Telling the Truth

Guest (Male): Today on Telling the Truth, Stuart Briscoe helps you embrace the power of the Holy Spirit to shine God's grace and love for the world to see. That's coming up, but first: This month, we want to encourage you with a special resource from Jill Briscoe that beautifully captures the heart of what it means to walk with God every day.

It's her poetry book, Barefoot in My Heart. Through honest stories, tender poems, and prayers of surrender, Jill invites you to bring your deepest struggles, anger, waiting, purpose, and self-worth before the Lord. Her words will point you back to the one who satisfies every longing and rekindles your passion for Him, even in life's busiest and most difficult seasons.

We'd love to send you a copy of Barefoot in My Heart as our thanks for your gift today to help more people experience life in Christ through the biblical teaching and encouragement of Telling the Truth. So request your copy when you give and let Jill's words refresh your heart and remind you of God's faithfulness this Christmas season. Call 262-788-4648. That's 262-788-4648. Or give online at tellingthetruth.org. Now, here's Stuart with his message, "The Call to Shine."

Stuart Briscoe: This is what Jesus is saying to His disciples. This is introductory to all He was telling them. They must have thought to themselves, "Gee, He just said something about 'follow Me and I'll make you fishers of men.' Sounds like we're in over our heads right away." And of course, they were because He was calling them to recognize that they were going to be caught up in something that was all about the power and the rule and the reign of God in their lives.

So much for the eight ideal characteristics of kingdom people. Here are eight blessings, eight privileges that come the way of kingdom people. You can read them for yourselves with very little comment. Blessed are the poor in spirit—what's that blessing? Theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn—what's that privilege? They will be comforted. Blessed are those who are meek—what's in it for them? They will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness—what's the privilege that they will be enjoying? They will be filled. What about the merciful? They will be shown mercy. What about the pure in heart? They will have a vision of God. What about the peacemakers? They'll be called the sons of God. What about those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake? Don't worry about it. You belong to the kingdom of heaven. You're kingdom people.

So Jesus says to this little group of men gathered around Him, "You've got to be clear about your identity, fellows. This is who you are. You're part of the kingdom. The kingdom has come and has moved into your life, and you're now living under the control, under the protection, under the direction, in the power of the living God." That's great good news.

Now He goes a step further and He not only tells them about their identity, He tells them about their calling. And the calling is very simply stated: "You are the salt of the earth, you are the light of the world." Notice please how He phrased this. He didn't say, "Fellows, the Father sent Me down here and He said that I had to find some salt somewhere. And I've been hunting around and quite frankly, there doesn't seem to be much around here. I wonder if any of you feel inclined to be salt?"

"This dark world needs some light. Do any of you feel led to be light? Are there any of you who would volunteer perhaps to sort of join My party and become a little salty and a little lighty around here?" He did not say that. I'm afraid that's how we tend to approach people today. The Lord Jesus simply said this: "If you have identified with Christ, I'm not asking you to volunteer any further. All I'm asking you is to recognize what you are."

And if you've identified with Christ, you are the salt of the earth and you are the light of the world. It isn't an optional extra; it's all part of the package. If you enjoy the blessing of salvation, if you enjoy the assurance of life eternal, if you enjoy the thrill of sins forgiven, you are the light of the world. You are the salt of the earth.

Now, these two images can be applied in many different ways. Let me suggest to you very, very simply two things. Number one, when we think in terms of the salt of the earth, we've got to see it in the context in which Jesus spoke it. He was speaking to Galilean fishermen. They were not used to having carefully refined salt. The kind of salt that they had was poor stuff, low-grade stuff that was mixed with all kinds of other junk.

But it did very well, particularly as far as preserving the fish that they caught in Galilee were concerned. They didn't have refrigeration; they would pack the fish in salt and ship it off to Jerusalem. In this way, the salt would preserve and arrest corruption. Now, don't let's go any further than that. Jesus says to His disciples, "The kingdom has come. Pray that it will come in its fullness."

That means that God's power is slowly rolling back the forces of evil. And eventually, when Christ returns in great glory, He will destroy the final enemy, which is death, in the glorious resurrection. In the interim, you are the salt of the earth, which means you are down here to be agents of arresting corruption. You are agents of preserving that which God has done in this world.

And in order to do that, you have got to embrace your calling. Now, if salt is going to be effective, it has to be scattered. If salt is going to arrest corruption, if salt is going to be a preservative, it is going to have to be in impacting situations among that which is corrupted and corrupting. The church is not just about coming on Sunday and singing your heart out. It is certainly part of that.

But it is also the church being scattered where the corrupting influence of the evil one is abroad today and being in that situation, that which preserves what God is doing and arrests that which is corrupting. And it's a challenging, challenging call. You are the salt of the earth.

The second part of the call, of course, is you are the light of the world. One of the wonderful things about light is as soon as light moves in, darkness moves out. And when light moves in, you're able to embrace reality, and you're able to have a sense of direction and a sense of position. "And you," said Jesus, "are the light of the world."

In this Satan-, sin-, death-, and evil-dominated world, the kingdom has come in the person of Christ, in the development of kingdom people. And these kingdom people, they move in the areas of darkness, and the darkness is rolled back by their light. As kingdom people move into areas of darkness, guess what? People who live in darkness begin to see reality, and they get a sense of direction, and the whole course of their lives is changed.

Guess what's happening? The kingdom is coming. The light of the world is shining. The salt of the earth is stinging. That which we are called to be, we are becoming. We are being. This is our identity. This is our calling. Jesus even goes a step further than that in John chapter nine. He said this: "So long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

But now, turning to His disciples, He says, "You are the light of the world." Is this a contradiction? No. What He's saying is very straightforward. While Jesus was in the body in the world, He was the light of the world, and then He left. And in the person of His Holy Spirit, He came into the lives of kingdom people.

You know, those who are poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who are meek, those who hunger and thirst after righteousness—remember those people? He comes into their lives and brings blessing. He brings comfort. He fills them with their desires. And in so doing, He empowers them to be something different. He comes into their lives to empower them to be specifically the light of the world and the salt of the earth.

Now, the situation is clear. "As long as I am in the world, that's what I am," He said. "But now I am leaving, and you will be a perpetuation of what I was all about. While I am in the world, I'm the light of the world. Now you are the light of the world." This is our calling, empowered by the risen Christ in the person of the Holy Spirit to be light on this earth.

You may remember about a thousand points of light. Can any of you remember that far back? A thousand points of light. It was a pretty good speech and President Bush read it and said it. And the media picked up on this idea of a thousand points of light. And the idea was mobilizing faith communities so that they would begin to reach out more and more effectively, perhaps with government encouragement, in areas of social concern.

A thousand points of light. But the opponents of President Bush didn't like this idea. They said, "He has a thousand points of light, but the batteries aren't included." In other words, it's a great idea, it won't work. Jesus did not say, "You are to be a thousand points of light, batteries aren't included." What He said was, "You are to be a thousand points of light and the batteries are included."

And I'll tell you why: Because while I was in the world, I was the light of the world, but now you're a continuation, but I am with you always. And in the person of the Holy Spirit, I will be the empowering and the enabling for all that I'm calling you to be and all that I'm calling you to do. Batteries included.

So says the Lord Jesus to this little group of men. The kingdom has come. Pray that it will finally come. In the interim, make sure that the good news of the kingdom is spread abroad. And you will do that by being the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Well, the second thing that I want you to notice is this: that Jesus then goes on to point out to them that if they're going to be the light of the world, the last thing that you would do is light your light and then put it under a bowl.

That's obvious. What I want to suggest He's saying here is this: If I am to take seriously my identity as a kingdom person and my calling to let my light shine, then I am going to be very, very much concerned about anything that would hinder the brightness of my shining. I will be concerned to eliminate the negatives. You don't light your light and put it under a bushel.

Now, of course, a bushel was a basket in which they would put a bushel of grain. If you light a candle and put a bushel basket over it, one of two things will happen: the light will go out or the bushel basket will go up in smoke. Incidentally, our youngest son, Pete, was preaching on this passage on one occasion and he wanted to illustrate this. So he got a candle and he put it on his pulpit and he lit it.

And then he got a wastepaper basket and he put it over the candle. And then he went on and preached and forgot all about it, and the smoke alarm went off when eventually the whole thing went up in smoke. And I think he made the application that whichever way you look at it, if you put a bushel basket over a candle, the light will go out or the basket will go up in smoke, and either ways, it is counterproductive.

Now listen, folks. Listen. Our identity as kingdom people and our calling to let our light shine is very straightforward. But we've also got to be very realistic about it, that there can be things in our lives that are counterproductive as far as our shining brightly is concerned. And those who take kingdom living seriously eliminate the negatives.

Now, I don't need to get into details here, but there can be lifestyle inconsistencies. A lifestyle inconsistency is the kiss of death on bright shining. It is possible for our lives to be cluttered up with irrelevancies so that even if there is a flicker of light shining there, it is impossible for it to break through all the irrelevancies that are so obvious in the people that we are and the life that we live.

And I strongly encourage you to take seriously your identity as kingdom people, if such you are, and to take seriously your calling to be those whose light will shine, and do it by facing up to the inconsistencies and the irrelevancies that may be the very means of hiding the brightness of your shining and hindering the coming of the kingdom.

Not only does He say if your light is going to shine, you don't put your lamp under a bowl, but then He says, instead, you put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. So if it is possible that inconsistencies and irrelevancies would hinder the shining, it is also obvious that if you want to shine the brightest and the furthest, you put your candle on the most suitable position so that you shine the brightest and the furthest.

Now, let me just illustrate this for you. There's no question that there is a difference in candles. But I have a very nice little candle here, not much of a candle, but its light is shining at the rate of one candle power. Nothing very exciting about it, but there it is. If it was a dark room, it would have a very powerful influence on this place.

Now, this is a little more impressive. I have here a nice red candle, and that's shining, too. Actually, they have exactly the same candle power, but clearly, they are different. And then of course, there are heavyweights. And this one—well, it's just one candle power, too. The difference, of course, is that they will burn a little longer.

Now, the last thing you want to do with these things is light your light and then put it under a bucket. Because if you did that, that would be counterproductive. But another thing you need to do is to say to yourself, "You know, we've got this little candle, it's in this little bottle here, doesn't amount to much there. I mean, surely we could put that in a more effective place than that. So we won't bother with that one anymore."

This one—well, it's a very nice candle, but it's stuck on this crummy old plate. Surely there's something we could do better with that. And you'd be absolutely right because it does have a candlestick. Now, encourage me here. Would you say that this candle on its candlestick does a better job than that same candle just stuck to an old plate? If you think that is true, nod your head vigorously.

Well, I can see that three of you at least agree with me on that. Okay. Well, now in the same way that there are different candles, there's no question about it that there are different candlesticks as well. And I think it would be ridiculous if I were to take this little candle from this little candlestick and put it on here. Would that not look stupid?

Equally stupid would be for me to take this big fat candle and stick it on this little candlestick. It wouldn't work, would it? Now, what we are proving here, of course, is this: that there are candles and there are candles, and there are candlesticks and there are candlesticks. And what you've got to do is make sure you get the right candle on the right candlestick. Do you get my drift?

Now, listen very carefully. Well, I'm glad this little guy here says yes, so he's listening. Okay. There are candles and there are candles; there are candlesticks and there are candlesticks. The important thing is first of all to make sure that all those negatives that are inconsistencies and irrelevancies that are hindering the shining are eliminated.

The second thing is that I make absolutely certain that I am looking very, very carefully to find what is the best place that I can shine brightest and furthest. Or if you like, I'll come to terms with the kind of candle I am and I'll come to terms with the kind of candlestick this candle of mine ought to be placed on. Where do I need to be?

Let me give you an example. It's not uncommon for people to decide on a job situation on the basis of benefits, nothing else. Or it's not unusual for people to decide where they're going to live purely on the basis of climate, nothing else. Let me suggest an entirely different approach: that we decide the kind of job we're going to take and the kind of place we're going to live on this basis.

That we've come to terms with our identity as kingdom people, that we've grasped our calling which is to let our light shine, and that we know that there are things that could hinder it and we will work assiduously to eliminate them. And secondly, we know that there are places where we can shine brightest and furthest and places where we'd be much less effective.

And on the basis of our commitment to letting our light shine, we will determine our candlestick on the basis of kingdom values, not on the basis of purely secular or materialistic considerations. Sisters and brothers, we're called to let our light shine. Are you sure you're where you need to be doing what you're called to do? If so, let your light shine.

There's a silly little song we used to sing, "This Little Light of Mine." Don't worry, that's all I know. Well, actually it goes a little further: "This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine." Not much of a song, great theme. Let me suggest to you that the appropriate response to this message would be for you either silently or audibly to say or to sing, "This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine and do whatever it takes to make sure it shines."

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us today. We're glad you're here and we pray this message has helped you draw closer to Jesus and experience His truth in a fresh way. We want to share with you this quick note of thanks from Carol who says, "The teachings from Stuart and Jill have contributed so much to my spiritual understanding and growth. God bless you for allowing Him to use you to minister to His children." Thank you, Carol.

This month, we want to encourage you with a special resource from Jill Briscoe that beautifully captures the heart of what it means to walk with God every day. It's her poetry book, Barefoot in My Heart. Her words will point you back to the one who satisfies every longing and rekindles your passion for Him even in life's busiest and most difficult seasons.

We'd love to send you a copy of Barefoot in My Heart as our thanks for your gift today to help more people experience life in Christ through the biblical teaching and encouragement of Telling the Truth. So request your copy when you give and let Jill's words refresh your heart and remind you of God's faithfulness this Christmas season. Call 262-788-4648. That's 262-788-4648. Or give online at tellingthetruth.org. Thanks again for listening and for helping share the timeless truth of Jesus with people everywhere.