Matthew 5:14-16
“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."
We are continuing to look at Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in our discussion of citizen concepts for His kingdom. So, what is it to be a citizen of the kingdom of Jesus? We have looked at what it is to be blessed when our conduct aligns with His expectations in the "Beatitudes" and have seen what it is to be "salt." Now we look at being "the light of the world."
In the passage quoted above Jesus refers to His followers as "the light of the world." How is that possible? I mean, do we all of a sudden have some sort of luminescence emanating from us or is He talking about something in a figurative sense? Jesus explains what
He is talking about when He explains that good works are intended to be seen, but is that it? Is "the light" only good works?
In John 8:12 it says, "Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
Then Jesus says in John 12:46, "I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness."
So Jesus Himself is light and therefore those who are His by faith and have Him also have light...right? So then the light is something that illuminates the good deeds and I believe is its causation. What do I mean? Well, I mean that we don't do good to acquire the "light" as some people would say, but I believe the Bible clearly teaches that we do good because of the light of Christ that is within us when we receive Him by faith. True goodness is a reflection of Jesus within us.
The Apostle Paul put it this way in Ephesians 5:8-9, "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth)." Ergo to be "in Christ" is to be "in the light" and to be "in the light" is to have "The Light" within us. Our good deeds are suitable for heavenly recognition and we are seen by the One who really matters. Our worldly recognition is of little consequence no matter how nice an "atta boy" feels every now and again.
John talks about the recognition of the light within us as an essential understanding of what it is to be in fellowship with God and therefore in fellowship with other believers. It is a mark of true discipleship.
He says this in 1 John 1:5-7, "This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."
So what is this "light?" Jesus, the presence of His Person, makes us a being of light through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. That light enables us to accomplish tasks that reveal His glory. In the "good" we do, we reveal Him to those around us. James 1:17 says, " Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning."
So, as citizens of His kingdom, we are expected to be obedient in works of righteousness that reveal His glory to those around us. As such, these deeds are done "in the light." They are seen and recognized. Jesus describes this as a lamp in the center of a home to light up the whole place, or a city on a hill which is seen even from a distance.
I never quite understood the whole city on a hill thing until I flew into a city at night and its lights could be seen from miles away. Another time this became very understandable to me when my family and I took a couple of trips to the Western United States. In Western movies they would give directions to the "lost stranger" that sounded something like, "go over yonder, past the hill and on the ridge and then head due west and you will find Dodge City" or whatever it was. I was always like, "how are they gonna find that?! They will miss it by miles!" But then we drove "out West" where we could see for miles and there was very little artificial light. Even the smallest community with only the lights from the houses could be seen from an amazing distance. A city on a hill is impossible to hide on a dark night when its lights are on . . . hmm. When I was a young teen we visited an old house in rural Kentucky that was the "homeplace" of my Grandmother and her 12 siblings (yep, 12). The little house still didn't have running water. It had a hand pump in the kitchen, an outhouse out back and one light hanging from the ceiling in the living room on a drop cord. I was amazed that even from outside, because there was no other artificial light around (other than the occasional flashlight because several of us were camping there) how you could see the single light from the house clearly all around the property. It kept us from getting lost in the dark. Hmm . . .
We live in a society where "good things" are being said to be bad and "bad things" are said to be for our good. The Gospel is mocked as foolish and a fairy tail and Jesus is derided and chided as a fraud and fictional. The old adage, "no good deed goes unpunished" could have its origins as far back as the 12th century. Similar phrases have been stated as a cynical look at how throughout history, people have often reacted negatively to "good deeds," no matter how good the intentions, especially if the "deed" is seen to contradict their particular point of view. Does that give Christians an excuse to attempt to hide the light within them? Is it too difficult to be the light in the room or the well-lit city on a hill? Should we give up? Is the old adage "no good deed goes unpunished" true? And if so, is this the perfect excuse for us to give up, give in and let the world be the world and crumble around us in darkness? Hmm . . .