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Children of light Fourth Sunday in Lent March 2, 2008
Ephesians 5:8-14 "For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light." Do you know the purpose for which you exist? Knowing the purpose of something is no small thing. If you pick up a can opener, and think it is a garage door opener . . . I suppose you could cut your way out. Or, if you enjoy eating lettuce, but only use it to glorify a hamburger, and never make a supreme salad out of it, piling with it tomatoes and carrots, and a host of other vegetables, then your lettuce usage will fall far short of the glory of lettuce. If you don’t use something for which it was created, or get less than something’s value, that thing will not display its glory, or fully shine it. Now, if you want to display the glory for which you were created, and fully shine it, you need to know what your purpose is. Here it is . . . and, it’s nothing you haven’t heard plenty of times: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as you love yourself. The reason that God made you was to bring Him glory. How do you bring Him glory? You bring Him glory by living according to His holy way, His Ten Commandments. You keep His laws holy by loving Him, and worshiping Him, and keeping His Name sacred and teaching His Word correctly, and by serving your neighbor in every bodily and emotional and spiritual need. In this season of Lent, we are especially reminded that we are not up to the task. Indeed, we have been blinded to the task. God had Paul call it darkness. He wrote, "Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret." Oh boy, but do we know all about the shameful things done in secret. We are masters at figuring out when we will have the privacy that we crave so that we can do the things that would not be approved or appreciated in the presence of others.
We know—we have a conscience, and our conscience works very well, thank you—we know what is wrong. But, we have an affinity for things that fall into the categories of shamefulness and darkness. See, darkness is the condition of our birth. That’s why Paul wrote to the Ephesian Christians, "For at one time you were in darkness . . ." Darkness is a synonym for Original Sin. Because we were born into this sinful nature, we don’t have the desire to fulfill the purpose for which God made us. We don’t want to bring glory to God by loving Him, and worshiping Him, and keeping His Name sacred and teaching His Word correctly. And, we don’t want to bring glory to Him by serving our neighbor in every bodily and emotional and spiritual need. No, in the darkness of the sinful nature, we want God to serve us. We want God to keep our lives as if we are sacred cows which should never be touched by anything harmful, or bad, or challenging. But, have you ever noticed how we are exactly what the Word of God says we are, even though we will deny it till the sacred cows come home? When God does treat us well, and life is rosy and sweet and filled with success and plenty, we ignore God—we don’t need Him—we act as if all of this stuff happens to us because we made it happen. But, when the sacred cow’s hamburger spoils, and life hands us a tragedy, a disease, the loss of a job, distress in our family, we whine that God is mistreating us, or ignoring us. We are perfect evidence of this. Generally speaking, for us, life is good. We have most everything we need, so we don’t need God. This pastor has to keep himself from complaining, in every sermon, about our lack of devotion to God. If we were as devoted to worshiping and serving the Lord as we are to our basketball teams, we would be a blazing behemoth of a church. Ah, but have something bad happen . . . The Sunday after 9/11, St. John Lutheran Church of Port Hope was packed. A young person dies in our community, and the sanctuary is packed. But, when the disturbance dies, so does the devotion. And, as for our neighbors, we want our family, our friends, our fellow students, our co-workers to look out for every bodily and emotional and spiritual need of ours, but we don’t want to have to return the favor . . . (whiny voice) cuz that’s hard, and I’m tired, and can’t someone else do it? My dear, fellow Christians, hear the good news. No longer do you dwell in darkness. You are the blind man of today’s Gospel, the man for whom the Lord Jesus opened His eyes so that he could rejoice in seeing this beautiful world, and of whom Jesus said that the blind man was put into Jesus path to heal, "That the works of God might be displayed in him." My dear, fellow Christians, the works of God have been displayed in you. In the darkness of sin, you were brought to the Lord’s baptismal font, where Jesus Christ, the Light of the World, shined His light of glory into you—the forgiveness, life, and salvation, for which He gave His life into the darkness of the sin of the world. In the light of His mercy, you hear His Word, where He forgives all the times that you step back into the darkness of sin. Brought back in His light, you walk to His altar, where He feeds you upon His glorious body and blood, so that you share in His glory. How did Paul begin today’s lesson? "Now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true)." All that is good and right and true begins in the Church, which Jesus founded. In the Christian Church, the glory of God is preached in His Word, and delivered in His Sacraments, and the Word of God is taught so that Christians know the purpose for which God made them—and made them Christians: to be light in the Lord as little lights of Christ, making their Gospel lights shine. Let’s reflect. The civil war was ended. The USA was getting back to the business of taming the land. Pioneers were busy settling the Thumb. In 1868, St. John was formed. Soon after, the Christians of this congregation did what Lutheran Christians do: they formed a school. Since a Lutheran Christian congregation exists to shine the light of Christ, and the light of Christ is found in Christians who do what is good and right and true, the most natural thing for a congregation is to operate a school. Here we are, at the annual beginning of Lutheran Schools Week, in the one-hundred-fortieth year of this congregation, still at the work of our founders—still at the work of the Lord. We still exist to do precisely the same things for which our forefathers founded this place. It is the purpose for which you and I exist—the purpose for which Christ has shined His light into our hearts—to make us His light in the world, to do that which is good and right and true. The bad news is, you still fight the sinful nature, which is always trying to drag you into the darkness of the selfish acts of wrong. When darkness gets the better of you, you enjoy life so much that you forget that it is the Lord who has made life so enjoyable, and you don’t worship Him, and you don’t pray to Him, and you don’t glorify Him. Or, life gets a bit tough, and you turn into a whiner, grumbling about how God is being so mean to you. The good news is, Jesus Christ has opened your eyes to see God for who He is. God is your light and your salvation, come what may—good or evil—and your eyes have been opened to see Him, for you see Him in the light of His mercy, clearly shown in the sacrifice that Christ made for you. Your purpose, therefore, is to shine the light of Christ, wherever you live, loving the Lord your God and serving your neighbor. That’s the purpose of our church. That’s the purpose of our school. That’s the purpose of everyone who is called a Christian. As God had Paul sum it up: "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." Amen.
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