The Only Light for Culture

Koinonia

The Only Light for Culture

November 10, 2024 • Dylan Ocorr • Matthew 5:14–16

With the 2024 election over, you may feel that you have your ‘man’ in the White House. You may feel thrilled at the possibility of the US government over the next 2-4 years. You may feel that a major victory was just won for the sake of the pro-life movement and the Biblical sexual ethic. But don’t rest on your laurels! It is a grave mistake to feel that a political victory is a complete victory. Even if all the right laws were to be passed, Christian Supreme Court Justices appointed, state constitutions re-written for the glory of God, and the Chick-fil-a sauce recipe was leaked… there would still be work to be done. The laurels are not yet complete. They are yet to fully blossom. Don’t rest on a rose bud, you’ll crush it before it blooms and snuff out its glory.

Jesus said that the Christian people, those who have been born again and filled with the Holy Spirit, are the light of the world. The only hope for a dark world is light. And the only light that exists is that which the Christian carries in his spirit. Too often we forget this glorious truth and think the “light” of God to be housed in some ideal or doctrine. We consume ourselves with talk of laws and policy, as if those legal statutes carry the light of God in them. They do not. They may point to the light, but they are not the light themselves. WE are the light. Those who are born again by the Spirit of God, are alone the light of the world.

Shall we fight and advocate for righteous legislation in our land? A thousand times ‘Yes!’ For when the laws of a nation reflect the glory of God, they clear the skies for the sun to shine. They weed out the garden for the rose to bloom. Any Rochesterian knows the daily slog produced by those long and cloudy wintry months. Our moods swing low, seasonal depression rises as the sun hides. But those occasional February days, when the clouds part and the sun gleams off the perfect white snow - they remind us that there is a sun, that it is warm, and the dreary days will soon end. Righteous laws have the same effect. They clear away the moral and social fog. They warm up the soul and remind us of God - that there is a real moral standard. But they only clear the way for the light to shine clearly. And what is that light which righteous laws make room for? It is the light of the transformed soul. It is the light of the “glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” to which a person has been totally awakened to. If that light does not shine like a “city on a hill”, then what good are the laws? What good is the clearing of the skies if the true light is but a dim whimper of a single candle.

LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE! You are the light of the world. No doctrine or law can light up the dark world, but only you! Only the soul that has been transferred from the “kingdom of darkness” and “brought into the light” can emit the light that the world needs. The laws may clear the skies, but you must shine the light. You are the light of the world.

A Fire to Warm and a Torch to Shine

November 17, 2024 • Dylan Ocorr • Acts 4:31–35

The Christians are the only light for culture. There is no other hope to brighten up a dark world than for the redeemed of the Lord to rise up and shine. But what does that look like exactly? How does the heat and light of the gospel flood into a cold and dark world? When the believers prayed for boldness in Acts 4, it wasn’t a simple prayer for a little more courage than they had before. It was a desperate plea to God to help them keep their flame lit. They were faced with a serious problem - Peter and John (their leaders) were threatened by those in power. So they turned to God with one accord and prayed that he might strengthen them to continue to obey and preach the gospel. The result was two-fold. They (1) boldly proclaimed the word of God to the outside world, and they (2) built a vibrant Christian community. In other words, they cultivated a blazing fire around which they gathered with their brothers and sisters in Christ, and they lit a blazing torch which they carried to the outside world. There was a fire to warm them and a torch they shone on the world. When the smoldering embers of their spiritual light were threatened, the Holy Spirit fanned their community and evangelism into a ferocious flame. They had a strong base and a strong attack. They lit themselves and the world. This community was no ordinary social group. It was characterized by a radical selflessness and profound sense of unity. We find these same words - “selflessness” and “unity” - used in the secular world. But when they are used (or rather, simply mused) in those circles, they are thought of in a much lower grade. An ancient hieroglyphic compared to the vivid picture of an overpriced TV from Best Buy. The selflessness and unity of this Acts 4 community would send shockwaves through the world today. Much like how a caveman might respond to seeing the glimmer of a new 60-inch Samsung. A Christian community, properly set ablaze, will shine with stunning distinction against the bleak communities that the world offers. In the US Army survival manual, there is a chapter on building a fire. The last sentence of the intro to that chapter says this, “Remember, weigh your need for fire against your need to avoid enemy detection.” Fires provide all sorts of benefits to those who are around them, but they also draw the attention of the enemy. The stronger the fire, the easier the target for the enemy. Thus, the plea for boldness and power, of necessity, accompanies a people who have a well-flamed community. That’s how the light works. It repels the wolves and attracts the sheep. And there are yet many “other sheep that are not of this fold” and Jesus will “bring them also and they will listen to His voice”. So let us inflame ourselves by the Holy Spirit, so as to bring in as many who are fleeing from the darkness as possible.

Rise Up, O Man of God!

June 16, 2024 • Pastor Ray Viola • Titus 2:6–7

On this Father’s Day 2024, listen to this promise from Scripture regarding the man who fears the Lord. “Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments” (Psalm 112:1). There is a ubiquitous story told in prison ministry circles that speaks to the state of fatherhood in our day. One year, a group decided to provide cards for inmates on Mother’s Day. The response was overwhelming, as nearly all the inmates showed up to sign and send cards to their mothers. The event was so successful that the group decided to do it again on Father’s Day. Almost no one participated. The point of this story? Well, it depends on who you ask. However, at the heart of the discrepancy is fatherlessness, both in terms of the men who are absent from their children’s lives (a major indicator of future incarceration, and a whole host of other maladies), and in terms of the culture’s slow, steady slide into the abyss of radical feminism and anti-masculinity. It’s a two-edged sword; (1) fathers are not there, and (2) the culture argues increasingly that they are not necessary. The Biblical laws of design, like the laws of God in nature, are timeless. The law of gravity that “began” when God created the universe are arsenal today as they were then. One of the greatest and most damaging aspects in today’s culture is the subtle (or not so subtle) undermining of the biblical teaching of manhood and fatherhood, and we are seeing the deadly consequences it is having in our society. I believe that our Heavenly Father is calling ALL men of God, and in particular fathers to rise up and hold up the biblical standard of being a husband and father. The Christian marriage, family structure and design as is seen in Genesis was created by God. This creational order was established according to the infinite wisdom of God at the beginning of the creation of the world and is fundamental to the order of both the state and the church. When this order is violated or rebelled against, the outcome is confusion and chaos. In God's creation order He has made man to be the head of the Christian home for functional purposes. Headship does not mean that God values man more than a woman, and it most certainly does not mean that husbands should be a dictator. I have put together an acronym for the name Father. F- He Fears God. A- He Adores his Wife. T- He Teaches his children by example and precept. H- He Chooses to be a vessel of Honor inside and outside of the home for the glory of God. E- He Exercises himself unto godliness. R- He Reflects the character of the Lord Jesus Christ in word and deed. My prayer and heart’s desire for every father is that God’s Spirit would ignite within each of our hearts a renewed passion for Jesus Christ, with the overflow of that passion being the fruit that manifests the biblical design for a husband and father as a man if God that brings glory to the name of Jesus Christ. SELAH

Biblical Motherhood 101

May 12, 2024 • Pastor Ray Viola • Titus 2:3–5

If you were told to cut 50 8 foot 2x4”s, and you only measured the first one, and then proceeded to cut the rest of them from the previous unmeasured 2x4, you would not have 50 8 foot 2x4’s. The moral of the story is this…the further that you drift from the original, things are not going to “measure up.” Likewise, whenever we choose to “cut our own” 2x4’s in life independent of God’s original design, things are not going to measure up. Our culture is based upon fallen man’s ideas instead of God’s Holy Word. But man’s ideas are constantly evolving with the mores of society, whereas God’s Word transcends society and is as relevant today as it always has been. We are going to look at the Apostle Paul’s exhortation to Pastor Titus regarding the biblical perspective of motherhood and womanhood. It is not suprising that what we are going to be looking into does not “measure up” to today’s views of what a liberated mother or woman looks like. Paul told Titus to “speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee” (Titus 2:15). But have you noticed that “biblical spirituality” is considered today to be archaic, puritanical and not to be taken seriously. Blinded by the god of this world, they do so at their own demise. My precious sisters in Jesus, society loves to marginalize your love for Christ, and your devotion to Him as your Lord. The Spirit-filled wisdom that Paul passes on to Titus and to you today are coming from your loving Creator who knows human nature far better than any psychologist or anthropologist on the planet. Wise is the woman who, like Mary, sits at the feet of Jesus and hears what He has to say about marriage. How to love your husband and children according to His design. We give God thanks for loving us and giving us His timeless truth upon which we can build our marriages and homes in a way that brings glory and honor to Him. SELAH