Carry the Light – Session 1
Being the Light of the World
Matthew 5:14-16
Described by Christ as the "light of the world", how are we - his disciples and body on earth - doing at the start of 2008? Actually, we suck pretty badly, if what the latest study shows is true...
A report by The Barna Group in September of 2007, said this: “As the nation’s culture changes in diverse ways, one of the most significant shifts is the declining reputation of Christianity, especially among young Americans. A new study by The Barna Group conducted among 16- to 29-year-olds shows that a new generation is more skeptical of and resistant to Christianity than were people of the same age just a decade ago.
The study shows that 16- to 29-year-olds exhibit a greater degree of criticism toward Christianity than did previous generations when they were at the same stage of life. In fact, in just a decade, many of the Barna measures of the Christian image have shifted substantially downward, fueled in part by a growing sense of disengagement and disillusionment among young people. For instance, a decade ago the vast majority of Americans outside the Christian faith, including young people, felt favorably toward Christianity’s role in society. Currently, however, just 16% of non-Christians in their late teens and twenties said they have a "good impression" of Christianity.
One of the groups hit hardest by the criticism is evangelicals. Such believers have always been viewed with skepticism in the broader culture. However, those negative views are crystallizing and intensifying among young non-Christians. The new study shows that only 3% of 16- to 29-year-old non-Christians express favorable views of evangelicals. This means that today’s young non-Christians are eight times less likely to experience positive associations toward evangelicals than were non-Christians of the Boomer generation (25%).
The study explored twenty specific images related to Christianity, including ten favorable and ten unfavorable perceptions. Among young non-Christians, nine out of the top 12 perceptions were negative. Common negative perceptions include that present-day Christianity is judgmental (87%), hypocritical (85%), old-fashioned (78%), and too involved in politics (75%) - representing large proportions of young outsiders who attach these negative labels to Christians. The most common favorable perceptions were that Christianity teaches the same basic ideas as other religions (82%), has good values and principles (76%), is friendly (71%), and is a faith they respect (55%).
Even among young Christians, many of the negative images generated significant traction. Half of young churchgoers said they perceive Christianity to be judgmental, hypocritical and too political. One-third said it was old-fashioned and out of touch with reality.
Interestingly, the study discovered a new image that has steadily grown in prominence over the last decade. Today, the most common perception is that present-day Christianity is "anti-homosexual." Overall, 91% of young non-Christians and 80% of young churchgoers say this phrase describes Christianity. As the research probed this perception, non-Christians and Christians explained that beyond their recognition that Christians oppose homosexuality, they believe that Christians show excessive contempt and unloving attitudes towards gays and lesbians. One of the most frequent criticisms of young Christians was that they believe the church has made homosexuality a "bigger sin" than anything else. Moreover, they claim that the church has not helped them apply the biblical teaching on homosexuality to their friendships with gays and lesbians.
When young people were asked to identify their impressions of Christianity, one of the common themes was "Christianity is changed from what it used to be" and "Christianity in today’s society no longer looks like Jesus." These comments were the most frequent unprompted images that young people called to mind, mentioned by one-quarter of both young non-Christians (23%) and born again Christians (22%).
My contention is that this cannot be; this cannot continue to take place if we are to fulfill the commission Jesus left us with when He ascended back to His Father’s side. I am convinced that if we and other Christian fellowships begin demonstrating individual lives and a common fellowship where artificiality and bowing to the gods of the established measures of success are abandoned and replaced with lives and a fellowship that are intense with the love of Christ, authentic worship and real ministry instead of programs and “systems”, this trend will turn and we will begin to rescue those who have been taken captive by the enemy.
We are all familiar with the opening phrase of Matthew 5:14, “You are the light of the world.” When we studied the Sermon on the Mount, we discussed this at length. This morning, I would like to revisit that.
Let’s take this in the smaller context of this phrase by reading Matthew 5:14-16:
"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
The teaching preceding this is Jesus’ teaching that His disciples are “the salt of the earth.” Remember that our study of that teaching showed us that we, like salt, are to preserve what is good, stand against that which brings rot and decay, be enough evident to provide flavor but not too much because that causes bitterness, create thirst and help the body survive by retaining life giving water.
What does Jesus mean by saying, “You are the light of the world”? We are all familiar with light. Light is something that is a very important part of our every day life. Without it, we would not be able to see.
Light provides clarity and the ability to discern and understand. Light gives us the ability to see the beautiful and the ugly. Natural light, sunlight, provides warmth, health and life to most of that which lives on this earth. Consequently, we need the light to survive and to thrive.
Light reveals and exposes – it shows us what is real and true. This phrase “the light of the world”, is applied in the New Testament to Jesus Himself (John 1:4; Luke 2:32; Matthew 4:16; John 8:12), and to the Messiah in the Old Testament (Isaiah 49:6).
This is the call of every believer in Jesus Christ, for we are all called to be and make disciples. Remember that we were called to make disciples, not Christians.
When Jesus says,
“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
He is telling us that our lives are to be so representative of His that people can’t tell the difference between Him and us. He is telling us that we are to be like that “city on the hill”, that “lamp on the lampstand”. Our lives are to be so obvious in their demonstrations of Christ-like love and purity that people will have to “glorify our Father who is in heaven.”
We called to be the light of and to carry the light into the world. My goal is to ensure that the basis for everything that flows from this ministry for 2008 will be “Carry the Light”. Here is my premise:
1. Every Christian has been deemed by Jesus Christ to be the “light of the word” (Matthew 5:1), even as He is Himself (John 1:4-5).
2. We are commissioned by Jesus to “make disciples of all nations” by “teaching them to obey everything” that He commands (Matthew 28:18-20).
3. It is ours to be and to carry the light of Jesus Christ into the world by believing, thinking, living, loving, serving and leading as Jesus did. By taking His love, His character, His truth and His attitude into the world and living as He did, we will fulfill our call as disciples and as disciple-makers.
4. The original churches were gatherings of disciples of Jesus Christ for the purpose of instruction, encouragement, motivation, inspiration and accountability in being authentic disciples of Jesus Christ in order to penetrate their circles of influence for Jesus Christ. Everyone in our fellowship will be challenged and encouraged to be part of a discipleship community meeting in a home, being and making disciples and actively participating in the disciplines of the faith and duplicating that out in their own circles of influence.
5. The original churches met in homes and were “kingdom outposts” that stayed close to those who needed the Gospel, penetrating the darkness with the light of the Gospel and bringing the truth to bear in loving and personal ways. The goal needs to be for the home of every member of this fellowship to be or to become one of those “kingdom outposts” where people know they will find godly love, acceptance, help, hope and guidance.
6. We must prayerfully seek opportunities to go where we would not normally go, minister where we would not normally minister and love those whom we would normally not love – that is when we will “Carry the Light” into the darkness and impact our communities and our nation for Christ as we have been called to do and as is so desperately needed in these times.
7. This approach will bring us to the place where we both fulfill the command to be disciples and the command to make disciples; creating communities of grace where relationships of trust can be formed, yet doing so without compromising godly truth or character, and then penetrating the strongholds of darkness with His marvelous light in authenticity and power.
Remember the five-fold definition of discipleship that we learned in our recent Discipleship Study is:
• A disciple submits to a teacher who teaches him or her how to follow Jesus.
• A disciple learns Jesus’ words.
• A disciple learns Jesus’ way of ministry.
• A disciple imitates Jesus’ life and character.
• A disciple finds and teaches other disciples for Jesus Christ.
Part of the functionality of any discipleship community is safe and mutual accountability. If everyone is learning Jesus’ words and everyone is learning to imitate Jesus’ character, then the application of that naturally flows into imitating His way of ministry. Jesus never left sin unaddressed; especially when it came to those He had called to be His disciples. Yet, He always did so with repentance and restoration as His goal.
Repentance is doing an about face; restoration is a putting back into proper order and relationship as was initially intended. When we sin, even if it is “only” in our attitudes, we are going the wrong way and we are operating “out of order”. We have to get turned around and going in the right direction and we have to get back in order, which means we have to have our relationships with God and others returned to their intended pattern. The best place for that to happen is within a community of grace like what we have covenanted to be.
We have discussed before that none of us see ourselves as we really are. Even when we look in a mirror, we see ourselves in reverse of how we actually look. Oh, we may get glimpses of clarity from time to time, but for the most part, we go through life with what I call ego-astigmatism – blurry vision-of-self. It takes the clear view of God applied to us through the light of His Word, reflected in His people and shown to us through His Body to correct the vision that we have of ourselves.
Think about how odd it is to see you reflection through another reflection. That is how we actually look to everyone else, but it is a view that is somewhat familiar yet quite foreign to us at the same time. So it is when we open ourselves to allowing our fellow disciples of Christ to give us that clear reflection of our reflection.
Within the community of grace that every fellowship of true discipleship is to be, we work together to be and help one another be humbly transparent, personally irrelevant and openly accountable to one another in love. That doesn’t mean that we will be clones of one another. What it means is that, as we maintain our God-given personalities, gifts, strengths and weaknesses, there becomes a flavor of character that is common and easily identified as being that of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is also what our homes are supposed to look like. The dynamics of family are too great to go into now – we can go into that another time. Let me summarize what I mean by saying that our family environment is the first place we are to practice the principles of discipleship yet the place where it is hardest to do so. Yet, it is through the Christian home and family that the greatest testimony to the reality of the risen Savior and the availability of authentic Christian life is given to the world.
And that, after all, is what we are all still here for. As we learn in 2 Corinthians 5:17-20, we are left here as ambassadors of Jesus Christ with the same ministry of reconciliation between God and man that Jesus had while He was here among us. That is accomplished only when we are authentic disciples of His and function within a community of authentic disciples. Our mission and our commission are to be and make disciples.
We do so by obeying the Great Commandment, as found in Mark 12:29-31: “’HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’ The second is this, ’YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ There is no other commandment greater than these."
From this, we carry out the Great Commission, as it is found in Matthew 28:18-20, to make disciples as Jesus has modeled for us and to teach them to observe all that He has commanded us. We have to be so familiar with Him and His Word that they are as much a part of u as our breathing in order to do so effectively – it has to become part of our spiritual DNA.
My challenge to all of us is this: commit to nothing else other than fulfilling Christ’s call to be and make disciples following the pattern we have discussed today, both inside and outside of our homes. Our homes will become those kingdom outposts for the Gospel that the church was when it was fresh and new and as it has functioned in order to survive these many centuries.
People will come to see that real and authentic Christianity is nothing like the caricature of itself that it has become today in America, and we will fulfill what Peter encouraged us in 1 Peter 3:16, “That in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.”
Will you join with me to commit to be and to “Carry the Light” into our world in a new and powerful way in 2008? Will you join with me as I bow my knee before the Lord Jesus Christ and confess that my heart has been wrong and repent of our sinful selfishness and will now surrender our all to Him as never before?
I hope so…I truly, truly hope so.
What does it take?
We have to believe that what we believe is really real.
We have to believe that God is who He says He is, that He does what he says He will do, that we are who He says we are in Christ and that we have what He says we have. Then, we have to live as if we believe all of it.
We sang today, “Greater is He who is living in me than he that is in the world,” and, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Believe it? Do you?
Then, we need to do it!
Let’s pray.
