Unity Church of Castro Valley
Sunday Message for August 24, 2008
Sermon in the Park
(Genesis 1:1-5) "In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.
Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day."
Look around you, there is light. Light is that which penetrates and dispells darkness; the darkness of night or the darkness of ignorance. The concept of "light" shows up many times in both the Old and New Testaments. God created light. Out of what? The only thing that existed, Itself! Therefore God must be light.
What we call "light" is actually the second form of light in the universe. Everywhere in the Bible it says that God Himself is light. (Psalms 27:1) "The Lord is my light." And it says in (Psalms 104:1-2) "O Lord my God, you are wrapped in light as with a garment."
God, as light, can be interpreted in so many ways. God is light, which is the energy that is all around us. God is light, in that He enlightens us with Truth. God is light, in that He is the opposite of the darkness, He is the good and true and right that is in this Universe. And when we 'lighten up' we will become like Him.
Jesus, the Christ said in (John 8:12) "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life." This expression makes at least two things abundantly clear. First, the origin of light rests with God. Second, in some sense, God, Himself, is the very essence of light. Of course God is much more than just light, but God is the ultimate source of all knowing and understanding.
(Psalms 119:105) says, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." This is the perception and understanding we gain when darkness is dispelled and light is revealed. Not from anything outside of us – but from within us, where it has always existed.
(John 3:19) "The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil." People love darkness better than light, because their deeds are evil. So the character of light is to reveal and to provide understanding and purity; while the opposite of light or darkness is designed to obscure, to deceive, and to harbor impurity.
So we see that Jesus said to His disciples in (Matthew 5:14) "You are the light of the world." Yet in (John 8:12) Jesus said, "I am the light of the world." What appears to be a contradiction is not one at all. Jesus, the Christ & you and I, who are Christ beings reflect God's light.
The moon provides light for the earth just as the sun does. Yet, the actual source of light for both the sun and the moon is the sun. The moon only reflects the light of the sun.
By the same token, God is the source of all light. The rest of us become reflectors in a darkened world, transmitting through our lives the true light of the eternal Son of God. We are to light up our world by reflecting the light of God into it.
SEEKING THE LIGHT
So above all else, we should seek the Light of God within us. But what we seek, we can never find through the intellect alone, nor can we find it through the emotions alone. Intuition and emotion are meant to work together, with intuition doing the leading.
If you have been looking for light in your life but have been working only with your mind to untangle this maze of Truth, you need to let this side of yourself rest for awhile. (Matthew 18:3) "Become like children," allow yourself to be still and listen to God through the intuitive part of your being. The Light that you desire will come out of the deep silence and will manifest to you from within you, if you will just allow yourself to be still and look for it from that source.
That conscious knowledge of the Light, knowledge of the God within is what we are all looking for. We have tried money, sex, drugs, and all kinds of physical things, and all kinds of addictions, when what we truly want is that Light that exists within us.
Paul wrote about this in his letter to the Colossians as (Colossians 1:26-27) "the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed...Christ in you, the hope of glory."
Or as it says in (Psalms 91:1) "the shelter of the Most High," where each of us can exist and be safe from all harm or fear or evil. This is the point of mystical union between man and Spirit (or God in us). This is the point where we not only believe – but know that God in Christ lives at the center of our being as Light. We know it as perfect health, prosperity, and power ready to be manifested in our lives any time we claim it. We KNOW it. We feel our oneness with the Light and we manifest this oneness. Can you sit here in this beautiful park and not feel at one with all nature? Not see the light of life in everything around you?
In Lessons In Truth Emilie Cady writes, "If we hold the secret of anything it gives us power over it." The personal, conscious knowledge of the Light within us is the secret that is the key to all power. So what we are seeking is the revelation of this marvelous "secret." And the only place we can get it is from (John 15:26) "the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father." That which God would say to you and do through you is a great secret that no one knows, or will ever know, except yourself as it is revealed to you by the Light within you. My secret is not revealed to you, or yours to me; but each of us must deal directly with God through the Christ within us.
Secrets are not broadcast to the general public; I don't care how many telavangellists you watch. This, the greatest of secrets cannot be passed from one person to another. God, Himself, must whisper it to each person from the very innermost part of their being.
(Revelation 2:17) "To everyone who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give a white stone, and on the white stone [or a mind like a clean white tablet] is written a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it." It is so secret that it can't even be put into human language or repeated by human lips.
What you and I want is a revelation to our consciousness of God within us as omnipotent power, so that we can, by a word – or a look - (Isaiah 55:11) "accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it."
We want the manifestation of the Light in us, so that we can know God personally. We want to be conscious of God workin in us (Philippians 2:13) "both to will and to work" so that we can (Philippians 2:12) "work out our own salvation." We must learn more of how to place ourselves in an attitude where we can each be conscious of the divine inner working.
In our eagerness we have looked to every source that we could reach for the light that we want. Because we have not known how to just wait on the Spirit within us for the desired revelation, we have been frustrated in our search.
Books, lectures, and teachers are good, but you must learn for yourself that Christ, the Son of God, lives in you. You must learn for yourself that the Christ within you is your light and life and all. When you have finally realized this, without a doubt, then you will stop looking to teachers to bring you spiritual insight. That Christ lives in you, Spirit itself must reveal to you. Teachers talk about the light, but the light itself must flash into the darkness before you can see the light.
We don't need to be anxious or in a hurry for the full manifestation of the Christ within. Don't lose track of the fact that our desire is God's desire in us. (John 6:44) "No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me." The Christ within wants to reveal to us the secret of It's presence, otherwise we would have never known the desire for the Truth.
(John 15:16) "You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit."
No matter where you are on your spiritual path, know this one thing. You are not seeking God, but God is seeking you. You are not seeking the Light, the Light is seeking you. So all we have to do, is to learn how to let it come into manifestation in our lives.
In one sense, after all our seeking for the light and the Truth, we must learn to wait on God for this inner revelation of Truth and our oneness with Him.
The light that we want is not some thing that God has to give; it is God Himself. God does not give us life or love as a thing. God is life and light and love. More of God in our consciousness, then, is what we will want, no matter what other name we may give it.
"LIGHT" SYMBOLISM
To the ancient Hebrew, who was surrounded by sun worshipers, light was a holy thing. It was the natural symbol for deity. In the Old Testament God is pictured as creating light and being clothed with light. The term 'light' is used in conjunction with life to express the ultimate blessings which God gives to us. It says in (Psalms 36:9) "For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light." Plato associated the sun with the idea of the good, and Philo regarded the Creator as the archetype of light.
(1 John 1:5-7) "This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another."
James calls God the Father of Lights (James 1:17) "Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights." and adds that God does not change position or suffer eclipse as we do. God, as Light, enters the world, shines in the darkness of error and illumines every person. We become children of light as we become aware of the Christ within us.
Because Jesus so fully realized the Christ within as his real being, he became (John 8:12) "the light of the world." By contrast there are many lesser lights in the world such as John the Baptist. (John 5:35) "He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light." God,the true Light, bears witness to himself, because light is self-evidencing, and by light we see light. The lesser lights, like the moon, reflect that light. John reflected the light of God, but Jesus became the light of God.
Paul's conversion is essentially an encounter with the Light from heaven. (Acts 9:3) "Now as Saul was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him." The scales of darkness fell from his eyes and he was commissioned as a light for the Gentiles. (Acts 13:47) "For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, "I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles, so that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.' " He puts on the armor of light to contend with the rulers of world darkness. And tells his followers, (Ephesians 5:8) "For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light."
When Jesus was transfigured on the mountain he manifested the Light of God. It says in (Matthew 17:2) "Jesus was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white." Jesus became the light right in front of Peter and John, even his clothes shone with light.
So allow this light to manifest in your life as it says in (Matthew 5:16) "In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven."
SCRIPTURE: 1 John 1:5-7; Acts 9:3; Acts 13:47; Colossians 1:26-27; Ephesians 5:8; Genesis 1:1-5; Isaiah 55:11; James 1:17; John 3:19; John 8:12; John 6:44; John 15:16, 26; Matthew 5:14, 16; Matthew 17:2; Matthew 18:3; Philippians 2:12-13; Psalms 27:1; Psalms 36:9; Psalms 91:1; Psalms 104:1-2; Psalms 119:105; Revelation 2:17
REFERENCE: Lessons In Truth H Emilie Cady
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