Shining Bright As the Light of This World - Matthew 5:14

Does your face shine with the glory of God? Have you got such a faith in God that strangers who need answers to their needs come to you? Are you spreading the light and purity of God in your walk before men? Are you a city set on a hill so that for miles and miles people can see you shining bright?

OUR TEXT

Matthew 5:14 (New King James Version) - 14 "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.

Imagine that you were walking and walking for say fifty or a hundred miles on the promise that there is a town that is going to be up ahead where people will give you a meal and a bed and some love. Imagine you come through a deep valley and suddenly you see a a bright light on the top of the next big rise. As you get closer to it, it is shining brighter and your finally get real happy as soon you will have something to drink for your parched throat, and some food to fill your stomach as you have not eaten for three days, and a bed out of the cold to sleep in.

How great would be your sorrow then, when you arrive, no one in the city wants to feed you a nice meal, and no one wants to give you a drink and no person wants to give you a bed and the person who told you about this city was wrong about it?

Do you know that the poor homeless live that scenario a few hundred times a night. They don't ask every single person that passes them for money, they only ask people that look to them might have a compassionate heart. And do you know what most Christians do that I know of when they are asked? They say "no, I have no spare change."

Let me share a secret with you. The closer you are to Christ in your relationship, the more your face shines and a homeless person can come into a restaurant with a hundred people and only ask one person and that person be you?

Do you know I can watch a person standing 100 feet in front of me and person after person go past them, and yet when I go to pass, they ask me for directions? Do you know that, they pick me as I some how seem to look to them as a person that would be helpful and who would know the answer.

Jesus said that we are all to shine with his light. Our Christian faith should be so evident to people that are not saved through the way we deal with people, and through our works of mercy and love, that we are like that city on a hill that can been seen from many miles away.

The way to really shine folks, is to obey the teachings of Jesus. Jesus didn't just come to die on a cross for us, he came to show us what we need to do if we are to be righteous Christians. He spelled a lot of it out in this sermon on the mount that we are going through.

Not giving to poor people who ask you for money is disobeying Jesus. We will get to that command later in this series, but suffice to say here is the fact that the reason why you get asked a lot for money is that they see your face shining and think you are a kind person. But a doctrine of man says that we should not give a drinker or heroin addict money as we might kill them. We have created our own reason not to give, but our reason makes us disobey Jesus.

The way to become a great light of the world is found in denying yourself, taking up your cross and obeying Jesus in all he taught we should do. We are to do all the things he taught us to do, and we are not to do all the things that he said we should not do.

When you live the sermon on the mount, you really are a great light in the world, and you will be the only one a poor person picks out of a hundred when he only needs two more dollars.

If you chose to live a radical sold out life for Jesus and start to obey the teachings and commands Jesus had, then people will mock you and revile you and persecute you for the righteousness in your life. People who have been taught doctrines of men and doctrines of demons in the church will always rise up against you.

If you have enjoyed my article you can read the book "The parables of Jesus made simple" for free here in its entirety or just selected parables in chapters at http://www.parables-of-jesus-christ.net/ The book will be published in book form in January 2011