Reflecting the Light

Good morning, brethren. It's good to see all of you here, this midpoint in the Feast of Tabernacles. It's been an absolute delight. I think I can speak for both my wife and I. We have enjoyed the festival music this year probably more than I can remember. In a long, long time, absolutely beautiful choral and ensemble and individual music. It has been a pure delight. I had the opportunity of singing in the Ambassador Chorale for two years before I moved between my sophomore and junior year from Pasadena to England. The joy of the first year of standing side by side with my father, both of us second-tenors, singing in the chorale. I look at choral music. This choir has been exceptional and the music has been absolutely delightful to listen to. We come from a culture. Mr. Winger used the term DNA. A cultural DNA within the Church of God would be a DNA of media, a very strong publishing presence. If I go back to the mid-1950s and on through the 50s and then the 60s and the 70s, looking at the publishing work of the Church, there was one very small, unpretentious booklet. In fact, it was this size, like the brochures that you see all over Branson advertising various events. The booklet was entitled, Why Were You Born? For an extended period of time, that small booklet was the most requested booklet of all of the Church of God inventory. It's not surprising in one sense because throughout history, man has had a yearning and a longing to understand the great mysteries of life. Why was I born? Why am I here? Does life have meaning? And if it does, what is that meaning? Those are profound questions. They're ageless questions. I would fully expect from the time of Adam and Eve onward, those questions have been on man's minds. And those men who do not or did not know the plan of God, this would have been a foremost question in their life.

In the mid-1980s, a best-selling author by the name of Robert Fulgium had just published his second number one bestseller. And within that book, one of the chapters addressed this particular issue. Now, Fulgium is a free spirit, individual that didn't mind going counterculture and being a little offbeat. And he started this particular topic by saying, you know, I've attended many seminars, many lectures, many instructional events, and it is customary at the end of all of those for the presenter to say, are there any questions? He said it's a nicety.

They're not asking if you have questions. They prefer you didn't have questions. And the audience has worn out enough. The last thing they want to hear is somebody ask a question. But he said, you know, I really wasn't governed by tradition. Maybe there was something to learn. So if there was a seminar and the speaker ended by saying, are there any questions? He said I'd raise my hand and he'd acknowledge me and I'd say, yes, sir, or yes, ma'am. What is the meaning of life?

And the audience would chuckle at the absurdist question he'd just asked as they were folding up their books and opening their cases and putting their computers away and marshalling their papers back into their proper places. And he said, well, it was basically nothing ventured, nothing gained. He went to a seminar, two-week-long seminar, on the Isle of Crete. It was a seminar presented by experts in Greek culture and a foremost scholar of Greek life and history. Dr. Alexander Papaderos was the coordinator. And at the end of two weeks, the last lecturer was finished, he sat down.

Dr. Papaderos came from the back of the auditorium to the front and he asked the traditional question. He said, are there any last questions? And Fulgium raised his hand. And Papaderos looked at him and he said, Dr.

Papaderos, what is the meaning of life? And there was a chuckle in the audience. Dr. Papaderos held his hand out. And he looked at Fulgium, studied him for a while, and he said, I'll answer you. He said, I grew up in a very poor family in a remote village on the Isle of Crete during the time of the German occupation. And one day, when I went out to play, I found the wreckage of a German motorcycle and the fragments of that motorcycle's mirror.

And I picked up the largest piece and then I began to look and see if I could put together and fit together all of those pieces. And he reached into his wallet and he opened it up and he pulled out a small mirror. He said, I couldn't find all of the pieces, so I took the largest one and on the rocks around, I rubbed and rubbed and rubbed and ground it until I smoothed all the edges.

And I had my small mirror. And he said, as a boy, I took my mirror and I would shine it into crevices and cracks. Or if there was a closet, I'd catch the light and I would shine it into the closet. And it was for me a game and something that was entertaining. But he said, as he grew older, things changed. And I'd like to read to you what he said about his adulthood and that mirror. He said, I kept the little mirror and as I went about my growing up, I would take it out in idle moments and continue the challenge of the game.

As I became a man, I grew to understand that this was not just a child's game, but a metaphor for what I might do with my life. I came to understand that I am not the light or the source of light, but light, truth, understanding, knowledge, is there. And it will only shine in many dark places if I reflect it. I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know.

Nevertheless, with what I have, I can reflect light into the dark places of this world, into the black places in the hearts of men, and change some things in some people. Perhaps others may see and do likewise. This is what I'm about. This is the meaning of my life. Obviously, for Robert Fulgium, to record that in his book, it made a profound impact.

Dr. Papadero's answer was simple, truthful, and it was, above all, timeless. From the beginning of God's work collectively with people, our ancestors, ancient Israel, until the very end of human experience, which we are celebrating this week, reflecting the light is of paramount importance. I'd like you to turn with me to a scripture that was quoted on the very first day in our first service. It was Exodus 19, the chapter before the giving of the Ten Commandments. Here in Exodus 19, after God had told Moses to assemble all of Israel at the base of Mount Sinai, and giving instructions on how to be there and what to do while they were there, God then said this beginning in verse 3. You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to me above all people, for the earth is mine. And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel. How was Israel a royal priesthood? Every one of us knows the Old Testament. We know that as God dealt with the tribes, he said of one tribe, Levi, these are my priests. None of the rest of you are. None of the rest of you have the job description or the authority. No other tribe could go into the tabernacle. No other tribe could sacrifice at the altar. No other tribe could handle the duties of moving the tabernacle from place to place. And we could go on with the no others. So how is it before God gave the Ten Commandments that he said to the entirety of all twelve tribes, you are a royal priesthood? What did their priesthood consist of? Forty years later, God gave the book of Deuteronomy. Now the wandering was finished and they were on the doorstep of going into the Promised Land, and the children of those that were spoken to in Exodus 20 are now being spoken to. And the question is illuminated. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 4.

In Deuteronomy chapter 4, some of the last instructions before Israel is to go into the Promised Land. In verses 1 and 2, it says, It says, All right. All right. But, so what? Well, the so what is in verses 6 through 8.

That's the so what? That's the priesthood.

That's reflecting the light. God says, don't add to my law. Don't take away from it. Live it. And as you live it, the nations around you will look at you and say, What an awesome nation. Why? Because of the people? No. What an awesome nation because of the God they have, and because of what that God has imparted to them. So they would look at the people who were literally reflectors of the light of God. The very things that Dr. Papadero said about shining the light and improving the knowledge and the understanding of the people by illuminating dark places. God sent Israel to illuminate dark places. They were simply to be the reflectors of that beautiful light. We won't take the time, we really take more than a sermon, to go through the failures. The whole Old Testament is fundamentally about the failures of Israel to the place where God was filled up to here, and they were sent into captivity. And then later the prophets saying, well, you are the sister of Israel, Judah, and we take all the things they did wrong, and you're worse. And so they went into captivity. We all know that story, so it really isn't necessary to go there. With the coming of Jesus Christ, a new era began. The church replaced the nation. Israel's mission, which they failed miserably, that was given to them on Mount Sinai to be a royal priesthood, that mission was now given to the church. And the church of God was then to carry out the job of being reflectors of light. So all the mission that was given to the children of Israel, where God looked reflectively and He said, oh, that there were such an heart in them. I gave them a mission, and they don't have the heart for the mission. And so I can simply say in a lament, oh, that there were such a heart in them that they would do those things, and it would glorify me. Now it's our turn. Israel had their chance and failed. Christ came. He made the Spirit of God available, as Mr. Waringa said. We have that element. We have that beginning. We have that germ. And God says, now, you have the tools that Israel didn't.

Go back to John 8.

I won't comment on what Israel's point of view was on the topic we're about to see, because first of all, it's not necessary, and secondly, I don't know that I would be an expert on the answer. But the answer for us as the Church is really very clear. John 8, Jesus Christ in one of His encounters with the Pharisees, this is in that famous chapter where the woman caught in adultery is being discussed. The Pharisees are accusing. Christ is dealing with it. And when all of that is done and finished, the transition point is verse 12. And it says, Jesus spoke to them again. So the issue of the confrontation about the woman had caught in adultery is finished. And now He changes the topic, and He says, and Jesus spoke to them again, saying, I am the light of the world. That's who I am. I am the source of light for the entire world. He who follows me will not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. That's not a one-off statement. That, not by any means, is a one-off statement. Let's just look at one more, simply to make the point that this is not something Christ said one time. This is something that was a part of His ongoing education. John 12. Now we're at the end of Jesus Christ's ministry. And in John 12, He begins in verse 44.

So you and I have been called, you know, one of the, for every first generation Christian, one of the most stark and memorable events in life is that point in time and that object where God turns the light on in your mind for the first time. And you say, Wow. Wow. Where have I been? Where have I been? How come I couldn't see that? We lived in southwestern Idaho. That event for me has never gone away and never will go away. We lived in southern Idaho. My mother's parents lived in Walla Walla, Washington, and on occasion we would go and visit them. And usually it was a long weekend. And so I remember going over the mountain ranges, coming down off the slopes, and going through a little Adventist community just before entering Walla Walla. And I was a boy. And I was in the back seat, and I could see all these people dressed up like we are going up the church steps, and it was Saturday. And I remember as a boy, saying from the back seat, Mom, why are all these people dressed up going to church on Saturday? And my mother, not meanly and not judgmentally, she simply leaned over the back seat and she said, Bobby, they don't know any better. And every time we went to visit my grandparents, I'd see these people going up the steps, and I'd mentally shake my head, and I'd feel sorry for them. When God flipped the switch and turned on the light, it's never gone out. It's illuminated a darkness that was not insincere and that was not judgmental. It was just simply blind. So God has shined the light into our lives. And he said to us in 1 Peter 2, and we'll turn there and read it, not because we need to, because you all know it, but we'll do so because we need to punctuate things right here. 1 Peter 2.

Verse 9. Peter talking to the Church of God. You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who calls you out of darkness into what? Into his marvelous light. You've taken over Israel's commission that was given in Exodus 19. You have replaced them, and you have their same commission. And so here we are with Jesus Christ saying, I am the light of the world. There is no other source of light in the world except me. And it's your choice that you can either walk in light and see your path, or you can walk in darkness and stumble. And for some reason, somehow, you accepted the opportunity to walk in that light.

And when you did, he said to you, welcome to a royal priesthood, a chosen generation, with the duty of proclaiming the praises of him who called you out of darkness into the light. Proclaiming that isn't a matter of standing on a street corner with a sandwich board. It isn't a matter of standing in an airplane terminal or bus station with brochures handing them out. It's a matter of reflecting light. You know, as I hit this particular place in the sermon, if you walk through all of Paul's larger epistles to the churches, Colossians, Ephesians, Corinthians, Romans, there's a point in time with each of these where he hits the place where he talks about Christian conduct, and he talks about the conduct of the world, and then he talks about the conduct that we should have, or he simply describes the conduct of the world and says, don't go there.

So sometimes it's simpler. In Ephesians chapter 5, Paul is toward the end of the book of Ephesians, and he reaches that particular point. So if you turn to Ephesians chapter 5, you could take the same journey through Colossians. You could take the same journey through Galatians. You could take the same journey through Galatians. You could take the same journey through Romans, and you will come to the same place.

A listing of Christian conducts to live by, or a listing of the actions of the world to avoid. In Ephesians, he gives a whole list of the actions and conducts of the world that he says constitutes darkness and that we are to avoid. He starts in verse 1 by saying, therefore be followers of God, dear children, and walk in the love of Christ, as Christ also has loved us, and given himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. But, and now he spends verses saying, don't do this, stop doing this, avoid this, don't go that particular route, and I don't need to read all of those because they all have a destination.

The destination is verse 8. All of these constitute what you once were. And he says, for you were once darkness, but now you were light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. I thought as I was going through all of this about examples, I know in this room there are hundreds of examples that you could tell me of people walking in the light and that light illuminating the world.

I have my collection, you have your collection. We hear reports from camp directors as a, for instance, that we're given this camp because we take care of it, and that's not lost upon those who own the property. Camp directors will look and say, how in the world do you get 70 or 80 adults to give up a week of their time, and these are not paid, these are all volunteering, and they shake their head and they marvel. You can share those among yourselves. I had three or four, but two days ago I was standing in the parking lot having a delightful conversation with a family who have been longtime dear friends of my older son, his wife, and our grandchildren.

And we were just enjoying a conversation, and the conversation eventually morphed over into something, and as I listened I thought, I want you to write this down. And so I asked the mother, I said, would you write this down for me? And she looked at me and I said, can I have it by tomorrow? I'm not going to mention the family name. As we know, the recordings of these messages are kept, and the Internet is such that it's a forever medium. And so out of respect for privacy, I won't mention anything other than the son who was the topic of the conversation.

And some of you will know, in fact I know a number of you here will know who I'm talking about very quickly, because I know the congregations that are here. But I was talking to a mom who was talking about her son Mark. Mark is a 42-year-old, nonverbal autistic. Can't speak, wheelchair bound. He lives in San Angelo, Texas, in an assisted living facility at 18 years of age, and those of you that know about aggressive autism, you know there comes a place in time where young men and young women are simply too big to handle.

So at 18, he moved to an assisted living facility in San Angelo. He's 42 now. After the Feast of Tabernacles in 2010, Mom and Dad went to visit. Dad was enjoying time with his son. And the manager of the assisted living facility called to Mom and said, Come to my office. We need to talk. That's always an ominous sounding thing. And she felt that it was ominous. The director said to her when he got to the office, You just got back from the Feast of Tabernacles. We the staff need to let you know that we know there is no God, because no God would permit the dying and suffering we constantly see here on this campus.

I understand that. I've been in a lot of assisted living facilities. I've visited a lot of people in assisted living facilities. I can understand the staff coming to that place. The mom said, We understand, and that we deeply appreciate the staff and everything they constantly do for our son. And we shook hands, and I thought that was that. Nine years later, on another visit, father spending time with the son, the facility manager caught the mother again and said, We need to talk in the office. As I said, the first time, doesn't change the second time, it's, Uh-oh, we're in trouble.

What have we done? What is going on? They went to the office, and this time, the director had a calm look on his face and in his eyes, and he made the following statement. I might have to read this slowly. Mark has shown all of the staff that there is a very loving God that loves and protects Mark.

Mark might be non-verbal, but Mark has shown us there is a very loving and powerful God watching over Mark and those who care for Mark.

Being a light doesn't require any specific talent. Doesn't require any specific ability. All it requires is a genuine heart. A heart that has nothing artificial in it, nothing to gain that it's trying to gain, just being genuinely and sincerely a clean, reflective mirror. The six-year-olds and the seven-year-olds and the ten-year-olds, they're fully capable in this congregation of reflecting light. All of the old people with the aches and the pains that have been talked about every day, not too old, not too decrepit, not too rickety, to still continue showing the light, reflecting it back in the way we were given. You know, when the millennium comes, the time we're celebrating right now, guess what? No surprise. Same job. The Israel brought back from captivity has exactly the same job. Turn with me to Zechariah 8.

Before I read to you Zechariah 8, you need to understand, or you need to put it out in front. There are two very different components to the beginning of the millennium. There's a time when the returning Christ has met with aggression of worldwide proportion, and he meets the aggression with aggression, and he puts down the powers of this world. But Jesus Christ knows better than anyone else in the universe that you do not win hearts by force. It doesn't happen. You can subdue, and you can intimidate, and you can silence with force, but you cannot win hearts by force. And so those who returned from captivity, who are now a very, very different Israel than the ones in Exodus 19, who are so grateful and so thankful to be coming to where they are, they will literally radiate thankfulness and joy and appreciation. The God who is giving them a perfect government will now, in combination with them, allow them to radiate in that special way. And we see a little picture in Zechariah chapter 8 and verse 20.

The description, the catalyst is verse 23.

So the description leads, and the rationale or the reason follows. The people will grab on and say, we see you. We want to know your God. We see the effect of you living what your God has said to you, and we want to go meet Him. We want to see what it's like. We want to be a part of it. This is the millennium. This is the millennium. You know what's fascinating, brethren, is the millennium brings all of this collective history from a start point all the way around, and it comes right back to where it started. Because when these returnees from captivity, who are now converted and joyful and rejoicing at having the opportunity to live the way of God, God will, whether He does it verbally, He will definitely do it in spirit. God will sit down with them, and He will repeat to them in principle Deuteronomy 4, verses 1 and 2, and verses 6 through 8. And you know what? This time they'll listen. Not only will they listen, this time they will say, I am all in, I'm all on board, and I am eager. And so the fascinating part of it is all these centuries, even millennia, go by, and when it's all finished, it'll all come back to where it started, because God has never changed. When it comes to us, whether we are Old Testament Israel, whether we are the Church of God, whether we are the returnees from captivity, all of us have the same mission. Reflect the light.