In the
meantime, when so many thousands of the multitude had gathered
together that they trod upon one another, he began to say to his
disciples first, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is
hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed,
or hidden that will not be known. Whatever you have said in the dark
shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall
be proclaimed upon the housetops." Luke
12:1-3
Jesus is
talking about a time of uncovering, when every hidden thing is exposed by the
light. We usually think of this time of uncovering as happening when the Lord
returns in glory. But for us, and for many like us all over the world, the time
of uncovering has already begun.
Arise,
shine; for your light has come.
You are
the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid.
There are
certain seasons in the history of the Body of Christ when the light becomes
extremely bright. And the first effect this light has on us is that it exposes
us for what we are.
The
Samaritan woman comes to the well. A Jewish stranger asks her for a drink. In a
few minutes this woman finds herself standing in light a million times brighter
than the sun.
"You're right in saying that you have no husband. You've had five
husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband."
....
nothing is hidden.
"Come see a man who told me all that I ever did. Is not this the Messiah?"
Or, when
Peter falls down in the boat before Jesus and cries,
"Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, 0 Lord."
The thing
that has him upset is this
bright light from which he can't hide. This light exposes him for what he is.... a sinful man.
When the
Spirit says to us, "Arise, shine, for your light has come," we don't
feel like arising and shining at first. Our first reaction to this light is to
run and hide. Our whole life has been hiding, deceiving, covering and
pretending. But to "arise and shine" means we don't run away. We come
toward the light and step into the light.
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God
is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with
him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth;
but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one
another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we
have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess
our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive
our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
The
Samaritan woman didn't run from the light, she stepped into it and her life was
transformed by the Lamb of God...cleansed ... made new. And immediately she
drew an entire Samaritan village into the light.
Peter
cried out for the light to go away and leave him alone. But Jesus said,
"Don't be afraid Peter. From now on you will be catching men. Just stay in
the light and walk in the light." And he did ... Peter spent the rest of
his life on earth drawing others into the light.
For
reasons that only God knows, the same light that visited the Samaritan woman at
the well ... that arrested Peter that day in a fishing boat ... that knocked
Paul off his horse outside Damascus, is now visiting us and thousands like us
all over the earth.
Your light has come.....
The glory of the Lord has risen upon you...
The
effect this light is having on us is that it's exposing us for
what we are in great mercy, in dead seriousness, in holy judgment. God is
peeling the layers of hypocrisy from our lives and showing us to ourselves. And
as this light continues to shine in the coming days, we’re going to see things
about ourselves that we never saw, that we never wanted to see, and that we
never wanted to admit. But these things have to be
dealt with if we're going to have a useful place in this revival.
We don't
want to admit that we're grossly self-centered, greedy, dishonest, perverse
with lust, envious, divisive, cowardly, lazy. But the first step in the
cure is to have these things touched by the finger of God ... even if the touch
is painful.
"Behold,
I send my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek
will suddenly come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant in whom you
delight, behold, he is coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is
like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap; he will sit as a refiner and
purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like
gold and silver, till they present right offerings to the Lord. Then the
offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.
Malachi
3:1-5
There
can't be any life until these things of death in us are exposed and burnt up
and we can offer our lives to God in true worship, purify ourselves as living
sacrifices, holy and acceptable ... good and acceptable and perfect.
"For
behold, the day comes, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all
evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord
of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you
who fear my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its
wings. You shall go forth leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall
tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on
the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts." Malachi 4:1-3
It starts
out as fire burning up the evil until the fire becomes light and the light
becomes glory.
What does
it mean to walk in the light?
1. To
walk in the light means to confess our sins ... don't hide them, don't mask
them ... confess them.
If we say
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess
our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive
our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I John 1:8-9
When he
puts his finger on sin, as Jesus did with the Samaritan woman, with Peter, with
Paul ... confess it..."Yes, Lord, that's me. Yes, Lord, that's what I
am." He's not trying to demoralize us. He has come to heal us. And he can
only heal us if we confess these sins that he uncovers.
2. To
walk in the light is to receive his forgiveness. Instead of trying to cover our
sin sick hearts with a thousand masks, let the Lamb cover our hearts with his
blood.
... but
if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one
another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin ... If we
confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will
forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
...
forgiveness, cleansing. "Your sins are forgiven." He can only say
this when we bring our sins to him.
3. To
walk in the light is to embrace his fire. Once we've confessed our sins and
received forgiveness, we stand in this world as Jesus stood:
as agents of redemption. We carry a cross as Jesus did... we enter
into the same fire that enveloped Jesus.
Beloved, do not be
surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes upon you to prove you, as though
something strange were happening to you. But
rejoice in so far as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice
and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are reproached for the name of
Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or a wrongdoer, or a
mischief-maker; yet if one suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but
under that name let him glorify God. For the time has come for judgment to
begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the end
of those who do not obey the gospel of God? I
Peter 4:12
Power ...
divine power ... healing, redeeming power will flow out from those who embrace
this fire.
“I came
to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were
already kindled! I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how I am constrained
until it is accomplished!" Luke 12:49-50
Jesus
cast fire on earth by being baptized with fire at the cross When that fire fell
on him at Calvary it didn't die away in the rain as the fire that came to
Elijah's sacrifice. It kept burning ... it spread. It spread from Calvary
to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria ... the whole earth. It's burning still. It's
burning hotter than ever.
Now we
are the ones, who spread that fire. And we spread that
fire by first embracing it ourselves, by being baptized with it, by welcoming
it into our lives.
Arise, shine; for your light has come.
And that
light comes to us as the fire of God that judges,
cleanses, heals, purifies, restores. When we embrace that fire and are cleansed
by it, immediately it spreads from us to others.
For
behold, darkness shall cover the earth and thick darkness the peoples. But the
Lord will arise upon you and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall
come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
Isaiah
60:2-3
But
before the nations can come to our light and kings to the brightness of our
rising, we have to respond to this light ... this
fire, the glory which has come to us. We have to let
this light come in and do its work. We have to let
this fire come in and cleanse.
Are we
ready today to confess our sins to him? .... to receive his forgiveness?...to
embrace his fire?
If we
confess our sins, receive his forgiveness, embrace his fire, Jesus' body and
blood will indeed be the food of heaven for us today and we will be empowered
to spread his fire across the face of this city and far beyond.