Sermons

In Jesus Christ who through the Gospel shines out to the world the glory of God, fellow lights in the world! “Let Light Shine!” I. The god of the world causes spiritual blindness II. The true God shines the light of salvation INTRODUCTION You just joined our youth choir in singing “Shine, Jesus, shine”. What an appropriate thought for us to consider as we observe the Transfiguration of our Lord. In less than a week we enter another Lenten season and see our Savior humiliated and suffering for our sins. But before we do that, we stand with Peter, James and John and see Jesus show all his glory. The Transfiguration is one of those parts of the Christian Church Year which sometimes causes confusion and questions. People wonder “Why did the Transfiguration have to happen?”, “What did Peter, James and John see on that mountain that day?” or even “What does it mean that Jesus revealed his full power and glory as God?”. And while we may never get all the answers to our questions, as we turn to God’s Word, Paul puts the Transfiguration into a context for every day of our life. We direct our attention to our second lesson from 2 Corinthians 4:3-6 and listen as Paul reminds us that the purpose of the Transfiguration then and now is to Let Light shine. Paul will show us that we need to let light shine 1) because the god of the world causes spiritual blindness and we can let light shine 2) because the true God shines the light of salvation. We hear those thoughts as we read again vv. 4 & 6 of our second lesson from 2 Corinthians chapter 4. I. The god of the world causes spiritual blindness Do you remember the first words which we sang with the youth choir in our worship service. If you look back in your worship folder, we sang “Open the eyes of my heart Lord”. Why would a group of believers gathered for the single purpose of worshipping and praising their God and Savior need to sing “Open the eyes of my heart Lord”? Paul answers that question in v. 4 of our text: “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” Whether it’s believers gathering for worship, you gathering your family around the kitchen table for family devotions or you, in the privacy of your bedroom, beginning or ending the day by reading your Bible or going to the Lord in prayer, Paul reminds us that anytime God’s people look to his Word to let the light of the Gospel shine in on the darkness of sin, Satan is going to be right there seeking to spiritually blind us so that we cannot see and hear the good news of forgiveness, life and salvation. Satan does this when he leads us to think “I’m a better person than that awful neighbor across the street and I’m certainly better than the masses sitting in the state prisons, so God is going to have to cut me some slack and let me into heaven”. He also blinds us by getting us to reason “Because I have done quite a few good things in my life – I shoveled the snow yesterday for the elderly woman next door and I cut her grass all summer long, God has to look at all the good I’ve done compared to the few slip-ups I’ve had in my life”. Plain and simple, Satan blinds us when he gets us to look for salvation, forgiveness and the hope of heaven anywhere except in Jesus. But it is not just with mistaken religious beliefs that Satan tries to blind us. He also tries to blind us with the things of this world as well. He gets us to worry more about measuring our status and condition with our financial situation, the neighborhood we live in, the vehicle we came to God’s house in today and other worldly concerns. Satan also tries to spiritually blind us any time he gets us to put anyone or anything in first place in our life ahead of God. Paul reminds us in v. 3 of our text that there is a need to let light shine just because we might get spiritually blinded. He reminds us that there is far more at stake than that “if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing”. The far more serious consequence is that if the Gospel is veiled, it could lead to eternal consequences – eternal damnation. II. The true God shines the light of salvation But Paul doesn’t just warn us to look our for the devil’s attempt at blinding us spiritually. He doesn’t even just tell us that we need to let light shine. He tells us how we can let that light shine to pierce through the darkness of sin. “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” Paul reminds us that the only way that we are going to have light to see through the dark night of sin is with Christ. That is the reason the Psalmist reminds us in Psalm 119:105 “Your Word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path”. Fellow Christians, until we gather with our God and all believers in heaven, our walk is going to be through a world where the dark night of sin lurks at every turn and tempts at every moment. That is why Paul says “For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” Paul clearly states that the only way to have light to see around spiritual blindness and through sin’s dark hours is through Christ and Christ alone. That is why Paul says that it wasn’t about him, but about proclaiming and serving Christ and Christ only! CONCLUSION Several years ago a Christian writer published a book entitled “America’s Real War”. In the introduction to the book he pointed out that America’s real battle was not fought on the beaches of Normandy or the sands of Irag or even in the skies over our plant. America’s real battle is the war over morals between Christians and a secular society which has no use at all for Christ. Paul reminds us that this is not just America’s real war. It is a war which is constantly going on between Satan and Christ and his followers. We cannot escape the war. As we have been reminded in our worship it will continue until Judgment Day. But we can face it and fight it as we make use of the Transfiguration every day and Let Light shine! Amen.