You are the Light of the World, Created to Glow in the Dark!

Patti Ricotta, Brewster Baptist Church

I am a mother. Yes, that’s what I am. Sally Graham is a gifted teacher of little children, Anna Harper and Bob McKenney are skilled artistic carpenters. That’s what we are at a level that cannot be changed. If the best surgeons in the world operated to remove the “mother-ness” in me, they couldn’t do it, because I’m a mother through and through. If you put Sally Graham in a room with 10 children, all ten of those wee ones will be glued to her in seconds. She has an inner magnetism that draws children to her because that’s how she’s made. If you take a plain old hunk of wood and gave it to Bob or Anna, (point to the sanctuary grills) this is what they could do to it. Why, because that’s what is inside of them.

Body and soul that’s what we are down to the core of our beings.

[powerpress]

What are the characteristics that you think of as being central to your identity? For followers of Jesus, there is something even more fundamental to our being than any of the distinctive characteristics that might be coming to mind. Let me explain. In John 3:5-6  Jesus says, we can’t enter the kingdom of God unless we are born of both water (that’s natural birth) and the spirit, because flesh gives birth to flesh, but it takes the Spirit of God to give birth to our spirit. Our first birth made us who we are body and soul. Our rebirth through faith in Christ makes us who we are at the eternal level of the spirit.

And at the level of the spirit Jesus says you are the light of the world. He didn’t say you are like the light of the world, or you have the light of the world. He said you are the light of the world! That’s what you are! So why, with so many Christians inhabiting the earth, why is the world still so dark?

Today’s Scripture gives us the answer, and tells us what to do about it: it shows us that as the light of the world, you and I were created to glow in the dark!

Let’s look at our passage together:

Mat 5:14-1614 14 “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl, but on the lamp 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.

The Bible often uses light as a metaphor. What is Jesus trying to convey about us when he says we are the light of the world? Think about what light does. Light brings to life things that are dormant, and helps them grow. It penetrates and transforms the darkness. Light makes visible what is already real, but cannot be seen in the dark. It reveals the true shape of things. The light of Christ can do that through us as well.

When Jesus went into a place, crowded with all different kinds of people, he could have seen what we too often see. He could have said, “Oh those kids are punked out. These people are too rich, those too poor; too Democrat or too Republican–in other words Jesus could have seen people who were easy to ignore at best, or easy to criticize at worst.

But instead, when his light shone on the crowds he had nothing but compassion on them because he could see who they really were–harassed and helpless people, like sheep without a shepherd (Mt. 9:35-36). What I see in the Scriptures is that when the light of Jesus fell on people, he didn’t size them up into different categories the way our culture molds us to do. He had two categories and two categories only. He either saw someone who belonged to his family, or someone who belonged in his family, but wasn’t yet. That’s all he saw, end of list! And every move he made was to help those outside his family, find their way in.

Could we do that? Could the light of Christ in us become so powerful that it melts away all our other categories? And every single person we ever see, no matter who they are, is either a person who is already a brother or sister (so I need to treat them so at all times), or a person who I know belongs in the family of God, but isn’t there yet (so I need to do everything in my power to shine a light to the way in. )

But how do we do that?

The Lord talks in this passage about three ways every believer is meant to glow in the dark: we are to glow like a city on a hill–that is, in community with other believers; like a light on a lampstand–through the unique, individual light God has fired up in each one of us; and also, we are to glow in the dark before others in such a way that they see our good deeds and give glory to God because of them.

First, Jesus says, “A city on a hill cannot be hidden.” A city is a community, isn’t it, with lots of houses and storefronts, each one shining warm light through the windows into the darkness at night, beckoning weary travelers to find warmth and safety. This image of the collective light of the world is the church—and like a glowing city on a hill, a community of believers, like us, is meant to be a refuge were lost and confused people can find what they need: the love, truth, courage, hope and acceptance that the family of God offers in community. If you heard Donna Potter’s testimony last week, you saw a beautiful example of BBC as a city on a hill, shining light into her and Sean’s darkest hours.

A city on a hill cannot be hidden if all of its inhabitants are shining the light they have. As a community of believers, we at Brewster Baptist all want to have our lights on, glowing in the dark together. The more light we shine together the further into the darkness we can penetrate.

The second way believers can glow in the dark, is in our own individual lives.

Verse 15 says, “Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.” If you have the light of Christ in you, you did not ignite that fire yourself, did you? Jesus did. What he is saying here is that no one would light the fire of God in you–least of all Christ himself–and then restrict that light from shining! It seems ridiculous to even mention something so irrational as lighting a lamp only to prevent it from functioning. But Jesus knew that hiding the light of God in people, even partially, would be a temptation throughout history, and a tool of Satan to prevent the gospel from spreading.

Are you hiding your light? Are you letting something hide the light of Christ in you? Are we restricting the warmth of the Christ glow in us, just a little bit, so that we mostly shine amongst our “homies” in our own little “holy Huddle”? Or, are we letting our light radiates outward at all times, in every direction, on everyone the way light is truly meant to function? Maybe you are saying, “My light can’t shine. I have issues; I’m handicapped in this way or that; I don’t know the Bible well enough; I’m too young; I’m too old.”

When I was in my middle 20s I knew a woman in her early 90s, named Roxanne. Roxanne was frail, nearly blind, and could hear very little even with both hearing aids turned up. One afternoon I saw Roxanne at the grocery store, and we chatted a bit. But then she abruptly stopped and said, “Oh, Patti, I’d like to keep talking, but I have to go home, it’s almost 5:00.” I wondered what was happening at 5:00 so I said, “Oh is there a program you want to see?” She said, “No, every day I fix my dinner at 5:00 so that I can be finished and ready for prayer by 6:00. Then I pray until lights out at 10:00.”

Four hours of prayer! I must have had a dazed look on my face, because she chuckled at me started to explain.

And what Roxanne, in that grocery store, standing in front of the milk and eggs, I will never forget as long as I live.

She said, “Patti, when my physical abilities started to deteriorate with age, I became despondent. I felt useless and miserable. In fact, I asked God why he would make me keep on living in that condition. But then,” Roxanne said, “he answered me.”

“Roxanne,” the Lord said, “Did I not say that all things work together for good, for those who love me and are called according to my purposes?”

“Well, yes Lord you did,” she answered.

“Well then,” the Lord continued, “now is the time of your greatest, most powerful ministry yet. You know how to pray, and you understand the power of prayer. You can do more now with the time left to you through the power of your prayers than you have ever done in all your earlier years put together, because you are no longer distracted by doing.”

Roxanne said a huge light went on for her and she realized that she didn’t need to see well, or hear well, or run around nimbly–she didn’t even have to feel well in order to pray. She started by letting a few missionaries know she was praying for them. But as soon as word got out that there was a woman in New England who was willing to pray for missionaries, she started getting letters from people all over the world asking her to pray for enormously difficult situations. Her prayer times quickly grew to 4 hours a day, and even that, she said, was not enough.  Then she got many letters telling her how powerfully God had answered her prayers, filling her with more satisfaction of a life well lived than anything else she had ever done.

Well, Roxanne hurried off leaving me standing there in my perfectly healthy “twenty something” year old body, and I realized from her example that because all of us can pray, there will never be a time or a circumstance in my life or any believer’s life when we are not able to powerfully shine the light of Christ into a dark and troubled world. Roxanne was lighting up the darkness all over the globe, and she never left her bedroom. She was not going to let old age or any physical handicaps hide her light. What would happen if we had more people committed to that kind of prayer in our city on a hill? Revival, that’s what would happen!

If you have the light of Christ in you, that’s God’s investment and he knows how to make it grow if we will just take our hands off of whatever it is we are letting cover our light. You are a unique, one of a kind child of God with a mission to be a light in this dark world! He knit you together in your mother’s womb for a purpose and that purpose  lasts until we breathe our very last breath. And as Psalm 139 says, his hand will guide you in that purpose; his right hand will hold you fast. He will hem you in behind and before. If you will sit with him and let your light get charged up through prayer, reading the Word and being in community with other believers, God will show you how and where your light was always meant to shine.

When we shine as the light of the world–glowing in the dark, other people see, God gets the glory, and the kingdom grows! Verse 16 reads, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

But, what exactly does Jesus mean, because he also says, just a few verses later in Mat 6:1, “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before people, to be seen by them…” There is a difference in these two verses and it’s an important one. In 5:16, our good deeds are specifically done to glorify God. In 6:1 Jesus warns against those who are doing acts of righteousness for the purpose of bringing glory to themselves.

An authentic Christian affects people, and a believer without good works is as useless as a lamp that won’t shine! Think about my 10 minute conversation with Roxanne. She was definitely not seeking her own glory when she told me about her 4 hour prayer vigils, but in addition to all the people she prayed for, her good deeds have been an inspiration to me for decades! As we grow in Christ-likeness, and our “good deeds,” imitate his, we draw attention and glory to God.

I want to leave you with a story that I think encompasses all the aspects of our passage today.  It’s got the light of the world–literally, because it happened in Amsterdam on my way to Africa. It’s got BBC as the gleaming city on a hill glowing in the darkness, and it’s got a good deed that brought glory to God.

The Sunday before I left for Africa in 2005, I preached here at both services. At the end of the morning I was handed a very generous check I wasn’t expecting. (OK, this is where all of you, in our “city on a hill” come into the picture. This check is going to be of major “character” in this story, and how do you think I got that check? Because all of you contribute to the ministries of this church. But your light is not only represented in the money. I would not be who I am without the love, truth, hope, courage, and acceptance I’ve found in all of you. In this story, I may be the finger, but you are the hand. This is our story!)

Because I wasn’t expecting this money, I had this tiny wisp of a thought (which I later realized was from the Holy Spirit) “Hummm, maybe God has some use for this on my trip.” So, the next day, I cashed the check and took it with me.

That year I had a 36-hour layover in Amsterdam. I checked into my hotel, went to bed early to sleep away the jet lag, but my phone rang, waking me up. When I answered it I realized the phone was broken, so I thought I should go down to see who called.

When I arrived at the reception desk I could see that at the other end of the long counter there were some people in line to cheek-in, but at the front of the line there were four young Italians who were stranded. I could overhear the conversation with the irritated receptionist who said, “I told you, there is nothing I can do to help you!” They had missed their flight back to Rome and had only five Euros between them. It was a blistering cold twelve degrees outside, and this receptionist was telling them that they would have to leave the hotel and find a place to sleep outside.

I set up a repair for my phone, and started to walk away felling awful. “What were they going to do? Where would they sleep? The wind-chill is minus two!” But “oblivious me” just kept on walking away, until finally, the Holy Spirit said, “Patti!” And it finally it hit me; that’s what the money was for! God knew all along that this was going to happen!

I turned around, went back to the receptionist I had been talking to and quietly told her I wanted to pay for the Italians to have a room for the night, breakfast in the morning and enough cash for a taxi the next day. Guess how much money that was. Yes, exactly the amount of that check! She looked at me with the most surprised expression on her face I believe I have ever seen.

She asked, “Do you know them?”

“No,” I said.

“Then why would you do this?” She asked.

At that moment, I did not feel like I was alone. Holding the money in my hand, you were all there with me. I felt like the person in the Verizon commercial who looks behind her and there’s the Verizon guy with the big glasses and the clip board (that’s Doug), and all the other people behind him were all of you. You were my invisible Network, urging me on!

I said to the receptionist, “I am a Christian, and I believed I was put in the one room with a broken phone because God wanted to wake me up and bring me down to the desk at that exact moment.” I said that God had trusted me to take care of these people because he loves them and did not want them sleep in the cold on the street. I told her I had received money from my church that I wasn’t expecting, and that I realized God had given me the money for this very purpose.

She looked at me and said, “I don’t know any people like this.”

She left me and went to the far end of the counter and told the other receptionist what I wanted to do. The other woman’s angry face melted into a sweet smile as she called me over and explained to the young people what I was going to do, saying, “You have an angel on their shoulder.”

One of the Italians spoke fairly good English and she asked, “Why are you doing this?” I said to her, “I am a Christian. Jesus loves the four of you very much and he doesn’t want you to be out in the cold. Jesus couldn’t be there to take care of you himself, so he trusted me to do it for him.” As the woman translated for her friends, the other women burst into tears. Sobbing, she kissed my cheeks with her wet face. One man hugged me, while the other man took both my hands and between kissing them said, “I believe, I believe!” We hugged each other and said good-bye.

I thought that was the end of it. But a short time later, I went to the hotel restaurant and sat at the counter, because I was too wired and too hungry to sleep. There were three businessmen sitting next to me and the one closest said, “You are a very generous person, aren’t you?” I had no idea who he was or what he was talking about. But then he said, “The three of us were checking in when you paid for those Italian kids. We are Dutch and we heard everything the two receptionists were saying to each other about why you were doing this, and then we heard you tell the Italians. We are Christians too, but we have been sitting here talking about this event, trying to understand it. It would never occur to any of us to do what you did, and we are wondering what is the difference  between your Christianity and ours.” That evening I got to explain to those men the power of the love of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit in a way that did not know existed.

Do you see how together we were the light of the world? Each of you from this city on a hill gave glowing sparks of yourselves into that check, and more importantly, into my life. God transformed all those sparks into a glowing light on a lampstand in a hotel lobby on a cold  Amsterdam night. As a result 4 Italian young people, 2 Dutch receptionists and 3 Dutch businessmen saw the light of Christ in a way they never knew was possible, and that gave glory to God! To top it all off, two of the Italians found me on Facebook and I am going to see them in Rome this spring!

In the beginning, I said that this passage would tell us why the world is so dark and what we can do about it. Jesus said that those who follow him are the light of the world; that’s what we are, and there are millions of us. But I fear that many of us are covering up our light. What this means is that, we–more than anyone else–we are contributing to the darkness in the world! We cannot expect light from people who are lost and without Christ. We are the ones with the light of God, and to the extent we let it shine or we hide it, that is how much light there will be in the world–no more, and no less!

I want to challenge us to make a New Year’s Resolution. “In 2010, I will shine the light of Christ, so that I glow in the dark more than ever before!” That’s too vague, I know, so, make it more specific and let me know what you decided.

Never forget: you are the light of the world–and you are created to glow in the dark.

Let’s pray:

Dear Lord Jesus,

Thank you for investing your light in us at the eternal level of the spirit. If there is anyone who is letting anything or anyone cover up the light of Christ in them, help each one figure out why, and show us how to remedy the situation. When we glow in the dark, it makes us easy to find! So, if there are those who don’t have a church home, I pray that they will move into this city on a hill and glow in the dark together with us. Help us this year to shine more creatively and more powerfully than ever before, both as a church and in our individual lives. Teach us to recognize moments when shining our light will cause others to give glory to you. And Lord Jesus, thank you for letting me be a part of this gleaming, glowing city on a hill called Brewster Baptist. Amen

Share online