The Coming of the Word as the Light of the World

[Read John 1:6-13]

Many of you know that the summer before we moved to Wisconsin, our family spent 5 weeks in the Dominican Republic on an internship. The hardest day of that trip was Father’s Day—not because it was Father’s day, but because I had to spend the entire day sitting in a training session for Chaplain training. Guess what the focus of that training session was? It was Cultural Diversity training. And guess who was the only really culturally diverse person in the entire group? Me. 

To make things worse, these Chaplains were Haitian immigrants living in the Dominican Republic. Here’s why this was so hard. First off, Dominicans speak a very fast and very rough Spanish, which makes it extremely difficult to understand. One of my Mexican friends from seminary told me, “We can’t even understand those guys!” To increase the level of difficulty, these were Haitian immigrants whose native language is Creole. So, they would seamlessly flow from Spanish to Creole and back again throughout a conversation. Basically, I spent the entire day struggling with all of my energy to understand what was going on and only understanding 10-15%. It was completely exhausting. 

At one point, we broke up into small groups. I don’t even remember what we were talking about, but one of the guys said a word that I didn’t understand. So I asked him what it meant. He began to explain the word to me, but I didn’t understand. Then he kept on going and going and going. He was giving me a very comprehensive and in-depth understanding of this word and concept, and I wasn’t understanding any of it. I was trying to understand, but maybe picked up 5%. Yet, I was trying to be polite and trying to understand, so I didn’t cut him off, but he just kept on going. I have no idea how long this went—quite a while—but eventually one of the other guys tapped him on the shoulder and said, “He’s not understanding anything you’re saying.” The guy turned to me and said, “Did you understand anything I said?” I had to admit, “I’m sorry, I couldn’t understand you.” He looked at me in disbelief, heaved a massive sigh, and threw his hands up in the air in frustration. 

I tell that story because I think we can often feel that as Christians in the world—and as the world continues to become less and less Christian, we will feel that way more and more. Have you ever had this feeling? You’re trying to explain yourself to someone, trying to help them understand what you believe and why you believe it, and they keep giving you this blank stare like they have no idea where you’re coming from. So, you try to explain it in a different way to no avail. Eventually, you just get frustrated, sigh, and throw your hands up in the air because it feels pointless and hopeless. It seems like you are speaking a completely different language and living in a completely different world. 

That’s how last week’s passage ended. It said, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome/understood it.” (John 1:5, ESV). When the light shines in the darkness, the darkness doesn’t understand it. It’s like the light is speaking a completely different language or as if the light is living in a completely different world. 

This week’s passage brings that from the general principle and shows how that worked itself out on earth. We read, “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.” (John 1:9–10, ESV). The light came into the world and the world did not know him. Or to say it another way, the light shone into the darkness and the darkness did not receive the light—did not know the light nor understand the light. It was like the light was speaking a different language or living in a different world. 

To make things even worse, this passage emphasizes that this is the world that he created. He created this world and when he entered into his own creation, it didn’t know him. 

Then, it gets even worse. Not only did the world reject Jesus, but his own people rejected him. We read, “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.” (John 1:11, ESV). This isn’t just some generic group of people called “the world,” but this is the people of God. This is talking about Israel. This is talking about the people that God has guided and protected for millennia. This is talking about the people that had God’s promises of the Messiah. This is talking about the people who had been longing for the Messiah, seeking for the Messiah, waiting for the Messiah. And when he came to them, they didn’t know him and didn’t receive him. The light was shining in the darkness and the darkness did not understand it. 

Now, with all of that in mind, read the beginning of this verse when it talks about John the Baptist: “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light…He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.” (John 1:6–8, ESV). John the Baptist was sent by God to be a witness in the darkness. He was sent to bear witness about the light in the midst of the darkness. His job was to point people to the light, saying, “There it is! There it is!”—the same people that wouldn’t even receive the actual light when it came into the world. 

Doesn’t that seem like a hopeless, impossible task? If these people won’t receive the actual light when it comes, how in the world is John supposed to have any level of success? There’s no way they’re going to listen to him if they’re not going to listen to Jesus Christ himself! 

Yet, what’s the goal of a witness? The goal of a witness is to tell other people about what they see and know about something, right? That’s their job. If they are a witness to an accident, their job is to tell people everything they’ve seen and heard about that accident. That’s it. That’s their job. Their job is not to convict anyone. Their job is not to prosecute or convince anyone. Their job is simply to show and tell what they have seen and heard. 

Another helpful description I’ve heard about a witness is someone who points away from themselves to something else. Right? The witness’s job is not to tell people about themselves or say, “Look at me.” Their job is to point away from themselves to something else and say, “Look at that!” 

These are the things we see John the Baptist doing throughout the Gospel of John. He’s repeatedly pointing away from himself to Jesus Christ saying, “Don’t look at me, Look at him!” AND he’s repeatedly showing and telling what Jesus has done saying, “I saw the Spirit descend on him” or “This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! Look at him!” And because he’s a witness, that’s his job. It doesn’t necessarily matter if his witness isn’t received or if it doesn’t convince. That’s not his job. His job—as a witness—is to keep showing and telling and pointing people to Jesus Christ over and over and over again. 

One of the things I love about the Gospel of John is that John the Baptist isn’t the only picture of a witness that we’re given. Actually, the Gospel is filled with images and examples of witnesses. In the next couple weeks, we’ll see the disciples witnessing to each other saying, “We saw and heard Jesus do these things.” We see the woman at the well saying, “This man told me everything I’ve ever done.” We will see example after example after example of people witnessing—showing and telling others what Jesus has done and repeatedly pointing away from themselves to Jesus. 

I have found this understanding of witness to be extremely helpful in our current cultural moment. Many of you grew up in an era when evangelism was pretty aggressive, kinda in your face, and fairly scripted. We had the Romans Road and the Four Spiritual Laws and numerous other evangelistic techniques. The idea behind many of these techniques was that we could approach people on the street and present the gospel to them. And, to be honest, quite a few people have come to know the Lord through these techniques. 

However, many people have been WAY too intimidated by these techniques. I think the VAST majority of Christians are extremely intimidated to approach a stranger on the street and present the four spiritual laws to them. So, as a result, many Christians came to the conclusion that they were bad at doing evangelism—they were bad at witnessing—so they stopped. And to be honest, many Christians decided to leave evangelism up to the professionals (they’ll do it better than us anyway). So, rather than sharing the gospel with people themselves, they settled for inviting people to evangelistic events and church services, hoping that the preacher would do their job for them.

But I don’t think this is the way God designed us to be witnesses in the world. I believe that everyone is called to be a witness wherever they’re at. I believe every person is called to share their faith in their families, in their workplaces, and in their communities. 

AND, I believe it’s not as hard or fearful or intimidating as we’ve made it over the years. All we are called to do is be a witness in these places. We’re called to show and tell what Jesus has done and point people away from ourselves to Jesus over and over again. It’s really that simple. What have you seen Jesus do in your life and in the life of your family? What have you heard Jesus say through his Word? Then take opportunities to talk about those things as you encounter people in your families, at work, and in the community. It’s really that simple. 

Yet, I don’t want you to make one fatal mistake. I’ve watched some people try to witness by pointing to themselves. They act and speak like, “Look how good I am doing, and you can do this too!” or “Look how I endured this difficulty, and you can too!” That’s not a witness because you’re pointing to yourself and what you’ve done. A witness says something like, “Look at the way Jesus carried me through this difficulty and the way he helped me overcome this addiction. He can do that for you too!” 

As we show and tell what Jesus has done and repeatedly point people to Jesus, we must have one particular goal in mind. We want them to put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. That was the goal God gave to John. We read, “He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.” (John 1:7, ESV). He was a witness so that people would believe through his witness. He witnessed so that people would see what Jesus had said and done and then they would put their faith and trust in Him. 

That has to be our goal too.We must not make the goal of witnessing our own glory. We must never make the goal of witnessing increased church attendance. That’s not the goal. We must not even make the goal of our witnessing to help people live a better life. That may eventually come, but that’s not the goal. The goal of our witnessing—the goal of us showing and telling and pointing people to Jesus—is that they would put their faith and trust in him—they would believe. 

Yet, as we do this witnessing in the world, we must not forget that when the light shines in the darkness, the darkness does not understand it. When the light of the world entered the world, the world didn’t know him. When Jesus came to the people who were looking for him, they didn’t receive him. This is all a reminder that our witness will not always be effective. In fact, many people will hear our witness—will hear our stories about what we’ve seen Jesus say and do—and they will reject them and walk away. In those moments, we need to be reminded of the job of a witness. Our job isn’t to convince or convict but simply to keep pointing and showing and telling what we’ve seen. We just keep doing it over and over and over again, even when we see that witness ignored and rejected over and over again. That’s what John did. That’s what all of the witnesses throughout the Gospel did. That’s what Jesus did. 

And miraculously, in the midst of all that, some people will believe and will receive Jesus. We read, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12–13, ESV). Even though the world didn’t know him, and his own people didn’t receive him, some people did receive him and believe in him. Some put their faith and trust in him. And those who did, were adopted into God’s family and adopted as children of God. That’s incredible. 

And what makes it more incredible, is that this all happens in the darkness of this world. This all happens in the midst of a world that is rejecting Jesus and even his own people rejecting Jesus. Still, even though people’s hearts are hard, some will hear the witness of Jesus Christ, their hearts will be stirred, and they will believe in him and receive him and put their faith in him. 

And we’re told that this doesn’t happen because of our parents—“of blood”—it doesn’t happen because of our own intelligence or self-control or wisdom—“of the flesh nor of the will of man”—but it happens because people are born of God. We’ll get into this further in chapter 3, when Jesus speaks with Nicodemus, but the point to be made here is that God does something powerful in people’s hearts in order for them to receive our witness and believe. Yes, we need to keep showing and telling and pointing people to Jesus, but God is the one who works through our witnessing to open people’s hearts to receive and believe. He grants them the gift of faith. 

And here’s something important to remember. People do not believe because of the power and charm and beauty and polishedness of our witness. And people do not reject God because of our wimpy, weak, and rusty witness. People believe in God and trust in him because He does a work in their heart. That’s his job. Our job is to witness and to do it over and over and over again. His job is to take our witness and apply it to people’s hearts and draw them to himself. 

So, our job and calling is to be witnesses in the world. We are called to bear witness to the light through our words and our actions. We are called to help people put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ by telling them about what we’ve seen and heard Jesus do and by pointing them to Jesus over and over and over again. Yet, in the midst of all this, we also need to remember that the darkness does not understand nor receive the light. Even as we witness, the world will not understand what we’re saying. Even people who grew up in the church may not understand what we’re saying. There are even people in the church who will not understand our witness. But our job is to keep witnessing because that’s our calling. 

And, miraculously, as we keep pointing people to Jesus, some will believe. They will not believe because we did such a good job telling them about Jesus. They will not believe because we said all of the right words. They will not believe because we were so passionate in our witness. They will believe because God did a powerful work in their heart and drew them to himself. 

This is a reminder that we need to continue to trust in Jesus throughout our lives. We need to trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins and for his righteousness and we need to rest in that faith every day of our lives. We also need to trust Jesus Christ with our witness as we point people to him. He is the one who will take our witness and use it so that people would believe in him and receive him. So, go out into the world and bear witness to the light, trusting that Jesus Christ will work through your witness to draw people to himself.