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MAKING WAVES TEXT: JOHN 3:16-21 NOVEMBER 19, 2006
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it. 18 “There is no judgment awaiting those who trust him. But those who do not trust him have already been judged for not believing in the only Son of God. 19 Their judgment is based on this fact: The light from heaven came into the world, but they loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20 They hate the light because they want to sin in the darkness. They stay away from the light for fear their sins will be exposed and they will be punished. 21 But those who do what is right come to the light gladly, so everyone can see that they are doing what God wants.”
INTRODUCTION For the most part, we learn from infancy that the way to get along in this world is to not rock the boat… don’t make waves… learn to play the game, etc. O, we may occasionally be told that we need to strike out on our own, take bold steps and blaze new frontiers… but in reality, we are only permitted to do so as long as we don’t cause a disturbance in the ‘system.’ Some forms of rebellion and individuality are ‘cool’, but only if they conform to what the definition of ‘cool’ is at that time.
Religions & philosophies fall into the same realm of conformity, even when they are presented as new and radical. For the most part, any popular religion today- including pockets of our westernized Christianity- tows the ‘party line’ of our culture by affirming our individualism… our consumerism… our desire to be in control and to have everything our hearts desire. All religions lead to God, and all truths are equally valid- these are the mantras of our culture. Believe whatever you want- as long as you make no claims to having a monopoly on the truth… as long as you do not question the validity of any other belief system.
It is, I believe, important for the sake of integrity and honesty, that as we seek to share the truth of the kingdom of God with our world, we help them understand that true biblical Christianity will not fit into these other systems. The life and calling of a disciple will not permit one to tow the party line with the other kingdoms of this world. To follow Jesus Christ will mean to leave other things behind. And when we choose to do this- when we accept the call of Jesus as our Savior & Lord- we find ourselves at odds with forces that we were previously unaware of… or at least, could not identify. As we embrace and seek to live in the light of God’s truth, it will expose the presence of darkness and evil both in and around us.
WHAT IS EVIL? When I talk about evil, I’m not talking about the ‘Hollywood-ized’ version of it. I’m not talking about spinning heads or leering creatures with little horns and pitchforks. To be sure, the Bible tells us stories of people demon possessed- but that’s only part of the picture. I’m not looking for little devils behind every tree, either. In reality, evil is anything that contradicts the will and character of God. If we do anything that violates God’s desires and designs for us, it is evil… it is sin. And this is true of nations as well as individuals: if a person harms another person, it is evil… if a nation or regime tries to suppress another group of people, those actions are evil. If a company knowingly and willingly destroys the environment in it’s desire to bring in more profits, those actions and that mindset are evil- anything and everything that contradicts God’s good and perfect will.
The reason the kingdom of God is so vilified is because it exposes evil for what it is. It does not allow us to pretend or hide or make excuses- the light of truth exposes darkness, as we read in our scripture for this morning. So again, whether we are able to express it or understand it this way or not, the reason we- and our culture- rebels against God’s kingdom is because it reveals the truth of the darkness both in and around us. THE DARKNESS WITHIN As a result of the fall, evil is a present reality in every part of creation. Romans 5:12- When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire human race. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. Every thing and every one is tainted by sin (“all have sinned’). That includes us. One of the hardest things for us to admit- at least outwardly- is that there is something wrong within us. There is a predisposition toward darkness- toward what is evil. We all know the strange way that thoughts run through our minds… the selfishness and hatred we are all prone to. I don’t need to elaborate on this much, because in our own hearts and minds, we are aware of it, yes?!
What makes us even more uncomfortable than this realization, is the thought of having to face or admit it. The Bible tells us that darkness hates and fears the light. There are things that every one of us here in this room would never want anyone else to know: it may be something we did or something we thought or something we desired.
But the kingdom of God is a kingdom of light and truth. Hebrews 4:13- Nothing in all creation can hide from him. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes. This is the God to whom we must explain all that we have done. To enter the kingdom of God is to expose ourselves before God and admit the presence of the darkness that is within us all… and let His truth and light cleanse us. It is hard… it can be painful… that’s why many choose to ignore the gospel and the invitation of the kingdom. They like the darkness. But the only way to find life is to let God search us and expose us. To live in the kingdom is to live in truth… a truth that exposes darkness and frees us from it.
Romans 3:23-25- For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins. For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God’s anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us.
Again, no other system or belief or philosophy admits this truth. In other religions, our ‘sin’ is that we haven’t realized our full potential- humans are basically good. We need to deny or ignore guilt, and seek to affirm our desires. We can make things better- and ourselves better- by our own efforts. And this sounds good!... but it isn’t true. God’s kingdom reveals to us the truth about ourselves so that He can save and free us.
THE DARKNESS AROUND US But the darkness within ourselves is not the only darkness that fears the kingdom of God. When we start our new lives in God’s kingdom, His Holy Spirit begins to reveal to us the true nature of the kingdoms and systems around us. Again, it is not that there is nothing good around us, nor that all things are necessarily as bad as they could be- but the flaws and failures and even many of the goals of our world systems are not the result of poor planning or a mistake somewhere- it is because of the inherent presence of evil within them. (and again, defining evil as anything that contradicts or opposes the will and character of God).
What causes a group of people to seek to annihilate another group of people? What causes a group of young people to swarm and attack an innocent, lone bystander? What causes a company to exploit third world nations for profit? What causes an extreme religious group to declare jihad and encourage terrorism to kill the infidels… or a government to ruthlessly crush the spirit of those it rules? It isn’t a flaw in the human psyche: it is the presence and reality of sin… of darkness on a grand scale.
The same darkness pervades our culture of sensuality and greed, where people are a commodity- a thing to be used to gratify our urges… a culture of materialism, where our goal is to consume while others go without the needs for life. It is this darkness that the kingdom of God also exposes. Ephesians 6:12- For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms.
That is why to speak the truth of God is to bring ridicule at best… and sometimes outright outrage. Sometimes it is because of the way we present it (we can be cold and self-righteous and judgmental)!... but regardless of how we do it, the world fights against the truth of God. That’s why Jesus was so despised by the religious leaders that he exposed. When you read of so-called godly men screaming for him to be crucified… frothing at the mouth to see his blood… they are seeking to hide the darkness of their hearts, but the light of who he was exposed the truth in them… and they hated it.
The reality and presence of evil does not let us off the hook of responsibility for what we do- it simply identifies the source of it so we can let God deal with it. And fortunately, God does provide a way to deal with it!
Galatians 4:3-7- We were slaves to the spiritual powers of this world. But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because you Gentiles have become his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, and now you can call God your dear Father. Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, everything he has belongs to you.
Making waves is part of life in the kingdom. When we become part of God’s Kingdom, his light of truth enables us to see things that were unseen before. The light of His truth shines into every corner of darkness and he enables us to see it for what it is- both in our own hearts and in the world around us. And He does it, not so we can be judgmental or self-righteous, but so we can be cleansed and freed from it, and so we can seek to be used in our culture toward the same end. |