Love, Offense, and Fellowship (1 John 2:3-11)

Rather than taking the time to have a separate conversation about the context and commentary that helps to explain today’s verses, I am embedding them into the verses. Think of this as Anthony’s Amplified Version :)

3 We know we have joined Him in fellowship because we live out His commands. 4 If someone claims, “I am in fellowship with Him,” but this big talker doesn’t live out His commands, then this individual is a liar and a stranger to the truth. 

5 But if someone responds to and obeys His word, then God’s love has truly taken root and reached its ‘end stage,’ its final act; it’s love for God functioning at full capacity. This is how we know we are in an intimate relationship with Him: 6 anyone who says, “I live in intimacy with Him,” should walk the path Jesus walked.

7 My beloved children, in one sense, I am not writing a new command for you. I am only reminding you of the old command (to love your neighbor as yourself). It’s a word you already know, a word that has existed from the beginning. 8 However, in another sense, I am writing a new command for you (to love one another as Jesus loved you[1]). The new command is the truth that He lived by laying down His life; and now you are living it, too, because the darkness is fading and the true light is already shining among you.

9 Anyone who says, “I live in the light,” but hates his brother or sister ( everything from detests them to esteems them less than they deserve, or even simply devalues them as image bearers of God) is still living in the shadows. 

10 Anyone who loves his brother or sister lives in the light and will not trigger a self-made trap of sin because his conscience is clear. 11 But anyone who hates his brother is in the darkness, stumbling around with no idea where he is going, blinded by the darkness.

John is going to say a couple chapters from now (3:23):

“And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.”

Here’s where we are landing today: Knowing doctrinal truth about God without expressing love and esteem for others is worthless.

The skin and the soul are connected. Our bodies express the priorities of our heart. 

Two caveats that must be said.

•  #1. Sometimes the sin done to us is so impactful – it lands so hard – that we act out in ways that do more to reflect the dark priorities of other people’s hearts that they have imposed on us. We can feel caught, or trapped, or so broken that we do things that we despise. We don’t lose our free will – this is a sermon for another time – but sometimes we choose things we loathe. I’m not talking about that when I say that our bodies express the priorities of our heart. 

• #2. This cannot mean perfect obedience all the time. That is an impossible goal while living in corrupt and unglorified bodies on this side of heaven. But it must mean that our lives are characterized by a dedication and passion for obedience where what we do in our skin connects with a genuine commitment we have in our soul for the things of God.

So, in that context, hear: our bodies express the priorities of our hearts.

Remember those pesky Gnostics from the intro to 1 John? Among many problematic things, they insisted that knowledge of God required neither obedience nor love of others. John rebukes them sharply: love is demonstrated by obedience that manifest in love of others. God’s commandments are an expression of His love (His commands are for our good), and our obedience is an expression of our love. We abide in his love when we walk in His path. The Venerable Bede[2](I love that name) once wrote:

“In vain do we applaud Him whose commandments we do not keep.” (Bede)

When we keep His commands, we are in the light of God’s love, like spiritual solar panels, absorbing God’s light of truth, salvation, holiness, etc. and then shining with the same. This is why loving God and walking in His light (fellowship) is so closely related to loving others. Bede, once again, who had a lot to say about this issue:

“[We] cannot in any way have put off the darkness of [our] sins when [we do] not take care to put on the fundamentals of love.”[3]

Adam Clarke unpacks verse 9 a bit more:

And there is no stumbling block in him; he neither gives nor receives offense: love prevents him from giving any to his neighbor; and love prevents him from receiving any from his neighbor, because it leads him to put the best construction on every thing.

Okay, wait. 

• You mean that walking in the light not only leads me to the kind of love that gives the best to others, but assumes the best from others? 

•  It not only constrains me from putting stumbling blocks in the paths of others – it requires me to assume that others are trying really hard not to put stumbling blocks in my path? 

•  Love demands I give others the benefit of the doubt for as long as possible? 

•  Love demands that I climb up on the altar as a living sacrifice[4] not just before I interact with people, but after they interact with me?

I assume I am just doing my best to get through life with difficult people. I think, more often than not, loving others and esteeming/valuing them properly requires me to walk away from my interactions with others thinking, “I suspect they are doing their best to get through a difficult life with difficult people like myself.” 

When I have conversations with other people about Trump and Biden and mask wearing and vaccinations and how churches should or shouldn’t be meeting right now and how the Holy Spirit works today and what we should do about immigration and how we deal with racism and as Christians and how we best respond publicly to Christian leaders who fall and how church should be run and how old the earth is and how End Times will unfold… 

When I have those super fun conversations, I assume that other people who love me ought to give me the benefit of the doubt about my heart, my intentions, my love for God while I am struggling to express myself wisely in a complicated and fallen world. Barring a habitual history that proves otherwise, I believe that's a biblical expectation. 

So….. barring a habitual history that proves otherwise, I suspect I must also give the benefit of the doubt about their heart, their intentions, their love for God struggling to express itself in a complicated and fallen world…. 

Loving them and esteeming them require that I do the same for them that I want them to do for me.[5] #goldenrule 

Is it possible that I am actually committed to getting up on the altar and “dying to self” only half the time (before something I do) while I’m expecting others to do it all the time (before something they do and after I do something)? 

Because the altar was made for both of those things: actions and reactions. 

Jesus’ love wasn’t just demonstrated on the cross by what He extended to us. Jesus’ love was demonstrated on the cross by what He endured from us.  When Jesus demonstrated His love toward us,

• He absorbed our sins and extended life

• He took our unholiness and gave us holiness

• He carried our grief and sorrow and gave to us hope and joy 

If we are to live in the light of what Christ demonstrated by His life, we must live in this place. When we take up the cross of Christ, we “die to self” as an act of a grace-filled carrying of the sin done to us and a love-motivated offering of the costly grace of Christ passed on through us. To be sure, abuse and sin must be confronted and not glossed over. We can love mercy and do justice at the same time. I’m not talking about helping people avoid consequences. I am talking about how we position our hearts.

Back to the altar analogy of presenting our bodies as living sacrifices.

I am realizing I almost exclusively think of it in terms of how I surrender what I am planning to do: my words, by attitude, my actions, by presence. If I want to love my wife as Christ loved the church, for example, I give my life for her proactively by purposefully ‘dying to self’ before I instigate something. I get that. 

But being a living sacrifice is also required when something is done to me, at the times when I do things reactively. If I want to love my wife as Christ loved the church, I must climb back up on that self-dying place when she interacts with me from a place of darkness and draws darkness out of me. 

It’s not just marriage. 

Church, we live in a world full of darkness, but it is not God’s plan that it will overcome the light. The reverse is true. The true light is shining among us. We know how to live in the light of Christ. So, I wonder what it looks like to present our lives as spiritual sacrifices 

• before and after we come to church

• before and after we go on Facebook

• before and after we have coffee with friends who, “bless their hearts,” push all our buttons some days

• before and after we read commentary about that politician who is an idiot (as best we can tell)

• before and after we watch coverage of CPAC meetings and Black Lives Matter rallies

• before and after we turn on sports matches where some people kneel and some don’t for the national anthem

• before and after we speak out for the pro-life stance

• before and after someone attacks our faith

• before and after EVERYTHING THAT tempts us to detest people or esteem them less than they deserve or even simply devalues them as image bearers of God.

 Now, if we see ourselves in this list, where one of those situations tempts us to detest people or esteem them less than they deserve or even simply devalue them as image bearers of God in our actions or reactions, then we have some repenting to do.  

“Love prevents us from giving offense to our neighbor; love prevents us from receiving offense from our neighbor.” 

What if God’s love inspired us to minimize the possibility of giving offense to our neighbor, and maximized our effort to not only remain unoffended by our neighbor but to move even closer to them? 

What if we esteemed and valued people more than they deserved when the going was good  - and worked even harder to do the same when it was not?

What if laying down our lives as an act of love for the sake of Christ never stopped?

_________________________________________________________________________________

[1] John 13:34

[2] A Benedictine monk from the 700s.

[3] From St. Athanasius Academy of Orthodox Theology, quoted in Bible Gateway’s resources.

[4] Romans 12:1

[5] (SIDE NOTE: That’s not to say there is no place for hard conversations about hearts and intentions and actions. I point you back to the past two weeks of sermons. When we sin – and we will – we need loving confrontation. There are times we need out hearts and intentions and actions challenged in light of God’s Word. For more on that, honestly, listen to basically every sermon so far in 2021 this year. Repentance and confession has been a theme because sinful darkness is a big deal. Today’s focus is different. I’m talking about another aspect of love that John focuses on: those who hate their brother or sister (and I mean everything from detests them to esteems them less than they deserve, or even simply devalues them as image bearers of God are living in the shadows, not the light. This is about our hearts.)

Walk In The Light (1 John 1:1-7)

Probably between ad 85 and 95, John [1] wrote to the believers near Ephesus, in present-day Turkey.[2] The persecution under Nero had come and gone, killing even Paul and Peter. John was the last  apostle, looking back at what had been happening in the early church. 

1 John 1:1-7

We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us— we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship (koinonia) with us; and truly our fellowship (koinonia) is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that our[3] joy may be complete. 

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship (koinonia) with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship (koinonia) with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

In his opening, John seems to be responding to the Gnostics, who thought there was no way Jesus was incarnate (“in the flesh”) because matter was evil.  John makes it clear that he was.  The incarnate Jesus could be seen, heard, and touched.

Then he explains how our relationship with Christ brings us into the family of God. We can have genuine fellowship with other followers of Jesus because our fellowship is grounded in our fellowship with God (1 John 1:3). The result is joy.

Fellowship flows from knowing God, who is “light.” In God there is “no darkness at all” (1:5) Light suggests purity, honest, goodness, righteousness, truth. There are no shadows or dark sides to God (James 1:17); he is perfect and free of sin (Psalms 145:17; Matthew 5:48).[4] Jesus said, “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness”(Matthew 12:46). So if genuine fellowship comes from being in the light, the breaking of our fellowship comes from walking in darkness (1 John 1:6). 

Our profession of faith must be backed up by our practice (1:6). Children of the light walk in it (see John 8:12; Eph. 5:8; Col. 1:13; 1 Pet. 2:9.[5]

For John, fellowship with others follows faith in God and displays itself in works that build fellowship with God and others. Life from Christ exhibits characteristics of life of Christ. This is how we know we are ‘in the light’ with Him (1 John 2:5–6): we will increasing resemble Jesus.”[6]

* * * * * * * * * *

“God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship (koinonia) with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true.” 

I've been hearing a lot of discussion about Christians should be responding to recent scandals among Christian leaders. I want to walk into this with fear and trembling, because I am well aware that when sinners talk about other sinners there is a danger of unrighteous judgment and pride. And yet we can’t shy away from this. We must wrestle with how it is that professing Christians  leave the light and head toward the dark, and how we get back out. Our fellowship with God and others is on the line. So I offer some (imperfect) thoughts meant to inspire us to wrestle with this. A lot of the discussion centers around some version of two common phrases: 

·      “There but for the grace of God go I.” 

·      “We are all sinners saved by grace, and so we are all in need of God's forgiveness.” 

There is truth in both of these, but it's a truth that can be misunderstood or misapplied. While it’s an important part of a broader biblical truth, they need to be situation within that broader biblical truth. #context  That's what I would like to explore today.

I think the foundational question is this: are all sins equal in the eyes of God? My question is: Equal how? In eternal consequence? In impact to humanity? In affecting my sanctification? From that follows other questions:

·      Do we all walk in the same kind of darkness? 

·      Are some in shadows while some are in inky, blinding darkness, and does that distinction even matter? 

·      Do all sins have an equal impact on our fellowship with God and others? 

Let’s start to build a framework. 

First, the unholiness of all sin is incompatible with the holiness of God. All sin happens in and contributes to the same darkness of evil’ all sins do something negative to our fellowship with God and others. All sin at minimum “misses the mark” (hamartia) of our holy calling, and at maximum just wreaks sinful havoc in the world (asebeia, parabasis).[7] In Christianity, every sin is fatal to us. That isn't intended to minimize the impact on victims, but to maximize the responsibility of perpetrators - and to remind us that, to vary degrees, we are all perpetrators.

All sin leads to spiritual death; all sin requires a price to be paid that we cannot pay ourselves; all sin requires repentance the leads to forgivenss that will be an act of God’s grace through Christ. 

“ But if you show favoritism… you’ll be sinning and condemned by the law. For if a person could keep all of the laws and yet break just one; it would be like breaking them all.  The same God who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also says, “Do not murder.” If you break either of these commands, you’re a lawbreaker, no matter how you look at it.  So live your life in such a way that acknowledges that one day you will be judged.” 

 (James 2:9-12)

“The wages of sin (hamartia – “missing the mark”) is death.” (Romans 6:23)

Just as “the love of God, which builds up the City of God,” is the source and root of all virtues, so too “the love of self, which builds up the City of Babylon,” is the root of all sins. (Augustine in De Civitate Dei)

 We all walk into the same kind of darkness.  The sinner pays either with his own life or Christ's, but death is due. There is a death my sin brings to me, as it ripples out to others: death of relationship, death of trust, death of innocence. These are not the same death kind of death, but they are real burdens borne by those around me. It requires the blood of Jesus Christ to cleanse us from the penalty of sin and the impact of sin, and move both perpetrators and victims into the same kind of light. 

So in that sense, when we say that the ground is level at the foot of the cross, that's what we mean. All of us kneel there. That is the great humbler in Christian theology. We all kneel. We are all dead in our sins without the life of Christ (Ephesians 2; Romans 6). We all require the grace of God given through Jesus, who paid the eternal penalty of death so we can have eternal life. 

But the temporal implications of sin are handled in a different way biblically than the eternal implications of sin. In other words, the great leveling in the spiritual realm stands arm-in-arm with a gradation of the wickedness and severity of sin in the physical realm. 

Starting at the Old Testament we see that God establishes a system of responses to sinful behavior that does not treat all sin the same. There is a principle of sowing and reaping. If you sow a lot, you reap a lot. That’s true of doing good and doing evil. And God will not be mocked. We will sow what we reap.  

·      Genesis 18:20 states that the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were unusually grievous.

·      Jeremiah 16:12 tells the Israelites they have done worse than their fathers.

·      Exodus 32:30-31 “Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great[8] sin…and have made them gods of gold.”

·      2 Kings 17:21 “Jeroboam drove Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin.”

·      God revealed the sins of Israel in three stages to Ezekiel. And in each stage Israel’s sins were “more detestable” (Ezekiel 8:6-16) than the previous ones.

·      In Numbers 15, the Bible contrasts sin done unintentionally and sin done “with a high hand,” meaning sin done willingly while shaking one’s fist at God. 

·      Scripture also speaks of “sins that cry out” that God himself will execute judgment because humans and government officials have acted unjustly towards others (e.g., Gen. 4:10; 18:20; 19:13; Ex. 3:7-10; Deut. 24:14-15).

 In the Old Testament, there were escalating temporal responses to violations against others and against God, from escalating fines to being cut off from the people (exile) or being put to death. God applied different temporal penalties to different sins. A thief paid restitution; an occult practitioner was cut off from Israel; one who committed premeditated murder was sentenced to death. In addition, 

“Distinctions are made between different levels of clean and uncleanness requiring different sacrifices (Lev. 11-15, cf. chs. 1-8), and especially between “unintentional” and “intentional” sins (Num. 15:22-30). Unintentional sin can be atoned for (e.g., Lev. 4), but certain intentional sins, specifically “high handed” sins are so grievous that they cannot be atoned for and they require the death penalty (Num. 15:30). This kind of distinction makes no sense unless we think in terms of degrees of sin.”[9]

So while everyone went to the temple to offer a sacrifice for the forgiveness of their sins, great or small, not everything played out the same in their community life.  Even Jesus talks about greater and lesser sins.[10]

·      Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above [higher up – from Rome]. Therefore he who delivered Me over to you has the greater sin.”  Matthew 23:14 

·      Jesus, speaking to the Pharisees and scribes, said they shall receive greater damnation because of their hypocrisy. Some sins are called gnats, others camels (Matthew 23:24).

The New Testament writers felt the same way.

·      1 John 5:16-16 “6 In this regard, if you notice a brother or sister in faith making moral missteps and blunders, disregarding and disobeying God even to the point of God removing this one from the body by death, then pray for that person; and God will grant him life on this journey. But to be clear, there is a sin that is ultimately fatal and leads to death. I am not talking about praying for that fatal sin, 17 but I am talking about all those wrongs and sins that plague God’s family that don’t lead to death.”

The Catholic tradition makes a distinction between venial and mortal sins,[11] but we are not Catholic, so let’s see what the Reformers thought –which is that there is a difference between lesser sins and what they called gross and heinous sins.  

“The Reformers did not deny degrees of sin, but they did reject the mortal-venial distinction, especially as it was worked out in Rome’s sacramental theology. For them, all sin is “mortal” before God, and our only hope is that we are united to Christ in saving faith and declared justified in him. For fallen creatures to stand before God, we need Christ’s perfect righteousness imputed to us and all of our sin completely paid for by his substitutionary death. 

 Also, for the believer who is born of the Spirit and united to Christ as our covenant head, since our justification is complete in Christ, there is no sin that removes our justification, and ultimately thwarts the sanctifying work of the Spirit by the loss of our salvation. Yet, although we should reject the mortal-venial distinction as taught by Rome, this does not entail that we should reject a distinction between all sin as equal before God and various degrees of sin in terms of their overall effects on the person, others, and the world.”[12]

But what about this? 

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment… You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:21-28) 

Both scenarios reflect a dark heart that God sees; both are sins that have eternal implications. Both deserve judgment. Both require repentance. But they do not land in the world temporally in the same way. Jesus himself has other teachings that make that distinction. Not all sins have the same impact on the image-bearers around the sinner the same way. The sins of the heart deserve condemnation; the sins of the hand deserve a greater condemnation. Think of it this way:  

·      If sins were in every sense equal, in every sense not different, the person thinking about killing someone they hate might as well just do it, if these sins are not in some sense different, because Jesus says someone who wishes someone else dead is as guilty as if they had murdered them. 

·      If someone would say to me, “I might as well go ahead and commit adultery because I’m already guilty of lust. I can’t be in any worse shape in the sight of God, so I might as well finish the deed.” My answer? “Oh yes, you can be in much worse shape in the eyes of God and others.” The “sowing and reaping” judgment of actual adultery will be much greater than the harvest from internal lust. 

·      If abusers would restrain unrepentant lust in their minds, the people around them might be creeped out when they are around them (“Something’s not right with that guy”), but they would not be abused. It’s a foolish thing for a person who has committed a misdemeanor to say, “I’m already guilty; I might as well make it a felony.” God forbid that we should think like that.[13]

I was watching Knives Out, and there is scene where the villian, who had killed two people, tries to kill a third. “In for a penny, in for a pound.” This is a terrible idea. Killing three people is worse than killing two, and actually killing them was worse than if he had just thought about killing them.  

Both the Bible and our experience make a distinction between the severity of things. We can simultaneously recognize that all of them are bad – all of them are a walk into the valley of the shadows of spiritual death at minimum -  without having to level the impact that they clearly have on the world and on others. It's like cleaning up after a heavy wind storm versus a heavy hurricane. Both are storms; one leaves of disaster unlike the other.

There's a temporal difference between taking one step off the path and having taken a hundred. All the steps must be dealt with, surrendered, and repented for because they all traffic in darkness. But some of them rock the world and ways that other ones don't.  I think we ignore that difference at our spiritual and relational peril.

Justin Bieber[14] and Shawn Mendez sing a song in which they ask, “What if I trip? What if I fall? Then am I the monster?” Well, no, but if you land where monsters grow, you’d best get out. If you don’t, you will be. That’s how monsters start. If you track their lives back far enough, all monsters at one point looked a lot like us.

* * * * * * * * * *

I don’t make this point so that we can look at our sin and say, “It’s just a step into the shadows. I’m not like THAT person, who sprinted there and made a home there.” If that’s where your mind is going, you are missing the point and are further in darkness right now than you realize.[15] If you use the temporal severity of someone else’s sin to give yourself a pass, you need a serious revival in your heart.  

I read a book once that talked about the ripple effect of our sin. It’s like the Butterfly Effect. We see huge sin and the immediate temporal impact and think, “Terrible sin!” and that’s a correct judgment. But we don’t realize our smaller sins are stones cast in the water that ripple out and lead to sins we will never know about but may well be devestating.  We need to get over ourselves and our self -righteousness. It’s like filthy rags if we could see it.[16] 

I make the point  about the temporal gradation of sin for two reasons. You need to hear both reasons before you react to my first reason.  

The first point: if we are not careful, saying, “We are all sinners in need of forgiveness” can sound like a minimization of the terrible impact of what happened, as if stealing  a pencil the same as rape. It can make fail to pass a righteous judgment on what happened.  

Please. Pass a biblically appropriate judgment on all sin. We are allowed to weigh in on fruit. Please, don’t let the fact that we are all sinners stop us from lamenting the horrible nature of escalated sin. Don’t refuse to condemn sexual abuse because you have had lustful thoughts. Repent of your lustful thoughts, and then echo the OT prophets, who were certainly not perfect, and who had no problem calling out the abuse of God’s image-bearers, especially when the sin was committed by those who claimed to be God’s people. 

The second point: we must take seriously the truth that “We are all sinners in need of forgiveness,” and “There but for the grace of God go I.” I don’t mean we all would inevitably end up where some people have. I mean we all have the capacity to step into the shadows and keep going. We know this already in our own ways in our own lives. Even if we didn’t go so far as to become monsters, we know what it is like to at least explore lands of darkness where the monters looked attractive. 

People don't wake up one morning and think, “I'll be a serial sexual predator, or a mass shooter, or start Enron.” I suspect it was something much, much smaller, something that might even feel insignificant in the overall scheme of things but which was a step down a path that veered off the path of righteousness. 

Unless I am intentional and lean on God's grace, I will wade into the water of sin until a point that I am taken terrible places by the relentless undertow I helped create – and I will surely take others with me. It doesn't matter what the sin is - we can all drown accidentally because we went wading on purpose.

I read a book once by the lead detective in the Jon Benet Ramsey case. Something that has stuck with me is that from a police perspective they are not worried about the person who snaps and kills someone else. That person always confesses because their conscience can't handle it. It's the person who is slowly become more violent that they worry about, because by the time they get to killing people they just don't care, they're conscious doesn't bother them, they're not haunted by their sin.

“Sin is of an encroaching nature; it creeps on the soul by degrees, step by step, till it hath the soul to the very height of sin. ...By all this we see, that the yielding to lesser sins, draws the soul to the committing of greater… Ecclesiastes [says] ‘The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness, and the end of his talking is mischievous madness.’ ...”  Thomas Brooks

That's applicable to all of us. There, but for the grace of God. we take that first step and keep going, and eventually we end up somewhere very, very dark. So, what do those steps look like? 

·      It's entertaining rather than fighting those lustful thoughts because hey, nobody will know. 

·      It's not reporting that one source of income because it can't be that big of a deal and it's not that much taxes and it's not worth the hassle. 

·      It's clicking on that link because it's just one picture that will get my adrenaline pumping. 

·      It's making demeaning jokes about the opposite sex because they're funny, right? 

·      It's accepting that Facebook friend request from someone who likes to post racy pictures and who has no mutual friends with you because hey, why not?  

·      It's sharing that meme that yeah, it's a little harsh and maybe even a little unfair, but this is the time for it. 

·      It's listening to angry people on podcasts, TV shows and YouTube videos and thinking that they're probably too angry, but this is entertaining. 

·      It’s sharing prayer requests that are gossip. 

·      It's slowly moving from generosity to greed in just the smallest of ways.

·      It’s telling a slight untruth about someone else because it makes us look better.

·      It’s hiding that small sin from the accountability of others because it’s not that big of a deal.

There is the start of a path that, but for the grace of God, we go. And but for the grace of God, we'll keep going. I don't think it's fair to say that we would all end up at the same place with the same kind of sin. What is fair to say is that we will all walk to terrible places of some sort if we do not deal with each step that is taking us there.  

But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

That which is hidden must come to the light.  This is the only way we have fellowship with God and others. We must walk in the light as Jesus was in the light. 

We don't usually sprint to sin,  at least not at first. We usually wander or walk. The speed comes when momentum is built over time. I remember once when I went skiing and I was feeling really confident at the end of the day, so I went up to one of the larger hills. I started down and it only took about 10 feet before I just threw myself to the ground and stopped all of my momentum because I knew it was not going to end well.  I took off my skis and crawled back up while everyone on the ski lift watched me. It was humiliating, but it was better than the alternative. That momentum was going to break a leg, or crash me into people. 

This is why it is so crucial to stop the momentum. The grace of God has given us his Word, his spirit, and his people. These are all meant to stop this momentum and move us back into the light. Part of the grace that God gives us are means of sanctifaction that are right in front of us. Things like accountability and community. Things like honesty and transparency.

I'd like us to think and pray about a few things this week.

·      Do I have a trajectory that is taking me toward darkness or light? 

·      Am I already in deep darkness in need of a blinding light? 

·      How much of my life is hidden? Particularly, what am I hiding? 

·      Am I being honest before God and others about what is happening?

·      What does it look like to turn around?  

·      How will repentance benefit my fellowship with God and others?

_____________________________________________________________________________________

[1] John was the one “whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23). He wrote five books in the New Testament: three letters, a gospel, and the book of Revelation.

[2] “His special vocabulary tells the whole story: To remain/continue/abide (24x) in the truth (9x) means to believe in (9x) or confess (5x) the Son (22x), to whom the Father (14x) and Spirit (8x) bear witness (12x); it means further to be born of God (10x), so as to walk (5x) in the light (6x), to hear (14x) and to know (40x) God, to keep (7x) the commandment (14x) to love (46x) the brothers and sisters (15x), and thus to have life (13x), which is from the beginning (8x), and finally to overcome (6x) the world. All of this is in contrast to the lie (7x), deceit (4x), denying Christ (3x), having a false spirit (4x), thus being antichrist (4x), walking in darkness (6x), hating (5x) one’s brothers and sisters but loving the world (23x), thus being in sin (27x), which leads to death (6x).”  (How To Read The Bible Book By Book, Gordon Fee)

[3] Other oldest manuscripts and versions read "OUR joy," namely, that our joy may be filled full by bringing you also into fellowship with the Father and Son. (Compare Joh 4:36, end; Php 2:2, "Fulfil ye my joy," Php 2:16; 4:1; 2Jo 8). It is possible that "your" may be a correction of transcribers to make this verse harmonize with Joh 15:11; 16:24; however, as John often repeats favorite phrases, he may do so here, so "your" may be from himself. So 2Jo 12, "your" in oldest manuscripts. The authority of manuscripts and versions on both sides here is almost evenly balanced. (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary)

[4] “1:5 God is light. The connection between God and light begins in the opening verses of Genesis (see Ge 1:3) and continues in the Psalms (see Ps 27:1; 36:9; 104:2) and the Prophets (see Isa 49:6; Mic 7:8). The coming Messiah was also thought to bring God’s light (see note on Jn 1:4–13). Matthew and Luke used Isaiah’s image (Isa 9:2) that the coming Messiah would bring light to those in darkness to point to Jesus (Mt 4:16; Lk 1:79). There are numerous references to light and darkness in the Gospel of John (Jn 1:4–5, 9; 3:19–21; 8:12; 9:5; 12:35–36, 46). Outside of the New Testament, the Dead Sea Scrolls community called themselves the “sons of light,” playing on the same theme of God as light (see note on Lk 16:8).”  (NIV First Century Study Bible)

[5] Vines Expository Bible Study Notes

[6] “John challenges us to find in the mirror of our everyday lives clearer reflections of Jesus and to disregard the teachings of those who, like vampires, have no reflection at all and seek to suck the life from those who do.” How To Read The Bible Through The Jesus Lens

[7] https://www.theopedia.com/greek-and-hebrew-words-for-sin

[8] This particular word has to do with orders of magnitude greater. https://biblehub.com/hebrew/1419.htm

[9] https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/degrees-of-sin/

[10] Some common markers theologians use to talk about what makes a sin “greater”: Awareness of breaking God’s law; rebellious motivation; puposeful intent to do harm to others; habitual revisiting of that sin; degree of impactful on others.

[11] https://catholicstraightanswers.com/what-is-the-difference-between-mortal-and-venial-sin/

[12] https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/degrees-of-sin/

[13] https://www.ligonier.org/blog/are-there-degrees-sin/

[14] That’s right. I quoted Justin Bieber. 

[15] You may be wondering if this leads to the kind of judgment the Bible warns against. The Bible is clear that it is not our place to judge the thoughts and intents of the heart. That's what God sees. But what the Bible does make clear is that we can know people by their fruits. What people do is something that is an outward expression of something inside and yes, we can reach conclusions about whether what things people do are holy or unholy, whether they are steps in the path of righteousness into the light or steps away from the path of righteousness into the darkness. Ravi has already had conversations with God about the state of his heart. That's not mine to figure out. What I can do is figure out how what he did aligns with what God calls us to do. And that was a pretty easy one to figure out. 

[16] Isaiah 64:6

Advent Ends In The Light (Isaiah 60:1-2)

ADVENT THEME: JOY

The candle we light for Joy is also known as the Shepherd Candle, because of the joy given to the shepherds by the angels (Luke 2:8-20).  When Jesus was born, it was announced as “good tidings that brings great joy.” Jesus was a gift of God incarnate that brought joy into the world; Paul would later write that joy is also a gift from God’s Spirit into us. Because of this, we can say that we are “full of sorrow, and yet rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10).  

Jesus once said, “You have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” (John 16:22) So if you were to ask me how to find joy, I would say that joy is given by God the Father through the Holy Spirit, but joy is found in the person and presence of Jesus. See Jesus. And that’s what we are going to do today.

* * * * * 

Advent Ends In The Light

December 20, 2020

I discovered chickens cannot see in the dark when I heard one of my bantams squawking loudly from the shed. When I went out, it was fine. It just couldn’t find its buddies, who were about 5 feet away in a part of the shed that was very dark. So now, during the day, I turn on a light. Happy chickens. My chickens need light so that the darkness does not paralyze and terrify them. Simple thing, chickens. Stay with me. I’m establishing patterns J

As a kid, I longed for light in the darkness. I was terrified of the night. I took a running leap into bed; I quivered under the covers. But turn on a night light or leave a door open so some light could get in, I was good. I needed light so that all the imagined fears that could take place in the darkness were dispelled by the light. 

When you have endured a week of gloomy winter, nothing beats a sunny day. I don’t care how cold it is. The whole world feels better. I’ve been known to roll my window down on sunny days when the temp is in the 20s. You start showering again, and think, “Maybe I should start exercising and not eat pancakes every day as a snack.” 

“Light to dark” is an image we know. It’s a pattern ingrained in so many things in the world. No wonder it’s a pattern we see in the Bible constantly, starting in Genesis 1, almost as if God masterminded the whole thing. J

·      The initial command “Let there be light!” was a hint: This God does not settle for darkness.When darkness settles on the deep, the Spirit of God moves.  

·      It was “while shepherds watched their flocks by night” that the glory of the Lord shone around them. This God will not be announced without dispelling some darkness.

·      When the Wise Men from the east needed a sign– the east, the land “East of Eden” (another motif from Genesis for those far from the presence of God)  - they were given a light in a dark sky to guide them to the Light of the World, “the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens everyone.” (John 1:9)  This God will make a way for those who live in darkness. 

 Any advent or arrival in which God is involved may begin in darkness, but it ends in light. 

I am fascinated this year by how the Bible establishes the darkness into which Jesus arrived before introducing the light of his apocalypse (“unveiling”). I think it’s probably the case that our appreciation of the light correlates with how profound the darkness was into which it was introduced. Let’s see why God’s people longed for the light before the first Advent of Jesus, and then we will look at our own lives. 

Isaiah 58: A Timeless Oracle For The People Of God

Eternal One: Tell My people about their wrongdoing…hold nothing back: [my people] have failed to do what is right…They pretend to want to learn what I teach, as if they are indeed a [people] good and true, as if they hadn’t really turned their backs on My directives. They even ask Me, as though they care, about what I want them to be and do, as if they really want Me in their lives. 

People: Why didn’t You notice how diligently we fasted before You? We humbled ourselves with pious practices and You paid no attention. 

Eternal One: I have to tell you, on those fasting days, all you were really seeking was your own pleasure; besides, you were busy defrauding people and abusing your workers… Is a true fast simply some religious exercise for making a person feel miserable and woeful? Is it about how you bow your head (like a bent reed), how you dress (in sackcloth), and where you sit (in a bed of ashes)? Is this what you call a fast, a day the Eternal One finds good and proper?

This isn’t looking good at all. If I can summarize: “Hey, God! How are we doing down here? Check out our fasting!?”[1]  God: “It’s disgusting. It sickens me.” Okay…. However, Isaiah has what looks like good news: a solution!  

No, what I want in a fast is this: to liberate those tied down and held back by injustice, to lighten the load of those heavily burdened, to free the oppressed and shatter every type of oppression. A fast for Me involves sharing your food with people who have none, giving those who are homeless a space in your home, giving clothes to those who need them, and not neglecting your own family.

Excellent. There is a plan. There are action steps. And now, here comes some light!

Then, oh then, your light will break out like the warm, golden rays of a rising sun; in an instant, you will be healed. Your rightness will precede and protect you; the glory of the Eternal will follow and defend you. Then when you do call out, “My God, Where are You?” The Eternal One will answer, “I am here, I am here.” 

If you remove the yoke of oppression from the downtrodden among you, stop accusing others, and do away with mean and inflammatory speech, if you make sure that the hungry and oppressed have all that they need, then your light will shine in the darkness, and even your bleakest moments will be bright as a clear day...

That sound really good! But, uh, notice the “if”. If you do these things, your righteousness will be amazing. Let’s keep reading. 

Isaiah 59

Your persistent wrongdoing has come between you and your God; since you constantly reject and push God away He had to turn aside and ignore your cries... Their thoughts are bent toward injustice; destruction and trouble line the roads of their lives.8 They never travel the path of peace; no justice is found where they have been. They set a course down crooked roads; no one who follows their lead has a chance of knowing peace.

Well, I think that’s pretty clear. It didn’t happen. It looks like they can’t light up the world with their own righteousness. In hindsight, that’s obvious, but don’t we wrestle with that same sense of capability?  How many times do we think we can clean up our lives and this world on our own? 

·      “If you can control your attitude with the customers and get here on time, your job will be safe.” 

·      “Oh, yeah. I got this.”

·      ”If you can curb your addictions, your marriage will survive and maybe even flourish.”

·      “You got it.”

·      “If you can just bounce your eyes, that porn problem will go away.”

·      “Done.”

·      “If you figure out your identity in Christ, that depression, shame negative self-talk, anxiety, loneliness will go away.”

·      “Commencing self-help.” 

 “If…” It’s such a loaded word. “If you can do that, all will be well.” Isn’t this a lesson every Christian has to learn? If our righteous effort is what it takes to fix us, we are in trouble. The people of Israel figured it out. 

People: That’s why we can’t make things right; good and true can’t gain any ground on us. We look earnestly for a bright spot, but there isn’t even a glimmer of hope; it’s darkness all around. We are left to stumble along, grabbing at whatever seems solid, like the blind finding their way down a strange and threatening street.  In broad daylight—when we should have sight—we stumble and fall as in the dark. We are already like the dead among those brimming with health. We growl like bears and moan like doves. We hope that maybe, just maybe, it will all turn out right; But it doesn’t. We look for liberation, but it’s too far away.  

So far, it sounds a bit like complaining: “Do you see what you’ve given us to work with? This world is a hard and terrible place, and “we are left to stumble alone.”  But then there is a very important turn….  

For our wrongdoing runs too deep before You. Our sins stack up against us—sure evidence of our guilt. For our offenses are always with us; they are insidious and lasting, as You know. Our guilt says it all. We know it, too. We took You for nothing, and did just the opposite of Your commands. We broke our promises to You, ignored and rejected You.

We hatched up schemes to oppress others and rebel, to twist the truth for our gain while presenting it as honest-to-God fact. When justice calls, we turn it away. Righteousness knows to keep its distance, for truth stumbles in the public square, and honesty is not allowed to enter.  There is no truth-telling anymore, and anyone who tries to do right finds he is the next target.

Now, Isaiah steps out of the dialogue and makes an observation about how God responds to what started as a complaint and ends as a confession. I think this is key. What starts as self-justification – “God, listen, have you seen the kind of world you’ve given us?” turns into repentance: “Our sins stack up against us…we are the problem in the world.” 

It’s the only “if/then” scenario that has power. “If my people humble themselves and repent.” It’s not us fixing our brokenness. It’s us submitting to God’s work. back to Isaiah.

It’s true. The Eternal One saw it all and was understandably perturbed at the absence of justice. God looked long and hard, but there wasn’t a single person who tried to put a stop to the injustice and lies. So God took action. His own strong arm reached out and brought salvation. His own righteousness—good and pure—sustained Him.  But God’s equipment was that of no ordinary warrior: He strapped on righteousness as His breastplate, and put on the helmet of salvation. Wrapped in vengeance for clothing and passion as a cloak, God prepared for war.

Finally, God determined they must get what they’ve earned: fury to those who oppose Him, vengeance against those who are against Him. To the ends of the known world, God will go to render justice.  This is how people from east to west will come to respect the name and honor the glory of the Eternal. For He will come on like a torrential flood driven by the Eternal’s winds. The Redeemer will come to make Zion right again, to rescue those of Jacob’s holy line who turn their backs on wrongdoing. This is what the Eternal One declares.

Okay, that’s good news and bad news. The good news is that God is going to bring justice. The bad news is that His own people have been the problem. But…the good news is that He is going to rescue those who turn back to him – and He is going to orchestrate this.[2]

Eternal One:  This is My covenant promise to them: My Spirit, which rests on and moves in you, and My words, which I have placed within you, will continue to be spoken among you and move you to action. And not only you, but so it will be for your children and their children too.[3] And so on through the generations for all time.

And now we move into a classic paragraph that is often cited during Advent. 

Isaiah 60
Arise, shine (“be in the light”; “become light”), for your light[4] has broken through! The Eternal One’s brilliance has dawned upon you.  See truly; look carefully—darkness blankets the earth; people all over are cloaked in darkness. But God will rise and shine on you; the Eternal’s bright glory will shine on you, a light for all to see.

 It’s reminiscent of the end of Malachi: “ But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays.” (Malachi 4:2) 

* * * * * * * * * *

“When the prophet says that’ that light is come,‘ he… sees in vision the Messiah… as pouring the light of salvation on a darkened church and world.”  (Albert Barnes’ Notes On The Whole Bible) 

“In the midst of that distressing condition, Jehovah will arise upon Zion in the person of His Son; in Christ, the glory of God will be revealed.”  (Coffmana’s Commentary On The Bible)

Oh! This is fantastic news! God Himself will be the light in the darkness. 

It’s not just God moving into the world, but God moving into our hearts. Advent is more than an ‘unveiling’ in world history; it’s an arrival in our hearts. It’s personal. This is a story about light dispelling darkness, and that while that has profound implications for world history, it also has profound implications for your history. We are all coming out of darkness; we have all contributed the sinful brokenness of the world. Our wrongdoing runs deep too. But…..

Arise, shine, your light has broken through. The Eternal One’s brilliance has dawned upon you. 2 See truly; look carefully—darkness blankets the earth; people all over are cloaked in darkness. But God will rise and shine on you; the Eternal’s bright glory will shine on you, a light for all to see.

This is the joy of the first Advent. That healing and hope is available to all of us. 

 * * * * * * * * * *

 But there is another part to it.

“…the church of God is… called upon to arise… [and] to shine forth in the exercise of grace and discharge of duty…and to diffuse this light to others…” John Gill’s Exposition On The Whole Bible) 

That summons ("Arise, shine!”) is the inevitable result of the dawning of the light. When God is felt to be near [people] in penitence, love, and prayer, [they are]… bound to reflect the glory which has risen in their heart; to bear witness of the light which has pierced and transformed their soul… The glory of the Lord manifests itself in life… It is because the ‘glory of the Lord has risen upon [them],’ that Christians are able to reflect the light which has entered their souls.” E. L. Hull, Sermons

After God was unveiled to the world in the incarnate Jesus, and unveiled in the hearts of those who repent and embrace him as Lord and King, God’s people are unveiled to the world. It’s not because we are amazing. Nothing changed in terms of our ability to light up the world with our righteousness. What changed was our identity. We are now children of God, temples for the Holy Spirit. I love how Thomas Coke, English clergyman, first bishop of the Methodist Church, phrased it: 

“Shew thy native beauty; suffer thyself to be so strongly illuminated by the glory of the Lord, that thou mayest be a light to others." [5]

I have this image of all the solar powered lights I have in my yard. They soak up the light during the day, so they can shine at night. And they don’t shine because they powered themselves up. They shine because the sun filled them with light. 

Do you see this? There is a third apocalypse, a third unveiling taking place between the birth of Jesus and His return. 

It’s his church.

Jesus is revealed through His church. “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good works and…..glorify your Father in heaven.”

So I am sobered and inspired this Advent season to think about how, between the first apocalypse in a manger that ushered in this present age, and a second that will wrap it up as Jesus is revealed as the Returning King, God plan was to have His Holy Spirit-filled followers be an apocalypse, an unveiling, that absorbs and points back to the light from the first one while shining and like illuminating signposts that point toward the second one. 

We have the light of joy because true joy entered the world through the birth of the incarnate Savior. We ambassadors, filled by God’s Spirit and nourished by God’s Word, soak up this joyful light until it lights the darkness with our words, our attitudes, our actions, our lives.  And we never stop telling everyone that He who has come will come again, and for those whom His light has filled, there will be joy unspeakable, and full of glory. 

Joy to the world. The Lord has come. Let every heart prepare Him room. 

THREE THINGS FOR PONDERING OR DISCUSSING

1. If seeing the darkness for what it is makes the light more glorious, take some time to reminisce on 2020 (and perhaps further back) and mourn the darkness. See it for what it is. Feel it. Don’t look away.

2. Now….what does Jesus offer? What is the hope in front of us? How do the first and second advents shine into the darkness? What is holding us back from ‘arising, and shining’?

3. Pray. There are times that seeing the light feels soooo elusive. “We look earnestly for a bright spot, but there isn’t even a glimmer of hope; it’s darkness all around.” If you are in a group, share stories of God’s faithfulness in your lives, times when the light that seemed so elusive did indeed break through.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

[1] Malachi highlights how much God disliked their sacrifices (Malachi 3).

[2] As Malachi 3: 6; 16-18. “Return to me, and I will return to you….  Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name. “On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him.  And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”

[3] Malachi says something very similar in the final verses of the Old Testament. God will eventually turn the hearts of the parents to the children, and the children to their parents.

[4] “I am the Light Of The World.” – Jesus, as recorded in John 8:12

[5] 14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

Advent Begins In The Darkness

ADVENT THEME: HOPE

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.
3 You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder.
4 For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders,
    the rod of their oppressor.

5 Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire.
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness
    from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.  Isaiah 9:2-7

“The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come.”

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Advent begins in darkness.

Hope is probably the key underlying theme in Advent – advent, after all, points toward the “arrival” of something or someone. But hope is pale if it is not seen as an offering in the face of evil forces that assail the world during what Paul calls “this present evil age” (Galatians 1:4). 

In this sense, Advent is apocalyptic – a  “revealing” or “unveiling.” Unfortunately, apocalypse has become primarily associated with a terrible end to all things, but that’s not necessarily what the biblical writers meant when they used the word. Revelation, for example, is not an apocalypse simply because of what it says about the unfolding of terrible things in world history. It does unveil that, to be sure, but it’s an apocalypse primarily because of what it reveals or unveils about Jesus. In other words, an apocalypse may unveil terrible things, but it can also unveil wonderful things. In the Bible, apocalyptic literature like Revelation and Daniel does both. So, Advent is about an apocalyptic time. 

The prophets in the Old Testament had ‘unveiled’ two things: why God was angry at His people, and what He was going to do about it. 

The Israelites were God’s people; God had promised them great things. But they had a track record of remarkable disobedience, and they ended up living in exile in Babylonian. Read Jeremiah’s Lamentations - or any of the Old Testament prophets, really. They unveiled the people’s continuing unfaithfulness to God and their covenant with God. 

There’s a gap of hundreds of years between the Old and New Testament where the Jewish people believed God was silent.  There seemed to be no hope. It would have been easy to believe they had been abandoned by God: maybe he just wasn’t powerful enough to defeat the other gods; maybe He didn’t even exist; maybe he was angry beyond the breaking point. This must have been a time when their faith was tested in ways that are hard to understand.  Or…maybe we do. It’s not as if followers of Jesus have stopped struggling with feelings of despair, abandonment, disillusionment, or loss of hope.

But Jewish prophecy wasn’t simply about predicting something and then waiting for the fulfillment. It was often about pattern: showing how God has worked and is working so that the people will know how God will work. There was a constant uncovering of the eyes, constant apocalyptic glimpses of what is to come.[1]

The prophets made clear that their exile, and the silence of God for the centuries between the end of the OT and the beginning of the NT, was the reaping of what they had sown. God had told them what to expect if they were unfaithful. Now they know He’s serious. 

But the prophets also helped them dream of a new world, a new way of life in faithful covenant, a time when a messiah sent by the God who had not abandoned them would rescue them from their exile. God was faithful with all His promises, after all, not just the grim ones. He had promised that they were His people and that He would be faithful - that, too, was unveiled. 

Isaiah has pleaded, “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down.” (Isaiah 64:1) And on the cross, there was indeed a rending – not just of the skin of the Savior, but of the curtain in the temple, decorated with stars to represent the heavens, the curtain the separated sinful, unwashed, morally impure humanity from the Holy of Holies. 

The Messiah had come. Those who live in great darkness will see a great light. (Isaiah 9:2; Matthew 4:16) The hope of an age to come in which they lived in the light of God’s blessing shone with increasing urgency.

“Advent is a season of being caught between the way things are and the way they will be. Or, perhaps better said, between the way things seem to be and the way things really are. In other words, Advent is a season during which we long for apocalypse. But as the preacher of Hebrews reminds us, “Faith is the reality of what we hope for, and the evidence of what we can’t see.” Advent is a season of faith. We light candles and trust that, as God has come before, so will God come again. We trust that no matter how dark the night, dawn is coming. We choose to hope. We choose to believe.”[2]

It turns out that the apocalypse is about a hope found in something beyond human history, something that is bigger than our personal or national cycles of optimism and despair. It is found in an incarnate God, one who arrives in the person of Christ (that’s the first advent), and one will return (that’s the second one).[3] During Advent season, we find hope in two arrivals: the one that changed history with a new covenant for His people, and the one that will wrap it up and make all things new.[4]

But we are in the middle of those two arrivals. And in that middle, it’s messy. And between the two bright lights of advent hope there are a lot of things that cast shadows. There are a lot of things that feel like exile, that feel hopeless, that cause us to question God’s goodness, or power, or existence. Advent season reminds us that we are asked to do something important: 

“Stand a watch…as the ever-encroaching darkness draws near, and to ultimately give witness to the victory of light over night. And then to stand in its glorious beams and see all things be made new.[5]

Advent is about light emerging from darkness.[6] Advent is about the apocalypse, the unveiling of the truth about the world – which involves both an honest look at the grim circumstances of a groaning world, but also the truth about the glorious Savior who has come to redeem and save. 

“Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.” This is as Advent a proclamation as I can imagine. We live in the ‘is’, between the remembrance of Christ’s death and the expectation of his coming again at the end of all things. This means we live in the fact of his risen-ness…We cannot always clearly see Christ, but knowing that Christ is risen means we can stand up and welcome Christ in the crisis. Death no longer has dominion over him. Death has no dominion over us. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus—not the past, not the present, not the future. We wait for the end of all these things, but we look for Christ now, risen and gathering us for the end.[7]

 We live in the ‘is’, between the remembrance of Christ’s death and the expectation of his coming again at the end of all things. 

I want to linger here this morning. 

I was reading an article this week written by a Catholic who was acknowledging the terrible cost of the ‘apocalypse’ in the Catholic Church over the past few years, particularly the scandal of sexual abuse. He was noting the discouragement, disillusionment and anger in Catholics who were leaving the church. There was something about how he summarized it that has lingered with me.  

“Some people can only handle as much as they believe they can handle, and it is no easy thing to stand where we are and watch darkness grow where the light is fading. It is unsettling, disorienting. Despite the risk of injury, we want to run, get away from the dark, because we can’t bear to stay within it. 

But that is what Advent is asking us to do: to stay. To stand a watch in the [twilight] as the ever-encroaching darkness draws near, and to ultimately give witness to the victory of light over night. And then to stand in its glorious beams and see all things be made new. 

And so this is what I want to say to my friends who have left, or who are struggling; those who are halfway out the doors, or think they soon will be: My dear sisters and brothers, Hold on! Hold fast, and don’t run at the revelation! Don’t try to run through the fearsome darkness! 

Stay for Advent and stand the watch with me, with your family, with all of us... Be willing, for now, to keep company with Christ, so deeply wounded by his own Bride. Consent, for now, to share in the hard times before us (they will yet get harder, the darkness will grow deeper, still) and help us to hold, to hold fast! 

Because the light is coming; the darkness will never overcome it. Remember that Isra-el means “struggle with God.” We are all little Isra-els right now, wrestling, wrestling within his house and seeking our Jerusalem, our Abode of Peace. Hold on! Hold fast! 

Because an Advent promise has been made to us, and God is ever-faithful, so we may trust in it: Your light will come Jerusalem; the Lord will dawn on you in radiant beauty. This is for all of us. It is for you, and for me. It’s for every little Isra-el struggling. Your light will come. Just hold fast.”[8]

What “is” going on your life right now?

Is politics overwhelming you? Does every election now feel like an apocalypse in the Hollywood way, an unveiling of the disastrous end of all things? Do it feel like America or the church as we know it is being upended, or that the future will hold only pain? We live in the reality of Christ’s risen-ness, which means we can stand up, rejoice and worship Jesus in the midst of any crisis. An Advent promise has been made to us; God is faithful, so we may trust in it. Our light which rose as a Savior from the darkness of death and will come again in a glorious unveiling of the return of the King. This is the hope revealed in the Advent that was and is to come. 

Is COVID scaring you, or frustrating you? Do the last 9 months make you question the wisdom of men and the godliness and faith of your fellow Christians? Does this feel like an apocalypse, an unveiling of the true state of the world and the church that brings you despair? Is it hard to see a way forward that involves peace and hope? We live in the reality of Christ’s risen-ness, which means we can stand up, rejoice and worship Jesus in the midst of any crisis. An Advent promise has been made to us; God is faithful, so we may trust in it. Our light which rose as a Savior from the darkness of death and will come again in a glorious unveiling of the return of the King. This is the hope revealed in the Advent that was and is to come.

Did you lose a loved one this year through death, or through abandonment, or through relational distance that feels like a death? Do you wonder if this grief and emptiness will ever end? We live in the reality of Christ’s risen-ness, which means we can stand up, rejoice and worship Jesus in the midst of any crisis. An Advent promise has been made to us; God is faithful, so we may trust in it. Our light which rose as a Savior from the darkness of death and will come again in a glorious unveiling of the return of the King. This is the hope revealed in the Advent that was and is to come.

Is your mental and emotional health on the line? If studies and private conversation are indication, a lot of us are struggling this year with depression, loneliness, and anxiety. Especially as winter moves in, things can feel bleak and lifeless. We wonder when we feel alive again. We live in the reality of Christ’s risen-ness, which means we can stand up, rejoice and worship Jesus in the midst of any crisis. An Advent promise has been made to us; God is faithful, so we may trust in it. Our light which rose as a Savior from the darkness of death and will come again in a glorious unveiling of the return of the King. This is the hope revealed in the Advent that was and is to come.

Is your family in crisis? Maybe spending more time at home has not been a blessing. Maybe politics and Covid have pushed you apart.  Maybe this apocalyptic year has simply unveiled cracks in family foundations that had been easy to cover up. We wonder if what has been broken can possibly be repaired. We live in the reality of Christ’s risen-ness, which means we can stand up, rejoice and worship Jesus in the midst of any crisis. An Advent promise has been made to us; God is faithful, so we may trust in it. Our light which rose as a Savior from the darkness of death and will come again in a glorious unveiling of the return of the King. This is the hope revealed in the Advent that was and is to come.

Has being part of this church been hard? Have you been frustrated with your church family here this past year? Me too. Have you felt like people around you just weren’t getting it!?!?! Me too. Do you wonder what 2021 holds for CLG?  Me too. We live in the reality of Christ’s risen-ness, which means we can stand up, rejoice and worship Jesus in the midst of any crisis. An Advent promise has been made to us; God is faithful, so we may trust in it. Our light which rose as a Savior from the darkness of death and will come again in a glorious unveiling of the return of the King. This is the hope revealed in the Advent that was and is to come.

I want to close with a famous Christmas song written as a result of the Civil War. It captures this in-between time, the reality of waiting in a life that is hard for a hope that is sure. 

I HEARD THE BELLS ON CHRISTMAS DAY[9]

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men !

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men !

Till, ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men !

Then from each black, accursed mouth,
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound the carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men !

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn the households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men !

And in despair I bowed my head ; 
"There is no peace on earth," I said ; 
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men !"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: 
"God is not dead ; nor doth he sleep !
The Wrong shall fail, the Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men !"

THREE QUESTIONS

1. What kind of apocalypses have you experienced in your life? That is, times when God ‘unveils’ himself to you and changed your life?

2. In what areas of your life do you long for an apocalypse? “Oh, that God would rend the heavens and come down.” (Hint: might be good subject matter that guides how you pray for each other if you are doing this in a small group).

3. How might this change our lives if we genuinely fixed our eyes on the Two Advents instead of the darkness and shadows in which we live?

 ________________________________________________________________________________

[1] “Advent, the Apocalypse: A Constant Uncovering Of The Eyes.” https://www.patheos.com/blogs/sickpilgrim/2016/12/advent-the-apocalypse-a-constant-uncovering-of-the-eyes/

[2] “Anna And The Apocalypse And Advent.” https://www.reelworldtheology.com/anna-and-the-apocalypse-and-advent/

[3] “Why Apocalypse Is Essential To Advent.” https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2018/december-web-only/advent-apocalypse-fleming-rutledge-essential-to-this-season.html

[4] “Advent Apocalypse.” https://www.ministrymatters.com/all/entry/3388/advent-apocalypse

[5] “AMIDST OUR APOCALYPSE, ADVENT ASKS US TO STAY.” https://www.wordonfire.org/resources/blog/amidst-our-apocalypse-advent-asks-us-to-stay/5962/

[6] This darkness to light motif is thick in Scripture. We see the glorious beams that shine on new things over and over.

·       Creation. “Let their be light” and there is light that shines in the darkness.

·       It’s in a plague of darkness in Egypt, God shows his freeing power.

·       On a dark and stormy mountain, God reveals his covenant commandments to His people through Moses.

·       Jesus’ birth was at night, in the shadow of the Herod’s palace, yet the light of the star and the glory of the angels first pointed the way then illuminated it.  

·       There’s a fascinating story in Mark 5 where a demon-possessed man – bound in spiritual darkness – is the source of an unveiling:  “The demon recognizes his superior; in a Gospel that famously keeps the “messianic secret,” this is the first entity to identify exactly who Jesus is: “What do you want with me, Jesus Son of the Most High God?”[6]

·       The Resurrection happens at night, and is revealed in the morning.

·       The disciples are fishing before dawn, and the Resurrected Jesus appears in the morning. 

[7] “Advent Apocalypse.” https://www.mnys.org/from-pastors-desk/advent-apocalypse/

[8] “Amidst Our Apocalypse, Advent Asks Us To Stay.” https://www.wordonfire.org/resources/blog/amidst-our-apocalypse-advent-asks-us-to-stay/5962/

[9] Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, written while nursing his son back to health after a grievous injury in the Civil War. 

Walking in Light (Ephesians 5:1-19)

1 So imitate God. Follow Him like adored children, 2 and live in love as Christ loved you—so much that He gave Himself as a fragrant sacrifice, pleasing God. 3 Listen, don’t let there be a hint of sexual immorality among you. Any demoralizing behaviors (such as impurity and greed) are inappropriate topics of conversation for those set apart as God’s people. 4 Don’t use abusive language (swearing, obscenity) or spurt nonsense. Don’t make harsh jokes or talk foolishly. Make proper use of your words, and offer them thankfully in praise. 5 This is what we know for certain: no one who engages in loose sex, impure actions, and greed—which is just a form of idolatry—has any inheritance in the kingdom of God and His Anointed.

6 Don’t be fooled by people who try to excuse these things—they just use meaningless words to show empty souls. For, in His wrath, God will judge all the children of disobedience for these kinds of sins. 7 So don’t be persuaded into their ignorance; and don’t cast your lot with them 8 because, although you were once the personification of darkness, you are now light in the Lord. So act like children of the light. 9 For the fruit of the light is all that is good, right, and true. 10 Make it your aim to learn what pleases our Lord. 11 Don’t get involved with the fruitless works of darkness; instead, expose them to the light of God. 12 You see, it’s a disgrace to speak of their secrets (so don’t even talk about what they do when no one is looking). 13-14 When the light shines, it exposes even the dark and shadowy things and turns them into pure reflections of light. This is why they sing, ‘Awake, you sleeper!
 Rise from your grave,
 And Christ will shine on you.’ (Some scholars think this verse may have been an early “baptismal hymn.)

15 So be careful how you live; be mindful of your steps. Don’t run around aimlessly as the rest of the world does. Instead, walk as the wise! 16 Make the most of every living and breathing moment because these are evil times. 17 So understand and be confident in God’s will, and don’t live thoughtlessly. 18 Don’t drink wine excessively. The drunken path is a reckless path. It leads nowhere. Instead, let God fill you with the Holy Spirit. 19 When you are filled with the Spirit, you are empowered to speak to each other in the soulful words of pious songs, hymns, and spiritual songs; to sing and make music with your hearts attuned to God; 20 and to give thanks to God the Father every day through the name of our Lord Jesus the Anointed for all He has done.”

 What do we need to bring into the light so that we can walk in the light and live in unity with others? (Note: Paul is not pointing out how they are to earn their salvation. He is showing them how to live out their salvation as they seek to conform to the image of Christ. So don’t see this as “This is how I get saved.” It’s, “This is what life in Christ is meant to look like. I honor the sacrifice of Jesus and I love my neighbor as I walk in the light of Christ.”)

1. Our sexuality. We are called to self-sacrificial, boundaried love, not selfish, unboundaried lust – specifically, God designed sex to be experienced by a man and a woman in marriage. The intimacy Christ shares with His Bride, the church, is shared with no other. It’s an analogy. There is a reason God puts borders around our sexuality. Chaos in some form comes when properly placed fences go down; life flourishes when they stay up. This is not to say that sexual sin is unforgivable – which is good news for all of us, I suspect. It is forgivable. It’s noting that sexual sin is outside of God’s design, and a life lived in the light of Christ does not embrace it or applaud it, but seeks to live out sexuality in a way that honors God, protects others, and allows us to live in purity.

2. Our words must be true and helpful vs. false and destructive. This is speaking truth in love. If we just speak truth without showing love, we are destructive. If we show love without speaking truth, then we are false, and we just enable. Our speech should be full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that we can provide answers to everyone. (Colossians 4:6)

3. Our circumstances. We are called to contentment and generosity, not greed.. Philippians 4:11-13: “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Contentment is such a gift. Do we have to have physical comfort and material things to be happy, or do we look to Christ to strengthen us in our times of need? And those who have plenty – do you look around to identify those in need? A greedy community will never last, because it is full of resentment, competitiveness, and selfishness. A generous community is full of applause, kindness, and self-sacrifice, and it will flourish as everyone looks out for the needs of others, and commits to contentment no matter what the circumstance.

 4. Our time (mindful and purposeful vs. lazy and unfocused). Mindful is not the same as obsessing, and purposeful is not the same as driven! It simply means be alert, aware, prepared, and engaged as you are able. Remember, David had men in his army who ‘understood the times, and knew what to do.’ (1 Chronicle 12:32).  There was a time in American history when Christians could coast (in the sense that culture largely agreed with them. Not anymore. We have our work cut out for us. We are now in a place where we need to be “ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within us” more than ever. This might not be a bad wake-up call. We have to revisit our Bibles, engage in conversation with other Christians, study, read, listen not only to the church conversation but to the cultural one.

5. Our attitude. We are to be helpful and thankful vs. leeching and grumbling. Ever had a friend who always complained, always borrowed and never lent, and always wanted their life to be better but never helped anyone else’s life to be better? What about the friend who looked for the good, lived generously, and looked to improve the lives of those around them? One drains, the other fills. One divides, one unifies. 

• Philippians 2:3-4: “Don't be selfish; don't try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don't look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.” 

• Matthew 20:25-28: “Do you want the Kingdom run like the Romans run their kingdom? Their rulers have great power over the people, but God the Father doesn’t play by the Romans’ rules. This is the Kingdom’s logic: whoever wants to become great must first make himself a servant; whoever wants to be first must bind himself as a slave — just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as the ransom for many.”

6. Our focus. We need to stay focused on God and the person of Christ vs. idols  “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator” (Romans 1:21, 25). Idolatry happens in any circumstance where there is something you feel you must have to be happy, that is more important to your heart than God himself. We would not lie, cheat, steal, gossip, lust, or abuse others unless first we had made something—human approval, reputation, power over others, financial advantage, sexual desire, fame, comfort—more important and valuable to our hearts than the grace and favor of God as experienced through the person and work of Jesus. (HT Tim Keller, “How To Find Your Rival Gods,” christianitytoday.com) We need to stay focused on God and the person of Christ

• Psalm 34:5 “Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces.”

• Colossians 3:1-3  “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God's right hand. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.”

• Hebrews 3:1 “Dear brothers and sisters who belong to God and are partners with those called to heaven, think carefully about this Jesus whom we declare to be God's messenger and High Priest.”

• Hebrews 12:2: “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.