Today is the beginning of Advent,
a time of remembering and celebrating the great work of God in the coming of
Jesus. So, today and the next three Sundays we're going to look at different
aspects of Jesus' coming. The goal here is for you to grow in your
understanding of and thus, hopefully, in your amazement at Advent. Jesus has
come, and He has come to change everything. While I have not worked out the
next three weeks' sermons, at this point it seems that the theme underlying
this series is going to be rooted in the idea of light. I decided on that
because of what's next in John's Gospel. Listen to John 8.12.
Again Jesus
spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not
walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’
Here's the question that I want
to answer this morning. Advent is the reminder that Jesus has come as Savior of
the world. He has come to rescue us. So, what is it that Jesus has rescued us
from? That's what I want to look at. One way to answer that, according to our
text, is to say that He has rescued us from darkness. I want to unpack that for
you.
Let's start with something from
Matthew.
Now when [Jesus]
heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. And leaving
Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun
and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the
Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles — the people dwelling in darkness have
seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,
on them a light has dawned.”
Here, Matthew describes the
beginning of Jesus' ministry, and he does that by applying a prophecy from
Isaiah. Did you notice how he described the people to whom Jesus came? He
describes them using two phrases, the one explaining the other. They were,
'people dwelling in darkness' and 'those dwelling in the region and shadow of
death'. The second phrase explains the first. Dwelling in darkness is dwelling
in death. Darkness is about death. In rescuing us from the darkness Jesus has
rescued us from death. Now, sadly, death has become a church word. As a result,
it has lost its punch. So, let's spend some time here. Let's look again at
death.
The common way of understanding
death is to see it in terms of the physical, in terms of the body. When
someone's heart stops beating they are dead. That is, commonly, the root notion.
When someone talks about spiritual death, the physical notions of death are
applied. So, in some sense or other, the 'spiritual heart', whatever that is,
is not beating. That's the common way of thinking about this. But that is
neither accurate nor helpful. The root notion of death is not the physical. The
essence of death lies elsewhere.
Let's get at it this way. Let's
consider the opposite of death. What is life? The famous John 3.16 talks about
having eternal life. What's that? For many that has to do with how long. Others
understand it in terms of life that is later, in eternity. But it is neither of
those. The life that Jesus talks about, and that John writes about, is not
about how long or when. It's about whose. Eternal life is the life of the eternal
God.
Think back to the creation of
Adam.
… the Lord God
formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
Adam became a living person when
God breathed life, His own life, into him. But, what is this life of God? Don't
think in physical terms. That clearly won't work here. There is nothing
physical about God. This life is different. This life has to do with the very
nature of God. That will include many things, but I want to focus on just one.
The life of eternity, the life of God that was before there was any creation,
is a life of relationship. And the hallmark of that relationship is love. The
Father and the Son and the Spirit have enjoyed, and continue to enjoy, giving
and receiving expressions of love - since forever. This is at the heart of who
they are. Or as John put it, 'God is love.' So, the life of God includes a love
relationship. There is, for God, no hiding, no obstacles, no secrets. God is
all about openness, the openness of a love relationship among the Father, the
Son and the Spirit. And that's what Adam received when God breathed into him
the breath of life: no hiding, no obstacles, no secrets; only openness that
resulted in the giving and receiving of love.
Now, if that's life, or at least
a big part of it, then it helps us to understand something about death. Death
is the absence of all of that. Instead of being open in relationship in order
to give and receive love, death is being closed off, separate, alone, with no
love. This lack of love is not hatred. Hate still recognizes the other as
someone significant. The opposite of love is not hate, but disregard. Instead
of loving someone, he is ignored. It's as if he weren't there. After all, who
cares if he is there? There is in this lots of hiding, lots of obstacles, lots
of secrets. The relationships that Adam had, relationships with God, with Eve
and even with himself, once vibrantly alive, all became death. The way to God's
special presence is closed off by the angels' flaming swords. Adam covers
himself with a fig leaf, an expression of his desire to hide himself, to stay distant
from Eve. And Adam no longer understands himself, his own best self interest.
Instead of presenting himself before God to admit his sin in the hope of mercy,
he runs, hides from God. And when he is found, he blames Eve and even God who
gave her to him. Thus the threat God spoke comes to pass: 'In the day that you
eat of it you shall surely die.' Hiding. Obstacles. Secrets.
This death affects how all since
Adam live. Consider again something John wrote back in chapter three.
And this is the
judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness
rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does
wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works
should be exposed.
Human existence has become all
twisted up. Now people love the darkness. They love death. Does that make any
sense? The light has come to deal with that darkness, that death, but people
hate that light and all that it stands for. They desire hiding, obstacles,
secrets. They are threatened by the offer of an open relationship of love.
Instead, they love the darkness. It's all twisted up.
And then, let's add this. Jesus
talks about the end result of such hatred of the light.
I tell you, many
will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown
into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of
teeth.
Jesus is talking about hell and
describes it as the outer darkness. What's that? It's not about some physical
darkness. It's about the realm of death. It's about being closed off from
relationships. This outer darkness will be like what people experience now, but
there will be something new. Today, the evil of death is restrained. It is limited.
It's not as if there are no relationships today. People marry, have families,
develop friendships. And even among those who hate the light, there are some
relatively good relationships. They are not nearly as open as they might be,
but neither are they as closed as they might be. God restrains the evil, the
darkness, the death. But the day is coming when there will be no more
restraint. Hell is experiencing the darkness of death to its fullest extent.
Then, there will be no openness, no relationships, none at all. The residents
of this horrible place will be completely closed off from all others. There
will be absolutely no love, none. Instead, there will be suspicion and fear,
only and absolutely. The hiding will be complete. Or to say it differently,
there will be loneliness. It will be the kind of loneliness that no one alive
has ever experienced. And that's why Jesus tells us that there will be weeping
and gnashing of teeth. Consider the anguish of being someone created to know
and to be known, someone created for relationship, but completely denied even
the least expression of that. And that loneliness continues day after day after
day, without pause and without end. Lonely forever. Utterly lonely forever.
People today think about that other, more familiar image of hell, eternal fire.
They mock it as primitive. Do you think that they would mock hell if they could
see it as loneliness? Some have joked that they'll be with all their friends
when they get to hell. Maybe they will - but, filled with suspicion, they will
fear lest any of their one-time friends get too close. They will hide from them,
and be alone for an eternity.
Now, that is the darkness of
death, now and forever. And that is the fate of every person born since Adam.
Or to say that more pointedly, that is your fate - except for one thing.
Advent. Jesus has come. He has come as the light of the world. He has come on a
mission. And that mission is to rescue you from the darkness of death. He has
come to bless you with the light of life; relationships of love instead of
abject and utter loneliness. This is what Advent is about. This is what the
celebrating is to be about.
But did you notice? Back in our
text there is a condition. Did you catch it?
I am the light
of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the
light of life.
Jesus doesn't talk about believing
in Him. Instead He talks about following Him. Jesus chooses His words
carefully, and with good reason. Anyone can say he believes in Jesus, but who
knows if he really does? On the other hand, following Jesus, being a disciple,
is something that can be seen. It affects a person's day-to-day choices. So,
Jesus is calling for a believing that shows in how one lives. He's calling for
discipleship.
Growing in the enjoyment of the
light of life is a blessing given to disciples, to those who are following Jesus.
So, consider this from Proverbs.
… the path of
the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter
until full day.
You have not experienced all of
the light of life that Jesus has to offer. But as you continue to follow Him,
as you work at being a faithful disciple, you gain more of that light. It
shines 'brighter and brighter'. And the 'full day', the full experience of this
light, arrives in the life to come. So, I think that it is helpful to view the
rest of your days here as the opportunity to enjoy more of the light of life.
And you can be optimistic about that. Because the Spirit lives in you, you will
get to enjoy that more. Don’t settle. Follow Jesus.
But Proverbs also has something
to say about the people you know who still love the darkness.
The way of the
wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.
Now, for these people things are
so dark that they just stumble along. They make one bad choice after another. But
it's so dark that they don't know what's going on. They don't know what is
causing them to stumble. And then, once they are no longer here, they will find
themselves in the outer darkness, utterly alone. Jesus has come and has offered
them the light of life, but they cling to the darkness. They refuse the gift of
Jesus. Because of that, their future is bleak. How sad!
There are limits on what we can
do about that. There is no magic wand to wave over them so that they would come
to their senses, flee from the darkness and cling to Jesus instead. If there were,
we would use it. But there isn't. There are, however, some things that we can
do. For one thing, we can care. Jesus cared about people. He felt compassion
for them. We can imitate Him in this. And as that concern for them grows, the
Spirit will guide. Here's one area that I think that He will use for their
good. We can live our lives of light in ways that they can see. People today
will not be persuaded by some great argument about the truth of the Gospel.
There is a place for that, but it's not in the first place. People will listen
to the truths of the Gospel once they see something of its power in a person's
life, in your life. They need to see the Gospel.
Today is the beginning of Advent.
Jesus has come. He has come to rescue us from death and to give us the light of
life. That is something worth celebrating.