Jesus Came as The Light

 

When I was growing up, I had a hero. It was my cousin. He was a lot older than me & he was a great football & baseball player. He was an all-American in college in both football & baseball & he played major league baseball. I wanted to be like him. I believe that we all want a hero. We want someone to be an example for us, a person who embodies all the qualities that are good & noble.

 

In John 1:9-13 we see a hero, Jesus, as He comes into the world.

 

Verse 9 says, “The true light, which gives light to everyone was coming into the world.”

 

Jesus came as the true light which was giving light to everyone in the world. In 1 John 1:7 we are told that if we walk in the light that we will have fellowship with one another & the blood of Jesus will cleanse us from all sin. Jesus is the light & as we surrender ourselves to Jesus, He as the light gives us fellowship & cleansing from sin.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about walking in the light that is Jesus & having fellowship with Him & others & being cleansed from our sin.

 

Verse 10 says, “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him.”

 

Jesus is not only the light He is also the creator of all creation. He came into the world as one of us, a human. The world, however, did not know Him. The world did not know Him because He did not come as one of the elites, an emperor or king or prince. He came as an ordinary human being.  

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about knowing that Jesus is the Creator & He came into the world as an ordinary human being for us.

 

Verse 11 says, “He came to His own and His own people did not receive Him.”

 

Jesus was not received as the Savior by the Jewish people. Even more, the people of His hometown of Nazareth did not receive as the Savior. The world today does not receive Jesus as Savior or Lord. The world seeks after the things that they think will bring joy, hope, security, & purpose. The problem is that the things the world seeks after cannot bring those things, only Jesus can.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about receiving Jesus as the Savior & the Lord.

 

Verse 12 says, “But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to be children of God.”

 

Jesus & only Jesus gives us the right to become children of God. We are not natural born children of God. We have to become supernaturally born or born-again children of God.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about receiving Jesus as Savior & Lord & becoming God’s children.

 

Verse 13 says, “Who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

 

Salvation & becoming children of God does not come through being physically born or through effort of human authority or through human effort, but only from the will of God by the death & resurrection of Jesus. I hear the phrase, “You can do anything you set your mind to do,” or “If you can dream it, you can be it.” There are some things that we as human beings cannot do, & the number one thing we cannot do is save ourselves. Only Jesus can bring us salvation.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about trusting Jesus & Jesus alone to bring us salvation.

 

Jesus is not only our Savior & Lord, but He also needs to be the reason for us to live & the model for how we live. We must walk in Jesus, the Light of the world.

 

Raising the Roof & Removing the Walls,

Joe