You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. - Matthew 5:14-16 (ESV) "My beliefs are personal."
I've heard this phrase countless times before, and I completely understand why. It's tempting to say this when confronted with both conviction and opportunity - conviction from the light of the gospel exposing the darkness of our hearts, and opportunity to shine the light of the gospel into the darkness of the world. As fleshly, worldly creatures, it's easy for us to justify all of our actions when we make the light of the gospel about salvation for us instead of salvation for the world. If we're not careful, we can totally internalize the power of the gospel and prevent it from making any external changes to our lives. This leads to a shallow, fundamentally broken understanding of grace - that we believe, God saves, and that's it. There's no further action required of us. The problem is that the Holy Word of God was never meant to be strictly personal. Our command is not to merely know the gospel, but to act on it. In a sense, the gospel of Christ is interpersonal - it demands that we actively communicate it when we engage every person. Yes, Christ changes us from the inside, but like cleaning a dirty window in a dark room and setting a lamp behind it, those on the outside will unquestionably notice the change. The Scripture is abundantly clear on this. While many people love to endlessly - and rightly - quote Ephesians 2:8-9 ("For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast"), few quote verse 10 with the same enthusiasm ("For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them"). When Christ works His grace in us, He takes us off of the path of sinful works and places us on His path of righteous works. Salvation will undoubtedly produce good works in our lives. James takes this a step further in the second chapter of his book: "What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?... So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." (James 2:14, 17, ESV) Works are the evidence of salvation; they are not evidence only to ourselves, but to the world around us. Notice the way that Jesus phrases His command in Matthew 5: "Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works." I believe the fact that He commands that we let our lights shine before others before He suggests that they will see our good works is completely intentional. The light comes before works, but the works inevitably follow. He does not say, "Do good works that others see, so that you may find the light," or, "Let your light shine before others, and if you do any good works, make sure others see them." When we have the true light of the gospel of Christ, we will take it with us in all of our endeavors, waving it as our banner, sharing it as our mission. When we submit to that call and mission, good works are absolutely sure to follow. Furthermore, we will not be doing these good works solely to be noticed; we will be doing them out of a sense of devotion to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ - and that's something people will certainly see. Note that there is a significant difference between "good works" and what I would call "not-bad works." Many Christians strive to simply live "not-bad" lifestyles: maybe they avoid swearing too often, they don't use the Lord's name in vain, they don't watch movies or listen to music or partake in activities that they would deem to be wrong or sinful. Taking care how we lead our lives and what we allow into our minds, our hearts, and our mouths is important, but to see that as the end-all, be-all of a holy Christian lifestyle is both short-sighted and dangerous. We are called to do so much more than avoid taking part in evil. We are not pacifists in spiritual warfare, knowing on which side we stand but refusing to take up arms with Christ. His call is clear: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." (Matthew 28:19-20a, ESV) This is the most important and highest priority good work to which we've been called as believers. This is how we shine our light before men. If we take this command seriously and devote our entire lives to fulfilling it, we will certainly be presented with many opportunities to accomplish other good works (giving to the poor, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, loving the unloved and unlovable, etc.), but with the power of the Holy Spirit going with us, we will succeed in walking in the good works that Christ has laid out before us. Pray today that God would help us to shine our lights brightly before men. Pray that He would reveal to us the good works He would have us walk so that we would be effective in sharing the gospel with others and building His kingdom. Pray that we would strive for so much more than a "not-bad lifestyle" that avoids performing evil works but also evades the opportunity to perform good ones as well. Pray, most of all, that He would make us effective witnesses for Him that shine brightly with good works in the midst of this dark world.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Clifton J. Gardner lives in Birmingham, Alabama with his wife, Courtney. He is a Registered Nurse, musician, and writer, as well as an active member of Ezra Baptist Church in Oak Grove, Alabama. Archives
January 2017
Categories |