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 Sermon > Official Service |
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Title |
Arise, shine |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Isa 60:1 |
Date |
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The world is very excited in the new millennium now. But there are still wars and famines, floods and earthquakes in various places. Many people are struggling against unknown new diseases and dying. As God warned in Matthew 24:7-8, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains", the disasters of the last times are already happening. Many people, gaining the meaningless things of the world such as wealth and prosperity, honor, and power, keep themselves away from God. But they should know that the day of judgment will come upon them like a thief at night and they will come to ruin at last.
In this circumstances, how should the children of God live? I hope that, through this preaching, you’ll be blessed by God to reveal His glory and and arise and shine in this times when darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples.
1. The meaning of ’Arise, shine’
Isaiah 60:1 says, "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rise upon you." This is the voice of God commanding the Israelites and His proclamation about their glorious future.
At the time when Isaiah proclaimed this word, Israel was all covered with despair and darkness. The Israelite trend of the times was committing religious sins like idolatry, ignoring God’s righteousness, depravity, and depressing the weak people. God urged them so many times to repent their sins, but they ignored His word and didn’t stop sinning. At last, God put the Israelites into the hand of Babylon. The beautiful temple of Jerusalem was destroyed, the Israelites became the laughingstock among the nations and they were captive for seventy years.
How would they feel in the circumstances? Indeed, their captivity must have given them much pain, but they must have been driven into the even greater pain by the feeling of despair on the fact that the glory of God had left them. It is during this time when they were in the depth of despair that God gave them the above quoted word, promising their glorious future and the Messiah’s advent.
What does ’Arise, shine’ mean for us who have just greeted the new millennium?
Nowadays, sins are prevailing more than Isaiah’s time and the earth is covered with darkness. Therefore, we the children of God have to arise and shine light of the glory of God all over the world.
How then can we bear witness to God the Creator to unbelieving people with stubborn heart and have them believe in Jesus Christ? In John 4:48, Jesus said to us, "Unless you people see miraculous sings and wonders, you will never believe."
That is, they will believe in the Lord only when they see the works done by God’s power beyond human limitation.
Therefore, we must preach the Message of the Cross bearing the Providence of Salvation to this generation who are thirsty for the truth. But we should testify the power of the living God with accompanying signs and wonders. It is our God-given duty. All children of God who received His grace of salvation and love for nothing must be willing to achieve His will completely.
2. To fulfill the command ’Arise, shine’
What then should we do to realize completely the command of God, ’Arise, shine’?
First, we have to live in the light to drive away darkness and shed the fragrance of Christ.
Spiritually speaking, darkness means sin and this world and light means God Himself or the truth. 1John 1:5 says, "...God is light; in him there is no darkness at all." Jesus promised in John 8:12, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
Therefore, to shine we have to live in God who is source of light. As Paul the Apostle advised the saints, "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light(Ephesians 5:8)", we have to seek all goodness, righteousness and truth.(Ephesians 5:9) Those who are in darkness can’t realize that they are in darkness. But when the light of the truth of God shines, they can discern what is light and what is darkness. So the more we are in the Lord, the more sins we can throw away and live in light so as to shed the fragrance of Christ.
That is to say, people shed different lights in brightness according to the accomplishment of the words of God in their hearts and the degree of their holiness. While those who have strong light repel darkness and do the works of God boldly, those who have weak light, struggling against darkness, lose their strength and even are defeated by darkness. But one thing clear is that when light comes in, darkness disappears. Our Lord was light to the whole world. He conquered the power of darkness and gave life to all human beings in his light. Paul the Apostle was a light to the Gentiles. He spread the light of life to many countries in Europe and Asia.
What then must we do? First, we should be able to drive away darkness in our family and workplace. Then we will be able to repulse darkness from our community and finally arise and shine to the whole world.
Second, we have to receive the power and show the works of God.
Power is the strength of faith with which we do what only God can do after being empowered by Him beyond the human limitation. Numerous works of God the Omnipotent and Omniscient are recorded in the Bible : Abraham got his son Isaac when he was a hundred years old(Genesis 21:5). When Moses struck the rock, water came out of it(Exodus 17:6). Aaron’s staff budded(Numbers 17:8). All these are the wondrous works of creation of God out of nothing.
In addition, Jesus brought Lazarus back to life on the fourth day after he died(11th chapter of John). Paul who received the power of God did extraordinary miracles that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them(Acts 9:12). When even Peter’s shadow fell on the sick people as he passed by, they got healed and evil spirits left them(Act 5:15-16).
Before Jesus was taken up to heaven, he said, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you: and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."(Act 1:8) As he said, in the Early Church times, the saints like deacon Philip and deacon Stephen as well as the apostles did miracles with the power given by God. So wherever the Gospel was preached, numerous Gentiles not to mention the Jews came to the Lord.
Likewise all the children of God who received the Holy Spirit, even though they are not the servants of God, must receive the power from God and shed light. To do so they have to prepare themselves as good vessels. In other words, we must throw away every kind of evil and become perfect and blameless before God to receive His power and give glory to Him to the full measure. If we receive the power of God when we still have the cravings of sinful man, the lust of eyes and the boasting of what we have and do, we will eventually become proud and destined to perish after being used.
We can learn from the Bible, both the old testament and the new testament that those who received the power from God were all gentle and holy. As the power comes from God who is light, we must remember that we can shine as bright as we reveal the power of God. For this, we have to pray continually and keep trying to have the same attitude as that of Jesus Christ.
Third, we have to open our mouths and proclaim boldly the word of holiness and the works of God.
If the saints of the Early Church who saw the resurrection of the Lord with their own eyes had not spread the Gospel for fear of persecution, Christianity would not have come into existence.
As we believed in Jesus Christ and were saved thanks to them, we have to proclaim the works of God and His word of life fearing nothing. When we testify the solid evidences of God, this will become light and destroy the camps of the enemy Satan and devils and evil spirits. Then numerous souls will be led to light out of darkness as where light goes, darkness disappears. So we must willingly do our best to fulfill our duty as preachers of the Gospel.
When Isaiah heard the voice of God, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?", he confessed, "Here am I. Send me!" and achieved the will of God.(Isaiah 6:8) Paul introduced himself as an apostle of God in all his letters and kept spreading the Gospel fearlessly. Although he was kept in prison and had no other way of delivering the words of God than letters, the saints got strengthened by his letters. They could overcome persecutions and churches kept growing.
Likewise, we must keep in mind that when we keep trying to preach the Gospel in season and out of season, we will be able to shine to the whole world.
Beloved congregation,
When Jehovah God is with us and we shed light, nations will come to our light and kings to the brightness of our dawn(Isaiah 60:3). Longing for the day of blessing, we must keep in mind the command of God to arise and shine and keep running forward ardently until we complete our duty to witness to the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
I pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that you will live in the light of the Lord who called us out of darkness and complete your God-given duties so as to have the honor of entering the holy city, the new Jerusalem where the throne of God is. |
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