SHINE
September 27, 2015 morning service
Matthew 5:14-16
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does
anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to
all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may
see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”1
Jesus said we are the light of the world. We live in a dark place. It needs light.
You are it.
Father, I pray today and thank You for You being the illuminary and I thank You
that You have shone into our hearts and that You have chosen us as Your lamps.
Forgive us where we do not shine and today give us courage to lift our lamp and be the
light of the world. Illuminate this text and set us on fire, I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
You’re finding your place in Matthew’s gospel chapter 5, verses 14, 15, and 16
that I’ve just read. Last week we used the metaphor, you’re the salt of the earth. Jesus
turns today and says, “You are the light of the world.” Last week, what does it take to
be salty? This week, we are to shine. Salt and Shine.
Our liberal friends love these two metaphors of Jesus, salt and light, light and salt
because it speaks of going into a world and being difference makers, touching the poor,
raising up the least, helping the down and out, taking from those that have and
encouraging them to give to others. But there’s a second side to this coin. Not only is
there the work side, there is the truth side and we dare not forget one without the other.
So this morning we come to look at light. Shine. You are it. Jesus does not
have another plan. In your office, in your home, in your community, in your school,
you’re the plan. If the light’s going to shine, you’re it. We are it.
Let’s read that first phrase all together. You are the light of the world. Now let’s
read it differently. Instead of you, let’s put the word “I” there. Let’s read it that way.
Here we go. I am the light of the world. Let’s read it differently. Let’s read it with “we”
in there this time, alright? Here we go. We are the light of the world. You are the light.
We are the light. I am the light. Jesus is putting it on us individually, collectively as a
church, as a body, as believers, and we are to shine.
Jesus said in John’s gospel chapter 9 in verse 5, he said: “While I am in the
world, I am the Light of the world.” But Jesus is not in the world any longer, not in an
incarnational bodily form. He is now at the right hand of the Father. While He was here
He said, “I’m the Light of the world,” but He has lived and died and risen and now He
1
®
Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible , Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963,
1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
says, “You are the light.” You say, “Pastor, that’s a pitiful plan. I’m not much.” Well I
agree. We’re not much until we understand who is in us and illuminating through us.
We then become the light of the world. We are the manifestation of God’s illumination
on the earth.
If God’s got a light on the earth, we’re it individually, collectively, ecclesiastically
is the church. We are the light of the world. If we are and when Christian light shines,
this text tells us many things but I want to show you three truths out of this text about
Christian lights shining. So let’s jump in and let’s see it.
Number one. When Christian lights shine, they are conspicuous. Jesus said,
“You’re the light of the world and a city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” We’re
conspicuous. The light is meant to be seen. The moment one professes Jesus Christ
as His Savior and as His Lord, He becomes conspicuous. If you’re a Christian at
Ransom Middle School, you’re to be conspicuous. If you’re a Christian at West Florida
High School, you’re to be conspicuous. If you’re a Christian working at Gulf Power of all
places, bless God, you ought to let your light shine. You ought to be conspicuous.
If you work in an office, if you have your own business, you are meant to be
seen. Jesus said, “A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” We are to be watched,
judged, analyzed, scrutinized. Friend, if you profess faith in Christ, you’ll be all of those
things. People are watching. They’re looking. They’re analyzing. They’re scrutinizing
your life. Let your light shine.
Never will I forget my second trip to the nation Israel. The first time I went I was
a college student and 15 of us went and it was a great three weeks but it was a different
kind of trip. The first time I took a team, a group from a church in Texas, I will never
forget walking by the Sea of Galilee late, late into the evening. It was well after dark
and we’re walking by the Sea of Galilee right there almost at sea level and the Sea of
Galilee is low and there are mountains all around the Sea of Galilee. If you look to the
north, of course, you find that great mountain where the water comes down that
supplies the flow into the Galilee and into the Jordan River and down into the Dead Sea.
We stopped and our guide said, “Look.” We all turned to the left. I’ll never forget
it. Way up here on the side of the hill, on the mountain, it was like a campfire that was
burning in embers and he quoted this verse. He said to us, “Jesus said these words, ‘A
city set on a hill cannot be hidden. It’s conspicuous.’”
You can reverse that. If you ever fly into Pensacola, you come from Atlanta,
you’re flying in and you’re up over central Georgia and Alabama and you don’t see
much but as you get down and just cross Crestview and get over toward Milton, then all
of a sudden there are little flickers of light and as you move into Pensacola and you get
lower and lower, you see the city. Lights are everywhere. You fly to Chicago or Los
Angeles or, of course, New York City, then our little town dwarfs but the principle is the
same. You can’t hide a city. There it is. But if you take that city and put it on a
mountain, you cannot hide it because a city set on a hill cannot be hidden. You are to
2 be conspicuous. You are to be seen, watched, judged, analyzed, scrutinized. Light it
up. Light it up. Let your light shine. You are to be seen.
Also as you are conspicuous, this light is a guide. It is a guide. You take a light
and it guides. My wife will go out at night to put things – she’ll say, “Will you come with
me?” and I’ll say, “Yeah.” I’ll take a light and I’ll show the way. Thy word is a map unto
my feet. She doesn’t want me looking up in the trees. A guide. Show me the way.
If you’ve been on an airplane lately and they always start before you back out, a
man or a woman comes out and they’ve got things in their hand and they’re standing
there and someone begins to make an announcement and says, “There are two exits at
the front and two exits at the back and two over each wing. If air pressure drops, a bag
will fall out and you put it on your face first and then put it on the child or another second
and if we have a water crash landing, there’ll be a raft.” They show you how to paddle
and all that you need to do. I’m thinking, ain’t nobody going to do none of this, I’m just
telling you. But then he or she always says, “White lights lead to red lights and red
lights lead to an exit and there you can jump off. Alright? In case we have trouble,
white lights lead to red lights and red lights lead to an exit.”
Friend, that’s the job of the believer. We are to guide. White to red to the exit.
We are to show people the way to Christ and the way to the exit of this world. It is our
job. Light it up. Romans 2:19 says that we are to be a guide to the blind and a light to
those who are in darkness. We are to light the way. Light the way.
That’s why the second Sunday of October is going to be “I love my community.” I
love my community month and we’re asking your small group and your small group and
everyone’s small group, we’re asking you to get a project. We’re not having church on
Sunday night. We’re going to go out and serve the community. We’re going to light it
up. It’s our job. We’re going to pick up trash. We’re going to sweep floors. We’re
going to build buildings. We’re going to paint garages. We’re going to clean up
cemeteries. We’re going to help schools. We’re going. Your small group’s going.
Why? Because we are to be a guide. We are to show the way.
We’re conspicuous. We’re to be seen. We are a guide but a light is also a
warning. Philippians 2:15 gives us the word of God about our giving this warning to the
world: so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God
above reproach in the midst [there it is, we’re in the middle] of a crooked and perverse
generation, among whom you appear as [what?] lights in the world.
We’re to be seen, we are to guide, but we are to warn. We’re to warn a crooked
and a perverse generation. That’s the wrong way. Does your check engine light ever
come on, that warning light? Some of you may have seen as I posted on my Twitter
account and Facebook this week. I got up Tuesday morning and went out to get in my
car, cranked it. I backed out of the garage and I said, “Man, something feels funny.” I
jumped out and the back left tire was completely flat. So I just pulled back in and said,
“I’ll get to it later.” I ran in and told Liz, “I need your car to go to staff meeting.” I
3 grabbed the keys and went out. Her battery was dead. So I got a flat on one car and a
dead battery on the other. So she said, “No.” I said, “Yeah.” We had a big laugh.
That’s all you could do is laugh. I mean, we just said, “It’ll be alright.”
So I went and got my hot box. I went all over this town all day until I could get to
a battery store. Every time I needed to crank her car, I’d throw up the hood, put that
thing on there and crank it up and get it off. I was running around like a madman all day
long. I came back and got ready to fix my car. I went in and turned the key on my car
and it lit up in there. Do you know what it told me? It told me I had a tire that was low.
If I’d have had a gun, I’d have shot that light out of that car. I’m just telling you, I would.
It was a warning light.
Then you get a new tire and you put it on and it’s still on because you can’t get it
to go off until you push this and turn this and put your foot up here on that and put
another foot up here under the dashboard and you hold all of those buttons down for
four seconds or more, according to page 847 in that manual that’s in the car. And it still
won’t go off. Why? It’s a warning light. You’ve got to fix something to get it to change.
Church, we are a warning light. We must say to this world, “That’s the wrong
way. Don’t go there.” This is the right way. Go there. Verse 15, Jesus said, “You’re to
be conspicuous. You don’t light a lamp and put it under a basket.” The King James
says what? “Don’t put it under a bushel.” On Sand Mountain you don’t put it under a
bushel basket. Amen? That’s where I grew up. They said, “Somebody get me a
bushel basket.”
This is such a plain, sophomoric illustration but I read something from Alexander
Maclaren this week that put a new perspective. Now think about it. The lamp is a little
earthenware vessel that you pour oil in and then you put a wick out here on the side of
it. It has a spout and you lay the wick and you light the wick and it runs into the oil and
the oil goes through the wick and lights the lamp for you. He said, “You don’t take a
lamp and put it under a bushel.” You don’t hide that. You can’t. Maclaren said one of
two things will happen if you put a bushel, a bushel basket over the lamp. Number one,
the light can go out.
Some of you have been hiding your light so long, you don’t even know if you’ve
got one. You’ve been hiding it so long. Every time you cover up. Christian? No, no.
You put that basket up. If you put it over there long enough, you’ll believe you don’t
even have a light and your light will not be conspicuous. It’ll be absent but Maclaren
said another thing. He said, “Not only can it put,” he said, “the light can burn up the
basket.” Amen.
There are some people in this world that when you light your light, they want to
put their basket on your light and they say, “Shh, you can’t talk about that here so we’re
going to put a basket on your light.” The light will burn the basket. Glory to God, we
need some basket burning going on in our culture because we are not conspicuous.
We are to be seen, we’re to guide, we’re to warn because we are the light of the world.
4 Number two. When Christian lights shine not only are they conspicuous,
secondly, they are candescent. I put in my phone this week, “Siri, tell me the difference
in candescent and incandescent.” She couldn’t get it. So I went old school to a big, fat
dictionary. Candescent means to glow with heat, to be white hot. Jesus says, “You do
not light a lamp.” Again, it’s that little earthen lamp with oil in it with the wick. You don’t
light one of those and put it under a basket. You see, in ancient times the lamp was
with oil. Hear me. Behind every light is a fire.
Look at all these lights. How do we get these lights? There’s a fire burning. Just
go out and look. Look up toward the plant. Rick Parker who used to be on our staff, his
kids always, they’d look at two of the big smoke stacks. The third one was out there but
the two there because smoke would come out of one and the lights, they’d call them
Stinky and Blinky. Let me tell you, if Stinky ain’t stinkin’ and Blinky and blinkin’, these
lights ain’t burnin’. They’ve got government regulations and they’ve got scrubbers and
they’re cleaning that air and they’re cleaning that coal and all that stuff so that it’s better
for the environment and I get all that but, trust me, you don’t have light without fire.
I’ve asked several people about this, this week. I’ve asked several smart people
about this and I asked some other people too. There were different illustrations of it and
we talked about nuclear reactors. It may not be fire but there’s something hot behind
lights. There’s a fire. There’s a heat.
Friend, listen to me. You will never illuminate until you are baptized with the Holy
Spirit and with fire. Jesus, it is said, came to baptize us with the Holy Ghost and with
fire. You want to know why some people in the church never let their lamp burn? Their
fire’s gone out. They’ve become cold and indifferent and they said, “Oh, I don’t want to
be radical.” Bless God, it’s time to get radical. It’s time to be hot or cold but Jesus said,
“Don’t ever be….” It’ll make Him puke. He said, “I’ll regurgitate you.”
Now for all of you that come out of a Pentecostal charismatic background,
understand the pastor’s theological perspective here and I’m going to talk about two or
three theological things today. I believe that when you’re saved you get all the Holy
Spirit you’ll ever get. There are people who believe you get saved and then there’s a
subsequent experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit where you speak in tongues
and that is evident of that. I do not subscribe to that. I do not believe that. That’s not
what I teach. I believe you are saved, baptized with the Holy Spirit, immersed. I do
believe there’s a maturation process and I do believe there are other acts of God’s filling
and grace within your life.
I got saved when I was ten. I didn’t know anything of the Holy Spirit until I was
17 years old. I’ve been learning ever since. I got up this morning. I said, “Dear God,
please, I ask you in Jesus’ name, I’ve got to speak to over 3,000 people. Would you
please, I ask You, I beg You, fill me with the Holy Spirit. Guard my tongue. Don’t let me
be dumb. Speak through me.” I prayed, “O God, baptize me with the Holy Spirit and
fire this morning.” I knew I was going to quote this text. I said, “God, burn within me.”
5 Now we can argue about the semantics of those positions but I’m telling you, if
we get sold out, we’ll all be on the same team and we’ll be filled with the power of God.
When the power of God is in you, there is a fire, there is a burning, and when that
comes, there’s always a light. There’s a light. There’s a light. Christians who have
their light shining are not only conspicuous, they are candescent and the anointing of
the Holy Spirit in the beatitudes is the key essential to Godly illumination.
You will never be illuminous unless you’re sold out to Christ and the power of
God is in you and you have been baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire. If you’re
just playing a game, you don’t light up anything. You never shine if you’re playing a
game because it’s all about you. You’re cold and indifferent, lukewarm, safe. You can’t
be safe. You’ve got to be sold out. When that fire burns within you then there is a light
that comes on.
I was invited out to Ransom Middle School this week where one of our deacons,
Joe Murphy, the building, the gymnasium out there has a new name on it. It’s Joe’s
name. They named the gym after Joe, after 25 plus years of being out there. So I was
invited by the team to be there and to honor them and they said, “Pastor, you can say
whatever you want to.” I said, “Well now that’s good.” I said, “Because number one I’m
going to say whatever I want to.” Now I honor my friend. I don’t want to do a disservice
to him but, friend, when you have opportunity for your light to shine, you better light it
up. You better light it up because you’re fixin’ to stand in the judgment of God.
Now that doesn’t mean that you try just to hurt people or be offensive or create
problems but I’m telling you, when God gives you opportunity to lift a lamp, you lift the
lamp. You lift it up. You light it up because you’re conspicuous and you’re candescent
and the power of God….
Thirdly now and quickly, I want you to hear me. When Christian lights shine not
only are they conspicuous and not only are they candescent, they are Christ exalting.
Look at it in verse 16. He says, “Let your light so shine before men and let it shine in
such a way that they may see your good works” and do what? “Glorify the Father who
is in heaven.” Amen. Your good works glorify God when you lift Him up. The Bible
says if you lift Him up, He’ll draw all men unto Himself. Praise the Lord. He’ll draw
people, all people, little boys and girls, older men and women. Lift Him up. He draws
people.
Our job is to illuminate Christ. Now watch this illustration and then I want to
apply this to you. In Exodus 25 and 26 there is the outline of the tabernacle, the Old
Testament, and in Hebrews 9 the writer of Hebrews teaches about the formation of the
tabernacle. Now the tabernacle was the place of worship, the house where they came,
and there were two compartments. There was an outer court but in the temple itself,
the tabernacle, there were two positions, two places. Inside the veil there was the Holy
of Holies. It’s where the priest went once a year to make atonement for the sin of the
6 people. Inside the Holy of Holies there were two things. It’s really one thing with two
parts but two things we talk about being there.
Number one, there’s the Ark of the Covenant. You remember. They carried it on
the poles. You don’t touch it because it’s God’s presence. It went from place to place.
On top of that was the mercy seat where they would pour the blood and there would
make atonement for the sin of the people once a year. So the Ark of the Covenant and
the mercy seat. That’s in the Holy of Holies where only the high priest went once a year
but in the outside of that was what’s called the holy place and there were three pieces of
furniture in the holy place. There was the altar of incense, speaking of the prayers of
the people, and you had to light the incense to go in to pray.
Then there was the table of showbread, the bread, the holy bread that was there.
Remember David one time ate the holy bread because he was hungry. Then thirdly,
there is the golden lampstand. Now anytime the high priest is getting to go into the Holy
of Holies he had to pass by these three pieces of furniture. He had to light the incense
but he would pass by the lamp that was lit and the table of showbread on this side.
Now the showbread is pretty interesting. It typifies for us Jesus, the bread of life.
Amen? He is it. He’s what gives us sustenance. And the lamp has a twofold meaning.
Number one, Jesus, the Light of the world is there but the sinner’s light would be there,
but there were seven bowls on this candelabra and those six, the three on each side,
would be symbolic of the people of God. The center one being of Christ, the three on
the side would be for us the church.
Friends, hear me. The church, Olive Baptist and all of the people of God
together, we exist for one reason and that is to illuminate the table of showbread so that
people will see that Jesus is the bread of life and there is no other. There is no one
else. There is no other way. Our job is to illuminate Him. Your job in this world is to
show your good works. Let your light so shine in a way that men would see your good
works and that they would pat you on the back? No. That they’d come to your church?
No. That they’d say, “You’re a great guy”? No. They would glorify your Father which is
in heaven. And if you glorify Him, you’ll glorify the Son and when you lift up the Son, He
draws men and women, boys and girls to Himself. It is the purpose of the church on
earth to cast full light on Jesus Christ. We’re to lift Him up.
Did you see it this week? Did you know that the Pope came to America? Did
you see that? It was on one station. I saw it one station. Unbelievable. I fully expected
the CBS game of the week for him to flip the coin. I really did think that he would do the
coin toss. He’s everywhere. He’s in New York. He’s in Philadelphia. He’s in
Washington. He’s in the White House. He’s in the blue house. He’s in the green
house. I mean if it’s a house he’s in it. He’s everywhere.
So he comes for a Papal visit. Now it’s unreal that the pontiff, the man known as
the Vicar of Christ – Now if you go into St. Peters in Rome where he resides, you will
find around the church, around the rim on this right here and across the front of that,
7 you find the picture of every Pope who’s ever been. It starts over here on this side with
a picture that they say is the picture of Peter. It goes all the way around every Pope.
He is the Vicar of Christ. Now the word “Vicar” is the word “vice” like vice president.
The Vicar of Christ is the vice-Christ. That’s when Jesus is not here, he is. He is the
substitute so he is the voice of the church. So he speaks for Christ.
So he speaks to the Congress of the United States. Now, number one, in this
age of the separation of church and state, I mean, how in the world did he even get in
the building? You think the president of the Southern Baptist Convention is going to
speak to Congress? No. He may get to pray but I mean a formal address. You say,
“Okay, well he’s the head of the state.” Well in some ways the Vatican is but I didn’t
hear one word about that. But then I read – I didn’t see it. I played golf while he was
talking. Then I went back and I got the manuscript and I read the manuscript of the
Pope’s address to the most powerful, deliberative body on the face of the planet. This
is the Vicar of Christ.
He spoke of Moses. He spoke of four great Americans. The name of Jesus was
never mentioned, not one time. I honestly thought that I had read a bad manuscript. So
I went back to Acts 2 and I got out the manuscript of Peter’s sermon at Pentecost and I
read it. I mean that was the first Pope according to our Catholic friends. There’s a lot of
difference.
Now I want you to hear me. I have many Catholic friends. There are some
people I have no doubt – I’ve prayed over this this morning. I know there’s someone
sitting in this room. You’ve never been to Olive before and you’re a Catholic. You’ve
never been here in your life. Well I don’t speak about this every Sunday but the Pope
doesn’t come to America and speak to Congress every Sunday. The point here is when
Christian lights shine they’re Christ exalting. I could not believe that the Vicar of Christ
never mentioned Christ. I was just shocked.
Friend, when you have opportunity in your sphere of influence to lift up Jesus,
you better light Him up. Light Him up. You better light Him up. We heard of one sin,
global warming. He called us to repentance of global warming. I’m telling you,
everything he talked about, I mean I didn’t have any heartburn about any of it. It’s what
was not said. That’s where our churches are today. It’s not about what we are doing.
It’s what we are not doing and it’s time we lift our voice and that we shine, shine, shine.
That’s our job. We’ve got to do it.
Now watch this. Hear me. Here is the difference. The last – and this is the
theological side now. The Catholic Church sees the Pope as the Vicar of Christ, as the
substitution in bodily form for the Lord. Now in the 1600’s there was a reformation
about that. It was called the Protestant Reformation. That’s why we are called
Protestants today. We protested the Pope. That’s the way you get saved. We said you
don’t have to have a man sitting in a chamber of prayer for you to go through him to get
to God but that you rather go straight through Christ and that we become priests in our
8 own right and we go straight to the High Priest of Christ and we do not need that man or
any other man to get us there.
So it’s just a historical difference. Okay? That’s why there’s Protestants. That’s
why there’s Catholics. There are saved Catholics and there are lost Baptists and vice
versa, okay? But the theology of the situation is that you go straight unto the Father.
But now the Pope is a very important man, a powerful man. His predecessor who, by
the way, is still alive, that’s an amazing study right there. He retired and he’s living in
the Vatican. Most Popes die and then the next one comes, but he retired.
Here comes Francis. The previous Pope was a German theologian, very
conservative. Let me tell you, I would have loved to have heard the other Pope speak
to Congress. Oh my Lord. He’d have lit them up, put them in a bag, tied a knot in it,
and thrown it out the side window. He would have gone to the abortion issue. He
would have gone to the same sex marriage issue. He’d go to every issue but, you see,
there has been a shift in the theology of the papacy.
Now here’s what’s happened and I’ll just give you this. I’m making a point and
I’m getting to it. Just trust me. Every sermon ought to have one. There is a center
ground called piety and that’s where Pope Francis – I’d love to have him come to my
house for lunch. I mean he’s one of the most loving guys you’d ever meet. He’d kiss
every baby in town. He’d hug on people, high-fiving. He loves soccer. He’s just a guy.
I mean, he’s really cool but he will not go out on the hard edges and deal with the hardedged theological issues. His predecessor would. But now he has moved into the
pietistic center and so in his piety, that’s why everybody loved him. CNN loved him.
Fox loved him. MSNBC loved him. ABC loved him. Everybody. Democrat,
Republican, they were just crazy about him. It’s because it’s who he is. He’s in the
pietistic center. He’s loving on everyone but he would not venture out to the hard-edge
issues. His predecessor did but he didn’t get invited to Congress.
Church, watch this. We must do both those things. Speak truth in love. Hardedge tough issues, you’ve got to talk to them what the Bible says. Inside you’ve got to
love them. Here’s our problem is that a lot of us love to run out there and get on the
hard-edge issues and we don’t want to love anybody. We just want to be Pharisees
and legalists and out here telling everybody, “Bless God, you’re going to hell because
your hair’s not right and your tattoo’s not right and your hair’s not right and your clothes
are not right. You’ve got baggy britches.”
Friend, I’m just telling you, you’ve missed God by a million miles. If you don’t
couple the truth of those hard-edge issues with the loving piety of the sinner – and it’s
not either/or. You’ve got to do both. That Pope is living in here. He had a chance to
get out there on the hard edges but he wouldn’t go. I was disappointed he didn’t go.
He should have gone. I believe in my opinion and I always have one that he should
have gone but he didn’t go there.
9 Now if you’re a Catholic and you’re in this building today, I’m not here to hurt your
feelings. I’m talking theology right here, okay? And the Pope and I would have a
difference of opinion here and the way we would do that. I’ve never walked in his
shoes. He’s never walked in mine. You say, “Preacher, you shouldn’t judge.” This is
not judging, friend. Judging is condemning someone to hell. Judgment. This is making
a discernment about what’s right and wrong.
My kids, when they lived at my house, I said, “You come home at 11:00.” You
say, “You shouldn’t judge them.” Well just wait until 11:05. Judgment was coming.
You know, it’s not condemning somebody. That’s just saying what’s right and what’s
wrong and you’re making those issues. Our job is to exalt Christ and I’m just telling you,
I could not believe the Vicar of Christ did not mention His name.
What disappoints me more is that I can preach to over 3,000 people on Sunday
and send them out of here and tell them to be lights of the world and they can go live a
whole week and never mention His name. What disappoints me more is that I can live
my life and preach to you and go out and be busy this week and never mention His
name.
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Okay, the
lights are coming back down and no one is moving. The lights are coming down and no
one is moving. Get out your cell phone and turn it on. Everybody get out your phone
and light it up, light it up, light it up. All over the room, light it up for me. Come on. You
may know that the pastor’s favorite service of the year is Christmas Eve. We’re going to
have three of them this year. We’re going to do a 4:00 in the afternoon, a 6:00 in the
afternoon, and then an 11:00 service over in Passmore Hall. Look at that. We use
candles. Light it up. Light it up. Go ahead. Light it up. Everybody, light it up. No
strobes. Just light it up, okay? That’s good. That’s good. We’re lighting it up.
Everybody’s lighting it up. That’s great.
This is who we are. We’re individually these lights but, you know, we could take
all of these lights. You could stop a train with all of these lights if you got them all
together and doing the same thing. We are to illuminate. You say, “Preacher.” No,
don’t do it. Just keep it on. That way maybe your battery will run out and you won’t be
talking on it. Okay, just kind of move them around a little bit there for me, would you?
Okay. You’re fixin’ to leave here. I’m just making a silly illustration of who we are but
it’s really not so silly because this is the world in which we live electronically. You’ve got
to exalt Christ.
You know, you can get on that Facebook and Twitter and Snapchat and all that
other stuff and you can be foolish with your light. Don’t do it. Exalt Him. Lift Him up.
Lift Him up. Lift Him up as the Light of the world.
Father, thank You that You’ve called us to be luminaries like the stars of the sky,
like the moon that reflects the sun. Make us to be the light of the world. I pray for the
Pope today. Work in his heart. Help him use his station as a luminary, an emissary for
10 the gospel. Thank You for all the good he does. Bless him. Teach us from his piety
but help us hold firm that we need no Vicar of Christ because we have the victorious
Christ, that You are here in us, through us, and we bless You for that. Lord, I give you
praise today. Thank you for this sweet church and for all You’re doing in it. In the name
of the Light of the world, even Jesus, we pray. Amen.
11