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Light of the World – Legacy Builder – Guy Wasko

MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTION: 

Good morning; Community Church has everybody doing today. I love this church, what you guys are doing, and who you are in this community. And I love your pastors, Dave and Becca, and the team here. You guys are really blessed, you know that. You know how blessed you are to have this incredible team. What an absolute gift to be with you guys today.

I pastored and lived in New York City. After 13 years of pastoring a church in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, I now serve full-time with Compassion International. You guys have partnered with us in the past, so thank you. If you’ve given money or sponsored a child, I want you to know you are changing children’s and families’ lives for generations because of your generosity. So thank you so much for that. And Pastor Dave said, would you come and hang out with our team and our family today and share what God’s put on your heart? He gave me some permission to lean back a little bit to the legacy builders and then cast a little bit of vision out of John Chapter eight. So if you’re following along and have your Bible or an app, you can open to John Chapter eight. Where we’re going to jump into this talk called Light of the World. But I also thought, let’s get practical here for a few minutes.

We just celebrated Thanksgiving, right? We all eat too much and probably make bad decisions that we aren’t going to talk about or confess this morning. And we’re just launching fully into the holiday season. And I was reading a series of tweets from a pastor called Pastor Kevin Young, and he gave some tips about how to deal with your family during the holidays. And I found these to be especially helpful, especially if you’re the kind of person that thinks the Bible is not very practical. But listen to these practical tips on how to deal with your family during the holidays. From Jesus himself in the Scriptures. Are you ready for this? This is incredible. Number one tip. Pretend like you don’t know who they are. This is straight from Jesus. Check this out in March, chapter three. Somebody comes to Jesus with a message. He’s inside the house. Jesus is a mother and brother. Mother and brothers are outside. And they get a message to Jesus like there are families out there. And He says, Who is my brother? Who is mom? Who is my mother? Do you guys remember that story? I love it. So if you’re up against the wall. Act like you don’t know them.

The second tip, I love this. The second tip, in March 724, Jesus says Jesus. The Scriptures say Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of the tire. He didn’t want anyone to know which house he was staying in. The second tip is don’t tell them where you’re staying. Keep it a secret. Keep that on the DL, friends. You don’t have to tell them which hotel you’re in or which bedroom. Just lay low. That’s another option you should go with that. Tried that this season.

And third, the third tip I really appreciate, but it’s kind of gangster. Okay, but here it is. Arrive late, no matter the consequences. That’s the point. That’s the tip in John Chapter 11. Word gets to Jesus that his close friend Lazarus is on death’s doorstep. And what does Jesus do? The Scriptures tell us that he loves them and Mary and Martha. But he stays for another two days, and Lazarus dies. I mean, I told you that was gangster, and some of you weren’t ready for that, but. But show up late, no matter the consequences if you’re really desperate. Okay, those are some pretty good tips. I thought they might come in. Come in handy this season. Follow me on Twitter for other very helpful holiday family advice. Would you pray with me real quick as we jump into our Texas morning?

God, we’ve been singing and orienting our lives in our hearts and our minds around you already this morning. And we want to continue to focus on you, to ask you to invite you in to yield to what you’re doing this morning for the skeptic all the way to the most devoted in the room and online. God, we want to hear from you. So cause your word to come alive to us, in your name. We pray. Amen.

Now, for instance, we think about the light of the world. Have you ever noticed how difficult it is to do the most mundane tasks in the dark? Have you ever tried to get dressed in the pitch black, dark? You get to work, and you realize you’re wearing two different socks, that your clothes actually don’t match the pattern on the pattern or whatever. Maybe you’ve tried to drive in the dark, and you realize that your headlights aren’t on, and that’s why you’re not going very fast or have successfully gotten from point A to point B. Maybe you try to read in the dark. My wife has astigmatism. She can’t drive at night. We have. Have you heard of designated drivers? My wife has one for driving at night and it’s called me. So we have to carefully coordinate our lives. If she’s going somewhere and she has to drive. Things are difficult in the dark. You and I, as human beings, we’re not designed to live in the dark. One of my teenage daughters. I have three of them. One of my teenage daughters is terrified of the dark and still, to this day, sleeps with a nightlight. Any night light sleeper is willing to confess that you don’t like the dark. She still sleeps with the nightlight. And in fact, her nightlight is called Benson. It has a name and a personality, and appearance, and she travels with it, and it has its own special little case. She doesn’t like dark light matters.

In one of Jesus’s or God’s first acts of creation, God spoke the words, Let there be light. And there was light, and it was good, friends. The Scriptures tell us that God is all about bringing light into darkness. And get this God doesn’t send an idea when the world needs light. He doesn’t send a warning. God doesn’t send a new talk show. He doesn’t send a self-help book. He doesn’t send a religion. When the world needed light, God sent a person and that person’s name is Jesus. In John Chapter eight, we catch up with the story. Jesus is standing in the temple. People have gathered around to listen to what He’s saying. And Jesus says this about himself. He says.

12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “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 NIV

Jesus, that day and today, wants us to know that the King of Light is here and that wherever he is, there is light. He’s shining into dark places. Even right now, he’s shining on faces that are sad or have lost hope. He’s shining a light on the hurting and the oppressed, those who have given up and given in to the darkness. Is that you this morning? Do you need to be welcomed back to the light to see the light? Jesus steps out of heaven and into this darkness, into this messy world. With this message. I am the light of the world. You see, you might feel this morning, friends, like darkness are creeping in. Like it’s too close to your front door. Maybe darkness has pervaded most of your life at this point, or you can sense it knocking on the outside, trying to get in. Jesus wants to tell you this morning, friends, that he’s here, that the light of the world is close.

When my oldest daughter was first born, my wife and I had, you know, you get them all the different toys and the things that they’re really into. And one toy from my childhood that I was adamant had to be a part of Emma’s childhood was this ridiculous toy called the Lite-Brite. Does anybody remember this toy, the Lite-Brite? For those that don’t. This is what it looked like. It’ll be on the screen there. Essentially, it’s this strange little box with a light bulb in the back of it. And you took this black piece of paper, and you put it over the front, and there are little holes throughout the entire lite-brite. And you got the design, little things like boats or stars or smiley faces or hearts or flowers, whatever you wanted to design. And you would leave the light off until you put all the tiny little translucent pegs in. And then, when you were ready, you were finished with your Picasso, your masterpiece. You could step back and admire it and bring light into the world. You would turn off all the lights in the room, pull the shades down, and you would flip the little switch on. And it’s like radiates through the room. And it felt so good to do that, didn’t it? And it was so creative and so beautiful. But here’s the thing about the Lite Brite? With that piece of paper on the front of it, the light can’t get through. You have to start poking the pegs in the holes for the lights to get through.

The Lite Brite gospel is that light is more powerful than darkness, friends. Jesus wants to show up this morning and reminds you that he’s the light of the world and that nothing can overcome that light. The darkness will not prevail. The darker the dark, the greater the shine. It’s God. This God. The God of Genesis. And Exodus. And Matthew and Mark. And today. That God is about bringing light to the darkness. And that’s exactly what God does in the person of Jesus. It’s just incredible. And it was time for Jesus to show up. Where does Jesus land if we were? The scriptures tell us that Jesus shows up in this place called Nazareth? It’s like a backward podunk. Nobody really travels through there. Kind of town. Kind of a forgettable place. Jesus enters the world and for 30 years, for the majority of his life, Jesus hangs out in this place called Nazareth, approximately ten acres of land and with a population of only a few hundred people, he has no public following. There are no social media. There are no instant influencers or whatever it’s called these days. Nothing like he’s hardly known.

For 30 years, the light of the world has lived a very normal, ordinary life as a minimum-wage handyman in a forgotten place. If you think about that, Jesus spent 90% of his life in obscurity. Nobody was following him. The light of the world was still there, but nobody was paying attention. And then that’s Nazareth in the Valley. A small place in contrast to that. Up on the Hill, about three or four miles away from where Jesus grew up, on the Hill was a city named Sepphoris. Somebody says so for us. It’s a city, not a place where you get nice makeup. Sepphoris is this giant in contrast to Nazareth? Giant city. In fact, Herod Antipas built it like his capital city. Scholars tell historians and us that there are about 500 acres and about 30,000 people living there. And they had a temple and a bank, and a theater, and it was built out of marble and gold. And Josephus, the church historian, called it the ornament of Galilee.

So, on the one hand, you have Nazareth, this terrible little place that nobody would visit there where Jesus grew up. And in contrast to that, up on the Hill is this beautiful city that had culture and arts and riches and economics and finance. You could see that city on the Hill from just about anywhere throughout all of Galilee. Herod wanted to make sure that people knew this. The force was there. The big, bright city on the Hill. And scholars tell us that it was likely that Jesus, with his dad, Joseph, would have to hike up to the forest just for work so Jesus would grow up in obscurity, but probably help to build this very city. And then, at 30 years old, Jesus launches his public ministry. He gathers a group of ordinary people, rejects and lost people, and the broken folks. These are not like the high class or best class of any society. He gathers them around, starts calling them his disciples, and he’s traveling. And he shows up on the side of this Hill. And we catch up with that story in Matthew Chapter five.

Here’s the thing I want us to notice. People are attracted to the light, aren’t they? Maybe that’s part of the reason why either. Even though Jesus lived in obscurity for 30 years, he started gathering people because they were curious about the light. Maybe they were tired of living in darkness. So now Jesus comes to his time to announce his kingdom and what his message is about. Its sort of like the campaign season has launched for him, and the signs start going out on the front yards. Jesus says I want to share this message with you. And we have this story in Matthew, chapters five, six, and seven. It’s called The Sermon on the Mount. And all these new followers are gathered around sitting in this natural amphitheater on the side of this Hill. And this is what Jesus says in Matthew chapter five, verse 14, and also on the screen. He says.

14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

Matthew 5:14 NIV

Absolutely blows my mind. The God of the universe. Since the hope of the world is in his son Jesus. And in this first upside down, first will be the last bottom to top kind of leader and the way Jesus gives away his title. Jesus. We read in John Chapter eight he says about himself, I am the light of the world. And now we see here in Matthew Chapter five that he, in his very first sermon, turns to a group of people that barely have their act together. And he says You are the light of the world. Which is it, Jesus? But I love that he’s talking to this group of people again who isn’t like having all their lives put together. These people are starting to just figure it out, just like I am still trying to figure it out. Amen. Does anybody resonate with that? Jesus then takes these broken people who are trying their best, and he says, You are the light of the world. The God of the Universe Friends gives away his title. He gives it away to normal people. He’s saying that you and I are the light of the world. And maybe you’re sitting there thinking, God, there’s no way I can be the light of the world. There’s no way that your guy, guy, guy, pastor, guy. You don’t know what I’ve done. You don’t know how I think or what I’ve said, or how I treated my family on the way to church this morning. You don’t know how I’ve spent my money or the people that I’ve offended. And you know what Jesus would say? You are the light of the world. You are the light of the world. You and I, as followers of Jesus, carry with us this message of hope to bring into dark places. And there’s nothing. Nothing that can keep us from that kind of love and from sharing would disqualify us from that kind of light and impact in the world. And the enemy wants you to feel disqualified. Jesus says you’re good enough because of me. I’m giving you my light.

I recently was at an event where I met a young man named Jason Sanchez. Jason committed a horrible crime a few years ago and was incarcerated for 18 years to life. He was in college at the time of his incarceration and was in a maximum security establishment prison. And then, after about 12 years, he met somebody in prison that introduced him to Jesus. He gave his life to God. And at the same time, he was released to a lower-security prison. In Fishkill, Beacon Correctional Facility in upstate New York. As he was transferred to this new place, he discovered that there was a university there called Nayak, a Christian university that had a program in the prison. Now, the other thing that you don’t know about Jason, but that I think you should, is that when Jason was incarcerated, he had he made a commitment to himself that even though he didn’t get to finish college on the outside and even though he was about to spend a good portion of his life on the inside, he wanted to finish his education. And so he made that commitment and was introduced to the people shining the light in a dark place through Nyack University. And that campus program there, Jason, was accepted even though he had a 1.2 GPA. Can I get an amen? Hope is real. Jason was accepted. Graduated with a 3.9 GPA. Was awarded parole early. An early release. And is now an instructor and a teacher in a program very similar to that inside the system.

I want to share that story with you, friends, because somebody dared to believe that even the men and women who are incarcerated or dare to do deserve light and love and hope that even though Jason had committed this terrible atrocity, he didn’t allow it to disqualify himself from receiving the light and then learning to share the light however he could and wherever God put him. Here’s what I know. Sometimes the shadows from my darkest moments can cause me to believe that there’s no way I can possibly be the light. And just when I think those dark moments are taking over. Jesus steps back in. He reminds me. Just like he’s doing this morning for you in Matthew chapter five, verse fourteen. Listen to the words again. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

Maybe while Jesus was saying these words, the people gathered there on the side of the Hill in this natural amphitheater could look over Jesus’s shoulder and, off in the distance, see the forests up on the top. Maybe he even pointed it there. A city on a hill cannot be hidden, and everybody understood the power of the city, of the empire, of the lights, and the culture. And maybe Jesus picked this place for his inaugural message about what his kingdom is like and what life with him is like because he’s comparing Herod’s city to the beauty and the majesty of the forest with his own kingdom. Maybe Jesus wanted that contrast to be in the mind’s eye, in the imagination of the original hearers, and I think Jesus did that on purpose. I think Jesus was like, you know, you think that’s nice? Are you impressed with that city up there that Herod built? You like the lights and the culture and the finance and the art, and you like all of that, the gold and the marble. I think Jesus was like, Wait till you see the city I’m building. Wait till you see what we can do. US ordinary people were living in obscurity. Wait till you see when the light comes on. And what happens to the darkness. Because I’m building a very different kingdom. I think Jesus did that on purpose. I don’t think Jesus wanted to build a kingdom of marble and gold and straw and concrete and wood. Jesus is building a kingdom in the lives and with the lives and through the lives of men and women, just like you and I.

Friends I’ve got news for you. Cities come and go, but the people of God, in the light of God, can never be turned off. I’ve got news for your community church this morning. This is a movement that’s going to light up the Pocono region. Our individual lives light up every single room and space that you and I walk into as followers of Jesus. That it’s not a glitch. It’s a feature. That’s the way the kingdom works. Jesus says we can’t do this if we hide our light. We have to share it. We have to show it. We have to put it on display. It’s one thing for you to consider your faith personal of friends. Please do not buy into the lie that it’s private. There’s no such thing as a private faith. He goes on, and he tells us exactly how to shine. He tells them how to do it. Look at verse 16 with me again. Jesus tells us,.

16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:16 NIV

Let your light shine before men so that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. You can’t miss this. You might say, Well, what? What’s the light guy like when I walk into a dark room? I know to find the light switch, you flip the switch, and the light comes on. You’re playing with the light, right? You want to see what you’ve displayed, the art you’ve created, and you flip the switch. What’s the switch? The switch Jesus tells us it’s very simple. It’s our good deeds. It’s the way that you love and serve others that begins to shine. And when you do these things, you and I begin to shine like bright stars against the backdrop of the night sky. I love what the theologian and Pastor Dale Moody said. Talking about shining our light as followers of Jesus, he says,.

We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won’t need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don’t fire cannons to call attention to their shining – they just shine. 

DL Moody

We try to make such a big deal and make it more complicated than it really is. Friends. But I want to tell you. Shining our light and bringing good news to the world is as simple as doing kind things for others. It’s as simple as putting others first. Good deeds are the way that we let our light shine. Community Church. When you comfort those who are hurting, you shine. When you change the question from Should, I help? How can I help you begin to shine when you give generously and sacrificially, even to legacy builder’s initiatives? You shine when you make friends with someone who’s lonely and you invite them in. You shine when you invite your neighbors over for a meal or for a community group. You shine when you sponsor a kid from Compassion International and release them from poverty. In Jesus’s name, you begin to shine the light and dark places when you see the sink full of dishes that you didn’t use after Thanksgiving, and you choose to clean them even though they’re not yours. Can I get an amen from somebody, please? You shine when you stand up for the person who’s being bullied or gossiped about. You shine when you invite someone to the winter wonderland, Whoville. You shine community church. You and I pierce the darkness in the ordinary, everyday moments. When you see people and serve people who share with people and give to people and love people. You and I shine. We start to turn the light on in dark places and find the cracks where the light can get in. Jesus takes his title, and He gives it away. And that doesn’t make any sense to me, but it’s the way the kingdom works.

So this morning, as we think about how we might respond to this story, an invitation to be a light to the world, it doesn’t it’s not lost on me that. Here online. It’s possible that you’ve never accepted the light in your own life in the first place. And before we can talk about you sharing the light with the world, you need to receive the light in your own heart, as it were. And so, in a few minutes, I’m going to pray with you and invite you into a prayer that you would say yes to life with Jesus. It also occurs to me, friends, that maybe for some of us, we’re kind of worn out. Or we’ve begun to believe that we’re either not good enough, or maybe the darkness is just has been too enticing recently. And you’ve been living in that darkness or giving that darkness more space in your life than you probably should. So some of us might need to accept the light, but others of us in the room might need to welcome the light back in. Find that switch and turn it back on. And so, in a minute, I’m going to pray for you as well. And then, for all of us as followers of Jesus, there’s no way out of those shining our light in the world. Jesus didn’t give caveats or disclaimers. There’s no way to, like, sneak out the back door before Jesus sees. And so, for all of us, we’re invited into a lifestyle of sharing this light in all the simple, ordinary, beautiful, good deed kind of ways that God’s given each of us to do. No matter our life situation, no matter what our bank account says, and certainly no matter what the worst thing we’ve ever done in our lives. This. So I’m going to pray. A blessing and courage in you. The community church would be the brightest light in the region. And that you’re part of that.