Arise, shine!
Last Sunday I preached undoubtedly the most upbeat New Year sermon I ever
have. Basically, I was saying I believe this is going to be a great year, better than
last, and that we are going to see increased blessing, fruitfulness and anointing,
with salvation, healing and freedom coming to more people in 2009. Some of
you have been kind enough to say you found the sermon helpful and I admit that
I listened to it myself on the web and was encouraged. (That’s either testimony
to God’s grace or deeply worrying, I’m not sure which!) You were all far too
polite, but you might have been excused asking , What planet is he on? Doesn’t
he know what’s going on in the Middle East? Is he aware of the financial crisis
we’re in? Or the moral and spiritual state of our nation? Is he in total denial?
Well, the first couple of verses of Isaiah 60 puts both sides of the equation.
Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises
upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the
peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you.
It says there’s a deep darkness covering the nations of the earth. There are a
number of aspects to that. First, it’s a spiritual darkness. Many people are
completely blind to what is obvious to us: that Jesus, the light of the world, is
the only hope for the mess we’re in, individually and internationally. And yet
many just can’t seem to see him. They don’t appear to get it at all. Why is that?
Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 4:4.
The god of this age (that is satan) has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so
that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is
the image of God.
It’s not just that people are ignorant of the gospel, nor that they refuse to believe,
there is a mental blindness induced by the prevailing spiritual atmosphere, which
has been cleverly engineered over many years by the powers of darkness.
People simply cannot see… till something happens to break that cloud of
spiritual propaganda that engulfs them.
Secondly, there is political darkness covering the earth. The clash of interests
and ideologies, which as so often, is currently focussed on a small patch of land
in the Middle East is fuelled by the same dark forces which prevent people from
seeing the light of Christ. The same could be said of conflicts in Africa etc.
Thirdly, there’s moral darkness with the distinction between right and wrong
being increasingly obscured all over the world. But the words ‘thick darkness’
also speak to me of an epidemic of depression. I don’t have the statistics to
hand, but huge numbers of us are only functioning normally with the help of
anti-depressants. That’s not a judgment on anyone’s individual circumstances
(we all need help at times), but it should concern us as a social phenomenon.
But, Isaiah says, in the midst of that thick shroud of darkness over the earth,
there is a group of people who will rise up and shine. (Kellogg’s didn’t invent
the phrase – Isaiah did, though it doesn’t say whether he liked Corn Flakes or
not. I’m a Shreddies man myself.). In fact, he implies, the darker the world
situation gets, the brighter this group of people will shine and others will see it.
That describes our world situation in 2009 to a tee. The darkness is getting
darker, but the light is getting brighter. I heard it described recently as like
having both hot and cold taps running at once. Isaiah goes on to say that nations
and their rulers will be drawn to this light and bring their wealth and choicest
gifts with them. But it won’t be a natural human light they are attracted by, the
glory of the Lord will be manifesting upon His people.
You may ask, don’t these verses now speak about Jesus revealing the Father’s
glory, especially the bit about them bringing Him gold, incense and camels?!
Yes, of course. But we now have the privilege of revealing Jesus’ glory on earth
just as He revealed the Father’s (it’s all in John’s gospel – though I’m not sure
what we’re going to do with all those camels!) God is positioning people all
over the earth, infiltrating society, who are ready to rise up and shine with a
supernatural light they didn’t produce themselves, and they will draw many out
of this current darkness into the glorious light of Jesus. That’s our high call. It’s
what this whole thing is about… what we’re here for.
Can this be? Is it really possible for flawed people like us to be light-carriers?
For the glory of the Lord to rise on us and over us and around us in such a way
that others are drawn to Him? I know it is. What makes me so certain? Why
am I so positive about this? For one thing, what I’m experiencing right now.
I am different than I was this time last year. I feel different. People have
remarked on it. And I’m looking at you and you are different too! I said last
week that we are all in a process of gradual change and becoming more like
Jesus, but within that process there are times of opportunity when big steps
forward are possible. Personally I know I am growing and changing faster now
than at any time in my adult life. I’m developing much more quickly at fifty
than I was at thirty. I feel like Doctor Who – I’m getting younger all the time!
Now that should give you hope on two counts. If someone with as many
limitations, flaws and shortcomings as me (I’m not just saying that – I’m truly
aware of my limitations especially with regard to the great responsibilities of my
role here.) But if someone like me is growing increasingly rapidly, then there’s
absolutely no reason you can’t. In fact, you definitely are going to. It should
also give you hope because I am painfully aware how longsuffering you are with
me as your vicar – but at least there’s hope things are going to get better!
Here’s a small example. You know the popular ice-breaker question, When was
the last time you did something for the first time? Well I did something for the
first time this week. Many of you have been doing this since you were in the
cradle, but I’m a bit of a Ludite when it comes to IT. Our new projection system
requires me to use PowerPoint; so Andrew has graciously been teaching me and
I’ve produced my first ever PowerPoint! This is on a very weighty subject so I
want you to watch with the utmost seriousness … I did try and set it to music,
but that defeated me, so you’ll have to watch in silence as befits something
this… well… weighty.
Play PowerPoint ‘Supercharged Jaguar’
I’m probably going to scare you now. I talk to the evening congregation like
this quite often, but I’m a bit more circumspect in the mornings. God speaks to
me through stuff like that. God has been speaking to me through this particular
model of car – the Jaguar XKR with supercharged V8 420 HP Eaton engine –
for some time. I’ve mentioned this on at least one occasion before and I’m quite
surprised how slow you’ve been. I mean don’t you know how to look after your
clergy? It’s not like I’m asking for a handmade Italian job. What’s the problem?
They only come in at around £60,000! (Please don’t anyone take me seriously!)
It was the word supercharged that grabbed me when I first saw one in Bradford
Station car park. Since then I seem to keep seeing them everywhere, especially
when I’m out walking and praying about this stuff, suddenly one will come
round the corner on a completely deserted road, or I’ll see one parked in
someone’s drive. I know you notice things once you’re looking for it, but there
can’t be that many around at 60 Grand a time! God is talking to me about
supercharging our natural abilities (intellect, imagination, instinct, intuition etc),
our emotional intelligence (relationships, communication, compassion, caring),
our spiritual gifts, and even our physical health and well-being, in order that we
can travel farther and faster towards our goal – fulfilling our predestined role in
advancing His Kingdom. That’s what I feel is happening to me. It’s happening
to many of you too, and He wants it to happen to all of you.
Now I’m not a technology person – you know that. But I looked into what
supercharging is and as far as I can understand in layman’s terms it means you
force more oxygen into the place where all the little explosions happen that
make the engine go round, so that it works more efficiently and effectively. It’s
similar to turbocharging, and low and behold my-new-best-friend-I-never-met, in
his Christmas sermon, spoke about God turbocharging our areas of strength to
become even more fruitful. So we’re talking about oxygen and fire (internal
combustion) combining to make something move forwards farther and faster
than ever before. It’s not rocket science (though not entirely unrelated!) that we
need more Holy Spirit – the wind, fire, oil and water of God. I guess Isaiah
didn’t eat Corn Flakes and he didn’t see too many Jaguar XKRs in his neck of
the woods, but he had the same vision burning in him when he said,
Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises
upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the
peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you.
The glory of the Lord here means the Holy Spirit manifested on His people.
That’s what we need more of! I know I go on and on about this. That’s because,
frankly, some of you are getting it and some of you aren’t! But that’s OK. In a
family, we are all at different stages of development and understanding. I’ll just
keep going on till we all get it!
Ministry time
I’ve been talking about fulfilling your destiny in God’s Kingdom. But you may
not be in the Kingdom yet. Maybe you’ve been coming to church for a while,
taking a good look at what we do, but haven’t personally received Christ yet.
That ‘thick darkness’ is still separating you from God and you know you need
the light of Christ to come into your life.
There’s only one way into the Kingdom – a portal everyone needs to go through
– the cross. Two things happen at the cross. Firstly, it’s the place where Jesus
died for you. That means he took into Himself your sin (your moral wrongdoing
and the things which grieve God). He also took your sorrow, sickness, and
sadness, your sense of separation from God and other people, and your spiritual
deadness. If you are willing to, you can leave all those at the cross today and in
their place Jesus offers you forgiveness, freedom, friendship with God, fullness
of the Spirit and life forevermore. Sound like a fair exchange?
But listen carefully; the second thing that happens at the cross is you die! The
Bible says people who have passed through this doorway have died with Christ.
That means everything that used to govern your life has been reprioritised and
takes second place to Jesus and His Kingdom – and some things won’t have a
place in your new life at all. Jesus compared it to being willing to sell everything
you have to buy one infinitely precious pearl. If you’re willing for that, you can
step through the doorway of the cross now and come into God’s domain where
possibilities are limitless.
Prayer of repentance and faith.