Shine the Light

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on the third Sunday after Epiphany, the 22nd of January, 2023, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Our YouTube streaming channel is: 

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDIz4WuP8igQstkEOq1AMTg.]

Family, a few weeks ago we observed the baptism of Jesus on our Christian calendar.  John had been baptizing and preaching repentance, warning that the kingdom of God was at hand.  He acknowledged Jesus as the One whose coming he had been telling the people about.  And this is when God announced that Jesus was His Son, in whom He was well pleased.

From the River Jordan, Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness, there to be tempted by Satan for 40 days.  He then returned to Nazareth, and soon after received some bad news.

Please listen and follow along to how the Apostle Matthew recorded the beginning of Jesus’ ministry on earth, in chapter 4 of his Gospel account, verses 12 through 23, and I’ll be reading from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible this morning…

12 Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee. 13 And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:

15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,

By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan,

Galilee of the Gentiles:

16 The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light,

And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death

Light has dawned.”

17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

18 And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 They immediately left their nets and followed Him.

21 Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.

--Matthew 4:12-23 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for working everything out from the very beginning to show Your love for mankind through Your Son Jesus.  You spoke through Your prophets of old, hundreds of years before sending Your Christ to earth, telling us of His coming and of His mission, His works.  And Jesus fulfilled all of those prophecies.  Thank You, Father, for putting it all out there in our Bible where it’s easy for people to see… if they would only believe.

Please forgive us, Father, when we have our doubts, when we feel unsure of Your love, when we don’t take the time to study Your word.  And forgive us, please, when we fail to live as You would have us live, walk as You would have us walk, love as You would have us love.  Please help us be more obedient to Your commandments and more observant of all You’ve told us.  Help us be better servants for You and Your Son.  And Father, please protect us from Satan and from those who are so willing to carry out his evil works.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe through these trying times.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better understand the message You have for us this day.  Open our hearts to hear when Jesus invites us with the words, “Follow Me”.  Show us how to leave our earthly desires behind and truly follow Him.  This we pray in the wonderful name of Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

The Simon Community is an organization in the United Kingdom that works giving aid to the homeless.  One of their activities is running night shelters.  Each night, volunteers leave the shelters to take soup and sandwiches to those who, for one reason or another, do not want to come to the shelters.  They go looking for them in derelict buildings and such places.  The most important aid they take with them is a lantern, because often there is no light where these down-and-out souls live.  Most of the homeless receive the volunteers as friends.  But some refuse to have anything to do with them.  The volunteers can tell at once which group they are dealing with by their reaction to the light.  Some welcome the light.  Others fear it.  You could say that the light judges them, in the sense that it shows up the darkness in their lives – the darkness of alcoholism, misery, hopelessness, crime.  But the light doesn’t come to judge them.  It comes as a friend, to brighten up their lives, to comfort them.

Have you ever known someone whose eyes were very sensitive to light?  They tend to live in a darkened environment, only venturing outside at night or when wearing a broad-brimmed hat and the darkest of sunglasses during daylight hours.  For these poor folk, the light is not their friend.  Most of us welcome any light when we find ourselves in the dark.  When the power goes off at night, we scramble to find a flashlight or candle and matches.  It’s not that we fear the darkness as much as we don’t like not being able to see.  The Simon Community volunteers encountered both extremes in their outreach – those who rejected the light, and those who welcomed it.  

Jesus came as a beacon of God, to shine the light of truth for all the world to see.  Some rejected Him, and many reject Him still today.  But some welcomed Him, and welcome Him still.  He shines a light onto our path so that we can see where to walk without stumbling or bumping into things hidden in the dark.  He brightens our lives and comforts us.  If only those others could open their eyes, their hearts, and see the Light for what He is, for what He means.

Family, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, which is February the 22nd this year, one month from today.  Lent is that time for us to remember what Jesus has done for us, what He means to us, and to look closely into our hearts and see if we are living in a righteous way, as He would want us to live.  Lent also begins the journey that ends at Jerusalem and the foot of the cross.

Before we get to that point, I’d like us to revisit some of those places Jesus visited, witness His mighty works, listen to His divine words, follow along with Him as He ministers to the people.  So I figured the best place to start would be when His ministry began.

Sometime after His baptism and temptation in the wilderness, Jesus returned to Nazareth.  Then He received the sad news that the Baptist, John, His own kinsman, had been thrown in prison.  So He left His hometown and headed to the region around the Sea of Galilee and stopped in Capernaum, which He made what we might call His ministry headquarters.  All of this fulfilled the words God spoke through His prophet Isaiah, 700 years before Christ came to us as a man.

While out walking along the shore of the sea one day, Jesus comes upon two brothers, Simon and Andrew, two fishermen tossing their nets into the sea and pulling them back in.  Employing some clever word play, Jesus invites them to, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”  Just a little further on, now with Simon and Andrew in tow, He comes across two more brothers, James and John, also fishermen, sitting in their boat with their father Zebedee mending their nets.  Jesus issues the same invitation to them, and they also accept it.

What is important for us to understand in this last part is how Simon and Andrew and James and John responded to their invitation to follow Jesus.  They left their nets, they left their boats, they left their father, immediately, and followed Jesus.  They left behind everything they needed to make a living, most likely everything they owned except the clothes on their backs and the sandals on their feet.  They left behind their relatives, their kinfolk, their families – everything - just to follow Jesus.  And they did it without hesitation, without a second thought, without any promise of personal reward other than to be made fishers of men.

Jesus has also invited us to follow Him, but I don’t think He expects us to leave everything behind, just everything that ties us to this world, that matters more to us than helping others, that keeps us from faithfully serving Him.  These hindrances, our worldly desires, we must leave behind as we take up our cross to follow Jesus.

Isaiah said that the people who walk in darkness have seen a great light.  Upon us all the Light has dawned, as the morning sun.  Of course, it’s our choice whether to flee from the light, to hide our faces from it, or to welcome it.  It is our choice whether to follow Jesus, or reject Him.

In our church reading this morning we heard Jesus say, “I am the light of the world.  He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”  If we don’t want to walk in darkness, where we might easily stumble and fall, all we have to do is follow Jesus and we’ll have the light of life around us.  And the amazing thing is that then the light will reflect off us, even come from us, so that others might see.

Just a little later on after calling His disciples, during what we call His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke to the multitude who followed Him and believed.  Hear what Matthew recorded of this teaching, in the 5th chapter of his Gospel account, verses 14 through 16…

14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."

--Matthew 5:14-16 (NKJV)

Jesus said that He is the light of the world, and now He is proclaiming that we who believe and follow Him are also the light of the world!  He has given us the light, shared His light with us, so that we can show others the way to righteousness.  We must not hide that light, but put it on a lampstand so it can spread throughout the area.  When we hesitate to be His witness to others, for whatever reason, we are hiding our light under a basket.  Instead, we must hold it high so that others can see and avoid the darkness as we do.  And this, and all we do, is to glorify God our Father.

On Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, we lit the Christ candle to celebrate the light of God, the light of truth, coming to the world.  Jesus is the Light.  He came to shed light into the darkness, to light our way to righteousness and salvation.

We who have seen the Light must share it with those still stumbling about in the darkness.  This is a new year, a new chance, to shine the light and share the Light.  This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine…

In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, Your love and mercy never fail.  When we were lost in sin, groping around in the darkness, You sent Your Son to shine a light onto our path and to show us the way to freedom and salvation.  Thank You, Father, for choosing us to believe, for giving us faith, for loving us even when we are unlovable.  Forgive us, please Father, when we take Your love for granted, when we think that just because we are saved we can go back to doing anything we want.  Forgive us when we ignore Your word.  Please help us through our darkest hours.  And Father, please help us remain strong, faithful, and true through all that we face in this age.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, You are the Light, shining in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome You.  Because of You, we walk in the light, and the light is within us.  Thank You, Jesus, for lighting our path and for brightening our lives.  Please help us reflect Your light so that others might see.  Help us remember to glorify our heavenly Father before man in all we do.  And Jesus, please heal the hurts that separate and divide us one from another.  Help us remain trusting and obedient no matter what we go through.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.