Telling the Truth

Guest (Male): You've probably heard that Christians are to be the light of the world. But how exactly do you do that? That's what Stewart Briscoe has for you today on Telling the Truth. c That message is coming right up. But first, right now is one of the most important times of the year for Telling the Truth because we're approaching our financial year end June 30th. So to help close the books on the strongest possible footing, some generous friends of the ministry have stepped forward with a $91,000 matching grant which will double any gift you give today. That means your support right now is worth twice as much.

Your gift doubled by this matching grant will help take Stewart and Jill's teaching and resources even further, reaching more people with the life-changing truth of God's word through radio, digital platforms, global partnerships, and even social media. And to say thanks for your gift today, we'd love to send you Stewart's two message series Let Your Light Shine. So request your copy when you give today and thank you for helping shine God's light into the hearts of people everywhere. Call 262-788-4648. That's 262-788-4648 or give online at tellingthetruth.org. Now here's Stewart with his message The Light That Shines.

Stuart Briscoe: Going to turn now in our Bibles to Matthew's Gospel and the fifth chapter. I want to read to you two or three very, very familiar verses from this passage. Lord Jesus speaking to a small group of disciples in what is commonly called the Sermon on the Mount said to them in Matthew chapter 5 verse 14 you are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp to put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Let your light shine. Lord Jesus instructed his disciples. However, he also said while I am in the world, I am the light of the world. Those with a skeptical bent would say there you are, you see, the Bible is full of contradictions. On the one hand, Jesus said that he is the light of the world and then he says to his disciples you are the light of the world. Perhaps a more appropriate way of looking at it would be to recognize that the Lord Jesus was calling his disciples to be the means of perpetuating the work and ministry that he had begun on earth.

The church of Jesus Christ is the body of Christ. The body of Christ is that which is inhabited by the spirit of Christ. The spirit of Christ continues the work of the risen Christ through the body. We are to be individually as disciples, collectively as the church, the ongoing shining out of the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus. You are the light of the world. We can identify two specific things we need to be concerned about. The first one Jesus said was this you don't light a lamp and then put it under a bushel.

We suggested that what that means is we need to be looking at the things that would tend to hinder the outshining of our witness individually and collectively. And as we identify these things, we need to be meticulously and relentlessly eliminating the negatives. But the second thing that Jesus pointed out was this not only do you not light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but you do light it and put it on its stand where it may give the best possible light in the area of its shining. We interpreted that as meaning that we not only look to eliminate the negatives, but secondly to accentuate the positives.

We look for the ways in which we can identify the most strategic place of our shining, the most opportune environment for our ministry. We identified of course the fact that there are different kinds of candles. And as whilst we recognize that there are different kinds of candles, we also pointed out that there are candlesticks for candles. And what we need to be doing is identifying the kind of candle that we are and then looking carefully for the appropriate candlestick on which we can glow and shine most effectively. Of course, there are different kinds of candles and the good news of course is that whilst we have different kinds of candles, there are different kinds of candlesticks.

Unfortunately, we need to make sure that we are on the right candlestick at the right time, putting this large candle. And for the benefit of those of you listening on radio, I am now using props and somebody has said you've been preaching here without props. Evidently, you're so old you need propping up. I appreciate all these encouraging words, but they but the point of course is this that we do have large candles on large candlesticks. We have small candles on small candlesticks. And the task that we want to embrace is this let's make sure that we've identified the kind of people we are and that we've identified the place of our shining and we're eliminating the negatives and we're accentuating the positives.

Well now, let's progress a little further. I want to explore with you now what would be the constituent parts of a life that could be characterized as letting your light shine. First of all, we would shine as we are producing kingdom living. We will shine as we're promoting kingdom values. We will shine as we are proclaiming kingdom blessings. We will shine as we're propagating kingdom growth. Those four things. How do we seriously approach this business of saying we are now acknowledging Christ as Savior and Lord and King of our lives. And accordingly, we are embarking on living as kingdom people.

What does kingdom living look like? Well, first of all, it requires us being conscious of the call to shine before men. That's specifically what Jesus said in verse 16. Let your light shine before men. There is a sense in which spiritual experience is intimate, personal, and private. It is something that goes on in the individual heart, in the individual soul. It is something between a human being and God himself. It is wonderful. It is precious. But there's another sense in which our spirituality is not purely private and not purely personal. It is that which is to be lived out before people.

We are called to be operating spiritually in community. God ordained that we should be relational beings. In that we are relational beings, we need to be applying and interpreting and demonstrating our spirituality in terms of relationships. So Jesus was unequivocal at this point. You let your light shine before men. This of course figures because when we look at the principle of blessing in the scripture, it goes as follows that God blesses us in order that we might be a blessing. Blessing does not come into our lives for our benefit period. Blessing comes into our lives for our blessing comma in order that we might be a blessing.

And so the first step necessary if we're going to take seriously letting our light shine is the conscious acknowledgment that we are called to live and let our light shine in relationships in the community of people. Or as Jesus put it, let your light shine before men. The second component in producing kingdom living is that we be concerned about the impact of our lifestyle. When the Lord Jesus talked about letting your light shine, he interpreted that as the manifestation of good deeds. These good deeds include the way that we conduct ourselves, the way that we live before and amongst people.

It is all about deportment. It is all about demeanor. It is all about behavior. Add it all up. It's all about the kind of lifestyle that we live. What is it that we project among people by the very people that we are. Well, let's look again quickly at the beatitudes at the beginning of this sermon on the mount. Let me identify what I would call some of the characteristics of kingdom lifestyle or kingdom living. You'll notice for instance that the first beatitude Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven is not dissimilar to the last beatitude Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Notice this profoundly dogmatic statement that certain people should know that theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And I would suggest to you that that knowledge will produce in a person a calm assurance.

Guest (Male): More powerful teaching from the Briscoes is headed your way, so don't go anywhere. We've made a wide array of resources and content available to you online for free at tellingthetruth.org and on the Telling the Truth app. There you can listen, read, and watch powerful teaching from Stewart and Jill on relevant topics like the sovereignty of God, the importance of the church, and how to grow closer with Jesus Christ. You can also request this month's featured resource as thanks for your gift of support to help share the abundant life Jesus offers with more people around the world.

Visit us online or download the app today and experience the life with Telling the Truth. Now here's more from Stewart in today's message from his series Let Your Light Shine.

Stuart Briscoe: What does the lifestyle of a kingdom liver look like? It is a lifestyle characterized by calm assurance because they know that they are members of the kingdom and that the king is king and that the king wins in the end. And therefore they live with a sense of calm, settled assurance. Now the interesting thing about it is this our society is characterized by frantic and frenetic living. When you find somebody in the midst of all the frantic and frenetic living demonstrating a calm assurance, they shine. They're different. I visited some hospitals and one of them people I visited is a man called Larry.

Larry went to work on a Friday morning. He said it was just a a dull, winter, cold Friday morning. He went to work at his machine. While he was working at his machine, his sleeve caught in the machine. And before he could do anything about it, he was literally taken into the machine. His neck was broken and he was totally held there in the machine. Nobody was around. Nobody heard his cries because of the noise in the factory. And for 7 minutes, he was trapped in the machine, neck broken, many other multiple serious injuries. I said Larry, what did you do during those 7 minutes?

He said the first thing I did was say God, I think I'm going to die. And that's all right. You are my God. You are my Lord. If I die, I'll go to be with you. And that's fine. Please make it quick. Number two Lord, if I'm going to die, that means my daughter won't have a dad and my granddaughter won't have a granddad. If you're going to take me, I commend them to you. You care for them. Number three God, if they send word to my mom and dad that I've had a serious accident and I'm not going to make it, they'll panic, they'll get in the car, they'll drive recklessly.

They may have an accident. Protect my parents, please. He said round about that time the pharaohs arrived. He said I've been a paramedic myself. I was able to tell him exactly what had happened to me. I knew my neck was broken and he said I was able to explain what was going on. And then he said that's the last I remember. Now let me suggest to you when somebody is trapped inside a machine with a broken neck, they think that they're going to die and their response to it is God, I commend myself to you and that's all right.

Now God, if you are going to take me, care for my daughter and my granddaughter and dad and and dad and mom may panic. God be gracious to them. If somebody in the midst of a situation like that can demonstrate that kind of living, I submit to you that person knows he's a member of the kingdom of heaven and he's manifesting calm assurance. It's called lifestyle. It 's called shining. Now move on through the beatitudes. Notice if you will in verse fourth Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. You remember the first beatitude says Blessed are those who are poor in spirit.

That means those who recognize their spiritual bankruptcy and secondly they mourn about it and are meek about it which means that they recognize their spiritual bankruptcy. They are deeply perturbed about it, thoroughly repentant of it and open meekly to whatever God has to say and what he wants to do about it. Those people will be comforted, we are told. Now let me suggest to you that what that means is that people who are kingdom livers are people who live with a sense of deep peace. They know their sins are forgiven. They know that they have been reconciled to God.

They know that their deep mourning for their spiritual poverty has been dealt with and they are at peace with God and they demonstrate deep peace. Let me tell you about our society. Our society is made up of many, many people who seem to relish conflict. Even on the freeways, we're subject to road rage. We go to ball games and now referees at kids games have to take out insurance to protect themselves against stupid parents. We find ourselves in a situation where marriages are breaking up, families are torn apart. You know the situation. There is conflict, there's tension on every hand.

The reason that there's conflict and tension on every hand is that there are inner dynamics going on in people's lives that are driving them to this aberrant behavior. And very, very often the inner dynamics are unresolved guilt and unalleviated shame. The people who are behaving the way they're behaving don't even recognize the guilt and the shame that is like a cancer within them and is driving them to all kinds of conflict and rage. And then in the midst of that kind of situation, you will meet some people who have admitted their spiritual poverty, who have deeply mourned it, who have meekly accepted God's gracious forgiveness and they have been comforted and they exhibit an inner peace.

For the guilt has been assuaged and the shame has been taken away and they're at peace with themselves because they're at peace with God. And it shows it shows in the way that they conduct themselves is called shining. Let your light shine through calm assurance, through deep peace. Verse five Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth. We don't have time to get into the details. What God is promising them here is a future hope. When somebody has a sense of hope, when they have a sense that things are going to work out as they ought, you will begin to see in them a sense of steady confidence.

But what do you find in our society? You find in our society frantic and frenetic lifestyles. People rushing hither, thither, and yawn. People moving from this to that. People all the time looking for bigger and better and grander and more exciting experiences and the pace of life is building up. We all mourn it. We all groan about it. We all wish it didn't happen and we continue in the pace, in the frantic, frenetic search for life. And then in the midst of it, you come across somebody who is living not looking desperately, frantically, frenetically for something, but you find somebody who exhibits a steady confidence.

And you say to yourself, what is it about that person? And of course you probably should know that they're probably kingdom people. They're letting their light shine. Look a little bit further. Verse six Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled. People whose lives are filled not I don't mean crammed with stuff. I mean satisfied lives, satisfied lives. When you come across the person who is exhibiting calm assurance and deep peace and steady confidence and quiet satisfaction and at the same time is able to testify in a compelling way to genuine spiritual insights for the scriptures tell us that those who are looking in the right way will actually see God.

That means that they will have deep spiritual insights that give them a view of life as it really is. When you put all that together, you've got a person whose lifestyle is different. It shines. And that's what we're called to do. So when we think in terms of producing kingdom living, we're thinking in terms of being conscious of the call to shine before men and being concerned about the impact of our lifestyle. And thirdly, it means that we are conscientious about the use of our time and our energy and our resources. Jesus said again in the same way, let your light shine before men that they may see your good works.

In other words, there has to be something that is visible. There has to be something that is tangible in this shining. He calls it good deeds. Couple of them that we can pick out of the beatitudes are first of all, what is said in verse seven Blessed are the merciful. The second one in verse nine Blessed are the peacemakers. Let me put it to you this way that if we begin to think in terms of the expenditure of our time and energy in resources in good deeds of mercy and in good deeds of peacemaking, they will speak volumes.

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us today. We're so glad you're with us and we pray today's message has helped you experience more of the abundant life Jesus offers. Right now is one of the most important times of the year for Telling the Truth because we're approaching our financial year end June 30th. So to help close the books on the strongest possible footing, some generous friends of the ministry have stepped forward with a $91,000 matching grant which will double any gift you give today. That means your support right now is worth twice as much. Your gift doubled by this matching grant will help take Stewart and Jill's teaching and resources even further, reaching more people with the life-changing truth of God's word through radio, digital platforms, global partnerships, and even social media.

And to say thanks for your gift today, we'd love to send you Stewart's two message series Let Your Light Shine. In this encouraging teaching, Stewart unpacks how your everyday life, no matter how ordinary, can reflect the light of Christ to the people around you. So request your copy when you give today and thank you for helping shine God's light into the hearts of people everywhere. Call 262-788-4648. That's 262-788-4648 or give online at tellingthetruth.org. Thanks so much for listening to Telling the Truth. Please come back again as the Briscoes share more powerful truth from God's word.

Tune in and experience life next time on Telling the Truth.