One of the greatest blessings of the modern world would need to be the electric light. We have them in every room of our homes and workplaces. We have lights on our cars and motorcycles, in our sheds, illuminating the streets of our towns, and even on our mobile phones. We can take these lights for granted sometimes, but when there is a blackout or a power failure, we can really notice the difference. Suddenly our world can become very dark. When the lights come back on, being able to see around us again can be a huge relief.
Imagine what it would have been like for ancient people who didn’t have electric lights. The nights would have been very dark, especially when the moon wasn’t visible. When it is time for the new moon in the next couple of weeks, you might like to go somewhere that doesn’t have a lot of light from other sources and experience a bit of what it would have been like for ancient peoples to spend their nights in the dark.
The contrast between light and darkness has been a strong image for good and evil in a lot of cultures. Even in our own time, darkness often represents evil. It is the place where destructive forces live, where people could get lost, and ultimately it represented death. In contrast, light often represents what is good. Light brings with it warmth, security, growth and life. Our culture still often thinks about the dark as representing evil and death, while light signifies goodness and life.
When Jesus taught his disciples that they are “the light of the world” in this week’s gospel reading from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:13-20), he was teaching them and us to be lights that shine with God’s goodness in a world that can be very dark. Just like our electric lights bring light into the dark places around us, Jesus teaches that we are to shine like lights that are full of his goodness into the dark and scary places of the world.
We can see this darkness around us in so many ways. Globally, we see wars, political unrest, violence and corporate greed doing so much damage to people’s lives. Closer to home, we can see the darkness of religious and racial violence in our own nation. We can experience conflicts in our families, churches and other relationships. So many people feel trapped in the darkness of depression, anxiety, loneliness or hopelessness. The ancient contrast of light versus darkness representing goodness and life versus evil and death might sound old-fashioned or superstitious, but many of us and the people we know can go through dark times in our lives or find ourselves lost in the darkness in lots of different ways.
That’s why Jesus teaching us to be “the light of the world” is so important for us. When we find the light of God’s goodness in our lives, we can shine the light of his goodness into the lives of others. Jesus says, “let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father” (v16 NLT). When we do good for others in the faith that Christ’s light shines on us and in us, the light of God’s goodness shines into the lives of the people around us and they can experience the life-giving light of God’s goodness for themselves. Just like a light on our veranda brings light to the darkness of our backyard, or the lights of our car or motorbike bring light to the dark road ahead of us, or the lights on our phones bring light into the darkness of our homes when the power goes out, when we do good for others in even the smallest way, the light of God’s goodness shines through us into the darkness that the people around us can experience in their own lives.
One of the three key checkpoints in the Fuller Youth Institute’s book Future Focused Church, is “Tangibly loving our neighbours” (p54ff). Doing good for others in practical, tangible ways is ultimately about God’s goodness shining into the dark places of people’s lives. We can be the light of God’s goodness in the lives of others us as we follow Jesus’ teaching to love one another (John 13:34) and we overcome evil by doing good (Romans 12:21).
All electric lights need power to shine their light into dark places. We also need power to shine the light of God’s goodness into the dark places of this world. The source of the light of God’s goodness in our lives is Jesus and the gospel. In the New Testament readings for the last couple of weeks we have heard Paul say, “The message of the cross … is the very power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18 NLT) and “Christ is the power of God” (v24 NLT). Just like our electric lights get their power to shine by being plugged into the mains power or their batteries, we get our power to shine from the good news of Jesus. As the Holy Spirit plugs us into God’s goodness through the gospel, God’s power illuminates us so we can shine his goodness by doing good. By staying connected to Jesus through God’s Word and prayer, the Holy Spirit gives us the power to do good in the lives of others. Jesus said that apart from him, in other words, when we disconnected from him, we can do nothing (John 15:5). When we are connected to Jesus through faith, the light of God’s goodness shines on us and the Holy Spirit gives us the power to be his light in the world so we can do good for others.
Sometimes the darkness of the world in which we live can seem overwhelming. When we look at the darkness of evil, conflict and pain around us, either globally or in our own community, or when we face the darkness in our own lives or in the life of someone we know, it can seem to be too much for our little lights. However, when we all shine together, with the light that God puts in us shining in unity with each other, it is like a lot of little LEDs shining together to produce a big enough light to drive out the darkness. It’s like driving down the highway and seeing the lights of a town shining in the dark night. One light shining on its own can be hard to see. But when the lights of a whole town shine together, it produces a light that can be seen for miles.
Jesus calls us “the light of the world”. When we are plugged into Jesus through faith, the Holy Spirit gives us the power of God to shine with his goodness into the dark places of the world. Doing good for others in tangible, practical ways shines the light of God’s goodness into the darkness that people around us are experiencing. When we do this together, in the unity the Holy Spirit gives, we shine like LEDs in a torch or the lights of a town on a hill for all to see. God give us the faith in his goodness to us in Jesus, so our lives can shine with his goodness as we do the good he has prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10) and others can experience the light of God’s goodness in us.
More to think about or discuss:
- Can you imagine what life would be like without electric lights? What do you think it would be like? Would you rather live in the dark or in the light? Can you explain why?
- What are your thoughts about Jesus describing you as “the light of the world”? What might you like about Jesus calling you that? What might be challenging about it?
- How can you plug into Jesus as the power for your light? How might you be able to shine the light of God’s goodness into someone else’s life this week by doing good for them in a practical or tangible way?
Pastor Eugene Online 
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