Sermon on the Mount
Pt 9
Lamp of Light
Matthew 6:22-23
The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore you eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! [NKJV] – (cf. Luke 11:33-36)
OPENING REMARKS
Viewed with the Eye
Magazines (junk, sports, Christian) -- Newspapers (local, gossip, religious) -- Books (fiction, non-fiction, secular, Christian) -- TV (local and cable) -- Surf the Internet (search engine to search engine – just be careful what you click on) -- Movies (G to XXX), etc.
1. The majority of what we learn and know is normally brought about because of our eyesight.
a. We read magazines, newspapers, and books.
b. We watch TV, search the Internet, and go to the movies.
c. We observe all that goes on around us.
2. If an object is visible to us it is transported to our mind thus influencing our thoughts and thinking.
a. Because of the type of objects our eyes observe - often our way of life will reflect its contents.
b. Whatever we focus on we begin to prioritize.
i. Earthly matters – worldly mind.
ii. Heavenly matters – Godly mind.
TEXT
22
I. The lamp of the body is the eye.
1. Lamp – Gk. lychnos means: literally a lamp (other than a candle – a bowl with oil and a wick off to the side), light.
a. OT | NT or today – a lamp is an object that we associate with light.
i. Light – represents the difference between good | bad; right | wrong; worldly (unrighteous) | godly (righteous)
Psalm 119:105
Your Word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.
2. Eye – is the focus point (one of the five senses) that we associate immediately within our mind of the world around us and all it pertains.
a. We use the eye (1) to look and observe and (2) to read and learn.
Matthew Henry
The eye is [used in] discovering and directing. [A Commentary on the Whole Bible: Matthew to John, vol. 5, (Old Tappan, New Jersey, Revel, n.d.) p. 80]
A. If therefore you eye is good [clear – NAS, healthy – ESV, single – KJV], your whole body will be full of light.
Good – Gk. is difficult to translate to English, it has various meanings (see above examples). Here the text seems to indicate its usage. Thus either a clear or single perspective with the eye may be an appropriate translation.
It is important in how you invest the use of the eye.
1. If all we do is watch R rated movies – that is where our mindset will stay.
a. Instead we should watch movies that we would not worry about our children walking in on.
2. If all we do is watch soap operas – that is what will seem normal within our marriages.
a. Instead we should take the time to observe those in happy marriages in church or family.
3. If all we do is watch talk-shows – the prevailing opinion of the host will become ours as well.
(Oprah – The View – late night shows, etc.)
a. Instead we should be well versed to our world around us so that we can form honest/correct opinions.
4. If all we read are gossip magazines – we will be caught up in falsehood aggressively.
a. Instead we should read reputable magazines that we know are faithful to the truth.
5. If all we read are Steven King novels – we will be caught up in the fantasy of strange.
a. Instead we should read some of the classics, biographies, historical works, Scripture.
6. If all we do is surf the internet for the latest craze – we will soon be found addicted to its vices.
a. Instead we should shut off the computer, find some hobbies | friends that we will enjoy our time.
NOTE: As disciples of Christ | children of God – noting here the importance of how we should invest the use of the eye in what enters the mind then we should seek to strive to understand that we accomplish this by making application of God’s Word.
Proverbs 19:8
The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
Colossians 3:1a, 2-3
If … you were raised with Christ … Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
NOTE: What you put into your mind through your eye will be reflected back through your manner of living. ----- If all you put into your mind is worldliness – then all you will manifest is that you are of the world. ----- But, if you put into your mind biblical | scriptural matters – then you will manifest that you are a child of God, a Christian. ----- WHAT DOES YOUR LIFE REFLECT?
23
B. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.
This is just the opposite of the thought in verse 22. If the eye is clear, light comes in uninhibited. If the opposite is true – the eye is not clear (bad – blind) light does not come in | does not penetrate the darkness. The natural man will not comprehend – cf. 1 Corinthians 2:14.
1. Solomon yielding to his flesh – deceived by the darkness he allowed in:
Ecclesiastes 2:10-11
Whatsoever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor, and this was my reward from all my labor. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled; and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun.
NOTE: I truly hope this is not your testimony.
2. I would think that none of us here would ever dream of going to an adult book store or sitting down to watch a XXX movie.
But we think nothing of watching the network channels on TV or cable shows that have much of the same type of story lines or themes – only they are covered/over by making them a comedy.
Soap operas – prime time entertainment – late night talk shows – any subject under the sun is open for discussion.
NOTE: If all that you ever receive into the mind is earthly – you life will reflect nothing but worldliness. You will be walking in darkness not light.
Matthew Rogers
If where there should be light, there is only darkness – that means there is a perversion at the very heart – the very center of a person’s life – a complete lack of vision. This is truly a lost soul.
----- [Spiritual Eyesight, 15 July 2001 – sermon (available: www.SermonCentral.com at Matthew 6:22-23)]. ----- cf. Jeremiah 17:9-10.
3. We are not children of darkness but instead children of light –
Ephesians 5:8
… you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.
C. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness.
1. Scientists speak of black holes that exist in our universe. They say that a black hole’s gravity is so intense that light cannot escape its hold once it has entered a black hole’s material makeup (whatever that consists of).
2. In a sense that is what the text is saying here.
When all you do is take in through your eyes is bad (earthly) - then your whole body (mind – character – attitude – every aspect of your way of living) will be full of darkness - If the darkness of your mind and soul is so great that even when light enters in through the eye it does not shine and affect the darkness.
Psalm 82:5a
They (the wicked) do not know. They walk about in darkness
John 3:19-20
… this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds wee evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
3. How great is that darkness?
Greater than man can overcome except it is for God’s grace! Only when God enters in will it be removed. For w/o Christ one walks in darkness.
John 8:12
… Jesus spoke … saying, I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.
1 Peter 2:9-10
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
CONCLUSION
God’s Word declares to us that the eye is the lamp of the body (soul/mind). A good clear | single eye focused on the light allows it to enter completely. This dispels all darkness. This is accomplished by having fellowship in and with Jesus Christ – 1 John 1:5-7
To do otherwise is to look through an eye that is not focused on heavenly matters but only on worldliness. The text declared this to in darkness w/o light.
Which eye are you looking through today?
INVITIATION
Lost –
If you have never seen your need for Jesus Christ as your savior – you are in darkness today.
Unless you turn from such and repent of your sinful nature before God looking to the finished work of Jesus Christ you will remain in that darkness. Do not go into eternity in such a condition. After death comes the judgment (Hebrews 9:27). Do not face eternity w/o Jesus Christ.
Believer/Church –
If you are in Christ – you are the sons of light … not sons of the night nor darkness (1 Thess. 5:5). Therefore let us live in a manner that our light shines before others that Jesus Christ might be seen.
COME WORSHIP THE LORD
. Our Invitation is open to all:
. Come to Christ
. Come if you need to pray
. Come be a part of us
. Come share with us what the Lord would have you to do
Bruce Allen
Underwood Baptist Church
bea0210@hotmail.com
October 21, 2007
