1-26-2020 Grace-Tucson Sermon

Pastor Tim Patoka

3rd Sunday after the Epiphany January 26, 2020 Live in the Joy of Jesus’ Light Isaiah 8:19 – 9:2 1) Go to the Bible to Find Jesus’ Light 2) Joyfully Live in Jesus’ Light

This past week I had the privilege to attend the first ever Lutheran Leadership Conference in Chicago Illinois. For 3 days I, two of our lay leaders from Grace, and 800 others from our Wisconsin Lutheran church body worshiped together and learned how we might better lead others to Christ’s cross and his forgiveness. And as I expected, we were overwhelmed with tons of great information which I still need to process.

But one thing I didn’t expect from my time in Chicago was how much a simple thing like light and darkness could affect you. When we got up around 6 something to get ready for the day’s events, the sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon. By the time we got done in the late afternoon, the sun was already setting.

Even though we had time before dinner, few of us wanted to venture outside or see the sights because it was so dark. Even when we did step outside during the scheduled brief breaks, the sun’s light deceived us. 20 degrees Fahrenheit still felt like 20 degrees Fahrenheit, even in the sun. Needless to say, I was excited to fly back to sunny and warm Tucson and to leave the cloudy, short days in Chicago behind.

Darkness can put a damper on things we enjoy and is commonly associated with not-so-great things. Not only is that true when comparing January in Chicago or Tucson. But as our verses for this morning from the prophet Isaiah tell us, darkness is also associated to a life without Christ. No one can live in complete darkness.

But for the person who rejects God’s Word or refuses to believe in Jesus the Light himself, they live in the complete darkness of sin. Thankfully, we are not all doomed to live such a dark life. Instead, we have the joy to live in Jesus’ light for we know where to look to find his enlightening words and we have received the light of his forgiveness.

1) Go To The Bible To Find Jesus’ Light It’s surprising to see how bad things were in the prophet Isaiah’s day. Even though the glory days of Kings David and Solomon were only 200 years before, things had gone south both politically and spiritually. The kingdom had been split by a civil war which pitted family against family. The leaders and citizens of God’s people 1

3rd Sunday after the Epiphany January 26, 2020 were more likely to turn to an idol for help than to the one true God. And we see that with Isaiah’s opening questions, “When they tell you, ‘Consult the mediums and the spiritists, who whisper and mutter,’ shouldn’t a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?” (Isaiah 8:19) The people went to clairvoyants and séances to find their answers. No, if they wanted to find their answers, there was only one place to go – to God’s Word. Or as Isaiah said, “To the law and to the testimony! [the Old Testament Scriptures] If people do not speak according to this word, there will be no dawn for them.” (Isaiah 8:20) If a person is looking for light outside of God’s Word, then their search is in vain.

There will be no dawn for them and they will remain in darkness.

Pastor Tim Patoka

If you’ve ever tried to get around in darkness, you know how hard it is. But this darkness of sin is far worse. Listen to how Isaiah describes those who reject God’s Word. “They will pass through the land, distressed and starving, but when this takes place and they are starving, they will be frustrated, and they will curse their king and their God. They will turn their faces upward, and then they will look down to the ground, but I tell you, they will see only distress, darkness, and the gloom that brings anguish. They will be banished into thick darkness.” (Isaiah 8:21-22) They will endure physical and emotional hardships which could have been avoided. They will curse those in authority they hold accountable. They will live out their days in gloomy anguish and be eternally banished to the thick darkness of hell. Isaiah’s description of those who live without God and his Word is rather dramatic. But it’s not wrong. It’s also an accurate description of those today who look for God’s light in the wrong places.

I’ll admit it, the Bible doesn’t answer every question we may have. What’s my life going to be like a year from now? What I can get from Amazon to show my wife a 1 Corinthians 13 love this coming Valentine’s Day? What was God thinking when this Christian child of his suffered this specific incident? And when we don’t find the answers we’re looking for in the Bible, we can be tempted to look elsewhere.

Our fascination with the occult and supernatural continues as people’s spirituality is on the rise. We look to science and blindly trust all it says because lots of smart people say it’s right. We can get so lost in the dark so that we curse God when he doesn’t deliver as we want him to.

There’s a reason why Isaiah calls out the mediums and spiritists of his day. That’s because they’re useless! As it was it in his day, so it is in ours. If a person wants to find out what God is thinking or what his light has to offer, there’s only one place to look – and that is his Word. It is in God’s Word alone where he speaks the truth to us. Why look to the occult and supernatural? As Isaiah himself said, “Shouldn’t 2

3rd Sunday after the Epiphany January 26, 2020 a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?”

(Isaiah 8:19) Rather than go to the dead for answers, go to the living God who made all that lives! Why place blind trust in man’s knowledge or science? Science is simply our best attempt to make sense of God’s creation. Sometimes we’re right on the money. But it doesn’t have the final say on all matters. Rather than cursing God for not doing what we think he should do, let us instead learn what he promises us and hold him to only that.

Pastor Tim Patoka

2) Joyfully Live In Jesus’ Light It’s not only in these matters that we look to God’s Word for truth. We also look to his Word to find the light that shines away our sinful darkness. Not only is the Bible unique because God alone is its author, but because its content is centered on Jesus Christ, our Light of salvation. As we heard in our Gospel reading from Matthew chapter 4, Jesus withdrew to Galilee and set up shop in Capernaum in order to fulfill these words from the prophet Isaiah, “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, along the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and on those dwelling in the region and the shadow of death a light has dawned.” (Matthew 4:15-16 quoting from Isaiah 9:1-2) What we better know as Galilee was known in Isaiah’s day at the land of Zebulun and Naphtali. It was in this region that Jesus grew up in the town of Nazareth, did his first miracle at a wedding in Cana, and so much more in the town of Capernaum and along the Sea of Galilee.

As Jesus introduced himself to the people around, he was bringing light to those who lived in the sinful shadow of death. We sinful human beings were born in the darkness of sin and by nature are no different from those who fumble about rejecting God and his Word. We too were walking in the shadow of death on a path that lead straight to eternal death. But then came Jesus’ light which dawned upon us and enlightened us about the path leading to eternal life. And the only way we could be placed on that light-filled path was if our sins were forgiven.

Even though Jesus spent the majority of his time on earth in the region of Galilee, we remember him more for what he did down south in the region of Judah. In its capital city of Jerusalem, Jesus was falsely found guilty, reluctantly nailed to a cross, and finally confirmed dead. Even though darkness came upon the land from noon – 3 PM on that Good Friday and Jesus’ followers grieved in darkness, a light would dawn upon them 3 days later. Jesus had risen. He kept his word. He paid the price for our sins and has promised to forgive anyone who comes to him in repentance so that we can say with the prophet Isaiah, “The people walking in 3

3rd Sunday after the Epiphany January 26, 2020 darkness have seen a great light. For those living in the land of the shadow of death, the light has dawned.” (Isaiah 9:2) Pastor Tim Patoka

As we traverse this world to our heavenly home, we do so in the joy of Jesus’ light.

Jesus’ light brings us joy because we are free from our sins. No longer are we walking in the shadow of death or fumbling around in sin’s darkness. We have seen the light of our Savior and received his forgiveness. We are no longer separated from our God and the peace he brings. We are going to our eternal home in heaven.

Jesus’ light also encourages us to joyfully reflect his light to others. When I was in Chicago, one of the things that surprised me and my roommate was how reflective the skyscrapers were. Our room had a window that looked due north. But when we pulled back the shades to see the morning’s dawn, I almost thought our room had changed directions and was facing east. That’s because you could clearly see the sun coming up over the horizon in the building’s reflection. Granted nowhere in our 3 Scripture readings this morning does it talk about buildings or reflecting light. But might it be good for us to consider how we might let Jesus’ light shine upon others lost in sin’s darkness? As we joyfully live for Jesus, could we reflect Jesus’ light in such a way that others mistake our thoughts, words, and actions as Christ’s own? I’d like to think we could.

When I flew back to Tucson from my conference this past week, I remembered a few things. I remembered what a joy it is to have Tucson’s warm and abundant light. I also remembered how dismal darkness can be. These same things apply to light and darkness in the spiritual sense. We are all born in sin’s darkness and walking in the shadow of eternal death. The only place to find God’s light to scatter that darkness is in his Word. And as we peruse the pages of the Bible, we also discover how we can live in the joy of Jesus’ light. He is the Light of the world because of what he did in the regions of Galilee and Judah. He shines upon those lost in sin’s darkness and enlightens us with his forgiveness. He picks us up from the path to eternal death and places us on the path to eternal life. And because of all this, we have joy for we are free from sins and encouraged to reflect this same light into the darkness that surrounds us. Amen.

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