Tonight’s sermon continued the ‘A-Z of Christian Faith’ series, looking at essential ingredients in our faith journey. From Jn 1:1-14, we concluded that there are 3 essential Ls: life, light and love.
Life
Life is a theme which runs throughout the Bible, and especially in John’s writings. He calls Jesus not only the ‘Word’, but also the ‘Word of life’ (1 Jn 1:1) and reminds us that this word of life really did come to live on earth: ‘The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.’ (1 Jn 1:2) For us, all life has a beginning and an end, but for God, He has no beginning and no end. Jesus not only has life; He is eternal life and therefore has the authority to grant eternal life to all who believe in Him. (Jn 3:15-16); ‘For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.’ (John 5:21) The fact that Jesus has life in Himself is one of the proofs that He is God (see Jn 5:26) and He gives life to us too so that we may share in this life.
Light
Jesus is the Light of the world (Jn 8:12) and His light shines into us so that we too become the light of the world. (Matt 5:14) We don’t always appreciate light, for it exposes everything that is hidden and messy and unclean (see Jn 3:20), but God’s light shines into our hearts so that we can be drawn into His presence and receive forgiveness and cleansing. His light must influence how we live and gives guidance in all aspects of our behaviour and plans. The unfolding of God’s word gives light (Ps 119:130), enabling us to live a completely different kind of life that is characterised by light and not darkness (see 1 Thess 5:5, Eph 5:8).
Love
Just as life and light multiply, so God’s love multiplies as we are recipients of divine love and are then charged with passing that love on.
Love is the yardstick by which we will be judged and becomes the means by which our discipleship and love for God is measured (see Jn 13:34-35). Love is a verb, because God is love in action, demonstrating His love by sending His Son to save us (see Jn 3:16, 1 Jn 4:10) Love has to be sacrificial (Jn 15:13), the visible demonstration to the world of God’s character.