Let your Light Shine!!!

May 24, 2020 

Guest Blogger Dwight Enfield

Scripture: Matthew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 

¹⁵ 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. ¹⁶ 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.”

Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase “The Message” translates Matthew 5:14-16 this way, “You're here to ¹⁵ If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. ¹⁶Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.

be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill.

Observation: It is all but impossible to read these verses taken from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount without the mission statement of AIC coming to mind. In our mission statement we say in one voice, that the mission of the people God gathers together (in person or in spirit) at AIC is to make disciples for Jesus Christ. Clearly that can only be done as God makes us “light-bearers” and as he places us on a hilltop to shine! The critical question before us is how will we respond to God’s call on our lives? It is all too easy to believe that we are not prepared to witness to a dark and dying world. However, the Scripture rejects this idea out-of-hand. Paul was inspired to write that, “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10).” Do you see it? Do you see how our belief that we are inadequate and that the mission is too hard or too unclear is eliminated? Look again at Paul’s statement. Who prepared the good works? When did God prepare the good works? What is our part in the mission? To me the text is clear. We have no excuse for failing to be in mission. After all, God prepared the mission and the mission field for us even before we entered it! Our role is to simply walk in the good works. God will do the good works he prepared to bless us in!

Application: Now that we know God prepares and does the good works that he calls us to walk in what should we expect? I believe we should expect exactly what God’s Word commands of us. Acts 1:6-11 provides for us our application of the command for us to be the light of the world. “So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’ ⁷ He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” ⁹ And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. ¹⁰ And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, ¹¹ and said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.’” Did you notice how Jesus redirects the disciples from their question about when they would be blessed by the restoration of the kingdom of Israel to commanding them to be a blessing to others? We also feel in Acts 1:10 an urgency. The context of this passage is the Ascension of Jesus. The angels, in essence, tell the disciple don’t just stand there dumb-struck, Go! And that of course brings to mind the Great Commission, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:19-20).” 

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for creating me for mission. Thank you for placing me together with a people gathered who desire to be in mission. Thank you for preparing a mission for us. Thank you for preparing the mission you desire us to walk in before we take the first step. Prevent us from placing our mission and your light under a cover. Soli Deo Gloria!