TOPIC:“Be A Christian Exhibitionist”
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16)
Light is necessary for the life of every living thing. Plants cannot grow without it. As a matter of fact, the light given off by the sun rules our daily lives. Without light every living thing would starve to death. It is essential to both life and living. Light travels about 186,000 miles per second. It takes about 500 seconds for light to travel from the sun to the earth. But it takes millions of years for light to reach the earth from the outer limits of the heavens.
But bringing this over into the spiritual realm, there is a great need for light in this dark and dangerous world. There are all kinds of darkness that abound - the darkness of sin, the darkness of ignorance, and the darkness of separation from God. The world is a dark and dismal place in which to live. And because of this, every Christian is called upon by Jesus Christ to be an exhibitionist in the proper usage of the word. They are to exhibit their faith through a life of good deeds and holy living. This is what the Apostle Paul was driving at when he wrote: “That you may be blameless and harmless children of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:15).
In the verses before us Jesus is addressing the inner circle of His disciples. He has been talking with them about the character of those in His Kingdom, and now, He sets forth the influence that these disciples, and us as well, must exhibit on those outside of the Kingdom. This influence is characterized by Jesus as that of salt and light. SALT is needed when there is CORRUPTION, but LIGHT is needed where there is DARKNESS. Let's think of the latter - that of being lights in a dark world.
Consider, first of all, the RESPONSIBILITY for exhibiting the light. In verse 14 Jesus declared: “You are the light of the world.” Then He states in verse 16: “Let your light so shine before men.” The question arises: Where . . .