Word of Salvation – Vol.07 No.06 – February 1961
You Are The Light Of The World
Sermon by Rev. J. van der Staal on Matthew 5:14-16
Scripture Reading: Matthew 5:1-26; 43-48
Psalter Hymnal: 277; 100:1,2 (after the Law);
Proclamation of Grace: Jeremiah 31:31-34;
– 465 (before congregational prayer);
– 387; 420:1,2 (after sermon); 435;
– 467 (after benediction)
Translated by John Westendorp.
Translator’s note: early editions of ‘Word of Salvation’ still had some sermons in Dutch for the migrant communities that then made up the Reformed Churches of Australia.
Beloved congregation, brothers and sister, boys and girls,
In this text the Lord Jesus points us to our calling in this world.
The Lord was seated on the slopes of one of the mountains of Galilee and a large crowd had gathered around him. Most of them were ordinary people from the Galilean countryside – people who didn’t count for much with the important Jews. Particularly the Pharisees looked down on them because according to them these people were not strict enough in keeping the commandments and instructions of the law. Yet to these very same people Jesus said: “You are the light of the world!”
It’s worth noting that the Lord places a special emphasis on the first word of this saying: “YOU are the light of the world!” – presumably because in this respect there is such a noticeable contrast between His disciples and the Pharisees.
From the Pharisees the world couldn’t expect all that much – no matter how pious they were and how meticulously they kept the law. They took the position that the commandments of God only applied to their fellow-citizens, the Jews. Of course they were familiar with the Old Testament commandment: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” But this commandment raised for them the question, “Yes, but who is my neighbour?”
You may recall that it’s the same question that one of their experts in the law once asked the Lord Jesus. Well, the starting point for the Pharisees was that by “neighbour” was meant their own fellow-citizens. So they limited this commandment of love expressly to the Jews. They taught that one must love one’s neighbour, namely their fellow-citizens, but that one should hate one’s enemies and then by ‘enemies’ they meant all those who did not belong to the Jewish people: Samaritans and Gentiles. Some Jewish Rabbis even taught that someone who had wanted to kill a Gentile but had accidentally and unknowingly killed a Jew instead was not guilty before the law.
Some experts in the law took it even further. There was, for example, the question whether this commandment applied to all members of the Jewish people or only to a particular group. The point is that they made a distinction between fellow Pharisees and other Israelites. This latter group they called “the crowd that doesn’t know the law” and there were Rabbis who taught that the commandment about neighbourly love did not apply to this crowd.
When we reflect on all this it becomes clear that the world really could not expect too much from the Pharisees. They missed any love for the world. They knew of no compassion for the Gentiles and not even for their fellow citizens who lived in darkness because of their sin and who knew nothing of God’s love and mercy.
In contrast there was the Lord Jesus, full of love for people. His heart was moved by compassion for the world and for all those who had wandered away from God: Jews, Samaritans and Gentiles – without distinction. His desire was for a likeminded compassion to be found in the lives of His disciples. He pointed them to the world in its need and misery… to people who lived joyless lives darkened by sin. He impressed upon their hearts their responsibility to the world: “You are the light of the world. Let your light shine for people in such a way that they will see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
No! Jesus did not adopt the restrictive position of the Pharisees. He made His disciples responsible – not just for a very special group of friends – but for all people with whom they came into contact – also for Gentiles, tax collectors and ‘sinners’.
Never may you forget the responsibility that you have as a Christian towards others… towards the world. You must not fall into the error of the Pharisees and limit your compassion to your friends, to your household, your family, the members of your congregation. The Lord Jesus says: “You are the light of the WORLD!” You also have a responsibility towards those outside the church. Not only to your friends but also to your enemies. Not only towards those who are helpful and friendly in their approach to you but also to those who are unfriendly and who treated you badly.
In our Lord Jesus Christ the light of God has risen over this whole world. Christ Himself is the Light of the World. But now this light must beam out through his disciples – through you and me. The darkness of sin must be driven out and everything must again shine in the light of God, through those who received Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. “YOU are the light of the World!” is what Jesus says to them.
So how are the disciples to do that?
The gospel gives a very simple answer to that question: they do that by putting into practice the things that their Master has taught them! Jesus says: “Let your light shine for the people so that they will see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
Here the question must be raised: What is meant by the good works of the disciples?
I don’t believe that it means that the followers of the Lord Jesus are consistently more honest, more faithful, more trustworthy, more energetic than other people. By the grace of God there are many people – also amongst unbelievers – who live noteworthy lives, people on whom one can depend. It can even happen that someone who wants nothing to do with the church or with Christianity is a wonderful example in the wider community – also for us as believers.
Something else must therefore be meant by the good works of the disciples. We must not think at this point of general human virtues but rather specifically Christian virtues. Those virtues that Jesus teaches His disciples when He changes their lives and transforms them into renewed people. Virtues such as love, patience, gentleness, meekness, a forgiving attitude, self-denial. The Lord teaches His disciples through His Holy Spirit working in them: to have patience with the weaknesses and shortcoming of their fellow-man; to bear it graciously when they have been treated harshly and unjustly; to forgive others their sins; to seek out and win back a brother or sister who has become estranged from them.
It is through the practice of these specifically Christian virtues that the followers of the Lord Jesus will stand out from others around them.
By means of two examples the Lord Jesus makes this very clear.
The first example is that of a city that has been built on a hill and therefore cannot remain hidden. Such a city must attract attention. Everyone readily observes it. So too the disciples shall attract the attention of unbelievers… of the world… if they truly put into practice the commands of the gospel.
The second example is that of a lamp that gives a clear light in the house. “Neither does one light a lamp and put it under a bowl but on a lampstand so that it might shine for everyone in the house.”
The houses in Jesus day were smaller and less luxurious than the homes of our modern day. The house of a typical Jew generally had only one room wherein the family would eat and sleep. Their furniture was extremely simple: perhaps just a table, some chairs, a bed… but also a bowl (a bushel) to measure grain that was also used for various domestic purposes. That was about all. And then the lamp that Jesus mentions… not a candle but a small flat lamp – saucer-like with a lip for a wick that floated in oil. Such a lamp could not give a great deal of light – you’d probably find it hard to read by its light. But regardless of how little light it gave, everyone in the room could not but see the light.
In the same way everyone in the world cannot but see when somewhere a disciple of Jesus takes seriously the commands of the Lord. Even a tiny light that shines somewhere in the dark can be seen – even from a distance…! In this way it will be seen in the world when a Christian lives out his or her faith as a disciple of the Master in self-denial, in humility and modesty, in real Christian love – filled with the wonderful peace that the Lord wants to give to His disciples.
At the same time we must sadly acknowledge that too often not much comes of this kind of Christian living. It’s one of the weak points of modern Christianity that we don’t adequately apply ourselves in putting into practice the clear commandments of the gospel. It’s not too hard to impose them on others and tell them how they ought to do it. But it repeatedly seems extremely difficult to live according to those commands… to really DO them.
Are we humble and meek as the Lord expects from us? Do we deny ourselves in relation to others? Do we count others as better than ourselves? Do we make sure we don’t let the sun set on our anger? Are we prepared both to ask for forgiveness and to grant it to others – and then not just once or twice but repeatedly – even up to seventy times seven, as Jesus said?
Because of these shortcomings in the practicalities of life we not only miss out on the joy and certainty of our faith but above all our Christianity makes a rather poor and weak impression on the world around us.
Perhaps you’re familiar with the biting and cynical observation of Nietzsche, the German philosopher, who was a fiery enemy of Christianity. “I too wouldn’t mind being redeemed,“ said Nietzsche, “if only you Christians appeared a little more redeemed.”
Admittedly, that is the poverty of our Christianity, that we so often don’t look very redeemed, and that too often we don’t live as redeemed people. Often we are not like a city built on a hill and that cannot remain hidden. S often we do put our lamp under a bowl, and then we don’t give light to those who are in the house.
When we think of these things then it becomes very obvious that we ourselves can never be the light of the world.\
ONLY JESUS CHRIST is the light of the world.
We can never fulfil our Christian calling in this world if the darkness in our own hearts is not first been banished by the light of Christ – the darkness of our lovelessness, of our pride, of our self-centredness, of our stubbornness. We can’t lead others to Christ if we ourselves have not first come to the Saviour. We can’t be the light of the world if HIS Light has not first been kindled in our own hearts.
But then you may rest assured that the power of Christ is strong enough to conquer every power of sin and change the world and renew it.
Not long ago they wrote in the papers about the Moral Re-Armament Movement, of which Frank Buchman is the spiritual father and who wants to see the evil powers conquered by means of the good that is found in humanity, by love and justice and truth. There is much in this movement that we appreciate. But we also have our objections, especially that the renewal of life here in our society is expected exclusively from humanity. However, we can learn an important lesson from it too: that we must allow ourselves to be RE-ARMED by the power of our Christian faith and of Christian love and the Christian life.
The evil powers of this world are all around us. Without letup they threaten our joy of life… our inner peace – but also the joy and peace of the world. Over against these evil powers we must place the power of a genuine Christian lifestyle lived in obedience to the requirements of the gospel. Over against the wickedness of sin that threatens us we must place the purity of a life lived close to Jesus. Over against the hatred of the world we must place our love… over against its curse, our blessing… over against its wickedness, our prayers.
In this way the anger of the world must be conquered – not alone the anger of the world outside of us, but also the anger of the world within us… in our hearts. The Apostle says, “Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.” (Rom.12:21).
In all this we must keep two things in mind according to what Jesus teaches us in our text:
– We must think of the people who are in the world… AND
– We must think of our Father who is in heaven.
We must think of the people who live in the world. They live in darkness, because of the evil power of sin at work there. And they cannot be saved except only through Jesus Christ, through His light that needs to be kindled in the darkness by His saving grace – whereby the power of sin can be broken.
The Lord Jesus Christ desires that we serve Him in this work of redeeming the world, through the good powers of our Christian faith, our Christian love and by placing our Christian lifestyle over against the evil powers of sin in this world,
Secondly, we must think about our Father in heaven. He is to be glorified by the redemption of the world.
The Lord deliberately reminds his disciples that the Father in heaven has become THEIR Father. “So that YOUR father in heaven will be glorified.”
It must surely touch our hearts that the honour of our Father in heaven is so seriously violated by sin.
Jesus Himself came into this world so that the name of His heavenly Father would be glorified.
It is now the holy calling of every Christian to live in such a way that God’s name is glorified.
We may never be the cause of creating barriers against the light of Christ breaking through into the darkness of this world. Instead we should so order our lives that the name of our heavenly Father will be honoured and praised because of us.
May God, to that end, help us with His grace.
Amen.