Download Living in the Light Psalm 123 I Thessalonians 5:1

Living in the Light
Psalm 123
I Thessalonians 5:1-11
Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”
These last couple of weeks, we have been talking about the truth of the gospel of
Jesus Christ, which we accept as the truth of God. For, as we know, truth is not
relative, nor is everything truth. Instead truth is that which comes from God, and
Jesus is the one who has come from God. This is the truth which we seek to lead
people, starting where they are in their own beliefs and pointing them to Jesus. We
proclaim this truth because we know that it does set us free. We will learn more of
about this as we come to end of Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians. I will read
from the fifth chapter, beginning at the first verse. Listen now for the Word of
God...
When Hunter was a little boy, he and I used to play a game called “boo.” As
you can imagine, it’s a game where we try to hide from each other, and then jump
out and yell “boo,” hoping to startle the other. Of course, the key to this game is to
make it a surprise, which was a concept that Hunter didn’t pick up on at first. You
see, his favorite hiding place was my closet and it was perfect for jumping out at
me. The problem was that before he would run and hide in my closet, Hunter
would tell me that he was going to do ti. So, it sort of took away the surprise. Of
course, when he jumped out at me and yelled “boo” I still made my startled face
and yelled. But, then he would ask me, “Did I scare you?” Well, that’s when I had
to burst his bubble and tell him that no, I wasn’t scared because I knew he was
there. Then I would explain to him that he wasn’t supposed to warn me before
hand, because if I knew he is there, then it was not a surprise. Of course, that’s
how it is with most things in life isn’t it? If we know that something is coming,
then we are not caught off guard, which is what Paul was trying to tell the
Thessalonians.
We know from last week, that the Thessalonians were concerned about what
was going to happen to them if they died before Christ returned. Paul reassured
them that it did not matter whether they died before Christ returned or were alive
when Christ returned, either way, they were going to be with Christ forever. So,
that naturally led to another question, “When?” Christ is going to return and we
are going to be with him, but when is it going to happen. Is it going to be
tomorrow, or next week, or next year? Will it be in our lifetime? Paul responds by
telling them that he doesn’t need to go into a lot of detail because they already
know the answer to their question. Jesus is coming like a thief in the night, which
means, that Paul doesn’t know when Christ is going to return, he only knows, that
Christ is going to return. Paul has as much information about this as the
Thessalonians have. Neither know when it is going to happen, they just know that
it is going to happen. So, why worry about it, Paul wrote. It is not going to catch
you by surprise. Don’t worry, you will not miss it; you will not be caught off
guard, because you already know that it is coming, and because you already know
that it is coming, then you will be ready for Christ, when he returns. Knowing that
Christ is going to return makes all the difference in how we live our lives. As a
matter of fact, living with this truth is as different from living without it as day is
from night.
All throughout Scripture we find this image of day and night, light and dark.
It is an image that goes all the way back to chapter one of Genesis, when God
spoke into the darkness and said, “Let their be light.” Now, many times this image
of light and dark is used to differentiate between those who do good and those who
do evil. The children of light are the righteous, while the children of darkness are
evil. Yet, even beneath this layer of meaning there is another layer of meaning,
related to this image of light and dark, and that layer of meaning has to do with
knowledge. Light refers to knowledge, while darkness refers to a lack of
knowledge. As an example, when somebody does not know something we say that
that person is “in the dark.” Or, when someone finally starts to understand or
know something, we say that that person has, “seen the light.” We have that
cartoon image in our mind of a light bulb turning on over somebodies head. The
image of light and dark, is an image of knowledge or the lack of knowledge; and,
Paul uses that image of light and darkness, day and night, to help us understand
that the knowledge of Christ’s return really does change the way we live our lives,
it has a profound effect upon us, or at least it should.
Knowing that Christ is going to return, living in the light of that truth, alters
how we live our lives, it sets us free to live in hope, and I think that hope has
become under appreciated, in our day. I think that for so many of us, we have
taken hope for granted, and have forgotten just how much we need hope, and how
valuable hope is in our lives. Living as a child of light, with the knowledge of
Christ’s return on our hearts means that we have a hope beyond the present
moment, and that hope is like a life line to which we cling when the darkness
surrounds us. A number of years ago, I found myself watching a video about Joni
Erickson Tada, the woman who at the age of seventeen, dived head first into the
Chesapeake Bay. She hit a log, resulting in her being a quadriplegic for the rest of
her life. As I watched the video, I was struck with how filled with hope she was,
and how that hope allowed her to look beyond the present moment, to a time when
she would no longer suffer, or would no longer be bound to a wheel chair. It was
amazing to me, and I remember that as I watched her, I found myself thinking
about the actor, Christopher Reeve, who had suffered his own accident that left
him paralyzed. He did an interview about his accident and the remarkable strides
that he had made in trying to walk again. Yet, as I watched his interview, I found
something lacking in his voice, hope. By the end of that interview, I had a sense,
from what he said, that he had no hope beyond the present moment, or beyond this
present life. I sensed that in his own mind, if he never walked again, he would
consider his life to be a failure, or even worse, meaningless. Without hope beyond
the present moment, any setback, any suffering, any obstacle, any roadblock, can
rob us of meaning and purpose in our lives, and that can be devastating.
When hope begins to fade, which can happen when we turn from the light of
Christ and embrace the darkness of our present burden, we discover that
meaninglessness will begin to invade our lives. Of course, to try and overcome
that meaninglessness, we do those things that in reality hurt us even more. For
example, we throw ourselves into our work, running ourselves to the point of
exhaustion, hoping that at the end of the day, someone will notice us and
appreciate us, or hoping that at the end of the day, we can say, “look at me, I’ve
accomplished something.” Or, we try and overcome the meaninglessness by
allowing others to dictate how we live our lives. We let the opinions that others
have of us determine what we do. Because we want acceptance and approval from
others, we do what we think will please them, or what we think will elicit their
favor upon us. We say yes, when we want to say no, because we do not want to
disappoint. The problem is that these expectations that others have can become so
overwhelming that one begins to die on the inside, trying to live up to them.
Sometimes when hope begins to fade, genuine feeling is lost and one begins to run
on autopilot, doing things for others not out of love, but out of a desperate attempt
to be loved and appreciated. Then there are those times when we seek to escape
the encroaching darkness. Paul mentions alcohol. He says that those in the dark
are the ones who get drunk. But, there are so many other things which we can over
indulge as a means of escape. There are other drugs, there is food, or the
television, the computer, shopping, or even the pursuit of happiness, as our world
defines happiness. And, while the darkness may lift for a moment, it will return
unless we are living in the light of Christ, unless we hold onto that hope beyond the
present moment.
Living in the light of Christ, holding onto that hope beyond this present
moment, sets us free from the darkness. It enables us to live with courage, the
courage to say yes to those things that we know we can accomplish through the
gifts that God has given us, and saying no to those things that fall outside of our
gifts.
In the light of Christ we are set free to risk, to step out in faith. We have
spent the last couple of weeks talking about sharing the truth of the gospel with
others, which for any of us, would mean stepping out in faith. Living in the light
of Christ, we can do that, knowing that if we experience some failure or an
obstacle stands in our way, it is not the end. After all, what do we say when a door
closes? We say that God opens a window. That is living in the light of Christ.
Living in the light of Christ, sets us free to give value and meaning to
someone else. When we reach out and care for people that the rest of the world
doesn’t care about, then we are sending a message to them that they are still valued
in God’s eyes, that their life does have meaning, because they are a children of
God.
Living in the light of Christ, sets us free to truly appreciate the life that God
has given us. We can take joy in the small things of life that seem to be
insignificant; but which we know are significant because they are of God.
Living in the light of Christ, sets us free to commune with God. Think about
it. If this life is all there is, why waste time trying to commune with God when we
should be out there living it up to the full? We need to cram as much into life as
we can because once it is over, it’s all gone. Some people think this way. You
can see in their actions, and in the way they live their lives. Yet, knowing that life
is more than this present moment allows us to set aside those things that hinder our
communion with God. It allows us to quiet down the chaos around us so that we
can find rest and peace in the stillness and simplicity of God’s presence.
Living in the light of Christ, in the knowledge of Christ’s return gives us
hope beyond this present moment; and, it is this hope which gives meaning and
purpose to life, so that we can live this present moment as we were created to live.
So, how do we live in that hope, how do we live in the light of Christ. Well, here
is the interesting point. Paul does not tell us how to do it for ourselves. Instead, he
tells us that we are to help others live in that hope, to live in the light of Christ.
Notice Paul’s last word there in our lesson, he wrote, “Encourage one another and
build each other up.” It is through community that we are enabled to live in the
light of Christ, because we cannot do it on our own. We need the support, the
accountability, the encouragement of one another to help us live in the light of
Christ. The community of Christ’s people is a key ingredient to living in the light
of Christ, which is why in just about every chapter of the Bible, you see God
calling people into community. From Adam and Eve in the garden, Moses and the
people of Israel in the desert, to the calling of the twelve disciples and the sending
forth of the church to make more disciples, God has been calling us into
community. For, only in community can we fully live in the light of Christ.
Thanks be to God who has given to us his Son, and who has given to us, brothers
and sisters of faith, in whom and through whom we live in the light of Christ.