Evangelism # 4
Light in Dark Places
On recent Sundays, we’ve been talking about issues connected with our mission as Christ’s representatives in this world.
From the story of Philip’s encounter with an Ethiopian man, as told in the book of the Acts, we learned that we must carefully listen: first to God and then to others. Rather than ‘show and tell,’ we are to ‘show and listen!’
We have learned of the importance of keeping the focus on Jesus Christ. He is our message; not our church, a religion, or some Christian program.
Last week’s message was one that some found a strange inclusion in a series on Evangelism: a sermon about the doctrine nobody likes - Hell! The Bible teaches that Hell is a real place where real people will spend a real eternity. While it is NOT my business nor yours to tell anyone they are going there, we must not ignore the reality of the place. Knowing that people will actually go to Hell, ought to be a powerful motivator for us to share the Good News that there is a Heaven!
Today’s message comes from Jesus’ words about our mission in this world. It is a message that is filled with hope and promise. It is a message about the privileged place occupied by God’s people and the responsibility that comes with that privilege.
Matthew 5:14-16. Pew Bible page 1501 (READ)
Here is that same passage from “the Message.”
“Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill.
If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you?
I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine!
Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.
“You are here to be LIGHT, bringing out the God-colors in this world!” Isn’t that an intriguing phrase? As I read it, I couldn’t help but think of the various hues that comprise the Light of God in you and me. In case you’re not quite on board with that analogy, I’ll ask you to try to remember your physical science class in high school, probably in your freshman year! Light was one of the things you considered. Your teacher likely took a small triangular piece of glass called a prism and set it up so a bright light shown through it. What happened? It’s called refraction. Displayed on the wall, you saw a rainbow of colors, a brilliant display of the differing wavelengths of light. Combined they appeared colorless. Broken apart by the prism, you saw reds, yellows, greens, blues – a rainbow spectrum of colors.
The Light of Heaven shines through us – and as He does, we bring the beauty of the God-colors to this world. In a moment, I’d like to take a look at three of those hues....
(PRAY)
I don’t want to spend too much time on the down side but I must say we live in a world that has some awfully DARK places - a world in desperate need of the Light and the beauty of that Light!
– Evil showed its ugly face in our backyard on Friday morning when a 22 yr. old man pulled a gun on Jon Shramm one of our local police officers, shooting him in the face and neck. And why? No one really has an explanation. Now a wife, 5 children, and many friends are in a dark place, desperately needing Light!
– Just in America, each year over a million babies’ lives are terminated in a voluntary abortion, at least 95% of which are solely based on the convenience of the mother. We wonder at ancient civilizations that sacrificed their little ones to their gods, but take little thought at the sacrifice of our children to the gods of sensuality and pleasure. No matters your politics on the issue, abortion is a dark blot in America today.
– At least 100 million children are homeless this morning despite great wealth in the world.
– The cruise missiles which we launched by the hundreds during the Iraqi war cost between $1 and 2 MILLION each! Their only purpose is destruction! We glorify the tools of war believing that they will bring us security. Death and destruction result on a colossal scale. Violence is a dark place that needs the Light!
– About 50% of teenagers over the age of 16 are regularly having casual sexual relations with the resultant epidemics of sexually transmitted disease, teen pregnancy, and emotional problems that frequently accompany promiscuity. Sex, a beautiful gift of God, becomes an ugly thing leading to slavery and shame.
– About 20,000 people will be murdered in the United States this year, many of them young, black, and male!
– Our government leaders are anticipating a decades long conflict with factions of Islam that are determined to destroy Israel and America with all kinds of terrorism and suicide missions. Our only answer to date has been to bomb, kill, and imprison, spending $billions fairly ineffectively.
Our mission as Light-bearers? “Let your Light Shine!” God’s presence is to be refracted through US and the brilliance of His light is to shine beautifully into those dark places! Can our little lights make much of a difference? Consider this true story written by Clarence W. Hall, a war correspondent during WW II.
It was early in 1945 when, as a war correspondent on Okinawa, I first came upon Shimabuku, the strangest and most inspiring community I ever saw. Huddled beneath its groves of banyan and twisted pine trees, this remote village of some 1000 souls was in the path of the ’American’ advance and so received a severe shelling. But when an advance patrol swept up to the village compound, the soldiers stopped dead in their tracks.
Barring their way were two little old men; they bowed low and began to speak. The battle-hardened sergeant, wary of tricks, held up his hand, summoned an interpreter. The interpreter shook his head. "I don’t get it. Seems we’re being welcomed as ’fellow Christians". One says he’s the mayor of the village, the other’s the schoolmaster. That’s a Bible the older one has in his hand..."
Guided by the two old men - Mojun Nakamura the mayor and Shosei Kina the schoolmaster - we cautiously toured the compound. We’d seen other Okinawan villages, uniformly down-at-the-heels and despairing; by contrast, this one shone like a diamond in a dung heap. Everywhere we were greeted by smiles and dignified bows. Proudly the two old men showed us their spotless homes, their terraced fields, fertile and neat, their storehouses and granaries, their prized sugar mill. Gravely the old men talked on, and the interpreter said, "They’ve met only one American before, long ago. Because he was a Christian they assume we are, too - though they can’t quite understand why we came in shooting."
Piecemeal, the incredible story came out. Thirty years before, an American missionary on his way to Japan had paused at Shimabuku. He’d stayed only long enough to make a pair of converts (these same two men), teach them a couple of hymns, leave them a Japanese translation of the Bible and exhort them to live by it. They’d had no contact with any Christian since. Yet during those 30 years; guided by the Bible, they had managed to create a Christian democracy at its purest. How had it happened?
Picking their way through the Bible, the two converts had found not only an inspiring "Person" on whom to pattern a life, but sound precepts on which to base their society. They’d adopted the Ten Commandments as Shimabuku’s legal code; the Sermon on the Mount as their guide to social conduct. In Kina’s school the Bible was the chief literature; it was read daily by all students, and major passages were memorised. In Nakamura’s village government the precepts of the Bible were law. Nurtured on this Book, a whole generation of Shimabukans had drawn from it their ideas of human dignity and of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. The result was plain to see. Shimabuku for years had had no jail, no brothel, no drunkenness, no divorce; there was a high level of health and happiness.
....we waited as the crowd moved out, and my driver whispered hoarsely, "So this is what comes out of only a Bible and a couple of old guys who wanted to live like Jesus!’, Then, with a glance at a shell-hole,he murmured, "Maybe we’re using the wrong kind of weapons."
Where Christ’s Light shines; dark places are made brighter. Undeniably, one of the reasons that we live in a society that enjoys freedom, prosperity, and opportunity is because of the Light of Christ that shined on this nation at her founding. The same Bible’s principles that transformed an Okinawan village, shaped this nation. She was founded in the Light, but that Light has faded once again, obscured by selfishness, greed, sensuality, and lack of faith in God.
I am convinced that what America needs today in answer to her problems is not more government funding of social programs, not more economic opportunities, nor more educational programs. What America needs is for Christians to take up the privilege of being light-bearers, of allowing the Light of Christ to shine through bringing beauty, hope, and healing. What are some of the God-colors that the Light of Christ refracted through our lives will show?
∙ LOVE is one of the God-colors that shines from us!
I have a reluctance to talk about love because it is a message so familiar that it may seem to be worn-out! Yet, a serious discussion about the influence of a Christian in this world cannot avoid the subject. The primary characteristic of the Believer is LOVE. The mark of the Believer is LOVE.
1 John 2:9-11 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.
Despite the familiarity of the message, it is my experience that there is no over abundance of LOVE even within the church! As a Pastor of 28 years experience, I deal primarily with ‘church people.’ I have a rather naive expectation that people who go to Christian churches will desire to live like Christ. Silly me! What I have found to be true all too frequently in each of the 4 churches where I’ve served, is that church people are just as likely as non-church people to attack when they feel threatened. They are just as likely to be cruel and critical. They will defend their turf and positions will any tactic they feel necessary. Their claws and fangs are just as sharp!
But what a joy to see the marked difference in the life of the genuine Spirit-filled Believer. Instead of looking for the spotlight, they shine the Light. When they are hurt or threatened, they will not turn to power, bullying, or threats that are so common to those who live in the darkness. Instead, they respond to others with vulnerability, concern, and openness. These people are often not the most talented members of the church. They frequently do not have access to the most money. They often are not blessed with great physical beauty or brilliant minds, yet they make the real difference. Why?
Because they have first received a great love from God and now they are secured by His love so that they are able to give love without condition. A bright Light shines through them in dark places where they love!
We cannot underestimate the importance of this primary hue of the Light of Christ.
All of the holy demands of the Lord are wrapped up in expression of love: first to God and then for others.
Jesus told a man who questioned him, Matthew 22:36-40 ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.
He also reminded the disciples at the Last Supper that love was the mark that would distinguish them as His followers. John 13:35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Our prayer must be – Lord, let the hue of LOVE be reflected from our lives as You Shine through us.
∙ UNITY is one of the God-colors that shines from us!
Colson, in his new book, Being the Body, writes: “Unity is the prerequisite for evangelism.”
Jesus prayed for his disciples - His Church - John 17:20-21 ‘My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.’
Colson tells the story of a visit to the nation of India and the example of the evangelistic power of true unity. A congregation in a remote village was building a church building. Women mixed the mortar. Men laid the stones. It was hot yet the people laughed, sang, and worked together with great contentment. The non-believers watched them and took note of their joy and contentment. The obvious unity raised their curiosity. “How is it that you work together and care for one another in this way?” the Hindu neighbors asked the Believers. The replied by pointing to the love of Jesus they had experienced and the love for each other that resulted. Many turned to Christ and were baptized. Colson asks, “IF those Hindu villagers had only heard about Christ, perhaps the message would have fallen on deaf ears, but because they had seen the oneness of these Christians, they came to faith.”
This is painful to admit, but I wonder how much of our ineffectiveness in sharing the Gospel is the direct result of our fighting with and criticism of other Believers both in and out of our church?
Among Christians I do not see humility being the rule, nor do I see deep compassion being wide and/or deep amidst us. I do not, by and large, see an accepting, tolerant community of unified Believers. Too often, we relate to each other, not with open hearts, but rather with suspicion, guardedness, and judgment. That is tragic, yes – a sin. In our hostility, we hide the Light under the bowl of pride.
We need a baptism of love, a humbling by the Spirit that destroys the divisions, removes the barriers, and binds us together. In a world where people must live guarded lives, protecting themselves from attack, the church should be a haven of rest, a place of peace, a safe place to weep and rejoice. But this will not be the case until humility allows us to be no more and no less than Christ, our Lord, has called us to be. This will not be the case until gifts replace position as the primary way that people serve and until we draw our feelings of security from God’s great love rather than from the approval and the applause of others.
In a unified church the model of the Body is taken seriously. 1 Corinthians 12:24-25 tells us that: “God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.”
David, the Psalmist, says that unity is a fragrance, like precious anointing oil. Psalm 133:1-2 How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head...
If you are feeling the heat right now, I appeal to you in the humility of the Lord, to repent of the selfishness and the ‘me-first’ attitude that blocks the beauty of the hue of unity. When His unity is allowed to descend on us, we will see many come to Christ, drawn by the beauty of a unified church, that reflects the Light of Christ!
Lord, let the hue of UNITY shine from us as the Light of Christ shines in us!
∙ HOLINESS is one of the God-colors that shines from us!
In Ezekiel 36:23 we read of God’s promise to reveal His beauty through His people. He said,
“I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes.”
Genuine holiness is truly awe-inspiring! Sanctimony is ugly and repulsive. What’s the difference?
Holiness is God’s work in us, making us into a unique and special people that are set apart to His purposes. Sanctimony is our own attempts at being different and/or religious for the sake of gaining admiration.
There is a counterpoint of truth that Jesus built around genuine holiness and empty pompous religious behaviors.
Our text He says, Matthew 5:16 “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”
A few verses later, Jesus warns:
Matthew 6:1 “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them.
∙ Do you do ‘Christian’ things primarily because you are hoping others will admire your faith and your devotion?
∙ Is there a big difference in the way you act when the eyes of others are on you and when you think no one is looking?
Genuine holiness goes to the heart! It is authentic and it is God-fearing. It is beautiful and it gives our words and witness authority. A person mired in filthiness of sin CANNOT call others to God’s Light!
A person whose heart is still owned by the world and the darkness, cannot shine the Light authentically into that world!
Chuck Colson tells about a tiny nun who silenced the President and Vice-President of the United States with her holiness and moral authority. Mother Theresa was invited to speak at the National Prayer Breakfast in 1994. She was so little and frail, she had to stand on a box to be seen at the podium. As she stood to speak, seated on either side of her were President Clinton and VP Gore. Colson writes,
As she began to speak, her voice was as strong as her demeanor was frail. “I feel the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because Jesus said, ‘if you receive a little child, you receive me.’ Every abortion is the denial of receiving Jesus, the neglect of receiving Jesus,” she said. At her words, Mr. Clinton and Mr. Gore turned crimson. ... Later, the President’s only comment was “no one can argue with a life so well lived.”– Being the Body
The hue of holiness is needed badly in this darkened world. Paul points the way to true holiness.
Romans 6:18-19 Now you are free from sin, your old master, and you have become slaves to your new master, righteousness. I speak this way, using the illustration of slaves and masters, because it is easy to understand. Before, you let yourselves be slaves of impurity and lawlessness. Now you must choose to be slaves of righteousness so that you will become holy.
Holiness changes the way we interact with others, the way we talk, the way we spend our leisure time, the use of our resources, and the goals we set for ourselves and our family.
1 Peter 2:9-12 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
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Light-bearers! What a privilege.
There is NO LIGHT that comes from us, we are just prisms through which His Light shines.... and what beauty we can bring to dark places.
May the beautiful hues of Love, Unity, and Holiness draw others to Him for the praise and glory of His name.
Amen.
