You Are A Star
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You are a star. But probably not the kind you think. In modern America “star” has become
synonymous with “celebrity”. But that is
not what I, nor Saint Paul, mean when we say that you are a star.
“Do all things
without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent,
children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted
generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the
word of life.” [Philippians 2:14-16a]
You shine as lights in the world. The word “lights” has the meaning of
stars. You shine as stars in the world,
as you hold fast to the word of life.
But only as you hold fast to the word of life.
Human beings are not naturally stars that shine
brightly. We are born, rather, as black
holes. A star gives out light to the
world. A black hole sucks in light. It holds everything in for itself.
Sin takes the beings that God created to be stars and
it mutilates them into black holes, caved in on themselves, always taking and
never giving.
Black holes take from God every good blessing, but
never offer Him thanks, praise, and obedience in return. It is all fine and dandy that we get to live
here on God’s green earth, with material and technological blessings that are
the envy of the rest of the world. But
how often do we stop to be thankful?
Once a year at the end of November?
How
hard do we work to be obedient to God’s commands? How much credit do we give to God and how
much do we keep for ourselves? We are
pulling in the blessings, the daily bread, but we are not giving out the light
of service and praise.
Black
holes take in the life and work of other people-other stars-but offer little,
if anything, in return. A husband who
lets his wife do all the housework without ever offering a single “thank
you”. A wife who never stops to
appreciate the hard work of her husband.
Children of all ages who take the blood, sweat, and tears of their
parents for granted.
We can
fall into this trap when we are out and about shopping or eating at a
restaurant. We expect the employees to
be model people, polite, clean, hard working, but we do not always
reciprocate. We are happy for them to
serve us, because that is their job, they are being paid. But we can then treat them as our slaves,
rather than as fellow human beings.
It is
not as if we really have a choice. This
is our default state. We are gaping
black holes sucking in anything we think is good and useful, appropriating it
all for ourselves. And then thinking
nothing of giving back, returning thanks, or passing on a favor.
It is
not, as we usually think, that darkness is empty. No, darkness is hungry. It is full of itself, and it wants more from
everyone else.
Black
holes are conceited. They see others as
rivals, competition, as less significant than themselves. Black holes have not
the mind of Christ, but the mind of the world, the devil, and the sinful
nature.
And
then enters Jesus, shining like the Sun, brilliant in radiance. Jesus lives His life as the one true Light
illuminating the darkness, always giving, never taking.
Jesus
lived as the brightest Sun amidst and ocean of black holes. He lives a life of perfect humility,
submitting not only to His Father in heaven, but also to the needs of the men
and women around Him.
Jesus
shone His light as He walked in perfect obedience to the commands of God. He rejoiced in even the simplest of gifts
from His Father.
Jesus
gave light to the world, healing the sick when He was tired; feeding the hungry
when He needed to retreat; giving out forgiveness when He needed none; raising
the dead as He headed toward His own grave.
The Christ emptied Himself just as everyone else was ready and willing
to gorge themselves upon Him.
He
went up to the cross to give, what seemed at the time, to be the last of His
light, the final ray of His brilliance. Jesus
poured out His life for the hungry black holes, for you, for me. And His light went out.
But
the Son rose three days later. And He
was brighter than ever. Now His light
could not simply be pulled in by the black holes. Now He had conquered the darkness. Any who took in His light became light
themselves. The black holes were transformed
into stars shining brightly in the midst of the world for all to see.
Jesus
eclipsed the power of the gaping black holes and gave you His own light. He ignited your flames with His Spirit and
Word. And now you are stars, lights in
the world, holding fast to the word of life.
It is
that word, that Gospel, that good news which Jesus uses as the catalyst to
change dark vacuums into shining stars.
To hear of Christ and His humble suffering and death, to hear of Jesus
and His glorious resurrection, His luminous exaltation, is to be lit on
fire. All that useless gas that we carry
around with us is ignited and we begin to burn bright.
As we
hold fast to the Word of life, as we cling to Jesus in the Gospel, as we trust
His work of death and resurrection for our salvation, we remain as shining
stars.
And
what do stars do? As I mentioned
earlier, we think of stars as celebrities, those who engage in endless
self-promotion. But that is not what the
stars were to Jesus, to Saint Paul. The
stars were guides in the night sky. They
pointed the way north. They formed
constellations to show you how to make your way home.
That
is our role as stars too. We are not
here to promote ourselves. We are here
to point others to Jesus. We are to aid
in guiding them to the light of the Savior.
Our borrowed light directs them to the source of warmth and life. There they too will find forgiveness of their
many sins, they will find rest for their souls, they will find hope for the days ahead.
They will find life in the Sun.
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