You remember back in Acts 1:1 where the apostle writes – where Luke writes, and he says, “The former letter have I made unto you, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began to do and to teach.” And ever and always, people, those two things go together: the living and the speaking. You can if you only care about the glory of God. You don’t have to light it, and you can’t put it out, you’ve just got to let it shine by the way you live and the things you say. Antony Hughes on Sunday, July 14, 2013. Whoever has ears to hear, listen up, but pay attention what you listen to. Sermon Isaiah 60:1-3 The Light in Our Darkness . And, beloved, I think this is the primary duty of the church, to be light in the world, to spread the message of salvation, not just to sit around talking to each other; that’s wonderful. Sermon Quotes to inspire and encourage you in your faith. He was saying, “You know, you’re a part of a religious system that’s fouled up. We preserve it. And He … This is part 2 of a Bible Study Series through The Sermon On The Mount. If we are the light of the world, then we must be “in the light” ourselves. His plan is us; it’s us. With this tremendous responsibility, there is an attendant danger. When you don’t testify, you’re just withholding from someone that which they desperately need to see if they’re ever to come to God. He has followed up the Beatitudes. Shine! It’s the manifest beauty; not just that they’re good in and of themselves, but they have a beauty about them, an attractiveness, they are winsome; and that’s the word he uses. 1) One in sin needs someone to turn on the light, 2) One in sin needs someone to point them in the right direction, 3. And when He came into the world, He didn’t enter the family of the wealthy and the noble, and He didn’t find Himself born in a castle; He simply chose a peasant girl and a stable. The whole world ought to see us. That’s letting the light shine. Unless you see yourself and others as Jesus sees, what He says about the life of faith is hard to understand, A. And by the way, you notice it says in verse 13, “You are the salt of the earth.” This covers the whole earth. I don’t even think a handful can do it. We are the only salt the whole earth will ever know. When you believe in Jesus, not only do you leave the darkness and enter the light; you actually join the family of the light—you become children of the light. Ye are the light of the world. *As the Lord said in vs. 12, "I am the light of the world. It may be the basket of fear, or wanting to be acceptable, or not wanting to offend, not wanting to make waves, or whatever. Make us different, Lord, that the world may be different because we are. Sermon Outlines (return to Site Map for PowerPoint). Jesus says, in Matthew 5:14, "You are the light of the world." Jesus is saying, “How foolish it would be to get your lamp trimmed, get the wick clipped, get it down there, fill it up with oil, and stick a thing on top of it so nobody could see it.” It would be silly. You see? These images in Matthew 5:13, 14, 15 and 16 immediately follow the Beatitudes and are often interpreted as referring to Jesus' expectations of his disciples.. On the other hand, He is a majestic, sovereign God in Heaven. They’d get in there for a couple hours on a Sunday morning. The Jews in Romans 2 claimed to be light. The apostle Paul denies that. And in Ephesians 5:8, "At one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord." We are to create a thirst for Christ by the very way we live, as Israel is to be provoked to jealousy by the church. 2. We’ve got to move in the world and dominate it. Influence. It implies both a life and a message lived and spoken. If you don’t do it, there’s nobody to do it.”. 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 in heaven. It is a glorious thing to be living in the light, and not groping in darkness. You see, this is a different place than you walked into this morning. What he’s saying is that they dominated the land by the power of their testimony. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. And we’ve done that. James 1:5-6: "Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing, and it will be given to him. And those of you who came into this place this morning are different, because you just stepped into a new season. Jesus replied, “What I have told you from the beginning. We won’t be till we get to glory, right? Help us to be willing to influence the world like Helen Ewing did, and wherever we walk, may we leave Christ behind. We are to tell them about God, we’re to tell them about God’s Word, and we’re to tell them about God’s Christ. In you, may we find— Gentleness as the answer to violence; Tenderness as the answer to ill-will; Light as the answer to lies; Hope as the answer to despair. We now can enlighten men, only because we can give them knowledge of the glory of God as we have seen it in the face of Jesus Christ.”. And when He chose the twelve, He didn’t choose the elite, and the educated, and the affluent; He just chose a group of ignorant Galileans. “The light of the world” was a common expression in Jewish tradition at that time. You’re a city on a hill. The presupposition: a dark and decaying world. None of us is perfectly pure salt. Never have we been so preoccupied with endeavoring to see Christianity in government. Never has the church been more involved in social action in recent history in our country. It just melts away into whatever it flavors or preserves. Now listen, we don’t need to argue – and it’s amazing how many commentators argue, that Jesus was wrong here, because salt can’t lose its saltiness. The life has to be there: a blameless life – harmless, and blameless, and without rebuke. “I am the light of the world.” This is the second “I am” statement that we have seen in this gospel. You can turn on a light, and even a small light shines in a lot of darkness. Wise Living Requires that We Ask for It Specifically. First, the presupposition, then the plan, then the problem, and then the purpose. And it’s got to be spoken, and then it’s got to be supported by a life – doesn’t it? The first picture was a picture of a vast wheat field in Kansas. Darkness describes the condition of the world, 3. If the presupposition is the darkness and decay of the world, if the plan is the dominion of the disciples, then the problem is the danger of failure; and there is that danger, there is that danger. Remember that little song, “There’s nobody who can blow it out.” Now that’s right; there isn’t anybody who’s going to blow it out, because the light is there. 3. It’s a simple message tonight. It belongs to all of us. Deliver us from the fear, and the pride, and the exaltation of self that make us put our light under a bushel. Will you covenant in your heart with me before God that that’s what you want to do? You Are The Light of the World Sermon Sermon outline by Tom Moore on the influence that Christians are to have in this present world. 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.” OUR Lord did not speak in this way at the beginning of His ministry. And God could look at our world as He looked at that antediluvian, that pre-flood world, and said, “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”. From Matthew 5:14-16. I don’t know what the future has for us, but I just think we need to come to grips with our lives right now. Matthew 5:14-16 (NET) They needed to hear the basics, and so do we, 2,000 years later, we who know the Bible so well; and we just need to hear again the same old story. For example, just a couple of Scriptures. On the one hand, we live it; on the other hand, we preach it. May we be a city set on a hill. I think, you know, we can get to the place where we are so in love with each other, if you will, and we are so thrilled about everything that goes on here, and we’re so happy about it all, and we sit in little groups and disciple each other, and we pray with each other, and we counsel each other, and we talk to each other; and the fact is that we’re always in danger that we’ll never link hands and sweep through the world, that we’ll never crawling out of our ivory tower of the bliss of our Christian fellowship. You payed the supreme price for us. A Christian loses his saltiness, it’s a sad situation. We said that salt basically has five basic functions: purity, flavor, sting – in a wound, thirst – it creates thirst, and a preservative. You Are the Light in a Dark World – Matthew 5:13-16 (Sermon on the Mount) 13"You are the salt of the earth. And they knew the boy was too little to see above the wheat and find his own way out, and so the picture showed her in great distress. INTRODUCTION: Matthew 5:14-16 A. What about you? Christ is the light of the world, and I am one of the lights." If you study the Bible, you’ll find that light is related to the knowledge of God. The third picture depicted all the people who had heard of the little boy being lost, gathered in the morning, joining their hands, hand-to-hand, and in a great, long line of humanity, linked only by their hands, sweeping from one end of that wheat field to the next. By the way, natural salt is impure in many cases, and frequently mixed with other chemicals, can become unsalty. Jesus motivated through positive messages of hope and encouragement. O Lord God, may we be salt that is salty and light that is manifest. 26 I have many things to say and to judge about you, but the Father who sent me is truthful, and the things I have heard from him I speak to the world. The character described in the Beatitudes makes it possible for us to affect the world. In the New Testament, our Lord Jesus Christ says, “I am the light of the world. Now to better understand this concept, I told you last time there are four great truths that you need to grip. But in our verse today, he offers a glorious hope—one that you and I especially need after a few weeks like this: “I am the light of the world.” He is the hope for darkened people in a dark world. You certainly don’t light a lamp and stick it under a peck – it’s literally a measure, about a peck-shaped basket. In other words, the salt is the influence of Christian character. He used a shepherd and a couple of stones, that’s all. Jesus himself says … The second picture was of a mother in distress inside her farmhouse in the middle of that wheat field. This is our witness as the silent impact of a godly life. “YOU ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD” IMPLIES SOMETHING ABOUT THE WORLD, 1. You can’t be purity against an impure background, you’re impurity too. Are you the kind of salt that retards the corruption and the kind of light that attracts in the beauty of holiness, as the shining of your goodness and beauty, the power of God released in you, touches the people around you? Registered User This blog examines the words of Jesus Christ in Matthew 5:14-16. Salt and light, Father, a simple message. Listen, Christians, you know what is amazing? All of these statements and so these sermons deal with a most important question: “Who is Jesus?” You know, if we get that question right, most other things are going to take care of themselves. The Jews used to say that Jerusalem was a light to the Gentiles. You just be sinful at work and you’ll lose your reputation. Light is related to the true knowledge of God. That is the reason we live; there is no other reason, but to glorify God. The reason for all of this, people, there’s one single reason that over arches the whole universe. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. But I don’t know that we can push that too far. You see, the point is, God needs your influence; and you are to be salt; and to be salt, you’ve got to stay away from that which corrupts you. You are the light of the world. You’re not going to create a thirst in somebody for God, because there’s nothing there to make them thirsty for what you’ve got; you’re just like them in behavior. The Lord is saying that that’s something we have to do. - Mike Hudgins 1.9.2021 A New Thing - Mike Hudgins 1.2.2021 December 2020 Take Heart! - Mike Hudgins 12.26.2020 Responding to the Lord’s Great Favor - Mike Hudgins 12.19.2020 The little lass looked at him for a moment, and then solemnly said, "Well, sir, I wish you would come down and hang out in our alley, 'cause it's awful dark down there!" Sermon illustrations allow you to take your sermon to the next level. I don’t think two can do it. I just want you to understand that. Secondly, they glorify our Father in heaven. – “light and my salvation.” So the fact is, if you want to know what light is in the Bible, it’s just a comprehensive term referring to all of God’s revelation: the revelation of Himself, of His Word, and of His Son. We’ve got to have the character and the influence before we have a message that is believable. And then the statement “all that enter in” would refer to the Gentiles. And so that kind of salt would lose its capability to salt, and it would become very, very alkaline, very stale, and so forth, and the only thing it was good for was to throw out on the road where people walked on it. The whole political situation was affected, and the great acts of Parliament which were passed in the last century were mostly due to the fact that there were such large numbers of individual Christians found in the land.” End quote. Dr. Robert Murray M’Cheyne was one of the saints in the last century. We’re not Masons in a secret society. You’ve got to live the life. From Matthew 5:14-16. Compare Light of the World from Sermons4Kids; Children’s Sermon (John 1:6-8, 19-28) Light the Way for Jesus’ Coming. “I am the way the truth and the life” (John 14:6). May we let our lights so shine that men may see our good works, and glorify the Father in Heaven. That is good news. Jesus is calling on us, as we saw in our last study, to influence the world for His glory, to find the lost before it’s too late. 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. Verse 14: “You are the light of the world.” And now we move to another thought here. It’s either you are light or you are not light. Now I want to give you these quickly tonight. Our lives have to be different; our relationships have to be different; our homes have to be different. –exposes the darkness and that which darkness hides, c. –exposes the cause of the darkness – evil, 1) When we shine as a light evil will be exposed – and will be see for what it truly is. We are salt and light, but we need to be warned, because if sin enters our lives, and if we don’t walk in the Spirit, then we will stop being effective as salt, and we will be useless as light. The point is conspicuousness. 15 No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. Salt is our moving through the world and affecting it with our very life. – 1 John, chapter 1. Paul wrote, "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God...it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe" (I Cor. Salt and light balance each other in this sense. All truth is summed up in Jesus. Open your Bible now to the eighth chapter of the Gospel of John. And we now can enlighten men, only because God has given us the knowledge of His glory as we’ve seen it in the face of Christ.” So, you see, God passes the light all the way down through us. So just a short while later, when Jesus called Himself the “Light of the world,” it’s no surprise that He was challenged again (John 8:12-13). You’ve claimed Christ, you love Christ. And Jesus is saying that the earth is like a carcass, slowly but relentlessly deteriorating, rotting, and in great need of some power to restrain that corruption, to create a thirst for God, to sting sin’s wound, to flavor life, and to bring purity to some dark and decaying soul. And the Word was God. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.'' And they could be cooled on the hill by the breezes that blew in the day, and they could be more easily defended. And so it’s been all along; we’re the light. Sweep through the field of the world to find all of those who are desperately in need of your influence and your message.”. Bless us tonight, Lord, and fill our hearts with joy as we share together, and also with conviction and insight, we might understand what it really means to be salt and light in the world. You’ve got to live the live, see. Matthew 5:14-16 "You are the light of the world. Download this children's sermon message based on Matthew 3:1-12 that uses a creative object lesson to teach about the role of John the Baptist in pointing people to Christ. You bore the blows that should have been borne by us. This audio sermon and transcript is entitled 'The Light Of The World', and is from the ministry of David Legge, a Christian preacher and Bible teacher from Belfast, Northern Ireland. There’s a wheat field out there, and the wheat is too tall for the people who are lost to see the Father’s house. And so I say with Jesus in John 12:36, “While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” When you believe in Jesus as your precious light, when you follow him as your truth and your wisdom and your way and your beauty, you have his life, you are “a son of light.” You are begotten into the family of light. Can you be salt that is salty? I John 1:7 says if we walk in the light as he is in the light… People who- like tiles of a mosaic- are all different and perhaps even a bit “rough around the edges.” But also people who together do our best to project a beautiful and memorable image of Jesus to our community. Shine! We’ve got to take hands and sweep through the world; and that’s the message that Jesus is giving us right here. Where are you investing your life? Just as in His statement about salt, Jesus implies something about the world it is in darkness, 2. Now those other things aren’t wrong, but they are going to be powerless, unless our lives are what they ought to be. We are salt and we are light to reach the lost with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and this is the vital message contained in our Lord’s words. We are to sting and convict the sinful wound of the world. A magazine once carried a series of pictures, and that series of pictures depicted one of the saddest stories imaginable. God, help us to join hands before its too late for some. There’s no place for a secret disciple; there is no place for a secret Christian. About Us - As a church, we're known for our Mosaic of Jesus, but we're made of people. But there’s been a ruling by a judge somewhere that says a house cannot be used for religious purposes without a permit, even if you own the house. That’s only a negative function. Shine! Notice in verse 13, “Ye we are the salt.” Verse 14: “Ye are the light.” Verse 16: “Let your light so shine.”, What is God’s plan to deal with this darkened, decaying world? You can go to the Dead Sea and just lay flat on your back, and you’ll just bob there; it’s incredible. Amen. Salt is a preservative, an antiseptic, and seasoning, b. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. She had a small boy who had somehow wandered away from the house into that wheat field, and the little fellow was so small that he couldn’t be seen; she couldn’t find him. 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