WEBVTT
00:00.730 --> 00:05.566
Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God our Father, and from our
00:05.588 --> 00:07.290
Lord and Savior, Jesus.
00:07.450 --> 00:08.458
Amen.
00:08.634 --> 00:09.870
Please be seated.
00:13.650 --> 00:20.046
An old legend claims that the Cynic philosopher Diogenes walked the
00:20.068 --> 00:24.966
streets of Athens all day long with a lighted lamp, shining it into
00:25.028 --> 00:26.326
the faces of everyone
00:26.428 --> 00:32.360
he went met, claiming that he was looking for one honest man.
00:33.210 --> 00:38.154
Alexander the Great was supposedly so impressed by Diogenes that when
00:38.192 --> 00:43.322
the two of them finally met, Alexander offered him anything
00:43.456 --> 00:45.980
absolutely any favor he wanted.
00:46.830 --> 00:51.518
To which Diogenes replied could you move a little to the right,
00:51.604 --> 00:53.280
you're blocking my sun.
00:54.930 --> 01:01.054
Diogenes's search for truth represents mankind's belief that light is
01:01.092 --> 01:03.440
the solution to all of our problems.
01:04.470 --> 01:08.498
If you want to reduce crime, if you want to protect your home, install
01:08.584 --> 01:10.450
better security lighting.
01:11.030 --> 01:15.286
If you want to put an end to corruption in business or politics, you
01:15.308 --> 01:19.110
hold leadership up to the light of public scrutiny.
01:19.930 --> 01:26.454
If you want to curb evil and lies and all of the immorality, you
01:26.492 --> 01:28.650
expose it to the light of truth.
01:29.950 --> 01:34.490
So Scripture often uses the images of light and darkness.
01:35.390 --> 01:39.050
The very first chapter of Scripture, we're told that there was
01:39.120 --> 01:42.714
darkness upon the face of the deep when God spoke
01:42.762 --> 01:46.960
the first creating words, let there be light.
01:47.330 --> 01:48.800
And there was light.
01:49.970 --> 01:54.610
Throughout Scripture, foolishness and ignorance are seen as darkness.
01:55.270 --> 01:57.140
But wisdom is light.
01:58.470 --> 02:03.182
Gloom, despair, agony, captivity.
02:03.326 --> 02:07.334
Hell is described as utter darkness, where there is weeping and
02:07.372 --> 02:08.710
gnashing of teeth.
02:09.449 --> 02:12.920
But life life is light.
02:14.490 --> 02:16.930
Satan is the prince of darkness.
02:17.090 --> 02:19.894
But the Lord is my light and my salvation.
02:20.022 --> 02:23.610
And in today's Epistle, from Ephesians five, St.
02:23.680 --> 02:32.782
Paul used darkness to show us our sin, to reveal our immorality, our
02:32.836 --> 02:36.640
unbelief, the evil that's within us.
02:38.690 --> 02:42.218
A sin may not always seem so dark.
02:42.394 --> 02:47.466
It can be bright and dazzling, like a flashing neon sign that calls
02:47.498 --> 02:49.550
and holds on to our attention.
02:50.770 --> 02:57.814
It lures us with promises of power and wealth and pleasure, but it
02:57.852 --> 02:59.170
always leaves us poor.
03:00.170 --> 03:04.430
In shame and disgrace and in the darkness of death.
03:05.570 --> 03:11.054
Like bugs swarming around a porchlight on a warm summer evening, being
03:11.092 --> 03:17.454
attracted to its death, sin draws us in.
03:17.652 --> 03:20.110
It attracts and holds our attention.
03:22.290 --> 03:25.750
Have you ever experienced total darkness?
03:26.730 --> 03:30.614
There are caves a few miles southwest of here where guides will lead
03:30.652 --> 03:35.254
you into the deepest, darkest recesses of the earth and allow you to
03:35.292 --> 03:37.010
experience total darkness.
03:37.090 --> 03:41.402
For just a few moments, they turn off all the lights, and in those
03:41.456 --> 03:45.740
moments, you can't see a thing.
03:46.430 --> 03:49.466
You can't see your hands in front of your face.
03:49.567 --> 03:51.870
You can't see anyone around you.
03:51.940 --> 03:55.130
You lose your bearings and your sense of balance.
03:55.290 --> 03:59.226
And instinctively you reach out to grab ahold of anything that's
03:59.258 --> 04:06.082
stable, and your mind begins to race and panic sets in.
04:06.216 --> 04:09.138
What if they can't turn the lights back on again?
04:09.224 --> 04:13.220
There is absolutely no way we'll ever find our way out of here.
04:15.370 --> 04:20.582
But then, with a flick of the switch, the lights come back on and
04:20.635 --> 04:27.480
everyone breathes this collective sigh of relief and the tour goes on.
04:29.630 --> 04:35.909
Surely you recognize from your own personal experience that breaking
04:35.990 --> 04:39.130
God's law leads to darkness.
04:40.450 --> 04:49.502
Your idolatry, your abuse of God's name, your despising of God's word,
04:49.635 --> 04:54.702
your disrespecting of authorities, your anger and hatred, your sexual
04:54.766 --> 05:03.390
immorality, your lust, your gossip, your slander, your selfishness,
05:03.470 --> 05:08.086
your greed have led you into some of the deepest, darkest moments of
05:08.108 --> 05:08.919
your lives.
05:09.289 --> 05:15.586
And in those times you lost your bearings, you went into panic mode.
05:15.618 --> 05:19.802
As you realize that there is absolutely no way out
05:19.856 --> 05:27.322
for a sinner like you. Paul's diagnosis of our condition really
05:27.376 --> 05:29.289
shouldn't come as any surprise.
05:30.450 --> 05:36.430
He said once at one time, you were darkness.
05:38.130 --> 05:41.390
Notice he didn't say you lived in darkness.
05:42.530 --> 05:48.110
He didn't say you were surrounded by a corrupt and godless culture.
05:48.690 --> 05:54.590
What he said was, once you were darkness, you were sin.
05:55.530 --> 05:58.870
You were spiritually blind from birth.
06:00.330 --> 06:00.682
You were dead.
06:00.746 --> 06:02.830
You were an enemy of God.
06:02.980 --> 06:05.070
That is deep darkness.
06:07.570 --> 06:13.086
And somehow, somehow we've convinced ourselves that there's safety in
06:13.108 --> 06:14.110
this darkness.
06:15.730 --> 06:20.510
Like criminals who do their work under the cover of night so people
06:20.580 --> 06:22.800
can't really see what they're up to.
06:24.290 --> 06:28.230
Sinners like us fear exposure.
06:29.690 --> 06:32.440
Someone might see what we're doing.
06:33.690 --> 06:36.840
Someone might catch us in the act.
06:37.630 --> 06:40.566
Someone may uncover all of our secrets.
06:40.678 --> 06:44.874
And so we hide in the darkness and think that we're safe, that no one
06:44.912 --> 06:46.540
really knows what we're doing.
06:49.470 --> 06:56.666
King David thought that way too until he was confronted with the sin
06:56.698 --> 07:00.622
with Bathsheba and all the cover up, all the darkness that went along
07:00.676 --> 07:01.520
with it.
07:02.790 --> 07:04.450
Then he had to confess.
07:05.909 --> 07:11.346
Years later, he wrote if I say surely the darkness will cover me and
07:11.368 --> 07:13.250
the light about me be night.
07:13.400 --> 07:16.440
Even the darkness is not dark to you.
07:17.210 --> 07:21.446
The night is bright as day, for darkness is as light to you.
07:21.628 --> 07:24.770
In other words, God sees into our darkness.
07:24.850 --> 07:32.650
God knows our sin and God shown the true light into our darkness.
07:34.670 --> 07:37.500
Jesus is the light of the world.
07:38.909 --> 07:42.606
He entered the world through the darkness of a silent night in
07:42.628 --> 07:43.630
Bethlehem.
07:44.370 --> 07:48.446
And all throughout his life in ministry, he was confronted by the
07:48.468 --> 07:49.194
darkness.
07:49.322 --> 07:54.254
Darkness in Nicodemus, who feared even being seen with Jesus
07:54.302 --> 07:56.180
and so came to him by night.
07:56.550 --> 08:00.706
The darkness in the Garden of Gethsemane when Judas betrayed him with
08:00.728 --> 08:01.570
a kiss.
08:02.150 --> 08:06.710
The darkness of jealousy and lies and hatred of the Jewish authorities.
08:07.210 --> 08:12.246
The darkness of injustice and Roman brutality as he was crucified in
08:12.268 --> 08:16.534
the eerie darkness that covered the whole world that afternoon as he
08:16.572 --> 08:18.169
died on a cross.
08:19.310 --> 08:28.730
Forsaken by his Father in heaven that's deep darkness, that's total
08:28.800 --> 08:36.190
darkness Jesus endured all of that darkness.
08:37.010 --> 08:42.794
He took all of your darkness and my darkness into the stone cold
08:42.842 --> 08:44.169
darkness of a tomb.
08:44.250 --> 08:46.160
And that's where He left it.
08:47.410 --> 08:53.854
As He arose again in the brightness and splendor of Easter morning. The
08:53.892 --> 08:59.860
darkness could not overcome Him for in Him was life and the
09:00.090 --> 09:02.000
life was the light of men.
09:04.450 --> 09:11.166
Jesus also said, Everyone who does evil hates the light will not come
09:11.188 --> 09:14.378
into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
09:14.554 --> 09:21.902
But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light so that it may be
09:21.956 --> 09:22.842
seen plainly
09:22.906 --> 09:25.560
what he has done has been done through God.
09:26.890 --> 09:29.110
The light fills the darkness.
09:30.250 --> 09:38.854
The light exposes all that we've done and said and thought, and that
09:38.892 --> 09:44.170
is humiliating, that's shameful.
09:45.390 --> 09:50.954
It weighs heavy on us until we come out into the open, until we come
09:50.992 --> 09:55.262
into the light, until we confess and believe all that Jesus has done
09:55.316 --> 09:56.030
for us.
09:56.180 --> 10:01.694
And then what a relief to realize that we are forgiven of all of our
10:01.732 --> 10:05.810
sin, that we don't have to hide in the darkness anymore.
10:06.710 --> 10:13.634
Paul said, at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the
10:13.672 --> 10:14.290
Lord.
10:16.810 --> 10:17.174
St.
10:17.212 --> 10:23.634
Peter said, God has called you out of darkness into his wonderful
10:23.682 --> 10:24.280
light.
10:26.010 --> 10:28.620
Now you've been bathed in light.
10:29.470 --> 10:31.126
Now you are baptized.
10:31.238 --> 10:32.710
Now you are enlightened.
10:32.790 --> 10:34.170
Now you are light.
10:34.319 --> 10:37.050
Jesus said, you are the light of the world.
10:37.200 --> 10:39.690
Let your light so shine.
10:42.130 --> 10:50.186
Paul said, Walk, live as baptized children of the light, for the fruit
10:50.218 --> 10:54.382
of the light is found in all that is good and right and true, and try
10:54.436 --> 10:57.069
to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
10:59.090 --> 11:01.440
The light burns within you.
11:03.090 --> 11:09.414
The light empowers you to do what you know is pleasing to the Lord, to
11:09.452 --> 11:13.010
live a life that gives glory to your Father in heaven.
11:13.170 --> 11:16.760
The light that produces a Christlike life.
11:19.550 --> 11:25.590
Paul continued, take no part, have nothing to do with the unfruitful
11:25.670 --> 11:27.210
works of darkness.
11:27.870 --> 11:30.220
Instead, expose them.
11:30.610 --> 11:34.750
For it's shameful to even speak of the things that they do in secret.
11:36.610 --> 11:41.434
In the marketplaces of the Near East, the shops were just little rooms
11:41.482 --> 11:42.670
with no windows.
11:43.490 --> 11:47.742
And so before a person would spend a large amount of money on any
11:47.796 --> 11:51.374
merchandise, he would first of all take it out into the street and
11:51.412 --> 11:56.406
expose it to the sunlight, that the light might reveal any flaws or
11:56.428 --> 11:57.090
imperfections.
12:00.090 --> 12:05.966
Paul encourages you and me to do the same, to expose the deeds of
12:05.988 --> 12:14.078
darkness, to hold our every action, every word, every decision, every
12:14.164 --> 12:22.058
motive to the light of Christ, to reveal its true character, to reveal
12:22.154 --> 12:24.914
what is truly pleasing to our Lord.
12:25.002 --> 12:35.090
Martin Luther wrote of a man named Bernard who lived in 12th
12:35.170 --> 12:36.550
century France.
12:37.630 --> 12:42.534
As a young man, Bernard was kidnapped by a band of outlaws and held
12:42.582 --> 12:48.490
captive in a province known as Wormwood in a valley of darkness.
12:50.190 --> 12:53.678
His captors demanded that he entertain them.
12:53.844 --> 12:59.434
But instead of singing silly songs or telling funny jokes, Bernard
12:59.482 --> 13:04.450
gave a testimony his witness to his Lord and savior, Jesus.
13:05.430 --> 13:09.060
His captors were so impressed, they set him free.
13:09.750 --> 13:15.006
And in time, Bernard became a priest, and he made it his mission to
13:15.048 --> 13:23.734
establish hostels along dark and dreary ways so that visitors could
13:23.772 --> 13:25.830
find shelter and safety.
13:27.210 --> 13:32.026
Of course, the first one that Bernard built was in that province of
13:32.128 --> 13:35.334
Wormwood, in that valley of darkness.
13:35.462 --> 13:40.334
And some of the men who had once held him captive helped him to build
13:40.372 --> 13:40.960
it.
13:42.530 --> 13:46.430
They called this hostel Clairvaux.
13:46.930 --> 13:48.800
The Valley of Light.
13:49.569 --> 13:52.910
And the man who built it, the priest they called St.
13:52.980 --> 14:00.642
Bernard of Clairvaux, he was the light that shone into the darkness and
14:00.696 --> 14:01.940
overcame it.
14:03.590 --> 14:09.526
Today, in this season of Lent, the word of the Lord encourages us to
14:09.548 --> 14:10.280
the same.
14:11.370 --> 14:20.106
It reminds us, once you we were darkness, but now now you are light in
14:20.127 --> 14:20.758
the Lord.
14:20.854 --> 14:22.922
Live as children of the light.
14:23.056 --> 14:27.562
Produce the fruits of life, everything that is good and right and
14:27.616 --> 14:28.220
true.
14:29.230 --> 14:33.534
Seek to rid your valley, wherever that valley might be.
14:33.652 --> 14:42.558
Rid your valley of darkness, and let the light of Christ shine. In the
14:42.564 --> 14:43.710
name of Jesus.
14:44.290 --> 14:45.310
Amen.
14:46.050 --> 14:50.526
And may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your
14:50.548 --> 14:53.386
hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
14:53.578 --> 14:54.090
Amen.