“Turn On the Light!”
February 19, 2023
Dear brothers and sisters, grace and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the fact that, first of all, as of this coming December, and only by the grace of God, I will have been involved in ordained ministry for twenty years. Of course, I’m still trying to figure out where the time went, since it seems to have gone by so fast. A lot of the reason it’s gone by so fast is because so much has happened thick and quick just within those twenty years. And I’ve personally seen a lot of things happen: I’ve seen, and gotten in the middle of, denominational battles over controversial theological, moral, political, and social issues of the day; splits in churches and denominations over those battles; churches leave denominations, and in some cases, change denominations again; the covid pandemic derail congregational plans for the future, and leading to decreases in attendance and finances; churches having to figure out identity and mission in the midst of changing realities and attitudes towards religion; and churches also attempting to reach out to people who, for a various growing number of reasons, have been turned off by church. All of these have basically obscured – that is, put into the darkness – the real purpose for being church, and have crippled the life and health of the church in this country in the process. But despite all these challenges seeming to stack the odds against churches these days, there is actually hope: what all of these are a challenge to us to is to, after everything that’s happened, come back to what we’re really all about: Jesus.
Because, when it comes right down to it, it’s all about Jesus. The trouble is, we’ve been focusing all along on our own efforts, what we should or shouldn’t be doing, and desperately looking around for answers, when the best answer has been right in front of us all along: focus on Jesus and let Him lead. But it’s been hard for us to see Jesus because all we’ve pretty much been looking at is how things used to be, lamenting over how things have changed, and believing that things will never be better because they’re not the same as they were before – when nothing could be farther from the truth. We look back on the “monuments” of the past – how things used to be – when today God is giving us the same call as He did in today’s Gospel reading: Listen to Jesus. The wonderful thing about this day and age is that we are constantly gaining new insights, new ways of thinking, new ways of being church; and we are also able to learn from each other, and even other Christians, about how to be God’s family. Through listening to Jesus and following His direction, Jesus has been making us into something new, and better than we were before. Instead of thinking that things are getting worse, we can instead look at them as opportunities for us to go back to what we’re really all about: worshipping and following Jesus.
The fact that we’ve had to worship here in the Fellowship Hall while waiting for the furnace to get fixed has been the beginning of such an opportunity. Some of you have said you think it’s been a really good thing, and we’ve felt like a church again, because we’ve been closer together than we’ve been in the sanctuary. And, I have to agree with you. I’ve really appreciated us being this close together, and I’ve personally felt a lot more comfortable in this different kind of atmosphere we’ve had. I wouldn’t say God caused our furnace to break down; the fact that it’s at least twenty years old and was bound to need major repair eventually did that. However, God did give us a wonderful opportunity in the midst something that could have been crippling. For me, Communion a couple of weeks ago, when we started doing this, was especially meaningful because it felt so informal, and it felt more like we were eating together rather than just going through a ritual. And I hope, once, God willing, we’re able to start worshipping in the sanctuary again next week, we can take the way things have been in here back into the sanctuary – I’ll certainly do my best as best I can to take what’s happened in here back in there. Even though, by the grace of God, as we found out at last week’s emergency meeting, we have the money available to pay for replacing the furnace, we hopefully can keep the great thing we’ve had going. With God’s help, we’re also going to be finding more opportunities for fellowship throughout this coming year. Why is all that important? We’ve needed, after all the struggles we’ve had as a church family the past couple of years, to refocus and regroup, and get back to Jesus again. Because the closer we feel together again, the more we can keep moving forward in our real purpose: believing in Jesus, following Jesus, bringing Him to people, and bringing people to Him.
Because that’s ultimately what we’re here to offer people: Jesus. What makes us different from any other organization is that we can do something more than just be a place to gather and collect money or do things to help people: we can give Jesus freely to everyone. We can also offer something more than just helpful and practical advice for how to live a good and healthy life: we can bring people to Jesus, who, through trusting and following Him, brings healing and meaning to life. We also have the true path to salvation, because it is only through believing in Jesus that anyone is guaranteed to be saved and live with God for eternity. There are many people who are still stumbling around in darkness, looking for answers, looking for some kind of meaning and purpose. But we’ve been keeping the best thing we have to offer hidden from them: Jesus. We’ve been stumbling around in darkness ourselves, trying to find our way, yet in the process, we’ve also been keeping the best gift we have in the dark. But now it’s time to turn the light back on, see Jesus who has been helping and saving us all along, and show Him plainly and obviously to people again. While we can certainly keep giving people money and other assistance, we have something even more valuable and helpful to give: the faith we have in Jesus. Our message is plain and simple: Jesus died and rose again for us, and for all people, and that changes everything. We can try to bring people to church, but we always have to remember the reason we do so: to come to a personal, life-changing, transforming, and solid saving relationship with Jesus. We can offer something more than just temporary assistance: we can bring people to eternal life. And what you believe in in this life really does matter: if you believe and trust in Jesus Christ as your personal Lord, God, and Savior, and He died and rose again for you, then you will live with God forever. That’s something we’ve been keeping hidden for a while, but we need to bring back out into the open again: salvation does matter. Heaven is not a cleverly-devised myth, any more than God is a myth: heaven is a real place, where we want people to be able to go, just as we will. And the only way that will happen is by believing in Jesus. So that’s what we want for everyone: to believe in Jesus, and be saved. In this upcoming Lenten season, we will be hearing the call over and over again to come back to Jesus – and that’s the same call we are to give to everyone: come to Jesus to find life, forgiveness, restoration, acceptance, and salvation.
There are also many other opportunities for us, as Christians, to be able to bring Jesus to people, even far away from here. The earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, and the devastation caused by them, have been dominating the news a lot the past couple of weeks. We’ve seen pictures of the extreme destruction in that region, and every day we’ve been hearing the death count going up as more bodies are found. Yet, despite all the bad news and darkness that’s been coming out of there, there have also been stories of hope and light. Just a couple days ago on the news, there was one such story about people in Turkey who, after being trapped under the rubble for days, have finally been rescued. In one particular case, a young girl was found, miraculously alive, after being trapped for a long time without food or water. Her aunt said that her family had prayed to God the whole time that she would be found and rescued – and, sure enough, that’s what happened. Which actually brings up a fair question: does this mean God hears and answers the prayers of people who aren’t Christian? It would certainly seem so. There have been many cases before of people who aren’t Christian praying in earnest faith for God to do something, and, that’s exactly what goes on – God does something for them. We have to remember that God is not absent from anywhere, and He does not abandon or refuse help from anyone. The fact that things like this happen, even in the midst of disaster, shows that He’s still very much showing His love and compassion to all people, no matter who they are. And, once again, even hearing and answering the prayers of all people who cry out to Him in desperation for help. What else does this mean? Well, it’s also a reminder to us that we are guaranteed to have our prayers heard and answered if we not only pray to God, but if we pray in the name of Jesus. If we pray believing that Jesus is our true God and Savior, then it is a sure thing that our prayers will be answered. Which means, that, although God certainly hears and answers the prayers of all people, praying in the name of Jesus and out of faith in Jesus makes concrete the promise that all our prayers will be heard and answered. So, here’s actually something we can do: in addition to giving donations to send to help everyone suffering, we can also be praying that people who have had their prayers answered by God would come to believe in Jesus, and realize that, whether they’ve known it or not, it is really because of Jesus that God has shown such love to them and answered them. There are doubtless people who have been going over with food and clothing, and also bringing Bibles and prayer with them. We can be praying that God would work through our brothers and sisters who are working to bring people who have already been rescued by God to accept and believe in Jesus. Even in the darkness of disaster, God brings light, love, restoration, compassion, and healing. We believe He does the same for the people of Turkey and Syria, just as He is doing right now for those affected by the train wreck and chemical fallout in East Palestine, and even those in our area who have been affected by acid rain; the Michigan State University campus after the shooting there this past week, as well as many other places shootings have taken place; and many other places where there has been any other kind of disaster or crime. Even though all those things may try to hide God from view, those are actually times when He shines through the brightest. We hold on to this hope, and we witness to this hope: we proclaim it boldly for all to hear – this is our prophetic message. Yes, we are prophets, people who have been personally called by God to shout out the truth. We are to be lamps in the darkness for people to follow. We can’t keep what we know and believe in the dark any more – we have to bring it out into the light for everyone to see and hear. We have a Savior who wants to save today’s world – let’s bring Him out of the shadows and shining back into the world where He belongs. It’s time for us – and this is a call to the whole church – to stop discussing and arguing about issues and controversies, and start proclaiming what really matters – Jesus, without any strings attached. It’s also time for us to stop keeping Jesus to ourselves, and give Him unconditionally to all the rest of the world. Let’s stop stumbling around ourselves, and turn on the light again, to shine a light for us and everyone to go in the right direction – to come back to Jesus.
Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
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