There are many crisis’s in the world at this point. The Covid-19 pandemic has created health and economic problems. The USA elections have left the nation in turmoil. How should the Church respond to the challenges and turmoil? After all we are the light of the world.
Light, and bringing the light of truth into the world, is a deep metaphor in the Christian world. Jesus and so many powerful ministers of His word have spoken of this light. But how does the light shine through us as individuals and groups?
The light that Jesus brought into the world was the true nature of His Father, the creator of the universe. Jesus said, ‘if you have seen me, you have seen the Father’. When He says of His people that we are the light of the world, He means that people should be able to see Him and the Father’s nature when they look at us.
But still, how, how do people see Jesus in us? How do we reveal the Father? There are two explicit answers to that question from Jesus Himself in the Gospel of John. In John 17, Jesus says that it is the unity of the believers that causes the world to know who He is. Earlier, Jesus said that it was the love of believers for each other that would cause the world to know they belonged to Him. Later, the Apostle Paul says that people will glorify God when they see our good works.
Less sure is the idea that the Church will preach righteousness so that the world will know the sins that the world is committing. This is the role John the Baptist. Contrary to what many assert, it is found in Jesus’s own personal ministry, but it is not the primary focus of the Gospel.
One person reminded me today that Hope is what the world needs to see. This Hope can address many fears: sickness, crisis, etc. But the major crisis is the sin of fallen humans and the wounds we inflict on each other. When we look carefully, all of us see the sin around us. We may pick and choose which sin is important. We may make excuses or hide our own sin, but every human can see how broken the world is. Part of the light Jesus brought into the world, this Light of the Gospel, is that there is Hope, that there is a solution. The Apostle Paul speaks of this in Romans 7 when he says, ‘who can save me from this body of sin?’ The answer is Jesus.
But there is a very real way in which the Church as a community demonstrates the reality of this Hope even while we are on this earth. That way is contained in those scriptures in John. The Church is indeed a city on a hill. While we members of the Body of Christ are still in our fallen bodies, the Church will always be far from perfect, but even in our imperfection we demonstrate the Hope and the Light. We can be daily living models of the Grace of God.
How!? As Jesus said, we walk in love for one another in spite of our flaws. Paul elaborates and speaks of forbearance, bearing each other’s burdens, and restoration. We walk that Hope out each day in confession, repentance, forgiveness, and restoration. This ‘for one another’ is important. These things are not natural to fallen humans, and some resist giving and even receiving the blessing that comes from such release. That resistance limits the blessing that they can receive. Non Believers have a limited capacity to give and receive. Inside the Church, God can display the full blessing because the Spirit of God gives both parties access to the Grace necessary to receive. We are a city on a hill where people can see us fight and disagree, then make up and forgive, and continue to love one another! That is a miracle.
Christians who are so convinced of God’s faithfulness that they refuse to justify themselves, who freely confess their own sins, and who joyfully enter into restoration are indeed a powerful witness. Christians who continually forgive each other and refuse to carry offense actually stun the world.
There is an old human saying in the Mediterranean that is, sadly, true of most humans. ‘If you admit a mistake, you have made two mistakes’. The people of the world hide their sins and justify their actions. Because of the Grace flowing from the cross, Christians can operate contrary to this saying. Nothing stuns people more than public apology for something done in public.
My wife and I were not perfect parents. Early on, I decided that it was useless to pretend and better to model restoration. We always had a rule that if we handled something wrong with the kids, we would apologize. The apology matched how public the error was. So private error got a private apology and public error got a public apology. By the grace of God, this did not happen often, but we often received good responses when people in stores or public places witnessed this apology.
Sin is never good, but part of having the light is demonstrating how the light changes us. In the world, the instinct is to hide our Sin. This is what Jesus means when He says they love the darkness rather than the light. When Believers publicly refuse to hide their flaws, but freely confess them, we get to publicly demonstrate the power of Grace to restore. When the Church, in obedience to Ephesians 6:1, joyfully restores those who have fallen, then they disarm the lies of the enemy who is telling them that the fallen are lost forever.
Such a testimony of the Church is worth a thousand John the Baptists rubbing the world’s nose in their sin. As some have acknowledged, the Gospel is not knowledge of sin, but proof that there is a way out. As stated above, unity and love inside the Church in spite of our disagreements and even the hurts we cause is the miracle that convinces the world that Jesus must be God. Unfortunately, it is a miracle that rarely happens. Time to let God change that!