Shine Before Men
Matthew 5:13-16
"Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour,
wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be
cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
Ye are the light of the world. A
city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a
candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they
may see your good works, and glorify your father which is in heaven."
The Lord Jesus Christ
in this part of the sermon on the mount is now telling his people what they are
in the world, in relation to the sinful world.
Christians by their very nature are a number of things: they are salt, and they are light. A purifying influence, a preserving influence
and a flavor enhancer that shows what real life is. And the salt stings on the world's sin, and
the salt preserves from further deterioration on society, and the salt shows
the flavor of real life. How? says the
ungodly. The world thinks that
Christians do not have real life. The
world thinks that the Christian's life is probably boring. Here is how we have real life:
When the world looks
at a true Christian family, they see a father who is respected and obeyed by
his children. They see a mother who is a
keeper at home, who has time to be a mother, a wife, a helper to her husband
who is loved and appreciated. The world
sees children who are submissive and protected, and are happy and at peace. They see the whole family working in a
harmony and order. Father stays with
mother and mother stays with father.
They see children that are raised by both parents like God has ordained
and commands in the Bible. It is a witness, it is salt that stings, its a
preserving agent and it shows real enhanced flavor of life. Jesus Christ is the head of every Christian
family, and every member of that home and family obeys his word and everyone is
cared for and has their duties and their privileges.
Compare that with the
poor single mom in the world, raising her children because father is gone,
because he is a womanizer, and he leaves his wife. He is selfish. Or compare the Christian family with the
career woman, of immodest dress, and she is subject to flattery and wanders
away. She has broken her family and her
marriage for what? She justifies
everything she does.
The pattern of family
life has changed. Immoral family life is
justified by adults that neglect their responsibilities. Who has real enhanced flavor of life? the world may laugh and joke about the quaint
Christian family, but when they look at the wreckage of their own families, it
stings. Who has self-value? who is really respected and cared for, and
who sits alone, bitter and rejected and looking for company?
God's word lays out
what marriage is, what family is, how family is run. Anything less is sin. All unfaithful single parents, all
adulterers, it is all sin. Sin needs to
be felt, convicted of and repented of.
Christians are the salt of the earth.
Is it not sad when in some Christian families the salt has lost its
savor.
Jesus says "ye
are the light of the world"
Christians are the reflected light of Christ, he is the light and we are
the reflected light of Christ. The more holy we are, the more we reflect the
light of Christ, the light of scripture into the darkness of the ignorance of
God in this sinful world.
1. V14-16 You are
light, you are the light of the world, you are like a city and a lamp. How are we like lights in the world? you are like a city on a hilltop, and like a
candle on a candlestick. The city on a
hilltop cannot be hid, and the candle on a lampstand whose purpose is to shine. Here are two kinds of light, they are not the
same. A city is a general light. if you walk along a dark country road at
night and a car drives by or someone puts on a light in a house, its a general
light that is seen by all in the vicinity.
A city on a hilltop cannot be hid, it cannot escape notice. We live in a society that has streetlights
that burn all night and because of that we don't know what darkness is, what
real darkness is. In bible times people
knew what real darkness is. Someone who
knows what real darkness is, when Jesus says "ye are the light of the
world" he would know what it is.
This light is starkly different from the darkness. It is seen by all, it gets noticed, it can't
be missed.
A candle on a
candlestick is not a general light, it is a directed light for a specific
purpose. It lights up the room where it
is lit for a specific reason. It dispels
the darkness so that people in the room can see clearly. It is not to be hid, or blocked from shining. When Jesus says you are the light of the
world, you are the light in this world in two ways: you are a general light that gets noticed
that is different form all around you, a general witness of life that is
noticed by all. The Christian is
different and as you go through life, people will notice you are different. You stick out in the way you speak, what you
laugh at, where you go and what you know.
But then you are a specific and directed light that gives light to
people, you shine in darkness and dispel it.
You bring the directed light of God's word and help people to see sin
and wickedness, the gospel of God. They
may not like it, they may not want to come to the light. But sometimes you will
be enabled to witness faithfully and shine that speaking light, that specific
light of what you believe from the scriptures.
The Lord says don't
hinder that light from shining because that would be a contradiction of being
light in the first place. Men have lost
sense of their moral bearings, they are blind to the consequences. They are morally confused. This is darkness. Men cannot see his moral
and spiritual foolishness.
2. V16 gives the
command to shine before men. This is a command from Jesus, he has told us what
we are, salt and light, now he says "so shine" in the sight of men
that they may see that you are light, they may possibly see the light, so I
command you to shine before men.. You may say How? how can they see that we are light? is it that we come to a certain stage when
the ungodly see a halo? No! or is it
perhaps that our face shines with the glory of God as Moses' did? No! that's
not what they see. How then do we
shine? what does the ungodly see? V16 they see your good works.. there is the
visible light, your good deeds that glorifies your father in heaven, your
obedience to God and the bible. Any
glory that they would give is given to God.
We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, repenting of our
sins, trusting in Him, and then after that our life proves that we really
believe in Him. We are to shine. And that's how we do it, by obeying God.
The gospel preached
is the light that still shines.. repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand.. the light shines to all in moral
darkness and to all that are in the shadow of death. Jesus calls all sinners out of darkness into
his marvelous light. He is a wonderful
Saviour, and he saves from all sin, he is the light that shines in the darkness
of this sinful world and self-justifying religion.
Outside Christ there
is no life-giving light in the world but everything is covered by the appalling
darkness.
John 3:16 "For
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
The notes above were
made by me from a sermon called Shine Before Men by Rev. Paul Dowling of Whiteabbey
Congregational (Reformed). Link to the
full sermon is below: Note: This sermon is quite strong in places.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Your thoughts are welcomed..