What Sort of Light Are We To Be?
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Matthew 5:14-17, 20
14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. 17 Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them…
20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
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The Light of the WORD
If you only take one single thing away from these messages I deliver every week, let it be this: there is no more important passage in the Bible than the Sermon on the Mount. It can be found in Matthew, chapters 5 through 7. If you only read one single passage from the Bible, read this.
The Sermon on the Mount is the purest form of a manifesto of the Christian faith that Jesus gives us in all His teachings. You could read Matthew:5-7 every day for the rest of your life and not ever get to the point where you stop being able to learn from it. That’s a promise.
The Sermon on the Mount starts with something called “The Beatitudes,” or “Blessings.” These blessings sum up Jesus' teaching about what it means to live as a child of God's kingdom. Just to give you a reminder, here are a few of these, from Matthew 5:4-7:
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the Earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”
You’ll notice that each of these statements turns something on its head. For example: who are the meek? Meek is defined as “quiet, gentle, submissive.” Sounds like the type of people who don’t stand to inherit much in this world. Yet Jesus says they’ll inherit the ENTIRE world.
Who are those who show mercy? Mercy is defined as “compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm.” Sounds like the sort of person who gets walked all over in this life. Yet Jesus tells us they’ll be shown mercy.
You see, Jesus introduces this sermon – His greatest single teaching, in my opinion – by letting us know fully, directly what He is about. And what Jesus is teaching us He is about is an upside-down, inside-out version of this world. Remember Opposite Day in grade school?
Jesus teaches us that TO FORGIVE is TO BE FORGIVEN. He teaches us that to GIVE AWAY OUR MONEY charitably is TO GAIN RICHES. He teaches us that to SERVE OTHER PEOPLE is the way to HAPPINESS FOR OURSELVES. And we’re told that to DIE is to gain ETERNAL LIFE.
I love these apparent contradictions, because they are evidence to me of just how far beyond our tiny, human-sized understanding Jesus’ wisdom truly lies. So when I find these apparently contradictory passages reading the Gospels, I perk up. I pay attention more closely.
This is what Jesus is calling us to do with the way He starts the Sermon on the Mount. “Things are not what you expect, dear followers, so pay attention. I’m going to teach you quite a few things that will seem, at first, the opposite of what you expect. My world is not like yours.”
Nor should our world be like that of Jesus. We live in sin. We live after the fall. We live after the Tree of Knowledge. After the Tree of Knowledge, we have something terrifying: the capacity to delude ourselves into thinking that we, not God, are in charge.
THIS WORLD IS A WORLD IN WHICH WE HUMANS CAN FOOL OURSELVES INTO THINKING WE HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS. THAT WE KNOW WHAT’S BEST. WE LOOK AROUND AND SEE THE WORLD AS WE THINK WE HUMANS HAVE MADE IT, NOT AS A GIFT FROM GOD.
We see our cities and our indoor plumbing and all the plunder we take home from the shops after payday and we look around at our stuff and our lives and we fool ourselves into thinking “LOOK AT ALL THESE BLESSINGS THAT I HAVE CREATED! THAT I HAVE GIVEN MYSELF!”
I HAVE SAID THIS BEFORE AND I’LL SAY IT AGAIN NOW: MY VERSION OF HELL IS A PLACE WHERE I GET WHATEVER I THINK I WANT. IN FACT, THIS IS A WORLD I SPENT A GOOD DEAL OF MY ADULT LIFE LIVING IN DURING MY DPSW, MY DARK PERIOD OF SELF-WILL.
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The Light of the WORLD
So at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, immediately following these Beatitudes – this sort of upside-down logic Jesus warns us will be the world we’re stepping into when we follow Him — we find today’s scripture passage. “You are the light of the world.”
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.”
This translation reads people don’t light a lamp and put it under a “bowl.” But I think something is lost in using the word “bowl.” In the original Greek, this word is “μόδιον (modion),” which means “a basket used for measuring.”
More traditional translations use the word “bushel,” here instead of “bowl.” This is much closer to the original Greek. Because a bushel, also, was a basket used to measure. A measuring basket. Why does Jesus tell us not to light our lamps and put them under a measuring basket?
THERE ARE AT LEAST THREE TEACHINGS FROM THIS PASSAGE ABOUT NOT HIDING OUR LIGHT. The first teaching, of course, is about the way righteousness shines through us from God’s grace. When we live in the light of God’s grace, that grace shines through us.
Ephesians 5:8-10 “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth).” This verse doesn’t say “you now live IN the light.” It reads “you ARE light.”
THIS IS THE FIRST TEACHING FROM THIS PASSAGE: AS GOD’S GRACE SHINES THROUGH YOU, SHARE IT WITH OTHERS. LET IT SHINE. DON’T HIDE IT AWAY AND KEEP IT TO YOURSELF. IT WAS A GIFT TO YOU TO START WITH. IT IS ONLY RIGHT TO SHARE IT.
The second teaching is related to the first. At the time this was written, a home was lit entirely by oil lamps. And fire was nowhere near as easy to spark as it is today. So one needed to keep at least one oil lamp lit.
So when you left your home back in New Testament days, you would extinguish your lamps all around the house, so that the place didn’t burn down while you were away. But you would keep one lamp lit, and that lamp you wanted to be sure didn’t go out.
When you got home, you could light all the other lamps in the house from that one lamp. THIS IS THE SECOND TEACHING FROM THIS PASSAGE. “YOU ARE THE LAMP OF THE WORLD, AND THAT LAMP CAN LIGHT ALL THOSE LAMPS AROUND YOU AS WELL AS YOUR OWN.”
So the first teaching is about being a light to others. The second teaching is about being able to use our own lights to start the lights of others. What’s with this word ““μόδιον (modion),” then? Remember, it means not just ANY basket, but a basket used TO MEASURE.
This is the third teaching from this passage. GIVE THE LIGHT OF YOURSELF BEYOND MEASURE. LET THE LIGHT CONTINUE TO SHINE. WHEN YOU FEEL OUT OF OIL IN YOUR LAMP, RELY ON LETTING THE LIGHT OF GOD SHINE THROUGH YOU.
WE ARE CALLED TO LET OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS ILLUMINATE THE PATHS OF OTHERS, JUST AS THAT OF CHRIST HAS ILLUMINATED OUR OWN. AND WE ARE CALLED TO LET OUR LIGHT SHINE BEYOND MEASURE. BECAUSE WE CAN IGNITE OTHERS’ LAMPS TOO.
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Are We Spotlights? Police Flashlights?
Being the light of the word out in the world has its challenges. We are only human, after all. We strive to be more like Christ, but in practice we fail over and over again. So I’d like to take a moment to share a few warnings from my own personal experience.
The first way we can get the whole “be the light of the world” thing wrong is by thinking the light of God that shines through us is somehow the result of our own effort. We turn the light – this light we are supposed to be shining out to light the paths of others – on ourselves.
THE FIRST WAY WE GET “BE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD” WRONG IS BY SHINING THE LIGHT ONTO OURSELVES. LIKE A STAGE SPOTLIGHT IN A PLAY. “LOOK AT ME! I AM SO RIGHTEOUS! I HAVE THE LIGHT OF GOD! IT SHINES, CAN YOU SEE, EVERYONE?”
I think it’s pretty clear how this way to mistake “be the light of the world” is all about Self-Will. This is fully a Tree of Knowledge situation. Genesis 3:22, “and the Lord God said, ‘The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil.’”
We can recognize good, and we can recognize evil, and we fall victim to becoming a spotlight when we think WE ARE GOOD, BUT THE WORLD IS BAD. Because our first instinct when we do something BAD is to blame the world. “Those lousy bums the Browns – THEY LOST again!”
But when we do good, we tend to reflect that back onto ourselves. “The Browns did great this weekend; WE WON!” So we look around at the world, and we see the evil of sin all around us. And we see that we are somewhat better than average, somewhat more good. We take credit.
“But Pete,” you might say. “I deserve God’s grace!” “Why?” I might ask. “Because I believe in God, for one thing.” James chapter 2: “even the demons believe in God, and shudder.” “But Pete, I follow all the rules!” “That’s an excellent start, but with Jesus there is more than Law.”
“But Pete, I have faith! I believe in Jesus!” “And that is excellent. You believe the truth. But where does your faith come from?” Ephesians chapter 2:8 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and THIS IS NOT FROM YOURSELVES, it is the gift of God…”
“Fine. It is all a gift. My ability to have faith AT ALL is a gift. I don’t deserve it. But I’m allowed to be PROUD of it, right?” Ephesians chapter 2:9 “...SO THAT NO ONE CAN BOAST.” Paul teaches us in 2 Corinthians, 12:9, “I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses.”
And Paul goes on in 2 Corinthians, 12:9 “...so that Christ's power may rest on me.” There is no way in which our trying to be the light of the world can be about ourselves. THE LIGHT OF CHRIST LIVES IN THE DOMAIN OF HUMILITY. PERIOD.
Here is the second way we can get “be the light of the world” wrong. If you’ve ever been pulled over while driving, you know how the scene unfolds. First, you see the flashing lights of the police cruiser behind you. Then you wait for the officer to walk up towards your window.
If you’re anything like me, you’re trying to think of a reasonable excuse for why, exactly, you WERE driving 80 miles per hour in a 65 mile per hour zone, when suddenly, you get the police flashlight in your eyes. You say “good evening, officer,” and then BAM! That light!
Why do police shine their flashlights in your eyes? They are out on the roads to keep us safe – safe, I might add, from idiot preachers like me, in a hurry to get somewhere, who drive 80 miles per hour when they should be driving 65.
Police shine their lights on us because they want to gain some knowledge about what is really going on. “Hello there. Do you know how fast you were doing just now?” Then BAM! “Oy vey, take it easy with the light, officer!”
The officer needs to gain some understanding of the situation, you see. Do his pupils dilate? Is his face flushed? Is he having trouble focusing his eyes on things? The police officer shines the light because they need to understand, because they need to judge.
Sometimes, we shine our light on the world like this. THE SECOND WAY WE GET “BE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD” WRONG IS BY SHINING THE LIGHT ONTO OTHERS IN A JUDGING WAY. LIKE A POLICE FLASHLIGHT. “THIS PERSON IS DOING WRONG OVER HERE!”
Like the mistake of turning the light of the world into a spotlight on yourself, this way of getting “be the light of the world” wrong is entirely based on Self-Will. It’s based on taking credit for a gift God gave you, through grace, that you did nothing to deserve or merit.
“But Pete,” you might say. “This person over here really IS doing wrong! They sin, and their sinful behavior offends me.” “That is good. It is holy to be offended by sin, and to not want to commit it yourself. But we, also, are sinners, aren’t we?”
“Well yes, you and I WERE sinners, but we sin less now that we’ve found Christ.” “That is true. We have been given – and we have accepted – the gift of grace. So all we really did was accept a gift. Are you saying we should be praised for saying yes to a gift we were offered?”
“But Pete: I AM SIMPLY BETTER THAN THESE SINNERS OVER HERE!” To that I would remind us of the Gospels. WHAT DOES OUR OWN SALVATION HAVE TO DO WITH THE SINS OF OTHER PEOPLE? NOTHING. BUT IT HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH WHETHER WE JUDGE.
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Calling People OUT vs Calling People IN
Let’s flip ahead a few pages in the Sermon on the Mount and consider a relevant passage from chapter 7:1-6. “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?
You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Oh boy. When we consider this teaching of Jesus, it becomes much more clear just what sort of “light of the world” we are called to be.
WE ARE CALLED TO BE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. TO LET THE LIGHT OF GOD SHINE THROUGH US. TO LIGHT THE WAY FOR OTHERS. TO IGNITE THEIR FLAMES FROM OUR OWN, WHICH WAS FIRST LIT FROM CHRIST, NOT OURSELVES.
WHEN WE FAIL TO SEE THIS LIGHT AS A GIFT, WE MISUSE THAT LIGHT – THE LIGHT OF CHRIST – AS A SPOTLIGHT ON OURSELVES AND OUR OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS, OR AS A POLICE LIGHT TO JUDGE THE SINS OF OTHERS.
“But Pete,” you might say, “it’s not simply that God allows us to accept the gift of His grace and become more righteous as a result. God also brings punishment on the wicked. So why can’t I do the same as God? What about Romans chapter 1?”
Ah, yes. Romans chapter 1:18-32, a section titled in the NIV Bible as “God’s Wrath Against Sinful Humanity.” This is a favorite passage of Flashlight Christians: those who seem to come to church every Sunday to hear only about the sins of everyone else.
Here are a few choice quotes from this rather long passage. “the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness (verse 19).”
“Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another (verses 26-27).”
“God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice (verses 28-29).”
Then follows a long list of other acts committed among these evil people: “envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossip, slander, God-hating, insolence, arrogance and boastfulness.” Further we are told “they invent ways of doing evil.” They are so evil they invent new ways of doing it!
This passage from Romans 1 is a pretty bonkers passage. I have come across it many, many times. It’s used in the sermons I watch of other pastors across America, on seemingly a weekly basis. The past two weeks, I’ve read over this passage dozens and dozens of times.
My understanding of this passage centers around asking first WHY HAS THIS WRATH OF GOD COME, and also WHAT IS THIS WRATH OF GOD? We are told the wrath of God has come “because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie.”
“They worshiped and served CREATED THINGS RATHER THAN THE CREATOR.” This seems a lot like Self-Will to me. “Look at this thing people created! We have blessed ourselves!” “But didn’t you just rearrange gifts God gave you?” “Yeah, but… Look at the house I built!”
Likewise, this seems to me to be the answer to what this wrath of God is. It’s Self-Will. Paul is more or less telling us “those who ignore God, and don’t accept the gift of His grace, and believe they have blessed themselves, will live in Self-Will, and Self-Will is really, really bad.”
I’m reminded of something CS Lewis wrote in his fabulous book THE GREAT DIVORCE. “There are only two kinds of people - those who say ‘Thy will be done’ to God, or those to whom God in the end says, ‘Thy will be done’” (pages 81-82 in my edition).
Romans 1 to me is about God saying to those who know about but refuse to accept the gift of His grace: fine, have it your way. The wrath of God in this passage comes about because of Self-Will, and is in fact to leave us in Self-Will. “Fine. If you want to willingly ignore the truth.”
But as I was reading this passage from Romans 1 over and over, I was struck by something I have never once heard a Flashlight Christian mention in one of their sermons about it. Perhaps they just stopped reading after the passage about all the sin.
Because IMMEDIATELY AFTER THIS PASSAGE IN ROMANS 1, CHAPTER 2 READS: “You have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.
Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment?
Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?” This is from Romans 2:1-4, immediately following the passage above from Romans chapter 1.
“...DO YOU SHOW CONTEMPT FOR THE RICHES OF HIS KINDNESS.” Do you think that your own righteousness is NOT a direct result of the grace of God? Have you taken a gift from God Himself and gone and boasted about it to others, as though it weren’t a gift to start with?
PASSING JUDGMENT ON OTHERS IS A FORM OF SELF-WILL RUN RAMPANT. QUOTING ABOVE, “GOD’S JUDGMENT IS BASED ON TRUTH.” ONLY GOD KNOWS THE FULL TRUTH, SO ONLY GOD CAN JUDGE. ANY ACT OF JUDGMENT IS SELF-WILL. IT’S PLAYING GOD.
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Fruits of Unity, or Fruits of Division?
Let’s go back to the verse I quoted earlier from Ephesians. Ephesians 5:8-10 “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth).”
“THE FRUIT OF THE LIGHT CONSISTS IN ALL GOODNESS, RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND TRUTH.” WE ARE TAUGHT WE WILL KNOW OUR FAITH BY THE FRUIT IT BEARS. AND I ASK YOU: WHAT BAD FRUIT CAN BE BORN FROM LOVE?
AND WHAT GOOD FRUIT CAN BE BORN FROM JUDGMENT? NOTE THAT I DID NOT ASK “WHAT GOOD FRUIT CAN BE BORN FROM UNDERSTANDING?” Understanding can be done from a place of love. From a place of compassion. From a place of empathy.
Judgment, on the other hand, assumes you can fully grasp, apprehend, and therefore evaluate something. You must know much about a person to judge them. THERE IS A VERY CLEAR, VERY IMPORTANT DISTINCTION BETWEEN UNDERSTANDING AND JUDGMENT.
UNDERSTANDING SOMETHING CAN BE DONE IN LOVE. THAT IS WHAT WE CALL “COMPASSION” OR “EMPATHY.” JUDGING SOMETHING PUSHES YOU AWAY FROM WHAT YOU JUDGE, WHEREAS UNDERSTANDING DRAWS YOU CLOSER.
If the way we handle the behavior of others calls them IN, and it’s done out of LOVE, the fruits of our faith are UNITY, and that is RIGHTEOUS. If the way we handle the behavior of others calls them OUT, and it’s done out of JUDGMENT, the fruits of our faith are DIVISION.
THERE IS NO HATE WITHOUT DIVISION. HATE CHEERS DIVISION. LOVE MOURNS DIVISION. LOVE SEEKS UNITY. Love encounters and engages with the world through curiosity, understanding, compassion, and empathy. Hate wants to judge it and move on.
