The Light Within

Proverbs and Parables  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  36:43
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This morning we’re going to begin with some excerpts from Proverbs 19 & 20. Now if you’ve been reading Proverbs as part of your devotions, you know that each chapter is divided up into sayings of wisdom that were written down for us to remember. This is Godly wisdom, not the stuff we get in fortune cookies, although sometimes they are very similar. These however come to us from God’s Word. Listen as our worship team shares some of these with us from chapters 19 & 20 of the book of Proverbs.
God’s Wisdom to us from the Book of Proverbs. Thanks be to God.
Do you remember the last time your home lost power?
Share experiences of losing power - we rely on electricity for our light, heat, and water as we’re on a well and the pump runs on electricity.
Our Gospel Reading this morning comes from Matthew 5:13-16. This is near the beginning of Jesus’ sermon on the Mount.
Let’s read it together:
Matthew 5:13–16 ESV
“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.
This is the Word of Our Lord!
Thanks be to God.
Jesus begins with a statement about you and I.
Matthew 5:13 ESV
“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 salt of the earth!”
Think about that for a minute. What does it mean that Jesus would look out at his disciples, would look out to you and I and say that you are the salt of the earth?
What is salt?
Salt does many things - it adds flavor!
Have you ever just had a craving for something salty? The other night we were sitting in our den and I said, “do we have any chips?” I wanted something salty.
How do you restore the saltiness of salt?
I love this phrase - think about it.
How can you restore saltiness to salt - how can restore the very purpose of something that no longer is serving its purpose? Salt is supposed to be salty. If it’s not, it has no purpose, it’s simply white, and granular. I’m sure there is some creative type that come up for a purpose, but it’s created purpose is gone - and it would be thrown out.
Then Jesus says about us,
Matthew 5:14 ESV
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
Um…WOW!
This is what Jesus says of himself in John 8:12! It’s the second of the seven “I AM” statements that Jesus makes about himself. Here though, Jesus is saying it about us.
“You are the light of the world.” You and me - the light of the world? That’s a pretty big responsibility.
He goes on to say, “A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” and goes on further to say,
Matthew 5:15 ESV
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.
This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine. - Hide it under a bushel “NO!” I’m going to let it shine.
The light that we have is not to be hidden, but it is to be made obvious - put it on a stand and what does it do?
It gives light to all in the house...
but wait…there’s more.
Let’s put verses 14 & 15 together:
Matthew 5:14–15 ESV
“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.
Beginning with the last part - it gives light to all in the house.
There’s an important lesson there. Jesus is saying that when we let our light shine it gives light to all in the house - what house? His house! The church. You and I being together shine our light to one another. And we need that. I need to see your light shining so that I can be more bold about shining my light and you need to see my light shining so that you can be more bold shining your light. And when we join our lights together, we create a brighter light.
And that light gives light to all in the house and beyond. Yes, beyond, because houses have windows.
That’s why a city on a hill cannot be hidden - the light shining out of the houses gives off light to the surrounding area.
Jesus ends this part of the Sermon on the Mount with this exhortation:
Matthew 5:16 ESV
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.
You and I shining our light encourages others. Not only those following Christ, but those that might not know Christ yet. And how do we shine our light, simply by connecting to the source.
If we’re connected to God, we cannot help but have the light shine just as this bulb, if it’s connected to electricity will light up
Plug lamp into power cord.
But this bulb that is not plugged into a power source will not light up.
There are different kinds of lamps, and different kinds of lights. Each one of us is different as these lamps are different. Some serve different purposes. Some run on batteries, some need to be plugged into an outlet.
All of them have a source of power.
But to really create a brighter light they work together just as the church comes together and together we are able to do far more than we could ever do alone.
I want to share with you in closing about some friends of mine. These young men took it upon themselves to be sure that a friend of theirs was able to enjoy every aspect of a middle school camp experience. It is perhaps my best ministry memory.
Let me tell you a bit about their friend. At that point in his life, he had only just begun spending any nights away from home and those only at his grandparents. This was his first time ever at an overnight camp and it was a week long. Beau is a wonderful young man with a smile that lights up the world. He loves all kinds of music - especially classic rock. He’s very insightful for his age, he observes everything. He’s funny, definitely mischievous, and loves to go fast.
What I haven’t told you is that Beau is non-ambulatory and non-verbal. He uses a motorized wheelchair and a communication device attached to that chair.
Insert photo of Cabin here
These 7 boys and their leaders - were determined that Beau would experience every single camp experience that week. When Beau was scared at night, one of them crawled out of his bunk, sat down next to him and just let him know it was okay - even holding his hand as reassurance.
On the second night we were to do a night hike. As leaders we kept asking was the hike going to be wheel chair accessible - but the only answer we got was, we’re working on that. Plain and simple it wasn’t going to be wheel chair accessible. The cabin was determined that Beau was not going to miss out on anything they did - so...
They carried him up that mountain.
Insert photo of Hike here.
They carried Beau to the top of the water slides so he could go down the slides like all the other kids. They took him in the pool, through the mud pit, and were determined that everything the cabin did. The entire camp took on the same attitude. The day we were to do the ropes course I went down a few hours early and said, “Guys, I’m not asking if, I’m asking how are we going to do it.” The staff was so stoked they’d figured out a way that was still within all their safety guidelines and would allow Beau to fully participate. While on the ropes course when it came to a point to choose the high ropes or the lower ropes - Beau wanted it all. He went for it. He went up top.
This is what we do when we let our light shine. It gives light to everyone in the house - and those outside as well.
That week changed everyone of us. God changed Beau as well as he gave his heart to Christ that week. For the past several weeks Beau and his family have been serving at camp on assignment.
There are lots of different kinds of light.
Another thing I learned from that night that I believe applies to this verse.
The way we use our light matters.
As we were bringing Beau down from the mountain we let most of the campers go first because it was a slow process climbing over sharp rocks in the trail and balancing the hammock. Many of the campers were eager to help and since they were ahead of us they stopped and tried to light the trail. But since they were below us their light didn’t help us, it actually hindered us because it blinded us.
Sometimes we’re so eager for others to see our light we blind them with it. And they can’t do anything but wait for us to move the light so they can see. I know I’m not expressing this very well, but our light is not meant to be a weapon against others but a help to them.
Matthew 5:16 ESV
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.
IF our helps had let their light shine before us - on the trail rather than on us it would have given us a better view.
As we come to the Lord’s Table today. Let us think about the light we shine. Let’s not be a bulb not connected to any power source. Let’s be those connected. Let us put our light on the stand, let it show so that it gives light to everyone in the house shines out the windows and into the world.
Let us be the light of the world today. AMEN
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