“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

“You are the light of the world.”

Genesis 1:3-4, “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.”

To be compared to light is incomprehensibly huge – it is a testament to God’s power and the earth-shattering things He can work through us. Light was one of the first things made, spoken into existence on the first day; it was what MADE the day and its absence gave the contrast that is night. It would make sense that in the creation of light, time itself was created, the discernible passing of days that is how we measure our lives and perceive the world in which we live. The reality God made for us began to take shape into something we can comprehend under His light. Apart from the physical significance of light, we have the even greater relevance of Spiritual light.

John 8:12, “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’” 

Light casts out darkness, it lets us use our vision, it gives insight and knowledge, it allows things to be seen as they really are. For Jesus to say in Matthew 5 that we are the light of the world is a testament to His limitless ability to shine through us.

“A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.”

A city built on a hill is in a position of tactical advantage. While visible, they are also able to see because of their elevation. In combat they are immediately awarded the upper hand of the high ground. The city also had nothing to do with placing itself there, the spot was chosen, the walls constructed by knowing minds and able hands. In being compared to a city on a hill we awarded the strength and honor of being a beacon, not through our own virtues, but through God’s might that he shines through us. This speaks to what Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:6-7,

“For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

And what Jesus said in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

We are not made to be timid or fearful, neither are we made to be violent or oppressive. We are designed simply to shine with truth in our submission before God, unhidden and visible to all.

“Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.”

Genesis 1:27-28, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’”

Genesis 2:15, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.”

This points to our purpose and God’s design for us. We were made in God’s image, made with a purpose, a driving force in our existence, that we might glorify our creator in our reflection of him. To behave in a way indulgent of sin, counter to God is placing our light under a basket, it is in contrast to the very purpose and use for which we were designed. I have always taken “Be fruitful and multiply” to be in reference to literal reproduction, and I think that in many if not most respects, it is. But I had never considered the call to be spiritually fruitful and multiply in that regard, to “fill the earth and subdue it” in the eternal light of the Spirit.

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works…”

So, we are called to let our God-given light shine before others.

Matthew 6:22-24, “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

I’ve mentioned the clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson before in my outlines, and one of my most heavily quoted lines of his is “what you aim at determines what you see.” I don’t think that here in Matthew 6, Jesus is referring to ocular health, but what they eye is aimed at. The quoted section ends by specifically calling attention to money, but I’ve also seen “money” translated as “possessions.” The caution can absolutely be about money, but in a grander sense it’s about the world. Anything that you can take and make into an idol for yourself would fit here. While money preys heavily on the hearts of men, anything that pulls your love, devotion, and trust – anything that pulls the aim of your eye from God will cause discord between you and the Father and progressively turn the light within you to an eternal sort of darkness. The lake of fire aside, if hell is separation from God, then to lack God personally is to foster a sort of internal hell.

Galatians 5:19-24, “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

To be redeemed in Christ grants us freedom, but this asks the question of what we do with that liberty. To “continue to sin so that grace may abound” as Paul writes in Romans 6:1 would be deeply wrong. We are freed, but that doesn’t change our design, that doesn’t liberate us from the universal existence of right and wrong. To shine with Christ’s light is to diminish in the fruits of the flesh and grow in the fruits of the spirit.

“…and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

The most important point here is the draw to focusing on why we should beletting our light shine before others in this way. Surrendering to the Spirit, God’s light shining from us, Spiritual fruits developing in our lives, none of these things are about how great and wonderful we are, but are just and right because they support the truth of God’s divine attributes and give glory to Him.

Matthew 6:5-8, 16-18

“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”… “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

If you’re doing it for you, for the reward you will receive, for the accolade you hope to earn, then you’re missing it. Do what is good because it is good, right because it is right. Give glory to God, not because you will be viewed favorably but because He is due all praise and glory and it is by our design, by the rightness of creation that we honor and obey Him in His perfection – by His grace that His light shines through us in a fallen world.

Pastor Chris’s sermon on the text: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwEoEnYg5tI