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| Photo from Incourage.me |
Again this Sunday, I'm sharing from the Made for Community reading plan from Love God Greatly that I worked on back in 2015. With this study, as I have often done, I used the SOAP method of Bible study. Just a quick reminder that the S is for Scripture, O is for Observation, A is for Application and P is for Prayer. The seventh section is Living in Community in Our World. So here we go with the Scripture for the second day of that section.
S= "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hidden. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 5:14-15)
O= Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount is recorded in Matthew, chapters 5 through 7. C.I. Scofield summarizes the teaching in this sermon as "The principles and the Rule of the Kingdom." The first 12 verses of chapter 5 record Jesus' teaching on the Beatitudes. Verses 13-16 record what Scofield, at least, calls the Similitudes. The teaching compares believers with everyday, important substances -- light, and salt.
In verse 14 He says that believers are the light of the world. (He also says the same of Himself in John 8:12.) "World" here is the Greek word kosmos -- meaning organized humanity -- the world system.
Jesus adds that a city set on a hill cannot be hidden. And that is true. Think of the lengths to which cities have gone in wartime to fit windows with blackout curtains, and even enforce a nightly blackout, in order to disguise the city and protect it from air raids. It's very difficult to disguise a city. And so the fact that we are Christians cannot and should not be hidden from the world.
We are to let our light shine before others for two important reasons: 1) that they may see our good works; 2) that this will cause them to glorify our heavenly Father.
A= Am I taking my responsibility as a light to the world seriously enough? Are the "windows of my city" (so to speak) clear and free of smudges so that the light is spilling out, visible to the world? The world needs to see the light of believers to see that we are different, and to give the glory for this difference to our heavenly Father. The world will not want the hope that believers have unless they can first see that we are different.
P= "Lord, how I thank and praise You for bringing me into Your kingdom. Thank You for Your Word which makes it so clear how citizens of Your kingdom are to conduct themselves. I pray that You will help me to truly let my light shine in such a way that the world will see a difference and understand that You are that difference. Help me to bring honor and glory to You with all that You have given me. I thank You for all You will do, in Jesus' name, Amen."
That's the study for this week! Let your light shine, friends!
My grandparents had a special light in their living room that was described to me as a black out light. Hmmm...one of my family's friends, a man still living and well into his nineties was responsible for checking his small town's "cloakability" as dark drew in. Even the tiniest of towns had to be dark.
ReplyDeleteLoved everything about this, though the comment about making sure there are no smudges on the windows is quite beyond us. If we were capable of that, we wouldn't need The Lord and oh how we need Him.
Onward to a wonderful Christmas season!
Oh, absolutely, we cannot keep our windows clear and free of smudges on our own! (I can't even do that with my actual windows!) Only by keeping short accounts with our Heavenly Father, and by His amazing grace can this be a possibility for us.
DeleteFascinating about the blackout light and your friend who checked the "cloakability" of his town during the war. I'd love to learn more about that special light.