The Light has Dawned

This is disturbing and sad. Joshua Link, a 24-year-old man on transgender hormones from Belleville, Illinois, reportedly took his own life. Joshua supposedly "transitioned" five years ago.

Joshua's parents are blaming their son's death on the church that employed Joshua as a custodian. The church is St. John's Lutheran Church - an LC-MS church - in Granite City. The parents blame the church because the pastor did not permit their son to wear a French maid outfit and cat ears while working.

Joshua is dead. Not because the church held to God's truths. But because he believed the Devil's lies. He was trapped in physical, emotional, and spiritual darkness.

There is a spiritual darkness that has fallen like a shadow over our nation. The recent political unrest is the result of long-term spiritual unrest that has been allowed to settle over America for decades. People celebrate the dismemberment of unborn children and call it a "woman's choice." They use hormones and surgery to mutilate and castrate children, and they call it "gender affirming care." They encourage an unwell, elderly person to end their God-given life and call it "dying with dignity." They burst into a worship service and liken it to Jesus overturning tables in the temple courtyard.

This darkness is nothing new. A spiritual, emotional, and physical darkness had fallen upon the land of Zebulon and Naphtali in northern Galilee for centuries. This area was an invasion corridor often used by armies throughout Israel's history. Assyria and Babylon invaded from the north trampling this area. It was often humbled by the struggle of nations.

Isaiah prophesies what will happen in this area. "There will be no more gloom for the land that was in anguish. In former times, he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will cause it to be glorious, along the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, in Galilee of the Gentiles" (Isaiah 9:1).

The same territory where the feet of invading soldiers trampled every hope and left nothing but gloom and distress would be the scene of a bright future. God had chosen this area for a special honor. Matthew writes about the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy. "[Jesus] left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. He did this to fulfill what was spoken through 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 4:13-16).

An oppressive pall of unbelief had settled upon the people in this northern territory. It was filled with Gentiles who did not believe in the true God of Israel. It was far away from the worship in the temple in Jerusalem. True believers would travel great distances - between 70-90 miles - to bring their lambs for sacrifice on Jerusalem's altar.

Yet, this dark, gloomy land of unbelief and Gentiles was blessed because this is where Jesus chose to do the bulk of his ministry. Jesus' message was simple and direct. "Repent, because the kingdom of heaven is near" (Matthew 4:17). Jesus proclaimed to Galileans that they could be free from the idolatry, work righteousness, and materialism that completely captivated them.

Galileans were the first to see the light of God's day dawning over the world. The Lamb of God came not to the altar in Jerusalem but to the people in faraway Galilee. Jesus began shining his light into the shadowed nooks and crannies of the world. From fishing boats to synagogues, from workmen to lame men, Christ cast a beacon of light into the darkened world around him with his three-fold ministry of teaching, preaching, and healing. God called his children to follow the light and live in the light.

Jesus is the Light of the world. His Word is the Light that confronts, converts, and consoles in present-day darkness, too. He is the Truth that confronts the Devil's lies. He is the only Way of salvation in a polytheistic world. He is the Life in a culture of death. He is the Wisdom of God in a world ruled by toxic empathy, half-truths, and illogical thought. Jesus and his Word are the solution to every issue in our world today.

I've heard for years that pastors and Christians should not talk about politics. "Politics" is Greek for "the affairs of the city or citizen." I counter that politics is nothing more than Christian sanctification in the public square. What happens when pastors and Christians don't apply God's Word to the issues of the day - "politics"? Satan fills the void. When we Christians are silent on the issues of the day, men will listen to non-Christian men for leadership. Women will be filled with toxic empathy.

Notice what Satan has done. He's taken religious issues on marriage, sex, children, beginning of life, end of life, rule of law, and so on, and made them political. Then many in the Church won't talk about them because they are deemed political. We do ourselves, our neighbors, and our nation a disservice when we cede these issues only to the government. But they are first moral and theological issues that Christians should be discussing, debating, and deciding based on the doctrines of the Bible.

I believe we should not be silent about the cultural, social, political, or theological issues of the day. Instead, we should be sharing God's Word and wisdom on all these issues. We should preach Jesus and his doctrines to every facet of life. We preach Jesus' message, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." Satan is the Prince of this world. But this world also belongs to Jesus Christ. All things are under his feet (Ephesians 1:22). We shine the light of God's Word into the darkness of this culture. When the Church is silent on issues that the culture is screaming about, then a whole generation only hears one worldview - an un-Christian worldview. The Church must speak up, pray up, disciple up, and train up generations to navigate through cultural issues with the truth of God's Word.

The more we talk about issues as pastors and Christians, the less "political" they become. Soren Kierkegaard was correct when he wrote, "What looks like politics, and imagines itself to be political, will one day unmask itself as a religious movement."

A darkness has moved like a shadow to cover our nation because people have replaced God's truths with the Devil's lies. They celebrate death and call it good. They praise butchery of the body and call it "health care." They admire those who are confused by their mental illness and call it brave. We need to start calling these atrocities by their proper names. When someone talks about "abortion," correct them by calling it "murder of the unborn." "Gender affirming care," we call "butchery of the body." "Transgenderism," we call "dysphoria" and "confusion." People have bought into these lies because they have placed emotions and feelings over logic and God's truths.

Satan's strategy is simple - make sin look normal and make righteousness look weird. The closer you get to God, the weirder you look to people. Don't fall for it.

These issues of believing the Devil's lies aren't just "out there" in the world. They are also within our own hearts. We have bought into these lies that the Devil tells and the world promotes because we don't know God's truths well enough; because we aren't bold in our preaching and teaching; and because we just want to be liked. We, too, are susceptible to these lies because our sinful nature is hostile to God and his truths. We are also naturally inclined to the Devil's untruths because they are scratching our itching ears. As Christ's modern-day disciples, we are often drawn away from God's truths and his Christian Church. We want to belong. We don't want to be left out. We don't want to be considered weird. Standing up for God's truths is hard. Sitting quietly on the sideline while other Christians are fighting is much easier and safer.

We cannot become angry at those who oppose us and God's truths. St. John makes that clear. "The one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is still in the darkness. The one who loves his brother remains in the light, and nothing causes him to stumble." (1 John 2:9-10). We love them with the love of Christ who first loved us.

Unbelievers are trapped by the Devil. They have been tricked into believing his lies. They are enslaved by the passions of their bodies. They are where we once were. By God's grace, Jesus has saved us from our sins of believing the Devil's lies and not standing up for God's truths.

We show love to those who are trapped in the Devil's lies by ourselves first resisting the Devil and his lies. We submit ourselves to God, his will, and his truths. Then we share God's will and truths with others. We work to free our friends and family from their imprisonment by telling them about a Savior and Conqueror who has come to set them free. We keep speaking the truth in love. We unleash the Holy Spirit through God's Word. He's the only one who can convert them. He can replace their spiritual darkness with the light of faith in Christ Jesus.

What happens when you share the Light of Christ in the darkness of this world? Isaiah gives us a glimpse. "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. For those living in the land of the shadow of death, the light has dawned. You have multiplied the nation. You have increased its joy. They rejoice before you like the joy at harvest time, like the celebration when people divide the plunder. For you have shattered the yoke that burdened them. You have broken the bar on their shoulders and the rod of their oppressor, as you did in the day of Midian" (Isaiah 9:2-4).

Jesus dawns in people's dark lives. Through his Word and the Holy Spirit, he converts sinners into saints. He changes their eternal destination from hell to heaven. He then sanctifies their lives, so they desire to escape Satan's chaos and rejoice in God's calm. He rescues them from their sexual sins to enjoy married life of a man and a woman that is blessed with lots of children. He calms their minds, so they become comfortable with who and what God made them to be. He makes them lovers of life - protectors for the men and nurturers for the women - from the unborn to the elderly. He allows them to resist and protest when they feel there is government overreach. But now that Jesus' kingdom is in their hearts, they follow St. John's words, "This is how we know that we have known [Jesus Christ]: if we keep his commands" (1 John 2:3). That means they'll resist and protest while keeping God's commandments.

Jesus coming into people's lives is painful at first. His Light can hurt when our eyes are not used to his glory and our sins show up in painfully obvious ways. But it's so worth it. Like the people of Galilee, we rejoice. When Jesus enters a person's life, it is like a Wyoming sunrise. It's a brand-new day. All the hurts, pain, and anguish of the day before can be forgotten. It's a new day of Christ shining in you and you living in Christ.

When Jesus enters a person's life, it's like the harvest of grain. He has converted the unbelieving weeds into believing wheat. The weeds are burned up like chaff. But the wheat is gathered by his angels into the storehouses of heaven. Like a rancher rejoices that his hard work has paid off and his grain is harvested, so Jesus rejoices that his hard work of justification and sanctification has paid off and his harvest of souls is safe in heaven.

When Jesus enters a person's life and they hear and believe his message of repentance and faith, it's like a dreadful battle. The sinful nature, spurred on by Satan and the world fights. But the Holy Spirit has almighty strength. When the precious soul is baptized, converted, and crucified with Christ, the battle is won. Jesus has destroyed all the enemies that frightened his people. Nothing is left but to rejoice and divide the spoil.

There is great darkness that has cast a shadow over our nation. Don't ever back down from sharing the Light of Jesus Christ. Keep speaking God's truths against the Devil's lies. Keep knocking down political arguments and point people to Jesus Christ as the way to believe and live. Keep injecting God's eternal wisdom into a world that seems to have lost common sense. Through his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus has become the Light that makes our lives worth living. We are his, and he is ours. Now that we have his Light, let us walk as children of the Light. Amen.