Introduction

We learn by seeing things get done. This is true in so many fields of human endeavour. The skilled tradesman—a carpenter, machinist or electrician—learns their skill by seeing the journeyman doing it. The actor learns their craft by seeing the performances of those who have gone before. We learn how to speak our mother tongue by observing it being spoken by our parents and family members.

I remember when a friend asked me for help learning Biblical Greek. He had tried unsuccessfully once before, but the teacher had basically given them a textbook and told them to learn it. He didn’t even have someone to help him figure out the sounds the letters make. It’s almost impossible to learn a new language (especially one with an unfamiliar alphabet) without someone to model it for you.

But we don’t just need people to show us how to do things, we need people to show us how to do them well. When the role models we have are bad, we learn to imitate their mistakes. Maybe we learn to type from someone who types with two fingers. If we do, chances are we’ll struggle to get up to a decent speed. If we learn to cook from someone who mercilessly overcooks their vegetables. We’re in for a lifetime of mushy carrots, unless someone shows us a better way. When children witness dysfunctional relationships between their parents, they learn to replicate their dysfunction in their own relationships. So, for example, the girl who repeatedly witnesses her mom being abused by husbands or boyfriends, often seeks out partners who abuse her in the same way. Our brokenness passes from one generation to the next.

Last week, we looked at the darkness of Israel’s story, and, more broadly, the human story. The messy world in which we live means there are a lot of places where we don’t have positive role models. A person raised without positive role models will almost certainly struggle in life, unless they get new role models. A new, healthier role model can help them unlearn the old ways and learn new ways of doing things.

Israel, who serves as a kind of stand-in for humanity in general, have a book from God, but like my friend found, learning from a book is a lot harder than learning from a real-life example. So it’s not all that surprising, then, that God’s plan for helping restore a fallen humanity, involves sending someone to demonstrate what a life of being properly related to God and to others looks like.

I am, of course, talking about Jesus, God with us. He comes to show us a different way of living, a way that seems counterintuitive to our way of seeing the world. John, the Apostle put it like this: “In him [the logos- Jesus] was life, and that life was the light of all mankind” (John 1:4, NIV).

Jesus’ life lights the way for us to live. God originally designed us to reflect his glory, and we’ve failed in that job. But Jesus came to show us what that vocation looks like in the flesh. So if our world is dark, Jesus shows us how to be light. But if our best efforts have been such a mess, it shouldn’t be surprising that Jesus doesn’t call us change our life with small tweaks, minor adjustments to our technique. Jesus’ example calls us to a radical reevaluation of our most foundational values. He comes to turn our world upside down. His kingdom program is not evolutionary, it’s revolutionary. To follow the light, then, means, committing ourselves to a new way of living that seems at odds with the wisdom of the world around us. So let’s begin to look at how Jesus’ example upends our earthly wisdom. There are two ways in particular that I want to examine. First, Jesus challenges our view of worldly success (especially our perspectives on wealth and power). And second, Jesus challenges our ideas about of spiritual success, demonstrating that a spiritual life that pleases God isn’t about pursing morality, but rather holiness.

I. Jesus Redefines Worldly Success (Wealth & Power)

A. The worldly Story of Wealth and Success

First, let’s look at ‘worldly’ success. When we think of a successful life, we tend to think of a life where we have money, a respected position, influence and security. We imagine that if we have these things in abundance, we’ll feel significant and safe. But if we accept these ideas uncritically, then we’re really admitting some other corollary ideas: “You are what you produce,” “You matter more because you have more,.” and “You will be safe if you control the outcomes.”

B. Jesus Embodies a Different Story

But Jesus embodies a different story. Jesus didn’t use his equality with God to his advantage, but emptied himself. (Philippians 2:7). He shows us that greatness is expressed in service to others (John 13). He could spend his time hobknobbing with the rich and powerful, but instead he focuses his ministry on the down and out. He could have a palace, but he chooses the unsettled life of a wandering preacher (Matthew 8:20). Jesus is obviously working from a different script in life.

What script do we work from? We love stories of upward mobility. The person born into poverty who pulls himself up by his bootstraps, starting a major company or getting elected to the highest office in the land. Stories like these inspire us to think that one day we could succeed in this same way.

But Jesus seems to be living from a different script. He seems to deliberately chart of course of downward mobility for his life. Jesus isn’t some schmo who has a run of bad luck, The life he is given starts poor, but does nothing to improve his situation, despite his obvious ability to do so. The father chooses to send him to a family of poor peasants. At the age of 12, Jesus goes to the temple and shows he can stand toe-to-toe with the religious scholars there. But rather than pursuing a formal degree in studying the Torah, he trains as a carpenter. Jesus surrounds himself with unimpressive people. Crowds gather around him and want to get close to him, but he chooses fishermen, tax collectors and reformed revolutionaries as his inner circle. And when given the chance at power, celebrity or wealth, Jesus refuses.

Finally, and most shockingly, Jesus submits to death on the cross. Thankfully, capital punishment has become rare in much of the world, but in the places where it is still practiced, it is a scandal to have a family member who was seen as so reprehensible by the state, that their conduct warranted a death sentence. In Jesus day there were lots of ways a person could be executed, but among them, crucifixion was the worst. The Roman government crucified someone to make an example of them. It was the way they killed runaway slaves, and revolutionaries. It was meant as a humiliating way to make a person’s death into a public spectacle. Jesus willingly submits to this kind of death. After all, at his arrest, he tells his followers he could ask the father, and he would send legions of angels to rescue him.

Taken together a portrait of Jesus emerges where he pursues a very different vision of success, one that is measured by faithfulness rather than by accumulation or status. This is why he praises the poor widow who puts a couple of pennies into the offering, because she gave out of her poverty. This is why he tells the rich young ruler, not to invest in the Jesus BarJoseph International Ministries, but instead tells him to sell his possessions, give the money to the poor and then to follow him, when he’s no longer any financial use to Jesus. Jesus explains to the crowds who come to hear him, “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

C. A Revolution in our Goals

The light of Jesus exposes the truth about the lies we believe in the darkness. Our wealth and our power do not give us our worth. If they did Jesus would be a big fat goose zero. But if we confess that Jesus is Lord, then we have to recalibrate our understanding of what a good life—one modeled on him—looks like.

i. Wealth and Generosity

When I’m tempted to pursue wealth, I can look to Jesus and see that the answer is to pursue generosity. If value is in objects, then having more makes me worth more. But if we think about this for a second, we can probably see the problem: this means humans have no intrinsic value, but stuff does. Jesus says, ‘ I love you enough to give my life for you. You are supremely valuable, you don’t become more valuable if you come with cars, houses, boats and big-screen TVs.’ And if you believe that people are what is most important, than stewarding the resources we have to help people is what a good life is all about. This is why Jesus forgoes the house, why he gives himself away in service to others rather than demanding that they give him stuff for the service he provides. This isn’t to say that we must do everything for free (we need to live) but that we don’t pursue wealth as a way of gaining worth.

ii. Power and Humble Service

In the darkness, we believe we should have power. We imagine we can use that power well. But can we? In the movie “Bruce Almighty” the main character, Bruce Nolan (played by Jim Carey) believes he’s being treated unjustly. He rages against God for treating him so badly. God shows up and offers to give Bruce his powers. Bruce proceeds to right the wrongs in his life (meaning he makes much of himself, and settles his smouldering grudges). But he ignores the injustices around him. Finally the whole neighbourhood is going crazy (God had only given him power over his immediate area) and he realizes that he doesn’t make a very good God. Now, the movie, is far too irreverent with God, but it does recognize something important: If we are given power over others, our natural tendency is that we will use that power in self-serving ways.

But the light shows us a different approach to power. Jesus refuses to be made king, by the mob or by Satan. He knows that power can’t be exercised over people, but with people. Jesus knows that he has been given power by God, but that God’s power is other-serving, not self-serving. Our importance isn’t determined by who has to do what we say, but by who is blessed by what we do. Jesus explains this using the cross as a paradigm for greatness:

Matthew 20:25–28

NIV

“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

D. Application

If Jesus is our light, our example of a good life, then what adjustments do we need to make in our core values?

First, we must ask ourselves, “Where do I look for my self-worth?” Is it based in your wealth? or your income? Is it grounded in your professional accomplishments or your education? Is other peoples’ opinion of you what matters most? All of these places of value have distorted the world. After all, if things can radically change your value, then you don’t value yourself for simply being a bearer of God’s image. If others who lack the things you have aren’t valuable, you’re cheapening the image of God in them. And if other’s opinions about your give you your self worth than you’re saying that their estimation is more valuable that God’s. People’s opinions matter, but God’s opinion is infinitely more important. So to come into the light, means to seek praise that comes from God, even when that lowers us in the eyes of people.

Second ask yourself, “Where do I seek security.” Jesus finds security in doing the will of God. But we often run from the will of God to find security. For example, a woman who unexpectedly gets pregnant might choose to have an abortion because she fears she doesn’t have the finances to provide for the baby. But she could also choose to keep the child, trusting God to provide while she obediently walks with him through the uncertainty the new child will bring to her life. Or someone called to follow God by taking a lower-paying, lower-prestige job that involves serving others, may instead choose to stay in their current job imagining that the higher pay and prestige of their position gives them safety. Or they can follow God, trusting that true safety comes from from being at the centre of his will.

Again, Jesus, the light, serves as the paradigm. He trusts himself to God. God delivers him on multiple occasions: from a crowd that wants to stone him (Jn. 8:59) from the crowd that tried to throw him off a cliff (Luke 4:28-30). God’s will, though, is not for Jesus to remain untouchable by suffering—God does not deliver Jesus from the suffering of the cross—but to deliver him through the suffering, faithfully raising Jesus from the dead. So to follow God’s will gives us the ultimate security found in the promise of the resurrection, while we seek security that is time limited (we’re all going to die eventually) and often illusory (because bad things can unexpectedly happen to anyone).

When we compare our lives with Jesus’ example, do we see we’re following his vision, we inherit from the darkness or from the light?

II. Jesus Redefines Spiritual Success (Holiness)

If Jesus shines a blinding light on our worldly pursuits of success, he also shines that same light on our understanding of what it means to be faithful to God. Jesus calls us away from our attempts to be moral, but instead invites us into the process of being made holy.

A. The Problem with Morality

Well-meaning Christians often try to be moral. We make lists of behaviours to avoid (smoking, drinking, using drugs, fornicating, swearing, etc.) and other actions we should do (giving, saying kind things). The Pharisees of Jesus’ day were ultra-moralists. They scoured the Jewish Law to find new and inventive ways to more rigorously follow the law. “Remember when your dill and cumin plants produce some leaves, you need to remember to tithe on it.” This seems like a good idea at first glance, butt morality does nothing to fix the root of human misery: the bending of our hearts away from God and others and towards ourselves.

The inadequacy of morality is painfully obvious in the life of Saul of Tarsus, before he becomes Paul the Apostle., He was an example of moral perfection; He observed the letter of the law perfectly (morality focuses us on rule-following). Yet, despite conduct that followed the rules to an exacting standard, his heart was so far from God that he opposed what God was doing.

Morality focuses our attention on external behaviours. Jesus criticizes this focus on external action that excludes inner disposition as he denounces the teachers of the law and the Pharisees:

Matthew 23:25–28

NIV

25 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

When Carolyn and I first married we had to wash all our dishes by hand. Quite frequently, when i was washing and Carolyn was drying, she would reject dishes I had washed, because while I had cleaned the inside well enough, I had left something on the outside. I explained to her that I was washing dishes the way Jesus commanded.

But seriously, Jesus is explaining that our external behaviours don’t make our hearts right with God, but when our hearts that are right with God we will naturally produce right behaviours.

B. The Process of Holiness

God doesn’t want us to behave. He wants us to be renewed and that renewal starts with hearts a transformation of our interior life.

i. Humility

Holiness is the end result of a process that begins with humility. The conviction of the Holy Spirit invites us to recognize that our lives fall short of God’s perfect standards. We may look for justification in comparison to others. “But what about Andre? I’m way better than him!” The Spirit helps us see that It doesn’t matter how we compare to others, because the standard for holiness isn’t relative to other people, but to God. As God tells Moses:

Leviticus 19:2

NIV

2 “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.

When we realize how far we fall short, the Spirit moves us to a place of humility. I’m not better than you or anyone else, because all of us fall short.

It would be like trying to swim the Pacific Ocean. Some people can’t swim. Drop them in a backyard swimming pool and they would drown immediately. Other people are strong swimmers. I once knew a guy who was a long distance swimmer. He could swim across lake Ontario. Some people can swim across the English Channel, but even the strongest distance swimmer would drown crossing the Pacific.

When we understand that living up to God’s standard is like swimming the pacific ocean, we realize that even if we’re the moral equivalent of an olympic distance swimmer, the difference between us and the person who drowns in the backyard pool is minuscule compared to the distance between where we are and where we need to be. This puts our human attempts at righteousness in perspective.

ii. Repentance

When we realize how far we’ve fallen short of God’s standard, demonstrated by the example of Jesus, we move to a place of repentance. We have a desire to move in a different direction, even if feel impossible on account of our sinful hearts.

iii. Faith

When we see how God has taken the initiative to repair the chasm between us, sending his son to die for us, it fills us with trust that God is up to something. When we see what God has done we come to trust him. This trust is what we call faith. After all, if God were going to avenge himself on sinful humanity, the epicentre of that revenge would be at the time and place where his son was murdered on account of human ambition.

iv. Love for God

Of course, faith isn’t just the assent to an idea, but to live it out. In other words, faith also entails faithfulness (in Koine Greek—the language of the New Testament —faith and faithfulness are the same word) We commit ourselves to living a new life that honours God as a an outpouring of our love for him because he has saved us.

v. Love for People

This new life isn’t focused on feats of extreme piety, but on practical love for people. This is because God loves people—all people! Notice in the life of Jesus that he shares the good news with the irreligious. The prostitutes, the tax collectors, the unwashed masses that weren’t able to keep the Jewish law as scrupulously as the Pharisees and Sadducees.

God wants us to become embodiments of his love following the example of Jesus (we’ll develop this idea more next week).

So Holiness, isn’t modifying our behaviour, but rather it involves a transformation of our heart that produces a transformation of our behaviour. Morality is an external reality, while holiness is the wholistic reality of a person who is transformed from the inside out. A moral person is no more a holy person than a person who puts on scrubs and carries a stethoscope is a doctor.

Jesus redefines the focus of our spiritual lives. The Jewish Law emphasized external behaviour because God was calling a people out of paganism and into a new life and that was a necessary first step. This is the same process that parents go through. At first, we focus on regulating the behaviours of our young children (Brush your teeth, eat your vegtables, don’t hit your sister). Parents who do this for too long, often find the kids rejecting their heavy handed approach as soon as they’re free of their parents’ influence. Healthy parenting starts out controlling behaviours, but then it transitions to addressing the values that motivate behaviours. Hopefully when our kids are grown they’ve learned things like integrity, kindness, responsibility, patience, diligence. In the same way, God started leading his people by regulating behaviour, but his end goal was always to transform them so their hearts resonated with the values of his kingdom, values of holiness.

Conclusion

The world around us is a dark place we grope about, trying to figure out how to live a good life, and, judging by the results that are evident in the world around us, we often fail. So God sends a light into this dark world. The light is Jesus. His life is an example of what an authentic human life is supposed to look like.

When Jesus’ example becomes our paradigm of a good life, it exposes many of our assumptions as incorrect. He shows us how our efforts at worldly success, defined by seeking wealth, power and security, don’t lead to the results we desire. Instead, we shows us how generosity, submission and humble service build flourishing human communities.

Jesus also confronts our understanding of religious success. God’s perfect example isn’t a person who can show how he keeps a checklist, but rather one who perfectly embodies the ideas of love the law is trying to communicate. When we understand how far we fall short of this ideal, God’s Spirit invites us to walk through a process of renewal, changing us from the inside out. In the end, our behaviours will be right, but the right on the outside will match the right on the inside when our hearts are full of humility, repentance, faith and love.

So this Christmas, if you’re weighed down by the darkness around you. If your heart breaks when you see the hurt and dysfunction around you, take courage. God has not left us to grope in the dark, but the light has come this place of darkness.

Here we can see an example that God gave to the Israelites. As God led them through the wilderness to the promised land he didn’t leave them without a light. As the assembly moved at night, a pillar of fire when before them at night, showing them the way towards the place where they would receive God’s promises.

Jesus is our pillar of fire, leading us through the night of our own wilderness wanderings on the way to receiving the promises that God has given us—transformation, salvation and the Kingdom of God—so let’s follow the light as he leads us through the night to our promised land.