Transcript
In His great Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives us this unbelievable title, an unbelievable call with these words [Matthew 5:14-16):
You Are the Light of the World
14"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before others, so... they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Now, it's almost unthinkable what Jesus does here. Jesus, according to prophecy, came as the light of the world. He was the light invading darkness, giving light to those living in darkness. And He turns to His followers and He places His name on them and basically saying is, "This light that is Me, I am now extending in you. I'm lighting you so that you can go out wherever, in my sovereignty, I place you and you could be that light."
And then He says what is just logical. If you're a light, the purpose of light is to give light. The purpose of light is to illumine, to drive out darkness. It would make no sense to have a light that you put under a basket that you hide. And so, then He says, "So you go and you let your light shine, so that men may see the good that I have created inside of you [not done yet] and end up giving glory to the Father in heaven."
When Your Light Shines, Something Happens
That's evangelism. That something has happened because your light has shined, something has happened inside of those people that have changed them, so that people who only live for their glory now give glory to the Father in heaven. Pretty exciting stuff.
So I want to talk about the gospel in your neighborhood again. I want to talk about what does it mean to be that light, to get up in the morning and say, "Yes, I'm a husband. Yes, I'm a father. Yes, I'm a worker. Yes, I'm a wife, but I'm a light. I'm part of what Jesus has called the light of the world."
Well, here's the first thing. If you're a parent, know this. Your children are powerful instruments of that light. You know, it's just the fact that if you allow your children to, they will meet their neighbors more quickly than you ever would and there are children that can create wonderful connections.
Do Not Live in Self-Imposed Isolation
Don't live in such fear. Don't live in such self-imposed isolation that you don't take advantage of the instruments that live inside of you. Many of the people that we got to know in our neighborhood, we got to know because of our children. Our children met their children and then because our children had met the children, we met the parents of those children. That's often the way it works.
Go to parks with your kids. Join little league baseball with your kids. Be involved in community activities with your kids and kids will connect with kids. And as kids connect with kids, then kids connect you with families and all of a sudden, you're now in a situation where the light that God has placed inside of you is able to shine in the people around you.
But as you do that, how about selling that vision to your children? How about teaching them this passage? How about laughing at how ridiculous it would be to have a light that you just cover up? You turn it on and then you completely cover up so no light shows.
Giving Your Children a Greater Purpose
How about giving them a greater purpose and just having a great group of friends, help them to realize that they can be part of something bigger and better? It's part of God lighting families so families would go out as light, so people trapped in darkness would see light and in so doing, end up worshiping the Father who is in heaven.
Your kids don't belong to you. Your kids are tools in God's hands and they can create connections that God will use to rescue and transform lives. Don't hide your kids. Don't be so afraid. Don't be so busy. Don't be so isolated that they don't create those connections where light can shine in darkness to the glory of the Father.
