Light-Giver

1 John 1:5-7 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

This week marks our church’s third session of the “Family Summer Nights” mid-week “all church” bible study and fellowship. Every individual group are coming together each Wednesday evening for a video series titled “That The World May Know” with Holy Land expert and teacher Ray Vander Laan as he brings the history of Israel alive before our eyes with “faith lesions on the life and ministry of the Messiah” standing at the very place that they happened. This week’s lesson was from Qumran of the Essenes (the writers of the Dead Sea Scrolls). Persevered in clay jars for 1900 years, the Essenes kept for us now the conformation of the accuracy and authenticity of the Holy Scriptures as they separated themselves from the Hellenistic culture glorifying secular humanity in their day. They removed and isolated themselves from the darkness of a pagan world-view and creating communities in which they could worship and honor Yahweh, while preparing the way for the coming Messiah.

2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Therefore “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.”  “I will be a Father to you,
And you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

These Essenes came out into the wilderness because they saw their world as being evil, but in so doing said that the truth is also out there with them and if you want to be a part of it, here it is, join us. There is a tendency in Christianity today to think the same way. But Vander Laan points out that Christianity’s passionate belief is that we have something that God has given us that needs to be brought, that needs to be carried, that needs to be made a part of the experience of others. The Essenes saw the stark contrast between good and evil, and their awareness that one could not be both, so isolated itself to focus on its own Theology and its own holiness at the expense of having any impact on the sons of darkness that they hoped to affect.

Matthew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 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. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Is it possible for us to live holy lives in the midst of a spiritually dark God-rejecting world system? The gospel of Christ is about repentance unto salvation  and what the Great commission of Jesus in Matthew 28:18-20 is about. Whereas the Essenes separated from their culture, God has called Christians to carry His truths into the secular world. Without compromising our holy calling, we are to interact  with the people who live in spiritual darkness and to confront evil in the world around us, as “cultural transformers”. We are to exhibit God’s light to a watching and hurting world. Instead of abandoning the secular culture as the Essenes did, God calls us to take His light of truth to the people. The Lord is working through us to prepare God’s way. Be light-givers!

In Christ, Brian