Christian Lite or Light?

There are two kinds of soft drinks. There was Coke, and then there was that other stuff for everybody who didn't like Coke. That was about it. Right? Today, of course, we have, Coke without sugar, Coke without caffeine.

We have classic Coke. We have New Coke. We have Coke without caffeine or sugar in the same drink. My question always is once you take out the sugar and the caffeine, do you really have Coke? Do you really have anything left other than the sweet water?

Of course, the point I wanna make in all of this is that in our free enterprise market driven society, the consumer is the one who decides what goes into and remains in a product. I mean, Coke is like that. I mean, that's fine. You know, people don't want caffeine, people don't want sugar, so they invent a product to satisfy people's needs. Now this method is fine when it comes to maintaining our economic system.

That's what drives our economy. But when it's applied to Christianity, and that, of course, is my point this morning, when this principle of consumerism is applied to Christianity, it doesn't work because Christianity is not a consumer driven enterprise. Let me explain this another way. Our society has been conditioned to function on the premise that we produce what we want and what we need. And when our wants and our needs change, we discard old products in favor of new products, or new versions of old products, you know, new and improved tides.

All my life there's been new and improved tides, right? Every 3 years I mean, how many ways can you improve soap, you know? When I was 12 years old, I had a favorite pair of green jeans, you know, or blue jeans and there was a grass stain on them. And, you know, grass, I mean, grass stain on jeans is a tough thing. And I don't know how many times that I'd see on the TV, I mean, this is 30 more many years ago.

And, and I'd see on TV, new and improved tie gets the stain out. And I'd say, mama, never mind that fab stuff you're using. Get the new and improved Tide, and they will get out the jeans. Because I remember we had a class picnic, and there was a girl I wanted to impress. And for some strange reason, I figured I wouldn't impress her if there was a grass stain on my jeans.

So my mother lugged the £5 of new improved Tide, you know, and she tried it. And in those days, the washer, you know, was going back and forth. You had to wring your stuff out yourself. Anyway, it didn't come out. The grass stain was still there, a little faded, you know, but it was still there.

It's funny, 30 years later, we still had new and improved tide that still doesn't get out grass stains, I might add, you know, so many years later. Well, when our wants and needs change, of course, we have new and improved tide and they make a lot of money. In addition to this, there is a great publicity and marketing machine that works day and night to convince us of what it is that we need. New and improved Tide has its own marketers that keep telling us, this time we really are gonna get out the grass thing. This time we're gonna do it for you, and we go out and buy new and improved tide.

Well, the problem is, of course, that society applies the same kinds of rules to Christianity. For products, it's okay, keeps the machine going, you know, keeps the economy rolling along, new products, new services. But we apply these rules to Christianity, we run into trouble. People look for a kind of faith that suits them, that meets their consumer needs. If they don't like the faith that they have, they discard it, and they try different brands of religion that will meet their needs at the particular time of life that they find themselves in.

If Jesus' words seem too strong, they look for a lighter version of him in some other place. Jesus light, you know. As Christians, we need to be on guard against this consumer based faith that tries to fashion a Christianity based on need. And unlike there are certain things I like about religion. I remember studying with an individual once who actually meeting an individual.

I was going to college and she was a professor and she had told me that she was a Baptist, she had grown up as a Baptist. And I figured, well, that was pretty natural for coming around here. She was from Oklahoma. A wonderful person, very bright woman, professor of history. And she said that she had become a Catholic.

And I said, Oh, it's very strange for a person to be a Baptist to go into usually goes the other way, you know, but, anyways, to become a Catholic. And I asked her why. And she says, Oh, as a history professor, I like the idea of ancient architecture and grandeur. And the Baptist churches, you know, they're just kind of small itty bitty little things, you know. And I like those stained glass windows and the ceremonies and everything, so I just switched.

And that was her reason. I said, The doctrine? No, no, no. Architecture. Architecture, that was her reason for that particular switch.

Well, in Matthew 5, the passage that Jerry just read before, verses 14 to 16, Jesus talks about a Christianity that can be recognized in any day, in any age. A Christianity that can be seen for what it is by both man and God. No matter when you live, no matter who you are, no matter where you are, a Christianity that shines forth from generation to generation without change. And I read again to you the passage, he says, You speaking to his disciples, You are the light of the world. You are a light of the world.

You know, it's interesting to note that Jesus says that his disciples are the light of the world. Interesting that he says his disciples are the light of the world because in John chapter 8 verse 12 and 9 verse 5, he says that he is the light of the world. You know, which is it going to be? He says, I am the light. And then here he says, You are the light.

Well, perhaps what he says in John chapter 12, verse 36 can shed some light, excuse the pun on this. He said, While you have the light, believe in the light, in order that you may become sons of light. So Jesus is the original light, and those who believe in him take on his glow. I think that's what he means by us being the light. The idea here is that while Jesus was on earth, His words and His deeds, they shone forth as truth into the darkness of ignorance and fear.

What He did and what He said and who He was, was like a light in a dark place. Jesus revealed things that were not known. Did you know that? I mean, we do, but did you realize that people open their eyes and went, 'Man, I didn't know that.' Did you ever have that experience? You go, 'I didn't know that.

I never knew that.' When Jesus was on earth, people continued to have that experience of, I didn't know that. He revealed that God was 1. He revealed that God was kind. He revealed that God was Father, that God was essentially a merciful and forgiving God. He taught the principles of how to live and love in such a way that peace and harmony would replace violence and despair.

Until Jesus' time, the highest form of ethical theology was to love your brother. I mean, that was even radical. The Jews, you know, had this idea that they would love their brother. That was radical theology. Jesus went one step further and he taught, love your enemy.

Now there's really over pushing the envelope, as they say, over the edge type of theology. People open their eyes. Wait a minute now, if we loved our enemies, wouldn't that contribute to peace and harmony? Wouldn't that take away the violence and the war if people practice that idea? Jesus revealed that He was light in that way.

He worked and served and gave a supreme example that a lot of us, most of us, don't understand. But I'll tell you, the world doesn't need a college degree to understand that at its base, Christianity is there to bless the world with goodness. Everybody understands this. You've got a pagan, totalitarian, evil government in Haiti. I'll talk about a place where I know for sure, okay?

In Haiti, these people kill their own relatives for money, for power, right? But when it comes to the church, they will allow the church to operate unmolested. Why? Because they know that the purpose of the church is not to take away their power, not to struggle with them over money. They know that at least the people are going to be fed food, and the poor are going to be clothed, and the ignorant are going to be taught, and the discouraged are going to be encouraged.

And the government doesn't have to mess with that. They know that about the church in Haiti. When they want to know what's good, even though they don't agree and follow, they will go to the barometer of Christianity and they will measure off of that barometer. The other purpose of Christianity that Jesus is talking about here, go back to verse 16. Now if you're thinking, you know, where's He going?

He says, Let your light shine before man in such a way that they see your good works. So I said, The substance of Christianity, 1, good works. And number 2, the purpose of Christianity is to glorify God. People spend a lifetime searching for their purpose in life and they never figure out that humanity's purpose is to give honor to God. It's that simple.

Why am I here? Why is it that people who want to find themselves think they're going to find themselves on the West Coast? It doesn't matter if you live in the United States, you know, they go, I'm going to California, why? I want to find myself. Why?

Did you live there before and lose yourself? It's the same thing in Canada. In Canada, people want to find themselves, they never go to the East Coast. Nobody ever goes to Boston to find themselves. They always go to California, or they always go to Washington.

In Canada, they go to Vancouver. Nobody ever goes to Halifax. Boy, are you kidding me? Rotten weather in Halifax. I guess you can't find yourself in the rain.

Is that it? I guess you need sunshine to find yourself. Isn't it interesting? Isn't it interesting that the purpose of our lives is to give honor to God? I mean, that's the purpose.

It's not to make money, be powerful, be famous, you know, win the trophy, you know, be the best. Those are all fine. They're all human things, grubbing around the dirt thing. But the ultimate purpose that gives life meaning and significance and hope is that we honor God In simple ways, you know, by praising Him, and so on and so forth, and in more complex ways, by offering our lives as a human sacrifice of goodness to serve others in the name of Jesus Christ. Christianity is the way that offering our lives and glorifying God can be done in a manner that is acceptable to God.

Think about it. What is it all about? We're born, we live, we die, we go to be with God. For what reason? I used to be discouraged before I was a Christian.

I used to think, 'Man, what's it all about?' You know, wait a minute now, I'm 20x years old. Let's see, I've grown up, I've gone to school, I'm looking for a job. Now what is there in the future? I'm going to get old and die. What is the point?

I'm going to raise children, they're going to grow up, I'm going to spend a lot of money on them, they're going to get old, they're going to die. And they may even die before they get old. Why? Why go, what you know, this type of thinking, you want to get yourself a gun and go bang. I mean, what's the point?

My life has no meaning until I understood about God and Christ, that my life takes on meaning as I give honor to God with it. Now my life has meaning in this life and for the life to come. Revelation tells us that there is rejoicing and praise in heaven continuously. Revelation 7:9-seventeen. Brothers and sisters, this is what we are going towards and we will be capable to do this and to rejoice in this because we'll be given a spiritual body that will be able to do it.

You know, when I talk to younger people, they said, man, what in heaven, that sounds kind of dull. You know, it's like going to church forever. Forget it. I mean, think about it. You want to do this forever?

Yeah. It's alright, you know, but, I mean, I know that by by noon, we've had enough. So we say, boy, to do this forever. Right. Is there another option?

You know? What we don't understand is we are not equipped as human beings to praise God. We're not equipped as human beings. Our sinful flesh cannot be in the presence of God. We get too tired.

Our mind can't expand that far to take it in. Our sins are between us and God, and so we vacillate between going forward and running away. The promise is that our bodies will be transformed into glorious bodies, And those bodies will be equipped to be in the presence of God forever. And praising God will be a sweet and wonderful delight, of which we get a small taste every once in a while on this earth. We hit that peak.

Every once in a while we hit it. But we can't stay there for human reasons. But that's what we are going towards. We begin this honor to God here on earth by accepting Jesus as his Son, by obeying him in repentance and baptism, and by doing the good that we do in his name. This means that the good that we do, we do to promote the name of Christ.

Good done for other reasons or for other names honors man and receives earthly rewards only. A lot of people do good and they receive their reward, the applause, the satisfaction. Doing good is its own reward. It is. People with gazillions of dollars that give it away, and they give it away just because they want to do good, that's very fine.

The philanthropists, they've got the reward. Jesus says they have the reward. But good that is done in the name of Jesus, honors both God and man, and receives a heavenly reward. And the heavenly reward is the opportunity to honor God in person, forever. These are things, brothers and sisters, that we have to accept by faith.

By faith. You look at Moses and you say, What's the big problem? Why didn't they believe to go to the promised land? It was just over the mountain there. Why didn't they believe?

They couldn't imagine it. They were in the desert for years. They just couldn't imagine being in that land. And when I talk to you about having a glorified body and being in the Promised Land of Heaven forever with God, it's the same thing. We're wandering around in this desert called Earth, in these earthly temples, and we can't imagine the promised land.

It's there. It's there. As sure as Palestine was there for those Jews, that land is there for us too. Lest we disbelieve and we fall in this desert. Christians do good.

They do good because this world needs good. God loves his creation, and even though this creation rejects him, he is so good that he continues to bless it through Christians who do good in his name. That's how we do good. And whatever the response of the world doing good in the name of Jesus always glorifies God, and this fulfills man's basic goal and need, and that's to honor God. So I ask you this morning as we close out our lesson, what brand of Christianity are you buying into?

Are we buying into, you know, Christian lite? Is that our thing now? You know, we got salad dressing, litebeer, lite coke, like everything. Do we want lite Christianity, Where we keep the non disturbing, non sacrificial, non changing elements out? I'll be a Christian so long as it doesn't cost me anything, so long as I don't have to change anything, so long as I don't have to deal with anything, I'll remain a Christian.

Are we on a diet discipleship type thing? I'm a diet disciple, where we try to get not too much of Jesus or a substitute of Jesus and His word, maybe just a small portion on Sunday morning? Are we on a kind of a reduced serving, where our only serving and giving is done when nothing in our lives is disturbed? I'll give so long as nothing in my life is changed. Then I'll give.

I'll give you my time when I've got nothing to do. I'll give you my money when I've got nothing to do with that money. I'll give you my service when I've got nothing else to do with that service. Then I'll give it to you. But please don't ask me to replace something in my life with Jesus.

Are we on a kind of reduced diet of the Lord? Or are we the light? Does the light shine forth in our actions? Can you see the light when we speak? Can you see the light in our habits?

Can you see the light in the way that we treat other people? Can you see it? Are people shown the way by seeing us? Or are we darkness? Do people stumble when they see us?

You see, Jesus said that our light has to shine in such a way that people around us see what we do and they praise God, they say, Thank God for you! Is this the case in our life? And if it isn't the case, then why not? So I challenge us as individuals this morning, and I challenge us as a group to be the light. Stand up for Christ in your home.

Stand up for Christ in your life. Stand up for Jesus in your school. Stand up for Jesus in your work. Don't be afraid. Do the good before you.

Do what you know is right in the name of Jesus Christ, and you will never be disappointed. We have a responsibility as Christians here in Choctaw to be that city on the hill, to be that lamp on the lampstand, and to give off light of Jesus in all that we do. So let's shine brightly this week to bless our surroundings and to honor God in the process. Of course, the first step in honoring God for anyone is believing in his name. So I encourage you and all of those who wish to honor God today, I pray, if you need to confess his name to be baptized, to be restored, to place your membership with us as a way of honoring Jesus, We're gonna sing a song of invitation.

We encourage you to come forward as we stand and sing. Be the light this morning. Be the light this week.