Summary:
We are living in darkness, but we are light. We are a chosen generation in this perverse world. But do we truly shine forth as light in this world? Is our behaviour befitting of a true Christian? Let us first be guided by the light of Christ, and be sure to shine forth as light to save those around us.

The Mid-Year Spiritual Meeting was about loving the bible. This Year-End Spiritual Meeting is about being transformed from glory to glory. We need to love the bible. But as Pr Chin observed on Thursday, even when we do in depth study on the bible, it is unprofitable if we don’t apply it to our lives. He mentioned it again this morning, about the true meaning of having knowledge in the word of God. We also remember the sermon yesterday, that God’s word is God’s message to us, but some of us believe as if we could hide our read notifications from God. When we say we love the Bible, it is not just to say we love accumulating knowledge, but it is because we love to do what God wants us to do.

The preacher also tells us that we have to turn towards the Lord, and not turn away. To turn towards the Lord means we let Him transform us. We have an unveiled face. When we look into the word of God, it is like a mirror. The glory that is in the word of God will be reflected upon our faces. Let’s turn towards the Lord. Let His glory transform us! Remember the mirror in the teaser video for Spiritual Meeting? The question is, do you look more and more like Jesus? Because if we do not turn to the Lord, it’ll be like looking into the mirror and then forgetting how we look. We don’t realise that there are certain things we have to make right, and spots we must tidy up. If we don’t use the mirror properly, we will not be able to discard the old man. If we don’t see the glory of Jesus Christ in that mirror, we will not be able to put on the new man.

2 Cor 3:7-8

7 But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away,
8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?

Here it tells us that the Old Testament was in itself glorious. The Old Testament is similized by the law written on stones. But it was glorious. If the Old Testament was that glorious, if what was passing away was that glorious, then how much more will the New Testament be glorious? Because the New Testament is the spirit directly on our hearts. It’s the spirit working in our hearts! That’s why in V18 it says,

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

How many people could see God’s glory in the Old Testament? Even Moses had to be hidden in the rock! But now we with unveiled face behold the glory and we are transformed by that glory. From glory to glory. Of course, as we read the bible more, we will be more glorious. Transformed means we will be transformed from Old Testament glory to New Testament glory. The glorious face of Moses cannot be compared with the glorious face of the Lord Jesus. They could not look steadily on the face of Moses. But today, the light of Jesus Christ wants to shine directly on us and transform us.

Recently, we read Hebrews in our Closer Day by Day Bible Reading Schedule. And in Hebrews, it says that the new covenant is far superior than the old covenant. Because the new covenant enables God’s laws to be inscribed on our hearts. And here it says that in this new covenant arrangement, the glory of God now transforms us.

2 Cor 4:6

For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Somehow, Jesus is a very powerful enabling force. He is human, fully human but yet somehow mysteriously, he is fully God. So He is able to bring the glory of God right into our lives. It says here, the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ has now shone into our hearts. You contrast this with 2 Cor 3:14-15,

14 But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ.
15 But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.

But when we turn to Jesus, the glory of God powerfully shines into our hearts, no longer veiled and that’s how we get transformed from within us.

2 Pet 1:17-19

17 For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.
19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;

These three verses tell us this: that the glory of Christ is greater than that of the prophets. That’s why the glory of the New Testament is greater than that of the old. Jesus said, this is my beloved son. So the words that Jesus brings to us are the light that confirms the words of the prophets. One, to make it exceptionally clear to us. Second, to make it powerful that it works on us. Because Jesus fulfilled the prophecies that are written in the Old Testament. Jesus, by his own death and resurrection, fulfils the shadows of the Old Testament. What the Old Testament promises, Jesus does for us. So he confirms the words of the prophets. All that the people were waiting for now becomes real. So here it says it’s like the morning star. Venus is called the morning star because it’s the brightest before the sunrise. So this morning star introduces daybreak to us. When Jesus came, his words marked the transformation from dark to day, into the brightest of the noon. From the darkest of night to the brightest of noon. We are moving towards brighter and brighter glory. Spiritually speaking, our future is bright. Do we expectantly welcome this glory?

What is this glory? The truth of the gospel is the light that leads people to life. We say we are the light of the world and shine in the dark places, carrying light to the ignorant so that they’ll be saved. But the light of Christ in our hearts is more than that. It’s not just about what we know and say. More importantly it’s about who we are and what we do. We shine out not just by speaking. But also by doing. We shine by being what we are. Not showing what we know. That is the very nature that we have in us. We are partakers of the divine nature! Not what we know but who we are.

Matt 5:20

For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

Our deeds not our words.

Matt 5:14-16

14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.
15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

So it’s not what we say but what we do. It is the very nature that should flow out from our actions. We do not just conform to the image of Christ just for our own personal salvation. It is not to be hidden. So we need to fulfil our duty to exert a positive influence in the world. Pointing the world to what is right and true. What is holy. Very often, it is difficult. By pointing to what is right, we are exposing their wrong. Not just effort, but courage. Light that shines in the dark age - we are in a dark age.

The Dark Age

Let’s talk about the dark age.

Eph 5:8-14

8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth),
10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.
11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
12 For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.
13 But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.
14 Therefore He says:
“Awake, you who sleep,
Arise from the dead,
And Christ will give you light.”

It is not just that you were once IN darkness, but you were darkness. Now you are light. Not just IN the light but you ARE light. Why are we light? We are light in the Lord. We thank the Lord that Jesus has received us into Himself. When we are in the body of Christ, we are light.

V9 the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. In contrast with v11 which are the unfruitful works of darkness. Darkness is unfruitful work.. The fruit of the Spirit also tells us that we have to rely on the Holy Spirit. Now we can do it because the Holy Spirit gives us the power. But don’t miss the important point: we often take the Spirit to be the driving force. But actually the Holy Spirit is the supportive force. It does not force you in the right direction. But when you want to move in the right direction and you lack the strength, that’s where the Holy Spirit will give you the strength. V10 also tells us - find out what is acceptable to the Lord. We must first find out what the lord wants us to do. Then we ask the Lord to help us do what he wants us to do. This is so important that Paul repeats it in v17,

Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

We must put in the effort to learn. To learn what is acceptable to God. What is not acceptable to God. What is His will for us. What shall I do? When the apostle Paul was hit by the light and fell to the ground, he became blind. The light did not tell him what to do but he had to ask. He asked toward that light, “Lord what do you want me to do?” You must ask. And the Lord told him what he needed to do. Then he had to make his way to allow Ananias to baptise him and lay hands on him.

V11-13
And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.

When we are light, we have to expose darkness. When the Lord has saved us out of darkness into His marvellous light, we have a duty. We must allow the Holy Spirit to work in us. This is something we need to do. To seek the Holy Spirit’s power. Learn from the words of God to know what he wants us to do. And expose those in the darkness. This is difficult to do.

Then we understand why Luke introduced John the Baptist in this way.

Lk 3:1-2

1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,
2 while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.

Luke first introduces three tetrarchs, then John. Why did Luke introduce these people before John? It is to say that he lived in this period where all these big hats had political power. It was the dark age in which John must introduce the true light. We know that he exposed the wickedness of somebody, then he could not keep his head on his shoulders. This is the dark age in which we are all told to shine. We may be like John to lose our lives. But then we bring light and life to others.

If we are light bearers, we also bring the light of life to others. John says the light is the light of life.

1 Pet 2:9-12

9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. 11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul,
12 having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.

We are a chosen generation. We are chosen because we are few in number. Chosen from a larger group. This generation is dark, crooked and perverse. Pr Shim mentioned about Noah’s time. The people in Noah’s time never stopped thinking evil. That’s what the bible says - day and night. It starts young. When do you notice children becoming naughty? From a young age you start to think badly.

In a larger group of people in this dark age, we are special. And here it says, let your conduct speak louder than their words. They speak against you using words, but our actions will speak louder than their words. That’s why it’s not about what we say. My word against your word no use. But if you are transformed, you are what you are. You can’t hide what you are. Your actions must speak louder than your words.

Here it says, you are sojourners and pilgrims. Why? Do you call this world your own? Of course, in our day to day life we go home. But this is just in name. It is not a permanent residence. People say you aren’t really homeowners, just lessees. But indeed, we can have no permanent residence here. We are sojourners and pilgrims. We are in the world but not of the world. That’s what Jesus says of the disciples. We are in the world to shine. But why do we say we are not of the world? Because we are not of the world to partake of its sin. This is the dark age.

The light within us

Now let’s look at ourselves. The light within us.

Lk 11:33-36

33 “No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a secret place or under a basket, but on a lampstand, that those who come in may see the light.
34 The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness.
35 Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness.
36 If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light.”

V33 is very similar to the verses in Matthew we read earlier. When you light a lamp, you don’t hide it but put it in a place that can enlighten everyone around it. But Luke gives an additional perspective to it.

1. The lamp of the body is the eye.
2. Just like salt can lose its flavour, a lamp can also lose its light.

V35 “take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness”. How can this happen? How can salt lose its flavour? But how can a lamp lose its light? This happens when your eyes become bad. When your eyes become bad, your whole body is full of darkness. This is just like the phrase, “the blind leading the blind”.

Lk 6:39-42

39 And He spoke a parable to them: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch?
40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.
41 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye?
42 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see cleareally to remove the speck that is in your brother’s eye.

When you try to remove a speck in your brother’s eye, if you have a plank in your own eye, how can you remove a speck in your brother’s eye? Before you say you want to enlighten others, first make sure that your self impairment is removed. Because the lamp is the eye.

Eph 4:18

having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart;

In the English Bible, it says blindness of the heart, in the Chinese Bible it says hardness of the heart. In the original Greek text, the word means hardening like a callous. But if you say blindness, it’s still right because it means you can’t feel it anymore.

We talked about the veil on the heart. The bible likes to talk about the heart as if the heart sees. We talked about the eyes of the heart being enlightened. If there’s a veil on the heart, you can’t see properly. And it’s not just a veil, it’s like a cataract. You have to remove your cataract, then you can liberate others and bring light to others. Otherwise, it’s really the blind leading the blind.

The Jewish leaders during the time of Jesus were the people with veils on their faces and cataracts in their eyes. They failed to see Jesus as the Messiah. But not just in truth and gospel; they also failed to recognise the moral standards of God’s law. They deviated from them. They taught others to deviate from God’s moral standards. When Jesus came, they were at odds with Him. When Jesus interpreted the moral standards of God’s law, they were at odds with him. They continued with their hypocrisy. For example, in Matthew 15, they asked the disciples why does Jesus never wash His hands? And not in the way their elders taught them to wash. Jesus answered them, ‘you people have made void of God’s commands by your own tradition’. There are more important things than washing your hands a specific way. When people look at Christians, what do they see? Unfilial people because they don’t worship ancestors. Jesus told the Pharisees the money you are supposed to give your parents, you find some stupid excuse for not giving. You use the excuse that you are going to give the money to the temple. But whether they really give to the temple is another issue. Yet, they use this excuse for not giving the money to their parents. This hypocrisy was exposed by Jesus. In Matthew 15, there was another issue. Jesus told them, what you eat does not really cause you to have real filth but rather what you say. Jesus told his disciples, ignore these people. They are the blind leading the blind.

In Matthew 23, we read of the many “Woe to the Scribes and Pharisees…” The Pharisees said, for example, that if they swore by the temple, it would not count but they had to swear by the gold in the temple. Jesus said, “you blind Pharisees, you wash your cups and all but don’t you know that more important is to wash the inner parts?” They had an external show of piety but denied the power thereof. This was having a form of godliness. You think that you are shining and leading people in the right way. You think you are shining because you have piety but inside you are darkness.

Jn 9:39-41

39 And Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.”
40 Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, “Are we blind also?”
41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.

The problem with the Pharisees was that they thought they were sighted when they were indeed blind. They were in darkness but they didn’t know. It’s the same when Jesus said to the Laodiceans, they say they are rich and are clothed, but are actually naked and blind. Buy from me eye salve so that you can see.

Recall the sermon previously where we talked about being partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1). Adding virtue to faith is like laying a chicken egg and then laying another chicken egg. If you don’t add on more eggs, you are blind. That is if we do not pursue the righteousness the Bible wants us to pursue or if we say we are good enough already. Some people, after receiving the Holy Spirit, their prayer life stops. Before that, they pray a lot because they want to receive the Holy Spirit. But after that they stop. They stop short. The light in you will become darkness. That’s what 2 Pet 1:9 says. If you don’t pray, your spiritual life will suffer.

Rom 2:23-24

23 You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law?
24 For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” as it is written.

Paul talked about Jews. But are we Christians also not like that?

When the speaker was in the army, there was a guy who was the most lazy and uncooperative and of course, most disliked. He talked the loudest. But everyday this guy would pray and read the Bible. Every time when the speaker saw him read the Bible, he would have very mixed feelings. The speaker recalled that when in the army there would be a Christian, he would be able to talk to them. But as for this particular person, he really caused the name of Christ to be blasphemed among the Gentiles.

The speaker recalls another story, where he asked a sister, after she became a Christian, why didn’t you follow your mother to become a Christian long ago? She answered, it was because of my mother that I didn’t want to be a Christian! She ultimately became a Christian because she heard the sermons and realised the truth.

Another sister came to believe because of her classmate. She thought the classmate was very good in class. But the sister didn’t like the classmate and his girlfriend. This guy kept talking about Christ, but the more he talked about Christ, the more it turned her off. Because the girlfriend was the most flirtatious girl in class. And hence, she hated Christians. Because to her, Christians were hypocrites. One day, for some reason she wanted to know more about Christianity. So she went to ask another Christian to tell her about Jesus. That caught her attention. But she realised that that other Christian could not answer some questions. So she had no choice but to ask our brother. Thank God, after comparing the beliefs, she realised she had to come here.

From these testimonies, we see the importance of being the light in the world!

What are the reasons why the church chose this theme for this Spiritual Meeting? A deacon made this observation. We call ourselves the true church, but there are many Christians of outside churches that have much better behaviour than us!

While we are conscious of our duty to shine for Christ, let us first ourselves be guided by the light of Christ.

Brighten The Corner Where You Are

Lastly, let us brighten the corner where we are.

There was a demoniac whose demons were driven out by Jesus. He asked Jesus, “Master, can I follow you?” But Jesus told him no. Jesus told him to tell his own friends and relatives about Him. Brighten the corner where you are.

In 2 Kings 5, it records the story of the slave girl in captivity. But she could shine for God. She loved her enemy. Because she served the general who conquered her people, Namaan. She loved her enemies. She brought the grace of God to her enemies. She was a captive but she showed in her little corner, the light of God. Do we even love our brother? We don’t even need to talk about our enemies.

In 1 John 2, it talks about the darkness being over, and the true light is now shining. The next thing it says is, if you hate your brother, you are in darkness. The true light is shining. But is the true light shining in you?

There are four gospels written in print. Each of you is writing the 5th gospel, the gospel according to you. This may be the only gospel that non Christians will ever read.

If we are familiar with the story of how Pr Kong came to church, we know he had to go to the office of one sister quite often for his work. One day he asked her, ‘why are you always happy?’ And there the gospel was preached.

Do people come to you and ask to know more about Christ? When people come to you, is it because you wear a cross around your neck? And then they ask you, “Huh you’re a Christian? I didn’t know leh!” Which should shine brighter? Your inner light or the glistening cross hanging on your neck?

We know of the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. You can make sure your own lamp shines bright.

Read the story of Abbie Burgess, the girl who was responsible for keeping her family’s lighthouse going during a series of storms. Her father was keeper of the island lighthouse. One day, Burgess’ father went to the mainland for supplies, leaving Burgess to tend to the lighthouse and her family, including her sick mother. The incoming storms stranded her father on the mainland and left Burgess to care for her family and the light for several weeks. Throughout this ordeal, she kept the lighthouse light burning. She did so for nearly a month while her father, the head keeper, was away from the island.

But, imagine if for one hour she did not keep the lighthouse light burning. You never know what might have happened in that one hour. In that one hour that the light stops burning, what if a shipwreck happened?

Keep your lamps burning.