You Are The Light Of The World. Be Who You Are

2.5.23 Matthew 5:14-16 (EHV)

14 You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 People do not light a lamp and put it under a basket. No, they put it on a stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 In the same way let your light shine in people’s presence, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

At this point in Jesus’ ministry he was gathering large crowds. Matthew 4:23 says, “Jesus traveled throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness among the people.” People were coming from Galilee in the north, Jerusalem in the south, and all over the place. He was becoming the main attraction throughout the region. So along the sea of Galilee Jesus found a place to speak to hundreds to thousands of people in His famous Sermon on the Mount. We started last week with the Beatitudes. Then He continues with today’s text.

You Are the Light of the World. Be Who You Are

You are the light of the world. That’s kind of a profound thing to say, isn’t it? Joel Osteen has a tendency to say things like this, to tell people how great they are and how they can do anything they put their minds to. But experience tells us he’s just lying to make them feel good. Jesus is no Joel Osteen. He wouldn’t say something like that unless He meant it. He was talking to people who came to listen to Him and follow Him. He knew that this would be written in the record books and that we as Christians would hear Him speaking this to us as well. You are the light of the world. Jesus wouldn’t say that if He didn’t mean it. But what does it mean? Why does He say it?

First of all, just look at the verb. You ARE. It’s a present status. It’s not something He’s telling us to be. It’s who we are. It’s not like trying out for a team that you’re trying to make or applying for a job you don’t have yet. It’s not like going out on a date. You already have your status as a baptized believer in Christ. You’ve been healed of your sins through the death of Christ on the cross for you. You’ve been showered with Jesus’ mercy. You’ve been shown the God of grace. God’s Word has shown the light of Christ on you and said, “You’re forgiven. You’re loved. You’re saved, in Jesus.”

Think of all these people who had had their friends or relatives or themselves healed of deadly diseases. Think of how many of them heard for the first time that they were forgiven and loved by Jesus. Outcasts of society. They were so happy to hear the gospel. They were so happy to be in the presence of Jesus. It would have naturally brought them joy and happiness.

I’ve sometimes compared it to the moon at night. It doesn’t produce its own light. In and of itself it’s just a dead rock with an American flag on it and lots of dust. Yet when the sun shines on it, it suddenly becomes beautiful. It just reflects the light of the sun and provides light to the earth at night. That’s one reason God put the moon in the sky as He did - to produce light at night. Jesus is the light of the world. When He shines on us with His grace and mercy and love and forgiveness, He brightens us up in a dark world. He makes us light, like when Moses’ face shone after coming down from Mt. Sinai after being in the presence of God. Only our light is even more glorious, because it’s reflecting the light of Jesus. I don’t have to work for this status. I already have it. It comes NATURALLY to me as a baptized believer. You are the light of the world.

This is what Jesus says about you when you are brought to faith in Him. So when you tell yourself that you are a failure, that you are a mess, that God hates you, that God doesn’t want you, those are lies. That’s not God’s Word. That’s your word. You are NOT worthless. You are not darkness. You are not hated by God. You are the light of the world.

Light is made to shine. God made the sun to shine. He made the moon to shine as well. It’s why they were placed in the sky in the exact places where they are. It’s why God placed you in this world as well. And what does it mean to let your light shine? In the same way let your light shine in people’s presence, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Jesus equates it with “good works.” James says something similar when he writes, “Faith without works is dead.”