BP 205
“We inhabit a universe where atoms are made in the centers of stars; where each second a thousand suns are born; where life is sparked by sunlight and lightning in the airs and waters of youthful planets; where the raw material for biological evolution is sometimes made by the explosion of a star halfway across the Milky Way; where a thing as beautiful as a galaxy is formed a hundred billion times – a Cosmos of quasars and quarks, snowflakes and fireflies, where there may be black holes and other universe and extraterrestrial civilizations whose radio messages are at this moment reaching the Earth. How pallid by comparison are the pretensions of superstition and pseudoscience; how important it is for us to pursue and understand science, that characteristically human endeavor” ~ a quote from Carl Sagan from the TV mini-series Cosmos.
Carl Sagan was an astronomer and planetary scientist who assembled the first physical communications sent into space–universal messages that would hopefully be understood by any extraterrestrial intelligence that received them. Sagan was a self-proclaimed agnostic who did not believe in the God of the Bible but asserted that a divine being would be more like Einstein’s god, namely, not an actual being but an impersonal entity composed of the sum total of all physical laws that govern the universe.
His reference above to “the pretensions of superstition and pseudoscience” could refer at least partly to the Bible which he did not view as a scientifically informed document and therefore not worthy of the scientific mind.
In the TV series, Cosmos, Sagan focused primarily on astronomy. In fact, his ninth installment in the thirteen-part series was called, The Lives of the Stars. This episode focused on the life and death of stars.
So, what do Carl Sagan and stars have to do with this blog post? Read on and see.
Let’s turn from Cosmos to the Bible, a document that Sagan saw as an inspiring document but not a God-breathed book. As we study the Bible, we see that there are three stages a human potentially navigates during his or her life journey through the cosmos. (Sadly, many people never make it out of the first stage.)
The First Stage tells you that you are born separated from God. Your life is at cross purposes with Jesus. You are opposed to Him. You would rather believe that ETs (little green men) created the universe than the God of Scripture.
God through Paul describes this First Stage. Philippians 3:18,19 reads: “For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things.”
We come into the physical cosmos fallen, with our minds set on earthly (materialistic, naturalistic) things. We are enemies of Jesus.
“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever” ~ 1 John 2: 15-17
Our human condition is characterized by a love for the world, not a love for God. Our passions are fixed on the flesh, on what we can see with our physical eyes. We have no spiritual eyes to see beyond this physical world. We are spiritually blind.
Ephesians 2:1-3 is also very clear about our natural state in the beginning: “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts” ~ Ephesians 2:1-3
You were born dead. Dead in sin. Stillborn spiritually. Your baseline position, your natural inborn practice, is to follow the ways of this world ruled by Satan. You naturally disobey God, following the desires and thoughts of the flesh. “Followed.” That word is repeated in this passage. You did not come into this world following God but following earthly desires flowing from your mind and body.
Ephesians 2 further clarifies our tragic default position when we enter the world: “Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.”
To be in Stage One is to be without hope. Separated from Christ. Excluded from citizenship in heaven. Foreigners to God’s promises. Without God. Pursuing, thinking about, and lusting for earthly desires. You may even deny the existence of a personal God, or, like Sagan, claim that you can never say there is no God like an atheist might assert or claim that there certainly is a God. There is not enough evidence to support either position.
The only thing you can do is admit that you can’t know anything about God and remain in the spiritual quicksand of Stage One.
Finally, Romans 8 describes the position of every human trapped in Stage One: “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
We come into this world inherently opposed to God, not willing to submit to Him. We cannot please God because in our flesh we have no desire to please God. We are living for ourselves and are rebels against our heavenly Father.
Stage One is a state of existence far from God. It is tragic how many people do not search for a way out of this dark dungeon.
Stage Two miraculously occurs when people do not settle for Stage One. Instead, prompted by the Holy Spirit, they respond to God’s calling and choose to love Jesus instead of the world.
Joshua describes it this way in 24:15: “And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
By God’s grace, we enter Stage Two when we choose to forsake the gods of the world and instead serve the God of the Bible.
Concerning Stage Two, Jesus says in John 15, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”
Instead of settling for the lust of the flesh and the eyes—the fleeting pleasures of sin that this world offers—we believe that belonging to Jesus is more important than belonging to the cosmos. At that instant of unworldly belief, we no longer belong to this world because Jesus has chosen us out of this world.
“I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world” ~ John 17:14-16.
When Jesus gives us the word of truth and we receive it, we are transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the beloved Son (Colossians 1). We become a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) who are still in the world but who are no longer of the world. We are born again and so are no longer living alienated from God but now “see” and “enter” the kingdom of God (John 3:3ff).
Philippians 3 describes it this way: “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ . . .”
Okay, to summarize what we have seen so far, we are born as citizens of a cosmos that is opposed to God (Stage One) but then some of us obey God and exchange citizenship of this world for citizenship in the kingdom of heaven (the Second Stage). We are born a second time (spiritually) to a “living hope” as Peter describes it in his first letter (1:3).
Is Stage Two where the journey ends? We are now children of God–not just in the world but in the kingdom of God–so we can sit back and enjoy this world and our dual citizenship, right? No, and here we come to the central focus of this post. Since there is no dual citizenship—as followers of Jesus we are living in the cosmos, but we are not of the cosmos–we begin an amazing adventure that will last a lifetime.
Stage Three of the journey involves citizens who are not of this world but in this world experiencing an ongoing transformation. In this third stage, we begin a lifelong journey of swapping out the mind set on earthly things for the mind set on things above; of putting off the old self and putting on the new self; of cultivating the fruit of the Spirit and shunning the fruit of the flesh; of walking as children of light instead of children of darkness.
Yes, stage Three is a journey of becoming. Who has heard of sanctification?
So, what is the primary focus of Stage Three? We could answer that question by referring to any of the above objectives just mentioned or pointing to any of the following goals: to become a better friend of Jesus; to grow in obedience; to practice His presence; to spend the rest of your earthly days learning to love Jesus more than earthly affections. All these are true.
We see yet another objective in Stage Three mentioned in Ephesians 5:8-10: “For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true) and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.”
When we enter Step Two at the moment of spiritual new birth, we are radically changed from darkness to light. We are then called by God to Stage Three living, namely, to keep walking as children of light, to practice living in the light with our thoughts, behaviors, and affections–even in a world that is described as “a crooked and twisted generation.”
Do we see this theme of darkness and light anywhere else in Scripture? Yes. See the examples that follow.
Proverbs 4:18-19 says, “But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day. The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.”
“Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed” ~ Psalm 34:5.
“Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory . . . Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end . . . And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” ~ 2 Corinthians 3:7-9; 12-13; 18.
The word “light” is not used in this passage, but every time “glory” is used, we certainly can imagine light as opposed to darkness.
I am saving the best Scripture reference for last. Philippians 2:14-15 reads, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing, 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 stars in the cosmos . . .”
Stage Three, then, is all about born-again Christians who previously had languished in deep darkness now shining “brighter and brighter until full day”; now shining “as stars in the cosmos.”
How do we shine brighter and brighter? The passage from 2 Corinthians cited above says that as we behold the glory of the Lord, we are transformed “from glory to glory.” Psalm 34 says that as we look to God our faces will be radiant.
So, watch Carl Sagan and the TV series, Cosmos if you are interested in an agnostic perspective on the universe, galaxies, and stars. But if you are more interested in observing human stars that will never die out but will live forever into eternity, be sure to move into Stage Two of your spiritual journey and then practice Stage Three where you will shine more and more brightly as you look at Jesus.
How tragic that many in this world will gaze into the gloomy face of universal despair as they groan and settle for pleasures that will never last. These people will never look into Jesus’ face and be radiant. They love darkness rather than the light (John 3:19).
Don’t settle for existing in darkness. Hunger for more. Walk in the light of Jesus’ presence. Then you will shine, brother and sister, like stars in the cosmos.
Yes, shine!
“This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” ~ 1 John 1:5-7.
“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” ~ Matthew 5:16.