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Sons of the Light

Joe Harby on December 7, 2014

Introduction

Have you ever stumbled through a dark house at night? Ever tried to change a flat tire in the dark? Then you understand the importance of light, the necessity of light. You need light to see. You need light to find your way. Frequently, when hardships come, we say that we didn’t see it coming. We were completely caught off guard. I was blindsided. Christmas is the announcement that the most necessary, most important Light has come into the world, and because of that, Christians are to be a ready people, a prepared people – ready for whatever our Lord has for us.

The Text

Thessalonians is a letter of encouragement from Paul to the Christians in Thessalonica, and where we pick up, Paul has just reviewed the hope of the resurrection (4:13-18). Now whether the “day of the Lord” Paul has in mind in chapter five ishe same event or another, Paul’s point stands: Christians are to be people on the look out, ready, prepared, awake. He says that the Thessalonians already know this (5:1), but the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night (5:2), and sudden destruction will arrive just when people are saying that everything is safe and secure (5:3). But Christians are not in the dark and so they will not be caught off guard (5:4). This is because Christians are sons of the light, sons of the day, and therefore they are not of the night or the darkness (5:5). So the exhortation is to stay awake and be sober like you do during the daytime (5:6). You sleep at night and drunkards drink at night, but we belong to the day (5:7). Christians stay awake and alert specifically by putting on the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet of the hope of salvation (5:8). That hope is specifically that God has determined to save us (5:9) through the death of Jesus in our place so that in life and in death we are safe with Him (5:10). And Christians encourage each other with this hope (5:11).

People Love the Darkness

What’s striking about this passage is that the “day” of the Lord comes like a thief in the “night” (5:2). But it comes like a thief in the night because it’s unexpected not because it’s actually shrouded in darkness. The night is here presented as false peace and security (5:3) as well as inattentiveness and drunkenness (5:6-7). The reason the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night is because people were drunk and sleeping. But Paul says that the day of the Lord is not like a thief for Christians because Christians are not in the darkness (5:4). Christians are sons of light, sons of the day (5:5).

The irony is that spiritual darkness simultaneously breeds (false) confidence and confusion. The reasoning goes something like this (follow it closely): Since I can’t see any danger, I must be safe. Ouch, I just hit my head, how’d that happen? Proverbs says, “The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble” (Prov. 4:19). Jesus said, “he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going” ( Jn. 12:35). This is also the warning attached to wine, “Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long at the wine, those who go in search of mixed wine” (Prov. 23:29-30). And the central problem is that people love the darkness because their deeds are evil ( Jn. 3:19). And this is because they prefer the surprise of destruction to the acknowledgement and repentance of their sins. Which is to say that they prefer being unprepared and caught off guard; they prefer to stumble and fall.

The Light of Vigilance

Many of the passages in the NT warning of coming destruction are specifically concerned with the coming judgment on Jerusalem in 70 A.D. But that doesn’t
render those passages useless for Christians of other ages. In fact, arguably, God intentionally birthed His Church in those very circumstances to set a tone for

His people. The first Christians faced particular temptations in their historical circumstances, but all Christians are called to be sons of the light by staying
awake and being sober (5:5-7). This vigilance is the light that they are called to be. But in order to be sons of the light and sons of the day, their Father must be the light and the day. And so He is: “Every good and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of His creatures” ( Js. 1:17-18). Or Jesus says: “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” (Mt. 5:14-16). The light comes from your Father in heaven who has revealed Himself in Jesus who says, “I am the Light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” ( Jn. 8:12).

The Armor of Light

Paul says that Christians who are called to be sons of the light must arm themselves with faith and love and hope in the gospel of Jesus (5:8-11). Christians are the kind of people are ready, people who are vigilant, people who are prepared for whatever the Lord has for them. We do not know the exact coordinates of our mission, but we know that the day of the Lord is coming, and we are sons of the Day, sons of that day. And we are sons of that day by being awake, alert, sober, and we do this specifically by reminding one another of this comfort, building one another up in this hope. And this is why we celebrate Advent and Christmas.

Moses told the Israelites to put signs on their hands and foreheads and all over their houses and gates to remind their families that they had once been slaves in Egypt (Dt. 6:7-12). So how much more ought we to string up lights and decorate trees and bake cookies and sing carols and invite friends and neighbors to our table to feast together? When your children ask you why you put socks up on the mantel piece, why there’s a tree

in the living room, and why you keep kissing under the mistletoe in the entryway – you say to them, “Because we are the sons of the light, the children of the day, and we want to be ready for whatever the Lord has for us.”

No Other Gods

Joe Harby on January 23, 2011

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Introduction

The preface of the Ten Commandments is all about freedom, but it is easy to hear the words that we’ve heard so many times and not hear the gospel, the good news that we have only one God (Ex. 20:1-4). But it was and is radically good and wonderful news to hear that there is only one God, and He has revealed Himself in Jesus.

The Text

Paul is dealing with Judaizers and other syncretists who want to add other things to Jesus. But when Christ is received, He is always received as Lord and not merely an assistant, and that is how Christians walk (2:6). If we are rooted in Him, then we grow up in and through faith in Him (2:7). There are always philosophical fads and theological fashions being offered to trick the simple, but this is always to deny the fullness of the divinity of Jesus (2:8-9). For Paul, the Godness of Jesus means that we are complete, not lacking anything in Him (2:10). If Jesus is God and we have been given Jesus, then we have been given everything because He is the head of all principality and power. Paul insists that everything the Judaizers think Gentiles need, they already have in the cross of Christ (2:11-14). This is how and why the principalities and powers have been disarmed and triumphed over (2:15). While we may be tempted to think that Paul has a severe case of ADD, what follows is actually directly related to Paul’s point. When Paul speaks of the fullness of God in Christ, he is thinking about all of the mundane details of life, what we eat and drink and wear and watch and listen to and talk about. Every culture is full of principalities and powers: the influences, the gods and celebrities that lead the masses, politicians and judges, athletes and stars in their courses. These are the powers which either serve King Jesus or not. But we are not under them because they are under Christ, and we are seated with Him in the heavenly places (3:1-3, cf. Eph. 1:20-21, 2:5-6). And this is where we wrestle against them (Eph. 6:12). But this struggle does not primarily occur in another dimension; because we have the Spirit we bring the heavenly places with us wherever we go and this means that we must not allow others to judge us in food or drink or festivals or sabbaths (Col. 2:16). The best of those merely pointed to Christ and the worst are cheats (2:17-18). Submission to the regulations of the gods is always slavery to human regulations, ‘do not touch, do not taste, do not handle…’ (2:20-22) which may seem reasonable or even wise, but they do not really nourish us (2:19, 23). But we were raised with Christ, our lives are hidden with Christ in God, and therefore, we must learn to see our lives and this world, looking through heaven (3:1-3).

No Other Gods

This statement is not condemnation in the first instance; this is the proclamation of liberty. “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him.” This is good news. This is good news because the gods of health food fads are under Christ. This is good news because the gods of cool are under Christ. This is good news because the gods of politics and power are under Christ. And we do not live in fear of what any of the gods think. But living under fear is slavery to some pharaoh, whether they are friends or foes. But the servants of Pharaoh will always end up acting like Pharaoh (Ps. 115:4-8). If you live in fear of what others will think about your decisions, you are living in slavery, and sooner or later you will begin to enslave others. But the one true God calls you to freedom.

This means obeying where the Lord has spoken, seeking the Lord and godly counsel, and then living like the world is ours. This doesn’t guarantee a risk-free life, but we walk by faith. And we rejoice in the freedom of our brothers and sisters in Christ. We have no other gods.

Free to Love

In the cross, Paul says that Jesus “disarmed principalities and powers and made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” The “it” refers to the cross or Jesus on the cross, but the point is that the powers have no power and they were put to shame at the cross. This is true in at least two ways: First, in the cross the powers of this world did their very best and still failed. The political process, religious authority, violent coercion, popular opinion, even the grasp of money could not undo the cross; they merely played into the plan (1 Cor. 2:8). And second, in the crucifixion the powers were shown to be tyrants and killers, and our God was proven to be a faithful husband and friend, giving His life up for us (1 Jn. 4:10). One way to tell the story of the Exodus is the mission of God to teach Israel how to reveal Him. He comes to His own and to the Egyptians so that they may know that He is Yahweh (Ex. 5:2, 6:7, 7:5, 17, 8:22, etc.), and this revelation culminates in the Passover where blood is displayed and shed, disarming the power of Egypt. From there, God takes Israel into the wilderness to teach them how to live like Him, and at the center of that life is a bloody altar. But if Israel has learned the lesson of Passover, they know that the shed blood means freedom. And in Christ we have seen the revelation of God’s love and power in a far greater way, and this equips us to love like that.