In a few days, on Sunday morning, I’ll be preaching in our home church, Littlerock Community Fellowship in Olympia, WA. We are going through a long series, section by section, in the Gospel of Luke. We are up to chapter 11, and I will be preaching this week on verses 28-36, and next week on verses 37-54. It is an intense time in Jesus’ ministry where he is judging and condemning the superficiality and spiritual arrogance of the crowds and religious leaders who are simply looking for a good show, trying to catch Jesus in His words so they can silence Him. I will post the message once it is available, but there were some illustrations that I needed to cut so the sermon didn’t get too long, and I thought I’d include them here since they may be of interest to someone.
I recently got a couple of outdoor flood lights from Ben, a member in our church who is an electrician. I wanted to mount these for security for Holly when I’m gone on trips. Man those things are bright! They pierce through the darkness and light up a large area so there are no secrets, no unexpected prowlers, even animals (recently I’ve seen deer, possums, and a family of racoons) avoid the glare. In fact, another friend, Don, had to help me mount them so they wouldn’t blind our neighbors. Those lights illustrate the radiant brilliance of God’s Word (Psalm 119:105) and God’s Son (John 8:12), both of which light up the darkness.
In one place, though, I couldn’t run power, so I bought a solar powered light and mounted it in a dark area. The sun charges it during the day, and it stores up power so it can shine when needed in the darkness through a motion sensor.
Here is one application: Whether we are “plugged in” to the “electricity” of the Spirit and have His power filling us so we shine brilliantly like flood lights, or if we are filled up with “solar power” from God’s Son (sun) so we can shine in the darkest places when needed, the point is to be filled with His light. Paul writes in Philippians 2:15-16 – “…be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life.” May we shine brilliantly in the dark corners of this world, and may God’s Word and Son light up any dark corners of sin in us, that we may repent and be forgiven.
The second illustration that got cut was from Star Wars. I really enjoy the Star Wars movies. The first one to be released, (Episode IV in 1977) was the first movie I ever saw in a theater, when I was nine years old, and I was so excited I could hardly hold my insides together. I do not seek spiritual enlightenment from the movies, they are just fun. So don’t go down the yin/yang Tao Eastern mysticism path. But I want to share a few quotes from a couple jedis that tie in with the subject of light and darkness from our passage, and communicate a point first made by Jesus.
From Jedi Master Yoda:
- “Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny”.
- “To be Jedi is to face the truth, and choose. Give off light, or darkness, Padawan. Be a candle, or the night.”
- The point of these quotes is that when you choose to follow the path of light or darkness, it will spread and fill you. So choose wisely. There is no other option.
From the Jedi Knight, Qui-Gon Jinn:
- “It matters which side we choose… I don’t turn toward the light because it means someday I’ll ‘win’ some sort of cosmic game. I turn toward it because it is the light.”
- The point of this quote in my message is that there are big stakes, our eternal destiny, that flows from our choice of following Christ or rejecting Him. It is not a game. We follow the Light because Jesus alone is “the way, the truth, and the life,” He is “the light of the world.”
May the Lord (much better than the force) be with you.