November 30

Transcription

(Transcribed by TurboScribe.)

Must be bad news. If I look around, it seems the rapture has come. And we are those who are left behind.

Snow will do that. It is wild this early in the season. My goodness.

It is wonderful to be here with you. If there are folks that are visiting with us or first time with us, you're welcome. Glad to see you with us and worshipping with us.

You'll find that this is a very wonderful, warm congregation. So stick around and have some coffee and tea in the back this morning and get to know some folks. Lords, thank you as we start this season of Advent for the light that came in Jesus Christ, our Lord, brought hope into this world.

In this morning, as we quiet our hearts and minds to listen for your words, our prayer is that that we pray every week, may we see Jesus and all be healed. Forgive your servant, Lord, for he sins on you. In your name we pray.

Amen. We're going to the Old Testament. Can you believe we're not in Revelation? Seven weeks of that.

Well, we're into something new. Isaiah this morning. In the Old Testament, Isaiah chapter 8, verse 22, and we're going to read Isaiah 9, verse 1 and 2, and then verse 6 and 7. Making it a little easier on you this morning, Ted.

And he didn't get a midnight slide from you. It was a little sooner than that. So this is talking to the people of Israel and reminding them that things are not going all that well.

And then we're going to go into Babylonian exile. But it also has a little bit of a finger that says things will change. Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom.

And they will be thrust into utter darkness. Why in the world are you starting like that on Advent? Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who are in distress. In the past, ye God, humbled the land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali.

But in the future, ye will honour Galilee of the nations by the way of the sea beyond the Jordan. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. On those living in the land of the deep darkness, a light has dawned.

For to us a child is born. To us a son is given and the government will be on his shoulder. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the greatness of his government and peace, there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

So, two images that are so polar opposites of each other in this passage. This image of light and then that image of darkness. And I'm going to start with the darkness a little bit this morning.

And darkness is usually not something we like to talk about because darkness is a little sinister sometimes. It's a little scary sometimes. You don't have too many people saying, I'm afraid of the light.

You have a lot of little ones saying, I'm afraid of the darkness. And sometimes we are because in the dark you can trip and fall. You can walk into a wall and you can get lost in the darkness.

And it's not a cool thing. But I want to talk about darkness in the way that the word Scripture most of the time speaks about it. Not in the literal sense, but more in the figurative sense.

And I'm going to get back to that in a second. Over 200 times in the word speaks of darkness. And usually when it speaks of darkness, it speaks of this life that is lived apart from God.

Because where God is not there is this darkness in which you are enfolded. And I'm going to explain that in a second. It's also kind of this life living away from God's direction.

Where you're kind of turning away from the light and walking your own way. And being close to walking into stuff that you shouldn't be walking in. It's also often associated with a life apart from God's love and God's care falling into the darkness.

So here's your Hebrew lesson now. I'm finished with the Greek. You're all fluent in Greek after seven weeks.

Now your Hebrew lesson starts. Ted, put that one up there. The word for darkness in the Hebrew is the word choshech.

There we go. Choshech. And most of you cannot say that because it's got a ch.

It starts with a ch and it ends with a ch. Choshech. It's a cool thing.

It comes from the word chashach. So look at that in the Hebrew. It's so cool.

Look at those three letters. They're all the same. It's only the little vowels that change.

And if you see the vowels, the bottom one has this little thing that looks like a T. And then a flat. Those are two A's. A long A and a short A. There's your Hebrew lesson.

Comes from the word chashach. Chashach in the literal sense means darkness. But in the figurative sense, and that's where we're going, means misery or wickedness or ignorance.

That's how the Bible speaks of that. When I go back and I say it, darkness is to live apart from God. Ignorance.

Darkness is to live apart from God's guidance. Misery. Wickedness.

Darkness is to live apart from God's love and care. That's complete ignorance. Not wanting to live there.

And you end up in what is called, thanks, Dad, what is called darkness. How does it happen that that darkness comes over us? And what happens when that darkness comes over our life? When I was thinking about this, I thought to myself, maybe the first thing that for me when I think of this kind of darkness, it's something that chokes your heart. Can I explain that? So when we speak of heart, I'm speaking in a biblical sense.

It's not this thing that Jay will listen to when I go to visit him that pumps the blood in my heart, this old muscle. When I speak of heart, the Bible speaks of the centre of where my thoughts and my actions come from. Darkness will choke your heart.

Will choke how you think and how you do. Let me give you two examples. They did a study in Harvard and they got the students and they said, we're going to give you two options.

An option A and an option B. You tell us which one you're going to pick. Option A says you make where everything for everyone costs the same. Everything is exactly the same.

You make $50,000 a year. Everyone else makes $25,000. That's option A. Option B, you make $100,000 a year.

Everyone else makes $200,000. Which option are you going to pick? Anyone want to guess where the majority of them went? Number one, they chose that. I'll take $50,000 and the others can take $25,000 because that's the darkness of the heart that chokes.

Because I can feel superior. I'm doing better than you. I'm making more than you.

I'm being taken care of better than you. And it makes me feel good. And that's where that ignorance, that misery, that stuff starts coming into your life.

Because I'm not looking at those around me, how I can care. I'm just looking at, I'll take a 50% payback. Just so I can make more than you.

Let me give you another example. And then you'll understand why I asked the Lord to forgive my sins. A while ago, it was a tough week.

And I came home one evening and Elsie was there. And I made a cup of tea and we sat down. And she said, how was the evening? And I said, man, it was wild.

It was just tough and it's been a tough week. And I just started talking about my week and what I was going through and the things that were on my mind. And Elsie listened.

And then I got up and I said, I have to go work. And I started going up to my office upstairs. And as I walked past Elsie, she said in her gracious, kind way, like this amazing woman is that God put in my life.

She said, I'll be going to ask you something. And I said, sure. She said, you know, I listened to you the whole week and everything.

You didn't even ask how my day was today. So what did I say? Oh, Elsie, I'm really sorry. That was selfish of me.

I'm sorry. I'm going to do better than that. No.

I mumbled some stupid excuse and just kept on walking and went right up to my office. Yeah, David, oh, man. And she did not come flying up the stairs and give me a piece of her mind because that's not Elsie.

As I sat down, there was this little voice that was talking to me. Little voice said, Aubrey, that's not the way you do that. You should go down and you should go say to Elsie, Elsie, I'm sorry.

Elsie, I don't know what came over me. Why would I do that? Thank you for always being there for me. Forgive me.

Can I sit with you and ask how your day was? You know what I said to that voice? I don't like that one. Have you got something else? Because that's what the darkness will do. It will choke your heart.

And your heart will just look this way. And it will touch your thoughts. It will touch your actions.

It will touch everything. And you walk in that darkness. And how often do we fall in that trap, my friends? All of us.

We're not perfect. We hit that darkness and we walk in that ignorance and we think we're okay. And I pretend that everything is cool and everything is good and I'm so amazing.

And I don't realise that this is what makes me stumble and fall instead of just opening up and saying, I'm not okay. Will you just love me? Are you there to care for me? We play games instead of just opening and saying, Lord, shine your light. And may I allow the light of those amazing ones that are around me to shine into my light too.

When we do a silly thing like I did, and that was not a story. That was the truth that happened. May the light of the Lord shine in so that I go down and say, hey blondie, I was just normal.

Will you hold me and give me a kiss? I'm sorry. But the darkness, it chokes the hearts. And they cannot do what the Lord wants them to do.

The darkness breaks God's image, not just in us, but also in this world. Because why are we living in the dark world right now? I don't even want to watch the news anymore. I made the mistake last night.

Usually we don't turn this thing on on the weekend because we hang out with Aidan and it's wonderful. We play with him, we build puzzles. He's building puzzles like crazy.

We'll build puzzles and we build Lego and we'll just go up and listen to him play his little piano things. But I stood on the news last night and it came on and the first thing I see is war planes being loaded. And planes being told, don't fly over a certain area because this is not going to be good for you.

The next thing I see is these oil tankers being blown up. And the next thing I see is bombs falling on Kiev again. And I'm thinking that's exactly what I was writing when I wrote this.

How dark is this world? Just think about it for one second. How long does war, just using the one example, in Ukraine has been going on. And somehow we've kind of become used to it.

Despite the fact that when those bombs fall, they do not discriminate. That when those bombs fall, they kill and people are killed. We listen to people who are in power, who say things about other people and call them animals and stuff like that.

Is that not the darkness of the world that creeps into our lives? We were made in the image of a beautiful God that loves us in all of our darkness. In all of our wickedness, misery, he loves us. And yet this world, this world doesn't listen.

John, John got this so right. Oh my goodness. Listen, John 3. I think you have this from the message.

This is the crisis we're in. God's light streamed into the world. But men and women everywhere ran for the darkness.

Not the physical darkness. That darkness that I told you about. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God.

Everyone who makes a practise of, here comes the darkness, doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion. Here's the big one. Hates God's light and won't come near it, fearing a painful expulsion.

But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God's light. So the work can be seen for the God-worker it is. Darkness, wickedness, ignorance, misery.

But the God-light just changes all of that. Little story I read. Kind of says a little something about how this works.

Story by Martin Vidal. During the day, Big Bear plays with Little Bear. Man, I need glasses for this one.

They're outside in the sun and the snow. But at nighttime, Big Bear takes Little Bear to the bear cave and tucks him in and tells him it's time to go to sleep. But Little Bear can't sleep.

Little Bear is wide awake, so Big Bear pads over to his bed and says, Can't you sleep, Little Bear? No, I'm scared. Why are you scared? Because of the dark. What dark? The dark that's all around us.

Big Bear notices there are corners in the cave that are still dark. So he gets out a tiny little lantern and says, Now you can sleep. Now there's light.

But Little Bear can't sleep. He tosses and turns. Big Bear tries a bigger lantern.

And then he brings out the biggest lantern of all, but still Little Bear cannot sleep. He tosses and turns for a fourth time. They have this conversation.

Can't you sleep, Little Bear? No, I can't because of the dark. Big Bear says, It's all light in here. Little Bear says, I know, but it's all dark out there.

And he points outside the cave. Big Bear picks up Little Bear and says, Let's go out there. Into the darkness? Yes, but I'm afraid of the darkness.

Big Bear says, You don't have to be afraid, Little Bear. Because I brought you the moon and all the twinkling stars. But Little Bear couldn't hear because he'd gone to sleep.

Warm and safe in Big Bear's arms. See, what made Little Bear unafraid of the darkness was not the moon and the stars. It was Big Bear.

Because Big Bear holds us. He sees us. He sees this world.

He sees the darkness. He sees the confusion in which we walk around in. Our callousness sometimes.

Our fears. Our struggles. He sees that.

But he does not send judgement. He does not send rebuke. He does not send religion.

He sends Christmas. Isn't Christmas? Says Isaiah, The people who were walking in darkness saw a light. That light was more than the sun, moon, or the stars.

That light, says John in his first chapter, That light is the one who would come into the world to bring light into the world. And when that light came into this world, the darkness came and the darkness tried to overwhelm the light. But the darkness had no power to overpower the light that came into the world.

That light did not just come 2,025 years ago. That light comes every day. Jesus was not just born into that stable, my friends.

Jesus is born into our lives. And the moment Little Bear says, Big Bear, I'm scared of the dark. And Big Bear will come and put his sun and his light right into this life.

Says Jesus, John 8, 12. I am the light of the world. And anyone who follows me will never walk in the light.

Because they will have the light of life in them that will never go away. That light was born into these lives. But then we have a responsibility to live that life.

Not to allow it to choke these hearts or these lives. But to shine and to be the light. That the world that is in darkness might see, might see Jesus.

Not just once a year, but every day. May the light shine in you in all of its brightness. May Big Bear hold you in his arms where you can sleep when sometimes you're afraid of the dark.

Amen. Take a few moments of silent prayer.