Got A Light? Don't Hide It.

The children of light should never cover it up.

Matthew 5:14-16  "You are the light of the world--like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.  15  No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.  16  In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

Luke 11:36  If you are filled with light, with no dark corners, then your whole life will be radiant, as though a floodlight were filling you with light.

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In this familiar passage of scripture in Matthew, Jesus has just finished talking about the lifestyle of his followers in the verses that we call The Beatitudes.

We usually separate The Beatitudes from the following verses about being salt and light and don't put the two concepts together but I think that shining our light has some prerequisites.

Beatitudes - A list of the godly attitudes that mark a true believer and insure true happiness.

-John MacArthur

Living for him with the attitudes and character that please him will make you a bright light in this dark world, if you are not doing that then there won't be any light, you will look like everybody else that is living in the dark. But if you are living the beatitudes lifestyle you will stand out.

You are going to be strange in a world that seeks happiness in favorable circumstances and pleasant emotions, the world tells us to look out for ourselves but God's expectations are different, he taught that happiness is found in living for him and when we live for him we will be a shining light in this dark world.

John 8:12 “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”

You have the potential to be the light, as a child of God you already have the light in you but you have a choice whether you will let it shine out for everyone else to see. Are you going to put a lamp shade or even worse a blanket over it so that it doesn't help anybody else?

1 Peter 2:9  But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God's very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for He called you out of the darkness into His wonderful light.

The light of good deeds are for God's glory, don't put the light on yourself so that you will get the credit, the world needs the real source of light and what it can do in their lives. If we live like his chosen people and have the beatitude attitude then we will want our light to shine on Jesus instead of ourselves so that they can see his love and kindness. That's what this dark world needs.

Be Careful Church, The World Is Watching You

How much do we really care about what the world sees in God's people?

Colossians 4:5-6  Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity.

6  Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone.

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The world is hungry and thirsty for something, they look all around and try different avenues to find peace and a reason for life, it doesn't know what the answer is. As they try and figure out what is missing from their life and how they can get it most of them will consider the church as an option, that sounds like a good idea but the problem is that they have a lot of options and some of the options can look a lot better than God's people do.

Living with integrity is so important for the Christ follower, the world is watching us to see what we believe, they know that if we really believe the teachings of Jesus then we will live the way that he told us to live. They judge Jesus and decide if he is valuable for them by looking at the life of his people, the world judges religion and it's worth, not from preaching, or from books, but from what they see in the daily walk and conversation of the people that say that they believe. They understand enough about our religion that they can tell when we are not living it out.

Honesty and integrity are more important than your churches mission statement and your devout church attendance and strict observance of religious ceremonies, your daily prayer time and the amount of knowledge that you have of the Bible have no value unless you have an upright life.

I am an ambassador

2 Corinthians 5:20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!"

If you are going to talk to somebody about the value of Christ in your life then you better represent him well. If you want to talk about Christ forgiveness then you better forgive the people that have wronged you. If you want to talk about the awesome love that God has for you then you better be loving like Jesus did.

With the modern conveniences that we have available, the size of the world has shrunk down and we can easily see people from around the world, the idea of an ambassador isn't as meaningful to us as it was in the past. When an ambassador went to a foreign country he was probably one of a few that those people had ever seen from that country and as their official representative he was expected to accurately depict what kind of people that they were back in his country and what they believed.

The world is looking at me to see what kind of kingdom Jesus has and what his people believe, I am the only Jesus that the world can put their eyes on, I need to be an ambassador that truly represents my Lord.

Keep Your Word

Even if it hurts.

Matthew 5:37  Just say a simple, 'Yes, I will,' or 'No, I won't.' Anything beyond this is from the evil one.

2 Corinthians 1:17-20  You may be asking why I changed my plan. Do you think I make my plans carelessly? Do you think I am like people of the world who say "Yes" when they really mean "No"?  18  As surely as God is faithful, my word to you does not waver between "Yes" and "No." 

19  For Jesus Christ, the Son of God, does not waver between "Yes" and "No." He is the One whom Silas, Timothy, and I preached to you, and as God's ultimate "Yes," He always does what He says.  20  For all of God's promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding "Yes!" And through Christ, our "Amen" (which means "Yes") ascends to God for His glory.

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A promise doesn't mean much these days, it used to be that a man lived up to his word at any cost but these days if the cost or the inconvenience is too great then you will have to wonder if he will come through.

What a difference it would make if Jesus didn't keep his word, he promised us that he was going to die and rise again and he kept his promise, that gives me the confidence to believe that he will keep his word and return for me someday.

I need to be careful when I make a promise, it doesn't help my witness if I don't follow through, living with integrity can be inconvenient some times.

Help me Lord to be wise when I make promises to you or to those around me.

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Judging My Motives

What is my motivation, is it a good thing?

Psalms 26:1-3 A psalm of David. Declare me innocent, O LORD, for I have acted with integrity; I have trusted in the LORD without wavering. 2 Put me on trial, LORD, and cross-examine me. Test my motives and my heart. 3 For I am always aware of Your unfailing love, and I have lived according to Your truth.

1 Samuel 24:15-19 May the LORD therefore judge which of us is right and punish the guilty one. He is my advocate, and He will rescue me from your power!"

16 When David had finished speaking, Saul called back, "Is that really you, my son David?" Then he began to cry. 17 And he said to David, "You are a better man than I am, for you have repaid me good for evil. 18 Yes, you have been amazingly kind to me today, for when the LORD put me in a place where you could have killed me, you didn't do it. 19 Who else would let his enemy get away when he had him in his power? May the LORD reward you well for the kindness you have shown me today.

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It takes a lot of confidence to say to God  "Judge me, go ahead, put me on trial" In David's experiences with King Saul we see that David had an incredible amount of integrity. David had a clear conscience in how he handled the threats that Saul was making, I don't know how pure my thoughts would be about somebody that was trying to kill me, but David didn't let fear get in the way of what he believed about God.

"I have done what is right," David says "My motives were pure" King Saul could have been assassinated by David but David didn't make a power grab to get what was already promised to him, instead he waited for God to take care of fulfilling his promise. It would have been easy to jump at the opportunity to "help God" and accomplish God's work for him without worrying about the means.

David said "Your love for me is my motivation for trying to please you" His love should be all we need to motivate us to live so that he will be pleased with us. How incredible is that? What better motivation do I need? The God of this universe loves me and has a plan for me to spend eternity with him in paradise, could there be any better reason to please him in the way that I live?

I need to be careful that I don't work around God in order to accomplish what he has asked me to do, all I have to do is to continue to please him with my life, I just have to focus on "who" (that's Jesus) and he will take care of the "how" he is going to accomplish it.

Forgive me Lord when I try to do things my way, I pray that everything that I do will be selfless and loving, help me to be able to say that my motives are pure.

The Lord’s Delight

Do you delight the Lord?

Psalm 18:19 He led me to a place of safety; He rescued me because He delights in me.

Psalms 37:23 The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.

Proverbs 11:20 The LORD detests people with crooked hearts, but He delights in those with integrity.

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Wow! Look at that guy!

What an awesome thought that the Lord could look at me and be delighted! Most of us probably think that he is looking at us and frowning, it doesn't have to be that way, David said that God delighted in him.

If I live with integrity and have a Godly character then he can look at me and instead of thinking about punishment he can take delight in me.

I need to be apply what I learn in the word everyday to my life so that God wont see me as an embarassing member of his family.

I pray Lord that you will be able to look at me with delight.

A Leaders Lifestyle

A Christian leader needs to have a higher standard.

1 Timothy 3:1 This is a trustworthy saying: "If someone aspires to be an elder, he desires an honorable position."

2 So an elder must be a man whose life is above reproach. He must be faithful to his wife. He must exercise self-control, live wisely, and have a good reputation. He must enjoy having guests in his home, and he must be able to teach. 3 He must not be a heavy drinker or be violent. He must be gentle, not quarrelsome, and not love money. 4 He must manage his own family well, having children who respect and obey him. 5 For if a man cannot manage his own household, how can he take care of God's church?

6 An elder must not be a new believer, because he might become proud, and the devil would cause him to fall. 7 Also, people outside the church must speak well of him so that he will not be disgraced and fall into the devil's trap.

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Paul says that it is a good thing to desire to lead but he quickly lets us know what kind of leader that he is talking about. There isn't any shortage on leaders, the problem is we are all leaders of somebody but we are not all honorable leaders, the kind that Paul says that the Christ follower should be.

The kind of leadership that we need in our churches today is a person that is willing to live above reproach, somebody that doesn't skirt around the edges of moral boundaries or the legal limits but instead God desires to have leaders that live so far above the bar that there isn't any room to consider that the leader is doing anything wrong.

We must avoid any behavior that might even raise a question or suspicion of wrongdoing, simply abstaining from a behavior may not suffice to appear "above reproach" Many things may seem innocent and harmless but the casual observer may look at you and have a good reason to question your behavior. The man of God should live so far above the standard that there is no way that anybody could reasonably suggest that he is guilty of being less than honorable.

What does living above reproach look like?

• He must be faithful to his wife.
• He must exercise self-control,
• He must live wisely,
• He must be hospitable
• He must be able to teach.
• He must not be a heavy drinker or be violent.
• He must be gentle, not quarrelsome, and not love money.
• He must manage his own family well

A leader bears the responsibility for setting the moral bar for those he or she leads, followers will seldom surpass the example of their leader, the leader is responsible to live this way in private as well as out in public. Many leaders have been caught not living up to the moral code that they say they prescribe to in public.

A self-controlled leader builds credibility with followers when he or she imposes personal limits of behavior on himself or herself that are consistent with God's standards.

God is looking for leaders that will live so far above reproach that if someone makes an accusation against them it will never be considered a possibility.

1 Peter 2:12, 15 Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world. 15 It is God's will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you.

God is looking for leaders that are pleasing him with their daily lives.
Reproach - to find fault with (a person, group, etc.); blame; censure. To be a cause of blame or discredit to.

I thank you Lord for my pastors leadership that is above reproach, help me to follow his example and help me to lead with credibility that comes from living above reproach. Help my church staff to live above reproach every day.