A LAMP UNDER A JAR

THE LIGHT WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE HIDDEN

Last Sunday we studied the Parable of the Sower here in Luke 8, and Jesus taught us about a farmer scattering seed. The seed represents the Word of God, and He described different kinds of soil representing different ways people respond when they hear God’s Word. Some hearts are hard. Some receive the Word temporarily but have no root. Some allow the cares and pleasures of this life to choke the Word. The good soil represents the person who hears the Word, holds it fast in an honest and good heart, and bears fruit with patience.

Now, Jesus has not suddenly changed subjects when we arrive at verse 16. The lamp follows the seed for a reason. The seed is what happens when the Word of God comes into our lives; the lamp tells us what should happen when the Word of God begins coming out of our lives. Truth received in is to become truth lived out.

How many of you are or ever were afraid of the dark? Imagine that the lights suddenly went out in this room and it became completely dark. Suppose I had the only flashlight in the building. I turned it on, everybody could see the light, and then I said, “Wait a minute. I don’t want anybody to see this,” and I put the flashlight underneath my coat. You would probably say, “Pastor Brad, that’s not very smart.” And you would be right! Because the whole purpose of the flashlight is to shine.

Luke 8:16–18 ESV

16 “No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. 17 For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. 18 Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.”

THE LIGHT WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE HIDDEN

When Jesus talks about light, He is not telling us that Christians manufacture their own goodness and then display it for everybody else to admire. Jesus said in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Yet in Matthew 5:14, Jesus turns to His disciples and says, “You are the light of the world.” Those two statements belong together. Jesus is the source of the light, and we are the ones through whom that light is displayed.

Jesus didn’t light you up so you could hide. If you know Jesus Christ as your Savior, you do not have to wait until you are an adult before God can use you. You don’t have to become a pastor.

You can shine the light of Christ at school. You can shine when somebody is being picked on and you decide to stand beside them. You can shine when everybody around you is lying and you tell the truth. You can shine when another kid is sitting by himself at lunch and you go sit beside him. You can shine when you are willing to say, “I believe in Jesus.”

We are watching darkness increase around us. Paul warned Timothy that difficult times would come and that deception would increase as evil people and impostors go from bad to worse (2 Timothy 3:1, 13). We should not be surprised when the world behaves like the world. The Church was never commissioned to blend into the darkness. We were commissioned to shine within it.

THE DARKER THE ROOM, THE MORE VISIBLE THE LIGHT

If we took one little flashlight outside at twelve o’clock in the afternoon on a bright sunny day and turned it on, would anybody notice it very much? But what if we took that exact same flashlight outside at midnight? Suddenly everybody could see it. Did the flashlight become brighter? No. Did somebody put bigger batteries in it? No. The light didn’t change. The darkness around it changed.

The darkness of our age does not diminish the effectiveness of the light. It reveals the necessity of the light. A watchman isn’t stationed on the wall merely to stare into the darkness. A watchman is there to remain awake, recognize what is approaching, and faithfully warn others.

Soda/Tonic Water Object Lesson

We are responsible for faithfully proclaiming what God has said and faithfully living according to it. The darker the world becomes, the more important that assignment becomes. This is not the hour for the Church to cover the lamp. This is not the hour for Christians to become embarrassed by Scripture. This is not the hour for Christian parents to surrender the spiritual formation of their children to the culture. This is the hour to put the lamp on the stand.

WHAT ARE WE PUTTING OVER THE LIGHT?

Sometimes the jar is fear. Sometimes the jar is compromise. Sometimes the jar is sin. Sometimes the jar is simply the desire to fit in.

Sometimes you know something is wrong, but everybody else is doing it. Sometimes somebody says something about another kid and everybody laughs, and you know you shouldn’t laugh, but you don’t want everyone looking at you. Sometimes you know you should tell the truth, but telling the truth might get you into trouble. That is where following Jesus becomes real. Following Jesus isn’t simply singing songs about Him when everybody around you is singing the same songs. Following Jesus means choosing Him when choosing Him costs you something.

There will always be a cost associated with carrying light into darkness because light exposes what darkness wants hidden. John 3:19 tells us that people loved darkness rather than light because their works were evil. That is why biblical Christianity will never be completely comfortable in a fallen world. If our Christianity never conflicts with the spirit of the age, we should ask whether we are actually carrying the light or simply reflecting the culture.

GOD ALSO SHINES THE LIGHT ON US

Then Jesus takes this illustration somewhere deeper.

Luke 8:17 ESV

17 For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.

Jesus reminds us that God sees inward. And this is especially important for people like us who spend a great deal of time watching what is happening in the world. We can become very skilled at identifying darkness everywhere while never allowing the light of God’s Word to illuminate our own hearts.

Hebrews 4:13 ESV

13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Psalm 139:23 ESV

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!

TAKE CARE HOW YOU HEAR

Then Jesus brings us directly back to where we were last week.

Luke 8:18 ESV

18 Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.”

And suddenly we are back in the Parable of the Sower. Every person can sit in the same room, hear the same Word of God, listen to the same sermon, and walk out responding completely differently because the issue is not merely whether we heard the words. The issue is what kind of heart received them.

Kids, have Mom or Dad ever said something to you like, “I know you heard me, but were you listening?” Every parent in this room knows exactly what I mean. You told them to clean their room. They heard every word you said. Their ears worked perfectly. But thirty minutes later the room looks exactly the same. They heard you, but they weren’t listening. We do exactly the same thing with God. We sit in church. We open our Bibles. We listen to sermons. We accumulate enormous amounts of biblical information, and it is entirely possible to hear and hear and hear without obeying.

That is why Jesus’ warning in verse 18 is so serious: “For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.” Truth carries responsibility. Light carries responsibility. The more God reveals through His Word, the more accountable we become for what we do with it.

That is why I don’t want us to be satisfied because we understand dispensations, prophecy, Israel, the Rapture, the Tribulation, spiritual warfare, or the signs of the times. If all that knowledge does not produce holiness, obedience, courage, love, discernment, evangelism, and a deeper devotion to Jesus Christ, then we have missed the purpose of the light.

THE LIGHT HAS TO SHINE AT HOME FIRST

And this is where Family Sunday becomes much more important than simply having our children stay in the sanctuary once a month. What we are saying by doing this is that we believe God works through generations. Christianity was never designed to be compartmentalized into separate little pieces of our lives. It is supposed to shape the whole family.

Deuteronomy 6:6–7 ESV

6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

You don’t have to preach a forty-minute sermon to your children every night at the dinner table. Please don’t—they may never eat dinner again! But you can pray with them. You can answer their questions. You can tell them what God has done in your life. You can explain why your family makes certain decisions. You can show them what repentance looks like. You can teach them why Israel matters in God’s redemptive plan. You can tell them why we believe Jesus is coming again. You can teach them not to fear the future because the future belongs to God. You can teach them that Scripture is trustworthy even when everybody around them says otherwise. You can teach them that there are some things worth standing for even when standing costs something. That is how one generation hands the lamp to the next.

WE ARE NOT TO FEAR THE DARKNESS

Young people today are growing up surrounded by technology that is developing faster than society can understand it. They will encounter increasingly sophisticated deception. They will live in a culture that tells them identity is something they create rather than something received from their Creator. They may experience hostility toward biblical Christianity that previous generations in America rarely experienced. Scripture tells us that deception will intensify as this age progresses, and those of us who understand biblical prophecy should not be naive about where the world is ultimately headed.

We watch the world because Jesus told us to be discerning, but we don’t put our hope in the world. We watch for the Lord.

So kids, if you remember nothing else Pastor Brad says this morning, remember this: You do not have to be afraid of the dark when you know the One who is the Light. Jesus loves you. Jesus died for you. Jesus rose again. And if you have trusted Him as your Savior, you belong to Him.

God has always used young people who were willing to trust Him.

1 Timothy 4:12 ESV

12 Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.

THE FAMILY OF GOD

And in just a little while, we’re going to do something else together. We’re going to finish worship and have our annual church picnic. Jesus did not save us to be isolated. He placed us into a body. You belong to the family of God.

So meet somebody new today. We worship together, serve together, eat together, pray together, and wait for Jesus together. That is what family looks like.

John 13:35 ESV

35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

So now we come back to the lamp. Jesus says nobody lights it and covers it with a jar. Nobody puts it underneath the bed. You put it on the stand so people can see the light. The world does not need another generation of Christians who know how to blend in. It needs believers who shine!

So Church, look around this room today. Look at the children. Look at the teenagers. Look at the parents. Look at the grandparents. This is why what we believe matters. Somebody is watching how we carry the light.