John spoke thi morning from John 12:23-36, a sermon he entitled ‘Lifted by Love, Attracted by Grace.’ Sin has broken the relationship man had originally with God and causes us to fear that relationship with God for which we were created, but through Jesus, we are drawn back into relationship with God. Sin and shame cause us to look down, unable to see God’s brilliance and glory, but God wants us to look up. He lifts us from our facedown position of shame to our knees in prayer and longs to lift us onto our feet so that we can become the people He made us to be.
Jesus told His disciples they are the light of the world (Matt 5:14) who are called to shine like stars in the universe. (Phil 2:12-16) The reason God has put us on our feet is so that we can emit and radiate God’s light, being effective, honest and constant lights in a dark world. Heb 4:14-16 tells us that we can only maintain this glow as we dwell in God’s presence. We are not called simply to be passive reflectors of God’s light, but to be light-emitting disciples.
A reflector on a bike is passive, simply reflecting any light that shines upon it:
LEDs (light-emitting diodes) are light sources which emit bright light when activated:
Jesus calls us not only to reflect His light, but to allow His light to shine through us so that we can each shine in such a way that people are drawn to Him and glorify God through our lives. We are called to work out our salvation, evaluating and discerning God’s individual plan for our lives so that we can reflect Him in all the different circumstances and experiences of life.