Matthew 5:14-16
” Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
The word “light” is used in a variety of ways in society, and in Scripture.
There is physical light. The Bible says that that on the first day of Creation, God created light.
“And God said, Let there be light: and there was light” (Gen. 1:3).
On the fourth day of Creation, God made permanent light sources, the Sun, Moon, and Stars.
“And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also” (Gen. 1:16).
Over the centuries, individuals have found ways to extract from God’s creation the elements to make artificial light, such as candles, oil lamps, and the electric lightbulb.
Turning from the physical to the metaphorical, the word light is used in some interesting ways. Legally, a “False Light” is a tort action brought against someone for invasion of privacy. The defendant is accused of spreading falsehoods that would be considered objectionable by the average person.
Spiritually, the word light is used in Scripture to tell Christians to be a light source, and then to walk in the light.
A Christian is a light source when the life of Jesus is reflected in one’s character. Christians are like the moon. Jesus is like the sun. The moon reflects the sun’s light, so the Christian is designed, and destined, to reflect the light of Christ. The apostle John describes the light of Christ as being a true light.
“That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1:9).
The light of Jesus was not a false, uncertain, or dangerous guide. The light of Jesus was to be trusted. The light of Jesus dispelled moral darkness, and ignorance from the mind.
In like manner, the Christian must also be a true light to others, lest the world be left in moral darkness and perish. In addition to being a light source by being filled with the knowledge of God (Psalms 36:9), the Christian is to let their light shine before others.
For this to happen, it is important, and proper, for God’s people to see themselves as the true preservers of society, as salt, and as light. When the Church truly believes itself to be salt, and light, then a godly practice will follow precept as night follows day. The known will of the Lord will be obeyed. The positive command is given:
“Let you light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
While no one is saved by their good works, according to Ephesians 2:8-9, good works are important. The Puritans noted that while a person is saved by grace through faith alone, the faith that saves is not alone, it is accompanied by good works. Therefore, we as Christians are to be a light source, we are to reflect the true Light, Jesus, and then we are walk in the light ourselves.
“O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord” (Isaiah 2:5).
So, what does it mean to walk in the light?
First, to walk in the light is to live one’s life corem deo, before the face of God. A sense of the presence of God must permeate our thoughts, desires, and decisions. This will be done when we have the Word of God in our heart, and we do not sin against the Holy Spirit. We do not suppress the truth when we are convicted, or tempted to do wrong.
Second, to walk in the light is to make progress. When a baby is born, it is welcomed, pampered, and loved. But the baby must grow, or there will be cause for alarm. Unfortunately, in the Church, there is no alarm when a person remains a spiritual babe for years on end.
Many do not progress towards spiritual maturity because it does not seem to matter to anyone. The apostles rebuked Christians for their spiritual immaturity. The Church in Corinth was especially disappointing to Paul because he was not able to talk to the people on a mature level.
“And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual [people], but as unto carnal [fleshly], even as unto babes [infants] in Christ” (1 Cor. 3:1).
Many years ago, I was on leave from the Army. I went to my sister’s house in Dallas, Texas. When I arrived, she greeted me saying, “I am so glad you are here. I am starved for an adult conversation.” She had two precious daughters, but both were under 6 years of age. While adorable, their communication skills were limited. My sister longed for a rational conversation with an adult. We love infants, but we want them to grow.
Peter said,
“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby” (1 Peter. 2:2).
Some Christians are content with being a religious infant. They find spiritual pride in being a simpleton. A lady once approached a well-known theologian after a lecture and said to him,
“Sir, God does not need all your degrees and education.”
“Madame,”
he replied,
“that is true. But God does not need your ignorance either.”
The Greek word for ignorant is idiotes [id-ee-o’-tace], and refers to someone rude, and unlearned. Jesus wants His people to progress in their spiritual walk, and be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the seas.
Walking in the light means “growing in holiness, and maturing in the faith as we follow Jesus” (GotQuestions.com). There are some wonderful results when Christians function as a light source, and their lights shine.
First, when we, as Christians, walk in the light, we experience joy and peace, in contrast to the anxiety and apprehension of the darkness. One of the problems of trying to keep a dark side of the soul secret is that it produces fear and stress in the heart. There is the fear of exposure, and the stress of trying to be both good and bad at the same time. The life of King David illustrates this truth. His sin of adultery led to his sin of covering up his transgression. When the cover up did not work, sin led David to murder.
It was a shameful, but liberating, moment when the prophet came to David and exposed his transgressions.
“Thou art the man,”
cried the man of God.
David came out of his personal darkness. He began to walk in the light. He picked up his pen and he wrote,
“Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me” (Psalms 51:1-3).
Second, when we, as Christians, walk in the light, we can see things more clearly. Under the light of the gospel, and the light of Scripture, what is morally right and what is wrong is clearly seen.
There are people who are spiritually blind. They cannot see what is right, and what is wrong. They are ethically bankrupt. Their hearts are hard, cold, and dark.
There are countless people who do not understand why homosexuality is an abomination, and, in the sight of God, a behavior worthy of eternal judgment in the Lake of Fire.
There are people who do not comprehend the intrinsic evil in suppressing free speech, and insisting on political correctness in thought and deed.
There are people who see no harm in taking children to a Gay Pride event, or helping them transition from one gender to another before the age puberty.
Many public schools have become the breeding ground for grooming young people for sexual promiscuity. The conscience can become seared and insensitive.
During World War II, in Nazi Germany, in Cell Block 10 in the death Camp of Auschwitz, medical experiments were performed on women. The doctors determined who lived, who worked, and who was sent to the crematorium. The doctors determined who would be experimented on in their quest for racial purity. The doctors cared not for the screams of women being given massive doses of radiation treatment to sterilize them in less than three minutes.
Dr. Josef Rudolf Mengele was known as the Ange of Death at Auschwitz. His specialty was to experiment on twins. He wanted to break the genetic code, and prove the Aryan race superior to all others. Mengele met the trains bringing prisoners to the camp. He selected his victims with a flamboyant air, often smiling, or whistling.
The experiments he performed on twins included unnecessary amputation of limbs, intentionally infecting one twin with typhus, or some other disease, and transfusing the blood of one twin into the other. Many of the victims died while undergoing these procedures, and those who survived the experiments were often killed, and their bodies dissected, Mengele had no further use for them.
On one occasion, the Angel of Death personally killed fourteen twins in one night by injecting their hearts with chloroform. If one twin died from disease, he would kill the other twin to allow comparative post-mortem reports to be produced for research purposes.
Mengele’s eye experiments included attempts to change the eye color by injecting chemicals into the eyes of living subjects, He killed children who had a different color in each eye, so the eyes could be removed, and sent to Berlin for study. The bodies of the children experimented on were sometimes sent to the crematorium, dead, or still alive, to be burned.
But here is the awful truth.
The horrors of the Nazi doctors are matched, and surpassed by modern, morally depraved, American doctors, who, in this very hour, are performing radical experiments and surgery on children. What the Nazis did in secret, American doctors are doing openly, and with approval from parents, society at large, and the government which is funding this enterprise. Seattle Children’s Hospital advertises on the web its Gender-Affirming Care.
“We accept new patients ages 9 to 16…. We provide medical care such as puberty blockers and gender-affirming hormones.”
Across the country, from North to South, from East to West, children are being butchered and slaughter through abortion. State after state is pushing legislation to uphold the process of killing children in a way even the Germans could not have imagined. Sixty percent of Americans want abortion to be codified into law. Billy Graham said that if a nation has trouble remembering how long a yard is, it is because they have thrown away their measuring stick. And if a nation has trouble determining what is right or wrong, it is because it has thrown away its moral measuring stick, the Bible.
Only God can enlighten the moral darkness in a nation. If we want to honor women, if we want to protect our children, if we want our nation to survive, then our light, as Christians, must shine in such a way that moral darkness is dispelled.
Third, when we, as Christians, walk in the light, we can effectively evangelize. Jesus said that when unbelievers see our good works, they will glorify our Father which is in heaven. In some way, at some time, God the Holy Spirit will use the Christian who walks in the light, to be a blessing to someone else.
They will turn their hearts to heaven, and glorify the Father. When I was in the 9th grade at Greiner Jr. High School in Dallas, Texas, it was my custom to invite another student to go to Sunday School and church with me.
After Sunday School, I would witness and share the plan of salvation outlined in the Romans’ Road, if there was an interest. One friend received Jesus as Lord and Savior in this way, and make his confession of faith at the Galilean Baptist Church.
Soon after, school ended, and my life changed. I left Dallas to attend school in New Orleans in the 10th and 11th grades.
Then, in the providence of God, in 1971, I returned to Dallas to be graduated from Sunset High School. One day I was travelling down a road in Oak Cliff when a car pulled up next to mine. The driver was honking, and waving, and shouting.
I could not hear what he was saying but my friend, Jim Lacy, could. I asked him what he was saying. Jim said,
“He was yelling, ‘Thanks for Jesus, man! Thanks for Jesus!”
And our Father in heaven was glorified.
“Thank You”
Ray Boltz
“I dreamed I went to heaven
And you were there with me
We walked upon the streets of gold
Beside the crystal sea
We heard the angels singing
Then someone called your name
You turned and saw this young man
And he was smiling as he came
And he said friend you may not know me now
And then he said but wait
You used to teach my Sunday School
When I was only eight
And every week you would say a prayer
Before the class would start
And one day when you said that prayer
I asked Jesus in my heart
Thank you for giving to the Lord
I am a life that was changed
Thank you for giving to the Lord
I am so glad you gave
Then another man stood before you
And said remember the time
A missionary came to your church
And his pictures made you cry
You didn’t have much money
But you gave it anyway
Jesus took the gift you gave
And that’s why I’m here today
Thank you for giving to the Lord
I am a life that was changed
Thank you for giving to the Lord
I am so glad you gave
One by one they came
Far as the eyes could see
Each life somehow touched
By your generosity
Little things that you had done
Sacrifices made
Unnoticed on the earth
In heaven now proclaimed
And I know that up in heaven
You’re not supposed to cry
But I am almost sure
There were tears in your eyes
As Jesus took your hand
And you stood before the Lord
He said, my child look around you
For great is your reward
Thank you for giving to the Lord
I am a life that was changed
Thank you for giving to the Lord
I am so glad you gave
I am so glad you gave’”
