Let There Be Light 要有光
27 Apr 2019 | 7 min readsermon2019singapore | creation
Gen 1:1-2
- The earth was without form
- The earth was void
- Darkness was in the face of the deep
These 3 descriptions of the earth before creation can be likened to our life before Christ.
- The earth was without form
The earth without form can also mean it was without order. Messy like an unsolved puzzle.
Before we come to believe in Jesus, our life is messy and disorderly. This is because the relationship between Man and God has been broken. Man should have God in the centre of jerk lives. But the current situation is that Man puts God aside, changing the direction God has set for us.
Society today is messy. A man marrying a man is now acceptable. Supporters of LGBT may not necessarily be gay themselves.
The speaker’s friend expressed his support for LGBT. When the speaker clarified what his support meant by asking, “So you’d be okay if your children grew up to be gay?”, his friend became very angry.
Matters relating to gender have become very confusing now too. There used to just be boy/girl, male/female, ladies and gentlemen. Things are so confusing now. Things that God put in an orderly manner has been destroyed by Man. Why? Because everyone only thinks about themselves today. They’ll do whatever makes them feel good.
They proclaim, “Life is short! We only live once! Let us do whatever we like to do. Don’t care about what other people say. As long as we’re happy, just do it. No one can limit me.”
It’s true that life is short. It’s true we only live once. But assuming we can do whatever we want to do in our lives isn’t true.
- The earth was void
The earth was empty. Without bluffing ourselves, we can see the world is empty.
Before believing in Jesus, our life has no value either. All is vanity. We seek enjoyment and excitement. But what do we find in the end? Emptiness.
Some people yearn to get drunk as a temporal form of happiness. But after that what do they find? Emptiness.
Some people work very hard in their lives to achieve something. After they do achieve it, they find that what they have achieved didn’t really satisfy them. Then they try to find something else to satisfy their desires. But again and again it doesn’t satisfy them. Without God, it comes to nothing; it is empty and vanity.
- Darkness was in the face of the deep
This darkness was one of total darkness. Like that of a blind man.
When we can’t see, we become afraid. We don’t have a sense of security. We don’t know if the path ahead has any obstacles. In darkness we become helpless.
There is much darkness and wickedness in the world.
If we’re able to see the world is messy, empty and full of darkness/wickedness, we probably wouldn’t want to live in such a world.
Gen 1:3ff
Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
The world covered in darkness became a world filled with God’s light. When we believe in Jesus, the Lord is the light of the world. He shines out of the darkness. We were initially blind spiritually, unable to see the purpose of life. But with His light, we’re able to see light and have hope. We’re able to see it’s not the life on this earth that matters, but life in the heavenly kingdom.
After light came into the world, God filled the earth with many things: plants, animals, etc that multiplied and filled the earth. God also put the world in order. God proclaimed this was all good and all was in harmony.
This is what should happen when we believe. The life of Christ shines into our hearts. This sets our lives in order.
Eph 4:20-24
These verses explain a life of a person after believing in Christ. He must put off his former conduct to be a new man created according to God. This means being righteous before God. We live a life of holiness and strive to be more and more like Jesus.
We hence need to change our perspective of life. Before believing in Jesus, life was meaningless. But now we have hope! Because we believe in God’s promise: eternal life with Him in heaven. After believing in Jesus, we find purpose in our life: to be fruitful and serve God.
There should also be a change of mindset. Before believing in Jesus, we spend our weekend doing things we want to do. The speaker used to pick his daughter from school as it was located far away and the hour was late. She looked tired and down. Her father asked her if she was okay. She replied, “I don’t have enough time to do my project. All my friends call me crazy for spending so much time in church. Every time they want to arrange for a meeting, it clashes with something in church.” The speaker tried to comfort her, “They say this because they don’t understand how valuable going to church is.”
On another occasion, the speaker’s previous boss was angry with him for missing a company gathering on the Sabbath. “I’m a Christian too! Why can’t you just skip one service?”
This is the mindset of people outside and perhaps the mindset we had before we believed also. Church used to be a waste of time. But now we view Friday evening differently: a time to worship God. We also know that when we keep the Sabbath Day, God will bless us. Sabbath Day also reminds us of the hope of the future rest in heaven.
Many people say, “TGIF! Thank God it’s Friday!” But do they really thank God? No. They’re only thankful they don’t have work and can do whatever they want. The phrase ‘TGIF’ is commonly and casually used.
But after we believe, the mindset we have towards going to church over the weekend changes. No longer do we view it as a waste of time but something precious.
Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
We know the words in the Bible are God’s words, and we know the word of God is powerful. Why is it the case then that we don’t undergo a full transformation? Why don’t we have joy? We find that we drag our feet to come to church. We just feel burdened doing church work. Worse still, we doubt His word.
Since we believe in Jesus, surely our life has been transformed because His light has come into our lives. If we haven’t been transformed yet, then we need to ask ourselves: why?
The word of God can lead us in the right direction. But we need to be willing to obey His word. God gives us free will to choose. If we haven’t been transformed then, it’s likely because we are not willing.
What obstructs us from transforming?
- Many people still love the darkness and are afraid the light or Christ will expose their evil deeds
John 3:19-21
The Lord Jesus is the light of the world. Many people don’t want their lives to the light of God because they’re afraid their evil deeds will be exposed. Like Adam and Eve who sinned and tried to hide from God.
We may be afraid the light exposes our true selves. Because when it’s exposed, we have to change it. For example, a person gambles and smokes. After knowing Christ, they know these are bad. Since they know it, they have to change themselves. But many still remain in darkness because they are unwilling to change.
Many times, the word of God convicts our wrongs; exposing our sin. But many people only put on an act when they come to church, pretending to be good. But once they step out of church, they revert to their bad character.
Some members refuse to accept the Facebook friend requests of preachers because they’re afraid the preacher will be able to see what they’re up to.
So it’s not that people don’t know what’s wrong. It is that they’re unwilling to change.
Nonetheless, the Lord is willing to forgive anyone who is repentant. If we are willing to let the light of Christ come into our lives, we can be transformed.
- They don’t really believe in the word of God anymore
Heb 3:18-19, 4:1-2
When the Israelites left Egypt, they believed God would lead them into the promised land. But when they entered the wilderness, they lost faith despite witnessing the mighty works of God in Egypt. They believed and yet didn’t believe. They believed to follow God in the wilderness but didn’t believe this God could deliver them from their enemies.
Sometimes our faith is like the Israelites. From the Bible, we know that the Lord Jesus will come again to judge the world. The signs also testify of this. But on the other hand we also think we still have a lot of time to prepare. Is that true? It could be next week, next month, we never know! Most importantly, we must believe Jesus will come again.
We think there will still be tomorrow. But are we really sure tomorrow will come?
30 years ago, the speaker and his wife chatted with her father in the morning. In the evening, he had passed away.
The second coming may seem far. But we don’t know when our lives will end.
We hence really need to have faith and believe in God. Faith without doubting. When Jesus says He’s coming quickly, He’s really coming.
- We believe and diligently hear the word of God, but we don’t put it into practice
Jas 1:22-25
We shouldn’t just be hearers of the word, we also need to be doers. Otherwise, we are just deceiving ourselves. We may have plenty of knowledge of the Bible, but if we don’t practise it, it doesn’t benefit us at all. Only by practising it can our lives be transformed.
Summary:
Life in this world is without form, without order, meaningless and full of darkness. But the light of Christ shines in our lives. This allows us to know the purpose of our lives: to be fruitful and serve God faithfully. Now we have hope! Not hope in this world but hope in God’s promise: eternal life with Him. The light of God has transformed us. If we haven’t been transformed, there’re 3 reasons. (1) We shouldn’t be afraid of the light of God. Be willing to change ourselves. (2) Have faith and true belief in the word of God. (3) Put the word of God into practice
Conclusion:
Rom 13:11-12
It is no longer a time for us to sleep. It is no longer a time for us to have no sense of urgency. It’s time for us to be awake! And do whatever we can for the Lord! And to strive for our salvation, because our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. We don’t have much time left.
We don’t know how much time we have left. Paul encourages us to make good use of it. Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. He who follow Me will have the light of life.” If we follow Him, we will have this light. We won’t be in darkness anymore.
May the light of love shine upon your lives.
284: Send the Light
We have received the light of Christ. Jesus says we are also the salt of the earth and light of the world. Let us make good use of our time to send His light to other people. Let us pray for God to continue to shine on the path we tread. May we continue to pray that we have a heart that’s willing to be transformed so that we have live a life according to His will.
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