Light Out of Darkness

For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus' sake. For it is the God who said, Let light shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:5-6

What about these people whose minds are blinded? Are they without hope? The preaching of Jesus as Lord is a message honored by God, and God is a being of incredible power and authority. In fact, He is the one who at creation commanded the light to shine out of darkness. Notice, he did not command the light to shine into the darkness — He literally commanded the darkness to produce light!

Why are these people perishing? Their minds are blinded; they live in darkness. They have already turned from the normal way by which God proposes to save people — by an honest response to reality. But their case is not hopeless, for the God whom Paul preaches is able to call light out of darkness. There is still the possibility that when they hear the good news that Jesus is Lord, God will do a creative act and call light out of their darkness. For this reason, the Christian can always witness in hope, knowing that a sovereign God will work in resurrection power to call light out of darkness in many hearts.

Paul sees himself as one of these people. Before his conversion he had been intent on pleasing God, yet the darkness in which he lived was so deep that when he saw and heard Jesus, he could not recognize him as the Son of God. But on the road to Damascus he was suddenly overwhelmed with light. Out of the darkness of his brilliant mind, the light shone and illuminated the darkness of his dedicated heart. There he experienced what he had long sought — the knowledge of the glory of God. To his utter amazement he found it where he least expected: in the face of Jesus Christ.

Because of his own experience, the apostle is careful now to keep his preaching sharply focused on the only subject God will honor by calling light out of darkness — Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as servants for Jesus' sake. The danger in preaching is that all too often we offer ourselves as the remedy for man's need. We speak about the church or Christian education or the Christian way of life, when all the time what people need is Jesus. The church cannot save, a knowledge of Christian philosophy does not heal, doctrine without love puffs up. Only Jesus is Lord.

In view of this, the role of the Christian is that of a servant. He is to discover the needs of others and do whatever his master tells him to do to meet those needs. He is a servant for Jesus' sake. He is never the servant of men, but Jesus' servant and therefore serves men. That is an important distinction. A friend of mine said, The tragic error I made was that I became a servant of people. I felt obligated to respond favorably when anyone called and asked me to do something. Someone would say, I think you ought to do such and such, and I would say, Right, I'd better do it. Then five other people would tell me what they thought I should do. Suddenly I found myself in trouble because I couldn't do everything. But when I checked the life of Jesus, I found that He was a servant of the Father, not a servant of people. He submitted himself to the people whom the Father picked out. That set me free.

Lord, you have the power to make light shine out of darkness. Empower me to serve you and the people you call me to serve in your Name.