By Peter Sung, Conference Coach, PacNWC
Matthew 5:14-16 You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
Jesus had quite the magnetic effect. Where he went, crowds formed. When he spoke, people forgot to eat. When he called, people dropped their nets and followed. Jesus commanded a broad spectrum of people, from the young to the old, the sick to the healthy, the lost to the found, the men to the women, the rich to the poor, the Jew to the gentile, the weak to the powerful. People, all kinds of people, were drawn to Jesus. Like moth to a flame.
Things are quite different with the church today.
When Jesus sat down with his disciples on a hillside, Jesus shared the key to his gathering power. To his ragamuffin band of bumbling imitators, he said, “You are the light of the world. Let your light shine in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father.”
The key is in this little phrase, in such a way. Let your light shine in such a way.
First, there is a world of difference between shine your light, and let your light shine. Shining your light is obnoxious. Think about the officer’s Mag Light shining in your eyes when you get pulled over. It’s blinding and you turn away. Or picture the oblivious show-off, or the tone-deaf, self-affirming storyteller who’s always the hero of their own stories. Shining our light is the failed version of letting our light shine.
What is this light that shines all on its own?
If you go a few verses up, Jesus unpacks it quite obviously. It’s the contrasting light of being poor in spirit, of mourning, of meekness, of hungering and thirsting, not for wealth, power and fame, but for righteousness. The light of mercy, of purity of heart, of making peace – it is this supernatural light that is so different than the natural light of human nature and human history that can’t help but shine. In fact, this light of Christ is the only light that is truly light against the landscape of so called light which only amounts to darkness. In the next chapter, Jesus laments: “If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”
Only when our works are illuminated by such a different light, then all people, a broad spectrum of people, will see our good works and glorify our Father. The kind of illumination determines how the works are seen and determines to whom the glory is given. Shine a human light, and humans will give glory to humans. Shine a divine light, and humans will give glory to God.
Common is human light. Different is the light of Christ. So let your light shine in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, that they may gather in your churches, that they may see the church in a new light.
Where do we start? Start with prayer and humility before God. Then learn how to:
- Be patient, and love unlovable, undeserving, wrong, and evil people;
- Sacrifice, lose, and suffer loss;
- Listen, ask, serve, care, and die to yourself.
In other words, walk and talk like everyone else if you want to blend in. But if you want to be light, be a different light.