Lantern of God

Sermon for North Hill Adventist Fellowship, Sabbath, January 15, 2011.
Ephesians 1:22-23; 2:19-22; 5:8


We were camped in an informal camping area some distance off a remote gravel road. It was cold. There was snow on the ground and snow in the air. After we finished supper, Karin crawled into the tent. I helped get the sleeping bags zipped together and hung around until she was all snuggled in. Then I went for a walk. It was magic. Because of the snow, the road was obvious, even in the dark. The longer I walked the heavier it snowed.

After half an hour I turned around. The darkness was deeper. The snow fall was heavier. I began to wonder if I might walk right past our camp.

It was not a real worry, though, because before I left I had lit a hurricane lantern and set it on a large rock at our campsite.

Sure enough fifty yards from the turn off to our campsite, through the snow and the trees, I was beckoned by the warm light. The yellow glow of the lantern advertised a snug shelter from the freezing wind, a cozy, pre-warmed sleeping bag. Ease.
Hurricane lanterns live up to their names. They work in extreme conditions. A candle works fine inside a draft-free room. A bowl of kerosene with a wick draped over the side will work in some settings. But a hurricane lantern works outside when the wind is blowing and it's pouring rain. And on snowy nights in eastern Oregon. It even works on the wintery plains of Wyoming. You can hang a hurricane lantern on a nail outside the log cabin door to serve as a beacon for a cowboy finding his way in from tending the cattle.

The lantern makes possible the magic of light from the combination of flame and kerosene. Flame is not enough. Kerosene is not enough. Of course, a lantern without flame and kerosene is not worth much. It's when we bring together lantern, kerosene and flame that we have life-saving light.


The church is God's lantern in the world. It is in the church that God's presence and grace become visible and effective.

Jesus' ministry brought light to those in darkness (Matthew 4:16).
He called himself the light of the world. (John 8:12)
The Gospel of John says that Jesus was the light of humanity, that he lit up every person who comes into the world. (John 1:4, 9)

With all this affirmation of Jesus' role as the light of the world, it is surprising to read Jesus' words in Matthew 5:14, “You are the light of the world.” You—disciples, believers, Christians, people like you and me. We are the light of the world!

Jesus is the light of the world. We are the light of the world.

Which connects strongly with several passages in the book of Ephesians.

Ephesians 1:22-23. God placed all things under Christ's feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

Notice the words, “The church is the fullness of Christ!

Now the words of chapter 2:19-22

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens,
but fellow citizens with God's people and
members of God's household,
built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

The church is the body of Christ, the very fullness of Christ! The church is the dwelling of God. We are God's temple. The church is the lantern which houses and displays the glory of God's presence and grace.

If a person is looking for God, God's intention is that they can find him by coming to church. God's intends the church to be a place, a community, where people can renew their connection with him. We can revive our faith by participating in the life of the church. And those who have never made a connection with God can begin their walk with God by connecting with the church.

The church is the medium through which God is most powerfully present in the world. It radiates hope in a hopeless world. It promises safety, security and belonging.
The church is the light of the world. Paul writes that God intends that his wisdom is to be evident “in the church.” (Ephesians 3:10). Paul prays that God will be glorified in the church (3:21). That's a wonderful affirmation. God has amazing confidence in us. It's a daunting challenge. I find myself wondering, “God, are you sure about that? Are you sure you want me to represent you?” The answer is yes. He does want me and you to serve as his representatives.

That's our job. When people meet us they are meeting God.

Going back to Paul's words about the church being the body of Christ, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way, it's natural for us to ask ourselves what we can do to make sure we are living up to this privileged status. What can we do to make sure we are truly The Light in the dark world?

In the current Adventist climate, the “proper answer” is, “We need the Holy Spirit.” Which, of course, is true. In fact, Paul says that God lives in the church through the Holy Spirit. (2:22). But this answer misses Paul's point. Paul does not say that seeking for and receiving a new measure of the Holy Spirit is the key to being filled with all the fullness of God. The key to radiating the glory of God is mentioned in several places in the book of Ephesians.

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
may have power, together with all the saints,
to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,
and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--
that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 3:17-19

Then in chapter 4:

to prepare God's people for works of service,
so that the body of Christ may be built up
until we all reach unity in the faith and
in the knowledge of the Son of God and
become mature,
attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 4:12-13

In both of these passages, the key to being filled with God, filled with Jesus is knowing God. When we know God we will radiate his presence and grace in a dark world? Knowing the height and depth and breadth of God's love.

Beware of strategies that focus over much on the Holy Spirit. Human effort to “acquire” the Holy Spirit is not a major theme in the Bible. The presence and work of the Holy Spirit are promised in John 13-16. What we are called to pursue is a full, rich, true knowledge of God. The key to being filled with God is knowing God. And this is something we can actively pursue.

The first thing we can do to deepen, enrich, purify, intensify our knowledge of God is to practice daily reinforcement of the good things we already know. Most of us are Christians. Many of us have been Christians for a long time. If someone were to give us a quiz we could give the right answers to questions about God. But often this knowledge gets swamped by all the knowledge we have from elsewhere in our lives—TV, radio, the internet, friends, bosses, coworkers, family.

We can make our factual knowledge more potent, more effective in our lives by daily refreshing our awareness of the good news. Some ways we can this are:

Bible reading. There are all sorts of ways to do this.
Online devotionals. There are a variety of sources of emailed daily devotionals.
Christian music.
Books on tape or CD. Great for commuting.

A second way to deepen and purify our knowledge of God involves more in depth exploration. We can do this through:

Sermons can challenge and question our present ideas and instinctive convictions, pushing us to consider things we might not have otherwise.
Books can open our minds and hearts. Both topical books and biographies and memoirs of people of faith can feed our own faith.
With both sermons and books, it is important to seek out input that builds our faith and confidence. Avoid input that increases your fear or your condemnation of other people and churches.

A third way to enrich our knowledge of God is to engage in behaviors that reinforce our faith such as:

Attending church—the mere fact of attending, quite apart from the content of sermons or the words of the music, just going to church—tends to reinforce our faith in God.
For some of us, spending time in the out of doors will build our faith.
For nearly everyone, participating in acts of service will have a reflexive positive effect on our faith. As we participate with God in responding to human need, our own confidence in God will grow.

In addition to filling our lives with positive reinforcement, we can avoid things that erode or obscure our knowledge of God.
Limit our exposure to talk radio and TV news.
The world is actually safer than it was years ago. Children are less likely to be abducted. Fewer people are starving. I don't mean to imply the world is a safe happy place for all six billion of us, but if you are more aware of the threats and disasters than you are of the beauty and glory of the world, you need to reduce your consumption of negative input. Do not listen “to be informed.” Listen for the purpose of taking action. Listen and send money. Listen and contact your legislators. Listen and pray. But do not listen merely so you can be aware of the evil in the world. This kind of listening erodes our effective knowledge of God.
Listen to yourself. Do you speak more frequently about the trouble in the world or the blessings. Do you speak more passionately and enthusiastically about the gloom or the light? Do you celebrate goodness or decry badness more frequently and intensely?

In John 17, Jesus said, “This is life eternal, that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” We do not find eternal life for ourselves or others through the pursuit of an experience with the Holy Spirit. The function of the Holy Spirit is connecting us with God. The Spirit is not seeking to win our hearts to himself. Rather he acts on behalf of the Father and Jesus.
So please, let us give ourselves to enriching and purifying our knowledge of God. Let us build on the connection God has given us and continually seek even greater intimacy with him. Let us seek to replace the defective elements in our understanding that come from our families of origin, faulty education, our own brokenness and frailty. Lets refine our knowledge through prayer, meditation, reading, worshiping, and serving.

Let's do everything we can to make our congregation a community of light. Let's be the hurricane lantern of God, the indestructible, inextinguishable light in a world haunted by darkness.