Light in the Darkness

The message given in the Sunday night service in the Gettysburg United Methodist church April 11, 2021.  The Bible verses used are Luke 11:33-36.

            How is it with you tonight?  Does it feel like your body is full of light?  Or does it feel like your body is full of darkness?

            Now, when we talk about your body, we’re really talking about your mind and your heart, right?  I mean, your left big toe is not going to be full of darkness, unless you smacked it against the furniture or something.  When we talk about the body being full of light or darkness, what we’re really saying is, how are you feeling?  Are you happy or sad?  Do you feel joy or sorrow?  Are you feeling good about how your life is going?  Or do you feel stuck, like your life is at a standstill or even going backward?  Another way to put it is to ask the question John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, used to ask:  How is it with your soul today?

            We’d all like to be happy, of course.  I don’t know anyone whose goal is to go through life being sad.  On the other hand, we know that no one is happy all the time.  We know, as it says in the third chapter of Ecclesiastes, that there is a time for sadness and grief, just as there is a time for joy and happiness.  Even Jesus was not happy all the time, so we certainly should not expect to be.

            And really, when we talk about happiness in the context of being full of light, the way Jesus talked about it, we need to define our terms.  Because the kind of happiness that fills us with light is more than just a momentary thing.  I mean, I’m happy when I eat ice cream or when I watch a funny TV show or when the Twins win a ball game, but it’s not like any of those things are going to change my life in any significant way.  Those things might make us happy for a moment, but that’s all. 

Now, that’s not unimportant--sometimes, when we have a lot of stuff to deal with, just having a moment’s break, a chance to think about something besides our problems for a few minutes, is exactly what we need.  But even so, it’s still a temporary thing.  If our soul is dark, something like that is like striking a match.  It provides a bit of light, for a little while, but before long the darkness comes back again.  What we’re talking about is a happiness that stays with us, regardless of the circumstances.

Jesus said that the eye is the lamp of the body.  If your eyes are healthy, if they’re letting in light, then your body will be full of light.  If your eyes are not healthy, if they don’t let in light, then your body will stay dark.

In other words, the question we need to ask is, what are we seeing?  What is it that’s in our field of vision?  When we look out at the world, what are we focusing on?

It is very easy, right now, to focus on the darkness.  We’re still dealing with the coronavirus, and even though things are opening up around here, there are still a lot of places where things are locked down.  There have been a lot of economic effects of the lockdowns, too.  We got a little rain this past week, but we’re going to need a lot more if we’re going to have good crops.  There’s all sorts of political turmoil going on around just about any issue you can name.  Even just in the United Methodist church, there are arguments going on and there’s a very good chance the denomination might split.  And I’m sure you can think of a whole lot of other areas in which we see darkness.  It’s easy to do.

But then, Jesus never said being a Christian would be easy.  In fact, he said just the opposite.  He warned his followers that following him would cause them all kinds of problems.  He said they would be hated for following him.  He said they would suffer because they were following him.  But he also told them not to worry about it.

And we hear that, and we say, “What?  Don’t worry about it?  I’m going to suffer, and everybody’s going to hate me, and you say don’t worry about it?”  If that’s not worth worrying about, what is?

Well, Jesus actually answered that question.  In Matthew Chapter Ten, Verse Twenty-eight, Jesus says the only thing we should worry about is “The one who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”  That’s what Jesus says is worth worrying about.  Not what happens to us on earth.

But Jesus did not just leave it at that.  As we said a couple of weeks ago, Jesus recognized that our human concerns are important.  That’s why he healed people and fed people and such.  He told his followers that God’s Holy Spirit would be with them.  And he told them, in Luke Chapter Twelve, Verse Twelve, that when they got into trouble, the Holy Spirit would tell them what to say.

That’s how we can change our focus.  That’s how we can shift our focus from the darkness to the light.  By trusting God’s Holy Spirit.  By focusing on God’s Holy Spirit.

Does that sound simplistic?  Maybe it does.  Maybe that just sounds like a pastor thing to say.  Sort of like saying that “Jesus” or “prayer” is the answer to everything.  It’s easy to say “trust God’s Holy Spirit” or “focus on God’s Holy Spirit.”  But how does that take care of the problems we have right now?

Well, it doesn’t.  Not directly, anyway.  But if we truly trust God’s Holy Spirit, it will change our perspective on those problems.  Trusting God’s Holy Spirit gives us confidence that things can get better.  In fact, it gives us confidence that things will get better.  We may not know how.  We may not know when.  But they will.  Trusting God’s Holy Spirit helps us realize that the darkness will not last forever, and it will not win.  God wins.  God will always win.

Trusting God’s Holy Spirit means that we trust that God is all-powerful.  We trust that nothing happens that God does not allow to happen.  We don’t always understand why God allows some things to happen, but we also trust that God is all-knowing and all-wise.  And so, when God allows things to happen, God must have good reasons for doing so.  As God says, speaking through the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah Chapter Fifty-five, Verses eight and nine, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.  As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Trusting God’s Holy Spirit reminds us of that.  It reminds us that God is under no obligation to explain things to us or to do things that meet with our approval.  God has plans and purposes that we know nothing about.  And the chances are that we would not understand them if God tried to explain them to us.  

Our human perspective is always so limited.  We think of a hundred years as a long time.  And it is, to us.  But not to God.  God sees hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of years into the future if the world is going to last that long.  And God is going to use all the things that are happening now to accomplish His plans and His purposes.  If we trust God’s Holy Spirit, we’ll trust that.  And we’ll remember what it says in Romans Chapter Eight, Twenty-eight, that God can use all things for the good of those who love him.

There may be a lot of darkness now.  But there have been lots of times of darkness in the world.  And yet, somehow, the light always comes through, and the light always wins.  And we can be confident of that because of Jesus.  After all, as Jesus said in John Chapter Eight, Verse Twelve, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

I’ve quoted a lot of different Bible verses tonight.  That just shows that God, speaking through the authors of the Bible, made this same point over and over again.  No matter how dark in may seem, the darkness is not going to win.  The darkness cannot defeat the light.  The light will always come shining through.  The light of Jesus, the light that shines through God’s Holy Spirit, will always be there.  It cannot be extinguished.  It cannot even be dimmed.  It is always there, for everyone who is willing to look for it and see it.

God’s light is not hidden.  It is not placed under a bowl, where no one can see it.  It is on the stand, shining brightly, just waiting for us to look and see it.  Just waiting for us to be guided by it.  Just waiting for us to allow it to light our way.

Until the day Jesus comes again, the darkness will always be there.  But so will the light.  Do not let your eyes focus on the darkness.  Do not let your eyes fill your heart and soul with darkness.  Instead, focus on the light, the light of the Lord.  Let your eyes fill your heart and soul with light.  

The true light that gives light to everyone has come into the world.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.  And it never will.