The Luminous Life

William Sangster, the great British preacher, tells of one of the strangest taxes ever

imposed. He asked his father one day why so many of the homes in London had blocked

up windows. His father explained that back in 1695 every house that had more the 6

windows was taxed for the extra ones. Many people blocked up those extra windows to

avoid the tax. Imagine that, the government put a tax on sunshine, and by so doing they

shut out the quantity of light in many homes.

Man does some strange things with God's gift of light. John tells us that the life of

Jesus was the light of men. He was the true light that enlightens every man, yet when he

came into the world men loved darkness rather than light, and so though he came unto

his own, his own received him not, but they shut out the light.

Man in his folly resists the light and rejects it, but John says the light goes on shining

in the darkness, and the darkness cannot put it out. The sun does not cease to shine

because of the dark clouds that cover it, and Jesus does not stop being the light of the

world because of the dark valley of man's fallen nature that covers the world with a

blanket of blackness that blocks men from seeing the glory of the Gospel.

Jesus has a plan to penetrate this world's night of ignorance with the light of

knowledge. The plan is very simple. It is to advertise. Every Christian is to be a living

commercial for the Producer of the program of life. Most everybody watches TV, but

absolutely everybody watches the program of life, and this is where the Christian has a

chance to shine and be advertising for the Sponsor of history.

The church is the biggest business in the world, and long before Coke and Pepsi, and

hamburger businesses ever dreamed of going into all the world, Jesus made his church

international. Go into all the world Jesus told His disciples. There is no exception. The

Gospel is to be taken to every tribe, tongue, and nation. Christianity is to be universal,

and like any big enterprise Jesus knew there had to be a program with advertising of the

product. That is why Jesus said to His disciples, and says to all of us we have joined His

company of the committed: "You are the light of the world."

If men are to come to God out of the world of darkness, they have to see the light.

They have to have before them the evidence that the Gospel is real and valid. They need

to see lives that have been touched by Christ, and now radiate the love which He

expressed in, coming into the world, caring for the world, and being crucified for the sins

of the world.

Jesus saw the power of video long before TV was even a dream. He knew the best

advertising was not just audio; just the preaching of the good news. He knew men would

want to see the Gospel in motion. Jesus, therefore, launches His world wide campaign by

making every believer an advertisement for His kingdom. Your life is to be an

audio-visual appeal to the world so that by the power of sound and sight men in darkness

might see the light, and turn to God with a spirit of praise.

Without radio, TV, computers, satellites, or any other modern technology, Jesus

launched the first truly world wide advertising campaign to bring light to all who are in

darkness. The goal of Jesus is the same goal that all of your large businesses have today

in their advertising plans. The whole idea of a commercial is to portray people enjoying

the values and benefits of a product so that others desire is to experience those benefits

for themselves. I see a miserable sufferer of sinus congestion who is smiling and

breathing freely after taking a certain product. Naturally, I want in on that experience as

a sinus sufferer, and so I go to get the product, and when it works for me, I praise the

maker of this product, and bear testimony to others of what it can do for them. This is

the power of advertising, for it enlightens and spreads the word.

Jesus says we are commercials for God. Men see the goodness of our lives, and the

benefits of the Christian life, and our good deeds, and they are impressed with the

Gospel, and desire to be in on it. What a challenge for every Christian to recognize that

they are a key part of the world's most universal business. You and I are into advertising

for the Universal Power Company, better known as the kingdom of God. To better