October 1, 2006

Series – What I Learned on Vacation This Summer – 3

On vacation this summer, I learned about being sad.  The Pacific Northwest is a beautiful place, and the sun was usually out while we were there.  However, annually, there are more overcast days than not in the Pacific Northwest.  And so, many people there suffer from light deprivation, which results in mood swings and depression.  There’s even a scientific name for this problem: “Seasonal Affective Disorder,” or S.A.D.    People suffering from S.A.D. have to set up special light panels in their homes and get heavy doses of illumination in order to be happy campers.  Physically, we need light.  We can’t survive without the sun.

Spiritually, this is even more true.  We can’t survive without the Son of God.  Our shadowy hearts, tinted by selfishness and confusion, need His light.  We suffer from a much worse kind of sadness without God’s light in our lives.  God’s light brings us life.  It brings joy.  Real joy.  Real light brings us real joy.  The joy that nothing artificial could ever bring us.

That reminds me of an image I saw on vacation this summer.  A lighthouse off the Pacific coast of Oregon.   Now, what are lighthouses supposed to do?  Give light, right?  That’s right – give man-made, electrically powered light to keep ships and people safe and well.  But in this image, what is this lighthouse doing?  It’s getting in the way of the light, isn’t it?  It is getting in the way of real light, the light of the sun!  The light that God created.  The thing that is supposed to be giving artificial light to help people is blocking the real light of the sun.

As I looked at this image through the viewfinder, the thought hit me:  Many things in this world are supposed to be or claim to be giving “light,” but in reality, are hiding the real light of God’s Son!  Like all the religions that teach people that getting right with God is up to you.  You need to live in such a way to make yourself acceptable to God.  You need to follow these 8, 10, or 12 steps to make God smile.  You need to belong to this church in order to get to heaven. You have to earn your way there.  Friends, these religions, like the lighthouse, are supposed to be bringing light into people’s lives.  They look good on the outside.  But if they are blocking the light of God’s Son, then they are doing a lot more harm than good!

There are many other things that block God’s light.  The politically-correct adherence to relative truth.  True for you, but not for me, and so let’s all just get along.  Certainly something this profound can shed some light on the backward folks who accept absolute truth like the Word of God!  Bur friends, in reality, this kind of thinking blocks the light of God’s Son.

So does the pursuit of material wealth.  “I’ll be happy if I have my dream home, that new car, the latest wardrobe, a faster computer, a raise in salary, the cottage up north, the home makeover.  These will light up my life.”  Or status.  “I really want to make regional manager.  Then I will really be somebody.  I want people to look up to me.”  Or relationships.  “If only that person would befriend me, or date me, or marry me, that would light up my life!”  Or money.  “If I could put a million in the bank, [or even a thousand], that would give me what I need.  I could be satisfied then.”  Or appearance.  “Diets, makeovers, and plastic surgery will light up my life.”

But if we rely on these things alone for “light,” they can actually block the real light of the Son from showing us the way!  They can hide God’s light from us!  In 2 Corinthians 4:4,6, it says: “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God…For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”  Things that are supposed to give light can block real light!

And without God’s light in our hearts, we are living in the darkness of unbelief.  Without the Light of the World, without Jesus, you would be stuck in the darkness.  You wouldn’t be able to see any light at the end of the tunnel.  You would be stuck in a dead-end way of life.  It wouldn’t matter how much stuff you had, how much money you make, where you lived, what you drove, how you look, or who you live with.  You would be stuck in darkness.  Your life would have no meaning.  It wouldn’t even matter how good you are.  You couldn’t be good enough.  You would have to live with guilt.  More guilt than joy.  More darkness than light.

But thank God, you have been given the Light of the World!   Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (Jn.8:12).  Jesus brought light into the world!  He came and removed the darkness of your guilt.  God held Him responsible for your sins!  He removed them from your record!  The dark cloud hanging over you is gone!  No more guilt!  More joy than guilt!  This light is from Christ alone!  Let’s let nothing get in our way of seeing his light!

Darkness comes through sin and guilt.  Light comes through forgiveness.  Your sins have been forgiven by Jesus!  Faith is when God opens your eyes to see that light!  1 Pt. 2:9: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”  Friends, the Holy Spirit is the One who calls you out of darkness.  The One who brings you to faith.  The One who opens your eyes so you can see the Light of Jesus.  The One who changes your life.

Nicky Cruz was the leader of the toughest gang in NYC.  His Satanist parents abused him brutally, so he grew up a hardened man, void of love, and full of hate.  Living in darkness.  “I wanted to do to others what my mother did to me,” Nicky said, “I used to feel good when I hurt people.”  But inside all the darkness, he didn’t really feel good.  He felt lonely.  Desperate.  Lost.  Only two people saw the desperate condition of Nicky’s heart.  One was a psychologist.  “He told me about five times,” Nicky relates, “There’s a dark side in your life that nobody can penetrate.  Nicky, you are walking straight to jail, the electric chair, and hell.  There’s no hope.”

The other was a pastor named David Wilkerson.  He risked his life to tell Nicky there was hope.  “I heard him say: ‘God has the power to change your life.’  I started cursing out loud,” said Nicky, “I spit in his face, and I hit him.  I told him, ‘I don’t believe in what you say and you get out of here!”  Nicky never expected what he heard Wilkerson say next.  Wilkerson replied, “You could cut me up into a thousand pieces and lay them in the street.  Every piece will still love you.”  That cut his heart. Nicky said, “For two weeks I couldn’t sleep, thinking about love.”

Nicky and his gang finally showed up at Wilkerson’s church.  One by one, they eventually were brought to faith in Jesus.  It was the crucifixion – Jesus’ death on the cross – that floored Nicky.  That somebody would go through that for him.  That somebody would actually show him love.  Nicky relates, “I finally let Jesus hug me, and I let my head rest on his chest.  I said I’m sorry.  Forgive me.  And for the first time, I told somebody ‘I love you.’”  The love that was given to Nicky, the light that filled his heart, radically changed his life.  “When my eyes were opened,” he said, “I got a new heart.  I’d been born again.  I’m a child of the Lord.”

Friends, this is God’s Work!  The work of the Holy Spirit!  He is the one that finishes the cycle.  God loved us enough to send his Son.  The Son loved us enough to give his life.  The Holy Spirit loves us enough to bring us to faith in what Jesus did.  And only He can do that.  We needed someone to turn the light on, to give us life.  1 Cor.12:3 says: “no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.”  See how blessed we are by God’s work in us?  Romans 5:5 says “…God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

A new convert once gave his testimony during a church service. With a smile on his face and joy in his heart, the man related how he had been delivered from a life of sin. He gave the Lord all the glory, saying nothing about any of his own merits or what he had done to deserve the blessings of redemption. The person in charge, who was very legalistic, didn’t fully appreciate the reality of salvation by grace through faith alone, apart from human works. So he responded to the young man’s comments by saying, “You seem to indicate that God did everything when He saved you. Didn’t you do your part before God did His?” The new Christian jumped to his feet and said, “Oh yes, I did. For more than 30 years I ran away from God as fast as my sins could carry me. That was my part. But God took out after me and ran me down. That was His part.”

Yes, friends, bringing us to faith is God’s Work.  Before we were his children, we were his enemies.  Blind. Dead.  Living in darkness.  God brought light into our lives.  The Holy Spirit brought us to faith.  And He keeps that faith strong.  His primary tool? The Word of God.  “…Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ.”  The tool the Holy Spirit uses to enlighten us is God’s Word.  You have been brought to life by the living, enduring Word of God!  And the Light of the World continues to light up your life with a daily, regular dose of it.  Like S.A.D. patients getting a dose of light!  So I want to leave you today with a question you need to answer:  If the Holy Spirit brings real light into your life with the Word of God, then what do you think you should be doing?

The Holy Spirit has another tool.  Baptism.  The tool the Holy Spirit can strengthen faith with, and even bring to faith with!  Acts 2:38 says, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”  And then there’s our text for today:  “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.  He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:4-7).

Here is the final image I will share with you from my vacation this summer.    Baby Calla.  By now, some of you have heard about this niece of mine, born on my birthday this spring, living in Tacoma, Washington.  Born with spina bifida.  Not expected to live.  Not expected to move.  And certainly not expected to hear or see or talk.  And a smile would have been out of the question.  Well, here’s what we got to see on vacation.  Do you have any doubts that God is infinitely more powerful than we can imagine?  Any doubt that God can work a miracle?  Look at the amazing results of God’s Work!

But I am not just talking about the physical progress of this beautiful, smiling girl.  Her legs may never move.  Her voice might never amount to much.  Her lungs may stop working sooner than they should.  Her heart may give out before she ever reaches toddlerhood.  God-willing, hopefully, we pray, it won’t.  But there is a greater miracle here than the fact that this little girl’s heart is still beating!  There’s a reason for this smile you see here! A greater miracle has been performed on her heart!  Through the waters of Holy Baptism, the Holy Spirit has brought Calla to faith in Jesus as her Savior.  She maybe couldn’t tell you about Jesus right now, but she trusts in Him. The Holy Spirit has made her a child of God!

And that, my friends, is the work of God.  The same miracle that the Holy Spirit worked in your heart when He brought you to faith.  By the Holy Spirit’s work, Nicky Cruz, you, me, and Calla are “heirs having the hope of eternal life.”  It was awesome seeing Calla this summer, and I can’t wait to see her again.  But if it would be God’s will that her little heart stopped beating before I got that chance, and I pray that is not His will, I still know I will see her again in a place even more beautiful than the Pacific Northwest.  A place where she can run up to me and give me a big hug.  A place that God has made each of us heirs of for eternity.  A place where nothing blocks the light of God!  Where no one suffers from being S.A.D. anymore!  And that is what is so wonderful about God’s work!     Amen.

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