Push Back the Darkness

Sermon delivered on May 12, 2013

After my ordination ceremony, there was a reception to celebrate the occasion.  Cake, punch and lots of hand-shaking.  As I'm milling about...making sure to thank all who have supported me and been a part of this ministry journey (thus far) I was chatting with someone when they asked....almost nonchalantly...."so, why did you decide to go into the ministry anyway?"  For some reason, the question stopped me in my tracks.  I don't remember who the person was.....and I don't even remember what I said in return.  I suppose I gave one of those "pat", canned responses that sounded more "corporate" and predictable than anything else.  But I know one thing....I went home that night thinking of nothing but that question. 

And as I thought more about that question, I tried to clear my head, reach from the heart and actually say out loud the first thing that came to my mind in response to that question.  When I did this exercise, three words bubbled up:  "push back darkness”.  I guess at the end of the day, I want to be in ministry so that what I can to push back the darkness.  A darkness that can only be pushed back with light. When I probed that a little further, I came to a conclusion that my desire to push back the darkness is simply a Christian's desire to be relevant.  To make a difference.  To live a life that has meaning.  And guess what?  I'm not the only one.  After only a few short years in ministry, there is one thing that I am absolutely sure of....is that everyone is searching for relevance.  Young/old.  Black/white.  Male/female.  Believer/unbeliever.  All are searching for relevance.  For me….that can only be explained by the fact that a loving God places that desire within us.  Whether we want it or not.  Whether we recognize it or not.

As I thought through all of this I was reminded of a movie called October Sky.  In that movie, a group of teenage boys, growing up in the poor and impoverished coal country of West Virginia, have a dream of creating a home-made rocket that could be launched and take flight.  The boys spent hours and hours building a rocket....almost to the point of being an obsession....much to the chagrin of their families and friends in their coal-mining community.....where boys graduated from high school and went to work in the mines until they retired…or died…whichever came first. But these boys had bigger aspirations.  And they had at least one cheerleader....their young science teacher who encouraged them to push ahead and not give up on their dream.  Amidst all the discouragement, she was there as a lone voice of support.  Tragically, the teacher was diagnosed with leukemia....and there's a scene where the boys visit her in the hospital.  Even lying in her hospital bed….terminally-ill with cancer, the teacher thought not about herself....but about her students who were preparing a rocket that would compete in the national science fair.  One of the students asked her....."why do you care so much about this rocket?"  And she replied...."because if you succeed then I’ll feel like my life mattered.  That it meant something bigger than just me."  Perhaps that young, dying teacher spoke for all of us....as she sought to push back the darkness in her world.  To share and pass on a light to those around her.

It's interesting to note that October Sky was based on a true story and that several of those students went on to become engineers and were instrumental in the space exploration programs of the 1960s that put a man on the moon.

Almost 2,000 years ago, the Apostle Paul wrote about this same need to share light….through what is widely-considered his most intensely personal letter - 2 Corinthians.    Paul wrote this letter while in Ephesus in about 56 A.D. after one of his missionary journeys to Corinth where he started a church.  In this letter, Paul was writing back to the fledgling church in the great City of Corinth - arguably the most important, strategic and influential city in Greece.  This southern-most city was built on an isthmus and as such, it has sea ports on both sides.  It didn't take long for Corinth to become the most important commercial city in the Mediterranean region.  However, with such wealth and transience, came much corruption.  Corinth was renowned throughout the region as a "party town".  In fact "to corinthianize" was a common phrase that was often associated with debauchery.  Corinth was home to the temple of Aphrodite (goddess of love) on the hill of the Acropolis.  At night, as many as 1,000 temple prostitutes would descend upon the town to practice their trade.  Amidst all this grandeur and immorality, Paul was trying to encourage his feeble house church to share their light and push back the darkness.  One can only imagine how irrelevant the small, fledgling church in Corinth must have felt.

 In 2 Corinthians 4:1 - 12, we find Paul lifting up this new congregation.  He encourages them to simply share their hearts, to avoid relying on tricks and gimmicks for sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.  And he also reminded them that some would remain blind to this light because of their own choices....and that no matter what they did, as believers, those folks would never “see”.  Knowing that, I would imagine that Paul wrote those words with a broken and heavy heart. 

 In 2 Corinthians 4:6, Paul makes a beautiful illustration….a way to explain this sharing of light….by comparing it to the creation event in Genesis.  Just as the world was formless and empty before God added light, so too is the sinner’s heart before it accepts the light of the Holy Spirit.  Then in verse 7, Paul uses a metaphor that is very unique – “jars of clay”.  Paul’s audience would have understood a jar of clay to be a cheap, rinky-dink container commonly used to hold a candle in the window at night.  For ancient families, it might have been the only light in their one- or two-room houses.  Paul’s point was….it’s the light that’s most important….not the container holding it.  In other words….for us…it’s the message that is of eternal importance….not the messenger.  Paul was himself amazed at the irony that God entrusted such frail creatures with the greatest truth ever revealed – the Gospel.

 What can we learn from Paul’s teaching so that we give light a chance to be seen?

 Stop fretting over the fate of the world.  During my ordination ceremony, Brother Philip Price (who delivered the sermon) reminded the congregation that Jesus was born into a “mess” perhaps even more so than the mess we live in today.  Paul’s fledgling little church survived and even thrived…in the midst of the most affluent and immoral city in the Mediterranean region.   As bad as things seem today, we are certainly more advantaged than those earliest believers. In many ways, there are reasons to be hopeful that the light of Christians will continue to push back darkness.

 Stop focusing on our own abilities and limitations.  Paul never let himself get too discouraged.  He saw himself as a steward of the Gospel….and giving up was not an option.  In verses eight and nine of our passage Paul writes, “We are pressured in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed.”  And perhaps most importantly, Paul lets us know that we’re not accountable for the results….only the effort.  He writes that some will never come to accept the light despite our best efforts.  Our charge is to simply share the light and let God take care of the rest.

Stop doing church as we know it.  Well I guess that sounds surprising coming from a Protestant, evangelical pastor.  Part of Paul’s message was “if you have the light of the Gospel, go to where the darkness is”.  That is our charge as believers.  I’ve heard it said that the church needs to open its doors wider to the world.  Well perhaps we need to knock out a few walls while we are at it.  If our faith is limited to only show up for worship service each Sunday, what good is that?  What is to be gained by only sharing a light in a place that is already well-lit?

 In our search for meaning and relevance, we find it in 2 Corinthians.  Be a light and push back the darkness.