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Lighting Every Man
Presenter: Larry Kirkpatrick
Event: Indonesian Adventist Youth Federation Spiritual Revival Weekend
Location: Upland, California, United States
Delivery: 2007-09-29 02:30Z
Publication: GreatControversy.org 2007-09-29 05:00Z
Type: Sermon
URL: http://www.greatcontroversy.org/gco/ser/kir-lem.php
He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world (John 1:8, 9).
John was not the light. But God had a mission for him; he was to bear witness to the Light. What Light? The true Light—Jesus Christ.
The Christian comes and makes a claim: You are lost. You need salvation. Salvation is available through Christ. If you listen to the Christian long enough, he may tell you that you are lost because you are guilty of sin. God has a law; you have broken it. Since He is in charge of the universe, and has all power, you are doomed. Either you follow His instructions to the letter, or you will spend a very long time in a very hot place.
Are you interested in God’s character yet?
The hot-place-approach was used for a long time. Apart from its rightness or wrongness (it is wrong), it seemed to work. But today the world spins faster. Information smothers us. A thousand claims vie for our attention. And so the question becomes: Who is the True Light? In an age where so many shout that they have the light, how shall He be found? Is God hiding from us? Is He only accessible by the degree-studded Bible scholar, only by the silver-tongued preacher? What of the woman in the pew, the man in the street? How will they find God?
A Starting Place
What we need is a starting place. One approach combines observation with revelation.
Considering our experience in the world, our interactions with fellow humans, most, perhaps even all of us, would say there is significant evidence that people, almost universally, are selfish. The “almost” becomes the intriguing part. What about the people who seem to be unselfish? How is it that some people are different?
You see, authentically biblical Christian claims are not really about obeying some obscure list of rules; true Christian claims are about a God who is interested in people and ready to transform those who are interested so that they can become truly human—human as God designed for us to be. It is also true that the way He designed the universe, such people get to live for eternity; a friendly byproduct.
The real question is, how can my experience transcend the selfish, self-destructive norm? How can I become the kind of person who brings goodness into the lives of others? My experience with other people tells me that they are generally selfish, but that there are exceptions. There are lights shining in the darkness. How can I become one of those lights?
The Bible contains information preserved for us and delivered to us down through the ages by God. Some of it seems to be consistently neglected. Like our opening text:
He [John] was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world (John 1:8, 9).
The Bible affirms that God sent a Light into the world. Christians hold that Jesus is that true Light. According to the testimony of Scripture, there is one divine Being, God, manifest in three distinct persons, indicated in the Bible as the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit. Jesus is presented as being God come into a human flesh, a human experience, a human situation—like our own. (Two differences being, that (1) He is God and we are not, and (2) He never sinned and we all have sinned.) He came to seek and to save the lost—that is, as many from among the whole human race as are willing to be saved.
Many are the Christians who will come to you, claiming that you are a being totally depraved, who cannot do good but can only do that which is morally wrong. Some even say that you were born guilty, that newborn children are under God’s wrath and condemnation from the moment of their conception. That is, they say that before you have intelligently and intentionally chosen to become a rebel against goodness, you are condemned for a badness that you had never chosen. Again, we ask—if that is who God is, if that is what His character is like—are you interested in copying that character yet?
Arbitrary or Merciful?
I much prefer a God who sends Light to a whole race in need; a God who is fair, who does not condemn people who have not yet with appreciation for evil and with premeditation joined themselves to it.
Here is what we are getting at. The Bible says that Jesus is the Light which lights every man. God does not leave men oblivious and ignorant of His existence. He does not condemn men on any arbitrary basis. He gives men light. Everyone receives light. No exceptions. Everyone sees that there is a God, that there are moral parameters in the universe. Everyone is helped by God to see enough of His kingdom that they can intelligently and intentionally embrace it, or intelligently and intentionally reject it.
Testimony External, Internal, Personal
The creation testifies that there is a God (Ps 19:1-4). Hear Paul speak of God too:
Nevertheless He left not Himself without witness, in that He did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness (Acts 14:17).
So does the conscience (Rom 1:18-21, 28, 32; 2:11-16). The conscience is the other half of our answer. There is no way to account for the conscience by rationalistic means. How do you evolve a conscience? The fair observer will admit that there are, at least as far as observation can tell us, mostly selfish people in the world, and that there are, as far as observation can tell us, at least some unselfish people in the world. Do you begin to see the formula? Jesus is the Light who lighteth all men. Everyone gets a conscience. Then you have everyone responding to that God-given conscience. John 3:19, 20: shows the result.
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
People choose unselfishness or selfishness, they choose, light or darkness. Upon what do they base their choices? Their own chosen preferences, but those are determined—in part at least—by what they see in others. What examples are they given? How high are they encouraged to rise? Are they encouraged that it is possible to become truly human? What examples do they see, particularly the examples claiming Christianity? What do they see in us?
Our Example
What we choose is revealed by our deeds. Our deeds are evaluated by the observing world. It forms its impressions. People choose either to move toward the light, or retreat further into darkness. The clock is ticking, there are no time-outs, and along the pathway of every life God sends interventions. Every person is given a series of important, tailor-made opportunities. Yours and my chief role is to be examples of true humanity, to deal with our own lives in ways that are so attractive, so appealing, that people will look at us and want what we have. They will look at us as Christians and desire the Christ we follow. They will be drawn from the darkness and toward the light by our example.
You know and I know that all must look to Christ and not to us. But the weakness of humanity is such that what men should do they do not know to do, and so instead they evaluate God based upon what they see in those who claim to belong to Him. The unbeliever has made no claim for his behavior and is not claiming to represent anyone other than himself. But it is not so with us. If we claim to be Christians, then we claim to be products of a fair and powerful God. Our guidance in this matter comes directly from the Lord Jesus.
Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil (Matt 5:14-17).
Perhaps being a model for and of Jesus—for such is what Heaven intends us to be—is not our first choice. Actually, it is something that no man with a fallen nature would have as his first choice. But this is a basic point. Right now, you exist in a fallen world. You live in the Los Angeles basin. That means that every breath you take, you are inhaling air pollution. OK. We know this. We do not dwell on it. We keep moving forward. We deal with it. We do not labor the point. We still water the flowers and try to wear clean clothes.
It is the same with our birth-nature. We have a bent birth-nature, an inclination toward evil. OK. We know this. It does not change what God says, does it?
Listen. We do not declare it, but Jesus has declared it: we are to be the light of the world. Jesus compares us—His church—with a city that is set on a hill. Usually cities are located in the valleys, not the hills. It is much more according to our inclination to live in the lowlands than the high. But He says we are to be like that most unusual sight: the city set on a hill.
He points out that men do not light a candle and then hide it under a covering. Rather, they light a candle and then they position it up high so that it will give light to everyone in the house. You see, Jesus lit a candle 2,000 years ago. He built His Church and intends that the gates of hell—the tombs and caskets and graves—shall not prevail against it. He intends that the earth shall release its captives, that His people will live again. He fully intends to win the Great Controversy War.
Jesus commanded, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Jesus lit a light. We are that light. We are to permit that light to shine, we are not to intervene, to block the light or hide it. It is to shine “before men.” Why? So “that they may see your good works.” And do what? And react! “And glorify Your Father which is in heaven.” Our light is to shine so that the Father Himself is glorified by it. But are we reading from the same Bible? Are we misunderstanding something here? I don’t think so. Hear Hebrews 11:4.
By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.
Abel’s deeds were right. By his deeds he obtained witness that he was righteous. And his humble behavior 6,000 years ago testifies tonight. He being dead yet speaketh. Abel was righteous.
Then there are Jesus’ words in John 5:36.
But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given Me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of Me, that the Father hath sent Me.
Jesus’ works bore witness that He was sent by the Father. Certainly, His works bore witness that He was righteous and that His Father was righteous. If we are to let our light shine before men and if the source of that light is Jesus, who lighteth every man that cometh into the world, then we are sent by our Father as well. We are not sent to be Messiah. But we are sent to be witnesses, true witnesses.
We often read the last part of the Matthew passage separately. You know, the part, where after Jesus has described His people as a city on a hill, after they have been described as being like a light on top of a candlestick, and after He urges us to let our light shine so that the Father is glorified, that then He says “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” But the fact is, that when we let our light so shine, that is when we, like Jesus, rather than destroying the law and the prophets, fulfill it. It is when we become true witnesses to what our God is like. Remember Proverbs 14:25.
You have to think about this verse carefully It is not saying that a true witness produces converts to Christianity, (although that is indeed so). Rather, what this Proverb is saying is that a true witness, in the judicial setting, delivers the unjustly accused. And what is the judicial setting in the Great Controversy War? God is unjustly accused of expecting of humans more than is fair. The charge is that sin is not a problem of human origin, that responsibility for it lay with God, and that what God considers to be sin is not really sin. The charge is that God’s government is defective and that a created being ought to be worshipped (Isa 14:12-14). If you are a true witness for God, then your testimony in His behalf will be persuasive. Then you will deliver His soul (if we dare to use such language); your behavior will testify that the God you claim to serve is able to change selfish people into unselfish ones.
Conclusion
Our view of the human predicament is biblically realistic; yes, people need salvation through Christ, but no, not on the basis of signing onto an arbitrary list of rules in order to avoid the hot place. Our picture of the Christian walk is 1,000 times more attractive than that. It is that God desires for each of us to be all that we can be. He would like us to be true humans. He would like us to be lights in the world, windows into the unselfishness of His character. He did not position you here for the water parks or the restaurants. His purpose for you is to have all the blessings you can bear, and that others would see your transparent life, and want some too. May the Holy Spirit use us in His service. GCO
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