Light is a special thing to God. God’s first spoken words in Scripture are, “Let there be light,” and it was the first thing ever created in our universe. He made light to be a special thing with unique characteristics. When a star dies out, its light can still travel for years and still shine. It is also proven that on a clear night that you can see the flicker of a flame up to 30 miles away.
Now, hear the words of St. Paul: “Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life”.
Do you ever wonder if your Christian life doesn’t matter or goes unnoticed? Well, Paul begs to differ. He says it does matter, and that it is noticed. This morning we’ll talk about being a light, at how Jesus becoming a man impacts that, and the application that God works and shines through us.
Before we talk about being a light, we have to first define what light is. God’s light is His truth, which is His Word and found in it. It is also His grace, our undeserved mercy which He gives us on account of His Son Jesus. Light is God’s grace and truth, and it shines in us through faith and burns brighter as He works and lives in us.
What is darkness? Darkness is everything that is the opposite of faith, God’s truth, and His ways. There is no grey, for there is no such thing as grey light. But with this in mind, Paul’s imagery springs to life: as Christians, we are lights in a dark black sky.
We really do live in a world of darkness. It seems that Christianity is on the decline and that it is getting darker and harder to shine Christ’s light. Groups like ISIS are trying to extinguish the light of Christ in the Middle East with brute force. Ideals like Communism and Atheism are trying to do their best to do their part by using government, social, and peer pressure to put out the light of Christianity in America, Asia, and Europe.
It can be difficult to be a light as God-pleasing morals are leaving our society and when it seems that few people live a Christian life. Just this week, I caught a glimpse of a special that lauded and celebrated the life and work of Hugh Heffner, along with his positive impacts. Not sure what would be positive about his life and work. When hearing this, the Apostle Paul says, “What’s the big deal? For as it gets darker, light shines brighter.”
We are to shine our light in the world, but how do we do that? We do that by not only living a life of faith, but by living one marked especially by the virtue of humility according to Paul. For humility is love in action. Paul writes, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
Simply put, humility puts others before myself and considers others greater. But can you do that without love? Can you truly put someone before you or consider others greater without it? Can you truly look to the interest of others without love? Can you do it sincerely? Later Paul also says, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing.”
Humility does not complain or grumble about doing tasks, chores, activities, and serving others. Rather, it does them joyfully. But again, can you do this without love?
Humility and love go hand-in-hand. Humility is love in action; love is its motive. These actions and humility help us to shine Christ’s light in a dark and sinful world. They help to point others to Christ, for humility is the very thing our sinful world struggles with doing.
However, being humble is not an easy thing. Paul probably couldn’t have said a harder thing for us as sinful human beings to do to have us shine as lights among a sinful generation. We naturally are selfish and self-seeking. The world tells us to first look out for number one, and then to look out for and help others, and we can fall prey to that philosophy.
There is also a true danger about being humble in a sinful world because we can be taken advantage of by being humble and serving. It is hard to stomach the fact that by being humble there is a great chance to be taken advantage of. Paul is aware of this, which is why he gives us a great example of a man who shined God’s light in the world.
He uses the greatest example of humility known to man: Jesus taking on human flesh.
In His incarnation, Jesus became fully man while still being fully God. Just imagine, Jesus was at one time a baby in diapers in His mother’s arms. Can you picture the difficulty in being self-sufficient and then having to rely on a teenage mother to take care and feed you?
As a boy, Jesus grew up, listened to and obeyed His parents. As a man, He once worked an everyday job, listening to the commands and instructions of others. Can you imagine how hard that could be when you know all things, especially when what you are told to do is a bad idea?
On top of it all, He did not make His equality with God a thing to be grasped. He did not use it for His convenience and pleasure like we would. The One who should be served ended up being the One who served all. The One who should have given orders took them. Such humility is unheard of and rarely seen, but it shows us Paul’s point. He uses the example of Christ to encourage us, to strengthen our faith, and to give us hope. He shows us humility in action.
For Jesus as true God served His neighbor. As Ruler of the universe, He respected authority and took commands. As true King, He listened to and helped people with their problems and needs. He doesn’t have us do anything He Himself didn’t do.
But as we look at the example of Jesus’ humility, we see our failures at doing one of the things that helps us to be a light in the world. Fortunately for us, Christ “humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” He looked beyond His own interests when He took our sin on Himself so that we could have peace with God through His death. He humbled Himself through His death on the cross so that He could make you blameless, innocent, and without blemish before God. He considered others greater than Himself and shines His grace and mercy on us. He did this all without grumbling or complaining so that He could make you His own by His precious blood. Through faith Him, you are forgiven and you are made God’s child.
Paul says we are to shine as lights amidst a crooked and twisted generation. God’s light is shown through his truth and grace, and it is shown before the world in our lives through our faith in Christ. But this truth brings up an interesting question, “Who does the shining, me or Christ?” We are the ones showing God’s grace and mercy through our acts of service, humility, and love. We are the ones showing God’s truth as we tell others about Him and share our faith, right?
Well, let’s hear what St. Paul says, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” Paul describes that tension and concept that we have a hard time wrapping our minds around, for what appears as our work is actually God’s work in and through us.
God is the One who keeps us in the faith. God is the one who works in us His will to do what pleases Him. God is the One who works in us for His good pleasure. And doesn’t He do this through His word, which guides, protects, and enlightens us? Doesn’t He do this through our baptism, in which we have received His Spirit who lives and dwells in us? Doesn’t He do this through the Sacraments in which we receive forgiveness and are given Christ?
What seems like our work in the world is actually God shining His grace and truth through us. He is the One working through our actions and witness to show His light in a sinful and broken world. So as you live your life this week and as you may do a simple task like helping someone carry their groceries, know that that is God shining His light through you in a twisted and crooked generation as you do that. Like light in our world, the actions and words we may do and say to others can still shine on even though we might pass on. In Christ, we know that our Christians lives do matter, that they are noticed, no matter how dark it may get. In fact, it shines brighter the darker it gets.
Light is an interesting thing in our world. Its special characteristics remind us that no matter how small the light source is, its light can be seen and shown in a huge area; light does not go unnoticed. Its uniqueness reminds us of Paul’s imagery of Christians being stars in the sky whom the grace and mercy of God are shown through. The life of Christ recalls Paul’s point that humility is what distinguishes Christians in a twisted and crooked generation. And with light Paul teaches us that God is the One who does His good will and work through us. Let’s see how God will do that in us this week. IN HIS NAME, AMEN.
