The Old Light

Like many of us, I suppose, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what it means to be a
follower of Christ and an American. As I was pondering what to say to you today, I landed on
God’s Word as it’s recorded in Jeremiah 2:11-13 …

“My people have changed their glory
for that which does not profit.
Be appalled, O heavens, at this;
be shocked, be utterly desolate,
declares the Lord,
for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living waters,
and dug out cisterns for themselves,
cracked cisterns that can hold no water.”

A cistern was a reservoir carved into rock to hold water. Cisterns were essential in Israel, where
summers are dry and where natural springs are few. God gave this illustration to Jeremiah to
show His people how foolish they had been. I wonder if the Lord would say something similar
about us – the church today – as we too have failed to rely on Him as entirely as we should.

You may never have heard of César Chesneau Dumarsais. He trained as a lawyer, but gave
much of his energy to the world of emerging philosophy which launched what we now know as
the Enlightenment. Dumarsais died in his French homeland in 1756. As a refresher, when I refer
to the Enlightenment – often called the “Age of Reason” – I’m speaking roughly to the period
between 1680 and 1800. The French referred to it as “Siècle des Lumières” – the “Age of Light.”

The Enlightenment led to a reinterpretation of the whole world. Shiny new concepts of
“reason,” self-fulfillment, toleration, and progress were in – and the tired old ways of religion
were out. Traditional and orthodox doctrines came to be rejected wholesale – by many at least
– as any serious consideration of the historic Christian faith became highly suspect. It was
Dumarsais who penned the line: “Reason is to the philosopher what grace is to the Christian.
Grace causes the Christian to act, reason the philosopher.”

As you might imagine – in the “Age of Reason” – falling like dominoes were once-held truths
like Adam’s sin and the Fall, real-life miracles, and the deity of Jesus Christ. The “enlightened”
came to believe that Christianity was a dark threat to the peace, prosperity, and civility
promised by the Enlightenment – as people chose to be guided by the new light of knowledge
rather than the old light of grace.

Looking back over my lifetime, I think I’ve witnessed a similar seismic shift. Churches that once
prized the light of the gospel have traded it for the “light” of humanism and self-sufficiency. We
think we’re too sophisticated for the simple message of a bloody cross and an empty tomb.

As a result, as the body of Christ has forsaken the gospel, so has the nation around us wandered
into more and more darkness. Now, our most prestigious universities bolster the notion that
objective truth can’t be known at all. I’m submitting to you that the relativism in the culture
may stem from relativism in the church. Tragically, the church hasn’t held onto spiritual light
any better than we’ve held onto spiritual water. Think about how tragic this is! We who serve
the Light of the world (John 8:12) – and who’ve been commissioned to light up His world with
His grace and truth (Matthew 5:14) – have failed at our most important calling.

As the church has gradually weakened – and our truthful witness to the culture has evaporated
– so has our nation weakened. I think we’re seeing the fruit of that every day. Like the cisterns,
we are broken. America is suffering.

Maybe we need the old light of grace.

The first election after I was old enough to vote, I voted for Ronald Reagan. As a young man
trying to find my way in the world, I found Reagan to be wise, steady, and humble – a
compelling trio. He was a reformer – some considered him a radical departure from the norm –
but what Reagan seemed to want more than anything else was to do what was right. When he
tried to steer the USA in ways that he believed were the best course, President Reagan was
actually steering us toward the wisdom gained from our shared 200-year history. He loved God,
and he loved our country, and everyone knew it. Slowly but surely, many of his detractors were
won over by his steady, principled, and gracious wisdom.

On January 11, 1989, President Reagan delivered his Farewell Address, and I’ll never forget how
he described his hope for us: “I’ve spoken of the shining city all my political life … built on rocks
stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in
harmony and peace.” I think you’ll agree that, in 2025, “harmony and peace” in America sounds
like a pipe dream. But I remember Reagan’s “Great Rediscovery – a rediscovery of our values
and our common sense.” That’s not just what “we the American people” need, but what “we
the church people” need here and now. A version of the Reagan Revolution. Not politics, but a
rediscovery of the right and best direction for us. Christ’s Church needs the old light of grace!

Let’s find the cracks in our cisterns – idolatry, self-sufficiency, pride, ingratitude, carelessness,
lovelessness – and ask God to help us fix them for His glory. Perhaps our collective prayer
should be: “God, be merciful to us, sinners one and all.” And today is a great day to intercede
for our nation’s leaders. It’s our high calling in Christ (1 Timothy 2:1-4), and no one else can
support our country in this way. The grace of our risen Jesus is stalwart, friends, and it always
shines brighter than the darkest darkness – so let’s not write anybody off.

As rebuilders like Nehemiah, you and I have a vitally important mission before us. As
discouragement comes – and it will – we must choose to stick to the call of God: “We are doing
a great work, and we cannot come down” (6:3 adapted). In a desperately broken world, you
and I are God’s gracious ambassadors and agents of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:11-21 ).

In regard to the church and the nation, my beloved friends, I’m thoroughly convinced that God
desires so much more for us than we desire for ourselves. His spiritual refreshment is ours for
the taking – a gusher that will never run dry. In John 4, when Jesus reveals Himself to the
woman at the well, He offers her “a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Not just a trickle
from a dirty garden hose, but a flash flood of Christ’s own perfect love and power!

That’s exactly what we need. Here and now. From sea to shining sea.

Back to France – where we started – for just a moment, do you remember the line I quoted
from Dumarsais? “Grace causes the Christian to act.”

That’s where you and I find ourselves. Will we act? Will we speak? Will we stand? Will we love?
In the darkest days of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln – used by God to rescue the nation from
self-destruction – penned the words: “We must work earnestly in the best light Christ gives us,
trusting that so working still conduces to the great ends He ordains.”

Tout est Grâce (All is Grace),

Pastor Charles