INTRODUCTION
Last week in Matthew 5:13, Jesus said that you are the salt of the earth. Jesus wanted us to see the relationship that the members of the body of Christ are to have with the world.
In today’s passage, we find Jesus teaching concerning the citizens of the kingdom as to their PRIMARY FUNCTION in the world!
READ MATTHEW 5:14-16
SERMON
I. THE NATURE OF LIGHT.
Making decisions in the dark can lead to some regrettable consequences. Back in the days before electricity, a tightfisted old farmer was taking his hired man to task for carrying a lighted lantern when he went to call on his best girl. “Why,” he exclaimed, “when I went a-courtin’ I never carried one of them things, I always went in the dark.” “Yes,” the hired man said wryly,” and look at what you got!” Some people change their ways when they see the light, others only when they feel the heat.
A. Light removes darkness. Reveals danger. Shows path. These things are expected on Christian influence in the world. SHOWS BLEMISHES. CAR FOR MISTY.
B. When you look at something in the dark, it does not look so bad.
C. Jesus is the real light of the world. John. 1:9
1. In John. 8:12 Jesus says, "I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life."
D. We are reflected light. Sun is the source of light and the moon reflects light from the sun to the earth. Jesus is our source of light and we are to reflect that light to others.
1. Our lives are to reflect the mind and will of God!
2. 1 PETER 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
3. EPHESIANS 5:8-9 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth,
1. The light will expose that which is not truth!
E. This is why Jesus tells us to follow Him, and why we are told to be holy, and why we are told to do His will and obey His commandments we are the Jesus that people will see. They will base their thoughts about Jesus by the way that we conduct ourselves, or what kind of light we reflect.
1. John. 14:15. If you love me, keep my commandments.
2. If we understand that we are reflected light, then it helps us to see why we need to conduct ourselves as Christ’s followers.
F. Also the further that we get away from the source of light, the dimmer our reflection will be. Understanding that we are reflected light should help us to understand why we need to diligently work to stay near to Jesus.
1. Philippians 2:12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;
II. THE POSITION OF LIGHT VERSE 15
A. A city on a hill, a lamp in a lampstand. The Christian is not to be ashamed of their confession. ( Talk about being sheepish).
B. It is the duty of the church to stand out, not for prominence sake but for the spreading of the gospel, for light into a dark world.
C. Jesus proceeded here to show his hearers why they were given the opportunity to hear and participate of the Gospel.
1. It was not because of their place of birth, or because of the way that they looked!
2. God was blessing them with the gospel so that they could be a blessing to others.
a. The story is told of a lighthouse keeper who worked on a rocky stretch of coastline and who received his new supply of oil once a month to keep the light burning. Not being far from shore, he had frequent guests. One night a woman from the village begged some oil to keep her family warm. Another time a father asked for some to use in his lamp. Another needed some to lubricate a wheel. Since all the requests seemed legitimate, the lighthouse keeper tried to please everyone and granted them all.
Toward the end of the month he noticed that the supply of oil was very low. Soon, it was gone, and the beacon light went out. That night several ships were wrecked and lives were lost.
When the authorities investigated, the man was very repentant. To his excuses and pleading their reply was: "You were given the oil for one purpose -- to keep that light burning!"
WE ARE NOT TO WASTE OUR LIGHT, IT IS TO SHINE BRIGHTLY TO FOR ALL TO SEE!
III. THE RADIANCE OF LIGHT. VERSE 16
A. How does the light radiate? Do we go up to someone and just tell them that I am a Christian? The light is radiated through our example, or our good works. People want to see a sermon before they listen to one.
As newsman Clarence W. Hall followed American troops through Okinawa in 1945, he and his jeep driver came upon a small town that stood out as a beautiful example of a Christian community. He wrote, "We had seen other Okinawan villages... down at the heels and despairing; by contrast, this one shone like a diamond in a dung heap. Everywhere we were greeted by smiles and dignified bows. Proudly the old men showed us their spotless homes, their terraced fields... their storehouses and granaries, their prized sugar mill."
Hall said that he saw no jails and no drunkenness, and that divorce was unknown in this village. He was told that an American missionary had come there some 30 years earlier. While he was in the village, he had led two elderly townspeople to Christ and left them with a Japanese Bible. These new believers studied the Scriptures and started leading their fellow villagers to Jesus. Hall’s jeep driver said he was amazed at the difference between this village and the others around it. He remarked, "So this is what comes out of only a Bible and a couple of old guys who wanted to live like Jesus."
B. Jesus rebuked the Pharisee’s on several occasions for letting their light shine.
1. Matthew 6:1-2. "Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. "So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. Their problem was their actions were motivated toward elevating themselves. They wanted people to see how righteous they were. Their works or light did not shine on the right path.
C. Three times in this verse Jesus uses the possessive word “your”!
1. Personal possession. YOUR LIGHT.
2. Personal action. YOUR GOOD WORKS.
1 PETER 2:11-12 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.
EPHESIANS 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
3. Personal relationship. YOUR FATHER WHO IS IN HEAVEN.
IV WHAT THE LIGHT IS TO SHINE TOWARD.
A. The proper motive to influence us is not simply that we may be seen, but that our heavenly Father may be glorified.
B. Our light should be a light that is reflected from Jesus, back to Jesus. People need to know that we do what we do for the glory of God!
C. If the last point was not added, then it would seem that we are to be self-serving, self-glorifying, but our works are not to our own credit, but for God.
CONCLUSION
Is it not wonderful to be walking in the light. I have walked with the world in darkness until I was 20, the last 10 years, I have been walking in the light with the brethren. You could not pay me enough to go back. I love the church and God’s people. When the world sees that the church is walking in the light, and we are reflecting the light of Jesus, we will not be able to build a church big enough to hold everyone.
People are seeking the truth, let us continue to be a people who not only tell them about Jesus, but let us continue to be a church that shows them Jesus.
God’s people are the best. Jesus knew the people’s imperfections when He said, that we are the light of the world.
