Who do you want to think well of you? I suppose we all desire the approval of our family and friends. We want our bosses to appreciate the job we do so we’ll get a promotion or raise. And it’s always nice to feel like we are respected in the community, to believe that our neighbors look up to us.

And up to this point in American history, being a Christian has carried with it all sorts of social benefits. For many years, going to church was just the thing to do – it was the place where everybody who was anybody went on Sundays. And until very recently, the culture as a whole has believed in the sorts of virtues taught by the Bible – hard work, honesty, patience, sobriety, mutual respect, and of course, faithfulness in marriage.

But, especially in our larger cities, American Christians are increasingly having to make the choice that faced many of the prominent people in verses 42 and 43. If we claim the name of Christ, if we insist that Jesus speaks true words from God (v. 49), and if we insist that those who reject God’s Word will indeed by judged one day (v. 48), we risk being labeled as narrowminded or judgmental, or even as bigots.

So, the question for all of us today is this: will we remain in the darkness, seeking only the glory that other people can give us? Or no matter what it may cost us, will we follow Christ, the light of the world? Will we keep His Word and believe that He has come from God to save us?

John 12:36-50 (ESV)

36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.
37 Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him,
38 so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
39 Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said,
40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.”
41 Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.
42 Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue;
43 for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.
44 And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me.
45 And whoever sees me sees him who sent me.
46 I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.
47 If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.
48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.
49 For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment– what to say and what to speak.
50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”