on his purpose.
And it culminates in the hour. The hour is the time of his
crucifixion, which is at the point that we're going to be
reading today. It's just days away from his
crucifixion. The cross is his ultimate
purpose in this life, and the time is now and he's feeling it.
And yet he stays steadfast and focused on his purpose.
And so we're going to be reading that in John chapter 12 today.
Jesus understands his purpose to glorify God through the cross
and draw all people to himself. I have a question for you.
What about you? Do you understand your purpose?
And that's a question I want to try to answer, and I think the
text will help us answer today. And so as we see Jesus's
purpose. And understand that and how He
lived that out and how He walked that out.
It's going to help us answer that question for our lives.
What is our purpose and our aim in life?
Give us a few moments of silence before I read the text and pray
for us just to calm our hearts. Pause.
Listen and pray. As we seek Jesus together this
morning, so. A few moments of silence.
And then I'm going to read the text.
Alright, John chapter 12, starting in verse 27.
I'm going to read to the verse 36 halfway through Jesus is
speaking. Here's what he says, verse 27.
Now is my soul troubled? What shall I say, Father, save
me from this hour? But for this purpose I have come
to this hour. Father, glorify your name.
Then a voice came from heaven. I have glorified it and I will
glorify it again. The crowd that stood.
There and heard it said that it had thundered.
Others said an Angel has spoken to him.
Jesus answered, This voice has come for your sake, not mine.
Now is the judgment of this world.
Now will the ruler of this world be cast out?
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people
to myself. He said this.
To show by what kind of death he was going to die.
So the crowd answered him. We have heard from the law that
the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of
Man must be lifted up? Who is this son of man?
Jesus said to them. The light is among you for a
little. While longer Why?
Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you.
The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he
is going while you have the light.
Believe in the light that you may become sons of light.
We pray for us. Jesus, thank you for the great
clarity. And purpose that you had when
you walked this earth, you walked it out, You walked toward
the cross and all the trouble that it was causing internally.
And yet because you knew this was your purpose, you lived it
out for our sake. And here you are as a light
drawing all people to yourself. Lord, as I teach this, help us
to see Your great purpose in life and what ours is.
As followers of you. Help me teach with clarity.
Lord, help us to have open hearts to receive what you have
for us today. Amen.
So Jesus's purpose, and there's
a few different things that I will highlight from the text
about his purpose for this time, and we'll see how that relates
to us as well. First, we see Jesus is troubled.
Jesus is troubled. I guess just say first we're
going to see his his first purpose in in this first four
horses is to but to glorify God through this season, through
this trouble, he's going to glorify God not to be rescued
from the cross. So in verse 27, he says, now is
my soul troubled? And let's pause there and and
let's not gloss over that Jesus's soul is trouble.
That's an internal thing. He is anxious, he is unsettled,
and he says now why is this? Why is his soul troubled now?
Because of the impending hour. He knows what's coming.
He knows the cross is in front of him, the crucifixion awaits,
and it's causing him deep sorrow and he has internal trouble
because of this. Now, if someone were just to
tell you, and even just as us reading it, that Jesus's soul
was troubled, that's one thing. It's another to actually
witness. And so try to imagine what Jesus
might have been like in this moment as he's talking about his
troubled soul. Have you ever seen someone who
has a troubled soul or you look into their eyes and it's like
their eyes are just wearing sadness, right?
You don't want to look into their pupils because they're
like black holes that you're afraid is just going to suck you
into the darkness that is going on inside.
You look at them physically and it's like, wow, you look like
you've aged 10 years. You're just, you know, when
someone's deeply troubled in their soul and they wear it on
their body? Fast forward in Jesus's life a
few days when he is praying in the garden hours before he's
going to be arrested and go to the cross.
Or imagine you're one of his closest disciples, Peter, James
and John. Jesus basically confessed to
them. I feel like death.
Pray with me, watch with me. And he goes a stone's throw away
and what happens? Jesus is wailing.
He's crying out right? And and they might even be able
to hear him, but they're at least watching him just throwing
himself onto the ground, shouting sobs.
And then and he's so the the internal trouble is so intense
that it causes him to sweat blood.
But it's an actual medical condition due to extreme stress,
right? That's what's happening hours
before Jesus's arrest. He knows that that's coming.
And so here we are a few days away and the intensity is thick.
The dread is weighing on him. And he says, now is my soul
troubled? And So what would the natural
human response? Be he says save me from this
hour. Makes sense.
Jesus is a human he took on human flesh and flesh and so
it's it's natural for him to to pray that and say that as most
of us would have now the way that the ESV that's who
translated the Bible that we read they they write it like
this. It's it's kind of like he's
posing this rhetorical question. What shall I say, Father, save
me from this hour? And, and that probably is the
most likely meaning. It could be though, that he's
actually asking this question and then his answer is this
prayer. Father save me from this hour.
If we look forward to Jesus's when he's in the garden like I
was that moment that I was just describing.
It's there that he does pray that he says Father, if it's
possible, can you remove this cup from me?
Will you take away what has to happen now, but not my will,
your will be done. And so we see a similar thing
here. Jesus says, But now my soul is
troubled. What shall I say, Father, save
me from this hour. But for this purpose, I have
come to this hour. Jesus.
This hour is the reason I'm here.
All of my life, all of my ministry has been leading up to
this point. It's for this purpose.
Jesus's clarity of purpose keeps him steadfast, and so he instead
prays. Father, glorify your name.
Notice the 2.
The two things he he prays together.
Father, save me from this hour. Father, glorify your name.
Not my will, Father, but yours be done in in the face of the
cross, with his soul deeply troubled, Jesus seeks the
Father's glory. He seeks the Father's purpose
over his own desires, you could say, over his fleshly desires.
That says, man, I just want to be relieved from this pressure.
I want to take the easier path. Father actually responds
immediately after Jesus prays this prayer and and he says
Father glorify your name says there's this voice from heaven
and the voice thunderously roars.
I have glorified it and I will glorify it again.
It's the Father affirming Jesus steadfast purpose.
Yes, Jesus, that is right. Yes son, I have glorified your
name. This is the the third instance
we read recorded of Jesus. Hearing the Father's voice at
his baptism, at the Transfiguration, and now here.
And so he's probably talking about those other times that he
confirmed it. He glorified him in other ways,
but he also says I will glorify it, right?
He's talking about the cross. Jesus going to the cross was
God's glorious plan. I know all of us want to hear
God's voice, right? We want God to speak, but he
probably does and has. For most of us.
We just weren't listening. Or we say silly things like was
that Thunder or oh, it must have been an Angel speaking to him,
right, that people misunderstand him or it's just unbelief.
They don't quite get what just happened.
And Jesus says, well, that was for your sake, not for mine.
It's just a little puzzling. I'm guessing it was actually
also for Jesus sake. But he is he is saying no, that
voice is for you guys. That's maybe, maybe it's to
confirm that this hour that's going to come actually leads to
glory, right? It's not the end of the story.
And so Jesus is saying this now so that later disciples then and
disciples like us can look back and say, oh, it's for his glory,
that the purpose of this hour is ultimately for the Father's
glory. This is Jesus's great purpose,
to glorify God, and for us we have a similar purpose.
We can look at that and say our purpose is to help bring glory
to God in all circumstances. I've got there's there's three
of these and ways we can see how Jesus lived out his purpose and
how we can live it out. So if you just need to remember
one word, it's this, It's glory. Our purpose is to glorify God in
all of our circumstances. It's what we're here for and
it's not a begrudging thing. If it is a begrudging thing, you
need to look inside and try to examine why am I trying to give
glory to God and that doesn't bring me great joy and
satisfaction? Because it does.
For the disciple of Jesus to honor and glorify God brings us
great joy and satisfaction. Even.
Excuse me? Even when we don't understand
it. Even we're not exactly sure why
every. Hour has a purpose, just like
Jesus is saying this hour. Has a purpose.
I think we can ask the question in all situations.
How can I seek God's glory now? How can I seek God's glory in
this situation? Sometimes that question is
harder than others, right? And maybe you can point, we can
look at this situation that Jesus is in and say, oh, that
question can be hard, right? Why?
Well, Jesus is about to go get murdered on a cross.
And beyond the physical pain and torture, it's the spiritual,
it's the mental, it's the emotional, it's the wrath of God
for the judgment of sin on Jesus.
And his soul is deeply troubled. And yet the cross is.
What will bring God and Jesus great glory?
And so we're going to have to keep going back to the cross.
And so maybe for you right now there you're in some you, you,
some of you walked in today with soul trouble, right?
Something's weighing on your heart.
And you need to seek God's glory in it.
And yes, there's a tension here because we can say God save me
from this hour. Lord, help me rescue me in this
situation. But Lord, more than that, be
glorified through me in this situation.
And we look. At the cross and we say that's
what happened there. If God can be glorified in the
crucifixion of the Son of God, he can in your situation too.
So where, where, where is your, where is your soul troubled?
And, and maybe you could think back to sometime in the past.
Maybe some of you are living that out right now.
Maybe there's some kind of music mental health issues.
I know that can be a kind of a buzzword in our day, but can
also be legit depression and anxiety, overwhelmed by sadness
or grief or loneliness or thoughts of suicide.
Identity issues and people get confused very easily.
And so maybe some of you are struggling at that and there's
this great internal wrestling in your heart now.
Your soul is trouble. Maybe it's just physical health
issues that happens. It's painful, it's hard to deal
with God, what's your purpose in this?
Some of you have relational troubles and maybe it's the
person that you're sitting next to.
There's some tension, you show up and you put the smile on
because you got to go to church together.
But there's relational troubles and it's it's painful when you
go through that. Could be with a spouse.
Maybe it's just a. Friend or a family member,
right? Oh God, what's the purpose in
this hour? Some of you are working a dead
end job and you are just about done with it.
Maybe you don't even have a job at all.
Right. And it's causing anxiety, it's
causing trouble. Some of it's just the state of
the world, right? The world is going to hell, we
would say. And I would say actually think
the world's always been like this.
The problem is we know about everyone's problems all the
time, all over the place. And so it's just amplified.
So what do you do? Well, our purpose is to.
Bring God in all circumstances. And so I think we pray.
Save me and glorify thee, right? God, save me from this hour.
Help me, Lord, I need you and God be glorified in this.
Come what may be glorified in this, Let me be a light.
We're going to be talking about light later in this teaching.
Help me, Lord God, use this right.
Fill in the blank for your glory and for my good.
This is why Romans 828 is one of the most memorized, memorized or
well known verses, right? For those who love God, all
things work together for their good.
If you trust in Jesus, you can trust in that promise.
And so when the trouble comes, you say, all right, Lord, help
me live this out with purpose for your glory.
For this purpose, Jesus came to glorify God, not to be rescued
from the cross, but to glorify him through it.
We also see part of his purpose in the cross is to bring
judgment and to judge the ruler of this world.
Let's look at verse 31. I'll reread 31 for us.
Jesus says now. Is the judgment of this world
now? Will the ruler of this world be
cast out? So couple of purposes here we
see in Jesus as he's teasing them out to judge the world.
And to cast out Satan. So the first Jesus's purpose is
the judgment of the world, or you can think the sentencing of
people for sin. So picture yourself in in a
trial, right? I don't know if you've ever had
jury duty or maybe you've been on trial for something.
OK, you're in the courtroom setting in this situation, Whose
trial would it be? The world, right?
And he's not talking about the globe and the dirt that we live
on. He's talking about people.
The people in the world are on trial.
Jesus has come for the judgment of the world.
We are on trial. What's the charge?
Rejecting God, right? And we've got lots of sins, all
different kinds of sins in different kind of ways.
But the charge ultimately is we have rejected God.
It's insurrection. It is rebellion against him.
It is saying ultimately, no God, actually, I want my own way.
I'll take most of what you've got, but no God actually in
this, it's mine, right? We have all rejected God.
None are righteous, all have fallen short.
The charge is rejection. Of God and the judgment guilty
on all accounts. And this is nothing like our
justice system, which is imperfect and flawed and I don't
trust very much anymore. Because there's corruption all
over the place, and it gets weaponized and used.
So don't think the American justice system, which is better
than a lot of other countries, but still has many great flaws.
Think of the perfect righteous judge.
And here's the problem about this judge.
I say problem because we're the guilty ones.
Not only is he perfect and righteous and innocent and holy
and set apart, but he also knows all things.
So it's not like we can get away with anything.
And we know we are guilty, even if we want to pretend like we
are not. The judgment is that we are
guilty, and the sentencing is death.
Romans 323 says the wages of sin is death, right?
The cost of sin is death. That is the trial.
And Jesus says This is why I have come my purposes for the
judgment of the world. And what we're going to see on
the cross is the greatest reversal of all time, the most
unbelievable. Thing happened in that trial.
Ever the perfect innocent one, Jesus said, I will step in their
place. I will stand in their place.
I will receive all of their sin, all of their judgment, all of
their guilt, all of their punishment, all of the righteous
wrath of God against sin on Jesus in a way that satisfies
God's righteousness, and pouring out wrath on sin.
And yet allows us to receive forgiveness.
All will be judged Who? Is being judged for you, you or
Jesus? Who is being judged in your
place? Or is it you?
There There are no other ways. If it is not Jesus, then you
will be judged for your sins and you do not want to face that
sentencing. Jesus is going to stand in our
place. He is the.
Judgement of the world, He's going to take that on himself
for us. He also says in verse 31, now is
the time that the ruler of the world will be cast out.
So here's another purpose that Jesus gives to cast out the
ruler. Who is the ruler of this world?
Satan, I'm checking to see if you guys are there.
Seem a little quiet this morning, Satan.
Alright, God's adversary, the enemy is going to be cast out or
kicked out or crushed, defeated, stripped of his power and his
influence. Alright, finally the the kind of
fulfillment that we saw way back at the beginning and the first
sin, right? And then God prophesied and he
said, I will raise up one who will crush the head of the
serpent. The serpent will bruise his
heel. We see that on the cross, Jesus
is death, but Jesus will crush his head.
The death blow. Now, some of us would say it
doesn't really seem like Satan's run out of influence.
In fact, seems like he's influencing all the influencers.
Makes me think about this movie that I just watched recently
called Warrior. It's about these, it's, it's a
fictional movie. It's about these MMA guys.
They fight. And then at the end of the
movie, it's these guys and they're brothers and they're
fighting each other. And one of the brothers gets his
shoulder basically torn. Like, I don't know, everything
gets shredded in there to the point where like tons of pain.
You can't move your shoulder, right?
It's over, right? He's he just, and his brother
tries to get him to concede defeat, but he won't.
What does he do? He keeps swinging with his other
arm. He's trying to inflict the blow.
He knows he's been defeated. It's over, but he just keeps
fighting. That's what it's like.
Satan has been defeated. He knows he will not win.
And yet he is not going down easily.
He wants to take out as many people and make our life as
frustrating as we can as he can. But think about this.
Our future is certain. If you're a disciple of Jesus,
your future is certain, right? But is it there yet?
No, we hope. We hope for the resurrection
life. And just in the same way that we
hope for the resurrection life, we also know Satan will be
defeated one day, but we have to wait.
So we're in this waiting period right now.
He will be defeated, though. Here's some homework.
Go read Revelation 20 if you want to read about and just.
Celebrate in the death of Satan and the devils.
They get thrown into the lake of fire, tormented day and night.
So if you just need some encouragement because you feel
Daniel say take that Satan, this is your final end.
Jesus has ultimate power. Jesus's purpose was to judge the
world and to cast out Satan. Our purpose, our purpose I would
put as this freedom, freedom. Our purpose is to live freely.
We are free from judgment because of Jesus.
We are free. From enslavement to the devil,
Listen to what the author of Hebrews says.
These verses will be on the screen about this, this kind of
freedom that we have in Jesus. Again, this is all all of you
who have chosen Jesus to stand in your place.
If you have not chosen Jesus to stay in your place, then this
still applies to you. Here's what he says, verse 14.
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He
himself likewise partook of the same things.
Pause right there. Little.
Confusing language. Basically Jesus became a man.
Jesus took on flesh. Jesus.
When you cut him, he would bleed.
Jesus had emotions. Jesus was a human.
And So what? The author what Hebrews is
getting at is because we are human flesh and what Jesus had
to become like us for it to actually be a right sacrifice.
OK, pick it up halfway through that verse.
That through death he might destroy the one who has the
power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who
through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
Before Jesus, we were. All.
Subject to lifelong slavery through the fear of death.
Right. Satan had the power of death and
he would wield that over us and it would cause us to sin and
drive to go crazy and to be under fear and to be enslaved to
him. But Jesus came and he died to
destroy the works of the devil. We are now delivered.
But if you trust in Jesus, you are free from fear and slavery
and the devil. This is part of Jesus's purpose,
to rescue the world. Have you been rescued?
If you have not been repentant, believe in Jesus.
Turn to him today. Tell him you love him.
Tell him you're sorry. Say Jesus, I need you.
I don't want to suffer that way. I want the hope that you have.
I want this freedom that you're talking about.
No one can do this for you. You have.
To come to Jesus. Yourself and you can do that in
many number of ways. You can pray to him right now.
You can if you have questions about that, if you're if you
want to follow, just come talk to me afterwards.
Talk to one of our pastors, talk to another leader, talk to the
person sitting next to you. I don't care.
Talk to somebody if Jesus is drawing you in, if you want to
learn more and to know more about him and what it means to
be saved. So these promises are for you.
Then don't let today go by without talking to somebody.
Our purpose is freedom. I love how simply is put in
Galatians 51 for freedom. Christ has set us free.
We are set free to be free. This is part of our purpose for
freedom. Christ has set us free.
And then then Paul writes stand firm therefore, and do not
submit again to a yoke of slavery.
Don't go back to your old slave master, the devil and sin.
If you're a Christian, you have been set free from sin or this
quote this week that I want to read for you.
It feels hopeful in this point. The quote says this salvation is
not the reward for obedience. Salvation is the reason for
obedience. Let me read that again.
Salvation or being saved is not the reward for obedience.
So it's not that we obey Jesus and then our reward is we get
this life. No, salvation is the reason for
obedience. You've been saved.
Obey Jesus. It is your great joy and
pleasure to follow him, to love him, and to obey Him.
This this verse came to my mind earlier and and just came back
today so I want to read it now. Romans 611 says so.
You also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive
to God in Jesus Christ. For this purpose, for Jesus's
purpose of judging the world and casting out Satan, we are now
free. Paul writes you must consider
yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ.
We're free. We live for him.
It doesn't always feel like that.
Sometimes we feel oppression from the evil one.
Sometimes we feel our old sinful nature creep back in.
But what does Paul tell us here? Consider what's actually true of
you. Are you dead to sin?
Has Jesus made you alive? That you are free?
Walk in your freedom. This is the purpose that we have
been made for. For this purpose, Jesus came to
the world to judge and to cast out.
And the last one we're going to read about is to draw all people
to himself. Jesus's purpose is to draw all
people to himself. Let's look back at verses 32 and
33. Jesus says I, when I'm lifted up
from the earth, will draw all people to myself.
He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to
die. So Jesus is going to be lifted
up and it's a little cloudy. Exactly what this means.
It's actually not that cloudy, but it's he's he's, he's being a
little mysterious. But then John clarifies he's
showing what kind of death he's going to die.
All right. So when he says lifted up, he's
mainly meeting lifted up on the cross to be crucified.
But he's also drawing their minds back to other things.
Isaiah 52, for example, Isaiah 52 and 53, one of the most
amazing, incredible, beautiful prophecies about what would
happen to Jesus starts off with this servant is going to be
lifted up. If we look back to John chapter
3, Jesus talks about it there. He says like Moses in the
wilderness lifted up this snake and they had to look to the
snake to be saved. At this longer story, go read
about it in Numbers. Jesus says I'm going to be
lifted up and you got to look to me to be saved.
So that's what he's talking about, lifted up in death.
But I also think there's a double meaning here, right?
It's not just lifted up in death, it's lifted up in life
because He will be lifted up on the cross, look to him and be
saved, but he also will be lifted up again from death.
It's called the resurrection. He came back to life and he
ascended into heaven. Jesus is going to be lifted up
and that glory on the cross and in his resurrection is going to,
he says, draw all people to himself, right?
Like a light drawing people in to safety.
When he uses, when he says all, he doesn't mean all people will
be saved. He means all kinds of people.
Or if you remember back to last week, we mentioned at the
beginning of the text, the Greeks are seeking Jesus and
it's something triggers him. Oh, it's the time.
The hour has come, right? He's talking about all people
will be able to be drawn to him. Jesus draws all people.
None are excluded from the offer to believe, right?
Citizenship is being talked about a lot.
Immigration status in our country, right?
There's a lot of opinions about that.
But Jesus says you can come be a citizen in my Kingdom and
everyone is welcome. He says you're not, you're not
at home here, but you can come to my country and you have a
place. Our Jesus offer is for any and
everyone who come to him. I love that I'm preaching this
text. And tonight we are celebrating
an incredible diversity in God's Kingdom, right?
What brings us together? I mean, tonight we all love
food. We all love free food.
So we're going to come and we're going to feast together and it's
going to be wonderful. But what brings all these people
here? The love of Jesus.
We have been united to Jesus and there are many great differences
among us, and yet we are unified in him.
It's a wonderful picture of just how diverse God's Kingdom is and
is going to be. He's going to be lifted up and
he's going to draw all people to himself.
And the crowd says, wait a minute, what do you mean?
They say, how can you say that the Son of man must be lifted
up? We read in the law, the Christ
remains forever. Who is the Son of man?
They are still unbelieving. They understand what Jesus is
saying. He's saying, I am going to die.
And he had also said, I'm the son of man.
And they say, well, this doesn't seem to add up, you know, hey,
let's get into a nice theological debate here.
And Jesus says, Nope, I'm going to sidestep that one because
you've got enough information. He has been with them so long,
He's been so patient, He's been so gentle.
He's been so clear to them. And they just don't believe
their eyes are blinded. They love the darkness.
They stay in the darkness. And so Jesus, what did he say
next? Well, you guys just don't get
it. You're all going to hell.
No, he continues to plead with them.
And what they They don't need Jesus to give them the
explanation. They need to believe in the
light. And so here's what Jesus says.
The light. Is among you.
For a little while longer, walk while you have the light, lest
the darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the
darkness does not know where he's going.
While you have the light, believe in the light that you
may become sons of light. And so they ask some legitimate
questions, right? They're confused and they ask
questions. I'm not saying you have
questions. You just need to believe you
probably you do just need to believe Jesus will try to answer
your questions. We will try to answer any
questions you have, but we need. Belief they have enough data.
They are not making the right choice if you were here last
week. We talked about this.
Everyone lives and everyone dies, but the order is up to
you. You live in this life.
Die for eternity or die to yourself now so that you can
live for eternity. They are choosing the wrong way.
What about you? Believe in the light Jesus says.
Come to the light He's drawing you in, put your trust in him,
Die to yourself and live in forever with Jesus.
For most of you, for many of you, this is our purpose now is
to be this light, right? So as Jesus is the light that
draws all people to himself, we are now the light.
That draws all people to Jesus, right?
This is part of our purpose. So part of our purpose is to
glorify God. It's to live.
In Freedom and It's to be a Light.
Let me read for you from Matthew 5, 14 to 16.
These will be up on the screen. You might have heard Jesus teach
this before. Here's what he says.
First part, you are the light of the world.
Now pause there. Jesus says in John chapter 8, I
am the light of the world, right?
And he's talking here about being the light of the world.
Now in John Chapter 9, he says it again.
He says as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the
world. So isn't this amazing?
Jesus is the light of the world. Not only did he make the light,
he made the sun and the moon and the stars.
Jesus is the light, drawing all people to himself, but he's not
here anymore. And so he says, you are the
light, you are my representatives.
I'm gone, but you're here. Shine brightly for me.
You are the light of the world. Verse 14.
A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
But if you. If you were to see a city from
afar and is up on the hill as a strategic location, that's where
you want the city. You don't try to hide the city.
You say this is our city, this is a stronghold, this is a place
of refuge. This is a place of safety,
right? A city on the hill.
You don't try to hide that. It's the light that draws people
in. Verse 15.
Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a
stand, and it gives light to all in the house.
How you guys want me to sing, don't you?
This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine.
Right. Little kids song to help us
remember. Don't put a basket under the
light. What kind of fool does that
light the lamp? But we don't.
We don't light a ton of lamps in here.
Who turns the lights on and then covers them up?
This doesn't make any sense, she says.
You are the light. Don't put a.
Basket it's for the lighting up of the house.
In the same way, verse 16 in the same way.
Let your light shine before others so that they may see your
good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
And Jesus just got done telling the people, believe in the light
that you may become sons of light.
Well, sons of light are light. If you're a son or a daughter
who follows Jesus, you are the light.
And Jesus says, let your light shine before others, so that
they may see your good works and give.
Glory to your Father, who's in heaven.
That sounds like the first thing we talked about, isn't it?
And the good works here can be lots of things, but it's
essentially you representing Jesus well-being kind to the
poor or loving the people around you.
Serving somebody who doesn't deserve to be served, but you're
just trying to love them. Caring, loving, serving good
deeds. Christians, we ought to be full
of good deeds. There ought to be no question
about that. They might question other things
about what we believe, but. We ought to be full of good
works, letting our light shine so that people can see that and
the ultimate they will turn to Jesus and glorify God and become
sons and daughters of light. So our purpose is to be the
light. Let me ask a couple of
questions. First, is your light under a
basket? How many of you got your basket
cover and your light? Your purpose is to let it shine.
All right. For some, we put the basket over
because we are image conscious. We are so self-conscious.
What are people going to think? They I, I care so much about how
they're going to view me. I don't want to be one of those.
Weird guys, Those weird. Christians, I just let me be a
kind of cool normal, all right? We care so much.
Some of you are students right now, Middle school, high school,
some of the most difficult years of trying to not just be there
and fit in. Right, and actually realize, oh,
you're going to look different, you're going to stand out like a
sore thumb, and yet you are called to be a light in a dark
place. You are called to be different.
You're called to represent Jesus.
Who cares what they think about you?
The opinions of most teenagers change by the hour.
Let your light shine. For those of you, life is full,
all right? Maybe you're married, maybe
you've got kids. You just, you know, of the
fullness of life. And you got the dog and the cat
and the house and the yard and life is just busy.
And then it's sports practice and music lessons and birthday
parties and yadda, yadda yadda. And life is just full.
And so your basket is covering your light.
It's kind of like this garage door up, car pulls in, garage
door down as some of you, you have a basket over your light
because there's no unbelievers around you.
They don't have any room into your life.
They can't see the light because you just have covered it up
because your life is so full and your only sphere is Christians.
And you should absolutely prioritize being with the church
every Sunday morning. And you should absolutely
prioritize being in a small group and having a community of
people around you. And where is there a place for
you to shine brightly if your life is so full and you're so
busy and you and you live kind of like our culture as we come
over. So we kind of isolate ourselves
and our home. You got a basket over you.
Some of you are going to go into work tomorrow.
Then we have a water cooler at work.
Does that still exist? Yeah, it used to.
Be a thing standing around the water.
Cool. Taking your break at work,
drinking your water and chatting with people.
Right? So I don't know if you actually
have a water cooler at work. But I'm sure you're going to
talk with your Co workers tomorrow.
What are you going to talk about?
Hey, what was your weekend? It was great.
Weather was so nice. Went to the springs.
Don't put a basket over what your day was like.
He's a man. I went to church.
The preaching was amazing. It was good.
This is good. This is a great church.
I met with God. I I you know, whatever.
Oh, man. Do you want to know what I did
last night? I had the most amazing food of
my life. What are you talking about?
At my church. At church?
Yeah. Let me tell you about it, man.
There was, I had food from all from Brazil and from China and
from Indiana and all over the place.
What, at your church? Yeah, man, it's awesome.
We have such a great diversity in our church and we're all
unified around Jesus. It was awesome.
You know what the next one is? Not until next year.
We do it once a year. You got to come next year,
right? Take the basket off.
Or is it just weather, sports, whatever hobby, Netflix binge, I
don't know. Take the basket off right we are
to be lights in this world. Is your light under a basket?
Ask yourself that. Ask your friends that get some
evaluation from people around you if you need to and.
Guys, let's take the let's take the basket off.
Jesus uses the word now a lot and he talks about the impending
hour in his life. So here's the second question.
Who has God put in your life right now?
Don't think about. Too far down the road.
Who's around you right now? It might be the person sitting
next to you, for all I know. Who has he put in your life now
to shine? That they may see Jesus?
They might not come to the light, but your purpose is to be
a light that they might. So who has he put in your life
around you? Here's your challenge.
Be a light to someone this week. Good work.
The love of Jesus, talk about him shine.
Bright this week. All right, probably won't be
able to stand up and ask how it went, but maybe.
You can talk to. Somebody else?
Hey, how'd it go? How did you shine this week?
But this is part of our purpose. Jesus knew his purpose for the
hour. Didn't he?
And he was steadfast and despite the soul level trouble, he said
no God you be glorified. I will go rescue these people by
giving up my life on the cross. And I was draw all people to
myself. That is my great purpose.
And as we believe in Jesus, we turn around and say, Jesus, your
purpose is my purpose too. We know.
Jesus, it gives us all the purpose.
We could ever need in this life to bring glory to our Heavenly
Father, to live in the freedom that He has bought for us, and
to be lights in this world.