GO LIGHT UP YOUR WORLD
In Matthew 5:14 Jesus said ‘You are the light of the World’.
You are called to be a Christ Light
And I mean really called, in a special way, in the sense that you are chosen.
If we ever host the Olympic Games, we would need to do some careful planning. One of the
traditional events building up to the climax of the Games, is the sending of the Olympic
Torch through the participating countries around the world. I love watching news flashes
which show the runners bearing the Olympic torch from city to city. The anticipation builds
up as that torch comes closer and closer to our city where the Olympic flame will be lit.
Those Olympic torch bearers are specially chosen from among the Idols of the athletic
world. In the same way you are specially chosen to be the torch bearer for Christ.
Can you remember who gave you the light of Christ? Who handed over the torch to you?
Was it a friend or a parent? Was it a Sunday school teacher or a Priest? Perhaps you had a
special word from a stranger in a moment of darkness. Or perhaps it came from the Word
itself. John Bunyan was converted in prison through the Word that he read that brought
him the Light of Christ.
And to whom will you pass the light of Christ? Will you be a torch bearer to a friend? And
what about your children? Who is going to pass the light onto them? And what about that
person at work who is having a hard time? Have they been in your thoughts and have they
weighed on your conscience? Is it possible that the Holy Spirit is nudging you to pass on the
flame of the love of Jesus?
You are defined as a Christ Light
Not only are you called to be a Christ Light, but the Word of God defines you as a Christ
Light. I read that Pope Francis, in addressing a congregation in St Peters Square one
Sunday, spoke of the light of Christ in this lovely way:- He said that Christians should be
“luminous people who carry the Light of Christ wherever they go”. His words were:“We must carry the light of Christ with a genuine Love. The Christian must be a luminous
person who carries the light … that is not his own but a gift of God, a gift of Jesus. If a
Christian loses this light, his life does not make sense. He is a Christian in name only.”
You are defined as a Christ Light.
In fact, we must be clear that you don’t have to be a special kind of person to be a Christ
Light. Some of Jesus’ disciples were mere fishermen. Some of them had intellectual
promise. St Luke was known as a physician and obviously better educated which we see by
the quality of the Greek with which he wrote his Gospel and the book of Acts. St Paul could
be classified not only a Rabbi, but a Philosopher. They were a mixed bag of personalities
and a mixture of intellectual achievements. None of those things placed any one of them
above the other. Jesus called them with an equal calling and Jesus sent them into the world
with an equal mandate. To all His followers, regardless of status, education, personality and
flaws in their characters, He said, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in
the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey
everything I have commanded you.”
He does not call you because you have any particular attributes which distinguish you from
someone else and makes you more special than the other. He calls you because He has
defined you as His Torch Bearer to the world.
You are the indispensable Christ Light
Not only are you called and defined as a Christ Light, you are the indispensable light of
Christ.
It is no accident that the verses about being the Salt of the Earth and the Light that lights
the World immediately follow the Beatitudes in Matthew 5. The Beatitudes are sayings that
form a foundation upon which the rest of the Sermon on the Mount is built. They are the
summarised essence of the teachings that follow them. The elements of the Sermon on the
Mount are well expounded in the Light of the Beatitudes.
And so we may say the following about being the Light of the World:Where the poor in Spirit are uplifted,
where those who mourn are comforted,
where meekness prevails,
where the spiritually hungry are filled,
where mercy is shown,
where the pure in heart point to God,
where peace is made,
where persecution for His sake is suffered,
is where a candle is lit for Christ.
Who says it is easy to be the Light?
Surely it is not possible without the mindset of Jesus himself.
In John 1, we are reminded that,
“In Him was Life and the Life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness but the
darkness has not understood it”.
We know that John is right. Darkness does not understand Light. Darkness despises and
rejects Light. The Bearers of Darkness will persecute the Bearers of Light. The forces of
Darkness persecuted the Light of the World and crucified Him.
But at the very deepest level of the mind of Christ, lies this immense truth – He was driven
by Love. Again it is John in the 4th chapter of his first letter who tell us :“This is how God showed His love among us. He sent His one and only Son into the World
that we might live through Him”.
It is the driving, penetrating and determined Love of God that calls you and defines you and
depends on you to be His Light.
So the Spirit says to me, “Will you be driven by the same Love?”
Now go and Light up your world.