Psalm 119:105-112
“Turn On The Light”
By: Rev. Kenneth Emerson Sauer, Pastor of Parkview United Methodist Church, Newport News, VA
Imagine that you are in the woods late at night, and the darkness is so thick you could cut it with a knife.
Perhaps you have gone camping with some friends and on your way back from the bathroom you wandered off the path…and it’s so dark you can’t see a thing.
You try to take a few steps forward, but in this darkness it is hard to tell the difference between forward and backward.
Then you stub your toe on something…it causes you to trip…and it’s a bit painful.
It must have been a rock sticking up from the earth, but of course you couldn’t see it…
…so you couldn’t avoid it.
Then you may feel some smooth ground underneath your feet…so you know you are on a path…a well-worn path upon which many have traveled before you…
…but you don’t know if this is the right path…if this is the path that will bring you back to your friends, your family…back to safety.
But it is a path, nevertheless, so you try and walk along it.
Pretty soon something trips your feet up again…this time it might be a root sticking out of the ground from a tree…
…and this time you find yourself stumbling and falling…
…you crack your head on something and you begin to feel blood running down your face.
Anxiety begins to rush through your veins…your heart starts pumping wildly…but you get up and try walking again…
…but it seems that you end up spending more time tripping, stumbling, falling, and hurting yourself than you do walking.
You begin to feel hungry and thirsty…and you realize that you have been out in this darkness for a long time.
You hear strange noises…leaves rustling, twigs cracking…
…is there some ferocious animal getting ready to pounce on you?
You have no idea because you cannot see.
You start to run, but this only causes more problems as you continue to bump into things…trees, low hanging branches, more rocks, more roots, holes in the earth…
…finally…you become hopeless.
You are lost, you are hurt and bleeding, you are hungry and thirsty, you are surrounded by darkness…
…you are going to die out here in the woods.
You are never going to be able to find your way home!
Then you remember that a friend had given you a flashlight.
That friend had told you that you will need a flashlight in the darkness or else you will get lost, and you will not see the rocks on the path and the roots sticking out of the earth…
…and you will not be able to avoid them…
…so you will trip and stumble and fall over everyone of them that get in your way.
You fumble for the flashlight, you find the switch, you flick the switch and all of a sudden there is light!
Now you are able to see for sure that you are on the wrong path.
But this time you are able to see the rocks and the roots before you come to them so you step around them and you do not trip, stumble and fall.
Your heart rejoices as you find the right path…the path that will lead you to where you need to go in order to get food, drink, shelter and life.
You are no longer lost!
And you are able to find your way home!
And you treasure that flashlight…for it is the thing which has saved your life.
You keep it close to you at all times…and you never go out in the darkness without it.
Now imagine that these dark woods are the world.
The path that you cannot find is the narrow road that leads to life, which only a few will find.
The rocks, roots, and branches that keep tripping you up are temptations and sins.
And the flashlight represents the Word of God.
Every time I have tried to find my way in this dark world…to make it on my own…without the Word of God…the One and Only Light in this dark world…I have tripped, stumbled and fallen over every temptation and sin that has gotten in my way!
The Word of God is a lamp to our feet and a light for our path.
And yet how many of us…even within the Church…make the decision to stumble around in the darkness rather than to let the Light of God’s Word lead our way?
And it is a decision.
When we arise in the morning, do we make the decision to open God’s Word and start the day with our feet firmly planted on the ground?
Do we meditate on God’s Word throughout the day? Do we seek the answers to our daily and hourly problems and questions in God’s Word?
Do we regularly and actively participate in a Bible study with other believers?
Here at Parkview we have a Bible study every Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m.—right here at the church—and only a handful of us attend.
If this is an inconvenient time for us—start another Bible study at a different time.
On Sunday mornings at 9:45 we have Sunday school for all ages…and yet far less than half of us attend!
It’s about priorities…it’s about decisions…
We have been called and commanded to be the Light of the world…to be the stewards of God’s Word…
…and to hold His Light out for others so that they too can see and be saved!
How can we expect to be the Light of the world if we ourselves are spending the majority of our time stumbling around in the darkness?
Proverbs 20:27 tells us: “The Lamp of the Lord searches the spirit of man; it searches out his inmost being.”
When we open the Word of God, we are exposing ourselves to the Light…to the Truth…to God.
And this might not always be the most comforting thing.
Because we will all inevitably find that we have many faults which we need to ask God to change.
Maybe we will find that some of our behaviors are sinful…and we will have to make the decision to repent, turn from them, and therefore be molded more and more into the image of Christ.
And this is a decision…do we really want to change…do we really want to be the people God meant for us to be?
This is the verdict that decides our destiny…are we going to do it our way or God’s way?
Do we choose heaven or hell?
Yes, “This is the verdict:,” Jesus tells us in John chapter 3, “Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.”
Yes, salvation is a free gift, but it costs us everything we’ve got.
Because if we are going to follow Jesus Christ, we are going to have to be able to see ourselves as we really are.
We are going to have to admit our spiritual poverty…which causes us to enter the Kingdom of Reality…
…and thus we must be willing to put those evil deeds behind us…to throw them into the dung heap…and put Jesus Christ first.
No one can serve two masters…for they will either hate the one or love the other…
Who is our Master?
Who do we love?
Hate is a powerful word…
…but Jesus uses it to clarify what those who choose to stay in the darkness think of Him: The world “hates me because I testify that what it does is evil.”
Jesus Christ is the Word of God Who has come into this world as the Only Light…
…and to all who believe in Him, and choose to come to the Light, He gives the right “to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”
But those who reject Him…remain in the darkness…
…remain children of the devil…
…and their eternal destinies are the flames of hell!
The Bible tells us in 1 Peter chapter 1 that we are born again “through the living and enduring word of God.”
This Word is to be our food, our drink…the very sustenance of our lives!
Our flesh lives on the food we grow or buy in the grocery store, our spirits live on every Word which proceeds from the mouth of God!
Without this spiritual nourishment…our spirits will die!
Let’s not skip even one meal!!!
“Therefore,” the Bible tells us, “rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.”
The more we immerse ourselves in the Word of God…the more Light we receive…and the stronger we grow in our Christian journeys.
The things of this world become less and less tempting as we crave more and more the spiritual food which only God provides through His Word!
And there is nothing more exciting than this!!!
The more we learn about God and His love, the less we care about the so-called pleasures of this world.
It really is amazing how God works!
It really is amazing how God can change sinners into saints…
…it really is the greatest miracle of miracles…
…when we are eating, drinking, living, and breathing the Word of God…
…we literally see miracles happen all around us every day!!!
One of the biggest problems in our culture is that so many people do not want to grow up. So many people do not want to mature.
I remember a friend of mine in high school…telling me…as he rolled a joint… “I’m going to keep doing this for the rest of my life!”
Well, so far he has kept his promise…
…and at the age of 35 he is still living with his parents…
…he can’t hold down a decent job…
…he is miserable…
…he is not married…
…and although he would love to have a girlfriend…
…and get married…
…he tells me he has just not found the ‘right girl’ yet.
He is not willing to grow up!
Are we willing to grow up?
Yes, when we first become Christians, when we are first born again…we are like newborn infants…in the spiritual sense…
…but we are called to grow.
And the way we grow is by reading, studying and applying God’s Word to our lives.
And as Paul writes to the Ephesians: “then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men and their deceitful scheming.”
One of the problems in society is also one of the biggest problems in the Christian Church!
Too many of us are not willing to grow up!
And therefore, we are miserable, as we continue to trip and stumble and fall over the temptations and sins of this world!
And what kind of work are we able to get accomplished for the Kingdom of God…if we can’t even see in the darkness ourselves?
What excuses will we give God when the time of judgment comes?
“Sorry God, I just didn’t have time for Your Word.
I was just too busy chasing after the things of this world.”
“What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?”
We can almost hear the exasperation in the Apostle Paul’s voice as he writes to the Church in Corinth: “Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. Indeed you are still not ready. You are still worldly.”
Are we ready for solid food? Or are we still worldly?
Hebrews chapter 5 says: “you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teachings about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”
Constant use!
The Bible is not meant to be read only once a week, or once a month, or once a year…
…it is meant for constant use!
It is the way we are trained to become strong Christians who run the race with perseverance…
…who proclaim the Gospel with power…
…who are able to distinguish good from evil!
A person would be foolish and insane to wander through the darkness of the woods at night without a flashlight!
The same goes for us!
There is nothing more foolish than to try and travel through this dark life without the Word of God…without the Light of the world shining out before us…lighting our path…showing us the Way!!!
