Sunday Sermon

 

Shine Like a Light

Isaiah 60:2

Darkness now covers the earth; deep darkness covers her people. But the Lord shines on you, and people see his glory around you.

One of the things that God calls people to and be and I think that in popular culture the enemy has built a lie around is to be discriminating. We have a God who is discriminating and that means God looks at things and says yes this is good and that is bad. This is called judgement and having good judgement used to be a good thing. To be able to distinguish between what is healthy and what is unhealthy is not a bad thing but a very positive thing and we as believers in the living God hang our hope in a God who has good judgement. I do have to admit that I used to fear God’s judgement and it scared me to think that I was not what I should be but my mind has changed on the subject. God’s judgement is the greatest hope we have and we should embrace God’s discernment because we are lost people if we don’t. Thinking about God’s judgement should not be like a criminal case but more like a doctor. When we go to the doctor we want our doctor to have good judgement and be able to know what is wrong with us so he can bring healing to us. When a doctor tells us what is wrong with us it is to help us and to save us from the sickness that is hurting us. This is the same with God and His judgement. There is a sickness killing us and God knows what is wrong and has a cure but we have to accept the judgement of God and listen to what is needed to bring healing to us. Everyone is free to ignore a doctor’s judgement but it will only hurt us and it is the same with God’s judgement. It is a joyful thing that we have a discriminating God whose discernment is the greatest hope we have for finding the healing we need in our lives. God calls us to be people who have good judgement and are discerning people not because we hate people but because like God we love our fellow humans and want their lives to be filled with peace. My hope is found in the judgement of God and I am so grateful that God does not just let me be but He speaks to me about what is wrong in my life so God can fix what is broken in me. Learning to trust God arises from the idea that God knows what is right and wrong and when we listen to God we become better people. Do not hide from God’s judgement but steps into that space because we have a God who longs to help us and to teach us how to be the people we were meant to be. All of the wisdom that God offers requires that we first submit ourselves to God’s judgement or the wisdom God offers is worthless to us. I say all of this because God reveals to me on a regular basis His judgement about how I am living. Hearing God speak to me about how I am living is not fun but I have learned that when I listen and obey what God speaks about I find that I am a better person so my hope is in the judgement of God.

We had a stray dog show up the other day and my grandchildren’s reactions were very interesting. One child was very concerned about the dog and was disappointed when we returned it to its owner. The other grandchild was just annoyed that there was all this fuss over a dog. Neither of these reactions surprised me because I know my grandchildren and how they operate. I also am learning how God reacts to things because I am getting to know who God is. Like my grand kids God interacts with us and if we spend time watching we begin to learn about God and that is what God wants. We have a God who wants us to know who He is and how He works and God has spent a lot of time and effort teaching us about Himself. The reason this is important is because we trust in who God is. Our faith stands on the fact that God is good and that God is true. The whole idea that God’s judgement is trust worthy is because we know the nature of God. When we speak of the judgement of God we start with the idea that God is truth. It is not that God is true but God is the very center of truth. All that is true starts with God. That is why we can count on God’s judgement. But that is only the starting point. Because God is truth, we then learn how God acts and that is with righteousness and love. These two things are two sides of the same part. Real love cannot happen unless the person who loves is righteous. That God is righteous means that God ALWAYS does the right thing and the right thing is to care about people. God’s love means He tells us what is true and right because He cares about our well being. Understanding God’s judgement and appreciating the wonder and joy that judgement is flows from knowing who God is so we need to get to know God. The good thing is that God does not hide Himself but He teaches us about who He is so we can value the judgement God has.

Raising turkeys can be a troubling experience especially when your wife is involved. Turkeys are bullies and there is no getting around that. The big turkeys peck the smaller ones to the point that the little birds bleed. At this point if the smaller turkeys are not separated, they will die. My wife hates this and so she goes out and speaks harshly to the mean birds. Debbie will tell them to stop picking on the little ones. Of course this makes no difference to the big turkeys but some how it makes Debbie feel better. After she finishes her rant I try and tell her she that her words mean nothing to the birds and she cannot change how the turkeys work. Our verse we are considering relates to this because it also speaks about things that cannot change but so many people think they have the power to change reality. The words that are used in the first phrase of this verse speak to what is true but so many people want to believe otherwise. God wants us to know about the human condition and so He describes it with the only real words that communicate the dire state of humanity. Because humans have rejected God, we, as a people live in darkness. What is sad is that we have grown so accustom to the darkness we don’t even know how bad things are. To help us understand the extent of the darkness we live in God speaks about it being “deep darkness.” Taking this judgement from God seriously is the beginning place of real faith. As much as people want to believe that humans have grown and overcome the evil that lives in our hearts it is not true. Cain killed because he was envious and nothing has changed. Look at the twentieth century if we have any questions about the evil in human hearts. It was not just one man who did evil but hundreds of thousands of people were part of the evil. We as humans cannot remake ourselves without God but the good news is that God wants to remake us and change the darkness we live into a glorious light. It is not easy to accept that we are living in darkness and that is why we have to trust in the truth of God’s judgement. God loves us and wants the best for us and that is why God is honest with us about the situation we are in. If God did not love us He would just let us believe we are okay until we are destroyed, but this not the thing a righteous God would do. We hope in a God who tells us the truth so we can then deal with the problems we face.

The second half of this verse is the exciting part and worth the effort of understanding the darkness that God talks about. We have a God who wants to shine on us and works very hard to invite us to the brilliant light that God radiates. One of the things that always catches my attention when I am reading through the book of Revelations is the idea that there will not be any sun or moon because the glory of God radiates with such power. We cannot miss the idea here that God is giving. Either we live in darkness of we living in the glow of the living God. It is such a contrast and God means it to be. God wants us drawn to His light and God longs to give us the light we need to really understand how our lives should work. The great thing about the church is we are people living in the light of God and we need to share that. Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount tells us we are lights that should shine out into a dark world. This verse also has the same idea. Believers in the living God are called to let God’s light shine out and it is not something that is optional to us. Either we have the glory of God working in us or we are not the people of faith we should be. What I like best about this verse is not that the glory of God shines on us but the test of our faith is do other people see the light of God that dwells in us. This verse is not a comfort to us but a challenge from God. Followers of the living God, do people see the light of God when they are with you? Do we as people who profess a faith in God light a dark world or are we just living in the darkness with everyone else? God calls us to be the people who reflect His glory with such brilliance that the world is changed just by us existing. And we need to look to Moses to learn how the glory of God works in us. Moses spent time with God and learned who God is and ended up being friends with God. Let us get to know God so well that it is just a natural effect that we shine with the glory of God in our lives. This verse is so hopeful and yet asks so much of us as we travel our lives of faith.

Be aware that the lines about deep darkness covering the world are God grieving about the state of humans. Yes, it is God speaking the truth about the human condition but we need to know God talks about this because it hurts his heart that people live in the dark. God is light and God wants all people to live with Him and He pours Himself out to us. Jesus comes as the light of the world because when sin is dealt with darkness goes away. God would choose to die rather then to let darkness consume the lives of people. I want us to understand the magnitude of what we are reading here. We are not called by God to some small faith but we are called by God to a great work that is handed to each generation of the church. Grasping the longing God has for us to bring light to our world will change how we think about God and about the people we encounter. Every one of us know the evil of the darkness which means we should desire more than anything to shine God’s light to our follow humans.