Jesus the Light of the World
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Recap - Hope, Peace, Joy and Love
During our week of prayer and fasting this passage stood out and I have been looking forward to sharing it with you today.
Paul is an amazing example of the triumph and transformation Jesus' light shines on the world.
Paul who persecuted the church has his heart transformed by the blinding light of Jesus, we read in Acts. (Acts will be our next series).
Now decades on, in chains for the gospel, and here we find a very personal and warm Paul who pours out a heart of affection for his friends in Philippi.
In summary of these opening verses, we hear Pauls's love for the people:
v3-5 The joy you bring to me and to God when I hear of the way you are obediently partnering with the good news.
v6 Confident that God is doing good work in you and through you by the transformation of your life until the advent of Jesus' return.
Like the Ephesian church we studied earlier in the year, Paul is speaking to the church in Philippi of their love for each other and the grace they show one another that is to be God’s Family, to shine the light of Jesus.
In fact, many see this letter from Paul as one of friendship.
So as friends, I want to focus on the conclusion of the prayer today to encourage us as we reflect the light of Jesus into the world.
listen again to these words:
Philippians 1:9–11 (NLT)
I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding.
For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return.
May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.
As I have spent time with this passage a partnering theme emerged for each verse of encouragement:
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,
We see the same encouragement from Paul to the Corinth church
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
So let us overlay these verses
the old is gone - the new is to be overflowing with love.
God has called us to be ambassadors of reconciliation as we are forgiven and restored into friendly relations with God, through Jesus. We need knowledge, insight, and discernment to best share that Love and forgiveness with others.
Ambassadors of Reconciliation
Ambassadors of Reconciliation
Can I give a current example of this that is very topical for where we find ourselves in Australian History? Now I am not seeking to be political but I am seeking how we be ambassadors growing in knowledge to reconcile Australia to God.
This week is NAIDOC week 2nd - 9th a week to recognise the gift of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island brothers and sisters.
The theme this year is: For Our Elders
Listen to this statement for encouraging respect for our elders.
Across every generation, our Elders have played, and continue to play, an important role and hold a prominent place in our communities and families. They are cultural knowledge holders, trailblazers, nurturers, advocates, teachers, survivors, leaders, hard workers and our loved ones.
Our loved ones who pick us up in our low moments and celebrate us in our high ones. Who cook us a feed to comfort us and pull us into line, when we need them to. They guide our generations and pave the way for us to take the paths we can take today. Guidance, not only through generations of advocacy and activism, but in everyday life and how to place ourselves in the world.
Elders are so important and this was the role Paul was assuming as he wrote to these churches. This verse is a great description of an elder, overflowing with love and wise in discernment, these are the elders we need and I would say have in the church today.
Last year we looked at the coming of the light which is a celebration in the Torres Strait Islands that acknowledges the day the clan elders permitted missionaries to come alongside the tribe and resulted in ending the wars between the islands as they declared the light of Jesus. That happened 150 years ago and is still celebrated today.
More recently in the latest Eternity magazine, we can read of Elder, Douglas Multa of Ikuntji (I-kun-gi) in the centre of Australia crying “Let there be light’’ as they illuminated the Forgiveness Cross on Memory Mountain NT. This was conducted on Good Friday this year.
Memory Mountain is named in honour of four young Indigenous evangelists who first preached the gospel in the western desert 100 years ago. Hundreds responded to their message of forgiveness and were baptised.
Did you know that Christianity is the highest recognised religion among the Aboriginal population?
Overall in 2016, 54% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples reported a Christian affiliation, almost the same proportion as the non-Indigenous population that year (53%).
Sadly like non-indigenous, no religion is on the rise.
This is why I am so passionate about us healing the scar on our land because of the treatment of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island brothers and sisters.
because we have missed out on wisdom and love that could have been shared in unity. The coming of the light is an example of that.
I am thankful there are ambassadors of reconciliation on both sides and we are called to give more love and understanding to all, neighbours, migrants, lower social-economic, people trapped in addiction, and prisoners.
Another Aboriginal elder, lawyer, and Academic Noel Pearson, has highlighted that Australia actually has 3 stories that have created scars but also provide opportunities for reconciliation and therefore transformation.
The injustice to the indigenous people of Australia.
the injustice to the British convicts of Australia.
The injustice to the gifted migrants of Australia.
Ambassador of Reconciliation, reflecting Jesus light
In May 2017, over 250 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Delegates from all points of Australia gathered in Mutitjulu in the shadow of Uluru and put their signatures on a historic statement. The Uluru Statement From The Heart addressed to the Australian people invited the nation to create a better future via the proposal of key reforms.
I have printed the statement from the heart and if you would like to read and be praying for our indigenous brothers and sisters, the statement highlights the continuing struggles they face.
The truth is there are some really complex issues going on around us. Also in our families and we can get worried. The world is feeling darker, and feeling more dangerous. Yet this has not changed in 2000 years (we are just more aware of things going on around the world) and that is why Paul reminds us of the most important thing.
For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return.
And what really matters?
In the old testament it is put in Micah 6:8
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
In revelations, it is to not forsake your first love
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.
Yet Jesus simply puts it
to Seek first the kingdom
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
These things are provision and life.
Seek first the kingdom
Seek first the kingdom
How often do we prioritise God’s kingdom?
How often do we instead worry?
This passage from Jesus to lay down our worries and focus instead on His Kingdom until he comes again is of great encouragement to my life and is when we see amazing things happen.
This week in Alpha we heard the stories of some amazing people that lay down their desires to seek first the kingdom and it started with a step of faith and obedience even when they didn’t know if they could.
Catholic priest - Maximilian Kolbe taking someone's place to die by starvation after a prison break
Corrie ten Boom - forgiving a prison guard where her sister and father died due to the cruel things done to them.
A British fella that turned his life around from crime to now have a family he adores and spread the message of the good news to prisons.
These are some amazing stories of people seeking first the kingdom, doing what really matters in life.
One thing I worry about is if God will pass me by because I take my eyes off him.
In the book of Ezekiel, I am challenged by the fact that God’s glory left the temple, a place God said he would always be found. Yet Isreal had not been living pure and blameless lives. They had not cared for the foreigner in the land or the poor and marginalised and they worshiped other idols.
Now we are not in the old testament, God is not in one place, a temple. He is with us, through the Holy Spirit in our hearts. We can always call out and he will answer. Yet do we.
Each of those stories at Alpha was a step of faith into an uncomfortable situation, laying down their desires.
Yet like Isreal, I can get distracted by other comforts and worries. Trying to fix them on my own. We can get so caught up in our own world of what we want that we lose sight of family, friends, or acquaintances that we actually have the ability to help.
Is there anything today stopping you from putting God’s kingdom first in your life?
If there is you are missing out on being ...
May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.
Some images that I think brings glory and praise to God is this amazing indigenous artwork by God’s Dreaming - His Invitation to you.
Sharon Lowah, pastor of fire ablaze revival church in Alice Springs has put the following description.
The coming of Jesus
The coming of Jesus
God’s law requires punishment for sin, but God is merciful and He had a plan to get His children into the Kingdom of Light.
God sent His Son, Jesus, to earth to save us from sin and death. Jesus never sinned.
Jesus came as a baby through Mary and God was His father. When Jesus grew up, His cousin, John, baptised Him in the River Jordan. As He came out of the water, the Holy Spirit came down upon Him.
Gift of Life
Gift of Life
Jesus healed the sick, raised the dead, and did many other miracles. God’s plan was for His innocent son to take our punishment of death. Jesus agreed and died in our place by being nailed on a cross. Jesus paid the price to free us from punishment so we can become God’s children.
Now, if we accept Jesus' sacrifice and follow God instead of going our own way, He will forgive our sin, wash away our guilt and shame, and give us a new identity as sons and daughters of God.
Jesus was buried and was made alive again by the Holy Spirit. He showed that He had power over life and death, proving that He was God!
In Conclusion
Let us live seeking first the kingdom of God, overflowing in love and discernment as we reflect the light of Jesus as ambassadors of reconciliation.
Prayer