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“Let Your Light So Shine
Matthew 5:16

 

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas

Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany—February 5, 2017

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ Amen.

The text for our sermon is today’s Gospel Reading in the fifth chapter of St. Matthew, especially this verse: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

The church in New Jersey where I served my internship, or vicarage, had several large closets filled mostly with junk. It seems no one for years had thrown away absolutely anything. As a lowly vicar, I was given the task of sorting through it all. In one closet I found a very large box, neatly labeled “Burnt Out Light Bulbs.” And, sure enough, packed inside were dozens and dozens of burnt out light bulbs. I’m not sure who saved them, or why, for it seems a little odd to keep burnt out light bulbs. At least, I don’t know any purpose or use for them.

It reminds us of what Jesus says about salt that loses its saltiness: “It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out.” And that’s exactly what I did with that box of burned out light bulbs—threw them out.

In our text, Jesus uses three examples: salt, a city on a hill, and a light. These all have one thing in common: their nature and their function are one. Salt is salty because it is salt; a city on a hill cannot help but be seen; light shines because that is its very nature.

The point Jesus is making with these little parables is: That’s also the way it is with Christians. Like salt that must be salty, because that is the essence of salt; like a city on a hill cannot be hidden; like a light that by its very nature gives light to everyone in the house; in the same way, if you are a Christian you desire and strive to live a God-pleasing, Christian life. Because, that is the very nature of a Christian.

If salt loses its saltiness it is no longer salt. If you cannot see the city on a hill, it is no longer there. If a lamp is hidden under a bowl, it no longer gives light, and its flame will slowly die.

And if a person who claims to be a Christian does not live as a follower of Christ? As 1st John says, “If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.”

Are you a burnt out light bulb? Claiming to follow Christ, the light of the world, but failing to let your light shine? Failing to pray; failing to worship; failing to read and study God’s word; failing to give of yourself, your time, your treasure for his kingdom; failing to live a godly, upright, Christian life; failing to forgive; failing to love; failing to bring glory to your Father in heaven with a life of good works?

Like that box of burnt out light bulbs, because of our failures and unfaithfulness, we all deserve to be thrown out—even cast into the very darkness of hell. But, St. Paul declares in Colossians the Good News: “The Father has made you worthy to share in the splendor of the saints in the inheritance of the kingdom of light.  For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

“I have come into the world as a light,” Jesus says, “so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness . . . I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. . . I am the light of the world . . . Put your trust in the light.”

“Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” There is an old love song that says, “You light up my life.” Your love for and faith in Jesus will light up your life with good works.  As St. Paul says: “For once you were in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live then as children of the light. For the fruit of the light consists in all goodness righteousness and truth. And find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness. . .  For God. . . has made his light shine in our hearts.”

“No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

God does not ignite the light of faith in your heart so that you should cover it over and snuff it out.  Let your light shine, to bring God the glory. As St. Peter says, “Show forth the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

Like a city on a hill that cannot be hidden, you cannot help but live out in your life the faith in your heart. Like salt that is salty simply because it is salt, you are the salt of the earth, you will live a Christian life because Christ lives within you. Like a lamp on a stand giving light to everyone in the house, your love for Jesus shines out in God-pleasing good works, because he lights up your life.

Never to your own glory, but to show forth the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, that men may see your good works and praise, not you, but praise and glorify your Father in heaven.

You are only the moon; God is the sun. The moon gives no light of its own, but only reflects light from the sun. “In the same way, let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

You are not a burnt out light bulb. You are the light of the world, reflecting in your life the light of Christ.

“Let your light so shine!”

Amen.

 

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