OBEYING THE CALL: A LIGHTHOUSE IN EVERY NEIGHBORHOOD

OBEYING THE CALL: A LIGHTHOUSE IN EVERY NEIGHBORHOOD Matthew 5:14-16 June 4, 2000 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Stephen Covey, in his monumental book, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, tells the story of a battleship out on maneuvers. The crew on lookout noted a light in the dark, foggy night. After noting the light's coordinates, the captain recognized his ship was on a collision course with another vessel. "Signal the ship: we are on a collision course, advise you change course 20 degrees." The return signal came, "Advisable for you to change course 20 degrees." The captain said, "I am a captain, change course 20 degrees." The response was, "I'm a seaman second class, you had better change course 20 degrees." By this time the captain was furious. He yelled, "I am a battleship. Change your course 20 degrees!" The reply..."I am a lighthouse-would you please change your course?!" This morning, I want to introduce the concept of LIGHTHOUSES to us as a fitting symbol for a strategy to reach our neighbors for Christ. On the way to explaining that, let's rehearse a couple of very important truths that emerge from the scripture at Matthew 5:14-16. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven. This is a very familiar passage of scripture, but for that very reason we are in danger of not giving its teaching the respect it deserves because, "Oh, we've heard that one a thousand times-we know what that means." But knowing what a passage means, or even being very familiar with it, is not the important thing, is it? Jesus said the difference between the wise man and the foolish man was whether or not he acts on what he understands. If electricity were unavailable and we were gathered in this room at night in the dark and the only available source of light were a single candle, where would we place it after we lit it - under Joe Kniepman's chair? Of course not, because not only would it not light the room very well for the rest of us, it could get quite uncomfortable for Joe in short order. Of course, we would set the candle on a high place where it would cast the fewest shadows and where everyone in the room could benefit from it. If we were real creative we would place it in front of some mirrors, giving it greater reflection and diffusion throughout the room. So, said Jesus, as He is committed to lighting the world around us with His love and saving gospel through us "low wattage" people, He is not about to hide us away somewhere or allow anything to come and cover our light and prevent it from shining out. No, it is His intent that we shine maximally where He places us. Please catch that-shine maximally where He places you. What does this passage teach us about being maximum shiners? One truth that stands out clearly-that Jesus calls us "light" means we are influencers. We are influencers Consider this stunning reality: the world around us has no other way of knowing God's message except through the testimony of what we are. What may not come through in the English translation is very clear in the original language, and that is that the you in verses 13 and 14 is emphatic. It's as if He underscores it: you, my disciples-you're the light of the world. It is true, of course that elsewhere Jesus said of Himself "I am the light of the world." But by derivation, we too are the light of the world. Christ has done His work in us, and we are therefore different, changed. Ephesians 5:8 says it this way: For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light. Colossians 1:13 - For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. Having done this work in us he now wants to work through us, making us agents of light-bearing. Philippians 2:15 says we shine like stars in the universe. On February 4, 1993, officials at the Flight Control Center near Moscow reported the successful deployment of a space reflector. This aluminum-covered disc was used by cosmonauts in the space station Mir to reflect light from the sun to the dark side of Earth. With a 25-foot disc in space, they were able to produce a two-mile circle of light on earth. Such a move placed Russia in the forefront of this reflective technology. I would suggest that the church of Jesus Christ should be at the forefront of reflective technology. It is the light of the glory of Christ that we reflect by our lives onto a dark world. We don't need to worry about how unholy and unusable we think we are. God knows how imperfect we are. But He's still willing to use us, all the while encouraging us to brighten up our lives for even more effective use. We're on assignment, and we're on show for the world, and yes God is quite interested in changing our lives daily into something more polished, reflective and usable. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says of us believers, And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. Every step along the way in this process of glory-shaping in our lives we feel inadequate, as if to say, "If people think I'm a representative of Christianity, and they see my life, they may never come to Christ." Sort of reminds me of Will Rogers' words, "So live that you wouldn't be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip." I believe we are to just keep on growing in Jesus and let Jesus take care of our blunders! Why? Because He who knows all of our flaws and inconsistencies and hypocrisies still said, "You are the light of the world-You are my influencers in the world!" As brother Dave Ingerson is so fond of saying, "It's not our ability, but our availability! So, we should ask ourselves, "What kind of influence are we having on the world around us?" How about your "neighborhood"? We are Strategists Now we come to the notion of "maximizing" our light effect around us. Notice the way Jesus inserts into His comments the responsibility of His followers to make the best of their light-bearing ministry. He says people don't put a lamp under a bowl.they put it on its stand. I hear Him talking about the responsibility to maximize our effect by wisely acting in a way that gets our good works out front of the watching world. Verse 16: Let your light shine before men so that they may SEE your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Do you know what that means? It means we are to strategize our witness in such a way as to make it visible and admirable. Visible: that they may see, and Admirable: that, because of what they see, they will praise our Father in heaven. The strategic questions then become: 1. How do we present our good deeds without pretension; how do we parade them without pomposity: how do we present them without pageantry? 2. What kind of a plan do we have to let our light shine? You know, it is so much less effective when it is not intentional. 3. Bottom line, how can I best influence those God has given to me to influence? We are Neighbors Come aside with me for just a moment as we consider something which we normally so easily overlook. What is the greatest commandment? Jesus answered this poignant question instantly by quoting two famed verses from the Torah, as quoted in Luke 10: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind. (From Deuteronomy 6:5, part of the great Shema) And then He added this verse from Leviticus 19:18 - Love your neighbor as yourself. This, of course, sparked the question by the underhanded scribe, "Who is my neighbor?" We studied into the parable Jesus used in answer to that question and we discovered that he didn't really answer the question directly. What He said was, "You want to know who your neighbor is? You are the neighbor!" Ever since dealing with that passage, and recently as the Lord has led us to minister into Neighborhood West, I have been fascinated by the concepts of neighbors and neighborhoods. Did you know that those verses out of Deuteronomy and Leviticus are quoted not only by Jesus, but also twice by the apostle Paul and once by James in his epistle? Did you know also that the New Testament also gives us these directives: Love does no harm to its neighbor (Romans 13:9), Each of us should please his neighbor (Romans 13:10), speak truthfully to your neighbor (Ephesians 4:25); and out of the Old Testament: Do not plot evil against your neighbor (Zechariah 8:17), who lacks judgment derides his neighbor (Proverbs 11:12), he who despises his neighbor sins (Psalm 14:21) I think if we leave out the consideration of our neighbors and our neighborhoods in our "light bearing" ministry we might be missing something of great importance in God's plan. We are a cell-based church and mid-week meetings in homes are of high value to us. From the very beginning of our cell leader training we have been teaching the important presence of cell meetings in a variety of neighborhoods. A spiritual presence really does arrive in a neighborhood when a cell group meets there. Neighborhoods are important, folks! In the city of Belleville there is a big move to identify and name the neighborhoods around the city. The idea is to build community and enhance good things like ownership and protection and identity, but I can't help but think that God is setting something up (?). Time and again I see good influences upon neighbors happening in cell ministry. I'll be at a cell meeting and an unbelieving neighbor will come to the door and ask for prayer for someone in her family. Or, Christians will find one another in a neighborhood and begin to pray and believe for God to reach their neighbors. Or, neighbors will be invited to attend a cell meeting in a home and there they meet nice people who love each other and love them, and the neighbors are favorably disposed to Christ and His gospel as a result. Or, a need becomes apparent in a neighborhood where a cell group meets and the whole group comes together to meet that need in the name of Jesus-and people see their good works and give praise to the Father in heaven. Let me ask you a philosophical question: Are you in your neighborhood by accident? Did God know what He was doing when He led you to live where you live right now? Or maybe you don't necessarily feel He led you, but He did let you end up living where you live. In His omniscience and omnipotence He could have prevented you from having the neighbors you have, right? In other words, you do not live where you live by accident. And God has full knowledge of who your neighbors are and why He has you there. In our church newsletter, The Witness, this week I wrote an article introducing a very popular outreach strategy called the Lighthouse Movement which is catching on in all sectors of evangelical Christianity. The idea is that believers begin to take more direct charge of their "salt and light" presence in their neighborhoods. In the program, a believing family prays about the matter and then commits to become a Lighthouse home in their neighborhood. What this means is that they are committing to three clear responsibilities regarding their neighbors: Prayer, Care and Share. Later in the summer we will investigate these three core strategies, but for now I'll explain in general terms. The Lighthouse family agrees to pray for their neighbors in two ways. They remember them and their spiritual needs on a regular basis in intercessory prayer, and they make themselves available when there is a need to go and pray for them, or at least to assure them they will be praying. I want to tell you-prayer works! As I visited at the homes in the neighborhood to our west yesterday with a dozen others, I felt the answers to our prayers. The people I met were warm, open and very receptive-unusually so. I've done a good deal of cold-turkey, door-to-door visitation, and I have seen for the most part dismal results. Usually, if you visit a hundred homes, you will find about ten who are friendly toward  you, and maybe one or two who will actually talk with you about God or the church. I counted through the cards that were turned in by our callers, and I have red-starred every one where the caller said "This would be a good call back" or "This person is open or receptive." We made well under 100 contacts, and I have red stars on 13 addresses! We have another 50 or so homes to contact in person, not including those who were not at home yesterday, and we will go next Saturday. (By the way-those of you who couldn't help this week but want to help, meet here at 9:30 for orientation, and we'll go out prepared at 10:00. Most were back before 11:00 yesterday.) Here's my point. We studied prayer, we committed to prayer, we were involved in prayer and we persisted in prayer over that neighborhood. God answered. Be watching for our new neighbors to be showing up here on Sundays and invite them to your cell groups. Now, with that confidence in mind, what will God do in response to your concerted, continual intercession on behalf of your neighbors? I know you've prayed for your neighbors before. But we're talking about a deliberate concerted effort here, one in which your cell group joins you and encourages you. The next element of the strategy is Care. This is a commitment to be involved in people's lives and needs and hurts; to reach out in loving ways to them; to meet needs and to demonstrate the love of Christ in very practical ways. If people are to receive our message they will need to trust us. Caring builds trust. Incidentally, caring is also part of what it means to be a Christian in the first place, and caring will build in you the character of Christ. Here's how you can plan ahead for being a lighthouse in your neighborhood-begin to clear your calendar of the fluff, the routine and the unproductive things you do-things that have absolutely no redeeming value for the kingdom or for you. Start making a little more time available for your neighbors-to drive an invalid, to do some vacation mowing, to share in neighborhood project or BBQ, or whatever else God's Spirit creatively leads you into. Share is the third dimension of the Lighthouse strategy. This is the outgrowth of the first two. You are asked to believe God will bring an open door to you among the neighbors you have a newfound relationships with to share your testimony, your witness. You will be committing to looking for those opportunities and even creating them, as God gives you guidance. The idea is that if large numbers of believers commit to this strategy, then neighborhoods all over the St. Louis area begin to get touched in a dynamic and intentional way by Christians who are just doing their jobs as the "light of the world." I will challenge you to get involved in this campaign. You will learn about resources and cell ministry involvement in the coming weeks. I am praying for at least 75% of our homes to become active Lighthouses in our communities. I urge you to jump into this thing-it is altogether right. If we will finally cooperate with one another and work together to saturate the metro-east area with the Good News, then it's going to happen. Let's work with each other and encourage one another in the tasks, and let's do our best to make it hard to go to Hell from the St. Louis metro-east! A national magazine carried a heart-wrenching story a few years ago about a tragic event. There was the first picture - a vast wheat field in western Kansas. The second picture showed a distressed mother sitting in a farmhouse in the center of the field of wheat. The accompanying story explained that her four-year-old son had wandered away from the house and into the field when she was not looking. The mother and father looked and looked all day but the little fellow was too short to see or be seen over the wheat. The third picture showed dozens of friends and neighbors who had heard of the boy's plight and who had joined hands the next morning to make a long human chain as they walked through the field searching. The final picture was of the heartbroken gather holding his lifeless son who had been found too late and had died of exposure. The caption under the photo quoted the father: "O, God, if only we had joined hands sooner."       [Back to Top]