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Tropical Sands Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) |
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Live In The Light
For 40 years in the desert, God miraculously provided a food called manna for the children of Israel. It simply appeared each morning and evaporated before evening. We use it as a symbol of God's provision, referring to blessings as "manna from heaven".
But the children of Israel didn't always see it as a blessing. Once, after God had given them a great victory that freed Hebrew captives from the Canaanites, the Israelites complained, "Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food." God was offended, and rightly so, so He sent poisonous snakes, and many of the Israelites died of snakebite. So, once again the people cried for mercy. God instructed Moses to raise up a bronze serpent on a pole, so the whole camp could see it. When snakebite victims gazed on the serpent, their lives would be spared. Even in His anger, God showed mercy to the people through that bronze snake.
Jesus uses the bronze snake to tell a ruler of the synagogue how He would die -- by being lifted up on the pole of the cross. He is not only describing how He would die, but why He would die that way. Let's hear the word of the LORD:
As Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the desert, in the same way the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to be its judge, but to be its savior.
Those who believe in the Son are not judged; but those who do not believe have already been judged, because they have not believed in God's only Son. This is how the judgment works: the light has come into the world, but people love the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds are evil. Those who do evil things hate the light and will not come to the light, because they do not want their evil deeds to be shown up. But those who do what is true come to the light in order that the light may show that what they did was in obedience to God.
-- John 3:14-20 (TEV)
There is nothing impersonal about God. He is not a neutral life force that keeps us breathing. He is not a mathematical principal of justice, like Karma, and He is not the good side of a good-vs.-bad universe. The Supreme Being really is a being, a Divine Personality, with feelings and emotions. We may fear His anger, but it is a necessary part of His mercy. Without the wrath of God, nothing stands between the wrath of fallen mankind and the utter destruction it would bring. The wrath of God is a necessary part of His mercy.
We all need the mercy of God. Most thinking people do not want what they truly deserve, because we all fall short of the Glory of God. If it were up to us, the exercise of justice and mercy would be distributed in some other way. We would get all the mercy, and our enemies would get all the justice.
But on a grand scale, God's exercise of justice and mercy is a blessing. It is manna from heaven, and we must not detest this miserable food. Jesus Christ is the mercy of God. God did not send His Son to judge the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. And like the serpent that Moses lifted in the desert, it becomes a mercy that we cannot earn and do not deserve. It is freely given, available to anyone who will see Christ lifted up and believe on Him.
Many years ago, Andrew Lloyd Webber got his big break on Broadway with the rock musical, "Jesus Christ, Superstar." In that play, Judas questions the wisdom of everything Jesus did:
"Everytime I look at you I don't understand
Why you let the things you did get so out of hand.
You'd have managed better if you'd had a plan.
Why'd you choose such a backward time in such a strange land.
If you'd come today you would have picked up a nation.
Israel in 4 BC had no mass communication."
But we know that God had a plan, and Jesus did more than pick up one nation. He has won followers in every age, from every nation.
In another line, the singing Judas says:
"Tell me what you think about your friends at the top.
Who'd you think besides yourself the pick if the crop.
Buddha was he where it's at, is he where you are?
Did Mohammed move a mountain or was that just PR.
Did you mean to die like that? Was that a mistake? or
Did you know your messy death would be a record-breaker?"
I believe that Jesus did know, which is precisely why he came when He did -- at the height of the Roman Empire, when roads and language would allow the Gospel to spread in every direction -- and where He did -- at the intersection of continents, where Africa and the East meet Europe, and in the region where God's Temple was the world's most lavish and visible worship center.
Just as Moses lifted up the serpent for all the camp of Israel to see, God lifted Jesus up for all the world to see, throughout the rest of history. That's why we follow the God of Abraham, and not some pantheon of Greek and Roman gods -- and we are a more merciful civilization for it. Child sacrifice, the enslavement of women and fatal sporting events were common in the ancient religions of Europe and the New World. Christianity has had many dark moments, but they have all been condemned in the light of Jesus Himself.
So Jesus is a symbol, like the bronze serpent, a touchpoint with the mercy of God. But He is so much more than that. He lived a perfect life. He reached out to women, Samaritans, Greeks and Romans in a world that considered them God's unclean rejects. He elevated children to the position of royalty, and lowered Himself to the level of a servant.
Jesus turned the religious world upside down, but sometimes, I think we want to flip it back over. Too often, we are willing to accept Jesus the Bronze Serpent and reject Jesus the cornerstone, the Light of the world who sets our standard of behavior. We see crosses on tattoos, jewelry, flags and bumper stickers as symbols of power and defiance ,instead of as emblems of mercy and humility. Our assignment is not to raise up the Bronze Serpent, but to carry our crosses.
Included in our scripture was that famous verse, John 3:16. We all learned it as a child. Let's say it together: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but should have eternal life." John 3:17 is good, too: "For God did not send His Son into the world to be its judge, but to be its savior."
He is the Bronze Serpent who saves by faith, and also the light of the world who saves by example.
"This is how the judgment works," He says. "The light has come into the world, but men love the darkness rather than the light, because they do evil things."
Maybe you've seen this optical illusion hanging around the church. This is how judgment works. The gray line is one color, end to end. On the dark side, it looks light, but on the light background, it looks pretty dark. If we're hooked on evil, we stay on the dark side, because we don't want to look bad. We don't want people to see how dark we really are. We just stay away from Jesus, or we avoid thinking about what He taught about forgiveness and sacrifice. That's how darkness works.
Jesus does not judge us. Jesus is light, and He just shines as an example of God's love. There is no crime in that. We try to drag him down with myths and legends and DiVinci Codes, but that doesn't change who He was.
Jesus was the perfect man, and if we get close, we will look dark. Nobody can live up to the standard Jesus set. But the question is, do we stay away from the light, or do we come near? Do we hide in the darkness, where we look like good people, or are we attracted to the light, even if it makes us look bad.
I don't have to tell you that my wife is happy about my new job as a pastor. She honored me with a "clergy" sticker on my bumper. Thanks, Hon. That'll keep me out of the beer joint parking lot, and it makes me think twice before I race down the road. That is not why she did it, but that is not a bad thing. Preachers are held to a higher standard, and yes, we do look a little gray against the light of Jesus. You know, charcoal gray. But staying in the light makes us watch our P's and Q's, watch our language, and even watch our tone of voice. We get a little lighter just by staying in the light.
Jesus does not judge the world, but we will never live up to His standard. This is how judgment works. Are we drawn to the light? Do we respect and follow Christ? Or, would we rather stay in the dark, and even try to pull Jesus down with us. Are we going to follow Jesus, even if we fall behind, or do we look for some religion or philosophy that makes us look good?
Let me put it in the language of Tropical Sands Christian Church. It is good to Profess Faith, but that is not enough. It is also good to Proclaim Hope, but there is still something more. If we believe in a way that matters, we will also Practice Love. Belief requires all three: Profess Faith, Proclaim Hope, and Practice Love.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, let us walk in the light and practice the love of Christ.
Amen.
Joel Tucker
Tropical Sands Christian Church
March 26, 2006