Chapel Hill United
Sunday Sermon
You
Got It? Flaunt It!
January 20, 2008
John 1:29-42 Rev.
Galen E. Russell III
Isaiah 49:1-7 January
20, 2008
“I
will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end
of the earth.”
Prayer: We are
the light of our world because your light shines in us, O God. Shine brightly, we pray. Amen.
Back in 1990, a very popular movie came out that I
really enjoyed. Any of you see “Dances
with Wolves?” Excellent movie, in my
opinion. The title itself is in
reference to what native Americans have known for generations and is part of
their heritage, that names and naming rituals are very important. A name was chosen for an individual based on
their actions or a characteristic about them.
In the movie, Lt. John Dunbar was observed by the local Sioux tribe
making friends with a wolf on the prairie, and later, he became friends with
the Sioux tribe, he aptly renamed “Dances with Wolves.
Likewise, name changes in the Bible are significant as
well. Whenever you’re doing Bible study
and you come across a name change, make a mental note: something significant
has happened or is happening to that person.
Some new creation is taking place.
A different identity is occurring.
Abram’s name was changed to Abraham as God chose him to be the father of
many nations. His wife Sarai’s name was changed to Sarah. Two generations later, Jacob’s name was
changed to
What about us?
Do we have a new name? What is
our identity? We DO have a new name, and
we know what it is, and we know it as part of our identity. We have the name ‘Christian.’ We are a follower of God in Christ.
What does that mean?
I think it means that something significant has happened to us the
moment we decided to walk in the light of Christ. What happened was that our awareness increased. We have an awareness that God has named us,
claimed us, and loved us as members of God’s family. God knows who we are. God says, “You belong in my family.”
Last Sunday, when a large percentage of you
re-affirmed your baptism, you were renewing your awareness that God loves you,
claims you, names you, and in Jesus Christ, gives up life for you. That’s who we are. That’s what our name says. We are
Christians. Followers of God in Christ.
Of course, naming ourselves ’Christian’ puts us in the
grip of needing to live life worthy of the name, doesn’t it? If we have the awareness that we are named,
claimed, and loved by a holy God, shouldn’t we show it? If we got it, flaunt it! If the good news of Christ Jesus’ saving
grace is embedded in our belief as the truth for our lives, shouldn’t we let
that light shine?
This is what God says throughout many of the passages
around Isaiah 49: “I have given you as light,” says God, “so that my salvation
may reach to the end of the earth.” “You
are the light of the world,” says Jesus to his disciples (Matthew 5:14
NRSV). As Christians, we are the light
of Christ in the world! How exciting is
that? How we see our life can start to
change. The way we think, our attitudes,
the mood we choose, the actions we decide upon, all can be influence by the joy
of being the light of Christ.
A pastor
tells about a woman in his church who is so excited to be a Christian. She has a shady past and had pretty much hit
bottom when a friend reached out to her and brought her to church. The church member welcomed her warmly and
loved her into the circle of their love and God’s love. She started going to church faithfully. She joined a Sunday School class. She began studying the Bible. She started praying regularly. She realized for the very first time in her
life that God loved her, even her! She
came to understand that even though she had done all those sordid things in her
earlier life, that God still loved her, forgave her, accepted her, valued her,
treasured her. She was absolutely bowled
over by that “Amazing Grace” and she committed herself to Christ heart and
soul. Recently she said to her pastor,
“I’m so excited to be a Christian, that I’ve got a strong case of the “can’t
help its” (Sermon Illustrations for January 20, 2008, Illustrations@clergy.net,
retrieved Janaury 19, 2008). Can’t help but to be grateful. Can’t help but to be joyful. Can’t help but to be loving. Can’t help but to be responsive to the needs
of others. You got God’s light? Flaunt it!
Show it! Share it!
Of
course, it’s not enough to share it with just your family members. It’s not enough to flaunt God’s love and
light with those around you. Too limited
to show it off to those only in church.
It is not enough to express goodness and joy and peaceful living only
during the holiday season.
Did you
notice Isaiah’s words to the servant as he quotes God? God says, “It is too light a thing that you
should be my servant to raise up Jacob, to restore
In other
words, God uses us as a means for others to see God’s saving grace. Once God descends up on us and remains on us,
God’s light starts to shine out from us.
At that point, we are like a flashlight in God’s hands. We are pointed to [spins the graphic]
wherever God wants the light of Christ to shine. Most of the time, we move from day to day
without the faintest idea that God is the one moving us creating opportunities
for us to be the light of Christ shining from us, even reflecting off of us.
In Robert
Fulghum’s popular book, It Was on Fire When I Lay
Down on It (New York: Random House, 1989), he recalls a class at the
Institute for Reconciliation taught by a professor named Dr. Papaderos. Fulghum recounts one of the classes’ most startling
lessons. When calling for any final
questions on the last day of class, Fulghum jokingly
asked Dr. Papaderos, “What is the meaning of
life?” He received a surprising
answer. Pulling out a small round piece
of mirror he had found shattered on the road as a small boy, Dr. Papaderos proceeded to tell how he used to delight in
shining its reflective light into dark
places where the sun would never shine, into deep holes and crevices and dark
closets. It became a game to get light
into the most inaccessible place. “I
kept the little mirror,” Papaderos continued, “and as
I went about my growing up, I would take it out in idle moments and continue
the challenge of the game. As I became a
man, I grew to understand that this was not just a child’s game but a metaphor
for what I might do with my life. I came
to understand that I am not the light or the source of light. But light—truth, understanding, knowledge—is
there and it will only shine in many dark places as I reflect it. I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole
design and shape I do not know.
Nevertheless, with what I have I can reflect light into the dark places
of this world—into the broken places in the hearts of men [and women]—and
change some things in some people.
Perhaps others may see and do likewise.
This is what I am about. This is
the meaning of my life” (Animating Illustrations, http://www.homileticsonline.com,
retrieved January 19, 2008).
You got
God’s light? Flaunt it! Show it!
Share it! Reflect it! Be who and what we are beyond name only:
Christian. Amen.