LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE

February 09, 2020

Rev. Bernt P. Tweit

Old Testament Lesson; Isaiah 58:5-9a

Epistle Lesson; 1 Corinthians 2:1-5

Sermon Text; Matthew 5:13-20

God's Word we are looking at for today, is taken from Matthew, chapter five, looking at verses thirteen to twenty.

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its flavor, how will it become salty again? Then it is no good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled on by people. You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill cannot be hidden. People do not light a lamp and put it under a basket. No, they put it on a stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. In the same way let your light shine in people's presence, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven.

“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy them but to fulfill them. Amen I tell you: Until heaven and earth pass away, not even the smallest letter, or even part of a letter, will in any way pass away from the Law until everything is fulfilled. So whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teachers others to do the same will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever practices and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. Indeed I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and experts in the law, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”

This is God's Word.

I am going to take our text for today, and I am going to 'flip it on its head'. We are going to look at the last half of the text first, and then we are going to look at the first half of the text last.

In the second part of our text, which is the second paragraph you are going to hear Jesus say, “I did not come to destroy the Law, but I came to fulfill it.”

And so, what Jesus is saying there is He did not come to do away with The Ten Commandments. But, Jesus came to keep The Ten Commandments.

Jesus came to keep The Ten Commandments perfectly.

He came to love God perfectly, which is The First Table of The Law. He came to love His neighbor perfectly, which is The Second Table of the Law.

Why did Jesus come to do that? Well, Jesus came to do that, because we could not. There is a passage my Seventh Graders recited to me this last week that says,

“For just as through the disobedience of the one man,

the many were made sinners...”

That passage is simply telling us the sin of Adam, or the sin of Adam and Eve, has come to all of us. Adam and Eve's sin is like gangrene. It is like cancer. It is like rust. It has spread to all of us, so that all of us are infected with sin.

Consider this picture. Let's say I would have in front of you a clear glass filled with water. In to that water I pour some dirt and garbage. Would you drink that water? I think all of us would say, “No. It has been infected, and it is dirty.”

But, after a few days that dirt probably would have settled to the bottom. That dirt would have settled to the bottom, so it looks ok, right? Would you drink that water? Again, we would probably say, “No, because the dirt and the garbage is still there.”

All you would have to do is take a spoon, and start to stir that glass of water to see again the dirt and garbage rising to the top, and infiltrating that whole glass of water

Jesus did not come to do away with The Law, but He came to fulfill it. He came to fulfill The Law in all of its parts, in the greatest parts of The Law, and the lesser parts of The Law.

But The Law, which is like that spoon, does its job, as it shows our sin, and it reveals us for who we really are. We are not free from The Law, therefore we want to live according to it, as God's people.

Imagine if you were a sky diver, for a moment. You jump out of an airplane, and you tell to those who are jumping with you, “I want to be free from the law today, so I am not going to use my parachute. I don't want to be bound by the constraints of the law.”

Whether you believe it or not, you are still living under the law of gravity, aren't you? If you say you are free from the constraints of the law, what is going to be your end? Well, you are going to perish. The very thing you are wearing, is the very thing that is going to save you. That parachute is your safety. That parachute is going to help you land safely.

As Christians, we know, and we understand that we still today continue to live under the constraints of The Law. But thanks be to God that Jesus came, and fulfilled The Law for us. So now, as God's people, we want to live according to The Law.

Earlier I quoted the passage to you that started this way,

“Through the disobedience of the one man,

the many became sinners...”

That passage goes on to say this.

“Through the obedience of the one Man,

the many became righteous.”

It is a reminder to us that Jesus came, and He fulfilled The Law for us. He did not do away with it. He didn't abolish it, He did not destroy it, but He came to live according to it. He came to live according to it, even to the nth degree.

Another passage my students shared with me this last week, (they wrote it for me, and they said it to me), is a passage from Galatians chapter four which reminds me of Christmas. It is telling us even to the point Jesus fulfilled The Law for us.

“When the fullness of time had come,

God sent His Son, born of a woman,

born UNDER Law,

to redeem those UNDER Law.”

So, Jesus was even born under The Law to fulfill The Law for us. As our text for today says, (and it even puts it this way, that maybe seems a little obscure to hear it this way, but he says),

“...not even the smallest letter,

or even part of a letter,

will in any way pass away from The Law

until everything is fulfilled.”

You know, in our English language, if you change a letter in a word, and you change the meaning of a word. Or, we have the expression, “Cross our t's and dot our i's.” When keeping The Law, Jesus fulfilled it again, to the nth degree. He dotted every “i” according to the Law. He crossed every “t”, according to The Law. He lived a perfect life for us.

So now, Jesus is even going to go a step farther than that. He says, “If you think, if you want to live according to The Law, if you think you can be saved according to The Law, then that means you need to live an even more righteous life than the Pharisees and experts in The Law.”

Back in Jesus' day, most people, not all people, but most people had a pretty high regard for the Pharisees and the experts in The Law, because they saw the outward life they lived. Well, Jesus is saying, “If you want to get to Heaven by The Law, you need to exceed the experts in The Law. You need to exceed the Pharisees in the way you live your life, not only according to your actions, but also in keeping with the words you speak, and the very thoughts you think. You better be perfect.”

Thanks be to God, Jesus fulfilled The Law for us, crossing every “t”
and dotting every “i”. The perfect life Jesus came to live, He did it for you, and He did it for me. So, because of the perfect life of Christ, and His substitutionary death on the cross, (Wow!), our sins are forgiven. Everlasting life is ours!

Which gets us back to the first paragraph of our text for today, or the first portion of our text for today. Jesus now is saying this. He now is going to share with us two metaphors. A metaphor is simply taking two things that may not seem to have anything in common with each other, and showing there is a commonality. The first metaphor Jesus shares with us is this.

“You are the salt of the earth...”

You are the salt of the earth, because of what Jesus has done for you. Jesus says,

“What good is salt if it loses its flavor,

if it loses its ability to preserve?”

That is what salt does. It preserves, and it gives flavor. And so, here Jesus is saying that as Christians, we should go out, and 'salt the earth'. We should go out, and influence the earth. Not the other way around. We should not let the world influence us. What good is salt, if it has lost its saltiness? Salt is either good for something, or it is good for nothing.

The second metaphor that is used in our text for today is light.

“You are the light of the world.”

A light is to shine forth in the darkness. Consider a lighthouse for a moment. A lighthouse is a beacon of light for safety. But, if the light in the lighthouse is not shining, it is going to be perilous for those ships that are traveling in those lanes. So, either light is good for something, or it is good for nothing.

Again, Jesus is saying, whether it is the salt or the light, we are to go out, and we should be influencing the world. Again, it should not be the world that is influencing us.

So, Jesus says this, and it is the most familiar verse in our text for today. Jesus simply says,

“...let your light shine in people's presence,

so that they may see your good works

and glorify your Father who is in Heaven.”

We know what Jesus has done for us. Jesus came to fulfill The Law for us. Through the perfect life Jesus lived for us, He took that life to the cross. Thanks be to God, our sins are forgiven, for Jesus' sake.

But, you know what? We still live in this world. A few weeks ago, my wife Katie and I were watching a movie. The movie I really fell in love with (maybe some of you have seen it before) is called, “Only the Brave”. It is following the Granite Mountain Hot Shots out in Arizona, in 2012 and 2013. The Hot Shots are the best of the best. They are put on the front line, when a wild fire is raging. Sometimes the wind shifts on Hot Shots. The wild fire starts coming right toward them. The only thing a Hot Shot is able to do is to start a fire so that the fire sweeps out in front of them. Then, they can stand in that area that has already has been burned, when the wild fire is coming toward them. The wild fire comes toward them, and there is nothing more to burn, because they are standing in the black. That is a phrase they oftentimes use. “When I am a hot shot, and I am standing in the black, that wild fire has no power over me.”

Guys, you know who Jesus is. You know what Jesus has done for you. And, when you are standing with Jesus, you are standing in the black, because the world may assault you, and the devil may assault you, but when you are standing with Jesus, you are standing in the black.

Jesus now encourages us to take the love He shares with us, and let that light so shine in the way you live your lives.

The last thing I want to share with you is this. Today is the February full moon. Did you see that moon? It was pretty awesome. You know I love looking up at the sky. I have told you that before. The moon last night was awesome. It was The Snow Moon. It was really bright. But, you know the moon does not shine. The moon only reflects the light of the sun – “s” “u” “n” .

That is what Jesus, in His Word, is calling for us today. It is not we who shine. We simply are reflecting the light of God's Son – “S” “o” “n”.

Thanks be to God for who Jesus is, and what He has done for us. Now, Jesus calls for us to go out in the world, and to influence the world.

Let your light so shine before men

that they may see your good deeds,

and praise your Father in Heaven.

Amen

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, shall be now, and forever more.

Amen