1/5/20 Isaiah 60:1-6 “Let It Shine, Let It Shine, Let It Shine”

04 Jan 1/5/20 Isaiah 60:1-6 “Let It Shine, Let It Shine, Let It Shine”

1/5/20    Isaiah 60:1-6     “Let It Shine, Let It Shine, Let It Shine”

Every now and then I talk a little about the light and the darkness.  I get this from reading John in the New Testament.  I would like to point out that John isn’t the originator of this thought of light and darkness.  Today we read in Isaiah, who wrote centuries earlier, about the light that has come.  Isaiah was a prophet and in this part of the reading, he is talking about the exile and the return from the exile.  This was the first part of this prophecy to come true.  Most of us don’t think about this too much because we like to think of this reading as a part of the prophecy of the coming of Jesus Christ.  Both are true.  I think that it is amazing how the Bible puts together these prophecies that tell about more than one event to come.  It is kind of like when we read the end times prophecies.  These prophecies talk of the end times for all of humankind and also they talk on our own personal end times.  Next time you read one of these, put your personal life in the equation and see what it reads like.  You may be surprised.  Today we are going to look at this writing and see how Isaiah is talking to us centuries later.

Jeff Strite tells the story of Rose Crawford who had been blind for 50 years.  Then she had an operation that gave to her the sight that she had been missing.  I don’t think that many of us can imagine what it would be like to see colors and shapes for the first time.  She was dazzled.  The tragic part of the story is that she could have had the surgery 20 years earlier but she didn’t know the technology was available.  Just think how different her life would have been if she had received her sight at 30 instead of 50.  She didn’t know that she didn’t have to live in darkness.

We see several times where John talks about the darkness.  The darkness doesn’t understand the light.  There is no way that people who live without God can understand God or people who live with God.  It can’t happen because they have not surrendered first.

And we even have to be careful with people when they come to know God.  It is like if a person lived his whole life in a cave where there was total darkness.  Has anyone here ever been in a cave?  When they shut the lights off in a cave, you have total darkness.  Just imagine if you lived in that darkness.  Then one day you find your way out of the cave and into the light.  The light would be so strong that it would almost blind you.  You would have to get used to the light gradually.

It is the same way when we come to know Christ.  What we see happen right away is a changed life.  This is the immediate result of knowing Jesus.  But being a Christian is also a gradual process.  We need time to learn and time to grow as we are being sanctified or growing in Christ.  Someone doesn’t come along and become a Christian and the next day they are holding a crusade like Billy Graham.  It is like anything else; we have to learn about the light and learn to leave the darkness behind.

I think that it is pretty obvious that this is a prophecy about Jesus.  But it also calls us to action.  This action will bring about some great results.  First of all we are called upon to rise and shine.  When we first come to Christ, whether it is as a child or an adult, we have the tendency to be on fire for Him.  This is just natural.  We really become overwhelmed like the person living in that cave or the lady who was blind and now sees.  But sometimes we can lose that desire to work for the Lord.

I often like to describe the process of knowing the Lord as a line that goes across the room.  Before you come to know Christ, you are on this side and after you know Him you go to the other side.  Between these two sides is the one point where you make the decision to accept Christ.  When you cross that point, you still have a long ways to go to get to the far wall where we have Christian perfection.  The distance from the point of decision, or justification, to the far wall is called growth or sanctification.  Our goal is to rise and shine from this point and continue on to the far wall.

Far too often we get people who get passed this point and then stop.  I think that there are whole denominations like this.  They like to get as many people saved as possible and then leave them.  They are told that they don’t have to worry because they are saved.  If something needs to be done, then the church will do it for you.  People end up not growing in their faith.  I have noticed this in some of Bible studies.  Don’t get me wrong, Bible studies are great.  But they aren’t the end product.  A good Bible study should be a spring board for action.  It should be a lull before the action as we study the Word.  Then we have to go into the world and apply what we have learned.

This is what Isaiah is telling us today.  It is time for us to rise and shine for Jesus.  We are to get out of our homes.  We are to get off of our tractors.  We are to get out of our pickups and spread the Good News of Jesus Christ to all we see.  And you don’t have to worry because God is in charge.  He will take care of how you spread His word.

This reminds me of a story by Bill Butsko of a little girl riding on a train full of people during a very violent storm.  The rain was torrential, the wind was howling, the water was rising and the train was rocking back and forth.  It was a terrible storm and the people were very afraid.  As they watched the water arise along the tracks, they were near panic.  Only the little girl sat calmly as if nothing unusual were happening.  The other passengers couldn’t figure out how this little girl could be so calm.  Finally they asked her, “How can you be so calm when everyone is worried that this might happen or that could happen?”  The little girl just smiled and said, “Easy, my father is the engineer.”

That is what we all have to remember.  Our father in heaven is the engineer of life.  You need to let go and let God do the work.  You have to be the hands and feet of God but God will do the work.  It is not about you.  It is about God and only God.

And God wants you to rise and shine.  When you rise and shine, you will be bringing the Good News to the poor, the needy and the broken.  You will be reaching into the darkness with the light of Jesus Christ.  This is who we are and this is what we do.

Now we do have to be a little careful here.  When we go into areas of darkness, we have to be careful that we have enough light.  Of course, Jesus is more than enough light for anything.  What I mean here is this.  If you have just become a Christian or have just passed by this point in our imaginary line, then you might not be strong enough to do some things.  For example, if I had just given my life to Christ and was still in the process of getting rid of a drug or alcohol problem, it might not be a good idea for me to go into a bar or tavern to try to spread the Gospel.  If I haven’t grown enough in Christ yet, then I might succumb to the temptation of a drink.  It may be several months or years before I could do this.

You have to be strong enough to beat the darkness.  Jesus will always help you to defeat darkness but you also have to use your head a little.  This is why we should nurture young Christians as much as possible.  We need to be teaching them by Bible studies.  We need to be showing them how important it is to come to church every Sunday and hear the Word of God.  We need to be showing them how to pray and rejoicing when prayer is answered.  We need to be teaching all the little nuts and bolts of our faith so they can walk in this broken world.  So we can all walk and shine.

And when you are shining to the poor, when you are giving light to the addicts, when you are visiting the sick and the prisoners, when you are giving a hand to the broken of the world, then you will also be doing something else.  You will be showing nations the goodness of God.  Even our own government notices our work.  Nations and kings will come to know God by what we do.

This is what we are trying to do in many third world nations.  God is telling us once again that we have to humble ourselves.  Sure it would be great if we could just walk up to the leaders in China and say this is Christ and they accept Him.  But it doesn’t work that way.  We need to be like Jesus and find the poorest of the poor and the sickest of the sick and help them in the name of Christ.  We are to become servants for the Lord and for our fellow beings.  This is the way the Gospel is spread.

I think that it is sad in this country.  We have so many people who are in powerful positions who know nothing about Christ.  They not only know nothing but they tell all other people to believe in nothing also.  These people are in the darkness and they don’t understand.  We have many people today who have very hard hearts.  We shouldn’t give up on them but we also can’t spend all of our time on them either.  There are many people throughout the world who are hearing the Good News and they are responding in a way that makes God happy.  It is not just about the people in this country who look like us.  It is about the people of the world who look a little different but love the same Lord that we do.

Revival doesn’t start at the top.  It starts as a grass root swell as the Holy Spirit takes control.  It starts with you and me going out and telling our neighbors about Jesus.  It starts when we help out a poor family in our midst and others get curious as to why we do these things.  You are the most important part of revival and you should be doing a great job.

And what happens when we are out there shining to all of these people and we are doing the job?  What happens when we reach the poor and destitute?  What happens when nations begin to come to Christ?  Isaiah tells us starting in verse 5.  You will become radiant.  Your heart will throb and swell with joy.  Have you ever noticed this when you are doing something good for the Lord?  Sometimes I get to feeling so good that I just want to shout for joy.  I’m sure many of you have felt the same way.

Isaiah is also telling us that we will be rewarded by God.  The wise men or magi came bearing gifts for the great king whom they had never met.  They came and gave Him riches.  But think of the riches they got in return for just being in the presence of God.   Many times these riches come in the form of the wonderful feelings we get from shining the light of Jesus into someone’s life.  We have talked of the riches and rewards that we will get from doing His work.  We will never know beforehand what these rewards will be.  But we will know that they will be what we need.  And this should be very satisfying and comforting.

Today we have talked about being the light for Jesus.  We talked about helping to bring an epiphany or light to people who don’t know God.  We have talked about how this can and will lead to nations coming to know God.  And it all begins with you going to the person next to you with the light of Christ.

Kenneth Sauer tells of a woman that he knew who was deeply burdened by her conviction of sin.  She had become totally depressed and became a sad picture of distress and dejection as she sat up night after night, unable to sleep.  Finally one night, she gave her life to Christ.  Instantly, the burden of sin fell from her heart and she became radiant.  One the way home, later in that same day, she stopped at the store for some staples.  The clerk who waited on her had known her for some time and said, “Why you look as if someone had just lit a candle inside of you!”

“That’s right,” she said.

“What I mean,” said the clerk, “is that you look as if you have just fallen in love!”

“I have!” exclaimed the woman.  “I have just fallen in love with the One who loved me when I didn’t love Him—Jesus”

God is speaking to the darkness of our souls and saying, “Let there be Light.”  We can help Jesus by being the light for others.  As we take communion this morning, (the next time you take communion) I would like you to pray about others who don’t know Jesus and ask for ways that you can show them the Light.  Jesus Christ came to this world so that through Him the world could be saved.  And this means everyone in the world and not just a select few.  Be the hands and feet of Christ as we help Him to Light up the world.  He loves you so much that He doesn’t want to see anyone left behind.  Thank you Jesus for first loving us.  Let’s pray.