Leave the Light On

Text: Matthew 5:13-20

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

          One of the most frustrating things as a parent, and I’m sure you’re aware of this, is to have to say the same thing over and over again. “Go clean your room.” And even if it gets done the next day it’s a disaster again. So, you have to say it again. Or “Make sure your schoolwork is done.” For each kid that will have to be said every day for 13 years. And then there’s the granddaddy of them all for every dad who has to pay the electric bill. “Turn the lights off.” There are times when parents will come in and every light in the house will be on. In the middle of the day. As if the sun didn’t exist and windows weren’t clear. And all the frustrated dad can do is scream “Turn the lights off.” Which is exactly the opposite of what our heavenly Father says. He looks down at us and says,

LEAVE THE LIGHT ON.

          He delivers that message through Jesus, who says, “You are the light of the world.” Jesus is actually the Light of the World. In one of His famous I AM statements from John chapter 8 He says, “I AM the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” He came to overcome the darkness of sin, wickedness, ignorance, and unbelief. And as He says, those who follow Him will not walk in darkness. But for Him to say that “You are the light of the world” could be a little confusing. It’s as if we somehow were creating this light, when in fact we’re walking in darkness. We’re much more like those who we heard about a couple weeks ago from Isaiah. “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwell in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.”

          We’re the ones who have seen the great light. We’re the ones on whom light has shined. So, Christians are the light of the world in the sense that we reflect the light of Christ, just as the moon reflects the light of the sun. We can’t create the light, but we are certainly called to reflect it to the world around us. And there’s never any shortage of light to reflect because the light will always shine. It’s the nature of light to shine. There’s no such thing as a light that doesn’t shine. It would be impossible. It would be like cold heat or dry water. It just doesn’t happen. It’s Jesus’ nature to be the light of the world, therefore His light will always shine. It’s “a city on a hill [that] cannot be hidden.” It can be seen from all sides and it’s a beacon calling people to Jesus.

But light can be covered up so that no one can see it. When you were young maybe you did this. You wanted to keep reading past the time when mom and dad said that it was time for the light to go out. So, you snuck the flashlight under the covers and as soon as the door was closed you covered up and turned it on. Besides the disobedience involved in that, the light that you were using benefited no one but yourself. Your brother or sister in the bed on the other side of the room couldn’t use that light to read. In the same way, we who have received the light of Christ can refuse to let it shine. And when we do that we deprive those around us from the joys that we know by having Christ’s light in our lives. You’ve been saved by grace of God through faith. Don’t you want others to know that? Don’t you want them to have that as well? The light of Christ that shines through you might just be what they need. It might be exactly what the Holy Spirit is using so that they might come to that same saving faith. You might be for them that “city on a hill” that cannot, should not, will not “be hidden.”

          But Jesus knows our hearts. He knows the temptation we often have to hide the light that He shines on us. He points out the futility of hiding the light we’ve been given by saying, “Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket.” I used this text with the Trail Life boys on Friday night as an evening devotion on our campout and asked the question, “Why would Jesus say that we shouldn’t light a lamp and put it under a basket?” I thought it was one of those softball questions that they’d knock out of the park and then we’d keep moving on with the devotion. But they got caught up on what type of lamp it was and what kind of basket they were using to cover it up. Which led them to discern that at the time people would have been using oil lamps with open flames and that the baskets would have certainly been made out of wicker. Therefore, the reason not to light a lamp and put it under a basket was because you’d start the basket on fire.

That whole exchange reminded me how frequently we all miss the point. Or make up our own point. Or willfully ignore the point that God is trying to make. Of course, the reason to not light the lamp and put it under the basket is because the point of the light is to shine, not to be covered up. As Jesus says, you put it “on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.” And yet, you all have covered up that light that God has given you from time to time. As have I. As people attached to our sin, living in the dark is so much easier. Having the light shine in exposes what happens in the dark. And that’s not a comfortable place to be. Any time the light of the Law shows us our sinfulness we should use that opportunity to remember that at the same moment the Gospel of God’s love through the light of Christ shows us our Savior and the way out of the darkness that we’ve become so comfortable living in.

So, Jesus tells us not to live there with that light under the basket, but rather to put it on a stand so that it would give light to everyone around us. He wants you to live your Christian life in a way that the world may be able to see the difference Christ makes in you. Then unbelievers, who know what’s right and wrong because that light has revealed it to them, will seek out the Light of the World, Jesus Christ, so that they don’t have to keep walking in darkness.

Jesus says, “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.” He’s not telling us to make a show of our good works or to parade our piety like the Pharisees do. Instead, He wants us to live our faith no matter where we are. Here in the presence of believers, but also out there for those who don’t yet know Christ to see. And as long as we keep in mind that the purpose is to glorify God, and not ourselves, we’ll know how to do that. The difference isn’t going to be in the outward acts, but in the heart that produces them.

Note that Jesus doesn’t say that He wants us to be the light of the world. He tells us that’s what we are. We can’t cease to be light, to reflect His light, and remain Christians. And even if the world doesn’t understand why we act like we do; why we say what we say; and ridicule us for being that light, the time will come when they have to acknowledge those works to be good. Peter says about the time of Jesus’ return, “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”

The world we live in wants to shut off that light that we’ve been given. Every condescending word, every hateful thought, every word or act of persecution is meant to get us to put that basket over the lamp. Cora was given that light this morning. The light of Christ which she now carries. And I’ll be praying for her regularly that she lets that light shine. Encourage her. Teach her. Bring her to church. It’s not easy to live this life as the ones who reflect the light of Christ to the world. But it’s what we’re called to do. And when that light kindles new light and new life in someone else, we know that the Holy Spirit is working through us. “You are the Light of the World.” Leave the Light on. Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.