Who’s Got a Light? Be Better. Be Brighter.
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Acts 1:1-8. Matthew 5:9-16.
Acts 1:1-8. Matthew 5:9-16.
1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4 And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Matthew 5:9-16 (ESV)
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. 10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Theme:
Who’s got a light? Be Better. Be Brighter.
(Let’s pray)
Jesus had an interesting life experience.
He literally had gone to hell and back. At least to the grave and back.
You see,
47 days/Not too long ago Jesus was riding on a donkey, coming into Jerusalem. (Our “Palm Sunday”)
With this Triumphal Entry, some people were celebrating, were singing and shouting,
Matthew 21:9 (NKJV)
9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant,
Others, were doing the opposite, they were not celebrating. Some disapproved of Jesus and Jesus’ actions. The chief priests and scribes saw but were indignant.
(These events can be…)
Both clear and confusing.
For those who were there, and for those of us who are now reading, understanding Jesus and watching Jesus’ life might have been both clear and confusing.
Clear because God foretold it, for example, through His prophet Zechariah:
9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Confusing because the people wanted something different to happen.
I often want something different to happen, saying, believing:
“God you can do better or at least different. “
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
Let’s consider this “Triumphal entry”. It was in the likeness of and most likely reminded the people of King Solomon, the son of King David the great warrior. King Solomon rode in a similar royal procession (2 Kings 1:38-40)
But where is the conquering king who would bring military rule?
Instead of riding on a horse into human battle Jesus came riding, sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Have you ever found elements of life to be both clear and confusing?
Thinking:
“I may not be overly surprised but I definitely am disappointed.”
Story: My exam grade:
Clear because it was foretold.
Confusing because I want something different to happen. “God you can do better or at least different.”
47 days ago/Not to long ago Jesus proceeded into Jersualem, with people shouting, “Hosanna”, meaning “help” or “save us, we pray”, as Jesus headed to the temple.
43 days ago/Thursday of that week, Jesus was holding what would end up being His last supper with His chosen disciples—His closest followers. There Jesus shared with them what was to take place (surrounding His death and resurrection).
Jesus went into the Garden of Gethsemane. There Jesus was in great sorrow, in agony, sweating drops of blood, praying to God the Father in heaven
42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
To be in sorrow and agony in the same moments.
And if that were not enough, and it wasn’t enough, the religious leaders sent delegation, a crowd, to arrest Jesus.
(Luke 22:54 )
By 42 days ago the religious leaders with the Roman leaders, with Pilate the governor of Judea, put Jesus on a bogus trial for His life (Really for our life!).
What was bogus?
John 19:4 (ESV)
4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.”
John 19:6 (ESV)
6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.”
They mocked Him and beat Him.
28 And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30 And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. 31 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.
42 days ago/On “Good Friday” they crucified the Lord Jesus.
Hung Him high, stretched Him wide. Put nails in his hands and feet. Put a crown horns on his head. For all the world to see. Jesus let them do it in Jesus gave up His life that you and I may have life.
It was a sobering moment.
Matthew 27:54 (NKJV)
54 When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”
(Clear and Confusing)
Jesus died. He was buried. And on the third day (the first day of the week) early in the morning, He arose from the dead.
Our opening text says:
3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
The disciples, having seen and experienced so much in such a relatively short period of time, the disciples, thought and asked will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel (perhaps looking for a political fulfillment of God’s kingdom)?
6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
“Jesus, we have been through so much. Are you now going to correct things and make our lives better?”
Jesus replied the timing is not your business, but this is your business:
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
But you shall receive power …
…to be, specifically, My witness.
Yes, the Holy Spirit empowers us to live upright unto Christ.
Galatians 5:16 (NKJV)
I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
Yes, the Holy Spirit comforts us
Yes, the Holy Spirit guides us
Yes, the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin
He is a Helper, a teacher, a reminder of what Jesus said. (John 14:26)
Yes, the Holy Spirit helps us.
One of the things God’s Holy Spirit helps us to do is be a witness of Jesus Christ.
(I was a witness once, on the stand for a trial..cross examined…another story for another day.)
26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.
You don’t have to be a witness of everything and all things. But be a witness to what you have seen and heard and lived/experience.
When John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus Christ, was in prison for preaching repentance and the kingdom of God was at hand, John the Baptist sent word to Jesus:
English Standard Version Chapter 7
Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’
Luke 7:22 (ESV)
22 And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.
You may not be responsible for telling what you don’t know and not for anyone else’s story you don’t know. But we are accountable for what we know. And it’s empowering—Holy-Spirit empowering!
The Apostle Peter said in the face of hostility:
Acts 4:20 (NKJV)
“For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”
And don’t worry about if they don’t believe you.
They didn’t believe Mary that Jesus was alive from the dead. But they then did go out to see for themselves. (Mark 16:11)
(Somebody’s unbelief does not nullify your belief.)
They didn’t fully believe the Samaritan woman at the well
John 4:28-29 (ESV) 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?”
42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”
Woman, don’t let anybody tell you that your witness is not powerful. The whole town of men came to Christ because she said I just spent time with Jesus. Could this be the Messiah we’ve all been waiting for?
Some didn’t believe that Jesus raised Lazarus from death to life and so they came out to see Lazarus (John 12:9-50 )
Then didn’t believe Stephen’s witness and stoned him to death. But God received Stephen to heaven. (Acts 7:51-60 )
They didn’t believe didn’t believe the man born blind, that He had received his sight.
John 9:25 (NKJV)
25 He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”
What have you heard and seen? What have you experienced? What do you know to be true about Jesus?
“One thing I know…”
So what do we do?
“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Be salt….don’t be like paprika (mild in flavor) that is mostly for decoration. (deviled eggs)
Be Better and Be Brighter. Jesus didn’t say go into the witness protection program.
Don’t put your life in “dark mode” like I put my phone in “dark mode.” Show signs of life. You may never know who receives hope or reaches out to Jesus because of you.
I ask you today, who’s got a light? You!
You’ve got a witness. You’ve got a light.
One thing we can work to be are better, more dedicated followers and brighter witnesses of Jesus Christ.
Reflection & Journal Prompt What is your witness? What is your message of compassion? What is your message of hope?
From our Ministry Fellow Intern, Laron Dowdell.
Messages of compassion and hope.
