The Great Giver and the Great Gift

Introduction

Good morning, it is always a joy to be asked to proclaim God’s word to God’s people.

It is even more a joy to be asked to return. It’s pretty easy to get the first invite, but one of the best forms of feedback is the re-ask.

And it is a further joy to preach during this time of year. My favorite three months of the year are November, December, and January. It seems to me that even in a nation of rising secularism, even in a day of rampant narcissism, even in a season of obscene consumerism—the holy disruption of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year is a sign of how utterly haunted we Westerners are by spirit of Christianity.

My favorite three months of the year are November, December, and January.

And then you throw in that my oldest son turned four on Friday and my ten year wedding anniversary is on New Years Eve. Which when I say that and everybody starts trying to figure out how old I am, so to answer that question I turn 32 in early January.

So for both personal and theological reasons I absolutely love this time of year. It really is a treat because, well, you know those people who always are joyful and upbeat and they can make anything fun. Do you know somebody like that? Someone who is the personification of sunshine or a cup of hot chocolate on a cool winter day? I’m not them. I am the kale smoothie of life—most of the time I am cold and bitter and the only reason people put up with me is that I am good for them. My cynicism and realism keep them grounded. Except during Winter, for three months of the year I am actually pleasant.

C.S. Lewis God on the Docks Essays

The one exception is when the consumerism of Christmas begins to butt itself into the holy disruption of the holidays. I love how Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years break our frenetic and hurried and distracted pace of life. But we are so combative to the purpose and work of God in these holy-days. People blitz the department stores and rack up shopping bills that rival the expenditures of most third world nations.

This is why I can totally understand C.S. Lewis’ response to why he did not like Christmas. In an essay titled “What Christmas Means to Me” Lewis condemns what he calls “the commercial racket” of Christmas on these grounds:

It gives on the whole much more pain than pleasure. You have only to stay over Christmas with family who seriously keep it (in its...commercial aspect) in order to see that the thing is a nightmare. Long before December 25th everyone is worn out—physically worn out by weeks of daily struggle in overcrowded shops, mentally worn out by the effort to remember all the right recipients and to think out suitable gifts for them. They are in no trim for merry-making; much less ( if they should want to) to take part in a religious act. They look far more as if there had a long illness in the house. As well most of it is involuntary. The modern rule is that anyone can force you to give him a present by sending you quite unprovoked present of his own. It is almost blackmail.

This morning what I want you to do is present a rival vision of giving, more accurately the theological backbone for giving. To do that I want to turn to an unconventional, but relevant passage: .

Background

Who Is James?

It is always a bit precarious jumping into a text that is on going, there is always some danger of failing to be faithful to the scripture at hand, so while you are turning in your Bibles to (we will start in verse 16) allow me to recap the first fifteen verses.

It is always a bit precarious jumping into a text that is on going, there is always some danger of failing to be faithful to the scripture at hand, so while you are turning in your Bibles to (we will start in verse 16) allow me to recap the first fifteen verses.

We are looking at a letter written by a man named James who had become a leader in the early church in fact he is mentioned frequently in the the scriptures. and 15:7 reference him, he appears as well in , and we get a glimpse of his authority in the early church in , , and 21.

Good and Perfect

Who is James? James is one of the half-brothers of Jesus, he may have been in the grouping of Jesus’ family referenced in that sought to quiet Jesus’ teachings. It is notable then that this man—who could grasp at power by declaring his earthly connection to Jesus, or speak of his ecclesiastical or church authority—begins his letter by declaring himself on common ground with its readers. James, James’ original audience, and we, ourselves, are what? “Servants of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.” The first thing we should consider about this letter is James’ humility. He does not grasp at authority through blood, but humbly takes the title of servant.

Who Is James Writing to?

Father of Lights

Who is James writing to? The twelve tribes of the dispersion. Historically these are Jews who have been scattered outside of Israel their homeland by some event. Theologically, then, James is writing to exiles, sojourners, those on their way. He is writing, then, for us. Those of us who call ourselves Christians, who have submitted to Jesus and declared him to be the sole king and ruler of our lives, we are not primarily citizens of some earthly nation, state, or city. As much as we might love Santa Cruz California it is not our home. We are sojourners and exiles.

What Has James Been Writing About?

In the verses immediately preceding where we are camping this morning, James is very realistic. Maybe this is why I choose it this morning. He’s a bit of a kale smoothie too.

He says life is tough. You meet trials and hardships, but you must get through them, you must build steadfastness in yourself, you must meet trials with discipline, you must meet trials with self-control. You must take responsibility when you fail, don’t blame your temptations on God, you have to own that the temptations came from your own sinful desires.

Now James is also a pastor, so when he gets like this he knows he has to strengthen his readers with the gospel. He knows that there are people out there, hearing him, and they are struggling. They are in the thick of the trials and they are beating themselves up because they have given into temptation—they have lacked the necessary discipline, steadfastness, and self-control.

James wants to clarify a misconception, he says that God does not give tempt us to sin. Rather our sins arise out of our own desires.

Rather our sins arise out of our own desires. If not temptation, what is it that God does give us? It is to this question James wants to provide an answer for in our text this morning.

If not temptation, what is it that God does give us? It is to this question James wants to provide an answer for in our text this morning.

So if you are tired going into this Christmas season. If you are struggling this time of year. If you are frustrated and flustered when it comes to your pursuit of Christ and growth in him. This sermon is for you. This sermon is about the giver of good and perfect gifts. So let me pray one more time and we will jump into the passage.

Prayer

Father in Heaven,

We give you this time and this morning. We ask that you make us aware of the good gifts you give us. That you direct our hearts, as many of us did just a few days ago, to you in gratitude for what you have done for us. I pray for those in here who are feeling hurt or tired. Jesus our King tells us to come to him, all who are weary and heavy laden, and in him they will find rest for their souls. I pray this morning and this day might reconnect us a bit with that reality, that we might see that we can have rest, deep and meaningful rest, because truly, our lives, significance, identity, meaning—these things do not bear on our shoulders, but they are gifted to us by you, Father, in Christ.

Bless this time as we open your word, and let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be honoring in your sight.

Amen.

Every Good and Perfect Gift

Every Good and Perfect Gift

English Standard Version Chapter 1

16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

James tells us that “every good and perfect gift comes from above. Coming down from the Father of Lights.” Let’s focus on the ideas of a good gift and a perfect gift.

Let’s focus on the ideas of a good gift and a perfect gift.

A good gift, if I am being honest, seems acceptable. But is that what you are shooting for when you go Christmas shopping? Probably not, but that isn’t a problem with ‘good’ it is a problem with how we speak. We live in a day of linguistic inflation. Our words far exceed their actual scope of meaning. When we give into calling everything amazing, awesome, crazy, epic, LIT (I don’t know what that one means, but I am sure it’s inflated), when we give into habitual inflation of language we can lose sight of such things as goodness.

We live in a day of linguistic inflation. Our words far exceed their actual scope of meaning.

We say awesome for things that were enjoyable, we say amazing for things that are entertaining,

In this context we are being told that God gives good gifts, that is morally good gifts. That doesn’t mean God is a conscientious shopper (buy these weird shoes and we’ll give a pair to a child in Africa!). Again, this comes in the wake of James saying that God does not tempt us to sin and that we need to be steadfast. Which means that James is saying that God gives us what is necessary to resist temptation. Rather than give us temptations, God gives us what we need to resist and grow and strengthen so that we might continue.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

He couples this idea of “good gifts” then with “perfect.” That sounds a bit inflated too. Does this really mean that God gets us the perfect gift, like a frenetic parent scouring Amazon for the thing that will delight the heart of their child? Well, that depends on what you mean. You see delight is what God is going for but he is seeking to create delight a bit differently than we might think.

The word here for perfect is the Greek word TELOS, which carries the idea of complete, finished, or mature. More specifically, this word has Embedded in it the idea of a goal or result. To be given a teleological gift is to be given something that helps you achieve that which you were made for. The goal, result, or ends that God designed you to accomplish. That is your perfect gift.

Similarly, the idea o

Do you remember in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe when Father Christmas shows up? He gives each of the Pevensie children a gift. The gifts are perfectly suited to what each of the children is called to do in the course of the climatic scene of the book. That is what James is saying here. There is a goal God has created you for, and he will give you good and telos gifts in order to turn you into the kind of person who can accomplish that goal!

That is what James means when, in the beginning of his letter he says that we might become “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” God’s good gifts are not mere nicknacks—they are not the things of this world that, to quote Jesus, “moth and rust can destroy.”

That we might become “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” I don’t want to cruise past this too quickly. God’s good gifts are not mere nicknacks—they are not the things of this world that, to quote Jesus, “moth and rust can destroy.”

That we might become “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” I don’t want to cruise past this too quickly. God’s good gifts are not mere nicknacks—they are not the things of this world that, to quote Jesus, “moth and rust can destroy.”

Rather they are of a different sort. God’s good gifts are things that prepare our hearts for his calling on our lives and eternity with him in his Kingdom. If you are feeling weary and worn out take hold of this, that God is crafting you into something, he is not finished, he is still crafting. Paul writes:

English Standard Version Chapter 1

6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Take heart God is not finished with you.

World Changing Excursus/Application

As well, it is possible that some of you are tired and frustrated because your vision of what of you telos is off.

We miss this so frequently because we often want God’s plan for our lives to be these huge things. When I was in Southern California, during my time in college and graduate school, I went to a lot of college graduations—my brother’s, mine, my wife’s, my friend’s. We were all told that God wants us to change the world, to impact the world, to transform the world.

I, through my study of Scripture and reflection on theology have decided that this message is basically meaningless. Unless we water down the meaning of “us,” “world,” and “change” this is literally impossible.

What God actually wants is faithful presence in this world, which he describes as loving him and loving your neighbor. That is not the stuff of world changing, that is the stuff or holy living. I have very strong opinions about world changing and we can talk about that sometime afterwards, but my point is this: If you are expecting to change the world you might miss your family, your neighbor, your community, your church. The gifts God is giving you is to be who he made you to be in those contexts.

In a similar letter written by Jesus’ friend and disciple Peter, it is written:

3 His divine power has been granted (read: gifted) to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted (read: gifted) to us his presious and very great promises, so that through them you may becomes

English Standard Version Chapter 1

3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Notice the language of character building again. In this passage we are told to “make every effort” but this is an act of cooperation with God is logically and chronologically posterior to the gift that we have recieved, thus Peter only tells us to put in the effort after we are told “ gifted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.” In effect, Peter’s “make every effort” is a call to unwrap the gift God has given.

Good and Perfect

From the Father of Lights

What about perfect? says that every good and every perfect gift.

The perennial passage to capture the meaning of these words is :

The perennial passage to capture the meaning of these words is :

English Standard Version Chapter 1

6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

You see when God thinks of you he not only thinks of who you are, but he thinks (with anticipation and fondness) of who he will make you to become. He sees you and who he is crafting you into.

With that being said, let’s think about the God who is giving us these gifts. There are a bunch of names James could have used for God, but he calls God “the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” Let’s think about this for a bit:

Good and Perfect

Father of Lights

Let’s think about this for a bit

To a certain extent, all of this should be obvious when we we consider who the giver of the gifts is. “the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

I think James is saying the gifts can only be good because they come to us from someone who has been giving good gifts since creation, when he created the lights—the sun and moon and stars. In recounting the great works of God, the Psalmist declares:

First, the gifts can only be good because they come to us from someone who has been giving good gifts since creation, when he created the lights—the sun and moon and stars. In recounting the great works of God, the Psalmist declares:

English Standard Version Psalm 136

136 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,

for his steadfast love endures forever.

2  Give thanks to the God of gods,

for his steadfast love endures forever.

3  Give thanks to the Lord of lords,

for his steadfast love endures forever;

4  to him who alone does great wonders,

for his steadfast love endures forever;

5  to him who by understanding made the heavens,

for his steadfast love endures forever;

6  to him who spread out the earth above the waters,

for his steadfast love endures forever;

7  to him who made the great lights,

for his steadfast love endures forever;

8  the sun to rule over the day,

for his steadfast love endures forever;

9  the moon and stars to rule over the night,

for his steadfast love endures forever;

Of this God James says, there is no fluctuation. His character endures. Though the lights he created wax and wane throughout the day, though the Sun and Moon transverse the sky appearing and reappearing, God does not. He’s goodness is constant, his fatherly care is always present.

The second thing is that if God has given us gifts that

The Greatest Gift of All (the Gospel)

Wisdom

So if God, the Father of Lights, gives us good and perfect gifts to form us into the persons he wants us to be. What sort of gifts are these?

If we look earlier in the letter James writes,

English Standard Version Chapter 1

5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

Wisdom, then is the sort of gift God gives.

But how does he give wisdom? Through his scriptures, through his Spirit, through church community. If I understand the earlier part of the letter rightly, then I think we can say that he gives wisdom through these things especially when they are used rightly during trials.

A few things to say about this. First is that might seem simplistic. I get it. Sometimes when doing the application-y things with teaching the Bible I feel like it is a bit repetitive. “What is the application of this passage?” Read your Bible, pray, be in a local church community. “What about this passage?” Read your Bible, pray, be in a local church community. It feels a lot like describing the menu of a Mexican food restaurant. “What’s in a taco?” Your choice of meat, cheese, beans, salsa, and guacamole. “Hmmm…what about a burrito?” Your choice of meat, cheese, beans, salsa, and guacamole. “Interesting, what about...” Your choice of meat, cheese, beans, salsa, and guacamole.

I get it, but that mode of thinking has a slight fault in it. It is not simplistic, it is simple. There is a big difference. We don’t have time to go into it right now, but there is this story in the Old Testament, in the book of 2 Kings, in chapter five. It is the story of Naaman.

Naaman is a powerful military leader from the land of Syria. He is the commander of the armies of the Syrian King. Very powerful, very important. But Naaman has leprosy. A nasty skin disease that could have been one of a number of things. Suffice to say that it would have had a negative effect on Naaman’s life. One day Naaman hears that it has been shown that a prophet in Israel can heal. So Naaman gathers up a bunch of wealth and goes to Israel to find this prophet. To get a more full account you’ll have to read for yourself, but here’s the cliffnotes.

Naaman finds the prophet Elisha and asks him to cleanse him and Elisha say, “okay, go wash in the Jordan River seven times.” And Naaman is really offended:

English Standard Version Chapter 5

11 But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.

You see Naaman was expecting what a lot of powerful and influential leaders were expecting: that he must complete a feat of valor to show he is worthy, or that he must pay heaps of money to buy it, or that some religious man must preform some elaborate ceremony. It is a simply thing that he is told. Go wash.

That is sort of a long winded way of saying, often we hear something and we say “it can’t be that easy.” And we leave the prescription untried.

The second thing to say about this is we have to know how the means God has given us work. Often when we try the Bible and prayer and church we don’t understand them, so they do not work and we get frustrated and put the things of God down.

There are times when the Bible, prayer, and church work like a remedy. You take some and healing or strength or wisdom comes instantly. But most of the time the things of God work on routine. You need them in daily diet, you need to be spiritually eating healthy and spiritually exercising. Also, you need to be memorizing the scriptures. Somewhere along the line we decided only Pharisees memorized scripture. And I don’t want to be a Pharisee. The blessing of our abundant access to the Bible, from pocket editions to iPhone apps have made us spiritually lazy. You need to get the word of God so far into you that it cannot come out. I recommend doing it with a group too. One of the most fruitful things I have ever done spiritually is memorize the Sermon on the Mount with five of my best friends.

The Greatest Gift

James particularly mentions wisdom, but we could also include things like strength, self-control, virtue, knowledge. Whatever we ask in accordance with the character God desires to produce in us he will give.

English Standard Version Chapter 4

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

Both of these passages (and we could add more to them) encourage us to ask and God for that which we need.

It should also be noted that each of these passages encourages us to ask with sanctified desires. These are not vouchers for the divine Santa Claus. These are encouragements to seek in prayer that which we need to become who God has designed us to be.

Wisdom

But in this passage, James draws our attention not merely to a character trait, but to the greatest gift God has given us.

Seen in this light we can understand what James says next:

Seen in this light we can understand what James says next:

Romans (gift)

English Standard Version Chapter 1

Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Romans (gift)

18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

This is the greatest gift of all. That God has made us alive. That he has regenerated us. The Apostle Paul writes,

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .Romans (gift)

English Standard Version Chapter 2

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

If you have come today and you do not consider yourself a Christian please hear me say this:

The message of Christianity is this:

You are more wicked, evil, selfish, and corrupt that you dare to imagine, and because of that nothing you do will earn you a place before God and there is no rebellion that is ultimately meaningful replacement for knowing him. Yet you are more loved they you could ever hope to dream and because of that God has done it for you. Said another way:

English Standard Version Chapter 3

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

The message of Christmas is how God did this, by taking on humanity, becoming a man. Living a sinless life, dying a substitutionary death, and concurring sin and death in a miraculous resurrection. By submitting our lives to Jesus in obedience and submission we might receive this gift.

Maybe you are here simply because it is Christmas time and there is a sort of obligation to come to church. You need to know then that the message of Christmas is the crazy and miraculous work by which God did this, with the Only Son of God becoming a man born of a virgin woman.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Conclusion: Marked by the Gift

Conclusion: You Are A Gift to the World

About the Giver

About the Gift

Conclusion: You Are A Gift to the World

I want to close by talking about what it means to be marked by the gift of the Gospel message. What it looks like to be transformed and to live in light of that gift.

James is speaking about gifts that are formed in our character, they are gifts that make us into specific kinds of people. People whose lives are different and disruptive to the world around us. People who are radically generous, radically loving, radically compassionate, radically faithful

We have not been taken out of the world for a purpose

Jude: snatching some from the fire

When we receive these gifts, when we transform and continue to transform by God’s work into who he desires us to be, we have a specific effect on the work around us.

Salt (flavor and a preservative) and Light (hope + the final scene in Tale of Two Cities)

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says it this way:

The Great Commission

13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

English Standard Version Chapter 5

13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

Do you know what that means?

14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

One of my favorite pictures of this passage is in the other Charles Dickens classic—tis the season for A Christmas Carol—but I have in mind Tale of Two Cities.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 5:13–16.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mt 5:13–16.

To be salt is to be a preservative and a flavoring agent. Dear Christians, our communities ought to be more flavorful, more enjoyable places because we are present in them. Our communities ought to push back evil preserving not by remaining separate from the world but (how does one preserve meat with salt?) by being rubbed into the world. Present, but distinct.

As well, we are the light, a city set on a hill. Can you imagine what a city on a hill with a light burning would mean to the inhabitant of the ancient world?

Let’s say you were a traveller back then. There is no easy method of travel. Nothing quick. There is no CHP. So you set out to travel. Maybe you are taking some good that your family has produced to market in a big city. Depending on your starting point it might take between one full day and six of walking. Much of the day poses no problem other than weariness. But as the hours grow thin, as the sun sets, you feel your pulse rising. Your heart beats faster. Your anxiety begins to increase. Why? Dark is coming and with it comes danger—wild animals, marauders, robbers, thieves all come out at night. You quicken your pace on your tired legs. But running through your head are all the things that might happen and the dominos that those tip over. What if you are attacked, robbed, left for dead? How would your family survive? Would they ever find out? Would anyone help? Then rounding a corner you are alleviated of all concerns. Why? In the fading light of dusk you see it the light on a hill, a city fortified and safe. That is how our presence should be felt.

This doesn’t mean everything will necessarily be okay in a materialistic sense, it means in the face of Christian love fear and anxiety melt away.

One of my favorite pictures of this is in the other Charles Dickens classic—tis the season for A Christmas Carol—but I have in mind Tale of Two Cities.

In the story, Tale of Two Cities we are meant to find a juxtaposition between London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. But we also meet the juxtaposition between two men who are remarkably similar men in physical. One of which shows us what it is liked to be marked by the gift of God’s new life.

In Charles Darney you have your prototypical gentleman. He is handsome, well-kempt, intelligent enough, proper, and moral.

In Sydney Carton you have a brilliant, cynic. His depressive demeanor has lead him to frequent drunkenness, and the company he keeps has lead him to develop a quick and mean tongue.

Both Charles and Sydney then encounter something transformative—love. Both Charles and Sydney fall in love—with the same girl, Lucie Mannett.

Charles wins her affection. How could he not?

Sydney wins merely her sympathy. He is able to begin and maintain a friendship with Charles and Lucie after they marry and settle down. One evening Sydney tells Lucie of his feelings for her. And he tells her that he had never told her before because he is unworthy of her affections, and they will never speak of it again.

Through a series of events it occurs that Darney must travel to Paris to rescue an old acquaintance from the Rein of Terror. However it proves to be little more than a trap and he finds himself imprisoned in the Bastille awaiting a sham trial. And the trial comes and goes and Darney is found guilty of being an aristocrat and sentenced to the guillotine.

Then the climatic scene the night before Darney’s execution. Sydney is able to gain a last moment to speak to Darney. Darney begins to ask Sydney all the usual things we see in movies and books—take care fo my wife and child type of stuff. But instead of his expected dramatic last words. Darney is drugged by Sydney, who switches cloths with him, and a bribed guard carries him to a carriage with his wife and child to take them out of Paris before morning light.

The final scene then is not Darney going to the guillotine, but Sydney. As he awaits his turn, he is approached by a seamstress who was also sentenced to death. She had been imprisoned with Darney and at first is fooled, but then realizes that it is not he. Awed by his unselfish courage and sacrifice, she asks to stay close to him and he agrees. Upon their arrival at the guillotine, Carton comforts her, telling her that their ends will be quick but that there is no Time or Trouble “in the better land where ... [they] will be mercifully sheltered”, and she is able to meet her death in peace.

Dickens is, whether intentionally or not, here pictures a life marked by God’s gift of salvation. When we first met Sydney Carton he was a self-loathing, cynical drunk. But transformative love—which we know does not come by from a mere man or woman, but the Father of Lights and his Son Jesus—begins to build into him the character which is needed in order to accomplish his purpose.

And let us not forget the seamstress who is encouraged and comforted by him. That seems to me to be the effect, as Christ instructs us, of being the salt of the earth and the light of the world. You see we too are gift to the world around us to direct them to a manger, a cross, and an empty tomb.

Prayer

Father of Lights