Light in the darkness
One of my favourite Biblical images is the contrast between light and darkness as representing good and evil, or life with or without God, and also the concept of God being a light shining in the darkness, and calling us to be a light for others shining in the world today. It’s an image that is used quite a lot and one that we heard again in our reading from Paul’s letter to the Philippians (2:1-18) this evening.
In the letter to the Philippians Paul is writing to a Church that has been a great blessing to him. Although he was writing the letter from prison, it is a letter of joy – in just 4 chapters, he uses the concept of joy or rejoicing 16 times. But even in that Church it seems that there were some problems and Paul addresses these problems by calling people to focus on Jesus as their example for Godly living.
He calls for unity and he calls for humility and abstention from selfish ambition or conceit. And he goes on to describe the character of Jesus himself, who came to earth, not as a great king or ruler, but as the Son of God in human form – a man who met with normal people, he listened to normal problems, watched normal life, and humbly accepted even death on the cross.
And so Paul asks the people in the Church at Philippi to live exhibiting those qualities, and it almost goes without saying that these are all qualities Jesus expects of his Church today.
There are many ways of looking at this passage, but I want to break it down into 3 very general points – the first is ‘Living in the right way’. As Paul writes you can almost sense his appeal for people to live together in peace, for people to ensure that what is seen in their actions is not arguments or selfishness, or seeking to pursue their own agendas, but genuine love and humility, and genuine concern for each other.
True humility doesn’t mean putting ourselves down but rather accepting who we are. The American Preacher D L Moody had some good advice for us all when he said, ‘Be humble or you’ll stumble !’
William Temple gave a wonderful definition of humility when he wrote, ‘Humility does not mean thinking less of yourself than of other people, nor does it mean having a low opinion of your own gifts. It means freedom from thinking about yourself one way or the other at all.’
Genuine concern for others is at the heart of our Christian gospel, and when we work together caring for the problems of others as if they were our problems, then we are following the example of Jesus himself.
The way we live every day is vitally important as God sees all the details – the good and the bad.
And this brings us to the second point. We don’t try to live right just because God is watching, but because we have the ‘right motivation’. Looking good on the outside is pointless if our motivation is not right. I read a quote this week where a person had said, ‘I have never killed a man, but I have certainly read many obituaries with great pleasure !’
Living in the right way is pointless if our hearts are not in the right place. This morning we focused on bread as being an essential part of any diet – bread in physical terms and spiritual bread as we feed on God, and another essential for life is our hearts. There is the technical bit that keeps our body going, but there is more to the heart as well – the indefinable bit with which we feel and love. The part of us that no bit of science can really explain.
Right motivation is as important as right living. ‘Let the same mind be in you, as was in Christ Jesus…’ wrote Paul. That is no false showing, no selfish pride, but a life of service and dedication to Christ and to others. That is right living with the right motivation.
But even those whose heart is in the right place must never stop there – the third thing is ‘being active’. The heart that’s in the right place but does nothing is ineffective – there is the famous saying by the 18th century politician, Edmund Burke, that ‘All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.’
To be lights shining in the darkness of the world there has to be some activity – a candle is lit by a match or a taper and continues to burn, a light is switched on and continues to shine… our lives are transformed by Jesus and inspired and motivated by Him we must continue to shine through all the different kinds of situations in which we find ourselves.
Like the Philippian Church we will occasionally have differences with other people and there is nothing wrong with that – unity doesn’t mean uniformity – we are not all the same, and we will never completely agree on absolutely everything, but how we handle difference is what is important, and with our hearts and our minds focused firmly on Jesus and the qualities of life that he displayed, we will make his name known and glorified, and we will know ourselves, and radiate to others, the joys of a relationship with him. AMEN
In the letter to the Philippians Paul is writing to a Church that has been a great blessing to him. Although he was writing the letter from prison, it is a letter of joy – in just 4 chapters, he uses the concept of joy or rejoicing 16 times. But even in that Church it seems that there were some problems and Paul addresses these problems by calling people to focus on Jesus as their example for Godly living.
He calls for unity and he calls for humility and abstention from selfish ambition or conceit. And he goes on to describe the character of Jesus himself, who came to earth, not as a great king or ruler, but as the Son of God in human form – a man who met with normal people, he listened to normal problems, watched normal life, and humbly accepted even death on the cross.
And so Paul asks the people in the Church at Philippi to live exhibiting those qualities, and it almost goes without saying that these are all qualities Jesus expects of his Church today.
There are many ways of looking at this passage, but I want to break it down into 3 very general points – the first is ‘Living in the right way’. As Paul writes you can almost sense his appeal for people to live together in peace, for people to ensure that what is seen in their actions is not arguments or selfishness, or seeking to pursue their own agendas, but genuine love and humility, and genuine concern for each other.
True humility doesn’t mean putting ourselves down but rather accepting who we are. The American Preacher D L Moody had some good advice for us all when he said, ‘Be humble or you’ll stumble !’
William Temple gave a wonderful definition of humility when he wrote, ‘Humility does not mean thinking less of yourself than of other people, nor does it mean having a low opinion of your own gifts. It means freedom from thinking about yourself one way or the other at all.’
Genuine concern for others is at the heart of our Christian gospel, and when we work together caring for the problems of others as if they were our problems, then we are following the example of Jesus himself.
The way we live every day is vitally important as God sees all the details – the good and the bad.
And this brings us to the second point. We don’t try to live right just because God is watching, but because we have the ‘right motivation’. Looking good on the outside is pointless if our motivation is not right. I read a quote this week where a person had said, ‘I have never killed a man, but I have certainly read many obituaries with great pleasure !’
Living in the right way is pointless if our hearts are not in the right place. This morning we focused on bread as being an essential part of any diet – bread in physical terms and spiritual bread as we feed on God, and another essential for life is our hearts. There is the technical bit that keeps our body going, but there is more to the heart as well – the indefinable bit with which we feel and love. The part of us that no bit of science can really explain.
Right motivation is as important as right living. ‘Let the same mind be in you, as was in Christ Jesus…’ wrote Paul. That is no false showing, no selfish pride, but a life of service and dedication to Christ and to others. That is right living with the right motivation.
But even those whose heart is in the right place must never stop there – the third thing is ‘being active’. The heart that’s in the right place but does nothing is ineffective – there is the famous saying by the 18th century politician, Edmund Burke, that ‘All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.’
To be lights shining in the darkness of the world there has to be some activity – a candle is lit by a match or a taper and continues to burn, a light is switched on and continues to shine… our lives are transformed by Jesus and inspired and motivated by Him we must continue to shine through all the different kinds of situations in which we find ourselves.
Like the Philippian Church we will occasionally have differences with other people and there is nothing wrong with that – unity doesn’t mean uniformity – we are not all the same, and we will never completely agree on absolutely everything, but how we handle difference is what is important, and with our hearts and our minds focused firmly on Jesus and the qualities of life that he displayed, we will make his name known and glorified, and we will know ourselves, and radiate to others, the joys of a relationship with him. AMEN
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