Sermon Series: “Light of the World”

(Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee)

Matthew 5:14-16 ¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.  ¹⁵ 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. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

Introduction: This little light of mine??

            Last week we considered together that the church is the light of the world.  This is something that we are.  Of course, it is also something that we must be.  We all know that there are many different churches in this world.  Many of them are in trouble.  Sometimes they get in trouble with the world.  There are some that are in trouble through no particular fault of their own, but there are other churches that are in trouble because of their own darkness.  Sometimes they do things that everybody recognizes as wrong, even those who do not claim to be particularly interested in moral behavior.  Sometimes the church seems darker than the world.

            It is not my interest to point to any other church and criticize them in their troubles.  We have had in the past, and have now, plenty of our own sin to work on.  I don’t think that we have successfully extracted every piece of the plank that was once firmly lodged in our eye, so it probably is not a great idea for us to be the group that rushes to remove splinters from the eyes of others.  What interests me is this: That God (who is all-powerful, and who works out everything according to His will) has apparently determined to use His church, which sometimes appears to be darker than the world around it, to be the light of the world.  That is pretty shocking when you think about it.  One day the church will be perfectly glorious.  Today is not that day.  It is apparently God’s plan to use a very fallible and weak instrument to show forth his own perfect and glorious light.  Somehow that works, and God gets the glory.

Two points from this text:

1. Some things simply cannot be hidden.  This morning’s passage contains only two points, one for each of the illustrations it contains.  The first one is at the end of verse 14.  “A city on a hill cannot be hidden.”  If you are trying to build a secret city, you don’t build it on the top of a hill surrounded by flat land.  All of the people on the plains below can see the city on the hill.  What is the meaning of this?  The church is the city on the hill.  The church cannot be hidden.  It was made by God to be seen by the world.  It will be seen by the world.

God has a purpose for the church.  At the very center of that purpose is the all-important Jesus.  There is no church without Jesus.  God had a purpose for Jesus.  He came to free us from guilt and shame.  People think that they have no guilt (sort of).  At least this is what we try to convince ourselves.  Let’s just look at that claim for any of you here today who may think that you are ready to face the judgment of God without Jesus.  Why not take the ethical system of the Ten Commandments so we can see how we are doing.  OK, have you ever lied?  Have you ever stolen something… say made an unauthorized phone call from a work phone?  Have you every said anything unfairly critical of another person?  Have you ever coveted what belonged to someone else? …  We have guilt.  What are we going to do about it?

God has taken care of our guilt.  Jesus had a purpose.  His death had a purpose.  Now you have a purpose.  Do you know what it is?  I think it has something to do with light.  You were made to be a part of the church, and the church is a city on a hill.  Even if complete secrecy or obscurity was desirable for us in Exeter, it apparently is not even a possibility.

2. People don’t light a lamp…  This brings us to the second point.  It comes from verse 15.  Though we cannot hide from the world, Jesus is apparently aware that we are going to try.  People don’t light lamps and then hide them under something.  It makes no sense.  God lit the lamp of the church, and he has put it on a stand, to give light to everyone in the house.  The lamp is the church, and everyone in the house is the world.

Judging from what verse 16 says (which we will look at next week), the light that is seen by the world has something to do with the good deeds of the church.  These good deeds are apparently understood in the light of good words.  Somehow the world gets the point that the good the church is doing is due to God.  In the words of John 3, the one who “lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it can plainly be seen that what he has done has been done through God.”

Now I don’t know what your life experience has been, but I have found that most of us are very good at coming up with other reasons for our accomplishments other than the fact that God did it.  It seems plain to me that if the world is going to understand the good deeds of the church, it has to be because good words tell the world how to understand the good deeds.  Remember the story in Acts where a lame beggar is healed by Peter?  Remember the good words that shed light on the good deed?

Acts 3:11-16 ¹ While the beggar held on to Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the place called Solomon's Colonnade.  ¹² When Peter saw this, he said to them: "Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?  ¹³ The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go.  ¹⁴ You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.  ¹⁵ You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.  ¹⁶ By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.

            These good words were apparently necessary for the 1^st century world to understand that God was the one to be praised for the work of a lame man miraculously walking.  How much more will we in the 21^st century world need to rightly interpret our less than miraculous deeds by pointing to God.  Do we build a building?  God is the one to be glorified.  Do we teach the young or encourage the sick and downcast?  God makes the weak strong.

            Will we do good deeds?  Will we speak good words about God?  We are the lamp set on a lampstand.  Anything that gets in the way of our good deeds and good words is a bushel or a bowl that we place over that light.  Such a bowl goes against the purpose of God for us.  Jesus had a purpose.  He has given you freedom from guilt – not the license to do anything that you want, but the freedom to do what is good and to give glory to God for all his blessings.  He has given you assurance of eternal life beyond the grave.  He has accomplished His purpose.  Now you are free to live out yours. 

How are you to relate to the world?

            You cannot become the world.  Living out this good purpose that God has for you cannot be done without relating to the world.  But how are we to relate to the world.  There are two things to keep in mind here.  First, you cannot become the world, and still expect to be the city on the hill.  Just as one example of this principle, take 1 Corinthians 15:33 “Do not be misled: Bad company corrupts good character.” 

            You must engage the world.  It is just as true that a cloistered existence is not the answer for us.  There must be regular opportunities in our lives for God-glorifying visible deeds that can be interpreted with God-glorifying good words.  Like the One who has shined His light upon us, we are not of the world, but we have been sent into the world (John 17:16,18).

Two “bowls”

Idolatry - If we are to accomplish this purpose and obey our Lord’s Word this morning, then we will need to take the bowls off of our shining heads.  A bowl is anything that would seem to prevent us from shining forth to the world the light of good works and good words.  Let’s talk about two of these bowls.  First, there is the massive issue of idolatry.  When we place people and things before God, we have trouble serving Him.  We cannot help but be the city on the hill.  That is a given.  But when we want something more than God (money, success, companionship) somehow the Lord fades into the background, and any good things we say or do end up being more about us or the idols we worship rather than about God who has given us life.

            A restless heart- Secondly, it is very common for people today to feel that their lives are simply too busy for service of others.  Perhaps many of you have been thinking about this when I have suggested to you that you need a field to pray for and to invest your life in.  Are you simply too busy for that kind of focused effort?  Have you ever noticed that reducing your to-do list still leaves you plenty of time to feel overwhelmed?  Why do we feel so frazzled?  Are the lives we live really busier than those of our grandparents?  Could it be that our hearts are too busy, and that no amount of reducing our obligations will give our frazzled souls the rest that we yearn for?  Something to think about.  Maybe you are not too busy.  Maybe your heart is too busy.  Taking more time to worship, more time to read and pray, and even more time to serve others may be just what you need.  Check out Isaiah 58 on this.  God can order your day for Him and you will not lose.  His way is the right way.

As you work in your field people will see

            Purpose, Freedom, and Assurance: People need help to find the purpose for their lives.  People need to know real freedom to live in the pleasure of God for them.  People need to experience the assurance that comes from knowing, loving, and serving God.  These are basic things.  Do you have light from God on these important matters?  If you will throw away your idols and lean on God, He will not let you fall.  He will hold you up.  If you live as a frazzled person in a busy world, the world will not see that purpose, freedom, and assurance in your life come from Jesus Christ.

Conclusion: “I will give you rest.”

Isn’t it amazing that God uses the church as the light of the world?  Over the course of her life she has had more bushels on her head than we can count.  But on she presses with the light of God in her heart. 

Don’t wait to be perfect before you serve in your field.  Rest in Christ, and start serving the Lord in the field He has for you today.  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)