Advent: Jesus, The Light of the World

In this week's sermon, I (Pastor Matt) talked about Jesus who was the light of the world, his light shone in the darkness and was the light of life, the Saviour, the Messiah, the only one who could save us from the darkness and offer us eternal life.

Jesus showed he was the light, the Messiah in a few practical ways. Through his obedience and moral purity (Jesus said he only did what the Father asked him to do), he is the Truth and brought true knowledge and wisdom, and most importantly, he brought the very presence of God.

Jesus said to his disciples that we are the light of the world and we are to be the shining light of Christ in our world pointing people to Christ.

Three of the ways we shine the light of Christ are through the same avenues Christ did:

1. Through our obedience.
   1. To be clear, this doesn’t mean that we need to be perfect, not does this call us to a type of moralism, rather it testifies to those around us the power of God to save us from sin and death. We are made free to live obedient lives to God and walk in righteousness because of what Jesus has done for us on the Cross. Yet, we will still struggle as Paul and every other believer in walking out the obedience made possible to us in Christ. Even our moral failings can be used as an example of obedience when we turn to Christ in repentance and trust in his ability to deliver us!
   2. How do you understand God’s role and our role in walking in obedience?  
   3. How can our desire to walk in obedience to God be used to shine a light in our world without turning it into moralism and without looking self-righteous in the eyes of other?
   4. How to we walk in humility as Christ Sanctifies us through his Holy Spirit?
2. Our Word and wisdom:
   1. It really isn’t our word and wisdom, but it is God’s word and wisdom imparted to us through his Holy Spirit and his word, but it is ours in the sense that we have the responsibility to share it, to actually speak it into other people lives. The words and wisdom we share always lead the gospel, for it is always the answer for our hope!
   2. What are some situations you have encountered in the last couple weeks where you did, or could have shared godly wisdom that would have shone the light of Christ into the situation.
   3. Is there anything that holds you back from taking opportunities to share from a biblical worldview.
   4. Or, what gives you the courage and boldness to share?
3. Our Presence:
   1. Since we are the ambassadors of God, and the Holy Spirit lives in us, we represent Christ to the world. Jesus promises to be with us always. God came to earth to be present with us to shine the light clearly for all of us to see. We need to continue to enter dark places, shining the light in places that people don’t want to go as Jesus did. Paul asks in Rom 10:14-15 (paraphrasing), how can people hear without someone preaching, and how can people hear preaching unless they are sent. How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news?
   2. As you consider Jesus’ life, list some of the places or people he visited to bring light into the dark places?
   3. As you consider your weekly schedule, where are the dark places you currently are placed regularly?
   4. What are the passions God has placed on your heart? Could they be things you could use to bring the light into dark places?

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