Scripture: John 3:16-21 (ESV)
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God."
John 3:16 is probably the most well known verse in the entire Bible. It is the Gospel summarised and packaged into one neat little verse. Because we know it so well, we can forget that this verse is written in the context of the book of John. Now remember where we are in the book of John. We are in the “Book of Signs”. This is the part of the book where John reports on all the various signs and miracles that Jesus has done in order to help people see Jesus as the Son of God, so that people will believe. So what is the essence of what we should believe? John 3:16 answers that: our faith is in Jesus who was given because God so loved the world.
But notice, John tells us that this faith is more than just intellectual agreement that Jesus was the Son of God who died for our sins. Instead, true faith involves loving “the light”. Faith goes hand in hand with voluntarily stepping into the light of God, and this necessarily means shining God’s light onto our wicked deeds. Now that doesn’t mean that we have to get up in front of the church every Sunday and give everyone a laundry list of all the sins we did that week. But we cannot have true saving faith unless we actually believe that we need saving. We have to recognise our own darkness in order for God’s light to shine in the darkness.
That is why the Gospel is so offensive. That is why we resist it. We don’t want to expose the uncomfortable truths about ourselves even to God. We would much rather keep our sin in the darkness, hiding from our true selves and hiding from God. Hiding from God is the first thing that Adam and Eve did after they sinned. We have continued following their example ever since. We would much rather hide than let the light of God shine on our darkness.
Remember where this passage fits in the book of John. It comes right after Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus. Remember Nicodemus came to Jesus under the cover of darkness. John presents us with a choice here: we can either choose to remain hidden in the darkness, or we can step out into the light by faith. The light has come into the world, but will we be people of the light.
The darkness might feel safe, but only the light of Christ leads to life.
Prayer
Dear Father God. Thank you for loving me so much that you sent Jesus into the world. Help me to trust in you and your great love for me, so that I will be willing to take the uncomfortable step out of the darkness into the light. Amen
Spiritual Challenge
Today, identify one area in your life where you are hiding in the darkness. Ask Jesus to shine his light into that area.
Stepping into the Light