Introduction:
A. Today we return to our series called “Transforming Truths.”
1. I pray that our attention to these simple, foundational truths has been a blessing to you.
2. So far in the series, we have been reminded of such important truths like the fact that we are loved by God, and forgiven by God, and saved by the grace of God – thank the Lord!
3. And we have also been reminded of truths that call for us to do something, like the fact that we are accountable to God, that we have a purpose, that we don’t have to be afraid, and that we can overcome temptation.
4. Looking ahead to next Sunday, which will be our annual Friend Day, I thought that it would be good to be reminded of this important truth – We Are The Light Of The World.
B. The story is told of a young boy who spent one summer traveling Europe with his parents.
1. As they went from city to city, they often visited historic cathedrals.
2. When the boy returned, his Sunday School teacher asked him what he most liked about the trip.
3. The boy reported that what he liked most was the stained glass portraits of the disciples that he saw in the churches they had visited.
4. He said that those stained glass windows reminded him that a Christian is a person that the light of Christ shines through.
C. And how right that young boy was!
1. We are the light of the world! That is the truth.
2. You remember the children’s song – This Little Light of Mine? “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine. Hide it under a bushel…NO!”
3. Is the light of Christ shining through you? I hope so.
4. Do we have our light hidden under a bushel, or have we let Satan blow it out? I hope not.
5. Is our stained glass so dirty that no light is coming through? I hope not.
D. Today’s sermon is so basic and yet so central to our lives as Christians.
1. This truth is so simple and straight forward. Why do we often make it so complicated?
2. This truth also reminds us of the importance of our mission and the confidence that God is placing in us.
I. The Need For Light
A. I don’t think I need to convince you that we live in a world of darkness, and that there is a great need for the light of Christ, do I?
1. The Bible has always used these kinds of terms for the plight of humankind.
2. Matthew tells us in Matthew 4:16 that when Jesus began his ministry, he was fulfilling what was said through the Old Testament prophet Isaiah, “the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” (Isaiah 9:1,2)
3. Jesus said of himself, “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.” (Jn. 12:46)
4. When Paul was commissioned by Christ as recorded in Acts 26:16-18, Jesus said to him, “Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you. I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”
5. Later, when writing to the Colossian Christians, Paul said, “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Col. 1:13)
B. People without Christ today still live in darkness.
1. Whether they are living a life given over to rampant sin or not, they are still in darkness if that don’t have Christ in their lives.
2. Even those who live very moral lives, and are following some other kind of spiritual path, if they don’t have Christ they are in darkness.
C. Sometimes we think that our world is darker today than ever, and I’m not sure that is true.
1. The world has always been a dark place.
2. Satan has been busy throughout the history of humankind, leading people into darkness.
3. In our society today, many have come to accept evil and immoral things as if they are good and acceptable, but that has been the case in many other societies in other times and places.
4. All I can say is that there has always been a need for the light of Christ in this dark world and there will continue to be the need for light until Christ returns.
II. The Source Of The Light
A. It is important to keep in mind that although we are the light of the world, we are not THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD (in capital letters).
1. Jesus, himself, is THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.
2. The first chapter of John begins, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it…The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.” (Jn. 1:1-5, 9)
3. In John 8:12, Jesus said this about himself, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
4. And in John 9:5, Jesus said, “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
5. And now that He is not in the world, Jesus is the light of the world through us.
B. Why is it important to keep in mind that we are not the source of the light?
1. When we keep in mind that Jesus is the source, we remember that He is the point.
a. The goal of us being a light is not to draw attention to us, but to draw attention to Him.
b. Jesus is the one who matters. He is the source of the light and the source of salvation.
2. Also, when we keep in mind that Jesus is the source, we remember that we must stay plugged into the source in order to keep shining.
3. Think of the relationship between the sun and the moon.
a. Jesus is the sun, and we are the moon.
b. The moon has no light of its own, it’s job is to reflect the light of the sun.
c. If the moon isn’t in the right position with relation to the sun, then it cannot do it’s job.
d. The same thing is true with our relationship with Christ.
e. If we are not in the right relationship with Him, then we cannot reflect His light.
4. And think about this – when the moon cannot reflect the light of the sun, what has happened in the relationship of the moon and the sun?
a. What has happened is that the world has come between the sun and the moon. We call it a lunar eclipse.
b. The same thing can happen to us as Christians, if we let the world get between us and God, then we won’t be able to reflect Christ.
III. The Plan For Us To Be Light
A. Now let’s turn our attention to the passage we read for the Scripture Reading.
1. Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Mt. 5:14-16)
2. In that passage, Jesus used two illustrations to make His point.
3. Both illustrations would have been easily understood by the people of that day.
4. If Jesus were speaking to us today, trying to make the same point, He would have must likely used different illustrations because times have changed.
B. First of all, Jesus said that a city on a hill cannot be hidden.
1. Those listening to Jesus that day would have immediately thought of how houses in that day were built of white limestone and would have glistened in the sun.
2. Cities that were built on mountains could be seen many miles away as the sun reflected off the white stone buildings.
3. Today, Jesus might have framed the illustration a little differently. He might have pointed out that a modern city cannot be hidden at night because of the many lights that are on all night long.
4. I really enjoy driving at night on Rt. 81 from the south toward Syracuse. There is a point as you approach the city where you are on a high mountain and the city lights of Syracuse lay across the valley in front of you. To me it is a beautiful sight.
C. The second illustration that Jesus used concerned lighting a lamp.
1. Palestinian homes of that day were generally dark. Remember, they had no electricity and no light bulbs, like we have.
2. Most homes had one small window, and it didn’t give much light even during the day.
3. The only source of light they had was that from a simple lamp that often was just a bowl filled with oil that had a wick (like in this picture).
4. When the lamp was lit, it was put in the center of the room on a table or lamp stand.
5. When Jesus mentioned the idea of someone lighting a lamp and then putting a bowl over it, I can just picture the crowd laughing at the very foolishness of the thought.
6. If a person needs the light, why would they put a bowl over it?
7. And, after all, what happens if you put a bowl over a lamp with a flame? It is extinguished because of a lack of oxygen.
D. So what is Jesus’ point?
1. Our light isn’t meant to be hidden.
2. As disciples of Jesus, we are to reflect the light of Christ and to let it shine for all to see.
3. We are not supposed to hide our faith by putting our city in a valley, or our light under a bowl.
4. Jesus concluded, “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Mt. 5:16)
5. The apostle Paul said it well when he wrote this to the Philippians, “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life…” (Phil. 2:12-16a) Isn’t that good?
6. We are to live in such a way that we stand out like stars against the dark background of our crooked and depraved generation.
Conclusion:
A. So how can we put this transforming truth into practice?
1. How do we let our light shine so that we can be the light of the world?
B. Think for a moment about some of the functions of light.
1. First, there is the function of dispelling the darkness.
a. As we said earlier, we live in a very dark world, but light has great power.
b. Light always overcomes darkness. Light dispels the darkness.
c. Think of being in a very dark room and then lighting just a single candle. It is amazing how one candle can cut through the darkness.
d. Or think of a very cloudy day, and how a beam of light sometimes comes through the clouds. I love when that happens!
e. Or think about a very clear night and how bright it can be outside if you have a full moon.
f. God wants us to see ourselves as the light of the world every where we go, every minute of the day.
g. By our mere presence, and by our Christian life and example, we can dispel the darkness.
h. Our testimony and teaching of the good news also dispels the darkness.
i. The light of our lives and the light of our words must go hand in hand.
2. A second function of light is the function of giving guidance and leading to safety.
a. I think about the function of a lighthouse on a dark and stormy night.
b. Ships traveling by desperately need the lighthouse to give them direction and to keep them away from danger. That’s a powerful image isn’t it?
c. I think about run way lights at the airport.
d. I love to fly at night and see how the airport lights can be seen from so far away directing the plane safely to its destination.
e. Jesus Christ is the light and life of men, and because we know Jesus and the teachings of Jesus, we can give guidance and lead people to safety.
3. A third function of light is that of attraction.
a. Think about how moths are attracted to the light – it draws them.
b. The light of Christ in us draws people to Christ.
c. God has created within human kind a nature that seeks out truth in an attempt to fill the God-shaped void in a person’s heart.
d. An attractive life in Christ is so compelling and attractive.
e. Paul instructed Titus to teach slaves to be such good slaves so that they “can be fully trusted so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.” (Titus 2:10)
f. As we let our light shine it should be very obvious that our lives are wonderfully different from those who do not know Christ.
g. God has loved us, saved us, forgiven us, changed us, given us hope, given us joy and set our feet on the Rock which cannot be shaken – I think that is going to cause our lives to be very attractive, don’t you?
h. A man in India once asked a missionary, “What do you put on your face to make it shine?”
1. With surprise the man of God answered, “I don’t put anything on it.”
2. His questioner began to lose patience and said emphatically, “Yes, you do! All of you who believe in Jesus seem to have it.”
3. Suddenly the missionary understood, and his face glowed even more as he said, “Now I know what you mean, and I will tell you the secret. It’s not something we put on the outside, but it is something that comes from within. It is the reflection of the light of God in our hearts.” That’s what makes our faces shine!
C. We are all very familiar with the events of 9.11.2001 when terrorist attacked the World Trade Center in New York City.
1. Four days later there was another tragedy that didn’t get as much attention, and rightly so.
2. It was September 15, 2001 at 2:30 AM, and a group of barges loaded with coiled steel slammed into one of the pillars of the bridge that leads to South Padre Island, Texas, causing three 80 foot sections of the bridge to fall into the water.
3. Because it happened without warning, and because it was so dark, numerous cars drove off the bridge and plunged 85 feet to the water below.
4. In all, eight people died and 3 more were injured.
5. Following the tragedy, someone suggested, “If only it had happened during the day time, when the sunlight would have made the collapsed bridge more visible. Or if only there had been a big spotlight that could immediately have been shined on the problem, or warning lights that could have immediately started blinking to warn the drivers. Then the people would not have lost their lives.”
D. Brothers and sisters, there is a great darkness in our world today and people are driving right off the broken bridge into the abyss below.
1. We have the light and we are the light.
2. We can shine the warning lights and alert them to the problem and then we can guide them to the solution.
E. How can we do that?
1. We can keep ourselves strong in the Lord – Staying connected to our Light Source.
2. We can live an exemplary life – let people see our good deeds.
3. We can prepare to answer people’s questions through study and practice.
a. 1 Peter 3:15-16, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.”
4. We can invite others to “come and see” Christ through our church family.
a. Next week is Friend Day, which is a perfect opportunity to make some invitations.
5. We can pray for opportunities to share our faith.
6. We can take advantage of every opportunity that comes from God.
a. Colossians 4:2-6 reads, “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”
7. We can ready ourselves for those who will receive the good news and for those who will reject it.
a. Jesus said, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” (Jn. 3:19-20)
b. Not everyone is going to be pleased by the light we share and shine.
8. Let’s be the brightest reflections of the light of Jesus we can be, but let’s be careful not blind people with the light!
a. We need to be wise in the way we act toward outsiders, and to share what we know with gentleness and respect.
9. May God help us be what we are – the light of the world.
