By Odon Bulamba
We are going to talk about the light
again. Last night I talked about the sun,
today we will continue with Mathew 24:29 and talk about the moon.
We all know the moon and we see it at least
once per month. It will appear in the
sky without asking for permission and it just appears and you see it. The moon will be there for some days, maybe
7, and then it will vanish again. The
sun is unique because there is only one sun but there are many moons in our
galaxy but only one that shines on the earth.
Then there are stars which are too many to count. When we think about the big number of moons,
more than 190, it is like a crowd.
Mathew 24:29, apart from the sun, is
related to Luke 14 and we will match those two verses and see. Luke 14:1-4,
“It happened that when He went into the house of one of
the leaders of the Pharisees on the Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching
Him closely. And there in front of Him was a man suffering from dropsy. And
Jesus answered and spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to
heal on the Sabbath, or not?” But they kept silent. And He took hold of him and
healed him, and sent him away”.
When I’m talking about the moon, I see a
celebration. Many people think the moon
is good, soft, beautiful, kind and there are zero adjectives used to describe
the moon as bad. We have this category
of Christians, wherever they go, they appear soft, kind, and good and all
positive things that the world gives to them and for them that is beautiful but
in front of God, they don’t shine all the time, they only appear for a few days
and then vanish and become covered by darkness.
Sometimes we see the moon shining and you
can see the path but other times the moon is not there and you can’t see what
is in front of you. We are living in the
sabbath day, the last period of time before the return of Jesus and Jesus is
now invited into a Pharisee’s house.
A Pharisee is human being who knows the
gospel, reads the Bible and prays but lives like a hypocrite, he/she is not
100% committed to the Lord. They know the
Word of God but they don’t practice it.
Some people like the Pharisees invite Jesus to come for dinner to
celebrate. At this dinner you will see
other people (moons) where they will listen to hear the Word of God. They come to church on Sunday and shine but
after the service they are different people.
Jesus knew he was being watched at the Pharisee’s
house. He went by himself, without the
disciples. He accepted to sit with those
that are not true Christians. We can be
wrong but when we invite Jesus, He responds.
When someone tells you, I don’t have Jesus with me, it is possibly
because you haven’t invited Jesus in your life.
How often do I invite Jesus in my life regardless of my hypocrisy?
Normally when we invite people to a party
or dinner, we think about food but it is really about fellowshipping and
talking and catching up and spending a good time with others. If you come to a dinner only for food and
forget about making a good climate with others, you won’t enjoy the
dinner. If people talk negatively about
you, you will lose your appetite.
Sometimes, you will think, why did I come to this dinner because people
are being rude.
When you invite Jesus to visit you, “Please
Lord listen to me,” you must ask yourself, what have I prepared for Jesus? What conversation are we going to talk about? What seat will he sit on when he comes into
my heart? What will be my thoughts and
my prayers when He comes? Did I prepare myself to welcome my guest?
Very often we don’t have time to
contemplate about the moon, we very often sleep or rest during that time. This category of Christians that try to
impress a little bit to their friends and other believers, they will look at
you for a bit but then go to sleep, “better to sleep than to listen to you”. You have decided to be soft and extremely
kind and afraid to offend by talking about the gospel. You are afraid of others seeing you pray or
holding your Bible and reading it at lunch time. You want to be a Christian but living in
hypocrisy so others can’t see who you are and who you work for.
In Luke 14, this man was sick but when he
went to dinner, he forgot about his sickness.
Maybe those that we invite, those we pray for to become Christians, they
may have some disabilities, they may be sick but that should never make us to not
invite them. Many people in my country and community don’t want to hear about Jesus
but because I am organising a party and because I am like a moon, in my
hypocrisy and weakness, I should also invite others. Come so we can eat together. The person you meet might meet Jesus through
you. Through your behaviour you may save
others.
When Jesus sat on the table, He looked
around. The man didn’t say he was sick
but Jesus discovered by looking at him. Jesus
could tell he was suffering without being told.
Jesus gave him healing. The
person didn’t stay to eat or celebrate, after healing, Jesus said go away. He came to eat but the Master, the Healer
said, go away without eating.
Imagine you invite someone and then someone
else tells your visitor to go away. The
dinner was like an opportunity to come closer to Jesus. When we are invited, we prepare ourselves. When someone invites you to dinner, you must
prepare yourself. According to your
culture here, you first want to be on time and then ask what you should take
with you. You will also be clean.
For some people when they are at the
dinner, they start to complain. I wish I
could be at that table. We complain
while it is a privilege to be invited, to be one of those that receive the
invitation to be with the master. How
often do you complain about your time to pray, reading the Word of God,
visiting those who are sick? How often
do you complain when Jesus has given you a space in the room but you don’t want
that space in the room?
Some will say, “I have been praying for
days but God doesn’t respond. I am sick
of it. I am tired of asking God and not
getting a positive answer”. Jesus who
created everything, He asked those people, is it lawful to heal someone who
suffers? God who created the laws asks
us if it is lawful. He is not talking
about working on sabbath but healing.
In your life when he comes to you, is it
lawful for Jesus to heal your friend to do something in the life of someone you
know? What will your answer be? You might say, we are here for dinner not for
praying, we should remember our purpose here.
I have been in a situation where I am on my way going somewhere but then
find myself in a different direction.
This man who was inviting Jesus to eat with
him, now Jesus has turned everything to healing. You must wait until I have healed this person
before to eat. Do you know anyone who is
spiritually sick in your family/community or are you yourself sick spiritually
who need healing? Sins are
sickness. Maybe you need healing from
hypocrisy, stealing, or other sin you have.
Are you ready to accept from Jesus that it
is lawful to heal those sins in my life?
But in the house of the Pharisee, the Pharisee himself didn’t say heal
me, he believed he was a prominent man in the community and did not believe he
was sick spiritually. No one else asked
to be healed. Like the more than 190
moons that do not shine, only one shines like the person who was sick and
presented himself. In the crowd, there
was possibly others that were sick but they didn’t want to show themselves.
When you complain about a party, it might
be about it starting late or the music was too loud. When we complain, we sometimes hurt God’s
feelings. I’ve heard someone complain
about their appearance, “I don’t like the way God created me”. The creator who found He created you good,
wonders why you are complaining.
Sometimes we complain about food and God
who is the provider hears you complaining. Instead of being thankful for all
that God has given us. I’ve heard
parents complain about their own children.
Some complain about their neighbours.
You can complain about the behaviour but not the person. When you complain about others, you are
trying to correct God.
The moon Christians will change to
darkness. How many days do we have in
each month? Around 28-31 days. Those people will only shine for 7 days, the remaining
21 days they will live in darkness.
During your 24 hours each day, how many do you shine in the world? How many hours will others see you passing
and know that you bear all the fruit of the Holy Spirit? How often do people look at you and think
they are not happy to meet with you?
When you shine, do you sometimes look
around and ask yourself if your light is helping others? The sun will provide vitamin D. What does the moon give to us nutritionally? It doesn’t give us anything great for our
lives. We can’t put our clothes on the
line for the moon to dry them. When the
moon comes, we take beautiful photos of the moon but that is all.
Your presence in the world has a
purpose. If you are shining like the
moon and it doesn’t help others, you still have the chance and grace to shine
like the sun because you were chosen.
Tell Jesus that you want to shine like the sun so that others around you
can benefit from you. I don’t want to be
darkness for more than 70% of my daily life, please make me shine for others.
When we are cold, that is when we think
about the sun. The presence of the sun
warms our houses and lives but when your presence in other’s lives makes them
to continue to live in coldness, it means that you must increase your potential.
At the end of time, the moon will be
changed to darkness. When darkness
comes, we get lost and can’t see the path or the way. Jesus is the path. Those that live like moons will start to go
astray and walk in a different direction because there is not enough
light. Come close to Jesus and let Him
help you. Come as you are, tell Him you
are sick, “help me, I have a privilege because I am a moon that shines a little
but I want to shine more to be beneficial for others”.
On the day of judgement our deeds will
follow us and we will be asked, “What did you do with what I gave you?” What will you answer? You may say, “Yes people saw me once a while,”
but God will tell you, “You should live for Me but you are living for money,
joy, friends, parties”. If you are not
living for Jesus, start to ask Him, “How can I live for you? What can I do for you in order to live for
you?” It doesn’t mean to quit your job
or studies but wherever you are, be a Christian, talk about Jesus without fear
or reserve, warn others.
Sometimes be tough. I heard that the queen of England is very
sick now and we are not sure she will make it.
Someone called me this morning and he said, “You know she is sick?” “Yes, I heard. Oh Lord, we want her to be alive”. We can pray for her but it is a privilege to
reach that age. Let’s pray she gives her
life to Jesus. She’s an Anglican but
it’s not about what church you go to but it is about repentance and being ready
to meet with the Lord.
Sometimes we only want to pray for physical
things. If you pray for their spiritual
life, they will tell you not to judge them.
We are in the end days. Jesus is
coming back soon. It’s a good time to
position ourselves. Are we guests of
this world just to eat, going to the movies, or are we here to find the true
healing and walk God’s way? Are we full
of hypocrisy to just entertain others or are we here to be the light for others
and telling them the truth before it is too late?
When Jesus says it’s time to go, there will
be no chance to eat anymore. Sometimes
we think we are on this earth to celebrate but are we going to accept the
healing and go away or will we continue to eat and be spiritually sick?
