Welcome to the Come to Jesus Daily Devotional. Following on from yesterday as we looked at how God is light. Today let’s reflect on how those who come into His light have darkness increasingly cast out of their lives.
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‘You are radiant with light, more majestic than mountains rich with game.’ (Psalm 76:4)
It feels to me that holiness is an often overlooked topic for the church. Maybe in our desire to reach the world for Jesus, we feel that speaking of holiness may put them off. You may disagree, but it seems that we emphasise the mercy of God to such an extent that we dispense of His holiness and hatred of sin. The danger is that the church can become a mixed group who are no longer devoted to God’s Word and holiness. When serving the ‘lost’ gets raised above serving God and calling people to worship, we are failing even if we do have larger numbers!
Light speaks of God’s glory, power, truth, wisdom, holiness etc. We are to worship God with the understanding that He is light and contains no darkness; in fact, darkness is expelled from His holy presence. John challenges us to reflect God’s light with these challenging words:
‘This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.’ (1 John 1:5-6)
Darkness is, in this context, talking about sin of various kinds. When someone becomes a Christian, they enter into the light and so, inevitably, will pursue holiness as the light of God’s presence works in them. Throughout life, the light of God’s presence is at work in us to sanctify us and restore God’s image - who is light.
Jesus says these wonderful words about His identity and ministry of light:
‘When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”’ (John 8:12)
A Christian and a church - those who follow Jesus - ‘will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’ A church must seek to encourage holiness in her members. We must teach and encourage one another to recognise what darkness is and to turn from it and into the light of God’s Word and wisdom.
There’s much that can be said on this subject of God’s light, today I simply want us to see that God’s light casts out darkness from His people. A church that accepts sin is quenching the light of God in favour of darkness. In practice, of course, the church community must be radically accepting of all people who are seeking to find out about Jesus and the gospel. However, those who come among the church community must not only experience great love and grace, they must also experience the example of a holy people and be called to repentance. This double ministry of acceptance whilst calling for faith and repentance is not always easy to work out but let’s pray for God’s wisdom to be such people.
In terms of personal response, are you walking in the light of God? Are you regularly allowing the life-giving, sanctifying, joy-giving and darkness-expelling light to shine on you? In other words, how are you and I regularly meeting with Jesus?
Community group notes and study
1. Notices
It might be good to begin with notices. Please share from this week’s Church News.
2. Icebreaker
How has God been speaking to you from His Word this week and how has this helped you?
3. Worship together
Let’s begin our time together by lifting our eyes and hearts to worship our great God. Perhaps you have readings and songs that you would like to use together. Let’s be open to the gifts that the Spirit wants to give in order to encourage one another.
4. Study and pray together
Our message on Sunday, Inspired from Psalm 76:4, reflected on what it means for God to be ‘radiant light’. The Bible often uses light to speak of the appearance and ways of God; God’s light draws our attention to His holy and good nature, and, secondly, light speaks of His good ways that cast darkness out of our lives. Our message can be summarised as: God’s light restores worship and holiness.
Please read Psalm 76:4
Did God speak to you about anything specifically from Sunday’s message?
What would you say are the main teaching points of this short section of Psalm 76?
Why does God sometimes show His light (His glory) in a visible form? (See Luke 9:28-31 for example)
What does God’s light and glory teach us about His nature?
What does God’s light and glory teach us about His will for us?
What does 1 John 1:5-6 teach about the fruit that must attend anyone’s profession of faith?
Prayer - It might be good to pray for one another regarding anything that has come out of this challenging study.
SIV - Why is the pursuit of worship and holiness vital for us to be a light to this world?
SIV - Do we have any stories of how we have ‘Served, Invested, and inVited’ recently?
SIV - Spend some time together talking and praying about who and how you are seeking to bring your community to Jesus.
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