I John 1:5 tells us that God is Light. And for us, those who believe in Him, He is our light.
Let’s take a moment and pray:
Jesus, you are the light of the world. In You there is no darkness at all. Your light shines in us and through us. We pray that you would light our paths through your Word today. We are dependent on Your direction. Apart from You, everything is darkness and confusion to us. Shine on us and through us Lord Jesus. Amen.
The last 3 weeks, we’ve begun studying through the book of Daniel. Last week we talked about the fiery furnace. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were joined in the furnace by a fourth man. This fourth man had a different appearance than the three friends. He is described by Nebuchadnezzar as a son of the gods and later as an angel. Likely, the fourth man had an appearance of light or brilliance to gain such a description.
Two weeks ago, we talked about how God miraculously revealed Nebuchadnezzar’s dream to Daniel. King Nebuchadnezzar said he would not tell his dream to anyone but that his wise men had to prove their worth by telling him the dream and interpreting it. Otherwise, he would kill all the wise men. Daniel stepped in and asked the king for time. That night, God revealed the dream to Daniel. Daniel had a beautiful prayer at that point.
During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven and said: “Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him. I thank and praise you, O God of my fathers: You have given me wisdom and power, you have made known to me what we asked of you, you have made known to us the dream of the king.” Daniel 2:19-23
God reveals deep and hidden things; God knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with God. What a beautiful description of what God is like.
He reveals … In Matthew 7:7, Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” If you need wisdom or understanding, seek Him out and ask for it through prayer. God will provide.
He knows … Psalm 139:7-8, 11-12 says, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. … If I say, ‘Surely, the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,’ even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.” There is a bit of fear associated with that passage, isn’t it? If you are persisting in sin, continuing to sin, there should be some uneasiness. God sees all, He knows all.
Light dwells with Him … John 1 says,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood [or overcome] it. John 1:1-5
God is light. I think it is so cool how God reveals his character to us in the physical world with examples that we can see and understand. Have you ever gotten in a really dark place? Has anyone ever been in a cave with all the lights turned off? That’s dark. But, the darkness cannot overcome the light at all. Any light can shine in the darkness. A small light may not shine very far, but darkness cannot overcome light. Light can never be extinguished by darkness. In the presence of light, darkness hides nothing. In rock, paper, scissors between light and darkness, light always wins. Every time. No question. God is light. He always prevails. Nothing can be hidden from him. He sees all. He knows all.
Let’s continue reading in John 1. Starting in verse 6 …
There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. John 1:6-8
John was not the light. He came as a witness to the light. Likewise, we are not lights by ourselves. We don’t have to strain or work up ourselves to shine. Why?
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. II Corinthians 2:6-7
God wants the darkness pushed back. He wants the light to shine. He is the one who makes the light shine.
The craziest thing happened to me on Friday. For those who don’t know, I’m an engineer by trade and I work in a manufacturing plant. Well, I went into the plant Friday morning thinking I was going to have a quiet day and catch up on some things. We were supposed to only have a skeleton crew on the line because we’re going through a big change to our production software. However, a quiet day was not what God had planned.
We’ve been working on a project for over 2 years, and it’s just about finished. We’ve only got a few more parts to build, and it’ll be in the history books. I’ve been trying to get the approval to start the last group of parts for about 3 weeks. Well, Friday morning July 29th when we’re shutdown for this software upgrade, I got the go ahead with one caveat. They didn’t want anyone to know that we hadn’t started the last parts in July. So, the statement was made that even though we could not start parts until Monday August 1st, we would just tell management that they were actually started in July.
It seems like an innocuous little white lie that wouldn’t hurt anyone. More than likely, no one other than a couple of managers would hear the lie, and (if you throw out the fact that God sees all) it would be almost impossible for them to find out that it was a lie because the prospective liars have control of the information regarding when something was started or not.
Well, what to do? Quickly, I thought of a couple of possibilities. I couldn’t pretend I didn’t know about it, because I had already heard it. Two lies don’t make a truth. You just have two lies. One easy option was to put the parts on the schedule and say that it would’ve started but there was a production shutdown. In essence, saying, “It’s not my fault.” But that didn’t feel right either. It didn’t really take long. In just 2-3 minutes, I had my answer. The parts had to be started. This would meet the expectation and avoid any hint of a lie.
There was only one problem. Who was going to run the parts?
I went to our production supervisor and told her what needed to be done. We had to start the parts that day. She looked at me with a question mark on her face, and then she laughed and said, “You’re doing this just so you don’t have to tell a lie.” I smiled back and nodded. At this point, I was still under the radar so to speak. I thought we had someone onsite to run the parts. Turns out, that person was going home at 11 am. At that point, it was 10 am already. So I got some help from them before they left. Then, I commandeered a technician to help me the rest of the day, and for the next 6 hours, I ran the parts. And if you’re the only person on a line for 6 hours, it’s hard not to be noticed. John Farmer was running production. Everyone knew it. It was kind of embarrassing. At the same time, there is the demand to know why. It was common knowledge that I had done it to keep from having to tell a lie. But even more than that, it was to prevent someone else from telling a lie.
When we got done around 4:30 pm, I sent out an email saying the required parts had been started. In reply, I got the response, “Thank you very much!!!” with multiple exclamation points.
The confluence of factors, all these little details coming together, provided the opportunity for light to shine. If I had gotten the release 3 weeks ago, it wouldn’t have been a problem. If I had known there was a hard and fast decision about starting the last parts in July, I could have pushed harder to get the release in time. If the production line had been running on Friday and the weekend like normal, I wouldn’t have had to do anything but modify the production schedule. If the one operator in the plant that day was staying until the normal 3 pm rather than working a half day until 11 am, no one would have known.
I didn’t make the light. Not only that, I didn’t/couldn’t make the opportunity for the light to shine like it did. God wants the light to shine. He is the light and He puts His light in us. We then can decide whether we shine or whether we hide the light that is in us. Friday was a divine appointment as Fred calls it. I don’t know what will happen as a result, but I’m glad that He is making opportunities for that light to shine. He does it in my life, and He does it in yours. Making right decisions, swimming against the current of the world, those are opportunities for you to let the light shine.
Keith Green wrote a song called Stained Glass. It begins like this, “We are like windows stained with the colors of the rainbow. Set in a darkened room til the bridegroom comes to shine through.” We are each uniquely created by God to shine for Him, but the light is not from us, it is from Him. He shines uniquely through each of us.
He shines through us because he came himself to shine into the whole world.
The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. … He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- John 1:9, 11-12
From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. John 1:16-17
Before we take communion, I invite you to reflect on the blessings you have received from Jesus, the true light. When you are ready, you can come to the table and take the bread and juice back to your seat. Then, take and eat the bread which is his body broken for you. Take and drink for this is his blood which was poured out for you, the atoning sacrifice for your sins that you might become children of God.
Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, thank You for coming into the world. Thank You that You did not conceal Your light, but revealed it through Your words and through the way that You lived. Most of all thank You for dying on the cross for our sins. We are indebted to You beyond measure, and yet You have made us Your brothers and sisters, not Your servants. It is too much, Lord. Thank You for Your love. Amen.
Let’s take a moment and pray:
Jesus, you are the light of the world. In You there is no darkness at all. Your light shines in us and through us. We pray that you would light our paths through your Word today. We are dependent on Your direction. Apart from You, everything is darkness and confusion to us. Shine on us and through us Lord Jesus. Amen.
The last 3 weeks, we’ve begun studying through the book of Daniel. Last week we talked about the fiery furnace. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were joined in the furnace by a fourth man. This fourth man had a different appearance than the three friends. He is described by Nebuchadnezzar as a son of the gods and later as an angel. Likely, the fourth man had an appearance of light or brilliance to gain such a description.
Two weeks ago, we talked about how God miraculously revealed Nebuchadnezzar’s dream to Daniel. King Nebuchadnezzar said he would not tell his dream to anyone but that his wise men had to prove their worth by telling him the dream and interpreting it. Otherwise, he would kill all the wise men. Daniel stepped in and asked the king for time. That night, God revealed the dream to Daniel. Daniel had a beautiful prayer at that point.
During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven and said: “Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him. I thank and praise you, O God of my fathers: You have given me wisdom and power, you have made known to me what we asked of you, you have made known to us the dream of the king.” Daniel 2:19-23
God reveals deep and hidden things; God knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with God. What a beautiful description of what God is like.
He reveals … In Matthew 7:7, Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” If you need wisdom or understanding, seek Him out and ask for it through prayer. God will provide.
He knows … Psalm 139:7-8, 11-12 says, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. … If I say, ‘Surely, the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,’ even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.” There is a bit of fear associated with that passage, isn’t it? If you are persisting in sin, continuing to sin, there should be some uneasiness. God sees all, He knows all.
Light dwells with Him … John 1 says,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood [or overcome] it. John 1:1-5
God is light. I think it is so cool how God reveals his character to us in the physical world with examples that we can see and understand. Have you ever gotten in a really dark place? Has anyone ever been in a cave with all the lights turned off? That’s dark. But, the darkness cannot overcome the light at all. Any light can shine in the darkness. A small light may not shine very far, but darkness cannot overcome light. Light can never be extinguished by darkness. In the presence of light, darkness hides nothing. In rock, paper, scissors between light and darkness, light always wins. Every time. No question. God is light. He always prevails. Nothing can be hidden from him. He sees all. He knows all.
Let’s continue reading in John 1. Starting in verse 6 …
There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. John 1:6-8
John was not the light. He came as a witness to the light. Likewise, we are not lights by ourselves. We don’t have to strain or work up ourselves to shine. Why?
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. II Corinthians 2:6-7
God wants the darkness pushed back. He wants the light to shine. He is the one who makes the light shine.
The craziest thing happened to me on Friday. For those who don’t know, I’m an engineer by trade and I work in a manufacturing plant. Well, I went into the plant Friday morning thinking I was going to have a quiet day and catch up on some things. We were supposed to only have a skeleton crew on the line because we’re going through a big change to our production software. However, a quiet day was not what God had planned.
We’ve been working on a project for over 2 years, and it’s just about finished. We’ve only got a few more parts to build, and it’ll be in the history books. I’ve been trying to get the approval to start the last group of parts for about 3 weeks. Well, Friday morning July 29th when we’re shutdown for this software upgrade, I got the go ahead with one caveat. They didn’t want anyone to know that we hadn’t started the last parts in July. So, the statement was made that even though we could not start parts until Monday August 1st, we would just tell management that they were actually started in July.
It seems like an innocuous little white lie that wouldn’t hurt anyone. More than likely, no one other than a couple of managers would hear the lie, and (if you throw out the fact that God sees all) it would be almost impossible for them to find out that it was a lie because the prospective liars have control of the information regarding when something was started or not.
Well, what to do? Quickly, I thought of a couple of possibilities. I couldn’t pretend I didn’t know about it, because I had already heard it. Two lies don’t make a truth. You just have two lies. One easy option was to put the parts on the schedule and say that it would’ve started but there was a production shutdown. In essence, saying, “It’s not my fault.” But that didn’t feel right either. It didn’t really take long. In just 2-3 minutes, I had my answer. The parts had to be started. This would meet the expectation and avoid any hint of a lie.
There was only one problem. Who was going to run the parts?
I went to our production supervisor and told her what needed to be done. We had to start the parts that day. She looked at me with a question mark on her face, and then she laughed and said, “You’re doing this just so you don’t have to tell a lie.” I smiled back and nodded. At this point, I was still under the radar so to speak. I thought we had someone onsite to run the parts. Turns out, that person was going home at 11 am. At that point, it was 10 am already. So I got some help from them before they left. Then, I commandeered a technician to help me the rest of the day, and for the next 6 hours, I ran the parts. And if you’re the only person on a line for 6 hours, it’s hard not to be noticed. John Farmer was running production. Everyone knew it. It was kind of embarrassing. At the same time, there is the demand to know why. It was common knowledge that I had done it to keep from having to tell a lie. But even more than that, it was to prevent someone else from telling a lie.
When we got done around 4:30 pm, I sent out an email saying the required parts had been started. In reply, I got the response, “Thank you very much!!!” with multiple exclamation points.
The confluence of factors, all these little details coming together, provided the opportunity for light to shine. If I had gotten the release 3 weeks ago, it wouldn’t have been a problem. If I had known there was a hard and fast decision about starting the last parts in July, I could have pushed harder to get the release in time. If the production line had been running on Friday and the weekend like normal, I wouldn’t have had to do anything but modify the production schedule. If the one operator in the plant that day was staying until the normal 3 pm rather than working a half day until 11 am, no one would have known.
I didn’t make the light. Not only that, I didn’t/couldn’t make the opportunity for the light to shine like it did. God wants the light to shine. He is the light and He puts His light in us. We then can decide whether we shine or whether we hide the light that is in us. Friday was a divine appointment as Fred calls it. I don’t know what will happen as a result, but I’m glad that He is making opportunities for that light to shine. He does it in my life, and He does it in yours. Making right decisions, swimming against the current of the world, those are opportunities for you to let the light shine.
Keith Green wrote a song called Stained Glass. It begins like this, “We are like windows stained with the colors of the rainbow. Set in a darkened room til the bridegroom comes to shine through.” We are each uniquely created by God to shine for Him, but the light is not from us, it is from Him. He shines uniquely through each of us.
He shines through us because he came himself to shine into the whole world.
The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. … He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- John 1:9, 11-12
From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. John 1:16-17
Before we take communion, I invite you to reflect on the blessings you have received from Jesus, the true light. When you are ready, you can come to the table and take the bread and juice back to your seat. Then, take and eat the bread which is his body broken for you. Take and drink for this is his blood which was poured out for you, the atoning sacrifice for your sins that you might become children of God.
Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, thank You for coming into the world. Thank You that You did not conceal Your light, but revealed it through Your words and through the way that You lived. Most of all thank You for dying on the cross for our sins. We are indebted to You beyond measure, and yet You have made us Your brothers and sisters, not Your servants. It is too much, Lord. Thank You for Your love. Amen.
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