Shine
Series: Turn on the Light / Sunday, December 30th 2007
Intro: In 1853, Hosea Lewis became the “keeper of the light” on Lime Rock Island at Newport, Rhode Island, Lewis suffered a stroke four years later, at which time his teenage daughter Ida assumed responsibility for the light. Each day included cleaning the reflectors, trimming the wick, and filling the oil reservoir at sunset and midnight, along with providing for her father’s care.
With long and demanding tasks, Ida was unable to continue her schooling, but daily delivered her siblings to class, whatever the weather, by rowing the 500 yards to the mainland. Ida became well-skilled and well-known for handling the heavy craft.
• The teenager gained a measure of fame at age sixteen when she rescued four young men after their boat capsized. She rowed to their aid, hearing their screams as they clung to their overturned craft.
• On March 29, 1869, Ida saved two drowning servicemen from nearby Fort Adams. Public knowledge of Ida’s courage spread as far as Washington, inspiring President Ulysses S. Grant to visit Ida at Newport later that year.
• Ida rescued another two soldiers in 1881, for which she was awarded the U.S. Lifesaving Service’s highest medal.
• In early February of that year the two soldiers were crossing from Newport to Lime Rock Island on foot when the ice gave way. Ida, the lighthouse keeper, came running with a rope. Ignoring peril to herself from weak and rotten ice, she pulled one, then the other to safety.
• All told, Ida Lewis personally saved at least 18 and as many as 25 people in the 39 years of keeping the light.
• Her last reported rescue came at age 63 when she saved a friend who had fallen into the water on her way to visit Ida on the island.
Asked where she found strength and courage for such a feat, Ida answered: ‘I don’t know, I ain’t particularly strong. The Lord Almighty gives it to me when I need it, that’s all.’
The Apostle John was, in a sense, a lighthouse keeper too.
• Jesus had entrusted Him with the Gospel and John remained faithful.
• He was about 90years old and the last Apostle standing / He was passionate about the Truth
We can truthfully say that John is passing the torch to us.
• He instructs us to fill the lamp with oil, to trim the wicks and to polish the glass so that we may shine bright for God.
• He writes to build up the reader with the most important lessons he has learned over the course of his life.
Think of it: The Apostle is writing us a letter that carries 90+ years of wisdom, education and life experience. He actually walked with Jesus. And not only was he one of the 12 original Disciples, he was Jesus’ best friend! SO when the man is “recapping” all he has learned, we should listen intently.
Here in the last installment in this series we will be jumping around in the last chapter of 1 John.
1 John 5:4-5 “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world— our faith. 5Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
I. Turn up your Courage “…everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world”
John lived in and thrived in the most difficult periods of time the church has ever endured, its inception. This fact helped form John’s perspective on life, and what is important and what is just a waste of time.
a. Life is serious business.
• Church, we must realize and take seriously the battle that we are in.
2 Corinthians 4:3 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
• We’re not to be obsessed with our enemy, just aware and alert.
A horrifying event took place in San Fran last week. A tiger escaped and mauled one man to death and seriously injured two others. They are not yet sure how the tiger got loose. But some of the evidence suggests the wall was too low and the victims were taunting the tiger.
The zoo’s procedures for handling the emergency were never implemented. Zoo officials never publicly warned the people. Nor did Zoo workers move people to safety. It wasn’t until after Police where called in from outside the Zoo that the Tiger was shoot. There were too few surveillance cameras and inadequate light to aid the police; they didn’t even know how many tigers were loose or where they may be hiding.
Jesus used the illustration of a Lion seeking prey to describe Satan hunting down people.
The Apostle John uses an equally terrifying word picture to describe the world’s relationship to Satan:
1 John 5:19 “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.”
The Apostle John gives us, very graphically, God’s picture as he says that the whole world is cradled in the lap of the evil one. (A nurse who is holding a child to her bosom) and John says this whole world system is cradled in the lap of the evil one. (Lulled, trusting, asleep / molested, deceived and robbed)
b. Shining the Light wins over cursing the darkness
• Faith and Love instead of indignation and bitterness.
Philip Anschutz, a multibillionaire former oilman and co-owner of several sports teams started funding positive movies such as "The Chronicles of Narnia." He said he was driven to get into the movie business by his anger at the focus on sex and violence in mainstream films. "My wife and I now have a number of grandchildren who are growing up surrounded by products of this culture," Anschutz said in 2004. "So four or five years ago I decided to stop cursing the darkness."
You can’t use the tactics of the enemy to defeat the enemy. Satan would have you to be discouraged, joyless, embittered, enraged and vindictive.
Instead of dwelling on anger, John spends the whole book encouraging us to Love.
Too often people who suffer similar trials and atrocities as the Apostle’s turn bitter.
John literally watched the unjust crucifixion of his best friend. He endured the murder of his brother. He counted as one by one all the other Apostles were murdered for their faith.
• Do you think that just maybe he “had the right” to be bitter?
• Do you think that just maybe he “Had the right” to question God’s love?
• John doesn’t question God, “God, if you love my brothers you… / If you loved me...”
1 John 4:4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
John addresses us as “little children” to remind us of the simplicity of faith and love, our two most powerful weapons.
Ephesians 6:11 “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
Practical Application: Awesome response to missions / Week of prayer starting next week too.
Not only do we need to turn up our courage, we need to know that:
II. Love is the serious work of the Kingdom.
Our effectiveness as Christians is directly connected to how we love.
a. Love reaches the Lost
• Jesus said, “You will know them by their fruit. / Good trees bare good fruit.”
• Love is the fruit that produces all the others.
Galatians 5:22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control.”
God wants us to shine
Philippians 2:15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe 16 as you hold out the word of life
• We shine the brightest when we love
• Love is the witness
• Love is the power
• Why? Because, love is God’s main motivation for reaching the Lost
• And Love is the quintessential quality of the impact-full church.
• But love isn’t easy!!!
Sure “Love” sounds easy. It’s such a “nice” word. It makes us think of a beautiful vista and baby deer peacefully grazing in wild flower filled meadows, a gentle breeze and perfect sunshine.
That’s not Love.
• Love is changing dirty diapers and getting up in the middle of the night to feed a hungry baby.
• Love is caring for your hurting friend or spouse.
• Love is hours spent in prayer and tears shed over people’s pain.
• Love is doing things you don’t want to do for the benefit of another.
Love is sacrifice for the sake of fellowship.
I want all of us to be prayer about what God would have us do as a church to reach the Lost this year
Love reaches the lost and:
b. Love builds the Church
• This isn’t always so easy either:
1 Corinthians 13:4 “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love never fails.”
• That’s quit the “skill set” / But God is faithful to help us.
How do we do that?
• By living life together (Work, pain and fun)
List the events planned:
1) Movie Nights
2) Idlewild
3) Creation Museum
4) Etc.
I am asking you to take the time this year to get to know someone in the church better. This will mean slowing down, giving something up in order to have the time, or just getting off the couch.
Play games, go out to eat, invite someone over.
And you can’t sit there and say, “Yes, I need someone to love me more.” It doesn’t work like that. You must make the move. You start loving someone in a sacrificial way and you’ll see it come back to you.
• This is a Fight against selfishness (It will cost money and time: your most precious commodities)
• This is a fight against hurry and frantic living
• This is a fight against creating and living in your own little cocoon
Fight against creating your own cocoon. Sure its comfortable in there, sure it’s save in there. But, do you know what lives in cocoons? Worms. Worms live in there. You have to break out of that.
• This is a fight against division (by using preemptive grace, forgiveness and patience.)
Any fool can grumble and complain; but it takes a Real Christian to Love.
So, Love reaches the lost, love builds the church and:
c. Love drives Joyful Obedience
1 John 5:3 “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.”
• Now those two things are not usually said in the same sentence. Joyful and obedience.
• Our human brains are just not wired this way; We are sinfully wired for self assertion not joyful obedience.
• Shining for God also means living a clean life.
We must get to the point that we love God enough to do whatever he says. Period. If you’re not “there” yet, keep working on it. But understand this clearly that’s His goal for you. Lovingly obey him.
The longest chapter in the Bible is Psalm 119, and its theme is the Word of God. Every verse except two mentions the Word of God in one form or another. The interesting thing about it is that the psalmist loves the Word of God and enjoys telling us about it! “Thy statutes have been my song in the house of my pilgrimage”
Jim Hart is a song writer. I was listening to some of his original songs yesterday on His “MySpace” page. Very beautiful. But imagine if Jim came in next week and he had turning the Pennsylvania traffic code to music. How strange is that?
God’s laws are different than man’s laws. God directs us out of love and we can love His instruction and joyfully obey him.
1 John 5:18 “We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him…20And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 21Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
As our love for God matures, we have confidence and are no longer afraid of His will. We are no longer under the control of Satan and we HAVE ETERNAL LIFE!!!
Conclusion:
Do you want to SHINE for God?
