How to let Christ Shine in You
We’ve looked at Jesus as the door into God’s presence.
We’ve talked about how to get “into Christ” and be “into Christ” in our lives.
Last week we saw that what we are to get out of church is Christ.
Today, let’s turn practical. Jesus is the way to God, so I must enter into Christ and let Christ enter into me.
Then what?
Now it’s time for my life to shine with the light of Christ. So, how do you let Christ shine in you? I’m glad you asked! There is no greater blessing than having Jesus Christ shine in my life so that others see Him in me. The result of Christ shining in your life will be that you bring glory to God the Father, who sent Jesus in the first place and planned this whole adventure of Christian living for us.
I remember being so concerned about how to be saved that I didn’t think much about what I was saved for. Have any of you ever experienced that? When I was growing up, it seemed like the whole purpose of being a Christian was to get in the gates of glory and avoid the fires of hell, all the rest was details. I still believe in heaven and hell, but I also know that God has something for us to do now that has great value and in fact, eternal worth. God’s purposes for our faith are for the praise of His glory, and fulfilling those purposes is what being a Christian IN THIS WORLD is all about.
What is it? It all revolves around Christ in us, the hope of glory and Christ shining through us. There are Five basic purposes we perform that bring glory to the Father and let Christ shine in our lives. Today we will survey them:
1. Jesus shines through our works of service or ministry. 1 Peter 2:12, Matthew 5:13-16
Jesus said to his disciples: you are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its flavor, how can it be made salty again? It is then good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, neither do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a lampstand so that it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
Jesus tells us to let our light shine. Where? Before men! Why? So that they may see our good works. Our what? Our GOOD WORKS. For what purpose? Are we looking for glory for ourselves, no. We are letting our light shine before men so that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.
How do we let our lights shine? By showing others our good works in Christ. This is what we could call our ministry, our service. Christ shines through is when we do good works of service to others in His name.
Christ shines in us when we serve in His name. Jesus made this very clear when He told the parable of the sheep and goats in Matthew 25.
The motto of the Youth Work Camp is: You are never more like Jesus than when you serve! How true! And you shine the light of Jesus when you do!
2. Another way for Christ to shine in us is our worship. Look at Psalms 145:1-4, and 40:1-3.
David tells how God rescued him and saved him and how God put a song of praise in his mouth! David began praising God and he said: Many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord.
Our worship is a testimony of our faith in God through Jesus Christ. Our songs lift His name in praise and proclaim our commitment to Him. Our prayers are spoken to our Father through the name of Jesus Christ declaring our dependence on Him and expressing our devotion to Him. Our communion celebrating the Lord ’s Supper with the bread and cup proclaim Jesus’ death until He comes again! Our offering testifies that we are thankful for the Lord’s provision of all we have. Our ministry of the word in teaching and preaching articulates our faith in God’s instruction and guidance and will.
Jesus Christ shines in us through our worship. 1 Peter 2:9-10 tells us that we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God… but for this purpose – that we may declare the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light!
True worship expresses praise and through this Jesus shines in us to God’s glory!
3. A third way that Christ shines in us is through our fellowship. In John 13:35
Jesus taught his disciples: By this all men will know that you are my disciples, by your love for one another! When we love each other we show it through caring for one another as Christ did, doing for one another what Christ would do. The context of Jesus’ words is the time when Jesus washed His disciple’s feet and taught them that through this kind of humble attention they should serve each other. Fellowship is in house stuff.
Service and doing good deeds applies to everyone, but fellowship is limited to those who are in Christ. Service and Fellowship are different, even though they overlap. I can serve those who are not in Christ, but I can only have fellowship with another Christian. Look at 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1 (read). Underline the last part of verse 15: What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
You say, “But some of my best friends are unbelievers and we have a lot in common!” But you don’t have eternity in common! That is the ultimate! We are to walk with those who walk in the light.
One of the reasons we may be so weak as a church is that we have not taken this purpose to heart. We have merged with those of darkness so that we are hardly salty anymore at all. A good for nothing church is one that has lost its flavor. God help us not to do this!
1 John 1:7 says: If we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. Our fellowship with God in Christ is demonstrated by living our lives together in the light.
Acts 2:42-47 records the earliest days of the church. One of the most astounding aspects of the early church was their devotion to fellowship. It was so powerful that it gave the church a magnetic energy toward others who were outside of the church. This aspect of fellowship is not based on how much common ground we share outside of our faith, but how our common faith in Christ draws us together into fellowship even when our natural differences would tear us apart.
Fellowship takes work! Ephesians 4 tells us to make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. This area of fellowship is a powerful witness to God’s work in us that brings glory to Him! Jesus shines in us through our fellowship!
4. A fourth way that Christ shines in us is through discipleship. 2 Peter 1:3-11
Here Peter reminds us that we have all we need from God to be all He wants us to be. We share in the divine nature through Jesus Christ. Then Peter lists qualities that we are to grow in. Growing and maturing into the image of Christ is called discipleship. Through discipleship we become stronger as Christians and fruitful in Christ. This is to the glory of God that we remain in Christ so that we grow and bear fruit!
Jesus Christ shines in is as we become more and more like Him. In 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 Paul enlightens us with these words: 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
This describes discipleship as beholding the face of Jesus and becoming more and more like Him. We look to Him, listen to Him, learn from Him, live like Him and love like Him. As Paul says in Eph. 4:15 speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ.
In other words, we are to look at Him so that, and until we look like Him.
This is one of the most exciting aspects of letting Christ shine in us! We are being changed! God is working on us! It should show by our lives that we have been with Jesus!
A fellowship where lives are changed is powerful! This is what God offers through us to the world! The church is the only place where you can experience God’s life changing work through fellowship with Him and one another in Christ. And Jesus shines there!
5. Finally, Christ shines in us when we evangelize. Matthew 28:18-20.
This is perhaps the icing on the cake of Christ shining in our lives. He uses us… you and me in our worship, fellowship, discipleship, service, to bring eternal life to others! When we share our faith and show our faith we reproduce our faith in others. This is the basic work of evangelism. We make disciples of others by being disciples of Christ and letting the light of Christ shine in us.
We need to practice this purpose as parents: are you evangelizing your children? Are you sharing the word of God, prayer and your faith with them daily? God put these souls under your care so that you would share Him with them! It is your primary duty as a parent. Above feeding them food is sharing the love of Christ with them. No decent parent would let their children go hungry and starve physically. Yet many parents do not feed their children’s souls. It is not enough to bring them out to eat at church a few times a week. We simply MUST be sharing the word of God, prayer and our faith with them throughout the week.
When our homes are places of worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and evangelism, then our churches will be healthy growing communities of faith as well.
We need to practice this purpose as kids: are you evangelizing your friends at school? Are you sharing your faith with your friends? If not, why not? What is more important to you than that? Is it hard? Oh, yes! Sharing your faith with your friends may be the most difficult thing in the world to you. But listen: Jesus said, if you confess me before men, I will confess you before my Father in heaven. But if you deny me before men, I will also deny you before my Father in heaven.
Now, if I get this right, Jesus is telling me that I need to confess my faith in Him to others if I want Him to shine in my life.
Say this with me: “I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and Jesus Christ is Lord of my life.”
Can you say those words to each other? Can you say those words to your friends at school? Do you have any clue what God can do through you if you are willing to confess your faith in Jesus Christ?
Evangelism includes confession of faith. Worship includes confession of faith. Service includes confession of faith. Discipleship includes confession of faith. Fellowship includes confession of faith.
Take a card from the pew right now and write on it the name of one person you know who is not a Christian that you would like to see become one.
Pray for that person and contact them this week and tell them that you believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Lord of your life and you would like to share that with them.
I dare you.
Christ shines in us and the church as we grow – deeper through worship, closer through fellowship, stronger through discipleship, humbler through service, and larger through evangelism.
May we let our light shine for Christ!
(These concepts are found and developed in Rich Warren’s book: The Purpose Driven Church).
