Light In Our Darkness

LIGHT IN OUR DARKNESS

JEREMIAH 31:10-20

DECEMBER 9, 2018

SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT, YEAR C

CROSSROADS/PERRYVILLE UNITED METHODIST CHURCHES, MO

INTRO. How Many Religious Folks Does it Take to Change a Light Bulb? (posted on sermoncentral.com)

CHARISMATICS: Only 1 - Hands are already in the air.

PENTECOSTALS: 10 - One to change the bulb, and nine to pray against the spirit of darkness.

PRESBYTERIANS: None - Lights will go on and off at predestined times.

ROMAN CATHOLICS: None, they only use candles.

BAPTISTS: At least 15 - One to change the light bulb, and three committees to approve the change and decide who brings the potato salad and fried chicken.

MORMONS (non-Christian of course): 5 - One man to change the bulb, and four wives to tell him how to do it.

JEHOVAHS WITNESSES: None, too busy knocking on doors telling everyone they have the wrong lights.

METHODISTS: Undetermined - Whether your light is bright, dull, or completely out, you are loved. You can be a light bulb, turnip bulb, or a dim bulb. Bring a bulb of your choice to the Sunday lighting service.

NAZARENES: 6 - One woman to replace the bulb while five men review church lighting policy.

AMISH: What’s a light bulb?

I think we all can relate to the desire for light. When I was working on my master’s degree from the University of Missouri, we lived in Kirksville. I would study a lot at the Truman State University library, and I remember being there one night around midnight or maybe later. The library was three stories, it was near the end of the semester, and it was packed. All of a sudden, the lights went out. The darkness was overwhelming, and so were the cheers, screams and other comments! I decided pretty quickly that it was time to get out and go home, and that is exactly what I did. I can’t remember if there were lights working outside on the campus, but there were lights in my truck, and lights when I got home. There was light in the darkness. Back in 2002, my mother passed away in September. That fall and winter saw a lot of darkness. I would call my dad, we would talk, he would cry about his loss while I tried to hold it together and comfort him, then I would cry to Carol once I got off the phone. Here in Jeremiah, we see deep, heart-rendering cries for light in the darkness. Life is not good. Death and despair and suffering are all around. What does God offer to our world here?

I. GOD WILL DELIVER. If anyone needed to hear that God would deliver, it was the bunch of folks that Jeremiah was prophesying to. After going through a cycle of good kings and bad kings, smart decisions and stupid decisions, the Israelites were in exile in Babylon. Talk about a downer! A journey of over 1500 miles that would take several months to complete; when the Israelites went there, it was pretty much a one-trip. They weren’t coming back. Sure, they had no one else to blame. God hadn’t put them in this spot. Babylon hadn’t caused them to take this path further and further away from God. The children of Israel had only themselves to blame for where they were and how life was treating them. I’m sure that didn’t stop some of them from putting blame somewhere else, though.

“The manager of a minor league baseball team... was so disgusted with his center fielder’s performance that he ordered him to the dugout and assumed the position himself. The first ball that came into center field took a bad hop and hit the manager in the mouth. The next one was a high fly ball, which he lost in the glare of the sun, until it bounced off his forehead. The third was a hard line drive that he charged with outstretched arms; unfortunately, it flew between his hands and smacked his eye. Furious, he ran back to the dugout, grabbed the center fielder by the uniform, and shouted. ‘You idiot! You’ve got center field so messed up that even I can’t do a thing with it!’” (sermonillustrations.com, BLAME heading).

When I am in the middle of my valley of despair, it is easier to blame God, it is easier to quit, it is easier to do a lot of things other than trust that God will deliver. I don’t think I’m alone in that, either. Maybe that describes you as well. But what we have crying out in this passage is that yes, God will deliver! Verse 10 - the Lord will gather Israel. Verse 11 - he will deliver and redeem Jacob. Verse 17 - “There is hope for your descendants,” declares the LORD. “Your children will return to their own land.” These are words you may not need today or tomorrow, this week or this year. But now or the next season of your life, there will come a time for all of us that we need these words desperately and God will speak them to you. He will deliver! Hear it and believe it.