Speakers: James Lamb
Detail:
Perhaps you have used the expression, “I was hanging on for dear life.” Depending on who was driving, maybe it was riding to church this morning! Paul uses a similar expression as we take the sometimes scary ride of living in this world, “Hang on TO dear life!” Paul wants us to be “holding fast to the word of life” (v 16). Do you know what makes this not so scary? The word of life is Good News! And it’s not just Good News that you read or hear about. It’s Good News for life! It’s Good News for your life.
A.The Word of Life is Good News For Life Because It Tells You Whose You Are
The word of life is Good News for your life, first because it tells you whose you are. The focus of this text is that Christians are to do everything without “grumbling and questioning” (v 14) so that they may be “blameless and innocent” and thus be different and stand out in this “crooked and twisted” world of ours (v 15). We will get to that. But in reminding us what we are to be, Paul also reminds us whose we are that enables us to be what we are to be! You are “children of God” (v 15). You belong to God.
God gave you life. Job reminds us that God shaped and formed you in the womb like a potter shaping and forming a vessel (Job 10:8). As a vessel belongs to the potter, so you belong to God.
Sin shatters us and our relationship to God. Our sinful nature does not want to acknowledge God as giver of life. Sin twists how we see things. Instead of seeing life as a gift from God, we see life as a product, a commodity, something we can manipulate according to our wishes. We see life as a mistake, an inconvenience, or a burden. Sin twists things and leads to technologies that destroy rather than enhance life; it leads to aborting our children rather than welcoming them; it leads to killing the infirm rather than caring for them. Sin causes the vessel to say to the potter, “I don’t need you.”
The potter would have every right to smash to pieces such an insolent vessel. But—and here’s some Good News for life—we have a God who loves even rebellious, unlovable life. His love for life was so great that He, the Potter, became a vessel. He demonstrated His love for life by allowing Himself to start where we started. Prior to our text Paul says, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (2:5-7). Jesus, too, was shaped and formed in a womb. God became a child in order to reclaim us as His children.
That required a price. That’s what the cross was about. There He was crushed for our iniquities. He was the vessel God forsook and “smashed to pieces” in our place. He took what we deserved that we might be adopted in Jesus as His children. This is Good News for your life! You belong to God. He made you. He bought you back. You are His children. Hold fast to this word of life!
Now I want to pause here and make sure everyone is hearing this good news applied to them. Some here today might think it doesn’t. Those who have been involved in an abortion decision, for example, might feel such news is too good to be true for them. Could there really be such people here in a Christian church? You be the judge. There are around 3,000 abortions every day. It is said that for every abortion, at least 10 people are affected—the mother of the aborted child, the father, grandparents, siblings. So every day in this country at least 30,000 people are affected by an abortion decision. We also know that seventy percent of those are Christians. Chances are good that someone here has had an abortion or pressured someone into having an abortion and are now burdened by that sin and really wonder if this Good News applies to them. So let me speak just to you. YES! Yes it does apply to you. Jesus died to purchase forgiveness for every sin. He has declared every sinner who believes in Him to be “children of God.” Every sinner—no matter what the sin—can hold fast to that Word of Life!
B. The Word of Life is Good News For Life Because of Where You Are
This Word of Life is Good News for life because it tells us whose we are. Holding fast to this Word of Life is also important Good News because of where we are. We live in the midst of a “crooked and twisted generation” (v 15). The mountain pine beetle has caused great damage to the forests in northern Colorado. This tiny beetle bores under the bark of the lodgepole pines and kills them quickly; and it is spreading exponentially. Entire mountainsides once growing with green and life are now brittle and brown with death. But every once in awhile you will spot a little patch of green in the midst of the dead trees. The beetle does not affect blue spruce, Douglas fir, or aspen. They are little pockets of life in the midst of seemingly overwhelming death.
As Christians, we need to hold fast to the Word of Life because we are in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation. The “crooked and twisted,” have always been around. But we live in a generation that is doing better than most in not just tolerating such evil and perversion, but actually celebrating it and calling it good. It’s as if we are getting to the point where people actually believe the mountainside is supposed to be brown and that anything green is out of place. Death is held as the norm, and life is held in contempt.
Think about how twisted things have gotten just in regard to the sanctity of human life. We are horrified at the abuse of children and yet we promote and protect the right to kill our children in abortion. We champion the rights of people with disabilities and yet test our babies before they are born so we can eliminate those with disabilities. “Choose Life” license plates are vehemently opposed by people who believe in the “right to choose.” Sea turtle eggs are protected by federal law; unborn humans are not. Minors need parental consent for an aspirin but not for an abortion. We cringe at the rising rate of suicide and yet pass laws making it legal for a physician to assist in suicide. We strive to cheat aging and death by tucks and lifts and augmentations and yet turn to death to solve the problems of aging.
You are not on the sidelines of this “crooked and twisted” generation. You are in the midst of it. You are surrounded by it like those Colorado blue spruce standing among all those dead lodgepole pines. It’s hard not to be affected by it, to look around and think, “Well maybe pine trees are supposed to be brown. Maybe death really is a noble way to deal with problems.” That’s why it’s so important to hold fast to the Word of Life.
C. The Word of Life is Good News For Life Because of What You Are to Be
This Word of Life is Good News for life because it tells you whose you are and because of where you are. Finally, the Word of Life is Good News for life because of what you are to be. Christians are to be different. Not just different because we show up here on Sunday morning, but different out there in the world. We are to do “all things without grumbling or questioning” (v 14). We are to lay aside pettiness and selfishness so that we can become out there what God declares us to be in here, “blameless and innocent children of God” (v 15). We’re called to stand out like those green trees in the Colorado forests, but not just to stand there. We’re to shine there! Jesus says we are the “light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). Paul says in our text that we are to shine as lights as we hold fast to the Word of Life.
So how are we doing? The Barna Group, a respected Christian research organization, indicates that in virtually every study they conducted those who believe in Jesus as their Savior and are assured of going to heaven through faith in Him “fail to display much attitudinal or behavioral evidence of transformation.” Most lifestyle activities were “statistically equivalent” to non-Christians. This Word of Life God gives us is not just something we are to hold on to in here. We are to let it shine out there in the midst of a “crooked and twisted” world.
Scripture gives two basic reasons why it is so important to “shine as lights.” First, we are to expose the crooked and twisted for what it is. Paul says, “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them” (Ephesians 5:11). This Good News for life is so good, we simply cannot allow it to be ignored as if it doesn’t make a difference or cannot make a difference. We cannot allow it to be compromised so it doesn’t offend. We cannot allow it to be maligned and attacked as if it means nothing to us. When life is attacked and devalued, the Lord of Life is attacked and devalued. When that happens, we are not dealing with opinions but attacks on the truth. Then we are compelled to shine as lights! Somebody’s got to say, “This world of darkness, this world that turns to death to solve its problems? That’s not the way it’s supposed to be. That’s not the way it has to be. There’s a better way.”
That brings us to the second reason it is so important that we “shine as lights in the world.” We do not expose the “crooked and twisted” so we can show others how wrong they are and how right we are or so we can judge and condemn. We shine as lights so people may see our good works and give glory to our Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16). We shine as “lights in the world” so people can see in us THE Light of the World. We shine as lights so that people will see there is a better way to deal with the darkness in our lives than turning to death.There is a better way to deal with a crisis pregnancy than the choice of death. There is the choice of life, the choice of parenting, the choice of adoption. Be what you are and let it shine as you support pregnant teens with forgiveness and love, as you volunteer at pregnancy centers, or help fund adoptions.
There’s a better way of avoiding a crisis pregnancy than doing what seems right in our own eyes. There is the choice of chastity and a love that puts others first. Be what you are and let it shine as you practice and teach sexual purity. There is a better way to deal with the guilt and regret of past sins against life than pretending you really shouldn’t feel that way or thinking such sins are too big to be forgiven. There is the complete and objective forgiveness given through faith in Jesus Christ. Be what you are and let it shine so that this is a place where all sinners know they are welcomed and forgiven. There is a better way of dealing with the pain and suffering of life than ending life. There is compassionate care, pain management, and the presence of a living God who promises His strength and His good. Be what you are and let it shine as you carry one another’s burdens and point to the certain hope God gives in Christ.
Be what you are! Shine as lights! Expose what is “crooked and twisted” in this dark world. If we do not do it, everyone will think “crooked and twisted” is all right, the way things are supposed to be. Shine as lights! You can point to a better way because you know what it is. You know who it is, Jesus Christ the Light of the World.
I’m not sure when you may need to “hang on for dear life.” (It may very well depend upon who’s driving home from church!) But today Paul reminds us to, “Hang on TO dear life!” Hold fast to the word of life because it’s Good News for life! It’s Good News for your life. It’s Good News that tells you whose you are, “children of God.” It’s Good News because of where you are, “in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation.” It’s Good News because of what you are to be, “lights in the world.” Let it shine! Let it shine! Let it shine! Amen.