Articles
You are the Light of the World
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill that cannot be hidden.” The words on that day couldn’t have been more powerful and more important as they flowed from the Savior’s mouth. Jesus’ magnificent sermon on the mount is recorded throughout the course of three chapters in Matthew’s gospel account. I cannot possibly begin to imagine what it would’ve been like to be witnessing such a scene, let alone all the words that corroborated this perfect message. And it was just a glimpse of what was to come! If you took all the good advice for how to live ever uttered by any philosopher or psychiatrist or counselor, took out the foolishness and boiled it all down to the real essentials, you would be left with a poor, watered-down, imitation of this great message by Jesus. It begins with what is most commonly known as the beatitudes: Jesus’ description of the character of those that will enter in the kingdom. But He doesn’t stop there. He proceeds to use two symbols to further paint a picture of the character that those in the kingdom must have and cultivate. Salt and light. The former expresses seasoning, and preservation and it leads us then to the next point that we will talk about in the following article. The point about light. The passage is Matthew 5:14. What did Jesus mean by that? Did they even understand what He was saying?
1. We are reflectors of the true source of all Light–The first thing I want you to understand and we must all understand is that you and I cannot make ourselves the light of the world. Jesus says you are the light of the world because of your relationship with Him. “The God who said, ‘Out of darkness the light shall shine!’ is the same God who made his light shine in our hearts, to bring us the knowledge of God's glory shining in the face of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6). God speaks the light of Jesus into our hearts, and His light shines so powerfully through us that we are like stars in the universe that point the whole human race toward real life (Philippians 2:15-16). We are like the moon. The moon gives off no light of its own. It just reflects the sun’s light. We are light, not because of anything in ourselves, but because we are in a close-knit relationship with the light of the world. He calls us to follow after him, and he says, “I am the Light of the World. Whoever follows me will have the light of life and will never walk in darkness”(Jn. 8:12).
2. Light is radiant and visible producing good works–Here’s a second property about being the light of the world. As the light of the world we must be visible like a city that sits on top of a hill (Matt. 5:15-16). We shouldn’t try to hide what we have and the One who is in us. As a lamp that sits on a lampstand that gives light to all, we must be radiant in our characters as followers of Christ. There are people that are always watching and observing. We should all be towering beacons of light that beam with full radiance of light. And we must work to cultivate our lights to that point. Some of us might have just a slight radiance hanging on. It’s different for all of us but yet Jesus wants us all to be a city on top of a hill. A lamp on a lampstand. You see, our works our deeds will justify our words and our beliefs in Him. Our lives should be lived in a way that people who don’t know God will come to know Him because of what they see in us (1 Pet. 2:11-12). My influence and visibility is a result of who lives in me, not because of what I do. Be visible, be radiant and let your light shine before men so that they may see your good works and glorify God in Heaven. To be effective we must seek and display the Christian distinctive.
We can never affect the world for Jesus by becoming like the world. The figures of salt and light also remind us that the life marked by the beatitudes is not to be lived in isolation. We often assume that those inner qualities can only be developed or displayed in isolation from the world, but Jesus wants us to live them out before the world.
3. Light brings about Safety and Security–There are people counting on you and looking for you. There are broken, lost, confused people that are in pitch black darkness that are desperately looking for the tiniest pinch of light they can find to give them a path, to give them meaning, to rescue them from the depths of sin and darkness. Have you ever been in a room or somewhere, and it was just so dark, pitch black and I mean you couldn’t see anything. A deep feeling of fear and loss starts to fall over you. You blink but nothing happens until you see something that gives you a little hope, a sense of safety and security. The tiniest bit of light will do just that for someone living in the depths of darkness. Maybe you’ve seen a situation where someone did something great, a good deed to a complete stranger and you heard someone say, “there are still good people in this world.” We need to be those people. People in this world are lost in darkness and they’re looking for light to lead them to spiritual, emotional and mental safety. As lights representative of Jesus, we are responsible to take people to the ultimate source of all light. Jesus is the light that leads to life (Matt. 11:28-30). Jesus is the ultimate refuge, safety and security. In Him we can have hope and confidence and that His light will light up our paths. A path to a better life, a path to Heaven!
4. Light exposes sin and the deeds done in darkness–Light shines in the darkness and exposes sin and the deeds done in the dark (Jn. 3:19-21). John 12:46- “I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.” For someone that is in a room filled with light, it would be hard for us to look out into the dark to see much of anything. But for those who are in the darkness, if they were to look into a place filled with light, they could see everything clearly. We were all once in that position and there may be some of you that are there right now. Come to the light and expose those sins and dark deeds. Turn to Jesus and let him light up your life! For those that have become sons of God through Jesus, shine your lights! Be that city on that hill, that lamp on the lampstand. The light that will lead someone out of darkness and into the arms of Jesus.
“There is a candle in every soul. Carry your candle, run to the darkness. Seek out the helpless, confused and torn. And hold out your candle for all to see it. Take your candle and go light your world!”
